Match Stats/Report - Kuerten vs Corretja, French Open final, 2001

[Waspsting]

Gustavo Kuerten beat Alex Corretja 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-2, 6-0 in the French Open final, 2001 on clay

Kuerten was the defending champion and this was his third and last title at the event. Corretja was playing his second final, having previously lost in 1998 to Carlos Moya

Kuerten 136 won points, Corretja 108

Serve Stats
Kuerten...
- 1st serve percentage (72/123) 59%
- 1st serve points won (50/72) 69%
- 2nd serve points won (27/51) 53%
- Aces 10
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (30/123) 24%

Corretja...
- 1st serve percentage (64/121) 53%
- 1st serve points won (42/64) 66%
- 2nd serve points won (20/57) 35%
- Aces 5
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (14/121) 12%

Serve Patterns
Kuerten served...
- to FH 22%
- to BH 78%

Corretja served...
- to FH 21%
- to BH 72%
- to Body 7%

Return Stats
Kuerten made...
- 103 (34 FH, 69 BH), including 14 runaround FHs
- 4 Winners (1 FH, 3 BH)
- 9 Errors, comprising...
- 3 Unforced (2 FH, 1 BH)
- 6 Forced (2 FH, 4 BH)
- Return Rate (103/117) 88%

Corretja made...
- 91 (19 FH, 72 BH), including 2 runaround FHs
- 2 Winners (1 FH, 1 BH)
- 20 Errors, comprising...
- 10 Unforced (5 FH, 5 BH)
- 10 Forced (3 FH, 7 BH)
- Return Rate (91/121) 75%

Break Points
Kuerten 9/17 (9 games)
Corretja 3/8 (7 games)

Winners (excluding serves, including returns)
Kuerten 33 (11 FH, 13 BH, 5 FHV, 3 BHV, 1 OH)
Corretja 36 (13 FH, 15 BH, 2 FHV, 5 BHV, 1 OH)

Kuerten's FHs - 2 cc, 1 cc/inside-in, 2 dtl (1 return), 1 inside-out, 1 inside-out/dtl, 2 inside-in, 1 inside-in/cc and 1 net chord dribbler
- BHs - 4 cc (2 passes), 4 dtl (1 pass, 1 at net), 3 inside-out returns (1 pass), 1 longline (bad bounce/wind related) and 1 lob

- 2 from serve-volley points (1 FHV, 1 BHV), both first volleys

Corretja's FHs -4 cc (2 passes), 1 cc/inside-in, 3 dtl (1 return, 1 pass at net), 1 inside-out, 1 inside-in, 2 drop shots and 1 lob
- BHs - 5 cc (1 return pass, 2 at net), 8 dtl (2 passes - 1 a net chord flicker, 1 at net), 1 inside-out and 1 net chord dribbler

- 4 from serve-volle points -
- 3 first volleys (2 FHV, 1 BHV)
- 1 second volley (1 BHV)

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Kuerten 56
- 46 Unforced (24 FH, 17 BH, 2 FHV, 2 BHV, 1 OH)
- 10 Forced (5 FH, 1 BH, 2 FHV, 2 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.9

Corretja 69
- 43 Unforced (21 FH, 21 BH, 1 BHV)
- 26 Forced (12 FH, 14 BH)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net & 2 BH running-down-drop-shot (1 at net, 1 not)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 42.3

(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
Kuerten was ...
- 29/47 (62%) at net including...
- 7/9 (78%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 4/6 (67%) off 1st serve and...
- 3/3 (100%) off 2nd serve
---
- 0/1 forced back

Corretja was...
- 20/30 (67%) at net including...
- 8/10 (80%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 2/3 (67%) forced back/retreated

Match Report
An odd match with the wind equalizing action between the two players for most of 2 sets, and when it dies down, leaving them to play it out on merit and then it’s a mismatch; more for Corretja playing poorly than Kuerten well, though both elements are present

Part 1 - Windy, Play Checked
For most of 2 sets, hitting is relatively gentle from both sides, and not much attempt to attack by either player. Guga’s drop shots are the most attacking plays, and they’re not often seen. Its not outright passive who-blinks-first tennis - both players go for their shots at times, but certainly, wisely held back play from both, given windy conditions. Even Corretja’s hair is flapping about, as are the covers of the backboard behind the line judges

As such, consistency is most important factor. Its not greater consistency that sees Cor hold even of scoreline though. They’re roughly evenly matched on that front - and Cor attacks near as much as Guga (and usually, more successfully)

After 2 sets (not an exact match for Part 1, but close enough)
Guga - 22 winners, 17 errors forced, 36 UEs
Cor - 26 winners, 6 errors forced, 26 UEs
Aggressively ended points/UE differential - Guga +3, Cor +6

Good tennis, especially in light of difficult conditions. Hitting is on softer, safer side (not soft or gentle though), attacks are calculated and things are close to even

Part 2A - Less wind, Play Freer
Sun comes out as second set draws to an end, wind largely dies down (though not completely). Cor’s hitting doesn’t change much, but now, Guga’s able to step into court sooner rather than later in rallies to command, whereas before, they’d stuck it out rallying more passively. He doesn’t overdo it - big, wide BH cc approach shots are his most effective weapons (not going for winners from the back)

Command and dominate aren’t the same thing though. Cor’s still very much in it. Out-hit somewhat, and playing from deeper position certainly, but not out it. Excellent BH dtl shots to routine balls is his main weapon

7-5 scoreline is accurate indicator of 2nd set. 6-2 for the third less so though it points in right direction of Guga being better player. Break points for the set read Guga 2/3 (2 games), Cor 0/2 (2 games), with Cor having good shots on both his break points

Set 3 -
Guga - 4 winners, 7 errors forced, 6 UEs
Cor - 7 winners, 4 errors forced, 10 UEs
Aggressively ended points/UE differential - Guga +5, Cor +1

Still good tennis, still competitive, with Guga looking and being the better. More looking than being, what with his freer, looser play, but also actually better

Part 2B - Corretja falls apart
Along same lines of 2A, Guga upping his commanding play to more aggressive. Impressively, but bigger factor is Cor completely falling apart. Loose errors, movement getting worse and worse, waning efforts to chase balls or move for returns, even serving quality all fall off a cliff for Cor

Has anyone ever lost a set in a Slam final while winning just 2 points? Its not for lack of trying that Cor doesn’t

Up 5-0, 0-40 (returning), Guga has the easiest of OH putaways to end the match, having lost just 2 points in the set. He misses the OH. 2 points later, he has an on the bounce OH right on top of the net that makes the last one look difficult. He hits it short and around where Cor is standing, who’s able to fend it back over Guga - and Cor wins the point

Cor’s broken to end it all, but he does win 4 points in the game, which takes his tally for the set to 6. A pittance, but better than a likely record setting low 2

Set 4 -
Guga - 7 winners, 2 errors forced, 4 UEs
Cor - 1 winner, 7 UEs (also misses 7/13 returns - 5 of them UEs - and double faults twice)
Aggressively ended points - Guga +5, Cor -6

Fair reflection of Guga’s showing - very good. Cor is even worse than his numbers

Misses 7/13 returns - 5 of them UEs. Makes 5/19 first serves or 26%. Double faults twice. 0 approaches
His last net point is in Game 6, Set 3 - 46 points before the last. Last non-serve-volley net point is 27 points before that. Net play had made up a large part of his effectiveness earlier

To be clear, Guga plays very well near the end, at something close to his best. He’s going for and making his winners from the back. He doesn’t play as well as Cor plays badly… it would be very difficult to

 

[Waspsting]

Serve & Return
Not much much worth going into

59% first serves in is good for Guga, who takes something off the serve much of the time. Still gets a ripe 10 aces. Cor’s serve is pretty good too before the last set bender. Guga occasionally spontaneously runsaround to hit FH returns against first serves gives some idea of how non-threatening Cor’s serve generally is. In that light, 5 aces is very good for him

Guga with high 88% return rate, but he’s a bit slow in moving for returns, particularly early on. Below personal par return day for him - and he’s still got that high a return rate, and against an opponent who isn’t known for wading into weak returns (more on that later)

Play - Baseline & Net
Winners - Guga 33, Cor 36
Errors Forced - Guga 26, Cor 10
UEs - Guga 46, Cor 43

Aggressively ended points/UE differential - Guga +13, Cor +2

Good numbers, especially with half the match in difficult to at least, non-optimal conditions

Surprising to see Cor with more winners, and its unusual for both players to have more BH winners than FHs. In Guga’s case, that’s somewhat due to passing winners (5 BH, no FHs), but not for Cor who actually has more FH passes than BHs

Cor’s BH dtl is best of the baseline-to-baseline aggressive shots. He’s got high 5 winners (also 1 at net and 2 passes). A beautiful, precise shot. Not overly hard hit. Goes for it amidst regulation BH cc rallies, and chooses well because he doesn’t miss much. Forces errors and gets Guga on defence with it too, when he hasn’t hit the winner

Guga’s star offensive piece is strong BH cc approach shot, which draw good lot of passing FEs. It’s a smart way to attack. He doesn’t have a good day going for his kill shots from the back - 17 winner attempt UEs with 5 volleys, means he’s missed at least 12 would-be winners baseline-to-baseline

He’s only got 14 winners from same situation (not counting a bad bounce related one). Good to have a second attacking option in net play - and its easy to go into from his commanding, in-court position

Some drop shotting by Guga too, especially early on. Mixed bag with it, overall net negative. Most of Cor’s 4 groundstoke at net winners are against bad drop shots that Cor can play orthodox groundshot to (as opposed to the delicate running-down-drop-shot shot)

Cor’s more sneaky in getting to net than Guga (and has to be, given he lacks command of rallies). Some good, quick-dash approaches, but Guga with some good passing, keeping Cor down to 12/20 when approaching (and that includes Cor’s forced approaches to deal with drop shots)

Considerable serve-volleying form both players - Guga 9 times (3 of second serves even), Cor 10 (winning high 8). Another alternative to attacking from the back

Neutral UEs, usually the backbone of clay court tennis read -
- Guga 22, Cor 34 (+1 defensive UE)

Bit of a surprise, though less so than Cor with more winners. The ending has a hand in it, as does Guga bailing on neutral rallies to go for winners and missing - thus keeping his neutral UEs down at cost of winner attempt ones

Still, the consistency of Cor is less-than-good, even accounting for wind. His resistance to power isn’t anything to write home about either and he’s not the hardest guy to force an error out of. Guga’s a bit better on that end - and he’s not faced with same calibre of power

Cor with just 4 winner attempt UEs for his 36 winners is outstanding. Guga has 17 for 33 by comparison

Play in couple nutshells

- trading relatively soft groundstrokes (due to wind), Guga a bit more secure. Also apt to bail on such rallies by going for a point ending shot, which he usually misses. Cor by contrast, sticks to neutral

- both players finding ways to attack, despite wind. Guga via drop shots and net approaches, Cor picking his moments perfectly from the back, serve-volleying and sneakily coming to net otherwise. When wind drops, Guga primarily attacks via net, not overdoing the back-court shot-making. Cor gets his BH dtl’s off superbly, but is relegated to counter-punching or defending much more. He’s not too good a defender

Match Progression
Its overcast and windy as the match starts. Guga is a bit slow to move on the return sometimes. He curbs his offence, largely limiting it to drop shots. Plenty of mishits from players as they trade groundies. The hitting is not powerful, but creeping towards being sturdy

Cor comes to net and serve-volleys a bit to give his game some teeth

Wind or court account for a Guga BH down-the-middle winner that sneaks under Cor’s racquet in opening game. Cor breaks right after and is down 0-30 when he… stops playing

Its started to rain. Not nearly heavily enough to warrant stopping play on clay. But on top of the wind, it’s a tough combo. Cor’s reluctance to play is understandable, but he seems to take the decision unilaterally. Just walks over to the Chair and calmly refuses to play. No protests from Guga, and players sit down for a couple of minutes as the drizzle passes over

Guga goes on to break. They trade breaks later again in the middle of set

Excellent tiebreak from Cor, who moves to 4-1 lead with 3 successive winners. First is a lovely BH cc from routine position, the next 2 are volleys (1 serve volley, 1 set up by a very wide FH cc). Good deep return wins him another point

Amusing point near the end. With both men at net, Guga delicately lobs. A good looking shot that’s seems to be headed near the baseline. Wind has different ideas, and blocks the ball dead. It lands just behind the service line after clearing Cor’s head, who easily moves back and hammers a pass that Guga can’t handle. Guga double faults down 3-6

More of the same kind of action at start of second set. Guga joins in serve-volleying a bit. Winds get weaker with time and towards end of set, Guga’s stepping in to take command of rallies for first time in match. He misses some very easy volleys

Lovely BH dtl winner from Cor to break to open the set. Guga breaks back for 2-2 and struggles to consolidate but manages

As set goes on, Guga begins to lead, if not dominate rallies more. Serving at 5-5, he’s down break point. Cor misses his BH dtl winner attempt on the chance. Ball was there for it, a close shave for Guga. Guga breaks to end the set, despite missing the easiest of putaway BHVs on his first break/set point

Sun comes out for the third set, though its still breezy. Guga plays more freely. 6-2 is an injustice to action. In opening game, Cor has a decent look at FH pass on break point that he can’t make. And awhile later down 1-3, misses a FH inside-in winner attempt that was there for the shot

Though having chances, Cor is getting outplayed. Guga has more, and can seemingly get into return games at will. He breaks to love early and breaks again to end the set.

Cor’s all but given up coming to net, sans a few serve-volleys. On top of Guga’s improved play, Cor’s slips of consistency and movement and he shows signs of frustration near end of set

Which blows over to full on helpless despair in the last set, one of the worst sets of tennis ever played. Guga also plays his best tennis of the match, first breaking with 3 winners (2 returns) and firing hard off the ground, but its outdone by Cor’s very poor showing

There’s not a thing he does so little as below average, let alone adequately - serves at 26% in-count, returns at 38%, misses routine groundies and hits the ones he doesn’t feebly, doesn’t move much for returns, doesn’t chase balls

As recounted earlier, he’s on course to lose the set having won just 2 points in it, but is spared by over-eager attempted finishing shots to very, very easy balls by Guga. Manges to his tally of points won in the set to 6 before giving up the inevitable bagel

Summing up, a good match on the whole and an interesting one in how the players deal with difficult windy conditions. Kuerten does so by curbing his aggression from the back and replacing with drop shots. Corretja does so by timely forays to net. Both players have it not-easy keeping ball in play with authority, and both manage fairly well

The more the wind dies down, the more Kuerten takes command of action, but he keeps it smart by avoiding over-aggression from the back and relying more on pressuring shots from inside the court and especially, net approaches behind strong shots. Corretja’s pushed into defensive role, and while getting short end of stick, keeps his shoulders let alone head above water

Match ends with Corretja falling apart about as thoroughly as a player can, but a good show on the whole from him, a significantly better one from the winner