What Was key In Zverev's Triumph Over Federer And How Can You Use It?

Zverev managed to stop Federer from tying for second most titles in the Open Era, looks like most grand slams, most ATP Final events, most masters 1000 event finals, most 500 tournaments, most 250 tournament finals and most match wins is enough. Zverev is definitely happy for his second masters' event and for the check that says $894,585. There is no doubt that Zverev dominated in most aspects of the game., but which of those stats were the most key?

For starters Zverev’s serve was way more effective than Federer’s serve in every way possible average serve speed, 1st serve in %, 1st serve and second serve points won and double faults. Now, one of the biggest reasons for any win lies in there, but which one. The answer is 2nd serve points won, yes the mere three percent may have won Zverev the match (Zverev 61%, Federer 58%.) My theory is that if that stat is significantly under 50% you’re already 50% closer to losing that match. Another very important statistic lying in the serve is double faults, but in this case it didn’t play much of a role (Zverev 1, Federer 2)

Now another important part of tennis is obviously the return, you can’t win a match without a break, but how do you get that? By winning points on your opponent's serve, of course, you also have to not let him win points on yours. This is the second piece of the puzzle, return points won, you have to convert those return points (Zverev 36%, Federer 25%.) If you have that stat over 30% then you’ve gathered another 49%. Of course, you need to convert those break points and that is something Zverev blew Federer out of the water in (Zverev 2/6 33%, Federer 0/3 0%.)

Now that you’ve got those stats nailed down you’ve got a 99% chance of winning! Well, almost still need to actually hold serve and convert breaks but having stats like the ones Zverev had definitely helps you do that and gets you one step closer to bragging rights over your friend. Pay attention to those stats next time you watch tennis and see if the winner had the stats above the bars I provided and you’ll see 99% of the time they do. Maybe you’ll pick up that $894,585 check when you have stats like those against Federer!