Nicolas Massu

Against an average opponent

Serve and return points won, refitted against every opponent at once so a record built on weak or strong opposition is put on the same scale. Career, all surfaces, with a 90% margin. Raw is the plain share of points won.

Value per 100 shots

Points gained per 100 shots compared with an average tour player in the same position, adjusted for the strength of the opponents faced, with a 90% margin (shots clustered by match). Raw is before the opponent adjustment. Built on 5,998 shots.

Shot expected value

The share of points Nicolas Massu goes on to win after each option in the positions they face most often, shrunk toward tour average when the sample is small. Showing the 8 most-used options; teal marks the best one with at least 30 shots.

Serve under pressure

Pressure predictability index +13 How much less varied Nicolas Massu's first-serve direction gets on break points. Positive means easier to read. Based on 129 break-point first serves.

Is the serve mix in equilibrium?

Game theory says a well-mixed server wins equally often with every direction they use. If one direction wins more, it's underused and points are being left behind. This is the minimax test Walker and Wooders ran on Wimbledon finals, applied to every charted first serve. Win rates include faults. "Optimal" allows for returners reading a habit. No measurable response (−0.05 ± 0.15 points per 100 serves for every 10 points of habitual usage), measured from ATP servers whose mix drifted between matches. Shifts stay within the range servers' habits actually vary, the only range that response was measured over.

Exploitability 0.36 points per 100 first serves What the optimal mix would win over the current one, both courts. More exploitable than 100% of ATP servers. Tested on matches they weren't fitted on, ATP mixes picked this way win 0.33 per 100 first serves on average.

Repeating the previous direction to the same court: +3.2±3.7 points per 100 against switching. Negative means returners read repeats. Tour-wide, repeating costs women about 0.4 points per 100 and costs men nothing, so men's returners don't measurably anticipate direction. (497 repeats, 633 switches.)

Return by serve direction

Return points won against each serve direction, compared with the tour average.

Signature patterns

Recurring sequences that win more than Nicolas Massu's own baseline, ranked by edge weighted by how often they're used.

Discovered sequences

Mined from every me → opponent → me run of three shots, with no templates. Ranked by how much more often Nicolas Massu wins the point once the sequence happens, weighted by how often it happens. Think of them as chess openings.

1. Wide serve → BH through the middle return, mid → FH crosscourt used 0.9% · won 51% · +8.4±11.4 vs own baseline · +0.5 vs tour on the same sequence
2. BH through the middle → FH down the line → BH crosscourt used 0.5% · won 52% · +8.7±12.7 vs own baseline · +18.0 vs tour on the same sequence
3. T serve → BH through the middle return, mid → FH crosscourt used 0.5% · won 51% · +7.6±12.9 vs own baseline · +7.9 vs tour on the same sequence Disrupted by Marat Safin (4/6)
4. BH crosscourt → BH crosscourt → BH through the middle used 0.8% · won 49% · +5.5±11.5 vs own baseline · +8.6 vs tour on the same sequence Disrupted by Juan Carlos Ferrero (3/6)
5. FH down the line → BH through the middle → FH down the line used 0.7% · won 46% · +3.2±12.0 vs own baseline · −2.7 vs tour on the same sequence Disrupted by Guillermo Coria (2/8)
6. FH down the line → BH through the middle → FH crosscourt used 0.6% · won 46% · +3.1±12.2 vs own baseline · −4.6 vs tour on the same sequence

Strengths and vulnerabilities

Value per 100 shots compared with the average player hitting (strengths) or facing (vulnerabilities) the same shot. Only shot types seen at least 120 times.

Tactical fingerprint

Each bar shows how far a style trait is from the ATP average, in standard deviations.

Charted matches

• Fernando Gonzalez v Nicolas Massu L US Open R128 · Hard · 1 Sep 2009
• Nicolas Massu v Marat Safin L Hamburg Masters R64 · Clay · 17 May 2007
• Marat Safin v Nicolas Massu L Davis Cup World Group R1 RR · Clay · 9 Feb 2007
• Novak Djokovic v Nicolas Massu L Australian Open R128 · Hard · 15 Jan 2007
• Novak Djokovic v Nicolas Massu Amersfoort F · Clay · 23 Jul 2006
• Roger Federer v Nicolas Massu L Roland Garros R32 · Clay · 2 Jun 2006
• Roger Federer v Nicolas Massu L Indian Wells Masters R64 · Hard · 14 Mar 2006
• Nicolas Massu v Mardy Fish W Olympics F · Hard · 22 Aug 2004
• Nicolas Massu v Gaston Gaudio W Kitzbuhel F · Clay · 25 Jul 2004
• Juan Carlos Ferrero v Nicolas Massu L Madrid Masters F · Hard · 19 Oct 2003
• Guillermo Coria v Nicolas Massu L Kitzbuhel F · Clay · 27 Jul 2003
• Marcelo Rios v Nicolas Massu L US Open R128 · Hard · 28 Aug 2000