Novak Djokovic beat Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-7(1), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in the Australian Open fourth round, 2016 on hard court
Djokovic would go onto win the tournament, beating Andy Murray in the final for the second year in a row. It was his then record extending 6th title at the event. He had won Wimbledon and US Open the previous year and would go onto complete a non-calendar year Grand Slam by winning the French Open soon after. Simon was seeded 14th
Djokovic won 195 points, Simon 174
[Note: I’m missing 3 partial points -
Set 4, Game 3, Point 14 - a Djokovic first serve point that he won. Its likely directed to BH and unreturned (ace, service winner or return error - probably forced) but has not been marked in anyway, other than as Djokovic winning the point
Set 4, Game 3, Point 15 - Djokovic first serve point directed and returned to/by FH. Ending unknown
Set 4, Game 6, Point 1 - Unknown Simon serve point. Ending is recorded]
Serve Stats
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (110/177) 62%
- 1st serve points won (77/110) 70%
- 2nd serve points won (37/67) 55%
- Aces 10 (1 second serve, 1 possibly not clean), Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (43/176) 24%
Simon...
- 1st serve percentage (126/191) 66%
- 1st serve points won (87/126) 69%
- 2nd serve points won (24/65) 37%
- ?? serve points won (0/1)
- Aces 2
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (26/192) 14%
Serve Patterns
Djokovic served...
- to FH 50%
- to BH 47%
- to Body 3%
Simon served...
- to FH 46%
- to BH 48%
- to Body 6%
Return Stats
Djokovic made...
- 162 (65 FH, 96 BH, 1 ??), including 1 runaround FH, 4 runaround BHs & 3 return-approaches
- 2 Winners (1 FH, 1 BH)
- 24 Errors, comprising...
- 11 Unforced (6 FH, 5 BH)
- 13 Forced (11 FH, 2 BH)
- Return Rate (162/188) 86%
Simon made...
- 132 (63 FH, 69 BH), including 3 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 32 Errors, comprising...
- 11 Unforced (6 FH, 5 BH)
- 21 Forced (16 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (132/175) 75%
Break Points
Djokovic 6/26 (13 games)
Simon 4/18 (8 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Djokovic 47 (25 FH, 13 BH, 4 FHV, 1 BHV, 4 OH)
Simon 28 (13 FH, 12 BH, 2 BHV, 1 OH)
Djokovic's FHs - 4 cc (1 at net), 3 dtl, 2 dtl/inside-out, 10 inside-out, 5 inside-in (1 return) and 1 longline/inside-out
- BHs - 3 cc, 4 dtl (1 return), 2 inside-out, 1 inside-out/dtl, 2 drop shots (1 at net) and 1 running-down-drop-shot lob at net
- 2 from return-approach points (1 BHV, 1 OH)
Simon's FHs - 2 cc (1 pass), 4 dtl (1 at net), 4 inside-out, 1 longline at net and 2 net chord dribblers (1 return)
- BHs - 4 cc (1 at net), 6 dtl (4 passes), 1 drop shot and 1 running-down-drop shot cc pass (non-net)
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Djokovic 119
- 102 Unforced (51 FH, 50 BH, 1 FHV)
- 17 Forced (5 FH, 7 BH, 2 FHV, 3 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47.1
Simon 99
- 62 Unforced (32 FH, 30 BH)
- 37 Forced (21 FH, 15 BH, 1 OH)... with 3 FH running-down-drop-shot at net, 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net & the OH was a baseline shot on the bounce, flagrantly forced by an at net smash
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 43.1
(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
Djokovic was...
- 25/38 (66%) at net, with...
- 2/3 (67%) return-approaching
Simon was...
- 9/15 (60%) at net, with...
- 0/1 forced back
Match Report
This match is famous for Djokovic committing 100 unforced errors. Despite that, its not a bad match and despite the 4.5 hours of length and 5 sets, not too competitive either. Court is on slow side
Djoko’s not in much danger of losing, unlike, say the 5-setters he played with Stan Wawrinka at the hard court Slams. Always up by a set. Leads 5-1 in the 5th. He has command of play throughout - but having command and winning are 2 different things. Of the things that can come between it, 100 UEs qualify
(100 UEs is used figuratively here. I have him with 102 in play and 114 including returns and double faults)
And why isn’t it a bad match, despite record breaking UE figures? The rallies are competitive and long. There isn’t much sloppiness in the UEs. The neutral errors come after long exchanges, even the attacking and more ones don’t come quickly. Certainly not lively, but not bad either
It might not be a bad match, but it isn’t a very good one either. Play is dull, if not a push-fest. Its taken out of push-fest category by Djoko commanding play - being hard hitting, stepping up, overpowering, moving to net to finish - attacking, in a word. He’s not very good at constructing it though and makes boatloads errors trying
Djoko has the better serve. His is good, Sim’s is ordinary at best. Just 2 aces from 126 first serves attest to the latter (Djoko has 11, including a service winner from 110). Djoko occasionally spontaneously plays runaround BH returns against first serves
Djoko has the better better return. Usual lot of clinical powerful and/or deep returns from him. Rarely, when driven by frustration and/or nothing-to-lose mentality, more than that - pointed, point ending aggression on the shot. Sim returns steadily and consistently, not giving much away - good enough
Then they rally. Its almost entirely a baseline match. Sim’s showing could be the poster for ‘comes to net only to shake hands’. He’s at net 15 times - many of those to deal with drop shots. Djoko doesn’t come in much, but has plenty of chances to with his hitting advantage and his choice not to is neither a bad one and is one of the more interesting implications of the match (and more broadly, the period)
Baseline rallies last long
They’re as close to 50-50 across wings as possible
Djoko more often leads, Sim reacts. Djoko playing from closer up and hitting harder while staying in neutral. But the error rate on that front is almost identical
So the advantage Djoko has from rallies is 1 of force of shot, not blink-rate of errors. He’s not good at parleying that into attacking. Good enough at it to end up winning - he has his no shortage of moments with 47 winners and forcing 37 errors - but… 100 UEs
Few points of interest
Virtually identical breakdown of UEs across wings for both players
Djoko - 51 FH, 50 BH
Sim - 32 FH, 30 BH
Virtually identical neutral UE rate - Djoko has 48, Sim 49
Its on the attacking and more UEs that Djoko’s messy. He has 54, Sim 13
Breakdown of UEs
- Neutral - Djoko 48, Sim 49
- Attacking - Djoko 36, Sim 7
- Winner Attempts - Djoko 18, Sim 6
Djoko forcing 37 errors for 36 attacking UEs made is atrocious, by any standard. Sim’s actually showng much greater efficiency there by forcing 17 for his 7 attacking UEs. For that matter, Sim’s got the better of winner/winner attempt UEs too, though that’s bent a bit by much larger lot of his winners being passes and net chord dribblers
The gist of all this is -
- good, solid neutral rallying from both players. Long rallies, decent hitting. If your going to play neutrally, this is the way to do it. They play equally well so it cancels out
A bit more longline or/and blunt angled exchanges around middle of court than average, but largely, classic cc with occasional longline change-up dynamic. Djoko changing up rather more
- Djoko with more power and extra gear, so he can up the ante to attacking (Sim does very little of that). He’s poor at it
Biggest offender for Djoko are FH dtl’ish shots from around middle of court. FH dtl/inside-out or inside-out/dtl… shots not intended to go for winners or even necessarily force errors, but to open the court a bit, liven up action and are more likely to draw errors than stock cc shots. He misses these by the boatload
On the BH, he’s got his precious drop shots. Even for him, a bad day on the droppers for Djoko - he’s got a couple winners (1 of them at net) and forces 4 errors but misses 3-4 for every one of those (and also hits bad ones that Sim easily runs down and hits top spin putaway shots to at net)
(A more general point, if there’s one area where Djokovic, one of the smartest around, has been stubbornly foolish over the years, its with these drop shots. He’s played them since very beginning of his career and I can count on 1 hand the number of matches where he comes out net positive with it)
84 aggressively ended points to 54 attacking or more UEs isn't good. The attacking ones make up bulk. With those, its not just about errors forced foregone, but break in chain of attacking progression (and of course, losing the point). Still, he keeps faith in the chain and doesn’t go off into wild attacking play or going for winners from out of nowhere type stuff
Djokovic would go onto win the tournament, beating Andy Murray in the final for the second year in a row. It was his then record extending 6th title at the event. He had won Wimbledon and US Open the previous year and would go onto complete a non-calendar year Grand Slam by winning the French Open soon after. Simon was seeded 14th
Djokovic won 195 points, Simon 174
[Note: I’m missing 3 partial points -
Set 4, Game 3, Point 14 - a Djokovic first serve point that he won. Its likely directed to BH and unreturned (ace, service winner or return error - probably forced) but has not been marked in anyway, other than as Djokovic winning the point
Set 4, Game 3, Point 15 - Djokovic first serve point directed and returned to/by FH. Ending unknown
Set 4, Game 6, Point 1 - Unknown Simon serve point. Ending is recorded]
Serve Stats
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (110/177) 62%
- 1st serve points won (77/110) 70%
- 2nd serve points won (37/67) 55%
- Aces 10 (1 second serve, 1 possibly not clean), Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (43/176) 24%
Simon...
- 1st serve percentage (126/191) 66%
- 1st serve points won (87/126) 69%
- 2nd serve points won (24/65) 37%
- ?? serve points won (0/1)
- Aces 2
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (26/192) 14%
Serve Patterns
Djokovic served...
- to FH 50%
- to BH 47%
- to Body 3%
Simon served...
- to FH 46%
- to BH 48%
- to Body 6%
Return Stats
Djokovic made...
- 162 (65 FH, 96 BH, 1 ??), including 1 runaround FH, 4 runaround BHs & 3 return-approaches
- 2 Winners (1 FH, 1 BH)
- 24 Errors, comprising...
- 11 Unforced (6 FH, 5 BH)
- 13 Forced (11 FH, 2 BH)
- Return Rate (162/188) 86%
Simon made...
- 132 (63 FH, 69 BH), including 3 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 32 Errors, comprising...
- 11 Unforced (6 FH, 5 BH)
- 21 Forced (16 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (132/175) 75%
Break Points
Djokovic 6/26 (13 games)
Simon 4/18 (8 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Djokovic 47 (25 FH, 13 BH, 4 FHV, 1 BHV, 4 OH)
Simon 28 (13 FH, 12 BH, 2 BHV, 1 OH)
Djokovic's FHs - 4 cc (1 at net), 3 dtl, 2 dtl/inside-out, 10 inside-out, 5 inside-in (1 return) and 1 longline/inside-out
- BHs - 3 cc, 4 dtl (1 return), 2 inside-out, 1 inside-out/dtl, 2 drop shots (1 at net) and 1 running-down-drop-shot lob at net
- 2 from return-approach points (1 BHV, 1 OH)
Simon's FHs - 2 cc (1 pass), 4 dtl (1 at net), 4 inside-out, 1 longline at net and 2 net chord dribblers (1 return)
- BHs - 4 cc (1 at net), 6 dtl (4 passes), 1 drop shot and 1 running-down-drop shot cc pass (non-net)
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Djokovic 119
- 102 Unforced (51 FH, 50 BH, 1 FHV)
- 17 Forced (5 FH, 7 BH, 2 FHV, 3 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47.1
Simon 99
- 62 Unforced (32 FH, 30 BH)
- 37 Forced (21 FH, 15 BH, 1 OH)... with 3 FH running-down-drop-shot at net, 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net & the OH was a baseline shot on the bounce, flagrantly forced by an at net smash
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 43.1
(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
Djokovic was...
- 25/38 (66%) at net, with...
- 2/3 (67%) return-approaching
Simon was...
- 9/15 (60%) at net, with...
- 0/1 forced back
Match Report
This match is famous for Djokovic committing 100 unforced errors. Despite that, its not a bad match and despite the 4.5 hours of length and 5 sets, not too competitive either. Court is on slow side
Djoko’s not in much danger of losing, unlike, say the 5-setters he played with Stan Wawrinka at the hard court Slams. Always up by a set. Leads 5-1 in the 5th. He has command of play throughout - but having command and winning are 2 different things. Of the things that can come between it, 100 UEs qualify
(100 UEs is used figuratively here. I have him with 102 in play and 114 including returns and double faults)
And why isn’t it a bad match, despite record breaking UE figures? The rallies are competitive and long. There isn’t much sloppiness in the UEs. The neutral errors come after long exchanges, even the attacking and more ones don’t come quickly. Certainly not lively, but not bad either
It might not be a bad match, but it isn’t a very good one either. Play is dull, if not a push-fest. Its taken out of push-fest category by Djoko commanding play - being hard hitting, stepping up, overpowering, moving to net to finish - attacking, in a word. He’s not very good at constructing it though and makes boatloads errors trying
Djoko has the better serve. His is good, Sim’s is ordinary at best. Just 2 aces from 126 first serves attest to the latter (Djoko has 11, including a service winner from 110). Djoko occasionally spontaneously plays runaround BH returns against first serves
Djoko has the better better return. Usual lot of clinical powerful and/or deep returns from him. Rarely, when driven by frustration and/or nothing-to-lose mentality, more than that - pointed, point ending aggression on the shot. Sim returns steadily and consistently, not giving much away - good enough
Then they rally. Its almost entirely a baseline match. Sim’s showing could be the poster for ‘comes to net only to shake hands’. He’s at net 15 times - many of those to deal with drop shots. Djoko doesn’t come in much, but has plenty of chances to with his hitting advantage and his choice not to is neither a bad one and is one of the more interesting implications of the match (and more broadly, the period)
Baseline rallies last long
They’re as close to 50-50 across wings as possible
Djoko more often leads, Sim reacts. Djoko playing from closer up and hitting harder while staying in neutral. But the error rate on that front is almost identical
So the advantage Djoko has from rallies is 1 of force of shot, not blink-rate of errors. He’s not good at parleying that into attacking. Good enough at it to end up winning - he has his no shortage of moments with 47 winners and forcing 37 errors - but… 100 UEs
Few points of interest
Virtually identical breakdown of UEs across wings for both players
Djoko - 51 FH, 50 BH
Sim - 32 FH, 30 BH
Virtually identical neutral UE rate - Djoko has 48, Sim 49
Its on the attacking and more UEs that Djoko’s messy. He has 54, Sim 13
Breakdown of UEs
- Neutral - Djoko 48, Sim 49
- Attacking - Djoko 36, Sim 7
- Winner Attempts - Djoko 18, Sim 6
Djoko forcing 37 errors for 36 attacking UEs made is atrocious, by any standard. Sim’s actually showng much greater efficiency there by forcing 17 for his 7 attacking UEs. For that matter, Sim’s got the better of winner/winner attempt UEs too, though that’s bent a bit by much larger lot of his winners being passes and net chord dribblers
The gist of all this is -
- good, solid neutral rallying from both players. Long rallies, decent hitting. If your going to play neutrally, this is the way to do it. They play equally well so it cancels out
A bit more longline or/and blunt angled exchanges around middle of court than average, but largely, classic cc with occasional longline change-up dynamic. Djoko changing up rather more
- Djoko with more power and extra gear, so he can up the ante to attacking (Sim does very little of that). He’s poor at it
Biggest offender for Djoko are FH dtl’ish shots from around middle of court. FH dtl/inside-out or inside-out/dtl… shots not intended to go for winners or even necessarily force errors, but to open the court a bit, liven up action and are more likely to draw errors than stock cc shots. He misses these by the boatload
On the BH, he’s got his precious drop shots. Even for him, a bad day on the droppers for Djoko - he’s got a couple winners (1 of them at net) and forces 4 errors but misses 3-4 for every one of those (and also hits bad ones that Sim easily runs down and hits top spin putaway shots to at net)
(A more general point, if there’s one area where Djokovic, one of the smartest around, has been stubbornly foolish over the years, its with these drop shots. He’s played them since very beginning of his career and I can count on 1 hand the number of matches where he comes out net positive with it)
84 aggressively ended points to 54 attacking or more UEs isn't good. The attacking ones make up bulk. With those, its not just about errors forced foregone, but break in chain of attacking progression (and of course, losing the point). Still, he keeps faith in the chain and doesn’t go off into wild attacking play or going for winners from out of nowhere type stuff