Purpose:
Good serving is crucial to succeed in men’s world class tennis; however, both chronological and skill-related service game development remain to be elucidated. The study aimed to systematically analyse the development of serving behaviour and serve efficiency in world class men’s tennis over a period of 14 years.

Methods:
Historical data collected from all matches at the Wimbledon Championship between 2002 and 2015 (matches: n = 1772; service games: n = 63,838; serves: n = 401,527) were included for analyses. The analyses focused on 2 comparisons, serve efficiency development over time and possible differences within the world class, i.e. 1^st tournament week results (matches: n = 1563; service games: n = 55,989; serves: n = 352,748) and 2^nd tournament week results (matches: ⁿ = 209; service games: ⁿ = 7849; serves: ⁿ = 48,779).

Results:
An increase was observed of the percentages for service games won (p < 0.01), aces served (p < 0.01), and 1st and 2nd serve points won (p < 0.01), whereas double faults (p < 0.05) and serve and volley points played (p < 0.01) decreased over time. Direct comparisons of the 1^st and 2^nd tournament week show advantages in favour of the 2^nd tournament week. Players competing in the 2nd tournament week won higher percentages of service games (^p < 0.01) and points on the 1^st (^p < 0.01) and 2^nd serve (p < 0.05), and served more aces (p < 0.05) but fewer double faults (p < 0.05).

Conclusions:
With a particular impact on the 2^nd tournament week, the findings indicate increased serve efficiency in men’s world class grass court tennis from 2002 to 2015, which may imply altered practice patterns in tomorrow’s training and coaching.