Stats and Data Used As A Tool By Serena Williams, & Many Top Tennis Stars

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 20th February 2014

Stats and Data Used As A Tool By Serena Williams, & Many Top Tennis Stars

epa04086577 Serena Williams of the USA returns the ball to Ekaterina Makarova of Russia during their second round match for the Dubai Duty Free Tennis WTA Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 18 February 2014. EPA/ALI HAIDER |

While younger forces such as defending champion Petra Kvitova, 2012 winner and world no.3 Agnieszka Radwanska and other top 10 players Sara Errani, Simona Halep and Angelique Kerber have all been early casualties at the Dubai Duty Free Championships, the decidedly veteran duo of Serena and Venus Williams have been proving women’s tennis is nowadays most definitely not the domain of the younger player.

Gone it seems are the days of the teenage phenomenon and the Williams sisters, who of course went by the very description back in the 1990’s, readily admit that things like racket technology, improved footwear and better scientific knowledge is paramount in their longevity.

Serena has bought into technology big-time, largely it has to be said at the insistence of her coach and partner Patrick Mouratoglou. He is a disciple of the information provided by the new Systems Application and Products (SAP) data processing, using it to help analyze and improve the performance of not only Serena, but all his players.

“The sport has changed so much and technology has advanced such a long way that I doubt we will ever again see a 16 year-old world no.1,” said Jenni Lewis, SAP’s global senior solution architect. “It used to be all about hard work and hours spent on court. But now players like Serena rely as readily on technology.”

SAP last year signed a three-year deal with the WTA to supply coaches, media and fans with live-match analysis. Using the Hawk-Eye technology used to make line-calling decisions, SAP can graphically illustrate and predict patterns of play for competitors and their opponents. So it is easier to formulate and plot strategy and match tactics.

Lewis also maintains the information also results in coaches like Mouratoglou being able to set more tailored training for Serena and this in turn delays the stress on the body and therefore adds more longevity to a career.

Thus far in the Dubai event, and the conditions have been noticeably cooler than in recent years, there has been no sign of the back issues that affected Serena in the Australian Open and caused her to miss last week’s Qatar Total Open.

“Serena’s game is completely based upon strength, which she’s not always going to be able to rely upon,” said Lewis in Dubai this week. “Therefore she knows she needs to shorten her points and know when to pull out her weapons.

“She needs to do things smarter, spend less time hitting balls and more time understanding what she needs to be doing at certain points within the game. She needs to know when to attack, to get the best conversion rate, and what combination to use when doing so.”

The SAP technology is available to all the leading WTA players and future developments will hopefully reduce injury by using data from the number of balls hit and a sensor in the racket to better gauge technique.

Lewis explained: “From data gathered on the total number of balls hit and the total amount of time spent on the court , we are looking to enable the athlete to perform at their best without worsening, or causing further injury.

“We are also looking at how they hit the ball and from where they hit it on the racket. This in turn will help coaches to redefine the players’ technique.”

Topics: 10sballs, Agnieszka Radwanska, Angelique Kerber, Dubai, Petra Kvitova, Sara Errani, Serena Williams, Simona Halep, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, Venus Williams, Wta

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February 20, 2014 at 9:16 am

Stats and Data Used As A Tool By Serena Williams, & Many Top Tennis Stars – http://t.co/FnPCpiIfu1 @serenawilliams

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