Match Stats/Report - Ashe vs Connors, Wimbledon final, 1975

[Waspsting]

Arthur Ashe beat Jimmy Connors 6-1, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 in the Wimbledon final, 1975 on grass

It would be Ashe’s only title at the event and his last Slam title. Connors was the defending champion and top seed. Among others, Ashe also beat Bjorn Borg, who would win the next 5 editions of the event, en route to the title

Ashe won 135 points, Connors 101

Ashe serve-volleyed off all bar 3 serves (1 first, 2 seconds), Connors about half the time off first serves

(Note: 2 points have been marked as follows -

- Set 2, Game 4, Point 1 - video starts mid-point, ending is recorded. Deduced to be a first serve points, it ends with Ashe at net and Connors on the baseline. Its been assumed Connors did not serve-volley and Ashe approached net. Possible alternative is Ashe return-approaching

- Set 4, Game 8, Point 2 - has been marked a second serve point, contrary to video. Based on look of the serve, choice to not serve-volley and most of all Ashe taking two balls after the point)

Serve Stats
Ashe...
- 1st serve percentage (76/105) 72%
- 1st serve points won (54/76) 71%
- 2nd serve points won (15/29) 52%
- Aces 4
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (34/105) 32%

Connors...
- 1st serve percentage (97/131) 74%
- 1st serve points won (47/97) 48%
- 2nd serve points won (18/34) 53%
- Aces 1 (1 second serve, bad bounce related & Ashe leaves), Service Winners 2 (1 bad bounce related)
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (28/131) 21%

Serve Patterns
Ashe served...
- to FH 39%
- to BH 54%
- to Body 7%

Connors served...
- to FH 27%
- to BH 69%
- to Body 5%
(raw 34-87-6)

Return Stats
Ashe made...
- 100 (40 FH, 59 BH, 1 ??), including 13 runaround FHs, 3 runaround BHs & 18 return-approaches
- 2 Winners (2 BH)
- 25 Errors, comprising...
- 9 Unforced (2 FH, 7 BH), including 1 runaround FH, 1 runaround BH & 1 return-approach attempt
- 16 Forced (2 FH, 14 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- Return Rate (100/128) 78%

Connors made...
- 69 (38 FH, 31 BH), including 7 runaround FHs
- 10 Winners (8 FH, 2 BH), including 2 runaround FHs
- 30 Errors, all forced...
- 30 Forced (16 FH, 14 BH), including 3 runaround FH
- Return Rate (69/103) 67%

Break Points
Ashe 8/21 (13 games)
Connors 3/4 (4 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Ashe 32 (3 FH, 9 BH, 14 FHV, 3 BHV, 3 OH)
Connors 38 (14 FH, 8 BH, 5 FHV, 5 BHV, 6 OH)

Ashe had 16 from serve-volley points -
- 11 first 'volleys' (8 FHV, 1 BHV, 2 BH at net)
- 4 second volleys (3 FHV, 1 OH)... the OH was on the bounce from no-man's land (a retreated point)
- 1 third volley (1 FHV)

- 4 from return-approach points (1 FHV, 1 BHV, 2 OH)... 1 of the OHs was from the baseline (a forced back point)
- 1 other FHV can reasonably be called an OH

- 9 passes - 2 returns (2 BH) & 7 regular (2 FH, 5 BH)
- BH returns - 1 dtl (that opponent left), 1 inside-in
- regular FHs - 1 cc, 1 dtl/inside-out
- regular BHs - 1 cc, 1 cc/down-the-middle (that hits opponent), 1 inside-out/longline, 2 slice-lobs

- regular (non-pass) FH - 1 inside-out

Connors had 9 from serve-volley points -
- 5 first volleys (5 BHV)
- 4 second volleys (3 FHV, 1 OH)

- 21 passes - 10 returns (8 FH, 2 BH) & 11 regular (6 FH, 4 BH, 1 FHV)
- FH returns - 1 cc, 1 dtl, 1 inside-out, 4 inside-in (1 runaround), runaround net chord dribbler
- BH returns - 2 dtl
- regular FHs - 1 cc, 3 inside-out, 1 inside-out/dtl, 1 running-down-drop-shot down-the-middle/cc at net
- regular BH - 1 dtl, 2 inside-out/dtl, 1 lob
- FHV - swinging cc from baseline

- 2 regular (non-pass) BHs - 2 cc

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Ashe 33
- 14 Unforced (2 FH, 2 FHV, 7 BHV, 3 OH)
- 19 Forced (2 FH, 6 BH, 2 FHV, 2 FH1/2V, 6 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)... with 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 52.9

Connors 66
- 24 Unforced (5 FH, 10 BH, 1 FHV, 6 BHV, 2 OH)... with 1 FH at net, 1 BH at net, 1 non-net FHV & 1 OH on the bounce from the baseline
- 42 Forced (12 FH, 14 BH, 6 FHV, 3 FH1/2V, 5 BHV, 1 OH, 1 Back-to-Net)... with 1 FHV from the baseline (possibly a FH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 49.2

(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
Ashe was...
- 81/128 (63%) at net, including...
- 62/96 (65%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 49/71 (69%) off 1st serve and...
- 13/25 (52%) off 2nd serve
---
- 10/18 (56%) return-approaching
- 3/3 (100%) forced back/retreated

Connors was...
- 40/77 (52%) at net, including...
- 26/53 (49%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 23/46 (50%) off 1st serve and...
- 3/7 (43%) off 2nd serve
---
- 1/5 (20%) forced back/retreated

Match Report
This match is famous for being a tactical masterpiece. Ashe plays random variety of shots to keep Connors off-balance is the gist of it. More to the point, Connors plays badly, starting with a weak serve but hardly ending there. More so than Ashe plays well - and Ashe does play well, both in stock serve-volleying and the potpourri of shots he cycles through in return games

Which begs the question. How much of “Connors plays badly” is due to Ashe’s tactics? Probably some, but still, far more discredit to Connors for it all

Starting with the weak serve. What is a weak serve?
Having no aces from 97 first serves in the match is a weak serve
Opponent spontaneously running around to hit FH returns without strain against first serves is a weak serve (less often, running around to hit BH returns too)
Opponent able to return-approach against first serves without trouble is a weak serve
First serve-volleying about 50% of the time but seemingly never catching returner out is having a weak serve. Never fooling opponent with a ‘dummy’, would-be delayed serve-volley is a sharp eyed opponent facing a weak serve

All of the above go on throughout the match. Ashe’s tactical acumen has little to do with any of it. Connors having a weak serve is its own thing

A point worth stressing is variety (of which, junking is substantial part) rather than junking alone marks Ashe’s play. He pushes, he slices, he chops, he hits firmly, he top spins, he hits normal passes, he slice-lobs, he hits soft-chip passes. Rarely does he power hit, but not never.

He almost always approaches down the middle, but again, there are exceptions

Variety. Not pure junk. Perfect illustration of difference is in comparing with Manuel Orantes’ showing in the US Open final later in the year, where Orantes pure junks and almost literally doesn’t hit a firm shot all match. That is categorically different from how Ashe plays here

Almost all of this variety is confined to return games. Ashe serve-volleys virtually always and extent of variety he shows there is mixing up power and placement of serve. Pretty normal stuff.

Does it well enough to hold regularly. Jimbo’s a little off returning, but nothing terrible - all credit to Ashe for serve-volleying well. Good serve and FHV in particular is splendid. Jimbo’s hit rate on the lined up return is below what would be good for him is the only ‘help’ Ashe gets

Jimbo’s service games are another story
- Serves weakly. His only ace is a bad bouncing second serve
- Doesn’t play well from baseline (credit to Ashe too for variety and consistency too). As would turn out to be in US Open final later in the years, its BH that falters, not FH. Baseline UEs - Ashe 2, Jimbo 14 (9 BHs)
- Volleys pretty badly. 16 winners, 9 UEs, 14 FEs

To be clear, Ashe is good on the return, from the baseline and on the pass
Good enough to best a well-playing opponent
It just so happens he doens’t get a ‘well playing opponent’

Essentially, this is just a winner plays well, loser plays pretty badly affair, with common takes masterful tactics over-emphasized

Ashe wins 57% of the points, serving 44% of them
Break points - Ashe 8/21 (13 games), Connors 3/4 (4 games)
Speaks for itself, particularly Ashe having break points in 13/18 return games

Even sans the 2 breadsticks -
Ashe wins 52% of points, serving 41% of them
Break points - Ashe 3/14 (7 games), Connors 3/3
… with Ashe having break points in 7/11 return games, Connors 3/11

Jimbo’s clutched like mad, Ashe has choked or Jimbo’s been lucky that the last 2 sets are at least scoreline competitive

In all, Jimbo wins 65/131 service points. Holds serve 10 times, is broken 8 - so better rate then the 50% points he wins (Ashe wins 66% service points and holds 15/18 games)

First 2 sets, its 17/43 or 40% service points won (Ashe wins 70%)
Next 2, its 48/88 or 55% (Ashe wins 62%)

Jimbo’s hottest run is winning 5 games in a row across sets 3 &4. And he faces break points in all 3 holds during that run
Ashe meanwhile wins 9 games in a row and 12/13. Faces 1 break point through the run and has 3 break points to extend it to 13/14 (which would also lead to 14/15)

 

[Waspsting]

Ashe’s serve game
Ashe serve-volleys 99% off first serves (all but 1, and that’s sort of delayed serve-volley) and 93% off seconds (all but twice)

Very good in count of 72%. He does compromise quality of serve to get it that high via variety and mixing up quality of serves (as opposed to uniformly checked serving)
4 aces or just 5% of first serves are aces. Just 2 double faults is good

Fair, minority lot of other, strong winning, wide serves. The sort that has Jimbo lunging wide and that he probably wouldn’t be able to make even without serve-volley pressure. Hard forces return error or draws high return he can easily dispatch. Jimbo not bad at reaching them

There’s roughly, slightly more, in swing zone serves as the strong wide ones. The kind Jimbo can take his favoured crack at. And Jimbo takes said crack and is a little off below his norm, though far from blackmark territory

10 return winners from Jimbo (1 is a net chord dribbler). He forces very difficult low, wide volley errors with similar calibre returns, against similar calibre serves. For him, the rate of nailing such winning returns is below personal par. Ashe’s pace of serve is above average and perfect for swatting when lined up

Jimbo seems to have read on the serve. He moves around quite a bit, always moving away to take FHs when he does. Including in deuce court. Does so against Ashe’s body serves too. Unusual for him

Ashe’s net points -
- first serve-volley 69%
- second serve-volley 52%
- return-approaches 56%
- rallying to net 71%

He volleys very differently serve-volleying than he does the other two, which take place in return games. Serve-volleying, he snaps volleys wide for winner or leaving full running passes. The others, he looks to return down the center and cut off angles (more on that later)

32% unreturned serves sets the volley-pass platform in his service games. Then -

Ashe on ‘volley’ has 21 winners, 12 UEs, 12 FEs
Jimbo on pass has 11 (6 FH, 4 BH, 1 FHV) winners, 26 (11 FH, 14 BH, 1 Back-to-Net) FEs
… + 10 return-pass winner at 67% return rate

Above is for all net points, not just serve-volley
That’s not a great volleying yield for Ashe. Considerable UEs, and he usually gives up error to difficult volley

FHV is superb and has 14 winners, 2 UEs, 4 FEs
BHV has 3 winners, 7 UEs, 7 FEs

Not just in the numbers, but he snaps FHVs powerfully and wide, leaving very unlikely passing chances on the run. BHV is actually pretty poor, though the ones he makes aren’t bad, they’re not as aggressively punched or placed as FHV either. But high UEs is what stands out for it most

Quite a lot of UEs - not great from Ashe
The FEs are very difficult - very powerful, down at feet type stuff. Would say he volleyed very well to make more, rather than discredit him having quite a lot
Quality of his volleying most comes out in Jimbo’s very high 26 passing FEs. Serve-volleying, Ashe snaps volleys wide and the passing chances are very poor

Most of Jimbo’s pass winners are not against serve-volley. Note high lot of inside-out based passing winners - 4/6 FHs and 2/4 BH - those would mostly be in service games, against Ashe’s down-the-middle approaches. Others include a running-down-drop-shot at net and a lob

Jimbo not using lob much, which is worth a shot against Ashe's central approaches from rallies. 3 OH UEs by Ashe for 3 winners (and 2 of those are on the bounce, neither at net). Ashe's form on the smash looks good, but 3 UEs is bad and he prefers to fall back and let ball bounce than smash on full at net

Classic type passes are limited to 1 cc FH and 1 dtl BH

Ashe with quite a lot of errors on the volley (both UEs and FEs), but excellent quality of volleys. Jimbo’s pass numbers look worse than they look. He barely sees a stationary pass and on the move, the ball is travelling hard when he reaches them. When Ashe makes angled volley serve-volleying, he wins point, QED

So its left for Jimbo’s return to do the winning. 10 return winners is good, most of the errors he draws are via the return too. But almost any volley Ashe makes leave Jimbo at least bad look pass and usually worse than that

Ashe’s service games in a few nutshells -
- good in count, mixing up quality of serves
- Jimbo pounding returns, of course. Favouring FHs, and reading the serve
- Damaging returns from Jimbo, but a little low on consistency
- Ashe with good lot of routine volley misses (not good), and can’t make the tougher ones (credit Jimbo’s return - they’re very difficult)
- Whatever volley Ashe makes is finishing - winners or hard forced, running passing errors

Connors’ serve game
… where all the tactical stuff happens. Ashe’s constant variety

On the return, Ashe is wide eyed and always adjusts to Jimbo serve-volleying or staying back. He’s not fooled by Jimbo’s would-be ‘delayed’ or dummy serve-volleys (Jimbo leaping 2 paces inside court after serve and waiting or/and hoping)

Against serve-volleys, Ashe returning quite normally. Firm, compact swings. Looks to get return low in that way - and often succeeds. Rare block-guide returns

Against stay back, including ‘dummy’ serve-volleys, Ashe brings out the variety
Favourite piece is FH chop. Move around FH chop if necessary.To keep ball low. Not a deep return. He does a bit of most everything else - returning firmly and blocking the returns back. He does not look to blast returns
Lot of runaround returns, including BHs. 13 FH, 3 BH runaround returns
18 return-approaches. They’re not chip-charges. They’re chopped or pushed down the center and rarely deep
Does all of the above against both serves

For starters, having stuff like runaround FH returns and return-approaches and casual chops done against a first serve gets to Jimbo’s serve being weak. 0 aces, 2 service winners from 97 first serves from Jimbo. 1 of the service winners is a slight bad bounce, sans which it’d merely be a good strong serve, not unreturnable

When Jimbo serve-volleys, Ashe return-passes normally. Including the follow up passing
Its when Jimbo stays back that special tactics come up

In baseline rallies, Ashe looks to keep ball in play. Not undue amount of slicing or otherwise junking. A bit of everything - normal firm hits, pushing, slicing. At least 1 point, he plays Borg’ish FH top spin shots, though that’s just one point. Looks to keep ball around middle of court and attacking dtl shot is very rare. What he doesn’t try to do is overpower Jimbo

Not particularly net thirsty. If anything, he seems to be baiting Jimbo to come in more
When he does approach, he almost always does so down the center. Same with the return-approach - always down the center, cutting of Jimbo’s passing angles

He passes against rallying to net Jimbo differently than against serve-volleying one
Here, he often soft-chips passes to get them low. And uses lobs
By contrast, passing against serve-volleying is orthodox, firm stuff
All this pattern-lessly done

From Jimbo’s point of view, his serve is easily handled. In baseline rallies, he leads the rallies with power, but has to be wary of the low ball. Not shy to come in, but he’s error prone on the approach shot

Typical, high 74% first serves in for Jimbo. Essential, given weak serve
Almost typically, he wins higher lot of second serve points than firsts (53% to 48%), though how typical that was in this period isn’t clear. In later years, it was as common as not

Off first serve, Connor has 2% service winners and for rest…
- serve-volleys 48%, stay back 52%
- wins 50% serve-volleying, and 45% staying back

Off second serve, Connors has 1 ace, 3 doubles and for rest…
- serve-volleys 23%, stays back 77%
- wins (3/7) 43% serve-volleying, 61% staying back

Both first and second serve get chip-charged so ‘staying back’ doesn’t mean all such points start with baseline rally

 

[Waspsting]

In basline rallies -
- Winners - Ashe 1 FH, Jimbo 2 BH
- Errors forced - Ashe 1
- UEs - Ash 2 FH, Jimbo 13 (4 FH, 9 BH)

UEs at the center of things. And those numbers speak for themselves. Still, that’s very secure going from Ashe. Rallies are moderate of length

Baseline UEs types -
- neutral - Ashe 2, Jimbo 4
- attacking - Jimbo 11
(excluding non-net volleys, OHs on bounce from baseline)

7 approach UEs from Jimbo. 2 FHs, 5 BHs

Jimbo on ‘volley’ with 15 winners, 9 UEs, 14 FEs
Ashe on pass has 7 winners (2 FH, 5 BH), 8 (2 FH, 6 BH) FEs… + 2 return winners

Those are poor volley numbers from Jimbo - and fair reflection of his showing

The 9 UEs are mostly regulation volleys, so at least, he doesn’t miss putaway. They include 2 horror groudstroke misses. At least he putsaway the stuff that’s there to be putaway. Just 2 winner attempt UEs (Ashe has 6). Swats away the high volley in his vigourous way

He’s not good on the difficult volley either. Combo of low and wide stumps him. He’s not faced with much that’s overpowering. Unlike Ashe’s FEs, Jimbo’s are relatively makeable. As in, wouldn’t be surprising if he made them, whereas it’d be very, very difficult for Ashe to have done so

Still, by definition, an FE is a difficult shot and how well Ashe passes comes through too. Against serve-volley, conventional low returns which either draw error or weak volley. Against rallying to net, he’s more apt to soft-chip the pass under the net, forcing a not-putaway volley at least, but Jimbo’s bad at handling these. “Not-putaway” is different from “difficult”, and Jimbo tends to miss these two

When he doesn’t, he doesn’t place them well and they draw him close to net. Ashe with some lovely slice lobs to take advantage. 2 beautiful BH slice lob winners and Jimbo’s forced back/retreats from net 5 times

And those are outstanding passing figures from Ashe. More discredit to Jimbo’s net play than credit to Ashe’s passing - but certainly some of both

Rallying to net - Ashe 10/14, Jimbo 14/24
Jimbo’s greater net thirst, Ashe somewhat baiting him coming through. Also, 7 approach UEs for just 24 approaches is poor from Jimbo

In a few nutshells
- weak serve from Jimbo
- Ashe reading serve-volley vs stay back almost perfectly
- Ashe return-passing conventionally and well
- Ashe returning against stay-back in various ways. FH chop standing out as a preferance
- In baseline rallies, Ashe keeping ball in play with variety of shots, including but far from exclusively ‘junk’.
- Jimbo not volleying well, Ashe passing very well and again, with variety
- Ashe approaching down the middle, both with the return and from rallies to cut off Jimbo’s angles to good effect

Match Progression
Jimbo holds to open. Draws returns errors both serve-volleying and not. Ashe return-approaches down the middle and is passed with a precise BH inside-out/dtl pass

Ashe wins the next 9 games and 12 of the next 13. Mostly due to Jimbo playing poorly

Ashe easily runsaround to hit FH return to first serve and comes in behind it to open Jimbo’s next service game. Takes 8 points, but Ashe snags the break, with Jimbo missing slighlty under net BHV, a BH against a slice and an ambitious OH on the bounce from the baseline down break point. The shot is initially not called out, and only after Ashe very skeptically stares at the line and doesn’t move is the call made. Jimbo takes it in stride. Almost unthinkable a few years down the line

Second break is a half-&-half game to love. Double fault and BH approach UE from Jimbo from near service line, BH inside-in return pass winner and winning lob from Ashe

Crap game from Jimbo for the last break. Routine BHV UE, easy FHV miss from no-man’s land (he does make a half-volley earlier in the point) and a horrendous BH at net miss. Ashe with a well placed FH inside-out winner too, after forcing Jimbo back from net

Same 6-1 score in second set, with reason for it shifting a little more to Ashe playing well. His junking tactics - slice returns, slices in rallies, soft-chip passes under the net, lobs - come through more than first set

Couple of ground UEs and an easy BHV miss get Jimbo broken for 0-2

He gets on the board for 1-3 to stop the rot
Make that ‘delay the full rot’
Second break takes 12 points and it’s a fine, tactical game of mixed up returns, groundies and passes from Ashe

Jimbo has his first break point as Ashe serves out in 12 points. It goes that long because Ashe misses a very easy, putaway BHV at 40-15, but Jimbo does score with some great returns after that. He does miss 2 good look second returns to finish the game though

There’s a big difference between 7-5 and 1-6, 1-6, but Jimbo’s actually under the gun in third set too, with almost every service game a struggle. He has to serve 53 points in the set (Ashe serves 35). At least he cuts back on the sloppy errors, but his serve remains unthreatening

Jimbo just about manages to hang in and hold to start in 12 points, saving 3 break points along the way. Finishes the game with a third ball BH cc winner and a BH dtl pass winner against a delayed return-approach

Ashe’s central approaches get him ahead and eventually, to break for 3-2. He hits a slow Jimbo at net to seal the break
Jimbo breaks right back. Some good returns from him in the 8-point game, and 3 UEs Ashe has are on the difficult side against powerful passes

Jimbo struggles through his remaining service games in 12, 8 and 10 points, saving 4 break points across them
And pinches the set at the death, with a very strong game of power returns

Jimbo opens up 3-0 lead in the fourth, though he faces break points in both the holds. Another power returning game in between to break, despite 4/5 first serves

At this stage, Jimbo’s won last 5 games, though his holds have been a struggle

He only wins 1 more game in the match

Great series of passes by Ashe and a couple approaches of his own get him back on serve at 2-3

And another half-&-half game puts him ahead 5-4 awhile later. Terrible misjudgment by Jimbo to leave a return that lands well inside for winner, Ashe striking a lovely inside-out’ish BH pass after drawing a low volley that Jimbo gets deep first up, a horror FH at net miss and a 1/2volley FE forcing return do the trick

Ashe serves out to 15. Jimbo making a rare, running FH cc pass winner in it brings home how rare his pulling off such shots have been all match

Summing up, essentially a simple match of Ashe playing well and Connors playing badly. Ashe does play smart and employs disarming and constant variety, but that’s secondary to the essential angle

Ashe with a good serve and volleying behind it with great decisiveness. Snaps them away wide for winner or leaving unlikely, running passes for Connors
Connors with a weak serve. Better than harmless is as much can be said for it

Ashe mixes up his shots on the return, in baseline rallies and on the pass, with healthy dose of chops, pushes and slices thrown in with more conventional shots. He does approach down the center of the court regularly, including on the return most of the time. Stays very consistent doing all of it

If its tricky to handle, its not a magic bullet. Connors playing poorly - missing groundies, missing volleys, even a little under-par in thumping returns - is why he loses. Along with a weak serve that opens the door for Ashe’s assortment of tricks

Stats for Connors’ semi-final with Roscoe Tanner - Match Stats/Report - Connors vs Tanner, Wimbledon semi-final, 1975 | Talk Tennis

 

[Serpententacle]

Jimbo was playing that match with a fractured shin. To me it’s obvious he was at the top of his game.

Hats off to Ashe, a class act, but realistically despite Ashe winning on that day, Connors continued on to dominate the tennis world… and if Ashe’s game was so effective, why wasn’t everyone emulating that strategy against Connors? They did. Yet Connors faired well against those challengers. If Jimmy had any weakness, it was his serve… other than that his game was #1 in the world

 

[WCT]

I was wondering if you would ever do this match. I just assumed a full version wasn't available for you to watch. I haven't noticed one on YouTube, just a partial. But I figured this was too big a match for you to not do if you had an opportunity.

I got this match commercially maybe 25 years ago. They ran a commercial on TV for how you could order it. I watched it once, maybe twice. Never since then. Maybe the YouTube highlights once or twice in all these years.

I am gratified that your assessment of Connors level of play seems to agree with my memory of the match. Connors just did not play well. Ashe said this himself, in SI, a week after the match.

Some jarring stats. That Connors would have so many more unforced groundstroke errors. Ashe's FHV was always his reputed weakness and was clearly a strength here. I'm not sure how many Ashe matches you have done. So, this may be a moot question. Do you think he was serving noticeably less harder in this match? For a serve that was as big as his usually was 72% first serves in is great.

Going down the center on Connors was definitely a strategy. Don't give Connors angles. If you open up the court, he will open it up even wider. He talked about it in the book of his that I read.

These are the lowest Connors s/v stats from any of this era's grass court matches.
The 2 Rosewall matches, the Tanner 75 match and the 75 Australian. Plus, around a set of the 74 Tanner US Open match. Connors s/v at least 60% in all of them. I mean on both serves combined. Mind you, the 40% of the time here is far higher than most of his grass matches later on. Mind you, there are several exceptions. That's why I said most, not all.

Also, his 33% at the net of all points is his lowest of this era. And this is a match he served way more points. That is when he would be at net, when he served. Again, though, many, many later grass court matches he is less than 33%. Anyway, he wasn't coming in at quite the same rate as other grass matches from 74 and 75.

It stood out to me that you stressed just how weak his serve was. That I didn't remember. And I still maintain that there are matches, from this era, where I think he is serving bigger than later on. He does have 28 unreturned serves which dwarfs some of his later Borg Wimbledon matches. Ashe only had 32 himself. Do you attribute that to some carelessness in Ashe's returning? It's difficult to argue with your contention that, if someone can approach the net off your first serve, on a grass court, you have a weak serve.

Your point about all Ashe's break point chances I have made myself in the past. Even when Connors won the 3rd and lead the 4th, he is being threatened on serve.
It could be reasonably argued that he was fortunate to make the match as close as he did.

As has often been pointed out, this was the only time he ever beat Connors. In fairness, it is also the only time they played on grass. Thanks for doing this match and for the insights.

 

[Waspsting]

Jimbo was playing that match with a fractured shin. To me it’s obvious he was at the top of his game.

(did you mean to say "wasn't at the top of his game"? - that seems to me to be where your comment is coming from)

I've heard this about an injury and am skeptical whether its true and if it is, how much of a factor it would have been
The semi-final against Tanner is as good a match as I've seen Connors play
And he ravaged his way to the final without loss of set, probably the most dominant of his 6 runs to the Wimby final

It doesn't seem likely that he fractured his shin between the semi and the final
If so, whatever issues he had doesn't seem to have bothered him much through his run, did it?
Did he miss any time after the event?

Ashe's FHV was always his reputed weakness and was clearly a strength here. I'm not sure how many Ashe matches you have done. So, this may be a moot question. Do you think he was serving noticeably less harder in this match?

The commentators mention this about his FHV. Its fantatstic in the match
I hadn't actually noticed how bad his BHV was, at least statistically. He places them too, but that's a lot of UEs and not many winners on BHV

I've only looked at one other Ashe match, the '78 Masters final vs McEnroe, and his serve struck me as being categorically bigger there. Bigger than Mac or Borg
Here, it looks less powerful than typical Borg showing
He does send down the odd bigger one, announcing that he can serve bigger. More often, his most damaging serves are a little quicker (not full blasts), but well wide

Connors with 10 return winners at 67% return rate is nominally good figure
Watching the action, I felt there's room for improvement there, because Ashe's pace of serve is just about ideal for swatting return-winners in Connors' style when its lined up. And he misses good few when it is

Also on show is something we've talked about before; Power of Connors' return makes putting away volley ideal, if its above net. Same height return from Borg, with the loopy arc, or Mac without same power, and don't think Ashe would be able to punch the volley away so easily

It stood out to me that you stressed just how weak his serve was. That I didn't remember. And I still maintain that there are matches, from this era, where I think he is serving bigger than later on. He does have 28 unreturned serves which dwarfs some of his later Borg Wimbledon matches. Ashe only had 32 himself. Do you attribute that to some carelessness in Ashe's returning?

Its a bigger serve than most of his career. I think bigger than '82 Wimby final. For him across his career, its bigger serve
For a normal standard, still small. Spontaneous runaround FH (and the odd BH) returns executed with no trouble
He's got about 10-12 forceful serves in the match (as in, I'd mark it an FE if the returner misses even without serve-volley)
For most of his career, he'd be around half to a third of that

Don't think Ashe is careless on the return. There's considerable serve-volleying going on, and you get routine return errors when that happens
He serve-volleys very little in his matches against Borg by contrast

Going down the center on Connors was definitely a strategy. Don't give Connors angles. If you open up the court, he will open it up even wider. He talked about it in the book of his that I read.

And he doesn't like to hit the pass right at the returner
I've never seen Connors look to bean a net player - even when its best shot choice. And against Mac, lots of situations where that's the case
Ashe does actually hit Connors with a down-the-middle pass in this match
But no attempt by Jimbo to do the same. Here or any other match. I haven't seen it once
Its actually bad tactics, but I'm guessing that's just his personal code. I've seen him have words with Lendl, when Lendl's hit power passes near him

 

[WCT]

Connors sustained the injury in his first match, IIRC. So, he played most of the tournament with it and was dominant with it most of the tournament. The serve that Connors hit more of, in that era, is the flat, down the middle serve. It comes and goes even back then, but there is more relatively big serving. Emphasis on relatively.
Here is, in my mind, a good example. The 75 challenge match with Newcome, ot what exists of the telecast. He is serving bigger in that match.

Forgot yesterday to talk about the Connors winning % 1st serve vs 2nd. You seem to think that wasn't that unusual for Connors. Even on grass? That would surprise me.
Maybe in the Mcenroe Curren matches where he was just massacred. But in, for example, the 4 Borg matches? I guess I should look at your stats before posting this. This is my eye test belief.

 

[Waspsting]

You seem to think that wasn't that unusual for Connors. Even on grass? That would surprise me... for example, the 4 Borg matches?

Borg-Connors on grass in 2 nutshells -
- Borg's first serve ---> big advantage Borg
- other 3 serves ----> 50% deals

1977 Connors...
- 1st serve percentage (108/155) 70%
- 1st serve points won (63/108) 58%
- 2nd serve points won (18/47) 38%

1978 Connors...
- 1st serve percentage (58/97) 60%
- 1st serve points won (27/58) 47%
- 2nd serve points won (21/39) 54%

1979 Connors...
- 1st serve percentage (56/94) 60%
- 1st serve points won (28/56) 50%
- 2nd serve points won (18/38) 47%

1981 Connors...
- 1st serve percentage (119/142) 84%
- 1st serve points won (71/119) 60%
- 2nd serve points won (11/23) 48%

 

[WCT]

Interesting. It did happen on grass again. I would have though he'd have a good, at least, 10 percentage point lead on the first, even in the 78 and 79 matches.