Editorial guide
How to interpret tennis match statistics
A statistic is useful when you know what was counted, for whom and over which part of a match. Two players can have the same total of winners and very different match stories. Compare paired figures within the same source and scope before drawing a conclusion.
Keep the denominator in view
In a hypothetical match, one player converts 2 of 5 break points and another converts 3 of 10. The second has more conversions, but the first converts a higher share: 40% against 30%. The samples are small, and neither rate explains how either player created those chances. These numbers are an arithmetic example, not real match data.
Points are not games
Break-point opportunities are points. More than one can occur in a single game, so ten break points do not mean ten service games were broken, or even ten different games. A game can return to deuce and produce another opportunity; the ITF Rules of Tennis explain the deuce and advantage sequence. Do not turn the denominator directly into games won.
Do not turn counts into causes
Aces, winners, errors and break points describe different events. A winner count does not prove a tactical choice; a break-point count does not prove how the rest of a game unfolded. A 6–0 set means no games lost in that set, not no points lost. For the score structure, see our scoring guide.