For ESPN, Bill Connelly examined Roger Federer serve and how his ability to place it was a fundamental part of his game. If you don’t know, Roger Federer has the 3rd most aces in ATP history behind the usual suspects John Isner and Ivo Karlovic (both of whom Federer returned pretty well[1][2]) despite not having a huge serve.
That’s where the accuracy came in. If he needed a T-serve (that’s a serve down the middle of the court where the lines make a T-shape), he could hit it. If he needed a kicker (where the spin of the ball makes it bounce higher than expected, catching a player off guard), he could hit that too. A lot of times, these pinpoint serves would save him break points or even win them (sometimes; Federer wasn’t so good at getting clutch BPs).
- Roger Federer vs John Isner H2H – https://ultimatetennisstatistics.com/headToHead?playerId1=3819&playerId2=4544&tab=statistics ↩︎
- Roger Federer vs Ivo Karlovic H2H – https://ultimatetennisstatistics.com/headToHead?tab=statistics&playerId1=3819&playerId2=3333 ↩︎