We’ve seen how profoundly that has changed. Aryna Sabalenka, Madison Keys, Elena Rybakina, Gauff, Swiatek, Caroline Garcia and other women have helped bring the WTA out of the serving dark ages. The return, always a focal point in women’s tennis, has kept pace and continued to get better—hence the new emphasis on maximizing the serve.
“I’m actually proud of my serve,” Madison Keys said after her victory over Sabalenka to win her first Grand Slam title. Keys notably tweaked her serve during the offseason despite owning one of the best in the sport.
“I feel like I kind of changed it kicking and screaming a little bit because it was always something that worked well enough, so why mess with it?”
Can you imagine any other great server saying such a thing these days when, as Stefanos Tsitsipas said in Melbourne, “The game has shifted more towards a physical game. I feel like the margins become smaller, meaning that you’re not getting as many free points.”
And as we all know, there’s no free points quite like those earned with the serve—unless they’re the ones earned with a great return. It’s as good a cage match as you’ll find these days in sport, and only getting better.
