RallyIQ

Game plan

Danka Kovinic v Maja Chwalinska

Every number combines what Danka Kovinic does well with what Maja Chwalinska allows, each measured against the tour average and shrunk toward it when the sample is thin. Flip perspective

Forecast

Danka Kovinic wins, best of 3 3%90%: 0%–24% · best of 5: 1%
Serve points won 48.3% / 62.3% Danka / Maja · tour 56.4%
Strengths only, no similarity priors 3%serve 48.3% / 62.3%

Each player's serve and return strength is fitted against every opponent they were charted against, so a record built on weak opponents counts for less. At least one of them is no longer active or has too little charted in the last three seasons, so both are compared on their careers. The result is then nudged by Danka Kovinic's record against Maja Chwalinska's tactical lookalikes and in their charted head-to-heads. A game-by-game Markov chain turns point odds into match odds; the 90% range covers the uncertainty in the two strengths, not the nudges. Charted matches lean toward big events, so treat this as a scouting estimate, not a betting line.

Head to head, per 100 shots

CareerDankaMaja
Direction choice−0.25 ±0.09
better than 12%
−0.08 ±0.06
better than 40%
Shot selection−0.05 ±0.19
better than 40%
−0.52 ±0.28
better than 11%
Execution−2.63 ±0.65
better than 2%
+2.12 ±0.53
better than 99%

Each player's career against an average tour player in the same position, adjusted for opponent strength, with a 90% margin (shots clustered by match). Points left on the table is the gap to the best-value direction for the same stroke, so lower is better. Percentiles are within each player's own tour. A side is highlighted only when the gap is larger than the margin on the difference.

Serve plan

The share of points the server wins when a first serve lands in that direction (hover a rate for its 90% interval; ± is the 90% margin). "Matchup" combines the server's rate with how this returner handles that serve. "Optimal" is the mix that wins most against this returner once they start reading a habit, at the response measured across the tour, and only within the range servers' habits actually vary. The gain over the current mix is how exploitable that mix is.

Danka Kovinic serving

Deuce court

1st serveNowDanka winsv MajaMatchupOptimal
Wide28%52%58%43.4%±11.820% ▼
Body33%57%57%56.5%±12.225% ▼
T39%68%62%62.3%±12.355% ▲

Optimal v Maja Chwalinska: +0.3±1.1 per 100 first serves (faults included) over the current mix, inside the 90% margin. Serving T every time would read +7.2 per 100 first serves in before the returner adjusts.

Ad court

1st serveNowDanka winsv MajaMatchupOptimal
Wide44%67%59%59.8%±12.043%
Body16%51%53%48.2%±13.71% ▼
T40%63%58%56.6%±11.556% ▲

Optimal v Maja Chwalinska: +0.3±1.3 per 100 first serves (faults included) over the current mix, inside the 90% margin. Serving wide every time would read +3.1 per 100 first serves in before the returner adjusts.

Maja Chwalinska serving

Deuce court

1st serveNowMaja winsv DankaMatchupOptimal
Wide26%62%75%70.7%±10.641% ▲
Body28%55%66%64.1%±11.513% ▼
T46%65%71%68.4%±9.846%

Optimal v Danka Kovinic: +0.7±1.2 per 100 first serves (faults included) over the current mix, inside the 90% margin. Serving wide every time would read +2.9 per 100 first serves in before the returner adjusts.

Ad court

1st serveNowMaja winsv DankaMatchupOptimal
Wide53%60%75%70.4%±9.652%
Body22%53%60%57.0%±14.37% ▼
T26%67%69%71.1%±11.041% ▲

Optimal v Danka Kovinic: +0.9±1.3 per 100 first serves (faults included) over the current mix, inside the 90% margin. Serving T every time would read +3.4 per 100 first serves in before the returner adjusts.

Return plan

Value of each return, in points per 100 returns against an average return of the same serve (direction, court, surface): the tour's result with that return, the returner's own edge with it, and what this server gives up when it comes back to that side. Returns with no charted direction are left out, so values compare with each other rather than with zero. Depth isn't a choice here: missed returns have no depth. Serve quality isn't charted, so a block through the middle partly reflects the serve that forced it.

Danka Kovinic returning

1st serve to the forehand

ReturnNowTourOwnv MajaValue
FH through the middle40%+4.2−0.6+0.2+3.7±3.1
FH crosscourt30%+5.3−1.4+2.7+6.6±4.3
FH slice through the middle20%−6.7−1.8−1.2−9.8±2.0
FH slice crosscourt10%−6.6−0.8+1.0−6.5±2.1

Lean FH crosscourt: +5.7±3.3 per 100 returns v the current mix (94 returns charted)

1st serve to the backhand

ReturnNowTourOwnv MajaValue
BH through the middle49%+6.0−1.4+2.1+6.7±2.7
BH crosscourt31%+7.7−4.4+1.3+4.7±3.6
BH down the line9%+2.2+0.8+2.7+5.7±4.1
BH slice crosscourt6%−4.2+1.1±0.0−3.1±1.4
BH slice through the middle5%−6.2−0.2+0.6−5.9±1.6

Lean BH through the middle: +1.9±1.8 per 100 returns v the current mix (108 returns charted)

2nd serve to the backhand

ReturnNowTourOwnv MajaValue
BH crosscourt45%+1.5+0.5−0.1+1.8±3.5
BH through the middle38%−2.6+0.1+1.4−1.2±2.6
BH down the line17%−0.5+0.8−1.4−1.2±4.1

Lean BH crosscourt: +1.6±2.3 per 100 returns v the current mix (42 returns charted, inside the 90% margin)

Maja Chwalinska returning

1st serve to the forehand

ReturnNowTourOwnv DankaValue
FH through the middle41%+4.2+3.2+1.5+8.8±3.2
FH crosscourt21%+5.3+3.3−2.6+5.9±3.5
FH slice through the middle17%−6.7+1.6+1.1−4.0±2.1
FH down the line14%+1.5+1.1+0.5+3.2±4.3
FH slice crosscourt7%−6.6+1.5±0.0−5.2±1.4

Lean FH through the middle: +4.6±2.2 per 100 returns v the current mix (111 returns charted)

1st serve to the backhand

ReturnNowTourOwnv DankaValue
BH through the middle43%+6.0+1.2−0.3+6.9±2.9
BH crosscourt33%+7.7+2.4+2.1+12.3±3.5
BH down the line16%+2.2+3.6+0.6+6.3±4.7
BH slice through the middle3%−6.2−0.5±0.0−6.8±1.2
BH slice crosscourt3%−4.2+0.1±0.0−4.1±1.3

Lean BH crosscourt: +4.8±2.7 per 100 returns v the current mix (236 returns charted)

2nd serve to the backhand

ReturnNowTourOwnv DankaValue
BH through the middle31%−2.6+1.6+1.6+0.6±2.8
BH crosscourt29%+1.5±0.0±0.0+1.5±3.6
FH through the middle18%−2.7−1.1−0.6−4.4±2.5
BH down the line11%−0.5−1.3+1.7−0.1±4.7
FH inside-in5%+0.7+0.5+1.7+2.9±3.1

Lean BH crosscourt: +1.4±2.8 per 100 returns v the current mix (110 returns charted, inside the 90% margin)

Rally plan

Edge, in points per 100 shots: the hitter's skill with the shot (own) plus how much the receiver usually gives up against it (theirs), both measured against the tour average on hard. Each player's hard record is shrunk toward their all-surface one, so a thin sample on it moves the numbers only a little.

Danka Kovinic

Favour

ShotEdgeOwnTheirs
BH to the middle · rally+1.7±3.4±0.0+1.6
BH to the middle · return−0.9±3.7−3.6+2.7
BH to the middle · serve +1−1.2±3.5−1.7+0.5
FH to the middle · return−1.9±4.2−1.5−0.5
FH to their backhand · rally−2.2±5.7−1.3−0.9
FH to the middle · serve +1−2.4±4.1−1.4−0.9

Avoid

ShotEdgeOwnTheirs
FH to the middle · rally−10.5±3.7−8.0−2.5
BH to their backhand · rally−6.5±4.9−3.2−3.3
FH to their forehand · serve +1−3.9±6.1−3.1−0.8
FH to their forehand · rally−3.6±5.0+1.1−4.7
FH to the middle · serve +1−2.4±4.1−1.4−0.9

Maja Chwalinska

Favour

ShotEdgeOwnTheirs
BH to their backhand · return+5.3±4.5+2.8+2.5
FH to their forehand · rally+4.5±4.8+4.1+0.3
BH to their backhand · rally+4.2±4.2+3.6+0.6
FH to the middle · rally+3.4±3.6+2.7+0.8
BH to the middle · return+2.8±3.2+3.3−0.5
FH to their backhand · rally+2.1±5.6−0.6+2.7

Avoid

ShotEdgeOwnTheirs
FH to their backhand · serve +1−5.2±6.1−2.6−2.6
FH to their forehand · return +1−2.4±5.2+0.1−2.5
BH to the middle · rally+0.7±3.5+1.9−1.2
FH to the middle · return+1.9±4.2+1.6+0.3
FH to their backhand · rally+2.1±5.6−0.6+2.7

Against Maja Chwalinska-like opponents

Danka Kovinic vMatchesServe pts wonReturn pts won
All charted opponents–49.3%34.9%

Similar by tactical fingerprint: Magdalena Frech, Sara Bejlek, Kaja Juvan, Tiantsoa Sarah Rakotomanga Rajaonah, Sara Errani, Angelique Kerber, Brenda Fruhvirtova, Martina Trevisan, Kateryna Baindl, Agnieszka Radwanska. When two players have rarely met, their records against these lookalikes fill the gap.