Returning Serve: The Long & Short Of It
Returning Serve: The Long & Short Of It
Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers highlights return depth on Deuce and Ad courts
Directing first serves out wide in the Ad court will bring significantly more shorter returns than hitting them wide in the Deuce court.
The primary reason is that right-handed returners must hit a backhand return in the Ad court, and we now know that depth is a real issue with this specific shot from out wide. An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of more than 17,000 wide returns against first serves in both the Deuce and Ad courts hit by current players in the Top 20 of the ATP Rankings uncovers this hidden strategic anomaly.
The data set of 17,705 wide first serve returns comes from ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events and Nitto ATP Finals from 2011-2018. Return depth is divided up into three categories.
1. Short = In the service box.
2. Middle = Behind the service line (but closer to the service line than baseline).
3. Deep = Closer to the baseline than the service line.
Return depth to the middle area was the most constant between the Deuce and Ad courts, only varying 1.9 percentage points (49.7% to 47.8%).
The larger percentage swings were primarily from short returns in the service box and deep returns back near the baseline. There was a significant 5.4 percentage difference in short returns, and a 3.6 percentage point swing in deep returns hit between the Deuce and Ad courts.
Wide Return Location Deuce Ct & Ad Ct: Return Depth = Short / Middle / Long
| Wide Return Location | Short | Middle | Deep |
| Ad Court | 29.3% | 47.8% | 22.8% |
| Deuce Court | 23.9% | 49.7% | 26.4% |
Quite clearly, making first serves out wide in the Ad court (to a right hander’s backhand return) will bring a lot more short, attackable balls back in the service box for the server to feast on.
Deuce Court Wide Returns
Former World No. 1s Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are at either ends of the spectrum regarding return depth from the Deuce court. Out of the current Top 20, Nadal hit the most amount of short returns in the service box (his backhand return) at 31.8 per cent, while Djokovic hits the least, at only 17.9 per cent.
Deuce Court: Return Depth from Wide Serves
| Ranking | Player | Short | Middle | Deep | Total |
| 7 | Dominic Thiem | 21.3% | 45.1% | 33.7% | 315 |
| 13 | Tomas Berdych | 22.5% | 47.2% | 30.4% | 632 |
| 4 | Grigor Dimitrov | 20.2% | 50.3% | 29.5% | 461 |
| 6 | Juan Martin Del Potro | 24.4% | 46.2% | 29.4% | 320 |
| 12 | Novak Djokovic | 17.9% | 53.3% | 28.8% | 1404 |
| 16 | Diego Schwartzman | 27.4% | 43.9% | 28.7% | 157 |
| 15 | Roberto Bautista Agut | 21.2% | 50.7% | 28.1% | 288 |
| 1 | Roger Federer | 19.6% | 52.8% | 27.6% | 815 |
| 17 | John Isner | 24.3% | 48.1% | 27.6% | 536 |
| 19 | Pablo Carreno Busta | 18.6% | 54.0% | 27.4% | 113 |
| 8 | Kevin Anderson | 20.9% | 52.2% | 26.9% | 364 |
| 20 | Nick Kyrgios | 18.7% | 54.5% | 26.8% | 198 |
| 11 | Jack Sock | 23.9% | 49.7% | 26.4% | 318 |
| 10 | Lucas Pouille | 26.5% | 47.7% | 25.8% | 132 |
| 9 | David Goffin | 21.3% | 53.9% | 24.8% | 408 |
| 3 | Marin Cilic | 23.5% | 52.8% | 23.7% | 443 |
| 18 | Fabio Fognini | 23.7% | 53.2% | 23.1% | 363 |
| 5 | Alexander Zverev | 30.5% | 47.3% | 22.3% | 256 |
| 2 | Rafael Nadal | 31.8% | 46.2% | 22.1% | 1395 |
| 14 | Sam Querrey | 30.0% | 49.3% | 20.7% | 213 |
| – | AVERAGE | 23.8% | 50.3% | 25.9% | 7723 |
Dominic Thiem hit the highest amount of deep returns, at 33.7 per cent, while Sam Querrey struggled the most to get Deuce court forehand returns deep, averaging only 20.7 per cent.
Ad Court Wide Returns
Djokovic was also the peak performer in keeping his first serve returns out of the service box in the Ad court, only hitting 21.6 per cent of his returns there. The Serb also hit the most amount in the deep section (28.9%), followed by Kevin Anderson (26.9%), Grigor Dimitrov (26.4%) and Dominic Thiem (26.1%).
Ad Court: Return Depth from Wide Serves
| Ranking | Player | Short | Middle | Deep | Total |
| 12 | Novak Djokovic | 21.6% | 49.5% | 28.9% | 1163 |
| 8 | Kevin Anderson | 26.9% | 46.2% | 26.9% | 320 |
| 4 | Grigor Dimitrov | 25.6% | 48.0% | 26.4% | 473 |
| 7 | Dominic Thiem | 27.9% | 46.0% | 26.1% | 398 |
| 9 | David Goffin | 23.2% | 51.1% | 25.7% | 323 |
| 18 | Fabio Fognini | 26.9% | 47.4% | 25.6% | 386 |
| 13 | Tomas Berdych | 26.4% | 48.6% | 25.0% | 591 |
| 17 | John Isner | 26.0% | 49.2% | 24.8% | 508 |
| 1 | Roger Federer | 26.4% | 50.2% | 23.4% | 1163 |
| 3 | Marin Cilic | 31.1% | 46.0% | 22.9% | 402 |
| 14 | Sam Querrey | 37.6% | 39.9% | 22.5% | 258 |
| 6 | Juan Martin Del Potro | 30.2% | 47.9% | 21.9% | 388 |
| 16 | Diego Schwartzman | 28.7% | 50.0% | 21.3% | 136 |
| 2 | Rafael Nadal | 34.7% | 44.4% | 20.9% | 759 |
| 11 | Jack Sock | 33.5% | 46.1% | 20.4% | 358 |
| 10 | Lucas Pouille | 28.7% | 51.2% | 20.0% | 160 |
| 5 | Alexander Zverev | 30.8% | 49.8% | 19.4% | 227 |
| 15 | Roberto Bautista Agut | 32.0% | 48.8% | 19.2% | 291 |
| 19 | Pablo Carreno Busta | 33.1% | 49.2% | 17.8% | 118 |
| 20 | Nick Kyrgios | 34.9% | 47.4% | 17.8% | 152 |
| – | AVERAGE | 29.3% | 47.8% | 22.8% | 8574 |
What’s the action plan from this insightful new data? Make sure you have got a solid wide first serve in the Ad court to take advantage of short backhand returns, and if you are on the receiving side of the equation, add a little more height to your Ad court return to give it the extra wings it needs to make it deep back near the baseline.