(Inspired by the podcast episode #71: “Navigating, Interpreting & Implementing Data in tennis” w. Mike James on The Adam Blicher Show — Dissecting High Performance in tennis)
We know that the best players in the world from the baseline have got a below 50 % ratio winning percentage. Now, that sounds crazy. So the best players in the world are winning from the baseline 48 % of the time.
Of course, the whole match is not played at the baseline. We’ve got the net to consider as well. It’s an interesting concept. So if you know that the winning percentage with the best players is 48 % from the baseline and you know that the net it’s 65 %. Sixty five percent, then why don’t try to get into the net a little bit more often?
Looking at Djokovic in the 2016 US Open Final he came to net 5 times. In the 2018 US Open Final he came to net over 30. That is not by accident. Of course, he didn’t play the same player, but he is playing more vertical now.
Federer is doing the same, keeping the point shorter, which has been happening since the beginning of 2017. So the best players now are playing a lot more vertical and getting the job done quicker and getting it done at net, when the opportunity is there.
People have this vision, when they come home from a day’s work and they put match highlights on from Djokovic and they see the the highlight reel 9+ rally, Djokovic sliding on the full stretch from the baseline, hitting a passing shot or retrieve ridiculous balls. But the reality is even someone like him is playing more vertical and getting a lot more done at net.
Then you might ask, should I teach my junior players to come to the net a lot more to simulate the pro’s?
If we are working with junior players we have to remember that there are limited data available. Further it’s my belief that if you are working with a 15 year old, and he/she is on track to turn pro. The professional game when they enter the professional tour is not going to look the same as it does today.
So we have to train more skillful players. We have to give players the idea that if we go back in the 90s when it was very, very easy to go, here’s a serve and volleyer, here is a defensive baseline, an aggressive baseliner, a counterpuncher. Here I think about Agassi, Sampras, Hewitt, those guys, you can really block them off. You can block them off in their skill sets of what they were world class at. Fast forward 20 years later. You cannot say that Rafa Nadal is a defensive baseliner only or aggressive baseline. He can pretty much do everything. The same goes for Djokovic and Federer.
The women’s tour now with Andreescu is coming out and really showing everybody how the women can be super skillful and super powerful. It’ used to be that with a female game, you’re either skillful or you nailed the ball very, very hard. Now, the next generation of female players for me, are going to be able to do both. That for me is the future of the game. As a junior going into the professional tour you’re going to have the total package.