John Farley Spotlight on: New Metrics? Squeakiest Shoes on Court?

John Farley Spotlight on: New Tennis Metrics?  

Squeakiest Shoes on Court?

There's a new "gig" for the tennis metric folks and that's Tennis Australia's Game Insight Group (GIG), which is taking tennis metrics to a new level to quantify specific dynamics of the game, or taking it possibly to a new level of distraction. The running comparative metrics of matches these days are the familiar:  number of aces, winners, break points saved, serve percentages, and unforced errors. Sometimes on our screens we are shown ball spin rates and the number of meters a player has traveled around the arena in her attempt to land a winner. I say around the arena because sometimes a player is returning a ball from closer to the courtside seats than from the tramlines.  Anyway we get to see how many fewer meters a player with a bandaged thigh has traversed than her unbandaged opponent. Good to know, yes?

GIG thinks there are other metrics the fans and especially the coaches might like to know - the players, I'm not so sure. Anyway GIG's technology is generating now the following metrics:

• Fastest Reaction Time
• Fastest Forehand
• Fastest Backhand
• Speediest on court (the road runner phenomenon)
• Works hardest on each point (work rate - per point energy expended)
• Clutch Serve Index: reveals a player's success or lack thereof in tie breaks, facing break point, and closing out a match.

You might like to know that GIG put it's technology to work to evaluate WTA players during play at Australian Opens 2014-2016 and came up with the following:  Madison Keys led the women in both forehand speed (81.3 mph - 8th overall including men) and in backhand speed (74.6 mph - 7th overall). Our own road runner, Simona Halep was found to be speediest on court.  Barbora Strycova had the highest work rate per shot. Yulia Putintseva had the highest work rate per point. (Seems like the shorter players have to work harder.)  In the "Clutch Serve Index" (the-going-for-the-jugular index), Konta, Serena, and Muguruza came in at the top.  I couldn't find any data for the women on Fastest Reaction Time.  I think these days though the fastest reaction times are needed by the ball kids, lines people, and the chair umpires.

So how does a player consciously put these to work in a match?  The answer is - they don't.  Do they work on improving  these areas on the practice court or on their sports psychologist's couch?  Yes - of course. But during the match, a player looks to get into a flow that integrates their game plan for the opponent with their natural, spontaneous court instincts.  In other words, it's a level of consciousness that transcends statistics. They've heard the metrics, but during play it is the wholeness that takes over. To the extent that it does not, the player is at a disadvantage.
With all that said, I think there are some other metrics that should be considered in analyzing the game and its players.  I offer the following:

• Most Number of Towel Swipes/Episodes per Match ("going to the towel")
• Slowest to the Net to Shake Hands
• Most Friendly and Sincere Handshake at Net
• Most Annoying Service Routine
• Squeakiest Shoes on Court
• Most Distracting Waiting-for-Serve Motions
• Most Bites of Banana During Sit-Downs/Change of Ends
• Most Hair-Fixing Episodes per Match 
• Weirdest Looking Glasses on Court 
• Most Distracting Eye Makeup
• Most Articulate During On-Court Interview 
• Most Profanities Per Point Lost or Per Set Lost

I think these metrics are important.  For example, if you know your opponent is in the top 5 in "going for the towel" you'll know you'll have more time to rest between points. If she's among the top in Most Friendly and Sincere Handshake at Net, you know you'll be somewhat comforted if you lose. Knowing these new metrics can be quite practical.
Now, as you look over these new metrics certain players might pop into your mind.  So let me know which players on the WTA tour you think might be among the top players in these new metrics. To prime the pump on this a bit, I offer a few names:

• Weirdest Looking Glasses on Court - Flipkens?
• Most Profanities Per Point Lost or Per Set Lost - Vandeweghe?
• Most Annoying Service Routine - Konta? 
• Most Hair-Fixing Episodes per Match - Kuznetsova?

So there you go.  Let's hear from you, and then I'll post the results.

No doubt the new metrics out of he Game Insight Group can generally be quite useful, but I question what effect knowing them going into a match might have on a player's psychology.  For example, would a player want to know that she is ranked 112th on tie breaks going into a tie break or ranked 67th in court speed and she's about to play Simona Halep.  But if you know your opponent up next on the draw is in the top 5 for Squeakiest Shoes, you could simply throw some earplugs into your bag. Now that's a useful metric.

Anyway, that's how I see it.