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gameplan - tennis development course
Friday, 25 August 2017 / Published in ATP Tour

GAMEPLAN

 

650,000+ Points / 20 Million Data Points

The darkness of the Player Development pathway

just got illuminated with… data

GAMEPLAN is a game changer.

The practice court is a place of mystery.

Should you focus more on forehands and backhands? Is consistency the secret sauce to winning more matches? How much time should you spend working on technique over tactics? Where should you serve, and why?

Unfortunately, the current Player Development pathway is built on too much opinion and guesswork.

Enter GAMEPLAN.

For the first time ever, we now have big data on little players. It’s time to completely understand the match court, so we can correctly organize the practice court. It’s really that simple.

GAMEPLAN analyzes more more than 20 million data points on both the men’s and women’s side of the game at the following 10 levels:

  1. Under 12
  2. Under 14
  3. Under 16
  4. Under 18
  5. College: Lines 5 & 6
  6. College: Lines 3 & 4
  7. College: Lines 1 & 2
  8. Challenger
  9. Top 100
  10. Top 10

You are somewhere along that pathway. Do you know exactly what the metrics are at your level? Do you have a plan to jump to the next level?  GAMEPLAN does.

 

Welcome to a smarter way.

Tennis is one of the last major sports on the planet to embrace analytics. We are fractured, with governing bodies employing a variety of data collection companies to record what actually happens in a match. Tennis is not centralized. It is not unified. This dilemma has a flow-on effect all the way down to the grassroots of our sport.

We simply have not been getting the critical information we need to improve. The bottom line is that we end guessing way too much, because the metrics that really matter don’t reach us. It has massively hurt the development of tennis – as we try to get better in the dark. We are essentially a global sport without a player development rudder.

Enter GAMEPLAN…

This product is the first of it’s kind because of the unmatched amount of match analytics it contains.

GAMEPLAN GOAL – TRANFORM THE PRACTICE COURT

The goal for GAMEPLAN is very simple, and very specific. Improve the practice court. Make it wayyy more efficient. Make it match-focused. Make it drill down to the things that effect winning the most. GAMEPLAN is going to change the way you coach, the way you practice, and the way you look at a tennis match.

PRACTICE COURT

If there are two kids practicing side by side, and one coach has access to GAMEPLAN player development data, and the other one has not – it’s going to very obvious. One court will be be hitting a lot of balls without any real purpose. The other court will be dominated by patterns of play, dominated by the first four shots – dominated by real-life situations that matter the most to winning and losing.

Below are seven ways that GAMEPLAN is going to help you become a better player, coach, parent or spectator of our great sport.

FOCUS 1: NATIONAL LEVEL JUNIORS

It is important to note that the junior data comes from national level tournaments, primarily in the United States and Canada. These kids can play. They are not beginners. They can play – and play well. They have progressed from a city level, to a state level, to a national level.

These kids are good – but not nearly as good as they think they are. You are going to see holes everywhere, especially in key areas that get comparatively little practice.

A huge thank you to my partner in this project, Warren Pretorius, and his company Tennis Analytics. Warren has done an outstanding job collecting and organizing the data for GAMEPLAN. Cheers mate!

FOCUS 2: REVERSE ENGINEERING

It’s normally good to start at the beginning. The beginning is an initial reference point that enables you to look backwards later on to see how far you have travelled.

We are not going to do that with GAMEPLAN. We are actually going to do the exact opposite.

We are going to start at the end, and examine the finished product first. The finished product is the match court. Matches are what matters the most! We get to see the whole evolution of player development laid out right before our eyes.

Here’s the normal order of how our sport is developed.

Old Order

  1. Practice Court. You start here and work on your game.
  2. Match Court. You see what works.

Here’s the really fun part, and what GAMEPLAN is all about. We get to flip that order, and flip normal coaching methods on their head.

New Order

  1. Match Court. Let’s look at the metrics of our sport to understand what effects winning & losing the most.
  2. Practice Court. We use that valuable information to create a smarter, more efficient practice court.

Reversing the order of importance is a key principal of GAMEPLAN. It completely throws the focus on to the match court. Let’s study the match court. Let’s obsess over the match court. Let’s examine the metrics it produces. Let’s see what really matters to getting more wins.

Practice now has a defined purpose. Practice drills are generated from matches. That’s a very good thing.

FOCUS 3: DATA RULES

Junior tennis has never had been analyzed through a data lens. We have never seen metrics for boys and girls 12’s, 14’s, 16’s and 18’s, and college tennis. And because of that, we guess. A LOT! Should we do this drill or that drill? What should we focus on in 12’s that will be a lot more important in 14’s?

GAMEPLAN delivers with massive metrics. We need to look at the numbers to simplify the development pathway so players are improving today – and also getting ahead of the curve so they can win tomorrow.

FOCUS 4: THE PRACTICE COURT IS BROKEN

Look at a typical one hour junior lesson – anywhere in the world. What do coaches typically work on? What’s the mantra? Here it is…

  1. consistency
  2. shot tolerance
  3. repetition
  4. one more ball

There is no denying that those elements are part of the overall plan. But they are not THE plan by any stretch of the imagination.

This is important: The vast majority of the data in GAMEPLAN comes from juniors practicing on BROKEN PRACTICE COURTS.

This is critical to understand. The data comes from a massive amount of groundstroke practice and very little serve, return and volley practice. Kids all over the world hit groundstrokes cross court ALL.THE.TIME. When do they practice second serve returns? When do they practice Serve +1 forehand combinations? Don’t worry – we are going to fix that problem!

FOCUS 5: OPPORTUNITY

Where does the opportunity exist to learn from the numbers? Well, basically everywhere. The numbers are going to teach us where we need to spend more time on the practice court.

When I look at the numbers and percentages from matches, I look for flags – red flags and green flags. In my mind, when I see something bad, that’s a red flag. A problem exists that needs fixing. A green flag is some great data. Keep improving that specific area, because it’s probably the reason you are winning matches.

FOCUS 6: ONE POINT MATTERS

Is it too simplistic to say that we are trying to find just a point here and a point there from the data in GAMEPLAN to drive improvement, and make a real impact in the win column?

No. That’s exactly how it works!

Imagine going and playing a set where you get ONE “free point”. What that means is that you don’t have to actually play the point – you just tell your opponent you are using your free point right now, and the point is yours. Let’s say your opponent is serving at 3-4, 30-40. What a great time to use it! Will that one point have a big impact on who wins the set? Oh, yes it will.

That’s exactly how we will be “manipulating” the data. We are looking for red flags and green flags to pinpoint key areas. If you spend more time on the practice court improving those specific areas, you will win more matches. Period.

FOCUS 7: TIME

As you progress through GAMEPLAN, you are going uncover statistical nuggets of gold. You are going to want to add more return work, add more serve work, add more proficiency at the net, add more run-around forehands. But it is not really “adding” from a time perspective. You can’t add more time to your day. You are not going to turn your normal one hour private lesson into a 90-minute lesson just because you have uncovered some gold nuggets you need to work on.

Something has to give.

You are going to have to prioritize your time differently. Less time grinding. Less mindless, endless cross court groundstrokes. More Return +1 patterns. More 2nd second serves returns crushed right down the middle of the court. That one hour private lesson, or the two hour group lesson is going to look very different very soon.

Welcome to GAMEPLAN. Welcome to a data driven Development Pathway! 💡👌

 

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THE FIRST 4 SHOTS

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.

Short Ball Hunter

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.

Num3ers

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.

Dou8les Num3ers

Doubles Numbers

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.

between the points

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.

25 golden rules of singles strategy

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.

25 golden rules of doubles

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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