Daily Data Viz: American women trying to follow in Serena's footsteps

A look at Serena Williams's stats in comparison to the other top American women, Madison Keys and CoCo Vandeweghe. What does it take to follow in the No. 1's footsteps?

Madison Keys and Coco Vandeweghe both reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon this year and possess some of the same tools that have propelled Serena Williams to the top of the game. Serena, Keys and Vandeweghe all rank in the top 10 in all of the most important serving categories on the WTA Tour: aces, first serve points won, second serve points won and service games won. Take a look at the stats:

	Serena	keys	vandeweghe
ACES	1st	3rd	6th
1ST SERVE POINTS WON	1st	8th	5th
2ND SERVE POINTS WON	7th	10th	3rd
SERVICE GAMES WON	1st	7th	8th

The one area where they don’t come close to measuring up to Serena is return of serve. For 2015, Serena has won 45% of her return games (5th best on Tour). Keys has won just 34% and Vandeweghe just 24% of her return games. Most women on tour struggle with their serves against the strong groundstrokes and returns that are the norm on the WTA Tour. Keys and Vandeweghe have developed service games that are dominant but need to improve on their consistency from the ground in order to make the leap to the top of the game.

Check SI.com's 2015 U.S. Open data hub page throughout the whole tournament for the latest data-driven infographics and charts from IBM, the official technology partner for the U.S. Open. IBM captures and analyzes the data that powers all of the Grand Slams, as well as the digital platforms that extend the experience to fans around the world.