How Should We Rate A Tennis Player?

Welcome to the latest episode of Hot Takedown, FiveThirtyEight’s sports podcast. On this week’s episode (July 12, 2017), in the middle of the second week of Wimbledon, we’ve got a very special treat: a “Stat School” with FiveThirtyEight tennis expert emeritus Carl Bialik. Carl breaks down how we should judge a tennis player by the numbers, in order of increasing complexity — from simple Grand Slams won to more newfangled stats such as that longtime FiveThirtyEight favorite, the Elo rating.

Here are links to the things we discussed during the show:

• Check out ESPN’s latest updates on Wimbledon here.
• If you’re a tennis fan, keep up with Carl’s latest theories by subscribing to the podcasts Thirty Love and The Tennis Abstract Podcast.
• In the past, Carl teamed up with FiveThirtyEight’s Benjamin Morris to write about Serena Williams and the difference between all-time great and greatest of all time.
• On the men’s side, Carl and Benjamin also examined the rivalry between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
• Sports Illustrated’s Craig Lambert took a look at the Universal Tennis Rating system back in 2015.