How Novak Djokovic's return game highlighted his supremacy over Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz and others in 2022
Allow Novak Djokovic to return your serve at your own peril. A statistical analysis of points won on return of serve by the year-end ATP Top-10 recently highlighted why the Serbian great is regarded as the best returner of serve in the world and one of the best ever. Djokovic reigned supreme on return throughout 2022, recording the best numbers on the men's tour in that regard.
The bigger challenge is facing the first serve with opponents, particularly the big servers, having the license to go all guns blazing. But Djokovic somehow manages to put the server under pressure despite a strong first serve, and his numbers behind return in 2022 highlighted the same.
According to an analysis by Infosys and ATP Tour, the Serbian great won more than 50% of points all year in which he was able to put the return on first serve back in play and was the only player to cross the 50% mark in 2022. In other words, despite a powerful first serve, the server is statistically already on the back foot even if the Serb just blocks the serve back into play. Interestingly, Andrey Rublev was the second-best player all season in that regard, winning 49.6% of the points all season in which he made a successful return back in play off a first serve, to the Serb's 50.3%.
World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz ranked third with 49% points won after making a first-serve return, while Rafael Nadal was fourth at 48.3%. Felix Auger-Aliassme rounded out the Top 5 with 47.3% points won. Meanwhile, Djokovic has won more points than lost when making a successful first-serve return in five of the last 10 seasons, further explaining why he is often successful against the most dangerous servers.
Novak Djokovic's staggering numbers behind second serve return further highlight his supremacy
While his first serve return points-winning record is already impressive, Novak Djokovic creates even more trouble for opponents on second serve return. In 2022, the Serb won as many as 61.8% of the points in which he was able to put his opponents' second serve back in play, meaning he won 6 out of 10 return points on average, on that front. 2022 was his best season in terms of second-serve return points won since 2014, when he produced a 62.2% winning record.
Carlos Alcaraz came closest to the 35-year-old in that regard, winning 61.4% points. American No. 1 Taylor Fritz was the third best, winning 55.7% of points in which he made a successful second serve return. Andrey Rublev (53.4%) and Felix Auger-Aliassime (53.2%) closed out the Top 5.
Without a doubt, Djokovic also topped the charts in the combined results on both first and second-serve return points won when the return was made, with a total of 55.1%. Alcaraz ranked second in the combined first and second serve return chart with 53.8% points won, while Rublev (3rd) scored a 51.3% winning record.
Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal was the last among only four players to have won more points than lost on return of serve - first and second serve combined - when the return was put in play, with 50.1% to his name.