The serve in tennis is the most fundamental shot as it begins every point and when it's done properly it gives the serving player a clear advantage.
The serving advantage is most clear on the ATP Tour as men have stronger serves than women but a recent trend in the sport might prove a problem in the near future. That is at least according to one of the biggest stars of the game
Rafael Nadal who is noticing a worrying trend to him. Speaking on the matter he said:
"I think we need to think about the serve at some stage. Because the players are getting bigger
and bigger and the serve is getting faster and faster. If someone doesn’t find a wise solution for
serving, I’m worried that matches will be decided solely by serving. I
think this problem will get worse within 10 years."
It has become somewhat of a trend that oftentimes matches are decided by who has the better day serving. While the top players in the world find a way to work around that modern tennis is trending towards exceptional servers who on their day are almost impossible to beat.
Nadal was then asked whether eliminating the 2nd serve could be a viable innovation to which he responded:
"I don’t think it’s an irrelevant idea. You can test it out and see if it makes sense. I’m in favour of innovation in the tennis world. I think it’s a good idea to try it in a small tournament first."
Nadal holds a rather unpopular stance in tennis which is innovation. Most tennis fans are purists who would like to see the game stay the same. The Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) enforced a one serve rule and it worked rather well.