Friends and tennis minds,

Some Avg. Rally Length data to consider below. Please share your thoughts.

Observe how the Average Rally Length varies depending on the player stylistic matchup and the surface speed that year.

That’s one reason why Avg. Rally Length is such poor indicator to use when guiding training and teaching protocols, which should be more player centered and individually tailored.

Building a training approach based solely on Avg Rally Length data is like building a house on a foundation of sand.

There are so many other more important details—psychological and physiological factors for example—to consider when designing a training plan.

———

The numbers indicate the following:

1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10+ shots

French Open

1978 Borg Vilas 24 21 17 38

1979

1980 Borg Gerulaitis 43 17 13 27

1981 Borg Lendl 39 19 12 30

1982

1983

1984 Lendl McEnroe 55 24 11 10

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990 Gomez Agassi 45 29 15 11

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995 Muster Chang 37 23 14 26

1996

1997 Kuerten Bruguera 44 26 16 14

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004 Gaudio Coria 37 24 15 24

2005 Nadal Puerta 42 28 15 15

2006 Nadal Federer 47 27 14 12

2007 Nadal Federer 52 22 14 12

2008 Nadal Federer 38 34 14 14

2009 Federer Soderling 62 20 10 8

2010 Nadal Soderling 58 20 10 12

2011 Nadal Federer 51 26 11 12

2012 Nadal Djokovic 40 22 14 24

2013 Nadal Ferrer 40 31 17 12

2014 Nadal Djokovic 50 25 15 10

2015 Wawrinka Djokovic 44 29 13 14

2016

Wimbledon

1980 Borg McEnroe 76 19 3 2

1981 McEnroe Borg 68 24 4 4

1982

1983 McEnroe Lewis 64 31 5 0

1984 McEnroe Connors 77 19 2 2

1985 Becker Curren 74 24 2 0

1986

1987

1988

1989 Becker Edberg 73 25 2 0

1990 Edberg Becker

1991 Stich Becker

1992 Agassi Ivanisevic 69 21 6 4

1993 Sampras Courier

1994 Sampras Ivanisevic

1995 Sampras Becker 85 14 1 0

1996 Krajcek Washington

1997 Sampras Pioline

1998 Sampras Ivanisevic 85 14 1 0

1999 Sampras Agassi 76 22 1 1

2000 Sampras Rafter

2001 Ivanisevic Rafter 81 18 1 0

2002 Hewitt Nalbandian 40 26 12 22

2003 Federer Philippousis 80 16 3 1

2004 Federer Roddick 65 25 6 4

2005 Federer Roddick 63 21 10 6

2006 Federer Nadal 59 22 11 8

2007 Federer Nadal 59 24 11 6

2008 Nadal Federer 58 22 11 9

2009 Federer Roddick 68 19 9 4

2010 Nadal Berdych 58 22 13 7

2011 Djokovic Nadal 52 21 12 15

2012 Federer Murray 54 26 8 12

2013 Murray Djokovic 45 24 13 18

2014 Djokovic Federer 61 22 8 9

2015 Djokovic Federer 60 26 6 8

2016

–Chris Lewit

Chris Lewit, Prodigy Maker

Why do we teach stiff and outdated follow-throughs?

Study with Chris online or in person