The Effect of Serve Speed
All else equal, you want to serve harder. But how much does it really matter? That’s a more difficult question than it sounds, and I don’t yet claim to have an answer. In the meantime, I can share the...
View ArticleUS Open Serve Speed by Player
It’s time for more serve-speed research notes. Most of the matches at the 2011 U.S. Open were tracked by Pointstream, and serve speed was recorded for the vast majority of those points. The Open...
View ArticleThe Effect of One More MPH
All else equal, increasing your first serve speed is a good thing … so how useful is it? Earlier this week, I published some generic numbers, but those are far too crude to answer this question. To...
View ArticleHow Servers Respond To Double Faults
In the professional game, double faults are quite rare. They sometimes reflect a momentary lapse in concentration, and can negatively impact a server’s confidence. Players are sometimes particularly...
View ArticleThe Oddity of Naomi Osaka’s Soft Second Serves
Italian translation at settesei.it Naomi Osaka has quickly risen to the top of the women’s game on the back of some big hitting, especially a first serve that is one of the fastest in the game....
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Effect of Serena’s Serve Speed
Yesterday at FiveThirtyEight, Tom Perrotta highlighted the relationship between Serena Williams’s first serve performance and her chances of winning. According to the article, Serena has won only...
View ArticleServing In an Empty Stadium
The pandemic offers a wealth of natural experiments. Ever wondered how the presence of fans affects players? Before last March, we were mostly limited to speculation, because fans were almost always...
View Article
