Rally Length and Holding Serve in League Doubles

One is the most common rally length in pro tennis. Craig O'Shannessey has revolutionized the way knowledgeable coaches think about rally length in pro tennis with statistics showing that 1 and 2 hit points are the norm and that long rallies of 10 plus balls are actually rare. He's already written extensively about it on Tennisplayer. (Click Here.) But do those numbers apply to the rest of us? To find out I did a statistical study of women's league play in Atlanta, Georgia. The answer was fundamentally yes, but with a critical difference when it came to serve. To start, let me explain how I first discovered Craig's data analysis and how that inspired my own study. Disbelief At a coaches' symposium, I found myself sitting in Craig presentation in disbelief. He asked the conference room full of coaches a straightforward question. "What was the most common rally length at the 2015 Australian Open?" Craig O'Shannessy's presentation created shock and disbelief. Hands began to shoot up all around the room as if a third grade teacher had just asked a basic math question. "4" was shouted from a few rows behind me. "6" was blurted from the front of the...