Ivan Lendl beat Mats Wilander 6-7(7), 6-0, 7-6(4), 6-4 in the US Open final, 1987 on hard court
It was Lendl's third title and third in a row at the event and would turn out to be his last. Wilander was playing his first US Open final, and would go onto win the title, beating Lendl in the final the following year. Lendl had beaten Wilander in the French Open final earlier in the year, and would go on to do so at the Masters as well
Lendl won 162 points, Wilander 143
Wilander serve-volleyed more often than not off first serves
Serve Stats
Lendl...
- 1st serve percentage (82/163) 50%
- 1st serve points won (64/82) 78%
- 2nd serve points won (34/81) 42%
- Aces 13 (1 not clean), Service Winners 3
- Double Faults 7
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (29/163) 17%
Wilander...
- 1st serve percentage (94/142) 66%
- 1st serve points won (58/94) 62%
- 2nd serve points won (20/48) 42%
- Aces 2
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (33/142) 23%
Serve Patterns
Lendl served...
- to FH 29%
- to BH 65%
- to Body 6%
Wilander served...
- to FH 49%
- to BH 41%
- to Body 10%
Return Stats
Lendl made...
- 105 (67 FH, 38 BH), including 3 runaround FHs & 3 return-approaches
- 7 Winners (4 FH, 3 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 31 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (4 FH, 1 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 26 Forced (9 FH, 17 BH)
- Return Rate (105/138) 76%
Wilander made...
- 127 (41 FH, 86 BH), including 6 runaround FHs & 10 return-approaches
- 13 Errors, comprising...
- 3 Unforced (2 FH, 1 BH), including 1 return-approach
- 10 Forced (5 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (127/156) 81%
Break Points
Lendl 8/14 (8 games)
Wilander 4/18 (7 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Lendl 56 (18 FH, 14 BH, 12 FHV, 7 BHV, 5 OH)
Wilander 33 (4 FH, 9 BH, 6 FHV, 11 BHV, 3 OH)
Lendl's regular FHs - 3 cc, 2 dtl (1 return), 1 inside-out, 2 inside-in (1 runaround return) and 2 inside-in/cc
- FH passes - 4 cc (1 return), 1 inside-out and 2 longline (1 return)
- BH passes - 1 cc, 8 dtl (2 returns) and 1 inside-out return
- regular BHs - 1 dtl and 2 at net
- 11 from serve-volley points
- 8 first 'volleys' (1 FHV, 5 BHV, 1 FH at net, 1 BH at net)
- 3 second volleys (2 FHV, 1 BHV)
- 2 from return-approach points (1 BHV, 1 OH)
- 2 OHs on bounce from no-man's land
Wilander 10 had from serve-volley points
- 5 first 'volleys' (1 FHV, 3 BHV, 1 BH at net)
- 5 second volleys (2 BHV, 3 OH)
- 4 from return-approach points (1 FHV, 3 BHV)
- FHs - 1 cc pass, 2 dtl passes and 1 running-down-drop-volley at net cc (very finely angled)
- BHs (all passes) - 1 cc, 5 dtl, 1 dtl/longline and 1 lob
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Lendl 70
- 46 Unforced (25 FH, 16 BH, 1 FHV, 2 BHV, 2 OH)… with 1 OH on bounce from baseline
- 24 Forced (13 FH, 8 BH, 1 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 1 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.1
Wilander 73
- 36 Unforced (8 FH, 21 BH, 6 BHV, 1 OH)
- 37 Forced (13 FH, 16 BH, 4 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 1 BHV, 1 OH, 1 Over-Shoulder)… the OH was flagrantly forced baseline attempt to fend off an at net Lendl OH smash. the FH1/2V was not a net point, but intent was to volley
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45
(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...
- 62/83 (75%) at net, including...
- 15/18 (83%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 3/3 (100%) return-approaching
- 4/6 (67%) forced back/retreated
Wilander was...
- 61/93 (66%) at net, including...
- 37/61 (61%), serve-volleying, comprising...
- 35/58 (60%) off 1st serve and...
- 2/3 (67%) off 2nd serve
---
- 8/10 (80%) return-approaching
- 0/3 forced back/retreated
Match Report
A great, all court match between two great players with varied action. Action is complex, the proverbial game of chess
Lendl pounds big serves. Wilander returns like a wall. Wilander serve-volleys regularly. The duke it out from the baseline - mostly in an outlasting way, based off BH cc's. Lendl has the big FH to do damage, but is also error prone of that side. Lendl manufactures approaches. Both attack second serves on occasion. Some stunning passing from both - especially Wilander. Great volleying from Lendl, and good from Wilander. The match has near enough everything - and second set (where Wilander is terrible) excepted, the two are neck and neck in play
And wind. Lots of wind, particularly early on, is a factor. It hampers Lendl more and is probably Wilander's equalizer because Lendl does seem to be the better player on the whole. While Wilander is maxed out to keep match competitive, Lendl seems to have more in the locker or underperforms in certain areas
First Set
Wilander is the better player overall - and also lucky to win it in the tiebreak. He hold serve far more easily (he serves 39 points to Lendl's 55), while Lendl is pushed to long games 3 times. 1 break apiece going into tiebreak
Action is fairly passive. Match starts with the usual Lendl-Wilander feeling-out phase and patient BH cc rallies. Wilander mixes up 1-handed slices with 2-handed top spin shots so much it'd be inaccurate to even call his BH a two-handed shot. Frequency of 1-handed and 2-handed shots vary across the match. In this first part, I'd estimate it to be 60% one handed
Wind gives Lendl plenty of trouble on the ball toss, and he has a low first serve in count, allowing for the long rallies. Wilander mostly serve-volleys of his first serves and in this part of the match, Lendl doesn't return it well
Curious patterns of consistency emerge with Wilander leading on FH and Lendl on BH. On FH UEs - Lendl 13, Wilander 2. On BH - Lendl 3, Wilander 9. Baseline action is mostly BH cc rallies. Lendl tends to outlast Wilander in them (i.e. Wilander not playing badly, just Lendl a bit better), but Lendl tends to just miss odd FHs (i.e. Lendl playing badly)
Lendl is broken first from 40-0 up. Back to back double faults don't help, but mostly good play from Wilander, who follows up a drop FHV winner with a return-approach point that he wins. On his second break point, he runs down a drop volley and places the winner at a fine angle off it. His celebration is Jimmy Connors like. Indeed, this is the most animated I've seen Mats Wilander - and the commentators say so too. There's fist pumping celebrations - and he even fist pump celebrates Lendl unforced errors on big points
Lendl breaks back to 30 a bit later. Bad game with 3 regulation baseline errors from Mats and just 2 first serves in
So Mats with just the one bad service game, while Lendl is regularly under the gun on serve.
Still, Mats is lucky to win the tiebreak. With set point, Lendl overpowers Mats and comes to net behind a powerful, deep step-in FH cc. Pushed back, Mats hits it best he can with FH almost on half-volley. Lendl lets the ball go. Both players are surprised the ball lands in... it seems to be a clear case of the wind causing it to so be. On Wilander's second set point, a strong Lendl FH inside-out is called out. Its a marginal call (I thought it was in), and Lendl doesn't like it, but first set to Wilander
2nd Set
Is a complete rot. Mats wins all of 5 points. after first 6 points are split, Lendl wins 22/24
Lendl finds his first serve, bangs down big ones, overpowers Mats and comes to net to finish points. Meanwhile, Mats makes unforced errors in short rallies. I've seen Mats Wilander blown away, but never seen him play this badly before. Complete butchery
It was Lendl's third title and third in a row at the event and would turn out to be his last. Wilander was playing his first US Open final, and would go onto win the title, beating Lendl in the final the following year. Lendl had beaten Wilander in the French Open final earlier in the year, and would go on to do so at the Masters as well
Lendl won 162 points, Wilander 143
Wilander serve-volleyed more often than not off first serves
Serve Stats
Lendl...
- 1st serve percentage (82/163) 50%
- 1st serve points won (64/82) 78%
- 2nd serve points won (34/81) 42%
- Aces 13 (1 not clean), Service Winners 3
- Double Faults 7
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (29/163) 17%
Wilander...
- 1st serve percentage (94/142) 66%
- 1st serve points won (58/94) 62%
- 2nd serve points won (20/48) 42%
- Aces 2
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (33/142) 23%
Serve Patterns
Lendl served...
- to FH 29%
- to BH 65%
- to Body 6%
Wilander served...
- to FH 49%
- to BH 41%
- to Body 10%
Return Stats
Lendl made...
- 105 (67 FH, 38 BH), including 3 runaround FHs & 3 return-approaches
- 7 Winners (4 FH, 3 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 31 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (4 FH, 1 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 26 Forced (9 FH, 17 BH)
- Return Rate (105/138) 76%
Wilander made...
- 127 (41 FH, 86 BH), including 6 runaround FHs & 10 return-approaches
- 13 Errors, comprising...
- 3 Unforced (2 FH, 1 BH), including 1 return-approach
- 10 Forced (5 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (127/156) 81%
Break Points
Lendl 8/14 (8 games)
Wilander 4/18 (7 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Lendl 56 (18 FH, 14 BH, 12 FHV, 7 BHV, 5 OH)
Wilander 33 (4 FH, 9 BH, 6 FHV, 11 BHV, 3 OH)
Lendl's regular FHs - 3 cc, 2 dtl (1 return), 1 inside-out, 2 inside-in (1 runaround return) and 2 inside-in/cc
- FH passes - 4 cc (1 return), 1 inside-out and 2 longline (1 return)
- BH passes - 1 cc, 8 dtl (2 returns) and 1 inside-out return
- regular BHs - 1 dtl and 2 at net
- 11 from serve-volley points
- 8 first 'volleys' (1 FHV, 5 BHV, 1 FH at net, 1 BH at net)
- 3 second volleys (2 FHV, 1 BHV)
- 2 from return-approach points (1 BHV, 1 OH)
- 2 OHs on bounce from no-man's land
Wilander 10 had from serve-volley points
- 5 first 'volleys' (1 FHV, 3 BHV, 1 BH at net)
- 5 second volleys (2 BHV, 3 OH)
- 4 from return-approach points (1 FHV, 3 BHV)
- FHs - 1 cc pass, 2 dtl passes and 1 running-down-drop-volley at net cc (very finely angled)
- BHs (all passes) - 1 cc, 5 dtl, 1 dtl/longline and 1 lob
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Lendl 70
- 46 Unforced (25 FH, 16 BH, 1 FHV, 2 BHV, 2 OH)… with 1 OH on bounce from baseline
- 24 Forced (13 FH, 8 BH, 1 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 1 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.1
Wilander 73
- 36 Unforced (8 FH, 21 BH, 6 BHV, 1 OH)
- 37 Forced (13 FH, 16 BH, 4 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 1 BHV, 1 OH, 1 Over-Shoulder)… the OH was flagrantly forced baseline attempt to fend off an at net Lendl OH smash. the FH1/2V was not a net point, but intent was to volley
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45
(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...
- 62/83 (75%) at net, including...
- 15/18 (83%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 3/3 (100%) return-approaching
- 4/6 (67%) forced back/retreated
Wilander was...
- 61/93 (66%) at net, including...
- 37/61 (61%), serve-volleying, comprising...
- 35/58 (60%) off 1st serve and...
- 2/3 (67%) off 2nd serve
---
- 8/10 (80%) return-approaching
- 0/3 forced back/retreated
Match Report
A great, all court match between two great players with varied action. Action is complex, the proverbial game of chess
Lendl pounds big serves. Wilander returns like a wall. Wilander serve-volleys regularly. The duke it out from the baseline - mostly in an outlasting way, based off BH cc's. Lendl has the big FH to do damage, but is also error prone of that side. Lendl manufactures approaches. Both attack second serves on occasion. Some stunning passing from both - especially Wilander. Great volleying from Lendl, and good from Wilander. The match has near enough everything - and second set (where Wilander is terrible) excepted, the two are neck and neck in play
And wind. Lots of wind, particularly early on, is a factor. It hampers Lendl more and is probably Wilander's equalizer because Lendl does seem to be the better player on the whole. While Wilander is maxed out to keep match competitive, Lendl seems to have more in the locker or underperforms in certain areas
First Set
Wilander is the better player overall - and also lucky to win it in the tiebreak. He hold serve far more easily (he serves 39 points to Lendl's 55), while Lendl is pushed to long games 3 times. 1 break apiece going into tiebreak
Action is fairly passive. Match starts with the usual Lendl-Wilander feeling-out phase and patient BH cc rallies. Wilander mixes up 1-handed slices with 2-handed top spin shots so much it'd be inaccurate to even call his BH a two-handed shot. Frequency of 1-handed and 2-handed shots vary across the match. In this first part, I'd estimate it to be 60% one handed
Wind gives Lendl plenty of trouble on the ball toss, and he has a low first serve in count, allowing for the long rallies. Wilander mostly serve-volleys of his first serves and in this part of the match, Lendl doesn't return it well
Curious patterns of consistency emerge with Wilander leading on FH and Lendl on BH. On FH UEs - Lendl 13, Wilander 2. On BH - Lendl 3, Wilander 9. Baseline action is mostly BH cc rallies. Lendl tends to outlast Wilander in them (i.e. Wilander not playing badly, just Lendl a bit better), but Lendl tends to just miss odd FHs (i.e. Lendl playing badly)
Lendl is broken first from 40-0 up. Back to back double faults don't help, but mostly good play from Wilander, who follows up a drop FHV winner with a return-approach point that he wins. On his second break point, he runs down a drop volley and places the winner at a fine angle off it. His celebration is Jimmy Connors like. Indeed, this is the most animated I've seen Mats Wilander - and the commentators say so too. There's fist pumping celebrations - and he even fist pump celebrates Lendl unforced errors on big points
Lendl breaks back to 30 a bit later. Bad game with 3 regulation baseline errors from Mats and just 2 first serves in
So Mats with just the one bad service game, while Lendl is regularly under the gun on serve.
Still, Mats is lucky to win the tiebreak. With set point, Lendl overpowers Mats and comes to net behind a powerful, deep step-in FH cc. Pushed back, Mats hits it best he can with FH almost on half-volley. Lendl lets the ball go. Both players are surprised the ball lands in... it seems to be a clear case of the wind causing it to so be. On Wilander's second set point, a strong Lendl FH inside-out is called out. Its a marginal call (I thought it was in), and Lendl doesn't like it, but first set to Wilander
2nd Set
Is a complete rot. Mats wins all of 5 points. after first 6 points are split, Lendl wins 22/24
Lendl finds his first serve, bangs down big ones, overpowers Mats and comes to net to finish points. Meanwhile, Mats makes unforced errors in short rallies. I've seen Mats Wilander blown away, but never seen him play this badly before. Complete butchery
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