Some points matter a lot more than others. A couple of clutch break point conversions or a well-played tiebreak make it possible to win a match despite winning fewer than half of the points. Even when such statistical anomalies don’t occur, one point won at the right time can erase the damage done by several other points lost.
Break points are among the most important points, and because tennis’s governing bodies track them, we can easily study them. I’ve previously looked at break point stats, with a special emphasis on Federer, here and here. Today we’ll focus on break points in the women’s game.
The first step is to put break points in context. Rather than simply looking at a percentage saved or converted, we need to compare those rates to a player’s serve or return points won in general. Serena Williams is always going to save a higher percentage of break points than Sara Errani does, but that has much more to do with her excellent service game than any special skills on break points.
Once we do that, we have two results for each player: How much better (or worse) she is when facing break point on serve, and how much better (or worse) she is with a break point on return.
For instance, this year Serena has won 2.8% more service points than average when facing break point, and 7.5% more return points than average with a break point opportunity. The latter number is particularly good–not only compared to other players, but compared to Serena’s own record over the last ten years, when she’s converted break points exactly as often as she has won other break points.
Serena’s experience isn’t unusual. From one year to the next, these rates aren’t persistent, meaning that most players don’t consistently win or lose many more break points than expected. Since 2006, Maria Sharapova has converted 1% fewer break points than expected. Caroline Wozniacki has recorded exactly the same rate, while Victoria Azarenka has converted 2% fewer break points than expected.
On serve, the story is similar, with a slight twist. Inexperienced players seem to perform a little worse when trying to convert a break point against a more experienced opponent, so most top players save break points about 4% more often than they win other service points. Serena, Sharapova, Wozniacki, Azarenka, and Petra Kvitova all have career rates at about this level.
Unlike in the men’s game, there’s little evidence that left-handers have a special advantage saving break points on serve. Angelique Kerber is a few percentage points above average, but Kvitova, Lucie Safarova, and Ekaterina Makarova are all within one percentage point of neutral.
While a few marginal players are as much as ten percentage points away from neutral saving break points or converting them, the main takeaway here is that no one is building a great career on the back of consistent clutch performances on break points. Among women with at least 250 tour-level matches in the last decade, only Barbora Strycova has won more than 3% more break points (serve and return combined) than expected. Maria Kirilenko is the only player more than 3% below expected.
This analysis doesn’t tell us anything very interesting about the intrinsic skills of our favorite players, but that doesn’t mean it’s without value. If we can count on almost all players posting average numbers over the long term, we can identify short-term extremes and predict that certain players will return to normal.
And that (finally) brings us to Venus Williams. Since 2006, Venus has played break points a little bit worse than average, saving 2% more break points than typical serve points (compared to +4% for most stars) and winning break points on return 3% less often than other return points.
But this year, Venus has saved break points 17% less often than typical service points, the lowest single-season number from someone who played more than 20 tour-level matches. That’s roughly once per match this year that Venus has failed to save a break point that–in an average year–she would’ve saved.
There’s no guarantee that saving those additional break points would’ve changed many of Venus’s results this year, but given the usual strength of her service game, holding serve even a little bit more would make a difference.
This type of analysis can’t say whether a rough patch like Venus’s is due to bad luck, mental lapses, or something else entirely, but it does suggest very strongly than she will bounce back. In fact, she already has. In her successful US Open run, she’s won about 66% of service points while saving 63% of break points. That’s not nearly as good as Serena’s performance this year, but it’s much closer to her own career average.
Like so many tennis stats that fluctuate from match to match or year to year, this is another one that evens out in the end. A particularly good or bad number probably isn’t a sign of a long-term trend. Instead, it’s a signal that the short-term streak is unlikely to last.
I am confused by this comment “is always going to save a higher percentage of break points than Sara Errani does, but that has much more to do with her excellent service game than any special skills on break points”. If not for her excellent service game, which in my view is a special skill, how then do you explain Serena’s penchant for saving break points?
I’m trying to make a distinction between (a) having a good service game, and (b) having some special skill *beyond that* that would cause a player to win more service points when trying to save break point than average.
Serena definitely has (a), but there’s no evidence that she has (b) in the long-term, despite having a season’s worth of clutch or luck or whatever this year. Most, if not all, players don’t have (b).