Craig O’Shannessy is a world leader in teaching and analysing tennis strategy and a top notch after dinner speaker.
He helped Novak Djokovic rediscover his mojo and capture four slams following his 2017 funk to equal the men’s record number of Grand Slams.
He blew my mind with the importance analytics plays in creating a champion. For example:
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.
O’Shannessy is currently advising the Italian Tennis Federation.
Thank you Elia Hill (GAICD) and Douglas Pye and BNE Enterprise for organising such a wonderful event
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