2022 US Open Boys - The First 6 Shots

Every week, Tennis Analytics dives deep into the data, bringing you a stat of the week to help you understand tennis better and become a little smarter.

For the month of October we will look at data from the junior event at the 2022 US Open. For this we have looked at a total of 14,986 points. (Boys – 7,337, Girls – 7,649)

Like the pros, rallies were short in the boys draw at the 2022 US Open. In fact, one third of all points were done before each player could hit a 2nd ball!

78% of all rallies were done within 6 strokes, that is 3 or less on each side of the net.
The majority of rallies (61%) occurred in the 1st 4 shots. Interesting is the fact that, in the 5 to 8 range, two-thirds of points ended in the 5 to 6 range (5 to 6 – 17%, 7 to 8 – 9%).

There is no statistical evidence to suggest that important points in any match have longer rally lengths than any other points. Because tennis is a game of errors, the basic game plan is to outlast your opponent, rather than try to end the point early. Somewhat of a contradiction to the stats.

For player development, working on consistency – extending rallies – is important for developing: