# Notational Analysis of Men's Singles Pickleball: Game Patterns and Competitive Strategies
## 3 Results
### Descriptive Analysis
Figure 2: Relationship between research criteria (winner and service **(a)**; point ending and rally length **(b)**; winner and strike zone **(c)**; point ending and strike zone **(d)**. Note: SH: short rally, MD: medium rally, LN: long rally; SW: server wins, RW: receiver wins; SWW: server wins with a winner or a forced error, SWUE: server wins with an unforced error by the opponent, RWW: receiver wins with a winner or a forced error, RWUE: receiver wins with an unforced error by the opponent; SZ1: non-volley zone, SZ2: mid-court striking zone; SZ3: back court striking zone, including the baseline, SZ4: deep court striking zone, behind the baseline, SZ: service zone. In medium-length rallies, the final shot was most frequently executed from striking zone 2 (67%). The majority of points were won by the receiver (57.4%), often through winners (40.7%, representing 71% of the points won). The server also achieved a significant number of winners (21.7%, representing 51% of the points won). From striking zone 4, points were predominantly won by the receiver due to unforced errors from the opponent (75.9%). Table 5 shows the T-pattern analysis carried out for this research. The data include only first-serve points, excluding those with service faults, and is organized by rally length and the player who wins the point. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Play Pattern SZ2** & \(n\) & **\%** & **Play Pattern SZ3** & \(n\) & **\%** & **Play Pattern SZ4** & \(n\) & **\%** \\ \hline SH & 464 & 100 & & & & & & \\ SH-SZ2 & 140 & 30.2 & SH-SZ3 & 96 & 20.7 & SH-SZ4 & 228 & 49.1 \\ SH-SZ2-SW & 96 & 68.6 & SH-SZ3-SW & 46 & 47.9 & SH-SZ4-SW & 140 & 61.4 \\ SH-SZ2-SW-SWWW & 2 & 1.4 & SH-SZ3-SWSW & 39 & 40.6 & SH-SZ4-SW-SWW & 51 & 22.4 \\ SH-SZ2-SW-SWUE & 94 & 67.1 & SH-SZ3-SW-SWUE & 7 & 7.3 & SH-SZ4-SW-SWUE & 89 & 39 \\ SH-SZ2-RW & 44 & 31.4 & SH-SZ3-RW & 52 & 54.2 & SH-SZ4-RW & 88 & 38.6 \\ SH-SZ2-RW-RWRW & 43 & 30.7 & SH-SZ3-RW-RWW & 0 & 0 & SH-SZ4-RW-RWRW & 7 & 3.1 \\ SH-SZ2-RW-RWUE & 1 & 0.7 & SH-SZ3-RW-RWUE & 52 & 54.2 & SH-SZ4-RW-RWUE & 81 & 35.5 \\ \hline MD & 494 & 100 & & & & & \\ MD-SZ2 & 331 & 67 & MD-SZ3 & 105 & 21 & MD-SZ4 & 58 & 12 \\ MD-SZ2-SW & 141 & 42.6 & MD-SZ3-SW & 38 & 36.2 & MD-SZ4-SW & 13 & 22.4 \\ MD-SZ2-SW-SWW & 69 & 20.8 & MD-SZ3-SW-SWW & 36 & 34.3 & MD-SZ4-SW-SWSW & 7 & 12.1 \\ MD-SZ2-SW-SWUE & 72 & 21.7 & MD-SZ3-SW-SWUE & 2 & 1.9 & MD-SZ4-SW-SWUE & 6 & 10.3 \\ MD-SZ2-RW & 190 & 57.4 & MD-SZ3-RW & 67 & 63.8 & MD-SZ4-RW & 45 & 77.6 \\ MD-SZ2-RW-RWW & 135 & 40.7 & MD-SZ3-RW-RWW & 4 & 3.8 & MD-SZ4-RW-RWW & 1 & 1.7 \\ MD-SZ2-RW-RWUE & 55 & 16.6 & MD-SZ3-RW-RW-RUE & 63 & 60 & MD-SZ4-RW-RW-RUE & 44 & 75.9 \\ \hline \end{tabular} Note: In this analysis, shots ending from striking zone 1 and long rallies have been excluded due to their low frequency, in order to simplify the data analysis. Note 2: SH: short rallies, MD: medium rally, SW: server wins, RW: receiver wins; SW: server wins with a winner or a forced error, SWUE: server wins with an unforced error by the opponent, RWW: receiver wins with a winner or a forced error, RWUE: receiver wins with an unforced error by the opponent; SZ2: mid-court striking zone; SZ3: back court striking zone, including the baseline, SZ4: deep court striking zone, behind the baseline.  
\end{table} 
Table 4: Descriptive analysis of play patterns.