The return has always been one of tennis’s most crucial shots. It’s your immediate response to the serve, which many consider the only shot you can truly control in the sport. How you handle that incoming ball largely determines the trajectory of the point. Return well consistently, and winning matches becomes significantly easier.
Consider Novak Djokovic’s career. Strip away his elite return and replace it with an average one—does he achieve anywhere near the same success? Not even close. Interestingly, if you downgraded his serve instead, the impact would be far less severe. His elite serving came later in his career, but that devastating return? That’s been doing damage from day one and continues to be his calling card.
That’s just one example of how vital this shot can be. With that in mind, let’s examine which players proved to be the true returning menaces this year.
We’re basing this on the percentage of return games won. Like any statistic, it’s imperfect and context-dependent, but it does a solid job of identifying which players terrorized opponents on return. This doesn’t necessarily mean they have the “best” return in some absolute sense, which is nearly impossible to quantify with numbers alone, but it shows who got the job done most effectively.
1. Jannik Sinner – 33%
Sinner topping this list shouldn’t shock anyone. As the second-best player in 2025, he was always going to feature prominently. Winning 33% of return games is exceptional and speaks to just how dominant he’s been this year. There were simply no easy service holds against him, which explains his sustained success across the season.
2. Carlos Alcaraz – 32%
Right on Sinner’s heels sits Alcaraz at 32%, an elite figure that might actually be more impressive than Sinner’s. While Sinner operates like a machine with laser focus, Alcaraz tends to cruise through matches with a more casual demeanor. He locks in when necessary, but maintaining this return percentage while playing with his characteristic laid-back attitude? That’s genuinely frightening.
3. Alex de Minaur – 29%
Not far behind the top two, we find de Minaur with another elite number. Many will wonder how he’s here alongside players with more firepower, but that’s exactly the point. He brings consistency and relentless pressure that simply wears opponents down. Against weaker competition, he regularly secures double breaks and dominates service games. The struggle comes against top players, where his lack of knockout weapons becomes a liability.
