At the beginning of the year, I announced an ambitious goal: to double the number of matches in the Match Charting Project dataset. That’s a target of 1,617 new matches in 2016–about 135 per month, or 4.5 per day.
So far, so good! In January, ten contributors combined to add 162 new matches to the total. Our biggest heroes were Edo, with 35 matches, including many Grand Slam finals; Isaac, with 33; and Edged, whose 22 included some of the dramatic late-round men’s matches from Melbourne.
As we close in on the 1,800-match mark, I’m excited to announce a new addition to the stats and reports available on Tennis Abstract. Now, for every player with at least two charted matches in the database, there’s a dedicated player page with hundreds of aggregate data points for that player.
Here’s Novak Djokovic’s page, and here’s Angelique Kerber’s. I’m still working on integrating these pages into the rest of Tennis Abstract, but for now, you’ll be able to access them by clicking on the match totals next to every player’s name on the Match Charting home page.
These pages each feature four charts, which compare the player’s typical rally length, shot selection, winner types, and unforced error types to tour average. The other links on each page take you to tables very similar to those on the MCP match reports. Move your cursor over any rate to see the relevant tour average, as well as that player’s rates on each surface.
I hope you like this new addition, which owes so much to the amazing efforts of so many volunteer charters.
I hope, too, that you’ll be inspired to contribute to the project as well. When you’re ready to try your hand at charting, start here. As always, the more matches we have, the more valuable the project becomes.