Who plays the longest rallies on tour?
As 2023 draws to a close, we take the opportunity to review our PSA datasets and bring out the latest figures on rally length. Who plays the longest rallies - looking to extend play, in other words - and whose finishing allows them to finish rallies quick-time?
Who doesn't love a Christmas quiz? Can you fill in the blanks?
On the women’s side of tour, Nour El Sherbini is involved in the shortest rallies - testament both to her ability to hit winners and to her knack of racing through the opening rounds of tournaments. Gina Kennedy placed surprisingly low for such a physical player, at just over 10 shots per rally (the same as Sobhy, who is more renowned for her winner hitting): no doubt this number will rise for Kennedy in 2024 as she appears to be holding her own more and more in the latter stages of tournaments.
Nouran Gohar placed in the middle of the pack for the women’s top ten at 12 shots per rally, with compatriot Nour El Tayeb and American Olivia Weaver (formerly Fiechter) typically engaging in rallies a fraction longer. Hania El Hammamy placed second in rally length, with Nele Gilis typically involved in the longest exchanges on tour at 14 shots per rally.
Interestingly, El Hammamy and Gilis are the only two players on the women’s tour whose rally lengths are longer than some men’s, coming in fractionally higher than Karim Abdel Gawad and Mohamed ElShorbagy.
On the men’s side of things, then, Gawad was no surprise top the list of shortest ralliers, a player who prizes racket skill over retrieval. Most men came in around the 15 shots per rally mark, with World Number 1 Ali Farag a pip ahead of the pack at 16, and World Number 2 Diego Elias a gradient higher at 17.
The Top 2 in rally length are no surprise, and mark a step change from the pack, with Joel Makin coming in at 18 shots per rally, and Paul Coll taking the top spot: the Kiwi’s rallies typically last 20 shots, a 50% increase on those of Gawad and Mohamed ElShorbagy.
How can we use this data? Well, taking on Coll and Makin physically is no easy task - it may even be one you want to actively steer clear of. But the first thing you’d need to do is prepare for long exchanges: if the average (mean) rally length for Coll is 20 shots, you may want to be ghosting for an average of 20 shots (30 seconds). By the same token, if you know that most of Gawad’s rallies last around 13 shots (20 seconds), ensuring you bring him out of that zone by targeting a rally length of say 17 shots could spell the way forward. Food for thought at this festive time.
Speaking of, where did I put that mince pie?
