SAP provides analytics to the WTA from the ball level up

SAP has been working with the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) to improve sports analytics since 2013. Today up to 10 cameras on-court can track player and ball positions for example, send the information in real-time to the cloud where it is processed via SAP's HANA platform and then sent in visual dashboard form to coaches' tablets. The coach can then use the data mid-match to provide feedback on strategy and advise players on how they can improve their game. The technology has been refined over the years through months of feedback with coaches, and was formally launched in August 2015 as SAP Tennis Analytics. 

"Information without insight is just noise. We capture that information and we do something with it," said Jenni Lewis, Global Sponsorships Technology Lead at SAP.

SAP Tennis Analytics was first used at the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford University, and has since appeared in 2015 at tournaments in Canada, elsewhere in the US, and at the Wuhan Open, Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open, and the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, from October 25 to November 1. It will also be used at the WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai, and further tournaments are slated for 2016.

Examples of statistics provided by SAP Tennis Analytics include:

• Side-by-side comparisons of the full list of match stats for both players, updated every 15 seconds
• Scoring data that analyses player's service performance, success rate in closing out a game while serving and number of break points saved
• Tracking data which shows player's serve direction and placement on the court, contact point for returning a serve and placement of rally shots

Players and coaches can choose from various filters and pre-defined scenarios, such as data by set, game score, winners, errors, unreturned serves, and so on.

The technology is continually enhanced as coaches give feedback and suggest new features. The WTA-authorised tablets have custom-designed ruggedised cases to withstand environmental elements, and the buttons are on the edges so that coaches can call up different data without taking their eyes off the live game for very long. The colours were also chosen for the contrast, so that everything is clear even in bright sunlight.

 Jenni Lewis, Global Sponsorships Technology Lead at SAP, speaks to Andrea Hlaváčková, a professional tennis player who will be competing at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. Hlaváčková has won three Grand Slam titles and is an Olympics medallist.

The WTA introduced on-court coaching in 2008 designed to further enhance the entertainment value of women’s tennis to television and live viewers. Lewis asked Andrea Hlaváčková, a professional tennis player who will be competing at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global in a fireside chat what she thought about technology becoming part of tennis.

Hlaváčková commented very positively on the addition of technology to the sport, and said she gets insights mid-match from the monitoring. "It is nice to get professional analyses," she said. "I look at the statistics for myself before talking to my coach. There is a lot of psychology involved and momentum, you can be winning points in a match but still losing it, so getting trusted analyses (has) really meant a lot."

While she did not think she would consider racquet technology - where sensors in a racquet provide feedback to the player - she thought it would be helpful for a younger generation which has grown up with more technology. "Everyone in the younger generation are using more technology. They're going to be curious about all these facts," she said. "I have my experience, I'm playing my game, but not going to download data from my racquet..it's definitely helpful."

Hlaváčková makes it a point to watch all matches "as even in a bad game there are times where you played well". "You have the ability to select parts of the match.. you would save time," she said.

Lewis summarised the benefit of analytics as the "ability to drill in to the detail and understand the patterns of play". "The WTA helps us push boundaries and give access to athletes," she concluded.

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posted from Bloggeroid