First server effect on the expected number of games in tennis

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteur principal: Mohammadi, Ali
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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_version_ 1866910194471010304
author Mohammadi, Ali
author_facet Mohammadi, Ali
contents We show that information on the first server influences the expected total number of games and margin in a tennis match under the standard assumption that each player's serve point win probability remains constant, and identify the exact regions, in terms of these probabilities, in which this effect is non-negligible. We confirm numerically that this effect is bounded by at most one game at both the set and match level. We complement the analysis with an empirical comparison on professional match data, illustrating the adequacy of the constant-probability assumption for modelling the total number of games.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_04867
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle First server effect on the expected number of games in tennis
Mohammadi, Ali
Probability
60C05, 91A80, 62P20
We show that information on the first server influences the expected total number of games and margin in a tennis match under the standard assumption that each player's serve point win probability remains constant, and identify the exact regions, in terms of these probabilities, in which this effect is non-negligible. We confirm numerically that this effect is bounded by at most one game at both the set and match level. We complement the analysis with an empirical comparison on professional match data, illustrating the adequacy of the constant-probability assumption for modelling the total number of games.
title First server effect on the expected number of games in tennis
topic Probability
60C05, 91A80, 62P20
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.04867