PARIS — There may be one a part of tennis that has retained its simplicity: the coin toss.
Although some occasions do it digitally, most tournaments nonetheless convey out the actual factor to determine who serves first and which finish the opposite participant chooses. Heads or tails, serve or obtain, it is so simple as that.
Nicely, virtually.
In his guide “Profitable Ugly,” Brad Gilbert says receiving is the smart alternative, psychologically. In response to Gilbert, who reached world No. 4 as a participant and located renewed fame because the coach to Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and most not too long ago Coco Gauff, if somebody chooses to serve and is damaged, they’re instantly on the again foot. In the event that they select to obtain and do not break, they’ve misplaced nothing and have a sport below their belt earlier than serving themselves.
Climate circumstances, how gamers match up in opposition to one another, court docket floor and the way a participant feels on any given day can all play a task within the alternative. Some gamers select an finish of the court docket quite than to serve or obtain.
Novak Djokovic stated his intuition has modified through the years.
“Firstly of my profession, though I actually appreciated my probabilities once I’m serving, I used to be relying extra on the return. So if I bought the coin toss, I might at all times select to return,” Djokovic stated at Roland Garros on Monday. “However the final, I do not know, 10 years, I might be solely selecting to serve.
“I simply really feel that units a tone ultimately. You additionally ship a message to your opponent like, ‘Hey, I am not afraid to start out serving,’ begin the match with this type of a proper assertion. Generally I begin gradual, and I lose my first service video games, and then you definately begin to query your decision-making. However no matter that, I nonetheless really feel prefer it’s essential. It is essential on your personal confidence and to ship the message to your opponent as properly.”
British participant Jodie Burrage stated the coin toss was a “huge dialog amongst gamers.”
“I at all times select tails. I used to serve, however now obtain,” she stated. “I simply assume it offers me a sport to get into issues. I can harm them first sport if they begin a bit of gradual. If I begin a bit of gradual, it offers me a sport to get into my serve.
Higher servers, like Djokovic, are likely to serve first, realizing that in the event that they maintain after which break shortly, they will race to a 3-0 lead.
“It is determined by the opponent [but] I ideally select serve,” Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas instructed ESPN. “After I begin a match, I wish to serve. However there are additionally instances the place if I see the physique language of my opponent, if he is barely careworn, or if I really feel a lot nicer with my return sport in that exact a part of the yr, I will in all probability select return.
“I do not assume it really decides a match, in my view. After all, if you consider it from a mathematical method, for those who handle to interrupt on the second sport of the match, you may have greater probabilities of going 3-0 up then than for those who really begin the match by receiving, which might find yourself in a 2-1 lead, so mathematically, you are simply nearer to a set for those who begin serving.”
Evaluation of the primary two Grand Slam occasions of the yr counsel that within the first spherical, not less than, the overwhelming majority of gamers who win the toss select to obtain.
Within the first spherical of the ladies’s singles on the Australian Open, 43 gamers selected to obtain and 21 determined to serve. Of the 21 who served, 9 have been damaged. Of the 43 who obtained, 12 broke serve.
Within the males’s occasion, 43 obtained and 21 served first — the identical breakdown as the ladies — however of those that selected to serve, solely 4 have been damaged and of the 43 who obtained, simply three broke serve.
At this yr’s French Open, the numbers have been eerily comparable. Within the first spherical of the lads’s occasion, 19 gamers received the toss and selected to serve (six have been damaged), whereas 43 opted to obtain (six broke serve). Within the girls’s occasion, 21 gamers served first (11 have been damaged) and 41 obtained (21 broke serve).
Curiously, because the match progresses, the ratio of gamers selecting to serve first to these opting to obtain narrows significantly. In Australia, the numbers in Rounds 2, 3 and 4 have been virtually equal. In Paris, the numbers have been virtually equal in Spherical 2 and although extra males obtained in Spherical 3, maybe due to the floor, it was shut once more in Spherical 4. Within the final 16 of the ladies’s occasion at Roland Garros, six of the eight girls who received the toss selected to serve.
Some huge servers defer, maybe believing they’ll win their serve anyway, so why not attempt to catch their opponent chilly? Reilly Opelka, at 6-foot-11 one of many tallest gamers on the tour, selected to obtain in each his matches this yr at Roland Garros.
Aryna Sabalenka and Gauff, who’ve struggled on serve at instances of their careers, select to serve first as a rule. Madison Keys, who received her first Grand Slam title on the Australian Open this yr, usually chooses to obtain, though she’s versatile.
“Generally I wish to obtain simply because I feel popping out and serving first, typically there’s some nerves,” she stated. “I feel there’s numerous alternative which you can rise up an early break, doubtlessly.
“[But] truthfully, it form of simply relies upon. I’ve served first [as in the fourth-round win at Roland Garros on Monday], I’ve returned first. It would not really matter. However I feel typically I form of like the chance to simply actually get some good swings and a few good hits earlier than I’ve to serve first.”
Australian Sam Stosur, the previous US Open champion whose serve was an enormous a part of her sport, stated she would at all times play to her strengths. “I served first for 99 p.c of my profession,” she stated. “It was solely the final perhaps yr or so the place I used to be like, ‘Oh, perhaps I ought to change issues up and return every so often.’ It trusted the day, the opponent, how I used to be feeling. However normally I by no means ever entertained not serving first.”
Daria Kasatkina, who reached the final 16 at Roland Garros in her first main since altering allegiance from Russia to Australia earlier this yr, stated she virtually at all times returns serve. Alex de Minaur, Australia’s top-ranked males’s participant, does the identical.
“I usually at all times select to obtain simply to use stress from the very first sport,” De Minaur stated. “However since I do know it is quite common amongst gamers, particularly on the clay [to receive], I additionally be certain every time I can in observe matches to serve first typically simply to ensure I am used to it.”
There may be one different alternative that is not as extensively recognized or used: to let the opposite participant select as a substitute, one thing Croatian Marin Cilic tried in his first-round match in opposition to Flavio Cobolli at Roland Garros. In that case, Cobolli selected to obtain and Cilic held serve anyway.
It is a psychological transfer and one which Burrage stated would freak her out.
“I feel if somebody would give me the selection, I might be like, ‘Wow,'” the Briton stated. “No, no. I’ve by no means had that occur to me, fortunately.”