Match Stats/Report - Borg vs Lendl, Masters final, 1980

[Waspsting]

Bjorn Borg beat Ivan Lendl 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 in the Masters (Year End Championship) final, 1980 on carpet in New York, USA

Borg was the defending champion and this was his second and last title at the event. Lendl was playing the first of what would turn out to be 9 straight finals. Both players had come out of their respective round robin grounps placed second with a 2-1 record - Borg finishing behind Gene Mayer, Lendl behind Jimmy Connors. Lendl has recently won their final in Basel in 5 sets on indoor hard court

Borg won 95 points, Lendl 71

(Note: I’ve made confident guesses regarding serve type for a small number of points)

Serve Stats
Borg...
- 1st serve percentage (43/85) 51%
- 1st serve points won (32/43) 74%
- 2nd serve points won (28/42) 67%
- Aces 5
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (20/85) 24%

Lendl...
- 1st serve percentage (47/81) 58%
- 1st serve points won (30/47) 64%
- 2nd serve points won (16/34) 47%
- Aces 1
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (9/81) 11%

Serve Patterns
Borg served...
- to FH 54%
- to BH 24%
- to Body 22%

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

Return Stats
Borg made...
- 69 (30 FH, 39 BH), including 8 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 8 Errors, comprising...
- 1 Unforced (1 FH)
- 7 Forced (5 FH, 2 BH)
- Return Rate (69/78) 88%

Lendl made...
- 63 (39 FH, 24 BH), including 2 runaround FHs & 1 runaround BH
- 15 Errors, comprising...
- 8 Unforced (6 FH, 2 BH), including 1 runaround BH
- 7 Forced (4 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (63/83) 76%

Break Points
Borg 5/8 (6 games)
Lendl 0/4 (2 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Borg 21 (7 FH, 5 BH, 4 FHV, 5 BHV)
Lendl 23 (10 FH, 2 BH, 6 FHV, 3 BHV, 2 OH)

Borg's FHs - 3 cc (2 passes), 2 dtl (1 return) and 2 inside-out
- BHs - 2 cc passes and 3 dtl (2 passes)

Lendl's FHs - 1 cc, 1 dtl, 1 dtl/inside-out, 5 inside-out and 2 inside-in
- BHs - 2 dtl

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Borg 37
- 25 Unforced (12 FH, 11 BH, 2 OH)... with 1 BH pass & 1 OH on the bounce from the baseline
- 12 Forced (3 FH, 9 BH)... with 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47.2

Lendl 51
- 40 Unforced (19 FH, 20 BH, 1 BHV)
- 11 Forced (4 FH, 4 BH, 2 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index

(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
Borg was...
- 19/23 (83%) at net, including...
- 0/1 serve-volleying, a 1st serve
---
- 2/3 (67%) forced back/retreated

Lendl was...
- 20/31 (65%) at net, including...
- 0/1 serve-volleying, a 1st serve

Match Report
Good, hard hitting dual winged baseline match. Borg is very impressive and has comfortably better of things for a few reasons - better consistency of the ground and especially the return, some spectacular passing and superior fitness. Court is on the quick and low bouncing side of normal

Routine straight set scoreline, Borg winning 57.2% of the points while serving 51.2% of them and going unbroken while breaking 5 times is more comfortable than the match looks because of intensity of play

Borg winning 67% second serve points, more than Lendl’s firsts of 64%. That’s usually a recipe for an all out thrashing

The two fight for command from the baseline, both hitting the ball hard off both wings. They trade role of who’s on the baseline and who’s a couple paces behind it, though both are capable of pressuring the other even from the nominal reactive position.

Even the BH cc rallies are hard hitting, and neither player is slow to switch over to even more powerful move-around FH inside-outs in them. Both are willing to take on the dtl winner, both change-up to longline

There’s more power in the FH hitting still and directions change more regularly than on the other side (not that the BH rallies stay overly stationary). Once that happens, there’s substantial moving-opponent-around play and some shot-making

Intense, hard hitting, dual winged play. Something in between ‘pressuring’ to ‘beat-down’ strength hitting as staple (with said staple not taking up too much of the overall), variety in change of directions in a still pressuring, pseudo attacking way, moving each other side to side (if not corner to corner), shot-making… everythings on show. This match looks 10 years ahead of its time, said time being characterized with stock, patience based who-blinks-first rallies with net seeking the sole avenue to aggression

There’s not much net play, and numbers are little deceptive there. Both players come in after thoroughly seizing command from the back (particularly Lendl) and significant nominal approaches (Borg 23, Lendl 31) are a product of baseline superiority, not net seeking. Approach shots would likely as not finish point regardless of player coming in behind it or not large lot of time; Insurance policy and/or token net points - there’s little going on in contest of volley vs pass, its all about making most of overpowering opponent

And Borg is clearly better at it all. For a few reasons
- he returns very well, while Lendl falters a bit on the second shot
- his ground consistency advantage is the biggest difference between the two players from the baseline
- he pulls of some amazing passes with odds stacked against him in a way Lendl isn’t able to

Serve & Return
Unreturneds - Borg 24%, Lendl 11%
Aces - Borg 5, Lendl 1 (Borg 12% of first serves, Lendl 2%)

Lendl actually has a considerably bigger serve. His firsts are genuinely damaging on power alone and he gets decent lot wide on top of that. Borg’s are less powerful, less widely placed - Lendl faces ‘regulation +’ returns at most

I’d have expected a time free version of Lendl to return what he’s up against with comfort at least and possibly ease. Possibly as well as Borg himself

Nope. Good lot of looseness from Lendl on second shot
Return UEs - Borg 1, Lendl 8 (Borg makes all 2nd returns @krosero )
Return FEs - 7 apiece

The UEs speak for themselves and Borg’s FEs are considerably harder forced than Lendl’s. The types of serves that force errors from Lendl don’t from Borg. For that matter, Lendl’s FEs are bolstered towards the end when he’s showing signs of tiredness and are product of him not moving as well as he had earlier. He moves properly, those would probably have been marked UEs too

The other area Lendl fails is in not attacking second serves, which is related to Borg’s unusual and interesting serve patterns

Borg serves 54% to FH, 24% to BH and 22% to body - all of that is odd

Serving majority to FH violates default procedure and a player doing so usually has a good reason for it. There isn't anything about Lendl's returning (and still less about his groundgame) that would suggest itself for this treatment

Lendl returns FHs harder than BHs within normal lines and he's not disproportionately error prone of the FH. If there's no reason to serve majority to FH, it also hasn't got Borg any benefits. If anything, looking at Lendl's crisp, clean FH in play, one would look to avoid serving there. Curious choice from Borg - it ends up not hurting him, but doesn't help either

And then there's the huge lot of body serves. Almost all second serves, which are point starters with nothing troubling about

Getting outplayed in rallies, it behoves Lendl to attack them. Something he's generally good at, with big runaround FHs. He doesn't do that at all. Just returns normally to get rally going. Its not a good move and the alternative of attacking is very do-able - and also something Lendl particularly excels at. Maybe he he just hadn't developed this side of his game at this stage in his career

If anything, Lendl moves over to play BH returns rather than FHs to body-ish serves. He's got 2 runaround FHs (neither aggressive shots) and 2 BH runaround (and 1 error trying)

Lendl's returning faults are made worse by situation of Borg not serving particularly well. He finishes with just 51% in-count, and after 2 sets, that figure was 43%. Plenty of room for Lendl to make something happen by going after very go after-able second serves. Instead, Borg ends up winning 67% second serve points - 3% higher than Lendl's first serve points

Slightly surprisingly, its Borg who's more aggressive with the return. Goes for the odd dtl winner - and makes 1 against a first serve. And plays his usual lot of 8 runaround FH returns - his favourite against 2nd serves in deuce court, a heavier spun shot than his BH and getting him to middle of court

 

[Waspsting]

Gist - Borg not serving well, with low in-count, and just above average damaging first serves, ordinary seconds, with questionable choices of direction. Likely outcome would be Lendl with very high return rate and damagingly big FH returning (runaround or otherwise)

Lendl though, returns worse than Borg serves. Misses makeable returns and has no aggression against balls that could have been treated so

Lendl serves bigger, better and more consistently than Borg - but Borg returns superbly, missing next to nothing and even taking the odd risk to good effect

Play - Baseline & Net
Action is as described earlier. If there is a starting point, its Borg leading with BH cc. Harder hit than his norm, with still enough net clearance to be safe. Lendl hits his BHs even harder

There are winners being hit and errors being forced in baseline rallies, but UEs still make up the bulk. Baseline-to-baseline, UEs read -

Borg 22, Lendl 39 (excluding an OH on bounce and a pass attempt by Borg), broken down further -
- Borg BH 10, Borg FH 12
- Lendl FH 19, Lendl BH 20
… with neutral UEs Borg 14, Lendl 27

Roughly, Borg twice as consistent as Lendl. Figures look like run of the mill one player much more consistent than the other. Due to hard hitting, long rallies (within context of hard hitting) and errors being ‘pressured’ (if not forced), it doesn’t feel that way. As figures suggest, Lendl is the one to give up the odd quick error to routine ball, while Borg gives up virtually nothing in that way. UEs from Borg have to be drawn like pulling teeth, Lendl doesn’t give them up easily either (by a normal standard or even a good one), but considerably more than Borg is all that matters

Baseline-to-baseline winners and winner attempt UEs -
Winners - Borg 5, Lendl 11
Winner attempt UEs - Borg 6, Lendl 7

… reflecting Lendl being the harder hitter. He’s not necessarily more adventurous, but opens up more chances for himself via harder hitting. FH is chief damage do-er for both players (all but 1 of Borg’s winners and all but 2 of Lendl’s are FHs), while all the winners BHs are dtl (Borg 1, Lendl 2). Lendl’s got FH winners of all 4 basic types, Borg 3/4. He doesn’t play inside-in much, both players tuck into inside-outs though and that’s the chief FH winner of choice for both

Ground FEs - Borg 12, Lendl 8

… are mostly passes and products of one player overpowering the other from the back, not of great volleying

Consequently, excellent numbers at net for both players -
Borg 19/23 at 83%
Lendl 20/31 at 65%
(including 0/1 serve-volleying for both players - Borg missing a second volley OH, Lendl a routine first volley BHV)

Borg’s greater success is entirely product of his choice, top class passing

Passing winners - Borg 6, Lendl 1

All of Borg’s winners are very low percentage shots, on the run and stretch against very powerful shots. Lendl if anything, gets slightly better passing chances (still, not good ones), and can barely make any. All credit to Borg on this

Not much to do on the volley for either player. Borg has no errors (save the serve-volley OH), Lendl 3 FEs (save the serve-volley BHV). Lot of winners though (Borg 9, Lendl 11). These are about as easy putaway balls as can be

Behind less powerful approaches, its Borg who has a bit of work to do on the volley. Snaps a couple away with finality, doesn’t do much with a couple others. Lendl has easy putaways which he putsaway and nothing to be done against Borg’s improbable, perfect passing winners

Overall -
Winners - Borg 21, Lendl 23
Errors Forced - Borg 11, Lendl 12
(Aggressively ended points - Borg 32, Lendl 35)
UEs - Borg 25, Lendl 40

Excellent from Borg, in context of how tough rallies are, and not as bad as it looks from Lendl for the same reason

Gist - in baseline rallies, Borg more consistent, Lendl more damaging and Borg having greater advantage of consistency than Lendl does of being damaging. Within context of hard hitting, pressuring play as staple starting point and usually going up to more attacking stuff

Net approaches product of overpowering baseline play and more a credit to that than net skills. Borg pulling out the occasional improbable passing winner from hopless position, Lendl not being able to do the same

So Borg doing better from baseline (because he’s more consistent), Borg doing better at net (because he passes better, all credit to him) and against the backdrop of Borg leading in serve-return complex (credit his superb returning and a slight blackmark against Lendl’s returning)

Good enough for routine straight sets

Match Progression
Very good and tough first set. Hard hitting, lively dual winged rallies with the two players competing to take lead position with honours about even. Lendl’s more apt to miss the regulation shot, Borg more apt to come to net to finish behind strong approach shots. Doesn’t’ do much with the volley, but is in strong enough position coming in that he can get away with it

Just 15/36 first serves in for Borg, but he wins 15/21 second serve points (even higher rate than his firsts of 10/15), so it ends up not mattering. His second serves are harmless of pace and directed around Lendl’s body. At that pace, Lendl’s free to return from whichever side he wants. He usually chooses BHs and never looks for a big return

Just the 1 break and it’s a good game from Borg. He wins 2 tough rallies to end the game - on the first one, using a BH dtl to get on the attack and finish with an under-net, slightly wide FHV winner and on the second, after both players have a turn running around and falling back to defend, comes away with a FH inside-out winner from out in the doubles alley

Either side of the break, he has tough holds of 14 and 8 points, saving 4 break points between them. He takes Lendl to a 10 point game beside (no break points)

Borg serves 36 points, Lendl 32. Break points read Borg 1/1, Lendl 0/4 (2 games). Lot of tough points on and around break points - long rallies, the player in trouble seizing control of the point, calculated risk-taking attacking errors, strong defence etc.

From an even set, things turn Borg’s way in the second with Lendl’s rate of making loose UEs going up and Borg dictating a bit more from the back. He still has low in-count of 11/24 but still controls his second serve points, winning 8/13

Borg goes for winners from the back to an uncharacteristic extent. Usually when well up in games and/or after being breaks up, so understandable. Breaks first to go up 1-2. There’s adventurous FH dtl return winner against a first serve and on break point, a full running BH dtl pass winner. Consolidates in a deuce game with few Lendl loose UEs keeping Borg ahead of the curve and then breaks again - this time with back to back super passing winners (BH dtl and FH cc)

Third set is different. Borg breaks to open, with a couple of passing winners and on break point, Lendl misses a routine third ball FH. And again, a tough hold to consolidate, this time 10 points

Thereafter, though not overtly looking tired, Lendl’s play changes in line with being tired. He doesn’t move well for returns, comes to net more (and earlier), goes for his shots more. Little changes - nothing as drastic as the wildness he demonstrates in other matches in his early career when tired and/or rattled. And other than the drop in his returning, he’s not much worse for it

2 double faults though are bad not matter what and he finds himself down 0-30 on the back of them serving at 2-4. Comes to net behind not overly strong approaches for rest of game and is caught moving the wrong way on second break point to give up the error and a second break

Borg serves out to 15, finishing with a pair of winners (FH inside-out and BHV). Match point is one of the very few points in the match when there’s a contest between volley and pass, and Borg needs 3 good volleys to finally put the point and match to bed

Summing up, a good match, despite seeming one sidedness. Baseline action is hard hitting and dual winged, with the two heavyweights vying for command of rallies. From that starting point, they get into moving each other about and shot-making. Lendl’s slightly harder hitting is trumped by Borg’s greater consistency - Borg’s being exceptional, Lendl not bad in absolute sense but well behind his opponent

Throw in Borg coming up with some fabulous passes from near hopeless positions (that Lendl can’t match) and Borg having substantial advantage in serve-return complex (due to his returning superbly against a tough serve, and also, Lendl stumbling a bit on the return against a lesser serve than his own), and a comfortable win for Borg

More broadly, outside of clay (where the emphasis is on not making errors - forced or otherwise), this is the best I’ve seen Borg play off the baseline. Pressuringly hard hitting of both sides, changing directions for variety, willing to take risks and go for point ending shots, while maintaining his usual consistency and jack-rabbit movement against a very able opponent. Great showings and matches earlier in the tournament against his other rivals too

Stats for Borg’s semi with Jimmy Connors - Match Stats/Report - Borg vs Connors, Masters semi-final 1980 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)
Stats for Borg’s round robin match with John McEnroe - Duel Match Stats/Reports - Borg vs McEnroe, Masters semi-final & round robin, 1979 & 1980 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)