Match Stats/Report - Enqvist vs Agassi, Stuttgart Indoor semi-final, 1999

[Waspsting]

Thomas Enqvist beat Andre Agassi 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 in the Stuttgart Indoor semi-final, 1999 on indoor hard court

Enqvist would go onto win the title, beating defending champion Richard Krajicek in the final. Agassi would win Paris title immediately afterwards and finish the year ranked #1 for the only time in his career

Enqvist won 81 points, Agassi 63

(Note: I’m missing serve direction and corresponding return data for 1 point
Set 2, Game 6, Point 2)

Serve Stats
Enqvist...
- 1st serve percentage (47/73) 64%
- 1st serve points won (34/47) 72%
- 2nd serve points won (15/26) 58%
- Aces 15 (1 not clean), Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (28/73) 38%

Agassi...
- 1st serve percentage (29/71) 41%
- 1st serve points won (21/29) 72%
- 2nd serve points won (18/42) 43%
- Aces 7 (1 second serve - not clean), Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 6
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (19/71) 27%

Serve Patterns
Enqvist served...
- to FH 46%
- to BH 52%
- to Body 1%

Agassi served...
- to FH 42%
- to BH 57%
- to Body 2%

Return Stats
Enqvist made...
- 46 (17 FH, 29 BH)
- 2 Winners (2 BH)
- 11 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (1 FH, 4 BH)
- 6 Forced (4 FH, 2 BH)
- Return Rate (46/65) 71%

Agassi made...
- 44 (14 FH, 29 BH, 1 ??)
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 12 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (3 FH, 2 BH)
- 7 Forced (2 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (44/72) 61%

Break Points
Enqvist 5/10 (5 games)
Agassi 2/5 (3 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Enqvist 18 (6 FH, 8 BH, 3 BHV, 1 OH)
Agassi 7 (3 FH, 2 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)

Enqvist's FHs -3 cc, 2 longline, 1 longline/inside-in
- BHs - 1 cc/longline, 1 cc/down-the-middle return (that Agassi left), 4 dtl (1 at net), 1 inside-out return, 1 net chord dribbler

- 1 BHV was from baseline, a net chord dribbler

Agassi's FHs - 1 dtl, 2 inside-out
- BHs - 1 dtl, 1 inside-in return

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Enqvist 36
- 25 Unforced (13 FH, 12 BH)
- 11 Forced (7 FH, 4 BH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.8

Agassi 29
- 23 Unforced (13 FH, 9 BH, 1 FHV)
- 6 Forced (3 FH, 3 BH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.1

(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
Enqvist was 4/4 (100%) at net

Agassi was 9/10 (90%) at net

Match Report
Very intense match with both players blasting serves, returns and especially, groundstrokes. Enqvist serves better, his better serving opens up more chances to blast more returns and he gets the better of BH exchanges. Agassi serves about as big as he’s capable and dishes out low percentage and has better of FH play. And Enqvist’s advantages are bigger than Agassi’s for him to gain the win. Court is fast

First serve in - Enq 64%, Agassi 41%
With Enq naturally having bigger serve. That stat alone would cue one in to the result, but its not entirely what it looks like because Agassi serves as big as he can. Both serves. Both players’ first serves command action, almost equally, which is a surprise. Obviously, much higher in count for Enq big advantage, but surprising small gap in quality of serves (Enq better, but not to extent one might anticipate)

First serve ace/service winner rate - Enq 34%, Agassi 24%
For Agassi, that’s a very high rate. For Enq, not surprising

First serve points won - both 72%
Confirming similar quality first serves from two players. Still advantage Enq due to higher in count

Second serve points won - Enq 58%, Agassi 43%
Sans double faults - Enq 60%, Agassi 50%

Comfy advantage for Enq, but again, strong second serving from both players, and again, its how big Agassi serves that stand out as unusual. He’s sending down forceful second serves regularly and even has an ace. Pays price of 14% double faults, while Enq can send down damaging second serves without particular strain and has just 1 double

Bare minimum, both players second serves are tough to attack. Both players looking to bash returns early anyway. Combo of in-counts and strength of serves means Enq is able to get damaging ones off more often. Leaving aside substantial 38% to 27% advantage in unreturneds

Enq with bigger serve (its not as much bigger as one would expect, but still, bigger). Second serves are about equal of force
Enq getting much larger lot of first serves in
Enq able to effectively hammer more returns
Enq gaining more freebies
Enq double faulting less

Big as Agassi serves and much as he tries to return aggressively - he takes returns earlier than Enq and is usually inside baseline against second serves - he’s a very distant second in serve-return contest

Then they rally. Both players hammer the ball off both wings constantly
Agassi gets slightly better of FH exchanges, Enq off BH
Emphasis on slightly. Any given rally can see either player outhititng the other off either wing. More often, its Agassi gaining ground in FHs, Enq in BHs, with plenty of exceptions for both

Both players pounding ball, neither taking a step back. Intense, pressuring stuff. Both players’ showings could be a high quality hit-through-opponent showing. Just slightly wide shots are troubling. ‘Getting better of exchanges’ here simply means inducing a weaker ball (and weaker ball isn’t necessarily ‘weak’, just not ‘particularly hard hit’)

For much of match, there’s literally 0 net play. First approach of the match comes in third game of second set or the 67th point of the match to be exact. Up to then, just banging groundies from both players. Its Agassi, who with his serve-return handicap pushing him behind, that initiates net play

With the hitting being what it is, finding approach chances is difficult and its good move, and well executed by Agassi. When he gets a slightly wider shot off, he comes in to finish. Enq does so less

Worth noting is that the returning is similarly powerful as the ground rallies, and despite hefty serving, rarely can weak returns that invite easy, power approaches be drawn. Serves go for aces or draw tough errors or are struck back cleanly

Net points - Enq 4/4, Agassi 9/10
… the only lost point being an Agassi UE, and that’s a tricky shot, with ball getting down low, albeit slowly and Agassi somewhat allowing it reach that stage by hesitating on the approach

All the rest is baseline stuff and in it -

UEs - Eng 25, Agassi 22
- FHs - both 13
- BHs - Enq 12, Agassi 9

… and
- neutral UEs - Enq 11, Agassi 14
- attacking UEs - Enq 6, Agassi 4
- winner attempts UEs - Enq 8, Agassi 4

For starters, what passes as ‘neutral’ is pressured , beat-down stuff, what with all the power on show

 

[Waspsting]

Enq’s edge in neutral UEs gives hint of his getting better of things. Weak balls to have a go for winner against a scarce, and both players go for them against ‘not-strong balls’ instead. Enq able to draw such ‘not-strong’ balls a little more often. Ergo, the higher lot of winner attempt UEs. If your going to make UEs, best to make them being edgily aggressive (as opposed to desperately so, or being beat-down by opponent). Those numbers aren’t conclusive but do point in direction of Enq beating down Agassi a little more than other way around, which is the core of action

Winners - Enq 14 (including a BHV from the baseline. Not no-man’s land but just inside baseline), Agassi 5
Errors forced - Enq 6, Agassi 4

Enq winning from baseline coming through more clearly here

Just 5 baseline winners from Agassi (and 1 of those is a return). He’s not the biggest serve + 1 finisher around, but gets to how heavy Enq’s returning is. Against as mentioned earlier, a meaty, damaging serve. Enq draws a few more not-strong returns that he dispatches with not obvious shot choice of going for winner

In the BH rallies, Enq pushing Agassi around and back. And ready to take on dtl winner attempt. He’s got 3 dtl winners to Agassi’s 1. He’s got 7 winners (excluding a net shot shot), to Agassi’s 2. He’s got a small number of dtl winner attempt misses, while Agassi’s UEs are pressured out of him (UEs read Enq 12, Agassi 9)

In the FH rallies, Agassi more often pushing Enq back a touch. Less so than Enq does to him on the BH. Its not even to extent of having Enq reacting, let alone counter-punching and forget defending. If Agassi has an edge in the rallying, its very slight. Ues are tied at 13

Enq leads winners 6 to 3, with Agassi in time turning to dashing to net to finish points when he’s gained small advantage, where he wins 9/10 points

Enq’s winners include 2 FH longlines and a longline/inside-in. In other words, shots around the middle of the court. Good testament to his power. Hitting to corner is unnecessary the way he strikes the ball. He’s got 3 FH cc winners too, while Agassi has 0

Overall stats are biased by sets, as tends to be case when bagels are involved. Enq is particularly brutal in the decider and 12/18 winners come in the set. Agassi’s low in count helps, but it isn’t much better in first set when he’s nowhere close to being bagelled

Another reason for high winners in last set is Agassi getting better read on the serve to get more returns back. Enq has fat serve, but its not well disguised. Big enough that it’s a challenge to deal with regardless, but Agassi makes more returns as he gets accustomed to it, giving Enq more scope to land his winners

A word on the crowd. Seem to be a sensible lot. Both here and in the final, they don't make a fuss about serves getting stuck in the net as almost all crowds do
Agassi seems to be a big favourite of their's, likely related to budding new relationship with Stefi Graf

Match Progression
Comfy first set for Enq, especially since he grabs break for 2-0 right at start, and remains untroubled on serve (holds to 15 4 times, to 30 once after being up 30-0), but not a bad one for Agassi either
He serves at 36% for the set. And 30% for the 3 games he manages to hold
Not bad going to be broken just once with that tune playing

Enq breaks for 2-0 by battering down Agassi’s BH, that has 3 UEs and an FE drawn by FH dtl

There are only 3 winners in the set (Agassi 2, Enq 1), and funnily, all of them are by returner, but very intense rallies. Literally all of it baseline, with not a hint of an approach by either player
Agassi looks to take returns very early. Too early it turns out and he can’t react in time. 16/26 Enq’s serves don’t come back or 62%, including 7 aces

Second set is a little livlier in sense that both players look to hit a little wider (as opposed to simply overwhelm with brute force). Agassi takes to coming to net a little after gathering small advantage in still very hard hitting rallies

Enq breaks to open in a game of where Agassi’s FH gives up errors, including 2 thrid ball ones, though it’s a BH dtl winner attempt miss that ends the game

First net point of the match comes in 67th point of the match, with Agassi coming in to finish. Enq takes his first trip to net game after, but that’s to deal with a very weak return and he swats away third ball BH dtl winner at net. He gets broken though, with Agassi raising break point with an overpowering FH cc approach, and Enq missing an attacking FH dtl on it

Agassi breaks to end the set. It’s a poor game of aggressive FH UEs from Enq (3 of them) and a double fault

And Enq runs through last set 6-0
Agassi lands just 26% first serves in and throws in a double fault every game
Enq ups his finishing too and has 12 winners in the 6 games (plus 4 aces)

Some really fabulous shots from Enq in the set
To break in the opening game, he dispatches a BH dtl winner to a ball that isn’t particularly powerful. That’s as little off as a ball has to be to get punished
Next game, hits a third ball BHV winner from just inside the baseline
Wraps up last break with consecutive BH return winners - a bullet cc/down-the-middle that Agassi leaves and lands well inside (it would be a very difficult shot to have handled had he offered a shot), and a rare inside-out

Enq serves out to 15

Summing up, intense and unsubtle match; both players hammer everything in sight, including serves and returns

Enqvist serves much better, especially in landing far more first serves. Quality of both of Agassi’s serve though is about as much as he’s capable, making gap between 2 players’ serves smaller than usual between the two players
Enqvist serving better open up more chances for him to aggressively blast returns, though both players have a go at it, and he’s more successful at that too
Enqvist a little stronger off the BH, Agassi the FH, with Enqvist more stronger off BH than Agassi is off FH. Agassi resourcefully using a net a little. And in time, Enqvist near zoning to crash through to victory
@HBK4life

 

[HBK4life]

Another great report. This guy could rain the pain on top players.

 

[Galvermegs]

Another great report. This guy could rain the pain on top players.

With the career he had i would say he was a top player but just kept losing momentum. Maybe he wasnt a true champion or dominant even if things went his way but he definitely was a factor. The davis cup team of 2002 for sweden had him and johansson and perhaps without a strong russian team in the way could have reclaimed the title that year.