141,516 points.
Blowing the doors off men’s college tennis…
G’day from Austin! This data is brand new. The data set is massive. And it’s all focused on college men’s tennis. And… it’s going to make you fall off your chair.College tennis is an amazing destination for talented junior players from all over the planet. They need to know what the landscape is they are progressing towards. Junior coaches need to make sure they have their young players on the right pathway. College coaches need to maximize their limited time on the practice court to extract more W’s on the match court.
Everyone generalizes wildly about our sport. That’s very different to how I look at it. I want to personally thank Warren Pretorius from Tennis Analytics for his collaboration with me on this research project. Good on ya bluey!
Here’s a link directly to the new page:
PAGE LINK: Men’s College Tennis
This ground breaking new information is the line in the sand. Here’s why.
Revolutionary
“Radically new or innovative; outside or beyond established procedure & principles.”
This information is going to transform the practice court, as it clearly shows that the current focus is broken. Developing talent does not = a million balls up and down the middle of the court. The established procedures of basically ignoring the serve and return is clearly wrong. The innovative way of thinking of the Serve +1 and the Return +1 make perfect sense.
Evolutionary
A gradual process where something changes into a different & usually more complex or better form.”
EVERY other major sport is knee deep in advanced metrics to better understand the sport. Tennis has hung onto very simple data points since it’s existence. We now have more. We now have data that directly conflicts with what our eyes tell us, and convention dictates. Good luck trying to stop evolution…
Scientific Investigation
“The way researchers use a systematic approach to answer questions about the world around us.”
My degree in college was journalism. I hate math. I almost failed it in High School. I like to write. I don’t like to add. As a tennis coach, it’s my job to get more W’s for my players. I have done more analysis of matches than most – not because I am a numbers geek, but because I don’t want to GUESS. I don’t want to have an OPINION. I want facts. I want you to have those facts too!
I want to put a scientific lens on a very unscientific sport. I want more W’s!!!!
Your Eyes Are Lying
There is so much you can’t see in a tennis match. Key patterns of play are separated by time, making it very difficult to group them together to understand. For me, tennis stats have acquired the power of language. The naked eye is an inadequate tool for learning what is needed to evaluate players, and our sport in general.
The First 4 Shots
We now have answers for these 10 questions (and a lot more!)
- Ace/Double Fault ratio: Men’s college tennis is basically identical with one of these – men’s pro tennis or women’s pro tennis. Which one?
- Is men’s college tennis more than 60% First Strike tennis (0-4 shots)?
- How many really long rallies are there in the 13+ shot range vs. 0-4 shots?
- Do the men hit more forehand returns or backhand returns? Also, which side makes the most errors & winners?
- Are the men hitting enough Serve +1 forehands? (a dominant strategy on the pro tour).
- What’s the ratio of Serve +1 normal forehands to run-around forehands?
- Does the backhand volley outperform the forehand volley at the net?
- Is there enough approaching from the Serve +1 shot?
- What’s the ratio of Return +1 forehands to backhands?
- Can the Return +1 run-around forehand be more dominant?
Make no mistake about it, The First 4 Shots is a sustained attack on conventional wisdom – only because conventional wisdom is so screwed up! The tennis court is rapidly moving AWAY from a place of ignorance.
This is the science of winning. This is is your competitive edge.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Craig