Is it just me or has anyone else noticed this?

[Break To Win]

Kyrgios said in an interview that Djokovic's second serve is irregular, and sometimes attackable.

After that, I started to observe this aspect more.

In the 2021 Wimbledon final, strangely enough, in the first set, the Serb was averaging 77 miles per hour on his second serve, and Berrettini was unable to take advantage of that. As the match went on, he ended up accelerating more on his second serve.

But I have observed that the more and more Djokovic is pressured on his serve, his second serve ends up being attackable. It's not like Andy Murray, but clearly, Nadal and Federer have a better second serve than the Serbian.

It's not about speed, it's more about placement and accuracy.

As some tennis players are very far from the court, they end up not taking advantage of what I call the Serbian's worst shot.

Any thoughts about that?

 

[McGradey]

He mixes it up between slice and kick on his second serve. For a while a few seasons back he was hitting almost exclusively slices on his second serve; it was a very aggressive delivery and not easily attacked. When he uses his kick serve more, it can become quite frail when he gets tired later in the match, but I think because he tends to serve so well in the opening stages of matches, guys back off and they aren't ready to jump on his weaker serves when they should be — net result is he gets away with quite a lot of attackable second serves.

 

[Rudiiii]

Today his second serve was garbage, and usually in those situations he looses when playing againts quality opponent (not Berrettini). When it is on, you can't beat him

 

[nolefam_2024]

Today his second serve was garbage, and usually in those situations he looses when playing againts quality opponent (not Berrettini). When it is on, you can't beat him

Rubbish. His second serve was much better than sinner second serve. Nole leads the tour on second serve pts won in 2023. Can't happen with garbage serve at all.

 

[messiahrobins]

The Djokovic serve gets butchered by Nadal in recent times as he reads that 2nd serve like a book as its predictable. He can hit the slice 2nd serve with good pace but his kick 2nd serve is poor and attackable. Just seen some higlights of todays match and it was noticeable sinner was sitting on that slice 2nd serve. What Djokovic does brilliantly at is make sure his 1st serve goes in over 70 per cent of the time. When that percentage drops as in the wimbledon final in sets 2, 3 and 5 his serve is vulnerable.

 

[mtommer]

Any thoughts about that?

Sure. Who cares. What I mean is that he wins by endurance. Even on a serve that's been attacked, he still wins the point enough. Also, who knows if the opponent is feeling like they should attack the serve just because it is attackable. At the pro level, the matches are like chess. Just because something can be done doesn't mean it should be, or at least should be without an additional strategy behind doing so.

 

[Jonesy]

Not forgetting that Sinner is an excelent returner.

 

[nolefam_2024]

Sure. Who cares. What I mean is that he wins by endurance. Even on a serve that's been attacked, he still wins the point enough. Also, who knows if the opponent is feeling like they should attack the serve just because it is attackable. At the pro level, the matches are like chess. Just because something can be done doesn't mean it should be, or at least should be without an additional strategy behind doing so.

Exactly everything has cost related to it. Nole has made conscious decision to not put a lot of efforts on second serve and then miss. He can go big and df or put it as a slice serve and try s&v or whatever. It doesn't matter. He has the highest percentage of pts won on second serve.

 

[Subway Tennis]

The Djokovic second serve has a chameleon quality. It’s very fluid and essentially can be whatever he needs it to be relative to the returning ability of the opponen and the best percentage achievable.

Djokovic can definitely have matches where his second serve is an absolute marshmallow powderpuff, but it’s usually in instances where he knows he can get away with it, so opts for the safer serve that is guaranteed to go in. AO final would be a good example of that where Djokovic went very safe and soft, and as a result had very good margin for error. I criticised how soft his second serve was but the fact is Djokovic knew he could get away with it against Tsitsipas provided his placement was roughly in the right area. There was no need to be more aggressive, so Djokovic never changed it. It was smart percentage tennis.

But in other instances, when required, he goes huge on the second serve and very aggressive with it. 2020 AO semifinal is a good case scenario of what Djokovic can do when pushed to make his second serve an attacking weapon.

 

[fundrazer]

You've never seen me ranting about it in the match threads. Constantly spinning in 70-80mph serves to the backhand and never getting punished. Absolutely laughable.

 

[Subway Tennis]

You've never seen me ranting about it in the match threads. Constantly spinning in 70-80mph serves to the backhand and never getting punished. Absolutely laughable.

Who do you think is the best returner of the Djokovic serve on this type of WTF surface? Federer?

 

[Red Rick]

Who do you think is the best returner of the Djokovic serve on this type of WTF surface? Federer?

Federer below below ATP average on returning kick serves to backhand.

 

[Rudiiii]

Rubbish. His second serve was much better than sinner second serve. Nole leads the tour on second serve pts won in 2023. Can't happen with garbage serve at all.

I didn't comment about 2023, only against Sinner yesterday. Italian attacked it like noone did in couple of years. You watched match for sure, and you saw couple of unreturnable returns