Pete Sampras beat Andre Agassi 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 in the Miami final, 1994 on hard court
Sampras had recently won the Australian Open and Indian Wells and was became the first player to defend Miami title. Agassi would win the event the next two years, beating Sampras in the final in '95
Sampras won 106 points, Agassi 97
Sampras serve-volleyed off most first serves
Serve Stats
Sampras...
- 1st serve percentage (49/94) 52%
- 1st serve points won (41/49) 84%
- 2nd serve points won (18/45) 40%
- Aces 14, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 7
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (33/94) 35%
Agassi...
- 1st serve percentage (68/109) 62%
- 1st serve points won (38/68) 56%
- 2nd serve points won (25/41) 61%
- Aces 9 (1 second serve)
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (28/109) 26%
Serve Patterns
Sampras served...
- to FH 41%
- to BH 49%
- to Body 9%
Agassi served...
- to FH 33%
- to BH 61%
- to Body 6%
Return Stats
Sampras made...
- 78 (25 FH, 53 BH), including 3 runaround FHs
- 2 Winners (2 FH)
- 19 Errors, comprising...
- 10 Unforced (7 FH, 3 BH)
- 9 Forced (4 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (78/106) 74%
Agassi made...
- 54 (25 FH, 29 BH)
- 2 Winners (2 FH)
- 18 Errors, comprising...
- 2 Unforced (1 FH, 1 BH)
- 16 Forced (8 FH, 8 BH)
- Return Rate (54/87) 62%
Break Points
Sampras 5/17 (9 games)
Agassi 3/5 (3 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Sampras 33 (20 FH, 3 BH, 3 FHV, 3 BHV, 4 OH)
Agassi 17 (5 FH, 8 BH, 2 FHV, 2 BHV)
Sampras' FHs - 5 cc (1 return, 1 pass), 3 dtl (1 return, 1 pass), 2 inside-out, 2 inside-out/dtl, 6 inside-in (1 pass), 1 longline at net and 1 lob
- BHs - 2 cc (1 pass - that Agassi left) and 1 lob
- 5 from serve-volley points -
- 3 first volleys (1 FHV, 2 BHV)
- 2 second volleys (1 FHV, 1 OH)
- 1 other OH was on the bounce
Agassi's FHs - 1 inside-out, 3 inside-in (1 return, 1 at net, 1 not clean) and 1 longline return pass
- BHs - 2 cc passes, 4 dtl {2 regular (1 at net) and 2 passes (1 at net)}, 1 dtl/inside-out and 1 lob
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Sampras 45
- 34 Unforced (20 FH, 13 BH, 1 FHV)… with 2 BHs at net
- 11 Forced (5 FH, 4 BH, 1 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.5
Agassi 37
- 20 Unforced (6 FH, 10 BH, 1 FHV, 3 BHV)
- 17 Forced (8 FH, 8 BH, 1 BHV)… with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.5
(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
Sampras was...
- 28/39 (72%) at net, including...
- 17/25 (68%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 17/24 (71%) off 1st serve and..
- 0/1 off 2nd serve
Agassi was...
- 11/24 (46%) at net, including...
- 1/1 serve-volleying, a 1st serve
---
- 0/1 forced back
Match Report
A very courageous and smartly played match by Pete Sampras, who isn't physically well at the start. Agassi's performance is grey though on a tilted towards slow hard court. Keys to the match are Agassi's weak serve and Sampras' FH
I'll bet there was headline after this match about 'gutsy' showing. Sampras has a stomach problem and was apparently in no condition to play. Match started an hour late - with Agassi's consent - and Sampras looks and plays like a man with a hangover for near half the match, though it does get better as match wears on. At the start -
- he's not serving too hard
- his movements are very poor
... in particular, amidst all aspects of his game being obviously well down from norm. By the end, he's normal. Finishes the match with 7 aces from his last 8 first serves across 2 games
Agassi himself was less than fiddle like fit. He'd played through a wrist problem for most of the previous year and undergone surgery at the end ant this was his third tournament back
Sampras though is in far worse condition - moving gingerly and hitting plenty of puny shots - be it return or groundstrokes - while wearing an expression that makes you think he's about to vomit or black out. how on earth does he manage to beat a healthy Andre Agassi?
Sampras Strategy
In the circumstances, I'd think Sampras best bet would be to go all-out attacking - big serves, serve-volleys, point ending baseline shots - a low percentage game but one that can potentially overwhelm Agassi
Instead, he strikes a just about perfect, disarming mix in play. Its very doubtful that this was some master plan... it just works out that way as Pete's doing what he can
The serve - is a mix. Big first serves naturally (but smaller than his norm for all but end of match), with odd not big ones thrown in. Probably just not strong enough to serve full throttle. Second serve, same thing... some strong ones to the body, a good second serve for sure, but not overly aggressive with the shot
The return - is a mix. There are feeble returns. There's slow movement to slightly wide serves, making them look better then they are. There's standing inside the court returns (usually doesn't swing hard). There are firm returns and there are killingly powerful returns. Again, probably insufficient strength accounts for the feebler returns (which are many), rather than some mix-it up master plan
The FH - he's on killer mode but not crazy, and ends with match high 20 winners and 20 UEs (which is more than all of Agassi's winners, forced errors and equal to Agassi's total UEs), but its not wild stuff. He hits neutral balls, constructs points and is ambitious in his shot-making, usually coming off... very different from being wild
The BH - is ever so patient with it, looping balls back with no punch almost always
The movement - is slow, but makes an extra effort for odd points. There's the usual lot of BH-BH rallies, daring Agassi to finish dtl… and Pete's running FH winner attempt to it. Gets to those well enough
The serve-volleying - does not do it always. Follows 24/34 first serves to net or 71% and just once off second serve. For that matter, he does a lot better staying back - winning 9/10 as opposed to 17/24 serve-volleying.
He is aggressive on these stay-back points - looking for point ending FH early or an approach. And of course, some of the serves don't come back
In a nutshell, Pete's aggressive but selectively and disarmingly so
Sampras had recently won the Australian Open and Indian Wells and was became the first player to defend Miami title. Agassi would win the event the next two years, beating Sampras in the final in '95
Sampras won 106 points, Agassi 97
Sampras serve-volleyed off most first serves
Serve Stats
Sampras...
- 1st serve percentage (49/94) 52%
- 1st serve points won (41/49) 84%
- 2nd serve points won (18/45) 40%
- Aces 14, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 7
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (33/94) 35%
Agassi...
- 1st serve percentage (68/109) 62%
- 1st serve points won (38/68) 56%
- 2nd serve points won (25/41) 61%
- Aces 9 (1 second serve)
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (28/109) 26%
Serve Patterns
Sampras served...
- to FH 41%
- to BH 49%
- to Body 9%
Agassi served...
- to FH 33%
- to BH 61%
- to Body 6%
Return Stats
Sampras made...
- 78 (25 FH, 53 BH), including 3 runaround FHs
- 2 Winners (2 FH)
- 19 Errors, comprising...
- 10 Unforced (7 FH, 3 BH)
- 9 Forced (4 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (78/106) 74%
Agassi made...
- 54 (25 FH, 29 BH)
- 2 Winners (2 FH)
- 18 Errors, comprising...
- 2 Unforced (1 FH, 1 BH)
- 16 Forced (8 FH, 8 BH)
- Return Rate (54/87) 62%
Break Points
Sampras 5/17 (9 games)
Agassi 3/5 (3 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Sampras 33 (20 FH, 3 BH, 3 FHV, 3 BHV, 4 OH)
Agassi 17 (5 FH, 8 BH, 2 FHV, 2 BHV)
Sampras' FHs - 5 cc (1 return, 1 pass), 3 dtl (1 return, 1 pass), 2 inside-out, 2 inside-out/dtl, 6 inside-in (1 pass), 1 longline at net and 1 lob
- BHs - 2 cc (1 pass - that Agassi left) and 1 lob
- 5 from serve-volley points -
- 3 first volleys (1 FHV, 2 BHV)
- 2 second volleys (1 FHV, 1 OH)
- 1 other OH was on the bounce
Agassi's FHs - 1 inside-out, 3 inside-in (1 return, 1 at net, 1 not clean) and 1 longline return pass
- BHs - 2 cc passes, 4 dtl {2 regular (1 at net) and 2 passes (1 at net)}, 1 dtl/inside-out and 1 lob
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Sampras 45
- 34 Unforced (20 FH, 13 BH, 1 FHV)… with 2 BHs at net
- 11 Forced (5 FH, 4 BH, 1 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.5
Agassi 37
- 20 Unforced (6 FH, 10 BH, 1 FHV, 3 BHV)
- 17 Forced (8 FH, 8 BH, 1 BHV)… with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.5
(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
Sampras was...
- 28/39 (72%) at net, including...
- 17/25 (68%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 17/24 (71%) off 1st serve and..
- 0/1 off 2nd serve
Agassi was...
- 11/24 (46%) at net, including...
- 1/1 serve-volleying, a 1st serve
---
- 0/1 forced back
Match Report
A very courageous and smartly played match by Pete Sampras, who isn't physically well at the start. Agassi's performance is grey though on a tilted towards slow hard court. Keys to the match are Agassi's weak serve and Sampras' FH
I'll bet there was headline after this match about 'gutsy' showing. Sampras has a stomach problem and was apparently in no condition to play. Match started an hour late - with Agassi's consent - and Sampras looks and plays like a man with a hangover for near half the match, though it does get better as match wears on. At the start -
- he's not serving too hard
- his movements are very poor
... in particular, amidst all aspects of his game being obviously well down from norm. By the end, he's normal. Finishes the match with 7 aces from his last 8 first serves across 2 games
Agassi himself was less than fiddle like fit. He'd played through a wrist problem for most of the previous year and undergone surgery at the end ant this was his third tournament back
Sampras though is in far worse condition - moving gingerly and hitting plenty of puny shots - be it return or groundstrokes - while wearing an expression that makes you think he's about to vomit or black out. how on earth does he manage to beat a healthy Andre Agassi?
Sampras Strategy
In the circumstances, I'd think Sampras best bet would be to go all-out attacking - big serves, serve-volleys, point ending baseline shots - a low percentage game but one that can potentially overwhelm Agassi
Instead, he strikes a just about perfect, disarming mix in play. Its very doubtful that this was some master plan... it just works out that way as Pete's doing what he can
The serve - is a mix. Big first serves naturally (but smaller than his norm for all but end of match), with odd not big ones thrown in. Probably just not strong enough to serve full throttle. Second serve, same thing... some strong ones to the body, a good second serve for sure, but not overly aggressive with the shot
The return - is a mix. There are feeble returns. There's slow movement to slightly wide serves, making them look better then they are. There's standing inside the court returns (usually doesn't swing hard). There are firm returns and there are killingly powerful returns. Again, probably insufficient strength accounts for the feebler returns (which are many), rather than some mix-it up master plan
The FH - he's on killer mode but not crazy, and ends with match high 20 winners and 20 UEs (which is more than all of Agassi's winners, forced errors and equal to Agassi's total UEs), but its not wild stuff. He hits neutral balls, constructs points and is ambitious in his shot-making, usually coming off... very different from being wild
The BH - is ever so patient with it, looping balls back with no punch almost always
The movement - is slow, but makes an extra effort for odd points. There's the usual lot of BH-BH rallies, daring Agassi to finish dtl… and Pete's running FH winner attempt to it. Gets to those well enough
The serve-volleying - does not do it always. Follows 24/34 first serves to net or 71% and just once off second serve. For that matter, he does a lot better staying back - winning 9/10 as opposed to 17/24 serve-volleying.
He is aggressive on these stay-back points - looking for point ending FH early or an approach. And of course, some of the serves don't come back
In a nutshell, Pete's aggressive but selectively and disarmingly so