Deuces Don’t Slow Down Dimitrov’s Serve

The longer his service games are extended on hard courts, the more Grigor Dimitrov digs in and finds a way to hold.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of players holding serve when their service games are extended to two or more deuces on hard court over the past five seasons identifies Dimitrov as the leader of the pack with 199 service games held from this precarious scenario.

This metric is somewhat of a double-edged sword as Dimitrov, like all players on Tour, would naturally prefer to hold his service games with greater ease.

But theory and reality don’t always mix, and Dimitrov has shown great resolve to hold serve when opponents are pushing their way deeper and deeper into his service games.

The leading 10 players from 2015-2019 that held the most service games from two or more deuces:
1. Grigor Dimitrov = 199
2. Stan Wawrinka = 192
3. Dominic Thiem = 164
4. David Goffin = 159
T5. Alexander Zverev = 153
T5. Adrian Mannarino = 153
7. Novak Djokovic = 149
T8. Benoit Paire = 145
T8. Kei Nishikori = 145
10. Fernando Verdasco = 145

Dimitrov is currently No. 22 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. He held his career-high of No. 3 in November 2017 after winning the Nitto ATP Finals in London.

In the past five seasons, Dimitrov’s single season effort in 2016 of holding 58 times from two or more deuces is the best.

2015-2019 Season Leader: Holding Two Or More Deuces
2019: Stefanos Tsitsipas = 53
2018: Grigor Dimitrov = 50
2017: Alexander Zverev = 51
2016: Grigor Dimitrov = 58
2015: Stan Wawrinka = 56

Overall, Dimitrov has held an impressive 76.8 per cent (199/259) of the time when his service games have been extended to two or more deuces, which is ahead of the Tour average of 73.4 per cent (9270/12636).

The player with the highest win percentage from 2015-2019, with a minimum of 50 attempts, is Ivo Karlovic, who won 85.6 per cent (83/97). The five best win percentages:

1: Ivo Karlovic = 85.6% (83/97)
2: Milos Raonic = 84.7% (100/118)
3: Nick Kyrgios = 84.4% (119/141)
4: Juan Martin del Potro = 84.3% (75/89)
5: Reilly Opelka = 83.6% (46/55)

Having your service games extended to two or more deuces is going to happen no matter if you like it or not. Dimitrov’s resilience in this specific situation helps keep him at the top tier of our sport.