Game plan

Juan Martin Del Potro v Nicolas Almagro

Every number combines what Juan Martin Del Potro does well with what Nicolas Almagro allows, each measured against the tour average and shrunk toward it when the sample is thin. Flip perspective

Forecast

Juan Martin Del Potro wins, best of 3 97%90%: 87%–100% · best of 5: 99%

Serve points won 77.5% / 61.3% Juan / Nicolas · tour 65.7%

Strengths only, no similarity priors 96%serve 76.3% / 61.6%

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 At least one of them is no longer active or has too little charted in the last three seasons, so both are compared on their careers.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 Juan Martin Del Potro's record against Nicolas Almagro's tactical lookalikes and in their charted head-to-heads (lookalikes: +3.6 on serve, +1.8 on return vs expectation (1017 points); head-to-head: +5.3 on serve, −2.1 on return vs expectation (259 points)). 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

Career	Juan	Nicolas
Direction choice	+0.16 ±0.04 better than 90%	+0.12 ±0.06 better than 84%
Shot selection	−0.40 ±0.07 better than 17%	+0.19 ±0.11 better than 72%
Execution	+1.15 ±0.18 better than 97%	−0.16 ±0.52 better than 59%
Points left on the table	2.10 ±0.05 lower than 98%	2.18 ±0.11 lower than 94%

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.

Juan Martin Del Potro serving

Deuce court

1st serve	Now	Juan wins	v Nicolas	Matchup	Optimal
Wide	35%	73%	78%	78.7%±4.8	48% ▲
Body	12%	65%	69%	70.2%±8.5	0% ▼
T	53%	76%	78%	78.7%±4.3	52% ▼

Optimal v Nicolas Almagro: +1.2±0.7 per 100 first serves (faults included) over the current mix. Serving wide every time would read +1.0 per 100 first serves in before the returner adjusts.

Ad court

1st serve	Now	Juan wins	v Nicolas	Matchup	Optimal
Wide	47%	78%	74%	79.5%±4.0	60% ▲
Body	10%	64%	64%	64.3%±10.9	0% ▼
T	43%	75%	80%	81.8%±4.5	40% ▼

Optimal v Nicolas Almagro: +0.9±0.7 per 100 first serves (faults included) over the current mix. Serving T every time would read +2.9 per 100 first serves in before the returner adjusts.

Nicolas Almagro serving

Deuce court

1st serve	Now	Nicolas wins	v Juan	Matchup	Optimal
Wide	38%	71%	72%	69.8%±5.3	30% ▼
Body	5%	63%	61%	60.9%±10.8	0% ▼
T	57%	80%	76%	81.1%±4.0	70% ▲

Optimal v Juan Martin Del Potro: +0.5±0.6 per 100 first serves (faults included) over the current mix, inside the 90% margin. Serving T every time would read +5.4 per 100 first serves in before the returner adjusts.

Ad court

1st serve	Now	Nicolas wins	v Juan	Matchup	Optimal
Wide	47%	74%	72%	73.4%±5.3	60% ▲
Body	12%	55%	63%	55.4%±9.5	0% ▼
T	41%	69%	72%	68.8%±5.9	40%

Optimal v Juan Martin Del Potro: +0.6±0.7 per 100 first serves (faults included) over the current mix, inside the 90% margin. Serving wide every time would read +4.0 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.

Juan Martin Del Potro returning

1st serve to the forehand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Nicolas	Value
FH through the middle	46%	+4.3	+1.2	+1.7	+7.2±2.2
FH crosscourt	30%	+5.5	+2.6	+2.9	+11.0±3.5
FH down the line	16%	+1.7	+2.5	−0.5	+3.7±3.7
FH slice through the middle	4%	−4.2	−1.1	+0.2	−5.1±2.1
FH slice down the line	2%	−4.3	−2.4	−0.4	−7.0±2.6

Lean FH crosscourt: +4.2±2.7 per 100 returns v the current mix (2410 returns charted)

1st serve to the backhand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Nicolas	Value
BH through the middle	30%	+6.4	+1.9	−2.1	+6.2±2.0
BH crosscourt	25%	+8.8	+3.2	+1.7	+13.7±2.8
BH slice through the middle	22%	−4.2	+2.3	−0.7	−2.6±2.0
BH slice crosscourt	12%	+0.5	+1.1	+2.7	+4.3±2.5
BH down the line	7%	+4.2	+6.0	−2.5	+7.7±4.2

Lean BH crosscourt: +8.2±2.3 per 100 returns v the current mix (2945 returns charted)

2nd serve to the forehand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Nicolas	Value
FH through the middle	37%	−3.5	+0.3	+0.4	−2.7±2.6
FH crosscourt	34%	−0.2	−2.2	+4.8	+2.4±4.0
FH down the line	18%	−1.8	+1.4	−0.4	−0.8±4.6
FH slice through the middle	4%	−12.7	+1.4	±0.0	−11.2±1.6
FH slice down the line	3%	−9.4	+2.6	±0.0	−6.8±2.0

Lean FH crosscourt: +3.4±2.9 per 100 returns v the current mix (605 returns charted)

2nd serve to the backhand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Nicolas	Value
BH crosscourt	47%	+1.0	+0.9	+0.3	+2.2±2.3
BH through the middle	37%	−2.9	+0.3	+1.0	−1.6±1.7
BH down the line	6%	−0.2	−0.8	+1.2	+0.2±4.8
FH through the middle	4%	−2.9	+0.4	+0.4	−2.1±2.4
FH inside-out	2%	+1.0	+0.4	−0.4	+0.9±3.7
FH inside-in	2%	+0.6	+3.8	+4.8	+9.2±4.3

Lean FH inside-in: +8.9±4.5 per 100 returns v the current mix (1911 returns charted)

Nicolas Almagro returning

1st serve to the forehand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Juan	Value
FH through the middle	51%	+4.3	−0.1	+1.4	+5.5±2.2
FH crosscourt	34%	+5.5	−2.7	−1.9	+0.8±3.6
FH down the line	14%	+1.7	−3.3	+1.2	−0.4±3.6
FH slice through the middle	2%	−4.2	−0.1	+0.6	−3.7±1.5

Lean FH through the middle: +2.6±1.7 per 100 returns v the current mix (259 returns charted)

1st serve to the backhand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Juan	Value
BH through the middle	38%	+6.4	+1.0	−0.2	+7.1±2.0
BH crosscourt	27%	+8.8	+0.3	−2.0	+7.1±2.8
BH down the line	16%	+4.2	−2.2	+3.2	+5.2±3.9
BH slice through the middle	12%	−4.2	−0.8	+1.2	−3.7±2.0
BH slice crosscourt	4%	+0.5	−0.8	−1.0	−1.3±2.2

Lean BH through the middle: +2.5±1.6 per 100 returns v the current mix (341 returns charted)

2nd serve to the backhand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Juan	Value
BH through the middle	40%	−2.9	+0.7	−0.4	−2.6±1.9
BH crosscourt	33%	+1.0	+1.1	+0.7	+2.8±2.5
BH down the line	17%	−0.2	−0.1	+1.2	+0.9±4.2
FH inside-out	4%	+1.0	+0.9	+1.0	+2.9±2.6
FH inside-in	4%	+0.6	+0.4	−2.4	−1.4±3.4

Lean BH crosscourt: +2.7±2.0 per 100 returns v the current mix (235 returns charted)

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 grass. Each player's grass record is shrunk toward their all-surface one, so a thin sample on it moves the numbers only a little.