In the Wimbledon final Roger Federer served up 50 aces. He hit an ace on 39% of his first serves. In my recap of the Wimbledon final I said that it was Andy Roddick’s return — not Federer’s serve — that resulted in so many aces and so many unreturned serves. Some folks disagreed. Several pointed to a BBC split-screen, which showed that Roger’s toss and mechanics were the same for out-wide and down-the-line serves, making it virtually impossible to read. This was a very good observation — something I didn’t get from the U.S. broadcast. However, I still felt that Roddick’s return was poor so I went through some service statistics from the tournament to see if they supported a particular conclusion. This video presents my findings.
If you haven’t already seen it, here’s my analysis of the Federer – Roddick Wimbledon final. Please post comments with your thoughts!