Match Stats/Report - Courier vs Ferreira, Indian Wells final, 1993

[Waspsting]

Jim Courier beat Wayne Ferreira 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 in the Indian Wells final, 1993 on hard court

Courier had recently won what would turn out to be his last Slam title at Australian Open and this would turn out to be his last Masters title. Ferreira was playing his first Masters would final

Courier won 97 points, Ferreira 63

Ferreira serve-volleyed off all but 1 first serve

Serve Stats
Courier...
- 1st serve percentage (38/74) 51%
- 1st serve points won (33/38) 87%
- 2nd serve points won (23/36) 64%
- Aces 6
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (27/74) 38%

Ferreira...
- 1st serve percentage (39/86) 45%
- 1st serve points won (28/39) 72%
- 2nd serve points won (17/47) 36%
- Aces 12 (2 second serves), Service Winners 2
- Double Faults 5
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (31/86) 36%

Serve Patterns
Courier served...
- to FH 31%
- to BH 69%

Ferreira served...
- to FH 32%
- to BH 62%
- to Body 6%

Return Stats
Courier made...
- 50 (16 FH, 34 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 2 Winners (2 FH)
- 17 Errors, comprising...
- 7 Unforced (1 FH, 6 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 10 Forced (5 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (50/81) 62%

Ferreira made...
- 44 (14 FH, 30 BH), including 2 return-approaches
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 21 Errors, comprising...
- 13 Unforced (6 FH, 7 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 8 Forced (2 FH, 6 BH)
- Return Rate (44/71) 62%

Break Points
Courier 5/11 (6 games)
Ferreira 0/3 (1 game)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Courier 12 (8 FH, 2 FHV, 2 BHV)
Ferreira 15 (5 FH, 3 BH, 1 FHV, 5 BHV, 1 OH)

Courier's regular FHs - 2 inside-out, 1 net chord dribbler
- FH passes - 1 cc return, 1 dtl, 1 inside-in return, 2 lobs

- 1 from a serve-volley point, a first volley BHV, a net chord roll over

- 1 other BHV was also a net chord roll over

Ferreira had 5 from serve-volley points - 3 first volleys (3 BHV) & 2 second volleys (2 BHV)

- 1 from a return-approach point, a FHV

- FHs - 1 cc, 3 inside-out, 1 inside-in
- BHs - 1 dtl, 1 inside-out return, 1 net chord dribbler


Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Courier 14
- 10 Unforced (5 FH, 5 BH)... with 1 BH at net
- 4 Forced (3 FH, 1 BH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47

Ferreira 53
- 39 Unforced (14 FH, 19 BH, 5 BHV, 1 OH)
- 14 Forced (5 FH, 5 BH, 1 FHV, 3 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.7

(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
Courier was...
- 9/10 (90%) at net, including...
- 1/2 serve-volleying, both 1st serves

Ferreira was...
- 19/34 (56%) at net, including...
- 16/26 (62%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 1/2 return-approaching
- 1/1 forced back

Match Report
Solid showing from Courier, while Ferreira’s gets soft after a decent first set. Court is normal of pace and bounce, faster than the event’s mode slow

Nothing stands out in Courier’s showing as either good or bad. Hefty serving, solid returning (if anything, a bit off against second serves), hard hitting groundies, especially FHs but usually not to beat-down degree. Rarely comes to net. Doesn’t even get to pass much, despite Ferreira serve-volleying so much; the serve draws error or Fer messes up the volley

Little stands out in Ferreira’s showing that isn’t bad. Big serve, but just 45% first serves in. Good second serve too. Has 2 aces and draws a bunch of return errors from Courier taking returns early

Still wins just 36% second serve points (alone with Courier winning 64% of his second serve points); accurate indicator of the how the two stack up rallying

After first set, he gets inconsistent, even sloppy and sometimes lazy in his movements for the return. And Courier - who serves at underwhelming 51% in himself - actually leads freebies, despite Fer having considerably bigger serve

Once rally gets going, Fer’s apt to miss ball - at net and off the ground. At net, misses fair few routine volleys, though dealing with the ones makes with finality.Off the ground, errors usually don’t come immediately and he’s not soft of force - but they come sooner or later

39 UEs for Fer (33 groundstrokes, 6 volleys). Putting that in perspective -
- unreturned serves - Courier 27, Fer 31
- combined winners 27 (Courier 12, Fer 15)
- combined FEs 18 (Courier 4, Fer 14)
- Courier’s UEs - 10

Occasional lazy movement have hand in some of Fer’s FEs too (both on return and off the ground), otherwise he’d have even more UEs

It’s a good first set. Courier takes his sole break chance, while Fer can’t convert any of the 3 he has in the sole game of the match that he has them

Thereafter, Courier barely breaks a sweat. Wins 23/24 service points in a row (25/26 extending back to end of first set), with the one point he loses being a double fault. Best that can be said for Fer is that he doesn’t break himself entirely while that’s going on at other end

Serve, Return & Serve-Volley
Ferreira has a big serve, Courier a hefty one

In-counts are low - Courier 51%, Fer 45%
First serve ace/service winner rate - Courier 16%, Fer 31% (Fer also has 2 second serve aces)
And Fer serve-volleys off all but 1 first serve (Courier does so twice)

For Courier to lead freebies 38% to 36% in that, he’d either have to have returned very regularly, or Fer inconsistently. Its more the latter

Return errors
- UEs - Courier 7, Fer 13
- FEs - Courier 10, Fer 8

Courier takes 2nd returns from on baseline. Makes a mess of good lot of routine BH returns so doing. 6/7 of his UEs are BHs (the other is a runaround FH)

And Fer isn’t good in any way. Misses second returns, misses routine firsts. Slow movement to move slightly across has hand in some errors being marked FEs that would be UEs were he moving like Courier (who doesn’t move unduly well). Not great ability to handle hefty, but hardly overpowering force

With so high a lot of aces and low an in count, doesn’t feel like Fer is serve-volleying too much. In fact, he serve-volleys off all but 1 first serve

His is a big serve that would likely draw the return errors it does regardless of serve-volleying or not. And he wins bulk of the points that way

Fer wins 16/26 serve-volleying (all first serves) or 62%. At most, firm returns about net high for him to make first up and usually, less than that. Ideal, net high volleys with enough pace that blocking them away would be routine

The ones he make, he does putaway in that fashion, but misses fair few

5 winners serve-volleying and 6 net UEs (1 OH). With Courier having just 4 ground FEs, that’s about it for Fer’s serve-volleying. Unreturned serve, routine volley that he putsaway or misses - and rate of missing not good

Couier serve-volleys just twice - once missing an easy BH at net, once hitting a net chord roll-over winner

Not bad second serving from Courier, and he can count on Fer missing a good few of those too. The odd aggressive return from Fer - going wide inside-out or dtl and a couple of return-approaches. With number of routines he misses, would be better off going for such returns more often

Gist - solid stuff from Courier on both serve and return, other than a low in count. Big serve from Fer, but even lower in count and his second serves are good too. His returning is not good - struggles against pace, doesn’t move well, is prone to routine misses

 

[Waspsting]

Play - Baseline & Net
Winners - Courier 12, Fer 15
Errors Forced - Courier 14, Fer 4
UEs - Courier 10, Fer 39

And UE breakdown -
- Courier FH & BH both 5 (1 BH at net)
- Fer FH 14
- Fer BH 19
- Fer volleys/OHs 6

Ground rallies are on hard-hitting side and court is not slow, unlike most ‘90s Indian Wells. Courier prefers playing FHs, but isn’t unduly determined to. His FHs are harder hit than BHs, though the latter aren’t gentle either

Courier’s best offensive weapon is wider FH cc that running Fer usually can’t handle. He sticks to stock cc shots on the BH

Fer occasionally takes on BH dtl point ender. Misses more than he makes (just 1 winner), but early on, shot choices are sound. Later on, he occasionally goes for some wild shots

Not much pointed aggression from either player from back. Both of Courier’s baseline-to-baseline winners are hit from well up the court. 3/5 Fer’s FH winners are in last game of match and other 2 are back-to-back points in a game where he’s broken

So very few winners for most of match. No need for Courier to go looking for them, with Fer’s UEs dominating proceedings so

Or to seek net. Perfect 8/8 rallying to net for Courier. Not tasked with much on the volley, where he has 4 winners (1 from serve-volleying). Fer’s only 2/6 rallying forward. Some smart, neat slice/chip passes by Courier to get the ball low as Fer comes in after overpowering him

Fer has 6 net UEs and 4 FEs. He’s not quick around the net and doesn’t seem to anticipate well either

Best thing that can be said about Fer’s showing is he doesn’t give up errors too quickly or easily. Rallies go on for medium length and third ball errors tend to be against decent returns. That’s a pretty low bar

Such a vast difference in UEs can come about if the guy winning is super-secure or the guy losing is loose and I’d more discredit Fer for looseness. He hits hard enough (without troubling Courier with it, similar strength shots do trouble him some) and doesn’t give up the errors too readily… that’s about it

Match Progression
First set is competitive. Courier breaks once and otherwise has no break points. Fer has 3 break points in a game he can’t convert. Other than that, all but 1 of Courier’s holds are to 30

Courier hits well, looking for FHs, but not obsessed with only making FHs. Orthodox directions, with a few inside-outs thrown in. Few wider FH cc shots tend to force draw errors

Ferreira’s big serve is stronger than Courier’s hefty one and he sends down a bunch of aces. His FH is a bit airy and can be rushed. BH looks more solid and unlike Courier, is willing to go for the dtl finisher occasionally. He’s occasionally a bit slow to move for slightly wide returns and misses a couple of dolly volleys. Amidst 50% in count and large ace count, he doesn’t give impression of serve-volleying too much, but in fact, comes in behind every serve (not necessarily trying to behind aces though)

3 aces in Fer’s opening hold (1 a second serve) and a return pass winner

The result determinant games come in middle of set as Courier breaks for 4-2 and consolidates in a 12 point game. Fer misses a routine BHV to open the game and misses FH winner attempt to end a rally where Courier’s been defending. In between, Courier does some overpowering off his own to win 2 net points. A good game from the returner

Wonderful, BH inside-out return winner from Fer, a horror BH at net miss by Courier and an there-for-the-shot FH dtl miss gets Fer to 30-40 next game. Courier needs strong plays - good serves, overpowering ground rallies to come away with the hold, with Fer taking net to win a couple of more points too

Not an easy serve-out for Courier either. At 30-30, Fer follows a FH dtl return against first serve to net. His movement is imprecise and he almost overruns the ball in missing what he makes look an awkward, but actually comfortable volley. Fer misses a routine second return to end the set

Rest of match is disappointingly one sided. The second set which ends 6-3 is actually worse from Fer than the 6-1 third
He wins 1 return point in second set (a double fault). 10/17 Courier serves go unreturned - 6 of them return UEs

Fer holds through to 3-2, saving 4 break pints for the last of those holds. After that, he wins 1/11 games for the match

Courier’s two breaks are both 10 point games. Just 2/10 first serves in the first, but Fer strikes his first and second FH winners in consecutive points. He also misses an OH to start the game, double faults to raise break point and is slow to move to a wide, but high volley that he misses to lose that break point

3/10 first serves in next time around. Neat, slice pass by Courier from defensive position gets ball low enough to force an error and a net chord dribbling winner raises his third break point of the game on which, Fer double faults

Courier holds to love to open the third set with 4 more unreturend serves (2 aces), taking his run of freebies to 15/22 starting from last point of first set. And Fer levels with a good game with 2 aces and a couple of well won serve-volley points

He doesn’t win another game, though he does manage to actually put returns in play and win 6 return points in Courier’s 3 remaining holds

2 wonderful FH lob winners - 1 on run, the other with no angle to work with - get Courier to break point in game 4, on which Fer again double faults. The other break features ground UEs from Fer, ending with a blink in a BH cc exchange

Of all times, Fer chooses 1-5 to come alive and lashes 3 FH inside-out winners in 4 points to take game to deuce, but misses a couple BHs from there, the last a dtl winner attempt to close out the match

Summing up, solid showing, close to hard-hitting showing from Courier in most ways (serve, return, groundies). A good platform to fire from. He doesn’t need to because Ferreira is so choppy. A very big serve is Ferreira’s positive contribution to match, albeit at low in-count, but he’s below par in almost all other ways

Some slack and lazy returning. Not good movement or ability to handle decent pace of shot. Proneness for dumping regulation volleys into net. Vulnerable on the run. Just looks like a lower tier player than his opponent

 

[Kralingen]

Peak Courier is maybe the most underrated player in popular tennis discourse. First half of the season KING. 91-93 is one of the most dominant 3 year runs a player has ever had in tennis ever. It stacks up vs almost anyone.

 

[Mustard]

Peak Courier is maybe the most underrated player in popular tennis discourse. First half of the season KING. 91-93 is one of the most dominant 3 year runs a player has ever had in tennis ever. It stacks up vs almost anyone.

The spring of 1992 and early 1993 were the best Courier booms, and early 1995 up to the Sampras match at the Australian Open. These periods were when he was highly enthusiastic, full of energy, his game seemed very powerful etc. At other times, even during his 1991-1993 peak years, Courier would seem more tired or burned out at times.