Michael Chang beat Stefan Edberg 6-2, 7-5 in the Cincinnati final, 1994 on hard court
The match was a repeat of previous years final, which had the same result. Chang would go on to lose the final the following 2 years to Andre Agassi. Edberg had previously won the title in '90 and '87
Chang won 64 points, Edberg 37
Edberg serve-volleyed off all but 2 first serves and majority off the time off seconds
Serve Stats
Chang...
- 1st serve percentage (27/49) 55%
- 1st serve points won (21/27) 78%
- 2nd serve points won (17/22) 77%
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (12/49) 24%
Edberg...
- 1st serve percentage (37/52) 71%
- 1st serve points won (18/37) 49%
- 2nd serve points won (8/15) 53%
- Aces 1
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (10/52) 19%
Serve Patterns
Chang served...
- to FH 59%
- to BH 24%
- to Body 16%
Edberg served...
- to FH 54%
- to BH 26%
- to Body 20%
Return Stats
Chang made...
- 40 (22 FH, 18 BH)
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 9 Errors, all forced...
- 9 Forced (6 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (40/50) 80%
Edberg made...
- 37 (21 FH, 16 BH), including 2 runaround BHs & 8 return-approaches
- 12 Errors, comprising...
- 6 Unforced (3 FH, 3 BH), including 5 return-approach attempts
- 6 Forced (4 FH, 2 BH)
- Return Rate (37/49) 76%
Break Points
Chang 4/5 (4 games)
Edberg 1/1
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Chang 13 (5 FH, 6 BH, 2 FHV)
Edberg 13 (1 FH, 1 BH, 2 FHV, 5 BHV, 4 OH)
Chang had 10 passes - (3 FH, 6 BH, 1 FHV)
- FHs - 1 cc , 1 cc/longline at net (a net chord pop over) and 1 lob
- BHs - 2 cc, 2 dtl, 1 inside-out and 1 inside-in return
- FHV - a swinging, non-net shot
- regular FHs - 1 dtl and 1 inside-in
Edberg had 8 from serve-volley points -
- 2 first volleys (2 BHV)
- 5 second 'volleys' (1 FHV, 2 BHV, 2 OH)... 1 OH was on the bounce
- 1 third volley (1 OH)
- 2 from return-approach points (1 BHV, 1 OH)
- 2 passes - 1 FH cc and 1 BH dtl
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Chang 14
- 3 Unforced (1 FH, 2 BH, 1 FHV)
- 11 Forced (4 FH, 6 BH, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.7
Edberg 37
- 28 Unforced (11 FH, 6 BH, 5 FHV, 6 BHV)... with 1 FH at net & 1 BH at net
- 9 Forced (1 FH, 2 BH, 2 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 2 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 49.3
(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 for these two matches are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)
Net Points & Serve-Volley
Chang was 5/9 (56%) at net
Edberg was...
- 30/59 (51%) at net, including...
- 22/42 (52%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 17/34 (50%) off 1st serve and...
- 5/8 (63%) off 2nd serve
---
- 4/8 (50%) return-approaching
Match Report
One sided match, good from Chang and poor from Edberg - more poor from Edberg than good from Chang, whose scope to shine is limited by Edberg's poor play - on a normal hard court
Its an out and out net player vs baseliner affair
Edberg serve-volleys 94% off first serves (all but twice) and 62% off second serves, making his service games serve-volleyer vs return-passer encounters.
Chang starts his service games on baseline and sans Edberg straining to return-approach without much success, play starts and usually ends on baseline
Despite dynamic, Chang's service games go by as quickly as Edberg's. And he's holding much more readily. 78% first serve points won, 77% seconds - with no aces or doubles - and facing just the 1 break point
4 holds to love, 3 to 15 and the other 2 to 30. Clockwork routine service games from Chang
He serves mostly to Edberg's FH, directing 59% serves there and also a big 16% to body, which is common enough against Edberg. Decent serve, with odd powerful wide one thrown in. No problem making the conventional return for Edberg. 5/6 of his UEs are return-approach attempts and otherwise, just 7 errors (6 forced)
Its necessary for Edberg to be trying to return-approach so much because he's slaughtered from the baseline, with baseline-to-baseline UEs reading Chang a miserly 3, Edberg 15
From the back, firm to hard hitting shots by Chang off both wings. Edberg can meet the ball without trouble, but his shots lack force (off both sides) and errors don't take long in coming. Its not that Edberg's poor or Chang is outstanding... it looks the 2 are in different leagues of baseliner. Rallies are closer to 'beat-down' than 'out-last' but short of beat-down
Coming off that far behind from the back, Edberg has little choice but to come to net as soon as possible, so good idea to try to return approach. He's 4/8 when he manages, but that's discounting the 5 errors trying
Meanwhile, Edberg serve-volleys on his games. Chang takes returns early - from about on the baseline against 1st serves and a bit in front of that against 2nds. He returns firmly around net high. Not powerfully and not going wide for winner attempts. Good starting point for testing the volleyer. And at 80% return rate - achievable against Edberg, but returning has to be top notch. Chang's is in clinical, unstrained way
A bit curiously, Edberg too serves predominantly to FH, directing 54% serves there, with for him, normal large 20% to body. Serving bulk to FH against Edberg is common enough. Not sure about Chang, who looks like an equally-strong-off-either-side returner.
Edberg is a mess on the net high or just under regulation volley. 11 UEs on the volley (+ 2 groundstrokes at net) to 6 FEs speaks to it. The volleys he misses are routine-to-put-in-play balls, not easy to dispatch
On follow up pass, Chang is typically vigorous in running everything down and giving Edberg another volley to make. More accurately, usually an OH
Against regulation, away from Chang without finishing point volleys (which Chang's firm returns slightly under net encourage), Chang flashes to ball and goes for the pass. And he's very good at it. Edberg would have to make better first volleys - and that would take ambitious vigour. The kinds of volleys Edberg goes for are normal against the kind of returns Chang makes... credit Chang for this part of play. I'd say Edberg volleyed exceptionally if he'd left particularly difficult passing chances from these kinds of returns, not that he didn't volley well to leave 'normal' passing chances. Not lined up ones, but normal that Chang can reach without trouble (and he can reach a lot with trouble) and take a reasonable shot on
Chang with 10 passing winners to 11 volleying ones from Edberg isn't likely to end well for Edberg. Its a trainwreck when Edberg's high 13 forecourt UEs are thrown in (Chang has just 10 groundstroke FEs - virtually all passes)
Chang also does his best against the good volleys to balls above net that Edberg attacks to leave low percentage passing chances. Chang runs them down and throws up very good lobs. Edberg isn't convincing looking on the back-pedalling OH, but manages to eventually come out on top when he's forced to play them
In nutshell, good, consistent firm returning from Chang to tune of making volley-pass battle a potentially good contest. Edberg messing up on routine volleys makes it something less than that
Match Progression
Chang wins first 11 points of the match, with Edberg serving first
Break to love with Edberg making 4 quick UEs (3 of them volleys), a hold to love (2 Edberg UEs - 1 volley) and then a strong return game from Chang to break again, though that also ends with Edberg missing routine volley. Edberg snaps the streak with his sole break of the match. 2 of Chang's 3 match UEs are in the game
No respite on serve for Edberg though, and he's broken right after to 15 in another strong return game. Staying back of a first serve and coming in from rallying doesn't help - Chang passes him BH cc. After 5 games, Chang's won 18 points, Edberg 6
Rest of match is more normal, going on serve til the end. Even then, Chang has considerably better of it. He gives away precious little on the return and makes Edberg work for every net point won. And is clinically superior from the baseline. Edberg looks to return-approach - occasionally against first serves, which are strong enough that that's desperate. Justified, because Edberg is in a desperate situation with Chang outplaying him without strain from the back
Chang's maniacal tendency to chase balls bears a fruit at start of game 11, when he comes away with a net to net FH dtl the middle, net chord pop over pass winner. Wouldn't have blamed him for not chasing Edberg's first volley, let alone the second. And Edberg throws out 3 forecourt UEs after to be broken to love, before Chang serves it out
Summing up, strong showing from Chang. He returns consistently, taking the ball early and hitting firmly around net high at least. Edberg misses a host of routine volleys. Chang chases down any normal volleys to make Edberg work for points even when he's got a good volley off and is excellent when he's got a reasonable shot on the pass. On flip side, Chang is clinically superior in outplaying Edberg from the back with great consistency and decent hitting
Good match from Chang, a poor one from Edberg. More the latter, capping how well Chang is allowed to play in winning comfortably
Stats for Edberg's semi with Michael Stich - Match Stats/Report - Edberg vs Stich, Cincinnati semi-final, 1994 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)
The match was a repeat of previous years final, which had the same result. Chang would go on to lose the final the following 2 years to Andre Agassi. Edberg had previously won the title in '90 and '87
Chang won 64 points, Edberg 37
Edberg serve-volleyed off all but 2 first serves and majority off the time off seconds
Serve Stats
Chang...
- 1st serve percentage (27/49) 55%
- 1st serve points won (21/27) 78%
- 2nd serve points won (17/22) 77%
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (12/49) 24%
Edberg...
- 1st serve percentage (37/52) 71%
- 1st serve points won (18/37) 49%
- 2nd serve points won (8/15) 53%
- Aces 1
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (10/52) 19%
Serve Patterns
Chang served...
- to FH 59%
- to BH 24%
- to Body 16%
Edberg served...
- to FH 54%
- to BH 26%
- to Body 20%
Return Stats
Chang made...
- 40 (22 FH, 18 BH)
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 9 Errors, all forced...
- 9 Forced (6 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (40/50) 80%
Edberg made...
- 37 (21 FH, 16 BH), including 2 runaround BHs & 8 return-approaches
- 12 Errors, comprising...
- 6 Unforced (3 FH, 3 BH), including 5 return-approach attempts
- 6 Forced (4 FH, 2 BH)
- Return Rate (37/49) 76%
Break Points
Chang 4/5 (4 games)
Edberg 1/1
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Chang 13 (5 FH, 6 BH, 2 FHV)
Edberg 13 (1 FH, 1 BH, 2 FHV, 5 BHV, 4 OH)
Chang had 10 passes - (3 FH, 6 BH, 1 FHV)
- FHs - 1 cc , 1 cc/longline at net (a net chord pop over) and 1 lob
- BHs - 2 cc, 2 dtl, 1 inside-out and 1 inside-in return
- FHV - a swinging, non-net shot
- regular FHs - 1 dtl and 1 inside-in
Edberg had 8 from serve-volley points -
- 2 first volleys (2 BHV)
- 5 second 'volleys' (1 FHV, 2 BHV, 2 OH)... 1 OH was on the bounce
- 1 third volley (1 OH)
- 2 from return-approach points (1 BHV, 1 OH)
- 2 passes - 1 FH cc and 1 BH dtl
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Chang 14
- 3 Unforced (1 FH, 2 BH, 1 FHV)
- 11 Forced (4 FH, 6 BH, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.7
Edberg 37
- 28 Unforced (11 FH, 6 BH, 5 FHV, 6 BHV)... with 1 FH at net & 1 BH at net
- 9 Forced (1 FH, 2 BH, 2 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 2 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 49.3
(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 for these two matches are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)
Net Points & Serve-Volley
Chang was 5/9 (56%) at net
Edberg was...
- 30/59 (51%) at net, including...
- 22/42 (52%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 17/34 (50%) off 1st serve and...
- 5/8 (63%) off 2nd serve
---
- 4/8 (50%) return-approaching
Match Report
One sided match, good from Chang and poor from Edberg - more poor from Edberg than good from Chang, whose scope to shine is limited by Edberg's poor play - on a normal hard court
Its an out and out net player vs baseliner affair
Edberg serve-volleys 94% off first serves (all but twice) and 62% off second serves, making his service games serve-volleyer vs return-passer encounters.
Chang starts his service games on baseline and sans Edberg straining to return-approach without much success, play starts and usually ends on baseline
Despite dynamic, Chang's service games go by as quickly as Edberg's. And he's holding much more readily. 78% first serve points won, 77% seconds - with no aces or doubles - and facing just the 1 break point
4 holds to love, 3 to 15 and the other 2 to 30. Clockwork routine service games from Chang
He serves mostly to Edberg's FH, directing 59% serves there and also a big 16% to body, which is common enough against Edberg. Decent serve, with odd powerful wide one thrown in. No problem making the conventional return for Edberg. 5/6 of his UEs are return-approach attempts and otherwise, just 7 errors (6 forced)
Its necessary for Edberg to be trying to return-approach so much because he's slaughtered from the baseline, with baseline-to-baseline UEs reading Chang a miserly 3, Edberg 15
From the back, firm to hard hitting shots by Chang off both wings. Edberg can meet the ball without trouble, but his shots lack force (off both sides) and errors don't take long in coming. Its not that Edberg's poor or Chang is outstanding... it looks the 2 are in different leagues of baseliner. Rallies are closer to 'beat-down' than 'out-last' but short of beat-down
Coming off that far behind from the back, Edberg has little choice but to come to net as soon as possible, so good idea to try to return approach. He's 4/8 when he manages, but that's discounting the 5 errors trying
Meanwhile, Edberg serve-volleys on his games. Chang takes returns early - from about on the baseline against 1st serves and a bit in front of that against 2nds. He returns firmly around net high. Not powerfully and not going wide for winner attempts. Good starting point for testing the volleyer. And at 80% return rate - achievable against Edberg, but returning has to be top notch. Chang's is in clinical, unstrained way
A bit curiously, Edberg too serves predominantly to FH, directing 54% serves there, with for him, normal large 20% to body. Serving bulk to FH against Edberg is common enough. Not sure about Chang, who looks like an equally-strong-off-either-side returner.
Edberg is a mess on the net high or just under regulation volley. 11 UEs on the volley (+ 2 groundstrokes at net) to 6 FEs speaks to it. The volleys he misses are routine-to-put-in-play balls, not easy to dispatch
On follow up pass, Chang is typically vigorous in running everything down and giving Edberg another volley to make. More accurately, usually an OH
Against regulation, away from Chang without finishing point volleys (which Chang's firm returns slightly under net encourage), Chang flashes to ball and goes for the pass. And he's very good at it. Edberg would have to make better first volleys - and that would take ambitious vigour. The kinds of volleys Edberg goes for are normal against the kind of returns Chang makes... credit Chang for this part of play. I'd say Edberg volleyed exceptionally if he'd left particularly difficult passing chances from these kinds of returns, not that he didn't volley well to leave 'normal' passing chances. Not lined up ones, but normal that Chang can reach without trouble (and he can reach a lot with trouble) and take a reasonable shot on
Chang with 10 passing winners to 11 volleying ones from Edberg isn't likely to end well for Edberg. Its a trainwreck when Edberg's high 13 forecourt UEs are thrown in (Chang has just 10 groundstroke FEs - virtually all passes)
Chang also does his best against the good volleys to balls above net that Edberg attacks to leave low percentage passing chances. Chang runs them down and throws up very good lobs. Edberg isn't convincing looking on the back-pedalling OH, but manages to eventually come out on top when he's forced to play them
In nutshell, good, consistent firm returning from Chang to tune of making volley-pass battle a potentially good contest. Edberg messing up on routine volleys makes it something less than that
Match Progression
Chang wins first 11 points of the match, with Edberg serving first
Break to love with Edberg making 4 quick UEs (3 of them volleys), a hold to love (2 Edberg UEs - 1 volley) and then a strong return game from Chang to break again, though that also ends with Edberg missing routine volley. Edberg snaps the streak with his sole break of the match. 2 of Chang's 3 match UEs are in the game
No respite on serve for Edberg though, and he's broken right after to 15 in another strong return game. Staying back of a first serve and coming in from rallying doesn't help - Chang passes him BH cc. After 5 games, Chang's won 18 points, Edberg 6
Rest of match is more normal, going on serve til the end. Even then, Chang has considerably better of it. He gives away precious little on the return and makes Edberg work for every net point won. And is clinically superior from the baseline. Edberg looks to return-approach - occasionally against first serves, which are strong enough that that's desperate. Justified, because Edberg is in a desperate situation with Chang outplaying him without strain from the back
Chang's maniacal tendency to chase balls bears a fruit at start of game 11, when he comes away with a net to net FH dtl the middle, net chord pop over pass winner. Wouldn't have blamed him for not chasing Edberg's first volley, let alone the second. And Edberg throws out 3 forecourt UEs after to be broken to love, before Chang serves it out
Summing up, strong showing from Chang. He returns consistently, taking the ball early and hitting firmly around net high at least. Edberg misses a host of routine volleys. Chang chases down any normal volleys to make Edberg work for points even when he's got a good volley off and is excellent when he's got a reasonable shot on the pass. On flip side, Chang is clinically superior in outplaying Edberg from the back with great consistency and decent hitting
Good match from Chang, a poor one from Edberg. More the latter, capping how well Chang is allowed to play in winning comfortably
Stats for Edberg's semi with Michael Stich - Match Stats/Report - Edberg vs Stich, Cincinnati semi-final, 1994 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)
