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.
Stat of the Week: 51%
In both the Women’s and Men’s 2020 US Open Finals, the Champion won just 51% of all points played in the finals.
- Osaka won 86 of 170 points = 50.59%
- Thiem won 164 of 322 points = 50.93%
Below is the percentage of points won for each rally length.
![SoW - Rally Length W](https://i0.wp.com/www.tennisanalytics.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/SoW-Rally-Length-W.jpg?resize=421%2C181&ssl=1)
![SoW - Rally Length M](https://i0.wp.com/www.tennisanalytics.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/SoW-Rally-Length-M.jpg?resize=420%2C181&ssl=1)
We LOVE the points with 27 shot rallies, but that’s not where the majority of the match happened. You can see that over 80% of points ended within 8 shots.
The 2nd serve was the difference!
In fact, both Osaka and Thiem were worse than their opponents on 1st serves.
![SoW - Serve W](https://i0.wp.com/www.tennisanalytics.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/SoW-Serve-W.jpg?resize=560%2C337&ssl=1)
![SoW - Serve M](https://i0.wp.com/www.tennisanalytics.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/SoW-Serve-M.jpg?resize=560%2C337&ssl=1)
Winners & Errors
Osaka hit 4 more winners and 2 more errors than Azarenka.
![SoW - Winner Error W](https://i0.wp.com/www.tennisanalytics.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/SoW-Winner-Error-W-1.jpg?resize=400%2C121&ssl=1)
Thiem hit 8 fewer winners than Zverev, but this was offset by 14 fewer errors.
![SoW - Winner Error M](https://i0.wp.com/www.tennisanalytics.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/SoW-Winner-Error-M.jpg?resize=400%2C121&ssl=1)
Point of the Week
The above examples validate past stat of the week data:
- 1% makes a huge difference in our sport.
- Winning the 1 to 4 battle is key to winning the match.
- A player is only as good as their 2nd Serve.
- Tennis is a game of errors.
Photo of the Week
Naomi Osaka’s forehand swing path.
![Naomi Osaka’s forehand swing path](https://i0.wp.com/www.tennisanalytics.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Naomi-Osakas-forehand-swing-path.jpg?resize=768%2C515&ssl=1)
Andras Ruszanov says
Congrats to the stats above! I just found a mis : Thiem hit 6 fewer winners than Zverev, but this was offset by 14 fewer errors (44 to 52 is 8 fewer winners).
Warren Pretorius & Will Boucek says
Thanks Andras! This is corrected now 🙂