Tennis Random, Random (On Court)

[JazzNU]

Tsurenko's retirement/walkover record that has been the source of discussion. And which she clearly didn't think anyone was paying attention to and didn't expect to get called on about it.

[Deuce]

^ ... and for which the current situation in her home country of Ukraine may well be largely responsible, if her words about her mental state are true.
(Relevant discussion in the 'Serious Issues' thread.)

[Deuce]

Remember when Barty retired abruptly about a year ago, and asked that her name be removed from the rankings, and Swiatek inherited the #1 spot... and many, many, many people were saying that Iga doesn't deserve to be #1...?

Hmmm...

I'd say that she has kind of proven that she deserves it.

[mick1303]

I continue to import old Davis Cup results taking them from TennisAbstract site. Noticed couple of familiar last names. Tony Mmoh played for Nigeria in the 80s (maybe related to Michael Mmoh). Michael Tauson played for Denmark. Could be related to Clara Tauson.

[skatingfan]

I continue to import old Davis Cup results taking them from TennisAbstract site. Noticed couple of familiar last names. Tony Mmoh played for Nigeria in the 80s (maybe related to Michael Mmoh). Michael Tauson played for Denmark. Could be related to Clara Tauson.

Tony Mmoh is Michael's father, and Michael Tauson is Clara's uncle.

[ponchi101]

I updated the retirements/WO's for the year after IW.
Combined (Rets + W/O's) both tours are running at around 3.75%.
Full data at the link
docs/Matches%20ATP%20WTA%20Retirements%202023.htm

[meganfernandez]

.1.5% W/O's. The ladies are at a lower pace for retirements, but it is basically the same rate as 2020.
ATP (2021): 2.57% rets, 0.75% W/O

Interesting. Another takeaway - retirements are extremely rare on both tours.

[ponchi101]

I found the batch of data for the ATP matches in 2022.
Not much changed with retirements. Overall, the men retire at a pace around 3%, and they yield W/O's at a pace under 1%:

ATP_RETS.jpg

It changes little by TIER level, but there is a marked difference between the slams and MS1000 and MS500. There are more retirements at Slams, but just by a little (although consistently through the years). My only hypothesis is that you have 5 sets to injure yourself at a slam, but the data says nothing about that; most retirements happen in the first 3 sets, meaning it could also happen at regular tournaments:

ATP_RETS_TIER.jpg

Last. There seems to be very little difference between retirements per surface. They are all slightly above the 3% line (even infamous carpet, dropped by both tours due to injury concerns, shows no such preponderance).

ATP_RETS_SURFACE.jpg

Full data at the link (very boring Excel sheets)
docs/matches_atp_2000_2022.htm

[ponchi101]

Same data for the WTA.
The women are retiring a bit more than the men, and W/O also a bit more:

WTA_RETS.jpg

But there is a catch. While there was only one man with two retirements in the year, for the women you had Badosa, Tsurenko and Raducanu retiring 4, 3 and 4 times each. That is enough to skew the data (Ons also retired twice).

They retired the most at MS1000's tournaments:

WTA_RETS_TIER.jpg

And the surface seemed to make little difference

WTA_RETS_SURFACE.jpg

Full data at the link
docs/matches_wta_2007_2022.htm

[Suliso]

Well done! Really shows that the theory of players being less resilient and less committed these days is simply untrue. Possibly except those 3-4 WTA exceptions, but even that could be bad luck.

[ponchi101]

Badosa, Tsurenko and Raducanu have their stories.
Raducanu got injured and then tried to come back a bit early. That is a theory, not a fact. But it could explain a little bit her retirements.
Tsurenko is a seasoned veteran, with no prior history of retirements galore. Theory: she is Ukrainian, and is being affected by the war. Untestable, but possible.
Badosa. JazzNu and I proposed the idea that she actually trains too hard. But again, untestable.

We also have the issue of proper stats. So, you get 3% retirements. That (you know this) does not mean that you will get one retirement at match 33, one at match 66 and one at match 99. You know how "clumpy" data are. So, when you get 4 retirements in one single tournament (4 W/O at Dubai WTA, 4 RETS at IW ATP) people start seeing patterns. Which are really not there. This year, in the WTA, there have been 4 tournaments with no RETS or W/O's; we don't notice those.

[JazzNU]

Iga was set to debut in a new kit at the Miami Open, so that will be delayed, but she announced it the other day. No longer with Asics.

[JazzNU]

^^ The other tennis player that this On Running has signed is Ben Shelton. The co-owner of this (new to me) apparel company? Roger Federer.

[mmmm8]

^^ The other tennis player that this On Running has signed is Ben Shelton. The co-owner of this (new to me) apparel company? Roger Federer.

New to tennis, I think (probably the result of Federer's investment). I think they'd been focused on running before.

[ponchi101]

Roger invested in the company when they were barely known and were starting solely with shoes. The moment he bought it the valuation of the company went through the roof.
And seeing as the cheapest shoe they make is around the $150 mark, I gather Roger is very happy with that investment.