{"id":94227,"date":"2025-12-12T07:15:05","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T12:15:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=94227"},"modified":"2025-12-08T15:42:28","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T20:42:28","slug":"the-atps-double-faults-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/12\/12\/the-atps-double-faults-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"The ATP&#8217;s Double Faults Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The double fault occupies a peculiar space in tennis. Everyone agrees it&#8217;s unnecessary, yet it persists. These unforced errors have ended matches and possibly even careers, but they remain an unavoidable part of the game. While a handful of double faults per match is manageable, some players struggle with this particular demon more than others. Here&#8217;s how the affliction played out across the ATP Tour in 2025.<\/p>\n<h2><b>1. Dennis Shapovalov (302)<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Shapovalov leads the tour in double faults, though this statistic tells a predictable story about his style of play. His game revolves around aggressive serving, and aggression comes with risk. The Canadian averaged 5.76 double faults per match, a notably high figure. In 93% of his matches, he committed more than two. At this point, it&#8217;s less a flaw than a signature of how he plays.<\/p>\n<h2><b>2. Alexander Bublik (299)<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Fans of <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2021\/03\/03\/alexander-bublik-underrated-maverick\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">the man with two first serves<\/a> might be surprised to see him finish second rather than first, but Bublik came remarkably close to the top spot. He&#8217;s developed something of an immunity to the anxiety that double faults cause other players. Given the sheer number of matches he played this year, his total translates to 4.6 per match. For someone who occasionally hits double digits in a single outing, that&#8217;s actually respectable.<\/p>\n<h2><b>3. Daniil Medvedev (277)<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Medvedev&#8217;s presence this high on the list stems from multiple factors. He&#8217;s notorious for rushing between points, which can disrupt concentration. The Russian also endured a frustrating year, and his emotional struggles showed up in his statistics. His 4.27 double faults per match aren&#8217;t elite, but it&#8217;s not disastrous either. He&#8217;s been vulnerable to this issue before.<\/p>\n<p><a  id=\"JVCnJsv1Q4ZUCm-lnAoZRA\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2244375396\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'JVCnJsv1Q4ZUCm-lnAoZRA',sig:'x2bmXb7TgPJ9T2W9SI7w9UPfuoc12RxZgWqUhI40tFo=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2244375396',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2><b>4. Felix Auger-Aliassime (234)<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Auger-Aliassime doesn&#8217;t carry a reputation for excessive double faults, which makes his fourth-place finish somewhat surprising. He played numerous tight matches this year where the pressure mounted and risks increased. He&#8217;s shown a tendency to falter in high-stakes moments, and that likely contributed to his total. Still, at 2.94 per match, his rate remains quite reasonable.<\/p>\n<h2><b>5. Learner Tien (227)<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Tien represents a rarity among American players: someone who didn&#8217;t arrive on tour with a premium serve. Most American prospects come equipped with a powerful serve, but Tien&#8217;s is merely decent. Many consider it the weakest element of his otherwise promising game. Factor in his youth and the reality that 2025 was essentially his debut season at this level, and his 3.93 double faults per match make perfect sense.<\/p>\n<h2><b>6. Zizou Bergs (222)<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Bergs played a significant volume of matches and approached each one with abundant confidence. Sometimes that confidence tips into overreach, resulting in overzealous serving choices. His 3.80 double faults per match aren&#8217;t alarming, but the Belgian&#8217;s heavy schedule pushed him to sixth place in the overall rankings.<\/p>\n<h2><b>7. Carlos Alcaraz (210)<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Finding Alcaraz on this list might seem odd given his elite status, but the Spaniard has an occasional tendency to lose focus. Like Bergs, he plays with supreme confidence and probably registers genuine surprise when a double fault occurs. His 2.47 per match is actually quite good. The volume of matches he played throughout the year simply accumulated into a high total.<\/p>\n<p><a  id=\"YMhD2z7WSnNAbiZYlwA5vg\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2250624308\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'YMhD2z7WSnNAbiZYlwA5vg',sig:'fsLx0gHVTaA43nk04JkBJT9liWVHemU3KSdxFPhQV5o=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2250624308',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2><b>8. Jacob Fearnley (210)<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Fearnley didn&#8217;t compete at the highest level consistently this year, though he&#8217;s produced some memorable moments in his young career. A powerful server who honed his game on the American college circuit, Fearnley approaches his service games with notable freedom. That looseness comes at a cost: he averages 5 double faults per match, second only to Shapovalov on this list.<\/p>\n<h2><b>9. Jakub Mensik (199)<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Mensik&#8217;s inclusion makes sense when you consider his serving prowess. He&#8217;s such a strong server that he probably believes he can hit an ace even with his second delivery. Naturally, he attempts it often, and just as naturally, it doesn&#8217;t always work. His 3.8 double faults per match is manageable overall, especially given the rewards his aggressive approach generates.<\/p>\n<h2><b>10. Reilly Opelka (198)<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>No proper list of double fault leaders would be complete without Reilly Opelka. As one of the tour&#8217;s premier servebots, he launches aces with regularity but inevitably produces double faults as well. His 198 total in 2025 translates to 3.73 per match, a figure easily offset by the sixteen aces he averages. For Opelka, it&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2019\/07\/03\/reilly-opelka-more-serve\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">simply the cost of doing business<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The double fault occupies a peculiar space in tennis. Everyone agrees it&#8217;s unnecessary, yet it persists. These unforced errors have ended matches and possibly even careers, but they remain an unavoidable part of the game. While a handful of double faults per match is manageable, some players struggle with this particular demon more than others. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5393,"featured_media":87127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2,9],"tags":[510,5729,498,18034,1219,42155,18805,18113,19,12932],"class_list":["post-94227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-atp","category-featured","category-news","tag-alexander-bublik","tag-carlos-alcaraz","tag-daniil-medvedev","tag-dennis-shapovalov","tag-felix-auger-aliassime","tag-jacob-fearnley","tag-jakub-mensik","tag-learner-tien","tag-reilly-opelka","tag-zizou-bergs"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5393"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94227"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94282,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94227\/revisions\/94282"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}