Match Stats/Report - Becker vs Edberg, Doha first round, 1996

[Waspsting]

Boris Becker beat Stefan Edberg 6-2, 7-5 in the Doha first round (round of 32), 1996 on hard court

Becker, who would shortly after win the Australian Open, would lose in the next round to qualifier Nicolas Pereira. Edberg was the double defending champion. This was the penultimate match between the two players. They’d play their last later in the year in the finals of Queen’s Club, with Becker again winning

Becker won 73 points, Edberg 54

Becker serve-volleyed off all but 1 first serve and a little less than half of seconds. Edberg serve-volleyed off all but 3 first serves and exactly half of seconds

Serve Stats
Becker...
- 1st serve percentage (35/60) 58%
- 1st serve points won (31/35) 89%
- 2nd serve points won (12/25) 48%
- Aces 10 (1 second serve), Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (22/60) 37%

Edberg...
- 1st serve percentage (31/67) 46%
- 1st serve points won (19/31) 61%
- 2nd serve points won (18/36) 50%
- Aces 4
- Double Faults 6
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (19/67) 28%

Serve Patterns
Becker served...
- to FH 44%
- to BH 53%
- to Body 4%

Edberg served...
- to FH 25%
- to BH 62%
- to Body 13%

Return Stats
Becker made...
- 42 (12 FH, 30 BH), including 1 runaround FH & 2 return-approaches
- 3 Winners (2 FH, 1 BH)
- 15 Errors, all comprising...
- 4 Unforced (2 FH, 2 BH)
- 11 Forced (3 FH, 8 BH)
- Return Rate (42/61) 69%

Edberg made...
- 35 (15 FH, 20 BH), including 2 return-approaches
- 3 Winners (2 FH, 1 BH)
- 10 Errors, all comprising...
- 3 Unforced (1 FH, 2 BH), including 2 return-approach attempts
- 7 Forced (2 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (35/57) 61%

Break Points
Becker 4/7 (5 games)
Edberg 1/4 (1 game)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Becker 19 (6 FH, 6 BH, 4 FHV, 3 BHV)
Edberg 13 (3 FH, 2 BH, 2 FHV, 4 BHV, 2 OH)

Becker had 7 from serve-volley points
- 4 first volleys (2 FHV, 2 BHV)
- 1 second volley (1 BHV)
- 2 third 'volleys' (1 FHV, 1 FH at net)

- 10 passes (5 FH, 5 BH)
- FHs - 2 cc, 1 dtl and 2 inside-out returns
- BHs - 2 cc (1 return) and 3 dtl

- regular BH - 1 net chord dribbler

Edberg had 7 from serve-volley points
- 6 first volleys (2 FHV, 4 BHV)
- 1 second volley (1 OH)

- 5 passes (3 FH, 2 BH)
- FHs - 3 dtl (2 returns)
- BHs - 2 dtl (1 return, 1 net chord flicker)

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Becker 19
- 8 Unforced (5 FH, 1 BH, 1 BHV, 1 OH)
- 11 Forced (2 FH, 6 BH, 3 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.8

Edberg 26
- 11 Unforced (4 FH, 1 BH, 1 FHV, 5 BHV)... with 2 FH at net & 1 FH pass attempt
- 15 Forced (3 FH, 7 BH, 3 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 53.6

(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
Becker was...
- 29/39 (74%) at net, including...
- 24/32 (75%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 19/23 (83%) off 1st serve and...
- 5/9 (56%) off 2nd serve
---
- 1/2 return-approaching
- 1/1 retreated

Edberg was...
- 27/49 (55%) at net, including...
- 22/38 (58%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 13/23 (57%) off 1st serve and...
- 9/15 (60%) off 2nd serve
---
- 1/2 return-approaching

Match Report
Mostly a serve-volley match and Becker has much better of action, with his volleying and serve standing out. Edberg is a bit flat Court is normal of pace and bounce

Becker serve-volleys of all but 1 1st serve and 9/21 2nd serves. Stays back off the first serve in his 1st service game at 40-0 and serve-volleys more regularly behind 2nd serve as match goes on. Edberg stays back off 3 1st serves in a long game in middle of 2nd set, and serve-volleys 18/36 2nd serves, doing so less and less as match goes on

Boris with a big serve that yields 11 aces service winners from 35 first serves or 31% of the time (he also has a second serve ace). At 58% first serves in, that’s half the job done already. He wins 31/35 first serve points, including the first 19 in the match

He’s excellent on the volley. Edberg can’t return with much force, but blocks a number of returns low and close to the net mostly by design. Tricky, difficult volleys, but Boris barely misses anything. 3 volleying FEs and he still gets the volleys deep and wide, not offering much in way of passing chances. As for the regulation volleys, just the 1 UE and excellent finishing. What isn’t a winner leaves Edberg no chance - about a third of his passing errors could be termed back-to-net shots

Edberg doesn’t serve well. Just 46% 1st serves in, 6 double faults to 4 aces. Serving direction is orthodox, not centered around body, but his placement is usually not troublingly wide. In other words, he serves where Boris can readily take good swings at the ball - and his isn’t a pacey serve

Given Boris’ ability to hammer returns and Edberg serving in his swing zone, there’s potential for a lot of trouble for Edberg. By that standard, he doesn’t do too badly. Give up the decisive break to 3 Boris passing winners in a row (2 returns), which isn’t ‘good’ obviously, but way he serves and Boris returns, something like this could conceivably have happened a lot more often

Ok volleying from Edberg too. 8 UEs in forecourt looks high for short match. 4 in 1 game - the one where he stays back off 3 first serves - and he manages to hold that game, and 2 are FH at nets (1 of them on a return point that isn’t too important in that it isn’t going to get him broken)

Outright poor volleying from Edberg is limited to that long game where he misses easy volleys. He does leave reasonable passing chances (and Boris is good enough to take advantage).

That’s the serve-volleying part of the match

- Boris volleying very well, not making errors against tricky or regulation balls, leaving little passing chances. And the fat serve, that makes return-passing a very tall order

Not much counter-play for Edberg with Boris at net

- Edberg with a smackable serve that fortunatly for him, doesn’t get smacked too much. Boris is able to return with power though, leading to not commanding volleys that he can have a reasonable passing look at. He delivers enough to be troubling - and more importantly, break

That leaves baseline rallies. With Edberg staying back off half his second serves and Boris more than that, there’s a fair amount of it. Nothing too special

Ground UEs - Boris 6, Edberg 2 (discounting 2 net shots and pass attempt)

Boris hits harder, but Edberg isn’t troubled by it. Boris’ power though does make it difficult for Edberg to come to net. Not that he particularly wants to be there, as his relatively low serve-volley frequencies suggest

Rallying to net - Boris 4/5, Edberg 4/9

With most of Edberg’s approaches coming on his own service games, that’s not doing him much good either

Match Progression
Easy first set for Boris. His big first serve is untouchable. Edberg is mundane with average serve that’s placed neither wide, nor crampingly close, allowing Boris to take a good swing at them. Firm, slightly wide returns draw not strong volleys that Boris can pass to follow up

And in-counts. Boris with not great 12/23 - but he wins all 12, 5 with aces/service winners + a second serve ace. Edberg with a horrendous 9/25, where even his first serves are smackable. He wins just 5/16 second serve points

Boris races to 3-0 lead with 2 breaks. BHV UE and double fault set Edberg down break point in the opener and Boris return + pass 1-2 ends with a BH cc passing winner. Boris holds in a jiffy and then breaks again - couple of passing winners and forcing a makeably difficult FHV error

Edberg scores his sole break to make it 1-3. Poor game from Boris, who misses 2 attacking FH inside-outs, double faults twice and on the 4th break point, misses an OH. Boris missing OHs is one of the rarest sights in tennis

Bad game by Edberg near the end to restore 2 break lead for Boris. Back to back double faults set him down 15-40 and couple points later, he misses an easy BHV. Boris serves out to love, in game with his sole 2nd serve ace and Edberg missing a FH pass easy enough to have been marked a UE

A decent second set. Edberg regularly stays back off 2nd serves and even 3 first serves, while Boris gradually moves into coming in behind his second serve more and more

Game 5 lasts 16 points, and is a poor one from Edberg, where he misses routine and easy volleys (including 3 in 4 points at one stage, broken up by an ace down break point). But he comes through to hold

Closest thing to a scare Boris has is in game 10, which lasts 10 points. Doesn’t face break point, Edberg looks to daringly (or desperately) move forward as Boris is at net. That doesn’t work too well, but 2 spanking return-pass winners against 2nd serves do. Boris handles himself well - safely volleying against a chip-charging Edberg to force BH1/2V error and wrapping up with an ace

Then Boris breaks from 30-0 down - Edberg double gets things started, and Boris bops 3 passing winners in succession (2 FH inside-out returns, sandwiching a BH dtl from outside court where Edberg had not powerfully sent a very high BHV)

And Boris serves out to 15, fittingly finishing with a first BHV winner

Summing up, simple match with Becker better in all ways. His 1st serve is huge, low volleying safe and finishing on the volley precise. He returns heftily at least, draws not strong volleys with the wider returns, and is sure in dispatching the follow-up, passes

Flat match from Edberg. Nothing stand out - positively or negatively - about his showing. Looks a generic, average serve-volleyer that’s readily pushed aside by a better, stronger player

 

[tennistiger]

The match simply shows that Becker developed his game to a much higher level later in his career which Edberg did not!

 

[NicoMK]

Summing up, simple match with Becker better in all ways. His 1st serve is huge, low volleying safe and finishing on the volley precise. He returns heftily at least, draws not strong volleys with the wider returns, and is sure in dispatching the follow-up, passes

Flat match from Edberg. Nothing stand out - positively or negatively - about his showing. Looks a generic, average serve-volleyer that’s readily pushed aside by a better, stronger player

I miss those two (too). I remember them playing in the first round, it was strange. Edberg would play his last year on the tour and, as you said @Waspsting , Boris would win the Aussie Open short after. He was in great form in 1996, too bad he got injured that year at Wimby, he could've won there too.

 

[buscemi]

The match simply shows that Becker developed his game to a much higher level later in his career which Edberg did not!

Majors won after turning 24:

Edberg: 3
Becker: 1

Weeks at #1 after turning 24:

Edberg: 72
Becker: 0

Becker had a great run from mid-1995-1996, but, other than that his biggest successes came between ages 17-23.

 

[Vincent-C]

Good work as always, Waspsting. Becker far ahead in the overall H2h, and winning the WCT/YEC matchups, but Eddy up 3-1 in Majors, which pleases me.

 

[Waspsting]

I miss those two (too). I remember them playing in the first round, it was strange. Edberg would play his last year on the tour and, as you said @Waspsting , Boris would win the Aussie Open short after. He was in great form in 1996, too bad he got injured that year at Wimby, he could've won there too.

They were competing for number 1 when I first started following tennis, and have I've always had a soft spot for both of them

As a kid, I preferred Boris as I found his diving and gusto more appealing than what struck me as Edberg's placid demeanour (probably didn't think of it with a word like 'placid' back than, but the general sentiment)

These days, I prefer Edberg for the silkiness of his game, particulalry movement

I've found most commonly held reputations to be distortions and exaggerations. Not Edberg's volleying. The guy volleys like no one else. Ball goes through like other people's swing volleys

Good work as always, Waspsting. Becker far ahead in the overall H2h, and winning the WCT/YEC matchups, but Eddy up 3-1 in Majors, which pleases me.

Such a strange head-to-head

Everyone knows it was 25-10 to Boris, but Edberg won 3/4 of their Slam matches and the Masters final
He also won a Cincinnati final, which arguably could be considered their biggest match on hard court, so amidst the 10-25, Edberg arguably won the biggest match they played on all 4 surfaces(!)

If that isn't strange enough, the remaining 6 matches he won... are as unimportant or marred as can be

First 2 matches - before either had established themselves and won a Slam
'88 Masters round robin - a tournament Boris would go onto win
'90 Paris - very important result (it helped decide year end number 1), but Boris was injured and retired 6 games into it

Leaving just 1 normal, solid win in Canadian Open, just before the Cincy final

H2H 10-25, with 5 of the wins making up maybe the biggest matches they played on each surface
4 of them unimportant, virtually inconsequential

For getting thrashed so, Edberg really hit the jackpot with his victories

 

[andreh]

^^ More strangeness. They played 3 matches that went into a 5th set. In all three Becker broke to lead early in the 5th. In all three, Edberg immediately broke back, going on to win 2 of them. Becker came away, again, with the least important of the matches - the Stockholm 1991 final, whereas Edberg won the FO 89 SF and W90 final.

 

[NedStark]

^^ More strangeness. They played 3 matches that went into a 5th set. In all three Becker broke to lead. In all three, Edberg immediately broke back, going on to win 2 of them. Becker came away, again, with the least important of the matches - the Stockholm 1991 final, whereas Edberg won the FO 89 SF and W90 final.

And in 1990, Becker lost that break by missing a high BH volley - he should have done better.

 

[NedStark]

I miss those two (too). I remember them playing in the first round, it was strange. Edberg would play his last year on the tour and, as you said @Waspsting , Boris would win the Aussie Open short after. He was in great form in 1996, too bad he got injured that year at Wimby, he could've won there too.

Also too bad that Boris vanished after 1996. Had he kept playing at a high level and winning 1-3 Slams well into 1997-1999, the Becker-Edberg debate would have been settled.

 

[California]

Also too bad that Boris vanished after 1996. Had he kept playing at a high level and winning 1-3 Slams well into 1997-1999, the Becker-Edberg debate would have been settled.

And if Edberg beat Chang at the FO like he should’ve, and won the AO he was leading before retiring against Lendl….. the debate would’ve been settled too. We can all play this game….

 

[Vincent-C]

Didn't Eddy have a early break in the fifth against Chang, or is that memory wrong?
I sure wish he would've have won that one..

 

[NedStark]

And if Edberg beat Chang at the FO like he should’ve, and won the AO he was leading before retiring against Lendl….. the debate would’ve been settled too. We can all play this game….

OTOH, Becker should have won all of his Slam matches against Edberg. He too would have beaten Chang had he prevailed over Edberg in 1989 FO. Unlike Edberg, Becker did have the potential to win double-digit Slams.

 

[California]

OTOH, Becker should have won all of his Slam matches against Edberg. He too would have beaten Chang had he prevailed over Edberg in 1989 FO. Unlike Edberg, Becker did have the potential to win double-digit Slams.

Yeah, sure, whatever you say…. I am a big Becker fan too, he is in my top 5 favorites, but he had mediocre movement and seemed mentally tormented in a lot of ways, not sure how many he could win, very hard to say, for either of them.

 

[buscemi]

OTOH, Becker should have won all of his Slam matches against Edberg. He too would have beaten Chang had he prevailed over Edberg in 1989 FO. Unlike Edberg, Becker did have the potential to win double-digit Slams.

What's your basis for saying Becker should have beaten Edberg in the 1988 Wimbledon final? Edberg won 129 points to 118 for Becker. Becker won the first set, but then:

-Becker saved all 4 break points while Edberg saved the 1 break point against him before Edberg easily won the tiebreaker 7-2;​

-Becker had no break points against Edberg in set 3, which Edberg won 6-4;​

-Becker had no break points against Edberg in set 4, which Edberg won 6-2.​

That was a pretty tidy 4 set win for Edberg, IMO.

 

[dryeagle]

In this 96 Doha match -

BB more determined
BB in much better shape and covered Court better
Edberg looked like he was carrying a few xtra lbs,
maybe it was baggy clothes or sloppy hair where BB looked like a marine
Even Barbara looked better than Annette

 

[THUNDERVOLLEY]

The match was just another example of how many Becker was the superior player who maximized most of his rare technique / talent over Edberg, even this late in their careers.

 

[buscemi]

The match was just another example of how many Becker was the superior player who maximized most of his rare technique / talent over Edberg, even this late in their careers.

...Except for in the biggest matches of their rivalry.

 

[NedStark]

What's your basis for saying Becker should have beaten Edberg in the 1988 Wimbledon final? Edberg won 129 points to 118 for Becker. Becker won the first set, but then:

-Becker saved all 4 break points while Edberg saved the 1 break point against him before Edberg easily won the tiebreaker 7-2;​

-Becker had no break points against Edberg in set 3, which Edberg won 6-4;​

-Becker had no break points against Edberg in set 4, which Edberg won 6-2.​

That was a pretty tidy 4 set win for Edberg, IMO.

I mean, the tiebreak. Generally, all bets are off there, even though Edberg turned out to win it comfortably. Becker would have carried the match if he won the tiebreak.

The 1989 and 1990 matches, well, Boris had a break lead in the deciders of both matches.