Statistical Profiles: Stefanos Tsitsipas - UBITENNIS
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Statistical Profiles: Stefanos Tsitsipas

First installment of a series on the most effective weapons and the (few) weaknesses of the best ATP players, starting with the French Open finalist.

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3 years ago

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This is perhaps one of the most difficult questions to answer in all sports: what does set a champion apart from a good player? The growing availability of match-related data, particularly at higher-level tournaments, allows us to address the question from a new point of view, which we might call a data-driven perspective.

In other words: we can identify a player of the highest level and analyse, in the most scientific way possible, what characteristics his many matches that end in a victory have in common, and what distinguishes them from the few defeats. In part because of his excellent start to the 2021 season, but also due to his continuity at high levels (despite the young age), our first choice was Stefanos Tsitsipas, a 22-year-old Greek who has already been able to defeat Federer, Nadal and Djokovic at least once.

RESUMÉ

Tsitsipas began his career in the ITF Junior circuit at the age of 14 in 2013 and, by the end of 2016, he had won 11 Futures titles: five in singles and six in doubles. He played his first ATP match in the Rotterdam tournament in 2017, losing to Tsonga (who would eventually win the tournament). In the same year, he made his debut as a qualifier in a Grand Slam tournament, losing to Ivo Karlovic in the first round of the French Open. Again in 2017, he failed to qualify for the main draw of the US Open, but in that same period he won a Challenger tournament for the first time in Genoa.

The 2018 season was a turning point, particularly at the Toronto Masters 1000 tournament: Tsitsipas defeated four top tenners (Thiem, Djokovic, Zverev and Anderson), before surrendering to Nadal in the final. That year, he also won his first ATP title on the indoor courts of Stockholm, and he finished the season by winning the Next Gen tournament and rising to the 15th spot in the world rankings. Since then, Tsitsipas has been a constant presence at the highest levels: he has won six more titles (among which the 2019 ATP Finals and this year’s Masters 1000 in Monte Carlo) and has reached the semi-final of the Australian Open twice, in 2019 and in 2021. This year, he’s also played his first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros (defeated by Djokovic in five sets). By now, his place among the very best is consolidated, and in 2021 he is second in the Race to Turin.

STATISTICAL OVERVIEW

Before delving into the analysis, in search for winning and losing patterns of the Greek champion’s game, we need to define a set of matches that will be discussed. We will focus on matches played in singles at the highest level, i.e. the Grand Slam tournaments (Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open). Let’s try to frame Tsitsipas’ style of play with some statistics, the average values of which are shown in Figure 1, separating the three playing surfaces. First of all, the number of aces Tsitsipas hits is quite remarkable, especially on grass and on hardcourts (over 10).

Figure 1. Stefanos Tsitsipas’ average statistics in Major singles matches.

In addition, this report confirms, through the number of winners, the vivid image of the brilliant all-court player we’ve come to know and appreciate. On average, Tsitsipas hits over 30 winners per match on each surface: a considerable tally, even if it relates to matches played with the best-of-five format. The number of points played at the net on grass is also notable. It’s noticeable how Tsitsipas significantly changes his style of play, often trying to hit as many volleys as he can on faster turfs (on average, he does it over 30 times per game at Wimbledon).

Figure 2. Second set of stats relating to Tsitsipas’ Grand Slam performances.

This second group of statistics sheds light on a few elements: first of all, at the moment, Tsitsipas has obtained most of his Major wins on clay (after all, he was a set away from the French Open title) and hard. As for the grass, the Greek has never managed to go past the round of 16 (2018). At a first glance, these data seems counterintuitive, given his familiarity with the net accompanied by an excellent percentage of success: not only does Tsitsipas volley frequently, but on grass he gets the point in over 70% of these occasions.

Given the effectiveness of his serve (over 75% of points won on first serve and over 65% on the second), the disappointing results he has achieved on grass feel like a bit of a puzzle. It should also be noted that Tsitsipas, due to his young age and due to the pandemic effectively cancelling the 2020 edition, has only played four times at the Championships. Therefore, the unexpected defeat in the first round of the 2019 edition against Thomas Fabbiano undoubtedly weighs on the stats, and the same does this year’s early loss against Frances Tiafoe.

In addition, on a more analytical level, the statistics relating to the percentage of break points saved may perhaps come to our aid and provide us with an explanation. Despite his excellent serve, Tsitsipas saves less than 60% of the break points he faces on grass (as of the 2019 edition), a percentage comparable to what he gets on clay but much lower than what he achieves on hardcourts (on which he saves about 70% of chances). Therefore, so far on the lawns Tsitsipas has perhaps lacked that extra bit of calm under pressure to thrive in clutch situations – this could be due to his ball toss, which (especially before 2021) could represent, in the most critical moments, his Achilles’ heel.

THE MOST SIGNIFICANT PATTERNS AND KEY ELEMENTS OF TSITSIPAS’ GAME

So far, we have focused on Tsitsipas’ game by examining one aspect at a time: let’s now try, with the help of technology, to consider several aspects at the same time in order to develop a multivariate analysis. In particular, we will try to understand which of the various statistics discussed above (that represent our input variables) are key, and how they impact victory and defeat in a match (these two represent our output variable).

For greater clarity, we will ensure that the classification algorithm used automatically returns, based on the variables available, a model consisting of a set of rules representing the statistically most significant patterns that lead the Greek to victory or defeat. Below, we illustrate the three most important rules so calculated:

1 – “If Tsitsipas hits at least 1.3 more winners per set than the opponent and commits fewer than 6 double faults, then he is the winner of the match”. This pattern is very strong: in the 17 Grand Slam matches in which this combination has taken place, Tsitsipas has always been the winner. We conclude that when the Greek manages to be proactive (more winners than his opponent) and remains focused (limited number of double faults), he wins the match.

2 – “If Tsitsipas hits more winners than the opponent per set (or the difference in favor of the opponent isn’t greater than 0.5 per set), if he plays fewer than 20 points at the net, and if the match does not last more than 55 games, then he wins the match”. In this case, the pattern occurred in 22 matches and, in all 22 cases, Tsitsipas is the winner. We can perhaps interpret it this way: if the Greek doesn’t let his opponent dictate too much (the difference in terms of winners can be unfavourable, but contained), doesn’t let the match drag on for too long (no more than 55 games) and does not spend too many energies rushing forward, he then wins the match.

3 – “If Tsitsipas commits an average of more than 1.4 unforced errors than those of his opponent per set, if he does not hit at least 3.75 more winners per set, and if the average number of hits per rally is less than 4.6, then the Greek is defeated.” This pattern occurs in fewer matches: only seven. In this case too, however, the prediction is extremely precise: in all seven cases, Tsitsipas lost. It seems natural to infer that, if in a match that is played with short exchanges Tsitsipas proves less concentrated and does not have a very significant contribution from his own winning shots, then the Greek is forced to concede.

Let’s now summarise which are the decisive elements of Tsitsipas’s game, that is, the most decisive with respect to the outcome of the match. To obtain this result, we will evaluate which elements of his game (for example, winning strokes or unforced errors) appear in patterns such as the three mentioned above, allowing to predict the outcome of the match with great precision. The more a game feature appears as a relevant condition within these patterns, the more we can define it as a key element of the Greek champion’s game. We will therefore be able, on the basis of the data, to draw up a feature ranking of the various aspects of his game, distinguishing those that, alone or in combination with others, prove to be key.

Figure 3. Feature ranking associated with Tsitsipas’ Grand Slam matches. The length of the bar represents the relevance of the feature, the direction represents the correlation to a winning outcome (direct for bars that develop to the right, inverse for bars that develop to the left).

As can be seen in Figure 3, which shows the feature ranking, the average difference between the winners of Tsitsipas and those of the opponent is the most relevant element to his wins, and therefore earns the value 1 (maximum) in the feature ranking. In second position, we find the average difference of double faults and, in third position, the number of unforced errors. Of course, in these cases (double faults, unforced errors) lower values correspond to a greater probability of winning, so the correlation is associated with a negative coefficient (inverse correlation). Similarly, and with almost the same weight, we observe how an excess of net points, as already mentioned, tends to decrease the chances of Tsitsipas, thus constituting another example of inverse correlation.

In fifth position is to be found Tsitsipas’ number of double faults, in this case measured independently of those of his opponent. The fact that two out of five of the most relevant features are associated with double faults, an element that generally seems marginal in a match’s economy, can perhaps be traced back to the difficulties that Tsitsipas encounters (less and less as time goes by) with his ball toss, and consequently with the serve, in moments of great tension and fatigue.

The relevance of double faults, as well as that of unforced errors, also reminds us how, in addition to his undoubted technical qualities as a proactive player (aces, winners), the Greek needs to stay focused to highlight his excellent skills as a fighter, raising his level of play just when the number of games grows or when the going gets tough. This is a feature that he shares with the great champions, perhaps to a greater extent than with his other remarkable qualities.

Article by Damiano Verda; translated by Alessandro Valentini; edited by Tommaso Villa

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Paris Olympics Daily Preview: Osaka Plays Kerber, Nadal Teams with Alcaraz

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11 hours ago

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26/07/2024

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Naomi Osaka practicing this week in Paris (twitter.com/ITFTennis)

Olympic tennis gets underway on Saturday in Paris, on the grounds of Roland Garros.

While not traditionally thought of as an Olympic sport, the tennis event at the last several Summer Olympic Games has provided some of the sport’s most memorable and emotional moments.  Representing their country at the Olympics is one of the biggest achievements in the lives of many tennis players, and the 2024 event being staged at Roland Garros is unquestionably a very special one.

This will be the last tournament in the careers of a pair of three-time Major champions: Andy Murray and Angelique Kerber.  And this will be the last Olympics, and likely the last time playing at Roland Garros, for 14-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal.  Rafa’s status for singles is in doubt, but he is committed to playing men’s doubles alongside four-time Major champ Carlos Alcaraz.

Nadal and Alcaraz will play their opening round doubles match on Saturday evening, while Kerber faces fellow multi-time Major champ Naomi Osaka in a blockbuster first round contest to close out the night session.  The day session sees both of the top seeds in the singles draws, Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek, play their opening round matches.

The draws for men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles will all be played across the next nine days in Paris.

Throughout the tournament, this preview will analyze the day’s most prominent matches, while highlighting the other notable matches on the schedule.  Saturday’s play begins at 12:00pm local time.

  • Alcaraz and Nadal practicing this week (twitter.com/ITFTennis

Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni [ARG] (6) vs. Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal [ESP] – 7:00pm on Court Philippe-Chatrier

Eight years ago, Nadal won the gold medal in men’s singles at the Rio Olympics, alongside Marc Lopez.  And eight years before that, he claimed the gold medal in men’s singles at the Beijing Olympics, notably defeating Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.  Now he goes for a third gold medal, teaming with the reigning Roland Garros and Wimbledon men’s singles champion.

But this is a physically compromised, 38-year-old version of Rafa, who has only played six events within the last 18 months.  And while he reached the final just last week in Bastad, that run apparently took a toll on his body.  There are reports he may be pulling out of the singles draw in Paris, as a four-hour quarterfinal match last week against Mariano Navone certainly drained the King of Clay. 

This will be the first time these two Spanish all-time greats team up, and both have rarely played doubles in their careers.  By contrast, Gonzalez and Molteni are both top 20 doubles players.  And while they didn’t team together during the grass court season, they’ve won seven titles together within the last 18 months.

However, facing these two Roland Garros champions on Court Philippe-Chatrier will be a daunting task.  And Nadal should be less hampered on the doubles court than the singles court.  I expect Rafa and Carlitos to embrace the energy of the Saturday night crowd in Paris, and advance to the next round.

Naomi Osaka [JPN] vs. Angelique Kerber [GER] – Last on Court Philippe-Chatrier

Both of these players returned from maternity at the start of the year, though neither has yet rediscovered their top form.  26-year-old Osaka has shown glimpses of it, specifically two months ago at this same venue, when she was just a point away from upsetting Iga Swiatek.  36-year-old Kerber is just 7-14 since returning, and arrives in Paris on a five-match losing streak.  Angie announced earlier this week that she will retire from the sport following these Olympic Games.

These two sure-fire Hall of Famers played six times between 2017 and 2022, with Kerber taking four of those six encounters.  However, most of those occurred while Angie was at her best, and before Naomi had reached her top level.  They’ve never before played on clay, which is certainly neither’s favorite surface.

In the last tournament of her career, Kerber will be extra motivated to achieve a good result.  And she’s done so before at the Olympics, as she was the silver medalist back in 2016.  At the last Olympics in Tokyo, Osaka seemed distracted and overwhelmed playing in her home country’s Games.  But this season, she’s been extremely focused on her tennis, and has dedicated herself to better acclimating to playing on clay.  Based on her performance in Paris two months ago, I like Naomi’s chances of prevailing on Saturday, and thus ending Angie’s singles career.

  • Swiatek practicing this week (twitter.com/ITFTennis)

Other Notable Matches on Saturday:

Iga Swiatek [POL] (1) vs. Irina-Camelia Begu [ROU] – Swiatek is 21-1 this year on clay, and is on a 19-match win streak on this surface.  Three years ago at Wimbledon, she thumped Begu by a score of 6-1, 6-0.

Jack Draper [GBR] vs. Kei Nishikori [JPN] – Nishikori was a bronze medalist at the Rio Olympics, but injuries have only allowed him to play four ATP events across the last three seasons.  Draper currently sits at a career-high ranking of No.26, thanks to 21 match wins in 2024.

Novak Djokovic [SRB[ (1) vs. Matthew Ebden [AUS] – An Olympic gold medal is the one glaring blemish on the Djokovic CV, and at 37 years of age, this will most certainly be his last good chance to win the gold for Serbia, which might mean more to Novak than any of his other career accomplishments.  Ebden replaces Andy Murray in the singles draw, and the Australian hasn’t played a singles match in over two years, as the ITF bizarrely uses doubles players already on site as singles alternates.

Hady Habib [LBN] vs. Carlos Alcaraz [ESP] (2) – Alcaraz will play both singles and doubles on Saturday, and he’s now 33-6 on the year in singles, coming off his fourth Major title at Wimbledon.  Habib is a 25-year-old representing Lebanon who has never been ranked inside the world’s top 250.

Rinky Hijikata [AUS] vs. Daniil Medvedev [AIN] (4) – Three years ago at the Tokyo Olympics, Medvedev lost in the quarterfinals to eventual bronze medalist Pablo Carreno Busta.  Hijikata peaked at No.70 in singles last season, but is just 10-16 in 2024.

Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula [USA] (1) vs. Ellen Perez and Daria Saville [AUS] – Gauff will be the flag bearer for the United States during Friday’s opening ceremony, after missing the Tokyo Games due to COVID.  Her and Pegula are regular partners, while Perez and Saville are not, though Perez is a top 10 doubles player.

Saturday’s full Order of Play is here.

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Matteo Berrettini extends his winning streak to eight consecutive matches to reach the semifinal in Kitzbuehl

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18 hours ago

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26/07/2024

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Matteo Berrettini beat world number 143 Nicolas Moreno De Alboran 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 in their first head-to-head match to reach the semifinal at the Generali Open in Kitzbuhel. Berrettini has extended his winning streak to eight consecutive matches. 

Berrettini hit seven aces, dropped just five points on his first serve and saved all three break points. 

Berrettini, who was outside the top 150 last March, returned to the top 50 after claiming his ninth career title in Gstaad.

The first three games featured a total of three break points. Both players went on serve en route to the tie-break. De Alboran earned the first mini-break to take a 4-3 lead, but Berrettini won four consecutive points from 3-5 down to claim the tie-break 7-5. Berrettini improved to 9-0 in tie-breaks during the past two tournaments. 

The second set went on serve until the eighth game when Berrettini earned his decisive break to take a 5-3 lead. The 2021 Wimbledon finalist sealed the win on his first match point after a double fault from De Alboran. 

Berrettini set up a semifinal match against Yannik Hanfmann, who beat Thago Seyboth Wild 7-6 (7-2) 6-4. 

“I am really happy with the performance, I have never played against him so I did not really what to expect. It was a really high level of tennis and I think he was playing and serving really well, hitting the forehand really well, so I had to dig deep with my energy and my level”, said Berrettini.

Hugo Gaston battled past Sebastian Baez 7-5 5-7 7-6 (8-6) in 3 hours and 8 minutes. Gaston saved two match point as he won the last four points of the tie-break in the third set. The Frenchman fended off 12 of the 16 break points.

Gaston set up a semifinal clash against Pedro Martinez, who came back from one set down to beat Pedro Martinez 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 6-4 in 3 hours and 32 minutes.   

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Novak Djokovic’s Potential Second Round Clash With Rafael Nadal Headlines Olympics Draw

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic could meet in the second round of the Olympics.

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2 days ago

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25/07/2024

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(@TheTennisLetter - Twitter)

Novak Djokovic’s potential second round clash with Rafael Nadal headlines an exciting Olympics draw.

The draw was done this morning for the Olympic Games which will take place at Roland Garros.

After Andy Murray’s late withdrawal from the singles event, the next big headline would take place in the men’s singles draw as Novak Djokovic could collide with Rafael Nadal in the second round.

It would be a titanic tussle between two of the best players of all time but first Djokovic will have to get past doubles specialist Matthew Ebden while Nadal takes on Hungarian Marton Fucsovics in the opening round.

Djokovic is the top seed after Jannik Sinner’s withdrawal and could play Hamburg champion Arthur Fils in the third round before a potential quarter-final clash with Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Meanwhile as for Carlos Alcaraz the Spaniard will begin against Hady Habib in the opening round and could face Cameron Norrie in the second round with the Brit facing Tallon Griekspoor in his opener.

Other key obstacles in his half of the draw are Rome finalist Alejandro Tabilo, Alex De Minaur and Casper Ruud.

Here are some of the other key matches in the men’s singles draw in the first round:

Lorenzo Musetti v Gael Monfils

Jack Draper v Kei Nishikori

Alexander Bublik v Taylor Fritz

Alex De Minaur v Jan-Lennard Struff

Kerber and Osaka first round clash headlines Women’s Singles Draw

In the Women’s singles draw the headline clash will see Naomi Osaka take on Angelique Kerber in a battle of the Grand Slam champions.

Kerber has announced this morning that this will be her final tournament of her career before retiring.

The winner of that match could take on Elena Rybakina in the second round with the Kazakh beginning her campaign against Jaqueline Cristian.

Rybakina has landed in Iga Swiatek’s half of the draw with the world number one beginning against Irina-Camelia Begu with the in-form Diana Schnaider awaiting in the third round.

In the bottom half of the draw, Coco Gauff will begin her campaign against Ajla Tomljanovic with Wimbledon semi-finalist Donna Vekic awaiting in the third round.

Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova will face Sara Sorribes Tormo with Jessica Pegula awaiting in the third round.

Stefanos Tsitsipas, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray headline doubles draw

In the doubles draws, Andy Murray will compete in his last ever tournament as he and Dan Evans are drawn against Taro Daniel and Kei Nishikori in the first round.

The dream duo of Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal face sixth seeds Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni.

Meanwhile the Tsitsipas brothers face Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral while Daniil Medvedev and Roman Safiullin face second seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz.

The headline match of the men’s doubles is Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul facing Felix Auger-Aliassime and Milos Raonic.

On the women’s side top seeds Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula take on Ellen Perez and Daria Saville.

Also featuring in the draw are Caroline Garcia, Angelique Kerber, Barbora Krejcikova and Maria Sakkari.

The events start on Saturday and will conclude a week later.

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