In less than two years since I first introduced the Match Charting Project and asked for the help of volunteer contributors, we’ve reached a major milestone: 1,000 matches!
I can hardly tell you how excited I am about this. When the concept behind the project was first suggested to me in 2012, I hesitated to act, in part because I didn’t think I could convince enough other people of the project’s merits to build a dataset of this size. I’ve been proven hugely wrong. Even at the beginning of 2015, I figured we’d be lucky to hit the four-figure barrier by the end of the calendar year. Instead, we’ve added matches at a faster pace than ever.
Thanks to MCP contributors, the tennis research community now has access to a standardized dataset of 144,000 points and 580,000 shots. Nothing like this has ever existed in a form that is available to anyone who wants to pursue their own research projects.
I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the 50+ MCP contributors. Special mention is owed to Lowell, who with 141 matches is our most prolific charter and who is a big reason why the WTA is even more extensively represented in the database than is the ATP. I’d also like to single out Edo, who started contributing less than three months ago and has already added 43 matches to the tally, including many Grand Slam finals.
The first 1,000 is, I hope, just a beginning. Please consider contributing to the project–download the spreadsheet and read more about how it works here.
To keep up with the project, you can always find the full list of charted matches here, or a list organized by player here. I plan to post a bit more about the Match Charting Project next week here at Heavy Topspin, as well.
I am not surprised with this achievement… two years ago, when you introduced the project there was no pessimism in your words…guess it paid off.
‘’What I love about this project is that we don’t need thousands of matches for it all to be worthwhile. (Though I won’t complain when we accumulate thousands of matches!)’’
Great job!!!