Match Stats/Report - Ferrero vs Massu, Madrid Indoor final, 2003

[Waspsting]

Juan Carlos Ferrero beat Nicolas Massu 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in the Madrid final, 2003 on indoor hard court

It would be Ferrero’s only Masters title on hard court and unseeded Massu’s only Masters final

Ferrero won 99 points, Massu 75

Serve Stats
Ferrero...
- 1st serve percentage (51/85) 60%
- 1st serve points won (38/51) 75%
- 2nd serve points won (20/34) 59%
- Aces 11
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (30/85) 35%

Massu...
- 1st serve percentage (54/89) 61%
- 1st serve points won (32/54) 59%
- 2nd serve points won (16/35) 46%
- Aces 8
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (18/89) 20%

Serve Patterns
Ferrero served...
- to FH 33%
- to BH 64%
- to Body 2%

Massu served...
- to FH 40%
- to BH 60%

Return Stats
Ferrero made...
- 70 (28 FH, 42 BH)
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 10 Errors, comprising...
- 6 Unforced (2 FH, 4 BH)
- 4 Forced (2 FH, 2 BH)
- Return Rate (70/88) 80%

Massu made...
- 54 (24 FH, 30 BH), including 7 runaround FHs & 1 return-approach
- 19 Errors, comprising...
- 12 Unforced (4 FH, 8 BH)
- 7 Forced (1 FH, 6 BH)
- Return Rate (54/84) 64%

Break Points
Ferrero 5/10 (8 games)
Massu 1/5 (3 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Ferrero 17 (10 FH, 4 BH, 3 FHV)
Massu 13 (6 FH, 1 BH, 2 FHV, 2 BHV, 1 BH1/2V, 1 OH)

Ferrero's FHs - 4 cc (1 not clean), 1 cc/inside-in, 1 dtl, 2 inside-out, 2 drop shots
- BHs - 1 dtl return, 2 inside-out, 1 running-down-drop-shot dtl pass at net

- 1 FHV was a non-net, swinging inside-out

Massu's FHs - 1 cc, 3 inside-out, 1 inside-out/dtl, 1 inside-in/cc
- BH - 1 cc

- 2 from serve-volley points - 1 first volley FHV & 1 second volley BHV
- 1 from a return-approach point, a BHV
- 1 other FHV was a swinging cc

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Ferrero 43
- 28 Unforced (15 FH, 13 BH)
- 15 Forced (9 FH, 6 BH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.4

Massu 51
- 39 Unforced (24 FH, 14 BH, 1 OH)
- 12 Forced (9 FH, 1 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHOH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.1

(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 are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Ferrero was 6/7 (86%) at net

Massu was...
- 13/17 (76%) at net, including...
- 2/3 (67%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 1/1 return-approaching

Match Report
Pressuringly, hard hitting with a generous side of moving-opponent-around (especially from the winner) baseline match on a quick court and Ferrero is just better at everything. Its not that Massu plays badly in absolute sense, but sizably not as good as the winner

Serve, return, groundstrokes (consistency and shot tolerance), movement. Fer better at it all. Ground consistency is where it most manifests but shot tolerance is important too

It’s a better match than the stats would suggest. 17 winners, 28 UEs from Fer isn’t anything to write home about, and 13 winners, 39 UEs by Massu looks downright poor. But though not an attacking, or shot-making match to begin with (which tend to yield higher winner numbers), its also not a passive who-blinks-first affair either

‘Pressuringly hard hitting’. As in both players striking clean and well and thwarting the other from getting overtly aggressive in the looking-for-winners sense. No easy openings to attack and just dealing with pace of shot requiring skill, with errors likely to come sooner rather than later

‘Generous side of moving-opponent-around’. It’s a quick court and slightly wider, angled shots are liable to draw errors. Ferrero’s able to get Massu moving side to side, with Massu countering some to return favour. Both players are quick around court, with Massu having more room to showcase it

Statistically, FH UEs and freebies emerge as major areas of difference
Freebies - Fer 35%, Massu 20%
FH UEs - Fer 15, Massu 24
… with all other things not much different. Those differences are product of a lot of things, not just serve and FH consistency

Both with hefty serves, not too widely placed. Fer with some good second serves near lines and lifting - still not damaging
Both returning from considerably far back and swinging at returns. Fer getting better depth on his returns

Similar in-counts (Fer 60%, Massu 61%)
Similar ace rates (Fer 11 from 51 first serves, Massu 8 from 54)
Almost identical double faults (both with 1, Masso serving one more second serve)
Even similar serving pattern (Fer 33% to FH, 64% to BH, Massu 40% to FH, 60% to BH)
Tweedledee, Tweedledum

Return UEs - Fer 6, Massu 12
Return FEs - Fer 4, Massu 7
Different, and Fer better. Slightly better placement of serve and more than that, more consistent returning (also, with better depth on them). 80% return rate on fast court, with neutralizing force - good job by Fer

It comes to 35% to 20% lead in freebies and then they rally. Again, similarly of style

Both lead with FHs, both with powerful shots off that side. Fer plays from closer to baseline and leads rallies most of the times. Massu is more apt to give up weak ball or give up a beat-out, pressured error
Fer’s ups things to moving Massu side to to side, with nice, BH line shots playing their part
Massu does more of the running, occasionally able to turn tables. Both are very quick

Winners - Fer 17, Massu 13
Errors forced - Fer 12, Massu 12
UEs - Fer 28, Massu 39

 

[Waspsting]

UEs are big difference and its all down to FHs
BH UEs - Fer 13, Massu 14
FH UEs - Fer 15, Massu 24

Aggressive UEs are near equal (Fer has 12, Massu 14), so its difference is down to neutrals
Neutral UEs - Fer 16, Massu 25

These ‘neutral UEs’ are on the beat-down, pressured side in line with action. This ain’t passive who-blinks-first type tennis, its hard-hitting stuff

In baseline rallies, FHs have 16 winners (Fer 10, Massu 6), to 4 on the BH (Fer 3, Massu 1) and all 15 FEs (Fer 8, Massu 7), with none on BH (which has passing FEs, but not baseline rally ones)

Bulk of winners being FHs is normal, but that’s a lot of FEs of baseline rallies. Springing out of the fluid rallies and both players wider FH cc’s being damaging. To be clear, its not a 1-strong-FH cc forces error type thing. The FEs come in tougher rallies where both players (Massu usually more) having to defend a few balls before having error extracted out of them

Fer playing more classic lines of cc and line change-ups off the FH. He’s got 5 cc based winners, 2 inside-outs. Drawing FH FEs is in line with how he plays
Massu would probably like to play a more back-away, FH inside-out’ng game, but the matter is usually not in his hands. He’s got 4 inside-out based winners to 1 cc, but has managed to strike his share of winning (that is, error forcing) wide FH cc’s

Good, sound BH play too with similar hard hitting as the other wing, Fer being more attacking off that side.. Direction changers from Fer are part of his moving Massu side to side, and he has a few more attacking errors. He also strikes a couple inside-out winners - 1 of them is full on, inside-out played from completely in the deuce court. Few winning BH dtl’s from Fer too, Massu a little less

Hidden from stats aspect of all this is shot tolerance. In hard hitting rallies, its Massu who ends up coughing up weaker ball and/or being pushed back, especially early on

Taking net with the force of shot on show isn’t easy. No need for Fer to do so as he’s winning from baseline. Massu’s late to do so, but near end, starts looking to come in more. Can’t fault him for it - its tough to find a way to net, leaving aside that net play doesn’t seem to be his cup of tea but he is successful in forecourt

Rallying to net - Fer 6/7, Massu 10/13

Finally, unfortunate couple bad line calls go against Massu at potentially important times. As if he didn’t have enough on his plate - out hit and run-around and out done in all areas as he is

Match Progression
Ferrero controls action at start of match with beat-down hitting that Massu isn’t upto handling and moving Massu side to side before finishing him off. Massu’s pushed well behind baseline to try to cope
In time, Massu improves his counter-hitting, though still further behind baseline and Fer misses a few of his moderately attacking, direction changing shots but he’s up breaks by then

Surprise and superb full BH inside-out winner from Fer in his first return point of the match and he approaches off a control seizing FH inside-in to putaway a FHV winner to reach break point. Massu misses a FH inside-out winner attempt on it to fall behind 0-2

Massu under the gun to hold a 12 point game (2 break point) next go around too. Take net to save the first and wins point after that with a neatly controlled BH1/2V winner. Saves the second when Fer misses routine first return

Serve-out is difficult for Fer. Double fault and 2 third ball FH UEs sees Fer fall to 30-40. After getting to deuce with FH inside-out winner, he blinks up another third ball FH UE and a long rally develops on this break point. Massu eventually misses an attacking FH dtl on it. Fer ends the set with a decent serve that was in fact, out. Later in match at similar fairly important stage, Chair incorrectly overrules a Fer double fault to in, giving him a first serve that he goes on to win

Similar action in second set with Fer more in control than before
Pretty poor game by Massu to be broken to love to start second second. He has to save 3 break points across 2 games in middle of set too
Again, not an easy serve-out for Fer, who needs 8 points (no break points) to close out the set, though he’s up 40-0 in the game so not in too much trouble

Third set is along same lines too, with difference of Massu seeking net a little more towards the end
Fer breaks to 15 to open, takes Massu to deuce next go around and this time, breaks again for 4-1
Its then that Massu hits out some and looks for net. So doing, he breaks right back to 30, with 3 net points, including 1 where he’s brough to net by a drop shot

And he’s got Fer down 15-40 next go around. Long rally on the first break point, and Massu clearly grunting after his shots are completed in it; doesn’t help and Fer comes away with a FH cc winner, before Massu misses return against a good second serve on second break point. Fer wraps up with a pair of aces

And Fer breaks to bring the curtain down. Bold BH dtl return winner makes score 30-30, when Massu makes a horror FH UE from up the court to go down break/match point. He serve-volleys on it and lunges a second volley long

Summing up, solidly strong from Ferrero in all areas and better than similar playing Massu in all
Serves a bit stronger, return is more consistent and damaging
In court action, controls hard-hitting play and moves Massu around

Massu plays similarly, though as reactive partner and is quick around the court (with more chances to show it than opponent, who is similarly quick), with BH that holds up well. He’s not bad but Ferrero is better at everything

 

[Galvermegs]

I remember seeing ferrero deal with federer fairly impressively and dismiss massus chances. I never saw this in full. Ferrero was at his best that season (and a short bit of 04).

Of course massu got his big moment in athens. Who am i to argue with novak about 'most players' putting everything into the olympics??

 

[Waspsting]

I remember seeing ferrero deal with federer fairly impressively and dismiss massus chances. I never saw this in full. Ferrero was at his best that season (and a short bit of 04).

He was world number 1 during this tournament and according to commentary, with the win rose to #1 in the year-end race too (that is, without his points being bolstered by pervious years YEC runner-up showing), with the end of season just around the corner

pretty interesting finish to the race then with Roddick winning, though i don't think he had any particularly good results from here to the finish. How'd he rise above Ferrero?
And Federer far behind enough that even a dominant YEC run couldn't quite raise him to #1

Odd combo - #1 after Shanghai, finishing third with eventual #1 not doing anything extraordinary in between

 

[Galvermegs]

He was world number 1 during this tournament and according to commentary, with the win rose to #1 in the year-end race too (that is, without his points being bolstered by pervious years YEC runner-up showing), with the end of season just around the corner

pretty interesting finish to the race then with Roddick winning, though i don't think he had any particularly good results from here to the finish. How'd he rise above Ferrero?
And Federer far behind enough that even a dominant YEC run couldn't quite raise him to #1

Odd combo - #1 after Shanghai, finishing third with eventual #1 not doing anything extraordinary in between

I really felt federer had arrived with the yec win. Roddick was going to need a very good start to 04 to keep his lead, but we all know what happened next..

 

[NAS]

He was world number 1 during this tournament and according to commentary, with the win rose to #1 in the year-end race too (that is, without his points being bolstered by pervious years YEC runner-up showing), with the end of season just around the corner

pretty interesting finish to the race then with Roddick winning, though i don't think he had any particularly good results from here to the finish. How'd he rise above Ferrero?
And Federer far behind enough that even a dominant YEC run couldn't quite raise him to #1

Odd combo - #1 after Shanghai, finishing third with eventual #1 not doing anything extraordinary in between

If I remember right, Roddick became no 1 with Paris indoor semi

Federer became no 2 with yec win and Ferrero Lost all three match but Roddick won two

 

[Galvermegs]

If I remember right, Roddick became no 1 with Paris indoor semi

Federer became no 2 with yec win and Ferrero Lost all three match but Roddick won two

Federer came through a nailbiter against agassi and then became as imperious as his latter round wimbledon 03 form. Poor roddick and agassi could do virtually nothing but be the main spectators in those encounters.