Alcaraz And Swiatek Manage Miami Open Just Fine With Serves

Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek have dominated the competition in 2022, and a familiar refrain in analysis of both players is that they have no weakness. That’s not true. Everybody has a weakness. It’s just that their opponents failed to exploit it.

Both players have areas within their serves, technical and tactical, that could be improved. With a combined age still only under 40, there’s plenty of time.

Let’s take a look at where the opponents of Alcaraz and Swiatek missed their opportunities– and where players might use data as a primer heading into clay season.

Alcaraz Second Serve

The Spaniard only won 9 of 20 points on his second serve on his way to the Miami Open title. Alcaraz averaged 119 mph on his first serve and 100 mph on his second. Just for context, that’s about 8 mph slower than his opponent Casper Ruud, who is by no means a powerhouse.

But Carlos hit his first serve well– and rallied well off his first serve– hitting 71% in and winning 75% of the time. He also won the match by dominating Ruud with his tack-sharp return game. Alcaraz’s return rating was 167 compared with Ruud’s 123.

Perhaps sensing that he wasn’t doing well on second serve points, Alcaraz made sure to make first serves and control those points when he did.

Keep in mind that Rafael Nadal, the world leader in second serve points won, averages in the high 50’s in that metric. On clay, he goes up to the 60’s. So Alacaraz’s 45% probably won’t cut it against Nadal.

Swiatek Second Serve

Osaka had the returning day from hell against a so-so serve. This was because of a tactic players of every level all over the world are told to do: Attack a slow second serve.

During the pivotal first set, Osaka purposefully positioned herself several feet inside the baseline on Swiatek’s second serve, and Naomi missed the return– as in: didn’t even put the ball in play– a calamitous 5 times. That’s in addition to a few forgivable missed first-serve returns….