Indy posted

On the subject of the level of votes, I have detected an interesting correlation regarding the vote levels each month and how strong the male / female contenders have been, well during 2024 at least.

Not sure that anyone does get that obsessed with voting levels ( ) but anyway, to go in to more detail:

In 2024 we had 3 PoM votes of over 50 :

February - 53 : a very strong performance from that month's PoM winner - Katie B, WTA 500 San Diego winner.

May - 59 : strong performances from Emma ( & the BJK Cup Team ) away to France and from Mika in winning the Nottingham W35. Emma and Mika shared the PoM.

September - 58 : strong performances from Sonay, WTA 250 Monastir winner and Mika, US Open Girls winner. They shared the PoM.

Over these 3 month we had some of the strongest women's performances of the year, with the men not really.contending, and the vote certainly came out.

Contrast this with the 2 lowest vote months of 2024 :

July - 35 : Henry was the clear PoM winner from Jake, with none of the 5 female nominees getting more than 5.7% of the vote so absolutely no serious female contender.

August - 33 : Jake and Jan C shared the PoM, a fair bit ahead of Mimi and then Sonay. Definitely a stronger women's line-up than in July but nothing like the big women's performance months when the vote has really come out.

So what to make of all that? There certainly appears to be some correlation between there being strong female contenders and high votes. There will undoubtedly be other factors, some pretty random and at times far from clear, but there you are ...

Now in this latest January 2025 PoM vote, we had a possibly unprecedented just 2 female nominees, neither a real contender. Maybe we were lucky to get as many as 37 votes in the end?!

It is all pretty curious. Clearly there will be folk that more follow the women players and others that more follow the men players and apparently (?) perhaps some folk that while voting in months with strong female contenders, don't vote at all in other months.
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I don't say that any such inclination, if true, is right or wrong, m'lawd, I just present a few facts.

Thank you for your kind attention.

Looking at the months of year averages

Jan 38.6
Feb 40
Mar 37.25
Apr 40.5
May 32.25
Jun 36.5
Jul 33.2
Aug 31.8
Sep 36
Oct 35.8
Nov 42.3
Dec 32.75

I always felt there was a summer dip with some folks being on holiday, December might replicate that as well and May is heart of clay season.

Whereas Jan to April and maybe after summer Sep-Nov are when people are a) fresh into the season and have some hope b) not away from work or school on holiday

But I am not sure that is conclusive and this January vote was below the January average so maybe doesnt align with that. November is consistently high although not always the highest, and suggests other factors are at play!

Here is the vote profile when a male or female has won (or two or more tied, not including when a man and woman tied)

Prior to 2024, when a woman won the vote, there was a very small average of voters, but it as small. In 2023, it was just under 2 votes per poll; but in 2024 it was a whopping 6 votes per poll or 15% higher
Men Women
2020 26 26.2 0.77%
2021 29.67 30.4 2.46%
2022 36.5 36.43 -0.19%
2023 39 40.67 4.28%
2024 40.6 46.6 14.78%

That tallies with my view of the board, we have had an increase in people following the women more than men, I would say - some of that has aligned with a few men following members like Bob becoming less frequently here - and that has felt ever more prevalent this past year. And maybe the 2024 figures aligned ie when a woman wins the vote or stands out, more people have their say and support the women through voting, and they vote less when the women have done less well.

It strikes me as something that does tally for 2024 at least, if less so in years before that?

I learnt this month that people do think about their votes, think a little about who is or isnt qualified for PoS and how their vote impacts that, and also think about second place as a consequence. Or some people do.

Which surprised me but in a good way!

Ill delay putting the March nominations thread up until February play off vote has completed.

I realise I said I wouldnt fixate on voting numbers this year, and I won't. But the first two months have seen a dramatic drop off

Jan with 46 and Feb with 53, saw 99 votes across the first two months of 2024

In 2025 we had 37 in Jan and 40 in Feb, a total of 77.

That is a 22-23% drop from last year.

I think the lack of new members plays a big part; it may also be down to the women players not doing amazing things so far this year, not sure if Indy has a view on that after his raising it last month?

I wonder also if people have become a little bored with this PoM process? Not much I can do about it other than carry on and hope British results reinvigorate it. The alternative is to stop it and that wouldnt make any real sense in the long run. I could change the format, but chose to make it shorter and sacrifice a few votes as a result, so am happy with that situation.

But any thoughts welcomed

indiana wrote:

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Well, point #1, I certainly don't see the drops in voting numbers that you have described as any sort of good reason to stop doing the votes. It indeed wouldn't make any real sense.

If you wanted to stop for any other reason, such as how much they eat into your time, probably fair dos but I just don't see the votes as a reason.

Voting numbers as they have been in your small recent sample or even if it continued and / or they went a bit lower these I am sure would remain great contests, appreciated and enjoyed by these who participate in them. So much so that I would certainly hope that someone else would take them on ( I probably would if no-one else did and I had the time )

I will give a thought to possible reasons for the drops, as it very clearly is a ( too ) biggie for you and it would be good to keep high numbers but I needed to make that point #1 first and separately.

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 Oh, dont worry, I am not thinking about giving in!! They will continue and I will continue with them! 

I probably wasnt clear, my main musing was a) is there a reason for the fall (eg women players not doing so well at the top this past few months; no new joiners to the board) and is there anything we can do to combat that b) are people a little tired of it (I see the viewing numbers falling as well as voting numbers) and does that require any other changes to be made - probably not mid season however, but always one to think about. 

That said, back end of last year went well generally and PoS vote was successful with votes in the 50's; so maybe it is as simple as the tennis this season hasnt inspired people yet and they arent as engaged with the tennis, generally, which reflects in people visiting the board and engaging with things like PoM. 

As for time - right now, I have more than ever!! As mentioned elsewhere, I am leaving my current employer - I am leaving end of next week with payment in lieu of notice and then have some time to find my next role, but in terms of doing this I will be a lot more free, at least in the short to medium term.