Duel Match Stats/Reports - Sampras vs Korda, Wimbledon & US Open fourth rounds, 1997

[Waspsting]

Pete Sampras beat Petr Korda 6-4, 6-3, 6-7(10), 6-7(1), 6-4 in the Wimbledon fourth round, 1997 on grass

Sampras would go onto to win the title, beating Cedric Pioline in the final. It’d be his fourth title at the event and he would go onto win the next 3 also. The two would meet again at the same stage at the US Open, with Korda winning in 5 sets

Sampras won 185 points, Korda 161

Sampras serve-volleyed off all serves, Korda about half the time off first serves and a third off seconds

Serve Stats
Sampras...
- 1st serve percentage (107/157) 68%
- 1st serve points won (88/107) 82%
- 2nd serve points won (33/50) 66%
- Aces 28 (1 not clean, 2 second serves), Service Winners 5
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (82/157) 52%

Korda...
- 1st serve percentage (99/189) 52%
- 1st serve points won (71/99) 72%
- 2nd serve points won (54/90) 60%
- Aces 13 (1 bad bounce related, 1 second serve)
- Double Faults 10
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (72/189) 38%

Serve Pattern
Sampras served...
- to FH 30%
- to BH 66%
- to Body 4%

Korda served...
- to FH 27%
- to BH 71%
- to Body 2%

Return Stats
Sampras made...
- 107 (26 FH, 81 BH), including 1 runaround FH & 3 return-approaches
- 5 Winners (1 FH, 4 BH)
- 59 Errors, comprising...
- 20 Unforced (4 FH, 16 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 39 Forced (17 FH, 22 BH)
- Return Rate (107/179) 60%

Korda made...
- 71 (14 FH, 57 BH)
- 11 Winners (2 FH, 9 BH)
- 49 Errors, all forced...
- 49 Forced (15 FH, 34 BH)
- Return Rate (71/153) 46%

Break Points
Sampras 3/11 (7 games)
Korda 0/3 (1 game)

Winners(including returns, excluding serves)
Sampras 36 (5 FH, 8 BH, 11 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 8 BHV, 3 OH)
Korda 37 (13 FH, 14 BH, 6 FHV, 4 BHV)

Sampras had 21 from serve-volley points -
- 11 first 'volleys' (5 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 3 BHV, 1 OH, 1 FH at net)
- 10 second volleys (4 FHV, 4 BHV, 2 OH)

- 1 from a return-approach point, a BHV

- 9 passes (2 FH, 7 BH) -
- FHs - 2 cc (1 return, 1 at net)... the 1 at net hits Korda on the foot
- BHs - 5 cc (1 return), 2 dtl returns

- regular FHs - 1 inside-out, 1 inside-in/longline
- regular BH return - 1 net chord dribbler

Korda had 9 from serve-volley points -
- 6 first volleys (5 FHV, 1 BHV)
- 3 second volleys (1 FHV, 2 BHV)

- 20 passes - 11 returns (2 FH, 9 BH) & 9 regular (5 FH, 4 BH)
- FH returns - 2 dtl
- BH returns - 3 cc, 6 dtl
- regular FHs - 1 cc, 2 dtl, 1 dtl/inside-out, 1 inside-out
- regular BHs - 2 cc (1 not clean), 1 dtl, 1 lob

- regular (non-pass) FHs - 1 cc/longline (with Sampras on the ground), 2 dtl, 2 inside-out, 1 inside-in
- regular BH - 1 cc

Errors(excluding returns and serves)
Sampras 48
- 21 Unforced (8 FH, 5 BH, 3 FHV, 5 BHV)
- 27 Forced (11 FH, 8 BH, 2 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 3 BHV, 2 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.6

Korda 57
- 23 Unforced (11 FH, 5 BH, 3 FHV, 3 BHV, 1 OH)
- 34 Forced (10 FH, 18 BH, 1 FHV, 4 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 49.1

(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
Sampras was...
- 98/134 (73%) at net, including...
- 88/120 (73%) serve-volleying, comprising..
- 57/76 (75%) off 1st serve and...
- 31/44 (70%) off 2nd serve
---
- 2/3 (67%) return-approaching

Korda was...
- 51/76 (67%) at net, including...
- 45/65 (69%) serve-volleying, comprising..
- 29/42 (69%) off 1st serve and...
- 16/23 (70%) off 2nd serve
---
- 0/2 forced back

Match Report
Not what the scoreline might suggest; Sampras has better of things from the start to the finish. He serves at his best, but return is sub-par. Korda goes from virtual full serve-volleying to playing from the baseline and at no time is more secure in holding than his opponent. Doesn’t serve particularly well and isn’t allowed to return effectively against what he’s up against. Match has more the feel of a routine straight setter than the epic looking 5 that it is

Sampras goes through match unbroken. Faces break points in just 1 game. Is taken to deuce just once beyond that. While holding to both love and fifteen 10 times each. Thorough domination on serve, meaning he has to do relatively little to wins sets

With Korda dishing out poor in count 52%, he’s never safe on serve. And that 52% is bolstered by last set yield of 75% - a set where he goes down right at the start. Sans that, he serves 48%.
Sampras serves 68% first serves in for the match, and 70% for first 4 sets

2 sets all - with Korda serving at 48%, Pete 70% and Pete winning significantly higher lot of points on both serves. This is the flip side of grass court tennis where there’s virtually nothing between two players in a 3, 3 & 4 match; Pete doing a lot better, but match level

Its not far from being straight sets either. Pete leads third set tiebreak 4-0 and faces a second serve after that. With Korda’s last 2 holds in the set having lasted 10 points (2 break points) and 12 points (3 break points). Pete’s last 2 holds were both to 15 by contrast

If you had to make a bet on either a) match goes to 5 sets, and ends 6-4 there or b) Pete wraps up match with 7-0 ‘breaker, what would you pick?

Pete has 2 match points on return points in the ‘breaker, but Korda eventually comes out ahead to extend the match, eventually to 5 sets

All 3 sets Pete wins are 1 break affairs. He serves fewer points in every set
In all, Pete wins 53% of the points while serving 45% of them
Break points - Pete 3/11 (7 games), Korda 0/3 (1 game)

Pete’s taken to deuce just twice (including the solitary game he faces break points). By contrast, he holds to love and 15 ten times each. How secure Korda is holding varies, from looking like he might get broken any moment to fairly comfortably and at no stage does he hold more comfily than opponent

Despite all of that, result is possibly shaped by an odd referee decision. Match is played over 2 days and at end of first evening, its getting dark and court is apparently a bit slippery. Second set is on serve, with Pete leading 3-2 as the players sit down

Referee - or someone with authority - comes down and informs players and Chair that there’ll be 1 more game that evening, which the Chair announces to the crowd, citing the light
Why 1 more game? If conditions aren’t fit, then they’re not fit. Has someone projected that they’re just fit enough, but won’t be after 1 more game? Why not just call it a night at the changeover?

Korda’s broken in that 1 more game. Next morning, he holds 13 times in a row fairly comfily and 17/18 games in all. Psychologically, having 1 more game puts all pressure on the server, who has nothing to gain and gives returner a sort of free hit

No protests from anyone about the matter, barely a mention of the inherent lack of logic in it by the commentators. If there’s a good reason to play 1 more game in conditions deemed unfit to continue, while the players are sitting down at a change-over already, I can’t think of it

Sampras serve-volley 100% off the time of course
Korda serve-volleys 48% of the time off first serves - winning 69% doing, 67% not
He serve-volleys 29% off the time off second serves - winning 70% doing, 66% not

Starts match virtually 100% serve-volleying off both serves, with just a rare second serve stay back.Takes to staying back off more and more off seconds serves from second set onward, with frequency getting lower and lower as match goes on. Starts staying back occasionally off firsts mid way through 3rd set and does so more and more often until the end. As far as serve-volleying goes, full circle match for Korda (figuratively speaking)

Sampras’ serve domination doesn’t need much explanation. 28 aces, 5 service winners (and only the thoroughly extreme errors have been marked service winners), 52% unreturned serves. Its mostly about his serve and he’s not tasked to volley much and would have to be making a mess of it to get into trouble. Serve-bot stuff

From Pete’s point of view, Korda winning 60% second serve points and dominating both serve-volleying and and staying back is poor. Not much demons in Korda’s second serve, readily returnable, potentially attackable were Pete inclined. Pete just happens to return badly

Sampras’ serve games
Sampras serving at his very best

Big first serves. Wide first serves, Korda’s jumping and lunging for everything. High in count
‘Drawback’ of showing is first and second serves are more easy to see than his norm. Because the first serve is particularly powerful
68% in count at that kind of pace and power - top notch

A word on the term ‘service winner’. These days, I only mark the most flagrant of flagrantly forced return errors as service winners. ‘Returner did very well to get racquet on ball and tipped ball off to side’ type stuff

By this standard, you’ll almost never see 5 service winners

28 aces, 5 service winners comes to 30% of first serves being unreturnable (excluding sole second serve ace). Lots and lots of hard forced return errors
52% freebie rate
Just 4 double faults or 8% of second serves

Korda’s done well to snag 11 return winners. 9 are BHs and most are full stretched out pokes dtl. As high service winners indicate, he’s good at getting racquet on wide balls and some amount of this type of returns usually happen when serves are wide and angle opened up to slip return-pass by for winner. He’s got 6 BH dtl return-pass winners - well done

Simple volleys for Pete to face first up. This isn’t a shoelace of half-volley demo as he rarely has to play such balls. Net high (usually above) stuff to face on average

 

[Waspsting]

On the ‘volley’ 24 winners, 8 UEs, 8 FEs
Korda has 20 passing winners (11 returns, 9 regular), at 46% return rate and with 28 ground FEs (at least 20 of which are passes)

Bit loose on favourite, stock first BHV cc from Pete. Almost all of his 5 BHV UEs are this. Kind of simple where he might target 0 misses. Can more than afford it with everything else going on

24 winners are mostly easy or even putaways and the passing errors are hard forced to hopeless chances for Korda. Mostly credit to the serve (and perfect movement getting him into position to volley) more than the volley. Even though he’d have to be messing up on the volley to lose points, neat and efficient volleying too

Good job by Korda to sneak out 11 return-pass winners. He doesn’t have much shot on the pass after it and rate is poor

Not too many difficult, shoelace volleys for Pete to face. He’s made a few more than the 8 he’s missed, which isn’t great, but its rare enough for him to have to that its not too important. Does make the tough ones with fair authority and most of Korda’s passing winners spring from those. And they’re still ‘normal’ - not lined up - passes, that he loses more points off than wins

Gist - Pete’s best serving and Korda shut out. Not too much to do on volley and does it neatly
Korda does what he can. Good job stretching and hopping to get racquet on ball and gains benefit of slipped by dtl return winners. Not much he can do against this serve showing

Korda’s serve games
Korda serve-volleys 48% of the time off first serves - winning 69% doing, 67% not
He serve-volleys 29% off the time off second serves - winning 70% doing, 66% not

Starts match virtually 100% serve-volleying off both serves, with just a rare second serve stay back.Takes to staying back off more and more off seconds serves from second set onward, with frequency getting lower and lower as match goes on. Starts staying back occasionally off firsts mid way through 3rd set and does so more and more often until the end

He doesn’t serve well, mainly due to low 52% in count. His firs serve is a mixed big - some very good wide ones, as many in swing zones and not diffult to return. When he starts staying back off the odd first serve, Pete tends to miss returns probably expecting a serve-volley, but once Pete gets used to Korda staying back, returns first serves as comfortably as he could hope for

If he’s winning 70% second serve-volley points - same as Pete himself wins and a hair better than Korda does behind first serves - why stop doing it?

It seems to be a good move, but hasn’t come out in stats. Korda has 7 net UEs, which isn’t too bad, but he does some easy - not routine, but easy - high volleys. To see him volley, would think he’d get himself broken sooner or later (probably sooner) second serve-volleying regularly. Especially given low in counts (and despite the excellent real figure)

And as he’s doing dandily not serve-volleying too with 66% points won and undoubtedly more comfy playing from baseline, with Pete showing no urgency in taking net from rallies, staying back of second serves is actually a good move

Still, he wins 66% staying back largely for Pete returning poorly. If Pete’s returned stay back first serves surely, it’s the opposite for second serves

Pete has 20 return UEs. 17 of them against second serves
Starts well, returning the first 12 stay back second serves, but that’s also the calibre of serves they are. Just a normal second serve from Korda. Readily returnable. Attackable if returner has an eye for it. Pete doesn’t and sticks to putting return in play normally to get a rally started. Not weak returns, not damaging ones

After first making first 12, his return rate for stay back second serves is 30/48 or 63%, which is very poor, given average calibre of serve and normal force of returns (he’s also got 1 return FE against a second serve that stays low)

63% return rate would be a reasonable target against a 100% serve-volleying Korda, first and second serves. Against stay-back second serves, its awaful - and big blackmark on Pete’s returning for it

Korda tosses in 10 double faults or 11% of second serves. Not a funciton of trying to serve-volley or going for big second serves. Just pretty free in missing normal second serves
Point is, at heart of Korda winning very good 60% second serve points is Pete making a mess of returns

Korda wins very healthy 69% serve-volleying across both serves, but doesn’t seem comfy with the play. Largely wins them via unreturned serves and its most concentrated at start of match. Could put that down to Pete getting his return eye in. The second serve in particular looks like once a good returner’s got a grip, might come in for rough treatment. And Korda’s volleying doesn’t look upto handling power returns for long. So sound enough move to desist, but if Pete’s stay back returning is anything to go by, Korda could probably have done dandily serve-volleying too

Baseline UEs -
- BHs - both 5
- FHs - Korda 8, Pete 11

Ground to ground winners - Korda 7 (6 FH, 1 BH), Pete 2 FH (Pete alos has a net chord dribbling BH return)

Korda a little more secure, Korda considerably more damaging. Rallies are even of hitting and movement though. Korda’s extra winners largely coming from drawing weak returns with his few good first serves, but he is also more willing to go on the attack from the back. Suffice to say, Korda better baseliner. His BH cc being powerful enough to keep Pete’s FH honest is significant. In fact, Korda usually gets the better of that exchange, evening with winning shots as well as being steadier

Rallying to net
- Korda 6/11, Pete 8/11

Not much looking to get forward by either player. Korda, with his unreliable volleying would understandably prefer not to. Pete generally tend not to mix baseline and net play. That’s not a good thing - good a baseliner as he is, he’s that much more dangerous at net. But Korda’s hitting is good enough to dney him clear chances to come in, so it would require active pursuit of net for Pete to come in more. He doesn’t show any signs of having that urge and is content to trade groundies from the back, where he’s winning his fair share of points

Korda with 10 volley winners for 7 UEs and 6 FEs
Pete has 9 passing winners and 19 ground FEs (12-15 of them would be passing shots)

Supports Korda’s decision to stay back. His volleying is curious in that they’re decisive and very well punched but he just happens to miss easy ones quite often. Not too good at handling even slightly tough stuff (slightly wide, low-ish, little extra powerful). If anyting, better at the shoelace stuff than you’d expect seeing the rest, but like most players, more apt to miss than make those

Those volley numbers are liable to get him broken without a very large freebie cushion (which he doesn’t have and doesn’t look capable to drawing)

 

[Waspsting]

Gist - lot of interesting, if not high quality stuff going on
- Korda serve-volleying all the time to start, drawing a lot of return errors but also missing easy volleys frequently
- Korda switching to serve-volleying less and less, first cutting back off second serves and later firsts, leading to baseline rallies
- Sampras missing lots of second returns with Korda staying back - poor stuff
- Normal, decent baseline action, with Korda having better of it

Match Progression
Both players serve-volleying all the time in first set (Pete literally, Korda stays back on 2 second serves). Pete lands 75% first serves and cruises on freebies, Korda just 48% but most of his serves don’t come back either

Pete’s got Korda reaching and lunging to return with almost every serve, including the seconds. Korda’s serves are quick and slippery but not too wide. He’s apt to miss easy volleys when faced with them

Pete misses wide BH1/2V to start the match. Korda spanks a BH cc return-pass winner couple points later to reach 15-30. That’s about it for Korda on return for the set. Pete wins 19/21 remaining service points
Korda’s down 15-30 in his opening game too, on back of 2 easy volley misses (1 of each wing), but comes thourgh to hold after saving break point

Serve-bot holds from there to end when Pete breaks. Finishes with 3 winners - all first serve points - a FH cc pass at net (with which he hits the at net Korda on the foot), lovely flicked BH cc pass and a FHV after forcing Korda back from net

In set 2, more returns are put in play by both players and Korda stays back off second serves most of the time. Pete faces routine and easy volleys and deals efficiently with them. Korda’s in count drops to 30%

Glorious, corner to corner rally in game 4 that Korda comes away with a BH cc winner on. He face a break point in the game, but aces it away to hold for 2-2, before Pete moves ahead 3-2 with a love game

Its pretty dark and both players had slipped and apparently had trouble with their movements so far. The referee(?) or someone with authority to do so tells the players and Chair there’ll be one more game this day

Pete makes most of it to break from 30-0 down. Korda misses another routine FHV and double faults and Pete knocks away nice running BH cc pass winner, and breaks with a winning, wide FH cc
Match resumes next day and Pete serves his way to 2 sets lead
Korda shifts to almost all staying back off second serves and as third set goes on, starts staying back off firsts too. Pete starts missing routine second returns in way he hadn’t at all previous evening

Pete faces break points for only time in match in game 8. Its 16 point game and he saves 3 break points in all. Couple of double faults in there but mostly good returns and passes from Korda and Pete just about able to hold. Korda’s best shot is the last break point, where he just misses a powerful BH cc pass wide

Pete might be at his loosest on serve for the match, but he still has better of the set. He serves 41 points for 6 holds, Korda 45. Korda has to save 5 break points across his last 2 regular games

Tiebreak. Pete’s at net quickly to take first point. Korda misses an easy smash putaway awhile later to fall behind 4-0 and he’s down to his second serve point after that
That’s when worm turns, starting with Pete missing routine return to get Korda on the board
Squeezed BH dtl return pass winner gets Korda to 2-5
Lovely wide BH cc is too much for Pete’s running FH to handle. And Pete makes a not-easy FHV UE to level the game at 5-5

Things stay on serve from there to the end, with Pete having the first 2 set points (also, match points for him). He slips and falls during rally on first one as Korda ends up with a FH winner and makes a rare cc approach on the second, only to get passed FH cc for another winner. Korda seals the set with a FH dtl return-pass winner against a rare, in the slot serve that’s there to be slapped away the way it is

Korda cuts back on serve-volleying still more in fourth set. There are no break points in the set and despite many routine return misses, Pete still gets into return games regularly
Going into ‘breaker, Pete’s serves 34 points, Korda 47

‘Breaker goes 7-3 to Korda. Its more a bad one from Pete than a good one from Korda. Rare not-good volley gets dispatched for FH dtl’ish pass winner to start, and Pete misses a low-ish, makeable BHV that’s been marked FE on his next service point to trail 4-0

He misses an easy BHV to give up the set

Pete breaks to open the 5th set in a no serve-volley, 8 point game. Winning FH cc and a FHV set up by a FH dtl are Pete’s positive contribution, there’s a double fault and the rest are baseline UEs
Up a break, Pete locks down service games, losing just 2 points for his 5 holds (1 double fault and 1 when he’s sitting on 3 match points) to close out the match

Summing up, despite the exciting scoreline, essentially a routine Sampras grass court match. He serves particularly well (large in count, high quality wide serves) to score a ton of freebies and leaves himself simple volleys to make, which he handles efficiently

Korda is statistically successful serve-volleying, but is error prone enough on the routine volley as to seem unlikely to be able to keep holding that way. Its not a bad move for him to stay back, which he does more and more as match goes on and he holds more regularly still. In large part due to Sampras’ missing routine returns

Decent baseline action, some neat volleying from Sampras, not good returning from the winner and main feature of Sampras serving extremely well. If there are straight setters on grass that could have easily gone the other way, this is a 5 setter that could readily have gone 3 sets to the clearly superior Sampras

Stats for the final between Sampras and Cedric Pioline - Match Stats/Report - Sampras vs Pioline, Wimbledon final, 1997 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)

 

[urban]

Sampras had sometimes problems with lefthanders, who had a good backhand. I think, Korda beat him once at USO, Leconte and Forget beat him indoors in Davis Cup, and early on he had some problems with Ivanisevic too, whom he controlled later on due to mentality advantage. I thought that Korda would have even better chances against Sampras with a better, more penetrating volley.

 

[Moose Malloy]

Referee - or someone with authority - comes down and informs players and Chair that there’ll be 1 more game that evening, which the Chair announces to the crowd, citing the light
Why 1 more game? If conditions aren’t fit, then they’re not fit. Has someone projected that they’re just fit enough, but won’t be after 1 more game? Why not just call it a night at the changeover?

The rule is to stop on an even number of games when suspending play due to darkness. See Isner-Mahut etc.

Cited on page 30 here

https://www.itftennis.com/media/7221/2024-rules-of-tennis-english.pdf

 

[Waspsting]

Sampras had sometimes problems with lefthanders, who had a good backhand. I think, Korda beat him once at USO, Leconte and Forget beat him indoors in Davis Cup, and early on he had some problems with Ivanisevic too, whom he controlled later on due to mentality advantage. I thought that Korda would have even better chances against Sampras with a better, more penetrating volley.

In this match and the '93 Grand Slam Cup one, Korda's finishing on the volley is excellent and his problem has more do with missing easy volleys fairly often. I also don't get the impression he likes coming to net much, but he has the power and shot-making from the back that that'd be very effective if he did

I would attribute Sampras' difficulties with this lot to returning lefty serves more than anything else. Does anyone actually 'like' returning lefties?

All those guys you mentioned are excellent servers. I don't think any of them have particularly good BHs (power, shot-making, shot-tolerance, consistency), nothing to thwart Sampras FH in cc rallies. The kinds of shots if someone is looking to praise, can find something to praise (says more about one's outlook than the shot), but it doesn't stand out to one whose just looking without an eye to praise or critique

Korda's different. He doesn't have a great serve and he does look like he has a particularly good BH (force of shot and shot-making)

Based on splitting 4 five set matches 2-2, I thought Korda might have been a bad match up for Sampras. Head to head is pretty lop-sided though, which commentators for this match point out. And both this and the '94 Indian Wells matches are pretty disappointing for 5-setters

 

[WCT]

The rule is to stop on an even number of games when suspending play due to darkness. See Isner-Mahut etc.

Cited on page 30 here

https://www.itftennis.com/media/7221/2024-rules-of-tennis-english.pdf[/

http://

Sampras had sometimes problems with lefthanders, who had a good backhand. I think, Korda beat him once at USO, Leconte and Forget beat him indoors in Davis Cup, and early on he had some problems with Ivanisevic too, whom he controlled later on due to mentality advantage. I thought that Korda would have even better chances against Sampras with a better, more penetrating volley.

Funny story about their US Open match. Mcenroe was in the booth for it. At one point he says, if Korda wins this match, I'll do the next match standing on my head. Next day, when they come on they show the broadcasters. Mcenroe was standing on his head.

 

[urban]

Leconte had a pretty good backhand, when he was on. I have seen him against prime Lendl hitting backhand winners at will, also at Wimbledon 1985, when Rex Bellamy noted his fine lefty backhand. Alone in the 2-0 game in the 4th set. Leconte hits 6 backhand return winners, 2 clean cross winners and 4 forcing shots, which give Lendl volleys fits. Forget is a bit underrated player, at his best, he had fine groundies. I think, he beat Sampras twice indoors on fast courts in 1991, at Bercy and at Davis Cup. Ivanisevic had a good doublehander return, his problem was, that he could not use his openings and had no second shot as passing shot...

 

[Moose Malloy]

http://

Funny story about their US Open match. Mcenroe was in the booth for it. At one point he says, if Korda wins this match, I'll do the next match standing on my head. Next day, when they come on they show the broadcasters. Mcenroe was standing on his head.

That's incorrect, Mac didn't say that during the Korda match. He said that during a 1st round match at 1994 USO when Krajicek was up 6-0 in the 4th TB vs Siemerink - "If Krajicek loses this TB, I'll stand on my head." Siemerink came back to win the TB and Mac stood on his head the next day. It's on youtube I think.

 

[WCT]

That's incorrect, Mac didn't say that during the Korda match. He said that during a 1st round match at 1994 USO when Krajicek was up 6-0 in the 4th TB vs Siemerink - "If Krajicek loses this TB, I'll stand on my head." Siemerink came back to win the TB and Mac stood on his head the next day. It's on youtube I think.

Damn, is my memory going. Well, at least it did happen with someone. Still, I could have sworn it was Sampras and Korda.

 

[WCT]

I founf that clip, Mcenroe is upside down and it has nothing to do with Sampras.The memory can play tricks. For me at least. The 1977 Pepsi final. Match point, Borg has a sitter pass and nets it. He then slams, I mean slams, the ball into the net again.

Tennis Channel first showed that match in maybe 2009. Before I saw it again,I would have insisted Borg had hit the ball out of the staidium. Somehow, that was how I remembered it.

 

[buscemi]

I founf that clip, Mcenroe is upside down and it has nothing to do with Sampras.The memory can play tricks. For me at least. The 1977 Pepsi final. Match point, Borg has a sitter pass and nets it. He then slams, I mean slams, the ball into the net again.

Tennis Channel first showed that match in maybe 2009. Before I saw it again,I would have insisted Borg had hit the ball out of the staidium. Somehow, that was how I remembered it.

IIRC, McEnroe initially tried to get out of it by saying he only promised to stand on his head if Krajicek lost the match from up 6-0 in the fourth set tiebreaker (w/Krajicek losing the tiebreaker but then winning the match in the fifth set). But he eventually relented and went upside down.

 

[Waspsting]

Korda beat Sampras 6-7(4), 7-5, 7-6(2), 3-6, 7-6(3) in the US Open fourth round, 1997 on hard court

Korda would go onto lose in the next round to Jonas Bjorkman. Sampras was the double defending champion and had won Cincinnati in the lead in

Korda won 189 points, Sampras 169

Sampras serve-volleyed off all but 4 first serves

(Note: I’m missing 2 points -
Set 3, Game 2, Point 1 - a Korda first serve point that he won. It was likely a return error, but has not been marked
Set 3, Game 4, Point 1 - a Korda second serve point. According to commentary, Sampras chip-charged and Korda hit a BH up-the-line winner. It has only bee marked as returned)

Serve Stats
Korda...
- 1st serve percentage (111/168) 66%
- 1st serve points won (87/111) 78%
- 2nd serve points won (34/57) 60%
- Aces 15
- Double Faults 6
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (55/167) 33%

Sampras...
- 1st serve percentage (110/190) 58%
- 1st serve points won (82/110) 75%
- 2nd serve points won (40/80) 50%
- Aces 24, Service Winners 2
- Double Faults 5
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (80/190) 42%

Serve Patterns
Korda served...
- to FH 23%
- to BH 74%
- to Body 3%

Sampras served...
- to FH 28%
- to BH 72%
- to Body 1%

Return Stats
Korda made...
- 105 (25 FH, 80 BH), including 1 runaround FH & 1 return-approach
- 9 Winners (3 FH, 6 BH)
- 54 Errors, comprising...
- 12 Unforced (3 FH, 9 BH)
- 42 Forced (13 FH, 29 BH)
- Return Rate (105/185) 57%

Sampras made...
- 106 (21 FH, 84 BH, 1 ??), including 2 runaround FHs & 7 return-approaches
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 40 Errors, comprising...
- 29 Unforced (8 FH, 21 BH), including 1 runaround FH & 3 return-approach attempts
- 11 Forced (3 FH, 8 BH)
- Return Rate (106/161) 66%

Break Points
Korda 3/12 (6 games)
Sampras 4/8 (5 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Korda 48 (17 FH, 28 BH, 3 BHV)
Sampras 23 (5 FH, 5 BH, 6 FHV, 3 BHV, 4 OH)

Korda had 30 passes - 9 returns (3 FH, 6 BH) & 21 regular (3 FH, 17 BH, 1 BHV) -
- FH returns - 2 dtl, 1 inside-in/longline
- BH returns - 2 cc, 2 dtl, 1 inside-out, 1 inside-in
- regular FHs - 1 cc, 1 inside-out, 1 running-down-drop-shot dtl at net
- regular BHs - 9 cc, 5 dtl, 1 inside-out, 1 inside-out/dtl, 1 lob
- BHV - a non-net, swinging cc

- regular (non-pass) FHs - 3 cc, 2 dtl, 4 inside-out, 1 inside-out/dtl, 1 net chord dribbler
- regular BHs - 3 cc, 1 dtl at net, 1 inside-out

Sampras had 13 from serve volley points -
- 8 first 'volleys' (4 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH, 1 FH at net, 1 BH at net)... the OH was on the bounce and the FH at net can reasonably be called a FH1/2V
- 5 second volley (1 FHV, 1 BHV, 3 OH)

- FHs - 1 cc, 1 dtl, 1 inside-in, 1 running-down-drop-shot cc at net
- BHs - 2 cc, 2 dtl (1 return, 1 pass)

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Korda 60
- 32 Unforced (15 FH, 16 BH, 1 BHV)... with 1 BH at net
- 28 Forced (11 FH, 14 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BH1/2V, 1 BHOH)... with 1 FH pass at net & the BHOH was a flagrantly forced, on the baseline shot against an at net smash
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.1

Sampras 79
- 51 Unforced (18 FH, 27 BH, 3 FHV, 3 BHV)
- 28 Forced (8 FH, 10 BH, 3 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 5 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.7

(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
Korda was...
- 13/20 (65%) at net, including...
- 0/1 serve-volleying, a 2nd serve
---
- 0/1 return-approaching
- 0/2 forced back

Sampras was...
- 81/129 (63%) at net, including...
- 64/96 (67%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 54/80 (68%) off 1st serve and...
- 10/16 (63%) off 2nd serve
---
- 3/7 (43%) return-approaching
- 0/1 forced back

Match Report
Couple of months later, and the 2 players have done a 180. Another tense 5 setter with an epic scoreline, but this time, Korda has substantially better of match and Sampras’ has done well and been lucky to hang in to make it so. Korda’s BH is spectacular both in baseline rallies and even more on the pass, while Sampras leans on his serve to keep from being left behind. Sampras’ stamina is an issue and he’s unable to return effectively. Court is fast but bouncy

The parallels to the Wimby match are striking, down to a break in the match altering its flow. Here, it’s a rain break of about an hour around the start of fourth set. Couldn’t come at a better time for Pete, who seems to be weakening more and more. Nice, hour break revitalizes him and he shoots through set to force decider. In it, he carries on sprightly, until again weakening down

Korda has better of match before all that too. Including the first set that he loses in tiebreak. In that first set, he serves 32 points for his 6 holds, Pete 39 and break points read Pete 0, Korda 0/6 (2 games) - including Pete being down 0-40 and 3 set points

Korda wins 52.8% of the points, serving 46.9% of them
Break points - Korda 3/12 (6 games), Pete 4/8 (5 games)

Pete’s success in returning is concentrated in period after resumption of play
Pete’s 3/7 (4 games) on break points in Korda’s first 5 service games after players return from rain break

So for rest of match on either side of that phase 1/1 across 24 return games. That’s about as badly as Korda had it at Wimby. Korda by contrast, sporadically getting into return games and more often than opponent, half getting into them

Pete up a break early in the 5th set, with momentum firmly in his corner - serving about his best (for match and otherwise), and seemingly having finally got a grip on Korda’s slippery serve.
Not soon after, he falls to his just-before-rain-break form of seeming tiredness. Serves his weakest for match with Korda breaking back and threatening to break again even

So stamina short-comings large part of what sees Pete lose? Undoubtedly, but worth noting, he’s second best right from the start, needing clutch or luck to pinch first set and keep next 2 close

Pete has more better of Wimby match than Korda does of this one, but that comparison isn’t the point here. Point is, Korda has considerably better of this match, including when Pete’s at his normal high standard in first two sets and like the Wimby one, some luck necessary for opponent to make things so tight

Pete serve-volleys off first serves, stays back off seconds. Korda plays from baseline

Korda dominates baseline rallies thoroughly. Standard of Pete’s groundgame varies some, but his getting outplayed does not. He’s playing well much of the time - still can’t match Korda, can barely even approach him from the back

Usual strong serving from Pete, but he’s not good on the return. Korda with an average serve, and Pete missing a lot of routine returns and not returning with much heat. Blackmark to Pete here

Good contest of Pete at net vs Korda on pass. Korda’s BH is especially stellar. Questionable choice by Pete to persist serving there. 28 winners, 31 errors (16 UEs, 14 FEs) from the Korda BH (its probably 29 winners, per commentary for a missing point)

How often do you see Pete Sampras outdone 2:1 on winners? Korda has 48 confirmed winners, Pete just 23. Pete’s figure is very low for match of such length. Korda has more BH winners than Pete does total - and Pete’s at net 129 times

Potential area to redress balance would be unreturned serves. They read Pete 42%, Korda 33%. Both are good outcomes for Korda, especially the lot ot freebies he gets, which goes back to Pete’s returning not being good

Korda leading in all areas… +8% first serves in, +3% first serves won, +10% second serve points won
Flip script from Wimbledon

Serve, Return & Serve-Volley
Korda with an average serve, rarely wide of Pete’s swing zone. Pete with a powerful one
Pete serve-volleying virtually all first serves and a few seconds, Korda staying back
Korda returning from relatively early position, and genuinely early against second serves sometimes. Pete the same

Unreturned serves - Korda 33%, Pete 42%

In light of all of the above, very outcome for Korda. Especially his high lot of freebies

Return UEs - Korda 12, Pete 29
Return FEs - Korda 42, Pete 11

A lot of regulation, in swing zone serves missed by Pete. Its quick court and not easy to return on, but still, good lot too many
3/4 first serves Pete stays back on are returned (the 1 that doesn’t has been marked a UE) - and they’re more troubling than the vast lot of routine returns Pete misses

Serve patterns are near identical
Korda serving 23% to FH, 74% to BH, Pete 28% to FH, 72% to BH

For Korda, obviously a good move, with Pete’s BH shakey. For Pete, less so. Korda’s BH is very good at handling pace and redirecting it. Whether its better than FH remains to be seen, but is worth mixing up serves more rather than persistently serving to an obviously strong return. Just 1 body serve by Pete - usually a good option to try out against a fluent returner

Both players lot of return errors are proportionate to others 3:1 to BH pattern. So are Korda’s return winners (Pete has just 1 return winner)

First serve aces and service winners - Korda 15, Pete 26
First serve ace and service winner rate - Korda 14%, Pete 24%

Gap in serve quality is greater than that figure might suggest. High lot of Korda’s aces come near the end with Pete’s energies and efforts flagging. To be exact, 9/15 are in the last set, including 3 in a row at one stage, with Pete not moving or making much effort

Pete’s hottest run of aces comes early in last set too. He has 7 across 9 first serves in his first 2 games in that set. Just before his game flags

 

[Waspsting]

Pete serve-volleys off all but 4 first serves. 3 of them late in 5th set when he’s probably too tired to, 1 surprise stay back early on when he comes to net from the rally

Pete’s serve-volley frequency
- off first serve 95%
- off second serve 21%

Wins 63% second serve-volleying and 51% not (excluding acceptable 6% double faulting)

The 51% behind a strong second serve that leaves him with good starting point for rallies falls under umbrella of how he’s outplayed from baseline. Much of his second serving is as hot as Korda’s firsts, in which light, would look to win lot more than 51%

Korda wins 60% second serves points (sans 11% double faults, 67%), to further put Pete’s numbers in perspective

Gist - average serving from Korda and Pete not returning it too well off consistency. Sound move to target Pete’s vulernable BH return
Strong serving from Pete, and Korda not taking step back to return it firmly, with well timed, early blocks. Pete gets his due lot of freebies but is faced with solid returns to deal with

Play - Baseline & Net
Korda dominates baseline action, playing particularly well. Sampras is more up and down, but even his up phases see him not up to Korda’s level

In baseline rallies -
Winners - Korda 14 (10 FH, 4 BH), Pete 6 (3 FH, 3 BH)
Errors forced - Korda 8, Pete 2
UEs - Korda 30 (15 apiece), Pete 45 (18 FH, 27 BH)

Gist - Korda much better in all areas, off both wings

Some looseness from Korda in large lot of routine third ball UEs. Usually neutral shots. Just part of his usual game
Swings to roundabouts of that is that once rally gets going, he’s even more secure than above numbers indicate

By far match high 10 FH winners for Korda (in fact, its equal to all other groundies combined), by far match high 27 UEs from Pete’s BH (a third to a half more than any other shot) speaks to Korda directing action with his FH, and dominating

Neutral UEs - Korda 16, Pete 33
Firm hitting from Korda. He doesn’t go overboard into powerful territory. Its court where its not necessary to do so to be pressuring and the high bounce helps in exposing Pete’s BH

Flip side Korda BH vs Pete FH also goes way of the lefty, but more quietly. Its an even rally - not Pete leading or Korda reacting, unlike when Korda has ball on FH. No ready openings for Pete to unload with big shots and he doesn’t look to. If he’s waiting for a weak ball, it doesn’t come. He doesn’t even seem to be pointedly looking to force a weak ball with strained forceful power, though its unlikely that would succeed, if Korda’s passing is anything to go by.Pete not getting ball up as high as Korda does, and when he can, makes no difference to Korda anyway (again, unlike other way around)

A better contest going on between at net Pete and on baseline Korda
On the ‘volley’, Pete has 15 winners, 6 UEs, 9 FEs
Korda has 30 winners (9 returns), 23 FEs

Same number of winners as errors for Pete in forecourt and same number as passing winners as errors (sans returns) for Korda = Korda getting much better of things. Its 42% freebies from Pete that’s pushing his net winning rate up to 63%

6 UEs is good for such a long match. Normal, solid volleying to open court by Pete leaving below average looks on the pass for Korda. The FEs are a little high and the one area his volleying is below his personal par
15 winners is low, but he faces solid returns that he’s not in habit of putting away. He does what he likes to do with them just fine, steering them to open side of court and waiting to finish with second volley

21 regular pass winners for 23 FEs is outstanding for Korda
- on FH - 3 winners, 10 FEs
- on BH - 17 winners, 13 FEs (also has a swinging, non-net BHV winner)

That last mentioned is really, really special. ‘Outstanding’ would be an understatement to describe it. 9 winners are cc, 5 dtl, with a couple inside-out based

 

[Waspsting]

Not much rallying to net
Korda’s 13/19, Pete 14/26

Low enough for Pete that its not much better than being outplayed from baseline as he is. Leaving aside that hits difficult to find good approach chance, what with the bounce and Korda’s easy strong force of shot

Gist - Korda dominating action. From the baseline, his FH dominates Pete’s BH, with the latter struggling against high bounce to give up lot of errors, while Korda’s shot-making is best off that wing. Meanwhile, his BH is more secure than Pete’s FH, and keeps the latter honest

Sampras volleying soundly in his measured way, but Korda passing spectacularly, especially off the BH

Match Progression
First set is the best of the match, it’s a great one and Korda has better of it, despite losing. No breaks going into tiebreak, but Korda has 6 break points across 2 games (including 3 set points at 0-40, 6-5) to Pete’s 0
Korda serves 32 points for his 6 holds, Pete 39

Korda times the ball superbly to hit powerfully without straining. Some fine shot-making to go with it and he’s not averse to taking net early to finish points. Pete has little error spurts, which aren’t too important, but is slightly outhit from the back. Faces some lovely timed early and/or blocked returns to when serve-volleying, but stays on top of his volleying

Comfy holds to 15 and 30 for both players ‘til game 8, when Pete’s down 15-40 on back of some strong returns. He’s typically clutch to hold. Slinks a first half-volley on first break point and come away with a second BHV winner next shot and strikes a third ball FH inside-in winner to get back to deuce. Korda has another break point in the game, where he misses second return against a decent body serve, before Pete goes on to hold

Pete’s down 0-40 at 6-5 after a pair of FH UEs. Strong serves get him out of trouble this time

Tiebreak. Korda with not unusual third ball routine FH UE to start, but he knocks away BH inside-out return-pass winner next point to level
Korda goes up a mini as he takes net 3 points in a row and has 2 serves to come at 4-3
Doesn’t win another point. Continues his net seeking ways and manages to get a low volley over, but Pete upto making BH dtl pass to level things again. And Pete chip-charge returns to nose forward, before closing out with 2 unreturned serves

Pete stays back off a first serve for first time to open second set, but takes net in rally to come away with BHV winner. He breaks for 2-0, with Korda giving up pressured FH UEs on last 2 points

Having pinched a set against run of play and now up a break and grooving on serve, looks like a common Pete match. Korda has other ideas and breaks back for 2-3 - BH cc pass winner after drawing first half-volley, a dtl return that sees him take control of point that he finishes at net and Pete missing routine BHV and double faulting do the trick

There’s a brief rain delay, after which, Pete’s looser off the ground and more freely hands over errors. Some great winners from Korda too, both passes and from the baseline. He cuts back on taking net to be aggressive

Korda breaks decisively to love for 6-5 - 2 double faults from Pete, 2 different calibre BH cc passing winners from Korda (first one is from not-good look, second is against a not good FH inside-in approach). And Korda serves out to love

No break points, let alone breaks in set 3, but Korda remains on top. If anything, more so than earlier. His groundgame is tidy, as well as powerful. Pete starts showing signs of light fatigue (he’d been second best even fresh, and easing up enhances baseline gap). Pete’s BH gets broken down and he’s slack with return errors. And Korda still sprinkling in some wonderful shot-making

Tiebreak. 2 by now expected Pete BH UEs, followed by Korda nailing a BH dtl pass winner sees Korda take 3-1 lead. Misses a couple of FHs later on too. Both points he wins are aces. Korda throws in 2 FH inside-out winners too (1 pass, 1 not), and its 2 sets to 1 to Korda

Hour long rain delay probably saves Pete, who is not looking good. It comes after Korda holds to open fourth set. Upon resumption, its more Korda’s sloppiness than Pete playing well that sees the set go 6-3 to Pete. Still, Pete’s lost the tired and defeated look, his serving is best of the match and at least, he’s not loose of the ground (giving room for Korda to be)

Couple double faults, couple ground UEs by Korda to get broken for 1-2. He saves a break point for 3-4 with Pete missing 2 second returns, but is broken again next go around to end the set (couple FH UEs, couple of aggressive points from Pete)

Momentum is with Pete going into the 5th. 4 aces in his opening hold, and then he breaks for 2-0, with Korda missing BHs and double faulting,with Pete’s best contribution and super BH cc winner from well behind baseline

Up a break, seemingly fresh and Korda a little sloppy, what could go wrong for Pete?

Plenty it turns out. He goes from seemingly fresh to tiring in short time and tires more and more as set goes on

Back to back third ball BH UEs from Pete gives Korda break for 3-2. Thereafter, Pete makes little effort to return, Korda comes away with a flurry of aces, Pete’s serves loses force and he even stays back off 3 first serves, seemingly unwilling to expend the necessary energy of charging net

He endures 10 and 8 point holds (saving 2 break points in first of them), while Korda holds easily, and in time, one last tiebreak is reached
Korda opens up 4-0 and 5-1 lead in it. First 3 points all end with Pete BH UEs. He gets on the scoreboard with an ace, which Korda matches for 5-1 and end comes soon after

Summing up, a similar match to the Wimbledon encounter in that winner has enough better of things that it’s surprising that scoreline is so close
Korda is superb. Strong off the ground off both wings - his FH bullying opponents BH and engaging in fine shot-making, while his BH is a power-for-power match against opponents powerful FH
He’s even better on the pass, with BH spectacular in its hit rate of finding winners in both directions, against solid volleying

Sampras hangs in, on back of typical strong serving. Not too bad from the back, but Korda’s a lot better and the Sampras BH vulnerable to rising ball and his FHs kept honest by Korda’s powerful BH. Solid enough on the volley, but Korda’s passing is better still. He’s in black-mark territory of inconsistency on the return, against an average serve though

Stamina is another problem for loser. Even a fortuitous rain break, that gives him an hours revitalizing time as he’s weakening, can only sustain him just temporarily and in finale, he’s running on fumes and very much second best

Stats for the other final between Pat Rafter and Greg Rusedski - Match Stats/Report - Rafter vs Rusedski, US Open final, 1997 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)

 

[Galvermegs]

Not much rallying to net
Korda’s 13/19, Pete 14/26

Low enough for Pete that its not much better than being outplayed from baseline as he is. Leaving aside that hits difficult to find good approach chance, what with the bounce and Korda’s easy strong force of shot

Gist - Korda dominating action. From the baseline, his FH dominates Pete’s BH, with the latter struggling against high bounce to give up lot of errors, while Korda’s shot-making is best off that wing. Meanwhile, his BH is more secure than Pete’s FH, and keeps the latter honest

Sampras volleying soundly in his measured way, but Korda passing spectacularly, especially off the BH

Match Progression
First set is the best of the match, it’s a great one and Korda has better of it, despite losing. No breaks going into tiebreak, but Korda has 6 break points across 2 games (including 3 set points at 0-40, 6-5) to Pete’s 0
Korda serves 32 points for his 6 holds, Pete 39

Korda times the ball superbly to hit powerfully without straining. Some fine shot-making to go with it and he’s not averse to taking net early to finish points. Pete has little error spurts, which aren’t too important, but is slightly outhit from the back. Faces some lovely timed early and/or blocked returns to when serve-volleying, but stays on top of his volleying

Comfy holds to 15 and 30 for both players ‘til game 8, when Pete’s down 15-40 on back of some strong returns. He’s typically clutch to hold. Slinks a first half-volley on first break point and come away with a second BHV winner next shot and strikes a third ball FH inside-in winner to get back to deuce. Korda has another break point in the game, where he misses second return against a decent body serve, before Pete goes on to hold

Pete’s down 0-40 at 6-5 after a pair of FH UEs. Strong serves get him out of trouble this time

Tiebreak. Korda with not unusual third ball routine FH UE to start, but he knocks away BH inside-out return-pass winner next point to level
Korda goes up a mini as he takes net 3 points in a row and has 2 serves to come at 4-3
Doesn’t win another point. Continues his net seeking ways and manages to get a low volley over, but Pete upto making BH dtl pass to level things again. And Pete chip-charge returns to nose forward, before closing out with 2 unreturned serves

Pete stays back off a first serve for first time to open second set, but takes net in rally to come away with BHV winner. He breaks for 2-0, with Korda giving up pressured FH UEs on last 2 points

Having pinched a set against run of play and now up a break and grooving on serve, looks like a common Pete match. Korda has other ideas and breaks back for 2-3 - BH cc pass winner after drawing first half-volley, a dtl return that sees him take control of point that he finishes at net and Pete missing routine BHV and double faulting do the trick

There’s a brief rain delay, after which, Pete’s looser off the ground and more freely hands over errors. Some great winners from Korda too, both passes and from the baseline. He cuts back on taking net to be aggressive

Korda breaks decisively to love for 6-5 - 2 double faults from Pete, 2 different calibre BH cc passing winners from Korda (first one is from not-good look, second is against a not good FH inside-in approach). And Korda serves out to love

No break points, let alone breaks in set 3, but Korda remains on top. If anything, more so than earlier. His groundgame is tidy, as well as powerful. Pete starts showing signs of light fatigue (he’d been second best even fresh, and easing up enhances baseline gap). Pete’s BH gets broken down and he’s slack with return errors. And Korda still sprinkling in some wonderful shot-making

Tiebreak. 2 by now expected Pete BH UEs, followed by Korda nailing a BH dtl pass winner sees Korda take 3-1 lead. Misses a couple of FHs later on too. Both points he wins are aces. Korda throws in 2 FH inside-out winners too (1 pass, 1 not), and its 2 sets to 1 to Korda

Hour long rain delay probably saves Pete, who is not looking good. It comes after Korda holds to open fourth set. Upon resumption, its more Korda’s sloppiness than Pete playing well that sees the set go 6-3 to Pete. Still, Pete’s lost the tired and defeated look, his serving is best of the match and at least, he’s not loose of the ground (giving room for Korda to be)

Couple double faults, couple ground UEs by Korda to get broken for 1-2. He saves a break point for 3-4 with Pete missing 2 second returns, but is broken again next go around to end the set (couple FH UEs, couple of aggressive points from Pete)

Momentum is with Pete going into the 5th. 4 aces in his opening hold, and then he breaks for 2-0, with Korda missing BHs and double faulting,with Pete’s best contribution and super BH cc winner from well behind baseline

Up a break, seemingly fresh and Korda a little sloppy, what could go wrong for Pete?

Plenty it turns out. He goes from seemingly fresh to tiring in short time and tires more and more as set goes on

Back to back third ball BH UEs from Pete gives Korda break for 3-2. Thereafter, Pete makes little effort to return, Korda comes away with a flurry of aces, Pete’s serves loses force and he even stays back off 3 first serves, seemingly unwilling to expend the necessary energy of charging net

He endures 10 and 8 point holds (saving 2 break points in first of them), while Korda holds easily, and in time, one last tiebreak is reached
Korda opens up 4-0 and 5-1 lead in it. First 3 points all end with Pete BH UEs. He gets on the scoreboard with an ace, which Korda matches for 5-1 and end comes soon after

Summing up, a similar match to the Wimbledon encounter in that winner has enough better of things that it’s surprising that scoreline is so close
Korda is superb. Strong off the ground off both wings - his FH bullying opponents BH and engaging in fine shot-making, while his BH is a power-for-power match against opponents powerful FH
He’s even better on the pass, with BH spectacular in its hit rate of finding winners in both directions, against solid volleying

Sampras hangs in, on back of typical strong serving. Not too bad from the back, but Korda’s a lot better and the Sampras BH vulnerable to rising ball and his FHs kept honest by Korda’s powerful BH. Solid enough on the volley, but Korda’s passing is better still. He’s in black-mark territory of inconsistency on the return, against an average serve though

Stamina is another problem for loser. Even a fortuitous rain break, that gives him an hours revitalizing time as he’s weakening, can only sustain him just temporarily and in finale, he’s running on fumes and very much second best

Stats for the other final between Pat Rafter and Greg Rusedski - Match Stats/Report - Rafter vs Rusedski, US Open final, 1997 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)

I always wonder had rafter met either korda or sampras would he have had his slam breakthrough? Perhaps with korda but probably not with sampras who could usually build on one shaky match.
In any case it's a shame the czech didnt get a chance to build on his form. But he still did more than well enough at the very next slam up for grabs.

 

[HBK4life]

Korda always reminded me of a rubber band that played tennis.