First Strike Tennis:
A Four Shot Battle
Craig O'Shannessy
A serve and a forehand—a winning first strike point?
In the last article, we looked at the number of hits that determine points and found that in pro tennis, despite a limited number of rallies that can last over 20 balls, most points are decided by 4 hits—or less. It's 60 % or higher.
What wins? First strike tennis. A serve, or a serve plus one shot. A return, or a return plus one shot.
If you are still struggling to get your mind around that, let's look at some specific pro matches with players including Stan Wawrinka, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokoivic and Bernard Tomic.
Let's see how success in points of 4 hits or less determined what happened to these players at the Australian Open in 2015.
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