Talk About Tennis 2.0

looking back on 2025, who were the best servers and returners? Data from wta and atp official sites:

Men - Serve

Points won on first serve:
Sinner 79.5%
Fritz 79.4%
Djokovic 76.7%
FAA 76.5
Draper 75.6
Alcaraz 74.1
Zverev 73.8

Points won on second serve ('you are only as good as your second serve')

Sinner 59.1%
Alcaraz 56.8
Djokovic 55.7
Draper 54.7
Fritz 54.4
Zverev 53.5
FAA 52.1

Returners?

First serve returns won

Alcaraz 35%
Navone 34%
Sinner 33.6
Djokovic 31.7
Zverev 30

the real surprise (to me) is Navone!

and the women:

Serve
First serve points won:
Rybakina 74.6%
Osaka 73.3
Swiatek 69.4%
Sabalenka 68.4

Second serve:
Rybakina 64.4
Osaka 63
Sabalenka 61.8
Swiatek 61.7

RETURNS

return points won

Gauff 48.8%
Swiatek 47.5
Sabalenka 45.6
Andreeva 45.6
Alexandrova 45.3
Paolini 45.2
Pegula 45.1
Anisimov 45.1

First serve return point won:

Gauff 43.1
Swiatek 40.1
Andreeva 39.4
Paolini 38.9
Alexandrova 38.8
Anisimova 37.8
Sabalenka 37.8

Gauff is clearly the best returner of serve, just as Rybakina is clearly the best server. I am a bit surprised at how well Osaka has served, that is not my mental recollection, especially on second serve.

Osaka maybe has such a good percentage because of a lower number of matches?

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 26, 2025 3:05 am Osaka maybe has such a good percentage because of a lower number of matches?

Could be. Played 45 matches versus nearly 80 for Saba, Ryba etc.. Though 45 is enough to get a reliable average...

Just curiosity: looked at some others, especially on return. I have always thought Ostapenko and Azarenka are great returners - and the numbers support that - Vika is at 44.5% on return points won, Ostapenko is at 45.3 -
some others: Vondrousova is 45.7% and Svitolina is 46%
I would expect BHM and Samsonova to be not so good - and they arent.. BHM is at 40.7% and Samsonova is 41.7%

nice to see the evidence of the eyes being backed up by data.

Just saw that Anisimova quietly became the #1 ranked American at some point.

That means something

JTContinental wrote: ↑Tue Jan 06, 2026 11:56 pm Just saw that Anisimova quietly became the #1 ranked American at some point.

Making US Open final to do it was quiet? Although I get what you mean, i don't remember a lot said about it. Then she won Beijing right after to put an ! on it.

ptmcmahon wrote: ↑Wed Jan 07, 2026 2:06 pm

JTContinental wrote: ↑Tue Jan 06, 2026 11:56 pm Just saw that Anisimova quietly became the #1 ranked American at some point.

Making US Open final to do it was quiet? Although I get what you mean, i don't remember a lot said about it. Then she won Beijing right after to put an ! on it.

Wasn't she still ranked 4 after the YEC? I can't remember now. At any rate, it might be a short stint, as the live rankings have Coco back at 3.

Oops I was checking when she passed Pegula. I've already mentally lowered Gauff out of the top 4 You're right in that Gauff was still ahead of her after YEC.

But yeah Gauff will pass her with her United Cup Points since Anisimova already lost in Brisbane. A finals victory for Pegula won't be enough to move her up.

Some interesting head to heads-
Ostapenko -Swiatek 6-0
Ostapenko - Vika 0-5
Anisimova - Saba 6-5

Because Ostapenko is one player that goes out there with the believe that she can outhit anybody.
Which is kind of crazy, but the first step is believing.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 9:23 pm Because Ostapenko is one player that goes out there with the believe that she can outhit anybody.
Which is kind of crazy, but the first step is believing.

But it doesn't work against Vika! Why?
Includes matches on clay, where Vika has no great track record, and Osta does..

Toby Samuel GBR #261 is #1 in the live ATP race. I wonder if he knows?