ATP · Right-handed · 9 charted matches · 1982–1991
Yannick Noah
Archetype: Serve-and-volleyer · Net rusher
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 5,095 shots.
Shot expected value
The share of points Yannick Noah 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 backhand side
position worth 46% to the average player · 177 shots
| Option | Used | Win % | Tour |
|---|---|---|---|
| BH through the middle | 23% | 48.8%±10.5 | 43.7% |
| BH slice through the middle | 22% | 42.4%±10.6 | 35.1% |
| BH slice crosscourt | 17% | 47.0%±11.6 | 42.5% |
| BH crosscourt | 8% | 50.1%±13.9 | 47.6% |
| BH down the line | 8% | 43.6%±13.8 | 46.4% |
| BH slice down the line + approach | 8% | 52.1%±14.1 | 48.6% |
| BH slice crosscourt + approach | 7% | 52.7%±14.5 | 54.2% |
| BH slice down the line | 6% | 33.6%±14.0 | 37.1% |
Rally, shots 5–8: drive to your middle
position worth 51% to the average player · 168 shots
| Option | Used | Win % | Tour |
|---|---|---|---|
| BH through the middle | 20% | 49.7%±11.3 | 46.8% |
| FH crosscourt | 13% | 48.9%±12.7 | 52.7% |
| FH through the middle | 11% | 47.2%±13.1 | 47.0% |
| BH slice through the middle | 10% | 48.5%±13.5 | 44.8% |
| BH slice crosscourt | 8% | 51.2%±14.1 | 47.0% |
| BH slice crosscourt + approach | 8% | 52.0%±14.1 | 53.3% |
| FH down the line | 8% | 49.4%±14.3 | 51.5% |
Return +1: drive to your backhand side
position worth 44% to the average player · 130 shots
| Option | Used | Win % | Tour |
|---|---|---|---|
| BH through the middle | 31% | 49.3%±10.6 | 43.0% |
| BH slice crosscourt | 22% | 37.9%±11.5 | 40.9% |
| BH slice through the middle | 19% | 43.4%±12.2 | 32.6% |
| BH crosscourt | 12% | 48.3%±13.7 | 46.9% |
| BH down the line | 11% | 52.5%±14.1 | 44.2% |
Rally, shots 5–8: drive to your forehand side
position worth 44% to the average player · 119 shots
| Option | Used | Win % | Tour |
|---|---|---|---|
| FH through the middle | 39% | 39.2%±9.8 | 41.5% |
| FH crosscourt | 37% | 47.4%±10.3 | 46.6% |
| FH down the line | 15% | 44.6%±13.3 | 44.7% |
| FH down the line + approach | 8% | 62.9%±14.5 | 69.3% |
Serve under pressure
Pressure predictability index +3 How much less varied Yannick Noah's first-serve direction gets on break points. Positive means easier to read. Based on 88 break-point first serves.
Deuce court
| 1st serve | Usage | Break pt | Won when in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wide | 39% | 50% ▲ | 64% / 73% |
| Body | 18% | 13% | 58% / 63% |
| T | 43% | 38% | 76% / 75% |
447 normal · 24 break-point 1st serves
Ad court
| 1st serve | Usage | Break pt | Won when in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wide | 46% | 47% | 71% / 73% |
| Body | 9% | 8% | 69% / 63% |
| T | 46% | 45% | 70% / 72% |
371 normal · 64 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. 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.
Deuce court
| 1st serve | Usage | Points won | Optimal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wide | 39% | 57.7%±5.5 n=185 | 39% |
| Body | 18% | 55.0%±7.7 n=84 | 5% ▼ |
| T | 43% | 62.3%±5.2 n=202 | 56% ▲ |
Consistent with an optimal mix (p = 0.26).
Optimal mix: +0.7 per 100 first serves.
Ad court
| 1st serve | Usage | Points won | Optimal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wide | 46% | 58.5%±5.4 n=199 | 41% ▼ |
| Body | 9% | 63.9%±9.6 n=38 | 0% ▼ |
| T | 46% | 62.5%±5.3 n=198 | 59% ▲ |
Consistent with an optimal mix (p = 0.49).
Optimal mix: +0.4 per 100 first serves.
Exploitability 0.56 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: −5.5±3.5 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. (374 repeats, 514 switches.)
Return by serve direction
Return points won against each serve direction, compared with the tour average.
| Serve | Court | Direction | Points | Won | vs tour | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Ad court | Body | 54 | 35% | −2.4±8.5 | |
| 1st | Ad court | T | 40 | 25% | −3.2±8.5 | |
| 1st | Ad court | Wide | 224 | 38% | +10.6±5.0 | |
| 1st | Deuce court | Body | 96 | 46% | +9.3±7.3 | |
| 1st | Deuce court | T | 107 | 30% | +4.5±6.4 | |
| 1st | Deuce court | Wide | 130 | 37% | +9.8±6.3 | |
| 2nd | Ad court | Body | 62 | 43% | −6.1±8.5 | |
| 2nd | Ad court | T | 4 | 46% | −2.9±14.1 | |
| 2nd | Ad court | Wide | 73 | 54% | +5.5±8.1 | |
| 2nd | Deuce court | Body | 96 | 49% | ±0.0±7.3 | |
| 2nd | Deuce court | T | 48 | 56% | +6.6±9.2 | |
| 2nd | Deuce court | Wide | 16 | 40% | −8.0±11.9 |
Signature patterns
Recurring sequences that win more than Yannick Noah's own baseline, ranked by edge weighted by how often they're used.
Serve → +1
- T serve (deuce court) → BH volley crosscourt used 4.1% · won 64% · −6.3±11.2 vs own baseline
- Wide serve (ad court) → BH volley down the line used 4.6% · won 64% · −6.9±11.0 vs own baseline
- Body serve (deuce court) → BH volley crosscourt used 4.6% · won 62% · −8.8±11.1 vs own baseline
Return
- vs wide serve (ad court) → BH slice crosscourt, mid used 6.3% · won 49% · +9.3±11.1 vs own baseline
- vs wide serve (deuce court) → FH through the middle, mid used 6.3% · won 47% · +7.5±11.1 vs own baseline
- vs wide serve (ad court) → BH through the middle, mid used 7.3% · won 42% · +2.6±10.5 vs own baseline
Rally, consecutive own shots
- BH through the middle → BH slice through the middle used 3.6% · won 55% · +3.1±11.7 vs own baseline
- FH through the middle → BH through the middle used 3.9% · won 55% · +2.9±11.4 vs own baseline
- BH through the middle → BH through the middle used 4.8% · won 54% · +1.6±10.9 vs own baseline
- FH through the middle → BH slice crosscourt used 3.7% · won 52% · +0.1±11.6 vs own baseline
- FH crosscourt → FH through the middle used 4.4% · won 52% · −0.1±11.1 vs own baseline
Discovered sequences
Mined from every me → opponent → me run of three shots, with no templates. Ranked by how much more often Yannick Noah wins the point once the sequence happens, weighted by how often it happens. Think of them as chess openings.
- FH crosscourt → FH crosscourt → FH through the middle used 1.0% · won 49% · −0.9±12.1 vs own baseline · +3.0 vs tour on the same sequence Disrupted by Wojtek Fibak (5/10), Mats Wilander (4/6)
- FH crosscourt → FH crosscourt → FH crosscourt used 0.8% · won 43% · −6.8±12.4 vs own baseline · −15.5 vs tour on the same sequence Disrupted by Wojtek Fibak (3/8)
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 slice to the middle · return | +3.1 | 192 |
| BH slice to their backhand · return | +3.1 | 124 |
| BH slice to their backhand · rally | +2.8 | 161 |
| BH slice to the middle · rally | +2.2 | 139 |
| FH to their backhand · rally | +1.7 | 154 |
Most exposed to
| FH to their backhand · serve +1 | −2.4 | 146 |
| FH to their backhand · rally | −0.8 | 252 |
| FH to their forehand · serve +1 | −0.7 | 121 |
| FH to the middle · rally | −0.6 | 183 |
| Wide 1st serve · ad court | −0.3 | 317 |
Active players who are best at the shot in the top weakness: Stefanos Tsitsipas, Brandon Nakashima, Rinky Hijikata, Thiago Seyboth Wild, Jannik Sinner
Tactical fingerprint
Each bar shows how far a style trait is from the ATP average, in standard deviations.
| Points at net | 37% | |
| Chipped returns | 50% | |
| Through the middle | 37% | |
| Backhand slice | 57% | |
| Serve & volley | 44% | |
| BH down the line | 28% | |
| T serves · ad | 46% | |
| Avg rally length | 4.5 | |
| Drop shots / shot | 1.9% | |
| Point-ending shots | 23.1% | |
| Deep returns | 25% | |
| T serves · deuce | 43% | |
| FH down the line | 28% | |
| Wide serves · ad | 46% | |
| Wide serves · deuce | 39% | |
| Run-around forehands | 9% | |
| Unforced errors / shot | 7.8% | |
| Forehand share | 43% | |
| 1st serve in | 53% |
Plays most like
- Sergiy Stakhovsky 2010–2022 plan v
- Mischa Zverev 2013–2020 plan v
- John Mcenroe 1978–1992 plan v
- Guy Forget 1991–1996 plan v
- Patrick Rafter 1993–2001 plan v
- Feliciano Lopez 2003–2023 plan v
- Ivan Lendl 1979–1994 plan v
- Cedric Pioline 1992–2000 plan v
Closest from another era
- Sergiy Stakhovsky 2010–2022
- Mischa Zverev 2013–2020
- Feliciano Lopez 2003–2023
Charted matches
- Yannick Noah v Fabrice Santoro W Paris Masters R64 · Hard · 29 Oct 1991
- Yannick Noah v Boris Becker L US Open R64 · Hard · 30 Aug 1990
- Francisco Clavet v Yannick Noah Roland Garros R128 · Clay · 28 May 1990
- Yannick Noah v Ivan Lendl L Australian Open SF · Hard · 3 Feb 1990
- Miloslav Mecir v Yannick Noah W Rome F · Clay · 19 May 1985
- Mats Wilander v Yannick Noah W Roland Garros F · Clay · 5 Jun 1983
- Yannick Noah v Christophe Roger Vasselin W Roland Garros SF · Clay · 3 Jun 1983
- Ivan Lendl v Yannick Noah W Davis Cup EUR SF RR · Clay · 9 Jul 1982
- Yannick Noah v Wojtek Fibak W Roland Garros R16 · Clay · 31 May 1982