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Few will forget Novak Djokovic officially committing 100 unforced errors against counterpuncher Gilles Simon at the Australian Open in 2016—a contest that the all-conquering Serb actually won in five sets.

“Honestly, I didn't expect to make this many unforced errors,” said Djokovic afterwards. “In terms of a level that I've played, it’s the match to forget for me.”

Of all the statistics in a tennis match, the unforced error category just might generate the most buzz. Be they extremely high or extremely low, chatter among players, fans and commentators seems to escalate.

Simona Halep gave away a paltry three in the 2019 Wimbledon final against Serena Williams, while Eugenie Bouchard tallied a mere four against Petra Kvitova in the 2014 finale at the All England Club. Unfortunately for the Canadian, she was blown away by Kvitova’s first-strike tennis.

There are times you are playing a guy who is absolutely smoking returns, second serve returns, so you feel that pressure and got to go for more...but if you are playing a guy who doesn’t really hurt you...and for whatever reason, you get nervous or take that intensity off, focus off, that is [an unforced error]. Marcos Giron

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But what exactly is an unforced error? Call it a calculus in the eye of the beholder. In the heat of an elite match, with so many dynamics in play, can a stroke truly be unforced?

For Craig O’Shannessy, the respected longtime tennis strategy coach behind ‘Brain Game Tennis’ who has worked with Djokovic and the Italian federation, among others, the answer is a clear ‘no.’

At Wimbledon last July, as the ‘unforced error’ count flashed on a television in one of the club’s media rooms, O’Shannessy said within earshot, “There’s no such thing as an unforced error.”

He elaborated in a conversation this month.

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“There are just errors that occur for a multitude of reasons,” said O’Shannessy, a native Australian who lives in Austin, Texas. “I actually have a matrix or filters. ‘When you make the opponent miss, make the opponent uncomfortable, what are the different ways to do it?’ And there are eight ways to do it.”

The first four revolve around consistency and shots that have direction, depth and height.

“Then you go to the ball,” he said.

The two elements comprise spin and power, with the final two elements being court positioning and time to hit the ball.

“So when you look at it that way, with those eight ways to force an error, you can say that any type of point is going to have some element,” said O’Shannessy. “When you are coaching a player, you are trying to get your player to gather any of those eight in your favor. So you might hit a shot that has good depth, or the player hits a shot with good power.

“So then what if we layer two of them together? Maybe I have good court position and I took time away. Then the holy grail is three.”

Let’s say you miss a ball in the middle of the court that you were in a really good position. Players know when you make those simple mistakes. Brad Gilbert

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What about a double fault, though, when the server holds control entirely?

“Even with a double fault, you’ve got the pressure of the moment, you’ve got the point score, you’ve got what the opponent has done and is likely to do again,” said O’Shannessy.

To that end, a double fault immediately after a second-serve return winner isn’t all that uncommon. Should that be classified as a forced error or unforced error?

“There are times you are playing a guy who is absolutely smoking returns, second serve returns, so you feel that pressure and got to go for more. Then (that is a forced error),” said veteran Marcos Giron, who won his first title in Newport in July and recorded his first Top 50 year-end ranking.

“But if you are playing a guy who doesn’t really hurt you on the second serve and you know getting it in is totally fine and for whatever reason, you get nervous or take that intensity off, focus off, that is [an unforced error].

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“Otherwise how else would you categorize it? It’s a self-inflicted error, which is brutal. Most mistakes are self-inflicted to an extent, but there are levels.”

Indeed, Giron raises another facet.

If, for instance, a ball toss wavers and that prompts a double fault—so it was self-inflicted—should it count as a forced error? Even if the opponent potentially had little or nothing to do with the miscue, the errant toss provides a reason for the missed shot.

Overall for the 31-year-old Giron, “there are absolutely” unforced errors.

“Oh my God absolutely there are shots, a mid-court forehand, a mid-court backhand, easy, chest high, like gimmes, or where there was absolutely no pressure on it,” said the Californian. “It happens less and less in the upper echelon but it does happen.”

Giron’s fellow Californian, Brad Gilbert, agrees.

If a player has time and is in position and misses the shot, it’s going to be an unforced error. If either one of those elements is missing, he does not have time or position, it’s going to be a forced error. Bill Mitchell, SMT Senior Events Manager

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“There are definitely unforced errors,” said the former world No. 4 who has coached Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and Coco Gauff. “Let’s say you miss a ball in the middle of the court that you were in a really good position. Players know when you make those simple mistakes.

But, he added, “If I chart a match, I might chart it differently than the scorekeeper. Everybody is going to score differently.”

Time and position are pivotal when it comes to classifying a shot as an unforced error or not, according to Bill Mitchell, senior events manager at SMT, which compiles the statistics at the US Open and other tennis events.

“If a player has time and is in position and misses the shot, it’s going to be an unforced error,” said Mitchell. “If either one of those elements is missing, he does not have time or position, it’s going to be a forced error.”

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Stats pioneer Leo Levin, who died in December 2020, laid the foundations.

When told of O’Shannessy’s view and the reasons behind it, Mitchell pointed to probability.

“The speed of the ball coming in, the height of the ball, those things also impact on whether it’s going to be an unforced error or a forced error,” said Mitchell, who estimates he has charted 7500 matches over 30 years. “If it’s a short ball and it is missed, does the player have the ability to make the shot? And if they had the ability to make the shot and missed it, then we can label it as an unforced error.”

Having the ability, of course, depends on the perspective of the particular statistician. Back to the subjective nature.

Mitchell said that at the US Open, most are tennis players, though they range from a 4.5 level to beginner. New ones benefit from training, which includes evaluating past US Open matches.

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Wimbledon and the Australian Open, he added, utilize players who competed in college.

Making their task more difficult, Mitchell and his team don’t have much time to determine what is a forced error or unforced (not to mention other stats).

“I’ve got a second, second and a half to get it to TV and into the interface so that everybody can make the interpretation,” he said.

“I can go back and look at one of the first matches I did, and I changed my thought process from that match to the next match and maybe the next match and tried to better that and make that grey area that people are thinking if it’s a forced or unforced…to being more black or white,” he said.

The unforced error must go, says O’Shannessy.

That likely won’t happen, or at least not in the near future. But the next time ‘unforced errors’ surface, perhaps you’ll ponder a little more.