Craig O'Shannessy, Author at Brain Game Tennis

Daniil Medvedev: Monte Carlo Forehand Under The Microscope

Friday, 15 April 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, Daniil Medvedev was forced to miss the 2022 Rolex Monte Carlo Masters after having an operation to fix a small hernia. Get well Daniil! I was fortunate enough to watch him practice courtside in 2019. His groundstroke technique is certainly unique! Enjoy the forehand breakdown below – in 10 frames. MAKE YOUR FOREHAND A

Published in ATP Tour, Daniil Medvedev, Forehands, Monte Carlo

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Tim Henman & Pat Rafter Would Chop Today’s Deep Returners

Friday, 08 April 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, I was sitting courtside in Miami last week watching Andy Murray battle Daniil Medvedev. Sitting next to me was Tim Henman. Our discussion initially focused on Andy’s resurgence and how he is feeling better and better on court. Medvedev won the match 6-4, 6-2, pulling away from Andy after an even start to the match.

Published in Carlos Alcaraz, Casper Ruud, Miami, Serve And Volley

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Understand Carlos Alcaraz in 3 GIFs & a Pic.

Saturday, 02 April 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, DATE: August 24, 2021 LOCATION: Wake Forest University EVENT: ATP250 Winston-Salem Open, North Carolina It’s a warm, sticky evening on the campus of Wake Forest University. Carlos Alcaraz is ranked #73 in the world and is playing in the Winston-Salem Open, which is the week before the US Open. He has not yet set

Published in ATP Tour, Carlos Alcaraz, Miami

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Alcaraz’s Subtle Weapon: The Body 1st Serve

Wednesday, 30 March 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, Most first serves in tennis go at the corners, chasing aces and return errors. And then there is 18-year-old Spanish sensation Carlos Alcaraz. The body server. Alcaraz is lighting the tennis world on fire in Miami this week with a breathtaking display of power tennis that now has him in the quarter-finals against 22-year-old

Published in ATP Tour, Carlos Alcaraz, Miami, Serving, Stefanos Tsitsipas

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Kyrgios’ Aggressive Return Strategy

Monday, 28 March 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, Nick Kyrgios has got his mojo back. The 26-year-old Aussie is through to the Round of 16 at the Miami Open and will face 20-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner tomorrow for a spot in the quarters. I was courtside for Kyrgios’ 6-3, 6-0 second-round victory over Andrey Rublev and took some notes and pictures on

Published in ATP Tour, Miami, Nick Kyrgios

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Nadal def. Kyrgios. Returning & Rallying. What Were Their Targets?

Friday, 18 March 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

Rafael Nadal def. Nick Kyrgios 7-6(0), 5-7, 6-4 Where you return serve and where you rally are not the exact locations. The 2022 Indian Wells quarter-final between Rafael Nadal and Nick Kyrgios offers a prime example of players’ different targets when returning a serve and developing a rally. Return Of Serve Players generally have a

Published in ATP Tour, Nick Kyrgios, Rafael Nadal, Return Of Serve

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Nadal is 15-0 to start the season. One metric stands out…

Monday, 28 February 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

Rafael’s 2022 Renaissance. The 35-year-old Spaniard has: won his first 15 matches in a row to start 2022. That’s the best start to a season ever for the Spaniard. won 13 sets in a row. won the last 11 finals in a row he has competed in. moved up one spot in the ATP Rankings

Published in ATP Tour, Australian Open, Daniil Medvedev, Rafael Nadal

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Nadal def. Medvedev. The 3 Strategic Reasons Why.

Saturday, 26 February 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

DROPPERS. S&V. RUN-AROUNDS. Rafael Nadal defeated Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-3 in the semi-finals of the ATP500 Acapulco Open on Friday night. The scoreboard looks fairly routine. It was far from it. The first thing to understand is that Nadal converted 3/6 break points, while Medvedev went… wait for it… 0/11. 0 for California. 0 for

Published in ATP Tour, Daniil Medvedev, Rafael Nadal

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Seven Keys To Vesely Defeating Djokovic

Friday, 25 February 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

DUBAI: Jiri Vesely def. Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-6(4) It was a stunning result. Vesely storms through qualifying to defeat Marin Cilic, Roberto Bautista Agut, and then… Novak Djokovic. How did he do it? Here are seven specific areas of the match that stood out to me when analyzing the match video and the match statistics.

Published in ATP Dubai, ATP Tour, Jiri Vesely, Novak Djokovic, Upset

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2022 Australian Open Final: Nadal d Medvedev Analysis In 42 Enhanced Tweets

Tuesday, 15 February 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day! I think most of us are still scratching our heads trying to figure out how Rafael Nadal staged such a brilliant comeback in the 2022 Australian Open final against Daniil Medvedev. I was fortunate enough to be at the match and tweeted throughout it. A couple of days ago, I started re-reading the tweets

Published in Australian Open, Daniil Medvedev, Rafael Nadal

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The Numbers: Nadal v Medvedev

Saturday, 29 January 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

Rafael Nadal v Daniil Medvedev in the 2022 Australian Open Final. Six matches down. One to go. Who do you think is going to win the Aussie Open final? It’s time to look back at the six matches both players have played to figure out where the strengths are and where the opponent will likely

Published in Australian Open, Daniil Medvedev, Rafael Nadal

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Ash Barty Has Played 592 points. She has only hit FOUR backhand winners.

Friday, 28 January 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day From Melbourne. Ash Barty plays a different sport. It looks like tennis, it smells like tennis, but the stats sheet simply doesn’t add up. Can’t be tennis. Case in point. Take a look at the forehand and backhand winners table below from the four players who competed in the semi-finals of the 2022 Australian

Published in Ash Barty, Australian Open

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The time has come. Allow coaching in tennis.

Friday, 28 January 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

My opinion regarding coaching in matches has changed 180 degrees over the past few years. I used to want players to have no in-match coaching. It’s how it has always been. Tradition. One-on-one. Not anymore. The reality of competition is that tennis coaches are already helping players A LOT with their emotional support by clapping, showing

Published in Australian Open, Coaching On Tour

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2022 Australian Open: Men’s Semi-Finalists. 22 Match Metrics

Thursday, 27 January 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

It’s semi-final time at the 2022 Australian Open. Who have you got? Nadal or Berrettini? Or how about Tsitsipas or Medvedev? I have compiled 22 match metrics to help you figure out who is doing what better in their five matches leading up to the semi-finals. Enjoy the stats and let’s hope for some great

Daniil Medvedev

Published in Australian Open, Daniil Medvedev, Matteo Berrettini, Rafael Nadal, Stefanos Tsitsipas

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Rd 16 Australian Open: Average Rally Length For Men & Women

Saturday, 22 January 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from Melbourne! The general consensus in our sport is that women play longer rallies than men. Considerably longer. Is that your impression as well? I just analyzed the last 16 men and women at the 2022 Australian Open to find out what their average rally length has been in their first three matches. The

Published in Australian Open, Rally Length

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If Rafael Nadal was a stock, he would be a BUY at the 2022 Australian Open

Friday, 21 January 2022 by Craig O'Shannessy

Rafael Nadal is ticking all the right boxes through the first three rounds of the 2022 Australian Open. Here’s his tournament to date. Rd 1 def. Marcos Giron 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 Rd 2 def. Yannick Hanfmann 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 Rd 3 def. Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 SERVING GRADE = A- 1ST SERVE POINTS

Published in Australian Open, Rafael Nadal

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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.