By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday February 7, 2022

 

Ash Barty has held serve in 94.1 percent of her service games in 2022 - can she possibly keep that up?

Photo Source: Fila

Ash Barty has been a serving juggernaut in 2022, and a closer look at her basic serving stats show that the Aussie – despite being just 5’5 ½” – is producing serving stats for the ages in 2022. Can she keep it up? Time will tell, but if she does she could end up having one of the best serving seasons in WTA history.

Based on available stats on the WTA homepage, Barty is holding serve at a jaw-dropping 94.1 percent clip. Those who watched the Australian Open know that Barty carried a 63-game service hold streak at one point, while being broken just three times across her seven matches at Melbourne.

Barty has been broken just six times in 11 matches in 2022 (she’s 11-0 overall) and has survived eight of her 11 victories without surrendering a single break. Here is how she has fared as a server so far this season:

Adelaide:

Round of 16 v Coco Gauff: 12/15 break points saved
Quarterfinal v Sofia Kenin: 0/0 break points saved
Semifinal v Iga Swiatek: 2/2 break points saved
Final v Rybakina: 2/2 break points saved

Australian Open

First round v Lesia Tsurenko: 2/2 break points saved
Second round v Lucia Bronzetti: 0/0 break points saved
Third round v Camila Giorgi: 4/4 break points saved
Round of 16 v Amanda Anisimova: 4/5 break points saved
Quarterfinal v Jessica Pegula: 1/1 break points saved
Semifinal v Madison Keys: 2/2 break points saved
Final v Danielle Collins: 2/4 break points saved

In total Barty has saved 31 of 37 break points and won 70.6 percent of her service points. It’s a very small sample size, just 11 matches, and she’s yet to face a Top-5 talent in 2022, but Barty has faced seven Top-30 players in her 11 matches – not a cakewalk at all.

What’s also important to note is the fact that Barty’s serving success is no fluke. She led the WTA in service hold percentage in 2021, and was the only player who won better than 80 percent of her service games – a feat she has accomplished in each of the last two seasons.

Ash Barty Basic Serving Stats (overall rank), 2018 – 2022

2018 | 78.7 percent service games won in 61 matches (1st)
2019 | 79.7 percent service games won in 64 matches (2nd)
2020 | 81.6 percent service games won in 14 matches (3rd)
2021 | 80.9 percent service games won in 49 matches (1st)
2022 | 94.1 percent service games won in 11 matches (1st)

To give us an idea of where Barty projects to rank if we extrapolate her numbers out to a full season, we've compiled a list off all the players that have notched greater than 80 percent of service holds over a full season since 2010 (minimum 10 matches played).

Only four different players have managed to produce a full season with better than 80 percent service holds over the last seven seasons, and Barty joins Serena Williams as one of just two to have done it more than once.

2010 Serena Williams 81.4 percent of holds / 29 matches / 75.3 percent of first serve points won and 45.7 percent of second serve points won, saving 67.8 percent of break points.

2011 Serena Williams 85.4 percent of holds / 25 matches / 76.7 percent of first serve points won and 52.9 percent of second serve points won, saving 65.9 percent of break points.

2012 Serena Williams 87.5 percent of holds / 58 matches / 77.8 percent of first serve points won and 54 percent of second serve points won, saving 67.8 percent of break points.

2013 Serena Williams 84.1 percent of holds/ 80 matches / 74.7 first serve points won and 51.2 percent second serve points won, saving 65.8 percent of break points.

2014 Serena Williams 80.9 percent of holds/ 60 matches / 74.7 first serve points won and 50.3 percent second serve points won, saving 61.6 percent of break points.

2015 Serena Williams 81.1 percent of holds/ 53 matches / 75.9 first serve points won and 48.8 percent second serve points won, saving 63.4 percent of break points.

2015 Naomi Broady 81.7 percent of holds/ 10 matches / 77 first serve points won and 45 percent second serve points won, saving 55.3 percent of break points.

2016 Serena Williams 83.8 percent of holds/ 41 matches / 75.7 first serve points won and 50.2 percent second serve points won, saving 63.7 percent of break points.

2019 Serena Williams 80.1 percent of holds/ 31 matches / 75.1 first serve points won and 49.3 percent second serve points won, saving 56.2 percent of break points.

2020 Naomi Osaka 85.7 percent of holds/ 18 matches / 75.4 first serve points won and 65.9 percent second serve points won, saving 70.8 percent of break points.

2020 Serena Williams 82.8 percent of holds/ 20 matches / 72.7 first serve points won and 49.7 percent second serve points won, saving 70.1 percent of break points.

2020 Ash Barty 81.6 percent of holds/ 14 matches / 73.4 first serve points won and 49.5 percent second serve points won, saving 65.9 percent of break points.

2021 Ash Barty 80.9 percent of holds/ 49 matches / 75.1 percent first serve points won and 48.8 percent second serves point won, saving 64.8 percent of break points.

2022 Ash Barty 94.1 percent of holds/ 11 matches / 79.1 percent first serve points won and 57.4 percent second serves point won, saving 83.8 percent of break points.

2022 Madison Keys 82.3 percent of holds/ 13 matches / 70.8 percent first serve points won and 53.5 percent second serves point won, saving 66.7 percent of break points.

It will be interesting to see if Barty can continue to hold serve with remarkable efficiency for the remainder of the season, particularly as the tour moves to clay and later in the season, when fatigue sets in. We’re not going to make any predictions, but we will say that if Barty can continue the trajectory she has already started over the last few seasons, she will go down as one of the best servers in WTA history.