Federer, Djokovic and Nadal are the best tennis players of all time. But their strengths and weaknesses are very different. Further their playing tennis style has evolved over the years.
In this article I tried to capture their playing style evolution through the prism of their serve and return stats.
We can see from their first serve win rate that Federer’s first serve has always been much more effective than of Nadal and Djokovic. Federer first serve has been nearly as effective as that of serve machines like Isner and Anderson. Among grand slam champions only Pete Sampras, Boris Becker, Andy Roddick and Michael Stich had better first serve compared to Federer.
We can see Nadal first serve performance clearly dropped in 2015–16 when he relatively struggled on tour. Both Nadal and Djokovic have improved their first serve in the last few years.
Though first serve of Nadal and Djokovic have never been one of the best on tour. But its the second serve where all of them are among the best in history. Not only Federer, Djokovic and Nadal have been the best on tour among their generation. But even among the other legends like Sampras etc, second serve of Nadal, Federer and Djokovic have been among the best in history. And none of the big 3 have edge on this category.
Among the players who have won grand slam tournaments, Nadal had best second serve, Federer is second and Novak Djokovic is fourth best among grand slam champions on point won on second serve. Andy Roddick was third.
First service effectiveness has always given Federer an edge over Nadal and Djokovic, in his service games. Even in the last few few years where Nadal and Djokovic has dominated big tournaments, Federer has performed better in his service games, compared to them.
Among grand slam winners, only Andy Roddick has won more proportion of his service games, compared to Federer. Interestingly Federer has won more portion of his service games compared to Pete Sampras.
Federer has edge in serve but in every return category, Nadal and Djokovic have edge over Federer.
In his younger years, Federer was often among top first serve returners on tour. I cannot forget how easily federer neutralised big guys serve. Like he does to Roddick 140 mile serve in this video
However Federer’s first serve return declined after 2007. Decline in Federer’s first serve return was the key factor behind decline of Federer after 2007.
However first serve return of Federer is one of best in history. It is only weak compared to that of Nadal and Djokovic. Among grand slam champions, Nadal had won highest proportion of first serve returns in his career. Djokovic is second. Federer is sixth! behind Andy Murray, Stefan Edberg and Sergi Bruguera.
Yes Federer had better first serve return than Agassi. Do not believe it. See this last game of Federer Sampras match.
Federer second serve return has always been his achilles heel. Even during his period of dominance he did not do very well on second serve returns.
On the other hand second serve return of Nadal and Djokovic are among the best in history. Among grand slam champions, Andre Agassi had best second serve return by measure of second serve points won in career . Nadal is second behind Agassi, Djokovic is fourth behind Thomas Muster. Andy Murray is fifth.
Their performance on first and second serve returns give Nadal and Djokovic edge over Federer and everyone else on tour in return games. In numbers Nadal and Djokovic look close. But Djokovic has better return game on hard courts and grass courts.
Nadal and Djokovic have dominated the last decade. But Federer has kept fighting them. Making huge improvements after switching to bigger racket in 2013. During five years period between 2014 and 2018, Federer win loss ratio was better than either Nadal or Djokovic. Culiminating in 2017 when Federer won 91 percent of his matches. Better than both Nadal and Djokovic.
Nadal also went through a period of prolonged slump during 2015 and 2016 . But he has since rebounded since 2017 after switching to more aggressive playing style.
Djokovic also went through a period of prolonged slump for two years after winning 2016 french open. But has since rebounded after winning 2018 Wimbledon. Including 2018 Wimbledon, he had won 8 of 12 grand slams.
Djokovic already holds record for most weeks at number one ranking. He is going to break Peter Sampras record for most year end number one ranking. At his current form he will probably rake up 25 grand slams.
I have always been a Federer fan. I hated Nadal and Djokovic for denying Federer. But what all of big 3 have done is incredible. You cannot not admire artistry of Federer, tenacity of Nadal and Djokovic. I believe all three of them are unique and cannot be compared with each other. But by sheer number of grand slam wins, when all three end of them end their careers , Djokovic would be considered greatest of all time.
