Analytics in professional sports: Applications of analytics in tennis

Huang, Kevin

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/110599 Copy

Description

Title

Analytics in professional sports: Applications of analytics in tennis

Author(s)

Huang, Kevin

Issue Date

2021-04-30

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Liechty, Toni

Committee Member(s)

Sato, Mikihiro

Department of Study

Recreation, Sport and Tourism

Discipline

Recreation, Sport, and Tourism

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• Analytics
• Tennis

Abstract

Data analytics in professional sports has become a major part of competition in the last two decades, especially in major sports such as American football, basketball, baseball, and soccer. Professional tennis has not developed analytics to this level yet, but there is a litany of research on the different technology platforms that are currently available and being developed for the sport. However, little is being done to understand the applications and uses of these technologies by the professional tennis players and coaches that they are designed for. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the role analytics play in professional and elite level tennis as perceived by its users. Using a qualitative research approach, this study explored the attitudes of coaches towards tennis analytics, and how they would like to see technology develop to create a more effective product. Data collection was done through individual, semi-structured interviews with nine coaches of professional tennis players. These interviews were then transcribed verbatim and analyzed using pattern coding. Findings showed that video review and analytics from match statistics are common applications of analytics used currently by professional tennis coaches. These are viewed as very helpful in the preparation of their players for future matches, but other forms of analytics such as practice review are not widely used. Future developments should focus on reliability and accuracy improvements to further increase the usefulness of tennis analytics.

Graduation Semester

2021-05

Type of Resource

Thesis

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/110599

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2021 Kevin Huang

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