#Double nightmare free#

I have muscle memory and I just have to trust myself Aryna Sabalenka And it was overthinking,” Sabalenka said after her third-round match. “I think it’s more mental, because I put a lot of pressure on myself about my serve, and the last matches I was trying to control everything on my serve my legs, my arm, the ball toss. Also unlike Shapovalov, Sabalenka’s double faults tended to come when she decelerated, sending the ball into the net, a tell-tale sign that a player is tight. The double faults, therefore, weighed even more heavily. Unlike Shapovalov, her 20 aces in four matches were no match for the 56 doubles, while she is not in the top 20 in terms of first serve points won, nor second serve points won. Fifteen of them came in her fourth-round match with Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, including three in one game when she had got back on level terms at 4-4 in the decider.

#Double nightmare free#

Sabalenka: 'Im happy I hit only 10 double faults' 🤣🤣🤣 /m4IsgLimmy- LorenaPopa 🕵️‍♀️🎾 JanuNo trade-off for Sabalenka in aces, free pointsīut in her four matches, Sabalenka hit 56 double faults, more than twice that of the next worst (Paola Badosa, with 24). That she was able to make it as far as the fourth round was a testament to her mental strength and when she laughed it off after her third-round win, it seemed like she was working her way through the issue. With a huge first serve, massive groundstrokes and growing belief, it seemed like she was in the ideal place to get that first big win.īut in the warm-up events in Adelaide, she hit 18 double faults in one match and 21 in the next, leaving her mentally shattered as she began her Australian Open campaign. So it’s always kind of nice that you’re allowed to make mistakes and just keep going from it.” For Sabalenka, it’s a mental battleĪfter such a strong end to the year, Aryna Sabalenka began 2022 with many people tipping her to win her first Grand Slam title. The way I look at it is, it’s a game of mistakes. I’d like to not be missing any shots or hitting any double faults, but unfortunately, that’s the game of tennis. “I like to go for it, and for sure, I mean, it’s not ideal, but it is what it is and you have to move on from it and try to play the next point obviously. “It’s a part of tennis,” Shapovalov said, when asked by Tennis Majors. He also more than cancelled out the double faults in three of his four matches.

More importantly, perhaps, he knows he double faults a fair bit but is not letting affect his game, as his straight-sets win over No 3 seed Alexander Zverev showed. He’s in the top 10 at this year’s Australian Open in terms of aces, eighth in terms of top serve speed and seventh when it comes to percentage of first serve points won. Instead, he’s actively embracing it, knowing that his double faults tend to come when he’s going for it, part of his aggressive game that will bring him plenty of success. However, Shapovalov seems unbothered by the whole thing. It’s always kind of nice you’re allowed to make mistakes and keep going for it. In his four matches so far at this year’s Australian Open, Shapovalov has hit 31 aces, putting him third in the men’s event behind Maxime Cressy ( who tops the list with a whopping 54). He was third in 2018, second in 2020 and third last year.

In the past four years on the ATP Tour, Shapovalov has been in the top three for double faults three times. As Rafael Nadal, who plays him in the quarter-finals on Tuesday, said: “He could win multiple Grand Slams”.īut the left-handed Canadian also has a double-fault problem. Shapovalov has the kind of game that may one day make him the world No 1. AI / Reuters / Panoramic Shapovalov has a double-fault issue, but he’s not bothered While Shapovalov has been able to ignore them, seemingly, on his way to the quarter-finals for the first time, women’s No 2 seed Sabalenka crashed out of the tournament in the fourth round, hitting 15 double faults as her serve fell apart. It sounds simple, but at this year’s Australian Open, two players have been finding life on serve tougher than most, with double-faults littered through their matches.īut for Denis Shapovalov and Aryna Sabalenka, two of the biggest culprits at this year’s Australian Open, the way they have dealt with double faults, mentally, could not be more different. In theory, the serve is the only part of the game that is unaffected by the opponent.