Match Stats/Report - Federer vs Wawrinka, Rome semi-final, 2015

Waspsting

Hall of Fame
Roger Federer beat Stan Wawrinka 6-4, 6-2 in the Rome semi-final, 2015 on clay

Federer would go onto lose the final to Novak Djokovic. The two would meet again shortly in the French Open quarter-final, with Wawrinka winning en route to the title

Federer won 56 points, Wawrinka 37

Serve Stats
Federer...
- 1st serve percentage (35/48) 73%
- 1st serve points won (28/35) 62%
- 2nd serve points won (8/13) 62%
- Aces 6
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (18/48) 38%

Wawrinka...
- 1st serve percentage (26/45) 58%
- 1st serve points won (18/26) 69%
- 2nd serve points won (7/19) 37%
- Aces 3, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (14/45) 31%

Serve Pattern
Federer served...
- to FH 34%
- to BH 62%
- to Body 4%

Wawrinka served...
- to FH 16%
- to BH 84%

Return Stats
Federer made...
- 29 (2 FH, 27 BH)
- 3 Winners (3 BH)
- 10 Errors, comprising...
- 6 Unforced (3 FH, 3 BH)
- 4 Forced (1 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (29/43) 67%

Wawrinka made...
- 29 (9 FH, 20 BH)
- 12 Errors, comprising...
- 3 Unforced (3 BH)
- 9 Forced (4 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (29/47) 62%

Break Points
Federer 4/6 (4 games)
Wawrinka 1/2 (1 game)

Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Federer 12 (2 FH, 3 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV, 5 OH)
Wawrinka 9 (4 FH, 1 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH)

Federer's FHs - 1 cc at net and 1 inside-out
- BHs (all returns) - 1 cc, 1 dtl and 1 inside-out

- 3 from serve-volley points (1 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH), all first volleys

- 1 from a return-approach point, an OH

Wawrinka's FHs - 1 cc and 3 inside-out
- BH - 1 cc

- 1 from a serve-volley point, a first volley BHV

- 1 other FHV was a swinging, non-net shot
- the OH was on the bounce from the baseline

Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Federer 13
- 9 Unforced (6 FH, 3 BH)
- 4 Forced (2 FH, 2 BH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 53.3

Wawrinka 24
- 18 Unforced (8 FH, 10 BH)... with 1 FH pass attempt at net & 1 BH at net
- 6 Forced (3 FH, 2 BH, 1 FHV)... with 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net & 1 non-net 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...
- 14/16 (88%) at net, including...
- 8/9 (89%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 6/7 (86%) off 1st serve and..
- 2/2 off 2nd serve
---
- 1/1 return-approaching
- 0/2 forced back

Wawrinka was...
- 5/8 (63%) at net, including...
- 1/1 serve-volleying, a 1st serve
---
- 1/1 forced back

Match Report
A very poor match from Wawrinka, who goes completely off the boil in the second set. Federer serves well enough and utilizes net play and serve-volleying but isn't left to do much on a surprisingly quick court

According to commentary, the court had been laid down about a month ago. Its quick enough that regulation swing-zone returning isn't too comfortable to return and hitting winners from the back regularly is on the cards. There are also a few bad bounces and potentially dangerously loose spots

Ironically, its Federer who starts the game with a couple of particularly poor misses (Wawrinka does little other than do the same for the second set). Having let Wawrinka to hold to start with 3 regulation return errors, he's up 40-15 when he misses 3 FHs in a row - the latter 2 winner attempts from just about on the service line. And goes on to get broken, with Stan dispatching a powerful FH inside-out winner on break point. Then Stan consolidates to love

3 games into match, Fed's won 4 points, Stan 12

Thereafter, Fed slices a bunch. Whether its a deliberate tactic to keep the ball 'low' (it doesn't stay particularly low) or draw Stan forward (if so, they're not good shots, sitting up and leaving Stan plenty of time to line up a drive shot from well inside court) or just weak shots as he trails in hitting power from the back... they end up drawing a bunch of errors from Stan. Comfortably able to run up to the ball, usually closer to service line than baseline or about half way between and not having to hit up to get ball over net, Stan misses a bunch of such balls

Serving at 4-5, 40-30, Stan misses the easiest imaginable putaway BH from above the the net. Follows up by missing a mid court FH. 2 howlers - and Fed finishes with an early taken, BH cc return winner before serving it out

Stan starts second set with a hold and wins his opening return point

Then loses the next 11 points in a row and 20 of the next 21. The only point he wins in the period is a Fed double fault. By that time, score is 5-1 to Federer

Stan misses regulation shots from normal rallies, usually quickly. He's trying to hit fairly hard, but not aggressively. Struggles to return (understandable with Fed serving excellently). There's another horror FH pass at net miss attempt (possibly reservations about hitting Fed has a hand in the miss)

For good measure, Fed throws in an aggressive return game - striking 2 BH return winners and hitting 2 point ending FH inside-outs

Couple of holds later, match is done

On the plus side for Federer, excellent 73% first serves in. He doesn't go for too much on the serve and Stan isn't too reliable on the return. Comes away with 6 aces and 38% unreturned rate. Interestingly, he serves 34% to FH and 62% to BH. Stan tends to harmlessly push FH returns against first serves in general, including here

He's not strong off the ground Stan enjoys substantial hitting advantage. Its very much a court where beat-down play is likely to produce good result. Stan's too error prone to make much of advantage. Couple of instances of Fed hanging in defensively slicing BHs back in play against Stan's FH inside-outs but basically, he's not tested defensively or of movement

Extremely high UEFI of 53.3 for Fed. 5/9 of his UEs are winner attempts, including the 2 mid-court sitters in game 2. He only has 1 genuine baseline winner - a FH inside-out. The other FH is at net and 3 BH returns. Doesn't look like he has the power to do damage from the back. He turns to serve-volleying to be offensive after he's ahead. The serve is good enough to set up comfy volleys and no faltering on them by Fed. Finishes 14/16 at net, including 8/9 serve-volleying and the only points he loses are 2 where he's forced back from net

Decent on the return. Not powerful, but its a tricky court to return on. 3/6 return UEs are in opening game, so just 3 more for the match after he's settled more. The chip return leaving Stan in charge proves enough with Stan making a hash of things off the ground. He takes 2nd returns early, without striking too aggressively. The cc winner to gain decisive break in first set is excellent and by the time he pulls off back-to-back ones in the 2nd set, he's already completely in command

Stan is terrible. 18 UEs to 9 winners, while forcing 4 errors comes to -5 differential points ended forcefully/UEs (Fed is +9). Its not just the 18 UEs, it the type of errors he makes. Half-courters or even groundstrokes at net. Missing regulation groundies bashing the ball in short rallies. Despite the high lot of balls from mid-court, his UEFI is moderate 46.1, an indicator of inability to keep ball in court

Stan with 9 neutral UEs, 7 attacking ones and just 2 winner attempts. In other words, he's not even overly aggressive in trying to dispatch mid-court balls, but still misses. The 2 winner attempts are as easy as you can get net shots

Summing up, Federer serves solidly well and smartly keeps in check how much he goes for on the shot. Returning off first serves is poking balls back in play to a degree unwarranted by quality of serve, but steps in to attacks 2nd serve returns. Not powerful from the back, but doing the needful on the volley set up by good serves or approach shots. More than that, a very poor showing from Wawrinka - who is the harder hitter but can't keep ball in play for long from the back and misses a plethora of easy, mid court balls without even looking to be particularly aggressive

Stats for the final between Federer and Novak Djokovic - Match Stats/Report - Djokovic vs Federer, Rome final, 2015 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)
 
Stan played a terrific match in the quarters against Nadal . Was washed out by sf.

In french the opposite happened. Fed played a half hearted match
 
This match followed by that masterpiece at RG2015 vs Federer really shows the difference between best of 3 vs best of 5 Wawrinka. It's like 2 different players lmao

I've always kinda theorized some of the big-hitting, zoning type players actually prefer best of 5 because they feel they have more time to get into that zone. Think Safin, Tsonga, Wawrinka, Thiem, even Berdych. Much more prone to best of 3 upsets than best of 5, and even in some of their best GS runs, they found themselves down 0-2 or 1-2 at some point.

They could just more be "big-match players" though.
 
That Rome court that day played more like a hard court, which is bad news for Stan vs Fed. Fed's aggressive play is a bad matchup for Stan away from slow clay.
I think the biggest difference for this rivalry across the surfaces is how comfy Stan is returning
He's not the quickest mover for return and apt to push back FHs even. And Fed's a beautiful, spot server and can get the serve just so without much risk to draw weak return - and then get on the attack
Less so on clay, so balance shifts more Stan's way

I've always kinda theorized some of the big-hitting, zoning type players actually prefer best of 5 because they feel they have more time to get into that zone. Think Safin, Tsonga, Wawrinka, Thiem, even Berdych. Much more prone to best of 3 upsets than best of 5, and even in some of their best GS runs, they found themselves down 0-2 or 1-2 at some point.
Never thought of it that way. Its intersting idea and I'd be curious to see their win-loss records against different tiers of ranked players across match lenght

I've tended to think of them as relatively low percentage players (as in, percentage of matches they play well vs don't)

Particularly Safin of the guys you mentioned - you watch this guy playing well and wonder how he isn't a dominant, top dog type like Djokovic or Federer
Stich, Krajicek, Rios were older guys who strike me the same way
Likely answer is that they 'play well' relatively infrequently and probably like complete garbage much of the time

Stan is most obvious example of this, but his whole mentality seems to be unusual
 
Never thought of it that way. Its intersting idea and I'd be curious to see their win-loss records against different tiers of ranked players across match lenght

I've tended to think of them as relatively low percentage players (as in, percentage of matches they play well vs don't)

Particularly Safin of the guys you mentioned - you watch this guy playing well and wonder how he isn't a dominant, top dog type like Djokovic or Federer
Stich, Krajicek, Rios were older guys who strike me the same way
Likely answer is that they 'play well' relatively infrequently and probably like complete garbage much of the time

Stan is most obvious example of this, but his whole mentality seems to be unusual
I'm not the craftiest with stats, but looking at Wawrinka's results at majors from 2013-RG2017 (while keeping in mind he is not great on grass):

AO: 4R (loss to Djokovic), W, SF, 4R (Raonic), SF
RG: QF, 1R (Garcia-Lopez), W, SF, F
Wimbledon: 1R, QF, QF, 2R
US Open: SF, QF, SF, W
Overall win rate: 73-15 (82.9%)

So you'll find here he was pretty consistent in best of 5 during that 4 year stretch that we'd probably consider his prime. The only glaring loss outside Wimbledon was RG2014 1st round, and pretty much all of his losses in that span were to tough opponents.

Now if we look at his M1000 record during that time, he was 61-38, for a win percentage of 61.6%. A full 20% lower than at the majors. I did not include ATP Finals, 500s and 250s since they're not directly listed on the Wiki but I doubt they'd help his BO3 record much, if at all? Not to mention there isn't a M1000 on grass which is his weakest surface, and his Wimbledon losses are weighing down his GS win %.

I feel like this disparity can't completely be explained away by Wawrinka mentally stepping up at the slams. He has to feel more comfortable having an extra 2 sets, right? I also would guess that most of the powerful players are very physical and have good endurance, so they trust their fitness in best of 5.

A disclaimer though that Wawrinka could very well be the exception of that group of players I listed and I'm not sure this trend holds up super well across, say, Berdych's career, although I remember a LOT of GS losses to the big 4 for Berdych and not as many in M1000 tournaments.
 
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