Is it possible to move from outside the Top 1,000 into the Top 10 in just two years? Yes. Juan Martin del Potro just did it. The Tower of Tandil was ranked No. 1,042 in the ATP Rankings in February 2016. Skip forward two years and he was ranked No. 9 on 26 February, and he's up to No. 8 this week after winning the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC in Acapulco on Saturday. You would naturally think that Del Potro’s magical run, cutting his ranking from four digits down to just one in such a short period of time, was predicated on creating lop-sided win percentages. It wasn’t. [ALSO LIKE] An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis uncovered...
Comparisons between the “Big Four” have been numerous the past several years – but never regarding the specifics of their return depth and direction. A new Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers match data platform compiles exactly that. It is the Serve & Return Tracker, and it sheds new light on where players return, and how their win percentages increase the deeper they get the return in the court. The dataset for this analysis comes from ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events and the Nitto ATP Finals from 2011-2017, during the dominance of the Big Four. It is specific to returning first serves. [ALSO LIKE] Return Direction vs. First Serves The first thing that stands out is that Novak Djokovic, Rafael...
On the surface, the serve is the ultimate weapon in our sport. It’s the hardest hit shot, and is the driving force behind the most common rally length in matches – a rally of just one shot. The serve went in, but the return didn’t come back in play. That rally length happens way more than anything else, right around 30 per cent of total points. It creates the greatest paradox in our sport – the practice court is overflowing with forehands and backhands, but the rally length that dominates the match court contains only a serve and a return. [ALSO LIKE] See Nadal's serving patterns in the Infosys Serve & Return Tracker An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis...
You can draw a straight line between rising up the ATP rankings and improving your second-serve return. The first serve is always an asset for players because of the raw power, but win percentages surrounding second serves can easily flip into the liability column, especially against a good returner. An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of the best returners from the 2017 season shows that the second-serve return can evolve into a bigger weapon than the second serve itself. [ALSO LIKE] For example, Grigor Dimitrov won 48.2 per cent (1033/2142) of his second-serve return points in 2016 from 65 matches. Everything under 50 per cent sits in the liability column, and this was not an obvious strength of the...
ATP World Tour Uncovered presented by Peugeot presents an Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of what shot helped 2017 Grigor Dimitrov soar all the way to third in the year-end ATP Rankings last season. Photo: Peter Staples/ATP World Tour