Main content
Federer’s 54%: Tennis stats explained
How Roger Federer became the best tennis player in the world by winning just over half the points he played.
How can tennis star Roger Federer have won only 54% of the points he played, but been the best player in the world?
Jeff Sackmann, the tennis stats brain behind tennisabstract.com, explains to Tim Harford how probability works in the sport.
Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Debbie Richford
Series producer: Tom Colls
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound Mix: Nigel Appleton
Editor: Richard Vadon
Last on
Sun 14 Jul 202423:50GMT
BBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
Broadcasts
- Sat 13 Jul 202404:50GMTBBC World Service except East and Southern Africa, Europe and the Middle East & West and Central Africa
- Sat 13 Jul 202410:50GMTBBC World Service East and Southern Africa & Europe and the Middle East only
- Sat 13 Jul 202415:50GMTBBC World Service Online & News Internet only
- Sun 14 Jul 202408:50GMTBBC World Service West and Central Africa
- Sun 14 Jul 202410:50GMTBBC World Service except Online, East and Southern Africa, Europe and the Middle East & West and Central Africa
- Sun 14 Jul 202422:50GMTBBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Sun 14 Jul 202423:50GMTBBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
Unlock the history and truth behind the data with The OU
Explore how numbers shape, and sometimes mislead us, with The Open University.
When can you trust statistics?
BBC Ideas discovers three easy ways to help make sense of statistics.
Podcast
![]()
More or Less
Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics used in everyday life
