Duel Match Stats/Reports - Courier vs C. Costa & Courier vs Ivanisevic, Rome finals, 1992 & 1993

[Waspsting]

Jim Courier beat Carlos Costa 7-6(3), 6-0, 6-4 in the Rome final, 1992 on clay

Courier would go onto win defend the French Open shortly afterwards. This was Costa’s only Masters final

Courier won 103 points, Costa 79

(Note: I’m missing the following data for 2 points

Set 1, Game 9, Point 3 - tracked via audio. Serve direction, corresponding return info is missing. Based on partial footage, point has been marked an unknown passing winner for Costa and a net point for Courier. Point was likely a serve-volley, but this has not been marked

Set 3, Game 6, Point 4 - serve direction and corresponding return type unknown)

Serve Stats
Courier...
- 1st serve percentage (62/97) 64%
- 1st serve points won (49/62) 79%
- 2nd serve points won (15/35) 43%
- Aces 8, Service Winners 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (24/97) 25%

Costa...
- 1st serve percentage (40/85) 47%
- 1st serve points won (28/40) 70%
- 2nd serve points won (18/45) 40%
- Aces 4 (1 not clean)
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (21/85) 25%

Serve Patterns
Courier served...
- to FH 42%
- to BH 53%
- to Body 5%

Costa served...
- to FH 34%
- to BH 57%
- to Body 9%

Return Stats
Courier made...
- 61 (45 FH, 16 BH), including 16 runaround FHs
- 17 Errors, comprising...
- 6 Unforced (5 FH, 1 BH), including 3 runaround FHs
- 11 Forced (3 FH, 8 BH)
- Return Rate (61/82) 74%

Costa made...
- 73 (30 FH, 41 BH, 2 ??), including 3 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 15 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (2 FH, 3 BH)
- 10 Forced (4 FH, 6 BH)
- Return Rate (73/97) 75%

Break Points
Courier 6/11 (7 games)
Costa 2/12 (6 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Courier 19 (8 FH, 2 BH, 5 FHV, 2 BHV, 2 OH)
Costa 15 (6 FH, 2 BH, 3 BHV, 3 OH) + 1 unknown

Courier's FHs - 2 cc, 1 inside-out, 2 inside-in (1 pass at net), 1 inside-in/cc, 1 drop shot, 1 running-down-drop-shot dtl/inside-out pass at net
- BHs - 1 cc pass (1 handed), 1 longline (not clean)

- 3 from serve-volley points - 2 first volleys (1 FHV, 1 BHV) & 1 second volley (1 BHV)

- 1 other FHV was a baseline shot and a pass

Costa's FHs - 2 cc, 1 dtl, 1 dtl/inside-out pass, 2 net chord dribblers
- BHs - 1 dtl, 1 inside-in return
- 1 unknown passing shot (a FH or a BH)

- 1 BHV was a lot and 1 OH was on the bounce and can reasonably be called a FH cc at net

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Courier 43
- 34 Unforced (26 FH, 7 BH, 1 FHV)
- 9 Forced (3 FH, 5 BH, 1 FHV)... with 1 BH at net & 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 43.5

Costa 57
- 34 Unforced (12 FH, 19 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH)
- 23 Forced (12 FH, 8 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 43.2

(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
Courier was...
- 27/35 (77%) at net, including...
- 6/7 (86%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 1/1 forced back

Costa was...
- 15/30 (50%) at net, including...
- 6/9 (67%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 6/8 (75%) off 1st serve and....
- 0/1 off 2nd serve
---
- 0/4 forced back

Match Report
Disappointing match after a good start. First set is both good and competitive. Thereafter, the tennis slips beneath mediocrity and not just from Costa. Suffice to say, a less than impressive Courier has better of a poor Costa

Carlos Costa has a big first serve, with an unusual action. Feet excessively wide apart and pointing in opposing directions, with back leg curled to give him a bow-legged look. Does a funny thing with his racquet just prior to ball toss too. The important thing is, he has a big, strong first serve

Of limited use when he can only make 47% of them. Has different runs of missing 11 and 6 first serves in a row. And his second start is just a point starter. Note Courier with huge 16 runaround FHs. He does so in both courts. He leans back easily to hit FHs to body serves. He does all this while standing way over to side or middle to be ready for a FH return to start with. Despite Costa serving just 34% serves to FH, 45/61 of Courier’s returns are off his favoured wing

Courier with a healthy serve of his own, the first not as strong as Costa’s, but Costa’s shot tolerance (on the return and otherwise) isn’t good. And good, high kicked seconds. Good enough serving at 64%

Both players with 25% unreturned serves is gist of it, and then they rally

Winners - Courier 19, Costa 15
Errors Forced - Courier 23, Costa 9
UEs - both 34

(Deceptively) good figures from Courier, not good ones from Costa, but not unexpected given he takes a bagel and the surface. So what’s the problem?

UEFI - Courier 43.5, Costa 43.2, and UE breakdown -
- Defensive - both 1
- Neutral - Courier 24, Costa 25
- Attacking - Courier 4, Costa 3
- Winner Attempts - both 5

About as evenly matched a distribution as you’ll ever see. Like many clay matches, neutral rallying is staple. High UEs isn’t necessarily sign of bad play, depending on length or rallies and intensity of hitting

Rallies aren’t long and hitting isn’t intense

Nothing positive stands out in Costa’s shots of either wing. Seems to be a mildly BH favouring player. Ordinary power, consistency and shot tolerance of both sides. At his best in first set, he doesn’t make UEs readily. Thereafter, he does - while not hitting hard and being troubled (including giving up errors) by even slightly harder hit shots from Courier, especially BHs. Plenty of regulation third ball ground errors. Any looped deep return has him falling back and looking in a tangle (and also, likely to draw error). Movement is average too. And as one might surmises from such groundies, his passing attempts are harmless

And Courier? He’s got 26 FH UEs to just 7 BHs. Super solid BH and aggressive FH?

No. Costa’s shots are light enough that Courier plays neutral FHs from all parts of the court. He has low BHs because he chooses not to play many (and Costa can’t force or even pressure him to). cc or line FHs from deuce court, inside-out or inside-in/longlines from ad. Neutral shots, rarely aggressive even with inside-out

 

[Waspsting]

His BH isn’t super solid and his FH isn't aggressive. His BH isn’t called upon because opposition isn’t strong enough to make him use it and his FH is just loose with the neutral errors. To blackmark extent

Occasional, strong FHs from Courier but they’re the exception. This is no beat-down showing, it’s a passive rallying one, with both players giving up UEs regularly and in short rallies, with good lot of mishits thrown in (especially Costa). UEs by shot -
- Courier BH 7
- Costa FH 12
- Courier FH 26
- Costa BH 29

A fair reflection. Costa BH the weakest, most error prone. Courier’s FH not far behind. Costa’s FH is harmless and not secure either (it just looks that way because other shots are even worse). Only Courier’s BH with an impressive showing (because its not in use much, as much as it being particularly steady)

With Courier’s FH being the only shot that can do some damage sometime
Baseline to baseline FH winners - Courier 6, Costa 3 (discounting 2 net chord dribblers)

The big difference in play is the FEs - Costa with 23, Courier just 9
For starters, forcing just 9 errors speaks to Costa lacking firepower. Courier’s no defensive giant here, its just that he’s rarely tested. And most of Costa’s high 23 FEs are passing attempts

Net points - Courier 27/35, Costa 15/30
Rallying to net - Courier 21/27, Costa 9/21

Courier’s at his best when hitting moderately hard (harder than neutral at least) and coming in behind. Anything hit harder than neutral is liable to discomfit Costa (and have good chance of drawing an error beyond that), so chances of Costa getting good pass off is very small - and so it proves. Clockwork winning formula for Courier to come in behind such shots. Costa has 1 passing winner and most of the other points Courier loses are dealing with drop shots or net-to-net situations. Basically, he comes to net voluntarily, he wins the point, QED. Good for Courier, but Costa’s inability to pass with any kind of authority is a factor in such huge success

Could probably have made his life a lot easier by coming in more rather than have these neutral baseline rallies, where his own FH is pretty sloppy

Costa does not have that luxury. For starters, he doesn’t seem to have it in him to get the odd harder hit ball off and when does come in, he’s not too good on the volley (3 UEs, to Courier’s 1) and Courier does get strong passes off (3 FEs to Courier’s 1). So just 50% net points won for Costa and rallying to net, its 9/21 or 43%

Basically, other than serving powerfully for a bit at the start, Costa has no game

Match Progression
Good, bright first set which has no breaks in going to tiebreak

Courier serves 43 points, Costa 38 for their 6 holds
Break points - Courier 0/1, Costa 0/6 (2 games), including having 0-40

Safe to say, Costa has better of the set leading into the breaker. His serve is powerful and he gets match high 57% of them in (other two sets, its 31% and 41%), while remaining consistent off the ground, though not threatening. Some net play and serve-volley gives his court game teeth. Courier meanwhile has his own good serve and his harder hitter from the back, parleying that to taking net to finish

For the set, Courier has 10 winners, forces 13 errors, 18 UEs
Costa has 9 winners, forces 3 errors, 12 UEs

After holding to open, Courier has a break point in second game. Costa comes through it with strong serves. Boots on the other leg few games later, and its Courier who has to save 3 break points, which he does and goes on to hold also largely through powerful serves

Returning at 4-4, Costa strikes 3 winners to reach 0-40. He gets into rallies on 2 of the break points, including a long rally where he’s lobbed back from net to carry on trading groundies. Courier holds steady and Costa blinks up the errors before Courier goes on to hold

Next game, Courier vapourizes a 1-handed BH cc pass for a winner. He goes with 1 hand to maximize, full swinging power not because he’s stretched out

Tiebreak. A good, not obviously there attacking FH dtl/inside-out leads to Courier taking net and gaining mini-break for 4-2 lead - and he stays strong and steady off the ground to take the game and set 7-3 awhile later

For rest of match, Courier has 9 winners, forces 10 errors, 16 UEs
Costa has 6 winners, forces 6 errors, 22 UEs

Ordinary stuff, to say the least. Costa’s terrible in the second set. Wins 4 points his 3 service games, while Courier holds to love twice. The remaining game is competitive, Courier saving break point in 10 pointer. Just 5/16 first serves for Costa and he gives up cheap errors quickly off the ground

Can’t get much worse, so third set is an improvement for Costa, though he’s still well shy of good. Good enough to hang not far behind a not very good Courier

Net play gets Courier out of 15-40 jam to hold for 1-1, before the two trade breaks. Bad, error ridden game by Costa to get broken (not abnormal or unexpected by this stage). Courier’s FH falters some to hand the break back in a game that opens with a lively rally that Costa finishes with a running FH dtl winner. One of the few good rallies in the match

No matter, as Courier makes it 3 breaks in a row and adds another next time of asking for 5-2. Notable baseline FHV passing winner from Courier in the latter game, though Costa double faulting twice and playing a strange, defensive FH that he misses to a normal ball have bigger hand in the outcome

Costa surprisingly breaks to prolong match, but Courier serves things out second time of asking, finishing with an ace and his sole service winner of the match

Summing up, not a good match. The highlight is the first set, which is both good and competitive with Costa serving big and hanging in the rallies. Rest of match is at best, mundane from Courier and poor from Costa - with much of it below average from Courier and Costa worse still

Save a powerful first serve, which he can only get in 47% of the time, Costa has almost nothing going for him. Inconsistent returning and off the ground, he has neither power, consistency or good shot resistance. Or even movement. And can scarcely get a decent pass off, which just as a percentage, one would expect him to do now and then, but no

Courier too is often sloppy off the ground, though with his opponents lack of power, is able to play FHs from all over the court so its that wing alone that’s loose with errors. Only occasionally does he hit powerfully, and its usually enough to trouble Costa. Coming to net behind a moderate strong shot is almost guaranteed point winner

A weak showing from Costa takes eye, but wouldn’t be betting on Courier for the next French Open on the strength of this showing either (he did win the French Open right afterwards)

 

[Waspsting]

Courier beat Goran Ivanisevic 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 in the Rome final, 1993 on clay

Courier would lose in the final of French Open shortly after. This was Ivanisevic’s first clay Masters final

Courier won 90 points, Ivanisevic 65

(Note: I’m missing partial data for 1 point
Set 2, Game 3, Point 1 - serve direction and return type - an Ivanisevic first serve that drew a return error)

Serve Stats
Courier...
- 1st serve percentage (46/78) 59%
- 1st serve points won (38/46) 83%
- 2nd serve points won (14/32) 44%
- Aces 4
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (20/78) 26%

Ivanisevic...
- 1st serve percentage (41/77) 53%
- 1st serve points won (24/41) 59%
- 2nd serve points won (15/36) 42%
- Aces 6 (1 second serve), Service Winners 1 (a second serve)
- Double Faults 5
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (16/77) 21%

Serve Patterns
Courier served...
- to FH 26%
- to BH 72%
- to Body 1%

Ivanisevic served...
- to FH 30%
- to BH 66%
- to Body 4%

Return Stats
Courier made...
- 56 (18 FH, 38 BH), including 2 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 9 Errors, comprising...
- 1 Unforced (1 FH)
- 7 Forced (2 FH, 5 BH)
- 1 ?? (against a first serve)
- Return Rate (56/72) 78%

Ivanisevic made...
- 56 (14 FH, 42 BH)
- 16 Errors, comprising...
- 9 Unforced (3 FH, 6 BH)
- 7 Forced (7 BH)
- Return Rate (56/76) 74%

Break Points
Courier 6/14 (6 games)
Ivanisevic 0/4 (3 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Courier 15 (6 FH, 2 BH, 4 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 BH1/2V, 1 BHOH)
Ivanisevic 21 (7 FH, 9 BH, 2 FHV, 2 BHV, 1 OH)

Courier's FHs - 2 cc passes, 1 inside-out, 1 lob (not clean), 2 net chord dribblers (1 return)
- BHs - 1 cc pass, 1 inside-out

- the BHOH can reasonably be called a BHV

Ivanisevic's FHs - 2 dtl (1 pass), 4 inside-out, 1 inside-in
- BHs - 4 cc (1 pass), 1 inside-out/dtl, 3 drop shots, 1 lob (sliced)

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

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Courier 26
- 16 Unforced (13 FH, 2 BH, 1 BHV)
- 10 Forced (4 FH, 3 BH, 3 BHV)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45

Ivanisevic 50
- 37 Unforced (12 FH, 23 BH, 2 FHV)
- 13 Forced (7 FH, 5 BH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.9

(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
Courier was 17/26 (65%) at net

Ivanisevic was...
- 10/16 (63%) at net, including...
- 2/5 (40%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves

Match Report
Similar but considerably better match than previous year. Courier is genuinely impressive and Ivanisevic not as bad as the scoreline might suggest. Court is low bouncing, with ball prone to dying amidst normal baseline rallies

Basic nature of action is very much like previous year. With Goran, coping with big serving is of course a given and Courier does dandily

Just 21% freebies for Goran, who serves at 53% (Costa had 25%, serving at 47%). His first serve ace rate is 12% (Courier’s is 9% here and Costa’s was 10%) and he has 2 second serve unreturnables too. Just a thin edge there and otherwise, Goran serving with brute force - and Courier’s upto handling it. Just 9 return errors, while being aced/service winnered 7 times

Hints at a weakness in the great server’s first shot; its more about pace than precise placement for him. That might do the job on faster surfaces, but not clay (and plenty of credit to Courier for shot tolerance on the return too, no doubt big serving has substantial hand in Goran’s success on clay, which is greater than his hard court record)

Unlike Costa, Goran has power off the ground off both sides. Scores a number of third ball winners with FH inside-out (4 winners - Courier has 6 FHs total, including 1 not clean and 2 net chord dribblers) and BH cc (3 winners - Courier has 2 total BHs)

More importantly, like Costa, he can’t keep ball in play as well as Courier. Whereas Costa was plain ‘ol bad at it, more credit here to Courier’s solidity for contributing to that state of affairs. Courier isn’t a wall and Goran isn’t left with no choice but to miss (as can sometimes happen on clay), but better stock consistency from Goran than Costa (and of course, with considerable force behind his shots)

Key stats -
Ground UEs - Courier 15, Goran 35
Neutral UEs - Courier 11, Goran 23

Finally, like the ‘92 final, Courier playing FHs at will, especially in first half of match. In this case, this case, Goran’s limited variety has something to do with it. He has the power to at least have it be that balls he hits to BH have to be played by the BH, unlike Costa, but he barely hits a dtl shot. Later on, he plays a few BH longline shots and Courier has to play more BHs. The shot is very steady

Ground UEs -
Courier BH 2
FHs - Courier 13, Goran 12
Goran BH 23

Usually, just 2 BH UEs amidst so much baseline action would be top drawer stuff. Here, its very good, but shy of that because infrequency of use has large hand in the low count

These 2 matches together is supporting general takes on Courier’s game of always moving over to play FHs, and while the FH is strong, its not an overwhelming or brutal dictator of a shot. And the BH is strong (firmly struck, and obviously, consistent). Courier isn’t slow but he isn’t so fast that one would think he’d be able to indulge his preferred wing to extent he does. He certainly isn’t able to in his matches against Andre Agassi at the French Open

Finally, like ‘92 final, Courier at his best and most comfortable when hitting hard and coming in to net to finish. He’s 17/26 at net, all rally approaches. Often helped, if not entirely set up by the serve - powerful serve, not-strong return, big groundie and approach is Courier’s best offensive play

 

[Waspsting]

What else? Goran not too good handling not-easy returns. Made to look worse by how steady Courier is in handling force on the second shot. Powerful, wide but reachable serves draws errors from him. Courier by contrast is able to return tougher serves. For that matter, healthy paced serves in swing zone have fair chance of drawing error too, while Courier rarely misses those

Return errors
- UEs - Courier 1, Goran 9
- FEs - Courier 7, Goran 7 (Courier misses an additional first return, probably an FE but with no visual on the shot)

There is scope for Courier to have more UEs and its not a he doesn’t see anything other than huge serve match. Just very steady returning and lots of credit to Courier for it. Goran isn’t problematically bad either - he gives up 26% freebies, which can be ticked down for his benefit, but isn’t a big problem from hi point of view

Like ‘92 match, similar low second serve points for both players (Courier 44%, Goran 42%). Courier’s 83% first serve points dwarfs Goran’s 59% though. He’s not overly aggressive, but combo of freebies and keeping foot on pedal when drawing not strong returns, especially when coming to net, is hall mark of Courier’s superiority

That, coupled with preventing Goran from doing the same by returning firmly. And Goran preferring to go for winners from the back (which he’s not bad at, he’s got 8 winner attempt UEs - 2 of them easy volleys - for 21 winners) rather than come in to finish. Fair few drop shots among Goran’s aggressive shots - he’s got 3 winners, and about the same number of errors trying (with some misses by huge margins)

Very little serve-volleying from Goran. Just 5 times, and he only wins 2. So he rallies forward just 11 times to Courier’s 26. He shares control of neutral rallies - as evidenced by both players’ 2nd serve points won - but hitting from both players is good enough that manufacturing an approach wouldn’t be easy, or something that anyone other than an all-out net player would be likely to do

Some good passing from both players, as promised by their regular groundies, so both need good approach shots. Courier showing better instincts and utilizing smarter way of attacking by coming in behind strong shots (including when not overly helped by serve set up), rather than Goran’s tendancy to go for winners from the back (which sans the serve set up, isn’t good)

Still, Goran with 21-15 lead in winners, though trailing errors forced by 3. Its the big UE discrepancy of 16-37 that makes Courier’s life so comfy. And that’s all about the BHs, where the lead he enjoys is 2-23 - superb from him (even in light of not having to hit too many BHs), poor from Goran who has power but can’t keep it in play for long and very little variety. Its all firm cc shots from him with barely a dtl the to be seen

Match Progression
First set is competitive for a breadstick. After being broken to love to go down 0-2, Goran has 3 break points across his next 2 return games, while holding to love in between. And he gives up second break in a long 14 point game

Still, a breadstick is a breadstick. Goran’s loose off the ground, a little less loose on the return and usually misses the tougher returns (which aren’t as tough as the ones Courier makes regularly). Courier plays maybe 2 BHs the whole set, to exaggerate and his FH is hefty shot. He’s at his best when hitting is way to net and finishing there. He has 8 approaches after 5 games. Goran’s first is a serve-volley in game 6 and he doesn’t rally forward until 40th point of match. Its his only non- serve-volley trip to net all set - and he’s lobbed for a (non-clean) winner on it

For that matter, second set is competitive for a brace too. Sets on serve at 2-2 before Courier wins next 4 games. His breaks take 14 and 8 points respectively and he serves out to deuce

Goran holds opening game in second with 3 straight aces, his first of the match. And holds to love for 2-1. Courier with a rare BH inside-out’ish winner in the set. From mid/late part of set, Goran starts playing more to Courier’s BH, which sees minority of action from there to the end - a step up from barely being seen at all

Third set follows same pattern as second with things on serve to 2-2 before Courier wins rest of games. Action isn’t quite dual winged, but Courier’s BH comes into play with Goran playing FH cc’s (rather than go for inside-outs to corner) and a few not-weak BH longlines. Pick of the shots is Goran with a touch, BH slice lob winner to a very low ball, but in between is all the UEs that keep Courier well ahead of the curve

Goran has break point as Courier serves out the match, with 3 successive FH UEs ending it

Summing up, strong showing from Courier and better than the ‘92 final. His ability to handle the brute force of Ivanisevic’s serve stands out and he’s at his best when hitting his way to net to finish. Powerful FH which he again uses at will much of the time and BH is rock solid when its called upon a bit in second half of the match

Ivanisevic struggles some on the return against a serve less potent than his own and though hard hitting, is loose off the ground, especially off the BH. He goes for his shots - BH cc and drop shots and FH inside-outs his chief attacking play - from the back rather than look to move forward, with fair success, but is the one to give up the errors as rallies go on