Stats for 1979 RG final (Borg-Pecci)

[krosero]

I should have watched this match earlier because it's a gem. It's a real pleasure watching an attacking player (Pecci) on red clay, going "against the grain", so to speak. Plus with Borg's defense, it made for a lot of winners all around. This was very different from the moonball tennis that is associated with 1970s and 80s French Open.

Borg d. Pecci 6-3, 6-1, 6-7 (6), 6-4

Pecci was 6 feet 4 inches tall. He came in behind his serve a few times, but mostly worked his way in when he saw an opportunity.

He lost the first set to Borg 6-3 and yet out-hit him in winners, 13 to 9 (apart from service). In the third set he did it again, 15 to 10.

Borg was up a break and 5-2 in the third. He served for the match at 5-3 and was broken after 12 consecutive holds. Pecci pinned Borg to love-40 immediately with three straight winners at net and got a tremendous ovation when he broke. He won the tiebreak largely because Borg succumbed to pressure and put two passes out as Pecci came in.

Per the ATP site (which has been wrong before), that was the first set that Pecci ever took off Borg. There are 7 matches listed, all on clay, with Borg leading 6-1. This match is listed as their fifth meeting; each of the previous meetings had gone in two straight sets.

Both men were 23 years old.

The match lasted 39 games, but my copy is missing the equivalent of about 4 games.

[Edit: the stats below are incomplete. Complete stats are here: http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showt...1#post5826041]

I have Borg at 40 winners, no aces, 2 service winners, 9 other unreturned serves, and no doubles.

Pecci is at 37 winners (including 30 at net), 5 aces, 2 service winners, 14 other unreturned serves, and three doubles.

Starting at 4-2 in the third set, Borg made 35 consecutive first serves by my count; his next service game is missing on the DVD; then in his last game he made 5 of 5 first serves.

Each man served points in the second and fourth set that are missing on my copy. But in the first set I have Borg serving at 88%, making 21 of 24 first serves; Pecci served at 48%, making 13 of 27.

In the third set, Borg served at 90%, making 35 of 39 first serves; Pecci served at 53%, making 21 of 40.

Borg won 136 of the 236 points that were either on my copy or described in the New York Times.

Borg was broken twice, Pecci 7 times – not including two back-to-back games in the fourth set about which I know nothing.

In its headline, the Times wrote that Borg had "27 clean passing shots." I actually counted 35 passes (18 from the backhand) -- and again, I don't have the whole match.

I have the equivalent of about 35 games, which gives Borg an exact average of 1 pass per game.

That’s well above any rate that I know of. The next-best, AFAIK, is Lendl’s rate when he lost to Wilander in five sets at the 1988 U.S. Open. Wilander came in 131 times and Lendl had about as many clean passing shots as Borg did -- but it took Lendl 51 games to do it.

[Moose Malloy]

I haven't seen this, but did see the Pecci-Connors SF, good stuff. Pecci beat a lot of seeds that event.

any chance you are making a youtube clip of this one? too many rely on just on Borg-Vilas or Borg-Lendl clips to judge what that era on clay was like.

was just watching a Panatta-Lendl DC match, great all court stuff on clay.

how is the picture quality? is this match from Rick?

Borg was up a break and 5-2 in the third. He served for the match at 5-3 and was broken after 12 consecutive holds.

Very interesting, didn't know this. Final scores don't tell much, sometimes. Do you think Borg choked? he didn't miss a 1st serve that game, right?

I have the equivalent of about 35 games, which gives Borg an exact average of 1 pass per game.

That’s well above any rate that I know of. The next-best, AFAIK, is Lendl’s rate when he lost to Wilander in five sets at the 1988 U.S. Open. Wilander came in 131 times and Lendl had about as many clean passing shots as Borg did -- but it took Lendl 51 games to do it.

did you do that Agassi-Eltingh match you mentioned a while back? I wonder what his rate was in that one.

Or Agassi vs Edberg at '95 USO, I recall that was quite a thrashing.

[krosero]

Yes, Pecci also beat Vilas and Solomon that year, both in straights. Haven't seen the 4-set semi with Connors.

I haven't put up matches for a while on YouTube though I still hope to get back to it. This one (from Rick) is a good candidate, so we'll see. I'm down to a short list of matches for which I want to take stats before I compile the list of all our data.

I think the pressure of Pecci's net-rushing, and perhaps the occasion, got to Borg more in the tiebreak than in the 5-3 game, though as always it's difficult to see what's going on with him. In the 5-3 game he got all his first serves in, but Pecci just hit three straight volley winners at the net; Borg won the next point but couldn't get out of the hole. The crowd was very much behind Pecci and he just looked inspired to me; quite entertaining.

The Agassi-Eltingh match was barely covered by NBC (only 9 games). They gave him 52 winners and 12 ue.

In some newspapers I found that he “had 40 backcourt winners, 20 off the forehand and 20 off the backhand and hit 21 passing shots and 13 return winners.”

I thought that this meant 21 passing shots, INCLUDING whatever number of passes were among the 13 return winners. In Agassi's match with Becker, for instance, NBC gave a midmatch statistic on his passing shots, and it included his return passes. They didn't explicitly say they were including returns, but my own count of the passes lines up with theirs if I count returns.

However you got me thinking about this, so I went back to my copy of the Eltingh match. Eltingh is following all his serves to net. So if Agassi had 13 return winners, that's probably 13 passes right there. If his total passes were 21, that leaves him with only 8 other passes that were not returns. But in the few games covered by NBC, there are already 10 passes that are not returns.

At 4-1 in the first set, NBC put Agassi at 13 winners overall -- including 11 passes. That looks like they're including returns, just as they did later in the Becker match. Perhaps, then, NBC's way of counting passes was different from what I found in those newspapers.

I can't confirm it without watching the whole match, but it looks like the 13 returns are IN ADDITION TO the 21 passes. And if Eltingh came in behind all his serves, that's 34 passes, over the course of 27 games. An average of 1.26 per game, a good deal higher than Borg's average against Pecci.

I've gone back and organized all my notes on passes. I used to not include returns and lobs when I counted them. I had no reason, I just thought that a passing shot was a shot hit during a rally, ie, something different from a return.

And I had no reason to think anyone else used a different definition. But examining stats I've found that there's constant debate about how to define terms.

Okay, in my notes there are a few men whose rate would go up if you include returns (and lobs). Pernfors against Cash would go up to a rate of about .85. In my notes I didn't mark down Pernfors' return winners as passes, but Cash is another guy who came in on all his serves. Borg against Tanner (79W) would go up to .83 if you include all his service return winners (Tanner also was following all his serve in; I know for sure he did that on every serve in the fifth set).

Then there's Agassi against Rafter, 1995 AO. Between ordinary passes, lobs, and returns, Agassi had 21 passes over 25 games, putting him at .84.

So all three of those guys are up there in the mid .80s, slightly ahead of Lendl, who did not face that much serve-and-volley from Wilander (though he did face 131 net rushes).

That might be a fun thing, just to see in the future if we come across a match with a higher rate of passes than Borg's 1.0, or close to Agassi's rate against Eltingh. Too bad we can't be sure what Andre's rate was, exactly.

I don't own that Edberg match from '95, but that one might be right up there.

What do you think when you hear "passing shot"? How do you define it? Including returns and/or lobs?

[garcia_doomer]

Thank you krosero for the data

[Moose Malloy]

What do you think when you hear "passing shot"? How do you define it? Including returns and/or lobs?

I would include returns(if someone is coming into net) & lobs.

I can't confirm it without watching the whole match, but it looks like the 13 returns are IN ADDITION TO the 21 passes.

Yeah, I would think so as well. Agassi helped kill S&V.

[Moose Malloy]

Starting at 4-2 in the third set, Borg made 35 consecutive first serves by my count; his next service game is missing on the DVD; then in his last game he made 5 of 5 first serves.

Each man served points in the second and fourth set that are missing on my copy. But in the first set I have Borg serving at 88%, making 21 of 24 first serves; Pecci served at 48%, making 13 of 27.

In the third set, Borg served at 90%, making 35 of 39 first serves; Pecci served at 53%, making 21 of 40.

Borg won 136 of the 236 points that were either on my copy or described in the New York Times.

do you know (approximately since you are missing pts) what Borg's serve % for the match was?

[krosero]

Originally Posted by Moose Malloy

do you know (approximately since you are missing pts) what Borg's serve % for the match was?

Apart from his two service games that I'm missing, I have him making 90 of 98 first serves, or 92%.

[krosero]

Found this article, with some stats.

The Washington Post
June 11, 1979, Monday, Final Edition

Borg Rolls to Fourth French Title;
Crowd Favorite Bows in Paris;
Pecci Rally Thwarted in 4th Set

BYLINE:
By Barry Lorge, Washington Post Staff Writer

SECTION:
Sports; D1

LENGTH: 1321 words

DATELINE:
PARIS, June 10, 1979

Bjorn Borg, who has proved himself the overall best tennis player on the world's various surfaces, reasserted his absolute mastery of clay courts today by winning the French Open singles for the fourth time, but not until underdog Victor Pecci had stirred a capacity crowd at drizzly Stade Roland Garros with a gallant comeback.

Like a real-life Rocky Balboa, Pecci hung in through a fearful beating, found inspiration from the adoring crowd and gave the prohibitively favored champion some anxious moments before losing a fight he could take immense pride in finishing.

Battling back from 3-6, 1-6, 2-5 down, Pecci won the third set in a tense tie breaker, 8 points to 6, and had the champ scared until he broke serve for 5-4 in the fourth set and served out a 6-3, 6-1, 6-7, 6-4 decision.

Borg, the reigning world champion who turned 23 last week, was at his spectacular best for 2 1/2 sets.He broke Pecci's heart with quickness, consistency and remarkably accurate passing shots, and looked invulnerable as he sprinted to the verge of a quick knockout.


But Borg was broken for the first time when he served for the match at 5-3 in the third set. Suddenly the overflow crowd of more than 17,000 spectators, the largest ever to watch a tennis match in Europe, got behind Pecci and palpably lifted him up, igniting his competitive flame on a damp and gloomy day.

With the aroused audience vibrating the 51-year-old cement stadium with chants of "Pec-ci, Pec-ci, Pec-ci" after every point the handsome 23-year-old won, Pecci consolidated his formidable attacking game and pulled himself back close enough to breathe down Borg's neck.

"I thought I had the match in my hand at 5-2 in the third. But then he started playing better, taking more chances, and I missed a few passing shots. Suddenly it was 5-all," said Borg, the first man since Henri Cochet (1926-28-30-32) to win the world's premier clay court title four times.

"I got to be a little bit scared. I wasn't hitting through my shots and started hitting short, and then he was coming in on every point. He made this the toughest final I have played here."

The 6-foot-3-inch Pecci, ranked 30th in the world, had upset seeded Corrado Barazzutti, Harold Solomon, 1977 champion Guillermo Vilas and Jimmy Connors to become the first unseeded finalist at Roland Garros since Yugoslav Nikki Pilic in 1973.

In so doing, he captivated the imagination of the French public. His darkly handsome face, large diamond adorning the right ear, was prominently featured on the front page of every newspaper. The hard, flat first serve that had zapped No. 3 seed Vilas and No. 2 Conners was repeatedly analyzed in slow motion on French television. The talk of the town was this doctor's son from tennis-poor Paraguay.

Before the final, an army band played "76 Trombones" and French folk favorites. They should have played the theme from "Rocky," for that would have captured the feeling that the audience, huddled under the rain gear against the damp and chill, had for Pecci.

When the players were introduced, the unexpected challenger received a thunderous standing ovation.

"This is normal, I think," the stoic Borg said later. "I had won here three times before, Victor had already beaten Vilas and Connors, and the crowd wants to see a new winner. I expected this."

But Borg - who had lost only 32 games in romping through the normally grueling tournament in 21 straight sets last year - started out playing like a once and future champion.

Pecci tried to play him soft and short, waiting out his opportunities to attack the net and moving Borg around with drop shots and chips, trying to set up a decisive thrust.

But Borg's combination of speed afoot and uncanny anticipation makes him perhaps the quickest player in the game and on the slow, heavy court he was easily running down every drop and approach shot, hitting outright winners or forcing shots off them.

Pecci held his serve from 30-40, after three deuces, for 2-2 in the first set, but then Borg won 12 of the next 13 points.

Pecci was missing his big first serve frequently - he connected on only 13 of 27 in the first set, 78 of 145 (54 percent) for the match, compared with 67 percent against Connors - and when he missed three of four in the sixth game, Borg broke him at love.

Meanwhile, Borg was serving at only three-quarters pace, but placing his deliveries well and missing hardly any - a smart approach on clay.

Borg put a remarkable 100 of 107 first serves in court during the match: 93 percent. He lost only four points on his serve in the first set, five in the second and six up to 5-2 in the third - a total of 15 points in his first 13 service games.

By that time Pecci, who was playing well enough to be in a close match with almost any other opponent, looked confused, dispirited, uncertain as to what he should do.

There is no way to beat Borg, whose topspin ground strokes probably are the steadiest in the game, from the back court. But when Pecci came to the net - behind his serve, or either chipped or thumped approach shots - he was getting passed left and right.

Particularly devastating were Borg's backhand cross-court passing shots, sharply angled beyond Pecci's reach. They invariably bit into the moist clay about three inches from the sideline.

Borg held his serve from 15-30 to lead the third set, 5-2. To that point, he had made a grand total of four unforced errors.

But perhaps he was winning a trifle too easily, for he seemed to let up just a bit in his normally steely concentration. Pecci held at 15 with a blazing service winner down the center.

When Borg served for the match, Pecci intercepted a backhand down-the-line pass with a crackling backhand volley for 0-15. "Pec-ci, Pec-ci, Pec-ci," came the cry, calling for a revival.

Another backhand passing-shot attempt and a blistering forehand cross-court volley winner: 0-30. A backhand cross-court volley off a little backhand angled scoop: 0-40.

Borg saved one break point, Pecci netting his umpteenth backhand drop shot, then whaled a forehand approach. Pecci rifled a backhand down the line, forcing a lunging forehand volley error.

At last, a break. "Pec-ci, Pec-ci, Pec-ci."

Lifted by the crowd's ardor, Pecci started to bore in on the net. Borg, having let up, could not immediately regain his same level of intensity. The passing shots that had seemed radar-guided earlier now were missing.

Into the best-of-12 point tie breaker they went.

Pecci had a set point at 6-5 and got another at 7-6 when a Borg lob on the dead run floated six inches long. Pecci served and came in behind a backhand, and Borg hit another backhand wide down the line.

Coming back from the 10-minute intermission between the third and fourth sets, Pecci felt he had a chance to win. He held serve after one break point and four deuces in the first game of the fourth set and from 15-30 in the third game. Then he missed six of 10 first serves, lost his serve on a double fault to 2-3 but broke right back, Borg missing another backhand down the line on the break point.

As a mist turned into a persistent drizzle, Pecci held his serve for 4-3 from 15-40, after three break points and three deuces. But Borg was holding his serve more easily again now. He held at love for 4-4.

From 15-15 in the ninth game, Pecci missed six consecutive first serves, and this time Borg did not let him off the hook. Two fierce forehand cross-court passing shots got the Swede to break point, then Pecci netted an overanxious backhand off a rally.

Borg, serving for the match a second time an hour after the first, was more purposeful, holding at 15 with a big forehand down-the-line approach followed by a drop volley winner.

He turned to his coach, Lennart Bergelin, seated in the competitors' section, and raised his arms over his head in triumph, heaving a huge sigh of relief.

The video I uploaded: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSK7KeB4CbY

[krosero]

Just doing a little mop-up work here, comparing the stats in the Washington Post with the service games on my sheet. All of the stats conform to what I have, apart from a few things missing on my sheet because my video of the match is incomplete.

Allowing the article to fill in the blanks, we can confirm that Borg was broken twice in the whole match, Pecci 7 times.

With the information on the missing games, I also calculated that Borg won 76 of 107 points on his serve (or 71%), Pecci 76 of 145 (or 52%); and that Borg won 145 points overall, Pecci 107.

I mentioned that Borg made 35 straight first serves, followed by a game I'm missing, then another 5 straight to end the match. The Post describes the missing game as a hold at love, so he could potentially have a streak of 44 straight.

[krosero]

I counted up a few more stats on my stat sheet.

Borg converted 7 of 15 break points, Pecci 2 of 4.

Borg made his first serve on 4 of 4 break points; each of the two times that Pecci broke he had to do it on first serve.

Pecci made his first serve on 9 of 15 break points (60%); he was broken 5 times on second serve and twice on first serve.

(Those are all complete stats, ie, the points I'm missing on my dvd would make no difference to these numbers.)

[pc1]

Krosero,

I remember during the match Bud Collins said Borg had "Backhand passing magic" or something like that. Did Borg pass Pecci a lot with great backhand passing shots?

[krosero]

Yes, definitely. Let me post the passing shots (keep in mind these are incomplete stats since I'm missing about 3 games worth out of 39 games played).

Borg -35 passes (17 FH, 18 BH), including 5 lobs.
Pecci - 2 passes (1 FH)

They nearly flip-flopped on the volley/overhead winners:

Borg - 5 winners (1 FHV, 2 BHV, 2 overheads)
Pecci - 31 winners (13 FHV, 10 BHV, 8 overheads)

As I said in my OP it's really a pleasure seeing someone attack the net so well on clay.

Ironically Pecci seems to have attacked better on clay than on grass or other fast surfaces. Two weeks after this match he lost early at Wimbledon to Brad Drewett of Australia, 4-6, 7-6 (11-9), 7-6 (10-8), 6-4

[hoodjem]

Originally Posted by krosero

Pecci is at 37 winners (including 30 at net) . . . .

IMO this is a good one and the only winning strategy against Borg on clay: head to the net and make every volley count. Force Borg to go for low percentage passing shots or lobs--and be prepared to hit a smash every time.

It may not have worked for Pecci in '79, but this is largely what Panatta did in the fourth round in '73 and the quarters of '76.

[gpt]

This final was a great match up. I haven't seen it since 79 but have always wanted to see it in full again.

[krosero]

Originally Posted by hoodjem

IMO this is a good one and the only winning strategy against Borg on clay: head to the net and make every volley count. Force Borg to go for low percentage passing shots or lobs--and be prepared to hit a smash every time.

It may not have worked for Pecci in '79, but this is largely what Panatta did in the fourth round in '73 and the quarters of '76.

It's true, unless your groundstrokes were as good as Borg's, your only chance was to come forward. Even then it was tricky because on clay Borg was especially comfortable hitting passing shots. Gerulaitis tried attacking and he got killed in both of their RG meetings. Vilas also tried coming forward quite a bit in the last half of the '78 final and still lost in straights.

Pecci and Panatta got the attack down just right.

[krosero]

Bud Collins in the Boston Globe reported that Borg made "just 17 unforced errors and 42 winners (Pecci was 59-39)."

The winners probably do not include service, because even with 19 points missing on my copy I already have Pecci at 37 winners, not including 5 aces.

[krosero]

A short article: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...d+errors&hl=en

[pc1]

Originally Posted by krosero

Yes, definitely. Let me post the passing shots (keep in mind these are incomplete stats since I'm missing about 3 games worth out of 39 games played).

Borg -35 passes (17 FH, 18 BH), including 5 lobs.
Pecci - 2 passes (1 FH)

They nearly flip-flopped on the volley/overhead winners:

Borg - 5 winners (1 FHV, 2 BHV, 2 overheads)
Pecci - 31 winners (13 FHV, 10 BHV, 8 overheads)

As I said in my OP it's really a pleasure seeing someone attack the net so well on clay.

Ironically Pecci seems to have attacked better on clay than on grass or other fast surfaces. Two weeks after this match he lost early at Wimbledon to Brad Drewett of Australia, 4-6, 7-6 (11-9), 7-6 (10-, 6-4

Originally Posted by hoodjem

IMO this is a good one and the only winning strategy against Borg on clay: head to the net and make every volley count. Force Borg to go for low percentage passing shots or lobs--and be prepared to hit a smash every time.

It may not have worked for Pecci in '79, but this is largely what Panatta did in the fourth round in '73 and the quarters of '76.

I would think guys like Laver and Rosewall would have attempted to attack Borg on clay this way. It would have been interesting and if Laver had success I could see Borg approaching the net also.

Both would have been able to stay with Borg for a while at worst on red clay from the baseline.

Originally Posted by krosero

Bud Collins in the Boston Globe reported that Borg made "just 17 unforced errors and 42 winners (Pecci was 59-39)."

The winners probably do not include service, because even with 19 points missing on my copy I already have Pecci at 37 winners, not including 5 aces.

Interesting stats which indicate a very well played match considering Borg used a wood racquet. Did Pecci use a wood racquet too?

[krosero]

Originally Posted by pc1

I would think guys like Laver and Rosewall would have attempted to attack Borg on clay this way. It would have been interesting and if Laver had success I could see Borg approaching the net also.

Both would have been able to stay with Borg for a while at worst on red clay from the baseline.



Interesting stats which indicate a very well played match considering Borg used a wood racquet. Did Pecci use a wood racquet too?

Definitely Laver and Rosewall could stay with Borg from the baseline, so they had no need to rush in heedlessly or constantly. They could do the same as Panatta and Pecci, picking their spots to come in, following their serves in, too, at times. Without a doubt they would have done very well.

One critical factor, I think, would be their ability to attack second serves. Newk once said that Borg had a "little bit of a weakness on the second serve", and maybe at least what you could say is that a great player could attack it.

Borg served at 93% against Pecci, though, and hardly gave him any chance to chip and charge or to at least take some kind of control with the return.

Laver pushed Borg to 6-3, 7-5 at Hilton Head in '76, on Har-Tru. But by my count Borg served at just 55% in that match. As Pancho said, he was deliberately gunning his first serve because there was an ace competition in that tournament.

So I think Borg may well have taken a different approach at RG, against someone like Laver -- spinning in his first serves to keep from getting attacked on second balls.

[krosero]

Pecci's racquet looks like a composite. You can see it close-up at 3:55 in this video which is better quality than mine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cF_2hXTCsY