What Edmund Improved To Make The Australian Open SF
Kyle Edmund’s first serve has caught fire Down Under.
The 23-year-old Brit served 315 aces during 60 matches in 2017 to help power himself to a year-end ATP Ranking of No. 50. Solid numbers, but nothing like what he has done during his run to the semi-finals of the 2018 Australian Open.
Edmund has hit 78 aces through five matches in Melbourne – which is remarkably already 25 per cent of his season total from last year. Five of Edmund’s aces have come behind second serves.
Edmund is currently ranked 32nd on the Infosys ATP Stats Serve LEADERBOARD, which reflects good serving, but clearly shows he is not yet one of the serving greats on the ATP World Tour. Edmund’s 78 aces so far in Melbourne have him fifth highest for the tournament in that category, with his fastest serve being 205 km/h (127mph). That serve speed ties him for 42nd fastest for the tournament, so it’s clearly not pure heat that is fueling the ace count.
Edmund has been hitting his spots extremely well the past two weeks, with 68 per cent (53/78) of his aces being struck in the Deuce court, and 32 per cent (25/78) in the Ad court.
Ace Location
Deuce Court Wide = 28% (22)
Deuce Court T = 40% (31)
Ad Court Wide = 14% (11)
Ad Court T = 18% (14)
Edmund’s favourite location has been down the T in the Deuce court, where 40 per cent (31) of his aces have been hit.
2018 Australian Open: Edmund Ace Location vs. Opponent
|
Ace Location |
Dimitrov |
Seppi |
Basilashvili |
Istomin |
Anderson |
TOTAL |
|
Deuce Court - Wide |
3 |
10 |
6 |
0 |
3 |
22 |
|
Deuce Court - T |
6 |
8 |
7 |
4 |
6 |
31 |
|
Ad Court - Wide |
2 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
11 |
|
Ad Court - T |
2 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
14 |
|
TOTAL |
13 |
25 |
20 |
9 |
11 |
78 |
What’s interesting is that while Edmund’s ace total has sharply risen, his double faults have not. Edmund averaged 1.9 aces per double fault in the 2017 season, but that has skyrocketed to 5.2 aces per double fault in Melbourne.
His first-serve percentage in 2017 was 58 per cent. He is at 63 per cent in Melbourne the past two weeks. His first-serve points won has risen from his 2017 average of 74 per cent, to 78 per cent at the Australian Open.
You would naturally think that Edmund’s second-serve performance would also be sharply higher, but it’s simply not the case. Edmund won 53 per cent of his second-serve points in 2017, and that’s only up one percentage point to 54 per cent in Melbourne.
Edmund plays Marin Cilic in the Australian Open semi-finals on Thursday evening. Cilic has pumped 96 aces so far, committing just 17 double faults. Expect aces to flow freely on Rod Laver Arena.
Note: Statistics at the Australian Open are recorded by SMT.
