Craig O'Shannessy, Author at Brain Game Tennis

Taking Novak Djokovic’s Pulse In Paris

Wednesday, 31 May 2023 by Craig O'Shannessy

Novak Djokovic is building his game on the fly to again be crowned the King of Paris. Djokovic had an average clay court campaign by his own lofty standards coming into Roland Garros, going 5-3 in Monte Carlo, Banja Luka, and Rome. The three losses were to Lorenzo Musetti, Dusan Lajovic, and Holger Rune. Not

Published in 0-4 Shots, Novak Djokovic, Return Of Serve, Roland Garros, Serve And Volley, The First 4 Shots

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Roland Garros Forehands. Better Than We Thought.

Tuesday, 30 May 2023 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from Roland Garros. 🎾🇫🇷 The forehand is the 🗡️. The backhand is the 🛡️. Once you have this key relationship ingrained in your head, you are ready to win more matches. Forehands are better than backhands, especially the run-around variety that your opponent hits to your backhand, and you make the clever decision to

Published in Backhands, Forehands, Roland Garros

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2023 Roland Garros: New Serve Data

Monday, 29 May 2023 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from Roland Garros! 🇫🇷🎾 I always enjoy looking at emerging data sets early in a Grand Slam to get a feel for what’s to come. I found this one intriguing today. The focus is when a serve is returned back in play. So we subtract aces and return errors; all we have left is

Published in Return Of Serve, Roland Garros, Serving

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The Greatest Djokovic Stat – Ever!

Monday, 13 March 2023 by Craig O'Shannessy

Are you able to put a finger on the pulse of greatness? In other words, what exactly does Novak Djokovic do so well that sets him apart from other players? Is there a specific match statistic that identifies the gap between him and the rest of the field? Yes. There. Is. 🎯 Novak went 12-0

Published in Australian Open, Forehands, Novak Djokovic

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70%+ Serves Are Returned. What’s Your Serve +1 Plan?

Friday, 17 February 2023 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day. You bounce the ball and look over the net at your opponent. You are serving in the Deuce court, and right now, serving out wide seems like a good idea. You toss the ball up nice and high and hit the serve well, slicing it off the court. Your opponent reaches wide and hits

Published in Uncategorized

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Ben Shelton. The Biggest Serve In Tennis

Tuesday, 24 January 2023 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from Melbourne! 🇦🇺🐨 Twenty-year-old Ben Shelton has emerged as the sensation of the 2023 Australian Open. He has navigated his way to the tournament’s quarter-finals, where he takes on fellow American Tommy Paul this afternoon at 2.30 pm. Here are his results to the quarters. Rd 1 def. Z Zhang 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 2-6,

Published in Australian Open, Ben Shelton

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Djokovic Rd1 AusOpen Victory: 10 Quick & Quirky Stats

Tuesday, 17 January 2023 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from Melbourne! 🇦🇺🎾 Novak Djokovic returned to Melbourne Park last night with a dominant 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 victory over Roberto Carballes Baena. Here are 10 stats from the match that drill down into his Rd 1 victory. 1: RALLY LENGTH The first thing to understand is that the vast majority of points Novak played

Published in Australian Open, Novak Djokovic

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NEXTGEN Scoring Format Is The Future

Saturday, 19 November 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

TWITTER: November, 2022 TWITTER: WHICH FORMAT WON? Want to improve tennis? Update. The. Scoring. System. Change it to make tennis a more exciting product. Change it to have a more predictable and more appealing average match time. Change it to help lower-level tournaments attract more fans & become financially viable. Change it to

Published in ATP Finals, NextGen ATP Finals

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Learn From Rublev’s Meltdown At ATP Finals

Thursday, 17 November 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from Torino, I was courtside yesterday for Novak Djokovic’s victory over Andrey Rublev in the group stage of the ATP Finals. Everything was going along just fine until Rublev served at 4-5. His negative emotions erupted out of nowhere like a volcano. The video below starts with Rublev hitting an ace to get

ATP Finals

Published in Andrey Rublev, ATP Finals, ATP Tour, Novak Djokovic

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How To Handle A High Kick Serve To Your Backhand

Wednesday, 09 November 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from Milan, I arrived onsite at the NextGen ATP Finals a little early today and saw 20-year-old Jiri Lehecka warming up for his afternoon match. He was working on serves and returns. He was hitting the ball very clean! I pulled out my iPhone, recorded a couple of minutes of practice, and was lucky

Published in Jiri Lehecka, NextGen ATP Finals

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My 25 Favorite Drills – A To A Defense

Wednesday, 26 October 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, Where are most forehand groundstrokes errors made? Glad you asked! 🙋🏼‍♂️ I want to share with you one of the drills from tomorrow’s webinar focused on my 25 Favorite Drills & Progressions. It’s all about forehand groundstroke errors. The first thing to understand is the four areas at the back of the court –

Published in Drills

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Nick Kyrgios 2022 US Open: 10 Compelling Match Stats

Tuesday, 06 September 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, Nick Kyrgios is through to the quarter-finals of the 2022 US Open and takes on Karen Khachanov this evening at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Should be an amazing atmosphere! Here’s Kyrgios’ tournament to date. Rd 1 def. Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(4) Rd 2 def. Benjamin Bonzi 7-6(3), 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 Rd 3 def. JJ

Published in Daniil Medvedev, Nick Kyrgios, US Open

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Nick Kyrgios Is The Antidote

Monday, 05 September 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, Nick Kygios played one of the best matches of his pro career last night to defeat No. 1 ranked Daniil Medvedev 7-6(11), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, and advance to the quarter-finals of the US Open. It was a spectacular match with some incredible shot-making. Big game on the big stage. Kyrgios served lights out,

Published in Court Position, Daniil Medvedev, Nick Kyrgios, US Open

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The Art Of Winning 2nd Serve Points

Wednesday, 10 August 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, Is your second serve a strength of your game? I can say with almost certainty that it is not because it’s not for almost everyone on the 🌏. Winning more points on 2nd serve will be covered in extensive detail in the webinar Serve Strategy: Patterns, Percentages & Drills, which is now available for

Published in 2nd Serves, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, US Open, Webinars

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Serve Webinar: The Eight Serve Factors

Monday, 08 August 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day! You always play two matches when you step onto the court to compete. During the point. Between the points. We have all heard how tennis is such a mental game. Staying focused on your game plan and the opponent is a crucial element of that. The August 18th webinar (Serve Strategy: Patterns, Percentages &

Published in Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Serve Webinar, Serving, Stefanos Tsitsipas

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Doubles: The Winning Key To Being The Returner’s Partner

Tuesday, 26 July 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day! Where you stand on the court to start the point in doubles really, really matters!!! FOCUS: Positioning of the Returner’s Partner. The Returner’s partner is by far the toughest position to play on the doubles court. The other three players all get to hit the ball before they do. The Returner’s Partner will often

Published in Doubles, Webinars

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The practice court is clearly broken. Here’s the proof.

Points are "front loaded". By far the majority of the action, and the winning, takes place in THE FIRST 4 SHOTS. The practice court is full of long rallies. Matches are dominated by short rallies. There is a massive disconnect occurring.

We spend too much time grinding, banging balls up and down the middle of the court – that have no real benefit to winning tennis matches.

There are 3 specific rally lengths in tennis. Here is their percentage breakdown of total points.

0-4 Shots = 70%
5-8 Shots = 20%
9+ Shots = 10%

The First 4 Shots is specifically the serve, return, Serve +1 groundstroke and Return +1 groundstroke. Those are normally the shots that get practiced the least, but matter the most to winning tennis matches.

The net is an extremely high percentage place to be!

If you love playing tennis for fun, spend as much time at the baseline as you like. But if you compete – if the score matters – then you must turn your attention to the net to maximize your potential.

The “herd mentality” in tennis thinks it’s too tough to approach the net in today’s game. The conversation starts with improved string technology, more powerful rackets, and finishes with stronger, faster athletes. The herd think approaching is a relic of the past. The herd is WRONG!

AVERAGE WIN %
Baseline = 46%
Net = 66%

Data from ALL Grand Slams provides the facts about approach and volley, and the data is crystal clear – it’s immensely better than staying back at the baseline, grinding for a living.

The baseline is a tough place to create separation. Here's how to do it.

At the 2012 US Open, only 7 men and 14 women had a winning percentage from the baseline. At Wimbledon 2016, Andy Murray won the title only winning 52% of his baseline points - and he is one of the very best at it in the world!

Num3ers deeply explores the data that rules points, especially from the back of the court. Take a "deep dive" into all three rally lengths (0-4, 5-8, 9+), and winner and errors totals from the elite level of our game. The numbers will shock you!

All 4 Grand Slams

Forcing Errors = 41% Men / 37% Women
Winners = 32% Men / 29% Women
Unforced Errors = 27% Men / 34% Women

Num3ers is very much like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. It's about bringing together different data sets together to create the big picture.

Every recorded match from the 2015 Australian Open - Rd2 to the final.

There is a lot happening on a doubles court. Situations and strategies are constantly being adjusted to create mis-matches with court position. It's hard to keep track of - until now. Dou8les Num3ers is the most comprehensive analysis of doubles data in our sport. The focus is on how a point ends, and it's broken down eight ways to Sunday. Specifically, you find critical information on:

Winners rise to the #1 way a point ends (over forced & unforced errors)

- The last shot of the rally is overwhelmingly struck at the net.
- Center Window: the most important part of a doubles court to control.
- Stephen Huss: an in-depth interview on Wimbledon's Centre Court with the 2005 Wimbledon Doubles Champion.

Dou8les Num3ers leaves no stone unturned. Percentage breakdowns of how often the server or receiver hits the last shot highlight the dramatic influence of the serve. The last shot of the rally is significant, and is broken down into the following categories: volleys, overheads, passing shots, lobs and groundstrokes.

When you play a match, you actually play two matches.

When you walk out onto a tennis court, there are two matches that you are about to play. The first is during the point - a part of the match that you have spent a lot of time preparing for on the practice court. But there is a second match, that takes place in the 20 seconds between the points. This is where the mental and emotional aspects of our sport kick in.

Let's face it, there will be adversity in almost every tennis match that you play. The storm clouds are coming. How bug they are, and how long they last for, are up to you.

Between the points is very tennis specific. It provides a roadmap for the 20 seconds between the points, teaching how to handle the adversity that will surely come, and how to build on the successes that will also be present. Your mind is your biggest asset in a match, and Between the Points takes your hand off the self destruct button and stops you beating yourself.

You don't have to be good at everything, but you have got to be good at something.

You can break tennis down into four key elements - serving, returning, rallying and approaching. Each part has specific patterns of play that consistently deliver higher winning percentages than the others. No more guessing. No more opinions. All facets of our sport are covered in this exceptional product, clearly outlining what patterns to gravitate to, and how to best construct the practice court. Data comes primarily from the 2015 Australian Open.

Building Blocks

MEN = 70% errors / 30% winners
WOMEN = 74% errors / 26% winners

Forcing errors is the best way to construct a point.
You can simply break tennis down into primary and secondary patterns of play - and they are all covered here. Primary patterns include serve and return direction, forehands v backhands, and the best way to approach the net. Secondary patterns include drop shots, serve & volley and 1st volley options. If you play tournaments, this product will greatly help you simplify the singles court.

The conversation starts & ends with the Center Window.

The doubles court is like an hourglass. There are two big ends, but a small neck in the middle where all the action happens. Once you learn the power of the Center Window, where you stand to start the point will take on a lot more significance.

Doubles is a lot more about situations, with four people on the court all "dancing" with one another. Learn all the best doubles patterns, broken down for the server, returner, server's partner and the returner's partner.

Doubles Situations

The "J" - the most ideal movement for the returner's partner to attack the net.

The "V" - a better way of understanding where the server's partner should move to.

Volley Targets - there are four main areas to attack. Know which ones are higher percentage. Beach Volleyball - the idea of a "setter" and "spiker" is ideal for the doubles court.

There are certain parts of the court that the ball travels to a lot, and other low percentage areas that you really don't want to cover at all - like the alley! In general, the serving team wants to keep the ball in the middle of the court as much as possible (to help the server's partner), while the returning team benefits from hitting wider and creating more chaos in the point.

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