Duel Match Stats/Reports - Murray vs Bautista Agut & Murray vs Isner, Shanghai & Paris finals, 2016

[Waspsting]

Andy Murray beat Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6(1), 6-1 in the Shanghai final, 2016 on hard court

Murray would win Paris and the Year End Championship shortly afterwards. To date, this is Bautista Agut’s only masters final and he beat among others, world #1 Novak Djokovic en route to if. Murray would finish the year ranked #1

Murray won 70 points, Bautista Agut 46

Serve Stats
Murray...
- 1st serve percentage (34/65) 52%
- 1st serve points won (28/34) 82%
- 2nd serve points won (16/31) 52%
- Aces 8
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (19/65) 29%

Bautista Agut...
- 1st serve percentage (33/51) 65%
- 1st serve points won (18/33) 55%
- 2nd serve points won (7/18) 39%
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (6/51) 12%

Serve Patterns
Murray served...
- to FH 35%
- to BH 65%

Bautista Agut served...
- to FH 38%
- to BH 54%
- to Body 8%

Return Stats
Murray made...
- 42 (15 FH, 27 BH)
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 6 Errors, comprising...
- 1 Unforced (1 BH)
- 5 Forced (5 FH)
- Return Rate (42/48) 88%

Bautista Agut made...
- 43 (25 FH, 18 BH), including 11 runaround FHs & 1 return-approach
- 11 Errors, comprising...
- 4 Unforced (3 FH, 4 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 7 Forced (5 FH, 2 BH)
- Return Rate (43/62) 69%

Break Points
Murray 4/4
Bautista Agut 2/3 (2 games)

Winners (excluding serves, including returns)
Murray 13 (5 FH, 3 BH, 3 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH)
Bautista Agut 13 (9 FH, 1 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BH1/2V, 1 OH)

Murray FHs - 2 cc (1 pass), 1 cc/longline pass, 1 inside-out, 1 inside-in/cc
- BHs - 1 cc return, 2 drop shots (1 at net)

Bautista Agut's FHs - 2 cc, 1 cc/longline pass, 3 inside-out, 1 inside-in/cc, 1 longline/inside-in, 1 drop shot (a net chord flicker)
- BH - 1 net chord dribbler

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Murray 24
- 18 Unforced (10 FH, 8 BH)
- 6 Forced (1 FH, 4 BH, 1 BH1/2V)... with 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 42.8

Bautista Agut 35
- 24 Unforced (11 FH, 12 BH, 1 OH)
- 11 Forced (3 FH, 7 BH, 1 FHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.7

(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 are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Murray was...
- 10/14 (71%) at net, with...
- 1/2 forced back

Bautista Agut was...
- 9/15 (60%) at net, with...
- 1/1 return-approaching
- 1/2 forced back

Match Report
Murray is at his best in a varied baseline display - there’s pummelling, there’s soundness, there’s scampering, and all of its high end - while both serving and returning well. Bautista Agut is dangerous, particularly with deadly FH, but has lapses off the ground and is thwarted by Murray’s just-right balance of play on a quick court.

First set is particularly good, second is a bit of a downer from Agut - but credit for the result to Murray far more than discredit to Agut

It’s a match where Murray, so often prone to falling back on passivity or at least, remaining reactive, has all the answers. And the questions posed aren’t easy ones

Agut starts the match blazing FHs in multiple directions, being damaging even with basic cc shots. Murray ‘responds’ - since he plays this way all match, its not clear if it’s a ‘response’ or just the way he plays the match - by stepping in and hammering groundies off his own. Not wide to corners for winners, but taking ball early and wide enough to keep Agut from taking charge. Bossing him about from the back - not something Murray does too often

Doesn’t get carried away. Still plenty of neutral rallies, and they’re usually very good ones. Sound, with good hitting from both. Agut more often has lapses when he gives up a few cheap errors, but there’s plenty of long, dual pressuring rallies that get intense. Murray’s particularly steely in them and refuses to miss to come out on top in the best ones

And defence. Agut has power and hits wide with it too. Superb hustling by Murray to get balls back in play against challenging force. Ends up winning his share of points he’s on defensive for. His movement is exemplary

Agut is more aggressive in his shot-making and vigour of his attacks. Other than that, he plays similarly to Murray - also quick, also fairly steady (bar short lapses when he might miss a few balls in quick succession), also not a roll-over when defending. Not as good as Murray at any of it but good

All that would be enough to see Murray come out on top after a struggle. He has laurels to rest on though in the serve and return
Unreturned rate is 29%. Not high, especially on a quick-ish court, but much higher than the clay-like 12% of Agut

8 aces by Murray indicates quality of his serve. And Agut with just 11 return errors says good things about his returning, given he’s aced 8 times. Not much short of a really good serve draws errors from him, and he returns with decent force, if not initiative snatching, certainly not leaving Murray with much of an initiative either. Lot of runaround FH returns (11 to be exact), which are heftier hit still, enough to neutralize completely and sometimes pressure

By a normal standard, good returning tip-toeing towards very good

The standard Murray sets though isn’t normal. Agut doesn’t have a big serve, but its by no means weak either. And court is quick. He gets very little advantage out of it for his troubles

88% return rate from Murray, 0 aces for Agut. Just 6 return errors, all of them against 1st serves (1 marked UE)

Gist of serve-return complex - Murray with considerably stronger serve, Agut returning steadily enough to not let it be too big an advantage. But Murray returning like a sliding wall - reducing Agut’s decent serve to virtually a point starter, so still enjoying a good advantage coming out of the first two shots

Then baseline action - both hitting hard and competing for privilege of bossing action. Murray probably gains it slightly more often than Agut does, but Agut’s fiercer in what he does with it it when he gets it

That turns out to not be a good thing because Murray’s a pest to finish off. Not only does he scoot to and from corners to keep ball in play, he even gets his counter-shot back pretty strongly too. The strain probably has a hand in Agut making errors pressing the attack further, though there is some poor shots from him in that area too

Generally, Murray’s a great defender who puts balls back in play, but not strongly, so he has to keep running and defending next ball. This showing is a little closer to a typical Novak Djokovic one (where shot from defensive position neutralizes the attack). Closer to, not like. Agut still maintains attacking position - unless he comes to net. When he does that, he usually finds the pass at his feet or well wide

And of course, the stock, neutral stuff. Good, clean hitting from both players off both sides. Agut’s BH is the most vulnerable looking shot on show - and it doesn’t look particularly vulnerable. Agut’s FH the most dangerous, quite capable of unleashing an extra powerful cc to end the point out of nowhere (or would do against most opposition)

The above is very good description of first set. Second set is considerably worse from Agut though not as bad as scoreline looks. His serve being neutered means he’s liable to get broken if run of play goes against him over even a brief period of time. Murray makes every return in second set, almost all of them to at least neutralizing degree with a few more than that thrown in, so even a slight drop in consistency is enough to see Murray race ahead

2 winners from Murray stand out - a BH cc return and a FH inside-in/cc - both disdainfully dispatched from his presence

 

[Waspsting]

Stats
Winners - both 13
Errors Forced - Murray 11, Agut 6
UEs - Murray 18, Agut 24

And UE breakdown -
- Neutral - Murray 15, Agut 14
- Attacking - Murray 1, Agut 4
- Winner Attempts - Murray 2, Agut 6

Winners being equal is a win for Murray, as Agut’s the one going for them more often. Murray’s matter-of-fact neutralizing return doing good job denying Agut ready openings, but he’s quite capable of making his own from power hitting or even out of nowhere

Its Errors Forced and attacking errors where Murrays’ biggest advantage lies (to lesser extent, winner attempt UEs) and there are at least 2 reasons for it.

He’s tougher to force an error out of (because he’s very tough, Agut’s pretty good too, but not in that league) so keeping his FEs down and that leads to Agut’s attacking errors going up as he has to keep hitting wider, harder shots

As for winners - 1 winner attempt UE for 13 winners - just shy of perfect judgment from Murray. Having 13 winners, while forcing 11 errors against a decent defender at cost of 3 errors trying shows almost perfect judgement in attack by Murray. Not something you see every day

The neutrals being virtually equal (in fact, Agut shading them), is a win for Agut. Should give him a solid base to attack from, but despite his greater proclivity for attacking, its not at all a Agut attacks, Murray defends match. As stated earlier, Murray fights for command and more often than not, takes it (largely due to serve-return matters). Purely from rallies, Agut still probably has edge in taking charge of point, but its an ‘edge’ not an ‘advantage’

Once he has that advantage, Murray a big pain to finish off and Agut stumbling a bit

When Murray has that advantage - flawless progression to finsihing points aggressively, but without undue risk

UEs are all clustered together -
- Murray BH 8
- Murray FH 10
- Agut FH 11
- Agut BH 12

Murray getting better of BH-BH rallies by a bit. Considerable lot of Agut’s FH UEs would be attacking and more errors, he’s more secure just trading stock FHs - and apt to find a bigger, more aggressive FH amidst it. Agut’s 9 FH winners is greater than both Murray’s FH and BH put together

Net points are virtually same
- Rallying to net - Murray 10/14, Agut 8/14, with both 1/2 when forced back. Basically, an OH miss by Agut from virtual perfect equality numerically

Non-numerically, Murray passes better. Coming to net to finish from commanding position is something Agut does well, but he’s often met with running gets that happen to be passes to his feet. Murray also comes in from strong positions and is spared this hot reception. Fair few ‘token’ approaches in there for both players where approach shot has done all the work and no volley needed

Match Progression
Excellent first set with Agut blazing FHs in all directions at the start, Murray stepping up to take balls early and deny him chances to dominate thus. Agut continues attacking but finds likely point-ending shots coming back and he’s more loose with the errors in stock rallies. Murray for his part finds Agut not easy to finish off either. Some great points and rallies, more than great shots with action centered on point building rather than shot-making

Lovely way to start, with a long rally on the very first point where Agut’s forced back from net but finishes with a clubbed FH cc winner. Double faults, and then clubs another FH winner, this time inside-out off the third ball

Starting 2-2, the two trade deuce holds (no break points). Agut’s hold is particularly good game, with some good wide returns and intense rallies. Agut picking off a BH1/2V winner is pick of the shots

Murray breaks after for 4-3. Punishes a not good drop shot for a winner before Agut gives up a couple of third ball BH UEs - the first one a little wide

Very lively point game after which sees both men at net off a Murray drop shots, trading shots there, before Agut’s forced back and Murray comes away with a FHV winner

Serving for set, Murray advance to 40-15. Misses a bunch of first serves and Agut’s runaround FH returns against second serves have a little extra behind them to keep Murray on his toes, and Agut goes on to break aggressively

2 love holds later, its tiebreak time. Agut open with an OH winner. And that’s the last point he wins. A very poor FH dtl winner attempt miss from him starts the downslide, and he blinks up errors next 3 points to go down 1-6. Swashbuckling BH cc return winner from Murray to close out set, a real Agassi like ripper

After Murray holds to open second set, Agut’s broken to love in a horrendous game of 4 UEs (3 neutral BHs and an OH), but breaks back at once aggressively with net points and drop shots and a lucky net chord dribbling winner. Murray misses an easy FH from middle of court to lose the game

And that’s the last game Agut wins. Couple of good points in next game, where Murray defends furiously before Agut misses a straining attacking FH, and a 1-2 passing combo ends with a FH cc/longline winner to make it 15-30. 2 double faults later, Murray’s up a break again

Murray reels off the next 3 games playing strongly from back and front to close out the match

Summing up, Andy Murray at his best. Serving damagingly and returning like a wall sets the foundation and off the ground, he does it all and does it all well. Stepping in to boss action, hitting cleanly and consistently or running about to defend… all excellently done, with virtual flawless judgment in when and by what degree to change tacks

He has to be good because Bautista Agut is no pushover. Very dangerous FH that he can hit winners from from any part of the court with, coupled with similar (if not as good) sturdy security and good defence to Murray’s

So Murray a little steadier and better defender, Bautista Agut with more firepower, with whoever trails being good in respective areas

Big lead in serve-return complex turns that near equality to comfortable overall advantage for Murray, with a little help from a couple brief error runs from his opponent. Well as he plays, its his judgment that shines through most

 

[Waspsting]

Murray beat John Isner 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-4 in the Paris final, 2016 on indoor hard court

It was Murray’s first and to date, last title at the event. This was Isner’s third masters final (all losses). He would go onto win his next one in Miami 2018

Murray won 97 points, Isner 87

Isner serve-volleyed off majority of first serves and a third off the time off seconds

Serve Stats
Murray...
- 1st serve percentage (66/98) 67%
- 1st serve points won (56/66) 85%
- 2nd serve points won (18/32) 56%
- Aces 9 (1 second serve)
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (30/98) 31%

Isner...
- 1st serve percentage (63/86) 73%
- 1st serve points won (52/63) 83%
- 2nd serve points won (11/23) 48%
- Aces 18
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (33/86) 38%

Serve Patterns
Murray served...
- to FH 54%
- to BH 34%
- to Body 12%

Isner served...
- to FH 38%
- to BH 55%
- to Body 7%

Return Stats
Murray made...
- 51 (19 FH, 32 BH)
- 15 Errors, comprising...
- 1 Unforced (1 BH)
- 14 Forced (6 FH, 8 BH)
- Return Rate (51/84) 61%

Isner made...
- 64 (42 FH, 22 BH), including 2 runaround FHs & 2 return-approaches
- 2 Winners (2 FH)
- 21 Errors, comprising...
- 13 Unforced (9 FH, 4 BH)
- 8 Forced (3 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (64/94) 68%

Break Points
Murray 2/4 (4 games)
Isner 0/6 (2 games)

Winners (excluding serves, including returns)
Murray 15 (6 FH, 4 BH, 1 FHV, 3 BHV, 1 OH)
Isner 33 (17 FH, 1 BH, 8 FHV, 6 BHV, 1 OH)

Murray FHs - 3 cc (2 passes), 1 cc/inside-in pass, 1 inside-out, 1 longline at net
- BHs - 2 cc passes, 2 dtl (1 at net pass)

Isner had 14 from serve-volley points -
- 10 first 'volleys' (3 FHV, 4 BHV, 2 FH at net, 1 BH at net)... the BH at net was a drop shot
- 2 second volleys (2 FHV)
- 1 third volley (1 BHV)
- 1 fourth volley (1 FHV)

- the OH was on the bounce

- FHs - 5 cc, 2 dtl (1 return), 7 inside-out (1 return), 1 inside-in

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Murray 17
- 7 Unforced (6 FH, 1 BH)
- 10 Forced (4 FH, 5 BH, 1 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 42.9

Isner 50
- 33 Unforced (7 FH, 17 BH, 4 FHV, 5 BHV)... with 1 BH at net
- 17 Forced (6 FH, 7 BH, 1 FHV, 2 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.8

(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 are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Murray was...
- 12/15 (80%) at net, with...
- 0/1 forced back

Isner was...
- 36/58 (62%) at net, including...
- 30/40 (75%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 27/33 (82%) off 1st serve and...
- 3/7 (43%) off 2nd serve
---
- 0/2 return-approaching
- 1/2 forced back

Match Report
Very good match, within the limits John Isner tends to place on all his matches. Murray is solid, sound and proves strong under pressure. Isner, on top of the usual irresistible serving, fires with choice big returns and his FH. Court is on quick side of normal, a step up for Paris around this period, which tended to play slow

Amidst general server domination, who’s more likely to be able to snag a break or edge through a tiebreak?

Murray’s prospects lie in getting as many returns back - and hoping (waiting?) for Isner to screw up. Double fault wouldn’t be unwelcome (asking for 2 from Isner is asking a lot)
Not bad prospects. He’s the best at getting top-most calibre serves like Isner’s back and Isner’s capable of missing any ball at any time

Isner’s prospects are more forceful and interesting. Bang a few second returns and swing big FHs. Few land in, and he’s in a return game. Maybe the steady Murray might choke up an error or 2 under pressure too (less unlikely than Isner double faulting twice)
His prospects are up in the air - might make a meal of big returns or he might not, might make a meal of big swinging FHs or he might not

Way things play out, Isner does deliver the goods in manner prescribed. He doesn’t go after it too much, but usually succeeds when he does. What does he have to lose by going for it more often? If he smacks more returns and swings massively with higher lot of FHs, worst thing that happens is he misses and Murray holds - which Murray’s doing (and very likely to keep doing) anyway on back of outsteadying the grandmother moving Isner

Further point of interest is Murray not shying away from Isner’s big FH. He serves there 54% of the time, including 2nd serves. Now and then, Isner goes after a big return - and not just against second serves, though more often. Bang - blasted ball to baseline, Murray does well to put it back in play, and bang - big FH, point to Isner

With Isner huge reach, Murray’s would-be wide first serves are comfortably in swing zone. He takes something off the serve to keep high 67% first serves in. Plenty of room for Isner to go nuts with big return, big FH and not much to lose. He holds comfortably most of match

Isner under-plays the proactive, aggressive card on return. He plays that way more often, his chances of snagging the result would go up, probably above Murray’s. His prospects of breaking by playing orthodox return and grind from baseline are very slim - he’s far too error prone, especially off BH and Murray very solid

And Murray serving so much to the FH… is he baiting Isner? Unaware of the dangers? Well aware of Isner’s habits of not over-indulging aggressive returning?

Whatever it is, it all works out in Murray’s favour. Isner, when he goes after returns (almost always FHs) and follows up by looking for big FHs becomes threatening. He doesn’t do so too often, and Murray readily outplays him at those times, usually by drawing BH error or on particularly important times, approaching to the BH and finishing at net

And Murray does what he needs to break twice - does good job as possible putting returns in play and Isner does screw up as he’s likely to given sufficient chances

Good, Bad & ???
Credit Murray for returning as much as he does. Can’t do it with much heat, but nobody can against this type of stuff. 61% return rate, about as good as could be asked for. Lots of high returns above net, leaving the serve-volleying Isner putaway volleys or/and easy ones but still, better than missing the return and against backdrop of Isner being quite capable of missing such volleys

Credit Murray for solidity off the ground. Easy to outlast Isner, but even so just 7 ground UEs is excellent (Isner has 23), with just 1 off the BH (Isner has 16)

Credit Murray for brains and keeping an ace up his sleeve - when its an important point, he scraps the breakdown-BH game and instead comes to net to finish. Isner can barely hit a BH in baseline rally, its very unlikely he can pull of strong pass

Credit Isner for great serving - 73% first serves in, 18 aces, a second serve that’d make a good first etc…. does Isner serving great need amplification?

Credit Isner for a great FH display - 17 winners, 7 UEs. Murray has 15 winners total and 6 FH UEs to put that in context

Hits them from all over the place - there are 5 cc from deuce court, and 6 inside-out from ad

And great judgement too in how to persist with attack. His FHs good enough that you wouldn’t blame him for getting carried away with the winner attempts, but he often hits a less strong shot and approaches behind it instead

The grey areas are -
- Murray courting trouble by serving a lot to FH. Or does he know exactly what he’s doing with the move? Its risky and it does lead to some hairy moments from him. BHs just as error prone and a lot less likely to blast a big return

- Isner’s limited use of big return. It’s a hit more often than not and he has nothing to lose going for it more often. Why doesn’t he?

The discredit list isn’t really discredit since its expected and would be unusual if it weren’t there. Isner moving like a septuagenarian, unable to keep BHs in play and missing easy volleys - as much John Isner as big serving is

 

[Waspsting]

No dirty black marks to muddy up Murray’s clean slate

Murray - 15 winners, forces 17 errors, 7 UEs - excellent
Isner - 33 winners, forces 10 errors, 33 UEs - not as good as it looks because some of the volley UEs are to simple balls that require little skill to putaway, but good enough

With 18 aces, and 38% freebies, certainly in good enough to win territory, despite much sloppiness. BHs terrible, can’t keep ball in play. Misses simple - not even routine, but simple volleys fairly often

He’s just 6/16 rallying to net and 3/7 second serve-volleying (behind a great second serve). Sans that fat first serve, almost nothing is strong enough to support his essentially, poor volleying skills

That fat first serve though is one hell of a support structure. Wins 27/33 serve-volleying behind it. A little girl might have managed 20 to 22

Match Progression
Whole match is server dominated, so it’s the odd times returner gets into a game that stands out

Happens first in Game 5, when Murray’s taken to deuce. At 30-30, a big BH return from Isner puts him in command, but he misses an easy FHV. He’d hit a return winner couple points ago.
Murray goes on to hold with winning FH inside-outs

And then grabs the only break of the set, or rather Isner breaks himself, though making 4/6 first serves. From 30-0 up, Isner misses a third ball slice, a simple BHV, double faults going for an ace and wraps up with another routine BH miss

Isner fires back at once though, with a pair of FH inside-out winners (1 return) to bring up 2 break points, after Murray courteously returns the double fault favour. Murray’s got his work cut out to hold, defends superbly on break point and manages to throw up a lob that forces Isner back from net before coming in himself to win it. Takes net to save second break point too, but that’s more common point

As Murray serves for the set, Isner’s at it again. Hammers another return that he follows to net. Ball is actually slightly past Murray when he block/slice BHs it for a passing winner - top class shot. Isner biffs a FH cc winner next point, before Murray reels off 4 in a row to close the set

Routine holds to game 8 in second set, where Isner moves to 0-40 - nice drop shot play ending with a net-to-net FHV winner and another big return among the points that get him there. A bad drop shot from Murray on break point that even Isner’s able to reach with time to spare. He’s got an easy putaway BH at net, with Murray having given way at net in anticipation of not being able to cover the ball from close in. Isner misses. Murray saves other 2 break points with an OH winner and of all things, a second serve ace - and goes on to hold after saving another

Tiebreak. The two combine to make 10/11 first serves. Unfortunately for Murray, the sole exception is double fault from him, which puts Isner up 4-2. Fantastic FH inside-out winner from Isner to end the game, squeezed out from center of court with no angle to work with and its 1 set all

Easy volley misses put Isner down 30-40 in game 2 of the decider. Comes out of it with authority, including smacking a third ball FH cc winner off a strong second serve. He’s down break point next service game too, this time, due to strong play from Murray. Ace, ace, and first ‘volley’ FH at net winner from thereon

Murray makes a great show of bristling with energy around this time, running across to other side after being aced, running and bouncing around between points. He’s taken to deuce for only time in the set in moving to 5-4 but doesn’t face break point, again turning to net to win crucial point

And Isner’s broken to end the match, and again, in a poor game. This time, he makes just 1/6 first serves (an ace), double faults and misses 2 BHVs easy enough to be marked UEs, the one on break/match point after meekly handling a first ‘volley’ FH at net that could readily have been putaway

Summing up, good match and an interesting one

Murray stays solid and easily picks apart Isner’s BH. Isner serves huge
Murray returns best he can to get balls in play somehow, usually without much heat. Isner is usually successful when going for big returns and following up with big FHs, but doesn’t indulge as often as he has chances to

Isner’s FH is very impressive in its power and finishing ability. Murray saves coming to net for big points and is highly successful with it
Isner is very poor in giving up errors readily off the BH and apt to miss routine and simple volleys more often than is good for him

All that going on - and its last point that pushes result Murray’s way. His showing has no faults and he’s not likely to beat himself, while with Isner, seems a question of whether his serve can cover up his ability to beat himself. Higher lot of aggressive returns, going for which has no down-side given how badly he’s outplayed from the back, would probably even have made him favourite to come out ahead

As is, he breaks himself twice - Murray making the considerable contribution of being able to make returns against very difficult serves to allow him the chance - and that’s enough to edge out the win

More broadly, in these 2 matches combined, Murray has
28 winners, 2 winner attempt UEs
28 errors forced, 3 attacking UEs

Amazing, possibly unprecedented ratios

 

[Mainad]

Murray's run at the end of 2016 was amazing. 5 tournaments 1 after another (Beijing, Shanghai, Vienna, Paris and the WTF) ending with the #1 ranking which had been safely Djokovic's for most of that season. Back then, guys like RBA and Isner had no chance against him. After his hip finally gave out in the following season, I don't think he ever beat them again. Oh I believe in 2016!

 

[Rafa4LifeEver]

Murray's run at the end of 2016 was amazing. 5 tournaments 1 after another (Beijing, Shanghai, Vienna, Paris and the WTF) ending with the #1 ranking which had been safely Djokovic's for most of that season. Back then, guys like RBA and Isner had no chance against him. After his hip finally gave out in the following season, I don't think he ever beat them again. Oh I believe in 2016!

We call post-30 versions of big3, who came back after long injury breaks as declined versions, but they definitely didn't totally become shells of themselves. Murray otoh, was the unluckiest of them all, and post-2018 he is a totally different player altogether, not even remotely resembling that glorious past he had.

 

[Mainad]

We call post-30 versions of big3, who came back after long injury breaks as declined versions, but they definitely didn't totally become shells of themselves. Murray otoh, was the unluckiest of them all, and post-2018 he is a totally different player altogether, not even remotely resembling that glorious past he had.

There was a brief burst of hope in 2019 when he won his 46th title in Antwerp against Wawrinka and I had hoped that would be the start of him getting back to a winning level at least for the smaller events but, since then, he just seems to have deteriorated and, although he can still cause the occasional upset, he can rarely get past the 1st or 2nd rounds now of anything he enters. Very sad.