Interesting mail I got from the US a few days ago!
“Hi Framboise,
I’m a researcher who works in math and statistics, and also an avid squash player. Combining these two passions, I couldn’t resist writing a paper on home advantage in professional squash.
That is, if Ali Farag plays Paul Coll in Egypt, how much better are his chances of winning than if they play in, say, New York? I got interested in this question from watching the rapturous applause the home players get compared to foreigners on the PSA tour.
I did a statistical analysis and found that the effect is pretty large — an otherwise even match in a neutral location becomes a ~58% favorite to the home player.
The attached is an academic paper style writeup, but I plan to rewrite it for a more general audience.
Please let me know if you’re interested in chatting more about this, or about any other squash statistics ideas!
I hope all is well,
Philip Greengard”
So there it is! I hope he’ll send us more!
main