durations

With the last Grand Slam of the calendar approaching, it is the perfect time to review the relative strengths of the field and who has done the most to increase their hardcourt edge in the past year.

The format changes at Majors are the most prominent of a number of rule changes that are being considered to reduce the length of tennis matches in order to make the tennis ‘product’ more attractive. In this guest post, Francesco Lisi and Matteo Grigoletto of the Department of Statistical Sciences at the University of Padua investigate how removing the first serve or advantage points could impact match lengths.

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?