VENUS WILLIAMS VS AGNIESSZKA RADWANSKA. MATCH OF THE DAY. THE ANALYSIS

A good way of understanding the serve in tennis is that it is far more like a boomerang than an arrow. Boomerangs come back, like most serves, but we tend to think of it more like an arrow – an object with a one-way ticket. Agnieszka Radwanska does not have the quickest serve at Australian Open 2015 – far from it. Her fastest is 171km/h, which ranks her a distant 61st down the serve speed list, which is led by Serena Williams at 204km/h. There are actually 36 men who have not hit 204km/h this tournament. Ouch. But the speed of Radwanska’s arrow means little – proven by the fact she is the runaway leader in service games won, winning 92 per cent (22 of 24) – much better than Serena’s 79 per cent, who has been broken five times out of 29 service games. Radwanska will now battle Serena’s sister, Venus, in Monday’s Match of the Day, and her ability to hold serve will be the most critical dynamic in the match. So far at AO 2015, 78 per cent of serves are being returned in the women’s draw – that’s a lot of boomerangs! 

Radwanska is right around that average, but Venus is one of the best performers, with only 64 per cent of her serves coming back into play. Venus wants first-strike tennis, and uses the power of her serve to set that up. Radwanska wants to rally, and gain the ascendency one shot at a time. Radwanska is leading the tournament in baseline points won at 62 per cent (108 of 173), while Venus is also producing a respectable total of 54 per cent won (127 of 235).