40/30 seems like a very competitive point score, with the returner already capturing two points and being just three points from breaking serve. But don’t be fooled: It’s still one-way traffic for the server. Even though the returner has won 40 per cent (two of five) of the points played so far in the game, his chance of breaking serve is still less than 10 per cent. An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of the current Top 10 players in the Emirates ATP Rankings shows that, since the start of the 2015 season, they have held serve from 40/30 92.7 per cent (6331/6826) of the time. The player who has been the toughest to break when leading 40/30 on...
The evolution of a tennis player typically develops along a pathway where the serve matures quicker than the return of serve. Not so for Andrey Rublev. The talented 19-year-old Russian already has one of the best return games on tour, fueling his meteoric rise up the Emirates ATP Rankings in the past three months to a career-high No. 37 this week. Flash back just 12 weeks to mid-June and Rublev was not even ranked in the Top 100, losing in the second round of a clay-court ATP Challenger Tour event in Caltanissetta, Italy. Fast forward three months to mid-September and he now has his first ATP World Tour 250 title under his belt after coming through qualifying to win at...
You check the draw. Who do you play in the first round? Your heart skips a beat when you see your opponent is ranked in the Top 10 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. It’s equal parts opportunity and fear. What a great win it could be, but how likely are you to actually get the W? An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of the Top 10 ranked players show that on average they win three out of every four matches they play. They are dominant, but they also do lose matches just like the rest of us. The current Top 10 players have won 75 per cent (370/496) of their matches so far this season, which is exactly the...
All or nothing. Ace or double fault. Sometimes break points are decided without the returner even touching the ball. Facing break points are inevitable at all levels of the game, with the server having to balance the aggression of a potential ace with the possibility of missing both serves and committing a double fault. An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of the current Top 20 players reveals a wide range of results in this important moment in a match, with the statistics dating from the beginning of the 2015 season to the 2017 US Open. John Isner is the only player in the current Top 20 to hit more than 100 aces on break points during the two-and-a-half-year period....
Sam Querrey is on track to serve his way into the Nitto ATP Finals in London this November. That will make you do a double-take since he is currently No. 21 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. But dig a little deeper and you will find he is No. 10 in the Emirates ATP Race to London, with two players ahead of him (Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka) already declaring their 2017 season over. Querrey’s career-high ranking is No. 17 (31 January 2011), and he looks set to blow right past that in the coming months, as he only has 20 Emirates ATP Rankings points to defend for the rest of 2017. If he continues recent form, he could quite conceivably...