Wimbledon Channel Archives - Brain Game Tennis

My Favorite Day In Tennis… Ever!

Friday, 22 January 2021 by Craig O'Shannessy

2015 Wimbledon: Dustin Brown def. Rafael Nadal 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 I first started playing tennis when I was around 12 years old in my hometown of Albury, Australia. I was instantly hooked. I played a bucket load of junior tennis. I then traveled to the U.S. to play collegiate tennis and became an

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Simona Halep: The Power Of Positivity

Friday, 14 August 2020 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, Simona Halep played the match of her life to defeat Serena Williams 6-2, 6-2 in the 2019 Wimbledon Women’s Final. Right from the first minute, you could sense that Simona was “on” and Serena was not. I broke down the final on the Wimbledon Channel right after the match. That video is below. Here

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C-B-A = The worst baseline pattern of all

Monday, 27 July 2020 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, The singles baseline is 27 feet (8.23m) across. That’s substantial. It is a lot of territory to cover when your opponent is looking to attack you. That’s a lot of running to do if you hit the ball to the wrong part of the court and open up angles to be attacked. In The

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Why You Build Through The Ad Court

Friday, 17 July 2020 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, The majority of points are built through the Ad court directed towards a right-hander’s backhand. You play to the backhand much more than the forehand at the beginning of a point because you are less likely to get hurt off that wing. In the 25 Golden Rules of Singles Strategy, I talk about the

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Forehand Return Winners: Your Guide

Thursday, 02 July 2020 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, Return winners are a line item in our sport – meaning someone sits on the side of the court and counts them at Grand Slams. At Wimbledon in 2019, the men hit 445, and the women hit 381. So the men won that battle by 64 winners. At the 2020 Australian Open, the men

Published in Petra Kvitova, Wimbledon, Wimbledon Channel

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Your New Best Friend. The 3-1 Pattern

Wednesday, 01 July 2020 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, When you hear tennis players or coaches or commentators talk about “patterns of play”, it all sounds very official and organized and clever. But can you actually name a pattern of play? Now you definitely can! 😁 The video below is my Wimbledon Channel analysis of a pattern of play called the “3-1”. Yes

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Volleys Are Worse In 2020 Than 2000. Here’s Your Free Lesson.

Thursday, 14 May 2020 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, Everything to do with volleys – from technique to tactics – has deteriorated over the past 20 years. Everything. We like to think improvement is linear. We should be getting better over time. Nice theory. Not always on the mark in tennis. Take volleys, for example. Doesn’t it feel like a greater percentage

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YOU miss too many returns.

Monday, 30 March 2020 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, Think of the irony of this situation… The shot you miss the most is the shot you practice the least. Yes, it’s the return of serve. Look at these numbers from The Championships last year. 2019 Wimbledon: Unreturned Serves MEN Unreturned 1st Serves = 39% (6983/18020) Unreturned 2nd Serves = 20% (1897/9502) Combined = 32%

Published in Strategy Courses, Wimbledon, Wimbledon Channel

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Upgrade, Double & Freeze.

Friday, 20 March 2020 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day! There are three types of shots you can hit from the back of the court, and one of them is vastly superior to the others. Which one do you think it is? Normal Forehand Run-Around Forehand Backhand If you picked No. 2, you are on the money! 💰 Run-around forehands produce more winners, force more

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Serve technique: Craig analyzes Novak, Roger, Rafa & Kevin

Tuesday, 17 March 2020 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, We all want to hit a better serve, right? What better way to improve your toss & motion than from the top four seeds at Wimbledon in 2019. Those players were: Novak Djokovic Roger Federer Rafael Nadal Kevin Anderson My Wimbledon Channel analysis focuses on things that the players do well, and also some

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Strategy On Match Point At Wimbledon: 2007 – 2012

Tuesday, 17 March 2020 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, Just imagine for a moment what it’s like to finally arrive at match point in a Wimbledon final. It’s quite simply the biggest moment & biggest point of your life! This was the focus of my Wimbledon Channel analysis in 2019 to kick off The Championships. Watch the video below to see the successful

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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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