G’day,
I want you to read this slowly, as it’s completely counterintuitive.
Elena Rybakina hit a maximum of two shots in the court in 77% of all points she played at the 2026 Australian Open. Two touches. That’s it for almost eight points out of every ten. Mind-boggling. She won the title, only dropping one set in the final. It works.
Short > long.
In the not-too-distant past, we valued consistency, shot tolerance, repetition, grinding, and even suffering as the keys to victory. We thought long points were the pathway to a successful professional career. It’s certainly how the practice court was traditionally organized.
Not anymore. Not when women’s Grand Slam champions value their serve and return more than their forehand and backhand.
Let’s take a closer look at how Rybakina organized her game to take this year’s title Down Under.
Elena Rybakina: Rally Length Played
These match metrics shake the foundations of our sport to the core. It invites a new definition of consistency. Our mantra used to focus on being better in longer rallies. Not anymore. Consistency in today’s game is about being rock-solid with the first two shots that you hit. It’s all about the serve and the Serve +1, and also the return and the Return +1.
IMPROVE YOUR GAME IN THE FIRST 4 SHOTS
Webinar 33: First Strike Tennis
Webinar 38: Aggressive Returns
Webinar 45: How To Build A Point
Webinar 57: Forehand Errors In 0-4 Shots
That’s where the conversation starts. It’s important to note that only FIVE percent of Rybakina’s points reached the promised land of the long rally (9+ shots). Who cares? She certainly doesn’t.
So, we know from the table above that Rybakina’s aggressive game style is consumed with short rallies. But how did she do in them compared to her opponent’s?
It was one-way traffic.
Elena Rybakina: Rally Length Won
In short rallies of 0-4 shots, Rybakina built up an impressive hundred-point advantage, winning 395 points while losing 295. This is where she played the majority of her points, and it is also where she amassed her biggest advantage.
When you combine all rallies from 5+ shots together, she won 109 points, while losing 102. She only won seven more points than she won when Rybakina or her opponents had to hit a third shot in the court. That’s jaw-dropping.
And then we have the long rallies of 9+ shots. The rally length we used to revere as the most important. Rybakina played only 50 of them (compared to 690 in 0-4 shots) and could not even compile a winning record, winning 21 while losing 29.
Rallies of 9+ shots only accounted for 5% of her total points, and she lost more than she won. They were inconsequential to her tournament victory. It’s a new world order.
SUMMARY
What does this mean for our practice court?
Serving
We must work more on serves. Especially, the accuracy of hitting target areas. Work on improving our toss and work on improving reaching up to the point of contact rather than letting the ball drop. Rybakina served 47 aces and only 8 double faults in her seven matches at Melbourne Park. Thirty-six percent of her serves were unreturned. That’s one out of every three. Must be nice. That takes a lot of pressure off holding serve. She won 74% of her first serves and 56% of her second serves. She won 63/73 service games.
Rybakina’s fastest first serve was 194 km/h (120 mph). That was faster than seven players in the men’s draw. We can all squeeze more performance out of our serve if we give it the time and attention on the practice court.
Returning
Rybakina put a healthy 73% of returns back in play for the tournament. She won 34% of return points against first serves and a scintilating 61% against her opponent’s second serves. If you can win greater than 50% of your second serve return points, you are well on your way to victory. She won 56% (27/48) of break point opportunities and clubbed 19 return winners in seven matches.
Players at all levels all over the planet need more work on returns. It’s undoubtedly the least practiced segment of our sport. And it’s one of the most important. Your initial target is right back down the middle of the court. Make the returner have to move away from their shot, and provide no angle for them to hurt you with.
Serve +1
This is the first shot after the serve. It’s almost always a forehand or a backhand, unless the server served and volleyed. We need to work on both the defensive and offensive versions of this shot. From a defensive standpoint, coaches should feed a tough ball deep to the forehand wing. This is where the server coughs up the most errors because they don’t block their way out of trouble.
And then there is the short, floating return that looks easy, but it’s really not. The ball is slow and high, and the court is short. This gets missed a lot.
Return +1
This is the first shot after the return, and it’s typically a backhand running out wide. The serve was good, the return was weak, and the default for the server is to attack their opponent’s backhand on the run. The coach can hit the serve and then feed a tough ball for the next shot to practice this important two-shot sequence for the returner.
Rybakina crushed it from the back of the court at AO 2026, winning 53% (256/485) of baseline points. She often ventured to the net, winning 59% (47/79) at the front of the court. A lot of these baseline and net points would have been in the first four shots.
By the way, the best time to go to the net in today’s game is with your Serve +1 forehand to the opponent’s backhand.
A great drill is to play points where each player gets to hit only 2 shots max. Lock in on the short rallies – just like Elena.