Data Analysis - Player Ratings

bradthelad · 11 January 2025 16:06

It was the night before Slam(mas) and all through the forums not a creature was stirring not even an Ant.

I wanted to share my ‘Analysis’ earlier but have been using formal channels for the past month. Without being able to receive a response for the time being, what better time than to post before the first Grand Slam of the year.

I wanted to see how the ‘Tiebreak’ player ratings reflected their real-world performances. I collected, cleaned and analyzed data from across all ATP Masters for the 2024 season (Being that ‘Tiebreak’ is the official game of the ATP & WTA).

I have chosen to showcase two areas of focus below; they include players power groundstrokes (both flat and topspin) and serving abilities (plus serve speed).

Ratings from both current in-game version and analysis version have been converted into rankings among the top 16 (best 16 ATP players from the 2024 season ranking wise). Current in-game version will be identified by ‘BAS’ and analysis version identified by ‘BJF’.

Best quality will have a score of 1 and lowest quality will have a score of 64 for power groundstrokes and 48 for serving abilities respectively. For example (analysis version) among top 16 Zverev (Backhand - Flat) and Rune (Forehand - Flat) are equal as best quality and Hurkacz (Backhand - Topspin) is lowest quality across all power groundstrokes shot types.

Power Groundstrokes (Flat/Topspin)

BAS

BJF

Serving Abilities + Serve Speed

BAS

BJF

This is a snapshot of an analysis I have worked on for ‘Tiebreak’, In the aims of helping make this an even more engaging and authentic tennis video game simulation.

Taking advantage of a tennis games biggest ever roster of officially licensed players, I’m hoping that new versions of players can be released throughout a season reflecting their good and bad form.

I respect the time and effort that data analysts have put into making the players, as it can be very time consuming for what seems like not much work. I’m hoping this analysis can only add to the hard work put in to get this game to where it is today.

Any questions, feedback and/or discussions are welcomed, just try and stay respectful and on topic per forum rules.

Enjoy! Happy Slam(mas)

Sinner · 12 January 2025 01:03

This is incredible! Thanks for your hard work putting this together, some incredible insights. Just want to make sure I’m reading it correctly -

For example Daniil Medvedev BAS (Tiebreak Stats) Backhand Top Spin is 1 (the best in the game). But his BJF (2024 ATP Season Stats) has him 62 in red (second to worst?). So an area where Big Ant has to re-balance.

And Tommy Paul - for serving speed - the Tiebreak game made him very bad (red score of 15) but in reality last year he was the 4th best server on tour (green)?

Also where did you get the 2024 Stats from? I’ve submitted a ticket to Tiebreak a few months ago with a tennis statistics website (paid subscription) they can utilize to help balance the AI matchmaking… For example I’ve played almost 3 full calendar years worth of career mode and never played anyone in the Top 10 (I’ve made finals and won of Masters 1000, 500 and deep in Grand Slams)…

bradthelad · 12 January 2025 06:26

Hello Sinner,

Yes Medvedev doesn’t produce much topspin off his backhand (in general, and when scaled up against other players). This is mixed in with other metrics like winners made per backhand hit for example, to get a rating (in this case ranking).

Yes Paul is 2nd lowest serve speed in-game across the top 16, looking at the stats he should be 4th fastest across the top 16. His serve speed although is not 4th best on tour or across active licensed players in-game. Across the players who are licensed in-game he would rank 12th for serve speed.

I sourced the stats from official tennis websites (ATP in this case), and went through and collected the data manually from each matchup. So yes, you were reading this correctly and on the ball

#Slam(mas)

thexfactor · 12 January 2025 06:52

nice job but there is no benefit from any STATS, as the way Tiebreak developed the current roster attributes and the way they play has not to do with how those players play in real… Players with the same category( dynamic, balanced, etc) will just play the same

bradthelad · 13 January 2025 06:17

Hello, thexfactor

I believe there can be a benefit from stats, you can create two players that have the player focus of ‘Speed’ and that will cause them to play differently. If for Player A you choose to max out their Power, Spin, Service and Precision but minimize all their Movement skills then they will play differently to Player B who you choose to minimize all the skills in Power, Spin, Service and Precision but max out their Movement skills.

This will cause Player A being a big server, along with an attacking groundstroke game with high level of accuracy etc. But will cause them to be slow and needing to win points early. Player B would be fast around the court and be able to hold their stamina for long periods. This will cause two different playstyles of players even though their player focus is ‘Speed’.

The player focus (category) is used more for identification of playstyles for official players, some stats given to these players fall out of the realm of what we can get with a created player of the same player focus. For the created players we cannot get much of a difference between topspin and flat shot abilities on groundstrokes and same goes for the other categories.

Being able to manipulate the skills of the pro players we can end up with a more enhanced user experience that will reflect their real-world performances. For example, Kubler has a serve speed of 19 while Opelka has a serve speed of 97. We cannot get a created player that low or high, showcasing that we (Big Ant Studios) can adjust the stats of pros to generate a more natural feel.

#Slam(mas)

thexfactor · 13 January 2025 06:49

yes , u are right regarding the official players they have more variety, for the created players, somehow they almost play the same depending on the focus catagory, like the balanced, dynamic and speed almost play the same with power diff.
I like to see more difference between stats, like forehand stats of 90 with backhand of 40, more diff between flat and spin abilities…and more individual stats or skills attached only to certain players.
The attributes somehow is general, it requires more breakdown, by introducing more skills, example when u create a player, all the movement skills ( stamina, speed,) are bulk, u cant edit one by one, so most of the players will end up playing the same
By useless i mean without the option to change every single attribute/skill sperately there will not be much diff

bradthelad · 16 January 2025 17:05

Unable to edit original post, any help would be much appreciated

Update - Ratings (Power Groundstrokes)

Have decided to showcase player ratings in the area of Power Groundstrokes. Current in-game ratings are displayed in BAS, analysis ratings are displayed in BJF. Analysis overalls have been scaled with a maximum rating of 99 and minimum rating of 60, reflecting the rankings in the original post.

Power Groundstrokes (Flat/Topspin) Overalls

BAS

BJF

While analyzing the above ratings, in-game players backhand and forehand abilities (when it comes to Power Groundstrokes) are nearly identical. Where from the analysis players (in general) are more effective on their forehand side than backhand.

#Slam(mas)

bradthelad · 17 January 2025 23:53

Thought I would share some of the data from the analysis that identifies all the currently active licensed male players in-game.

Service - Volleys (BAS current in-game version, BJF analysis version)

Backhand/Forehand Volley (BAS) ranked from 1 to 65.

Backhand/Forehand Volley (BJF) ranked from 1 to 60 ,5 of the currently active roster did not participate in Men’s Singles Main Draw Masters for the 2024 season (marked as PPR).

Each of the four columns are ranked individually. For example, Medvedev is ranked 1st at Backhand Volley (BAS), 3rd in Forehand Volley (BAS), 14th in Backhand Volley (BJF) and 27th in Forehand Volley (BJF).

Analysis Key Points:

Significant Volley Downgrades: Djokovic, Ruud, Norrie, Mussetti & Berrettini

Significant Volley Upgrades: Jarry, Popyrin, Shapovalov, Struff & O’Connell

Top 8 (BAS) Volleyers: Medvedev, Sinner, Djokovic, Alcaraz, Zverev, Tsitsipas, de Minaur & Ruud.

Top 8 (BJF) Volleyers: Zverev, Dimitrov, Hurkacz, Alcaraz, Sinner, Paul, Khachanov & Jarry.

Enjoy! #Slam(mas)