Andre Agassi beat Ivan Jimmy Connors 6-1, 4-6, 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the US Open quarter-final, 1989 on hard court
It was Agassi's first fifth set win, having lost his first 5. He would go onto lose in the next round to Ivan Lendl
Agassi won 136 points, Connors 126
(Note: I'm missing 3 Agassi service points, all won by Agassi. 1 of the points included a successful return)
Serve Stats
Agassi...
- 1st serve percentage (70/127) 55%
- 1st serve points won (44/70) 63%
- 2nd serve points won (31/57) 54%
- Aces 11 (1 second serve)
- Double Faults 6
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (22/128) 17%
Connors...
- 1st serve percentage (77/132) 58%
- 1st serve points won (48/77) 62%
- 2nd serve points won (26/55) 47%
- Aces 2, Service Winners 2
- Double Faults 7
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (23/132) 17%
Serve Patterns
Agassi served...
- to FH 38%
- to BH 60%
- to Body 3%
Connors served....
- to FH 23%
- to BH 77%
- to Body 1%
Return Stats
Agassi made...
- 102 (27 FH, 74 BH, 1 ??), including 6 runaround FHs
- 3 Winners (2 FH, 1 BH)
- 19 Errors, comprising...
- 9 Unforced (3 FH, 6 BH), including 2 runaround FH attempts
- 10 Forced (3 FH, 7 BH)
- Return Rate (102/125) 82%
Connors made...
- 101 (39 FH, 59 BH, 3 ??), including 1 runaround FH, 1 runaround BH and 3 return-approaches
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 11 Errors, comprising...
- 3 Unforced (2 FH, 1 BH)
- 8 Forced (2 FH, 6 BH)
- Return Rate (101/122) 83%
Break Points
Agassi 7/15 (7 games)
Connors 6/13 (8 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Agassi 23 (9 FH, 12 BH, 2 BHV)
Connors 34 (5 FH, 7 BH, 9 FHV, 10 BHV, 1 BH1/2V, 2 OH)
Agassi's FHs - 2 cc, 4 dtl (1 return, 1 pass), 2 inside-out (1 return) and 1 lob
- BHs - 6 cc (3 passes), 2 dtl (1 return, 1 sliced pass), 1 longline, 2 drop shots and 1 lob
Connors' FHs - 1 cc pass, 1 dtl, 2 inside-out and 1 running-down-drop-shot at net
- BHs - 3 cc (1 return), 3 dtl (1 pass), 1 inside-out running-down-drop-shot
- 2 from serve-volley points - a first FHV and a second OH
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Agassi 63
- 38 Unforced (22 FH, 13 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH)
- 25 Forced (9 FH, 15 BH, 1 FHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45
Connors 81
- 51 Unforced (17 FH, 29 BH, 3 FHV, 2 BHV)
- 30 Forced (10 FH, 11 BH, 1 FHV, 3 FH1/2V, 4 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.9
(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
Agassi was...
- 9/15 (60%) at net, including...
- 1/3 (33%) serve-volleying, all first serves
Connors was...
- 37/62 (60%) at net, including...
- 4/10 (40%) serve-volleying, comprising..
- 4/9 (44%) off first serve and..
- 0/1 off second
--
- 1/3 return-approaching
- 1/2 forced back
Match Report
(Recommend reading report from the pair's match the previous year https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...vs-connors-us-open-quarter-final-1988.650907/ first, as I'll draw on that to describe play. I would have put both matches in the same thread for easier discussion, but didn't because the forum posting format had been set to severely limiting post length so that I needed 4-5 posts per match, which would have made things clunky)
Most 5 set matches ebbs and flow of playing level - and this one is no exception. Some of it seems to be triggered by external factors, specifically Connors' illness, extravagant crowd participation and Agassi's apparent mental inability to take these in stride. Though a competitive struggle, I wouldn't call this a good match on the whole
Match starts where the last one left off. Agassi near flawless, Connors not so much. Trading groundstrokes, Agassi is consistent and powerful, Connors sloppy and error prone. After 6 games, Connors has made 12 unforced errors to Agassi's 1 as he serves to prolong the set.
Though he's broken, this is the first turning point of the match. Agassi reduces Connors to 0-40 - forcing 2 errors at net with powerful returns - but goes error bound himself for the rest of the game. Agassi makes 6 UEs (including 3 returns) from thereon (13 more points in the game) and while breaking... this is 6 a huge let down from the standard he'd shown up to this point.
So it continues to start the third. Connor breaks at once - half due to Agassi (2 routine FH errors), half himself (a volley winner and forcing an error). A very poor Agassi service game makes it 2 breaks and 4-1 to Connors, when the older man calls for the referee. Apparently, he's feeling dizzy and nauseous.... and he looks it.
Not sure what the rules are on this. Apparently, such things fall under the heading of "loss of condition", not "injury" and as such, Connors is more or less on his own. The trainer does see him, but I'm not sure how much help he's allowed to give. The commentators say none, the referee seems to say limited to giving him a pill, but no treatment. Connors seems to tell his wife at courtside that he's not going to make it (presumably finish the match, not contemplation of mortality). Soldier on he does however. Walking wobbly, giving back 1 break but playing decently. he manages to hold onto his one remaining break by tanking return games and focusing fully on holding serve - and evens the match at 1 set all
It was Agassi's first fifth set win, having lost his first 5. He would go onto lose in the next round to Ivan Lendl
Agassi won 136 points, Connors 126
(Note: I'm missing 3 Agassi service points, all won by Agassi. 1 of the points included a successful return)
Serve Stats
Agassi...
- 1st serve percentage (70/127) 55%
- 1st serve points won (44/70) 63%
- 2nd serve points won (31/57) 54%
- Aces 11 (1 second serve)
- Double Faults 6
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (22/128) 17%
Connors...
- 1st serve percentage (77/132) 58%
- 1st serve points won (48/77) 62%
- 2nd serve points won (26/55) 47%
- Aces 2, Service Winners 2
- Double Faults 7
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (23/132) 17%
Serve Patterns
Agassi served...
- to FH 38%
- to BH 60%
- to Body 3%
Connors served....
- to FH 23%
- to BH 77%
- to Body 1%
Return Stats
Agassi made...
- 102 (27 FH, 74 BH, 1 ??), including 6 runaround FHs
- 3 Winners (2 FH, 1 BH)
- 19 Errors, comprising...
- 9 Unforced (3 FH, 6 BH), including 2 runaround FH attempts
- 10 Forced (3 FH, 7 BH)
- Return Rate (102/125) 82%
Connors made...
- 101 (39 FH, 59 BH, 3 ??), including 1 runaround FH, 1 runaround BH and 3 return-approaches
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 11 Errors, comprising...
- 3 Unforced (2 FH, 1 BH)
- 8 Forced (2 FH, 6 BH)
- Return Rate (101/122) 83%
Break Points
Agassi 7/15 (7 games)
Connors 6/13 (8 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Agassi 23 (9 FH, 12 BH, 2 BHV)
Connors 34 (5 FH, 7 BH, 9 FHV, 10 BHV, 1 BH1/2V, 2 OH)
Agassi's FHs - 2 cc, 4 dtl (1 return, 1 pass), 2 inside-out (1 return) and 1 lob
- BHs - 6 cc (3 passes), 2 dtl (1 return, 1 sliced pass), 1 longline, 2 drop shots and 1 lob
Connors' FHs - 1 cc pass, 1 dtl, 2 inside-out and 1 running-down-drop-shot at net
- BHs - 3 cc (1 return), 3 dtl (1 pass), 1 inside-out running-down-drop-shot
- 2 from serve-volley points - a first FHV and a second OH
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Agassi 63
- 38 Unforced (22 FH, 13 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH)
- 25 Forced (9 FH, 15 BH, 1 FHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45
Connors 81
- 51 Unforced (17 FH, 29 BH, 3 FHV, 2 BHV)
- 30 Forced (10 FH, 11 BH, 1 FHV, 3 FH1/2V, 4 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.9
(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
Agassi was...
- 9/15 (60%) at net, including...
- 1/3 (33%) serve-volleying, all first serves
Connors was...
- 37/62 (60%) at net, including...
- 4/10 (40%) serve-volleying, comprising..
- 4/9 (44%) off first serve and..
- 0/1 off second
--
- 1/3 return-approaching
- 1/2 forced back
Match Report
(Recommend reading report from the pair's match the previous year https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...vs-connors-us-open-quarter-final-1988.650907/ first, as I'll draw on that to describe play. I would have put both matches in the same thread for easier discussion, but didn't because the forum posting format had been set to severely limiting post length so that I needed 4-5 posts per match, which would have made things clunky)
Most 5 set matches ebbs and flow of playing level - and this one is no exception. Some of it seems to be triggered by external factors, specifically Connors' illness, extravagant crowd participation and Agassi's apparent mental inability to take these in stride. Though a competitive struggle, I wouldn't call this a good match on the whole
Match starts where the last one left off. Agassi near flawless, Connors not so much. Trading groundstrokes, Agassi is consistent and powerful, Connors sloppy and error prone. After 6 games, Connors has made 12 unforced errors to Agassi's 1 as he serves to prolong the set.
Though he's broken, this is the first turning point of the match. Agassi reduces Connors to 0-40 - forcing 2 errors at net with powerful returns - but goes error bound himself for the rest of the game. Agassi makes 6 UEs (including 3 returns) from thereon (13 more points in the game) and while breaking... this is 6 a huge let down from the standard he'd shown up to this point.
So it continues to start the third. Connor breaks at once - half due to Agassi (2 routine FH errors), half himself (a volley winner and forcing an error). A very poor Agassi service game makes it 2 breaks and 4-1 to Connors, when the older man calls for the referee. Apparently, he's feeling dizzy and nauseous.... and he looks it.
Not sure what the rules are on this. Apparently, such things fall under the heading of "loss of condition", not "injury" and as such, Connors is more or less on his own. The trainer does see him, but I'm not sure how much help he's allowed to give. The commentators say none, the referee seems to say limited to giving him a pill, but no treatment. Connors seems to tell his wife at courtside that he's not going to make it (presumably finish the match, not contemplation of mortality). Soldier on he does however. Walking wobbly, giving back 1 break but playing decently. he manages to hold onto his one remaining break by tanking return games and focusing fully on holding serve - and evens the match at 1 set all
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