Gustavo Kuerten beat Pete Sampras 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4 in the Year End Championship semi-final, 2000 on indoor hard court in Lisbon, Portugal
Kuerten would go onto beat Andre Agassi in the final to claim his first indoor title and claim the year end number 1 position. Kuerten was the French Open champion, Sampras was the defending champion and reigning Wimbledon winner
Kuerten won 111 points, Sampras 104
Sampras serve-volleyed off all first serves and all but 5 seconds
Serve Stats
Kuerten...
- 1st serve percentage (73/115) 63%
- 1st serve points won (51/73) 70%
- 2nd serve points won (24/42) 57%
- Aces 13, Service Winners 3
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (36/115) 31%
Sampras...
- 1st serve percentage (61/100) 61%
- 1st serve points won (47/61) 77%
- 2nd serve points won (16/39) 41%
- Aces 10, Service Winners 2
- Double Faults 5
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (38/100) 38%
Serve Patterns
Kuerten served...
- to FH 24%
- to BH 70%
- to Body 6%
Sampras served....
- to FH 53%
- to BH 47%
Return Stats
Kuerten made...
- 57 (28 FH, 29 BH)
- 5 Winners (3 FH, 2 BH)
- 26 Errors, all forced...
- 26 Forced (15 FH, 11 BH)
- Return Rate (57/95) 60%
Sampras made...
- 76 (15 FH, 61 BH), including 1 runaround FHs & 2 return-approaches
- 3 Winner (1 FH, 2 BH)
- 20 Errors, comprising...
- 9 Unforced (9 BH)
- 11 Forced (4 FH, 7 BH)
- Return Rate (76/112) 68%
Break Points
Kuerten 3/5 (4 games)
Sampras 1/10 (4 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Kuerten 32 (12 FH, 12 BH, 4 FHV, 4 BHV)
Sampras 33 (9 FH, 7 BH, 1 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 7 BHV, 1 BH1/2V, 2 OH)
Kuerten had 14 passes (5 FH, 9 BH)
- FHs - 4 cc (2 returns) and 1 dtl return
- BHs 9 - 3 cc (1 return), 1 dtl, 4 inside out and 1 inside-out/dtl,
- regular FHs - 5 inside-out and 2 drop shots (1 at net, 1 inside-out)
- regular BHs - 2 cc (1 at net), 1 dtl return.... the cc at net was hit as at the extremist of angles, almost parallel to the net. technically, its a drop shot though I wouldn't call it one, or even think of it as cc
- 2 BHVs were first volleys off serve-volley points and 1 other BHV was a drop
Sampras had from serve-volley points
- 10 first 'volleys' (2 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 5 BHV, 1 BH1/2V, 1 FH at net)
- 5 second volleys (2 FHV, 1 BHV, 2 OH)
- 2 return-approach points (1 FHV, 1 BHV)
- FHs - 3 cc (2 passes, 1 return), 4 dtl (3 passes - 1 of them a running-down-drop-volley at net) and 1 inside-out pass
- BHs - 2 cc (1 pass), 3 dtl, 1 inside-in return and 1 net chord dribbler return
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Kuerten 30
- 18 Unforced (6 FH, 11 BH, 1 FHV)
- 12 Forced (4 FH, 6 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 50.6
Sampras 38
- 17 Unforced (4 FH, 9 BH, 1 FHV, 2 BHV, 1 OH)
- 21 Forced (6 FH, 3 BH, 4 FH1/2V, 7 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.8
(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 for these two matches are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)
Net Points & Serve-Volley
Kuerten was...
- 16/27 (59%) at net, including...
- 5/6 (83%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
Sampras was...
- 53/85 (62%) at net, including...
- 49/78 (63%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 35/49 (71%) off 1st serve and...
- 14/29 (48%) off 2nd serve
--
- 2/2 return-approaching
- 1/1 forced back
Match Report
Tremendous performance from Gustavo Kuerten against a Sampras who plays well. Key factors are clutch, Kuerten's returning & passing and Sampras' return. There's not a thing Kuerten doesn't do well, Sampras' returning of second serves leaves something to be desired
To start with, have a look at the break points stats -
Kuerten 3/5 (4 games)
Sampras 1/10 (4 games)
Not the sort of thing you usually see with Sampras - and its entirely down to Kuerten clutching (both in saving Sampras' break points and making his own). No question of choking from Sampras here
Serve & Return
Sampras serve-volleying vs Kuerten returning from far back is a wonderful contest. And is something I've long been interested
Virtually nobody returned Sampras well in an absolute sense... tons of return errors and soft returns that were commandingly dealt with at net. Why not step back, take some extra time to look at the serve and hit the return? What do you have to lose, given returning from orthodox position almost never works well? But almost nobody ever did. A backward returning position though is one of the features of Kuerten's game and he uses it here. To very good effect
Both advantages and disadvantages of Kuerten's method are on show. Sampras exploits the greater scope for angles with serves out wide (some of them relatively slow) and is in an even more advantageous position than usual on his first volley (to be more specific, Kuerten is in a more dis-advantageous position yards behind the baseline). But more balls come back - including the ones hit out wide sharply. Note the 12 forecourt FEs for Sampras - especially, that 5/12 of those are 1/2 volleys. They're not all against returns, but a good chunk are. And the 4 passing return winners - FH cc to serve out wide to deuce court is the epicentre of the battle. Kuerten spanks the ones he can get his hands on, and the ones he can't drag him feet outside the court.
Needless to say that Sampras serves well. He does throw in more slower serves and kickers than usual, probably in response to Guga's positioning. And Gugu returns splendidly... its not like anybody returning from far back can do it. Good long swings and decent hits on the ball.
Note Sampras serving 53% to FH, 47% to BH. Guga might be the only 1 handed BH'er against who that's a sensible distribution to. Little difference in how strongly he returns across wings... the FHs take the eye more I would say (possibly because its unusual for a player to hit back equally hard off both wings and not because its stronger than the BH in an absolute sense)
Well as he returns the first serve, Guga's even better against the second (Sampras stays back on only 5 serves all match - all of them seconds). Just 41% second serve points won from Pete and 48% second serve-volley points (basically, second serve points sans double faults in other words). Pete does ease up second serves - he's not looking to in effect serve 2 first serves as he was sometimes wont - but its still a healthy, strong serve. Credit to both in this match up, especially Guga on the return
The Guga serve vs Sampras battle is just as interesting. Guga doesn't serve up the storm he would in the final against Agassi (which was ridiculously good), but serves strongly enough. And Sampras, slightly surprisingly, returns the first serve very well.
My memory of Sampras round about this period was that his return and return game had gone to rot and he could barely get decent serves back in play. Commentators suggest this isn't far off - according to them, Sampras was breaking in 19% of his return games for the year, the same as players like Mark Philippousiss and a they mention a couple of others. In a nutshell, it seems Sampras wasn't much of a threat on return during the period
But he does good job against the first serve. On the FH, he can still pack a wallop (not that he gets much chance. Gugu only serves there 24% of the time - wisely). On the BH, he tends to slice the ball back, usually taking it early. Not aggressive by any means, but he gets a large chunk of balls back to start rallies neutral or near it
Its against the second serve Sampras has a problem. To start with, Gugu has a very good second serve. In the first set in particular, he directs a lot of them to the body. Second serves to the body are as often as not just very safe serves, the point being to get it in play rather than aim at the body... but Guga's is a bit more than that. Clearly and obviously directed at the body, for the specific reason people serve there for their advantage
Good second serves, yes, but they're still very much second serves and attackable. But not for Pete. He tries taking big cuts, tries taking them extra early, tries extra early big cuts, 1 or 2 he was probably trying to come in off... his aggressive attempts almost always end with him missing the return. Note the high 9 UEs. And attacking second serves returning orthodoxly is a difficult business on this slow court - well beyond Pete. He doesn't try
So Guga wins 57% second serve points, to Pete's 41% - a very clear demonstration of superiority from Guga, but even that's a bit strange. Because Sampras actually plays well from the baseline
Kuerten would go onto beat Andre Agassi in the final to claim his first indoor title and claim the year end number 1 position. Kuerten was the French Open champion, Sampras was the defending champion and reigning Wimbledon winner
Kuerten won 111 points, Sampras 104
Sampras serve-volleyed off all first serves and all but 5 seconds
Serve Stats
Kuerten...
- 1st serve percentage (73/115) 63%
- 1st serve points won (51/73) 70%
- 2nd serve points won (24/42) 57%
- Aces 13, Service Winners 3
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (36/115) 31%
Sampras...
- 1st serve percentage (61/100) 61%
- 1st serve points won (47/61) 77%
- 2nd serve points won (16/39) 41%
- Aces 10, Service Winners 2
- Double Faults 5
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (38/100) 38%
Serve Patterns
Kuerten served...
- to FH 24%
- to BH 70%
- to Body 6%
Sampras served....
- to FH 53%
- to BH 47%
Return Stats
Kuerten made...
- 57 (28 FH, 29 BH)
- 5 Winners (3 FH, 2 BH)
- 26 Errors, all forced...
- 26 Forced (15 FH, 11 BH)
- Return Rate (57/95) 60%
Sampras made...
- 76 (15 FH, 61 BH), including 1 runaround FHs & 2 return-approaches
- 3 Winner (1 FH, 2 BH)
- 20 Errors, comprising...
- 9 Unforced (9 BH)
- 11 Forced (4 FH, 7 BH)
- Return Rate (76/112) 68%
Break Points
Kuerten 3/5 (4 games)
Sampras 1/10 (4 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Kuerten 32 (12 FH, 12 BH, 4 FHV, 4 BHV)
Sampras 33 (9 FH, 7 BH, 1 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 7 BHV, 1 BH1/2V, 2 OH)
Kuerten had 14 passes (5 FH, 9 BH)
- FHs - 4 cc (2 returns) and 1 dtl return
- BHs 9 - 3 cc (1 return), 1 dtl, 4 inside out and 1 inside-out/dtl,
- regular FHs - 5 inside-out and 2 drop shots (1 at net, 1 inside-out)
- regular BHs - 2 cc (1 at net), 1 dtl return.... the cc at net was hit as at the extremist of angles, almost parallel to the net. technically, its a drop shot though I wouldn't call it one, or even think of it as cc
- 2 BHVs were first volleys off serve-volley points and 1 other BHV was a drop
Sampras had from serve-volley points
- 10 first 'volleys' (2 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 5 BHV, 1 BH1/2V, 1 FH at net)
- 5 second volleys (2 FHV, 1 BHV, 2 OH)
- 2 return-approach points (1 FHV, 1 BHV)
- FHs - 3 cc (2 passes, 1 return), 4 dtl (3 passes - 1 of them a running-down-drop-volley at net) and 1 inside-out pass
- BHs - 2 cc (1 pass), 3 dtl, 1 inside-in return and 1 net chord dribbler return
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Kuerten 30
- 18 Unforced (6 FH, 11 BH, 1 FHV)
- 12 Forced (4 FH, 6 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 50.6
Sampras 38
- 17 Unforced (4 FH, 9 BH, 1 FHV, 2 BHV, 1 OH)
- 21 Forced (6 FH, 3 BH, 4 FH1/2V, 7 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.8
(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 for these two matches are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)
Net Points & Serve-Volley
Kuerten was...
- 16/27 (59%) at net, including...
- 5/6 (83%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
Sampras was...
- 53/85 (62%) at net, including...
- 49/78 (63%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 35/49 (71%) off 1st serve and...
- 14/29 (48%) off 2nd serve
--
- 2/2 return-approaching
- 1/1 forced back
Match Report
Tremendous performance from Gustavo Kuerten against a Sampras who plays well. Key factors are clutch, Kuerten's returning & passing and Sampras' return. There's not a thing Kuerten doesn't do well, Sampras' returning of second serves leaves something to be desired
To start with, have a look at the break points stats -
Kuerten 3/5 (4 games)
Sampras 1/10 (4 games)
Not the sort of thing you usually see with Sampras - and its entirely down to Kuerten clutching (both in saving Sampras' break points and making his own). No question of choking from Sampras here
Serve & Return
Sampras serve-volleying vs Kuerten returning from far back is a wonderful contest. And is something I've long been interested
Virtually nobody returned Sampras well in an absolute sense... tons of return errors and soft returns that were commandingly dealt with at net. Why not step back, take some extra time to look at the serve and hit the return? What do you have to lose, given returning from orthodox position almost never works well? But almost nobody ever did. A backward returning position though is one of the features of Kuerten's game and he uses it here. To very good effect
Both advantages and disadvantages of Kuerten's method are on show. Sampras exploits the greater scope for angles with serves out wide (some of them relatively slow) and is in an even more advantageous position than usual on his first volley (to be more specific, Kuerten is in a more dis-advantageous position yards behind the baseline). But more balls come back - including the ones hit out wide sharply. Note the 12 forecourt FEs for Sampras - especially, that 5/12 of those are 1/2 volleys. They're not all against returns, but a good chunk are. And the 4 passing return winners - FH cc to serve out wide to deuce court is the epicentre of the battle. Kuerten spanks the ones he can get his hands on, and the ones he can't drag him feet outside the court.
Needless to say that Sampras serves well. He does throw in more slower serves and kickers than usual, probably in response to Guga's positioning. And Gugu returns splendidly... its not like anybody returning from far back can do it. Good long swings and decent hits on the ball.
Note Sampras serving 53% to FH, 47% to BH. Guga might be the only 1 handed BH'er against who that's a sensible distribution to. Little difference in how strongly he returns across wings... the FHs take the eye more I would say (possibly because its unusual for a player to hit back equally hard off both wings and not because its stronger than the BH in an absolute sense)
Well as he returns the first serve, Guga's even better against the second (Sampras stays back on only 5 serves all match - all of them seconds). Just 41% second serve points won from Pete and 48% second serve-volley points (basically, second serve points sans double faults in other words). Pete does ease up second serves - he's not looking to in effect serve 2 first serves as he was sometimes wont - but its still a healthy, strong serve. Credit to both in this match up, especially Guga on the return
The Guga serve vs Sampras battle is just as interesting. Guga doesn't serve up the storm he would in the final against Agassi (which was ridiculously good), but serves strongly enough. And Sampras, slightly surprisingly, returns the first serve very well.
My memory of Sampras round about this period was that his return and return game had gone to rot and he could barely get decent serves back in play. Commentators suggest this isn't far off - according to them, Sampras was breaking in 19% of his return games for the year, the same as players like Mark Philippousiss and a they mention a couple of others. In a nutshell, it seems Sampras wasn't much of a threat on return during the period
But he does good job against the first serve. On the FH, he can still pack a wallop (not that he gets much chance. Gugu only serves there 24% of the time - wisely). On the BH, he tends to slice the ball back, usually taking it early. Not aggressive by any means, but he gets a large chunk of balls back to start rallies neutral or near it
Its against the second serve Sampras has a problem. To start with, Gugu has a very good second serve. In the first set in particular, he directs a lot of them to the body. Second serves to the body are as often as not just very safe serves, the point being to get it in play rather than aim at the body... but Guga's is a bit more than that. Clearly and obviously directed at the body, for the specific reason people serve there for their advantage
Good second serves, yes, but they're still very much second serves and attackable. But not for Pete. He tries taking big cuts, tries taking them extra early, tries extra early big cuts, 1 or 2 he was probably trying to come in off... his aggressive attempts almost always end with him missing the return. Note the high 9 UEs. And attacking second serves returning orthodoxly is a difficult business on this slow court - well beyond Pete. He doesn't try
So Guga wins 57% second serve points, to Pete's 41% - a very clear demonstration of superiority from Guga, but even that's a bit strange. Because Sampras actually plays well from the baseline