Roger Federer beat David Ferrer 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 in in the Year End Championship (Tennis Masters Cup) final, 2007 on indoor hard court in Shanghai, China
Federer was the defending champion and this was his 4 title in 5 years. Ferrer had topped his group with wins over Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Richard Gasquet before beating Andy Roddick in the semis
Federer won 93 points, Ferrer 62
Serve Stats
Federer...
- 1st serve percentage (48/73) 66%
- 1st serve points won (40/48) 83%
- 2nd serve points won (14/25) 56%
- Aces 9, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (27/73) 37%
Ferrer...
- 1st serve percentage (55/82) 67%
- 1st serve points won (33/55) 60%
- 2nd serve points won (10/27) 37%
- Aces 1
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (13/82) 16%
Serve Pattern
Federer served...
- to FH 42%
- to BH 55%
- to Body 3%
Ferrer served...
- to FH 19%
- to BH 73%
- to Body 9%
Return Stats
Federer made...
- 67 (15 FH, 52 BH), including 1 runaround FH, 2 return-approaches & 1 drop-return
- 12 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (1 FH, 4 BH)
- 7 Forced (1 FH, 6 BH)
- Return Rate (67/80) 84%
Ferrer made...
- 44 (20 FH, 24 BH)
- 17 Errors, comprising...
- 4 Unforced (1 FH, 3 BH)
- 13 Forced (6 FH, 7 BH)
- Return Rate (44/71) 62%
Break Points
Federer 6/9 (6 games)
Ferrer 0/4 (2 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Federer 20 (6 FH, 6 BH, 6 FHV, 2 BHV)
Ferrer 9 (5 FH, 4 BH)
Federer's FHs - 2 cc (1 pass), 1 cc/inside-in, 1 dtl, 1 inside-out and 1 longline/inside-out
- BHs - 2 cc (1 pass) and 4 dtl (2 passes - 1 a slice)
- 2 from serve-volley points - 1 first volley (1 BHV) & 1 second volley (1 FHV)
- 1 FHV was a swinging shot from no-man's land and has not been counted a net point
Ferrer's FHs - 2 dtl (1 pass, 1 at net), 1 inside-in, 1 running-down-drop-shot at net cc and 1 net chord dribbler
- BHs - 1 cc pass, 2 dtl (1 pass) and 1 lob
- the BHV was a net chord dribbler
Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Federer 38
- 26 Unforced (13 FH, 12 BH, 1 BHV)
- 12 Forced (8 FH, 4 BH)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.6
Ferrer 44
- 28 Unforced (14 FH, 13 BH, 1 BHV)... with 1 BH pass attempt at net
- 16 Forced (8 FH, 6 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)... with 1 BH at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.7
(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...
- 22/29 (76%) at net, including...
- 8/10 (80%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 2/2 return-approaching
- 1/1 retreated
Ferrer was...
- 7/17 (41%) at net, with...
- 0/1 forced back
Match Report
One sided match due to Ferrer's poor play on a quick-ish court, with neutral-cum-passive baseline play making up the bulk of action
28 UEs and 9 winners from Ferrer. Even adding the 12 errors he forces, he's still -7 on points won forcefully to points lost to via unforced errors. Throw in very low 16% unreturned rate and add low 45.7 UEFI and you get an accurate picture of his play. Its passive and low of quality
Federer's even lower UEFI of 44.6 completes picture of play. He has 20 winners to 26 UEs, which is under-par for him in particular on a fast-ish court but comes out well in the positives when Ferrer's 16 FEs are taken into account. And high 37% unreturned rate, including 9 aces (Ferrer has 1)
Passivity of baseline play still comes through. For Federer, 8/20 winners are volleys. He goes the whole first set without a baseline winner, hitting his first in game 3, set 2 (and that's a pass). He has to wait the game after to hit his first baseline to baseline winner
How often do you see Roger Federer go 13 games on a quick court in a match he's dominating the scoreline with 1 baseline-to-baseline winner?
For first 2 sets in particular, play consists of neutral rallies, neither player doing much - or looking to - with the ball beyond keeping it in play. Ferrer look to play to Federer's BH as much as possible (including serving to it 73% of the time). He does so via BH cc and FH longline and when he can, neutrally hit FH inside-outs. Shots don't have enough on them to unduly bother Fed, who drives ball back as strongly (read: neutrally)... dynamic is closer to who-blinks-first then it is attacker vs defender
After 2 games, Ferrer has just the 1 UE, Fed has 5. Both players have held, with Fed having had to save a break point in a 10 point game. For rest of the set, UEs read Federer 2, Ferrer 10
Same story in the second set. UEs for it read Federer 6, Ferrer 14
Action picks up some in the third when play becomes more hard hitting and with more attacking placement from Ferrer. Its a significant step up in liveliness from what preceded it. Federer doesn't reciprocate too much but proves quite capable of running down balls and counter-attacking in proportion to Ferrer's play - and remains sizably the better player
Federer's Play
Smart match from Federer. Serves with typical strength - with 66% first serves in and 37% unreturned - and returns surely at 84%. Put together, that leaves him +21% on returned serves... a huge cushion to start. From that position, he doesn't need to do anything special in play
Both serve and return numbers are to his credit, as opposed to Ferrer's discredit. The serve is strong and when Ferrer does get meaty returns back, Fed's up to playing through the third ball non-defensively anyway, rarely, on the half-volley from baseline. Ferrer's serve isn't strong but even so, 84% return rate is exceptionally high
Proactivity in play is confined to attacking net, including serve-volleying. Fed's 8/10 serve-volleying, 2/2 return-approaching and 12/17 coming from rallies. The last figure flows coming in when having taken control from baseline, not approaching for its own sake as a change-up or 'quick-dash' approaches
With all that in the background, just holding even from baseline is more than good enough. And he plays accordingly. Ferrer leads baseline play, with Fed's consent, and rallies are neutral to passive, with Ferrer trying to break down Fed's BH. Fed's happy to play that game... and ends up edging consistency too (25 baseline UEs to Ferrer's 27)
Its a stretch to call Fed's baseline game 'good'. He's not damaging and just as inconsistent as Ferrer, who is distinctly 'not good' for the match. Its all he needs though... why take risks livening up play when he has a huge head start from serve-return complex and net play?
Excellent movement from the champion all match. Particularly in third set when Ferrer goes in for more hard hitting and moderately wide placed shots, Fed zips around to hit back firmly on the run. Its not easy to force an error out of him from the baseline. He has the advantage in counter-attacking play and movement
With BH coming under 'fire' (balls being directed at it regularly is better description), Fed finishes with rare equal number BH winners to FH. In fact, his last 3 groundstroke winners are all FHs within last 9 points of the match, without which, he'd have finished with considerably more BH winners to FHs
The BH does ok. All groundstrokes on show are in the same ballpark for UEs (Fed BH 12, Fed FH & Ferrer BH 13, Ferrer FH 14) and none are particularly impressive. He plays cc most of the time, with odd effective longline/dtl changes ups. Some very good slices too, that spin sideways on bouncing, let alone stay low
Federer was the defending champion and this was his 4 title in 5 years. Ferrer had topped his group with wins over Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Richard Gasquet before beating Andy Roddick in the semis
Federer won 93 points, Ferrer 62
Serve Stats
Federer...
- 1st serve percentage (48/73) 66%
- 1st serve points won (40/48) 83%
- 2nd serve points won (14/25) 56%
- Aces 9, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (27/73) 37%
Ferrer...
- 1st serve percentage (55/82) 67%
- 1st serve points won (33/55) 60%
- 2nd serve points won (10/27) 37%
- Aces 1
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (13/82) 16%
Serve Pattern
Federer served...
- to FH 42%
- to BH 55%
- to Body 3%
Ferrer served...
- to FH 19%
- to BH 73%
- to Body 9%
Return Stats
Federer made...
- 67 (15 FH, 52 BH), including 1 runaround FH, 2 return-approaches & 1 drop-return
- 12 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (1 FH, 4 BH)
- 7 Forced (1 FH, 6 BH)
- Return Rate (67/80) 84%
Ferrer made...
- 44 (20 FH, 24 BH)
- 17 Errors, comprising...
- 4 Unforced (1 FH, 3 BH)
- 13 Forced (6 FH, 7 BH)
- Return Rate (44/71) 62%
Break Points
Federer 6/9 (6 games)
Ferrer 0/4 (2 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Federer 20 (6 FH, 6 BH, 6 FHV, 2 BHV)
Ferrer 9 (5 FH, 4 BH)
Federer's FHs - 2 cc (1 pass), 1 cc/inside-in, 1 dtl, 1 inside-out and 1 longline/inside-out
- BHs - 2 cc (1 pass) and 4 dtl (2 passes - 1 a slice)
- 2 from serve-volley points - 1 first volley (1 BHV) & 1 second volley (1 FHV)
- 1 FHV was a swinging shot from no-man's land and has not been counted a net point
Ferrer's FHs - 2 dtl (1 pass, 1 at net), 1 inside-in, 1 running-down-drop-shot at net cc and 1 net chord dribbler
- BHs - 1 cc pass, 2 dtl (1 pass) and 1 lob
- the BHV was a net chord dribbler
Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Federer 38
- 26 Unforced (13 FH, 12 BH, 1 BHV)
- 12 Forced (8 FH, 4 BH)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.6
Ferrer 44
- 28 Unforced (14 FH, 13 BH, 1 BHV)... with 1 BH pass attempt at net
- 16 Forced (8 FH, 6 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)... with 1 BH at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.7
(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...
- 22/29 (76%) at net, including...
- 8/10 (80%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 2/2 return-approaching
- 1/1 retreated
Ferrer was...
- 7/17 (41%) at net, with...
- 0/1 forced back
Match Report
One sided match due to Ferrer's poor play on a quick-ish court, with neutral-cum-passive baseline play making up the bulk of action
28 UEs and 9 winners from Ferrer. Even adding the 12 errors he forces, he's still -7 on points won forcefully to points lost to via unforced errors. Throw in very low 16% unreturned rate and add low 45.7 UEFI and you get an accurate picture of his play. Its passive and low of quality
Federer's even lower UEFI of 44.6 completes picture of play. He has 20 winners to 26 UEs, which is under-par for him in particular on a fast-ish court but comes out well in the positives when Ferrer's 16 FEs are taken into account. And high 37% unreturned rate, including 9 aces (Ferrer has 1)
Passivity of baseline play still comes through. For Federer, 8/20 winners are volleys. He goes the whole first set without a baseline winner, hitting his first in game 3, set 2 (and that's a pass). He has to wait the game after to hit his first baseline to baseline winner
How often do you see Roger Federer go 13 games on a quick court in a match he's dominating the scoreline with 1 baseline-to-baseline winner?
For first 2 sets in particular, play consists of neutral rallies, neither player doing much - or looking to - with the ball beyond keeping it in play. Ferrer look to play to Federer's BH as much as possible (including serving to it 73% of the time). He does so via BH cc and FH longline and when he can, neutrally hit FH inside-outs. Shots don't have enough on them to unduly bother Fed, who drives ball back as strongly (read: neutrally)... dynamic is closer to who-blinks-first then it is attacker vs defender
After 2 games, Ferrer has just the 1 UE, Fed has 5. Both players have held, with Fed having had to save a break point in a 10 point game. For rest of the set, UEs read Federer 2, Ferrer 10
Same story in the second set. UEs for it read Federer 6, Ferrer 14
Action picks up some in the third when play becomes more hard hitting and with more attacking placement from Ferrer. Its a significant step up in liveliness from what preceded it. Federer doesn't reciprocate too much but proves quite capable of running down balls and counter-attacking in proportion to Ferrer's play - and remains sizably the better player
Federer's Play
Smart match from Federer. Serves with typical strength - with 66% first serves in and 37% unreturned - and returns surely at 84%. Put together, that leaves him +21% on returned serves... a huge cushion to start. From that position, he doesn't need to do anything special in play
Both serve and return numbers are to his credit, as opposed to Ferrer's discredit. The serve is strong and when Ferrer does get meaty returns back, Fed's up to playing through the third ball non-defensively anyway, rarely, on the half-volley from baseline. Ferrer's serve isn't strong but even so, 84% return rate is exceptionally high
Proactivity in play is confined to attacking net, including serve-volleying. Fed's 8/10 serve-volleying, 2/2 return-approaching and 12/17 coming from rallies. The last figure flows coming in when having taken control from baseline, not approaching for its own sake as a change-up or 'quick-dash' approaches
With all that in the background, just holding even from baseline is more than good enough. And he plays accordingly. Ferrer leads baseline play, with Fed's consent, and rallies are neutral to passive, with Ferrer trying to break down Fed's BH. Fed's happy to play that game... and ends up edging consistency too (25 baseline UEs to Ferrer's 27)
Its a stretch to call Fed's baseline game 'good'. He's not damaging and just as inconsistent as Ferrer, who is distinctly 'not good' for the match. Its all he needs though... why take risks livening up play when he has a huge head start from serve-return complex and net play?
Excellent movement from the champion all match. Particularly in third set when Ferrer goes in for more hard hitting and moderately wide placed shots, Fed zips around to hit back firmly on the run. Its not easy to force an error out of him from the baseline. He has the advantage in counter-attacking play and movement
With BH coming under 'fire' (balls being directed at it regularly is better description), Fed finishes with rare equal number BH winners to FH. In fact, his last 3 groundstroke winners are all FHs within last 9 points of the match, without which, he'd have finished with considerably more BH winners to FHs
The BH does ok. All groundstrokes on show are in the same ballpark for UEs (Fed BH 12, Fed FH & Ferrer BH 13, Ferrer FH 14) and none are particularly impressive. He plays cc most of the time, with odd effective longline/dtl changes ups. Some very good slices too, that spin sideways on bouncing, let alone stay low
