Game Plan 2.0: How tech is changing match preparation in tennis

In a sport where margins are razor-thin, technology is becoming a defining edge. In the second part of our two-part series examining how innovation is transforming tennis, we look at how players are using data to prepare for matches before ever stepping on court.

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When Jakub Mensik was still a junior, his father Michal—an IT professional—built a custom analytics platform to track his son’s match data.

They monitored serve and return numbers, plus-one shots, and court zones, creating a homemade scouting system that Mensik says helped carry him from the junior ranks into his early professional career.

“You would be surprised!” Mensik joked in Miami.

Now ranked No. 25 in the world, the Czech star has access to far more sophisticated tools than he and his father could have imagined. But in many ways, the rest of the ATP Tour is only just catching up.

“I’m not saying my father did it better,” Mensik smiled. “But yeah, when I was a junior and basically starting to play pros, that was one of the most basic and necessary things that I needed.”

When people think of preparing for matches, they often picture coaches watching film for hours or scouting opponents from the stands. But the modern game has evolved far beyond that. Today, preparation increasingly means data dashboards, pattern recognition, and shot-by-shot analysis.

Helping to lead that shift is ATP Tennis IQ, the ATP Tour’s advanced performance analytics platform that delivers detailed match data to players competing in ATP Tour events. Originally launched in 2023, the platform has undergone a major overhaul following investment from the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and was showcased to media during the 2026 Miami Open.

Its goal is simple: level the playing field by giving more players access to high-quality performance data.

“One of the things we’re most proud of with ATP Tennis IQ Powered by PIF is putting high quality data insights into the hands of more players—enabling easy access to information that can genuinely impact their careers," said Ross Hutchins, the ATP's Chief Sporting Officer. "Working with PIF has accelerated that progress—scaling faster, supporting more players, and delivering one of the biggest technological step changes in the sport.”

The platform includes serve patterns, rally lengths, shot placement, court graphics, video analysis, and shot quality metrics, with additional features continually being rolled out. A point-by-point video analysis tool is in development, Challenger and doubles events are expected to be added later this year, and physical metrics—such as distance covered, sprint count, and active time between points—have recently debuted through wearable technology integration.

Coaches and players regularly provide feedback on what data they want added. One popular request—a breakdown of serve speed by placement—is expected to launch later this year.

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The most-viewed section of the platform? Serve locations.

And for Mensik, that makes perfect sense.

“From a tennis perspective that makes super sense. Basically 70% of the rallies are zero to four (shots), so that means it’s serve, return, one or two strokes, and that’s it,” he said.

“(Knowing the opponent’s) serve placement makes it easier, because in tennis the serve is the only stroke that you can take your time and really think about where you will go. When you have the advantage over the opponent of knowing which side is weaker for him, then you just simply go where it’s most effective for you.”

The ATP and WTA have offered players some form of live match stats for years, but the sophistication and accessibility of those tools has expanded dramatically. On the WTA Tour, coaches once had the option to bring a  tablet packed with real-time SAP analytics during on-court coaching breaks, though adoption varied and not every player responded well to mid-match data.

For some top players, though, even those analytics platforms aren’t enough.

That’s where strategy analysts like Craig O’Shannessy come in.

O’Shannessy, one of tennis’ most prominent analytics experts, pioneered match-tagging software that breaks down matches into detailed patterns of play. His work earned him a role with Novak Djokovic from 2017 to 2019, helping guide the Serbian back to world No. 1 and four more Grand Slam titles. He later worked with Matteo Berrettini during his rise into the Top 10 and now collaborates directly with Infosys and the ATP.

On the women’s side, world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka has embraced a similar model using her own stats provider.

“I trust (the stats) a lot,” she said. “Numbers can’t lie, right? I rely on that (information) a lot and I keep it in my mind when I play. A lot of times, in the key moments, it makes a big difference.”

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Still, not every player wants to immerse themselves in the numbers. World No. 3 Coco Gauff also uses a private service, but prefers not to dive too deep into the details herself.

“I have a separate service that I use,” the American explained. “I’m not the one reading the stats. My coaches are… It’s not something I like to get down all the way into the details in, because I feel like it can overcomplicate things in my head.

“Something I pay attention to more so especially where my opponents like to serve I think is the most stat thing I like to know before I go on court.”

How much information is too much? Former Olympic gold medalist and Tennis Channel analyst Monica Puig says players must find the right balance.

“It’s a fine line. If you’re really responsible with the information that you receive you can kind of just treat it as it is, which is a number,” she tells Tennis.com.

“If you’re the type of player who gets a little bit too obsessed with the numbers, hand it off to your team, like I did, and have them kind of make the adjustments. Then you just kind of go along for the ride.”

The tours hope expanded analytics access will help reduce the information gap between top-ranked stars and lower-ranked players without large support teams—even using the platform to empower remote coaches. But even with more data available than ever, many players still believe the most valuable lessons come from traditional review.

Rising American Ethan Quinn says film study remains a critical part of his development.

“After the match, I definitely looked at all the film I possibly could,” Quinn said of his loss to Carlos Alcaraz in Barcelona last year. “Just watching what Alcaraz does with a tennis ball is pretty special…

"And it’s funny, watching the film and seeing how it actually looks, versus how I felt playing the match. It’s a really good assistant coach, basically, being able to look over film and stuff."

When you have the advantage over the opponent of knowing which side is weaker for him, then you just simply go where it’s most effective for you. Jakub Mensik

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Looking ahead, the possibilities for tennis analytics continue to grow—from AI-assisted scouting to real-time coaching tools possibly on the horizon.

Sabalenka was recently asked whether her team uses artificial intelligence to scout unfamiliar opponents.

“For now, we trust the real numbers,” she grinned. “But probably in the future.”

As tennis moves deeper into its data-driven era, preparation may become smarter, faster, and more precise than ever before. But for all the numbers, models, and metrics now shaping the sport, the essence of competition remains stubbornly human.

Scouting reports, analytics, and performance data can help shape a strategy—but when the pressure rises, tennis still comes down to execution, belief, and instinct.