Research and Application of Big Data Analysis on the Winning Rules

in the Men's Singles Final of 2021 French Open

Jianjian Lin

, Jie Song

2,*

, Wenjing Zhang

and Xiaoyan Li

University of International Relations, Beijing, 100091, China

Beijing University of Agriculture, Beijing,102206, China

Beijing National Day School • Jinyuan, Beijing,100143, China

Yuxin School Attached to Capital Normal University, Beijing,100096, China

Keywords: Big Data, Tennis, 2021 French Open, Winning Rules.

Abstract: This paper aims to through the practical application of big data in tennis events; the research on big data

analysis of tennis events can accurately obtain the winning rules of athletes. This paper makes big data

statistics on the matches between Djokovic and Sisipas in the men's singles final of the 2021 French Open,

and uses Excel to process and analyze the data.The results show that Djokovic's number of Aces is less than

that of Tsitsipas, and the number of Double Faults of the two is similar. Tsitsipas's First Serve Percentage,

First Serve Winning Rate and Second Serve Winning Rate are lower than Djokovic's, Djokovic's Fastest Serve

Speed, Average First Serve Speed and Average Second Serve Speed are slower than Tsitsipas's, and

Tsitsipas's Receiving Service Winning Rate is lower than Djokovic's. In AD Court, Djokovic's first and second

serve are mainly in the wide. In Deuce Court, Djokovic's first serve is mainly in the wide and the second serve

is mainly middle; In AD Court, the first serve of Tsitsipas is mainly in the middle and the second serve is

mainly in the body. In AD Court, the first serve of Tsitsipas is mainly in the wide and the second serve is

mainly in the body. Djokovic is less than Tsitsipas in Short Rallies Points, and Tsitsipas is less than Djokovic

in Medium Rallies Points, Long Rallies Points, and Total Points Won. Tsitsipas has more Total Winners than

Djokovic in number, but it is lower than Djokovic in Winners Height above Ground, Djokovic has higher

speed in Winners Average Spin than Tsitsipas, and the two men have the same speed in the fastest Winners.

In terms of impacting points, Djokovic and Tsitsipas' Winners are mainly distributed near the singles sideline,

and Djokovic's Winners are closer to the baseline than Tsitsipas. It draws the conclusion that through the

analysis of the big data of the men's singles final of the 2021 French Open, it is pointed out that the rules of

the athletes' winning in the competition are: high Serve Success Rate and Winning Rate; It has a high Rate of

Receive and Serve; In the stalemate stage, it is necessary to have a stable and continuous offensive ability to

obtain more Medium Rallies Points and Long Rallies Points; The impacting points are closer to the sideline

and baseline of singles.

1 INTRODUCTION

In recent years, with the rapid development of the

Internet, big data analysis has been applied in many

fields such as medicine, education, industry and

agriculture. The progress of science and technology

has also brought vitality to the sports field. In the

previous broadcast of sports events, we can only see

some statistics about the events, sometimes it needs

manual statistics, and the statistics also have a great

lag. In the live broadcast of the event in recent two

Corresponding author

years, we can intuitively feel the surprise brought to

us by the age of big data. For example, we can see a

variety of statistical data from live events, and we can

also see a number of statistical data immediately

between events. The accuracy and breadth of the data

bring another wonderful visual feast to the audience

when watching live events (Zan, 2021; Liu, 2022).

742

Lin, J., Song, J., Zhang, W. and Li, X.

Research and Application of Big Data Analysis on the Winning Rules in the Men’s Singles Final of 2021 French Open.

DOI: 10.5220/0012043300003620

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Economic Management and Model Engineering (ICEMME 2022), pages 742-747

ISBN: 978-989-758-636-1

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

2 METHODS

2.1 Object

The research object is the video of Djokovic vs

Tsitsipas in the men's singles final of the 2021 French

Open. The result was Djokovic's victory over

Tsitsipas. The score is 3-2 (6-76, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4).

2.2 Methods

2.2.1 Expert Interview

Before the research, through video connection and

on-site visits, we consulted excellent tennis coaches

and professional athletes at home and abroad, as well

as famous experts and scholars at home and abroad

on the relevant content, research ideas, research

methods and other related issues of this research. At

the same time, the division method and scope of

service area and hitting area, the definition of hitting

line and the determination of hitting point are jointly

formulated.

2.2.2 Observation Method

Through repeated observation of the video of the

men's singles final of the 2021 French Open, the

statistics and analysis of relevant indicators were

carried out. The competition was conducted in 5

rounds, totaling 48 rounds. This paper takes the

competitive process of each basic hitting unit as the

observation unit, records the number of shots and

scores or points lost in the competitive process of

each basic hitting unit of each player, and conducts

big data statistics and analysis on each stroke in each

round. Select experienced competition statisticians in

the statistics, and conduct statistics after strict

training. At the same time, organize another group of

people to proofread to ensure the accuracy and

consistency of statistical data.

a) The division of the service area (Tao, 2002)

In this paper, AD and DEUCE are divided into three

parts with equal area, namely, Area A is the wide,

Area B is the body, and Area C is the middle

(Figure.1).

b) The division of impacting area (Tao, 2002)

In this paper, the two sides' respective impacting

fields are divided into 9 parts, each part of the area is

basically equal, and the statistics of the impacting

area are carried out. In the statistics, record the

impact area of each impact.

The impacting area of the competition site is

marked with the following signs: A is Backhand

Forecourt; B is Front Court of Middle; C is Forehand

Forecourt; D is Backhand Midfield; E is Middle

Court; F is Forehand Midfield; G is Backhand

Backcourt; H is Middle Back Court; I is Forehand

Backcourt. A, B, C are the Front Court; D, E ,F are

the Middle Court, and G, H , I are the Back Court; In

addition, A, D, G are Backhand, B, E, H are Middle,

and C, F, I are Forehand (Figure.2).

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of serve area division.

Figure.2: Schematic diagram of the division of the

impacting area.

In the actual statistical work, there will be some

special cases. In order to ensure the consistency of

the statistical data, the following provisions will be

made for the special cases: (a) When the landing

point is located at the junction of the front court and

the middle court, the landing point statistics will be

divided into the middle court; (b) When the landing

point is located at the junction of midcourt and

backcourt, the landing point statistics will be divided

into backcourt; (c) When the landing point is located

at the junction of forehand and middle, the landing

Research and Application of Big Data Analysis on the Winning Rules in the Men’s Singles Final of 2021 French Open

743

point statistics will be divided into forehand; (4)

When the landing point is located at the junction of

backhand and middle, the landing point statistics will

be divided into backhand.

c) The division of impacting line area (Tao, 2002)

In this paper, the impacting line is specified as

follows: The tennis court is vertically divided into

three equal areas, which are respectively represented

by Area A, Area B and Area C (forehand, middle and

backhand) (Figure.3).

Straight stroke statistics: In the stroke process,

any two adjacent strokes that fall in the same area

(without distinction between the front court, the

middle court and the back court) are recognized as

straight strokes in the line statistics. If any two

adjacent shots fall on different edges of the same area,

they are considered as straight shots in line statistics.

Statistics of oblique strokes: Any two adjacent

strokes in different areas (without distinction

between the front court, the middle court and the

back court) during the stroke are identified as oblique

strokes in the line statistics (Figure.4).

Figure. 3: The division diagram of straight line impacting

area.

Figure. 4: The division diagram of diagonal line impacting

area.

2.2.3 Mathematical Statistics

This paper first filters and classifies the relevant raw

data of the game video statistics, then further

processes the filtered data using the formula, and

finally uses Microsoft Excel to statistically process

the corresponding data. In the statistics, part of the

original data comes from the official website of the

French Open (https://www.r-olandgarros.com).

3 RESULTS

3.1 Serve and Receive

Djokovic's number of Aces is less than that of

Tsitsipas, and the number of Double Faults of the two

is similar. Tsitsipas's First Serve Percentage, First

Serve Winning Rate and Second Serve Winning Rate

are lower than Djokovic's, Djokovic's Fastest Serve

Speed, Average First Serve Speed and Average

Second Serve Speed are slower than Tsitsipas's, and

Tsitsipas's Receiving Service Winning Rate is lower

than Djokovic's. (Table 1).

Table 1: Statistical table of serving and receiving ability.

Djokovic Tsitsipas

Aces 5 14

Double Faults 3 4

Serve Percentage 68% 62%

Win on 1

Serve 78% 67%

Win on 2

Serve 53% 50%

Max Speed(mph) 123 127

Serve Average

eed

(

)

108 115

Serve Average

eed

(

)

86 94

Receiving Points Won 40% 30%

In AD Court, Djokovic's first and second serve

are mainly in the wide. In Deuce Court, Djokovic's

first serve is mainly in the wide and the second serve

is mainly middle; In AD Court, the first serve of

Tsitsipas is mainly in the middle and the second serve

is mainly in the body. In AD Court, the first serve of

Tsitsipas is mainly in the wide and the second serve

is mainly in the body. (Table 2).

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744

Table 2: Statistical table of serve point.

AD Court Deuce Court

Middle Boby Wide Middle Boby Wide

Djokovic

Serve 43% 0% 57% 40% 0% 60%

Serve 28% 11% 61% 59% 9% 32%

Tsitsipas

Serve 48% 10% 42% 38% 9% 53%

Serve 18% 66% 16% 31% 63% 6%

3.2 Stalemate Stage

Infosys Rally Analysis represents the performance of

the players in short, medium and long rally lengths

with an option to deep dive further to each shot-level.

Djokovic is less than Tsitsipas in Short Rallies

Points, and Tsitsipas is less than Djokovic in Medium

Rallies Points, Long Rallies Points, and Total Points

Won. (Table 3).

Table 3: Statistical table of rally lengths points.

Short

Rallies

Points

(

0-4

)

Medium

Rallies

Points

(

5-8

)

Long

Rallies

Points

(

)

Total

Points

Won

Djokovic 82 49 33 164

Tsitsipas 85 37 25 147

Note: points won by a player on opponent’s errors are

considered as a legal shot.

Tsitsipas has more Total Winners than Djokovic

in number, but it is lower than Djokovic in Winners

Height above Ground, Djokovic has higher speed in

Winners Average Spin than Tsitsipas, and the two

men have the same speed in the fastest Winners.

(Table 4).

Table 4: Statistical table of winners.

Height

Above

Ground

(

feet

)

Average

Spin

(rpm)

Fastest

Speed

(mph)

Total

Winners

Djokovic 5.9 3018 123 56

Tsitsipas 5.5 2756 122 61

In terms of impacting points, Djokovic and

Tsitsipas' Winners are mainly distributed near the

singles sideline, and Djokovic's Winners are closer to

the baseline than Tsitsipas. (Figure.5).

Note: ball bounce location is not available for some points.

Figure. 5: The diagram of the winners positions of djokovic

and tsitsipas.

4 DISCUSSION

Every point of a tennis match and every stroke of a

player can be regarded as data. When these huge data

are gathered together, they can be treated as an

unusually effective method for athletes and coaches

to evaluate the game, analyse opponents and

summarize themselves. By marking the line, impact

point and position of each shot as special data, we

will more intuitively and clearly summarize the

winning rules of tennis matches. (Zeng, 2019; Guo,

2019; Liu, 2019)

The first data mark of tennis match is serving.

Although serve seems to be independent, it is the

beginning of the whole tactical system in a point. It

is purposeful and planned. To a large extent, the

quality of serve will affect the outcome of this point.

In the serve, players can improve the quality of serve

through strength, speed, rotation, angle, depth,

placement and other elements, but there are also great

constraints between these elements. For example,

increasing the speed of serve will increase the threat

of serve, but the Success Rate will also decrease; On

the contrary, if you reduce the speed of serve in order

to improve the Success Rate of Serve, it is bound to

affect the threat of serve. Therefore, when serving,

players will seek a dynamic balance between the

Research and Application of Big Data Analysis on the Winning Rules in the Men’s Singles Final of 2021 French Open

745

threat and Success Rate of Serve. For example,

players will focus on the threat of serve through

tricky angle and extremely fast speed at the first

serve; in the second serve, it will focus on the

stability of the serve and strengthen its

aggressiveness through the change of rotation and

placement (Fu, 2015; Jiang, 2014).

The big data analysis of Djokovic and Tsitsipas

in the game also confirmed the previous view.

Djokovic and Tsitsipas also increase the threat of

serve to attack the opponent's weak links, increase

the difficulty of the opponent's receiving the serve,

and further expand the advantages brought by the

serve through tricky angles. In the French Open, the

clay court has brought trouble to the players who

serve fast. The players who serve slowly and fast on

the clay court do not have the advantage. The players

can only achieve the goal of serve score through the

coordination of angle rotation. Big data analysis

points out that their serve points are mainly external

corners, which are mainly aimed at increasing the

angle of serve, making it more difficult for opponents

to return the ball, and further expanding the

advantages of serve for subsequent attacks (Li, 2014;

Liu, 2014).

When the athletes serve the second time, they pay

more attention to the stability of the serve and attack

on the basis of ensuring the stability. The big data

analysis points out that the athletes of both sides

avoid the forehand position of the opponent in the

choice of the placement of the second round and

attack the relative weak links of the opponent.

Djokovic's second serve in the AD court is mainly in

the wide, mainly serving to the opponent's forehand.

Its purpose is to pull the opponent out of the court by

increasing the angle of the serve line, so that the

opponent can expose a greater gap and pave the way

for the next attack. The second serve point in the

bisection area is mainly in the middle. The middle

point is the line with the shortest serve distance. Due

to the shortening of the distance, the reaction time of

the opponent is relatively shortened. In addition,

when the opponent returns the ball at the middle

point, it is not easy to hit the ball from a large angle.

In a certain sense, it limits the opponent's attack. In

AD court and Deuce court, Tsitsipas's second serve

placement is mainly based on body, which is

consistent with Djokovic's tactical thinking, and lays

the groundwork for the next attack by restricting the

opponent's advantage.

From the data, Tsitsipas' first serve and second

serve are faster than Djokovic in speed, but the First

Serve Winning Rate and the Second Serve Winning

Rate are lower than Djokovic's. It is not difficult to

see that Fast Serve Speed is not the decisive factor

for winning. In order to win the score, it is also

necessary to cooperate with the placement, angle and

rotation when serve, or to establish the advantage of

attack by serve. According to the data in Rally

Lengths Points, the advantage of Tsitsipas in serve

fast is reflected in Short Rallies Points. The

advantage established through fast serve is easily

realized in Short Rallies Points.

The level of serve reception will affect the

outcome of the game to a certain extent. The opposite

side of the server is the receiver. To a certain extent,

the server has the advantage of this point, while the

receiver is at a disadvantage. The receiver can only

resolve the disadvantage of the receiver through

high-quality receive. In receiving serve, the emphasis

of receiving the first serve and the second serve will

be different. Due to the fast speed, large angle and

tricky placement of the first serve, the success rate

and stability are usually emphasized when receiving

the first serve; however, the second serve is relatively

slow and the angle is relatively small, which gives

the receiver more time to prepare. Usually, when

receiving the second serve, the receiver pays more

attention to the offensive, and resolves the

disadvantage of receiving the serve through a strong

attack, so as to create scoring opportunities for the

next step as much as possible. Big data analysis

points out that Djokovic scored higher than Tsitsipas

on Receiving Points Won, which reflects Djokovic's

excellent receive ability. He can quickly and

accurately judge the direction and location of the

serve through the opponent's throwing action when

serving, and make correct coping strategies to

eliminate the disadvantages of the receive as much as

possible to create scoring opportunities for the next

step.

The game went through the stages of serving and

receiving, and then entered the stalemate stage. In the

stalemate stage, the players switched attack and

defend through the cooperation of angle, placement,

speed and other factors, waiting for opportunities to

expand their advantages and win the score. In the

stalemate stage, physical reserves are also a great test

for athletes. During the confrontation in the stalemate

stage, the number of strokes and the moving distance

of both players increased, so the physical strength

required increased. Big data points out that Djokovic

and Tsitsipas have hit a lot of Winners in the game.

Among these Winners, the Height Above Group is

higher than that of Tsitsipas, and the Average Spin is

higher than that of Tsitsipas. From another angle,

Djokovic's hitting quality is higher than that of

Tsitsipas. In different venues, athletes will use

ICEMME 2022 - The International Conference on Economic Management and Model Engineering

746

different types of venues to formulate the most

effective competition strategy. The playing field of

the French Open belongs to the clay court. The ball

speed is slow and the bounce is high, so that the

players have enough time to prepare before

impacting. For those players who rely on the ball

speed to win, the clay court will limit their

advantages. Compared with speed, a strong topspin

ball can make players gain greater advantages in the

process of stalemate. Big data analysis points out that

Djokovic's Height Above Group and Average Spin

are higher than those of Tsitsipas in the stalemate.

The high bouncing stroke limits Tsitsipas, who is

good at fast attack. Compared with Medium Rallies

Points, Long Rallies Points and Total Points Won,

Djokovic has a greater advantage. We can find out

from the big data analysis that once the match is in

the stalemate stage on the clay court with slow speed

and high bounce, the effective scoring means of the

players can be summarized as follows: use the high

bounce topspin to impact the ball, mobilize the

opponent through a wide angle of impact, attack

continuously and stably, and force the opponent to

make mistakes. Big data analysis points out that

Djokovic's impacting points are closer to the baseline

and the singles sideline in the distribution of

Winners' impacting points. Only continuous and

stable attack can win the score (Tan, 2016; Yang,

2020; Zhang, 2011).

5 CONCLUSION

This paper analyses the big data of the men's singles

final of the 2021 French Open and points out that the

rules of the athletes' winning in the competition are:

high Serve Success Rate and Winning Rate; It has a

high Rate of Receive and Serve; In the stalemate

stage, it is necessary to have a stable and continuous

offensive ability to obtain more Medium Rallies

Points and Long Rallies Points; The impacting points

are closer to the sideline and baseline of singles.

6 SUGGESTION

It is suggested that speed, strength, placement, angle

and other factors should be added to the serve

training to strengthen the aggressiveness and stability

of stalemate and improve the accuracy of impacting.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This paper is supported by Fundamental Research

Funds for Central Universities, University of

International Relations

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