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 winners. One way to help reconcile this in your brain and become a better competitor is to know the reality of matches. This is not what we hope for. It’s the cold, hard facts of what actually happens.
Let’s take a quick look at two matches from the ATP Finals to better understand winners and errors.
2025 ATP FINALS
As you can see from the match statistics above, Carlos Alcaraz committed 15 more errors than winners (47 errors / 32 winners) in defeating Alex De Minaur in their round 1 match. Also, Alexander Zverev committed 16 more errors than winners (34 errors / 18 winners) to take down Ben Shelton.
What does this mean for us? Let’s combine the data from both matches to see what we get.
There were 82 winners struck in these two matches. When you double that amount, you get 164. That’s still not as many as the 173 errors all players hit in the two matches. Errors outnumber winners by at least a two-to-one margin. As you would know from other match analysis, tennis is typically 70% errors and 30% winners. This match is right in that wheelhouse.
SUMMARY
Even the best players in the world are committing way more errors than winners, and there is nobody on the planet who hits more winners than these guys.
The key here is not to ride the emotional roller coaster of disappointment when an error is made. It’s going to happen. Your opponent is constantly trying to put you in a difficult position to extract the errors he/she want to gain victory.
The best strategy is not as simple as just trying to hit fewer errors. For example, Alcaraz committed eight more errors than De Minaur, but he trusted his offense and collected 20 more winners than the Aussie to offset hitting more errors.
Tennis has been, and will always be, a sport of errors. Errorball if you like…
If you can quickly learn from and dismiss those errors, and keep your mind in a positive place, it will be far easier to problem-solve your way to the finish line.