Match Stats/Report - Lendl vs Mecir, Australian Open final, 1989

[Waspsting]

Ivan Lendl beat Miloslav Mecir 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 in the Australian Open final, 1989 on hard court

It was Lendl's first title at the event and he would go onto defend the title the follow year. The two players had previously played the US Open final in 1986 with Lendl winning

Lendl won 90 points, Mecir 66

Serve Stats
Lendl...
- 1st serve percentage (40/77) 52%
- 1st serve points won (31/40) 78%
- 2nd serve points won (13/37) 35%
- Aces 14, Service Winners 2
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (27/77) 35%

Mecir...
- 1st serve percentage (53/79) 67%
- 1st serve points won (28/53) 53%
- 2nd serve points won (5/26) 19%
- Aces 1
- Double Faults 10
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (9/79) 11%

Serve Patterns
Lendl served...
- to FH 33%
- to BH 53%
- to Body 13%

Mecir served....
- to FH 32%
- to BH 57%
- to Body 12%

Return Stats
Lendl made...
- 60 (25 FH, 35 BH), including 5 runaround FHs
- 2 Winners (2 FH), including 1 runaround FH
- 8 Errors, all unforced...
- 8 Unforced (6 FH, 2 BH)
- Return Rate (60/69) 87%

Mecir made...
- 48 (18 FH, 30 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 11 Errors, comprising...
- 4 Unforced (3 FH, 1 BH)
- 7 Forced (3 FH, 4 BH)
- Return Rate (48/75) 64%

Break Points
Lendl 9/16 (9 games)
Mecir 3/8 (6 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Lendl 12 (7 FH, 2 BH, 1 BHV, 2 OH)
Mecir 15 (6 FH, 7 BH, 2 FHV)

Lendl's FHs - 2 cc (1 runaround return), 4 dtl (1 return) and 1 inside-out/dtl at net
- BHs - 1 dtl pass and 1 inside-out

- 1 OH on the bounce and 1 can reasonably be called a FHV

Mecir's FHs - 5 cc (1 return, 1 pass), and 1 dtl
- BHs - 1 cc pass, 2 dtl, 1 inside-out, 1 drop shot, 1 lob and 1 net chord dribbler

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Lendl 40
- 29 Unforced (12 FH, 16 BH, 1 BHV)... with 1 BH pass attempt
- 11 Forced (4 FH, 5 BH, 1 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.2

Mecir 41
- 31 Unforced (15 FH, 15 BH, 1 BHV)
- 10 Forced (2 FH, 6 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 50.3

(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
Lendl was 7/13 (54%) at net

Mecir was 8/12 (67%) at net

Match Report
Humongous difference in quality of serve in Lendl's favour is decisive. Lendl bangs down point ending first serves all match, while Mecir effectively serves 2 'second' serves on a slow-ish court

With the big serve, Lendl close to maximizes his advantage off first serves, winning 78% of those points. He has 14 aces and 2 service winners. Mecir by contrast has 9 unreturned serves total - 8 of them marked unforced return errors for Lendl - and barely sends down a forceful first serve all match

Mecir's first serve points and Lendl's seconds are effectively both 50-50 points. Mecir winning 53% off his first serve points and impressive 65% 2nd serve return points suggests that if anything, he was the better of play, though that's partially due to Lendl playing a bit carelessly, which he has license to do because of whats going on his first serve points. And Mecir's seconds

Mecir's second serve points heavily favour Lendl, who tees up and blasts FH returns against them (and Mecir double faults very high 10 times to boot). Just 19% second serve points won by Mecir. His first serve is weak enough that Lendl could potentially look to blast it. he usually doesn't and just puts it in play. The second serve though, is an out and out buffet ball. Lendl stands in center of deuce court and in doubles alley on ad side to line up a big cut FH return against it. These returns ends points or puts Mecir fully on defensive. Or Mecir double faults - which he does a very high 10 times off just 26 second serves

In compound nutshell -
- Lendl's big first serve gives him big advantage
- Mecir's weak second serve and Lendl's aggressive returning gives Lendl big advantage
- Both Lendl's second serve and Mecir's first lead to roughly even prospect starting point... and Mecir gets the better of them. Nothing like enough to overcome the gigantic handicap the other two serves on show give him

Serve & Return
Excellent first serving from Lendl. Court is on slow side and his aces kiss lines. He's somewhat helped by Mecir standing close to baseline to return. Lots of cheap points - he has 35% unreturned serves to Mecir's measly 11%

The trade-off is relatively low 52% first serves in. Lendl's second serve is just average. Mecir doesn't attack it unduly and when he does, looks to return wide, particularly BH inside-out, without hitting too hard

With a weak first serve - it looks like a normal players 2nd - it wouldn't be surprising to see Mecir serve near 80%. He manages 67%. The serve is easy to put in play and could even be attacked, though Lendl usually doesn't. Lendl spontaneously runsaround a few to hit attacking FH returns off... that's how gentle the serve is

Consistency of 2nd serve is even worse as he only manages to get it in 62% of the time. He's willing to look for the point ending second serve with Lendl leaving FH side wide open. This leads to a few of his 10 double faults, though the bulk of the 10 are just regular misses. Otherwise, Lendl blasts the return hard enough that even if its straight down the middle at Mecir, he's put wholly on defensive

 

[Waspsting]

Play - Baseline
Action is almost all baseline stuff. And there's little between the two players

- Winners - Lendl 12, Mecir 15
- UEs - Lendl 29, Mecir 31
- FEs - Lendl 11 Mecir 10

... comes to Mecir +2 in play. He's -26 on the serve, so nowhere near enough to overcome that handicap

Lendl looks to collar action from neutral situations with powerful FHs. He has much the stronger FH and is able to push back and beat down Mecir off that side. dtl proves an effective points finisher and Lendl has 3 winners with the shot, plus forcing most of Mecir's match high 6 BH FEs. Mecir's FH UEs tend to be beaten out of him

By contrast, Lendl plays passively more than neutrally off the BH, mostly slicing at blunt angles. Once in a rare while, he goes with a big dtl shot. Mecir shows plenty of variety in his BH play. He deals with the slices by coming over the BH cc and sooner or later, creates a moderate angle by 'yanking' with the top hand. Plenty of dtl attacking shots and fair few inside-outs too. Both players have a BH inside-out winner - Lendl's is more sharp of angle

Sharp angles make up Mecir's attacking FH play more than power too, though he's outgunned on that side enough for it to be an uphill task. He's pushed to go for some low percentage dtl winner attempts against hard hit, deep balls and usually misses

Very high 50.3 UEFI for Mecir is a bit deceptive. A figure that high for an almost completely baseline error sheet (he has just the 1 volley UE) usually happens when a player plays wildly attackingly. In fact, he plays along neutrally most of the time, but is the one to look to open court and attack from the majority, BH rallies. Lendl's FH 'attacks' by contrast are based on hard hitting (not wide placement) and his misses are more apt to be labelled 'neutral' rather than 'attacking shot'

Breakdown of UEs -
- Neutral - Lendl 17, Mecir 12
- Attacking - Both 6
- Winner Attempts - Lendl 6, Mecir 13

With the advantage in neutral shots, is going in for who-blinks-first passive BH rallies an option for Mecir? He doesn't seem to be that type of player, but he's got the advantage in that area. And Lendl's passivity on the BH rallies (gentle slicing, bordering on defensive shots) is more than Mecir's (firm BHs)

Coming to net is another option. Mecir's a healthy 8/12 in forecourt. A better way to attack than going for a baseline-to-baseline winner? On BH side, probably. On FH, he's usually in reactive position and manufacturing an approach would not be easy

Match Progression
Match starts as it does not continue. Lendl saves a break point to hold 8 point game, Mecir holds easily to 15 and then breaks to love with a good BH dtl winner and an error forcing BH inside-out return

From there, Lendl wins next 6 games. His serve is overwhelming returning with ease puts all of Mecir's service games in threat

Lendl climbs out of 0-40 to hold opening game of second set with 3 very powerful serves.

Mecir loses 4 service games in a row after holding to make it 1-1. In between, he adds another love break in the second set. A Lendl BH inside-out winner stands out for quality - he's most slicing BHs passively, though Mecir fairly often plays the shot

Down 0-3 in the third, Mecir puts match back on serve by breaking to 15 in a splendid game where he hits 3 BH winners (a drop shot, a dtl and an inside-out). He adds a cute, no-look FH dtl winner in his next return game, but hammered returns keep Lendl in charge to break twice more to end the match

Summing up, Lendl serving huge and Mecir the absolute opposite shapes the match. Lendl hammering weak second serve returns and Mecir double faulting regularly enhances Lendl's overwhelming advantage. Some interesting, if not great baseline play, with Lendl looking to beat down with FH and passively outlast with BH. Mecir plays some cute BHs to create angles and attack moderately via placement and is driven to going for risky winners off the FH on which side he's overpowered

Play is about even, but Lendl miles ahead on serve-return complex makes result a gimme

Stats for pair's '87 Hamburg final - Match Stats/Report - Lendl vs Mecir, Hamburg final, 1987 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)
Stats for '90 final between Lendl and Stefan Edberg - Match Stats/Report - Lendl vs Edberg, Australian Open final, 1990 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)