Alexander Zverev Archives - Brain Game Tennis

Indian Wells 2026: Surviving The First 4 Shots

Saturday, 14 March 2026 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from Indian Wells, When we think about the first four shots of the point, we imagine offense in our minds. We talk about “first strike” and how to pressure opponents with superior court position, taking away their time. But not when returning serve. Our goal here is to SURVIVE the first four shots. It’s

Published in Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Indian Wells, Jannik Sinner

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2026 Australian Open. Only 2.8% Serve And Volley Points. It’s Embarrassing.

Wednesday, 28 January 2026 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from Melbourne, Let’s talk serve and volley. Australia is the land of kangaroos, Tasmanian devils, platypus, koalas, quokkas, and serve & volley. Serving and running straight to the net is in our DNA. If you can’t serve and volley, you can’t get a driver’s license Down Under. Pure and simple. Obviously, players are serving

Published in Alexander Bublik, Alexander Zverev, Australian Open, Ben Shelton, Carlos Alcaraz, Serve And Volley, Tommy Paul

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2025 ATP Finals – Sinner’s Seven Takeaways For Your Own Game

Thursday, 20 November 2025 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, Jannik Sinner didn’t drop a set as he notched back-to-back titles at the year-end ATP Finals in Turin on the weekend. That’s a remarkable feat against five other top 10 players in the world. Here are Sinner’s tournament results 2025 ATP Finals – Jannik Sinner’s Five Matches Let’s unpack seven things from Sinner’s tournament

Published in Alex De Minaur, Alexander Zverev, ATP Finals, Ben Shelton, Carlos Alcaraz, Felix Auger Aliassime

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Errors are DOUBLE Winners At 2025 ATP Finals

Tuesday, 11 November 2025 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from Turin, Tennis is a game of errors, but we don’t typically approach it that way. Too often, we ride the emotional roller coaster – happy when we win the point and sad when we lose it. It’s not easy to stay mentally strong when you are hitting double the number of errors as

Published in Alex De Minaur, Alexander Zverev, ATP Finals, Ben Shelton, Carlos Alcaraz

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Roland Garros 2025. Djokovic’s Drop Shot Drama.

Friday, 06 June 2025 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day From Paris, You are the second most important person on the court. Not the first. It’s not about what you WANT to do. It’s about what you NEED to do to get the W. Novak Djokovic defeated Alexander Zverev 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in the Roland Garros quarter-finals on Wednesday by doing what he

Published in Alexander Zverev, Drop Shots, Novak Djokovic, Roland Garros

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Roland Garros 2025. Sinner’s Forehand Has Gone Berserk

Tuesday, 03 June 2025 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from Paris, Forehand and backhand performance is always a key ingredient in reaching week two at Roland Garros. One way I like to evaluate groundstrokes is to subtract errors (forced & unforced combined) from winners. It’s almost always going to give you a “negative” result. For example, Carlos Alcaraz has hit 78 forehand winners

Published in Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Jack Draper, Jannik Sinner, Lorenzo Musetti, Novak Djokovic, Roland Garros

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10 Things To Learn From Daniil Medvedev

Thursday, 20 February 2025 by Craig O'Shannessy

Daniil Medvedev’s mastery of a tennis match is mesmerizing. Medvedev defeated Alexander Zverev 6-4, 6-1 in the final of the 2019 Rolex Shanghai Masters, with Zverev saying post-match that “Daniil is somebody that plays a way that we have never seen before.” You can’t beat what you can’t understand. Learn #1 – Answer this question.

Published in 0-4 Shots, Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Shanghai Masters 1000

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US Open Men’s Quarter-Finals. Rally Length Analysis.

Tuesday, 03 September 2024 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from New York. ???? We are now getting to the pointy end of the tournament. Here’s the quarter-final match-ups in the men’s draw. Jannik Sinner vs. Daniil Medvedev Jack Draper v Alex De Minaur Taylor Fritz v Alexander Zverev Grigor Dimitrov v Frances Tiafoe Let’s take a slightly different viewpoint of the eight players

Published in Alex De Minaur, Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Frances Tiafoe, Grigor Dimitrov, Jannik Sinner, Rally Length, Taylor Fritz, US Open

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How To Overcome Being “Super Super Tight” And Win.

Wednesday, 21 August 2024 by Craig O'Shannessy

2020 US Open Final Analysis Dominic Thiem was tight. In fact, he was “super, super tight.” “The problem was my nerves,” Thiem said post-match. In much the same way that Stan Wawrinka was shaking and crying in the locker room before defeating Novak Djokovic in four sets in the 2016 US Open final, Thiem said

Published in Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem, US Open

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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.