Match Stats/Report - Agassi vs Edberg, Washington final, 1995

Waspsting

Hall of Fame
Andre Agassi beat Stefan Edberg 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 in the Washington final, 1995 on hard court

It was the first of 4 consecutive hard court tournaments Agassi would win, a run that ended with defeat in the US Open final. Edberg was the defending champion

Agassi won 100 points, Edberg 100

Edberg serve-volleyed off about half his first serves and never off second

(Note: I'm missing 1 Edberg service point won by Edberg. Return data is missing for a small number of points and I've made educated guesses about serve type for a small number of points)

Serve Stats
Agassi...
- 1st serve percentage (54/99) 55%
- 1st serve points won (36/54) 67%
- 2nd serve points won (22/45) 49%
- Aces 4, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 7
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (26/99) 26%

Edberg...
- 1st serve percentage (64/100) 64%
- 1st serve points won (43/64) 67%
- 2nd serve points won (15/36) 42%
- Unknown serve points won (1/1) 100%
- Aces 6
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (30/100) 30%

Serve Patterns
Agassi served...
- to FH 28%
- to BH 72%

Edberg served...
- to FH 36%
- to BH 58%
- to Body 6%

Return Stats
Agassi made...
- 66 (29 FH, 36 BH, 1 ??), including 3 runaround FHs & 2 return-approaches
- 5 Winners (3 FH, 2 BH)
- 24 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (2 FH, 3 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 19 Forced (8 FH, 11 BH)
- Return Rate (66/96) 69%

Edberg made...
- 66 (15 FH, 48 BH, 3 ??), including 10 return-approaches
- 4* Winners (3 BH, 1 ??)
- 21 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (2 FH, 3 BH), including 2 return-approach attempts
- 16 Forced (7 FH, 9 BH)
- Return Rate (66/92) 72%

(*Note: 1 point tracked entirely by audio appears to be an Edberg return of serve winner. Agassi was serve-volleying regularly around the period and it was likely a pass)

Break Points
Agassi 4/10 (7 games)
Edberg 4/11 (5 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Agassi 30 (12 FH, 13 BH, 3 FHV, 2 OH)
Edberg 27 (7 FH, 7 BH, 7 FHV, 4 BHV, 1 OH... 1 Unknown return)

Agassi's FHs - 5 cc (2 returns and 1 at net), 1 dtl pass, 2 inside-out (1 pass), 2 inside-in (1 return), 1 drop shot and 1 running-down-drop-shot at net
- BH passes - 7 cc (2 returns and 1 at net) and 1 dtl
- regular BHs - 1 cc, 1 dtl, 1 inside-out and 1 running-down-drop-shot cc at net

- 1 OH was hit on the bounce from the baseline

Edberg had 8 from serve-volley points -
- 5 first 'volleys' (1 FHV, 2 BHV, 2 FH at net)… 1 FH at net was a drop shot
- 3 second volleys (2 FHV, 1 OH)

- 4 from return-approach points (2 FHV, 2 BHV)

- FHs - 3 cc, 1 dtl pass and 1 inside-out/dtl
- BHs - 2 cc (1 pass), 3 dtl (2 returns), 1 inside-in return and 1 lob

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Agassi 35
- 16 Unforced (5 FH, 9 BH, 2 FHV)
- 18 Forced (8 FH, 6 BH, 2 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 1 BH1/2V)
- 1 Unknown (a third ball groundstroke, most likely, unforced)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 50

Edberg 40
- 23 Unforced (9 FH, 11 BH, 1 FHV, 2 BHV)
- 17 Forced (7 FH, 1 BH, 1 FHV, 3 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47.4

(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...
- 18/27 (67%) at net, including...
- 1/4 (25%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 1/3 (33%) off 1st serve and...
- 0/1 off 2nd serve
--
- 1/2 return-approaching
- 1/1 forced back

Edberg was...
- 31/54 (57%) at net, including...
- 21/33 (64%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
--
- 7/10 (70%) return-approaching
- 1/1 forced back

Match Report
As much an iron man competition as a tennis match. The temperature is shown to be 120 degree at one point. Later, its gone down to about 115. By the end of the match, both players appear to be near to collapsing. In this context, both shown admirable fight to play high standard tennis at the end . Not "upto the end" in Agassi's case - he goes on an energy saving bender in the second set - but Edberg gives it his best uniformly

Of play, Agassi is vastly superior when he's keyed in. He plays wildly in the second set and tanks the second part of it. Agassi being vastly superior when he's keyed in is another way of saying Edberg is keyed in more consistently. Both players win exactly 100 points, break point numbers are near identical (Agassi 4/10, Edberg 4/11... Agassi does have them in 2 extra games though) and Edberg serves just 2 more points than Agassi

According to commentary, this was Agassi's first day match in the tournament and Edberg had had a physically brutal way to the final. Agassi is significantly superior in the opener. Even then, he's irritable and expressive

Edberg serve-volleys 9 times out off 16 non-ace first serves (he wasn't necessarily trying to come in behind the aces either) and never off seconds. Its not bad thinking... Agassi is hammering returns, especially when Edberg follows them to net and Edberg's movements towards net are noticeably down. That's probably wariness against the Agassi return... he moves much better side to side on the baseline (and gets a lot of chances to do it)

Not serve-volleying much and not looking to come in from rallies, Edberg stays back and plays baseline tennis with the world number. He holds up reasonably well, keeps rallies going, doesn't make easy UEs in short rallies. His most damaging shot is FH cc, with which he forces a few errors (Agassi is a bit slow to move to his right) and hits a few winners

"Holding up reasonably well" though is the extent of it. There's little question of him getting close to getting the better of these battles. Agassi hits commandingly, moves him side to side, pushes him back with power and depth, hits winners, forces errors, occasionally comes in to finish points, remains more consistent etc... no question who the better player. Despite being somewhat peevish and distracted.

Agassi breaks in a sloppy game from Edberg, where he misses some serves by huge amounts. Edberg breaks back to later in a well played game by him - couple good chip-charge approaches and strong from the back. Even then, he can't break without aid of 2 double faults. Agassi breaks to take the set

The peevishness Agassi showed turns to full blown distraction in set 2. He's broken to love to start set with 3 easy errors in short rallies. He starts hitting wild shots, wild returns, tries to serve very big, coming in to net half-heartedly, serve-volleying (once off a second serve - which even Edberg didn't do all match), return-approaching. After going down a second break, he tanks the rest of the set pretty obviously. I'm not sure he would have bothered particularly to hold serve and force Edberg to serve out the set if serves had been returned in game in question (3/4 aren't, allowing the hold)

Still distracted, but steeling himself to play properly, Agassi commands the 3rd. He breaks at once and has break points in his next 3 return games. Edberg had at least maintained outward appearance of coolness, but shows his tiredness too. Its not a gradual process. He was looking normal one moment (probably exercising effort to conceal how he felt - unlike Agassi) and next, he looks ready to drop. As Agassi has for much of the match
 

Waspsting

Hall of Fame
There's a point that's as spectacular as any you'll see. Agassi hammers a return that Edberg does well to 1/2volley back in play. Agassi runs up and hits a hard BH dtl from about the service line. Edberg anticipates/guesses the shot and reflex volleys the ball cc. Still in no-man's land, Agassi somehow manages to move over and 1/2volley the ball back. Edberg somehow manages to make a wide volley to that. Agassi somehow manages to move still further right and slightly back to put up a FH lob. Edberg runs back to retrieve it and somehow, tweeners the ball. Agassi is forced into a 1/2volley error

Disappointing ending. Agassi remained in no-mans land as Edberg was retreating and is caught out by the tweener coming back. And plays a lazy attempt at the 1/2volley, not bending or seemingly bothered. It'd have been fairly easy for him to have taken the net (he was coming in frequently around the time of the point) and be left with an easy putaway volley. Maybe he thought the point was finished with the lob, maybe he didn't care

Best part of Edberg's showing is his chip-charging. He wins 7/10 such points, including 2 to thwart Agassi as he served for the match. Agassi's taken to 12 points, without facing break point, in his service game after that too... but breaks comfortably to finish the match. By that point, it was an out and out endurance contest and could have gone either way

Earlier, Agassi had puked into a nearby flower pot. And after a game, had run off court to take a bathroom break. According to commentator, he's allowed a 3 minute break at any time, but should have informed umpire before he left. Edberg doesn't seem happy about it

On making a running pass, Edberg lets out an enormous yelp/grunt. Not something I've seen from him before

Agassi's Conditioning
Agassi was world number 1 at the time and looked in great shape. I'm not sure he managed his body well over course of his career though

Early in his career, he was greased lightning around court. That disappeared soon enough with fitness problems seemingly arising from not overly professional attention to diet and training. He turned that around to be in great shape

But it seems to me that the nature of that improvement wasn't best suited to tennis. He became muscly and strong... but his movements never looked great, even though he had clearly put plenty of effort into conditioning. There's a stiff quality to his movements - both here in his first stint as world #1 and later in 1999. On commentary from a match in 2000ish period when Agassi was in great shape, John McEnroe stated that Agassi never stretched and had only very recently taken to being massaged by the Davis Cup trainer. And it showed - great shape of strength aside - his movements and flexibility left much to be desired

Summing up the match, Agassi's much the better player but it comes down to a contest of who can handle the heat and the exhaustion caused by it better. Its probably Edberg who does, but Agassi has just enough playing superiority to override that and get the win

Stats for Agassi's next final, against Pete Sampras in Canada - https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...i-vs-sampras-canadian-open-final-1995.645682/
 
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