Boris Becker beat Derrick Rostagno 1-6, 6-7(1), 6-3, 7-6(6), 6-3 in the US Open second round, 1989 on hard court
Becker, the reigning Wimbledon champion, would go onto win the event for the only time, beating Ivan Lendl in the final
Becker won 174 points, Rostagno 166
Rostagno serve-volleyed on almost all first serve points and majority of seconds. Becker serve-volleyed occasionally and randomly
(Note: A Rostagno service game cuts off at 30-15, with the server going on to hold. According to stats on the telecast, there were 2 further first serve points both won by Rostagno. These have been included in Rostagno's service numbers and points won but excluded from unreturned serves and Becker's return stats. I'm missing partial information for 1 further Rostagno service point)
Serve Stats
Becker...
- 1st serve percentage (90/151) 60%
- 1st serve points won (68/90) 76%
- 2nd serve points won (30/61) 49%
- Aces 17 (1 second serve), Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 5
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (57/151) 38%
Rostagno...
- 1st serve percentage (132/189) 70%
- 1st serve points won (88/132) 67%
- 2nd serve points won (25/57) 44%
- Aces 5
- Double Faults 12
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (57/187) 30%
Serve Patterns
Becker served...
- to FH 37%
- to BH 59%
- to Body 4%
Rostagno served....
- to FH 17%
- to BH 78%
- to Body 5%
Return Stats
Becker made...
- 118 (25 FH, 92 BH, 1 unknown), including 7 runaround FHs
- 3 Winners (1 FH, 2 BH)
- 52 Errors, comprising...
- 1 Unforced (1 BH)
- 51 Forced (16 FH, 35 BH), including 3 runaround FHs
- Return Rate (118/187) 63%
Rostagno made...
- 89 (34 FH, 55 BH), including 6 runaround FH and 13 return-approaches
- 5 Winners (2 FH, 3 BH)
- 39 Errors, comprising...
- 9 Unforced (2 FH, 7 BH), including 7 return-approach attempts
- 30 Forced (16 FH, 14 BH), including 2 runaround FHs
- Return Rate (89/146) 61%
Break Points
Becker 6/22 (13 games)
Rostagno 4/8 (5 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Becker 30 (10 FH, 7 BH, 2 FHV, 8 BHV, 3 OH)
Rostagno 57 (8 FH, 14 BH, 12 FHV, 17 BHV, 2 BH1/2V, 4 OH)
Becker had 9 from serve-volley points
- 6 first 'volleys' (1 FHV, 4 BHV, 1 BH at net)
- 2 second volleys (2 OH)
- 1 third volley (1 OH)
- 16 passes(10 FH, 5 BH, 1 BHV) -
- FHs - 7 cc (1 net to net), 2 inside-out and 1 inside-in return
- BHs - 3 cc (1 return) and 2 dtl (1 return)
- 1 BHV, an inside-in drive from near the baseline which was not a net point
- 1 non-pass groundstroke, a BH inside-out
Rostagno had 34 from serve-volley points -
- 21 first 'volleys' (6 FHV, 9 BHV, 2 BH1/2V, 2 FH at net, 2 BH at net)… 1 BH at net being a drop shot
- 12 second volleys (3 FHV, 5 BHV, 4 OH)
- 1 third volleys (1 FHV)
- 15 passes (5 FH, 10 BH)
- FHs - 1 cc return, 1 dtl, 1 inside-out (a net chord pop over, without which Becker seemed to have covered), 1 inside-in return and 1 longline/cc
- BHs - 5 cc (1 at net), 2 dtl, 2 inside-out (1 return) and 1 inside-in return
- 3 non-passes - 1 FH cc/longline and 2 BH dtl (1 return)
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Becker 45
- 16 Unforced (11 FH, 2 BH, 1 FHV, 2 BHV)
- 29 Forced (6 FH, 18 BH, 1 FHV, 4 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45
Rostagno 75
- 35 Unforced (8 FH, 10 BH, 8 FHV, 8 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)
- 40 Forced (10 FH, 9 BH, 8 FHV, 2 FH1/2V, 7 BHV, 3 BH1/2V, 1 Over Shoulder)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 51.1
(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
Becker was...
- 47/73 (64%) at net, including...
- 38/57 (67%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 33/46 (72%) off 1st serve and..
- 5/11 (45%) off 2nd serve
Rostagno was...
- 111/171 (65%) at net, including...
- 94/149 (63%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 73/116 (63%) off 1st serve and...
- 21/33 (64%) off 2nd serve
--
- 9/13 (69%) return-approaching
- 0/3 forced back/retreated
Match Report
This match is mostly known for Becker saving match point with a net chord flicking shot - 1 of 2 match points he saved in the fourth set tiebreak. Rostagno also served for the match prior to that. It goes without saying the match could have gone the other way but Becker was overall by far the better player
Becker wins 174 points to Rostagno's 166 - despite Rostagno serving 38 more points and winning a set 6-1
Becker has 22 break points in 13 games to Rostagno's 8 in 5
Strategy and game plan is what stands out. I think both players didn't quite get it right. Becker allowed the match to be on Rostagno's racquet to an unwise extent - in a nutshell, the match is virtually completely on the American's racquet. Rostagno probably didn't come to net enough (strange as that sounds for one who came in 171 times). Had he done so, he'd probably have won (or Becker would have felt the need to be more proactive)
Rostagno's Game
Out and out serve-volleying with very high first serve percentage
The first serve seems about average of quality, not too damaging in an of itself. The second serve seems comparatively better - not too easy to attack. Becker doesn't do a particularly good job returning
Its a medium paced court, where point ending forcing plays baseline-to-baseline are rare. Against unexceptional and predictable serving (he serves 78% to BH) , backed up by continuous serve-volleying, I'd have expected Becker to return as to give Rostagno more difficult first volleys than he did
Rostagno with 5 return winners (4 passes) to Becker's 3 (all passes), given the players frequency of serve-volleying (Rostagno 149, Becker 57) is telling. Those Rostagno winners were fantastic shots - full credit to him for them - but plenty of room for improvement for Becker on the return. Boris doesn't really look to take advantage of the second serve either. 0 chip-charges from him (Rostagno has 11, plus 7 errors trying), and have a look at Rostagno's serve-volley breakdown
Off 1st serve, 63%. Off 2nd, 64%. Again, credit to him for a fine showing in the forecourt.... but its evident that Becker didn't do a great job with the return
12 double faults though is a blackmark against Rostagno. Becker wasn't particularly attacking second serves as you can see and Derrik wasn't going for too much on them... just regular misses. 12 is too many in this context
Off the ground, BH seems to be Rostagno's stronger side. Going crosscourt, he hits some wonderful passes and beyond that, clean striking in general. Down the line, it misfires a bit though. 3-4 times would be dtl shots end up going inside-out and landing well into the doubles alley
On the FH, he's not a clean hitter and defensive in his shots. He hits that shovel-y side spin FH that Jimmy Connors does.
Errors (both forced and unforced) are virtually identical across wings - 2 more BH UEs and 1 more FH FEs - but the BH does hit 6 more winners. Especially on the pass, the BH looks a lot stronger than the FH which tends to lack power
Volleying is the heart of Rostagno's showing, and its an interesting look
One part of good volleying, too often taken for granted, is putting away not-difficult volleys. The bulk of Rostango's winners are easy to not-difficult. He scarcely misses one for 2 and half sets. It isn't til the third set that he misses a bunch and from thereon, he's prone to missing a few
Touch is a problem. A big chunk of the unforced volleying errors he makes are not-difficult to easy ones he tries to stop or drop volley. and he makes very few
Making difficult low volleys isn't is strong suit either. Doesn't get down for them well. 5 set is a smorgasboard for half-volleys. He puts away a pair of winners, but also misses the bulk. And demonstrates imperfections in his net instincts. With Becker chipping (returns and other passes), a number of the 1/2volleys Rostagno plays could have been groundstrokes at net, but he goes forward for the more difficult play, usually missing. In fact, the 1/2volleys he makes are relatively late ones... 1 of his BH1/2V winners is skirting the line between a 1/2volley and a groundstroke at net
Not great on not-easy volleys either. The 15 volleying FEs are mostly makeable, though by definition, not easy. This is another side of volleying quality I look at... the ability to make difficult volleys. Rostagno's at best above average on that score
In general, he prefers FHV, and runs around a few balls to make sure of making FHV.
Good showing in the forecourt from Rostagno… but Becker not being too good on the pass or return has a hand. More credit to Rostagno than discredit to Becker, but its there
Becker, the reigning Wimbledon champion, would go onto win the event for the only time, beating Ivan Lendl in the final
Becker won 174 points, Rostagno 166
Rostagno serve-volleyed on almost all first serve points and majority of seconds. Becker serve-volleyed occasionally and randomly
(Note: A Rostagno service game cuts off at 30-15, with the server going on to hold. According to stats on the telecast, there were 2 further first serve points both won by Rostagno. These have been included in Rostagno's service numbers and points won but excluded from unreturned serves and Becker's return stats. I'm missing partial information for 1 further Rostagno service point)
Serve Stats
Becker...
- 1st serve percentage (90/151) 60%
- 1st serve points won (68/90) 76%
- 2nd serve points won (30/61) 49%
- Aces 17 (1 second serve), Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 5
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (57/151) 38%
Rostagno...
- 1st serve percentage (132/189) 70%
- 1st serve points won (88/132) 67%
- 2nd serve points won (25/57) 44%
- Aces 5
- Double Faults 12
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (57/187) 30%
Serve Patterns
Becker served...
- to FH 37%
- to BH 59%
- to Body 4%
Rostagno served....
- to FH 17%
- to BH 78%
- to Body 5%
Return Stats
Becker made...
- 118 (25 FH, 92 BH, 1 unknown), including 7 runaround FHs
- 3 Winners (1 FH, 2 BH)
- 52 Errors, comprising...
- 1 Unforced (1 BH)
- 51 Forced (16 FH, 35 BH), including 3 runaround FHs
- Return Rate (118/187) 63%
Rostagno made...
- 89 (34 FH, 55 BH), including 6 runaround FH and 13 return-approaches
- 5 Winners (2 FH, 3 BH)
- 39 Errors, comprising...
- 9 Unforced (2 FH, 7 BH), including 7 return-approach attempts
- 30 Forced (16 FH, 14 BH), including 2 runaround FHs
- Return Rate (89/146) 61%
Break Points
Becker 6/22 (13 games)
Rostagno 4/8 (5 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Becker 30 (10 FH, 7 BH, 2 FHV, 8 BHV, 3 OH)
Rostagno 57 (8 FH, 14 BH, 12 FHV, 17 BHV, 2 BH1/2V, 4 OH)
Becker had 9 from serve-volley points
- 6 first 'volleys' (1 FHV, 4 BHV, 1 BH at net)
- 2 second volleys (2 OH)
- 1 third volley (1 OH)
- 16 passes(10 FH, 5 BH, 1 BHV) -
- FHs - 7 cc (1 net to net), 2 inside-out and 1 inside-in return
- BHs - 3 cc (1 return) and 2 dtl (1 return)
- 1 BHV, an inside-in drive from near the baseline which was not a net point
- 1 non-pass groundstroke, a BH inside-out
Rostagno had 34 from serve-volley points -
- 21 first 'volleys' (6 FHV, 9 BHV, 2 BH1/2V, 2 FH at net, 2 BH at net)… 1 BH at net being a drop shot
- 12 second volleys (3 FHV, 5 BHV, 4 OH)
- 1 third volleys (1 FHV)
- 15 passes (5 FH, 10 BH)
- FHs - 1 cc return, 1 dtl, 1 inside-out (a net chord pop over, without which Becker seemed to have covered), 1 inside-in return and 1 longline/cc
- BHs - 5 cc (1 at net), 2 dtl, 2 inside-out (1 return) and 1 inside-in return
- 3 non-passes - 1 FH cc/longline and 2 BH dtl (1 return)
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Becker 45
- 16 Unforced (11 FH, 2 BH, 1 FHV, 2 BHV)
- 29 Forced (6 FH, 18 BH, 1 FHV, 4 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45
Rostagno 75
- 35 Unforced (8 FH, 10 BH, 8 FHV, 8 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)
- 40 Forced (10 FH, 9 BH, 8 FHV, 2 FH1/2V, 7 BHV, 3 BH1/2V, 1 Over Shoulder)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 51.1
(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
Becker was...
- 47/73 (64%) at net, including...
- 38/57 (67%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 33/46 (72%) off 1st serve and..
- 5/11 (45%) off 2nd serve
Rostagno was...
- 111/171 (65%) at net, including...
- 94/149 (63%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 73/116 (63%) off 1st serve and...
- 21/33 (64%) off 2nd serve
--
- 9/13 (69%) return-approaching
- 0/3 forced back/retreated
Match Report
This match is mostly known for Becker saving match point with a net chord flicking shot - 1 of 2 match points he saved in the fourth set tiebreak. Rostagno also served for the match prior to that. It goes without saying the match could have gone the other way but Becker was overall by far the better player
Becker wins 174 points to Rostagno's 166 - despite Rostagno serving 38 more points and winning a set 6-1
Becker has 22 break points in 13 games to Rostagno's 8 in 5
Strategy and game plan is what stands out. I think both players didn't quite get it right. Becker allowed the match to be on Rostagno's racquet to an unwise extent - in a nutshell, the match is virtually completely on the American's racquet. Rostagno probably didn't come to net enough (strange as that sounds for one who came in 171 times). Had he done so, he'd probably have won (or Becker would have felt the need to be more proactive)
Rostagno's Game
Out and out serve-volleying with very high first serve percentage
The first serve seems about average of quality, not too damaging in an of itself. The second serve seems comparatively better - not too easy to attack. Becker doesn't do a particularly good job returning
Its a medium paced court, where point ending forcing plays baseline-to-baseline are rare. Against unexceptional and predictable serving (he serves 78% to BH) , backed up by continuous serve-volleying, I'd have expected Becker to return as to give Rostagno more difficult first volleys than he did
Rostagno with 5 return winners (4 passes) to Becker's 3 (all passes), given the players frequency of serve-volleying (Rostagno 149, Becker 57) is telling. Those Rostagno winners were fantastic shots - full credit to him for them - but plenty of room for improvement for Becker on the return. Boris doesn't really look to take advantage of the second serve either. 0 chip-charges from him (Rostagno has 11, plus 7 errors trying), and have a look at Rostagno's serve-volley breakdown
Off 1st serve, 63%. Off 2nd, 64%. Again, credit to him for a fine showing in the forecourt.... but its evident that Becker didn't do a great job with the return
12 double faults though is a blackmark against Rostagno. Becker wasn't particularly attacking second serves as you can see and Derrik wasn't going for too much on them... just regular misses. 12 is too many in this context
Off the ground, BH seems to be Rostagno's stronger side. Going crosscourt, he hits some wonderful passes and beyond that, clean striking in general. Down the line, it misfires a bit though. 3-4 times would be dtl shots end up going inside-out and landing well into the doubles alley
On the FH, he's not a clean hitter and defensive in his shots. He hits that shovel-y side spin FH that Jimmy Connors does.
Errors (both forced and unforced) are virtually identical across wings - 2 more BH UEs and 1 more FH FEs - but the BH does hit 6 more winners. Especially on the pass, the BH looks a lot stronger than the FH which tends to lack power
Volleying is the heart of Rostagno's showing, and its an interesting look
One part of good volleying, too often taken for granted, is putting away not-difficult volleys. The bulk of Rostango's winners are easy to not-difficult. He scarcely misses one for 2 and half sets. It isn't til the third set that he misses a bunch and from thereon, he's prone to missing a few
Touch is a problem. A big chunk of the unforced volleying errors he makes are not-difficult to easy ones he tries to stop or drop volley. and he makes very few
Making difficult low volleys isn't is strong suit either. Doesn't get down for them well. 5 set is a smorgasboard for half-volleys. He puts away a pair of winners, but also misses the bulk. And demonstrates imperfections in his net instincts. With Becker chipping (returns and other passes), a number of the 1/2volleys Rostagno plays could have been groundstrokes at net, but he goes forward for the more difficult play, usually missing. In fact, the 1/2volleys he makes are relatively late ones... 1 of his BH1/2V winners is skirting the line between a 1/2volley and a groundstroke at net
Not great on not-easy volleys either. The 15 volleying FEs are mostly makeable, though by definition, not easy. This is another side of volleying quality I look at... the ability to make difficult volleys. Rostagno's at best above average on that score
In general, he prefers FHV, and runs around a few balls to make sure of making FHV.
Good showing in the forecourt from Rostagno… but Becker not being too good on the pass or return has a hand. More credit to Rostagno than discredit to Becker, but its there
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