Match Stats/Report - Hewitt vs Agassi, San Jose final, 2002

[Waspsting]

Lleyton Hewitt beat Andre Agassi 4-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(4) in the San Jose final, 2002 on indoor hard court

Hewitt was the top seed, Agassi second. Shortly after, Hewitt would win Indian Wells and Agassi would win Miami. The two would meet later in the year at US Open semi-final, with Agassi winning

Hewitt won 126 points, Agassi 131

(Note: I’m missing 1 point - Set 3, Game 1, Point 1 - an Agassi service point that he won
I’ve made educated guesses regarding serve type for 2-3 points)

Serve Stats
Hewitt...
- 1st serve percentage (69/147) 47%
- 1st serve points won (51/69) 74%
- 2nd serve points won (44/78) 56%
- Aces 17
- Double Faults 7
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (40/147) 27%

Agassi...
- 1st serve percentage (63/109) 58%
- 1st serve points won (47/63) 75%
- 2nd serve points won (31/46) 67%
- ?? serve points won (1/1)
- Aces 10
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (29/109) 27%

Serve Pattern
Hewitt served...
- to FH 44%
- to BH 56%

Agassi served...
- to FH 46%
- to BH 53%
- to Body 1%

Return Stats
Hewitt made...
- 77 (36 FH, 41 BH), including 3 runround FHs
- 2 Winners (2 FH)
- 19 Errors, comprising...
- 10 Unforced (7 FH, 3 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 9 Forced (6 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (77/106) 73%

Agassi made...
- 100 (46 FH, 54 BH)
- 2 Winners (1 FH, 1 BH)
- 23 Errors, comprising...
- 12 Unforced (5 FH, 7 BH)
- 11 Forced (3 FH, 8 BH)
- Return Rate (100/140) 71%

Break Points
Hewitt 1/5 (4 games)
Agassi 2/21 (7 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Hewitt 45 (26 FH, 13 BH, 2 FHV, 3 BHV, 1 OH)
Agassi 20 (8 FH, 7 BH, 3 BHV, 1 OH, 1 BHOH)

Hewitt's FHs - 7 cc (2 passes), 2 cc/inside-in, 6 dtl (1 return), 7 inside-out, 2 inside-in, 2 inside-in/cc (1 return)
- BHs - 1 cc, 8 dtl (1 pass, a 1-handed shot), 2 dtl/inside-out, 1 inside-out, 1 inside-out/dtl

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

Agassi's FHs - 2 cc (1 return, 1 pass), 1 dtl, 2 dtl/inside-out, 3 inside-in (1 at net)
- BHs - 1 cc, 5 dtl (1 pass), 1 inside-in return

- the OH was on the bounce from the baseline

Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Hewitt 74
- 51 Unforced (22 FH, 27 BH, 2 FHV)
- 23 Forced (12 FH, 10 BH, 1 Between-Legs)... the Between-Legs was a pass attempt
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 49.4

Agassi 38
- 25 Unforced (12 FH, 13 BH)
- 13 Forced (8 FH, 4 BH, 1 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46

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

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Hewitt was 8/12 (67%) at net

Agassi was 16/21 (76%) at net, with...
- 1/2 forced back

Match Report
Great match, filled with glorious, full blooded, baseline action. Agassi’s more solid, and Hewitt’s nudged into aggressor role for it. Agassi’s better, Hewitt wins. Court is normal

The ball-striking alone would make it high end, but that’s just the starting point - wide hitting, depth, long rallies, thorough absence of sloppiness, opening the court and moving rallies, defence, counter-attacking, point-construction, shot-making, what isn’t there? - all flowing out of balanced, ‘normal’ baseline tennis. Not over-eager or low percentage aggression that comes off, though the shot-making’s excellent too

Riveting progression and tension to go with top drawer action. Particular flows (there’s negligible ebbs), around potential decisive moments are aplenty. Doing brief play-by-play of such points would lead to 6 page report

Match long, Agassi has statistically better of everything. Leads first serve in by 11%, first serve won by 1% and second serves won 11%
And that’s with Hewitt with a problematically low 47% in count

Agassi wins 51% of the points, serving just 43% of them
Break points - Hewitt 1/5 (4 games), Agassi 2/21 (7 games)
Clear and significant superiority for Agassi

Taking just the last 2 sets, that shifts to Agassi leading first serve in by 9%, Hewitt first serve won by 7%, Agassi second serve won by 10%
Hewitt still with low 46% first serves in

Points won are exactly 50-50, with Hewitt serving 54% of them
Break points - Hewitt 1/5, Agassi 1/7, with both having them in 4 games
Slight, indecisive advantage for Agassi. Would still back him to win 1/2 sets at least with above tune playing

Agassi has a match point in both second and third sets
In second set tie-breaker, he’s at 5-6 (returning). Gets a second serve on it too. Hewitt takes charge off the rally and finishes with authority
In third set, he has it at 4-5. Its aced away
Match points, the ultimate key moment, is tip of the iceberg (to take poetic license of expression). Inches separate crucial points won and lost around the ending of the third set in particular, with match on the line for both players

Back to “Agassi having statistically better of everything”. Its confined to having to serve a lot fewer points to hold serve, not winning higher lot of points, which suggests Hewitt struggling to hold much more, but managing. In such scenario, would expect Agassi to break more than opponent and would favour him in tiebreaks

Suggestion isn’t too accurate and the big gap in points served is due to 2 ‘outlier’ games of 22 and 18 points (Hewitt gives up sole break of first set in it, and manages to hold in tense, business end juncture of the third). Is it still an ‘outlier’ if there’s 2 of them? Nevermind. Point is, generally, Hewitt’s holding about as readily as Agassi and neither have it easy to do so

There are only 3 love holds all match (Hewitt 2, Agassi 1), also Hewitt’s broken to love once.
Sans the 2 long games Hewitt wins 106 points, Agassi 111, with Hewitt serving 107, Agassi 110
And break points shift to Hewitt 1/5 (4 games), Agassi 1/8 (5 games)

Agassi still winning more points and still with more chances to break. And those numbers shifting further in his favour sans the tiebreaks (meaning, they speak to his having better chances in tiebreak, in line with trend)

Anyway you slice or dice it, Agassi with better of things, despite the result

Serve & Return
Hewitt’s serve and Agassi’s return are the most interesting parts of this contest

Hewitt with low 47% in count (Agassi has 58%), but quality of both serves are good. High (and often timely) aces, and minor weapons quality level second serves

He’s probably pressured into both by Agassi’s early, bashed returning. A little hit and miss from Agassi slapping returns from inside court. Takes him awhile to get into rhythm doing so, and even then, fair few misses. It keeps action sharp and Hewitt on his toes. Its not necessarily better than more consistent, less attacking returning - in word, more conventional returning - just different

Aces - Hewitt 17, Agassi 10
First serve ace rate - Hewitt 25%, Agassi 16%

If your going to serve at 47%, that’s the way to do it. Its not a fast court, but high quality serves from Hewitt there. Being difficult to ace is not among the qualities that earned Agassi reputation for being an elite returner, but here, its more Hewitt hitting wide spots regularly. For that matter, that’s a good yield for Agassi too - and Hewitt is a difficult guy to ace

Quality of first returns are good from both players, despite the damaging serves; Potential here for draw-weak-return & fully-command-third-ball and subsequent rally. Instead, first returns are firm enough that server has mild initiative or has to be pointed of intent to retain lead position with third ball shot choice. Its foundation for the great rallies that are essence of the match. With both taking a chance on occasional winning return too, which comes out to hit & miss success

Double faults - Hewitt 7, Agassi 3
Second serve double rate - Hewitt 9%, Agassi 7%

That’s a relative win for Hewitt, because his second serves are particularly good. Some genuinely damaging, and next to nothing that’s easy to attacks. And he’s under pressure, with Agassi stepping into court to hammer returns as he does

Both players looking to attack with the second return quite often. Agassi more so stepping well into court and slapping the ball. He’s still hit & miss with his success. More measured attacking returns (like hitting slightly wide, while taken early) from both players get the server moving and put mildly on defence. Its width, not extreme depth that’s behind the attack part more often

As in all things, Hewitt’s quicker and better at dealing with third ball on the move, but Agassi’s not bad (and has to do it less)

Sans doubles, Hewitt wins 62% second serve points, Agassi 72%
With doubles, its Hewitt 56%, Agassi 67%

… with Agassi prone to missing a few more returns. He misses 13 second returns, including 2 in the final ‘breaker, Hewitt misses 6
Second serve return rate - Agassi 82%, Hewitt 86%

Doesn’t look like much in percentage terms. In a match where 1 point can change the result, its significant. Another crucial miss from Agassi is a winner attempt late in third set in 18 point game, which is called out (it probably is out, but by an inch. They don’t show much of a replay), which had it landed in and all other things remaining equal, would see him break and serve match out

 

[Waspsting]

Gist - Both with good quality serving. Hewitt more so off both serves, but serving lower percentage and double faulting more
Both looking to counter-attack with the return quite often, including occasionally against first serves. Agassi more often, also missing a little more
Its dynamic stuff, and neither serve nor return gives either player overwhelming advantage going into rally. A base that leads to all kinds of fun stuff

Statistical gist - both players with 27% freebies, Hewitt double faulting some more
Equal freebies (unreturned serves), more handovers (double faults) from Hewitt, Agassi returning aggressively more often (both do though), Agassi with edge in serve-return contest

Action - Baseline
For starters, the set-up to court action is edgy, with serve or return setting either player on front foot for rally. And unpredictably so - some good serves giving server advantage (but little easy third ball finisher openings), some neutralizing returns, some initiative grabbing or even point ending wide returns (and some misses trying). All mixed together, no sure way of telling what you’ll get any given point

And play is essentially classic orthodox; cc exchanges with dtl attacking change-ups off both wings. FHs more free than BHs

High end and classic orthodox, that is -

- Very good ball striking from both cc, with Agassi taking ball little earlier on average. With good depth. Just subtly wider is potentially point ending, given the hitting

- Crosscourt exchanges tend to be long and pressuring. No easy opening to attack

- Minimal sloppiness. You can count the number of third ball UEs on one hand

- Simple, staple cc exchanges are long. Sooner or later (not immediately and not every rally), someone goes the other way. Either to end the point or to turn rally into a fluid one. Usually successfully, not always. No easy balls to do so of and sound judgement of risk is required in the change-ups

- from there, you get dtl winners or running rallies. Open court rallies result, still with good hitting and depth (unless deliberately angled short for attacking effect) - sharp attacking cc met with just as sharp counter-attacking cc or dtl, and rally continues with each going wide for winning shots

Hewitt’s quicker, Agassi better running for BHs than FHs

Pretty much everything that can happen from baseline, does. Aggressive, but from sound (and very strong base), not wanton hitting out. Calculated risk-taking in going for finisher, with usually with good outcome for risk taker. Wonderful stuff. How does it look in numbers?

In baseline rallies (including return winners, excluding return errors) -
- Winners - Hewitt 38, Agassi 13
- Errors forced - Hewitt 9, Agassi 13
(aggressively ended points - Hewitt 47, Agassi 26)
- UEs - Hewitt 47, Agassi 25

Virtually same aggressively ended points as UEs for both players doesn’t look like anything special
The point is, just the staple play is high end. Just trading blows cc with good hitting and depth and sublty wider shots would make it ‘good tennis’ that’s liable to break down even good baseliners. Match like that would have high UEs, low winners and still be very hard to top. That’s just base here - the open rallies, point construction and shot-making are extra layers above it. The UEs don’t come easy. Lots of long rallies, good lot of relatively pressured UEs

Stats also look more overtly Hewitt aggressor, Agassi counter-puncher than action warrants. The stock stuff is 2 players competing for hitting advantage and court position, not Hewitt leading, Agassi reacting. Agassi proves more secure, but has minimal hitting advantage - and takes long time for it to emerge; Hewitt’s willing to switch to attacking dtl

And Agassi does his share of attacking too. Just not as often as Hewitt

BH cc rallies tend to see two players near sidelines. Agassi’s better at a going a little wider still, edgily neutrally or slightly attackingly. Hewitt goes for dtl winners more often
Hewitt has 9 dtl based BH winners (also couple inside-out). Agassi has 4. Higher lot of Hewitt’s 9 FH FEs also drawn by Agassi’s BH dtl. Agassi rarely looking to run down Hewitt’s BH dtl’s, while opposite is not true

On FH side, very wide FH cc from both players is most often the lead attack shot, with dtl being another. More often than end the point directly, they lead to open court, attacking & counter-attacking rallies

Neutral UEs - Hewitt 20, Agassi 15
Agassi little steadier, with both players solid. Pressuring hitting from both players and rallies are long. Just trading cc shots with mild longline change-ups would be a good contest

Attacking UEs - Hewitt 13, Agassi 5
Errors forced - Hewitt 9, Agassi 13
Much better from Agassi. Even better than that great ratio looks because Hewitt’s quickness makes him tough to force errors out of of. Hewitt’s ratio isn’t good. Agassi’s no slouch on defence either, though not as quick as opponent. He prefers counter-attacking when possible to defending (Hewitt also does this substantially)

Winners - Hewitt 38, Agassi 13
Winner attempt UEs - Hewitt 16, Agassi 5
Winners come out of point construction. Both players resist being overpowered, so they have to be moved around to set up kill shots. As described earlier. Not much shot making out of routine position, but winners taken on by both players, especially Hewitt, are not easy shots usually

In that light, good ratios from both players. Nailing winners to that extent, Hewitt at least has to stay even with Agassi of court position and hitting. To be clear, he usually is, sometimes even taking lead, but most often, its Agassi that’s slighltly leading rallies

All above figures are for pure baseline points. Neither player seeks net much
At net, Hewitt’s 8/12, Agassi 16/21
Fine winning rates. Both players groundies are discouragement to come in. Hewitt’s quickness makes him extra threat on the pass. Both players come in strongly when they do, both efficient in volleying

Taking all points (net and baseline), winners and UEs by shot -
- Hewitt FH 26 and 22
- Agassi FH 8 and 12
- Agassi BH 7 and 13
- Hewitt BH 13 and 27

In line with greater willingness to overtly attack, Hewitt’s FH with a very dominant showing. His winners include 5 cc, 5 dtl, 7 inside-out; as balanced a yield as you’ll see
On BH, 9 dtl based winners, and couple more inside-out; He’s generally not a big BH dtl guy, but trailing UEs on that side by particularly large margin, turns to it with a vengence
And Agassi that much more solid off both wings, amidst long, tough rallies

Gist is everything happening, within context of orthodox baseline dynamics; despite all the winners, neither player goes crazy going for finishing shots
Long tough rallies cc, with excellent hitting and good depth. Agassi that much more secure
Wider cc or dtl off either wing to turn rally into an attacking - defending or counter-attacking one. Both players indulging, Hewitt more. First class running rallies to, with great defence and counter-attacking
Lots of winners, especially from Hewitt who takes on not easy shot choices with fine success
Not much net play, but what there is is good. Pretty tough passing too

 

[Waspsting]

Match Progression
Action is hot and heavy right out the gate. Wonderful, hard hitting, cc baseline rallies, where hitting even slightly wide is damaging. BHs are more on show than FHs in first set

Agassi has much better of the set, though it doesn’t come easy. He wins 53% of the points, serving just 37% of them and break points read Hewitt 0, Agassi 1/14 (3 games). Takes 22 point game (and 9 break points in it) for him to get the only break. Sans a dubious call early in game, he’d have broken a second time later in the set also

Despite Agassi’s statistical dominance, the action is quite even (just happens to mostly be on Hewitt’s serve). And that’s with Agassi coming to grips early on with his return position, and he misses fair few returns trying to take ball so early

Agassi has 15-40 in game 3, brought up by a BH dtl pass winner, having started the game with a winning FH cc after a tough BH rally. Hewitt draws BH UE and serves an ace to reach deuce before going on to hold

Next Hewitt go around takes 22 points; It’d be easier to say what doesn’t happen in the game than what does. There’s just 2 net points, including Hewitt missing a regulation reaction volley to end the game. Rest of game has aces and double faults and aggressive returns and missed aggressive returns, both players attacking, both players forced to defend, both wings on show, long rallies. Agassi breaks in the end

Hewitt faces 3 break points serving at 3-5 also. Bad call early in game saves him from being broken. It’s a minature of the 22-pointer

Hewitt gets into a return game for first time on the serve. He’s got 0-30 and game goes to deuce with Agassi sealing things with a blasted OH on bounce from baseline winner and a very commanding net point, where Hewitt can only tokenly hit the ‘pass’ between his legs

Action stays the same, but now both players holding ‘comfortably’ (as in, by scoreline of games). Almost non-stop, great tennis from both players

Agassi saves a break point in game 6 with a strong serve

Has to save another in game 8, with Hewitt striking couple BH winner (dtl and inside-out). He’s striking BH dtl winners quite regularly around this time. Hewitt misses a dtl’ish FH attacking shot on the break point and Agassi holds with a dash - BHV winner set up by FH dtl and a FH inside-in winner against a deep returns

Couple of BH dtl winner attempt misses and a FH approach error sets Hewitt down break point at 4-4. He aces it away. When Hewitt makes a third ball UE against a deepish return later in game, it brings home just how rarely either player has done so

Awhile later, its onto tiebreak. Agassi forces a running FH error to move ahead 3-2, and Hewitt doesn’t do himself any favours by missing easy FHV and routine second return to trail 2-5

Agassi crucially misses BH dtl winner attempt of his own to put things back on serve and reaches match point at 6-5
Gets a second serve on it too and a rally develops. Hewitt takes control of it with a series of strong FHs to Agassi’s BH, before eventually coming away with a FH inside-out winner
A rally develops on Hewitt’s first set point also, and he is able to pull off the BH dtl winner on it

Decider starts with same brilliance
2 trade breaks early. Hewitt’s broken to love with Agassi starting game with FH cc return winner, ending with a FH inside-in one after healthy rally and throwing in a net point in between, after bossing Hewitt off both wings in the rally that leads to it
Hewitt breaks back at once to 30 in a pressuring a game

Game after is ordinary. Again, bringing home how rare that is for the match
If sheer brilliance drops a little after, tension rises to compensate

3 games in a row have break points in them, ending with score at 5-5

Hewitt holds 18 point game (4 break points). There’s normal for the match glorious rallies in it, especially the second point which features defence and counter-attack and ends with Agassi nailing a FH dtl/inside-out winner. Hewitt’s FH falters some with errors. Crucially, an Agassi return is called out; if it was out, it was by an inch, otherwise it was a winner

Agassi’s down 15-40 game after, with Hewitt striking a brilliant BH inside-out/dtl winner, before Agassi’s misses BH dtl. Strong wide serve saves first break point and Hewitt misses a regulation BH on the second

The last break game is 10 points and Hewitt aces away the only break point in it, which is also match point. Very good pass from Hewitt ends it against a commanding BH cc approach

Before the tiebreak, Hewitt with running, 1-handed BH dtl pass winner from seemingly hopeless position

Tiebreak. The only mini-break in it is probably the most spectacular point of the match. Agassi’s got Hewitt running all over the place, but Hewitt’s able to find counter-attacking shot BH cc to open court. Agassi’s get to that ball is effectively a drop shot and both players end up at net, where Hewitt lob volleys him back to baseline. Agassi’s upto putting tweener in play, but Hewitt’s there to putaway BHV winner

That puts Hewitt 5-3 up and he has 2 service points to come at 5-4
Ending of the ending is little disappointing. Agassi missing a routine BH and then a routine second returns. He’d missed another routine second return earlier in the game also

Summing up, as good a baseline match as there’s been. Both players at their best from stop to start, action orthodox of nature but outstanding of execution
Ball-striking, depth, wider attacking shots, dtl point finishers, running rallies, defence, counter-attack, FHs, BHs, its all there from both players

Agassi is a little better for being slightly more secure off the ground - and its hard work to maintain because Hewitt rallies tough and hard too
Hewitt all but completely compensates for it by moving to aggressor role, taking on finishing shots regularly when continuing rally normally would be more obvious choice. And manages to execute, despite getting little that’s weak to work with from even tougher rallyer than himself. Agassi’s attacking play is excellent also and more measured if less frequent than Hewitt

If result is a coin flip, its loaded 52-48 for Agassi, but falls Hewitt’s way
@The Guru - thoughts?

 

[NatF]

Great match and thorough write up as always. I charted this one for TA when I have time I might be tempted to compare notes. A match where Hewitt was super clutch.

 

[Slingshot]

I need to watch this match. Great write-up.

 

[Mustard]

This is one of the best matches of all time for toe-to-toe ballstriking: