Match Stats/Report - Ferrero vs Verkerk, French Open final, 2003

[Waspsting]

Juan Carlos Ferrero beat Martin Verkerk 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 in the French Open final, 2003 on clay

It would be Ferrero’s only Slam title. He’d been runner-up the previous year and would go onto be runner-up at the US Open later in the year. Verkerk was unseeded and this would be his only Slam final. He beat Guillermo Coria and Carlos Moya among others in reaching the final

Ferrero won 102 points, Verkerk 68

Verkerk serve-volleyed regularly off first serves

Serve Stats
Ferrero...
- 1st serve percentage (39/70) 56%
- 1st serve points won (32/39) 82%
- 2nd serve points won (17/31) 55%
- Aces 2 (1 second serve)
- Double Faults 5
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (20/70) 29%

Verkerk...
- 1st serve percentage (47/100) 47%
- 1st serve points won (31/47) 66%
- 2nd serve points won (16/53) 30%
- Aces 12, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 7
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (24/100) 24%

Serve Patterns
Ferrero served...
- to FH 35%
- to BH 62%
- to Body 3%

Verkerk served...
- to FH 39%
- to BH 59%
- to Body 2%

Return Stats
Ferrero made...
- 69 (22 FH, 57 BH)
- 2 Winners (2 FH)
- 11 Errors, comprising...
- 6 Unforced (2 FH, 4 BH)
- 5 Forced (2 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (69/93) 74%

Verkerk made...
- 45 (14 FH, 31 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 18 Errors, comprising...
- 14 Unforced (8 FH, 6 BH), including 1 runround FH
- 4 Forced (2 FH, 2 BH)
- Return Rate (45/65) 69%

Break Points
Ferrero 7/22 (10 games)
Verkerk 1/4 (3 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Ferrero 27 (19 FH, 5 BH, 3 BHV)
Verkerk 15 (6 FH, 3 BH, 1 BHV, 3 OH, 2 BHOH)

Ferrero's FHs - 6 cc (1 return pass, 1 at net), 4 dtl (1 pass, 1 at net), 3 inside-out (1 return pass, 1 at net), 1 inside-in at net, 1 inside-in/cc, 1 longline, 1 longline/inside-in, 2 drop shots
- BHs - 1 cc, 3 dtl (1 at net), 1 inside-out/dtl

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

- 1 other BHV was a pass from no-man's land

Verkerk's FHs - 3 cc (2 passes), 3 inside-out
- BHs - 2 dtl, 1 inside-in return

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

- 1 other OH was on the bounce from no-man's land (non-net)

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Ferrero 24
- 15 Unforced (9 FH, 5 BH, 1 BHV)... with 1 swinging BHV
- 9 Forced (6 FH, 3 BH)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 43.3

Verkerk 48
- 34 Unforced (19 FH, 12 BH, 1 FHV, 2 BHV)
- 14 Forced (6 FH, 5 BH, 2 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net, 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net & 1 BHV was possibly a BH1/2V
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45

(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...
- 10/14 (71%) at net, including...
- 1/1 serve-volleying, a 1st serve

Verkerk was...
- 12/26 (46%) at net, including...
- 6/14 (43%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 0/2 forced back

Match Report
Top notch from Ferrero, who thoroughly outplays his opponent. There’s much not good in Verkerk’s showing but he doesn’t disgrace himself. Its more that Ferrero is too good, than Verkerk is poor

Two stats standout
- Ferrero with 27 winners, 24 errors (15 UEs, 6 FEs). More winners than total errors on clay is goldust rare and speaks to a top drawer showing

- Verk with 34 UEs, 31 of them off the ground. A bad figure, but again, he doens’t disgrace himself

Such a discrepancy in ground UEs - Fer has 14, Ver 31 - can happen when trailer is terribly loose or when leader is amazingly secure. Here, its something in between. Fer is commendably secure (without being a full on wall), Verk is not (without being too loose)

Who is Martin Verkerk? Big guy, about 6’4 and powerfully built. Big serve, both first and second. His second serve is typically as strong as Fer’s firsts. 1 handed BH that he likes to drive. Firm hitting off both wings, with potentially damaging FH. A little slow, but not abnormally so for his size

And how’s his showing here? Serve is big, but low in count of 47%. 28% of his first serves are aces (to compare, 3% of Fer’s are - and Fer leads unreturned rates). Second serves would make decent firsts and Fer returns both serves from 5-6 paces behind baseline, and still isn’t overly comfy in returning the seconds (ace percentage says all you need to know about how comfy he is against firsts)

Serve-volleys substantial 41% of time behind first serves. It doesn’t seem like that much because his in-count is low and ace rate is high. Has a double fault problem with 7 or 13% off second serves (Fer is even worse, with 16%)

He wins 43% serve-volleying and 46% at net overall. Not a great net player - its his sub-par movement that stands out from keeping him from so being more than volleying technique - but he’s faced with some very good return and passing. The easier stuff he faces is firmly struck and maybe dipping a little to just under net - and the better stuff (which comes down regularly) leave him near impossible volleys or go for winners. He gets little that’s easy up front

He doesn’t look like a net player in general. Serve is so strong that coming in behind is bound to lead to winning points, though even there, he’s below 50%. From rallies, he foregoes some very straightforward openings to come in that even most clay specialists would likely have taken. As he wins just 46% at net, understandable. Not that he’s doing much better from the back

Off the ground, he has power but largely plays percentage game. Launches into the half-track returns with putaway FHs. Draws enough not-strong returns that were he so inclined, could look to attack those in similar, if toned down way. He rarely does, and prefers a firmly hit ‘neutral’ shot. Quality of such shots is good, not worse than Fer’s, but when rallies develop with such hitting, Fer can hit one more ball in line with ground UE counts

Strong hit FH. BH firm and is willing to change-up line with it for variety, not as an aggressive shot

His problems? The movement isn’t too good and the shot tolerance is a little strange. If rally goes on long enough, he’s apt to be taken aback sooner or later by a firm shot. Usually, you see a player struggling against a certain level of pace and its very easy to identify. With Verk, he rallies along cozily against Fer’s hitting for 4-6 shots, but the 5th or 7th shot, no harder hit than the ones before, jar him and draw a rushed, uncomfy error

Shot tolerance problems are most evident on the return. Fer with a decent serve. It’d be exaggeration to call it ‘healthy’ even, and certainly not ‘hearty’. But its often enough to jar errors from Verk - shot tolerance and movement at root of it. 14/18 return errors have been marked UEs - and his return rate is 69%. Put Coria, who he beat in the semis, in is place, that’d be 80%+. He returns normally - not passive, not aggressive - firmly striking balls back

Easy to be wise after the event, but perhaps a few more risks in going after FHs might have done him better. To do so is acceptance that he’ll be outlasted in neutral rallies, which seems to be a given. But again, he hasn’t sat on his thumbs in the rallies either. He’s got 5 winner attempt and 7 attacking UEs (Fer has 4 combined). With 3 volleys in there, that’s 9 aggressive UEs from the back. In hindsight, necessary to go for a bit more but only probable time to do so is against not-strong returns. Once rally gets underway, Fer doesn’t give him openings to attack, and he’d have to go for low percentage shots

So a sound of style and decent of quality showing from Verk. Its not a 1, 3 & 2 showing. All credit to Fer for that

 

[Waspsting]

27 winners, 24 total errors says it all. All done with pristine orthodoxy - firm strokes that he can up to powerful. Choices of when to do so, when to go dtl or more rarely, wide cc are virtually perfect. And the small matter of executing it all just so

FH stars with 19 winners (Verk has 15 total winners, Fer’s non-FH winners total 8). Just 3 passes there and 4 net shots there (cutely, he has 1 net shot in each of the 4 basic directions), so remaining 12 are ground-to-ground. In all directions. 15 errors to go with it (9 UEs, 6 FEs). Verk with match high 19 FH UEs, confirming his getting out-lasted in the firm hitting FH cc rallies

1 winner attempt UE to go with those 27 winners. Its an easy, putaway swinging BHV. Only showing that comes to mind as being better in this regard is Rafael Nadal in ‘08 Hamburg final

BHs steady and firm. Picks his moments to go dtl for winner. He has 2 from the baseline (+1 at net) though pick of the BHs is an inside-out/dtl one. Outdoing Verk 5-12 on UE front on that side

Neutral UEs - Fer 11, Verk 22. Would expect Fer to get better of this and by 2:1 ratio is if anything, light. Fer isn’t a complete wall. Solid enough to be a match for anyone, but not flawless, couldn’t-miss-if-he-tried standard

So that’s Ferrero’s biggest drawback. Not being incapable of missing a ball. And the high lot of double faults

Other than that, he’s almost perfect

One last quirk in the stats. Rare for a player to have 2 BHOH winners as Verk does. For starters, they’re both clear BHOHs, not high BHVs that can pass for BHOHs and they’re both full stretched out shots that would have been marked FEs had he missed them. And they’re both in the same game, let alone set or match

Match Progression
Long game to start things off - Verk scoring with aces and third ball FH winners to weak returns, but also double faulting and blinking from baseline. He’s eventually broken

Fer has a second serve ace in his first hold, before Verk gets on the board, with a first volley OH winner serve-volleying

Its only game he wins in the set. Makes 1/5 first serves to be broken next go around with deep balls from Fer, a double fault and third ball FH winner attempt UE doing the job (the sole first serve is an ace). Next break ends the set and is a better, more aggressive game, with Fer striking 4 winners (FH cc, BHV pass from no-man’s land after drop-shotting Verk in, a big FH longline and on break point, a FH inside-out return pass). Verk has his moments in the game too, with a third ball BH dtl winner and winning drop-volley

Competitive second set, with break points reading Fer2/4 (3 games), Verk 1/2 (2 games), and its Verk who goes up a break early

He holds for 1-1 with a love hold - 2 aces, third ball FH inside-out winner and serve-volleying forced return error. Then breaks for 2-1
Fer’s FH blinks up errors in the game and Verk throws his hat in too with overpowering FHs to take net and putaway a smash. On break point, Fer drop shots Verk in, who comes away with BHV winner

Fer breaks right back in a deuce game with just 2/8 first serves. Nice, winning BH cc by Verk, but he’s outlasted in the rallies and double faults on break point

Trade of tough holds after. More FH UEs and a double fault see Fer down break point. He thwarts by dispatching a FH winner from net from a weak return before going on to hold. He’s got 2 break points next game, which Verks deals with strongly (mildly forced FH error by FH cc and service winner), before holding with another ace

Great game by Fer to break for 5-3. Dispatching a BH inside-out/dtl winner from routine position stars and on break point, the serve-volleying Verk can’t handle a BH1/2V

Fer serves out to 15. Strange incident where a point is replayed after Verk makes a ball that’s close to the line. Not sure what or why the call is made. Fer goes on to hold to love

Routine 6-2 scoreline aside, third set has a few thrills to it, though Fer is in drivers seat. He’s got 2 break points in opening game that Verk saves with net play before holding. Potential, shot-of-the-decade in the next game as a a forced back from net Verk plays a back-to-net shot that’s perilously close to hitting top of net chord and going for a winner. It just clears the net, and Fer still needs care to drop the volley for a winner. Fer serve-volleys for only time in match to wrap up game with a first volley BHV winner

Deep return, FH cc return-pass winner and FH inside-out winner see Fer break for 2-1

Verk’s next service game turns into an epic 22 point affair with a lot going on. He sends up saving 6 break points and eventually holds in an unexpected way; he nails a needle-threading FH cc passing winner before serve-volleying to draw return error. Earlier in the game, he’d made 2 fully stretched out BHOH winners

Thrilling 12 point game to follow up. Verk moves forward to bop a BH inside-in return winner and another deep return takes a bad bounce, before Fer double faults to make it 30-40. Verks misses a close to regulation return but has another break point later. It’s a bold, third ball BH dtl winner from Fer that erases that one - its not a weak return or an obvious shot choice, and Fer’s shot catches the very back of the line. He goes on to hold with consecutive third ball winners (FH inside-in/cc from mid-court and BH dtl at net)

Fer breaks to love with style - forcing errors with BH dtl and FH inside-out as well as a return to Verk’s serve-volleying feet, and finishing up with a dispatched FH dtl winner
Fer serves out to 15. Verk opens game with a FH cc passing winner but that’s only point he wins, with Fer eventually finishing with a FH longline/inside-in winner

Summing up, great showing from Ferrero. From baseline, he’s strong and steady off both wings and perfectly exploits opponents slowness and shot tolerance issues, while being almost perfect in his measured, attacking forays. FHs particularly damaging and has great variety of direction. Returns a monster serve well too

Verkerk is largely outmatched. Huge serve but low in count, with a double faulting problem. Movement and shot tolerance not upto hanging in with his high quality opponent. But he’s not sloppy (doesn’t give up errors quickly and easily), has good force of shot, is willing and able to change directions with BH, while FH is as powerful (if not steady) as Ferrero’s

Close to a mismatch, and while Verkerk isn’t good exactly, more credit to Ferrero for the extent of result than discredit to the loser

 

[Galvermegs]

The semi.finals and quarters were better matches involving JCF. Verkerk played amazing to beat moya and coria.. he really would have been the biggest shock slam winner but next years final result was still a bit unexpected...

 

[BauerAlmeida]

Typical run where the shocking finalist fails to deliver in the final. Like Schuettler and Clement around that time. They have a great run playing great until the semis but in the final, they feel the pressure of the occasion. Gaudio was going the same way until "the wave".

 

[Galvermegs]

Typical run where the shocking finalist fails to deliver in the final. Like Schuettler and Clement around that time. They have a great run playing great until the semis but in the final, they feel the pressure of the occasion. Gaudio was going the same way until "the wave".

Perhaps he was or maybe coria would have choked anyway. He did blow several match points and mention how he was desparate to win after feeling the victim of the doping ban injustice.