Comparing Top Servers vs. Top Returners on the ATP Tour
Who is Ben Shelton
Ben Shelton is currently ranked #9 in the world and the best American tennis player on the ATP Tour. Ben Shelton is known for his big serve and agressive play style. Ben Shelton is currently in the finals for the US Open after defeating Carlos Alcaraz at 3:30 in the morning.
The ATP publishes its own composite Serve Rating, and Shelton is No. 2 on it — but he doesn't appear in the top 50 on the Return leaderboard. So the serve story is real and incomplete.
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The Data
The following data is from ATPtour.com. The leaderboard shows the top 10 players based on their serving stats as seen below.
| Player |
Serve Rating |
% 1st Serve |
% 1st Serve Points Won |
% 2st Serve Points Won |
% Service Games Won |
Avg. Aces/ Match |
Avg. Double Faults/Match |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Jannik Sinner |
305.3 | 65.4% | 80.7% | 58.4% | 93.5% | 8.6 | 1.3 |
| 2 |  Ben Shelton |
299.4 | 68.3% | 76.5% | 57.5% | 89.9% | 10.0 | 2.8 |
| 3 |  Alexander Zverev |
299.3 | 71.8% | 76.0% | 56.0% | 88.5% | 9.2 | 2.2 |
| 4 |  Taylor Fritz |
298.9 | 65.7% | 79.2% | 53.2% | 88.9% | 13.9 | 2.0 |
| 5 |  Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard |
297.0 | 71.2% | 76.7% | 49.5% | 86.9% | 15.9 | 3.2 |
| 6 |  Hubert Hurkacz |
294.8 | 63.3% | 79.6% | 50.6% | 88.5% | 15.7 | 2.9 |
| 7 |  Felix Auger-Aliassime |
294.2 | 67.6% | 78.1% | 51.6% | 88.8% | 10.8 | 2.7 |
| 8 |  Brandon Nakashima |
289.6 | 65.8% | 77.6% | 50.3% | 87.0% | 9.9 | 1.0 |
| 9 |  Alexander Bublik |
289.5 | 64.8% | 78.3% | 50.5% | 87.5% | 11.9 | 3.5 |
| 10 |  Arthur Rinderknech |
289.0 | 63.5% | 77.2% | 51.9% | 87.3% | 12.0 | 2.9 |
| Player |
Return Rating |
% 1st Serve Return Points Won |
% 2nd Serve Return Points Won |
% Return Games Won |
% Break Points Converted |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Carlos Alcaraz |
160.6 | 34.4% | 53.5% | 30.0% | 42.7% |
| 2 |  Daniel Merida |
160.5 | 32.0% | 54.1% | 29.6% | 44.8% |
| 3 | Jannik Sinner |
159.2 | 33.4% | 54.6% | 29.9% | 41.3% |
| 4 |  Rafael Jodar |
158.6 | 33.1% | 51.8% | 29.7% | 44.0% |
| 5 |  Daniil Medvedev |
158.5 | 34.0% | 53.4% | 28.3% | 42.8% |
| 6 |  Luca Van Assche |
155.2 | 31.3% | 52.9% | 28.4% | 42.6% |
| 7 |  Francisco Cerundolo |
154.5 | 31.7% | 53.4% | 29.4% | 40.0% |
| 8 |  Learner Tien |
153.2 | 31.1% | 52.9% | 26.3% | 42.9% |
| 9 |  Alex de Minaur |
152.5 | 31.2% | 53.9% | 26.4% | 41.0% |
| 10 |  Ignacio Buse |
152.3 | 30.6% | 50.3% | 25.5% | 45.9% |
What the Data Tells Us
The serve is real
Shelton has a powerful and effective serve, ranked just after Jannik Sinner for the best servers on the ATP tour.
Aces aren't the whole story
Mpetshi Perricard hits 15.9 aces a match and ranks 5th. Hurkacz hits 15.8 and ranks 6th. Sinner hits 8.4 — barely half — and ranks 1st. Shelton is only 9.8. This means that Serve Rating rewards efficiency, not power. The ace count in the table tells you almost nothing.
What are Shelton's Strengths?
Since aces don't drive the ranking, Shelton's value comes from consistency. He lands 67.9% of first serves and wins 57.6% of second-serve points — the second-best second-serve number in the entire top 25, behind only Sinner. The second serve is the shot a player can't hide, and Shelton's is the hardest to attack of any big server on this list.
What the Serve Can't Do
Shelton ranks 2nd of 50 on serve and doesn't appear in the top 50 on the ATP's Return leaderboard. Sinner and Alcaraz are top-3 on both. Holding serve keeps Shelton in matches, but he can't take his opponent's, so his path runs through tiebreaks and fifth sets — which is how his quarterfinal against Alcaraz ended at 3:33 in the morning.