1993 Wimbledon Sampras vs Becker (SF) and Courier (F) stats

[slice serve ace]

Sampras - Becker 7-6, 6-4, 6-4

1st serve %

sampras 61 ( 62, 58, 64 )
becker...51 ( 60, 28, 64 )

after making first 2 1st serves in the 2nd set, becker's 1st serve pct was healthy 61 %. than he missed 15 1st serves in a row
that is the longest streak of missed 1st serves i ever saw (so far) ; mcenroe " boris is serving at what, 15 pct this set?...no, wait, it's 12.5 pct...i gave him too much credit there"
after that, becker's pct to the end of the match was again 61 %. so he basically served 61 % minus that black hole of 15 missed serves

one more thing - becker said before the match that sampras serves big, but not as big as stich, whom he played in qf...agassi basically said the same before their qf match, comparing sampras to krajicek (agassi beat krajicek round earlier)

1st serve pts won %

sampras 84 ( 96, 77, 78 )
becker...92 ( 88, 100, 94)

2nd serve pts won %

sampras 60 ( 57, 50, 80 )
becker...45 ( 47, 48, 33 )

service pts won %

sampras 75 ( 81, 66, 79 )
becker...69 ( 71, 62, 72 )

aces

sampras 13 ( 7, 4, 2 )
becker...14 ( 4, 4, 6 )

double faults

sampras 6 ( 2, 3, 1 )
becker...12 ( 4, 5, 3 )

this really hurt becker. he blamed it on his tired legs, after his epic match vs stich

winners

sampras 49 ( 20, 13, 16 ), 8 backhand winners
becker...34 ( 13, 10, 11 )

unreturned serves

sampras 43 ( 20, 13, 10 )
becker...43 ( 18, 10, 15 )

unreturned serves %

sampras 42 ( 54, 34, 36 )
becker...45 ( 43, 34, 60 )

break points

sampras 2/4 ( 0/1, 1/2, 1/1 )
becker...0/6 ( 0/0, 0/4, 0/2 )

points won

sampras 107 ( 42, 36, 29 )
becker...92 ( 37, 31, 24 )

[slice serve ace]

Sampras - Courier 7-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-3

Excellent match. Courier really couldn't played any better on grass. After great first 2 sets, Sampras looked to be out of fuel, but he found second wind, which will become one of his trademarks. Sampras groundgame on grass, which he rarely had opportunities to show, other than hitting returns and passing shots, was on display vs baseliner Courier, just as it was vs Agassi. Beautiful variety, cutting backhand slices, short or deep, mixed with topspin backhands and sharp penetrating forehands. Sampras enjoyed the bounce on the grass, and moved with cat-like effortlessnes. Really great, great player, a joy to watch.

1st serve %

sampras 62 ( 70, 50, 59, 67 )
courier...54 ( 49, 54, 58, 59 )

cbs, or whatever tv was it, showed sampras 1st serve pct for the tournament - it was 62 % untill the final. he had the same pct in the final, so it was his pct for the entire tournament

1st serve pts won %

sampras 82 ( 85, 100, 62, 78 )
courier...77 ( 72, 78, 80, 77 )

sampras won at one point 32 1st serve points in a row. that is the second longest streak that i know of. it ended with the 1st point on sampras serve in the 3rd set

2nd serve pts won %

sampras 67 ( 64, 76, 56, 67 )
courier...58 ( 74, 57, 45, 44 )

courier after the match "...i faced 2 first serves today..."

service pts won %

sampras 77 ( 78, 88, 59, 74 )
courier...68 ( 73, 68, 65, 64 )

aces

sampras 22 ( 6, 8, 5, 3 ), 3 on a second serve
courier...9 ( 2, 0, 5, 2 )

double faults

sampras 6 ( 2, 1, 2, 1 )
courier...6 ( 4, 0, 2, 0 )

winners

sampras 53 ( 17, 18, 10, 8 )
courier...37 ( 11, 12, 11, 3 )

unreturned serves

sampras 61 ( 18, 23, 8, 12 )
courier...41 ( 11, 13, 11, 6 )

unreturned serves %

sampras 51 ( 49, 68, 36, 44 )
courier...30 ( 30, 26, 42, 27 )

sampras 51 %, but 68 % in a second set! and he almost lost it...

break points

sampras 2/5 ( 0/0, 0/2, 1/1, 1/2 )
courier...2/2 ( 0/0, 0/0, 2/2, 0/0 )

points won

sampras 135 ( 39, 46, 22, 28 )
courier...120 ( 35, 38, 26, 21 )

[krosero]

Here's a boxscore published in The Independent (London).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
MEN'S FINAL STATISTICS
Sampras won 7-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-3, in 2hr 58min.
SAMPRAS COURIER
62 per cent First serve in 54 per cent
22 Aces 9
6 Double faults 6
77 per cent Points won on serve 68 per cent
123mph 1st serve speed (max) 118mph
110mph 1st serve speed (ave) 105mph
32/55 Points won at net 19/32
34/82 Points won at baseline 52/105
53 per cent Total points won 47 per cent
19/28 Game points won 19/29
2/5 Break points won 2/2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I never understood this boxscore before but now it adds up.

Sampras wins 66 points either at net or at baseline. He also won 6 points from Courier's double-faults, and according to Slice Serve Ace he had 63 unreturned serves including aces. So in total that leaves him winning 135 points, right in line with Slice Serve Ace's total.

Courier has 71 at net or baseline, 6 from Pete's doubles, and 41 unreturned serves: 118 in total, very close to what SSA has above.

In any case the ATP has Sampras leading 163-135 in total points, but they've counted the aces and double-faults twice. If those are only counted once then Sampras leads by 135 to 120.

[Devilito]

92 and 93 Wimbledons were awesome. Downhill after that point. Agassi in 92 and Courier in 93 made them great to watch

[krosero]

Originally Posted by slice serve ace

after making first 2 1st serves in the 2nd set, becker's 1st serve pct was healthy 61 %. than he missed 15 1st serves in a row
that is the longest streak of missed 1st serves i ever saw (so far) ; mcenroe " boris is serving at what, 15 pct this set?...no, wait, it's 12.5 pct...i gave him too much credit there"
after that, becker's pct to the end of the match was again 61 %. so he basically served 61 % minus that black hole of 15 missed serves

Hard to believe his serve went so far off the rails. Makes his 100% winning rate on 1st serve in that set deceptive, since there were probably just a handful of good first serves.

Becker missed 9 straight even when he beat Agassi in '95.

Borg and Lendl each missed 10 in a row in USO finals, Borg in '80, Lendl in '88.

Originally Posted by slice serve ace

break points

sampras 2/4 ( 0/1, 1/2, 1/1 )
becker...0/6 ( 0/0, 0/4, 0/2 )

As you know he never broke Sampras at Wimbledon. In '95 he didn't even earn a break point, and in '97 he went 0-for-3.

(And talking about bad serving, NBC had him serving at 27% in the first set of that match.)

Originally Posted by slice serve ace

courier after the match "...i faced 2 first serves today..."

Interesting! I haven't seen the match in forever, but I still remember how well Courier played, and how Sampras was just better in the end -- though he had to produce some very fine tennis to beat him.

Originally Posted by slice serve ace

sampras 53 %, but 68 % in a second set! and he almost lost it...

Incredible to think that 68% of his serves did not come back and he came so close to losing the set (had to win the tiebreak 8-6).

[Carsomyr]

Originally Posted by Devilito

92 and 93 Wimbledons were awesome. Downhill after that point. Agassi in 92 and Courier in 93 made them great to watch

If you're talking about in terms of clashes of style, the Rafter-Agassi matches in 2000 and 2001 are classics, better than the Sampras-Agassi and Agassi-Ivanisevic matches in my opinion.

[Devilito]

Originally Posted by Carsomyr

If you're talking about in terms of clashes of style, the Rafter-Agassi matches in 2000 and 2001 are classics, better than the Sampras-Agassi and Agassi-Ivanisevic matches in my opinion.

i was referring to the decline of the entertainment value of Wimbledon in the 90s after those years. 2000-2001 is almost another era in terms of following tennis. I wasn't trying to say from 93 until the present

[Datacipher]

Originally Posted by Devilito

92 and 93 Wimbledons were awesome. Downhill after that point. Agassi in 92 and Courier in 93 made them great to watch

I actually disagree completely, because I like the big game. But if it's baseliners you like, baseliners made it through to at least the quarters in every year: Agassi, Kiefer, Chang, Washington etc.

I do think the 93 Wimbledon had a spectacular collection of talent at the end....maybe the most formidable and exciting quarters/16 I remember ever...

[krosero]

According to the boxscore, Courier is only 5 mph behind Sampras on first serve (both maximum speed and average).

[Datacipher]

Originally Posted by slice serve ace

this really hurt becker. he blamed it on his tired legs, after his epic match vs stich

I was impressed that Jmac noticed this during the telecast...when Enberg asked him a typically stupid Enberg question eg. why would he be double faulting? Jmac opined something along the lines of: he doesn't seem to be getting up quite as well on the serve, maybe his legs are tired....

[krosero]

Originally Posted by slice serve ace

after making first 2 1st serves in the 2nd set, becker's 1st serve pct was healthy 61 %. than he missed 15 1st serves in a row
that is the longest streak of missed 1st serves i ever saw (so far) ; mcenroe " boris is serving at what, 15 pct this set?...no, wait, it's 12.5 pct...i gave him too much credit there"
after that, becker's pct to the end of the match was again 61 %. so he basically served 61 % minus that black hole of 15 missed serves

I found one more -- Sampras missed 15 in a row against Chesnokov in Davis Cup.

It started at 3-all in the first set (which Sampras went on to lose 6-3) and ended in his opening service game of the second set.

[slice serve ace]

Originally Posted by krosero

Hard to believe his serve went so far off the rails. Makes his 100% winning rate on 1st serve in that set deceptive, since there were probably just a handful of good first serves.

yes, only 8 points. that is why it is always best to see total service pts percentage

Originally Posted by krosero

Interesting! I haven't seen the match in forever, but I still remember how well Courier played, and how Sampras was just better in the end -- though he had to produce some very fine tennis to beat him.

courier played suprising amount of serve&volley points on his 2nd serve. i didn't count, but it must have been around 8, maybe 10 times he did that. he was very unpredictable with it, and succesful too. won him some important points. he, or his coach, must have taken notes how pete's slice return troubled agassi, so he decided to suprise him with this tactic. he would get in real close and just punch away sliced return. i think sampras read him only twice or so, and returned with topspin for a winner.

Originally Posted by krosero

Incredible to think that 68% of his serves did not come back and he came so close to losing the set (had to win the tiebreak 8-6).

lost only 4 points on serve the entire set. that's the beauty of tennis scoring sistem

Originally Posted by krosero

I found one more -- Sampras missed 15 in a row against Chesnokov in Davis Cup.

It started at 3-all in the first set (which Sampras went on to lose 6-3) and ended in his opening service game of the second set.

thanks for that. there must be a reason why sampras served at such low percentage in 1995. his year pct must have been 8-10 % less than he normally does. his service motion and ball toss look the same as always. so one must wonder, what was the reason, balls, strings?

[Moose Malloy]

winners

sampras 53 ( 17, 18, 10, 8 )
courier...37 ( 11, 12, 11, 3 )

unreturned serves

sampras 63 ( 18, 23, 10, 12 )
courier...41 ( 11, 13, 11, 6 )

my winner counts

sampras 54(18, 18, 10,
courier 38(11, 12, 11, 4)

unreturned serves counts

sampras 61(18, 23, 8, 12)
coourier 41(11, 13, 11, 6)

net stats

67 of 97 for Sampras(69%)
25 of 38 for Courier(66%)
13 of 21 for Courier on S&V pts

[krosero]

For the semifinal:

Sampras made his first serve on 4 of 6 break points.

Becker made no first serves on the 4 break points he faced, double-faulting on two of them.

Each man made 4 of 6 first serves in the tiebreak.

Prior to the semis Becker had 40 double-faults, Sampras 28 (per NBC).

[krosero]

Originally Posted by slice serve ace

there must be a reason why sampras served at such low percentage in 1995. his year pct must have been 8-10 % less than he normally does. his service motion and ball toss look the same as always. so one must wonder, what was the reason, balls, strings?

Just wondering if this had anything to do with his coach being ill that year.

[Laurie]

one more thing - becker said before the match that sampras serves big, but not as big as stich, whom he played in qf...agassi basically said the same before their qf match, comparing sampras to krajicek (agassi beat krajicek round earlier)

Thanks for the interesting stats. Well to me that statement show two things:

1. They could have been talking in terms of that particular tournament and the inflamed shoulder Sampras was suffering, he was getting a lot of treatment throughout that tournament and particularly against Agassi in the quarterfinal when the trainer came on a couple of times to administer treatment. The BBC commentators pointed out Sampras' injury right from the start of the match ( I think it was John Barrett and Bill Threllfall) that Sampras was serving around 100 to 110 mph where usually he would serve well over between 120 and 130 mph (unless he took the pace off to go wide to forehand on the deuce court).

2. Even with Sampras' shoulder trouble, he outplayed Agassi for most of the match, winning the 1st two sets 6-2 6-2, and despite Agassi rallying won the 5th set 6-4 after 3 successive breaks. Then he really took care of Becker. So it shows that serving hard is not enough to beat the best players in the world, Sampras backed up his serve with good movement, good net play and good groundstrokes, that's why he won a lot more tournaments than other attacking players with big serves. That is often overlooked because a lot of people can only focus on one thing, his serve, and not acknowledge his other attributes. Not everyone but enough people to cause lots of discussions and arguments on internet forums!

[krosero]

Just for reference, Stich served a 128 mph serve during his five-set loss to Becker in the quarterfinals. The next day it was reported in the press as the fastest serve of the tournament thus far.

[krosero]

Originally Posted by slice serve ace

1st serve pts won %

sampras 82 ( 85, 100, 62, 78 )
courier...77 ( 72, 78, 80, 77 )

sampras won at one point 32 1st serve points in a row. that is the second longest streak that i know of.

In the second set of his quarterfinal with Stich, Becker was still at 100% on 1st serve points, according to a graphic onscreen, so I counted them: he won his first 24.

Do you have any high numbers for Goran in this stat? I counted a streak of 22 against Agassi in their Wimbledon final but I don't have any others for him. What about in the '95 semi when he had that long service streak against Sampras, do you know what he did on 1st serve points?

[slice serve ace]

Originally Posted by Moose Malloy

unreturned serves counts

sampras 61(18, 23, 8, 12)
coourier 41(11, 13, 11, 6)

you are correct here, i posted changes in the second post

[slice serve ace]

Originally Posted by krosero

In the second set of his quarterfinal with Stich, Becker was still at 100% on 1st serve points, according to a graphic onscreen, so I counted them: he won his first 24.

Do you have any high numbers for Goran in this stat? I counted a streak of 22 against Agassi in their Wimbledon final but I don't have any others for him. What about in the '95 semi when he had that long service streak against Sampras, do you know what he did on 1st serve points?

i have around 10 or so goran's matches that i did the stats for, but that was few years back and i didn't pay much attention to anything other than my standard stats. i will check these matches again, maybe there are some big streaks. for example, in 1996 hannover match against sampras he was 54/57 on first serve points.
but that doesn't guarantee uninterrupted streak. last match of his i did few months ago, vs martin in grand slam cup, he was 54/58, but the streaks would end after 15-20 points, and start again