Over the weekend, the New York Times published an article that covered the fines handed out to tennis players at Grand Slam tournaments over the last 20 years, noting that women are penalized more than women, and it did not go unnoticed by Serena Williams' husband, Alexis Ohanian.
He put out a Twitter thread mocking the article:
As any college statistics student or NBA Twitter fanatic will tell you, totals are pretty useless in comparison to averages. Ohanian, who knows a thing or two about data, gives the perfect example why:
E.g. If men were punished 344 times out of 3440 audible obscenities (10% enforcement), but women were punished 140 times out of 700 audible obscenities (20% enforcement) - that would mean women are penalized 2x more often than men for the same violation.
- Alexis Ohanian Sr.
(@alexisohanian) September 16, 2018
The co-founder of Reddit knows how to troll, too:
Cc @ christophclarey - happy to help fund an independent research team to run the actual analysis! Statistics can be illuminating when you know what you're looking for.
- Alexis Ohanian Sr.
(@alexisohanian) September 16, 2018
aND instead of just whining about it, Ohanian put his money where his mockery was:
FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver also confirmed what Alex was pointing out about how useless the numbers cited in the article were:
The study doesn't show that. It shows that male players are fined more, but that could be because they misbehave more. (Indeed, from watching a fair bit of tennis, the men do misbehave more). This data doesn't tell us anything about whether they're punished at greater rates. https://t.co/vJYoKNMzYQ
- Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) September 15, 2018
Read my mind, Nate! I'd love to know @NYtimes editorial process on statistical analysis. This article is going to become a case study in flawed analysis in highschool stats classes. https://t.co/H25WrEwaVe
- Alexis Ohanian Sr.
(@alexisohanian) September 16, 2018
No doubt, we'll be using this U.S. Open final as a stand-in for other cultural disagreements long after Serena has played her last one.
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A wife and mom of Buddy (our 8-year old yellow lab), and life-long tennis enthusiast who started playing 6 years ago. I honestly can't think of anywhere I'd rather be than on a tennis court.