How do you count winners and unforced errors

All I know is that I have this gift of only remembering my partners unforced errors and my winners.

Winner = opponent doesn't even touch the ball Forced error = opponent hits the ball but from a very difficult position to try and save it (his intent is simply to not let it die in his own court or save it half-assed in a desperate move). Unforced error = there was no reason to fail that ball, it posed no difficulty. The opponent fails due to bad technique and/or improper risk management (eg. tried to play a really tough angle on the cage etc.) Sometimes, there might be a blurred line between Forced vs unforced error (depends on the context of the Quality of players, e.g. see Premier vs your average game of low level players) - but there is always a hard line between a Winner and an Error.

It’s literally in the name ‘unforced’ error i.e a mistake. If a player would normally be expected to make a shot without any significant additional difficulty due to their opponent’s play (being at a big stretch for example) then not making the shot would be an unforced error. Edit- Your example would possibly count as a ‘forced error’. So neither a winner or unforced error. Points are won by either a winner, forced error or unforced error. A winner would usually mean a player is unable to make a play on a ball. Such as a drop shot that bounces twice, or your kick smash example.

Why and how are you counting?

According to my internal stats, I only hit winners. Everything else was just a “tactical experiment” gone wrong.

UE is a mistake by the player. They hit the ball but it hits an obstacle (such as the net or fence) or goes out of bounds. 

This is a really a important point that the way these are counted favours certain shot types. An amazing vibora or volley is very rarely counted as a winner: whereas a smash is basically always a winner. It's why I think the constant use of these stats is incredibly misleading. It's like only counting goals if they are scored by headers.

It you gift a winning smash from an easy ball, technically that isn’t an unforced error but ibasically it is in reality. These kind of mistakes aren’t counted but frustrate me, especially when the forced errors they generate (or unforced due to being surprised) look like mine!

>if i just play a slighty harder groundstroke and the opponent puts the ball in the net. Is my groundstroke really a winner? no, that's their error. a winner is an unreturned ball. a drop shot that bounces twice, a hit through the door, a x3, a x4, a smash that comes back over the net, etc. the last one to touch it has to be the winning team for it to be a winner. otherwise it's an error. unforced errors are just that, an error that wasn't forced by the opponent. if i smash and you try to block it at the glass or return it outside of the court and miss it's just a point. but if you try to lob me and hit it out against the glass, that's unforced. volley into your own net, that's unforced.

Generally at lower levels it’s clear cut. At higher levels it’s not so much, like if I play a topspin chiquita and opponent half volleys and it hits back glass, I’ll count that as my winner - ultimately the shot I played forced it to loop out on contact.

If I play an easy lob or a Chiquita and the opponent hits it to the net or out, thats unforced. If you lob it or Chiquita it and it goes out, thats unforced. If you hit a bajada, bandeja or vibora or any kind of attacking play and it goes out, thats unfoced. If you volley it down the middle, then hit the next one to the corner and force the player to hit it out of position or unbalanced, thats a winner. Also any trickshot that fools the opponent is a winner. Any good vibora is a winner