Moneyball was just the start. In the 12 years since Michael Lewis’s book lifted the lid on how the Oakland Athletics baseball team used detailed statistical analysis to compete with the best despite low budgets, every competitive sport has become more data driven. Nowadays the technology has evolved to the point where the challenge has shifted from capturing data to separating the useful stats from the rest. Tennis is a case in point.
The ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) publishes vast amounts of data throughout the competitive season. Much of it is noise, but some can explain profound changes in a player’s success. In the build-up to the US Open, the ATP data has presented a fascinating insight into tactical changes which have brought Roger Federer back to number two in the world and led him to recently defeat both Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic in the Cincinnati Masters.
