Here’s a link to the event last night at The Orchard (click here).
I tracked a handful of metrics. After watching in-person, it seemed like there were a lot of step-backs on fourth shots off of third shot drops. So I counted ’em.
4th Shot Step Back = 25, 37% of total.
4th Shot Bounce = 13, 19% of total.
4th Shot Low Reach = 19, 28% of total.
4th Shot Attack = 10, 15% of total.
Drop shots were quite good, with 85% being effective. The pros appear to try to alter the math by taking 25 of 57 good drops (44% of them) and turning them into offensive opportunities by stepping back then putting pace on the 4th shot.
When watching in-person, it looked like Dizon/Newman were more effective as a team when Dizon was in the forehand position. So, I tracked points won/lost when Dizon was on forehand vs. backhand. The data “kind of” bears this out.
Dizon on Serve, Left Side = 33% of points won.
Dizon on Serve, Right Side = 38% of points won.
Dizon on Return, Left Side = 58% of points won.
Dizon on Return, Right Side = 49% of points won.
When serving, if Megan was on the left side, she hit 3rd shot drives into the net and overcooked a few balls out the back, lowering her scoring percentage.
However, when Dizon/Newman were receiving, Megan had a better scoring percentage on the left side by being able to attack a bit more on 4th shots / 6th shots. Had they stacked on return of serve, they would have stopped Jones/Smith from scoring two points per game … potentially enough to alter the outcome of the first game.
Little things matter in Pickleball.
Pickleball Analytics! 