How to Chart a Match…
By: Charles Allen
Tags: Sports Analytics, Tennis, Match Tracking, Statistics, Data Visualization

One of the most valuable reasons for parents to chart a match while watching court side (parent of junior players, anyway, like myself) is often that it keeps the mind occupied, and emotions under control. An in-control parent usually means a calmer player, or, minimally, a player who has the opportunity to learn to control their own emotions.

That being said, it is arguable that there is an even greater benefit when players chart their own matches from video (and when it’s possible to slow video down to 3/4 speed, or less, then more detailed data capture is possible).

But, as you’ve probably guessed by now, the reason I most want to address here is the atypical one.

Crowdsourced Tennis Data

In what amounts to a manifesto, Jeff Sackmann has stated: “Tennis needs better stats. Now you can help.” He is referring to the fact that tennis analytics lags far behind other professional sports, for a number of rather interesting reasons. In 2013, Jeff launched the Match Charting Project. Since its inauguration, the project has gathered data on close to 2,000 ATP / WTA matches. More than 60 people have contributed matches (though fewer than 10 account for the bulk of the data).

Which leads me back to the question that led to the title of this piece: How to Chart a Match? How have 60 people tracked almost 2,000 professional matches? And what is their inspiration for participating in the project?

I admire the fact that it’s an independent project that already provides a quick and powerful search engine for most anything related to a player’s career or performance. As a tennis fan, I felt I had to contribute. — Edo

Charting for the MCP has required using a sophisticated Excel spreadsheet, which can seem rather intimidating, but is actually fairly straightforward. As a consumer of MCP data, a tennis fan, and a believer in Open Source and Open Data, I feel compelled to help drive the project forward. And to that end I’ve developed a complementary (and free) web-based charting platform I’m calling CourtHive.

CourtHive aims to make it easier to begin charting for the Match Charting Project, but not only that…

How to Chart a Match

I believe that we should all be charting matches in such a way that the data can be made accessible to others. At the same time, we should feel we are learning something about the game. I’m actually fairly agnostic about the tool that is used to chart matches as long as the data can be exported. The important thing is to be charting; it can be a rewarding way for fans to participate in the sport.

Third Party Trackers supported by TennisVisuals.com

CourtHive desktop currently supports import from eleven third-party match trackers, as well as .xlsm files from the Match Charting Project. The CSV files that are exported from CourtHive desktop can be used to “auto-fill” the MCP spreadsheet, making it easy to submit files for inclusion in the growing public dataset.

There is now also an open-source CourtHive mobile that is similar to many of the trackers listed above. In the future I will add various ‘skins’ to the mobile app which will focus on tracking different aspects of a match or even a practice session.

The idea is that eventually a number of different views of a match which may have been tracked in any number of ways (using various tools) can be integrated, decorated, and exported to the Match Charting Project, or added to a personal, private library of matches for comparison of match statistics over time.

Please contact me if you have a favorite tracker you’d like supported. Since creating the Universal Match Object, adding new data sources has become almost ridiculously easy — you can even do it yourself. Open Source!

At present there is one “mode” for charting matches:

MCP, if you’re familiar with the Match Charting Project or want to learn the shot codes and begin to contribute (there’s a cheat-sheet included)

I will be adding some simple and intermediate modes in the not-too-distant future. Also, a court view is in the works that will provide both real-time visual feedback as shot sequences are entered as well as a way to specify shot strike and placement coordinates.