IBM - The official Cloud and AI partner of the US Open.

The secret to Nick Kyrgios' attack plan in numbers

Text Size:
-
+

There are many ways to win a tennis match. During this year’s US Open, USOpen.org will be playing a numbers game, digging deeper into the statistical analysis of select matches to provide highlights, further insights, and data points on player performance.

Ahead of the Nick Kyrgios vs. Benjamin Bonzi second-round match, we reveal the secrets to Kyrgios' success and how Bonzi can stop him.

Kyrgios is one of the most attacking players at this year’s US Open. On Monday night, he hit a massive 40% of his shots In Attack, the highest percentage of any player at this year's Open.

Nick Kyrgios vs. Thanasi Kokkinakis
Nick Kyrgios vs. Thanasi Kokkinakis

In addition, Kyrgios was clinical in attack creating an impressive Conversion score of 84%. The Conversion score calculates how often a player has won the point when attacking (tne championship average is 67%).

A high In Attack percentage and Conversion Score are the ingredients that could see Kyrgios become a contender at this year’s Open.

When a player hits 5% more shots In Attack than their opponent and has a Conversion score above 65%, their probability of winning is 92%.

For Bonzi to have a chance to cause an upset, he will need to do one of the following things:

  1. Use his own big serving game to create a high In Attack and Conversion Score
  2. Use his defensive skills to bring down Kyrgios' Conversion score. On Monday, Bonzi had a Steal score of 37%. He will likely need to go higher than that if he is to move past Kyrgios into the third round.
Nick Kyrgios in action during a men's singles match at the 2022 US Open.
Nick Kyrgios in action during a men's singles match at the 2022 US Open.
Photo by Darren Carroll/USTA