Craig O'Shaughnessy Talks About How Data Helps Tennis Players Win Matches
Craig O'Shaughnessy, the strategy coach of Serbian tennis champion Novak Djokovic, talks about how he uses data to help tennis stars win more matches in an interview to TechWorld.
Speaking at a panel discussion at the ATP Finals which was hosted by Infosys, Shaughnessy says about Djokovic, "Probably the worst thing that I could do is show him the match chronologically – that's not the way to do it in today's game. It's about finding out of 100 points, the 10 or 15 that matter the most, and explaining to [them] that these are the patterns of play that you want to repeat in these upcoming games to win those matches."
Shaughnessy also spoke about his time with American tennis player Rajeev Ram, "I looked at the matches individually and I missed something big. It was only when I bought those three matches together that I saw the opponents had 18 backhand winners and Rajeev only had one. Very unusual – a red flag."
He then asked Ram to hit more backhands down the middle of the court - that single piece of advice was one of the main reasons Ram leaped from No. 270 in the world to the Top 100. "We had him at 28 years of age with his singles career almost over, back inside the top hundred, simply by uncovering where he should not hit backhands, which was cross court."
Shaughnessy is widely recognized as the world leader in teaching and analyzing tennis strategy. He specializes in the strategy area of the sport, creating his Brain Game Tennis business to teach players, coaches and fans the patterns of play and winning percentages that dominate tennis.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2R6D0S9
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