John McEnroe beat Jimmy Connors 6-1, 6-3 in the San Francisco final, 1982 on carpet
It was McEnroe’s third title at the event, and his second of the year (the first having come 8 months earlier in January). Connors had recently won the US Open. The two had played the Wimbledon final earlier in the year, with Connors winning
McEnroe won 64 points, Connors 42
McEnroe serve-volleyed off all first serves and almost all seconds
(Note: I’m missing 4 McEnroe service points - 2 he won, 2 he lost.
Missing Points Set 1, Game 4, Points 1-4
Missing points have been included in the points total only. Ending of points are unaccounted for)
Serve Stats
McEnroe...
- 1st serve percentage (27/51) 53%
- 1st serve points won (20/27) 74%
- 2nd serve points won (14/24) 58%
- ?? serve points won (2/4) 50%
- Aces 7, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (21/51) 41%
Connors...
- 1st serve percentage (35/51) 69%
- 1st serve points won (16/35) 46%
- 2nd serve points won (7/16) 44%
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (4/51) 8%
Serve Patterns
McEnroe served...
- to FH 50%
- to BH 30%
- to Body 20%
Connors served...
- to FH 49%
- to BH 49%
- to Body 2%
Return Stats
McEnroe made...
- 47 (27 FH, 20 BH), including 3 runaround FHs & 1 runaround BH
- 4 Errors, comprising...
- 1 Unforced (1 BH)
- 3 Forced (3 BH)
- Return Rate (47/51) 92%
Connors made...
- 29 (12 FH, 17 BH), including 1 runaround BH
- 13 Errors, comprising...
- 2 Unforced (1 FH, 1 BH)
- 11 Forced (7 FH, 4 BH)
- Return Rate (29/50) 58%
Break Points
McEnroe 5/13 (6 games)
Connors 1/3 (2 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
McEnroe 17 (5 FH, 2 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV)
Connors 11 (3 FH, 2 BH, 1 FHV, 3 BHV, 2 OH)
McEnroe had 9 from serve-volley points
- 6 first volleys (5 FHV, 1 BHV)
- 3 second volleys (3 OH)
- FHs - 2 dtl and 1 inside-out
- BHs (all passes) - 3 cc (1 net chord flicker)
Connors' FHs (all passes) - 1 cc, 1 cc/inside-in and 1 dtl
- BHs (all passes) - 1 cc and 1 inside-out
- 1 from a serve-volley point, a first volley BHV
- 1 other BHV was a swining, non-net pass
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
McEnroe 24
- 10 Unforced (5 FH, 2 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV)
- 14 Forced (2 FH, 8 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 BH1/2V, 1 Back-to-Net)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 52
Connors 24
- 16 Unforced (12 FH, 2 BH, 1 FHV, 1 OH)... the OH was on the bounce from the baseline
- 8 Forced (4 FH, 1 BH, 1 FHV, 2 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 43.1
(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 are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)
Net Points & Serve-Volley
McEnroe was...
- 26/41 (63%) at net, including...
- 22/37 (59%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 12/19 (63%) off 1st serve and...
- 10/18 (56%) off 2nd serve
---
- 0/3 forced back
Connors was...
- 19/27 (70%) at net, including...
- 5/5 (100%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 1/2 forced back
Match Report
McEnroe’s serve is too good for his opponent, and Connors’ FH is terrible from the baseline in this one sided encounter on a very fast court
McEnroe serve-volleys all but always (stays back off 5 second serves, winning 4). Connors sticks it out on the baseline in his service games
Mac holds regularly, if not always comfortably. The key to his success is the serve shot itself. The volley isn’t particularly impressive (it doesn’t have to be). Jimbo by contrast, is broken in his first 5 service games, before holding the last 3. Mac returnd with facile ease sets the groundwork, and the rest is mostly down to Jimbo’s FH stinking up the joint
There are points of interest in action, despite one-sidedness of encounter. Things that are outside the norms of most Mac-Jimbo encounters
- Mac’s body and body-ish serving. Generally, Mac serves classically out wide to one wing or the other, with well placed body serves as the exception
Here, there’s a lot more body serving. Mac directs 20% serves to the body, and a good deal more is crampingly body-ish of direction. Looks more like an Edberg service display than a Mac
Not quite. The close serving makes the wide ones even more deadly. 7 aces, 1 service winner for Mac from just 27 first serves or 30% of the time. Possibly the highest I’ve seen from him. It was 27.5% in celebrated showing in ‘84 Wimby final
- Mac’s aggressive FH shot choices. Amidst the baseline rallies that last awhile, Jimbo does most of the directing. Generally, Mac just dances his tune. He does that for most part here too, but lets looses with FH winner attempts from half-chances, particularly dtl
Not a result determining matter, but unusual enough to be worth noting. Mac’s not a go dtl for the winner kind of player, and with Jimbo’s FH falling apart all by itself, even more reason to avoid low percentage attacking shots and just playing back safely cc. This makes for better watch. He’s got a couple dtl winners (also an inside-out one) and misses a couple other attempts, Jimbo has no ground-to-ground winners
Particularly important stats are
- Mac with 41% unreturned serves
- Mac with 92% return rate
- Jimbo with 12 FH UEs
Mac’s serve game
It’s the kind of court where a good server can expect to hold like clockwork, and the returner would look for the odd game here and there for chances
By that standard, Jimbo does well on return. Breaks once, takes Mac to deuce 3 other times in 8 return games. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Mac putting together a run of winning 20/22 service points in a row on a court like this - so that’s very good from Jimbo
41% unreturned serves is obviously a big load. The returns Jimbo makes aren’t easy either. He’s not slow to move out the way and give himself room to handle the body-line serves, and pokes back a couple of powerful wide ones too. What he can reach, he hits with authority too. About as well as could be expected from Jimbo on the return
Mac’s not too good on the volley. His volley winners in service game are putaways. But even against the firmly struck return above the net, let alone the net high ones, he’s apt to volley the ball back to Jimbo, without any great punch
Not much of a problem, given the freebies and regular lot of putaways, but lots of room for improvement there for Mac on volley. And not much shot on breaking for Jimbo
Long and short of it though, Mac’s only broken once. Which is more than he needs since…
It was McEnroe’s third title at the event, and his second of the year (the first having come 8 months earlier in January). Connors had recently won the US Open. The two had played the Wimbledon final earlier in the year, with Connors winning
McEnroe won 64 points, Connors 42
McEnroe serve-volleyed off all first serves and almost all seconds
(Note: I’m missing 4 McEnroe service points - 2 he won, 2 he lost.
Missing Points Set 1, Game 4, Points 1-4
Missing points have been included in the points total only. Ending of points are unaccounted for)
Serve Stats
McEnroe...
- 1st serve percentage (27/51) 53%
- 1st serve points won (20/27) 74%
- 2nd serve points won (14/24) 58%
- ?? serve points won (2/4) 50%
- Aces 7, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (21/51) 41%
Connors...
- 1st serve percentage (35/51) 69%
- 1st serve points won (16/35) 46%
- 2nd serve points won (7/16) 44%
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (4/51) 8%
Serve Patterns
McEnroe served...
- to FH 50%
- to BH 30%
- to Body 20%
Connors served...
- to FH 49%
- to BH 49%
- to Body 2%
Return Stats
McEnroe made...
- 47 (27 FH, 20 BH), including 3 runaround FHs & 1 runaround BH
- 4 Errors, comprising...
- 1 Unforced (1 BH)
- 3 Forced (3 BH)
- Return Rate (47/51) 92%
Connors made...
- 29 (12 FH, 17 BH), including 1 runaround BH
- 13 Errors, comprising...
- 2 Unforced (1 FH, 1 BH)
- 11 Forced (7 FH, 4 BH)
- Return Rate (29/50) 58%
Break Points
McEnroe 5/13 (6 games)
Connors 1/3 (2 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
McEnroe 17 (5 FH, 2 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV)
Connors 11 (3 FH, 2 BH, 1 FHV, 3 BHV, 2 OH)
McEnroe had 9 from serve-volley points
- 6 first volleys (5 FHV, 1 BHV)
- 3 second volleys (3 OH)
- FHs - 2 dtl and 1 inside-out
- BHs (all passes) - 3 cc (1 net chord flicker)
Connors' FHs (all passes) - 1 cc, 1 cc/inside-in and 1 dtl
- BHs (all passes) - 1 cc and 1 inside-out
- 1 from a serve-volley point, a first volley BHV
- 1 other BHV was a swining, non-net pass
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
McEnroe 24
- 10 Unforced (5 FH, 2 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV)
- 14 Forced (2 FH, 8 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 BH1/2V, 1 Back-to-Net)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 52
Connors 24
- 16 Unforced (12 FH, 2 BH, 1 FHV, 1 OH)... the OH was on the bounce from the baseline
- 8 Forced (4 FH, 1 BH, 1 FHV, 2 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 43.1
(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 are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)
Net Points & Serve-Volley
McEnroe was...
- 26/41 (63%) at net, including...
- 22/37 (59%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 12/19 (63%) off 1st serve and...
- 10/18 (56%) off 2nd serve
---
- 0/3 forced back
Connors was...
- 19/27 (70%) at net, including...
- 5/5 (100%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 1/2 forced back
Match Report
McEnroe’s serve is too good for his opponent, and Connors’ FH is terrible from the baseline in this one sided encounter on a very fast court
McEnroe serve-volleys all but always (stays back off 5 second serves, winning 4). Connors sticks it out on the baseline in his service games
Mac holds regularly, if not always comfortably. The key to his success is the serve shot itself. The volley isn’t particularly impressive (it doesn’t have to be). Jimbo by contrast, is broken in his first 5 service games, before holding the last 3. Mac returnd with facile ease sets the groundwork, and the rest is mostly down to Jimbo’s FH stinking up the joint
There are points of interest in action, despite one-sidedness of encounter. Things that are outside the norms of most Mac-Jimbo encounters
- Mac’s body and body-ish serving. Generally, Mac serves classically out wide to one wing or the other, with well placed body serves as the exception
Here, there’s a lot more body serving. Mac directs 20% serves to the body, and a good deal more is crampingly body-ish of direction. Looks more like an Edberg service display than a Mac
Not quite. The close serving makes the wide ones even more deadly. 7 aces, 1 service winner for Mac from just 27 first serves or 30% of the time. Possibly the highest I’ve seen from him. It was 27.5% in celebrated showing in ‘84 Wimby final
- Mac’s aggressive FH shot choices. Amidst the baseline rallies that last awhile, Jimbo does most of the directing. Generally, Mac just dances his tune. He does that for most part here too, but lets looses with FH winner attempts from half-chances, particularly dtl
Not a result determining matter, but unusual enough to be worth noting. Mac’s not a go dtl for the winner kind of player, and with Jimbo’s FH falling apart all by itself, even more reason to avoid low percentage attacking shots and just playing back safely cc. This makes for better watch. He’s got a couple dtl winners (also an inside-out one) and misses a couple other attempts, Jimbo has no ground-to-ground winners
Particularly important stats are
- Mac with 41% unreturned serves
- Mac with 92% return rate
- Jimbo with 12 FH UEs
Mac’s serve game
It’s the kind of court where a good server can expect to hold like clockwork, and the returner would look for the odd game here and there for chances
By that standard, Jimbo does well on return. Breaks once, takes Mac to deuce 3 other times in 8 return games. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Mac putting together a run of winning 20/22 service points in a row on a court like this - so that’s very good from Jimbo
41% unreturned serves is obviously a big load. The returns Jimbo makes aren’t easy either. He’s not slow to move out the way and give himself room to handle the body-line serves, and pokes back a couple of powerful wide ones too. What he can reach, he hits with authority too. About as well as could be expected from Jimbo on the return
Mac’s not too good on the volley. His volley winners in service game are putaways. But even against the firmly struck return above the net, let alone the net high ones, he’s apt to volley the ball back to Jimbo, without any great punch
Not much of a problem, given the freebies and regular lot of putaways, but lots of room for improvement there for Mac on volley. And not much shot on breaking for Jimbo
Long and short of it though, Mac’s only broken once. Which is more than he needs since…