Introductions, 2015 Predictions, Aussie Open

Four Reasons to Watch Tennis

Introductions to ByTheMinTennis, Racket Rally, and the ATP/WTA pyramid structure for tournament. Four Reasons: (1)Jaw Dropping Tennis (2) Unexpected Suprises (3)The Drama and (4)The Awkward/Funny Moments.

The March Madness of Tennis

My experience with Davis Cup in Vancouver and a March Masters Update.

“I never thought I was gonna be #1 in the nation!”

Dominic Tinodi’s candid interview of ITA #5 Sebastian Stiefelmeyer from University of Louisville.

“Happy Birthday Rafa! — Your gift: Novak Djokovic”

Divyaraj Singh takes apart Rafael Nadal’s game prior to his quarterfinal match against Novak Djokovic. Featured on FiveThirtyEight’s live blog during Djokovic/Nadal 2015 QF.

ATTN: Tennis Lovin’ Americans!

Quick geographical/timeline guide of the next 7 weeks of tennis in North America!

Light Years Apart: Serena Has No Equal

Tennis Coach Ramon Osa’s Serena Williams appreciation piece after she won Wimbledon, completing the ‘Serena Slam’, and 1 major away from a Career Grand Slam and slam title #22.

The Brick Breaker — Novak Djokovic Finally Wins Roland Garros

Phillip reflects on Novak Djokovic and his journey to lifting a trophy on the Parisian clay.

On Miami: Beginning of Federer-Nadal Rivalry

Courtside chat is a special segment on ‘The Tennis Notebook’. This feature will focus on great tennis rivalries and unforgettable matches. We hope to bring to life some of our favorites for new tennis fans as well as allow old ones to reminisce of the past. If you are interested in contributing or have certain requests, please let me know!

The story of Black Africa’s ill-fated 1976 Professional Tennis Tournament

Olaojo Aiyegbayo brings to life the Lagos Tennis Classic in 1976 and the events that occurred during that tournament. From Ola: “This longform story is based on archival newspaper research, biographical accounts of key characters, US Embassy/State Department cables plus telephone interviews with Tom Okker, Stan Smith, Harold Solomon, Dick Stockton, Bob Lutz, John McDonald, Ismail El Shafei, Paul Svehlik, and Erik Van Dillen.”

Roland Garros #Drawma

Visual draw analysis (as in Ajay and Nikita scribbled all over the draw) of Roland Garros 2015.

College Action at Roland Garros ‘15

Dominic Tinodi from SmartAthlete takes apart the current and past college players in qualifying and main draw of Roland Garros.

The College Scene at Wimbledon ‘15

Dominic Tinodi from SmartAthlete takes apart the current and past college players in qualifying and main draw of Wimbledon.

The Road to Wimbledon

Visual draw analysis (as in Ajay and Nikita scribbled all over the draw) of Wimbledon 2015.

Flushing the NYC Competition

Visual draw analysis (as in Ajay and Nikita scribbled all over the draw) of US Open 2015.

The College Scene at US Open‘15

Dominic tackles the college players through the qualifying and main draw of the US Open!

Melbourne Forecast: Hot!

Visual/interactive draw analysis (as in Nikita scribbled all over the draw) of Aussie Open 2016 draw.

The College Scene at Australian Open‘15

Dominic tackles the college players through the qualifying and main draw of the Aussie Open!

#RG16 Draw Doodle — Emoji Edition

Nikita’s archive of blogs and articles she comes across that she wants to share with you!

The King of Clay — The Numbers

First data driven article about Rafael Nadal. Featured on FiveThirtyEight’s live blog during Djokovic/Nadal 2015 QF. Currently MOST READ article on The Tennis Notebook.

Rafa in Paris — The Numbers

The second part of the data driven piece on Rafael Nadal and his historic record at Roland Garros. Featured on FiveThirtyEight’s live blog during Djokovic/Nadal 2015 QF a la Carl Bialik.

The Drop Shot: Is It Worth Using in Tennis?

Isaac Brute answers this question with data from 42 WTA clay court matches.

Wimbledon’s Maestro: The Numbers

Data driven article about Roger Federer’s consistency and dominance at Wimbledon.

A Visual History of Serena Williams

Nikita, Isaac, and Charles have put together a data tribute to the brilliance of Serena Williams. It includes an audio podcast from Nikita who guides you through each graphic. John Burn-Murdoch of Financial Times loved the audiovisual style, so will you! Also featured on the WTA website! Most VIEWED Note.

IBM Keys Unlocked

Nikita and Stephanie have a conversation about what to expect with IBM Keys in terms of their frequency, their analysis, and their success rate.

Data Digest v. 2015

The end of the year means a look back on some data worthy stories!

A chance to participate in a sweet competition co-hosted by Tennis Abstract and sponsored by Silk and Tennis Visuals.

Set Scores: Stories Untold

Charles creates a fantastic d3 tool to explore the distribution of points in various set scores. Not all scores are created equal!

Set Scores: The Rally Reality

Charles creates a fantastic d3 tool to explore the length of rallies.

Neutral Points & Point Enders: The Novak Djokovic Edition

How can we determine a dominant shot?

Time Violation Warning Study: Motivation & Preliminary Results

Introduction of an on-going study on time violation warnings.

Crème de la crème — Identifying the best of each tennis cluster

New writer Granger uses k-means cluster analysis to identify different tiers of players and the best of each group.

Let’s have a conversation about tennis.

Q&A between my friends and I about the basics of tennis. Fun read for tennis enthusiasts and potential new ones. Join Us!

The #SocialMediaEra of #Tennis

A look into the history of tennis writing and the transition to social media and crowd-sourced efforts.

Illusions of Inconsistency

Sit down with Dr. Stephanie Kovalchik about her presentation, “Are Women Professional Tennis Players Really Less Consistent Than Male Players?” .

The Complex Networks of Tennis

This is a feature of Prof. Filippo Radicchi’s work on tennis networks and a new ranking system called Tennis Prestige. Based on an algorithm similar to PageRank, he determines the top players of all time. His original paper is showcased and his website provides data for a cool interactive visualization done by Nikita.

Meldonium Demystified: Getting to the Heart of the Science

An exploration of the the science and the scientific research related to meldonium for a general audience.

“Proof” from an Elusive Meldonium Study

After the publication of Note 31, a fellow reader helped me track down a paper I that I mentioned was cited by many papers but difficult to find. Here is my analysis of this so called ‘proof’.

In Development For Next Season, Stay Tuned!