RallyIQ

WTA · Right-handed · 15 charted matches · 2013–2022

Simona Halep

Archetype: Forehand line-changer · Backhand line-changer

Against an average opponent

Serve points won 57.8% ±3.1 raw 55.3% · tour 56.3% · 1,085 points
Return points won 48.1% ±3.2 raw 46.0% · tour 43.7% · 1,093 points

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

Direction choice +0.06 ±0.12 better than 65% of WTA · raw +0.05
Shot selection +0.40 ±0.18 better than 90% of WTA · raw +0.38
Execution +0.32 ±0.60 better than 74% of WTA · raw +0.19
Tactical adaptability +0.13 first serves toward what's working, set to set · 15 matches
Adaptation speed +0.20 same, every two to three service games · per 100 first serves
Points left on the table 2.41 per 100 shots vs best direction · lower than 76% of WTA

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 6,307 shots.

Shot expected value

The share of points Simona Halep 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.

Rally, shots 5–8: drive to your middle

position worth 50% to the average player · 442 shots

OptionUsedWin %Tour
FH down the line 26% 52.2%±7.1 52.2%
FH crosscourt 24% 57.1%±7.2 52.7%
FH through the middle 14% 47.8%±9.0 45.8%
BH through the middle 13% 43.3%±9.2 46.2%
BH crosscourt 11% 51.7%±10.0 50.9%
BH down the line 9% 53.5%±10.8 50.0%

Rally, shots 5–8: drive to your backhand side

position worth 45% to the average player · 427 shots

OptionUsedWin %Tour
BH crosscourt 42% 49.8%±5.8 47.6%
BH through the middle 25% 50.9%±7.3 43.3%
BH down the line 23% 45.3%±7.5 46.8%
FH inside-out 2% 51.7%±15.0 52.5%

Rally, shots 5–8: drive to your forehand side

position worth 43% to the average player · 291 shots

OptionUsedWin %Tour
FH crosscourt 43% 43.7%±6.8 46.7%
FH down the line 29% 46.6%±8.0 44.9%
FH through the middle 23% 44.0%±8.8 41.3%

Long rally, 9+: drive to your middle

position worth 51% to the average player · 215 shots

OptionUsedWin %Tour
FH crosscourt 35% 56.8%±8.3 52.8%
FH down the line 21% 55.5%±10.1 53.1%
BH crosscourt 15% 56.9%±11.2 50.8%
BH through the middle 12% 49.5%±12.3 46.3%
BH down the line 9% 57.3%±13.0 51.7%
FH through the middle 7% 47.8%±13.7 46.0%

Serve under pressure

Pressure predictability index ±0 How much less varied Simona Halep's first-serve direction gets on break points. Positive means easier to read. Based on 137 break-point first serves.

Deuce court

1st serveUsageBreak ptWon when in
Wide 36% 18% ▼ 65% / 66%
Body 23% 29% 48% / 57%
T 41% 54% ▲ 64% / 68%

534 normal · 28 break-point 1st serves

Ad court

1st serveUsageBreak ptWon when in
Wide 32% 38% 66% / 66%
Body 26% 30% 59% / 56%
T 42% 32% ▼ 65% / 64%

414 normal · 109 break-point 1st 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. A direction loses 0.19 points per 100 serves for every 10 points of habitual usage, measured from WTA servers whose mix drifted between matches. Shifts stay within the range servers' habits actually vary, the only range that response was measured over.

Deuce court

1st serveUsagePoints wonOptimal
Wide35% 56.0%±5.4 n=195 50% ▲
Body24% 50.4%±6.4 n=133 9% ▼
T42% 54.8%±5.0 n=234 41%

Consistent with an optimal mix (p = 0.43).
Optimal mix: +0.8 per 100 first serves.

Ad court

1st serveUsagePoints wonOptimal
Wide33% 54.8%±5.7 n=174 33%
Body27% 58.9%±6.2 n=141 12% ▼
T40% 56.5%±5.3 n=208 55% ▲

Consistent with an optimal mix (p = 0.65).
Optimal mix: +0.6 per 100 first serves.

Exploitability 0.68 points per 100 first serves What the optimal mix would win over the current one, both courts. More exploitable than 100% of WTA servers. Tested on matches they weren't fitted on, WTA mixes picked this way win 0.42 per 100 first serves on average.

Repeating the previous direction to the same court: −3.2±4.7 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. (377 repeats, 678 switches.)

Return by serve direction

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

ServeCourtDirectionPointsWonvs tour
1stAd courtBody 75 49% +4.8±8.0
1stAd courtT 144 36% +0.5±6.0
1stAd courtWide 88 39% +4.8±7.4
1stDeuce courtBody 96 44% +1.7±7.3
1stDeuce courtT 134 35% +2.4±6.1
1stDeuce courtWide 131 36% +2.1±6.2
2ndAd courtBody 103 57% +1.7±7.1
2ndAd courtT 48 58% +3.3±9.2
2ndAd courtWide 68 49% −4.5±8.3
2ndDeuce courtBody 111 57% +2.5±6.9
2ndDeuce courtT 47 56% −0.4±9.3
2ndDeuce courtWide 48 58% +4.1±9.2

Signature patterns

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

Serve → +1

  1. T serve (ad court) → FH crosscourt used 3.5% · won 65% · +7.2±10.0 vs own baseline
  2. Wide serve (deuce court) → BH crosscourt used 3.2% · won 60% · +2.0±10.5 vs own baseline
  3. T serve (deuce court) → BH crosscourt used 2.5% · won 57% · −0.6±11.2 vs own baseline
  4. Body serve (ad court) → BH down the line used 2.2% · won 57% · −1.2±11.6 vs own baseline
  5. Body serve (ad court) → FH down the line used 2.9% · won 56% · −1.9±10.9 vs own baseline

Return

  1. vs body serve (ad court) → BH through the middle, mid used 3.3% · won 61% · +12.1±11.2 vs own baseline
  2. vs body serve (deuce court) → FH through the middle, mid used 3.4% · won 54% · +5.3±11.3 vs own baseline
  3. vs wide serve (deuce court) → FH through the middle, deep used 3.9% · won 53% · +4.2±11.0 vs own baseline
  4. vs body serve (deuce court) → BH through the middle, mid used 3.9% · won 53% · +4.2±11.0 vs own baseline
  5. vs wide serve (ad court) → BH crosscourt, mid used 3.6% · won 53% · +4.3±11.2 vs own baseline

Rally, consecutive own shots

  1. FH crosscourt → BH crosscourt used 5.8% · won 58% · +6.3±7.6 vs own baseline
  2. FH down the line → FH crosscourt used 4.2% · won 59% · +7.2±8.5 vs own baseline
  3. FH down the line → BH crosscourt used 3.7% · won 56% · +4.4±9.0 vs own baseline
  4. BH through the middle → FH through the middle used 2.7% · won 55% · +3.3±9.9 vs own baseline
  5. BH crosscourt → FH crosscourt used 5.6% · won 54% · +2.3±7.7 vs own baseline

Discovered sequences

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

  1. FH down the line → BH through the middle → FH crosscourt used 1.1% · won 61% · +11.3±10.1 vs own baseline · +11.4 vs tour on the same sequence Disrupted by Caroline Wozniacki (3/7), Elina Svitolina (5/11)
  2. FH crosscourt → FH through the middle → FH down the line used 0.9% · won 60% · +10.7±10.6 vs own baseline · +15.1 vs tour on the same sequence Disrupted by Elina Svitolina (5/9), Sara Sorribes Tormo (4/7)
  3. BH down the line → FH through the middle → FH down the line used 0.6% · won 56% · +6.5±11.9 vs own baseline · +9.7 vs tour on the same sequence Disrupted by Elina Svitolina (5/7)
  4. FH down the line → BH through the middle → BH crosscourt used 0.5% · won 57% · +7.1±12.4 vs own baseline · +14.6 vs tour on the same sequence Disrupted by Elina Svitolina (4/6)
  5. FH crosscourt → FH down the line → BH crosscourt used 1.5% · won 53% · +2.8±9.4 vs own baseline · +4.2 vs tour on the same sequence Disrupted by Caroline Wozniacki (3/11), Maria Sharapova (2/7)
  6. FH crosscourt → FH through the middle → FH crosscourt used 0.7% · won 53% · +3.2±11.9 vs own baseline · +1.2 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.

Hurts opponents most with

BH to their backhand · rally+1.8413
FH to their forehand · rally+1.6523
FH to their forehand · serve +1+1.6128
BH to their backhand · return +1+0.8147
T 1st serve · deuce court+0.5234

Most exposed to

FH to their backhand · serve +1−2.9144
BH to their backhand · rally−2.7334
BH to their forehand · rally−2.2165
FH to their backhand · rally−1.4314
FH to the middle · rally−1.4288

Active players who are best at the shot in the top weakness: Katie Boulter, Linda Fruhvirtova, Sara Errani, Leylah Fernandez, Karolina Muchova

Tactical fingerprint

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

Avg rally length4.7
FH down the line35%
1st serve in67%
BH down the line25%
T serves · deuce42%
T serves · ad40%
Run-around forehands9%
Serve & volley0%
Drop shots / shot1.2%
Points at net5%
Unforced errors / shot9.6%
Point-ending shots21.6%
Backhand slice6%
Forehand share51%
Chipped returns4%
Wide serves · deuce35%
Through the middle25%
Deep returns29%
Wide serves · ad33%

Plays most like

  1. Qiang Wang 2012–2024 plan v
  2. Linda Fruhvirtova 2022–2025 plan v
  3. Vera Zvonareva 2003–2020 plan v
  4. Victoria Azarenka 2009–2025 plan v
  5. Jaqueline Cristian 2021–2026 plan v
  6. Daria Kasatkina 2015–2026 plan v
  7. Kate Makarova 2007–2018 plan v
  8. Svetlana Kuznetsova 2004–2021 plan v

Closest from another era

  1. Monica Seles 1990–2003
  2. Lindsay Davenport 1995–2006
  3. Martina Hingis 1996–2007

Charted matches