Roger Federer beat Marat Safin 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-4 in the Halle final, 2005 on grass
It was Federer's 3rd title at the venue (all in succession) and he would go onto win Wimbledon for the 3rd time in a row after it. Safin was the reigning Australian Open champion, having beaten Federer in the semi final en route to the title earlier in the year - the only non-clay Slam loss Federer suffered over a four season period
Federer won 101 points, Safin 93
Both players serve-volleyed occasionally and randomly - Federer off both serves, Safin off the first
Serve Stats
Federer...
- 1st serve percentage (59/97) 61%
- 1st serve points won (44/59) 75%
- 2nd serve points won (28/38) 74%
- Aces 9 (1 second serve), Service Winners 5
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (40/97) 41%
Safin...
- 1st serve percentage (66/97) 68%
- 1st serve points won (53/66) 80%
- 2nd serve points won (15/31) 48%
- Aces 12, Service Winners 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (38/97) 39%
Serve Pattern
Federer served...
- to FH 43%
- to BH 53%
- to Body 4%
Safin served...
- to FH 18%
- to BH 70%
- to Body 12%
Return Stats
Federer made...
- 59 (8 FH, 51 BH), including 1 runaround FH & 1 return-approach
- 24 Errors, comprising...
- 4 Unforced (1 FH, 3 BH)
- 20 Forced (7 FH, 13 BH)
- Return Rate (59/97) 61%
Safin made...
- 56 (22 FH, 34 BH), including 1 return-approach
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 26 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (1 FH, 5 BH)
- 21 Forced (11 FH, 10 BH)
- Return Rate (56/96) 58%
Break Points
Federer 3/4 (3 games)
Safin 1/6 (3 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Federer 18 (7 FH, 2 BH, 5 FHV, 3 BHV, 1 OH)
Safin 18 (6 FH, 3 BH, 6 FHV, 1 BHV, 2 OH)
Federer's FHs - 5 cc (1 pass), 1 dtl and 1 inside-in
- BHs - 2 dtl (1 pass)
- 5 from serve-volley points - 2 first volleys (2 FHV) and 3 second volleys (2 FHV, 1 BHV)
- the OH was played net-to-net
Safin's FHs - 2 inside-out (1 return pass), 1 inside-in, 1 cc pass played net-to-net, 1 lob and 1 net chord roll over
- BHs - 1 cc pass (net chord clipper) and 1 lob
- 4 from serve volley points - 3 first 'volleys' (2 FHV, 1 BH at net) and 1 second volley (1 FHV)
- 1 other FHV was from his sole return-approach point
- 1 OH was hit form well behind the baseline on the bounce and not a net point
Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Federer 36
- 15 Unforced (7 FH, 7 BH, 1 BHV)
- 21 Forced (3 FH, 12 BH, 4 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 Tweener)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.3
Safin 43
- 31 Unforced (17 FH, 10 BH, 2 FHV, 2 BHV)
- 12 Forced (3 FH, 6 BH, 3 FHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.1
(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...
- 19/32 (59%) at net, including...
- 12/18 (67%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 7/12 (58%) off 1st serve and..
- 5/6 (83%) off 2nd serve
---
- 1/1 return-approaching
- 0/2 forced back
Safin was...
- 28/41 (68%) at net, including...
- 12/21 (57%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 12/20 (60%) off 1st serve and...
- 0/1 off 2nd serve
---
- 1/1 return-approaching
- 1/2 forced back/retreated
Match Report
Very good and well rounded match. It has everything - big serving, good returning, baseline battles, net play and serve-volleying, passing shots and lobs, tweeners, over the shoulder lob retrievals, body serve aces. All we're missing is half-volleys
For all that, the result comes down, as it often does on grass, to a key point or two and Federer proves steady, Safin loose on them
Safin gets off to a slow start - losing the first two points of the match to FH UEs and allowing a second serve ace as Federer opens with a hold to love. And then the Swiss breaks, on the back of 3 more Safin baseline UEs. He gets the break back a couple of games later with some powerful, down the middle error forcing shots
Most serves are returned in this part of the match and the rest of the set is competitive all court tennis. Federer is the better player. He breaks to take the set in another error strewn game. Safin has 14 UEs - 7 of them regulation shots - for the set to Federer's 5, and he's served 34 points to Federer's 25
For the first half of the second set, its Safin who has the better of it. While holding serve comfortably, he has 4 break points across two Federer service games of 12 and 8 point duration. 3 are erased by unreturned serves (1 service winner, 1 unforced return error) and 1 by a BHV winner. In the second of these games, Safin loses the next two points after his last break point to return errors too (1 unforced) - and is close to racquet breaking frustration at the end of it. He starts squabbling with the umpire too
For the rest of the set (and match, more broadly), both players raise their unreturned serve rates. The tiebreak goes on serve til point 13, when a fully stretched Safin BH inside-out return (the direction of the return probably wasn't intentional, he just reached and stabbed the ball back in play somehow) puts Federer on the defensive and he goes on to lose the point. Safin serves an ace on set point
Federer breaks in game 3 of the final set. His sole chip-charge return leads to a Safin passing error, he forces another with an extra powerful and deep but straight at Safin groundstroke. Down 15-40, Safin saves a break point with a most curious ace. Its a 133mph body serve that Federer inexplicably offers no shot to and evades as elegantly as a ballet dancer. What just happened? Ball was well in, its doubtful Federer thought it was going to be a fault and he doesn't have any complaints after the point... a weird choice from Fed. He wins the next point though when a serve-volleying Safin misses a volley to a dropping but slow return. Players continue to hold easily to the end
Few good, noteworthy shots. Safin drop shots Fed into net then lob FHVs him back... Fed hits a tweener into the net. He has a silly grin on his face afterwards, as if saying, "well, I gave it a try. I mean no one can make that shot". Fed striking a FH cc winner, equal parts precise and powerful after being run into a corner. Couple of lovely lobs from Safin. Federer fending off an at net Safin smash and as Safin retreates, putting away a FH cc winner. Fed making a tough low first volley to a powerful Safin pass, but Safin running up and flicking away the winner net to net. Great running BH dtl pass by Fed
My favourite is still the body serve ace though
Serve & Return
Usually, in close matches on fast courts you see -
- the smaller server has higher percentage
- the bigger server has higher first serve points won (a sign of riding on the serve) -and the figure is large
- the smaller server has higher second serve points won (a sign of his superior court skills) - and the figures are smaller
Federer and Safin are quite evenly matched (when Safin plays well, as he does in this match) - who is the bigger servers? and who is the better court player?
Safin leads first serve percentage 68% to 61%, leads first serve points won 80% to 75% and Federer leads second serve points won 74% to 48%
That Federer is far and away the better court player is clear from the last figure. The other two figures - especially the first serve percentage - is a bit of a surprise
Look at unreturned serves - Federer with 2 more (both served 97 points), but Safin with a lead in aces 12 to 9 (including service winners, its 14-14). Nature of return errors are almost the same too (Unforced - 4 Federer, 5 Safin. Forced - 20 Federer, 21 Safin)
They look like the same server-returner. Call it a wash
Safin's powerful first serves look unreturnable and Federer does well to get the ones he does back in play without floating the returns over. Federer's more precisely placed first serves are also virtually unreturnable, but Safin is able to meatily get stuck in Fed's lesser first serves
On second serves and second serve returns, its a different story. Federer's are stronger - strong enough to force errors often and a small number do. Safin's are predictable kicker to the BH. Good second serves, but not great... Federer with the advantage on the second serve-return complex
Fed distributes serve evenly, Safin heavily towards the BH and utilizing a lot of body serves (he has almost as many body serves as serves to the FH)
Federer winning just 7/12 first serve-volley points to 5/6 second serve-volleys is also suggestive. Note that though ordinary looking, his first serve volley points don't suffer in comparison to Safin's (12/20), though that has something to do with volleying quality as well as serve
It was Federer's 3rd title at the venue (all in succession) and he would go onto win Wimbledon for the 3rd time in a row after it. Safin was the reigning Australian Open champion, having beaten Federer in the semi final en route to the title earlier in the year - the only non-clay Slam loss Federer suffered over a four season period
Federer won 101 points, Safin 93
Both players serve-volleyed occasionally and randomly - Federer off both serves, Safin off the first
Serve Stats
Federer...
- 1st serve percentage (59/97) 61%
- 1st serve points won (44/59) 75%
- 2nd serve points won (28/38) 74%
- Aces 9 (1 second serve), Service Winners 5
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (40/97) 41%
Safin...
- 1st serve percentage (66/97) 68%
- 1st serve points won (53/66) 80%
- 2nd serve points won (15/31) 48%
- Aces 12, Service Winners 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (38/97) 39%
Serve Pattern
Federer served...
- to FH 43%
- to BH 53%
- to Body 4%
Safin served...
- to FH 18%
- to BH 70%
- to Body 12%
Return Stats
Federer made...
- 59 (8 FH, 51 BH), including 1 runaround FH & 1 return-approach
- 24 Errors, comprising...
- 4 Unforced (1 FH, 3 BH)
- 20 Forced (7 FH, 13 BH)
- Return Rate (59/97) 61%
Safin made...
- 56 (22 FH, 34 BH), including 1 return-approach
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 26 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (1 FH, 5 BH)
- 21 Forced (11 FH, 10 BH)
- Return Rate (56/96) 58%
Break Points
Federer 3/4 (3 games)
Safin 1/6 (3 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Federer 18 (7 FH, 2 BH, 5 FHV, 3 BHV, 1 OH)
Safin 18 (6 FH, 3 BH, 6 FHV, 1 BHV, 2 OH)
Federer's FHs - 5 cc (1 pass), 1 dtl and 1 inside-in
- BHs - 2 dtl (1 pass)
- 5 from serve-volley points - 2 first volleys (2 FHV) and 3 second volleys (2 FHV, 1 BHV)
- the OH was played net-to-net
Safin's FHs - 2 inside-out (1 return pass), 1 inside-in, 1 cc pass played net-to-net, 1 lob and 1 net chord roll over
- BHs - 1 cc pass (net chord clipper) and 1 lob
- 4 from serve volley points - 3 first 'volleys' (2 FHV, 1 BH at net) and 1 second volley (1 FHV)
- 1 other FHV was from his sole return-approach point
- 1 OH was hit form well behind the baseline on the bounce and not a net point
Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Federer 36
- 15 Unforced (7 FH, 7 BH, 1 BHV)
- 21 Forced (3 FH, 12 BH, 4 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 Tweener)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.3
Safin 43
- 31 Unforced (17 FH, 10 BH, 2 FHV, 2 BHV)
- 12 Forced (3 FH, 6 BH, 3 FHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.1
(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...
- 19/32 (59%) at net, including...
- 12/18 (67%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 7/12 (58%) off 1st serve and..
- 5/6 (83%) off 2nd serve
---
- 1/1 return-approaching
- 0/2 forced back
Safin was...
- 28/41 (68%) at net, including...
- 12/21 (57%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 12/20 (60%) off 1st serve and...
- 0/1 off 2nd serve
---
- 1/1 return-approaching
- 1/2 forced back/retreated
Match Report
Very good and well rounded match. It has everything - big serving, good returning, baseline battles, net play and serve-volleying, passing shots and lobs, tweeners, over the shoulder lob retrievals, body serve aces. All we're missing is half-volleys
For all that, the result comes down, as it often does on grass, to a key point or two and Federer proves steady, Safin loose on them
Safin gets off to a slow start - losing the first two points of the match to FH UEs and allowing a second serve ace as Federer opens with a hold to love. And then the Swiss breaks, on the back of 3 more Safin baseline UEs. He gets the break back a couple of games later with some powerful, down the middle error forcing shots
Most serves are returned in this part of the match and the rest of the set is competitive all court tennis. Federer is the better player. He breaks to take the set in another error strewn game. Safin has 14 UEs - 7 of them regulation shots - for the set to Federer's 5, and he's served 34 points to Federer's 25
For the first half of the second set, its Safin who has the better of it. While holding serve comfortably, he has 4 break points across two Federer service games of 12 and 8 point duration. 3 are erased by unreturned serves (1 service winner, 1 unforced return error) and 1 by a BHV winner. In the second of these games, Safin loses the next two points after his last break point to return errors too (1 unforced) - and is close to racquet breaking frustration at the end of it. He starts squabbling with the umpire too
For the rest of the set (and match, more broadly), both players raise their unreturned serve rates. The tiebreak goes on serve til point 13, when a fully stretched Safin BH inside-out return (the direction of the return probably wasn't intentional, he just reached and stabbed the ball back in play somehow) puts Federer on the defensive and he goes on to lose the point. Safin serves an ace on set point
Federer breaks in game 3 of the final set. His sole chip-charge return leads to a Safin passing error, he forces another with an extra powerful and deep but straight at Safin groundstroke. Down 15-40, Safin saves a break point with a most curious ace. Its a 133mph body serve that Federer inexplicably offers no shot to and evades as elegantly as a ballet dancer. What just happened? Ball was well in, its doubtful Federer thought it was going to be a fault and he doesn't have any complaints after the point... a weird choice from Fed. He wins the next point though when a serve-volleying Safin misses a volley to a dropping but slow return. Players continue to hold easily to the end
Few good, noteworthy shots. Safin drop shots Fed into net then lob FHVs him back... Fed hits a tweener into the net. He has a silly grin on his face afterwards, as if saying, "well, I gave it a try. I mean no one can make that shot". Fed striking a FH cc winner, equal parts precise and powerful after being run into a corner. Couple of lovely lobs from Safin. Federer fending off an at net Safin smash and as Safin retreates, putting away a FH cc winner. Fed making a tough low first volley to a powerful Safin pass, but Safin running up and flicking away the winner net to net. Great running BH dtl pass by Fed
My favourite is still the body serve ace though
Serve & Return
Usually, in close matches on fast courts you see -
- the smaller server has higher percentage
- the bigger server has higher first serve points won (a sign of riding on the serve) -and the figure is large
- the smaller server has higher second serve points won (a sign of his superior court skills) - and the figures are smaller
Federer and Safin are quite evenly matched (when Safin plays well, as he does in this match) - who is the bigger servers? and who is the better court player?
Safin leads first serve percentage 68% to 61%, leads first serve points won 80% to 75% and Federer leads second serve points won 74% to 48%
That Federer is far and away the better court player is clear from the last figure. The other two figures - especially the first serve percentage - is a bit of a surprise
Look at unreturned serves - Federer with 2 more (both served 97 points), but Safin with a lead in aces 12 to 9 (including service winners, its 14-14). Nature of return errors are almost the same too (Unforced - 4 Federer, 5 Safin. Forced - 20 Federer, 21 Safin)
They look like the same server-returner. Call it a wash
Safin's powerful first serves look unreturnable and Federer does well to get the ones he does back in play without floating the returns over. Federer's more precisely placed first serves are also virtually unreturnable, but Safin is able to meatily get stuck in Fed's lesser first serves
On second serves and second serve returns, its a different story. Federer's are stronger - strong enough to force errors often and a small number do. Safin's are predictable kicker to the BH. Good second serves, but not great... Federer with the advantage on the second serve-return complex
Fed distributes serve evenly, Safin heavily towards the BH and utilizing a lot of body serves (he has almost as many body serves as serves to the FH)
Federer winning just 7/12 first serve-volley points to 5/6 second serve-volleys is also suggestive. Note that though ordinary looking, his first serve volley points don't suffer in comparison to Safin's (12/20), though that has something to do with volleying quality as well as serve
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