home jobs contact us
Our Clients:
Browse by Sport
Find us on ASAP sports on Facebook ASAP sports on Twitter
ASAP Sports RSS Subscribe to RSS
Click to go to
Asaptext.com		 ASAPtext.com
ASAP Sports e-Brochure View our
e-Brochure

BNP PARIBAS WTA FINALS


October 21, 2014


Stacey Allaster

Tracy Austin

Adaire Fox-Martin

Ana Ivanovic

Jenni Lewis


SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE

ANDREW KRASNY:  Good afternoon, everybody.  Welcome to our very special press conference.  I would like to welcome all our distinguished media.  Thank you for joining us today.
Good afternoon and welcome to the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.  My name is Andrew Krasny.  Lots of important people and things to discuss today.
We're here to share some exciting new developments by SAP and the WTA.  Before we get underway, allow me to introduce the participants.  First we have Adaire Fox‑Martin, president SAP Asia Pacific Japan.
Next to her we have WTA chairman and CEO, Stacey Allaster.
Followed by Jenni Lewis, SAP technology lead for tennis.
Next toher ‑‑ well, over on this side over here we have WTA legend Tracy Austin is joining us everybody.
Next to Tracy we have the 7th ranked player in the world, Ana Ivanovic.  What an incredible match that you played last night.  We can't wait to see you back out on court in just a day or so.
Without further ado, I would like to invite Adaire Fox‑Martin to come up here on stage with us to get things started.
ADAIRE FOX‑MARTIN:  Good afternoon, everybody.  Welcome to Singapore.  You join us not only at a time when Singapore is hosting the WTA Finals, but also actually at a very significant coincidental milestone for SAP here in Asia Pacific Japan.
This week we actually celebrate our 25th anniversary here in Asia.  My name is Adaire, and I am the president of SAP here in Asia Pacific Japan.  We have operated here from a headquarters in Singapore for the last 25 years, and have operations in 11 countries you across the region.
Now, for over the last 25 years across 24 industries SAP has been helping companies to run better, and now our 25th industry is sport.  We're delighted to have the opportunity to deliver a portfolio of proven solutions to the sports industry.
We have a very significant platform that we call HANA, which is an innovative platform that provides the basis to make big data accessible to the world of sports.
What does that mean?  It means that for players and teams it provides the opportunity for improvement in player performance, and indeed team performance.
For fans, it simplifies and enhances the engagement with the sport.  We are very pleased that the WTA has chosen to be part of this journey with us.  We have signed a multi‑year agreement with the WTA for the duration of next five years.
We're very proud to partner with the WTA in order to develop solutions that will enhance the journey and the game of tennis.
And to expose you to that technology, the technology behind the partnership, I would like to share with you a short video that demonstrates the power of SAP technology alive and well in WTA.
Thank you for your time, and please enjoy this short video.
(Video was shown.)
ANDREW KRASNY:  I have to introduce you and you're my boss, so you got to hold on just a second.  I have a couple things I want to say, Stacey.  (Laughter.)
SAP has increased the WTA's focus to help transform the organization with innovative technology, everyone, to improve player performance.  From my standpoint, to increase the fan experience.  No matter where I am in the world, if I don't speak the language, stats are a universally understood language.
The power that SAP gives me to give our fans more information is something that I've noticed almost immediately.  So thank you for that.
We are here to talk about the partnership from the WTA and announce a technology innovation breakthrough that will advance the game of tennis.
Here to do so ‑ now is the time ‑ WTA chairman and CEO, Stacey Allaster.  (Laughter.)
STACEY ALLASTER:  Well, good afternoon everyone.  A few faces in the room were with me 14 months ago when we were at Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati when we announced that the world's large software provider would join our WTA family and set us on our course to innovate our sport for fans and enhance our fan's engagement through technology.
In addition, provide faster and richer data for the media so that you can tell more compelling stories centered on analytics from over 3,000 matches each year on the WTA.
Tennis is an enormously rich sport in data.  Really, with SAP's analytical power and their greater statistical and data insights, they ultimately are going to improve the competitive edge of our athletes.
Of course, when you're 54 events in 33 countries across 43 weeks, there is a lot of data.  Without question, SAP is helping our organization run simple, more efficiently, with everything of course up in the cloud.
So I'm going to share with you what we've achieved since we made that big announcement 14 months ago, and then give you some insight into our priorities for 2015.
Without question, this has been quite an exciting journey.  They're a fantastic partner.  I've said this before:  Why is the WTA the No. 1 professional sport for women?  World's best athletes, athletes who continue to love the WTA and are dedicated to promoting it.  Case in point with Tracy here today.
But we have had brands, global brands, who believe in women's tennis and want to invest in us to make our brand stronger, make our athletes stronger, make us more competitive.  That's what we have with SAP.
We also have our champion, Jenni Lewis, who you're going to meet.  We call her Dr.J.  It's kind of like she's one of the family.  You go into the player lounge and there is the sort of the SAP doctorin the house technician where she is working with our coaches directly developing the tools to help them determine what to track across the season, how to provide the point‑by‑point analysis, saving the coaches time and effort with the old fashioned writing the scouting reports down, spending evenings in their hotel room watching matches.
Jenni gives it to them instantaneously after a match across an entire season.  The other thing she's been working on with the coaches is how to make it simple, so that when Ana is a looking at it, it's easy for Ana to take from it.  I think Jenni will share that with you.  That was our priority number one in year one of this.
In addition, for you, the media, our communications team that's has worked to enhance our match notes, again, providing more depth in the analytics to help you cover more matches throughout the year.
We have long talked with you that we've been short on the data, so SAP has been helping us improve that.  Then of course in the media center is the new interactive dashboard.  When the match is live, richer data is being delivered to you.
And finally, Ana, I want you to have the most competitive advantage, but ultimately the thing I'm super excited about is the fan engagement.
Here at BNP Paribas WTA Finals, the fan engagement promise that Jenni said she would deliver, she's done it.  If you have a chance to go out to the FanFest, there is, first time in our history, the SAP social media wall.
We have a long joke inside that they did this at the Super Bowl.  I said, That's your test.  We want it to be bigger and better.  SAP has delivered.  It's interactive.  We had the rising stars out there a couple days ago, and of course the live feeds from social are right there.  They had a good chuckle seeing themselves.
And as the matches are going, everything is interactive for the fans to have that experience.
The WTA Finals mobile app, state‑of‑the‑art has been created by SAP.  I hope all of you have downloaded it.  We're watching.  We've got you tracked.
That, for me, when we think about our strategy plan I'm going to talk about on Saturday, mobile data technology, that's where we're going.  SAP has us already on that journey.
So we looked towards 2015.  One of our priorities is to use SAP's HANA inside the house.  We spent a lot of time with players, media, fans.  My team is so excited to be able to use the improvements that you can make inside the house.  Things like rankings, qualifications for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals.  More predictive analysis and tools to better mine the data.
Our supervisors, 54 tournaments, they have a litany reports that have to be submitted, and they need to access those reports.  So we're going to streamline the reporting.  Then we will start to look at player data.  How do we improve the longevity of our athletes?  How do you we take that young WTA rookie, and as she transitions to a full‑time WTA player, there has to be a lot of the rich data that can help us map that story out so that we have long, healthy careers with our athletes.
There is no shortage.  We always have to scale back the list of priorities.  But one priority that we have confirmed for 2015 that I would like to announce and that our board has agreed to amend is our on‑court coaching rule for the 2015 season.  The amendment will allow WTA‑authorized devices to go on court during an on‑court coaching break.
A little history:  In 2008 we introduced on‑court coaching.  It was done for our fans.  It was done for the fan who is watching a live match to give them more access.  The coach is a big part of the story to see Ana's coach come down, whether it be emotional support or strategic support.
Then I've heard Tracy take that on‑court coaching session and then talk about it through the match.  So, again, it provided another dimension of storytelling, entertainment, to allow our broadcasters richer experiences for the fan.
Now, real time, slightly delayed, the coach will be able to go on court with that device.  Jenni has worked it out with the coaches on what imagery to see.  Again, it will remain 100% the athletes's decision.  On‑court coaching was 70% of our matches.
We have on‑court coaching.  Athletes can solely decide if they want to use the data.  I have a lot of confidence that they will be using the data, because in the heat of the moment that little screen shot is going to tell a lot and I think settle athletes down.
Just like electronic line calling.  The days, Tracy you were probably like, That ball was in.  That umpire called it wrong.  Now, the challenge happens.  Oh, it's out, and you move on.  We've seen that.
So I really believe that's the kind of enhancement that SAP on‑court coaching data will provide.
At the end of the day, we are so lucky to have a partner like SAP believe in women's tennis, helping us be a game changer, helping us, this traditional sport, to innovate.  And we are innovating and still fundamentally protecting the integrity of how the game is played.
I thank everyone for coming today.  I think Dr.J is coming up.  She's going to bring it to life.  Thank you.
JENNI LEWIS:  Thank you, Stacey.  Best doubles partner in the world.  What I wanted to start with is to continue on Stacey's thing.  Everything that we've done has been a collaboration.
So from the SAP side, I'm supported by Chris and Alicia.  When we sat down to make the decision about who we should partner with, choosing the WTA was such the right thing for us as well.  You opened your doors and you truly wanted to innovate and take the technology to another level.
You wanted to work with us, and you allowed us to come in.  You let me join your tour for nine months to have access to your players, to your legends, to the coaches of those girls out there.  So we were really able to sit down together and really plan exactly what we've done.
As Stacey mentioned, for the last 12 months it's about all been about post‑match.  Taking that extra level of sitting down with the coaches, giving them access to that.
What we're now ready to do ‑‑ and I pinch myself every day when I'm standing here now ‑‑ to actually get to announce that we're now ready, as the WTA is ready, for us to switch this on in a real time component.
So before I start demoing it, I want give you a little background of how we came to the decisions that we've made and the data that we wanted to share with everybody.
So with needed to look at the great baseline.  So working with the WTA, as Stacey mentioned, we've got 54 tournaments across 33 countries.  Not all of those matches are going to be tracked matches.
We needed to make sure that any solution that we built was going to service every player out there through qualification, through main draw.
So we were looking for ways to make sure that the baseline information would incorporate and include all of that information that we can capture from the umpire's scoring device a well.
As we started to go further into this, we discovered that ‑‑ as I went on this journey for this year, the coaches are actually most interested in some of that situational information.  I believe that's one of the things we'll talk to Ana about as well.  I do get lots of communications from Ana's team about how she's performing at particular points during the match.
So the first thing that we wanted to do was to do ‑‑ minor thing.  I've got to throw it to the screen.  There we go.  I've got to remember to do that.
We wanted it simple to start off with.  We love the coaches, and the coaches have engaged with us throughout.  Some of them are really craving information and some more are a bit sort of standback.
So we started with a very simple screen, which is standard match stat, that they would always get.  The difference being here is we wanted to make it easier for them to interpret and be able to look down and find out what's important and what's going on.
So this screen is basically tracking simple kind of stats around aces, double faults, first serve percentages.  Would will be added to this screen is a situational.
So we will allow the coaches to select what point in the match do they want this kind of tracking for.  So instead of being able to seethat ‑‑ we can see here and we can choose the match from last night.  Serena served 12 aces.  When did she serve those aces?  Did she serve them when she was under pressure?  Did she serve them at the beginning of the points?
What they'll be able to do is actually look at that and drill down a little deeper to be able to find exactly what's happening out there on court.
So a simple concept.  The reason we've gone for the colors we've gone for, outdoor courts.  We want coaches, because they need to maintain the eye contact.  That is the most important thing.  Talk to Ana about that in a little while.
So that ability of being able to look down and look up very quickly and still be able to track the information.  So simple information to start off with.  What we then wanted to be able to do was go a little bit deeper from a scoring point of view.  This is where we look on.
The service we start to look art service stats.  Again, drilling downin the sense ‑‑ and this is the concept of this multi sort of situational screen.
What I'm now looking is the service information specifically for the Love‑30 point, the 30‑All point, and the 40‑30 point.  The coaches will choose their own situations.  Okay?
No one seems to agree on what were the three things they want to look at.  Some want to look at the beginning; some people want to look at the breakpoints.  So I can now look down on the 30‑All point last night that Serena's serve was at the 67%.  So, again, giving us that a little bit more detail on a specific point that's happening in the match.
Stacey mentioned before sometimes the conversations are more about encouragement.  Tennis players ‑ and Ana is sitting here respectfully ‑ sometimes think in their mind that something is happening.  What.
We want to try to do is calm them down.  To say, It's not what you think it is.  This would be used much more of a motivational tool of saying, You're doing exactly what I asked you to do.  You're executing on that point.  We said that was the important point.  Look at what you're doing.  Simply by being able to zone in on that.
Then the conversion rate.  What we looked at here is in the sense of, again, being able to drill in that little bit deeper, when you're serving‑‑ again, I can drill down on a situational level point of view on all of these screens of exactly what's kind of happening from the conversion rate point of view.
So on the 15‑Love point, when I get up 15‑Love, how often am I then going on to win the game.  So, again, you choose as the coach which element you want to do.  We noticed and are looking at this for one of the players this morning.
I sat down with one the rising stars coaches and we were looking at her match.  It was Shelby.  We were looking at one of her matches from earlier in the year.  We saw that every single time she got up Love‑15 on her serve, she won it every single time.  So that ability of being able to show to a player, You win the first point on your serve.  Look what that's doing for you.
To be able to encourage the player to know what's important and what they're doing out there really well.  That's what Stacey mentioned.  Quite often it's that encouragement that the girls need when they're out there.
Last one we'll have a look at, and we'll drill in here, looking at breakpoints.  So the ability to be able to drill down and understand when the break points are happening.  The stat that we wanted to include here, breakpoint opportunities.
So quite often we'll see that there were 12 breakpoint opportunities in a match.  How many games did that happen in?
So instead of us thinking that you're under pressure on every single game, in this particular case we can see the five breakpoint opportunities happened across four different games last night.
So, again, giving us that situational understanding of, yes, you're under pressure, but you're not under pressure on every serve.  Or yes you are under pressure on every single serve.
Again, just that ability of understanding what's going on out there.  So all of this information we can capture from every single match that's played.  This, in the first release, will be focusing on the match that's exactly happening.  Big data.  We have every single match.  Since 2008, we now have access to point‑by‑point information of every single match that's been played on the WTA.
Imagine then the ability of not only being able to see in this situation, but what's happened in all situations.  The ability for to us get that broader understanding that this is an unusual trend as opposed to just an in‑match trend.
So the coaches tend to use that more as a strategy in preparation.  This app that we're producing, although originally it will be used on court, we're opening it up for the coaches to be able to use in practice in strategies as well.
So that ability of the big data that we talked about, the WTA has so much of that information.  What we need to make sure that we do is when we deliver that information we simplify it and put some insights around it.  So make it situational, but make it easy for people to be able to understand.
So that's kind of the thing that we looked at from a scoring point of view.  So much information and so many different ways to slice it.  When we do move to a tracked court, then we're able to start looking at the patterns of play.
Stacey has made the announcement that the WTA is looking for ways to get more courts broadcasted.  When Stacey gets it broadcast, we can track it.  So, again, doubles team.  You throw the ball up.  I'll come in and hit it for you later.  Not a problem at all.
So these are some of the things we want to do from a tracking point of view.  Again, we're focusing a little bit on last night's match.  What we tried to look at doing here is some clustering, so it's easy to sort of see with the eye looking down the patterns of where thing are going.  Okay?
Again, remembering the situational thing will come into these screens as well.  Instead of showing every single ball that's tracked, we're working with the coaches now to identify, do they just want to see breakpoint?  At the moment, at the end of every match, the coaches get a summary of where did they serve on every breakpoint.
Bringing that into the situation, then we can start to look at what's going on.  One of the things that we thought was really positive about last night's match.  Look where Ana was standing on the second serve.  So she was stepping right in.  Okay?
That's a really positive thing that no doubt your coach and you would be really happy with, that she was really happy to step up on Serena's second serve.  We would try to then identify where that is bringing in the overlay here of was that successful, do we need to change, do we need to do all these kinds of things.
Remembering this will all be in real time, Stacey mentioned that there will be a slight delay.  We need to have the slight delay.  Not because of technology, but because we're going to allow Ana to challenge a ball.  We certainly don't want to tell anybody before she's challenged whether or not the ball is in our out.
We will respectfully take our 15‑second delay and then share that information straight through to her coach in real time.
Now, remembering here at the Finals, WTA Finals, in the mobile app you already get access to this kind of information for this tournament.  So the virtual replay that's built into the mobile app here allows you to get an idea of exactly what the coaches will be able to do next year as well.
We trialed it earlier in the year at Sony.  We're delivering it again here.  It's also going to be on the big screens out in the fan zones so fans get a better idea of what's going on.
The difference that we will do for the playing community is we will start clustering the balls for them.  So the most important thing there will be that this image will be enhanced to Ana where she's most successful.
Keep doing that because that's really good.  Okay?  When you stepped in, that was a really good thing to do.  Hopefully give her the confidence to say, I'm going to do that.
I'm going to know where the ball is going and step in.  I might not win every point, but it's going to make my opponent think a little more.  That's one of the things we wanted to look at doing.  Good job there.  That was beautiful that you did that last night, because that makes a great point for demonstration.
ANA IVANOVIC:  Just for you.
JENNI LEWIS:  Thank you.  Again, the heat map kind of capability.  I just got confirmation that it's the right way to go earlier in the week.  This is the most successful spot on the court that you're returning from.  Okay?  So again, keep returning from there because that's where it's working out for you.
You can see we started that with the gray clusters in the middle.  That's where Serena was most successful, standing just of the center of the court there dictating play a little bit.
So what we'll start looking at doing is eliminating the balls that are not relevant and only focusing on the things that are relevant to the coach.
Again, the coach will be able to select what those relevant scenarios are.  We're not going to choose for them.  For the first year we produced graphics that they accepted.  Now, I can't build all the different scenarios that you need, but luckily I've got a piece of technology that will completely simplify delivering all of that level of information for you.
So all of these screens will have that situational capability built in that we looked at before as well.
Then the last one that we'll have a look at is sort of shot placement.  So where, again, are the balls going.  Four key things we've always looked at wanting to deliver for the coaching community were the serve direction, the contact return point being, the rally strike point, and the shot placement.
Hopefully that gives you a little bit of an idea of what we're planning on doing.  As I said, this is actually working here.  We're not sharing it with any of the coaches while they sit courtside, but it's kind of one of those things for the whole year we have actually been testing, planning, making sure that we're going to get live feeds from all the different courts from all over the world.
Now we actually get the opportunity of once the matches are over or while other matches are running, I get a chace to sit with the coaches and go through this stuff.
Again, we've always said it's as collaboration.  We're not building anything that we haven't been asked for.  I'm going to invite some new friends and some older friendsto join me.  Not as in age, but length of time that I've known you.  Less familiar friends.  Thank you very much.  It's always good when I do that.
So we're going to bring Stacey back up on stage to join me.  We're going to have a little bit of a chat here together.  We'll talk a little bit to you first, Tracy.
From a broadcast point of view, you've been broadcasting and you've coached as well.  I'm going to come back and ask you some coaching questions as well.  But how have you seen technology change in the way in which you're able to engage and tell fans a better story?
TRACY AUSTIN:  I think to see tendencies, to see patterns.  The strike point of Ana last night on the second serve.  I talked about that right at the beginning of the match, that it was going to be important for Ana to attack the second serve of Serena.
These exactly what she did, in my opinion, at the Australian Open.  Was down a set to Serena, and then became much more aggressive on the second serve and was striking the ball beautifully and not giving Serena enough time.
In my opinion, that changed the match completely because Serena became a little bit rattled with the part that Ana was dictating play and rushing Serena.  Serena was not used to that.
So anything like that, the hit point during the rallies.  We'll see differences in the first set.  We could take anybody, Wozniacki, anybody.  In the first set, consistently she was 73%  eight feet behind the baseline; then in the second set she was 65% within two or three feet of the baseline.  So obviously a much more aggressive positioning.
So not only are you aggressive when you're hitting the ball, but positioning yourself on the court is also very, very important.
So you can go through that.  Where they have a tendency to serve.  You start to trend where they serve on breakpoints and things like that.
JENNI LEWIS:  We know what's happening.  This allows to you tell them why, really get down a little deeper.
TRACY AUSTIN:  Yes.
JENNI LEWIS:  So moving forward, next year when we start to be able to bring in technology from a coaching discussion point of view, so now when you're commentating and you're trying to guess what the coaches are saying, do you think this will help you engage the fan a little more by the fact that we will be able to see a little more about some of the stats that the coaches are actually tracking.
TRACY AUSTIN:  So we'll be able to see what the coaches have asked?
JENNI LEWIS:  Well, I suppose it's from a ‑‑ because the way in which we're designing the screens is to make it easier from a broadcast point of view to be able to see some of the key stats.
But, yeah, definitely in getting that ability for you to understand a little bit more about what they're talking about and understanding and seeing that.  Yeah, definitely.
TRACY AUSTIN:  I think it's important to, again, track where someone has a tendency to serve on a breakpoint down.  How successful they are on a breakpoint.
Ana is right here, but I'm going to bring up the first game last night.  She had two breakpoints in that first game, and Serena came up with an unreturnable, and then the second breakpoint came up with an ace.
So me, that's one of the reasons why Serena has the best serve in the history of women's tennis.  Not only has the power, can pick her spots, but can elevate in crucial situations.  But something like that you can maybe see a tendency of where someone has a tendency to serve.
Also what's interesting, aggressive court positioning.  We talked about this in my last answer, but I think it's so crucial.  Everybody talks about it.  Where you see where somebody might start to play on a 5‑4 or 4‑All point.  Do they have the tendency to kind of back up and become a little more passive?
JENNI LEWIS:  For sure.  And I suppose as tennis fans and as a broadcaster, we've been lucky because we have been able to see those kind of things as matches happen.  We're able to see more detailed stats.
Now we've moved to the new era where we want to get the players and coaches involved in that kind of thing.
Talk a little bit to Ana.  So you have been a strong supporter of the program in 2014.  You've used the stats.  Can you tell us a little bit about how you and your coaching team have been using the enhanced stats in 2014?
ANA IVANOVIC:  Yeah, think it's amazing program, and it's amazing how much to detail it can go and how much it can help us in your preparation for matches, but also in our training sessions so we can focus on things that we don't do well on court.  It's very detailed and a lot of information.
It's hard to select sometimes.  I think in the future this is something that we definitely going to look closer together.  Not only my coach, but also together.  Because like you say, it's one thing when you're playing and you have certain feelings and things that you think you're doing right or wrong.
But then actually when you have the fact that actually it's maybe different than what you feel, it's sometimes very encouraging.
JENNI LEWIS:  For sure.  So have you been looking also from a tactical point of view looking down and scouting opponents with your coach, or do you leave that to him and he works on a strategy with you.
ANA IVANOVIC:  Well, I leave it up to him, and then we go over it a little bit together.  It definitely brings a lot more insight.  There are not many secrets left, unfortunately or fortunately.
But it's definitely great thing.  Like we spoke, there are so many situations and important situations.  And also, the way that women's tennis is evolving, like Stacey mentioned, the way someone takes the ball on 4‑All games or 3‑Love game, it really makes difference because then you know what to expect and look for in your own game.
JENNI LEWIS:  Yeah.  Perfect.  Coming back to you Tracy more from a coaching angle point of view.  Having this type of information, how do you think coaches would be able to take this and then bring it in for strategy drugs discussions?
Do you think they'll be able to adapt and use it quickly from changing strategies during a match?
TRACY AUSTIN:  Oh, absolutely.  I think the depth of ball.  We talk about that.  Obviously depth is so crucial and critical in a match.  Try to push you opponent back.  They can't hurt you as much.
So, again, you might see s tendency when it gets tight with your charge, your player starts to hit a little bit shorter because they're not going after their shots, where they have a tendency to hit certain shots.
You know, the forehand when they're mid‑court.  Do they like to hit it inside in or do they like to hit it inside out?
All of these tendencies that you're going to see in a match, i think going in we could probably have an idea of where a player is, you know, just by watching.  But to have the actual facts, like Ana said.  To actually have the facts and see them at crucial situations where people have to take those patterns will be such an incredible help.
JENNI LEWIS:  From that then it's also just looking at it on a situational match‑by‑match basis.  What do you think the benefit of being able to deliver this across an entre season will bring?
TRACY AUSTIN:  Well, hopefully they will be able to take, like Ana said, something and see that she has a tendency toward X or Y.  We need to work on this.
It's definitely going to help their practices as well.  As we all know, in order to improve something, first you need to be aware of it.
If you're aware that you have a weakness in a certain area‑‑ I think even time in between points.  I think some people have a tendency when they get nervous to rush.  A lot of players do.
So you can see when you were in control, when you were up 3‑1, you were taking 16 seconds between points.  Whatever is a comfortable for a certain opponent.
Then when it gets to 4‑All, 5‑4, all of a sudden you were taking eight seconds between points and grabbing the ball and hitting and not thinking as much.  That's something that's crucial, to know your tendencies and to try to improve on them.
JENNI LEWIS:  Stacey, we talked a little bit about this before, where the WTA wants to go about getting more matches covered.  Talk about that and I'll tail it with how we can use that information.
STACEY ALLASTER:  You still have to come to my state of the union on Saturday when I answer this question, though.
JENNI LEWIS:  Oh, sorry.
STACEY ALLASTER:  No, it's okay.  It's out there.  So 54 events; we have almost 2000 main draw singles matches.  Our goal by 2017 is to have all 2000 matches produced for live distribution.  We have about 700 today primarily coming from our 22 premier events.  The internationals, they do their semis and finals, but they're not aggregated.
So we're in the process of rolling all 54 tournaments up so that we can produce every single match.  You think about it, with a North American perspective, the NBA wouldn't produce only a third of their games.  There is a massive opportunity for us to produce all of them.  I'll talk more about why.
But as you talked, this is the game changer with the utilization of data.  Now, someone who may never be a on a broadcast court or down at the international tournaments where this data could be incredibly helpful in player development, this is where we get the proof point of how SAP is enhancing our athletes' performance.
JENNI LEWIS:  Obviously with more matches that are being broadcast, we have an opportunity of then taking that information.  That's one of the new things we're offering to the WTA player community here, is the ability of taking the video analysis and being able to tie that into the match stats that we've been delivering for the year.
What that then opens the door for us in 2015 is to go further with are we able to build in video analysis?  Not so much for the post ‑‑ sorry for during the match, but the post‑match analysis of being able to Say, Ana, this is what you did and this is what it looks like.
Do you like at video of yourself and your opponents as well when you're training, or is that, again, you leave it more to feel?
ANA IVANOVIC:  I like to look at some videos of myself, because it can ‑‑ again, when you play, sometimes you feel one thing and you think you're doing something right or wrong, and when you see it it's completely different.
Also, I'm very visual player, so if I see something I can straightaway get it better and improve.  This is something that helps me in my preparation.
JENNI LEWIS:  So that is sort of an overview.  Stacey has got something to say.
STACEY ALLASTER:  As I was watching your demo, you came up with Serena's pattern of second serve.  We saw that she generally just went down the middle.  So, Ana, you talk about...
TRACY AUSTIN:  On the deuce side.
STACEY ALLASTER:  Deuce side.  So if we had this live, how you would've used that data.
ANA IVANOVIC:  Yeah, I think the live feed will be something really amazing.  It will be a quick fix.  Like we can see in the past also from player point of view.  Every player sometimes plays differently against other opponents.  Not same tactic they would use against me or against someone else.  You can prepare by watching their matches against someone else, but then when you're up against them they can change this.
So if coach comes on the court with a live feed, he can actually adjust and sometimes by selecting and he can focus on things that I'm doing good the things that the opponent is not doing well.  It's going to be also up to him to judge which information he's going to serve me.
It's definitely going to be very helpful to see, because few things can change the game completely when you know a little bit more what to expect and what you can do better.
JENNI LEWIS:  And that's, I suppose, the good point, too.  We haven't had any pushback from the community that it is an open system.
So you're fine with the fact that you know your opponent can be looking at you, because you know it's equally a benefit that you can be looking at them as well.
From that side...  (laughter.)  We're going to try to make it fair, which is why we also tried to make sure we incorporated in as many of the baseline stats as possible, so when we're not playing on...
TRACY AUSTIN:  I want to say one thing:  Serena knows not to hit to that forehand.  That's why.  So maybe she might hit to that side against other people, but Ana, the first point she got a forehand second serve and hit is winner.  Serena says, Uh‑Uh, I'm not going to do that anymore.
ANA IVANOVIC:  But then we have to make a deal so the press cannot ask certain things, because they will know too good.
JENNI LEWIS:  Fair enough then.  So thank you very much ladies for attending.  I know Ana has some preparation you might need to do for some matches coming up.  We thank you very much for coming and joining us today.
Thank you Tracy.  It was great having you here.  Stacey and I are going to stick around for a Q and A.  I know Ana needs to pop off to do some training.
Thank you very much for joining us.
ANA IVANOVIC:  Thank you.
PETE HOLTERMANN:  Ana and Tracy, thank you again.  We look forward to seeing you tomorrow night.  We do want to answer some questions, because I'm sure you have some after hearing this update.
Jenni and Stacey are here to take some questions from the press.  Raise your hand.  We do have a microphone floating around.

Q.  Just a very basic question:  Are we talking about an iPad?  A smartphone?  What exactly is the physical device you guys are demoing or thinking of using?
JENNI LEWIS:  It'll be a tablet.  We built it in such a way that it can be agnostic to be used on any device as we work with the WTA on what the best device will be.
But it will definitely be a tablet so we can actually get the best screen so we have enough real estate to show all the things that we need to.  I demoed it off my iPad today, but it's completely agnostic.  It'll run on any environment.
Again, using the SAP platform.  So this is a cloud solution that we built knowing that we can then deliver on any device, smartphone, or tablet.
Probably tablet is the best way to go for the moment.
STACEY ALLASTER:  Thank you Courtney for asking that question.  Isn't it a great sponsorship opportunity?

Q.  Phenomenal.
STACEY ALLASTER:  Phenomenal.  Exactly.

Q.  I just wanted to ask where the dividing line is between what information will be for the public, for fans, and what is going to be exclusive for coaches?
JENNI LEWIS:  So, again, we're still working through which is going to be the best.  We will always make the summary information available to the fan.  What we're now working on is the point‑by‑point, how deep do we go.
We all have to be mindful of gambling and things along those lines.  So for us, it's really focused on the athlete, giving them the detailed information.  It's one of the questions that we often get that in certain markets fans are going to want to be more stats focused.  So how do we work with the WTA to deliver that whilst protecting integrity of the sport and protecting the integrity of the athlete?
So the player will always get point‑by‑point; the fan is going to get more of the summarized version of what's going on, but still with the insight that makes it relevant for them.

Q.  On another thing, can a player and coach request just information about themselves, or can they come to you and say, Look, can you show me all the analysis of Serena's game for the past year?  Can they do that?
JENNI LEWIS:  The way we have it set up for the moment is we have the tournament performance center where we post every single match that's played on the WTA Tour.  So all the players have access to that.  Then if they choose to allow their coaches to log on, that's how we go.
We have staff.  Stacey mentioned it was just me, but I do have a whole team of people who are definitely helping us build this solution.
We have a team of people traveling around on the tour.  So we have consultancy services at certain tournaments.  At the moment, the players or coaches can come up and ask for additional information which we make available.
What we're going to launch in 2015 is the interactive website.  We held off doing that in '14 because the coaching community wasn't ready for too much information.  We have taken the baby steps that we needed to do, but we are moving towards now that they will have the platform themselves to be able to log on and ask any question they want of the data.
That's where we're headed now, and then it takes away the fact that the information is there.  It's just how you then get that insight back from yourself on any player.
STACEY ALLASTER:  The information is there today.  A coach can watch a match on a broadcast and take the handwritten notes or can sit in the stands.  But I think, you know, run simple.  Run efficiently.  Run faster.  That's what this is about.

Q.  I was wondering, for the players who don't take advantage of on‑court coaching for whatever reason, and also players that don't have coaches, would it be a requirement that they will have to have an on‑court consultation to get this information, or is there any way they can have the device themselves and can check it out on changovers?
JENNI LEWIS:  We are definitely developing a solution for the girls who don't travel with coaches so they can get access to this.  When we first dreamed up this idea we were talking about on‑court coaching.  We changed it to a coaching app.  So the ability through a website.  Again, that's the agnostic.  We're not going to make it just an app.  We're going to make it a website that can be consumed anywhere.  So therefore, the coach could be on the other side of the world and still be getting access to the information.
In the first release it won't be in real time.  It'll be available post‑match.  We see no reason why we wouldn't make in that protected environment available through the app and also through the website.
So that would then mean anywhere in the world their coaches would be able to look at this information.
STACEY ALLASTER:  Or the athlete.
JENNI LEWIS:  Or the athlete.  Yes, definitely.  And we're finding, it's interesting, more and more athletes are requesting the information themselves.  I was pleasantly surprised when we traveled around the world on the tour how many athletes, once they knew what we were doing and gave me five minutes of their time, they were able to consume and understand that we were doing it in a simple way that they could then consume it and understand it themselves.
So, yeah, definitely more and more of the athletes are starting to look at this information themselves post‑match as well.

Q.  Stacey, what percentage of players actually use on‑court coaching so we can get an idea of how many will use this enhanced technology during matches?
STACEY ALLASTER:  What we know today is about 70% of our matches have on‑court coaching.
Now, with this new dimension will athletes want to have it real time?  Again, nice thing about this, their sole decision.  They can have it during the match, or, as Jenni said, they can have it post‑match.
Whatever will help the athletes with their competitive edge, we leave that up to them.

Q.  Why do you think in general tennis has been a bit slow on the uptake using stats to improve performance?
STACEY ALLASTER:  Well, I think in general we as a sport are very traditional.  We don't adapt that quickly as a sport.  On‑court coaching is Exhibit A where we saw this opportunity, feedback from broadcasters, to say, Hey, this would be a great opportunity for you to bring the show, the matches, closer to the fans who aren't in venue.
It's just a small example.  And I think obviously what we're talking about today, we will lead the sport of tennis with the use of data.  That's what's exciting about this.
JENNI LEWIS:  And definitely I think technology is now at a point where it's much easier to track.  So traditionally to be able to get tennis stats it was statisticians sitting beside court tracking information.  We've now moved that everything that we're now tracking, no human has had to write down too many things.  We're taking video and things like that.  That gives it a little more depth in the story.
We talk about the nonprofessional players.  You think about the average player.  We've got racquets with technology in them now.  Wearable technology.  These are things that SAP is working on in other spots as well, at being able to track that information.
I think it's just now a natural that we're able to get more information and use that information in a better way.  More information isn't necessarily helpful.  We talk about the insight, the wrapping up of that.
So I think it's now that natural progression in tennis that the information is now available.  Now we've just worked out the best way to consume it with the players.
It was a collaboration.  It was a dream that we had with Alicia and Chris sitting there.  We all sat down and had the dream to do to this, but then we went to the players and said, What do you want and we didn't build anything.
So I think now is also that they're used to the fact that they can get this information.  So now I believe it'll be adopted quickly because of the fact that they asked for it, and with the WTA support we actually built exactly what they needed from us.

Q.  Going back to a question from before, I understand not wanting to provide live data for integrity issues and things like that.  Is there any further discussion about archived data being available to fans?  Talking about heat maps, for example.  Can I go back is see here is the heat map from Serena versus Ana at the Australian Open and compare that to that yesterday's match, for example?  Is there going to be a more robust data platform that's available fans with archived information?
JENNI LEWIS:  We are certainly in discussions to make that happen as of when we can with the WTA.
STACEY ALLASTER:  I think Courtney, as I sat and listened to Jenni talking to Tracy.  Imagine how cool it would be.  You could take Ana's matches in 2008, and now look at Ana performing in 2014.  What's different?
So for player development and I also think for media, for you guys to write more compelling and interesting stories, data driven as a baseline is something that we want to share.
JENNI LEWIS:  And as Stacey mentioned, our focus in the first 12 months was very much about the player community.  I believe we delivered on what we wanted to do there.
Now we start to focus much more on the media and the fan engagement, and how do we take all of that information that you have and really bring that big data story to life.  Simplify it and make it easier for fans to do that.
So it's part of the 2015 strategy plan that we are going to have with the WTA in a few weeks.  We look forward to kind of sharing more with that as we get into the 2015 season.
PETE HOLTERMANN:  Any other questions?
Thank you, ladies.  We really appreciate it.
STACEY ALLASTER:  Thank you everyone for coming.
JENNI LEWIS:  Thank you.  Let's go watch some matches.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
About ASAP Sports • FastScripts Archive • Recent Interviews • Captioning • Upcoming Events • Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297