In his win over Roger Federer, 20 year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas not only earned the biggest upset of the 2019 Australian Open so far, he caused many to wonder whether tennis was seeing the start of a new era. Tsitsipas’s journey at the 2019 AO is the biggest of multiple success stories for a young crop of talents on the men’s tour, stories that have already made this year one of the most unique in AO history.
The introduction of a super tiebreak in the deciding set of singles matches was one of a number of changes at the 2019 Australian Open. After two rounds, 3 men’s and 2 women’s matches have already put that rule to the test. What do the outcomes of those matches tell us about the possible impact of the new format?
Ahead of the first round of the Australian Open, I take a look at some of the likely winners on the men’s side. The forecast bodes well for the Big 3, with Novak Djokovic leading the race toward the first slam title of the 2019 season.
Ahead of the first round of the Australian Open, I take a look at the top prospects for the women’s title at the Australian Open. Could it be Karolina Pliskova’s year?
After introducing Pressure Ratings for matches, this post looks at how a similar approach can be used to develop a Set Competitiveness rating for players. The Set Competitiveness measures the pressure of a player’s sets in a way that allows direct ranking against the pressure typically faced by other players.
Last week’s 252-point Paris Masters semifinal between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer got many wondering whether it was the best match in their 47 match long rivalry. In this post, I introduce a pressure rating for sets and matches that can help to tell us to rate their relative competitiveness.
On Monday, Novak Djokovic will regain the World No. 1 ranking, climbing from outside the top 20 at the start of the year. Djokovic’s comeback has been the major story this week. In this post, I look at his rise in terms of his match-by-match Elo rating and put it in context of his best season performances in 2011 and 2015.
The 2018 WTA Finals is upon us. With Simona Halep bowing out of the event, Caroline Wozniacki enters with the highest GIG Elo Rating. But what do the ratings trajectories of the 8 competitors reveal about who could have the most momentum and confidence heading into Singapore?
Novak Djokovic could continue a masterful run toward the end of the season when he goes for his second 2018 Masters 1000 title against Borna Coric in Shanghai. Even before the final, Djokovic sits at the top of men’s current all-surface Elo ratings. In this post we look at the how the current top 8 on the men’s and women’s tours have won there place among the ratings leaders.
Prize money has been the primary yardstick for measuring gender inequality in professional tennis. Most in-depth studies of prize money differences have focused on earnings of top players or prize money commitments by tournament. In this post, I take a different view on prize money differences by focusing on earning opportunities in each week of the the tour calendar.
