Returning in modern tennis has become very important because the serves are improving, getting faster and stronger.
Many players nowadays understand the importance of the serve. Most emerging young players have a powerful serve, making returns as important as ever. It's always been historically important, which is shown by the tremendous career of Novak Djokovic.
He's widely considered one of the best returners of all time, and it's a huge part of why he's been so dominant for so long. However, there is another player who is dominating the return stats this year - Carlos Alcaraz.
The Spaniard is one of the most versatile returners on the ATP Tour, even though you might not associate him as such. Jannik Sinner, for example, is a player known for attacking tennis and some flashy return winners.
Alcaraz can do that as well, but he mostly focuses on the end goal. It's all about winning for him, so he keeps the ball in play and then pounces when he has a chance.
Several stats back that up. He has the highest percentage of return games won this year at 31.81 %, ahead of Daniil Medvedev. Sinner is actually third, as Djokovic is fifth on the list.
Medvedev actually leads numerically, but he also played more matches, which is why. When it comes to the stats, there is also the amount of points won on return and Alcaraz leads that list as well.
He is number one when it comes to points one after the opponent hits a first serve ahead of Medvedev, Alex de Minaur, and Francisco Cerundolo. He's actually better by a whole percentage point than Medvedev.
When it comes to the second serves, he's not at the top, trailining Sinner and Medvedev by a little overall, though he's been the top returner this year, which contributes greatly to his win total.
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