'Always surprised by what I find': What are you measuring regarding tennis data and its use to develop players?
- Brett Phillips
- 58 minutes ago
- 3 min read
"We don't use data enough in the development of players. I don't blame coaches for that, or parents for that or even players for that, and the reason I don't is that the data that traditionally has been provided for those sections of tennis isn't great."
The words of Nicholas Scott, CEO of 135 Tennis Intelligence, who joined The First Serve Live on SEN on Monday Night for an expanded chat. Scott is an expert in the field of tennis data and its use to develop players, from junior to college to pro, who has also been the coach and the parent as well.
Based in Sydney, 135ti is largely doing a lot of work in North America with the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in New York, along with several colleges and also with Tennis Canada. 135 provides the data but also educates.
Scott says data has traditionally been used in tennis, that either is not overly correct or lacks context and that we have latched onto this idea in tennis that numbers never lie, which seems to be the catch cry
"Data can be manipulated by the human usage to tell the story to suit their narrative. UTR can't be manipulated, but no one knows exactly what it is trying to measure," Scott told The First Serve Live.
"I think the Italian Federation is probably the standout performer in how they actually develop players all the way through. Canada has done a very good job of it, and it is this decentralised system of developing players."
In developmental tennis, the space where Scott and 135 live, the three issues he has with data are the use of ratings/rankings and scores.
"UTR is a very good metric; it is used by every college coach that I have ever spoken to. UTR Ratings and scores are the method by which a lot of people are measuring a tennis player," Scott explained.
"The big problem with them is that we put them at the forefront.
"UTR is a currency. It is used by every college that I know of. The problem with it is that it is looking in the rear vision mirror, looking at what's happened, but it should be in the background; it is not a developmental metric at all."
Listen to The First Serve Live every Monday at 8pm AEST in its 18th year on the SEN Network/App, Australia's only dedicated weekly tennis program on commercial radio running through till the end of November.
The other two issues are the use of traditional match stats (Unforced errors, points won at next, for example and the use of big data, like 70 per cent of tennis is errors.
"Data in anything needs to be contextual, and it needs to have the right definition," said Scott.
"I am always surprised by what I find in the numbers after I have watched a match. Good data will always tell a story, but then it has to be delivered."
When asked how we are going here in Australia regarding development and the pathway, Scott replied: "There are some very good developmental coaches in the TA system. The issue that I guess I have at the moment, and what I hear from the coaches I work with, is the centralisation of high performance. The governing body is in competition with the private sector, and that should't be."
Rather than these wonderful private coaches who are developing players to a certain level, and then those players come into the TA fold, the problem that it creates is that these great private coaches are demotivated by the system.
For Scott and his team at 135, data analysis is all about three things, no matter what field you're in. What are you measuring? How are you measuring it? What are the definitions?
You can view the whole chat below
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