Match Stats/Report - Gaudio vs Coria, French Open final, 2004

[Waspsting]

Gaston Gaudio beat Guillermo Coria 0-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 8-6 in the French Open final, 2004 on clay

Gaudio was unseeded and this would be his only Slam title. This would be Coria’s only Slam final

Gaudio won 148 points, Coria 137

Serve Stats
Gaudio...
- 1st serve percentage (99/149) 66%
- 1st serve points won (57/99) 58%
- 2nd serve points won (23/50) 46%
- Aces 3
- Double Faults 9
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (27/147) 18%

Coria...
- 1st serve percentage (89/136) 65%
- 1st serve points won (46/89) 52%
- 2nd serve points won (22/47) 47%
- Aces 5
- Double Faults 6
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (20/136) 15%

Serve Patterns
Gaudio served...
- to FH 34%
- to BH 63%
- to Body 3%

Coria served...
- to FH 57%
- to BH 35%
- to Body 8%

Return Stats
Gaudio made...
- 110 (71 FH, 39 BH), including 3 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 15 Errors, comprising...
- 14 Unforced (9 FH, 5 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 1 Forced (1 FH)
- Return Rate (110/130) 85%

Coria made...
- 113 (47 FH, 66 BH), including 4 runaround FHs & 2 drop-returns
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 24 Errors, comprising...
- 15 Unforced (5 FH, 10 BH), including 2 runaround FHs
- 9 Forced (2 FH, 7 BH)
- Return Rate (113/140) 81%

Break Points
Gaudio 11/15 (11 games)
Coria 11/23 (12 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Gaudio 31 (14 FH, 9 BH, 3 FHV, 2 BHV, 3 OH)
Coria 32 (19 FH, 7 BH, 4 FHV, 2 OH)

Gaudio's FHs - 7 cc (1 pass), 2 cc/inside-in (1 pass, 1 at net), 3 inside-out, 1 inside-in, 1 lob
- BHs - 3 cc, 2 dtl (1 return), 1 longline, 1 drop shot at net, 2 running-down-drop-shot at net drop-shots

- 1 FHV can reasonably be called an OH

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

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Gaudio 76
- 57 Unforced (29 FH, 25 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV)... with 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net
- 19 Forced (13 FH, 5 BH, 1 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.8

Coria 84
- 61 Unforced (43 FH, 18 BH)... with 1 FH at net & 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net
- 23 Forced (12 FH, 10 BH, 1 BHV)... with 3 FH running-down-drop-shot at net, 2 BH running-down-drop-shot at net & 1 non-net BHV
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47.0

(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
Gaudio was...
- 20/38 (53%) at net, including...
- 1/2 serve-volleying, both 1st serves
---
- 0/4 forced back/retreated

Coria was 18/33 (55%) at net, with...
- 2/6 (33%) forced back/retreated

Match Report
The story is better than the tennis, which isn’t saying much. Tournament favourite and clay court beast Coria slaughtering sacrificial lamb, unseeded opponent Gaudio, until cramps turn things around to the beast being useless and getting slaughtered by the lamb. The finale though is dramatic and tense, with a still struggling Coria steeling himself be competitive. He serves for the match twice - and has two match points so doing, but can’t quite knock the last nail in. Gaudio does

Not a bad story. The tennis is poor. At very best, decent - calling it ‘good’ would be a stretch. Most of the time, something less than that - Coria easily outlasting an outmatched Gaudio in a game of who-blinks-first or Coria rendered useless by cramps getting rolled over

Decent third set, where Gaudio pulls up his consistency socks to stay even in the passive rallies in terms of error rate (which is by far the most important factor in play when both players are fit). He takes the set, winning the last 9 points from 4-4, 40-0 down in what retrospectively looks like the beginning of Coria’s cramping problem

Tension is a good substitute for quality tennis and the decider has plenty of it. A recovering, but far from well Coria steels himself to be competitive, having more or less tanked the last set (adding ‘more or less’ is generous). He can run for 3 or 4 shots - not as well as his norm, but his below norm is as good as a normal player’s standard or even good - but tends to give up on it after that. He’s at his most aggressive - hitting harder, wider and going for winners from the back, with fair success

Serves for match at 5-4 - plays a terrible game to be broken to love, giving up quick ground errors. A choke? Or the residue of cramps? Given how he scrambles game after to break, choke seems better answer

Serves for match at 6-5 and has 2 match points. Rallies develop on both points - his serve isn’t much even when healthy and post-cramps, is easy to return, so rallies are always likely to develop - get prolonged and Coria ends up missing attacking dtl shots on both points. He’s playing quite a lot of dtl or hard hit, wide cc shots at this stage - not too reliably. And Gaudio goes on to break and reel off last 2 games to take the match

And what of Gaudio? He’s not impressive in any area. Consistency, shot tolerance, grit, point construction, shot-making, attacking ability, defence… all decent at best. Serve is better than Coria’s (which isn’t saying much), returning lacks consistency (and opposition of Coria’s serve is a dip-your-bread exercise for most of match). Movement best part of his showing. Call it decent, or generously good. Put it this way: he’s not slow. Footwork isn’t always great. When Coria loops balls deep, Gaudio tends to get caught out and try half-volleying ball - not to ‘take it early’ in the positive sense, but because he’s not adept enough to fall back and play a normal groundie, which is very do-able

The healthy Coria simply outlasts him in passive rallies. Consistency is a mismatch, and Gaudio doesn’t seem have ability to attack (Coria has no need to). Coria at his cramping nadir couldn’t beat a 10 year old girl

Two players combine for 63 winners, 42 FEs and 108 UEs. That’s with both FEs and winners getting a bump when Coria can barely move. Both players individually with more UEs than aggressively won points too -

Gaudio 31 winners, 23 errors forced, 57 UEs - to finish -3
Coria 32 winners, 19 errors forced, 61 UEs - or -10

Amidst general passive baseline action. There are matches where stats-taker’s challenge is differentiating between an ‘attacking shot’ and a ‘winner attempt’. Here, its differentiating between a ‘neutral’ shot and an ‘attacking’ one. Full on dtl shots from corners are more often neutral shots (that is, unlikely to draw an error) than winner attempts

Not a good match. And match long stats are of limited value, due to large variance across difference parts - particularly flowing out of Coria’s condition

On the positive side is both players’ conduct. 0 gamesmanship, 0 time wasting, 0 playing to the crowd. When Gaudio wins, no theatrical falling on the floor. Just a normal happy celebration and off to share an embrace with an obviously disappointed comrade

When crowd delay the game by engaging in Mexican wave, both players meet it with a smile and Gaudio good naturedly applauds them, before signaling a suggestion that its time to stop. He seems a very simple man. Someone who might wave into a camera that’s pointing right at him, like someone in the crowd might. And Coria with bare minimum show of being in pain. Contrast with likes of Andy Murray or Rafael Nadal, who seem to go out of of their way to grimace and grab ailing body parts when things aren’t going their way

Action & Stats
Ordinary serves from both, Gaudio’s a little stronger. Coria serves very gently at times during and after cramping phase

Coria serving majority 57% to FH is unusual. The 2 players would know one anothers game well. He draws 9 FH return errors to 6 BHs (including a runaround FH), so not particularly justified, though not unjustified either. Gaudio only running around BH 4 times (including the 1 miss)… he could easily do it were he inclined, as softly as Coria serves. Apparently, Gaudio is BH preferring returner

Both players with double faulting problem. Gaudio delivers one 18%, Coria 13% of second serves. Bad at best of times, more so when neither player is doing much with the return. Most of Gaudio’s are early in match, when Coria has no reason to try returning aggressively

Somehow, Coria slips in 5 aces (14/15 of the return errors he draws have been marked UEs). Gaudio letting couple of them go when well down in sets

Some terrible return errors from Gaudio against Coria’s half-cocked serving. Serves must be around 60-70mph, but he misses a couple

Coria with relatively high 9/24 FEs on return errors is about his moving very poorly for what would be routine returns with normal movement

None of it too important. Gist of it in unreturneds - Gaudio 18%, Coria 15%, with good lot of them taking place when returner’s given up and at least semi-tanking game (and sometimes, fully tanking)

For first couple sets, Coria systematically outlasts Gaudio. Nothing fancy, just better consistency. Play is dual winged. After 2 sets -
Winners - Gaudio 8, Coria 9
Errors forced - Gaudio 7, Coria 6
UEs - Gaudio 26, Coria 13

Looks like what it is - the best clay courter in the world vs an unseeded clay courter

 

[Waspsting]

No change in hitting strength or attacking, but Gaudio keeps ball in play longer, and UEs are more evenly distributed for set. Its only part of match which is competitive and the tennis isn’t bad from at least one player. Its not thrilling or high end, but decent and not unworthy of a French Open final

UEs for the set - Gaudio 9, Coria 15, with 4 of Coria’s coming in last 9 points (+ 2 return UEs). Gaudio winning the set by being more consistent

Does Coria choke away the third set? Probably. He’s up 40-0 at 4-4 before losing 9 points in a row. In getting broken, he’s not unduly poor, with 2 UEs, 2 FEs and a Gaudio winner

But the game he plays as Gaudio serves out is weirdly poor. An almost wild FH cc winner attempt UE - sort of shot he simply wasn’t playing. Missing a makeable running-down-drop-shot at net which has though been marked FE. And 2 regulation return misses - the second taken quite early against a first set. Looks a rattled, out-to-lunch game

He’d been breaking serve regularly, so no reason for him to feel set was as good as over, but that’s the attitude his play in the game conveys

Other possiblity is he was already starting to cramp up. All the more reason to knuckle down and try to end the match in 3. He holds opening game of the next set, albeit, more aggressively than he had been playing - suggesting that yes, he was starting to feel the cramps coming on at end of second set

Complete garbage from Coria in set 3 when he is cramping - 60-70mph serves, double faults, hardly moving, hitting feebly etc. That can safely be attributed to cramping

In final set, Coria’s at his most aggressive. Hits harder, hits wider, goes for winners from back. Leads with FHs, and is willing to take on FH dtl and even dtl/inside-out shots for winners. Some drop shots, not very good ones. Runs quickly upto a point. 3-4 good runs in point maybe, but then he’ll give up on next ball. Or he might not give chase at all (particularly when up a break, as he usually is in the set). Awkward and not quick in his footwork moving to routine type shots - and looks to hit them to open court to get an attack started

Fair success at it, but not great. And apt to give up routine errors to neutral balls too. Wisely, balanced play - not all out, trying to hit winners, but attacking. Leads to more running game than previously, which he does his best on. Gives Gaudio chance to showcase his defence and running too. Pretty good from Gaudio here too

Overall -
- Winners - Gaudio 31, Coria 32
- Errors Forced - Gaudio 23, Coria 19
- UEs - Gaudio 57, Coria 61

Gaudio winners and errors forced are both bolstered by Coria’s rock-moving phase

UEs at center of action. Who has better of that varies across match. Its Coria’s Plan A to bleed Gaudio out, and works like charm for 2 sets, before Gaudio turns table in second set, where he’s at least Coria’s equal and physical issues may or may not be factor in Coria’s error rate shooting up at end

Whether that’s due to cramps or nerves - Coria and God know. There’s evidence to pointing to both

UEs by groundstrokes -
- Coria BH 18
- Gaudio BH 25
- Gaudio FH 29
- Coria FH 43

Coria FH also has match high 19 winners (5 more than next highest, Gaudio’s FH). Its what he turns to when he’s looking to be aggressive

Still, gap of 25 UEs and more than double the FH UEs as BHs is too much to be accounted for by greater aggression leading to more errors, especially as the aggressive part is largely limited to last set. Good move from Coria to attack more - and wise in keeping how much to reasonable. He’s not a powerful hitter in general or a big time shot-maker and over-indulgence in aggression isn’t likely to go well for him. Still, not a good day on the FH

UE breakdowns -
- neutral - Gaudio 34, Coria 31
- attacking - Gaudio 13, Coria 17
- winner attempts - Gaudio 10, Coria 13

Early on, Coria has almost 2:1 advantage on neutrals - that coming out even by end is down to his level dropping like a stone

Similar winner attempt UEs to go with virtually same winners. Given he’s playing a statue some of the time, is that relative fail for Gaudio? No. He wins his points via neutral UEs against statue. Its good move, winning with as little risk as possible

17 attacking UEs for just 19 errors forced is poor from Coria. Gaudio’s not a bad defender. Its beyond Coria’s comfort zone to attack to extent he does - and it opens up counter-attacking angles that he wouldn’t want to deal with. But he has little choice. Going for blazing winners from routine positions is unlikely to go well and he’s outlasted in rallies post-cramping. Just quite not good enough with his attacking (hitting wide, powerfully etc.). Both match points he has end with attacking dtl UEs

Quite a few drop shots from both players. Gaudio has great disguise, but the shots themselves are middling. He’s forced large 5 errors (also draws couple UEs with drop shots). None of them are hard-forced, most are helped by Coria’s sub-par movement. All 3 of his drop shots winners are played at net. Coria for that matter imprecise with his drop-shotting too. He’s got couple winners, but Gaudio usually up to running them down and respond with running-down-drop-shot drop shots at net

Finally, regarding Coria’s around cramping time. He hardly moves in fourth set, but steels himself to in decider. He’s not as quick as he usually is, but still quicker than most players when chasing balls and about as quick as Gaudio. Takes a special effort and he can’t keep doing over a rally, let alone a game, but by he’s not slow of footspeed in final set. Footwork remains imprecise and he doesn’t get over the ball properly, playing a few ‘arm’ shots

 

[Waspsting]

Match Progression
Nothing like a bagel to get things started. Coria stays in neutral, Gaudio hits a bit harder and tries to hit a little wider to liven action up but isn’t able to trouble Coria much. His force of shot could be handled by a lesser mover than the elite class Coria

Rallies go on until Gaudio misses, wash, rinse, repeat - and in due time, 6-0

Second set is more of the same, with more double faults thrown in. At times, Gaudio doesn’t even look like he’s trying much. Lazily copes with slow, deep balls he could readily move back and play a normal groundie too by non-aggressively hitting them on up (and missing)

He does break for the first time at 2-5 down, having saved a break point to not lose the set 6-1 game before. But Coria breaks next game to wrap up set, finishing with a drop shot winner

After 2 sets, Gaudio has 26 UEs to Coria’s 13 (winners + errors forced for both players is 15)

Good move by Gaudio to tone down the wider hitting, which wasn’t doing him any good and was raising his error rate. Play becomes more passive as a result in third set - straight out who-blinks-first (as opposed to Gaudio mildly trying to liven up action earlier)

Gaudio consistency goes up and Coria ends up blinking up the errors. It’s a nice set of clay court tennis

Players trade breaks in moving from 2-2 to 3-3. Gaudio breaks first in a game of long rallies where he holds steady longer. Coria hits back at once - couple of winning BH cc’s from Gaudio in the game (1 setting up an OH winner, the other forcing a running error), but he’s the one to blink up the UEs too

All looks normal as Coria strikes an excellent BH cc passing winner to move to 40-0, a point away from 5-4. He doesn’t win another point in the set

It’s a strong effort from Gaudio to break. Winning wide FH cc, winning deep FH dtl, a drop shot winner at net on a point both players are in forecourt and move back (Coria’s decision to retreat is a dubious one). And steady to draw 2 FH UEs from Coria

The serve out is a turning point, and only Coria and God know exactly what the thinking behind it is (possibly, just God). Coria plays a wild, almost throwaway game to give up the set to love

Rattled looking swatted FH cc winner attempt UE starts things off and he misses back to to back routine returns (1 second serve, 1 first) to wrap it up

Is Coria feeling the cramps coming on (he’d receive treatment after 2 games of the next set)? If so, it’d behoove him to finish things off in 3 sets. 1 break down isn’t a daunting task, particularly as he’s been breaking serve regularly all match (admittedly, less so in immediate lead up). More likely, its product of frustration for blowing a 40-0 lead to get broken - a rattled, mentally weak game rather than a physically compromised one

Gaudio has 9 UEs for the set, Coria 15

Players trade holds to open the 4th set. Coria is erratic in his shot choices as Gaudio holds, and takes a medical time out 1 game before the first sit down. The definitive start cramping

Coria barely moves, serves like a little girl and doesn’t play much harder than one for rest of set as Gaudio, keeping ball in court runs away with next 5 games. 2 sets all and into the cauldron of the fifth set

Coria’s still serving gently and missing good few regulation returns early in it, but improves steadily as set goes on. Picks and chooses points to chase the ball or let it go. And hits harder, wider and looks to finish points (as opposed to just bleed errors out of Gaudio)

Gaudio is reactive. Runs about and defends. Sometimes uses the angles opened up by Coria to counter-attack. More often, tries to play for UEs, directing balls to Coria’s BH more than FH. He’s certainly not baiting Coria’s aggression, though its viable option

Just 5/14 first serves in opening game, including 2 double faults, as a scrambling Coria breaks. It’s a good game with just 3 UEs and 6 winners. Great running BH dtl pass winner by Coria brings up second break point, on which Gaudio misses a BH after being pushed back in the rally

Next 2 games are breaks too - Coria again going down to love, and still showing problematic movement, but winning error battle next game to stay ahead

Things stay on serve, with Gaudio making the odd rattled aggressive error. His attempts to patiently outlast Coria aren’t working too well, and Coria isn’t always trying to resist

It works eventually as he breaks back for 4-4. Rallies go on and Coria misses would-be point ending FHs
Thus starts the end of the end. Including this game, 6/7 remaining games are breaks

Coria serve for title at 5-4. It’s a bad game from him, giving up a couple of quick FH UEs, but Gaudio also defends while running side-to-side before another FH UE, and finishes with a FH cc passing winner

Takes 16 points for Coria to break again, and he does plenty of running in this one. Which raises question as to what happened the previous game. Not 100% fit or otherwise, in this light, looks like a choke.

Coria serves for the title a second time and this one goes 12 points. Starts with biffed BH cc winner and deals with a drop shot to move to 30-0. Missed FH dtl winner attempt and double fault (and a running FH FE) set him down 30-40

Gaudio misses routine return and its deuce

Remaining 6 points of game all end in ground UEs. Gaudio misses attacking FH dtl to bring up match point, Coria misses attacking BH dtl on it. Gaudio misses neutral FH to bring up another match point, Coria misses more aggressive FH dtl on it. Couple of BH blinks - the first a little wide and for which Coria doesn’t move well - later, and match is back on serve

Net play and Coria FH UEs see Gaudio hold for 7-6

For a change, its aggressive BH UEs that seals the match, with Coria missing 2 dtl BH winner attempts. He’s struggling with FH attacking shots, and decides to go for BH winners instead (he’s been hitting BHs harder and wider cc for set, but not going for winners). Gaudio swishes away a BH cc winner to wrap things up

Summing up, Coria’s conditioning problems is main factor in a very tense match (which is only tense because of those problems). When he’s fit, he comfortably outlasts Gaudio for errors, with Gaudio mildly being more aggressive in hitting harder and a little wider than the very neutral Coria, which doesn’t bother the fleet Coria at all

Gaudio tones it down to Coria’s level of percentage play and holds even for a set so playing, with Coria somewhat throwing things away at the end

Thereafter, Coria suffers an attack of cramps. They haven’t played particularly long and action hasn’t been particulalry intense. The cramps sees him all but tank a set to gain time and go all out with what he has in the decider

Up and down and tense decider, with Coria at his most aggressive - hitting harder, wider and going for his shots - to reasonable success. At times, he’s as quick in covering court as any normal player, but can’t sustain it for too many runs in a row. Gaudio is more reactive, and does some able defending

Coria twice fails to serve out match, including losing two match points, before Gaudio comes out ahead

More faulty fitness than choking in Coria’s bottom line - but some of the latter too, including a harried brain fart or two

Memorably tense stuff at the end. The tennis is sub-par - dull when both players are fit, and choppily bad otherwise. Some decent running defence and sound consistency is the best of Gaudio - but overall, he doesn’t stand out even in those areas. Some combo of weak muscles and weak nerves transmutes Coria’s considerable playing superiority to falling behind his opponent and onto the loss

 

[Galvermegs]

Match Progression
Nothing like a bagel to get things started. Coria stays in neutral, Gaudio hits a bit harder and tries to hit a little wider to liven action up but isn’t able to trouble Coria much. His force of shot could be handled by a lesser mover than the elite class Coria

Rallies go on until Gaudio misses, wash, rinse, repeat - and in due time, 6-0

Second set is more of the same, with more double faults thrown in. At times, Gaudio doesn’t even look like he’s trying much. Lazily copes with slow, deep balls he could readily move back and play a normal groundie too by non-aggressively hitting them on up (and missing)

He does break for the first time at 2-5 down, having saved a break point to not lose the set 6-1 game before. But Coria breaks next game to wrap up set, finishing with a drop shot winner

After 2 sets, Gaudio has 26 UEs to Coria’s 13 (winners + errors forced for both players is 15)

Good move by Gaudio to tone down the wider hitting, which wasn’t doing him any good and was raising his error rate. Play becomes more passive as a result in third set - straight out who-blinks-first (as opposed to Gaudio mildly trying to liven up action earlier)

Gaudio consistency goes up and Coria ends up blinking up the errors. It’s a nice set of clay court tennis

Players trade breaks in moving from 2-2 to 3-3. Gaudio breaks first in a game of long rallies where he holds steady longer. Coria hits back at once - couple of winning BH cc’s from Gaudio in the game (1 setting up an OH winner, the other forcing a running error), but he’s the one to blink up the UEs too

All looks normal as Coria strikes an excellent BH cc passing winner to move to 40-0, a point away from 5-4. He doesn’t win another point in the set

It’s a strong effort from Gaudio to break. Winning wide FH cc, winning deep FH dtl, a drop shot winner at net on a point both players are in forecourt and move back (Coria’s decision to retreat is a dubious one). And steady to draw 2 FH UEs from Coria

The serve out is a turning point, and only Coria and God know exactly what the thinking behind it is (possibly, just God). Coria plays a wild, almost throwaway game to give up the set to love

Rattled looking swatted FH cc winner attempt UE starts things off and he misses back to to back routine returns (1 second serve, 1 first) to wrap it up

Is Coria feeling the cramps coming on (he’d receive treatment after 2 games of the next set)? If so, it’d behoove him to finish things off in 3 sets. 1 break down isn’t a daunting task, particularly as he’s been breaking serve regularly all match (admittedly, less so in immediate lead up). More likely, its product of frustration for blowing a 40-0 lead to get broken - a rattled, mentally weak game rather than a physically compromised one

Gaudio has 9 UEs for the set, Coria 15

Players trade holds to open the 4th set. Coria is erratic in his shot choices as Gaudio holds, and takes a medical time out 1 game before the first sit down. The definitive start cramping

Coria barely moves, serves like a little girl and doesn’t play much harder than one for rest of set as Gaudio, keeping ball in court runs away with next 5 games. 2 sets all and into the cauldron of the fifth set

Coria’s still serving gently and missing good few regulation returns early in it, but improves steadily as set goes on. Picks and chooses points to chase the ball or let it go. And hits harder, wider and looks to finish points (as opposed to just bleed errors out of Gaudio)

Gaudio is reactive. Runs about and defends. Sometimes uses the angles opened up by Coria to counter-attack. More often, tries to play for UEs, directing balls to Coria’s BH more than FH. He’s certainly not baiting Coria’s aggression, though its viable option

Just 5/14 first serves in opening game, including 2 double faults, as a scrambling Coria breaks. It’s a good game with just 3 UEs and 6 winners. Great running BH dtl pass winner by Coria brings up second break point, on which Gaudio misses a BH after being pushed back in the rally

Next 2 games are breaks too - Coria again going down to love, and still showing problematic movement, but winning error battle next game to stay ahead

Things stay on serve, with Gaudio making the odd rattled aggressive error. His attempts to patiently outlast Coria aren’t working too well, and Coria isn’t always trying to resist

It works eventually as he breaks back for 4-4. Rallies go on and Coria misses would-be point ending FHs
Thus starts the end of the end. Including this game, 6/7 remaining games are breaks

Coria serve for title at 5-4. It’s a bad game from him, giving up a couple of quick FH UEs, but Gaudio also defends while running side-to-side before another FH UE, and finishes with a FH cc passing winner

Takes 16 points for Coria to break again, and he does plenty of running in this one. Which raises question as to what happened the previous game. Not 100% fit or otherwise, in this light, looks like a choke.

Coria serves for the title a second time and this one goes 12 points. Starts with biffed BH cc winner and deals with a drop shot to move to 30-0. Missed FH dtl winner attempt and double fault (and a running FH FE) set him down 30-40

Gaudio misses routine return and its deuce

Remaining 6 points of game all end in ground UEs. Gaudio misses attacking FH dtl to bring up match point, Coria misses attacking BH dtl on it. Gaudio misses neutral FH to bring up another match point, Coria misses more aggressive FH dtl on it. Couple of BH blinks - the first a little wide and for which Coria doesn’t move well - later, and match is back on serve

Net play and Coria FH UEs see Gaudio hold for 7-6

For a change, its aggressive BH UEs that seals the match, with Coria missing 2 dtl BH winner attempts. He’s struggling with FH attacking shots, and decides to go for BH winners instead (he’s been hitting BHs harder and wider cc for set, but not going for winners). Gaudio swishes away a BH cc winner to wrap things up

Summing up, Coria’s conditioning problems is main factor in a very tense match (which is only tense because of those problems). When he’s fit, he comfortably outlasts Gaudio for errors, with Gaudio mildly being more aggressive in hitting harder and a little wider than the very neutral Coria, which doesn’t bother the fleet Coria at all

Gaudio tones it down to Coria’s level of percentage play and holds even for a set so playing, with Coria somewhat throwing things away at the end

Thereafter, Coria suffers an attack of cramps. They haven’t played particularly long and action hasn’t been particulalry intense. The cramps sees him all but tank a set to gain time and go all out with what he has in the decider

Up and down and tense decider, with Coria at his most aggressive - hitting harder, wider and going for his shots - to reasonable success. At times, he’s as quick in covering court as any normal player, but can’t sustain it for too many runs in a row. Gaudio is more reactive, and does some able defending

Coria twice fails to serve out match, including losing two match points, before Gaudio comes out ahead

More faulty fitness than choking in Coria’s bottom line - but some of the latter too, including a harried brain fart or two

Memorably tense stuff at the end. The tennis is sub-par - dull when both players are fit, and choppily bad otherwise. Some decent running defence and sound consistency is the best of Gaudio - but overall, he doesn’t stand out even in those areas. Some combo of weak muscles and weak nerves transmutes Coria’s considerable playing superiority to falling behind his opponent and onto the loss

Gaudio was pretty good on his day just never close to dominant on clay (let alone any other surface) like coria had been for more or less several years.

His mental resilience at RG 2004 was impressive from r1 to the semis... he did very well to make.the final and then just froze. But he never lacked for fitness in any match I saw him play. One can make excuses for coria and all that but i didnt like his style that much and he simply didnt convince me as a big match player so much as a caretaker elite claycourter with kuerten and ferrero struggling by then. Even the semi final with henman was patchy.

 

[Waspsting]

...i didnt like (Coria's) style that much and he simply didnt convince me as a big match player so much as a caretaker elite claycourter with kuerten and ferrero struggling by then

In essence, his style is most like Borg with attributes of consistency, speed, defence, shot tolerance, passing well when needed, very consistent returning
Not as top-spinny, but same kind of intent with shots - not making errors
Doing damage from the back (hitting winners, forcing errors) isn't significant part of their games

That's a great style for wooden racquets and 1980s, but sub-optimal in 2004 by when its possible, if not common, to be successful with aggression from the back

Guga did plenty and Ferrero, though very orthodox, had power and was a capable shot-maker too

I don't know about the caretaker assessment. That was the pattern back then - couple years being top clay courter in the world, before being replaced. Coria's run of success during '03-'04 was the hottest clay run since Muster almost a decade ago. Don't think either Ferrero or Guga had runs like that

 

[Galvermegs]

Maybe i mean caretaker in a different sense. Like courier and hingis ended up overshadowed by sampras and the williams sisters but are still atg players. Coria played his part and was a big wall for everyone but still flopped somewhat when expected to do well or win, between 2003 and 2005 at rg.

Also coria did just make one major final and didnt even play that well in it.. he played solid 2 and a half sets and then it was a real mess.. but i remember that match so well. After a tedious dinner party with a colleague of my parents.. it made the afternoon that much more interesting.
If coria bounced back and beat rafa in a significant final on clay, and had one more deep slam run.. then he would at least be on my list for best to not win a major. As it is...

I see the similarities with borg
But borg had a fine serve and decent volleys. Off clay he was very strong. Coria never was really a serious contender like that but he did have some moments on hard court .. preferably without agassi in his draw.

 

[7thKingSlam]

Considering how big a pre-match favorite Coria must've been, and the big disparity in caliber of player, this has to be the biggest choke in history... Thiem vs Zverev pre-match odds would likely have been something like 60/40 or 65/35 in Thiem's favor, and at least there was some good play in patches of that match. Coria losing this is like the equivalent of Zverev losing next year's RG final from 2 sets up against, uh, Pedro Martinez. And cramping horribly the whole way.

Shame Coria's clay court resume will forever be mostly known for this and that Rome 2005 epic vs Nadal.

 

[Galvermegs]

Considering how big a pre-match favorite Coria must've been, and the big disparity in caliber of player, this has to be the biggest choke in history... Thiem vs Zverev pre-match odds would likely have been something like 60/40 or 65/35 in Thiem's favor, and at least there was some good play in patches of that match. Coria losing this is like the equivalent of Zverev losing next year's RG final from 2 sets up against, uh, Pedro Martinez. And cramping horribly the whole way.

Shame Coria's clay court resume will forever be mostly known for this and that Rome 2005 epic vs Nadal.

Dear pedro has but one title. Gaudio beat a young, but still up and coming, nadal 3 times in a row. Other actual heavyweights.. like albert costa were losing to this kid from majorca.

Gaudio also qualfied for the 05 masters cup. Yes federer totally blew him apart but indoors
that was more likely (but other meetings tighter).

So he wasnt a total fluke. Maybe he shouldnt have won but he earnt the title the fair and square way. It is as much about him being at full throttle as coria choking. Neither played great at the same time. The match was very shaky.
Some other so called chokes in finals like RG84 and Wimby93 were much better for actual tennis.

 

[buscemi]

Dear pedro has but one title. Gaudio beat a young, but still up and coming, nadal 3 times in a row. Other actual heavyweights.. like albert costa were losing to this kid from majorca.

Gaudio also qualfied for the 05 masters cup. Yes federer totally blew him apart but indoors
that was more likely (but other meetings tighter).

So he wasnt a total fluke. Maybe he shouldnt have won but he earnt the title the fair and square way. It is as much about him being at full throttle as coria choking. Neither played great at the same time. The match was very shaky.
Some other so called chokes in finals like RG84 and Wimby93 were much better for actual tennis.

Yeah, Gaudio made WTF in 2004 on the heels of his French title and then, as you note, made it back again in 2005, reaching the SF stage before being double bageled by Federer.

 

[Angrybirdstar]

Coria losing this is like the equivalent of Zverev losing next year's RG final from 2 sets up against, uh, Pedro Martinez

i think it would be more like losing to RG '22 Ruud

 

[Mustard]

Before this final, everybody assumed that Coria was going to win. The attitude was that it was inevitable that Coria was going to win, especially with Federer, Moya, Kuerten and Nalbandian all out, with Coria himself having beaten Moya.

I think even Henman would have been favoured to beat Gaudio had that been the final.

 

[Galvermegs]

Before this final, everybody assumed that Coria was going to win. The attitude was that it was inevitable that Coria was going to win, especially with Federer, Moya, Kuerten and Nalbandian all out, with Coria himself having beaten Moya.

I think even Henman would have been favoured to beat Gaudio had that been the final.

Henman would have had his best chance at wimbledon 2001 if there was a slam final on the table. He had already used up his luck in his rg 04 run... barely getting past home favorite llodra in the 4th round (mp saved there iirc).

Anyway while coria was the better player in general and incredibly fast, with great counterpunching skill.. i do find gaudios game one of the prettiest to watch out of the south americans of the last few decades. Too bad he never could adapt much elsewhere. Maybe the pedestrian serve was one issue. He also seemed to be content with just being a one bit wonder.

 

[7thKingSlam]

i think it would be more like losing to RG '22 Ruud

Yeah, this was a breakout performance by Gaudio. My comment was more about the perception at that point in time with Gaudio being unseeded despite not really having significant injuries in the past year. His success afterwards wasn’t factored in.

Obviously after this title Gaudio proved he wasn’t a fluke.

 

[Galvermegs]

Yeah, this was a breakout performance by Gaudio. My comment was more about the perception at that point in time with Gaudio being unseeded despite not really having significant injuries in the past year. His success afterwards wasn’t factored in.

Obviously after this title Gaudio proved he wasn’t a fluke.

Yes that is true enough. What also can be a problem is how many seeds (especially back then) were kind of meaningless if the relevant players disliked the surface. Just look at hewitts results at rg in general, and sampras post 96 as well.

 

[7thKingSlam]

Yes that is true enough. What also can be a problem is how many seeds (especially back then) were kind of meaningless if the relevant players disliked the surface. Just look at hewitts results at rg in general, and sampras post 96 as well.

Definitely. It was a different era of surface specialities compared to now. The modern clay court specialists don’t even make deep runs at Monte Carlo/Rome, much less RG.

 

[Mustard]

Yes that is true enough. What also can be a problem is how many seeds (especially back then) were kind of meaningless if the relevant players disliked the surface. Just look at hewitts results at rg in general, and sampras post 96 as well.

Hewitt had those brilliant French Open matches vs. Canas in 2001 and 2002.

 

[Galvermegs]

Hewitt had those brilliant French Open matches vs. Canas in 2001 and 2002.

On a given day he was indeed great. But he just wasnt clay compatible ... better than cash was maybe on a par with rafter. For that matter i was very surprised puerta overcame canas at rg 2005. At least costa ended up winning the thing in 02.

 

[Waspsting]

Considering how big a pre-match favorite Coria must've been, and the big disparity in caliber of player, this has to be the biggest choke in history... Thiem vs Zverev pre-match odds would likely have been something like 60/40 or 65/35 in Thiem's favor, and at least there was some good play in patches of that match. Coria losing this is like the equivalent of Zverev losing next year's RG final from 2 sets up against, uh, Pedro Martinez. And cramping horribly the whole way.

He plays like a qualfier for 2 sets, closer to 2 categories beneath Coria than 1
Watching him, can't help wonder how this guy manged to reach the final in the first place

As chokes go... yes, its pretty bad, but I would seperate the choking (spurts of bad play at important junctures, seemingly caused by nerves) from the cramping (assuming he doesn't cramp because of nerves, which, I have no reason to believe)

Coria's tanks the 4th set when he's clearly cramping badly
End of the third could be a choke, could be the start of cramping. It comes out of hte blue
There's choking involved in 5th set, but he's also steeling himself hard to compete. Chokings a privelege there, he's moving and playing badly enough that would think a good clay courter could wipe him out 6-2 or 6-3 cozily. Say someone like Ferrer or Corretja

Some other so called chokes in finals like RG84 and Wimby93 were much better for actual tennis.

'93 Wimby final a choke? I'm assuming you mean the women's final. Was that the infamous Novotva one?

 

[Galvermegs]

'93 Wimby final a choke? I'm assuming you mean the women's final. Was that the infamous Novotva one?

Yes i mean the graf novotna duel. Graf never gave out freebies and was a tough out. But i guess whatever luck the german had in snatching victory from the jaws of defeat fell flat in the following tournament in 1994 (of course back then 16 seeds allowed for such draws)