Roger Federer beat James Blake 7-5, 6-3, 6-0 in the Indian Wells final, 2006 on hard court
Federer had recently won the Australian Open and was the two time defending champion at this event. Blake was playing his first Masters final and the result saw him enter the top 10 for the first time.
Federer won 102 points, Blake 66
(Note: on a small number of points, I've made confident guesses about serve type)
Serve Stats
Federer...
- 1st serve percentage (46/79) 58%
- 1st serve points won (37/46) 80%
- 2nd serve points won (18/33) 55%
- Aces 3 (1 second serve), Service Winners 2 (1 second serve)
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (26/80) 33%
Blake...
- 1st serve percentage (45/89) 51%
- 1st serve points won (20/45) 44%
- 2nd serve points won (22/44) 50%
- Aces 3
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (16/89) 18%
Serve Pattern
Federer served...
- to FH 29%
- to BH 61%
- to Body 10%
Blake served...
- to FH 29%
- to BH 66%
- to Body 5%
Return Stats
Federer made...
- 70 (21 FH, 49 BH), including 1 runaround FH & 1 return-approach
- 13 Errors, comprising...
- 7 Unforced (3 FH, 4 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 6 Forced (3 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (70/86) 81%
Blake made...
- 52 (13 FH, 39 BH), including 1 return-approach
- 2 Winners (2 FH)
- 21 Errors, comprising...
- 6 Unforced (3 FH, 3 BH)
- 15 Forced (6 FH, 9 BH)
- Return Rate (52/78) 67%
Break Points
Federer 7/16 (8 games)
Blake 2/4 (2 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Federer 23 (13 FH, 5 BH, 2 FHV, 2 BHV, 1 OH)
Blake 14 (9 FH, 2 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH)
Federer's FHs - 4 cc (2 passes), 2 dtl, 5 inside-out and 2 inside-in
- BHs - 2 cc (1 pass), 1 inside-out, 1 longline pass (not clean, a virtual whiff from Blake) and 1 drop shot running-down-drop-shot at net
- 1 BHV was second volley of a serve-volley point
- the OH was hit on the bounce
Blake's FHs - 4 cc (1 return, 2 passes), 2 inside-out and 3 inside-in (1 return)
- BHs - 1 cc and 1 dtl
- the FHV was first volley of a serve-volley point
- the OH was hit on the bounce from no-man's land and not a net point
Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Federer 35
- 15 Unforced (5 FH, 9 BH, 1 OH)
- 20 Forced (9 FH, 10 BH, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.7
Blake 50
- 27 Unforced (17 FH, 7 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH)
- 23 Forced (16 FH, 4 BH, 2 FHV, 1 FH1/2V)… with 1 FH at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 49.3
(Note 1: all half-volleys refer to such shots played at net. Half -volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke counts)
(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
Federer was...
- 13/18 (72%) at net, including...
- 2/3 (67%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 1/2 off 1st serve and...
- 1/1 off 2nd serve
---
- 1/1 return-approaching
Blake was...
- 12/24 (50%) at net, including...
- 2/4 (50%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 0/1 return-approaching
- 1/2 forced back/retreated
Match Report
A promising opening, with Blake playing ultra aggressively from the baseline to take it to Fed proves misleading as Fed both steps up his game and Blake folds for an overall one-sided match
Blake comes out swinging. Down 40-0 in the opening game, he reels off 3 winners to take the game to deuce and adds another before Federer holds. Next return game, he breaks with Fed missing 3 FH winner attempts. Then he makes it 2 breaks mostly by forcing errors with strong FHs
Powerful, attacking FHs are Blake's weapon. Fed's also a bit error prone in this part of the match, but he is under pressure from Blake's hitting. Well as Blake's, there's an element of it not being sustainable: he's not quite wild or swinging for the fences with his shots, but not far off it. Federer by contrast, while attacking looks controlled
Fed gets back into the match mostly through very poor play from Blake. First break back comes to love with 3 Blake UEs. Next as Blake was serving for the set with consecutive double faults from deuce (Fed does force action to get to deuce in first place). Finally, he's broken again to love to yield the set. Some truly horrific shots from Blake in these games - he misses as easy an OH as you'll see, a gentle floater with an open court, all but whiffs a easy, high BHV putaway, misses an easy FHV... this goes beyond his just being not consistent with his shots
Rest of match is one way traffic. Federer pulls up his socks and is at his best off the FH, lashing winners or otherwise forcefully ending points. Blake still gets a few strong FHs off, that when successful, force errors, but is more error prone. In second set, Fed loses just 2 service points in 5 games
Blake's clocked out by the third set and goes through the motions, while Fed maintains high, attacking play to seal the match in straight sets
Play
Court seems to be on slower side of normal, where the return is more important than the serve. While Blake doesn't serve well - just 51% first serves in, and that first serve is average - Fed returns surely, with healthy 81% return rate. By contrast, Blake underperforms on return after first set. Its not a 32% unreturned serve court, well though Fed serves
From the baseline, Blake is far more error prone (23 UEs to Fed's 14), which goes hand in hand with previously mentioned just shy off wild hitting. Note very large UEFI difference - Blake 49.2, Fed 43.6. The number does justice to both players. Blake's error prone due attackingness comes through, but keeping in mind Fed has 23 winners and forces 22 errors... 43.6 is remarkably low. In words, while attacking regularly, Fed barely misses an attacking shot
Federer mostly targets Blake's stronger, FH side. He leans on BH side of court and plays firm but not deadly FH inside-outs from there to Blake BH. Blake tends to hit BH cc down middle of court to these that Fed pounces on with FH cc or FH inside-in... usually leading to Blake FH FEs. Note 16/22 Blake FEs being FHs. The balls Fed attacks thus aren't necessarily short or weak... excellent, controlled attacking FH play from Fed
Note also the variety in Fed's FH winners. 3 cc, 2 dtl, 5 inside-out and 2 inside-in. Moderate inside-outs set up cc and inside-in point finishers (though not often winners) and stronger inside-outs just finish points outright
Also very good slicing from Federer. Blake targets the BH and Fed's usually up to defending with slices that he's able to keep deep and low. especially low, some barely rise knee high, making attacking shots awkward. Briefly, Federer slices longline to from neutral positions to test Blake's hitting against low ball. Its more successful than not, but he switches to other, FH led tactics
Blake is very quick of court coverage but tends to start late. Problematic against Fed's regular change of direction shots. His volleying is very poor. Even the low 50% points won at net is flattering... about half of the points he wins are 'insurance policy' approaches, where the approach shot would likely have drawn an error sans approach anyway. Some downright putaway easy volleys missed and the ones he makes aren't placed well. Fed too has a number of insurance policy net points won.
The lack of sustainability of Blake's attacks are obvious, but even worse than they appear. Fed's defence is quite good and he makes Blake play one more ball quite often. "playing one more ball" means having to hit another attacking shot to finish point when in complete control... but Blake usually misses that second shot. It seems as if if he can't finish with his first attacking shot, he'll lose the point. Some credit to Fed for defence and good slices, but mostly discredit Blake's low percentages on attacking shots
Summing up, an attacking baseline match. Federer attacks superbly in controlled fashion, with the FH leading and dominating play while also defending handily, especially with BH slices. Blake bludgeons the ball in what proves to be unsustainable way and is poor at net. Throw in big advantage to Federer on serve-return complex and it makes for a commanding win for him
Stats for pair's Cincinnati '07 final - https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...innati-finals-2005-2007.649860/#post-13604053
Federer had recently won the Australian Open and was the two time defending champion at this event. Blake was playing his first Masters final and the result saw him enter the top 10 for the first time.
Federer won 102 points, Blake 66
(Note: on a small number of points, I've made confident guesses about serve type)
Serve Stats
Federer...
- 1st serve percentage (46/79) 58%
- 1st serve points won (37/46) 80%
- 2nd serve points won (18/33) 55%
- Aces 3 (1 second serve), Service Winners 2 (1 second serve)
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (26/80) 33%
Blake...
- 1st serve percentage (45/89) 51%
- 1st serve points won (20/45) 44%
- 2nd serve points won (22/44) 50%
- Aces 3
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (16/89) 18%
Serve Pattern
Federer served...
- to FH 29%
- to BH 61%
- to Body 10%
Blake served...
- to FH 29%
- to BH 66%
- to Body 5%
Return Stats
Federer made...
- 70 (21 FH, 49 BH), including 1 runaround FH & 1 return-approach
- 13 Errors, comprising...
- 7 Unforced (3 FH, 4 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 6 Forced (3 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (70/86) 81%
Blake made...
- 52 (13 FH, 39 BH), including 1 return-approach
- 2 Winners (2 FH)
- 21 Errors, comprising...
- 6 Unforced (3 FH, 3 BH)
- 15 Forced (6 FH, 9 BH)
- Return Rate (52/78) 67%
Break Points
Federer 7/16 (8 games)
Blake 2/4 (2 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Federer 23 (13 FH, 5 BH, 2 FHV, 2 BHV, 1 OH)
Blake 14 (9 FH, 2 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH)
Federer's FHs - 4 cc (2 passes), 2 dtl, 5 inside-out and 2 inside-in
- BHs - 2 cc (1 pass), 1 inside-out, 1 longline pass (not clean, a virtual whiff from Blake) and 1 drop shot running-down-drop-shot at net
- 1 BHV was second volley of a serve-volley point
- the OH was hit on the bounce
Blake's FHs - 4 cc (1 return, 2 passes), 2 inside-out and 3 inside-in (1 return)
- BHs - 1 cc and 1 dtl
- the FHV was first volley of a serve-volley point
- the OH was hit on the bounce from no-man's land and not a net point
Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Federer 35
- 15 Unforced (5 FH, 9 BH, 1 OH)
- 20 Forced (9 FH, 10 BH, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.7
Blake 50
- 27 Unforced (17 FH, 7 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH)
- 23 Forced (16 FH, 4 BH, 2 FHV, 1 FH1/2V)… with 1 FH at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 49.3
(Note 1: all half-volleys refer to such shots played at net. Half -volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke counts)
(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
Federer was...
- 13/18 (72%) at net, including...
- 2/3 (67%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 1/2 off 1st serve and...
- 1/1 off 2nd serve
---
- 1/1 return-approaching
Blake was...
- 12/24 (50%) at net, including...
- 2/4 (50%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 0/1 return-approaching
- 1/2 forced back/retreated
Match Report
A promising opening, with Blake playing ultra aggressively from the baseline to take it to Fed proves misleading as Fed both steps up his game and Blake folds for an overall one-sided match
Blake comes out swinging. Down 40-0 in the opening game, he reels off 3 winners to take the game to deuce and adds another before Federer holds. Next return game, he breaks with Fed missing 3 FH winner attempts. Then he makes it 2 breaks mostly by forcing errors with strong FHs
Powerful, attacking FHs are Blake's weapon. Fed's also a bit error prone in this part of the match, but he is under pressure from Blake's hitting. Well as Blake's, there's an element of it not being sustainable: he's not quite wild or swinging for the fences with his shots, but not far off it. Federer by contrast, while attacking looks controlled
Fed gets back into the match mostly through very poor play from Blake. First break back comes to love with 3 Blake UEs. Next as Blake was serving for the set with consecutive double faults from deuce (Fed does force action to get to deuce in first place). Finally, he's broken again to love to yield the set. Some truly horrific shots from Blake in these games - he misses as easy an OH as you'll see, a gentle floater with an open court, all but whiffs a easy, high BHV putaway, misses an easy FHV... this goes beyond his just being not consistent with his shots
Rest of match is one way traffic. Federer pulls up his socks and is at his best off the FH, lashing winners or otherwise forcefully ending points. Blake still gets a few strong FHs off, that when successful, force errors, but is more error prone. In second set, Fed loses just 2 service points in 5 games
Blake's clocked out by the third set and goes through the motions, while Fed maintains high, attacking play to seal the match in straight sets
Play
Court seems to be on slower side of normal, where the return is more important than the serve. While Blake doesn't serve well - just 51% first serves in, and that first serve is average - Fed returns surely, with healthy 81% return rate. By contrast, Blake underperforms on return after first set. Its not a 32% unreturned serve court, well though Fed serves
From the baseline, Blake is far more error prone (23 UEs to Fed's 14), which goes hand in hand with previously mentioned just shy off wild hitting. Note very large UEFI difference - Blake 49.2, Fed 43.6. The number does justice to both players. Blake's error prone due attackingness comes through, but keeping in mind Fed has 23 winners and forces 22 errors... 43.6 is remarkably low. In words, while attacking regularly, Fed barely misses an attacking shot
Federer mostly targets Blake's stronger, FH side. He leans on BH side of court and plays firm but not deadly FH inside-outs from there to Blake BH. Blake tends to hit BH cc down middle of court to these that Fed pounces on with FH cc or FH inside-in... usually leading to Blake FH FEs. Note 16/22 Blake FEs being FHs. The balls Fed attacks thus aren't necessarily short or weak... excellent, controlled attacking FH play from Fed
Note also the variety in Fed's FH winners. 3 cc, 2 dtl, 5 inside-out and 2 inside-in. Moderate inside-outs set up cc and inside-in point finishers (though not often winners) and stronger inside-outs just finish points outright
Also very good slicing from Federer. Blake targets the BH and Fed's usually up to defending with slices that he's able to keep deep and low. especially low, some barely rise knee high, making attacking shots awkward. Briefly, Federer slices longline to from neutral positions to test Blake's hitting against low ball. Its more successful than not, but he switches to other, FH led tactics
Blake is very quick of court coverage but tends to start late. Problematic against Fed's regular change of direction shots. His volleying is very poor. Even the low 50% points won at net is flattering... about half of the points he wins are 'insurance policy' approaches, where the approach shot would likely have drawn an error sans approach anyway. Some downright putaway easy volleys missed and the ones he makes aren't placed well. Fed too has a number of insurance policy net points won.
The lack of sustainability of Blake's attacks are obvious, but even worse than they appear. Fed's defence is quite good and he makes Blake play one more ball quite often. "playing one more ball" means having to hit another attacking shot to finish point when in complete control... but Blake usually misses that second shot. It seems as if if he can't finish with his first attacking shot, he'll lose the point. Some credit to Fed for defence and good slices, but mostly discredit Blake's low percentages on attacking shots
Summing up, an attacking baseline match. Federer attacks superbly in controlled fashion, with the FH leading and dominating play while also defending handily, especially with BH slices. Blake bludgeons the ball in what proves to be unsustainable way and is poor at net. Throw in big advantage to Federer on serve-return complex and it makes for a commanding win for him
Stats for pair's Cincinnati '07 final - https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...innati-finals-2005-2007.649860/#post-13604053
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