Match Stats/Report - Agassi vs Stich, US Open final, 1994

[Waspsting]

Andre Agassi beat Michael Stich 6-1 7-6(5) 7-5 in the final of the US Open, 1994 on hard court

Agassi was unseeded and took down a record-for-16-seed-Slams 5 seeded players en route to his maiden USO title and second Slam title. He had been sidelined with a wrist injury (that required surgery) for much of the year

(Note: I'm missing enough data as to have debated posting these stats at all.

1 point in its entirety - an Agassi service point, which Agassi won. That isn't a big deal

There are at least 11 points - 8 Agassi serves, 3 Stich - for which serve information {1st or 2nd, direction} and corresponding return information is missing. Its not always clear if certain points are 1st serves or 2nd serves. The end of these points however, are complete

Incomplete - but highly representative categories of stats are

- Serve Stats
- Serve Pattern
- Return Stats

The rest is complete, sans the 1 missing point)

Stich serve-volleyed on all his first serves - and the majority of his seconds.

Agassi won 111 points, Stich 88

Serve Stats
Agassi....
- 1st serve percentage (50/83) 60%
- 1st serve points won (44/50) 88%
- 2nd serve points won (15/25) 60%
- Aces 3 (all in the same game - a 14 point one)
- Double faults 2
- Unreturned serve percentage (27/82) 33%

Stich. ...
- 1st serve percentage (53/109) 49%
- 1st serve points won (39/53) 74%
- 2nd serve points won (26/53) 49%
- Aces 11 (1 off a 2nd serve)
- Service winners 2
- Double faults 10
- Unreturned serve percentage (38/109) 35%

Serve Pattern
Agassi served...
- to FH 21%
- to BH 58%
- to Body 3%

Stich served...
- to FH 41%
- to BH 53%
- to Body 4%


Return Stats
Agassi made...
- 61 (21 FH, 39 BH)
- 2 Winners (2 BH), both passes
- 25 Errors, comprising...
- 2 Unforced (2 BH)
- 23 Forced (12 FH, 11 BH)
- Return Rate (61/99) 62%

Stich made...
- 59 (14 FH, 40 BH)
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 24 Errors, comprising...
- 13 Unforced (1 FH, 12 BH)
- 11 Forced (4 FH, 7 BH)
- Return Rate (59/80) 74%


Break Points
Agassi 4/10 (6 games)
Stich 0/2 (1 game)

Winners (including returns)
Agassi 22 (9 FH, 6 BH, 1 FHV, 4 BHV, 1 OH, 1 BHOH)
Stich 19 (1 FH, 2 BH, 6 FHV, 8 BHV, 2 OH)

- Agassi had 9 passes (6 FH, 3 BH)

- of the 3 BH passes, 2 were returns - a dtl off a 1st serve and a cc off a 2nd serve. The third was his most difficult pass, cc from a defensive, off balance position

- the non-pass BHs comprise a cc hit from the middle of the court, an inside-out played at net and a ball that hit Stich (not sure if that's usually counted as a winner)

- most of the FH passes were hit from commanding or at least, comfortable positions usually set up by forcing a low volley with a powerful return

- there were 2 lobs. 1 is one of the best disguised lobs you'll see - I thought he'd shanked it and only saw the clear intent on replay

- the 3 non-pass FHs were all played at net - 1 running down a drop shot, 1 putting away a flub volley and 1 putting away a weak return

- The FHV was to a high ball and not far away from being an OH

- The OH was a very good one on the back pedal

- 2 BHVs were played with both players at the net. 1 was especially stimulating, with the players exchanging 3-4 rapid shots at point blank range

- Stich had 2 passes - one of each wing and both cross court. Both were hit on the run from defensive positions, the BH one being particularly impressive

- his other groundstroke was a BH dtl return off a second serve

- 2 FHVs were very high, 1 in particular could just as readily be labeled an OH

- most of the other FHVs were high

- on the BHV side, 4 were high (one close to being a BHOH), 2 were medium hight (both inside-out to the open court) and 2 were low (1 a beautiful touch-stop volley)


Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Agassi 28
- 12 Unforced (7 FH, 4 BH, 1 FHV)
- 16 Forced (7 FH, 8 BH, 1 BHV)

Stich 51
- 29 Unforced (5 FH, 16 BH, 4 FHV, 3 BHV, 1 OH)
- 22 Forced (4 FH, 8 BH, 4 FHV, 3 BHV, 3 BH1/2V)

(Note: All half volleys refer to such shots played at net. Groundstroke half volleys have been included within the broader category of groundstrokes)


Net Points & Serve-Volley
Agassi was 15/19 (79%) at net, with no S/V


Stich was 54/84 (64%) at net, including 51/78 serve-volleying (65%) - 27/41 off 1st serve (66%) and 24/37 off 2nd (65%)

He was 3/6 on non-S/V approaches

 

[Waspsting]

Match Report
A very good match from Agassi, while Stich was poor from the baseline, astute in his choice to serve-volley and good at net

Agassi came out swinging and mauled Stich in the first set. The American returned especially well and the tall German was forced to hit a large number of powerfully struck returns off his shoelaces around the service line. Usually, he couldn't get the ball over the net and when he did, Agassi was upto making the pass from a strong position

What really set Stich back was how far behind Agassi he proved to be from the back of the court. Agassi thoroughly dominated the baseline exchanges, running Stich ragged and mostly content to force the error or pressure him til the unforced error came up

Agassi did not hit a single baseline-to-baseline winner, despite utterly being in charge of these points

Stich's usually strong backhand was horrible this match. You can see the number of unforced errors it yielded - 12 on return and 16 in play. It was a bit windy but nothing to account for such a poor showing

Having been bossed around from the back - both on his second serve points and in his return games - Stich serve-volleyed more and more off the second serve as the match went on. While not looking very secure, he was successful and was broken just once in the last two sets... I thought this was smart and his bet, given he was no match for Agassi from the baseline at any point in the match

I was struck by his volleying technique and the snap he used to put away the FHV. He made many good volleys this way and not many bad ones. His reach was an asset here and he made a number of good stretch volleys, but Agassi's return forced him to make a fair few low ones too. Here, he was found wanting

After surviving his first service game, which lasted 14 points with Stich having 2 break points, Agassi skated through his service games as comfortably as any serve-volleyer could ever wish for. Credit here goes to Agassi - who hit a good balance between hitting big but safely, though Stich was poor

And unimaginative. He made very little effort to take the net when returning (though the way Agassi was hitting, it would have been a difficult task)

Agassi could have been better on the pass after the first set. He missed a few makeable ones

In gaining the decisive break, Agassi struck an at net Stich with a thundering backhand hit from the service line.

Stich seemed to have been in bad humour all day - he spent much of the day abusing the chair umpire - and pointedly ignored Agassi's attempt to apologise (frankly, Stich was asking for it)

He was gracious in the moment of defeat though. With an emotional, seemingly in disbelief Agassi showing no sign of getting up from his knees after triumphing, Stich walked around the net to pull the new champion up and initiate a warm embrace


(A tidbit that came up on commentary for the history buffs here. In the 1949 final in which Pancho Gonzales came back from 2 sets down to win, his opponent, Schroeder apparently countered the slippery grass conditions by removing his shoes and playing barefoot)

 

[IowaGuy]

A very good match from Agassi

Great summary!

Agassi, with his incredible return game, could be a beast against S&V on hard courts.

Agassi's domination over Stich, makes Sampras' 4-0 record against Agassi at the U.S. Open (including 3 finals) much more impressive!

 

[jrepac]

yes, nice summary! From what I recall, it was a dismal performance from Stich, given what he was capable of. He never really seemed comfortable in the match. The guy never really brought his A-game to the table in that match.

 

[Moose Malloy]

Was this the cbs broadcast? I'm surprised that so many points were missing.