Alexander Zverev beat Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-3 in the Rome final, 2017 on clay
It was Zverev's first Masters title and he would go onto win the next one at the Canadian Open. He had just turned 20 years old. Djokovic was playing his 8th final at the event and had been runner-up the previous year also. He would cut his season short after Wimbledon. Djokovic was ranked 2, Zverev 17. At end of the year, Djokovic was ranked 12, Zverev 3
Zverev won 64 points, Djokovic 48
Serve Stats
Zverev...
- 1st serve percentage (32/45) 71%
- 1st serve points won (27/32) 84%
- 2nd serve points won (9/13) 69%
- Aces 7
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (19/45) 42%
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (43/67) 64%
- 1st serve points won (30/43) 70%
- 2nd serve points won (9/24) 38%
- Aces 1
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (15/67) 22%
Serve Patterns
Zverev served...
- to FH 53%
- to BH 40%
- to Body 7%
Djokovic served...
- to FH 39%
- to BH 55%
- to Body 6%
Return Stats
Zverev made...
- 49 (18 FH, 31 BH)
- 14 Errors, comprising...
- 6 Unforced (5 FH, 1 BH)
- 8 Forced (3 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (49/64) 77%
Djokovic made...
- 24 (12 FH, 12 BH)
- 12 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (2 FH, 3 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 7 Forced (6 FH, 1 BH)
- Return Rate (24/43) 56%
Break Points
Zverev 3/5 (4 games)
Djokovic 0
Winners (excluding serves, including returns)
Zverev 9 (5 FH, 3 BH, 1 FHV)
Djokovic 10 (8 FH, 1 BH, 1 BHV)
Zverev's FHs - 1 cc, 3 inside-out and 1 inside-in
- BHs - 2 dtl and 1 drop shot
Djokovic's FHs - 3 cc (2 passes - 1 at net), 1 cc/inside-in, 1 dtl at net, 2 inside-out (1 at net) and 1 running-down-drop-shot dtl at net
- BH - 1 dtl
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Zverev 21
- 16 Unforced (11 FH, 5 BH)... with 1 BH at net
- 5 Forced (3 FH, 2 BH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.4
Djokovic 33
- 26 Unforced (9 FH, 17 BH)
- 7 Forced (3 FH, 4 BH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 42.3
(Note 1: all half-volleys refer to such shots played at net. Half -volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke counts)
(Note 2: the Unforced Error Forcefulness Index is an indicator of how aggressive the average UE was. The numbers presented are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)
Net Points & Serve-Volley
Zverev was...
- 2/7 (29%) at net, with...
- 0/1 forced back
Djokovic was 6/6 (100%) at net
Match Report
Very impressive from Zverev as he outplays a decent Djokovic in all areas in a firm/hard hitting baseline match
Stand out stats are Zverev's 42% unreturned rate and the BH UE counts of Zverev 5, Djoko 17. These are the majoring determinants of both sets. 1st set, Djoko is solidly good but Zverev is better. 2nd set, Zverev retains his high standard, but Djoko's drops to a bit sloppy on both the the return and off the ground
no break points for Djokovic in the match. How often does that happen?
Action is simple. Serve, return and baseline rallies. Negligible net play and results of what little there is diametrically opposed to how match goes. Zverev is 2/7 at net, Djoko 6/6. Good lot of it is drop shot related, particularly Djokovic using the shot
Zverev serves superbly, with huge first serves and hefty seconds. 7 aces from just 32 1st serves is high rate of sending down the untouched and there's a good lot more that's near enough that strong. Not too much Djoko can do against it, and with Zver serving at 71%, he's in good step on his serving game. Wins 84% first serve points, which would be high for any surface
Its the 69% second serve points won - just 1% shy of Djoko's 1st serve points won - that puts him well over on service games. Contrary to problems he's come to have with weak 2nd serving, very good, hefty second serving from Zver. Djoko's also a bit off on the return and 5/12 of his errors have been marked UEs. He doesn't have much read on the serve, and is also a bit slow to react to them
Nothing majorly wrong with Djoko's returning and excellent serving from Zver. Dynamic is very similar to Djoko's '11 French Open semi loss... he's a bit off, his opponent has tip top showing. Put the 2 together, and you get an almost unassailable 42% unreturned rate
Djoko's return rate is 22%, which isn't a threat to 'assail' it. Just normal serving from him and Zver returns firmly from well-back position, well enough to neutralize. Standard stuff
And then they rally. Points ended forcefully are about a wash -
Winners - Zver 9, Djoko 10
FEs - Zver 5, Djoko 7
Zver's FEs are mostly passing shot attempts, but he's able to force errors out of Djoko from the back
UEs read
- Zver 16, Djoko 26... all of them groundstrokes, including a BH at net miss by Zver. FH UEs are near even (Zver 11, Djoko 9), leaving
- BH from baseline - Zver 4, Djoko 17
Very low UEFIs - Zver 44.4, Djoko 42.3.
12/16 or 80% of Zver's are neutral shots, and 21/26 or 80.7% of Djoko's are the same
Picture emerging is straight forward. The 2 trading groundstrokes, Djoko making the errors on the BH at much higher rate and in the background, most of these rallies being on Djoko's serve with Zver's serve winning him huge lot of freebies. Its not an inaccurate picture either
Is Djoko particularly loose? Or Zver particularly solid? More the former, but Zver's BH hitting is exceptional of quality - clean, hard hit shots almost always. His BH play is on par with the best of Djokovic's own better BH showings or Andre Agassi's - both great exponents of outhitting opponents BH-BH with little risk or flash. Just the basics done very, very well. In the BH rallies, its Djokovic that's pushed back and into reactive, if not defensive position. And as he's the server usually, he'd have small advantage in starting the rally most of the time
In first set, I'd far more credit Zver's BH hitting then discredit Djoko's. Dynamics are short of beat-down but stronger than out-lasting - and Zver is excellent, Djoko just normal. BH UEs for set read Zver 4 (including a net shot), Djoko 5. What stand out in the set is Zver's ability to force errors out of Djoko from the back by upping the hitting power in a way Djoko can't match
In short, Zver is more powerful hitter with ability to up it degree of hurting opponent. Djoko's left to counter-punch, and can't hurt him back. No defensive or movement problems contributing to any of that from either player. The standout feature in that area if there were one would be Zver's movements. Its as good as I've seen from anyone of his size, roughly on par with the smaller Djoko
Second set is different. Zver remains solid and hard hitting but Djokovic falters to tune of being a bit sloppy with the errors. Some loose ones when rallies are completely neutral (i.e. he's not in reactive position, as he tends to get into when the rallies go on awhile), including a few sloppy ones off third ball. Small blackmark against Djoko, but in context of being up against an immaculate, hard hitter
The close shaves all one way too. Relatively large lot of Djoko's neutral errors hit right on top of tape and/or go just out after so doing. If he wants to avoid possibility of that happening, he'd have to play with higher clearance and more spin. That's not his game. The cleaner striking Zver hits just as flat - if anything, more so - and clears net comfortably. Again, just better hitting from Zver
Getting short end of BH stick, obvious alternative for Djoko is to turn play to more FH based. Hitting strength is on that side is firm from both men and about equal. Djoko attempts to beef up his hitting - i.e. strains to hit harder - without being able to bother Zver unduly. And does not particularly look to switch to FH play. Not many rallies started that way, not many BH longline change ups to turn things that way. Djoko probably shades things FH-FH off power and given how things go on BH, would be good move to try to keep things on that wing
Summing up, very good showing from Zverev. His serve is excellent and a category and then some above Djokovic's standard showing on that front - and the advantage he gets from it is maxed out, giving him good cushion going into baseline rallies. BH cc rallies make up bulk of baseline rallies and Zverev's cc hitting is exemplary - clean and hard hits repeated like clockwork, with barely an error and ability to up it to damaging degree from that starting point. Djokovic's varies from reactively counter-punching as the lesser hitter to a bit sloppy in giving up the errors
Zverev stronger enough that he's not tested, but his showing is the basework of potentially grade A clay court tennis. Kept from it by Djokovic not being upto hanging with him from the back
It was Zverev's first Masters title and he would go onto win the next one at the Canadian Open. He had just turned 20 years old. Djokovic was playing his 8th final at the event and had been runner-up the previous year also. He would cut his season short after Wimbledon. Djokovic was ranked 2, Zverev 17. At end of the year, Djokovic was ranked 12, Zverev 3
Zverev won 64 points, Djokovic 48
Serve Stats
Zverev...
- 1st serve percentage (32/45) 71%
- 1st serve points won (27/32) 84%
- 2nd serve points won (9/13) 69%
- Aces 7
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (19/45) 42%
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (43/67) 64%
- 1st serve points won (30/43) 70%
- 2nd serve points won (9/24) 38%
- Aces 1
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (15/67) 22%
Serve Patterns
Zverev served...
- to FH 53%
- to BH 40%
- to Body 7%
Djokovic served...
- to FH 39%
- to BH 55%
- to Body 6%
Return Stats
Zverev made...
- 49 (18 FH, 31 BH)
- 14 Errors, comprising...
- 6 Unforced (5 FH, 1 BH)
- 8 Forced (3 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (49/64) 77%
Djokovic made...
- 24 (12 FH, 12 BH)
- 12 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (2 FH, 3 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 7 Forced (6 FH, 1 BH)
- Return Rate (24/43) 56%
Break Points
Zverev 3/5 (4 games)
Djokovic 0
Winners (excluding serves, including returns)
Zverev 9 (5 FH, 3 BH, 1 FHV)
Djokovic 10 (8 FH, 1 BH, 1 BHV)
Zverev's FHs - 1 cc, 3 inside-out and 1 inside-in
- BHs - 2 dtl and 1 drop shot
Djokovic's FHs - 3 cc (2 passes - 1 at net), 1 cc/inside-in, 1 dtl at net, 2 inside-out (1 at net) and 1 running-down-drop-shot dtl at net
- BH - 1 dtl
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Zverev 21
- 16 Unforced (11 FH, 5 BH)... with 1 BH at net
- 5 Forced (3 FH, 2 BH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.4
Djokovic 33
- 26 Unforced (9 FH, 17 BH)
- 7 Forced (3 FH, 4 BH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 42.3
(Note 1: all half-volleys refer to such shots played at net. Half -volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke counts)
(Note 2: the Unforced Error Forcefulness Index is an indicator of how aggressive the average UE was. The numbers presented are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)
Net Points & Serve-Volley
Zverev was...
- 2/7 (29%) at net, with...
- 0/1 forced back
Djokovic was 6/6 (100%) at net
Match Report
Very impressive from Zverev as he outplays a decent Djokovic in all areas in a firm/hard hitting baseline match
Stand out stats are Zverev's 42% unreturned rate and the BH UE counts of Zverev 5, Djoko 17. These are the majoring determinants of both sets. 1st set, Djoko is solidly good but Zverev is better. 2nd set, Zverev retains his high standard, but Djoko's drops to a bit sloppy on both the the return and off the ground
no break points for Djokovic in the match. How often does that happen?
Action is simple. Serve, return and baseline rallies. Negligible net play and results of what little there is diametrically opposed to how match goes. Zverev is 2/7 at net, Djoko 6/6. Good lot of it is drop shot related, particularly Djokovic using the shot
Zverev serves superbly, with huge first serves and hefty seconds. 7 aces from just 32 1st serves is high rate of sending down the untouched and there's a good lot more that's near enough that strong. Not too much Djoko can do against it, and with Zver serving at 71%, he's in good step on his serving game. Wins 84% first serve points, which would be high for any surface
Its the 69% second serve points won - just 1% shy of Djoko's 1st serve points won - that puts him well over on service games. Contrary to problems he's come to have with weak 2nd serving, very good, hefty second serving from Zver. Djoko's also a bit off on the return and 5/12 of his errors have been marked UEs. He doesn't have much read on the serve, and is also a bit slow to react to them
Nothing majorly wrong with Djoko's returning and excellent serving from Zver. Dynamic is very similar to Djoko's '11 French Open semi loss... he's a bit off, his opponent has tip top showing. Put the 2 together, and you get an almost unassailable 42% unreturned rate
Djoko's return rate is 22%, which isn't a threat to 'assail' it. Just normal serving from him and Zver returns firmly from well-back position, well enough to neutralize. Standard stuff
And then they rally. Points ended forcefully are about a wash -
Winners - Zver 9, Djoko 10
FEs - Zver 5, Djoko 7
Zver's FEs are mostly passing shot attempts, but he's able to force errors out of Djoko from the back
UEs read
- Zver 16, Djoko 26... all of them groundstrokes, including a BH at net miss by Zver. FH UEs are near even (Zver 11, Djoko 9), leaving
- BH from baseline - Zver 4, Djoko 17
Very low UEFIs - Zver 44.4, Djoko 42.3.
12/16 or 80% of Zver's are neutral shots, and 21/26 or 80.7% of Djoko's are the same
Picture emerging is straight forward. The 2 trading groundstrokes, Djoko making the errors on the BH at much higher rate and in the background, most of these rallies being on Djoko's serve with Zver's serve winning him huge lot of freebies. Its not an inaccurate picture either
Is Djoko particularly loose? Or Zver particularly solid? More the former, but Zver's BH hitting is exceptional of quality - clean, hard hit shots almost always. His BH play is on par with the best of Djokovic's own better BH showings or Andre Agassi's - both great exponents of outhitting opponents BH-BH with little risk or flash. Just the basics done very, very well. In the BH rallies, its Djokovic that's pushed back and into reactive, if not defensive position. And as he's the server usually, he'd have small advantage in starting the rally most of the time
In first set, I'd far more credit Zver's BH hitting then discredit Djoko's. Dynamics are short of beat-down but stronger than out-lasting - and Zver is excellent, Djoko just normal. BH UEs for set read Zver 4 (including a net shot), Djoko 5. What stand out in the set is Zver's ability to force errors out of Djoko from the back by upping the hitting power in a way Djoko can't match
In short, Zver is more powerful hitter with ability to up it degree of hurting opponent. Djoko's left to counter-punch, and can't hurt him back. No defensive or movement problems contributing to any of that from either player. The standout feature in that area if there were one would be Zver's movements. Its as good as I've seen from anyone of his size, roughly on par with the smaller Djoko
Second set is different. Zver remains solid and hard hitting but Djokovic falters to tune of being a bit sloppy with the errors. Some loose ones when rallies are completely neutral (i.e. he's not in reactive position, as he tends to get into when the rallies go on awhile), including a few sloppy ones off third ball. Small blackmark against Djoko, but in context of being up against an immaculate, hard hitter
The close shaves all one way too. Relatively large lot of Djoko's neutral errors hit right on top of tape and/or go just out after so doing. If he wants to avoid possibility of that happening, he'd have to play with higher clearance and more spin. That's not his game. The cleaner striking Zver hits just as flat - if anything, more so - and clears net comfortably. Again, just better hitting from Zver
Getting short end of BH stick, obvious alternative for Djoko is to turn play to more FH based. Hitting strength is on that side is firm from both men and about equal. Djoko attempts to beef up his hitting - i.e. strains to hit harder - without being able to bother Zver unduly. And does not particularly look to switch to FH play. Not many rallies started that way, not many BH longline change ups to turn things that way. Djoko probably shades things FH-FH off power and given how things go on BH, would be good move to try to keep things on that wing
Summing up, very good showing from Zverev. His serve is excellent and a category and then some above Djokovic's standard showing on that front - and the advantage he gets from it is maxed out, giving him good cushion going into baseline rallies. BH cc rallies make up bulk of baseline rallies and Zverev's cc hitting is exemplary - clean and hard hits repeated like clockwork, with barely an error and ability to up it to damaging degree from that starting point. Djokovic's varies from reactively counter-punching as the lesser hitter to a bit sloppy in giving up the errors
Zverev stronger enough that he's not tested, but his showing is the basework of potentially grade A clay court tennis. Kept from it by Djokovic not being upto hanging with him from the back
Last edited: