Coaches View: A Relentless Return
Caroline Wozniacki was relentless on the return of serve in her 6-2, 6-1 win over Samantha Stosur at the Aegon International in Eastbourne. Wozniacki earned four breaks in Stosur’s seven service games during the match.
SAP Tennis Analytics for Coaches shows just how much pressure Wozniacki was able to put Stosur under during the match. Wozniacki won 49% of her return points played (which jumps to 50% when including Stosur’s one ace and two double faults). That’s an improvement over her season average of 44% of return points won.
Wozniacki was particularly aggressive on second serves, making 92% of those returns from inside the baseline.
While Wozniacki won just 40% of her break points (4-of-10), that number is deceptive. Wozniacki forced a break point in five total games. With four breaks, Wozniacki won 80% of the games in which she had a break opportunity.
This is a continuation of the form that Wozniacki showed in her first round match in Eastbourne against Alizé Cornet. Through two rounds, Wozniacki has broken serve nine times in 15 return games while winning 53% of return points.
The SAP Coaches View combines scoring information direct from the chair umpire with tracking data from HawkEye to allow for an in depth look at five different aspects of a match. Each tracking option can be filtered to narrow the focus to specific situations within a match, such as break points. This information is available directly to coaches in real-time during a match on their SAP tablet and also available to them online after matches.
“Return of serve” tracking shows where each service return was struck, differentiating between first and second serves, with an emphasis on how many serves are returned from inside the baseline. This data can be filtered by a particular score.
If Wozniacki can continue to apply pressure to her opponents’ serve, she may find herself returning to the winner’s circle this week in Eastbourne.