Duel Match Stats/Reports - Federer vs Roddick, Canadian Open final & semi-final, 2004 & 2003

[Waspsting]

Roger Federer beat Andy Roddick 7-5, 6-3 in the Canadian Open final, 2004 on hard court in Toronto

Federer was ranked #1, Roddick #2. It was Federer's first title at the event while Roddick had been the defending champion. The two had recently played the Wimbledon final, with Federer winning

Federer won 75 points, Roddick 62

Serve Stats
Federer...
- 1st serve percentage (38/65) 58%
- 1st serve points won (28/38) 74%
- 2nd serve points won (19/27) 70%
- Aces 14 (1 second serve)
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (24/65) 37%

Roddick...
- 1st serve percentage (48/72) 67%
- 1st serve points won (32/48) 67%
- 2nd serve points won (12/24) 50%
- Aces 4
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (15/72) 21%

Serve Pattern
Federer served...
- to FH 44%
- to BH 56%

Roddick served...
- to FH 39%
- to BH 59%
- to Body 3%

Return Stats
Federer made...
- 55 (19 FH, 36 BH), including 1 drop-return
- 11 Errors, comprising...
- 2 Unforced (2 BH)
- 9 Forced (5 FH, 4 BH)
- Return Rate (55/70) 79%

Roddick made...
- 40 (15 FH, 25 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 2 Winners (1 FH, 1 BH)
- 10 Errors, comprising...
- 4 Unforced (4 FH)
- 6 Forced (5 FH, 1 BH)
- Return Rate (40/64) 63%

Break Points
Federer 2/9 (4 games)
Roddick 0/4 (2 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Federer 18 (6 FH, 6 BH, 5 FHV, 1 BHV)
Roddick 17 (4 FH, 3 BH, 3 FHV, 4 BHV, 1 BH1/2V, 2 OH)

Federer's FHs - 2 cc passes, 2 dtl, 1 dtl/inside-out and 1 longline
- BHs - 2 cc passes, 1 dtl, 1 inside-out/dtl pass, 1 longline and 1 net chord dribbler

- 1 from a serve-volley point, a first volley FHV

Roddick's FHs - 2 cc (1 return), 1 dtl at net and 1 inside-in
- BHs - 1 cc pass and 2 dtl (1 return pass)

- 1 BHV hits an at net Federer, 1 FHV can reasonably be called an OH and 1 OH was on the bounce

Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Federer 29
- 15 Unforced (7 FH, 7 BH, 1 FHV)
- 14 Forced (7 FH, 4 BH, 1 BHV, 2 OH)... both OHs were strongly forced errors on the bounce well behind the baseline against Roddick smashes
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.3

Roddick 31
- 28 Unforced (18 FH, 6 BH, 1 FHV, 2 BHV, 1 OH)
- 3 Forced (2 FH, 1 FHV)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.9

(Note 1: all half-volleys refer to such shots played at net. Half -volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke counts)

(Note 2: The 'Unforced Error Forcefulness Index is a measure of how aggressive of intent the average UE made was. 60 is maximum, 20 is minimum. This match has been scored using a four point scale - 2 defensive, 4 neutral, 5 attacking, 6 winner attempt)

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Federer was...
- 9/14 (64%) at net, including...
- 2/5 (40%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves

Roddick was...
- 18/29 (62%) at net, including...
- 0/1 serve-volleying, a 2nd serve
---
- 1/1 retreated

Match Report
Good match with Roddick leading action and Federer reacting on a tilted to slow side of normal hard court. Federer's defence, movement, defence and choice spot serving stand out for quality. Though playing well and smartly, Roddick can't find a way through his wall-like opponent

Good showings from both players
- Winners - Fed 18, Rod 17
- Errors forced - Fed 3, Rod14
- UEs - Fed 15, Rod 28

... leaves Fed +6 and Roddick +3 on points ended aggressively. Fed's even +3 on just winners/UE differential, which is particularly impressive since large 37% unreturned rate reduces favourable chances to hit winners

Total errors are very close, but very different of nature due to differences in playing style and the roles each play (Rod leading, Fed counter-punching)
- Errors - Fed 29, Roddick 31...
- UEs - Fed 15, Roddick 28
- FEs - Fed 14, Rod 3

Early on, Rod looks to breakdown Fed's BH with backaway FH inside-outs. The strength of the FHs vary from attacking to neutral, closer to neutral side. Fed's able to handle it with his BH cc, though Rod has slight hitting advantage. Sooner or later, Fed neutrally redirects BH longline to put ball on Rod's FH. And then the two trade FH cc's

Fed clearly has both hitting and consistency advantage on the FH side. Rod's FH has by far match high 18 UEs (the other 3 groundies on show have 7, 7 and 6), he hits deeper and can whip the edgily attacking wide FH cc from regulation position. Not a good outlook for Rod. He switches to net play and coming in from his bigger or wider groundstrokes to attack

At net, Rod's 18/29 at 62% to Fed's 9/14 at 64%. Just from rallies, Rod's 18/28 to Fed's 7/11. He's far the more net hungry player, proactively looking to come in. He doesn't volley particularly well - there are 4 UEs in short time and they're easy, putaway balls. Just the act of being at net and forcing Fed to make the pass wins him points. Success is due to hefty approach shots, not good volleying

The passing errors he draws is largely behind the large lot of Fed FEs. Otherwise, he ball-bashes from the back (hits hard but not too wide) which is pressuring and likely to gain errors sooner rather than later. Fed is excellent in coping, running balls down and putting them back in play seemingly without strain

Breakdown of UEs -
- Neutral errors - Fed 11, Rod 10
- Attacking - Fed 0, Rod 11
- Winner attempts - Fed 4, Rod 7

Neutral errors being even is usually sign of who's better at just keeping ball in play, and if gap is wide, its wise of player coming off second best to actively attack. Though the numbers are equal, Fed has advantage in this area. More of his UEs are reactive shots drawn by Rod's ball-bashing (i.e. tilted towards defensive) while more of Rod's are just missing routine balls

0 attacking UEs from Fed speaks to him not attacking much, further brought home by forcing just 3 errors. While he moves with characteristic easy grace that one doesn't usually associate with scrappy defending, he is the one doing the running and chasing. And doing it very well. Rod isn't called on to. 3-4 approach errors from Rod too. Forcing 14 errors while making 11 attacking UEs isn't a good outcome from Rod's point of view... good job by Fed on defence

In all, a smart, proactive match from Roddick. Trying to breakdown Fed's BH is a good starting point and to have done so with his own BH doesn't sound a good idea - the pressuring FH inside-outting he leads with is worth a shot. When it doesn't work, he switches to attacking in other ways (ball bashing and coming to net). It might be a bit premature - Fed hadn't established any obvious baseline superiority, neutrally or offensively - which speaks to taking the attacking role being a proactive move (or one based on prior experience) rather than a desperate one. He's not great in executing the attacks, but I'd more credit Fed's defence than discredit Rod's offence for that

Unusually, Fed has equal FH and BH winners. Their breakdown is coincidentally very similar
- FH - 2 cc passes, 2 dtl, 1 dtl/inside-out, 1 longline
- BH 2 cc passes, 1 dtl, 1 dtl/inside-out pass, 1 longline... (and 1 net chord dribbler)

... and UEs are an identical 7 off each side. A balanced, and steady match from Fed. With the BH copping brunt of Rod's ball-bashing and attacking, probably even a BH > FH showing

And behind it all is serve-return complex. Roddick has 4 break points across 2 games, including being up 0-40. 4/4 are aced away. 14 aces total, unreturned rate of 37%. Good solid serving, with something beyond that in the locker when needed from Fed. Rod's movement to return slightly wide balls isn't particularly good and he's got 4 UEs

Fed's reading of the serve and movement in return by contrast is exemplary. He's never caught out by direction and keeps Rod down to 21% unreturned rate. Just 2 UEs. 16% lead in unreturned rate is liable to be decisive in the match, even if Rod had got better of court action. Which he doesn't - Fed's +3 in play (i.e. when return is made)

Fed leading 2nd serve points won 70% to 50% is another indicator of his superiority, though that gap is deceptively wide.

Match Progression
Fed has 2 break points in game 4, both erased by strong plays springing from a big first serve. With Fed's BH holding up, Rod turns to coming to net to be offensive. An against run of play display of sloppiness sees Fed fall 0-40 down in game 9. He responds with 3 aces in a row, and holds after a pair of attacking errors from Rod

Fed breaks to end the set in a 12 point game. Rod's faltering FH, which has 5 UEs in the game, including on set point, is main reason. To bring up the decisive break point, very nice, wrong footing BH dtl pass by Fed against Rod's powerful FH dtl approach shot that gets a FHV error

4 aces, including down break point, decorate opening game of 2nd set by Fed. Roddick's at net regularly in the set on his own service games. He hits Federer with a BHV when the two players are net to net. The other standout shot is Rod with a wide BH1/2V winner down break point in game 8. There's another break point to follow and he comes in behind a not good approach shot to a short ball he'd drawn and Fed's up to making a comfortable FH cc pass winner. Earlier in the game, he'd hit a stunning BH cc one

Match point is one of Roddick FH inside-out vs Fed BH cc rallies that had been common at start of match. Fed ends it with a BH longline winner

Summing up, good solid showing from Federer. Serve is highly effective and he cranks it up when he needs to, the returning is coolly efficient and in play, he counter-punches as against a hard hitting Roddick display. Smart match from Roddick, who goes through his attacking options, settling on coming to net after Fed's BH proves steady. His attack isn't particularly well executed but more credit to Federer's defence than anything too off about Roddick's game for how it plays out

 

[JoelSandwich]

Underrated match from fed

 

[Waspsting]

In 2003, Roddick beat Federer 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(3) in the semi-final in Montreal

Roddick would go onto win the event beating David Nalbandian in the final. He'd follow up with titles in Cincinnati and the US Open. Federer had recently won Wimbledon, beating Roddick in the process. This was Roddick's 1st win over Federer after having lost the first 4 matches. He'd go onto lose the next 11

Roddick won 94 points, Federer 91

Serve Stats
Roddick...
- 1st serve percentage (41/85) 48%
- 1st serve points won (32/41) 78%
- 2nd serve points won (28/44) 64%
- Aces 9
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (32/85) 38%

Federer...
- 1st serve percentage (56/100) 56%
- 1st serve points won (47/56) 84%
- 2nd serve points won (19/44) 43%
- Aces 9, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 10
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (27/100) 27%

Serve Pattern
Roddick served...
- to FH 28%
- to BH 70%
- to Body 2%

Federer served...
- to FH 42%
- to BH 58%

Return Stats
Roddick made...
- 63 (30 FH, 33 BH), including 6 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 17 Errors, comprising...
- 9 Unforced (6 FH, 3 BH)
- 8 Forced (4 FH, 4 BH)
- Return Rate (63/90) 70%

Federer made...
- 51 (10 FH, 41 BH), including 1 return-approach
- 23 Errors, comprising...
- 15 Unforced (4 FH, 11 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 8 Forced (4 FH, 4 BH)
- Return Rate (51/83) 61%

Break Points
Roddick 2/9 (5 games)
Federer 2/2

Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Roddick 22 (8 FH, 4 BH, 7 FHV, 3 BHV)
Federer 26 (11 FH, 7 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV, 5 OH)

Roddick's FHs - 2 cc passes, 1 dtl/inside-out at net, 2 inside-out, 1 inside-in, 1 running-down-drop-shot dtl pass at net and 1 net chord dribbler
- BHs - 1 cc pass, 2 inside-out (1 slice, 1 return pass that Federer left) and 1 longline pass at net

- 2 from serve-volley points (2 FHV), both first volleys

Federer's FHs - 2 cc, 4 dtl (1 pass, 1 at net), 3 inside-out, 1 inside-in and 1 longline pass
- BHs (all passes) - 1 cc, 4 dtl (1 at net), 1 dtl/inside-out slice and 1 longline

- 4 from serve-volley points
- 1 first volley (1 BHV)
- 2 second volleys (2 OH)
- 1 third volley (1 OH)

- 1 other OH was on the bounce

Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Roddick 36
- 19 Unforced (14 FH, 5 BH)
- 17 Forced (5 FH, 9 BH, 1 FHV, 2 BHV)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.3

Federer 30
- 21 Unforced (9 FH, 11 BH, 1 FHV)
- 9 Forced (2 FH, 6 BH, 1 FHV)... with 1 BH running-down-drop-shot (not at net)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.2

(Note 1: all half-volleys refer to such shots played at net. Half -volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke counts)

(Note 2: The 'Unforced Error Forcefulness Index is a measure of how aggressive of intent the average UE made was. 60 is maximum, 20 is minimum. This match has been scored using a four point scale - 2 defensive, 4 neutral, 5 attacking, 6 winner attempt)

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Roddick was...
- 17/28 (61%) at net, including...
- 4/5 (80%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 2/2 off 1st serve and...
- 2/3 (67%) off 2nd serve

Federer was...
- 23/32 (72%) at net, including...
- 10/16 (63%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 9/14 (64%) off 1st serve and...
- 1/2 off 2nd serve
---
- 0/1 return-approaching

Match Report
High quality, lively and fun action filled match with a caveat; the serving and returning are off and odd to varying degrees by both players on a slowish court. Less so for Roddick who utilizes his advantage on combination of the first two shots to victory

Any number of surprising and/or interesting stats coming out of serve and return

- Roddick in particular with low in count of 48%. Fed's 56% is on low side for him too
- Rod leading 2nd serve points won 64% to Fed's low 43% (both players dominate their first serve points) to compensate
- Federer with 10 double faults(!) - 1 more than his aces
- Rod leading unreturned serves 38% to 27%
- Most of all, the breakdown of return errors

9/17 or 53% of Rod's and 15/23 or 65% of Fed's return errors have been marked UEs. How do you even get 24 serves from Andy Roddick and Roger Federer with potential to be marked UEs?
Rod misses 5 second serve returns, Fed misses 11 (1 of them marked FE, due to serve-volleying)

What exactly is going on with all of that?

For starters, a slow-ish, high bouncing court. Then, neither player serves particularly powerfully. Rod does so deliberately, and takes to kicking fair few first serves and sending down a good number well below his meatiest, which becomes apparent when he does blast one down

It turns out to be a good move. The kickers reach Fed around the shoulders up on his BH, and he struggles to return them. The odd full blast one catches him out. And he misses the odd regulation return too. Good job by Rod, but its odd that he's just managed 48% first serves in seeing how much he's taken off his usual thunderbolt

Fed serves not strongly too. His motion is casual looking... because it is casual. No throwing the body behind the serve and good lot of in swing zone stuff. I'd estimate about 1/3 first serves qualify as unforceful - and some of those are only forceful due to serve-volleying behind it

56% first serves in isn't particularly good, but decent enough. The huge 10 double faults is very strange. He's not going for much on the second serve. Its a good second serve - not easy to attack but not a weapon - and nothing justifying 10 doubles

Roddick falls well behind baseline to return a few passively, but still misses

Just a strange combination of cards leading to unusual outcomes. Lots of discredit to go around - Rod for the low-in count, Fed for the average serving and most of all, Fed for all the doubles. On return side of things - both players for returning consistency. Fed misses a lot more but that's largely due to technical weakness on the high BH return, Rod just misses regulation returns

Gist of it is Rod comes out of it with 38% unreturned serves, Fed 27% - big advantage Rod. And then they rally

 

[Waspsting]

Winners - Rod 22, Fed 26
UEs - Rod 19, Fed 21
Errors Forced - Rod 9, Fed 17

... reflect excellent showings from both players.

Both with more winners than UEs - Rod +3, Fed +5
Throwin errors forced with winners - Rod +12, Fed +22

Fed of course needs that advantage to off set his handicap in serve-return complex

Rod usually leads baseline rallies with big cut FHs. His first line of attack is to back away and hammer FH inside-outs to look to beat down Fed's BH, but he's got enough power on the shot to hit clean winners and force errors too. Meanwhile, his BH is most solid shot on show with 5 UEs (rest are Fed FH 9, Fed BH 11, Rod FH 14)

Fed's BH is beat-down, outlasted and a bit loose. On flip side, its top notch on the pass

Next, Rod actively looks to come to net and manufactures approaches from neutral positions more than comes in off big groundies. Rallying to net, he wins 13/23 or 57%. Fed's far less net hungry and comes in 15 times but wins virtually all of them (13 to be exact, or 87%)

Its not good volleying by Rod by any means. His volleys are something in between drop volleys and regular volleys - nothing volleys in middle of court much of the time but still, I'd more credit Fed on the pass than discredit Rod on the volley. Rod leaves volleys where Fed can line them up - and Fed rarely falters in dispatching the ball. Would favour net playre to win larger lot of points than Rod does from those postions - credit Fed on the pass, some discredit Rod on the volley too

Plenty of Fed whizzing to ball and hitting stunning passes for winners too.

0 volleying UEs by Rod reflects good job. He might not be whisking volleys away, but he's not missing them either - and that's usually good enough to win more than the 61% net points he wins. Well worth serve-volleying more than the small 5 times he does, given Fed's difficulty returning but even there, Rod hasn't missed the trick fully. 3/5 of his serve-volleys are behind second serves, almost all of which are kicked up high

9 passing winners and forcing 3 volleying errors by Fed to Rod's 10 volley/OH winners (and Fed with low 7 grounds FEs, about half of which are passes) is good battle - better from Fed's point of view than Rod's

Fed primarily attacks via serve-volleying, which does 16 times. Some very good returning against it by Rod and Fed has to be sharp on the first volley against power returns. And is - handles the hard hit, slightly under net or/and slightly wide volleys with the grace of an all-out serve-volleyer

Off the ground, he's more often the reactive player. FH-FH rallies are close enough to even, while Rod has better of attacking Fed's BH as outlined earlier and as UE counts suggest. Fed's FH with 11 winner, 9 UEs is statistically the outstanding shot. Most of the winners are set up by the serve. Its actually Rod's big cut FHs that's the power engine of action. Fed's ability to defend against it is very good

Plenty of great shots - particularly from Fed - but 3 stand out. The most memorable is also wholly unnecessary - Rod hitting a between the legs shot at net to ball that'd popped up from net chord. Could easily have hit a normal shot instead, but does go onto win the point with FHV next shot. A racing, BH inside-out/dtl slice pass winner from Fed from well inside court - its the court covereage that's most impressive, the shot is a fancy one, but more orthodox one would have done. The pick of 'em is by Roddick, who hits a BH inside-out'ish slice for a winner from a normal position where you'd expect him to just play cc drive. Among 'generic' brilliance, good lot of flick half-volley off the baseline from - normal enough, for him

Match Progression
In a sign of things to come, Rod misses his first 3 first serves of the match - and Federer misses all 3 returns. Rod breaks next game to go up 2-1, with his FH inside-out doing damage (1 winner, drawing a UE and forcing an error) after Fed had opened with a double fault

Rod looking for FH i/o, moving around, hammering the ball - both to go for winners and break down Fed's BH (and Rod's BH is pretty solid)

Both players utilize net play in the second set - Fed more by serve-volleying, Rod by approaching from rallies. Rod gets broken from 40-0 up via strong Fed passing. No trouble for Fed to serve to keep holding serve to finish. He's playing with fluent ease

The 2 players combine to miss 14 first serves in succession starting end of second set and going into 3rd set. Rod is broken with Fed punishing weak volleys to start the third

Holding onto the break proves difficult for Fed, who has to save 4 break points across 2 games. He's not so lucky the third time. Opening with a double fault, following up by missing a putaway volley (he otherwise volleys close to perfectly in match) and later, leaving a poked back return that lands on the line sees him go down break point again. This time, he can't save it. A semi mis-hit return by Rod travels slowly, lands deep and climbs up high as Fed falls back to deal, but can't keep it in court

In tiebreak, loses both his first 2 service points - a double fault and a there for it FH inside-out third ball winner attempt. Superb running-down-drop-shot at net FH dtl winner by Rod makes it 5-1 in his favor

Match point is like an action replay of the break point Rod converted earlier in the set - mishit, looped return that lands deep and a falling back Fed unable to handle it rising up high

Summing up, Federer making a meal of regulation, high BH returns and double faulting handicaps him considerably but court action is fluent, lively and exciting with both players in fine form.
More often than not, Roddick leads play with hammering FHs, is very steady off the BH and regularly comes to net to finish. His volleying almost as indecisive as it is consistent and Federer, who passes superbly even on the run, has a relatively simple time of dispatching passes against balls lined up for him. Federer takes to serve-volleying and flashing FHs set up by his serve to do plenty of damage and is superb in the forecourt. From neutral positions, he usually falls back to reacting to Roddick's lead

Little in the result - great action and showing from both players and Roddick's advantage in serve-return complex putting him half a head up

 

[AnOctorokForDinner]

I believe Fred was set to become World No.1 for the first time had he beaten Andick. That easily explains the extent of choking that gave Roddick his first (and for a long time only) win over Federer. Decent play but Rawg had to mug up a lot to lose.

 

[mike danny]

Yeah, I watched the Fedrick Toronto 2004 F and I never got the impression that Roddick played poorly. I thought ge played well, but Fed was too good when it mattered.

 

[The Big Foe fan]

I believe Fred was set to become World No.1 for the first time had he beaten Andick. That easily explains the extent of choking that gave Roddick his first (and for a long time only) win over Federer. Decent play but Rawg had to mug up a lot to lose.

Just insane to think how many ye#1 both of fedovic lost due to one or two matches here and there, also due to lack of clutch

 

[Waspsting]

I believe Fred was set to become World No.1 for the first time had he beaten Andick.

According to commentary, Fed would have risen to top of year end race, but not the ranking with a win here (not sure if just this match or the tournament)

Agassi still had good chunk of points from previous year - US Open runner-up, Madrid title among them