Serving has always been a critical aspect of a players game but Novak Djokovic believes it could be more important in this year’s Australian Open than ever before.
The world No.1 is the latest player to voice his opinion about the speed of the courts at Melbourne Park as he described them as the quickest he has ever experienced. Quite a statement from the eight-time Australian Open winner who made his debut back in 2005. There were indications of how key the serve was during Djokovic’s fourth round clash with Frances Tiafoe which lasted more than three-and-a-half hours. In total 49 aces were produced in the match with 26 coming from the top seed.
“If I serve well, it does help me,” Djokovic commented on the conditions.
“It is definitely more suitable for big servers. I’m not sure what is the reason why it keeps on getting faster and faster in terms of the speed of the court each year.’
“This is the fastest it has ever been. It’s not only my opinion. I’ve been talking to a lot of players. I mean, you just have to serve well. You can win a lot of free points there.”
Throughout his second round encounter the Serbian’s first serve speed was an average of 191kmh. To put that into perspective fast-server Milos Raonic averaged of 198kmh and Taylor Fritz was at 196kmh. Fritz is the next player Djokovic will play in the tournament followed potentially by the Canadian.
“If you face a big server, it’s huge pressure. If he goes comfortably through his games… I’m going to play Fritz in the next round, a big server and then potentially Raonic in fourth. You need a lot of accuracy on your serves but at the same time try to pick a side in those very rare moments in the set where you can break those guys,” the 17-time Grand Slam champion explained.
Dominic Thiem, who lost in the final of the tournament to Djokovic last year, is another who would rather be playing on the slower courts. Although the Austrian didn’t appear to be in too much trouble during his 6-4, 6-0, 6-2, win over Dominik Koepfer in the second round. Interestingly, his first serve speed average was just 3kmh less than Djokovic.
“I prefer last year’s courts, if I could choose,” he said.
“It’s probably one of the fastest Grand Slam tournaments I’ve played so far. We have to get used to it but if I had to choose I would have chosen the last year’s conditions.”
Due to different factors that contribute to the speed of a court such as how they are constructed and the weather conditions it is hard to establish a direct figure on any potential increase in speed. Although in one article published by Tennis Abstract in 2019 they reported a 12.9% increase in speed at the Australian Open within a three-year period which was more than any other Grand slam.
