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I found this article during Wimbledon:
It’s very interesting and far seeing of the people in it:
The American Bruce S. Old was really the first man to collate tennis data in the 1930’s, and apply it in a practical way. Kind of a pre-Big 3 @El Dude . He also as a sidelined debriefed captured Nazis during the war, to ascertain the extent of their nuclear program.
It’s an interesting read, fascinating to any of us with an interest in statistics and how they came to be applied to sports, and in interest in tennis history…
Bruce S. Old: The tennis data pioneer who interrogated Nazi scientists
It’s very interesting and far seeing of the people in it:
JM Heathcote recorded and wrote about the frequency of volleys and groundstrokes in a match at what was Wimbledon's sixth edition in 1883. In the United States, similar data was published for the 1890 National Championship and included details about passing shots, aces and double faults.
However, none of this number-gathering went very far and it wasn't used to inform playing styles or coaching ideas until a certain Bruce S. Old took the time to investigate further.
The American Bruce S. Old was really the first man to collate tennis data in the 1930’s, and apply it in a practical way. Kind of a pre-Big 3 @El Dude . He also as a sidelined debriefed captured Nazis during the war, to ascertain the extent of their nuclear program.
It’s an interesting read, fascinating to any of us with an interest in statistics and how they came to be applied to sports, and in interest in tennis history…