Hi All
Here are the average serve-return stats for the top 50 players (seasons 1991-2013, different surfaces). I dropped 2003 because there appear to be errors in the ATP stats in that year.
Looks like:
- clay is definitely playing faster now (players are doing better on serve and worse on return)
- grass was at its fastest in 2009
- players are doing worse on return on hard now than they used to
(this is somewhat surprising, I thought the overall game slowed down and there are more rallies now)
Here are the average serve-return stats for the top 50 players (seasons 1991-2013, different surfaces). I dropped 2003 because there appear to be errors in the ATP stats in that year.
Looks like:
- clay is definitely playing faster now (players are doing better on serve and worse on return)
- grass was at its fastest in 2009
- players are doing worse on return on hard now than they used to
(this is somewhat surprising, I thought the overall game slowed down and there are more rallies now)