Match Stats/Report - Federer vs Ferrer, Madrid semi-final, 2010

[Waspsting]

Roger Federer beat David Ferrer 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 in the Madrid semi-final, 2010 on clay

Federer, the defending champion, would go onto lose the final to Rafael Nadal. Ferrer was seeded 9th and had recently lost his first Masters final to Nadal in Rome

Federer won 98 points, Ferrer 84

Serve Stats
Federer...
- 1st serve percentage (48/81) 59%
- 1st serve points won (42/48) 88%
- 2nd serve points won (19/33) 58%
- Aces 8 (1 not clean), Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (28/81) 35%

Ferrer...
- 1st serve percentage (56/101) 55%
- 1st serve points won (36/56) 64%
- 2nd serve points won (28/45) 62%
- Aces 2, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (19/101) 19%

Serve Patterns
Federer served...
- to FH 39%
- to BH 59%
- to Body 1%

Ferrer served...
- to FH 14%
- to BH 79%
- to Body 7%

Return Stats
Federer made...
- 79 (15 FH, 64 BH), including 5 runaround FHs & 1 return-approach
- 2 Winners (2 BH)
- 16 Errors, comprising...
- 13 Unforced (3 FH, 10 BH)
- 3 Forced (1 FH, 2 BH)
- Return Rate (79/98) 81%

Ferrer made...
- 51 (17 FH, 34 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 19 Errors, comprising...
- 6 Unforced (2 FH, 4 BH)
- 13 Forced (7 FH, 6 BH)
- Return Rate (51/79) 65%

Break Points
Federer 2/9 (5 games)
Ferrer 1/4 (2 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Federer 27 (14 FH, 7 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV, 3 OH)
Ferrer 16 (7 FH, 4 BH, 3 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH)

Federer's FHs - 2 cc (1 pass), 1 dtl, 3 inside-out (1 at net), 3 inside-in, 1 inside-in/cc (with Ferrer on the ground) and 4 drop shots (1 at net)
- BHs - 1 cc, 2 dtl, 3 inside-out (2 returns) and 1 drop shot

- 1 from a serve-volley point, a 2nd volley OH

- 1 other OH was on the bounce

Ferrer's FHs - 1 cc pass, 2 dtl passes (1 at net that can reasonably be called a running-down-drop-shot shot), 2 inside-out, 1 inside-in and 1 inside-in/cc
- BH passes - 3 cc (1 at net) and 1 dtl

- 1 FHV was a swinging, non-net shot

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Federer 47
- 34 Unforced (14 FH, 18 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)
- 13 Forced (8 FH, 4 BH, 1 FHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.7

Ferrer 40
- 27 Unforced (15 FH, 11 BH, 1 OH)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net & 1 BH at net
- 13 Forced (5 FH, 8 BH)... with 1 BH at net & 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47.0

(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
Federer was...
- 16/26 (62%) at net, including...
- 2/2 serve-volleying, both 2nd serves
---
- 0/1 return-approaching
- 1/1 forced back

Ferrer was...
- 15/21 (71%) at net, with...
- 1/1 forced back

Match Report
Federer's serve being too much to handle for Ferrer is standout feature in an otherwise staid encounter

Very healthy 35% unreturned rate by Rog (Fer has low 19%)
Very closely related are first serve points won: Mammoth 88% for Rog, respectable 64% by Fer
And both players doing well on their 2nd serve points - Rog 58% won, Fer 62%

Rog's serve is typically good of placement, but Fer's helplessness against it is disappointing. Seems to have no read on it whatsoever, reacts late, is often rendered helpless by serves that are challengingly wide, but not so much as to leave a good returner so helpless

Just a case of 1 player not being upto the standard necessary to cope with what he's faced with. Never an easy task to return Rog's 1st serve and Fer just doesn't seem upto it. Virtually identical exchanges as their '14 Cincy final. Fer stretched out and left to lunge against good, wide serves... but short of need-to-lunge wide or powerful. Fer has some trouble returning 2nds too, which are normal enough of force. His returns leave Fed with mild initiative on third ball - where its a neutralizable serve

On flip side, easy comfortable time returning for Rog. Fer's serve is average at best (beneath it is more accurate) and Rog returns without trouble. Content just put the ball in court for most part, with the rare, runaround FH whacked hard. When Rog firmly guides a BH inside-out return winner, it comes of as highly doable, not a fantastic shot

Gist - Rog 35% unreturned to Fer's 19% - and then they rally

 

[Waspsting]

Winners - Rog 27, Fer 16
Errors Forced - both 13
UEs - Rog 34, Fer 27

Good numbers, even for the loser. To a flattering extent

Large lot of Rog's winners spring out of his serve. Some good shots, but largely, an extension of serve-return contest outlined above

Action is banal, keep ball in court stuff and neither player is impressive. Fer's shots are harmless. Even shots hit from nearer service line than baseline don't qualify as forceful (as in, the errors they might draw would be marked UEs). He backs away to hit FH inside-outs to Rog's BH - and its a neutral rally. What's the point of backing-away? Could test Rog's BH with basic BH cc instead, sans the giving up central court position

Fer's most pressuring shot is FH inside-in and its not particularly pressuring. He hits his hardest in third set, which comes to about midly pressuring. No better time to play your best than the decider, but its still not particularly challenging. But his error rate remains about the same despite the beefed up hitting - credit for that

Inevitably, errors end most rallies. They don't take long in coming. Not as drastic as regular early misses, but well short of rallies lasting considerable time. In other words, neither player is particularly consistent of neutral shots. Hitting is average. In other words, not pressuring play from either. Also, only mild to moderate wide shots, which at the force of hitting, isn't challenging to deal with for the player made to move

Agains the kind of hitting on show, its quite possible for an attacking minded player to collar action. Rog, the one with potential to do so, makes little effort and plays along with the who-blinks-first game. His shots are readily attackable too, but its beyond Fer's habits and style to have tried

Just 2 breaks by Rog in 15 games against a serve he easily neutralizes, virtually making all Fer's serve points 50-50 starting points, is not good from him. Just 2/9 on break points - with 3 games he doesn't convert in.

Consistency off the ground is the most prominent skill on show. Groundstrokes ordered by consistency

- Fer BH 10
- both FHs 14
- Rog BH 18

Neutral UEs read Fer 15, Rog 23
Percentage of UEs that are neutral - Fer 56%, Rog 68%

The above in conjunction accurately captures action - both in terms of Fer's superiority in being solid and the degree of it. Amid not-long rallies and average hitting

Not much success for Fer when he tries attacking from the back. 7/11 groundstroke winners are passes (i.e. no scope to make a UE), yet he still has 7 winner attempt UEs (2 more than Rog, who has 18 non-pass and non-return ground winners).

Good attacking efficiency from Rog - 27 winners, 5 winner attempt UEs, 13 errors forced, 6 attacking errors. Mostly springing out his service points, where he's inside court and in charge after Fer's return. The drop shots are particulaly nice touch - he's got 5 winners on it - and goes well with whipped shots from inside court. Fer's at his best at net where he wins 15/21 or 71%. Good lot of that is Fed drawing him to net with deliberate short balls. If you do that and then can't make the pass, you've erred in judgement. And that Fed chooses to do that to mix things up (as opposed to collaring the point with an attacking shot from the back) tells you something about his approach to play. Neither is a particularly good thing

Match Progression
Rog loses all of 2 points in holding 6 times in first set, while Fer is regularly pushed to hold. Rog serves 26 points to Fer's 43

Break comes at end, Fer opening with double fault and missing a rare winner attempt FH inside-in point after. Fer blinks of the BH on break point before Rog serves out to 15

Serving at 1-2, Rog's lost 3 points on serve in 7 service games. He loses 4 to get broken in the game and 4 more in holdingthe game after. First serve in count dropping has a hand, but he also plays more passively on his 2nd serve points, electing to start rallies neutrally, where he'd been attacking or pressuring previously. Fer gets better of neutral to passive rallies thereafter and continues to hold to sets end

Fer plays his hardest hitting of match in decider - and even then, its not damaging. After enduring a long hold (16 points, saving 2 break points - 1 where Rog misses routine BH return against 2nd serve), Fer has a break point to up teh early break. Rog smacks a third ball FH inside-in winner on it, follows up with an ace and then another FH i/i winner to hold

From 3-3, Rog wins last 3 games to end the match. Good game from him - particularly a running FH cc pass winner. Fer's a bit slow to move to a FH on break point and can't make it, before Rog serves match out to 15, ending with his 8th ace

Summing up, Federer's serve being too much for Ferrer to handle and Federer dominating play behind it by stepping in and attacking in measured way. Rest of action - all of Ferrer's service points and much of Federer's 2nd serve points - is insipid, who-blinks-first tennis with neither player being particularly consistent or hard hitting, and Ferrer having advantage of consistency. Federer's advantage with the first serve and his enterprising play behind it comfortably outweighs that

Stats for the final between Federer and Rafael Nadal - Match Stats/Report - Nadal vs Federer, Madrid final 2010 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)

 

[The Big Foe fan]

@Waspsting bruh would ya please do an analysis for 2020 atp finals Djokovic vs Thiem and Thiem vs Nadal??