The serve has always been the most important stroke in the history of the game. And it still is today.
Roger Federer and
Serena Williams have dominated this generation because of their respective serves, particularly here at Wimbledon, where they have won a combined 14 singles titles. Great tennis careers have been built on that very stroke, including those of
Pete Sampras,
Boris Becker,
Steffi Graf,
Lindsay Davenport and more at this event and beyond.
The serve has always been the most important stroke in the history of the game. And it still is today.
Roger Federer and
Serena Williams have dominated this generation because of their respective serves, particularly here at Wimbledon, where they have won a combined 14 singles titles. Great tennis careers have been built on that very stroke, including those of
Pete Sampras,
Boris Becker,
Steffi Graf,
Lindsay Davenport and more at this event and beyond.
I still remember my childhood tennis coach saying: “Take care of your serve and you only need one good game on return to win a set.” I didn’t understand what she meant by that at the time, but a few years later it all sunk in. If only tennis was that simple.
But to place more importance on the second stroke of a rally versus the first to me seems nonsensical. Look at the semi-finalists here at Wimbledon: Federer,
Sam Querrey,
Venus Williams and
Garbiñe Muguruza (among others) have all served their way into the final four.
Querrey and
Marin Cilic have hit a combined 231 aces in their 10 matches, enough points to win three best-of-five matches without hitting another ball. The American closed out his upset of
Andy Murray in the quarter-finals with an ace, an exclamation point on what has been a startling run to his first major semi-final.
Johanna Konta and Williams are the two leaders in the ladies' draw when it comes to aces, with a combined 55 untouched serves. It's a stat that doesn’t surprise when you look at their respective marches to the final four.
Last week, the
Telegraph looked at the best servers in the history of Wimbledon, via stats from IBM. On the men’s side, the best statistics all belonged to past champions here:
Goran Ivanisevic, Sampras, Federer, Murray,
Novak Djokovic,
Rafael Nadal and
Andre Agassi. Coincidence? Not from my perspective.
The return is always going to be important, but if you don’t have an outstanding serve, you’re not winning Wimbledon. It’s as simple as that. It's about having a complete game, and the serve leads the charge. After all, it is the first stroke in every rally.
CRAIG O'SHANNESSY: It's a new era in tennis... of returning
This is the golden age of the returner.
In the 1990s, big servers roamed the planet, with players such as Pete Sampras, Goran Ivanisevic and Richard Krajicek dominating with their thunderous serve while taking titles at SW19.
