Match Stats/Report - Djokovic vs del Potro, Shanghai final, 2013

Waspsting

Hall of Fame
Novak Djokovic beat Juan Martin del Potro 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(3) in the Shanghai final, 2013 on hard court

Djokovic was the defending champion and he would go onto win Paris and the Year End Championship soon after . It was del Potro's third Masters final (all losses)

Djokovic won 101 points, del Potro 88

Serve Stats
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (57/85) 67%
- 1st serve points won (45/57) 79%
- 2nd serve points won (16/28) 57%
- Aces 10, Service Winners 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (25/85) 29%

del Potro...
- 1st serve percentage (75/104) 72%
- 1st serve points won (51/75) 68%
- 2nd serve points won (13/29) 45%
- Aces 5, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (27/104) 26%

Serve Patterns
Djokovic served...
- to FH 34%
- to BH 60%
- to Body 6%

del Potro served...
- to FH 57%
- to BH 33%
- to Body 10%

Return Stats
Djokovic made...
- 75 (47 FH, 28 BH)
- 2 Winners (2 BH)
- 21 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (3 FH, 2 BH)
- 16 Forced (9 FH, 7 BH)
- Return Rate (75/102) 74%

del Potro made...
- 60 (23 FH, 37 BH)
- 3 Winners (3 FH)
- 14 Errors, comprising...
- 7 Unforced (2 FH, 5 BH)
- 7 Forced (5 FH, 2 BH)
- Return Rate (60/85) 71%

Break Points
Djokovic 2/12 (6 games)
del Potro 1/4 (3 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Djokovic 35 (12 FH, 13 BH, 3 FHV, 2 BHV, 5 OH)
del Potro 20 (17 FH, 2 BH, 1 BHV)

Djokovic's FHs - 3 cc, 2 cc/inside-in, 1 dtl, 5 inside-out and 1 inside-in
- BHs - 2 cc (1 pass that hit del Potro), 7 dtl (1 return), 2 inside-out (1 return) and 2 drop shots (1 at net)

- 1 FHV was a non-net swinging shot
- 2 OHs were on the bounce and 1 other can reasonably be called a Sky Hook

del Potro's FHs - 6 cc (1 return), 3 dtl (1 return, 1 pass), 6 inside-out (1 return), 1 inside-in and 1 inside-in/cc
- BHs - 1 cc (with Djokovic having dropped his racquet) and 1 dtl

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Djokovic 41
- 24 Unforced (16 FH, 8 BH)
- 17 Forced (7 FH, 10 BH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.3

del Potro 39
- 25 Unforced (16 FH, 9 BH)
- 14 Forced (10 FH, 4 BH)... with 1 FH at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48

(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
Djokovic was...
- 20/22 (91%) at net, including...
- 1/1 serve-volleying, a 1st serve
---
- 0/1 forced back

del Potro was 3/5 (60%) at net

Match Report
Top class showing from Djokovic and a great match - in that order - with del Potro playing very well too and of similar style, on a fast court

Nothing particularly stands out in Djoko's showing because everything is high end. Offence and defence are seamlessly blended in all areas

Its quick court, and Delpo serves at large 72% first serves in. Ranging in strenght from bombs to bare minimum, slightly wide hefty serve. Usually something in between - with mode wide and strongly. Should be good for 35% unreturned serves on this court

It gets 26%. Djoko zips into position - the serves are wide enough to be forceful, not in his swing zone but are made to seem so - and hits them back. Good lot of deep neutralizingly deep returns, a few point ending ones (including 2 winners) and most are returned at least firmly. He even gets the very wide powerful serves back, though not firmly

Solidly strong from Djoko. He outaces Delpo 10-5 (both have a service winner too). Nothings easy to return, with some forceful second serves thrown in to boot. He's willing to go wide to Delpo's FH, and Delpo responds by trying to blast the return (he's able to do it fully stretched and with virtually no backswing - somehow) and forces more errors from FH than BH return

Offensively there's not much he doesn't do and does all of it well. Smacks Delpo's forced weak returns for winners. More often, smacks Delpo's decent ones for winners (Delpo also returns well, against a less strong serve than his own). Neutrally, hits hard and deep, pressuring Delpo and keeping him from moving forward to attack (Delpo does so anyway with good success). Moves Delpo around. Finishes longer rallies with adventuruous winners. Comes in behind strong shots to force passing errors, and volleys well enough without being tested. While remaining very steady (i.e. not making UEs), with a hard and deep struck neutral ball as a stock

Defensively, he does about as well as possible. Delpo does plenty of attacking too - off his serve (he often needs to be adventuous to start, given Djoko's firm returns) or the return (he looks for the big power return when he can too) or by seizing control from neutral position with his FH in particular. Plenty of Djoko forced well behind the baseline to scamper/defend play going on. And Djoko manages to an impressive degree, running down balls and putting them back in play reasonably firmly. Againt powerful shots

Delpo usually ends up winning these points anyway, but is regularly forced to hit 2-3 extra attacking shots. In the semi's, Nadal had likewise scrambled to defend, but Nadal's counter shot was invariably a 'just-put-ball-back-somehow', usually short and fairly easy to dispatch. Djoko does all of that, but hits reasonable neutral shot on top of it
 

Waspsting

Hall of Fame
So good play from Delpo - high in count strong serving and attacking returning when there's a shot at it (its kind of court which heavily favours the server). More than that, in fact. When Djoko goes wide to Delpo's FH with 1st serves, he looks to smack those for winners on full stretch too. And does thrice, with small few others that go like bullets to the baseline

In play, he's about as consistent off the ground as Djoko - which is very good - but Djoko's depth is key difference, that gives edge to the winner. Nothing to get stuck into and take charge of points for Delpo. Delpo being Delpo takes charge anyway with some brute FHs. Djoko hustles about to defend as well as possible against it all

Good job by Delpo in not coughing up weaker balls himself. Djoko's depth encourages it, but Delpo coughs up at most (and only occasionally) 'not firm' (as opposed to weak) shots. That's all Djoko needs to get stuck into. Or not - in which case he just squeezes into attacking position from persistent deep hitting and is in position to start moving Delpo wide. From there, he can go for the point finisher or attack more moderately to end points

Delpo defends reasonably well too, getting odd attacking shots back from well behind the baseline on the run, but his gets are soft retrievals. This is normal, what Djoko does isn't.

Delpo's offence is limited to his FH. The BH is consistent and hard hitting, but not a big weapon. Djoko's offence is dual winged - as well as net based - and he can attack both dtl or cc of both directions, as well as FH inside-out. It'd be be poetic exaggeration to say he even attacks BH inside-out - but he does have a winner with the shot (+ another return winner)

Delpo plays well, Djokovic plays outstandingly. Its come out in numbers well

Djoko with 35 winners and 24 UEs is top notch, even leaving aside forcing 14 errors. BH is particularly stellar with 13 winners, 8 UEs - possibly the best numbers I've seen from a BH in a baseline match. FH is 'just' 12 winners and 16 UEs

Having more winners than UEs is rare for baseline match. Having that many more is rarer still obviously. When it happens, its usually because of a bunch of support volley winners with very few UEs in forecourt. Here, even confined to just groundstrokes, Djoko has 25 winners, 24 UEs (i.e. excluding his 10 net winners)

Breaking down his showing further -
- he's got 35 winners to 7 winner attempts
- forces 14 errors to 7 attacking shots... with Delpo defending quite well
- 11 neutral UEs to Delpo's 13... just the hard-hitting, neutral rallies would qualify as good tennis and as those error rates suggest, not much blinking by either player. Amidst particularly good hitting (and excellent depth from Djoko to boot)

Djoko's 20/22 at net. 1 of the points he loses is a forced back one - so 20/21 when finishing at net

For that matter, Delpo's figures are good too - 20 winners, forcing 17 errors and 25 UEs

Room for improvement in 8 winner attempt UEs - but he often has to go for the winner out of neutral positions since he's not drawing any short balls, despite hitting well. 'Room for improvement', sure - but 8 UEs of that type while hitting 20 winners would and does qualify as good. That its a possible issue is testament to what he's up against

4 attacking UEs while forcing 17 errors is outstanding, especially in light of how well Djoko defends. And there's neglible net play involved (Delpo barely comes in and is just 3/5 at net - both points he loses being forced approaches), which tends to get 'easy' FEs

Unlike Djoko, Delpo's offensive is largely confined to his FH, which has 17 winners and 16 UEs. But he hits BHs hard enough to hang in with Djoko neutrally (BH UEs read Djoko 8, Delpo 9), which is usually best reasonable expectation for the shot. He hits well enough of BH to potentially draw weak replies - only none are forthcoming

With action so high end, the thing that stands out is the only bad game of the match. I don't know if its famous - if not, it should be. Djokovic plays what will henceforth be called 'the drunk game'

He's broken for the only time in match early in second set. Where he misses normal attacking FH shots while stumbling over and on the verge of falling down three times. He's off balance a couple of other times in the match (once after a BH). In '12 US Open final, he was occasionally doing the same thing. There I had the impression he was clowning around for whatever reason. Here... I don't get that sense. Very, very strange game

Its the only bad game of the match. Delpo plays well enough in getting breadsticked in first set and after the Drunk Game, no more breaks of serve

Match Progression
Glorious set of tennis from Djoko in the opener. He returns near everything at least deep-ish and firmly, including first serves. Delpo does serve wide enough, not in Djoko's swing zone - on this court, its should be troublesome - but Djoko zips into position to return comfortably. Or zips out the way of body serves to thump them

In service games, he hits attacking first shot off both wings to get on top. Comes in early to force passing errors. Or moves Delpo around. Finishes a lot of longer rallies with winners. Or dispatches the third ball for winners.

Even defends well on the run and stretch

Depth of shot is good and limits Delpo to neutral shots. He's actually got 2 break/set points to deliver bagel, both swatted away by third ball FH winners. Swats away Delpo's 2 break points with winners too

Delpo doesn't even play badly. He can't get freebies with the serve - just 2 unreturned from 25 serves - or even much advantage with the first shot. Relative low in count of 56% (as opposed to 77% for rest of match) doesn't help but Djoko's neutralizing returns against wide first serves is more eye-catching than particularly attacking returns. Just 5 UEs in the set for Delpo, (Djoko has 6)

After Djoko serves out for 6-1, he's at it again taking Delpo to deuce in opener of the 2nd set. Delpo finally holds with consecutive aces - its reaching a stage where you think that might be the only way to surely end points

Turns out there's another. The Drunk Game. Djoko misses 3 FHs in quick succession, while stumbling and being close to falling over for no apparent reason. From nothing but aces will do to Drunk Djoko

The Drunk Game is of course a break and it brings some balance to the match, though Djoko continues to have better of play. He 'sobers' up at once and ironically starts next game with a flawless FH dtl winner, but Delpo goes on to consolidate the hold, again finishing with an ace

Delpo's down 0-40 serving at 4-2, but saves three break points with winners and goes on to hold. Couple of regulation holds later, its onto the decider

Quality drops a touch in it. Both players miss a small number of attacking shots - which stands out because neither had done so earlier - but both remain in positives while attacking. And both serve better - more powerfully and wider and very good returning is necessary to counter it. Djoko at least manages and remains comfortably the better player

Djoko serves 33 points to hold 6 times, facing just 1 break point. Delpo serves 42 and saves 4 break points across 2 games in his 6 holds

5 games go to deuce and 4 of them are Delpo's and they come in succession. He hits winners or forces errors on 3/4 break points (the other is Djoko missing a 2nd serve return). Djoko aces away the only break point he faces

In tiebreak, the two trade mini-breaks missing attacking FHs. Djoko moves ahead 3-2 winning a great rally when he defends his way to equality a couple of times before swishing away a FH inside-out winner. Couple of points later on serve, he manufactures an approach to finish with a drop BHV winner

On match points, a rally develops, that Djoko adventurously finishes with his 6th BH dtl winner

Summing up, one of Djokovic's very best showings and he excels in all areas. Serves solidly and ups it from there to damagingly when needed. Returns superbly - both in reaching wide, powerful serves that he puts in play firmly and swatting decent serves to neutralize. Good depth allied with hard hit, consistent groundies are his base - from where he can move to attacking off both sides or coming to net - or just go for the point ending shot out of normal situation and usually make it. And to to top all that, excellent defence

Very good showing from del Potro too - a lesser version of Djokovic's, with the offence limited to the FH

Stats for del Potro's semi with Rafael Nadal - Match Stats/Report - del Potro vs Nadal, Shanghai semi-final, 2013 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)

@Drob
 

AnOctorokForDinner

Talk Tennis Guru
A beautiful match indeed. This is the stuff strong eras are made on. Del Potro plays as well as he can to manage a final tiebreak despite being significantly outplayed but Djokovic is just too good. No nextgenies could hope to withstand the might of the Djoko here. Can't think of a single match of the last three years that could rival that quality (the Rome final was fairly good but not really that good).
 

Hayole

Rookie
A beautiful match indeed. This is the stuff strong eras are made on. Del Potro plays as well as he can to manage a final tiebreak despite being significantly outplayed but Djokovic is just too good. No nextgenies could hope to withstand the might of the Djoko here. Can't think of a single match of the last three years that could rival that quality (the Rome final was fairly good but not really that good).
Medvedev vs Djokovic atp cup
 
Top