We published a new multi-NERDS paper, concluding a successful previous internship of Chiara Zappalà!

Early career wins and tournament prestige characterize tennis players’ trajectories, by C. Zappalà, S. Sousa, T. Cunha, A. Pluchino, A. Rapisarda and R. Sinatra, published in EPJ Data Science

We study the unfolding of tennis players’ careers to understand the role of early career stages and the impact of specific tournaments on players’ trajectories. We employ a comprehensive approach combining network science and analysis of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tournament data and introduce a novel method to quantify tournament prestige based on the eigenvector centrality of the co-attendance network of tournaments. Focusing on the interplay between participation in central tournaments and players’ performance, we find that the level of the tournament where players achieve their first win is associated with becoming a top player. This work sheds light on the critical role of the initial stages in the progression of players’ careers, offering valuable insights into the dynamics of success in tennis.