TANS: A Chess-Inspired Notation System for Strategy Analysis of Tennis Games

Yuexi Song; Chuanfei Li; Hao Cao; Ling Wu; Huanhuan Zheng; Zhenkai Liang

doi:10.1007/978-3-032-06167-6_19

TANS: A Chess-Inspired Notation System for Strategy Analysis of Tennis Games

Yuexi Song^*
, Chuanfei Li^*
, Hao Cao^*
, Ling Wu^*
, Huanhuan Zheng^*
, Zhenkai Liang^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapters, Conference Papers, Creative and Literary Works › RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication) › peer-review

Abstract

Tennis is a challenging sport that requires a comprehensive set of skills, including physical abilities, technical proficiency, and mental resilience. More importantly, tennis is also a game of strategy, demanding players to constantly evaluate the situation, calculate the shot placement and tactics, and control the flow of match. Chess, another game of strategy, has long benefited from the standard notation system, which enables deep and systematic analysis of game strategy in chess and even AI integration. In contrast, tennis currently lacks a structured and standardized framework for analyzing strategic game play. To bridge this gap, this paper presents Tennis Algebraic Notation System (TANS), a novel tennis notation system inspired by traditional chess notations. Unlike existing notation methods, TANS makes it easy for automated data extraction and analysis of game strategy and winning patterns. Using charted data with the new notation system, we can carry out analysis of match statistics and winning strategy analysis of tennis doubles matches. By summarizing tennis matches in a concise and information-rich notation system, we believe that TANS represents an important step toward enabling future systematic analysis of tennis strategy and AI-based game simulation. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2026.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Sports Analytics - Second International Conference, ISACE 2025, Proceedings
Editors	Jin-song Dong, Jing Sun, Xiaofei Xie, Kan Jiang
Publisher	Springer, Cham
Pages	253-267
Number of pages	15
ISBN (Electronic)	9783032061676
ISBN (Print)	9783032061669
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-06167-6_19
Publication status	Published - 2026
Externally published	Yes
Event	2nd International Sports Analytics Conference and Exhibition (ISACE 2025) - Shanghai, China Duration: 26 Sept 2025 → 27 Sept 2025 https://formal-analysis.com/isace/2025/

Publication series

Name	Lecture Notes in Computer Science
Volume	15925
ISSN (Print)	0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)	1611-3349

Conference

Conference	2nd International Sports Analytics Conference and Exhibition (ISACE 2025)
Place	China
City	Shanghai
Period	26/09/25 → 27/09/25
Internet address	https://formal-analysis.com/isace/2025/

Funding

We thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments to improve this paper. We dedicate this paper to the Tennis Team of the Peking University Alumni Association (Singapore) for the collaborative spirit and unwavering motivation. This paper is in part supported by the Grant A-8002737-00-00 from the School of Computing, National University of Singapore.

Research Keywords

Notation System
Strategy Analysis
Tennis Analytics

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10.1007/978-3-032-06167-6_19

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Song, Y., Li, C., Cao, H., Wu, L., Zheng, H., & Liang, Z. (2026). TANS: A Chess-Inspired Notation System for Strategy Analysis of Tennis Games. In J. Dong, J. Sun, X. Xie, & K. Jiang (Eds.), Sports Analytics - Second International Conference, ISACE 2025, Proceedings (pp. 253-267). (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; Vol. 15925). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-06167-6_19

@inproceedings{b73c036f98f445459e07065250080172,

title = "TANS: A Chess-Inspired Notation System for Strategy Analysis of Tennis Games",

abstract = "Tennis is a challenging sport that requires a comprehensive set of skills, including physical abilities, technical proficiency, and mental resilience. More importantly, tennis is also a game of strategy, demanding players to constantly evaluate the situation, calculate the shot placement and tactics, and control the flow of match. Chess, another game of strategy, has long benefited from the standard notation system, which enables deep and systematic analysis of game strategy in chess and even AI integration. In contrast, tennis currently lacks a structured and standardized framework for analyzing strategic game play. To bridge this gap, this paper presents Tennis Algebraic Notation System (TANS), a novel tennis notation system inspired by traditional chess notations. Unlike existing notation methods, TANS makes it easy for automated data extraction and analysis of game strategy and winning patterns. Using charted data with the new notation system, we can carry out analysis of match statistics and winning strategy analysis of tennis doubles matches. By summarizing tennis matches in a concise and information-rich notation system, we believe that TANS represents an important step toward enabling future systematic analysis of tennis strategy and AI-based game simulation. {\textcopyright} The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2026.",

keywords = "Notation System, Strategy Analysis, Tennis Analytics",

author = "Yuexi Song and Chuanfei Li and Hao Cao and Ling Wu and Huanhuan Zheng and Zhenkai Liang",

year = "2026",

doi = "10.1007/978-3-032-06167-6\_19",

language = "English",

isbn = "9783032061669",

series = "Lecture Notes in Computer Science",

publisher = "Springer, Cham",

pages = "253--267",

editor = "Jin-song Dong and Jing Sun and Xiaofei Xie and Kan Jiang",

booktitle = "Sports Analytics - Second International Conference, ISACE 2025, Proceedings",

note = "2nd International Sports Analytics Conference and Exhibition (ISACE 2025) ; Conference date: 26-09-2025 Through 27-09-2025",

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Song, Y, Li, C, Cao, H, Wu, L, Zheng, H & Liang, Z 2026, TANS: A Chess-Inspired Notation System for Strategy Analysis of Tennis Games. in J Dong, J Sun, X Xie & K Jiang (eds), Sports Analytics - Second International Conference, ISACE 2025, Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 15925, Springer, Cham, pp. 253-267, 2nd International Sports Analytics Conference and Exhibition (ISACE 2025), Shanghai, China, 26/09/25. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-06167-6_19

TANS: A Chess-Inspired Notation System for Strategy Analysis of Tennis Games. / Song, Yuexi; Li, Chuanfei; Cao, Hao et al.
Sports Analytics - Second International Conference, ISACE 2025, Proceedings. ed. / Jin-song Dong; Jing Sun; Xiaofei Xie; Kan Jiang. Springer, Cham, 2026. p. 253-267 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; Vol. 15925).

Research output: Chapters, Conference Papers, Creative and Literary Works › RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication) › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - TANS

T2 - 2nd International Sports Analytics Conference and Exhibition (ISACE 2025)

AU - Song, Yuexi

AU - Li, Chuanfei

AU - Cao, Hao

AU - Wu, Ling

AU - Zheng, Huanhuan

AU - Liang, Zhenkai

PY - 2026

Y1 - 2026

N2 - Tennis is a challenging sport that requires a comprehensive set of skills, including physical abilities, technical proficiency, and mental resilience. More importantly, tennis is also a game of strategy, demanding players to constantly evaluate the situation, calculate the shot placement and tactics, and control the flow of match. Chess, another game of strategy, has long benefited from the standard notation system, which enables deep and systematic analysis of game strategy in chess and even AI integration. In contrast, tennis currently lacks a structured and standardized framework for analyzing strategic game play. To bridge this gap, this paper presents Tennis Algebraic Notation System (TANS), a novel tennis notation system inspired by traditional chess notations. Unlike existing notation methods, TANS makes it easy for automated data extraction and analysis of game strategy and winning patterns. Using charted data with the new notation system, we can carry out analysis of match statistics and winning strategy analysis of tennis doubles matches. By summarizing tennis matches in a concise and information-rich notation system, we believe that TANS represents an important step toward enabling future systematic analysis of tennis strategy and AI-based game simulation. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2026.

AB - Tennis is a challenging sport that requires a comprehensive set of skills, including physical abilities, technical proficiency, and mental resilience. More importantly, tennis is also a game of strategy, demanding players to constantly evaluate the situation, calculate the shot placement and tactics, and control the flow of match. Chess, another game of strategy, has long benefited from the standard notation system, which enables deep and systematic analysis of game strategy in chess and even AI integration. In contrast, tennis currently lacks a structured and standardized framework for analyzing strategic game play. To bridge this gap, this paper presents Tennis Algebraic Notation System (TANS), a novel tennis notation system inspired by traditional chess notations. Unlike existing notation methods, TANS makes it easy for automated data extraction and analysis of game strategy and winning patterns. Using charted data with the new notation system, we can carry out analysis of match statistics and winning strategy analysis of tennis doubles matches. By summarizing tennis matches in a concise and information-rich notation system, we believe that TANS represents an important step toward enabling future systematic analysis of tennis strategy and AI-based game simulation. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2026.

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KW - Strategy Analysis

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DO - 10.1007/978-3-032-06167-6_19

M3 - RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication)

SN - 9783032061669

T3 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science

SP - 253

EP - 267

BT - Sports Analytics - Second International Conference, ISACE 2025, Proceedings

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PB - Springer, Cham

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ER -

TANS: A Chess-Inspired Notation System for Strategy Analysis of Tennis Games

Abstract

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Research Keywords

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