Revista Brasileira de Ensino de Física ()

What statistics can tell us about strategy in tennis

  • I. Y. Kawashima,
  • O. Helene,
  • M. T. Yamashita,
  • R. S. Marques de Carvalho

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9126-RBEF-2016-0048
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 38, no. 3

Abstract

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In this paper we analyse tiebreak results from some tennis players in order to investigate whether we are able to identify a non-aleatory distribution of the points in this crucial moment of the game. We compared the observed results with a binomial distribution considering that the probabilities of winning or losing a point are equal. Using a χ2 test we found that, excepting some players, the greatest part of the results agrees with our hypothesis that the points in tiebreaks are merely aleatory.

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