The October form that travels to Riyadh
The fall swing clarified the plot. Coco Gauff punched through Wuhan with a clean sheet, winning the title without dropping a set, as detailed in Gauff's Wuhan title report. Amanda Anisimova struck first in Beijing, taking the China Open on October 5 after ousting the defending champion in the semifinals. Her week underscored a theme you will see in Riyadh: assertive second serves to the body to set up the first forehand, and depth-first returning that pins even elite movers, as shown in Anisimova's Beijing title run recap.
Aryna Sabalenka enters Riyadh as the steadier front-runner, built on high-baseline power and a bolder second serve under pressure. These habits travel from China to Saudi Arabia and will decide big points.
Riyadh plays medium and rewards first-strike discipline
The WTA Finals are staged on indoor hard courts at King Saud University Indoor Arena. On a medium court, clarity beats raw pace. If you know where your second serve is going and what ball you want next, you win more free rallies. Float a second serve or land a short return and you hand away the initiative.
For a deeper look at indoor first-strike patterns, see WTA Finals Riyadh 2025: First-Strike Serve and Return Tactics That Win Indoors and WTA Finals Riyadh 2025: Indoor Tactics, Nerves, and Match-Day Drills.
Why second-serve aggression is the lever
Second serves invite fear. The best players treat them as a green light. Two simple choices scale for juniors:
- Pick one high-probability target a game and live there until the opponent proves they can hurt you. Most often that is the body, deuce side, with shape and kick, followed by a forehand into the open court.
- Decide your +1 ball before you bounce the ball. If the return comes short middle, go forehand heavy cross. If it comes deep middle, send a high, heavy ball back behind the runner.
Here is the mechanism behind the body second serve. When you hit the torso or playing-side hip at 85 to 95 miles per hour with spin, you remove angle from the returner. Fewer reachable angles means fewer surprise counters. On medium-pace courts, that extra half second is enough to put your hips and strings behind the +1 forehand. The server, not the returner, becomes the first player to dictate direction.
For Sabalenka, who often prefers a bold second serve up the T, the Riyadh adjustment is not to get safer. It is to get specific. If the opponent is sitting on the T, move the same speed second serve a few inches toward the body hip and plan for a heavy crosscourt forehand as soon as you see a blocked return. If you miss, miss long with spin. Long second serves buy you time. Short ones get punished.
Why return depth flips the rally
Return direction is overrated. Depth is not. On the Riyadh court, add two feet of depth and you add roughly half a shot of time. That often moves the server from an inside-the-baseline strike to neutral. Champions in this field get neutral on returns more often by making three bets:
- Aim big targets through the middle, past the service line by a racket length. If you clip the tape, your aim was too low. If you land short of the service line, raise net clearance by a ball and accept a small loss of pace.
- Trade speed for shape on first-serve returns when stretched. A heavy, high net-clearance ball down the middle frustrates first-strikers who crave angle and buys you recovery steps.
- Use backhand down-the-middle returns against servers who hunt forehand +1 patterns. Middle removes angle and hides your court position while you recover.
Gauff leans on this already, which is why she can absorb a first-strike wave, survive two balls, then change direction with her forehand. Anisimova’s Beijing tape shows the same shape-first choice on pressure returns, which then unlocked early forehand strikes on the next ball.
Mental routines that scale to match courts like Riyadh
The surface rewards clarity. The mind supplies it.
Pre-serve script: 6 breaths and 2 decisions
- Step back with your non-dominant foot and place the strings on your belly button. Exhale through the mouth for one count, inhale through the nose for two. Do that six times while you visualize a single target and a single +1 pattern.
- Name the serve in a whisper: body kick, deuce side. Name the +1 response: if middle short, forehand heavy cross; if deep middle, shape high to backhand, then step in.
- Bounce the ball no more than four times. If the decision wobbles, reset. Do not hit through doubt.
Between-point reset: 4 steps and a word
- Turn away and walk to the back fence by touch points, not by the score. Unclip strings from mind by looking at the logo in the throat.
- Breathe in for two, out for three while rubbing the strings with your thumb.
- Ask one question: what serve or return depth won that last point. Answer in one word.
- Choose your next one-word cue: body, shape, or middle. Commit by stepping forward on that word.
To arrive fresh enough to execute these scripts, review Tennis Load Management for Year-End Finals.
Matchups through this lens
- Gauff vs power servers: Her defense turns to offense if she earns two neutralizing returns deep through the middle early. Against elite pace, the key is not to out-hit the serve. It is to return high and deep, steal the server’s feet, and force a backhand from neutral. If Gauff reaches three such neutrals per game, she breaks more than once.
- Sabalenka vs counterpunchers: Her pathway is bold second serves to the body and ruthless +1 direction. If she holds above 60 percent behind second serve by winning the first forehand, the match tilts. The mindset is to keep calling the same pattern after a double fault or a great return.
- Anisimova vs elite movers: Beijing showed she can win the middle of the court by opening with deep returns and finishing with early forehands. In Riyadh, the upgrade is a few more body serves inside the deuce hash to set those forehands. If she keeps return depth past the service line, she plays from ahead often.
A one-week practice menu for juniors and coaches
Block 1: Second-serve body plus one
- Target: deuce side, second serve that lands shoulder-high to the returner and bounces toward the torso.
- Pattern: if the return blocks middle and short, go forehand heavy cross. If the return lands deep middle, shape heavy backhand and wait for the short ball.
- Constraint: 10-point ladder. You only climb a rung if ball one lands in the body zone and ball two lands past the service line. Drop a rung for a double fault or a short +1.
Block 2: Return depth to neutral
- Two cones a racket length past the service line in the middle triangle. First serve: use your normal swing. Second serve: add margin, raise net clearance, and accept slower speed.
- Scoring: one point for landing in the cone lane, two if your ball forces the server’s first strike from behind the baseline.
Block 3: Body serve reading
- Feed body serves that jam the hitter’s hip on both sides. Train the returner to step back with the outside foot and punch middle with a short backswing.
- Add a coach call: on green, step around and go forehand middle; on red, absorb and chip deep middle. Change the call after the toss to simulate read-and-react.
Block 4: Between-point scripts under noise
- Use ambient crowd noise and a 25-second shot clock. Server completes the pre-serve script within 12 seconds and strikes by 20.
- Returner walks a full reset loop and starts the split step on the server’s upward toss every time. Track violations. The goal is rhythm under pressure.
Off-court add-ons to accelerate the learning
- VR decision reps: Rehearse three branches per serve. Measure time to first decision and correctness. In week two, add a penalty where a late decision triggers a defensive scene next.
- Passive-arm wearables: Light forearm bands and small sensors estimate swing speed, arm load, and contact height. For second-serve work, track three numbers: average racquet-head speed at contact, a spin-rate proxy if available, and dispersion of contact height. Aim for plus one percent speed, plus one ball of average height, and tighter dispersion week over week.
- Video tagging with intent: From the back fence, tag two events for a week: second-serve location and return-depth result. The pattern you want is boring: heavy shading in body serves that lead to forehands and heavy shading in returns that land past the service line.
Quick gear notes for power with comfort in 2025
- Frame: 98 to 100 square inches, mid-60s stiffness or lower, and a swingweight you can accelerate when tired. If you feel late on body serves, the racquet is too head heavy for your current strength.
- Grommets and comfort: Newer layups and grommet systems blend stability with flex and make bumper changes quicker. If your frame buzzes on off-center contact or your elbow complains on kick serves, look for the latest comfort-focused tech and a slightly softer beam.
- Strings: A softer polyester at 45 to 50 pounds or a hybrid with a smooth poly main and a multifilament cross lets you swing fast on second serves and still get depth on returns. If return depth is short with a firm string, do not swing harder. Drop two pounds and check the landing spot.
- Grip and balance: Add two grams of lead at 3 and 9 o’clock only if your return feels unstable. Add four grams under the butt cap if your wrist nags on kick serves. Test changes in 20-ball blocks and keep the ones that raise your depth median without costing racquet-head speed.
The bottom line
Riyadh’s medium-pace hard court will reward the player who wins the invisible fight: bold body second serves that pre-plan the +1, and heavy, middle-first return depth that steals time. That is why Gauff’s Wuhan efficiency matters, why Anisimova’s Beijing surge plays up, and why Sabalenka’s steadiness is built for this surface. Coaches and juniors: pick one lever for seven days. Script the body second serve, or train return depth to the service line plus a racket. Tag it on video. Track it with a wearable. Build the plan in your training log and iterate each week. Big points get simpler when Riyadh-style pressure comes to your court.