Stat Attack: Best of the Brits during the 2022 WTA season
As another action-packed season on the WTA Tour draws to a close, we’re taking a look back at some of the best British performances and the standout players this year.
In 2022, many of our women’s stars have made significant breakthroughs in their careers. Harriet Dart reached the top 100 for the first time, Katie Swan and Jodie Burrage have both reached new career-high rankings, Katie Boulter and Heather Watson enjoyed strong Grand Slam runs, and Emma Raducanu pulled together some excellent results in only her first year on tour.
We’ve broken down the numbers to see where our British players rank among the top stars on the WTA Tour and which areas of their games they’ve improved the most.
Pressure points
In tennis one of the key things that sets you apart from other players is the ability to handle the big moments and the pressure points that can decide the outcome of a match.
This is an area where Raducanu has excelled this year, consistently performing above her overall ranking when it comes to break points. The 2021 US Open champion has converted on 50% of her break point opportunities this season. That means that Raducanu has outperformed some of the best players in the world, such as world No.8 Daria Kasatkina and Danielle Collins. The only Brit with a better record (and who has played more than five games) is Swan, coming in at 55.6%.
The British No.1 wasn’t the only player who shone brightest in the spotlight – Boulter’s record in tie-breaks this season is up there with the best of them. Despite only a small sample size of tie-breaks this season (five), Boulter is currently the third highest ranked player for tie-beaks won percentage at 80% - dropping just one.
SERVE
Renowned for having one of the most effective serves in the game, Boulter has also ranked high in the serving stats as well. Despite her world ranking of 132, through her 17 tour matches this year, the 26-year-old ranked 22nd on the leader board for first serve points won at 69.2% – a 4% increase from 2021.
This was one of the biggest contributing factors in Boulter’s brilliant run during the grass court season. In one of the best wins of her career so far against former world No.1 Karolina Pliskova at Wimbledon, Boulter won 84% (16/19) points on her first serve in the deciding set to reach the third round.
Although they’ve only played 15 tour matches between them this year, Swan and Burrage’s serves have proven a key strength in their games. Swan has won 58.7% total points on her serve and has won an impressive 68.6% of these off the first serve – the 26th highest percentage on tour. Meanwhile, Burrage finishes the season ranked 33rd in first serve points won (68.3%) and 48th in service points won (58.6%)
Billie Jean King Cup star Watson has historically put up strong serving stats and this season was no different. While she hit fewer aces this year than in 2021, Watson still wracked up 62 in just 21 matches, ranking her 64th amongst her peers compared to her world ranking at No.136.
Return
In a breakthrough season for Dart, with excellent performances at Indian Wells, the Rothesay Open Nottingham and Rothesay International Eastbourne, her return game has proved consistently solid.
One of the secrets to her success has been the number of times she’s managed to break her opponent and win games off her return. Compared to last year, Dart’s percentage of return games won has risen by around 3% to 34.6%, despite playing 11 more matches this year. She’s also made small improvements in her return against opponent’s first serve, which is up to 36.5% - higher than Jelena Ostapenko and Ajla Tomljanovic.
When looking at return stats, it’s difficult to look past Raducanu, who ranked 19th in terms of return rating this year. The numbers look strong across the board for the Brit – winning 57.4% of points on her opponent’s second serve (45th best on tour) and a further 45.2% total points on serve (43rd best on tour).
Her impressive return game is one of the many reasons why Raducanu finished the year with the fourth highest number of 6-0 sets won with six.