Rea pointed to the recruitment of Olivia Cant to the team as especially helpful in this area. Given her expertise working with Hawkeye data, Cant could, hypothetically, analyse every match a player contests across a season, and highlight how they execute returns on pressure points versus non-pressure points – right down to the respective percentage of points that player wins, depending on where the return lands.

“Liv is so skilled with her coding and reporting that she can draw a little grey box in the area that’s the ‘danger zone’ and highlight the problem for that player because, say, they might only be winning nine per cent of those returning points,” Rea said.

“The player would not necessarily be aware of this. Does that mean they need to be less risk-averse, and be more aggressive with their returning, accept making a few more errors, but at the same time turn the tables in their favour? 

“If they do make those returns, more points can be on their terms, or more neutral, as compared to allowing their opponent to dictate.”

Taking advantage

One player tapping into these insights is Storm Hunter.

The former doubles world No.1 was hurtling towards the top 100 in singles early in 2024 before injury cruelly halted her progress. But both before and after that moment, Hunter has benefitted from data analytics, an approach driven by her coach Nicole Pratt.

“I don’t know a coach that’s any more data-informed or better-prepared for the opposition than Pratty,” Rea commented.

Hunter and Pratt felt that Hunter’s serve – especially her second delivery – was vulnerable to being punished. So, ahead of the 2024 Australian summer they spent the off-season working to maintain her serve speed under both pressure and fatigue.

It paid dividends. She won three qualifying rounds to reach the Australian Open main draw then progressed to the last 32, where she pushed No.9 seed Barbora Krejcikova to three sets.

“The stats showed I wasn’t getting put under pressure from a second serve return as much, and my paces were higher than they were the year before,” Hunter told ausopen.com.

“I think because we really only (tracked data) for summer, and I had such a positive experience, it kind of just reaffirmed what I do well – holding the centre of the court, being able to change direction, and take balls early, and just execute really well. It affirmed how I’m going to play to my strengths and how I’m going to win matches. 

“It just made it very clear that this is my game style, I don’t need to over-complicate it. I just need to do these things well.”

Hunter won 14 of her first 19 singles matches in 2024 and slashed her ranking from world No.180 to No.114 before rupturing her Achilles at the Billie Jean King Cup in April. Yet data analysis is again proving a valuable tool as she works toward a comeback.

Using data from that same summer period, Rea and his team have provided Hunter with insights such as the distance she covered during points and matches, her top running speed, the areas of the court where she sprinted, and how many sprints she was doing each match.