2022 season ended with Novak Djokovic’s victory at the ATP Finals in Turin and Canada’s historic first Davis Cup success. It was precisely the Serbian champion who reiterated the importance of the serve in modern tennis on more than one occasion during the Masters Tournament.
The Belgrade native analyzed the playing surface in Turin and admitted: “I wouldn’t choose this surface if I had to play the game of my life. It’s very fast. Obviously, serving well helps you. But when you don’t serve well, you have to fight hard and find ways to score points from the back of the court.
The serve is a vital aspect of Djokovic’s game; a shot that the Serbian has improved under the guidance of Goran Ivanisevic. “Djokovic’s serve has been underestimated throughout his career. Now it’s even better, he always wants to improve it.
The second is also exceptional. Little is said about him, but he has one of the best serves out there,” explained the coach. Croatian. On the official ATP website you can check the ranking of the players who have served the best, at least from the point of view of service rounds won.
Nick Kyrgios takes the top spot. The Australian took 92.88% of the games played with the serve (587 of 632). John Isner, who played seven games less than Kyrgios, instead set a record of 553 games out of 603 for a percentage of 91.71%.
In third place is Hubert Hurkacz. The Pole has achieved 747 of 825 blows (90.55%). He is followed by Maxime Cressy with 640 matches out of 721. Matteo Berrettini is also listed in this special classification. The Italian was forced to skip a considerable number of tournaments and the entire clay court season; a fact that should not be underestimated.
Nole is still the man to beat
Novak Djokovic’s coach Goran Ivanisevic recently reflected on the Serb’s turbulent 2022 season after his historic sixth ATP Finals win. “(Novak Djokovic) took some days off (after Wimbledon victory), but he has to start to practice because we were hoping for good news from U.S.,” he said at the ATP Finals press conference, “I had my bags packed.
I was there waiting. That’s another waiting, waiting, waiting. He was practicing, he was preparing, and we were waiting. The news were not coming. Then Cincinnati passed. Another week. Then when US Open kind of started, we knew we not going to the States.
Because of everything what happened this year, with Wimbledon this year… But this one is special. Very tough year. To finish the year like this, to win tournament like this after how many six years he won a Masters? I call it Masters, now it’s ATP Finals,” he said.
“I think somebody from upstairs look at all this year and say, ‘Okay, you going to win the year like this.’ He deserve it. Nobody knows how was it to be him, to be the part of the team, was not easy year. But paid off,” he said.
