Sport in Words
LightNews LightNews
sportinwords.bsky.social
Sport in Words
@sportinwords.bsky.social
1 followers 25 following 28 posts
Where analytical rigour meets storytelling. I’m a data analyst with CA and PhD credentials, covering tennis through systematic match analysis and visualisation.
Posts Replies Media Videos
sportinwords.bsky.social
Felix Auger-Aliassime wins title number 9 and rises two spots, reaching number 6 in the world, after his win at Montpellier. Next stop - Rotterdam. #tennis #montpellier #OpenOccitanie
sportinwords.wordpress.com/2026/02/10/f...
Felix Auger-Aliassime defends Montpellier title
With his ninth title win secured, Auger-Aliassime became the most successful Canadian player on tour, surpassing Milos Raonic’s eight title wins.
sportinwords.wordpress.com
February 9, 2026 at 2:15 PM
sportinwords.bsky.social
Felix Auger-Aliassime defends his Open Occitanie title at Montpellier. A straight sets win (6-3 7-6) in 96 minutes over Adrian Mannarino earned the Canadian his 9th title win. #tennis #OpenOccitanie
February 8, 2026 at 10:08 PM
sportinwords.bsky.social
Women's doubles champions for 2026 - Elise Mertens and Shuai Zhang.
January 31, 2026 at 3:46 AM
sportinwords.bsky.social
It's a delicious prospect. Either outcome is history. Alcaraz becomes the youngest ever career slam winner. Or Djokovic hits 25 and accumulates the greatest ever grand slam haul. After 124 matches, the semi finals delivered a final full of intrigue and possibility. #AustralianOpen
#tennis
January 31, 2026 at 12:10 AM
sportinwords.bsky.social
Women's final along with men's and women's doubles final. The second last day faces a huge act to follow after yesterday's epics. Arriving on-site and the Alcaraz-Zverev highlights are playing. They will be played many more times over. #tennis #AustralianOpen
January 31, 2026 at 12:06 AM
sportinwords.bsky.social
Australian's Olivia Gadecki and John Peers defended their 2025 Mixed Doubles title, beating Kristina Mladenovic and Manuel Guinard 4-6 6-3 [10-8]. First title defence since Jim Pugh (USA) and Jana Novotna (TCH) won 1988/89 titles. #tennis #AustralianOpen
January 30, 2026 at 3:37 AM
sportinwords.bsky.social
As Learner Tien's 2026 Australian Open campaign closed, the real campaign of Alexander Zverev was just beginning.
Zverev reached his 10th grand slam SF with a 63 67(5) 61 76(3) win.
Full QF review available.
#tennis #australianopen #tien #quarterfinals
sportinwords.wordpress.com/2026/01/28/t...
Tien’s run ends as Zverev’s task begins
Tien’s Australian Open run has ended. Meanwhile, Zverev’s work has only just begun.
sportinwords.wordpress.com
January 27, 2026 at 4:01 PM
sportinwords.bsky.social
Many saw Tien's R64 win over Medvedev in 2025 as an announcement of his arrival. If that is the case, his straight sets win over Medvedev in the R16 stage in 2026 was an emphatic declaration that he intends to stick around at the top levels. A simply stunning performance.
#AustralianOpen #tennis
January 25, 2026 at 3:50 PM
sportinwords.bsky.social
How do the remaining brackets play out? 16 seeds in the final sixteen for the first time in an Open Era Grand Slam event. Sets up an enticing final week at the Australian Open.
#tennis #AustralianOpen
January 25, 2026 at 5:31 AM
sportinwords.bsky.social
Alcaraz v Moutet (Rnd 3)

100 grand slam matches for 87 wins. Equals Borg. Now the 2nd week in Melbourne calls forward the youngest number 1 ranked man in history for a chance to be the youngest man ever to win a career grand slam.
#AustralianOpen #Tennis
sportinwords.wordpress.com/2026/01/24/a...
Alcaraz progresses in grand slam quest
Somehow he reached the ball and played a tweener. This is Alcaraz—the man who thrives on the impossible. He knew he could do it. The crowd knew they were seeing something special.
sportinwords.wordpress.com
January 23, 2026 at 9:06 PM
sportinwords.bsky.social
Alex de Minaur reaches another fourth round at the Australian Open. Straight sets over Frances Tiafoe 6-3 6-4 7-5. Despite the scoreline, Tiafoe didn't make it easy for de Minaur.
#Tennis #AustralianOpen
January 23, 2026 at 12:35 PM
sportinwords.bsky.social
Entertaining match between Carlos Alcaraz and Corentin Moutet. Alcaraz was too good, winning in straight sets 6-2 6-4 6-1 in 125 minutes. But that does not reflect the range of shots - this was fun and always engaging viewing. Even saw an underarm serve or two!
#tennis #AustralianOpen
January 23, 2026 at 8:04 AM
sportinwords.bsky.social
15 of the 64 men's matches went the full distance of 5 sets in R128. Day three provided 7 of those 15. 30 of the 64 matches were done in 3 sets.
#AustralianOpen #Tennis
January 20, 2026 at 3:49 PM
sportinwords.bsky.social
The matches were longer, on average, for the men on day 3. Across the three days of R128, court 5 averaged the longest men's match (213.67 mins from 3 matches) and court 1573 averaged the longest for women's matches (121.17 mins from 6 matches).
#Tennis #AustralianOpen
January 20, 2026 at 3:47 PM
sportinwords.bsky.social
48 of the 63 seeds in the men's and women's draws made it through to the R64 stage. Felix Auger-Aliassime was the highest men's seed to fall (7).Ekaterina Alexandrova (11) the highest women's seed.
#tennis #AustralianOpen
January 20, 2026 at 3:38 PM
sportinwords.bsky.social
Higher ranked player generally won during the R128 stage of the Australian Open. Probably not a huge surprise, but some of the upsets were interesting. Wonder how many bracket selections are still alive.
#tennis #AustralianOpen
January 20, 2026 at 3:33 PM
sportinwords.bsky.social
Match time distribution for men and women on day 1.
Average men's singles match 163.94 minutes.
Average women's match length: 115.06 minutes.
#Tennis #AustralianOpen
January 18, 2026 at 2:38 PM
sportinwords.bsky.social
Four seeds exited on day 1of the Australian Open. Three departures were from the women's draw, while Cobolli was the only seed to fall in the Men's draw.
#AustralianOpen #Tennis
January 18, 2026 at 2:36 PM
sportinwords.bsky.social
Australian Open - day 1
The higher ranked players generally survived the day. 21 of the 32 matches were won by the higher ranked player.
#AustralianOpen #Tennis
January 18, 2026 at 2:32 PM
sportinwords.bsky.social
The 2026 Australian Open starts today (18/1/2026). Last year's runner-up, Alexander Zverev, commences his campaign for his first grand slam title in his 40th grand slam event attempt. Diallo is keen to thwart Zverev's ambition.
#AustralianOpen #Tennis
sportinwords.wordpress.com/2026/01/18/z...
Zverev commences another grand slam title quest at Australian Open
Alexander Zverev faces a no-win Sisyphus-like task in the opening round of this year’s Australian Open. Regardless of the result against Diallo, the lingering question will still be the same …
sportinwords.wordpress.com
January 17, 2026 at 6:16 PM
sportinwords.bsky.social
Aged 40, ranked 157, 2014 Aus Open champ Stan Wawrinka has put on a strong display at the United Cup. He beat Rinderknech (27), pushed Cobolli (22), lost to Baez (43) & Bergs (42), and is giving Hurkacz (83) a run in the final. Aus Open wildcard a well justified farewell to a former champ. #tennis
January 11, 2026 at 11:01 AM
sportinwords.bsky.social
Australian Open qualifying commences tomorrow (12 January 2026). How have the successful qualifiers performed in recent years? Here's a quick summary.
#tennis #AustralianOpen
sportinwords.wordpress.com/2026/01/11/t...
The qualifier’s journey
Australian Open qualifying commences tomorrow (12 January 2026), with 128 men and 128 women contesting for one of sixteen qualifier spots in the main draw. Played to the best of three sets, a succe…
sportinwords.wordpress.com
January 11, 2026 at 8:40 AM
sportinwords.bsky.social
4 players in the Top 30 have better than 50% records against Top 10 opponents. The 4th player may surprise you. In a small sample of matches, Learner Tien has shown he can beat the best. Last year's Australian Open showed that. Who can beat Sinner and Alcaraz this year? #AustralianOpen #Tennis
The image is of a bar chart showing Top 30 players at 10/1/2026 and their win percentage against top 10 opponents. Four players have a better than 50% record - Djokovic 68.67%, Alcaraz 68.42%, Sinner 62.11%, and Tien 55.66%. Jakub Mensik is 5th at 50%. All other players are less than 50%.
January 10, 2026 at 3:55 AM
sportinwords.bsky.social
Fonseca, Mensik, Tien - Three of the teenagers from the 2025 Australian Open. Two were qualifiers. By the end of 2025 they were all inside the Top 50 and had won titles. All look likely to be seeded in 2026 (seedings yet to be announced). Article coming soon...
#tennis #AustralianOpen
Chart of ranking progressions of Fonseca, Mensik, and Tien compared to Djokovic and Alcaraz. The y-axis depicts ATP sport ranking and is truncated to start at a kings data sourced from atptour.con maximum value of 701. The x-axis depicts weeks since first ATP ranking. The x-axis is truncated and starts 61 weeks after initial ranking. Fonseca (99 weeks) and Mensik (89 weeks) broke into the Top 100 quicker than Alcaraz (133 weeks) and Djokovic (105 weeks). Fonseca (117 weeks), Mensik (116 weeks), and Tien (144 weeks) broke into the Top 50 quicker than Alcaraz (146 weeks) and Djokovic (154 weeks).
January 8, 2026 at 10:58 PM
sportinwords.bsky.social
16mm is a small margin. For Alex de Minaur it was the difference between winning and losing the Washington final in 2025. Relive that dramatic tenth game of the third set and the complete story of the final. #tennis
sportinwords.wordpress.com/2025/07/29/d...
De Minaur displays resilience against Davidovich Fokina in dramatic final
Tennis is a binary sport – the ball is in or out, there are no ties, a shot is a winner or an error, and ultimately there will always be a winner and a loser. Both Alex De Minaur and Alejandr…
sportinwords.wordpress.com
January 7, 2026 at 3:52 AM