Match Stats/Report - Borg vs Tanner, Wimbledon final, 1979

[Waspsting]

Bjorn Borg beat Roscoe Tanner 6-7(4), 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the Wimbledon final, 1979 on grass

It was Borg's 4th consecutive title at the event. Tanner was the 5th seed and this would be his sole final

Borg won 167 points, Tanner 152

Borg serve-volleyed more than half the time off first serves. Tanner serve-volleyed off all serves

Serve Stats
Borg...
- 1st serve percentage (99/152) 65%
- 1st serve points won (73/99) 74%
- 2nd serve points won (33/53) 62%
- Aces 4
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (52/152) 34%

Tanner...
- 1st serve percentage (89/167) 53%
- 1st serve points won (70/89) 79%
- 2nd serve points won (36/78) 46%
- Aces 15 (1 second serve), Service Winners 3
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (52/167) 31%

Serve Patterns
Borg served...
- to FH 16%
- to BH 73%
- to Body 11%

Tanner served...
- to FH 20%
- to BH 79%
- to Body 1%

Return Stats
Borg made...
- 111 (37 FH, 74 BH), including 21 runaround FHs & 1 return-approach
- 13 Winners (8 FH, 5 BH), including 6 runaround FHs
- 34 Errors, all forced...
- 34 Forced (9 FH, 25 BH), including 3 runaround FHs
- Return Rate (111/163) 68%

Tanner made...
- 97 (24 FH, 73 BH), including 6 runaround FHs & 23 return-approaches
- 3 Winners (1 FH, 3 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 48 Errors, comprising...
- 18 Unforced (9 FH, 9 BH), including 5 runaround FHs & 8 return-approaches
- 30 Forced (6 FH, 24 BH)
- Return Rate (97/149) 65%

Break Points
Borg 4/15 (8 games)
Tanner 1/9 (4 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Borg 54 (23 FH, 18 BH, 6 FHV, 7 BHV)
Tanner 52 (10 FH, 5 BH, 14 FHV, 17 BHV, 5 OH, 1 BHOH)

Borg had 6 from serve-volley points
- 4 first volleys (1 FHV, 3 BHV)
- 1 second volleys (1 BHV)
- 1 third volley (1 FHV)

- 2 other volleys were played net-to-net (1 FHV, 1 BHV)
- 1 other FHV was a non-net pass from no-man's land

- 13 returns (8 FH, 5 BH), all passes
- FHs - 2 runaround cc's, 2 runaround dtl/inside-out, 2 runaround inside-out/dtl and 2 inside-in (1 left by Tanner)
- BHs - 3 cc, 1 inside-in and 1 inside-in/cc

(Note: the FH inside-out/dtl and BH inside-in/cc were both played in deuce court... extreme angled shots)

- FH passes - 4 cc, 5 dtl, 2 inside-out, 1 longline and 1 running-down-drop-volley longline at net
- regular FHs - 2 inside-out
- BHs (all passes) - 4 cc, 1 cc/longline, 5 dtl, 1 inside-out, 1 inside-out/longline and 1 lob

Tanner had 34 from serve-volley points
- 20 first 'volleys' (7 FHV, 9 BHV, 1 OH, 3 FH at net)... 1 FH at net was a drop shot
- 9 second volleys (3 FHV, 3 BHV, 2 OH, 1 BHOH)
- 4 third volleys (1 FHV, 2 BHV, 1 OH)
- 1 re-approach volley (1 OH)

- 4 from return-approach points (2 FHV, 2 BHV)

- regular FHs - 1 cc at net, 1 inside-in, 1 runaround return inside-out/dtl (in ad court) and 1 longline
- FH passes - 2 dtl and 1 lob
- regular BHs - 1 dtl and 1 inside-out
- BH passes - 3 cc (2 returns)

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Borg 45
- 11 Unforced (3 FH, 1 BH, 4 FHV, 2 BHV, 1 OH)
- 34 Forced (13 FH, 16 BH, 3 FHV, 2 BHV)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-volley (not at net) & 2 BH running-down-drop-volley at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 52.7

Tanner 57
- 29 Unforced (1 FH, 9 BH, 5 FHV, 10 BHV, 3 OH, 1 BHOH)
- 28 Forced (7 FH, 7 BH, 5 FHV, 2 FH1/2V, 5 BHV, 1 BH1/2V, 1 BHOH)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-volley at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 50

(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
Borg was...
- 49/70 (70%) at net, including...
- 38/55 (69%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 1/1 return-approaching

Tanner was...
- 109/187 (58%) at net, including...
- 88/145 (61%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 53/72 (74%) off 1st serve and..
- 35/73 (48%) off 2nd serve
---
- 11/23 (48%) return-approaching
- 5/7 (71%) forced back/retreated

Match Report
Serve-volley matches where the return turns out to be more important than the serve tend to produce enthralling action and has potential for high level play. This match fulfils the root criteria and can fairly be said to be a tense contest, but falls short of particularly high level play part

The key shot is the return. Borg's is phenomenal in multiple ways and against very strong opposition (i.e Tanner's serve). Tanner's is at least below average if not poor against distinctly average opposition (Borg's serve)

The volleying is something short of good too. Tanner has huge 37 winners but also 19 UEs on volleys/OHs, which for those shots, is not a good ratio. More than that though, his inability to put points to bed when faced with easy, high volleys let alone regulation net-level ones is not good play. It leaves the door open for Borg to pass outstandingly... but the champion wouldn't even be in a position were it not for Tanner's wishy-washy high volleying. Typical first volleys Tanner gets are balls he swing volleys, near OH balls, groundstrokes at net. 'Just' a chest high easy putaway volley is on the hard side of what he faces

In this light, 79% first serve points won isn't particularly good. High 80s% is viable against the returns he draws. From Borg's point of view, winning 21% first serve return points is a healthy bonus... the value of just getting return in play somehow and count on Tanner messing up on the volley. Tanner has 20 first 'volley' winners - virtually every one is an easy volley at least, with a good lot of putaways thrown in. And a good lot of similar calibre returns that he volleys conservatively (or just misses) that leads to volley-pass rallies that he loses more often than not

Borg's volleying isn't much better, other than Tanner passing normally. Borg has 13 volley winners to 7 UEs and also knocks regulation volleys where Tanner can reach them easily. The difference is that the lefty can't make the pass to anything like the same extent - or even look like he might be capable of so doing

All this is against the backdrop of serve-return complex. Tanner serves huge first serve, Borg manages to get a high lot back in play anyway he can. About as often as not, he returns with 1 hand and most returns are high floaters (which Tanner isn't too efficient in coping with)... about as much as can be expected from Borg against that serve

Against second serve, Borg looks like he's enjoying target practice. Tanner's direction is predictable - he serves 79% to BH - and Borg merrily runsaround BHs to whack FHs as and where he pleases. Not that he doesn't whack BHs either, but in deuce court, prefers the runaround FH. Placement more than power is Borg's weapon on the second serve return and he regularly passes or otherwise threatens the serve-volleying Tanner

Flip side is different. Both of Borg's serves are average. Some of Tanner's seconds are on par with Borg's lesser first serves - and he has plenty of those. I'd estimate 30%-40% of Borg's first serves would qualify as unforceful and virtually all the seconds. Tanner can't return it with any kind of consistency. Whether its regulation first serves Borg stays back on or gentle second serves, Tanner has a high natural error rate. He finishes with return rate of 66% (Borg's 68%, facing a much stronger serve and a 100% serve-volleyer). Note 17/47 errors being unforced, including 5 runaround FHs and 7 chip-charge attempts... not good returning from Roscoe

With returning like that, Tanner's potential match winning strategy would have to be based around locking down his service games and waiting around for odd good return game/bad service game from Borg. Only he can't lock down his service games. Borg has break points in 8 games to Tanner's 4

From Borg's point of view, he's able to threaten on return quite regularly on back off -
- getting first serves in play somehow - and Tanner not being able to completely dominate rallies begining with high first volleys (i.e. minimizing advantage of Tanner on first serve points)
- thrashing second serves with terrific returns with precision placement
- passing magnificently, largely due to Tanner's not finishing net points with efficiency

Borg - Serve-Volley vs No Serve-Volley?
Off first serves, Borg serve-volleys 58% of the time and wins 69% of those. He stays back the remaining 42% and wins 78% (aces excluded from both). He stays back off all second serves where he wins 62% of points (65% sans double faults). The obvious suggestion is Borg is better of playing from the baseline, contrary to all that was assumed about serve-volleying on grass

Nor does Borg look for net on points he doesn't serve-volley. He mostly hits FH cc's to Tanner's BH - usually hard hit shots. It works - Tanner's BH has by far the most UEs of any groundstroke on show with 9 (Borg's FH has 3, Borg's BH and Tanner's FH have 1 apiece). And Tanner comes to net regularly. From rallies, Borg approaches 14 times, Tanner 19... roughly the same number of forced approaches for both

Clearly, not only is Borg not hassled about getting to net, he doesn't even mind Tanner being there. So is staying back just as effective as serve-volleying?....

 

[Waspsting]

Serve-volleying creates a favourable perceptual bias due to points being short and due to the serve-volleyer always being in the forceful position, while the returner is always on the back foot. By contrast, when server stays back and returns are comfortably made, point looks 50-50

That's exactly what happens in this match, with the addendum that Tanner misses a number of comfortable returns. Borg's greater winning rate staying back is based on his superiority in play, bolstered by his groundstroke consistency being greater than his volleying one. In other words, he'll lose a few serve-volley points by muffing regulation volleys that he won't on groundstrokes

Where things do get dangerous for Borg is when Tanner takes net. Tanner is 10/19 approaching from rallies, with a small number of those being forced approaches to intercept drop volleys. Just coming in, he's distinctly winning more often than not. Nor does he struggle to find net or make approach errors. With ball bouncing knee high, only a lunatic would fancy their chances of making passing shots more often than not

Now Borg passes about as well as can be and Tanner is apt to both make errors and not putaway easy volleys about as often as Borg could hope for against a Wimbledon finalist. Despite the numbers, it seems to me Borg's at his most comfortable when serve-volleying and that large chunk of his success not doing so comes out of poor play from Tanner (return and groundstrokes primarily) and large chunk of Tanner's (relative) success against serve-volleying comes out of poor volleying from Borg

By contrast, Borg's success serve-volleying is the norm. He serves better when he does so too, usually getting serve out wide and typically hitting harder. Tanner return is average at best (less than that actually) and he naturally struggles still more against the at net Borg. When he can get it back, its usually a comfortable, chest high ball

Still, very interesting implications about value of serve-volleying vs not serve-volleying coming out of this match. For someone like Borg, who barely misses a groundie but can usually be counted on to miss a few routine volleys, staying back is not at all a bad idea

The main fly in that ointment is Tanner taking net, which one would think is not a situation Borg would like. Its effect is minimized here due to Borg passing first class with some help from Tanner's inconsistency on the volley... but Tanner still wins most points when he can reach net

Borg wins a very healthy 62% second serve points (Tanner has 46%) and statistically, this is the key difference in play. Borg stays back off all second serves and Tanner comes in of all his

The serve itself is average with a lot of very safe, gentle body serves among them and Tanner's returning is less than that. Note the 17 return UEs - 5 of them runaround FHs and 7 return-approaches. Most of the total 17 are against 2nd serves

Given the extent he trails from baseline, its good move from Roscoe to try to get up to net ASAP. He also has 23 successful 23 return-approaches (winning 11) and 6 runaround FHs. Action that follows is similar to Borg's stay back first serves, with more Tanner at net... Borg passes well, Tanner doesn't volley well. Even there. Tanner winning 48% return-approach points is the best indicator of how volley vs pass battle is (better than either of Tanner's 1st serve points that are pushed in his favour by the serve and better than his 2nd serve points that are edged in Borg's favour by the return)

48% as it it turn out, is exactly the same as Tanner's success rate 2nd serve-volleying. On grass, the net player would aim for 55% at least... this is a comparative win for Borg

For all that, I would still more credit Borg for outstanding passing then discredit Tanner's volleying. As the reverse match up shows, non-decisive finishing of volleys isn't necessarily a hindrance to winning large net points and passing shots are very difficult to make. Borg makes 27 (including a non-net FHV, excluding his 13 returns), Tanner 4 (sans return)... a top drawer showing from Borg in scrambling, precision placement, throwing up defensive lobs (he forces Tanner back 7 times from net). Many passes are hit to deep balls or balls almost past Borg. Tanner's volleying might not be great, but there's scarcely room for improvement in Borg's passing

Note low volleying FEs - Borg has 5, Tanner 14. Its just not a 'forced volleying match'. Tanner can rarely get a pass or return off to yield a difficult volley for Borg. And Borg returns to hit winners with wide placement (and does so well enough that they go for winner, not force errors). Borg's regulation returns tend to be at most, tricky dippers just under net... nothing too difficult to handle. In short, not many difficult volleys to be seen... its more a consistency-against-makeable-volleys rather than making-tough-volleys encounter

Match Progression
First set is near even, Borg having slightly of play. No breaks, he serves 41 points to Tanner's 43 and has the sole break point. Initially, both players volley short (and are highly successful doing so) but Tanner in particular drops it for rest of match. Probably not a good idea

Borg has the only break point which is aced away. He makes some tremendous passing winners but is also prone to missing volleys. His most difficult hold is game 12, where he stays back off almost all serves

Tiebreak is on serve with Borg to serve 2 points down 4-5. He misses a regulation FHV before Tanner hits one of his best shots of the match, a running FH lob that goes for a winner. Borg makes a half-hearted, no jump OH to the ball

Borg runs away with second set. He returns to mostly serve-volleying, returns first serves with more authority (i.e. not leaving OHs and swinging volleys first up) and hits some wonderfully angled runaround FH returns. Tanner making just 7/18 first serves helps

Third set is great stuff. Poor game from Borg where he allows Tanner to come to net sees him broken, but Roscoe is put through the hoop in holding for the set. He has to serve 44 points to Borg's 27 and save 6 break points across 2 games

Good returning from Borg and he gives Tanner a high lot of slightly under net regulation first volleys, passes great and his runaround FH returns wreck havoc. His tendency to allow Tanner to net however, leaves him with difficult work to hold also and Borg continues missing odd volleys and hitting volleys down middle of court where Tanner has reasonable shots on the pass. While Tanner copes with the regulation volleys, he can't dispatch the high ones for winners

Odd stat for the set. Borg wins 7/14 first serve points but 9/13 second. Tanner is the opposite, winning 18/20 firsts and 5/18 seconds. The one break proves enough for Tanner

Borg's serve goes up a couple notches in the fourth and he serves out wide and at high in rate of 62%. Tanners return goes off and he misses a lot of second serves to allow comfortable holds for Borg

Borg gains the break in a 12 point game, winning the last 3 points with low returns that force errors. For the match, this is exceptional... there's little low returning from either player and high quality returning is based on wide placement that goes for winners

Tanner volleys to BH and Borg hits a series of needle threading dtl/inside-out or even inside-out/dtl passes through small gap very nicely

Borg breaks to start the decider. He reaches 30-40 with mostly strong passes/returns but gains the break with a passing winner thanks to Tanner not putting away a swinging FHV, almost an OH

Borg switches to staying back off first serves regularly. Why? He'd held serve very comfortably coming in the set before, with Tanner struggling to return? His serve drops a couple of notches and most of his firsts are unforceful

Tanner's at net more than at any other time in the match. Its a dangerous game from Borg to allow it and he has to save 5 break point across 2 games. These include Tanner missing a regulation return and a BHV UE. By and large though, Borg gets the better of Tanner with good passes... it doesn't seem like something you'd want to count on though. Odd choice from the champion, who makes life harder on himself than necessary

Summing up, hard fought contest between the big server who doesn't do anything else particularly well and consummate court player who doesn't come to net too often. Tanner's serve sets up lots of easy volleys and while naturally making most (it would have to be atrocious play not to) he falters enough on them - especially in not killing off points - to leave Borg with chances on the pass. Borg is terrific on the pass, makes as many tough returns as possible and outstanding in blasting return winners against second serves

On serve, Borg dominates both serve-volleying (Tanner struggling to return) and staying back (Tanner making hash of attacking return) and is able to outhit his opponent in baseline rallies regularly. The possible bug for him is when Tanner takes net, which Borg allows to a dangerous extent, but very strong passing from Borg and so-so volleying from Tanner sees the champion to through there too

Stats for '78 final between Borg and Jimmy Connors - https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...-borg-vs-connors-wimbledon-final-1978.656924/
Stats for '75 semi between Tanner and Connors - https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...s-vs-tanner-wimbledon-semi-final-1975.663279/

 

[WCT]

1979 was sort of different for Borg. He didn't s/v as much. Well, I've only seen the semis and finals, but that is pretty much par with the other years. In his semi with Connors he doesn't s/v nearly as consistently. 1st serve of course. He never s/v on 2nd. Not when he started winning. He was in the 73 Roger Taylor partial that I've seen as well as his 74 US Open match vs Armitraj. But he didn't win or ever really contend playing that way. When he did, I recall zero s/v on 2nd serves.

Anyway, you have the 78 stats linked at the bottom. Borg got 46 1st serves in with 5 aces. You had him s/v 41 times. Means he did it every 1st serve. My memory tells me that he did the same in the 80 and 81 finals. 81 semis vs Connors, but I believe it was a lot more than half. On the deuce court, I think it was every point. Usually wide to Connors 2 hander. He didn't do it all the time in the ad court, though. I did stats for the match, but didn't track BOrg's s/v totals. Did the stats years ago. If I did it now, I would have.

But 1979 was different. He definitely didn't do it as much. You always have some stat that really surprises me. Here it is Borg with the higher unreturned serve %. I sure didn't remember the match that way.

 

[Waspsting]

1979 was sort of different for Borg. He didn't s/v as much. Well, I've only seen the semis and finals, but that is pretty much par with the other years. In his semi with Connors he doesn't s/v nearly as consistently. 1st serve of course. He never s/v on 2nd. Not when he started winning. He was in the 73 Roger Taylor partial that I've seen as well as his 74 US Open match vs Armitraj. But he didn't win or ever really contend playing that way. When he did, I recall zero s/v on 2nd serves.

Anyway, you have the 78 stats linked at the bottom. Borg got 46 1st serves in with 5 aces. You had him s/v 41 times. Means he did it every 1st serve. My memory tells me that he did the same in the 80 and 81 finals. 81 semis vs Connors, but I believe it was a lot more than half. On the deuce court, I think it was every point. Usually wide to Connors 2 hander. He didn't do it all the time in the ad court, though. I did stats for the match, but didn't track BOrg's s/v totals. Did the stats years ago. If I did it now, I would have.

For Borg's serve-volleying on grass (i.e. Wimbledon), I have -

- '76 final vs Nastase - 90.6% off first serve, 12.2% off second
- '77 semi vs Gerulaitis - 76.4% off 1st, 30.0% off 2nd
- '78 final vs Connors - 100% off 1st, 0 off 2nd
and here - 57.9% off 1st, 0 off 2nd

quite a mixed bag. I'd think Vitas would be a guy you'd serve-volley more off 1st serves against, compared to against Connors
I understand serve-volleying more off 2nd serve to Vitas than others because a) his return isn't too strong and b) he's apt to approach

In this match, he's doing well not serve-volleying largely because of Tanner missing returns. The first serve missed returns, Tanner would presumably be even more likely to miss if Borg serve-volleyed

My biggest take away from this match would be the extent to which Borg seems unbothered by prospect of Tanner taking net. A lot of guys I imagine choose to serve-volley more to keep their opponent away from net than having any great desire to be there themselves. For example, Lendl doing so against McEnroe or even Connors in the '84 Wimby final. But Borg doesn't seem to mind Tanner coming in at all

Did he fancy being able to pass Tanner regularly? Count on Tanner missing volleys? Count on Tanner making errors chip-charging the return?

Strong similarities to '84 Aus final between Wilander and Kevin Curren.... Curren not doing anything too well other than serve (in fact, by his standard, even that wasn't great probably). Curren missed a lot of routine volleys whereas Tanner's flaw is more not finishing points with his volleys

Match Stats/Report - Wilander vs Curren, Australian Open final, 1984

Mats Wilander beat Kevin Curren 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-2 in the Australian Open final, 1984 on grass Wilander was the defending champion and this was his second title at the event. He would go on to add a then Open Era record third title in 1988. It was Curren's first Slam final, and he...

tt.tennis-warehouse.com

Tanner and Curren might not be great volleyers, but still... pretty risky letting them up to net like that. You'd have to be pretty confident in your pass or in their ability to miss volleys

You always have some stat that really surprises me. Here it is Borg with the higher unreturned serve %. I sure didn't remember the match that way.

That's all about the return

Great stuff by Borg... somehow getting in play big first serves, often with 1 handed BH and usually leaving easy volley, but better than missing the return. He seems to have 0 trouble with the second serve. When running around BH, he gets almost as far as center line often (even gets aced once doing it) and doesn't even looked rushed

Poor from Tanner, especially against second serves... lots and lots of regulation misses, plenty of attacking ones too

He did give Borg some trouble, didn't he? Beat him at upcoming US Open where Borg would have been big favourite and did much better against him than anyone else in '78 French

Any recollections of the US Open win for Tanner?

 

[WCT]

Wow. Surprised that he came in behind 2nd serves at all after 1975. I guess it's been a really long time since I saw those Viitas or Nastase matches. Now, I'll really be surprised if you do stats for any 78-81 matches where he did it. I see in te 81 US final you have him doing it once and even just once surprises me. But earlier in his career he seemed to have done it.

Connors 78 semi against Vitas is the highest % match I have for him. I had him coming in 43 of 50 on 1st and 28 of 37 on 2nd. Tanner did play Borg tough a lot. Connors as well. He played Borg 79, 80 and 81 at the US Open. None were televised in the US. They were all QF and weekday/night matches. Check out Borg's 78 French. Destroyed everyone but Tanner. That was straight sets too, but at least they were competitive one break type of sets.

I always thought of Tanner as a really big hitter, not just the serve. Not consistent, but if he was on, watch out. There are sets where he beats Bog 6-2. It's not like he only won tiebreakers against Borg. Kind of surprised at you assessment of his volleying her. Never thought of him as an indecisive volleyer in general. Not elite, but my recollection was that he was good. I guess not so much in this match.

 

[Waspsting]

Kind of surprised at you assessment of his volleying her. Never thought of him as an indecisive volleyer in general. Not elite, but my recollection was that he was good. I guess not so much in this match.

its a tricky assessment

He's hit a lot of winners and forced a lot of hard errors. But... he's also failed to putaway a whole bunch of points that start with an easy first volley. I'm talking putaway easy... high balls you could comfortably swing volley or near OHs

Even then, he'd be favourite to win those points after having put them in play attackingly

Borg tended to volley regulation net-high balls this way... and on grass, it got him through. Opponent couldn't make the 'makeable' passes. This match is an example, the '76 final against Nastase is another

So credit to Borg for outstanding passing

From Tanner's point of view... few too many UEs, but I get that he's not the best volleyer and when your up at net all the time, that can happen. What stood out are these balls that a guy serve-volleying dreams of getting that he doesn't put to bed - leaving chances for Borg to make those outstanding passes

Plenty of relatively long exchanges with Tanner at net vs Borg on baseline. 3-4 volleys and same number of pass attempts

I recently watched '81 US Open final. Mac makes a hash of regulation volleys in that one, but dispatches the high stuff like clockwork... that would be a reasonable standard to hold a Wimbledon finalist too against balls like this

 

[WCT]

Not a lot of Tanner on the net. I'd like to see if that was a trend with the volleying. Regarding Tanner's returning, I seem to remember Connors ,in both their 75 and 80 matches, having more unreturned serves that I might expect. Certainly being closer to Tanner in unreturned serve % than I'd expect.