Why Novak Djokovic's serve, not his return, has helped him stay near the top of the sport

Beyond The Numbers

Why Djokovic's serve, not his return, has helped him stay near the top of the sport

Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers examines Djokovic's serving success

Corinne Dubreuil

Novak Djokovic has won 88.3 per cent of his service games in 2025 entering Shanghai. By Andrew Eichenholz

Novak Djokovic has long been considered one of the best returners in tennis history. Although the Serbian is still performing well in that part of the game, he remains near the very top of the sport thanks to his improved serving.

According to an Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis, the Serbian has won a higher rate of service games in 2025 than he has in all but two seasons in his career.

World No. 4 Djokovic has finished inside the Top 3 of the year-end PIF ATP Rankings in 15 of the past 18 years, including earning a record eight ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF honours. Only twice has he won a better percentage of service games than he has this season.

Novak Djokovic's Serving Statistics

Stat 2025 Career Service Games Won 88.3% 86.1% First-Serve % 66.6% 64.9% First-Serve Pts Won 76.4% 74.2% Second-Serve Pts Won 55.3% 55.5%

Djokovic’s best service games won percentage in his career came in 2015, when he ranked fifth on the ATP Tour at 89.5 per cent. In 2023, he ranked second — behind only Stefanos Tsitsipas — at 88.4 per cent. This year the Serbian is fourth at 88.3 per cent, only trailing Jannik Sinner (91.3%), Taylor Fritz (90%) and Reilly Opelka (88.7%).

Entering the Rolex Shanghai Masters, the 38-year-old is well ahead of his career average of 86.1 per cent. He has also outperformed his career averages in first-serve percentage (66.6% to 64.9%) and first-serve points won (76.4% to 74.2%), while remaining near level in second-serve points won (55.3% to 55.5%).

But the key trend is that three of his six best serving seasons in terms of service games won have come since the start of 2022.

Djokovic's Best Serving Seasons (By Service Games Won)

Year Service Games Won Match Record 2015 89.5% 82-6 2023 88.4% 56-7 2025 88.3% 31-10 2013 88% 74-9 2014+2022 87.7% 61-8, 42-7

Djokovic’s service surge is not limited to that one statistic, either. Before 2021, the 100-time tour-level titlist had never won more than 76 per cent of his first-serve points in a season. This year, he is on pace to do so for the fourth time.

The 40-time ATP Masters 1000 champion has averaged 5.5 aces per match in his career. This season, he has averaged 8.4 aces per match.

According to Fritz, Djokovic is able to combine his delivery itself with his baseline game to create a difficult puzzle to solve for opponents.

“I think what makes it tough is he serves well, he serves aggressive on second serves. It's tough to take advantage of his serve for how well he also returns and just is [playing] from the baseline,” Fritz said before falling to Djokovic in this year’s US Open quarter-finals. “He backs it up incredibly well with the serve. So it's tough to sometimes get on him the way that he's, I guess, getting on you with the return.”

From 2010 through 2021, Djokovic was one of the top three players on the ATP Tour in return games won each year he qualified for the leaderboard. He never placed higher in service games won than return games won during those years.

But in 2022 he ranked fourth in both categories, before placing three spots higher in service games won in 2023 (second vs. fifth) and six places higher so far this year (fourth vs. 10th).

Djokovic's return is still a force, but his serve is what stands out today.

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