Extensive stats: Present top 10 players at the previous 4 GS - APRIL 2010

angliru · Apr 28, 2010

I've collected all the match statistics from each match played by a present top ten player at the last four Grand Slams (FO 2009, Wimbledon 2009, US Open 2009 and AO 2010), and I will present the combined (or cummulated) stats in this thread. The ten players are:

1 Williams, Serena
2 Wozniacki, Caroline
3 Safina, Dinara
4 Williams, Venus
5 Kuznetsova, Svetlana
6 Dementieva, Elena
7 Jankovic, Jelena
8 Radwanska, Agnieszka
9 Azarenka, Victoria
10 Stosur, Samantha

It's not my aim to conclude who's the best player (although there's no doubt that Serena has performed best at these events). The four Grand Slams are played on different surfaces at different times of the year, and not all players have performed equally well at these 4 tournaments and some of them may even have suffered from occasional injuries (ie. Safina, Venus) although all ten players did participate at all 4 events. I still find it relevant to present the stats since the results obtained at precisely these tournements have contributed highly to the present rankings!

I've only used the official match statistics - all still available online at the official tournament sites - but I'll try to present and combine these stats in new ways to give a better view of tendencies in terms of game and style. But I'll also be very cautious to draw any conclusions as I believe only watching the matches will give a real impression of what's going on (stats don't lie but don't always tell the truth either)!

Part 1 below will include misc. results statistics. I'll update the thread with these parts later:

Part 2 - Service analysis (Aces, DF, % etc.)
Part 3 - 'Rally' and points analysis (winners, UE, FE)
Part 4 - Net approaches

Part 1 - Misc. results and match statistics (@ FO 2009, Wimbledon 2009, US Open 2009 and AO 2010)

Most titles:
S. Williams 2
Kuznetsova 1

Most matches:
S. Williams 25
Safina 20
V. Williams 19
Kuznetsova 18
Wozniacki 18
Azarenka 18
Stosur 15
Radwanska 14
Dementieva 13
Jankovic 12

Winning percentage:

Code:

                W       L      %
S. Williams     23      2      92
Kuznetsova      15      3      83
Safina          16      4      80
V. Williams     15      4      79
Wozniacki       14      4      78
Azarenka        14      4      78
Stosur          11      4      73
Radwanska       10      4      71
Dementieva       9      4      69
Jankovic         8      4      67

Sets winning percentage:

Code:

                W      L      %
S. Williams     47      9     84
Kuznetsova      32     10     76
Safina          33     12     73
Azarenka        30     11     73
V. Williams     32     12     73
Wozniacki       28     11     72
Radwanska       22      9     71
Dementieva      20      9     69
Jankovic        19      9     68
Stosur          23     14     62

Tie Break success

Code:

                Wins      %
Azarenka       3 of 4     75
Jankovic       3 of 4     75
Wozniacki      2 of 3     67
S. Williams    4 of 7     57
Dementieva     1 of 2     50
Kuznetsova     2 of 5     40
Stosur         1 of 3     33
V. Williams    1 of 5     20
Radwanska      0 of 1      0
Safina         0 of 4      0

Winning % when one set down:

Code:

                Wins       %
Azarenka       2 of 3     67
Safina         5 of 8     63
S. Williams    3 of 5     60
V. Williams    3 of 6     50
Wozniacki      3 of 7     43
Kuznetsova     1 of 3     33
Dementieva     1 of 3     33
Stosur         1 of 5     20
Jankovic       0 of 2      0
Radwanska      0 of 4      0

Winning % when one set up:

Code:

                 Wins        %
S. Williams    20 of 20     100
Safina         11 of 11     100
Wozniacki      11 of 11     100
Radwanska      10 of 10     100
Stosur         10 of 10     100
Kuznetsova     14 of 15      93
V. Williams    12 of 13      92
Azarenka       12 of 15      80
Dementieva      8 of 10      80
Jankovic        8 of 10      80

Bagels given:
Azarenka 6
Wozniacki 4
Safina 4
V. Williams 3
S. Williams 3
Radwanska 2
Jankovic 1
Kuznetsova 1
Dementieva 0
Stosur 0

Double bagels given:
Azarenka 1
Safina 1

Bagels received:
V. Williams 2
Safina 1
Jankovic 1

None of the ten players were Double bagelled!

Match Length:

The longest matches played by any of these top 10 players were (duration)
Radwanska vs. Peng (Wimbledon) 178 min.
Jankovic vs. Oudin (Wimbledon) 172 min.
Dementieva vs. Henin (AO) 170 min.

The longest matches in terms of points played:
Radwanska vs. Peng (Wimbledon) 258
Kuznetsova vs. S. Williams (FO) 239
Dementieva vs. S. Williams (Wimbledon) 237

Average match length:

Code:

            Elapsed time   Matches   Av. length
             (minutes)               (minutes)
Radwanska      1230          14          88
S. Williams    2251          25          90
Kuznetsova     1645          18          91
Wozniacki      1656          18          92
Safina         1865          20          93
Azarenka       1712          18          95
Dementieva     1239          13          95
V. Williams    1828          19          96
Jankovic       1195          12         100
Stosur         1517          15         101

Average point length:

Code:

          Points played	    length (seconds)
Kuznetsova     2536             38.9
Stosur         2268             40.1
S. Williams    3360             40.2
Radwanska      1792             41.2
Safina         2692             41.6
Dementieva     1765             42.1
Wozniacki      2335             42.6
Jankovic       1683             42.6
Azarenka       2391             43.0
V. Williams    2517             43.6

(Note: The average point length includes breaks, second services, 'towel routines' etc., and may not reflect the real length of the points (typically only a few seconds). But I thought it would be interesting to see if there were any tendencies; if so-called hard-hitters played 'shorter' points than baseline oriented players.)

Part 2, 3, and 4 coming up...

angliru · Apr 28, 2010

Re: Extensive stats: The present top 10 players at the previous 4 GS!

Part 2 - Service analysis

Most Aces:
S. Williams 197
V. Williams 82
Stosur 65
Kuznetsova 55
Safina 42
Radwanska 29
Dementieva 29
Wozniacki 24
Azarenka 22
Jankovic 18

Aces per Match:

Code:

               Aces   Matches   Aces per match
S. Williams    197      25         7.88
Stosur          65      15         4.33
V. Williams     82      19         4.32
Kuznetsova      55      18         3.06
Dementieva      29      13         2.23
Safina          42      20         2.10
Radwanska       29      14         2.07
Jankovic        18      12         1.50
Wozniacki       24      18         1.33
Azarenka        22      18         1.22

Aces per serve (percentage):

Code:

               Aces     Serves    Aces per serve (%)
S. Williams    197       1605          12.3
V. Williams     82       1251           6.6
Stosur          65       1173           5.5
Kuznetsova      55       1286           4.3
Dementieva      29        880           3.3
Radwanska       29        888           3.3
Safina          42       1360           3.1
Wozniacki       24       1110           2.2
Jankovic        18        839           2.1
Azarenka        22       1174           1.9

Most Double Faults:
Safina 116
Dementieva 84
V. Williams 74
Azarenka 61
S. Williams 53
Stosur 49
Kuznetsova 43
Jankovic 35
Wozniacki 32
Radwanska 19

Most Double Faults in one match:
Safina (vs. Lisicki, Wimbledon) 15
Safina (vs. Barrois, AO) 15

DF per Match:

Code:

                 DF     Matches   DF per match
Dementieva       84       13         6.46
Safina          116       20         5.80
V. Williams      74       19         3.89
Azarenka         61       18         3.39
Stosur           49       15         3.27
Jankovic         35       12         2.92
Kuznetsova       43       18         2.39
S. Williams      53       25         2.12
Wozniacki        32       18         1.78
Radwanska        19       14         1.36

DF per serve (percentage):

Code:

                 DF    Services   DF's per serve (%)
Dementieva       84       880          9.5
Safina          116      1360          8.5
V. Williams      74      1251          5.9
Azarenka         61      1174          5.2
Stosur           49      1173          4.2
Jankovic         35       839          4.2
Kuznetsova       43      1286          3.3
S. Williams      53      1605          3.3
Wozniacki        32      1110          2.9
Radwanska        19       888          2.1

Aces minus Double Faults:
S. Williams 144
Stosur 16
Kuznetsova 12
Radwanska 10
V. Williams 8
Wozniacki -8
Jankovic -17
Azarenka -39
Dementieva -55
Safina -74

Fastest Serve Speed:
[CODE KMH MPH
V. Williams 201 125
S. Williams 200 124
Stosur 196 122[/CODE]

Average 1st Service Speed:

Code:

                KMH     MPH
V. Williams     175     109
S. Williams     171     106
Stosur          165     103
Dementieva      160      99
Safina          157      98
Kuznetsova      156      97
Jankovic        155      96
Wozniacki       153      95
Radwanska       150      93
Azarenka        149      93

(Not a true average. The result is not 'weighted', and does not take into account how many serves were served in each match. But the result is probably pretty accurate anyway).

Average 2nd Service Speed:

Code:

                KMH     MPH
Dementieva      145      90
Stosur          139      86
S. Williams     138      86
Safina          135      84
Jankovic        135      84
V. Williams     134      83
Azarenka        131      81
Kuznetsova      129      80
Wozniacki       124      77
Radwanska       114      71

(Not a true average. See above).

1st Serve %:

Code:

               Serves    1st serve in      1st Serve %
Azarenka        1174         896              76.3
Wozniacki       1110         783              70.5
Jankovic         839         561              66.9
Safina          1360         898              66.0
Dementieva       880         554              63.0
Radwanska        888         558              62.8
Kuznetsova      1286         807              62.8
Stosur          1173         726              61.8
S. Williams     1605         979              61.0
V. Williams     1251         734              58.7

Winning on 1st Serve (%):

Code:

             1st serves   1st serves won    1st serve winning %
S. Williams      979           746               76.2
V. Williams      734           529               72.1
Stosur           726           503               69.3
Safina           898           615               68.5
Kuznetsova       807           544               67.4
Radwanska        558           374               67.0
Dementieva       554           361               65.2
Azarenka         896           573               64.0
Jankovic         561           352               62.7
Wozniacki        783           487               62.2

Winning on 2nd Serve (%):

Code:

             2nd serves   2nd serves won    2nd service winning %
Radwanska        330           175               53.0
S. Williams      626           326               52.1
Kuznetsova       479           242               50.5
Wozniacki        327           162               49.5
Jankovic         278           136               48.9
V. Williams      517           243               47.0
Azarenka         278           129               46.4
Stosur           447           206               46.1
Dementieva       326           148               45.4
Safina           462           197               42.6

Winning % on 2nd Serve when serve is "In":

Code:

                2nd      DF   2nd serves  2nd serves      2nd serve 
               serves            "in"        won      winning % when "in"

Dementieva      326      84      242         148            61.2
Azarenka        278      61      217         129            59.5
Safina          462     116      346         197            56.9
S. Williams     626      53      573         326            56.9
Radwanska       330      19      311         175            56.3
Jankovic        278      35      243         136            56.0
Kuznetsova      479      43      436         242            55.5
Wozniacki       327      32      295         162            54.9
V. Williams     517      74      443         243            54.8
Stosur          447      49      398         206            51.8

Serve broken:

Code:

	       Times    Times being broken per match
S. Williams      41               1.64
Radwanska        32               2.29
Safina           46               2.30
V. Williams      44               2.32
Kuznetsova       47               2.61
Wozniacki        50               2.78
Azarenka         51               2.83
Stosur           43               2.87
Dementieva       42               3.23
Jankovic         41               3.42

Probability (risk) of being broken:

Code:

               Games   Serve games   Serve games   Break chance
                       (estimated)      lost       (or risk) %
S. Williams     527       264            41           16
V. Williams     388       194            44           23
Safina          402       201            46           23
Radwanska       276       138            32           23
Kuznetsova      391       196            47           24
Stosur          320       160            43           27
Wozniacki       355       178            50           28
Azarenka        362       181            51           28
Dementieva      265       133            42           32
Jankovic        252       126            41           33

Note to the table above: I don't know the exact number of sevice games from each player but since I know the total amount of games played I've simply assumed that the number of service games is half the total amount of games. In theory, though, a given player may have one more service game (or less) than her opponent in each match - depending on whether the scoreline is odd or even. Hence a player like Jankovic - in theory, at least - may have had 120 or 132 service games or anything in between (126 plus/minus one or two games is by far the most likely!).

Double Fault percentage on 2nd Serves:

Code:

            2nd serves    DF's     %
Radwanska       330        19      5.8
S. Williams     626        53      8.5
Kuznetsova      479        43      9.0
Wozniacki       327        32      9.8
Stosur          447        49     11.0
Jankovic        278        35     12.6
V. Williams     517        74     14.3
Azarenka        278        61     21.9
Safina          462       116     25.1
Dementieva      326        84     25.8

This (table above) means, for instance, that whenever Dementieva served a 2nd serve there was a 25.8% probability of a Double Fault!

angliru · Apr 30, 2010

Re: Extensive stats: The present top 10 players at the previous 4 GS!

Part 3 - 'Rally' and points analysis (winners, UE, FE)

Most Winners:

Code:

S. Williams     731
Kuznetsova      483
V. Williams     466
Safina          424
Stosur          421
Azarenka        378
Dementieva      259
Wozniacki       259
Radwanska       227
Jankovic        193

Winners per match (Average):

Code:

              Winners   Matches   W per match
S. Williams     731       25         29.0
Stosur          421       15         28.1
Kuznetsova      483       18         26.8
V. Williams     466       19         24.5
Safina          424       20         21.2
Azarenka        378       18         21.0
Dementieva      259       13         19.9
Radwanska       227       14         16.2
Jankovic        193       12         16.1
Wozniacki       259       18         14.4

Winners per match (Aces excluded):

Code:

              Winners   Matches   W per match
Kuznetsova      428       18         23.8
Stosur          356       15         23.7
S. Williams     534       25         21.4
V. Williams     384       19         20.2
Azarenka        356       18         19.8
Safina          382       20         19.1
Dementieva      230       13         17.7
Jankovic        175       12         14.6
Radwanska       198       14         14.1
Wozniacki       235       18         13.1

Most Winners in one Match (Aces included):
59 - Kuznetsova (vs. Wozniacki, UO)
57 - S. Williams (vs. Azarenka, AO)
53 - V. Williams (vs. Dushevina, UO)
47 - Stosur (vs. Tatjana Malek, GER, Wimbledon)

Most Unforced Errors:

Code:

Safina          520
S. Williams     498
Kuznetsova      471
V. Williams     439
Stosur          417
Azarenka        374
Wozniacki       337
Dementieva      297
Jankovic        262
Radwanska       208

Unforced Errors per match (Average):

Code:

                UE's   Matches   UE/Match
Stosur          417      15        27.8
Kuznetsova      471      18        26.2
Safina          520      20        26.0
V. Williams     439      19        23.1
Dementieva      297      13        22.8
Jankovic        262      12        21.8
Azarenka        374      18        20.8
S. Williams     498      25        19.9
Wozniacki       337      18        18.7
Radwanska       208      14        14.8

Most Unforced Errors in one match:
63 - Kuznetsova (vs. Wozniacki, UO)
58 - Stosur (vs. Sugiyama, UO)
54 - V. Williams (vs. Dushevina, UO)
53 - V. Williams (vs. Na Li, AO)
52 - Kuznetsova (vs. Petrova, AO)

In the next tables I'll have a closer look at what happens in the 'rallies'; ie. at all those points which are not immediately finished with an Ace or a Double Fault. I'll call these points 'Rally points'. One can also say that 'Rally points' are all those points where the ball is touched at least once by both server and receiver.

There is no info about 'Rally points' in the official match statistics - at least not directly - but it is quite easy to extract the necessary data by subtraction (as I've done in the table below).

'Rally points':

Code:

            Total Points             Opponent's  Opponent's   'Rally
               played     Aces    DF    Aces        DF        points'

S. Williams     3360      197     53     52         98         2960
Wozniacki       2335       24     32     37         47         2195
Safina          2692       42    116     36         79         2419
V. Williams     2517       82     74     33         58         2270
Kuznetsova      2536       55     43     35         61         2342
Dementieva      1765       29     84     35         54         1563
Jankovic        1683       18     35     17         43         1570
Radwanska       1792       29     19     23         37         1684
Azarenka        2391       22     61     60         48         2200
Stosur          2268       65     49     41         55         2058

As is probably well known, each rally in a tennismatch usually ends with a Winner, an Unforced Error or a Forced Error from either side. The amount of Rally points played (right column in the table above) is therefore useful, as it allows us to calculate the probability of any of these occurances (Winner, UE, or FE) in a rally! This is really interesting because it - at least on paper - gives us a much better idea of what kind of games the players are playing. (A rally can also end with a penalty point imposed by the referee for code violation, abuse, touching the net, and such, but these penalty points are rare and do not figure in the official statistics. I will therefore ignore such penalty points in my analysis).

Winners percentage per Rally:

Code:

              Winners      'Rally     Winners %
         (Aces excluded)   points     per rally

Kuznetsova      428         2342         18.3
S. Williams     534         2960         18.0
Stosur          356         2058         17.3
V. Williams     384         2270         16.9
Azarenka        356         2200         16.2
Safina          382         2419         15.8
Dementieva      230         1563         14.7
Radwanska       198         1684         11.8
Jankovic        175         1570         11.1
Wozniacki       235         2195         10.7

The table above tells us for instance that Samantha Stosur hit winners in 17.3 % of her rallies.

Unforced Errors percentage per Rally:

Code:

             Unforced     Unforced Errors %
              Errors          per rally

Radwanska       208             12.4
Wozniacki       337             15.4
Jankovic        262             16.7
S. Williams     498             16.8
Azarenka        374             17.0
Dementieva      297             19.0
V. Williams     439             19.3
Kuznetsova      471             20.1
Stosur          417             20.3
Safina          520             21.5

Forced Errors percentage per Rally:

Code:

              Forced       Forced Errors %
              Errors          per rally

Safina          255             10.5
Azarenka        269             12.2
Dementieva      198             12.7
Radwanska       226             13.4
Jankovic        211             13.4
Wozniacki       305             13.9
V. Williams     332             14.6
Kuznetsova      354             15.1
Stosur          347             16.7
S. Williams     538             18.2

Forced errors are very good shots by the opponents forcing the listed players to make errors. It should be stressed that the distinction between Forced and Unforced Errors may be blurry...

'Near Winners' percentage per Rally:

Code:

           'Near Winners'  'NW' per rally
Azarenka        469            21.3
Dementieva      307            19.6
Stosur          391            19.0
V. Williams     431            19.0
S. Williams     538            18.2
Safina          427            17.7
Kuznetsova      404            17.3
Radwanska       286            17.0
Jankovic        266            16.9
Wozniacki       323            14.7

'Near Winners' are very good shots by these players forcing their opponents to make errors (ie. Opponent's Forced Errors!).

Percentage of points won because of opponent's Unforced Errors:

Code:

               Rallies    Opp. Unforced
                 won         Errors         %

Wozniacki       1186           628         53.0
Jankovic         842           401         47.6
Radwanska        907           423         46.6
Safina          1335           526         39.4
Dementieva       862           325         37.7
V. Williams     1245           430         34.5
Kuznetsova      1263           431         34.1
Azarenka        1242           417         33.6
S. Williams     1589           517         32.5
Stosur          1057           310         29.3

Graphic illustrations showing the distribution of points won in a rally (2 selected players):

angliru · Apr 30, 2010

Re: Extensive stats: The present top 10 players at the previous 4 GS!

Part 4 - Net approaches (and misc.)

Most Net Approches:

Code:

V. Williams     373
Stosur          346
S. Williams     336
Kuznetsova      282
Azarenka        275
Safina          267
Radwanska       250
Wozniacki       206
Dementieva      183
Jankovic        161

Net Approches per match (average):

Code:

           Net approaches   Matches    NA per match
Stosur          346           15           23.1
V. Williams     373           19           19.6
Radwanska       250           14           17.9
Kuznetsova      282           18           15.7
Azarenka        275           18           15.3
Dementieva      183           13           14.1
S. Williams     336           25           13.4
Jankovic        161           12           13.4
Safina          267           20           13.4
Wozniacki       206           18           11.4

Most Net approaches in one match:
88 - Stosur (vs. Tatjana Malek, GER, Wimbledon)
50 - Safina (vs. Dominguez Lino, ESP, Wimb)
46 - Stosur (vs. Sugiyma, UO)

Net Approach success:

Code:

                Net      Net approaches    Success
            approaches        won             %

Kuznetsova      282           204            72.3
V. Williams     373           263            70.5
Azarenka        275           193            70.2
Dementieva      183           126            68.9
S. Williams     336           227            67.6
Radwanska       250           164            65.6
Stosur          346           224            64.7
Wozniacki       206           129            62.6
Safina          267           167            62.5
Jankovic        161            93            57.8

Net Approches from opponents per match (average):

Code:

    Vs.     Net approaches    Matches   NA per match
Radwanska       329             14          23.5
Wozniacki       274             18          15.2
Jankovic        175             12          14.6
Stosur          212             15          14.1
Dementieva      169             13          13.0
Kuznetsova      221             18          12.3
Azarenka        217             18          12.1
S. Williams     294             25          11.8
Safina          226             20          11.3
V. Williams     177             19           9.3

Best Net Approach Success from Opponents:

Code:

                Net       Net approaches    Success
     Vs.     approaches        won             %
Wozniacki       274            187            68.2
Jankovic        175            119            68.0
V. Williams     177            115            65.0
Stosur          212            136            64.2
Safina          226            142            62.8
Dementieva      169            105            62.1
S. Williams     294            181            61.6
Azarenka        217            133            61.3
Kuznetsova      221            130            58.8
Radwanska       329            190            57.8

Note to above: Lower percentage is better!

Probability of a Net approach in any rally:

Code:

             Net appr.   Rally points      %
Stosur          346          2058        16.8
V. Williams     373          2270        16.4
Radwanska       250          1684        14.8
Azarenka        275          2200        12.5
Kuznetsova      282          2342        12.0
Dementieva      183          1563        11.7
S. Williams     336          2960        11.4
Safina          267          2419        11.0
Jankovic        161          1570        10.3
Wozniacki       206          2195         9.4

Probability that opponent will approach the net:

Code:

     Vs.     Net appr.   Rally points      %
Radwanska       329          1684        19.5
Wozniacki       274          2195        12.5
Jankovic        175          1570        11.1
Dementieva      169          1563        10.8
Stosur          212          2058        10.3
S. Williams     294          2960         9.9
Azarenka        217          2200         9.9
Kuznetsova      221          2342         9.4
Safina          226          2419         9.3
V. Williams     177          2270         7.8

Misc. other statistics:

Break Point Conversions:

Code:

              Break point        BP
             opportunities   conversions     %

Kuznetsova       158             84         53.2
Azarenka         171             89         52.0
Safina           182             94         51.6
V. Williams      173             87         50.3
Stosur           120             60         50.0
Wozniacki        177             88         49.7
Dementieva       132             63         47.8
S. Williams      241            110         45.6
Radwanska        126             57         45.2
Jankovic         128             57         44.5

WTA Points earned:
S. Williams 5400
Safina 2740
Kuznetsova 2720
V. Williams 2340
Wozniacki 2120
Azarenka 1660
Stosur 1440
Dementieva 1200
Radwanska 1040
Jankovic 700

stangtennis · Apr 30, 2010

Re: Extensive stats: The present top 10 players at the previous 4 GS!

Interestingly Radwanska has by far the slowest 2nd serve (10 km/h slower than Wozniacki on average), but yet she has the highest winning% on 2nd serve. She also has by far the lowest double fault%.

I was also surprised to see how big the double fault % when serving 2nd serve was for many players.

angliru · May 1, 2010

Re: Extensive stats: The present top 10 players at the previous 4 GS!

stangtennis said:
Interestingly Radwanska has by far the slowest 2nd serve (10 km/h slower than Wozniacki on average), but yet she has the highest winning% on 2nd serve. She also has by far the lowest double fault%.

Yes, that is also what surprised me the most! And Dementieva has by far the fastest 2nd serve but also the highest double fault rate and almost the worst 2nd serve success! Speed and success do not go well hand in hand which is sort of surprising.

Azarenka's 1st serve % deserves special mention: 76.3 % is simply astonishing!

Chiquitita. · May 1, 2010

Re: Extensive stats: The present top 10 players at the previous 4 GS!

angliru said:
Yes, that is also what surprised me the most! And Dementieva has by far the fastest 2nd serve but also the highest double fault rate and almost the worst 2nd serve success! Speed and success do not go well hand in hand which is sort of surprising.

great work :worship:

Will just make one comment: taking out the double faults (so "rally points + aces") we get

Dementyeva 148/326
2nd serves without DF: 148-114 (56.5 %)

Radwańska 175/330
2nd serves without DF: 175-136 (56.3 %)

Serena 326/573
2nd serves without DF: 326-247 (56.9 %)

So...as long as you get it in there somewhere you've practically the same chance of winning...

And another table (combining two really)

Code:

	       Times	 Broken per match  Points (Pct) serve  Theoretical break chance
S. Williams	41		1.64        1072 (66.8)            14.3
Radwanska	32		2.29         549 (61.8)            22.8
Safina		46		2.30         812 (59.7)            27.0
V. Williams	44		2.32         772 (61.7)            23.0
Kuznetsova	47		2.61         786 (61.1)            24.2
Wozniacki	50		2.78         649 (58.5)            29.6
Azarenka	51		2.83         702 (59.7)            27.1
Stosur		43		2.87         709 (60.4)            25.6
Dementieva	42		3.23         509 (57.8)            31.2
Jankovic	41		3.42         488 (58.2)            30.3

The 'theoretical break chance' is the chance of breaking someone if the chance of winning a point in a game is exactly the same every game (which it isn't, different opposition and so on)

Now, I don't know how many games each player served, but on average you serve a little more than 10 games per match (6-3 6-4 = 19 games - 9.5 games per server, but there are some 3-setters as well so it's slightly higher)? So that seems to work out pretty well with my theoretical probability, perhaps except for Safina getting broken less than you'd expect when you consider all her points.

stangtennis · May 1, 2010

Re: Extensive stats: The present top 10 players at the previous 4 GS!

angliru said:
Azarenka's 1st serve % deserves special mention: 76.3 % is simply astonishing!

But she also has the softest 1st serve of all the top 10 players, so that has something to do with having the highest 1st serve%.

Looks like something went wrong with your formatting, the columns are not properly alingend in any of the tables if you watch them in Internet Explorer. But in Firefox they all look fine.
Did you use tab instead of spaces? Using tab often goes wrong with tables like this? The easiets is to edit the tables in Notepad or similar text-only editor using only spaces and no tabs and then copy/paste the cables into code brackets in the forum posts.

angliru · May 1, 2010

Re: Extensive stats: The present top 10 players at the previous 4 GS!

stangtennis said:
Looks like something went wrong with your formatting, the columns are not properly alingend in any of the tables if you watch them in Internet Explorer. But in Firefox they all look fine.
Did you use tab instead of spaces? Using tab often goes wrong with tables like this? The easiets is to edit the tables in Notepad or similar text-only editor using only spaces and no tabs and then copy/paste the cables into code brackets in the forum posts.

Oh, I'm sorry about that. I've only checked it in Firefox where it looked fine so I assumed it would in other browsers as well since I used the "Code" formatting. I've used tabs, but I will change it to spaces when I get the time. Thanks!

@SamR03A:
Interesting suggestions. I have the necessary data in the spreadsheet and will post the two tables when I've got time to do the proper formatting. (Actually I don't have data about how many games each player has served, but I have data about how many games are won/lost by each player and therefore also the total amount of games. The amount of service games is approximately half the total amount, of course).

Just Do It · May 1, 2010

Re: Extensive stats: The present top 10 players at the previous 4 GS!

Nice stats.
Jelena :bowdown: Pathetic year.

angliru · May 2, 2010

Re: Extensive stats: The present top 10 players at the previous 4 GS!

I've made the formatting Internet Explorer-Friendly and I've adde two tables based on the suggestions from SamR03A (Thanks!):

Winning % on 2nd Serve when serve is "In":

Code:

                2nd      DF   2nd serves  2nd serves      2nd serve 
               serves            "in"        won      winning % when "in"

Dementieva      326      84      242         148            61.2
Azarenka        278      61      217         129            59.5
Safina          462     116      346         197            56.9
S. Williams     626      53      573         326            56.9
Radwanska       330      19      311         175            56.3
Jankovic        278      35      243         136            56.0
Kuznetsova      479      43      436         242            55.5
Wozniacki       327      32      295         162            54.9
V. Williams     517      74      443         243            54.8
Stosur          447      49      398         206            51.8

Probability (risk) of being broken:

Code:

               Games   Serve games   Serve games   Break chance
                       (estimated)      lost       (or risk) %
S. Williams     527       264            41           19
Safina          402       201            46           25
Kuznetsova      391       196            47           26
V. Williams     388       194            44           26
Azarenka        362       181            51           28
Wozniacki       355       178            50           28
Stosur          320       160            43           31
Radwanska       276       138            32           36
Dementieva      265       133            42           38
Jankovic        252       126            41           40

Note to the table above: I don't know the exact number of sevice games for each player but since I know the total amount of games played I've simply assumed that the number of service games is half the total amount of games. In theory, though, a given player may have one more service game (or less) than her opponent in each match - depending on whether the scoreline is odd or even. Hence a player like Jankovic - in theory, at least - may have had 120 or 132 service games or anything in between (126 plus/minus one or two games is by far the most likely!).

Chiquitita. · May 2, 2010

Re: Extensive stats: The present top 10 players at the previous 4 GS!

angliru said:

Probability (risk) of being broken:

Code:

               Games   Serve games   Serve games   Break chance
                       (estimated)      lost       (or risk) %
S. Williams     527       264            41           19
Safina          402       201            46           25
Kuznetsova      391       196            47           26
V. Williams     388       194            44           26
Azarenka        362       181            51           28
Wozniacki       355       178            50           28
Stosur          320       160            43           31
Radwanska       276       138            32           36
Dementieva      265       133            42           38
Jankovic        252       126            41           40

No problem

The arithmetic in this column seems weird...41 / 264 = 15.5 %, no?

(No better myself, muddled Dementyeva's percentage of 2nd serves in won)

angliru · May 2, 2010

Re: Extensive stats: The present top 10 players at the previous 4 GS!

Yes, you're right! 41 / 264 IS 15.5 %!

I copied the tables from the spreadsheet, but I had made a terrible blunder in the function (or equation) I used: The last column equation refers to a fixed cell for Serve games lost (with the value 50) instead of variable cells! Hence 50/264 = 19% and so forth. Nice catch!

This is the correct table (I've also posted a correct table in my post #2 in the thread):

Break possibility

Code:

               Games   Serve games   Serve games   Break chance
                       (estimated)      lost       (or risk) %
S. Williams     527       264            41           16
V. Williams     388       194            44           23
Safina          402       201            46           23
Radwanska       276       138            32           23
Kuznetsova      391       196            47           24
Stosur          320       160            43           27
Wozniacki       355       178            50           28
Azarenka        362       181            51           28
Dementieva      265       133            42           32
Jankovic        252       126            41           33

It's not very far from your estimate. Well done :yeah:

n1_and_uh_noone · Jun 18, 2010

Re: Extensive stats: The present top 10 players at the previous 4 GS!

Wow, this is amazing stuff! This is exactly what I love about this forum! Especially liked the 'probability of being broken', of serving double faults and the graphic of winners/UEs/FEs. I seriously think though that 'unforced errors' against someone like Wozniacki are really forced, but that is my opinion

Vikapower · Jun 29, 2010

Re: Extensive stats: The present top 10 players at the previous 4 GS!

That thread is great. :yeah:

Sammy Stones · Jul 17, 2010

Re: Extensive stats: The present top 10 players at the previous 4 GS!

fantastic thread. work greatly appreciated.

Sammy Stones · Jul 18, 2010

Re: Extensive stats: The present top 10 players at the previous 4 GS!

I took this data and made cluster analysis, which basically tells you the similarities between players. a lot of this probably isn't ground breaking but it's still interesting.

you can see the similarities in the dendograms. for those who don't know how to interpret dendograms, the linkage ( -+--+ ) that is closest to 0 (in the 0 to 25 scale) indicates more similarities. so, for example, in the first graph, venus and stosur are similar because they're linked very early on. if you look at serena, she is linked to the rest of the group only at the 25 mark, which means that in this test, she's very different to all other players.

to help read the graph, put players in perspective. serena is regarded as the best server (helps her win matches), so being far from her is not positive, although not necessarily that negative. venus and stosur also known for relying on their serves, so that's another focus point.

the first dendogram tests the similarities in serve, specifically the variables aces per serve games, double faults per serve games, % on 1st serve, win % on 1st, % on 2nd, win % on 2nd, % of broken serve and probability of having your serve broken.

similarities in serve

Code:

       C A S E         0         5        10        15        20        25 
  Label           Num  +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ 
 
  venus             2   -+-----+ 
  stosur            7   -+     +---------+ 
  kuznetsova        4   -+-----+         | 
  radwanska         8   -+               | 
  safina            3   -----------------+-------------------------------+ 
  wozniacki         5   -+-------------+ |                               | 
  azarenka          6   -+             +-+                               | 
  dementieva        9   ---------+-----+                                 | 
  jankovic         10   ---------+                                       | 
  serena            1   -------------------------------------------------+

serve speed
variables: 1st serve speed, 2nd serve speed

Code:

       C A S E         0         5        10        15        20        25 
  Label           Num  +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ 
 
  safina            3   -+-------+ 
  jankovic         10   -+       +---------------------------+ 
  kuznetsova        4   ---+-+   |                           | 
  wozniacki         5   ---+ +---+                           +-----------+ 
  azarenka          6   -----+                               |           | 
  radwanska         8   -------------------------------------+           | 
  serena            1   -+-------+                                       | 
  stosur            7   -+       +-------------+                         | 
  venus             2   ---------+             +-------------------------+ 
  dementieva        9   -----------------------+

serena, sam and venus (close by) have similar serve speeds. nothing new there. radwanska doesn't link to anyone immediately, and that's because she's by far the slowest server.

performance in points
variables: average winners, average winners minus aces, average UE, % of winners in rallies, % of UE in rallies, % of FE in rallies, near winners (forced errors by opponents).

Code:

       C A S E         0         5        10        15        20        25 
  Label           Num  +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ 
 
  kuznetsova        4   -+---+ 
  stosur            7   -+   +-----+ 
  venus             2   -----+     +-----------+ 
  serena            1   -----------+           +-------------------------+ 
  azarenka          6   -+-----------+         |                         | 
  dementieva        9   -+           +---------+                         | 
  safina            3   -------------+                                   | 
  wozniacki         5   ---+-----+                                       | 
  jankovic         10   ---+     +---------------------------------------+ 
  radwanska         8   ---------+

interesting to see jj being partnered with woz. I thought she had a more agressive game.

player at the net
variables: average of net approaches, net approach success, probability of approaching the net during a rally

Code:

       C A S E         0         5        10        15        20        25 
  Label           Num  +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ 
 
  serena            1   -+---+ 
  dementieva        9   -+   +---------------------+ 
  kuznetsova        4   -+---+                     | 
  azarenka          6   -+                         +---------------------+ 
  safina            3   ---+---+                   |                     | 
  wozniacki         5   ---+   +-------------------+                     | 
  jankovic         10   -------+                                         | 
  venus             2   ---------+-----+                                 | 
  radwanska         8   ---------+     +---------------------------------+ 
  stosur            7   ---------------+

perspective: sam is the player that approaches the net more, but doesn't have the highest success level. serena doesn't go to the net often and has one of the lowest success rates.

general game play
variables: all of the above

Code:

       C A S E         0         5        10        15        20        25 
  Label           Num  +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ 
 
  venus             2   -+-------+ 
  stosur            7   -+       +---------------+ 
  kuznetsova        4   ---------+               +-------------------+ 
  safina            3   -------+-------+         |                   | 
  dementieva        9   -------+       +---------+                   +---+ 
  azarenka          6   ---------------+                             |   | 
  serena            1   ---------------------------------------------+   | 
  wozniacki         5   -+-----------------+                             | 
  jankovic         10   -+                 +-----------------------------+ 
  radwanska         8   -------------------+

LudwigDvorak · Jul 24, 2010

Re: Extensive stats: The present top 10 players at the previous 4 GS!

Requesting update please.

angliru · Jul 25, 2010

Re: Extensive stats: The present top 10 players at the previous 4 GS!

First of all I'd like to apologize for not replying or updating the thread on a regular basis but it was a bit time consuming doing this, and I've been too busy with other stuff lately. But I'm glad for the interest from all of you, and I appreciate your comments!

One of reasons I made this thread was to show just how much data it is possible to extract from the normal Grand slam match statistics sheets. And I've not even explored all possibilities yet (winning points when receiving vs. serving could be interesting to look at to name just one unexplored set of data)! But I have to admit that it's too time consuming to collect all the data needed for these analyses so I'm not going to make a complete update anytime soon. Some of the stats are probably a bit useless anyway? Maybe I'll make an update of selected parts of these stats after US Open 2010 (with FO 2010 and Wimbledon 2010 match stats added). Perhaps I'll add one or two new players in the lot (at the expense of someone else). We'll see...

The thread title is a bit misleading, of course, as it does no represent the present top 10 players but players who were the top 10 at the given time (and it's no longer the 4 previous GS either!). Any suggestions for a better thread title?

Thanks for the dendrograms! The cluster analysis is a really interesting way to look at similarities, but I'll just have to stress the fact that the set of data analyzed is relatively small (as I'm sure you've realized yourself): It's just 4 tournaments in a timespan of 8 months, which means that any shifts in forms of the players or any slight injuries in this 8 months period may (probably) have a large impact on the resulting stats.

angliru · Jul 25, 2010

Re: Extensive stats: The present top 10 players at the previous 4 GS!

n1_and_uh_noone said:
I seriously think though that 'unforced errors' against someone like Wozniacki are really forced, but that is my opinion

I partly agree. Forced vs. Unforced can at times be really difficult to distinguish but I'm just presenting the data as they appear in the official stats (forced errors actually don't appear directly but they are easy to calculate by subtraction). Btw., I've had a new look at how Stosur and Wozniacki have won their points at the 2 most recent grand slams (FO 2010 + Wimbledon 2010) and compered these with the old chats (also presented on the first page in the thread). In my former analysis these two players were the 2 extremes, but now they are actually not too far apart:

Distribution of points won in a rally:

Wozniacki - FO2009 + Wimbledon 2009 + UO 2009 + AO2010 (old chart):

Stosur - FO2009 + Wimbledon 2009 + UO 2009 + AO2010 (old chart):

The two new charts:

Extensive stats: Present top 10 players at the previous 4 GS - APRIL 2010

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