Craig O'Shannessy, Author at Brain Game Tennis

2026 Wimbledon Final. Zverev Wins Just 35% Baseline Points. Game Over.

Monday, 13 July 2026 by Craig O'Shannessy

TENNIS , AUSTRALIAN OPEN, MELBOURNE PARK, MELBOURNE, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA, GRAND SLAM, HARD COURT, OUTDOOR, ITF, ATP, WTA, 2023, © TENNIS PHOTO NETWORK

Gday from Wimbledon, Winners minus errors is by far the best way to evaluate baseline performance. And to be crystal clear, it’s winners minus all errors, which is forced and unforced errors combined. When you analyze a match this way (which I always do), you quickly zero in on the real reason Jannick Sinner won

Published in Alexander Zverev, Jannik Sinner, Wimbledon

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2026 Wimbledon. Let’s Talk Groundstroke Speed

Wednesday, 08 July 2026 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from Wimbledon. Let’s talk groundstroke speed for men and women at The Championships this year up to the quarter-finals. Surely this is an easy one to understand. Surely the harder you hit it, the more successful you will be. Isn’t groundstroke power omnipotent? Let’s start with the men’s draw and get a feel for

Published in Backhands, Forehands, Wimbledon

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2026 Wimbledon: Players hold 91% doing just this ONE thing.

Tuesday, 07 July 2026 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from Wimbledon, Imagine doing just one thing that bolsters your chance of holding serve all the way to 91%. That’s exactly what is happening in the men’s draw at Wimbledon this year. What’s the one thing that has this much influence in the game? The very first point of the service game. Let’s dig

Published in Alexander Zverev, Coco Gauff, Jannik Sinner, Naomi Osaka, Novak Djokovic, Taylor Fritz, Wimbledon

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Wimbledon 2026 – A Simply Shocking Statistic Has Emerged

Monday, 06 July 2026 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from Wimbledon, It’s been a lot of fun this year to take traditional static match data – such as 1st & 2nd serve points won – and do something more with it this year at Wimbledon. Traditional match data relies on basic PDF reports where match data sits in isolation from other matches. The

Published in Novak Djokovic, Wimbledon

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2026 Wimbledon: How Players Manipulate Time.

Sunday, 05 July 2026 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from Wimbledon, Time is the enemy. It’s also your best friend. Funny how that works. Time is a key component of our great sport. How much time does our opponent allow us to prepare for the next shot? How much time do we have to get our hands and feet organized? How much time

Published in Wimbledon

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Wimbledon 2026 – Serve And Volley Is Crushing

Saturday, 04 July 2026 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from Wimbledon, Serve and volley is baaaaack. 🎾🔨 Serve and volley stats were first recorded at The Championships in 1997. There have been only two years since then when the average win percentage in the men’s draw was north of 70%. 2014 – 71% 2015 – 71% That’s about to change. There have been

Published in Novak Djokovic, Serve And Volley, Wimbledon

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2026 Wimbledon – One Bad Service Game

Tuesday, 30 June 2026 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from Wimbledon! You know it’s coming. Your opponent knows it’s coming. It’s just a matter of when. One of the most common, yet under-the-radar, ways players lose matches at all levels of our sport is simply dropping one bad service game. One bad service game can undo a dozen good ones. It may be

Published in Jannik Sinner, Miomir Kecmanovic, Wimbledon

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Serena’s Secret SW19 Sauce = 2nd Serve Return Carnage

Sunday, 28 June 2026 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from Wimbledon, Forty-four-year-old Serena Williams is baaaaack. The seven-time champion will be back playing on Center Court on Tuesday against 20-year-old Australian Maya Joint. They are third match on Center after 1.30 pm. First, a little info about Joint. She is having a rough year on tour. She lost first round at the Australian

Published in Serena Williams, Wimbledon

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Roland Garros 2026 – Let’s Talk About Swinging Volleys

Thursday, 11 June 2026 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, One specific shot really captured my attention after spending two weeks at Roland Garros this year. Swinging volleys. They are the natural antidote against opponents who use height of contact as a weapon. Here are the three distinct scenarios in which I saw high volleys employed. 1: Opponent is moonballing I saw this both

Kim Birrell Swinging Volleys

Published in Kim Birrell, Roland Garros, Swinging Volleys

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Roland Garros Women’s Final. 10 Things To Look For – Chwalinska v Andreeva

Saturday, 06 June 2026 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day From Paris, 24-year-old Maja Chwalinska takes on 19-year-old Mirra Adnreeva in the Roland Garros women’s final today. Chwalinska came through qualifying and has only dropped one set to the final. HERE’S my early prediction of her winning the tournament. Chwalinska To The Final Q1 def. A. Rame 6-0, 6-3 Q2 def. C. Monnet 6-0,

Published in Maja Chawalinska, Mirra Andreeva, Roland Garros

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My totally preposterous Roland Garros prediction – that’s coming true!

Thursday, 04 June 2026 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from Roland Garros, Firstly, this is a true story. 😀🇫🇷🎾 Over the past few years, I have worked with French player Carole Monnet and her coach, Hervé Romain. Carole is currently ranked #196 in singles and #193 in doubles. My son, Rourke, and I watched Carole’s Roland Garros round-one qualifying match (Mon May 18),

Published in Maja Chawalinska, Roland Garros

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2026 Roland Garros – Fonseca v Mensik 10 Fast Facts

Monday, 01 June 2026 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day From Paris, 19-year-old Joao Fonseca takes on 20-year-old Jakub Mensik in the Roland Garros quarter-finals tomorrow. As we look to compare stats, it’s important to note that both Fonseca and Mensik have played 17 sets to the last eight. So the numbers should be fairly even, right? Not always… Let’s take a look at

Published in Jakub Mensik, Joao Fonseca, Roland Garros

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2026 Roland Garros. My Fonseca v Djokovic Breakdown (from row 4)

Saturday, 30 May 2026 by Craig O'Shannessy

First came Roger Federer. Then came Rafael Nadal. And then came Novak Djokovic, who eclipsed them both. First came Jannik Sinner. Then came Carlos Alcaraz. And yesterday, Joao Fonseca arrived, who has the potential to eclipse both of them as well. We didn’t think we would see the holy triad of men’s tennis morph again

Published in Joao Fonseca, Novak Djokovic, Roland Garros

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Your (Roland Garros) Holding Serve Cheat Code

Thursday, 28 May 2026 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from Paris, Holding serve at Roland Garros is a challenging proposition. Only the strong survive. Here are the numbers from the women’s qualifying draw. Women Qualifying holding serve = 60% (1328/2219) That’s not very high. Dropping serve four times out of ten clearly does not make the serve the powerful weapon it is designed

Published in Roland Garros, Serving

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Is This The Best Post-Match Interview Of All Time?

Wednesday, 06 May 2026 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, This is one of the best things I have EVER seen in our great sport. It’s an absolute MASTERCLASS by Prakash Amritraj on the Tennis Channel, interviewing Mirra Andreeva after her 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 victory over Anna Bondar in the 4th round of Madrid. Let’s cut to the chase. Mirra led 5-1 in the

Published in Mirra Andreeva, Prakesh Armitraj

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Italian Tennis Federation. The Data Specialists.

Monday, 06 April 2026 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, Such an honor to work with the Italian Tennis Federation & help them evolve into the global superpower they are today. They went “all in” with tennis data and match strategy in 2016 & have not looked back. Forza Italia! Greatly looking forward to returning to the Rome Masters 1000 in a few weeks.

Published in Italian Tennis Federation

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The practice court is clearly broken. Here’s the proof.

Points are "front loaded". By far the majority of the action, and the winning, takes place in THE FIRST 4 SHOTS. The practice court is full of long rallies. Matches are dominated by short rallies. There is a massive disconnect occurring.

We spend too much time grinding, banging balls up and down the middle of the court – that have no real benefit to winning tennis matches.

There are 3 specific rally lengths in tennis. Here is their percentage breakdown of total points.

0-4 Shots = 70%
5-8 Shots = 20%
9+ Shots = 10%

The First 4 Shots is specifically the serve, return, Serve +1 groundstroke and Return +1 groundstroke. Those are normally the shots that get practiced the least, but matter the most to winning tennis matches.

The net is an extremely high percentage place to be!

If you love playing tennis for fun, spend as much time at the baseline as you like. But if you compete – if the score matters – then you must turn your attention to the net to maximize your potential.

The “herd mentality” in tennis thinks it’s too tough to approach the net in today’s game. The conversation starts with improved string technology, more powerful rackets, and finishes with stronger, faster athletes. The herd think approaching is a relic of the past. The herd is WRONG!

AVERAGE WIN %
Baseline = 46%
Net = 66%

Data from ALL Grand Slams provides the facts about approach and volley, and the data is crystal clear – it’s immensely better than staying back at the baseline, grinding for a living.

The baseline is a tough place to create separation. Here's how to do it.

At the 2012 US Open, only 7 men and 14 women had a winning percentage from the baseline. At Wimbledon 2016, Andy Murray won the title only winning 52% of his baseline points - and he is one of the very best at it in the world!

Num3ers deeply explores the data that rules points, especially from the back of the court. Take a "deep dive" into all three rally lengths (0-4, 5-8, 9+), and winner and errors totals from the elite level of our game. The numbers will shock you!

All 4 Grand Slams

Forcing Errors = 41% Men / 37% Women
Winners = 32% Men / 29% Women
Unforced Errors = 27% Men / 34% Women

Num3ers is very much like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. It's about bringing together different data sets together to create the big picture.

Every recorded match from the 2015 Australian Open - Rd2 to the final.

There is a lot happening on a doubles court. Situations and strategies are constantly being adjusted to create mis-matches with court position. It's hard to keep track of - until now. Dou8les Num3ers is the most comprehensive analysis of doubles data in our sport. The focus is on how a point ends, and it's broken down eight ways to Sunday. Specifically, you find critical information on:

Winners rise to the #1 way a point ends (over forced & unforced errors)

- The last shot of the rally is overwhelmingly struck at the net.
- Center Window: the most important part of a doubles court to control.
- Stephen Huss: an in-depth interview on Wimbledon's Centre Court with the 2005 Wimbledon Doubles Champion.

Dou8les Num3ers leaves no stone unturned. Percentage breakdowns of how often the server or receiver hits the last shot highlight the dramatic influence of the serve. The last shot of the rally is significant, and is broken down into the following categories: volleys, overheads, passing shots, lobs and groundstrokes.

When you play a match, you actually play two matches.

When you walk out onto a tennis court, there are two matches that you are about to play. The first is during the point - a part of the match that you have spent a lot of time preparing for on the practice court. But there is a second match, that takes place in the 20 seconds between the points. This is where the mental and emotional aspects of our sport kick in.

Let's face it, there will be adversity in almost every tennis match that you play. The storm clouds are coming. How bug they are, and how long they last for, are up to you.

Between the points is very tennis specific. It provides a roadmap for the 20 seconds between the points, teaching how to handle the adversity that will surely come, and how to build on the successes that will also be present. Your mind is your biggest asset in a match, and Between the Points takes your hand off the self destruct button and stops you beating yourself.

You don't have to be good at everything, but you have got to be good at something.

You can break tennis down into four key elements - serving, returning, rallying and approaching. Each part has specific patterns of play that consistently deliver higher winning percentages than the others. No more guessing. No more opinions. All facets of our sport are covered in this exceptional product, clearly outlining what patterns to gravitate to, and how to best construct the practice court. Data comes primarily from the 2015 Australian Open.

Building Blocks

MEN = 70% errors / 30% winners
WOMEN = 74% errors / 26% winners

Forcing errors is the best way to construct a point.
You can simply break tennis down into primary and secondary patterns of play - and they are all covered here. Primary patterns include serve and return direction, forehands v backhands, and the best way to approach the net. Secondary patterns include drop shots, serve & volley and 1st volley options. If you play tournaments, this product will greatly help you simplify the singles court.

The conversation starts & ends with the Center Window.

The doubles court is like an hourglass. There are two big ends, but a small neck in the middle where all the action happens. Once you learn the power of the Center Window, where you stand to start the point will take on a lot more significance.

Doubles is a lot more about situations, with four people on the court all "dancing" with one another. Learn all the best doubles patterns, broken down for the server, returner, server's partner and the returner's partner.

Doubles Situations

The "J" - the most ideal movement for the returner's partner to attack the net.

The "V" - a better way of understanding where the server's partner should move to.

Volley Targets - there are four main areas to attack. Know which ones are higher percentage. Beach Volleyball - the idea of a "setter" and "spiker" is ideal for the doubles court.

There are certain parts of the court that the ball travels to a lot, and other low percentage areas that you really don't want to cover at all - like the alley! In general, the serving team wants to keep the ball in the middle of the court as much as possible (to help the server's partner), while the returning team benefits from hitting wider and creating more chaos in the point.