Roland Garros Archives - Brain Game Tennis

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

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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Improve Your 1st Serve With This Smart Drill

Monday, 11 August 2025 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, I have been back on court a lot lately, working with players at Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and also the US national junior hardcourts in Kalamazoo. I want to share with you a first serve drill that I have done at all events that helps players get more first serves in and win more service

Published in Australian Open, Roland Garros, Serving, US Open, Wimbledon

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Gauff’s mind was her biggest weapon

Sunday, 08 June 2025 by Craig O'Shannessy

Coco Gauff had two question marks coming into the 2025 Roland Garros women’s singles final against Aryna Sabalenka. Would she serve too many double faults? Would her forehand break down? These were both problems during her 2024 US OPEN campaign. Not in Paris. Not this time. Gauff defeated Sabalenka 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4 Saturday to win

Published in Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Roland Garros

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2025 Roland Garros Final Alcaraz vs. Sinner. Five Things To Look For.

Sunday, 08 June 2025 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day From Paris, Borg vs. McEnroe. Sampras vs. Agassi. Edberg vs. Lendl. Djokovic vs. Federer. Nadal vs. Federer. Alcaraz vs. Sinner. This is the next iteration of the heavyweights in our sport. The top two seeds will be crushing the ball on the crushed red earth at Roland Garros this afternoon. Overall, Alcaraz leads the

Published in Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Roland Garros

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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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RG 2025. 1st Serve % < 60%? Au Revoir.

Wednesday, 04 June 2025 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from Paris, The tournament average for first serves made to the quarter-finals of Roland Garros this year is identical for men and women. 1st Serves Made Men = 62% Women = 62% What happens if you make less than 60% of your first serves? Trouble. Big trouble. Here’s what happened to the 45 men

Published in Alex De Minaur, Emma Raducanu, Iga Świątek, Iga Swiatek, Novak Djokovic, Roland Garros, The First 4 Shots

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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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2025 Roland Garros. Your biggest advantage is your first two touches.

Tuesday, 03 June 2025 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from Paris, Let’s draw a line in the sand to uncover where you create your most significant advantage in our sport. You hit your first shot of the rally, and then you hit your second. Now, grab a stick and draw a line in the sand. A maximum of two shots is on one

Published in Roland Garros

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Roland Garros 2025. What You Have Wrong About Net Play

Sunday, 01 June 2025 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, From Roland Garros It’s time to take the pulse of the tournament after the first three rounds. Specifically, how are things going for players at the baseline and at the net? Here are the tournament averages. Baseline Win Percentages (1st 3 Rds) Men = 47% Women = 48% Net Win Percentages (1st 3 Rds)

Published in Roland Garros

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Roland Garros 2025 – Holding To Love Lets You Breathe

Saturday, 31 May 2025 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day from Paris, When you hold serve to love, how do you feel? For most players, it’s relief. You have just strung four points together in a row, and it gives you a slight pause in the match to let the pressure melt away and let your heart rate drop. It does not happen often,

Published in Jack Draper, Roland Garros

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2024 US Open Serve Analysis. Which Is Better? Foot Back Or Foot Up?

Tuesday, 01 October 2024 by Craig O'Shannessy

G’day, Is it better to keep your foot back or bring it up in your service motion? On the surface, both seem to work just fine. It really depends on what feels right for you and what you were taught when you were younger. It feels like players get to load more and explode upward

Published in Ben Shelton, Coco Gauff, Frances Tiafoe, Grigor Dimitrov, Matteo Berrettini, Naomi Osaka, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Roland Garros, Serving, Taylor Fritz, 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.