Daniil Medvedev - Returns from a different postcode area
No offensive return position: Daniil Medvedev showed at the ATP Finals 2020 that success can also come from far behind on the pitch.
by tennisnet.com
last edit:
Dec 12, 2020, 08:43 am
Before the 2018 US Open quarter-finals between Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem , the commentators made the joke that the two players were so far behind the baseline on return that they were already in different zip code areas. What John McEnroe, Brad Gilbert or Darren Cahill felt at the time, the statistics guru of the ATP, Craig O'Shannessy, used Daniil Medvedev as an example at the ATP Finals in London to highlight with numbers. That means, O'Shanessy has shown on the basis of the evaluations of some matches at the ATP Finals that Thiem and Nadal are not the only ones who appreciate a lot of space behind the baseline when they setback.
In any case, Daniil Medvedev overwhelmed the hawk-eye system in London. The latter "only" covers the first five meters behind the baseline. Medvedev was an average of 5.51 meters behind the baseline when Alexander Zverev served . No exception, by the way: 88 matches were examined for the position on the return of the first serve - and Daniil Medvedev occupies the first five places in this ranking with distances between 4.51 and 5.51 meters on average.
# IMG2 #
Thiem against Federer extremely offensive
Roger Federer delivered the other extreme in 2018 against Kei Nishikori , who of course does not have the same serving power as Alexander Zverev. Federer's contact point on the Japanese’s first serve was just 22 centimeters behind the baseline. Viewed over all 88 matches, the average is 1.9 meters.
# IMG3 #
With the second service, the players naturally position themselves further ahead. However, there has been a backward movement in this regard in the last three years: from 0.23 meters in 2018 to 1.25 meters in 2019 and up to 1.43 meters this year. Incidentally, Dominic Thiem delivers the extreme values for the second service: According to O'Shannessy, the Austrian returned against Roger Federer's second serve 1.23 meters within (!) The baseline in 2018. And against Alexander Zverev in the semifinals 2019 5.33 meters behind.