Every week, Tennis Analytics dives deep into the data, bringing you a stat of the week to help you understand tennis better and become a little smarter.
For the month of March, we will compare key stats of the pros vs college players.
Do ATP players make more or fewer errors on the return of serve than college players?
The answer: Pros make MORE return errors. 2% more.
We looked at almost 350,000 returns in 2022 – 2023 (ATP 189,992, NCAA-M 159,124)
Interesting facts:
🎾 Both ATP and NCAA players make about 15 Return Errors to each Winner
🎾 1 in every 5 returns is an error
🎾 Return winners are few and far between – less than 2 for every 100 return hit.
College players get more returns back in play and make fewer errors than top ATP players.
This is attributed to the considerable difference in strength of serve – See Stat of Week March 1st
Match play is the “exam” players take to validate what they are doing on the lesson court is working or not. Sadly though, most players judge their success by the Win or Loss, rather than by performance metrics.
Do you know what your 2nd Return Points Won % is? In Play, Errors, WInners numbers? How do you know what to practice?
Too many players simply become great lesson takers.
KNOW YOUR GAME
