Simona Halep has finished the year on number one in the world and is also the best in another statistic. At the return, the Romanian makes life particularly difficult for her competitors, but Angelique Kerber also knows how to convince.
The women’s season on the WTA Tour is over and the time of statistics begins. One of the most important data for the analysis is how the players performed at the return. Without question, returning the serve is one of the most important strokes in tennis.
Angelique Kerber and Co. are often portrayed as return queens, but is that true? In fact, Germany’s number one player is one of the best return players in the wide field of women’s rankings. This is now documented by WTA statistics.
The world number one Simona Halep, who plays 48.5% of her return games, is on place. Means at the same time that the Romanian wins almost every second service game of her opponent. A remarkable record. Halep was already the best “returner” on the tour in 2017, but improved by 6% this year.
“I’m very confident about the return. I don’t want to say that I think: ‘It doesn’t matter if I lose my serve because I can break anyway’, but I feel good as a backswinger,” the Romanian told the WTA.
Behind Halep, Daria Kasatkina from Russia joins the group. With 46.3% of won return games, she is only just behind the leader of the rankings. The 21-year-old has an enormous feeling for the ball and most recently celebrated her first title on the Tour in Moscow.
Behind Kasatkina, Sloane Stephens is ranked third, with 44.2% of service games won, just ahead of Kerber. The Wimbledon winner from Kiel wins 43.9% of the service games in one match and thus improved the most over her competitors. Last year Kerbers’ value was 31.8%, this year the world ranking second place increased by 12.1%.
Qiang Wang, the surprise player of the past weeks, is ranked fifth among the best return players. The 26-year-old from Tianjin breaks her opponent’s serve by 43.7%.