Return Of Serve Archives - Brain Game Tennis

Wimbledon 2024: It’s Okay To Miss Returns

Tuesday, 02 July 2024 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from Wimbledon! 🍓 It’s okay to miss returns. On the surface, the sentence above seems a little out of the ordinary. Wouldn’t we want to put every return of serve back in play? When evaluating your game, it’s best to deal with reality – not expectations. We would LIKE to put all returns back

Published in Return Of Serve, Wimbledon

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Nadal Return Example. A Devastating Three Shot Combo

Monday, 06 May 2024 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day From Roma, It was such a pleasure to watch Rafael Nadal practice here yesterday. The sport has really missed him, and we are all looking forward to seeing what he can do in Rome, at Roland Garros, and at the Olympics (also at Roland Garros) this year. Here’s the LINK to my analysis of

Published in Rafael Nadal, Return Of Serve, Rome

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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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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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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, Rally Length, Return Of Serve, Serving

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Rome 2022: Return Serve Position Analysis

Sunday, 15 May 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from Roma, You can break down what happens in a tennis match into four simple categories. Serving Returning Rallying Approaching Different players are going to employ different strategies, but in general, you are going to find minor variations in the patterns of play because players know what works and what doesn’t from playing hundreds

Published in ATP Tour, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Return Of Serve, Rome

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Rafael Nadal: How He Thrives From A Ultra-Deep Return Position

Tuesday, 26 April 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, Thanks to Rafael Nadal, we are in the age of the ultra-deep returner. Rafa started the revolution of standing wayyyy back near the back fence to return, and now other players such as Daniil Medvedev, Casper Ruud, and more are following suit. What’s the benefit? Glad you asked! The end game for Rafa to

Published in Court Position, Rafael Nadal, Return Of Serve, Rome

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Nadal def. Kyrgios. Returning & Rallying. What Were Their Targets?

Friday, 18 March 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

Rafael Nadal def. Nick Kyrgios 7-6(0), 5-7, 6-4 Where you return serve and where you rally are the not same locations. The 2022 Indian Wells quarter-final between Rafael Nadal and Nick Kyrgios offers a prime example of players’ different targets when returning a serve and developing a rally. Return Of Serve Players generally have a

Published in ATP Tour, Nick Kyrgios, Rafael Nadal, Return Of Serve

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The Art Of The Return Approach

Thursday, 06 January 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

Let’s add the return approach to your repertoire. Approaching the net is a winning strategy. It typically delivers a winning percentage right around 65% at Grand Slams across all surfaces. Think about that for a second. If you go to the net three times, you win two. That’s legit. The best way to approach the

Published in Alexei Popyrin, ATP Tour, Return Of Serve

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Rafael Nadal’s 1st Serve Return Footwork

Sunday, 02 January 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

I learned something new about Rafael Nadal yesterday. I have watched Rafa play A LOT of matches throughout his long career. I have poured over his match statistics. I have studied his mannerisms and even coached against him – with mixed success. I took a few short videos of his practice yesterday at the 2022

Published in Australian Open, Rafael Nadal, Return Of Serve

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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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