Match Stats/Report - Edberg vs Lendl, Year End Championship semi-final, 1990

[Waspsting]

Stefan Edberg beat Ivan Lendl 6-4, 6-2 in the Year End Championship semi-final, 1990 on carpet in Frankfurt, Germany

Edberg would go onto lose the final to Andre Agassi. He was the defending champion and had topped his round robin group with 3-0 record. Lendl had finished second in his with 2-1 record. The two had played the semi-final the previous year also, with the same result

Edberg won 65 points, Lendl 45

Edberg serve-volleyed off all serves, Lendl off all first serves bar one

Serve Stats
Edberg...
- 1st serve percentage (37/55) 67%
- 1st serve points won (28/37) 76%
- 2nd serve points won (13/18) 72%
- Aces 3 (1 not clean)
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (23/55) 42%

Lendl...
- 1st serve percentage (25/55) 45%
- 1st serve points won (16/25) 64%
- 2nd serve points won (15/30) 50%
- Aces 1, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (13/55) 24%

Serve Patterns
Edberg served...
- to FH 14%
- to BH 65%
- to Body 22%

Lendl served...
- to FH 35%
- to BH 56%
- to Body 10%

Return Stats
Edberg made...
- 39 (10 FH, 29 BH), including 5 return-approaches
- Errors, comprising...
- 4 Unforced (3 FH, 1 BH), including 1 return-approach attempt
- 7 Forced (4 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (39/52) 75%

Lendl made...
- 28 (5 FH, 23 BH)
- 4 Winners (4 BH)
- 20 Errors, all forced...
- 20 Forced (5 FH, 15 BH)
- Return Rate (28/51) 55%

Break Points
Edberg 3/7 (5 games)
Lendl 0/3 (2 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Edberg 19 (3 FH, 2 BH, 8 FHV, 2 BHV, 4 OH)
Lendl 18 (4 FH, 5 BH, 6 FHV, 3 BHV)

Edberg had 10 from serve-volley points -
- 6 first volleys (5 FHV, 1 OH)
- 4 second volleys (1 FHV, 1 BHV, 2 OH)

- 2 from return-approach points (1 FHV, 1 BHV)

- 5 passes (3 FH, 2 BH) -
- FHs - 1 cc, 1 dtl, 1 lob
- BHs - 2 dtl (1 at net)

Lendl had 6 from serve-volley points -
- 4 first volleys (2 FHV, 2 BHV)
- 1 second volley (1 FHV)
- 1 third volley (1 FHV)

- 7 passes - 4 returns (4 BH) & 3 regular (2 FH, 1 BH)
- BH returns - 2 cc, 1 inside-out, 1 inside-in
- regular FHs - 1 inside-out/dtl, 1 lob
- regular BH - 1 cc

- regular (non-pass) FHs - 1 dtl, 1 inside-out

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Edberg 10
- 3 Unforced (2 BH, 1 FHV)
- 7 Forced (5 BH, 2 FHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.7

Lendl 18
- 4 Unforced (1 FH, 2 BH, 1 BHV)
- 16 Forced (2 FH, 9 BH, 3 BHV, 2 BH1/2V)... with 1 BH was a running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45

(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
Edberg was...
- 47/57 (82%) at net, including...
- 38/48 (79%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 25/34 (74%) off 1st serve and...
- 13/14 (93%) off 2nd serve
---
- 5/5 (100%) return-approaching

Lendl was...
- 20/35 (57%) at net, including...
- 14/25 (56%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 13/22 (59%) off 1st serve and...
- 1/3 (33%) off 2nd serve
---
- 0/1 forced back

Match Report
Edberg outclasses Lendl in a serve-volley match on quick court. Lendl’s in-count is a problem but he doesn’t play badly beside that. Simply, Edberg happens to be better, QED

Edberg fully on song. Virtually perfect shot selection - it stands out most on the return, but is there for all shots. Serve-volleys fully and his serve typically ties Lendl up. Perfect return-pass choices (Lendl serve-volleys off all but 1 first serve) - sometimes swung, sometimes blocked, never going for too much, but often getting the return trickly low, perfect choices of when to return wide or/and dtl attackingly and when to take net with it. Passes with easy grace to back it up - chipped low or normal, wider ones, again, with impeccable selection

And well night perfect on the volley, but that’s not unusual

Lendl with just 45% in count. Problematic and he serve-volleys behind first serves. Objectively, probably a better first serve than Edberg (disregarding in count) - slightly more powerful, wider placed. Subjectively, not so because of how much Lendl struggles to return crampingly close serves. A function of the general Edberg serve - Lendl return match-up

Works his way to net very nicely on his second serve points. And does volley well, but Edberg passing well enough to gain necessary counter-play to break

19 winners, 10 errors (3 UEs, 7 FEs) for Edberg [Lendl has 18 winners, 20 errors (4 UEs, 16 FEs) to compare]. To go with 42% freebies, while keeping Lendl to 24%

With that tune playing, would say Lendl’s done well to garner break points in couple of games. Edberg’s numbers look like full shut-down ones
And Edberg better still. He has break points in 5/9 return games

Edberg’s serve game
Edberg serves zippily and close to Lendl’s body and serve-volleys off all serves

High in count of 67%. Not that it matters for him. He wins 13/14 second serve points when he doesn’t double fault and 72% in all - which is 8% more than Lendl can do behind first serves

22% serves are directed at the body. And a lot more besides is crampingly close. Standard stuff for the match up. And Lendl jammed up by it all (also standard stuff)

42% unreturned, odd powerful wide return (Lendl has 4 return winners). Returns he’s able to make are not-bad (as opposed to good) in terms of power. Can’t get many low or wide though
That kind of returning is meat and drink to top form volleying Edberg. Would need return rate of 70% at least to be break threat at that quality, and probably more. His return rate is 55%

Edberg swishes volleys away for winners or hard into corners leaving hopeless passing chances

Edberg on volley has 14 winners, 1 UE, 2 FEs
Lendl on pass has 4 return winners or 14% of the returns he makes, returning at 55%
And in play, 3 winners, 10 errors

Obviously, Edberg brilliant on volley. Misses nothing easy or routine. The difficult ones he faces are pretty powerful and/or lowish (more the former). Doesn’t face many, makes most of them and importantly, does so with authority. Whatever hopes/plans Lendl might have of power return drawing weak volley are thwarted because the volleys come back deep, punched or wide

That’s actually a good rate of hitting winners for Lendl. His problem is the return rate
Good rate of winners + low return rate hints at Lendl aggressively going after returns. Not really true. He’s just fending returns back as often as not

High 22% second serves are double faults from Edberg. He doesn’t serve them that big and that’s a blackmark on him

But he wins 13/14 points when he gets the second serve in. Again, hiting at big second serves and again, not true. Pretty normal second serving from Edberg - and the rest is Lendl not being good enough to return them well. High lot of body serves are second serves

Edberg serving sharp, Lendl not returning regularly, Edberg very sharp on volley… would think this is formula for shut out
Edberg 67% first serves in, 76% first serves won, 72% second serves won. Ditto
Not bad going from Lendl to scrape up 3 break points in 2 games

 

[Waspsting]

Lendl’s serve game
Lendl serve-volleys 96% of first serves and 11% of seconds, so his service games feature all court tennis

Just 45% in count is problematic. His first serves are bigger than Edberg’s and wider placed
Edberg moving typically well to meet the first return

How Edberg picks and chooses which return to block and which to swing it, only he knows. Whichever it is, its almost perfect. He has 0 return-winners, but gets returns low or lowish fairly regularly. And Lendl wins just 59% first serve-volley points, along with 1/3 seconds

1 volley UE from Lendl, so its not for his not volleying well

Lendl at net has 9 volley winners, 1 UE, 5 FEs
Edberg on pass has 5 winners (3 FH, 2 BH), 5 FEs (all BHs)

Clearly, Edberg winning the contest and just as clearly, due to his passing well, not Lendl volleying badly

Lendl’s pretty good even on the lowish first volley. He makes them and not as to leave easy pass. Edberg excellent on the decent look pass. Lendl not volleying the lowish stuff as well as Edberg, but not at all badly

Lendl’s second serve points also lead to fine action. He only serve-volleys 3 times, so most of it is baseline starting point. Lendl works his way to net nicely on them

Doesn’t hurry to get there. Doesn’t hit overly wide or powerful to approach. Just-so, well crafted approaches. Its beautifully done. He’s more net thirsty than Edberg is

In pure baseline rallies -
- Winners - Lendl 2
- Errors forced - Edberg 1
- UEs - Edberg 2, Lendl 3

Most rallies are BH ones. Both with 2 UEs on that side. Edberg doesn’t have a FH UE (he doesn't have any FH errors of any kind, period) Lendl has 1. Both Lendl winners are FHs

Rallying to net - Edberg 4/4, Lendl 6/10
That’s Lendl’s greater net thrist. Not great success for same reason as serve-volleying isn’t a big hit - Edberg’s skilled passing. He approaches nicely

And Edberg’s 5/5 return-approaching
They’re not chip-charges and they’re not power returns
3 are against second serves, where he places the ball wide and comes in
2 are shoelace returns against first serve-volleys

Again, with the perfect shot choices by Edberg and the back-up execution

Gist - surprise full first serve-volleying by Lendl, met by beautiful, controlled returning by Edberg. Pretty good volleying from Lendl, but Edberg’s return & passing is better still
And beautifully, crafted approaching from Lendl in baseline rallies. Again, stumped by excellent passing
Edberg’s return choices - when to swing, when to block, when to push dtl or wide and come in - are just about perfect

Match Progression
Edberg breaks to start the match. Winning FH dtl return and FH dtl pass winner make it 0-30
Lendl with a couple of FHV winners (1 serve-volleying, 1 deftly working his way to net) make it 30-30
Lendl double raises break point, on which Edberg with another lovely, punched dtl return that he comes in behing to knock away BHV winner

Lendl has 2 break points of his own game after, raised of a great running FH cc pass, a BH cc return-pass winner and Edberg with a FHV UE (which turns out to be his only one of the match)
Lendl sees a full running pass on first break point and the second is dismissed with a first FHV winner before Edberg holds

Never let it be said that being a nice guy doesn’t have its tennis benefits

Shortly after, Lendl’s got a lined up pass from around service line. A lined up FH pass. Edberg falls back just slightly to still well inside the service line. Lendl belts the pass line, and Edberg manages to reflex volley it for a winner. If McEnroe had been in Edberg’s position, he’d have a hole in his chest. Nor is this only such instance. In 1 of their 5 set, hard court Slam matches, Lendl eschewed best choice of straight at Edberg and missed going wide in similar situation. Was an important juncture in the 5th set too

Lovely, controlled passes and returns get Edberg to 0-40 in game 7, but Lendl manages to hold

Edberg serves out to 15 awhile later

Edberg races out to 4-0 lead in second set

First break comes through carelessness from Lendl. Double fault makes things 30-30 and he’s got a putaway smash to reach game point. He pats the ball down wide but not hard and Edberg races it down to come away with BH dtl pass winner. Edberg does convert the break with another perfectly played return-approach - both the dtl the return and the low angled volley winner

Next break is to love and it’s a bad one from Lendl. 3 UEs (2 groundies and a volley) and Edberg passes him FH cc on the other point. All second serves

Lendl raises his only break point of the set in game 4. From 40-15 down, he delivers FH lob winner are drawing first half-volley, a swatted BH cc return-pass winner and a blocked BH inside-out return that forces a shoelace volley error
Edberg holds though

And has another break point game after. Lendl takes net to save it and Edberg misses a couple of routine second returns in the game besides

No more competitive thrills. Edberg serves out to love in due ttime with 4 unreturned serves

Summing up, immaculate, silky showing from Edberg. Sharp serves, still sharper volleying and perfect shot choices on the return and on the pass. He can’t seem to do anything wrong

Lendl well and truly outclassed. He dishes out low in-count and is black-mark degree troubled in returning body and body-ish serve line of opponent. A little surprisingly, serve-volleys off first serves and seeks net from baseline rallies. Good net play - both in how and when he comes in and on the volley itself, but Edberg’s passing is better still

Stats for the final between Edberg and Andre Agassi - Duel Match Stats/Report - Agassi vs Edberg, Year End Championship finals & round robin 1990 | Talk Tennis