Episode 92 of the Tennis Abstract Podcast, with Carl Bialik, of the Thirty Love podcast, addresses the opportunity generated by the Covid-19 pandemic to study natural experiments in sports.
Many of the things we used to take for granted–stadiums full of fans, weekly travel schedules, consistent training opportunities–have been disrupted for some or all players, in tennis and other major sports. We consider what we can learn about home-court advantage, the predictability of results, the role of unchanging venues, and even the speed of play, by comparing pre-pandemic numbers with their corresponding figures since sports got back underway. We also wonder about the limitations of these sorts of studies, because there are always confounding variables. The biggest confounder of all: the pandemic itself.
I’ve been writing about these issues occasionally. Click for my posts on the predictability of match results, the effect of an empty stadium on serves, and the pace of play with no fans, no towelkids, and no linespeople.
Thanks for listening!
In housekeeping notes:
- The TAP book club will reconvene in four weeks or so with our next selection, John Updike’s 1968 novel, Couples. Read along with us, tell us what you think, and suggest topics/questions/comments for our discussion in a future episode.
- Fans of the TA podcast will also want to check out Dangerous Exponents, Carl’s and my Covid-19 podcast. Later today, we’re releasing a new episode about masks–the science behind wearing them, the ways researchers study their benefits, how they stack up against other public health interventions, and much more.
(Note: this week’s episode is about 51 minutes long; in some browsers the audio player may display a different length. Sorry about that! Also, I refer to this episode as episode 91, because for a numbers guy, I’m pretty bad at counting.)
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