Match Stats/Report - Courier vs Sampras, Year End Championship semi final, 1992

[Waspsting]

Jim Courier beat Pete Sampras 7-6(5), 7-6(4) in the Year End Championship semi-final, 1992 on carpet in Frankfurt, Germany

Courier would go onto lose the final to Boris Becker. Courier had finished second in his group (wins over Michael Chang and Richard Krajicek, loss to the unbeaten Goran Ivanisevic), Sampras had topped his groups unbeaten (wins over Becker, Stefan Edberg and Petr Korda). The two had played the previous year's final, with Sampras winning

Courier won 79 points, Sampras 73

Sampras serve-volleyed off all but 1 first serve, Courier occasionally off first serves

Serve Stats
Courier...
- 1st serve percentage (49/79) 62%
- 1st serve points won (38/49) 78%
- 2nd serve points won (19/30) 63%
- Aces 17 (1 second serve)
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (35/79) 44%

Sampras...
- 1st serve percentage (44/73) 60%
- 1st serve points won (37/44) 84%
- 2nd serve points won (14/29) 48%
- Aces 12, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (29/73) 40%

Serve Patterns
Courier served...
- to FH 43%
- to BH 54%
- to Body 3%

Sampras served...
- to FH 45%
- to BH 51%
- to Body 4%

Return Stats
Courier made...
- 42 (18 FH, 24 BH)
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 16 Errors, comprising...
- 3 Unforced (1 FH, 2 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 13 Forced (7 FH, 6 BH)
- Return Rate (42/71) 59%

Sampras made...
- 41 (16 FH, 25 BH), including 3 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 18 Errors, comprising...
- 6 Unforced (1 FH, 5 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 12 Forced (9 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (41/76) 54%

Break Points
Courier 1/1
Sampras 1/4 (2 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Courier 14 (7 FH, 2 BH, 1 FHV, 3 BHV, 1 OH)
Sampras 18 (5 FH, 3 BH, 5 FHV, 2 BHV, 1 BH1/2V, 2 OH)

Courier's FHs - 1 cc return pass, 1 dtl at net, 3 inside-out (2 passes), 1 inside-out/dtl and 1 inside-in/cc pass
- BH passes - 2 cc

- 2 from serve-volley points - both 2nd volley, BHVs

Sampras had 9 from serve-volley points
- 5 first 'volleys' (3 FHV, 1 BH1/2V, 1 OH)
- 3 second volleys (1 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH)
- 1 re-approach volley (1 BHV)

- FHs - 3 cc (2 passes - 1 return), 1 dtl pass and 1 inside-in
- BHs - 2 dtl (1 pass) and 1 inside-out pass

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Courier 23
- 11 Unforced (3 FH, 6 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)... with 2 BH pass attempts
- 12 Forced (7 FH, 3 BH, 1 FH1/2V, 1 BHV)... with 2 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.5

Sampras 28
- 20 Unforced (6 FH, 11 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH)... with 1 BH at net
- 8 Forced (2 FH, 5 BH, 1 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.5

(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
Courier was...
- 11/23 (48%) at net, including...
- 5/11 (45%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
--
- 0/1 forced back

Sampras was...
- 32/44 (73%) at net, including...
- 26/33 (79%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 24/30 (80%) off 1st serve and...
- 2/3 (67%) off 2nd serve

Match Report
Good match on a fast carpet court, with next to nothing between the two players. Courier serving above himself and dominating baseline rallies keeps him about level with Sampras usual serve-volley based game and he comes out ahead in two somewhat strange tiebreaks to take the match

Pete serve-volleys off all but 1 first serve (and his staying back on that one serve proves critical), while virtually never doing so off seconds (just 3 times). Courier himself serve-volleys 11 times or exactly 33% of the time off 1st serve and not at all of 2nds

Note Courier surprisingly leading on aces (17 to 12) and unreturned rate (44% to 40%). Crucially, he also has a huge lead in 2nd serve points won (63% to 48%). The key to that is his dominance of baseline rallies and ability to break down Pete's BH, which has match high 11 UEs - the same as Courier's total figure

Serve, Return, Serve-Volley Choices & Net Play
Strong serving from both, as high unreturned rates and aces imply, extending to the second serve. Good number of genuinely forceful second serves and for Sampras in particular, regular heavy second serving

Sampras plays around with standing inside court to presumably look for an attacking return to some 2nd serves. Very rarely can he actually get one off. About 3-4 of Courier's aces are attributable to Pete making little effort to return, particularly late in games that he's well down in but overwhelming bulk are great serves

Great low volleying and half-volleying from Sampras. Courier struggles to get returns in play, but when he does, they're usually hard hit to the feet. Yet Pete has just 1 forecourt FE... he makes every 1/2volley, a fair few with authority even. And a sublime, first 'volley' BH1/2V winner

Would serve-volleying more off 2nd serves have been a good move from Pete? Probably. Serve is strong enough to come in behind and gives top notch low volleying, why not? But he only does so 3 times, winning 2. Staying back off 2nd serves by contrast, he's 12/26. And just 2 double faults in that. From the baseline, he's barely in Courier's league for the match... so why not 2nd serve-volley more - with a serve strong enough and while volleying so well?

Courier throws in serve-volleying at just about the right amount. He's not too good at it, winning just 5/11 and doesn't do much with his volleys beyond plonking them in play. He's not faced with many difficult first volleys either. Still, its a good change up from his baseline play, which though highly rewarding, doesn't seem like it will last. 3 points in a row where Sampras' BH holds up could see Courier get broken

The boatload of aces and other unreturned serves gives him a cushion to guard against that without needing to trust to serve-volleying much. Sampras doesn't return particularly well. Note the 6 return UEs (Courier has 3)... more than half of Courier's second serves are regulation to above average of quality and not too tough to put in play

 

[Waspsting]

Play - Baseline
Courier looks to take apart Pete's BH. And does. Courier whacks heavy BH cc's and when he gets the chance, moves over to hit still bigger FH inside-outs. Though not attacking shots, the BH cc's are often hit close to sideline and are powerful enough that running around to hit FH against it would be very difficult for Pete

As far as breaking-down-a-side play goes, very high quality from Courier. Still, weak BH match from Pete. He can't runaround to counter with FHs, his BH breaks down and he virtually never goes dtl with the shot. His BH is broken, not beat, down... most of his BHs (errors or otherwise) are drives. In other words, he hasn't been pushed back to the extent of needing to slice, which is another option he doesn't look at

Courier gets a small case of error bugs in latter part of second set, and eases up on his BH hitting. Pete's able then to move around and play FH inside-outs himself. Courier's BH holds up to it reasonably... but the two contesting for control of the diagonal brings home how much better Courier had of it for the match as a whole

In nutshell, good breaking-down play from Courier and weak BH'ng from Pete. The dynamic is in line with my memory of the match up. It doesn't look sustainable... one can't expect to hold serve indefinitely doing it, and Pete hanging in sufficiently for a couple points is likely to get him a break. It doesn't happen in this match because of Courier's unreturned serve cushion

Match Progression
Easy holds til game 10 when Courier serving at 4-5 finds himself down 15-40 on back of imprecise volleying that Pete punishes. He serves his way out to hold

Tiebreak is strange. Courier isn't happy with a close line call on first point and mood isn't improved by being forced back from net a couple of points later to lose another point and go down 0-3. He's given a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct as he expresses himself freely. Pete though, makes a hash of a drop BHV and chooses to stay back off a first serve for the only time in the match - and goes on to get passed coming from rallying to put things back on serve

Other points include a terrible drop shot from Pete that Courier can knock away at net without even having to hit up, Courier muffing a BH pass from well inside court that he had plenty of time to line up and Sampras missing a regulation BH return by a long way. Set ends when Pete misses a running FH he was in good position for

Poor game from Sampras to get broken at start of second set. Couple of memorable from Pete in games soon after - a flawless BH1/2V winner and a sharply angled BH inside-out pass winner hit from closer to sideline than center that helps him break back. Courier holds a 10 point game without facing break point towards the end - for once, he's the one making the baseline errors, but knocks down 3 aces in 4 points to hold

Second tiebreak is a bit odd too. Pete opens with BH dtl winner - he'd barely played the shot all match - but follows it up with just his second double fault. Courier forces an error with FH dtl, which is a shot he'd hardly played. Pete misses a runaround FH return winner attempt - the only such shot he tried all match. Courier bangs down his only return of serve winner and his only 2nd serve ace. Finally, Pete makes 2 attacking FH inside-in errors - a shot he'd barely played against Courier's shots directed to his BH to end the match

Summing up, very tight fast court match. Courier serves strongly more than Sampras returning not well, but both are on show. Sampras coasts on serve-volleying. Courier breaks down Sampras' BH ruthlessly while Pete's groundies are a bit feeble. And a pair of weird tiebreaks with odd shot choices and uncharacteristic mistakes from both players going Courier's way settle the result

Stats for final between Courier and Boris Becker - https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...ier-year-end-championship-finals-1992.653342/
Stats for the round robin between Sampras and Becker - https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...nd-championship-round-robin-1992-1995.653740/
Stats for pair's '91 final - https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...ier-year-end-championship-finals-1991.651712/