At Slams, Do Shorter Matches Lead to Later Success?
Over the weekend, Tom Perrotta made the claim that grand slam champions such as Roger Federer and Serena Williams got that way, in part, by keeping early matches short. In his words: “They’re great at...
View ArticleWhat Would Happen If the WTA Switched to Super-Tiebreaks?
It’s in the news again: Some tennis execs think that matches are too long, fans’ attention spans are too short, and the traditional format of tennis matches needs to change. Since ATP and WTA doubles...
View ArticleThe Pointlessness of Playing the Lets
Some people always want tennis matches to be shorter. Among the many recurring proposals to accomplish that, one that has been implemented in some places is eliminating service lets. In other words,...
View ArticleBest of Five and Marin Cilic’s Improbable Collapse
Leading up to the final two rubbers of this year’s Davis Cup final in Croatia, the hosts were heavily favored. They held a 2-1 advantage, and both of the remaining singles matches would pit a Croatian...
View ArticleThe Negative Impact of Time of Court
With 96 men’s matches in the books so far at Roland Garros this year, we’ve seen only one go to the absolute limit, past 6-6 in the fifth set. Still, we’ve had our share of lengthy, brutal five-set...
View ArticleWhat Cincinnati Taught Us About the Serve Clock
Italian translation at settesei.it So far, the serve clock has not made matches faster. In my article for The Economist earlier this week, I showed that in the handful of tournaments played with the...
View ArticleThe Effect of the US Open Serve Clock
Embed from Getty Images Italian translation at settesei.it This year’s US Open was the first grand slam to use a countdown clock before each serve. The time between points was set at 25 seconds, up...
View ArticleAnother Slam, Another Pointless Serve Clock
Italian translation at settesei.it The 25-second serve clock has quickly become a regular feature on the ATP and WTA tours. After a few trials, it made a debut in the run-up to last year’s US Open,...
View ArticleLet Bernie Keep His Money
Italian translation at settesei.it On Tuesday, Bernard Tomic lost his first-round match at Wimbledon to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. No surprise there: My forecast gave Tsonga a 64% chance of advancing, and...
View ArticleWhat Happens to the Pace of Play Without Fans, Challenges, or Towelkids?
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced some experimentation on the US Open ahead of schedule. After just a couple of years at marginal events such as the NextGen Finals, Hawkeye’s live line-calling system...
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