Deuce is normally a comfort zone for the server, where they hold around three out of every four visits to this extended-point score. Not so at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan this week. The new event is trialing several exciting innovations, including playing a sudden death point at deuce where the winner takes all.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of the eight #NextGenATP players in the 2017 season has identified that this new scoring system will lead to more exciting pressure moments in the match, and the potential for more breaks of serve as a result.

The following table identifies the percentage chances for all eight players holding serve from deuce in 2017, and also from 30/40, where they are staring down break point. The new sudden death point will behave differently to 30/40, as both players will simultaneously hold game point, but it is a good guide as to how this new scoring system will play out.

2017 Season: Holding from deuce & 30/40

The hold percentage for the new sudden death point will probably sit somewhere in between the 73 per cent average holding at deuce, and the 45 per cent average holding at 30/40.

One thing is for certain – starting the sudden death point with a first serve will give the server a considerable advantage. The following table shows how well the eight players are doing in the 2017 season saving break points behind a first or second serve.

2017 Season: Saving Break Points Behind 1st & 2nd Serves

Canadian Denis Shapovalov has been the best performer this season at saving break points behind a first serve, at 83 per cent (45/54). But he falls below the #NextGenATP average of 47 per cent saving break points behind second serves, at 44 per cent (23/52).

The sudden death point is a staple on the ATP World Tour in doubles, and it brings more excitement to the end of a game with both players holding game point simultaneously. It will be fascinating to see how it plays out in Milan this week on the singles court with the best young talents in our sport.

As a dad, you need to pick your battles with your kids. So while I wouldn’t ever want to jam my story down my sons’ throats, I like to give them a few examples here and there of what I accomplished as a tennis player, including how I won this tournament five times.

They’re 12 and 14, and I’m teaching them how I was never just handed a trophy, and how I had to work hard, and make lots of sacrifices, to be the best in the world. I’m telling them how you can achieve anything, just so long as you want it badly enough.

My kids are proud of my career and curious, too, and occasionally they might come across a YouTube video that they’ll want to share with me. That’s about the only time I’ll watch one of my matches back on a screen; otherwise I only replay those highlights and moments in my head. Some of the best memories of my career were made at this tournament, and there is one occasion at the event that tops them all: the time I won an epic five-setter against Boris Becker in the 1996 final, which was played in front of a pro-Boris crowd in Hanover.

I’m honoured the ATP has named one of the singles groups at next week’s tournament after me; that’s a real treat. When I first heard, I thought: “That’s pretty cool, now I feel a stronger connection with some of the other champions.” And with the other group named after Boris, it’s been an opportunity to reminiscence about a match that came when we were both in the prime of our careers.

Being part of a match like that is a thrill. More than 20 years later, I still haven’t forgotten about the noise from that extraordinarily loud, passionate crowd, and I can still hear myself screaming out after hitting a backhand pass beyond Boris to break his serve. There was so much energy in that place, it was electric. I also have a good recall of the exhaustion I felt – and how my lungs were burning – after I won the match on a rally or 25 or 30 strokes. Boris and I embraced at the net. Finally, we could let our guards down.

Even at that moment, and after a final of that magnitude and quality, we still had huge respect for each other. And the thousands of Germans inside the stadium, even though they had been cheering and shouting for Boris for hours, gave both of us an ovation. I took the title four other times but that match is top of my list because, as well as being an epic, playing against Boris in Germany was a big deal, as he always brought so much buzz, exposure and excitement to the event. We were two heavyweights, playing great tennis.

“I’m sure the competition in London next week is going to be fierce – only those who have had a great year, and who are playing at a high level, make the cut. From my own experiences, I know that players need to be ready from the first point. There’s no chance of easing your way into this tournament. Right from your opening match, you’re competing against another elite player, and there’s no let-up all week. You’ve got to bring it in every match, and I sometimes felt as though this was the hardest title to win. Playing this tournament was always a battle and, as well as winning those five titles, I also had some tough losses.

As much as tennis is an individual sport, and every one of the singles players will be giving his all to beat his rivals and finish the year on a positive note, I imagine there will be a camaraderie among the qualifiers. The years that I qualified, I always felt a connection with the other seven. You’ve all achieved something as a group. At the end of a long year, the eight of you are the best of the best, and it’s like you’re part of a special club. Anyone who has qualified for London is going to be feeling good about himself. Every time I made it into the eight, I felt honoured to be with other great players. And when you arrive in the city, you put on a suit and tie, go to some functions and have your photograph taken at landmarks, and you’re made to feel special.

This will be a great tournament, it always is. You’ve got the best players in the world battling for a big prize, and that’s fantastic for people in London, who love their tennis. Everyone at The O2 should appreciate they’re watching the best generation of tennis players in history.

Each generation of athletes gets stronger and faster, and the players are adding to their knowledge of the game, and as a result you see the level of tennis going up and up. Everyone keeps on improving – today’s players are tremendous athletes and hit the ball incredibly hard. Seeing some of the great things the guys do – especially some of the shots they produce when they’re on the run – is incredible.

Every year at the tournament, the elite are better than the season before. I suppose that’s evolution.

The 2017 Nitto ATP Finals will be held at The O2 in London from 12-19 November

Upgrade, double and freeze. Jack Sock successfully tapped into the three main benefits of hitting a run-around forehand instead of a backhand from the baseline in the Ad court to defeat Filip Krajinovic 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 in the final of the Rolex Paris Masters on Sunday.

Sock relentlessly hunted forehands in the Ad court as his Serbian opponent pummeled that side of the court trying to give Sock a steady diet of backhands. Overall for the match, Sock hit 132 groundstrokes (62%) standing in the Ad court, and just 81 (38%) in the Deuce court. The following breakdown illustrates the American’s thirst for the more lethal run-around forehand when standing in the Ad court.

Court Position & Stroke – Where Sock Stood To Contact The Ball.
• Deuce Court Forehands = 81
• Ad Court Forehands = 67
• Ad Court Backhands = 65

Upgrade
Sock’s backhand groundstroke did it’s job of minimizing errors, and getting out of the way of the run-around forehand at every opportunity.

Shots Hit Standing In The Ad Court
• 67 run around forehands = 15 winners / 7 errors
• 65 backhands = 3 winners / 10 errors

When adding winners and subtracting errors, Sock’s run-around forehand from the Ad court tallied +8 (15 winners – 7 errors), which was vastly superior to the -7 total (3 winners – 10 errors) that his backhand produced. Sock hit a lot of off-pace slice backhands to give Krajinovic no speed of shot to work with, and also to allow time for Sock to run around the next shot intended for his backhand and turn it into a forehand.

A good way to understand the relationship between forehands and backhands is that the forehand is the sword, that you attack more with, and the backhand is the shield, that you primarily defend with and look to minimize errors. Of the 15 run-around forehand winners Sock hit for the match, 11 of them were directed back behind Krajinovic to his backhand wing. This was the match-up that Sock constantly looked to enforce.

Double
Double in this instance means doubling the target area to attack. If Sock was to continuously hit neutral backhands standing in the Ad court, the natural angle goes back cross court to Krajinovic’s stronger backhand wing. By upgrading to a forehand from the Ad court, Sock can hit a more powerful groundstroke, and thus launch attacks to both the Deuce and Ad court.

Freeze
Sock was constantly looking to freeze Krajinovic, essentially removing his anticipation because Sock’s open-stance, run-around forehand offers no visual clues as to where it will end up. It is beautifully disguised and steals tenths of seconds of anticipation, forcing more errors because it imposes less time to prepare.

Krajinovic committed 25 backhand errors for the match, with 14 of them coming straight from Sock’s run-around forehand from the Ad court. Eight of the 14 errors from Krajinovic were trying to force backhands down the line from defensive positions. Leading into the Paris final, Krajinovic was hitting the majority of his backhands down the line, but doing it from Sock’s run-around forehand in the final was a much tougher task.

Krajinovic Backhand Direction: To The Final
• 40% down the line
• 36% cross court
• 24% to the middle

Overall, Krajinovic committed 13 of his 25 backhand errors for the match going down the line. This successful pattern to the final ran into a buzz-saw in the form of the heavy spin and more powerful run-around forehands from Sock. At 5-7, 4-1 Sock’s average topspin forehand speed was 132 km/h, while Krajinovic was only averaging 120km/h. Sock’s heavy rotation of the forehand saw an average spin rate of 3364rpm, with Krajinovic hitting much flatter at 2506rpm. More power, more spin, and more determination to hit forehands instead of backhands made Sock a very tough match-up against the more traditional tactics of the Serb.

Sock was relentless at pounding the Krajinovic backhand with his forehand. For example, in Set Two Sock directed 60 per cent of his groundstrokes wide to the Krajinovic backhand, 13 per cent down the middle, and just 27 per cent to the outer third of the court to the Serb’s forehand wing.

Run-Around Forehands vs. Normal Forehands
Sock’s run-around forehand standing in the Ad court greatly outperformed his regular forehand hit when standing in the Deuce court.

Sock Forehands: Winners / Errors
• 67 run around forehands hit from the Ad court = 15 winners / 7 errors
• 81 regular forehands hit from the Deuce court = 5 winners / 12 errors

Sock’s marauding baseline play promotes forehands to be struck from all baseline locations – especially from the Ad court. It’s a reality of the modern game that the run-around forehand produces more winners and less errors than regular forehands, which is exactly how it played out in this match.

Serve +1 Forehands
Sock was always looking to combine the power of his serve with the strength of a forehand as the first shot after the serve – a tactic known as Serve +1. Overall for the match, Sock hit a substantial 88 per cent (38/43) forehands as the first shot after the serve, winning an impressive 66 per cent (25/38) of them. Of the five points that Sock started the point with a Serve +1 backhand, which were all second serve points, he failed to win a single one.

Summary
Sock’s biggest advantage in the match was in the short rallies of 0-4 shots, where he had a 63-49 advantage in points won. Overall, Sock ran further than Krajinovic for the match (1813 metres to 1710 metres) mainly due to running around his backhand to upgrade to his forehand.

Sock’s run-around forehand was the most dominant shot in the match, and serves as a blueprint for juniors all over the world to emulate. The run-around forehand wears the pants from the back of the court.