Roger Federer beat Andre Agassi 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(1), 6-1 in the US Open final, 2005 on hard court
Federer was the defending champion and would go onto win the next 3 editions of the event too. This would turn out to be Agassi's last Slam final and the last match between the two players
Federer won 132 points, Agassi 106
Serve Stats
Federer...
- 1st serve percentage (81/107) 76%
- 1st serve points won (60/81) 74%
- 2nd serve points won (15/26) 58%
- Aces 21 (2 not clean)
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (44/107) 41%
Agassi...
- 1st serve percentage (78/131) 60%
- 1st serve points won (45/78) 58%
- 2nd serve points won (29/53) 55%
- Aces 6, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (26/131) 20%
Serve Pattern
Federer served...
- to FH 35%
- to BH 63%
- to Body 3%
Agassi served...
- to FH 26%
- to BH 72%
- to Body 2%
Return Stats
Federer made...
- 101 (30 FH, 71 BH), including 4 runaround FH & 2 return-approaches
- 3 Winners (2 FH, 1 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 19 Errors, comprising...
- 12 Unforced (2 FH, 10 BH), including 1 runaround FH & 1 return-approach attempt
- 7 Forced (5 FH, 2 BH)
- Return Rate (101/127) 80%
Agassi made...
- 63 (26 FH, 37 BH), including 2 runaround FHs & 2 return-approaches
- 3 Winners (3 FH)
- 23 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (2 FH, 3 BH)
- 18 Forced (6 FH, 12 BH)
- Return Rate (63/107) 59%
Break Points
Federer 4/18 (8 games)
Agassi 3/6 (3 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Federer 36 (25 FH, 9 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)
Agassi 22 (13 FH, 6 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV)
Federer's FHs - 6 cc (1 return, 1 pass), 6 dtl (2 at net), 3 inside-out, 1 inside-out/dtl, 6 inside-in (1 runaround return) and 3 longline (1 pass at net)
- BHs - 3 cc (1 pass, 1 at net), 5 dtl (1 return) and 1 inside-out
Agassi's FHs - 6 cc (3 returns), 1 cc/inside-in, 1 dtl, 2 inside-out, 1 inside-in and 1 drop shot
- BH - 2 cc passes, 3 dtl (1 at net) and 1 drop shot
- 2 from serve-volley points (1 BHV, 1 FH at net), both first 'volleys'
- 1 FHV was a swinging shot
Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Federer 58
- 36 Unforced (12 FH, 23 BH, 1 FHV)... with 2 BH at net & 1 non-net, swinging FHV
- 22 Forced (14 FH, 5 BH, 3 FHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45
Agassi 48
- 33 Unforced (17 FH, 15 BH, 1 BHV)
- 15 Forced (9 FH, 5 BH, 1 BHV)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.5
(Note 1: all half-volleys refer to such shots played at net. Half -volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke counts)
(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
Federer was...
- 11/20 (55%) at net, including...
- 1/3 (33%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 0/2 off 1st serve and...
- 1/1 off 2nd serve
---
- 0/2 return-approaching
- 0/1 forced back
Agassi was...
- 10/17 (59%) at net, including...
- 2/2 serve-volleying, both 1st serves
---
- 0/2 return-approaching
- 0/1 retreated
Match Report
A fun match and a good, competitive one until the last set on a quick-ish hard court.
Play is baseline, shot-making based, with both players excelling off the FH, Agassi comfortably more consistent off the BH but Federer with a big advantage on the serve and in his movement. All that keeps things about even for most of 3 sets until the third set tiebreak, when Federer takes it up several notches to his very best. From then on, he's at his very best, hitting winners every which way from regulation positions and Agassi's left far behind. Something very similar would happen the following year between Federer and Andy Roddick
Standout stats include Federer with 76% first serves in. That' would be high for even a gentle server. For someone like Federer, it'd likely reduce shut out any opponent. That's not what happens because his first serving is relatively often, conservative. Fairly high proportion of serves to Agassi's swing zone or can be reached with a step. This is different from their matches earlier in the year when Federer seems to go out of his way to serve particularly big, including second serves
Agassi returns anything he can reach with authority, and he can reach more than you'd think with 76% first serves in and it leads to lively rallies. To be clear, Fed serves well - he's got 21 aces, 0 double faults and 41% unreturned rate - just not as well as he's apt to serve to Agassi in particular
Agassi's movements on the return are not good. Anything wider than average stretches him out disproportionately - you'd think the serve was on the line to see him strain so -and even some of the aces aren't too far wide. Court isn't that quick, Federer's serves aren't that fast... he's just not quick not enough to move into place. 18/23 of his return errors have been marked force
On flip side, average serving from Agassi and sure returning from Fed. Fed rarely has to move much to reach ball and when he does, does so slickly, making it look easy. 80% return rate and largely neutralizing Agassi's advantage, if not taking it too often, is very good from Fed's point of view. Agassi winning just 3% more first serve points than second - and a moderate 58% first serve points speaks to Fed's return doing a good job
Baseline play is dual winged. In general, Agassi liked to plays BH cc's continuously to draw errors from Fed's BH. Not too much of that here. Agassi plays above himself to hold near even FH-FH (other than last set)
This hasn't come out well in stats. Fed leads FH winners 25-13 and trails UEs 12-17 making the FH duel look anything but equal. Those numbers are influenced by the last set where Fed has 7 winners (Agassi has 3). More than that are the FEs
Very large 14 FH FEs of Federer's are almost all drawn by Agassi's FHs. He hits wide and hard and Fed misses running FHs. While Fed hits winners, Agassi forces errors with the FH... and Fed hits a lot of winners and doesn't need short balls to do it off. Fed's movements are excellent and he's not easy to force errors out off... great job by Agassi on the FH. He's not quite at Fed's level, but within touching distance, which is a relative win because Fed's FH is in top form
25 winners to 12 UEs and forcing most of of Agassi's 15 FEs by Fed's FH. Top notch numbers and a fair reflection. He's hitting winners from regulation positions in all directions (5 cc, 6 dtl, 4 inside-out based, 5 inside-in, 3 longline) all match. From neutral position, he's able to take charge about as often as not. The high winner count is somewhat helped by Agassi not being quick enough to reach balls. A small number of shots that go for winners to Agassi probably wouldn't against the much quicker Federer. They do however, force errors. 4th set is a different story with Fed zoning, but in general, Fed leading FH play by slight amount while at his best on it
Situation is reversed on the BH. UEs read Fed 23, Agassi 15 along expected lines, but Fed is +3 on winners. There isn't an undue amount of BH-BH rallying - unlike the typical match between the two where that's what Agassi leads with. Fed's BH is loose, but more dangerous than usual. If Agassi's done a good job hanging in on the FH, Fed's done the same on the BH. Unlike Fed on the FH though, Agassi isn't at his best on the BH. There are matches where he barely misses a BH while hitting firmly. This isn't one of them
The other thing Agassi does particularly well is dealing with Fed at net. Just 11/20 net points won by the winner, with just 1 volley UE (+ 2 groundstrokes). He doesn't look to come in much, independent of how well Agassi is passing, because he doesn't need to. Seems to enjoy the challenge of the attacking, hard hitting baseline rallies
Federer was the defending champion and would go onto win the next 3 editions of the event too. This would turn out to be Agassi's last Slam final and the last match between the two players
Federer won 132 points, Agassi 106
Serve Stats
Federer...
- 1st serve percentage (81/107) 76%
- 1st serve points won (60/81) 74%
- 2nd serve points won (15/26) 58%
- Aces 21 (2 not clean)
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (44/107) 41%
Agassi...
- 1st serve percentage (78/131) 60%
- 1st serve points won (45/78) 58%
- 2nd serve points won (29/53) 55%
- Aces 6, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (26/131) 20%
Serve Pattern
Federer served...
- to FH 35%
- to BH 63%
- to Body 3%
Agassi served...
- to FH 26%
- to BH 72%
- to Body 2%
Return Stats
Federer made...
- 101 (30 FH, 71 BH), including 4 runaround FH & 2 return-approaches
- 3 Winners (2 FH, 1 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 19 Errors, comprising...
- 12 Unforced (2 FH, 10 BH), including 1 runaround FH & 1 return-approach attempt
- 7 Forced (5 FH, 2 BH)
- Return Rate (101/127) 80%
Agassi made...
- 63 (26 FH, 37 BH), including 2 runaround FHs & 2 return-approaches
- 3 Winners (3 FH)
- 23 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (2 FH, 3 BH)
- 18 Forced (6 FH, 12 BH)
- Return Rate (63/107) 59%
Break Points
Federer 4/18 (8 games)
Agassi 3/6 (3 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Federer 36 (25 FH, 9 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)
Agassi 22 (13 FH, 6 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV)
Federer's FHs - 6 cc (1 return, 1 pass), 6 dtl (2 at net), 3 inside-out, 1 inside-out/dtl, 6 inside-in (1 runaround return) and 3 longline (1 pass at net)
- BHs - 3 cc (1 pass, 1 at net), 5 dtl (1 return) and 1 inside-out
Agassi's FHs - 6 cc (3 returns), 1 cc/inside-in, 1 dtl, 2 inside-out, 1 inside-in and 1 drop shot
- BH - 2 cc passes, 3 dtl (1 at net) and 1 drop shot
- 2 from serve-volley points (1 BHV, 1 FH at net), both first 'volleys'
- 1 FHV was a swinging shot
Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Federer 58
- 36 Unforced (12 FH, 23 BH, 1 FHV)... with 2 BH at net & 1 non-net, swinging FHV
- 22 Forced (14 FH, 5 BH, 3 FHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45
Agassi 48
- 33 Unforced (17 FH, 15 BH, 1 BHV)
- 15 Forced (9 FH, 5 BH, 1 BHV)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.5
(Note 1: all half-volleys refer to such shots played at net. Half -volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke counts)
(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
Federer was...
- 11/20 (55%) at net, including...
- 1/3 (33%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 0/2 off 1st serve and...
- 1/1 off 2nd serve
---
- 0/2 return-approaching
- 0/1 forced back
Agassi was...
- 10/17 (59%) at net, including...
- 2/2 serve-volleying, both 1st serves
---
- 0/2 return-approaching
- 0/1 retreated
Match Report
A fun match and a good, competitive one until the last set on a quick-ish hard court.
Play is baseline, shot-making based, with both players excelling off the FH, Agassi comfortably more consistent off the BH but Federer with a big advantage on the serve and in his movement. All that keeps things about even for most of 3 sets until the third set tiebreak, when Federer takes it up several notches to his very best. From then on, he's at his very best, hitting winners every which way from regulation positions and Agassi's left far behind. Something very similar would happen the following year between Federer and Andy Roddick
Standout stats include Federer with 76% first serves in. That' would be high for even a gentle server. For someone like Federer, it'd likely reduce shut out any opponent. That's not what happens because his first serving is relatively often, conservative. Fairly high proportion of serves to Agassi's swing zone or can be reached with a step. This is different from their matches earlier in the year when Federer seems to go out of his way to serve particularly big, including second serves
Agassi returns anything he can reach with authority, and he can reach more than you'd think with 76% first serves in and it leads to lively rallies. To be clear, Fed serves well - he's got 21 aces, 0 double faults and 41% unreturned rate - just not as well as he's apt to serve to Agassi in particular
Agassi's movements on the return are not good. Anything wider than average stretches him out disproportionately - you'd think the serve was on the line to see him strain so -and even some of the aces aren't too far wide. Court isn't that quick, Federer's serves aren't that fast... he's just not quick not enough to move into place. 18/23 of his return errors have been marked force
On flip side, average serving from Agassi and sure returning from Fed. Fed rarely has to move much to reach ball and when he does, does so slickly, making it look easy. 80% return rate and largely neutralizing Agassi's advantage, if not taking it too often, is very good from Fed's point of view. Agassi winning just 3% more first serve points than second - and a moderate 58% first serve points speaks to Fed's return doing a good job
Baseline play is dual winged. In general, Agassi liked to plays BH cc's continuously to draw errors from Fed's BH. Not too much of that here. Agassi plays above himself to hold near even FH-FH (other than last set)
This hasn't come out well in stats. Fed leads FH winners 25-13 and trails UEs 12-17 making the FH duel look anything but equal. Those numbers are influenced by the last set where Fed has 7 winners (Agassi has 3). More than that are the FEs
Very large 14 FH FEs of Federer's are almost all drawn by Agassi's FHs. He hits wide and hard and Fed misses running FHs. While Fed hits winners, Agassi forces errors with the FH... and Fed hits a lot of winners and doesn't need short balls to do it off. Fed's movements are excellent and he's not easy to force errors out off... great job by Agassi on the FH. He's not quite at Fed's level, but within touching distance, which is a relative win because Fed's FH is in top form
25 winners to 12 UEs and forcing most of of Agassi's 15 FEs by Fed's FH. Top notch numbers and a fair reflection. He's hitting winners from regulation positions in all directions (5 cc, 6 dtl, 4 inside-out based, 5 inside-in, 3 longline) all match. From neutral position, he's able to take charge about as often as not. The high winner count is somewhat helped by Agassi not being quick enough to reach balls. A small number of shots that go for winners to Agassi probably wouldn't against the much quicker Federer. They do however, force errors. 4th set is a different story with Fed zoning, but in general, Fed leading FH play by slight amount while at his best on it
Situation is reversed on the BH. UEs read Fed 23, Agassi 15 along expected lines, but Fed is +3 on winners. There isn't an undue amount of BH-BH rallying - unlike the typical match between the two where that's what Agassi leads with. Fed's BH is loose, but more dangerous than usual. If Agassi's done a good job hanging in on the FH, Fed's done the same on the BH. Unlike Fed on the FH though, Agassi isn't at his best on the BH. There are matches where he barely misses a BH while hitting firmly. This isn't one of them
The other thing Agassi does particularly well is dealing with Fed at net. Just 11/20 net points won by the winner, with just 1 volley UE (+ 2 groundstrokes). He doesn't look to come in much, independent of how well Agassi is passing, because he doesn't need to. Seems to enjoy the challenge of the attacking, hard hitting baseline rallies
