Time is one of the most precious commodities a tennis player has to manage. Time on court is invaluable, but then again, so is limiting that time to avoid injuries and stay fresh. The big picture clearly dictates that improvement is predicated on playing more matches, which means more time on court in the cauldron of competition. An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of the 2016 season showed Andy Murray’s ascension to the No. 1 Emirates ATP Ranking was built on spending substantially more time on court than anyone else in the Top 10. Murray spent 162 hours on court in 2016, which was up from 151 hours in 2015. Murray’s average set time in 2015 was 44 minutes, and...
Has the return overtaken the serve as the most dominant shot in tennis? Andy Murray’s 2016 ascension to year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings followed the recent blueprint that supremacy in returning, not serving, helps elevate you to the top of the mountain in the modern game. An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of year-end No. 1 players clearly shows that the recent superpower in our sport is the return of serve. In 2016, Murray had the second best ATP Stats LEADERBOARDS Return Rating, powered by the Infosys Information Platform, of any year-end No. 1 during the past 26 years, since 1991. On the serving side of the equation, Murray wasn't even in the same ballpark, dropping...
It must be nice to end a season and see your career-best ranking next to your name. Hello, Marin Cilic. Hello, No. 6 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. The 6’6” Croatian had a breakout season back in 2014, winning the US Open and three ATP World Tour titles while compiling a 54-21 record. This year, he went 49-24 and won two ATP World Tour crowns, including his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title in Cincinnati. But in many ways, for Cilic, the past 12 months have been a more impressive body of work than his 2014. An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of Cilic’s booming first serve identifies it as the centerpiece of his powerful game, with opponents...
A traditional coaching drill on practice courts all over the world is to play points with just one serve. It creates instant pressure as players develop their prowess hitting second serves, and also attacking them at will on the return. Coaches may as well name it the “Kei Nishikori Drill”. Nishikori won more matches in 2016 than in any other year of his illustrious career, going 58-21 and finishing No. 5 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Dominating the second-serve landscape was his specialty. An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of the Japanese star uncovered just how much his game elevated when points started with second serves instead of first serves. Nishikori won 72 per cent of his first-serve points...
The scoring system in tennis produces a powerful paradox where you can improve on a successful season even by winning fewer points per match on average. Players want to win every point, but only a slim majority is needed for victory. The stats sheets suggest that just a handful of points make a real difference in a match. Take for example Grigor Dimitrov’s resurgence this season. The 25-year-old Bulgarian had his second best year on the ATP World Tour, going 39-27 to improve his year-end Emirates ATP Ranking from No. 28 in 2015, to No. 17 in 2016. Surely, winning more points per match propelled this jump in the rankings. The answer? Yes and no. An Infosys ATP Beyond The...