Jimmy Connors beat Bjorn Borg 6-3, 6-4 in the Suntory Cup Invitational final, 1983 on carpet in Tokyo, Japan
Borg was the defending champion. Connors had previously won the event in 1981 and 1982 and would go onto win it again in 1986. The two had met in the inaugural final in 1978, with Borg having won. The champion won $110,000, the runner-up $75,000
Connors won 76 points, Borg 64
Serve Stats
Connors...
- 1st serve percentage (47/66) 71%
- 1st serve points won (27/47) 57%
- 2nd serve points won (10/19) 53%
- Aces 1 (a second serve)
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (8/66) 12%
Borg....
- 1st serve percentage (32/74) 43%
- 1st serve points won (19/32) 59%
- 2nd serve points won (16/42) 38%
- Aces 6
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (13/74) 18%
Serve Patterns
Connors served...
- to FH 26%
- to BH 74%
Borg served....
- to FH 20%
- to BH 77%
- to Body 3%
Return Stats
Connors made...
- 57 (12 FH, 45 BH), including 2 runaround FHs
- 7 Errors, comprising...
- 2 Unforced (1 FH, 1 BH)
- 5 Forced (2 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (57/70) 81%
Borg made...
- 57 (14 FH, 43 BH), including 2 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 7 Errors, comprising...
- 2 Unforced (2 FH)
- 5 Forced (2 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (57/65) 88%
Break Points
Connors 6/8 (7 games)
Borg 3/7 (4 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Connors 17 (4 FH, 2 BH, 4 FHV, 5 BHV, 2 OH)
Borg 18 (5 FH, 7 BH, 1 FHV, 4 BHV, 1 OH)
Connors' FHs - 2 cc (1 pass), 1 inside-out and 1 inside-in/cc at net
- BHs - 1 cc pass and 1 dtl
- 1 BHV was possibly not clean
Borg's FHs - 3 cc (1 pass, 1 at net), 1 inside-out and 1 longline return (that Connors left)
- BHs - 2 cc passes, 3 dtl (2 passes), 1 inside-in/cc pass and 1 net chord dribbler
- 2 from serve-volley points (1 FHV, 1 BHV), both second volleys
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Connors 32
- 26 Unforced (16 FH, 9 BH, 1 FHV)... the FHV was a non-net shot
- 6 Forced (4 FH, 1 BH, 1 FHV)... the BH was a running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.6
Borg 47
- 30 Unforced (12 FH, 17 BH, 1 BHV)
- 17 Forced (5 FH, 7 BH, 1 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 2 BHV, 1 BHOH)... with 1 FH at net & the BHOH was a flagrantly forced baseline attempt to handle a smash
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 42
(Note 1: All 1/2 volleys refer to such shots played at net. 1/2 volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke numbers)
(Note 2: the Unforced Error Forcefulness Index is an indicator of how aggressive the average UE was. The numbers presented are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)
Net Points & Serve-Volley
Connors was 21/29 (72%) at net
Borg was...
- 15/23 (65%) at net, including...
- 4/6 (67%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 1/1 forced back
Match Report
Hard hitting match of mixed quality, but with nail biting progression through the last set. Court is on slow side, but low of bounce
Some background. Having taken the ‘82 season of, Borg announced his ‘retirement’ in early ‘83. This, according to commentary, is his last ‘official’ event. This being an invitational, 4-man event
Stakes are high. Winner gets $110,000, the runner-up $75,000 according to commentary. Considerably more than Connors won for Wimbledon or US Open the previous year. Any doubts about the competitiveness of action should be erased at sight of an obviously tiring Connors throwing himself about with full commitment in the last quarter of the match
Action is hard hitting, baseline rally based. Negligible serve-volleying (just a little from Borg), and not much coming to net even. The two trade groundies from the back. Both hit hard. Connors FH to Borg BH is staple of play (the norm for the match up). There are considerably fewer direction changes and open court, moving-one-another side to side rallies than the pair’s usual (the usual being exceptionally high)
Looks more like a Connors-Lendl match up than a Connors-Borg
To be clear, there is moving opponent around play and all that fun stuff that characterize the rivalry - much more so than typical Connors-Lendl matches - its just low compared to other matches between the two. As are net approaches
Hard hitting and depth are the weapons on show, with both players using them. Connors hits less flat than his norm and Borg the opposite. The two have about the same net clearance, which is extremely unusual; usually, Borg has much higher, safer shots than Jimbo
Serve isn’t much of a factor. Borg has a meaty one, but very poor in-count of 43% limits what he can get out of it (also, a relatively slow court). Connors’ is beefed up a bit, though less than meaty - and even with Borg a tad off on returning, doesn’t get much out of the first shot
Coincidentally, both players make exactly 57 returns and both have 7 return errors (2 UEs, 5 FEs). In fact, even the distribution of errors is all but identical - both have 2 FH, 3 BH FEs. On the UE front, Jimbo has 1 of each wing, both of Borg’s are FHs
Low unreturned rates - Jimbo 12%, Borg 18%. That leaves play to decide matters, not the serve. And Jimbo has much better of things. He’s more consistent and Borg’s shot tolerance not being too good are 2 reasons for this. The other is his greater willingness to come forward to finish points - which he tends to do on key points, and does very, very well
If Borg had an equalizer up his sleeve, it’d be serve-volleying, but with 43% first serves in, that’s not much to go on and it isn’t a big factor
Basic Stats, Serve & Return
1st serve in - Jimbo 71%, Borg 43%
1st serve won - Jimbo 57%, Borg 59%
2nd serve won - Jimbo 53%, Borg 38%
The general pattern in the match-up is Borg winning big lot of his first serve points - and the 3 other serves going about 50-50, which obviously, humongously favours him to win
This match is deviating from that in a number of ways
First, the very low in count of 43% minimizes what Borg can get out of his much better serve
Second, he’s not getting much out of it. 59% is a poor yield of first serve points won
Third, Jimbo’s much better player and winning a lot more than 50% of the ‘50-50 prospects’ points
Borg with 6 aces but drawing just 7 errors is typical of him in that he’s a server who, other than when he’s not serving aces, isn’t too tough to return. But that’s not whats going on in this case; he sends down a number of excellent first serves - both powerful and well wide - but Jimbo makes the tough returns. Credit Jimbo. Returning tough serves isn’t his strongest point as a returner
2nd serve points won are clearest indicator of Jimbo playing much better than Borg, but there’s another, subtler sign. These tough returns Jimbo makes leaves him off-balance and Borg in prime position to take charge of the point
He doesn’t do too well at it. Sans aces, Borg’s won just 13/26 first serve points (and that’s including return errors). He’s winning 50% of points starting from strong position in rally (actually, lower than that when accounting for return errors). Not good from Borg’s point of view
Jimbo for his part serves well too. Some good wide ones, some nice ones to the FH surprising Borg (including a second serve ace - his only ace of the match) and generally deep. Borg still returns 88% of them, but it doesn’t come easily
Jimbo’s first serve isn’t just a point-starter here, as it so often is, but does give him some advantage but like Borg, he doesn’t make much use of it. Gets less advantage out of the serve than Borg does because his is weaker, but still, gets some. To follow up, he hits at most a ‘pressuring’ groundstroke rather than an attacking one, and more often, just a firm neutral one
He wins 57% first serve points because he’s the better player, but that’s a disappointing figure for him in light of how action runs. It’d have been a good figure were his serve a virtual 2nd serve as it often is
Borg’s very low 38% second serve points won in conjunction with low in count is... complicated from practical point of view. Obviously, a terrible number, but its not necessarily connected to his holding or not
He holds games where his in-count is 0/6 , 2/8, and 5/12 for example
In games he’s broken, he’s got decent in-counts - 4/6 (twice), 3/6 (twice), 4/8. Only in last game of match is he under 50% and gets broken 2/6
Play - Baselin & Net
Winners - Jimbo 17, Borg 18
Errors Forced - Jimbo 17, Borg 6
UEs - Jimbo 26, Borg 30
Aggressively ended points/UE differential - Jimbo +8, Borg -6
Action is better than the numbers, but numbers aren’t lying either. Not the best of matches, and on whole, a poor showing from Borg. Key to his showing is consistency and shot tolerance being down
The hitting is hard, and gets better in the second set. And both players go deep with their shots, giving the other some trouble to cope. For once, it doesn't take too much to get an error out of Borg. As “being tough to get an error out of” is almost his defining characterisitc, that leaves him with a lot of problems
Borg was the defending champion. Connors had previously won the event in 1981 and 1982 and would go onto win it again in 1986. The two had met in the inaugural final in 1978, with Borg having won. The champion won $110,000, the runner-up $75,000
Connors won 76 points, Borg 64
Serve Stats
Connors...
- 1st serve percentage (47/66) 71%
- 1st serve points won (27/47) 57%
- 2nd serve points won (10/19) 53%
- Aces 1 (a second serve)
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (8/66) 12%
Borg....
- 1st serve percentage (32/74) 43%
- 1st serve points won (19/32) 59%
- 2nd serve points won (16/42) 38%
- Aces 6
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (13/74) 18%
Serve Patterns
Connors served...
- to FH 26%
- to BH 74%
Borg served....
- to FH 20%
- to BH 77%
- to Body 3%
Return Stats
Connors made...
- 57 (12 FH, 45 BH), including 2 runaround FHs
- 7 Errors, comprising...
- 2 Unforced (1 FH, 1 BH)
- 5 Forced (2 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (57/70) 81%
Borg made...
- 57 (14 FH, 43 BH), including 2 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 7 Errors, comprising...
- 2 Unforced (2 FH)
- 5 Forced (2 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (57/65) 88%
Break Points
Connors 6/8 (7 games)
Borg 3/7 (4 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Connors 17 (4 FH, 2 BH, 4 FHV, 5 BHV, 2 OH)
Borg 18 (5 FH, 7 BH, 1 FHV, 4 BHV, 1 OH)
Connors' FHs - 2 cc (1 pass), 1 inside-out and 1 inside-in/cc at net
- BHs - 1 cc pass and 1 dtl
- 1 BHV was possibly not clean
Borg's FHs - 3 cc (1 pass, 1 at net), 1 inside-out and 1 longline return (that Connors left)
- BHs - 2 cc passes, 3 dtl (2 passes), 1 inside-in/cc pass and 1 net chord dribbler
- 2 from serve-volley points (1 FHV, 1 BHV), both second volleys
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Connors 32
- 26 Unforced (16 FH, 9 BH, 1 FHV)... the FHV was a non-net shot
- 6 Forced (4 FH, 1 BH, 1 FHV)... the BH was a running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.6
Borg 47
- 30 Unforced (12 FH, 17 BH, 1 BHV)
- 17 Forced (5 FH, 7 BH, 1 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 2 BHV, 1 BHOH)... with 1 FH at net & the BHOH was a flagrantly forced baseline attempt to handle a smash
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 42
(Note 1: All 1/2 volleys refer to such shots played at net. 1/2 volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke numbers)
(Note 2: the Unforced Error Forcefulness Index is an indicator of how aggressive the average UE was. The numbers presented are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)
Net Points & Serve-Volley
Connors was 21/29 (72%) at net
Borg was...
- 15/23 (65%) at net, including...
- 4/6 (67%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 1/1 forced back
Match Report
Hard hitting match of mixed quality, but with nail biting progression through the last set. Court is on slow side, but low of bounce
Some background. Having taken the ‘82 season of, Borg announced his ‘retirement’ in early ‘83. This, according to commentary, is his last ‘official’ event. This being an invitational, 4-man event
Stakes are high. Winner gets $110,000, the runner-up $75,000 according to commentary. Considerably more than Connors won for Wimbledon or US Open the previous year. Any doubts about the competitiveness of action should be erased at sight of an obviously tiring Connors throwing himself about with full commitment in the last quarter of the match
Action is hard hitting, baseline rally based. Negligible serve-volleying (just a little from Borg), and not much coming to net even. The two trade groundies from the back. Both hit hard. Connors FH to Borg BH is staple of play (the norm for the match up). There are considerably fewer direction changes and open court, moving-one-another side to side rallies than the pair’s usual (the usual being exceptionally high)
Looks more like a Connors-Lendl match up than a Connors-Borg
To be clear, there is moving opponent around play and all that fun stuff that characterize the rivalry - much more so than typical Connors-Lendl matches - its just low compared to other matches between the two. As are net approaches
Hard hitting and depth are the weapons on show, with both players using them. Connors hits less flat than his norm and Borg the opposite. The two have about the same net clearance, which is extremely unusual; usually, Borg has much higher, safer shots than Jimbo
Serve isn’t much of a factor. Borg has a meaty one, but very poor in-count of 43% limits what he can get out of it (also, a relatively slow court). Connors’ is beefed up a bit, though less than meaty - and even with Borg a tad off on returning, doesn’t get much out of the first shot
Coincidentally, both players make exactly 57 returns and both have 7 return errors (2 UEs, 5 FEs). In fact, even the distribution of errors is all but identical - both have 2 FH, 3 BH FEs. On the UE front, Jimbo has 1 of each wing, both of Borg’s are FHs
Low unreturned rates - Jimbo 12%, Borg 18%. That leaves play to decide matters, not the serve. And Jimbo has much better of things. He’s more consistent and Borg’s shot tolerance not being too good are 2 reasons for this. The other is his greater willingness to come forward to finish points - which he tends to do on key points, and does very, very well
If Borg had an equalizer up his sleeve, it’d be serve-volleying, but with 43% first serves in, that’s not much to go on and it isn’t a big factor
Basic Stats, Serve & Return
1st serve in - Jimbo 71%, Borg 43%
1st serve won - Jimbo 57%, Borg 59%
2nd serve won - Jimbo 53%, Borg 38%
The general pattern in the match-up is Borg winning big lot of his first serve points - and the 3 other serves going about 50-50, which obviously, humongously favours him to win
This match is deviating from that in a number of ways
First, the very low in count of 43% minimizes what Borg can get out of his much better serve
Second, he’s not getting much out of it. 59% is a poor yield of first serve points won
Third, Jimbo’s much better player and winning a lot more than 50% of the ‘50-50 prospects’ points
Borg with 6 aces but drawing just 7 errors is typical of him in that he’s a server who, other than when he’s not serving aces, isn’t too tough to return. But that’s not whats going on in this case; he sends down a number of excellent first serves - both powerful and well wide - but Jimbo makes the tough returns. Credit Jimbo. Returning tough serves isn’t his strongest point as a returner
2nd serve points won are clearest indicator of Jimbo playing much better than Borg, but there’s another, subtler sign. These tough returns Jimbo makes leaves him off-balance and Borg in prime position to take charge of the point
He doesn’t do too well at it. Sans aces, Borg’s won just 13/26 first serve points (and that’s including return errors). He’s winning 50% of points starting from strong position in rally (actually, lower than that when accounting for return errors). Not good from Borg’s point of view
Jimbo for his part serves well too. Some good wide ones, some nice ones to the FH surprising Borg (including a second serve ace - his only ace of the match) and generally deep. Borg still returns 88% of them, but it doesn’t come easily
Jimbo’s first serve isn’t just a point-starter here, as it so often is, but does give him some advantage but like Borg, he doesn’t make much use of it. Gets less advantage out of the serve than Borg does because his is weaker, but still, gets some. To follow up, he hits at most a ‘pressuring’ groundstroke rather than an attacking one, and more often, just a firm neutral one
He wins 57% first serve points because he’s the better player, but that’s a disappointing figure for him in light of how action runs. It’d have been a good figure were his serve a virtual 2nd serve as it often is
Borg’s very low 38% second serve points won in conjunction with low in count is... complicated from practical point of view. Obviously, a terrible number, but its not necessarily connected to his holding or not
He holds games where his in-count is 0/6 , 2/8, and 5/12 for example
In games he’s broken, he’s got decent in-counts - 4/6 (twice), 3/6 (twice), 4/8. Only in last game of match is he under 50% and gets broken 2/6
Play - Baselin & Net
Winners - Jimbo 17, Borg 18
Errors Forced - Jimbo 17, Borg 6
UEs - Jimbo 26, Borg 30
Aggressively ended points/UE differential - Jimbo +8, Borg -6
Action is better than the numbers, but numbers aren’t lying either. Not the best of matches, and on whole, a poor showing from Borg. Key to his showing is consistency and shot tolerance being down
The hitting is hard, and gets better in the second set. And both players go deep with their shots, giving the other some trouble to cope. For once, it doesn't take too much to get an error out of Borg. As “being tough to get an error out of” is almost his defining characterisitc, that leaves him with a lot of problems