Hey Ben, awesome post as always. On the serving data, I think it's slightly misleading to say Alcaraz's serving is more 'accurate' just because of the 1st serve %. One thing he has been criticised for in the past is 'missing his spots', which means his serves have landed away from the corners or from the body serve zone and into the hitting arc of the returner. This is something Sinner was definitely better at avoiding, up to the US Open at least! Missing by landing the serve in a hitting zone is arguably more inaccurate than missing a corner by an inch. That being said, Carlos was definitely hitting his spots better in New York - and if he keeps that up he'll be tough to beat!
Thanks for reading Andrew! Really appreciate it. And thanks for the feedback on that - it’s definitely a fair point.
I guess a good analogy is the way that ‘accurate’ can be a technically correct description of a shot on target in e.g. football regardless of where on goal it’s aimed, and how maximising that is not necessarily the thing you want to optimise for.
Will try and rethink the language I use around that in future! All the best.
Hey Ben, awesome post as always. On the serving data, I think it's slightly misleading to say Alcaraz's serving is more 'accurate' just because of the 1st serve %. One thing he has been criticised for in the past is 'missing his spots', which means his serves have landed away from the corners or from the body serve zone and into the hitting arc of the returner. This is something Sinner was definitely better at avoiding, up to the US Open at least! Missing by landing the serve in a hitting zone is arguably more inaccurate than missing a corner by an inch. That being said, Carlos was definitely hitting his spots better in New York - and if he keeps that up he'll be tough to beat!
Love the work - thanks, Andrew
Thanks for reading Andrew! Really appreciate it. And thanks for the feedback on that - it’s definitely a fair point.
I guess a good analogy is the way that ‘accurate’ can be a technically correct description of a shot on target in e.g. football regardless of where on goal it’s aimed, and how maximising that is not necessarily the thing you want to optimise for.
Will try and rethink the language I use around that in future! All the best.