Match Stats/Report - McEnroe vs Connors, WCT Finals final, 1984

[Waspsting]

John McEnroe beat Jimmy Connors 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 in the WCT Finals final, 1984 on carpet in Dallas, USA

McEnroe was the defending champion and would go on to finish the year with a 84-3 record, including titles at Wimbledon and US Open - beating Connors in the final and semi-finals respectively

McEnroe won 94 points, Connors 63

McEnroe serve-volleyed off all first serves and about half the time off seconds

Serve Stats
McEnroe...
- 1st serve percentage (41/67) 61%
- 1st serve points won (33/41) 80%
- 2nd serve points won (16/26) 62%
- Aces 13, Service Winners 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (28/67) 42%

Connors...
- 1st serve percentage (66/90) 73%
- 1st serve points won (35/66) 53%
- 2nd serve points won (11/24) 46%
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (15/90) 17%

Serve Patterns
McEnroe served...
- to FH 43%
- to BH 55%
- to Body 1%

Connors served...
- to FH 52%
- to BH 43%
- to Body 6%

Return Stats
McEnroe made...
- 72 (39 FH, 33 BH), including 2 runaround FHs & 19 return-approaches
- 4 Winners (3 FH, 1 BH)
- 15 Errors, comprising...
- 7 Unforced (5 FH, 2 BH), including 2 runaround FHs & 4 return-approach attempts
- 8 Forced (7 FH, 1 BH)
- Return Rate (72/87) 83%

Connors made...
- 39 (18 FH, 21 BH)
- 3 Winners (2 FH, 1 BH)
- 14 Errors, comprising...
- 1 Unforced (1 FH)
- 13 Forced (7 FH, 6 BH)
- Return Rate (39/67) 58%

Break Points
McEnroe 6/13 (7 games)
Connors 0/3 (2 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
McEnroe 24 (5 FH, 3 BH, 6 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 5 BHV, 4 OH)
Connors 20 (6 FH, 5 BH, 4 FHV, 3 BHV, 2 OH)

McEnroe had 11 from serve-volley points
- 8 first 'volleys' (4 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 2 BHV, 1 BH at net)
- 3 second volleys (1 FHV, 2 OH)

- 4 returns - 3 FH (2 dtl, 1 inside-in) and 1 BH (1 cc)
- 3 non-return groundstrokes - 2 FH (1 cc, 1 dtl) and 1 BH (1 cc)

Connors had 11 passes
- FHs - 1 cc, 3 dtl, 1 inside-out return and 1 inside-in return
- BHs - 2 cc and 3 dtl (1 return)

- 1 BHV was a swinging shot from behind the service line but has been counted a net point
- 1 BHV was a drive played from closer to the baseline than service line and has not been counted a net point

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
McEnroe 28
- 8 Unforced (4 FH, 1 BH, 3 BHV)
- 20 Forced (6 FH, 8 BH, 1 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 3 BHV, 1 Over-Shoulder-Lob-Retrieval)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 50

Connors 39
- 13 Unforced (8 FH, 3 BH, 1 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)
- 26 Forced (12 FH, 14 BH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.6

(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
McEnroe was...
- 48/68 (71%) at net, including...
- 29/41 (71%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 20/27 (74%) off 1st serve and...
- 9/14 (64%) off 2nd serve
---
- 12/19 (63%) return-approaching
- 0/1 forced back

Connors was...
- 16/17 (94%) at net, including...
- 1/1 serve-volleying, a first serve

Match Report
Dominant from McEnroe, but not in his usual way

Serve & Return
This is the best I've seen McEnroe serve. First serve is powerful and licks lines - as they have to get by Jimmy Connors, who returns about as well as he's allowed to. 42% unreturned serves with 13 aces and a service winner and serving at 61%... its a nightmare for Connors

Such is the power of his serve that the balls that come back tend to do so weakly, leaving many an easy putaway volley. McEnroe's serve-volleying has the feel of a typical good performance of Becker or Sampras... serve doing most of the work, the volleying easy. And I thought Connors returned well

On return, its apparent that Connors' serve is an open book to Mac. He moves into position to return it during the ball toss, and is never wrong. Reading it is one thing, returning it effectively another - and here too, Mac is not quite himself (or himself multiplied a few times over). Note the 4 return winners, none of them a pass and none of them a charging return. He just belts a normal serve for a winner... not something I've seen him do much. The BH return winner is particularly good. Its a serve close to the body about upper stomach height... Mac just lifts his racquet a bit, like a player shadow practicing, and sends it merrily away crosscourt for the winner

When not belting, Mac is chip-charging returns. These are bona fida chip-charges, not the even more aggressive 'rip'-charges he sometimes plays. As often as not played against the first serve, Mac seems to have little trouble making the play. And Connors is not at his best on the pass.... Mac wins 12/19 return-approach points, usually with Connors making a forced passing error on the 3rd ball

Unusually, Connors directs the majority of his serves to Mac's FH. Perhaps to discourage him from chip-charging? If so it doesn't work. Maybe its a good strategy - note Connors forcing 7 FH return errors to just 1 BH... but the choice does seem to give Mac the opportunity to start the rally with a meaty hit (and it doesn't deny him the chance to take the net)

Baseline
With Mac staying back on about half his second serves and Connors always staying back, there's plenty of room for baseline rallies. Off the FH in particular, Mac is particularly aggressive. He gets the better of the baseline battles and is the more aggressive in them. I reckon he would have won the match for certain sans serve-volleying altogether... and probably won it even without the huge advantage the serve-return complex gives him purely as a baseliner

Baseline to baseline, Connors is more error prone (11 UEs, to Mac's 5) and being run around more. Both players are able to force errors in these exchanges, the court is quick enough for that. Note just the 1 BH UE from McEnroe... if he's attacking with the FH, he's got a rock solid foundation in the BH. Doesn't slice much, but uses the BH as a neutral rallying shot

Net Play & Passing
Here's where Connors is a bit off - in play and between the ears

The quality of his passing is down from his normal, very high standard. When he gets a good look at the pass, he misses more often than usual - and often by a long way. Of course, most of the time he's not even getting a good look at the pass to begin with... so this really puts him in trouble. Connors has good looks at most of Mac's return-approaches, but can't do much against it

Note Connors net number. 16/17 at 94% - why does he not come in more??? He's fairly helpless against the first serve (Mac wins 80%) and more generally, when Mac's serve-volleying. He's even coming off second best from the baseline... but not by a long way and certainly not against such heavy hitting as to discourage him from coming forward

About 3 months ago in the '83 Masters (played in January of '84), he was coming in aplenty against Ivan Lendl (https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...dl-vs-connors-masters-semi-final-1983.653034/), including return-approaching and serve-volleying.... and was doing it well.

Under the hammer here, struggling on serve - he holds 6 times and is broken and is broken 6 times, wins 46 points, loses 44 - why does he not do more of the one thing that he's excelling at?

Probably wouldn't have changed the result... but coming in more might have made the score a bit more respectable

Summing up, a comprehensive win for McEnroe who serves big, has a relatively easy time of it at net, returns aggressively and is powerful and commanding from the baseline. In some ways, Connors plays as well as he's allowed to, but he's under-par on passing and unwisely reluctant to change tacks and move forward. Still, story of the match is first and foremost, superb from McEnroe

 

[krosero]

The fourth of John's 5 titles in Dallas.

At exactly 5-2 in the second, this graphic was displayed for McEnroe:

	1984 AVERAGE	TODAY
1st serves	53.6	66.7
1st serves won	75.2	84.6
2nd serves won	57.4	53.8

 

[Waspsting]

The fourth of John's 5 titles in Dallas.

At exactly 5-2 in the second, this graphic was displayed for McEnroe:

​

	1984 AVERAGE	TODAY
1st serves	53.6	66.7
1st serves won	75.2	84.6
2nd serves won	57.4	53.8

Couple of questions -

1) Relative to the Masters, how highly was WCT Finals regarded?

2) Do you have a list of Mac's best serving numbers (unreturned and aces/service winners)?

I haven't seen him rain down aces like this, and have 1 higher unreturned serve percentage for him (43.2% at Brussels final '84, to 41.8% here)

 

[krosero]

1) Relative to the Masters, how highly was WCT Finals regarded?

I think a few years ago Mac said something like, "When I won in Dallas in '79, it was a huge event." But it declined in later years. When it began in '71 it was genuinely a blockbuster event and bigger than the YEC Masters; in the 80s you'd have to say the Masters was bigger. Exactly when the Masters overtook Dallas as a "big" event is a debated, and I think we had a thread about it somewhere.

2) Do you have a list of Mac's best serving numbers (unreturned and aces/service winners)?

This is my own list of unreturned rates, though I'm sure others here have more comprehensive ones.

(Clay matches in italics).

1983 Wimb SF	50.5%	Lendl 36.9%
1984 Wimb final	47.3%	Connors 24.3%
1985 Canadian Open final	45.6%	Lendl 39.1%
1984 USO final	45.2%	Lendl 18.1%
1984 Brussels final	43.2%	Lendl 13.6%
1980 Wimb SF	42.1%	Connors 22.8%
1984 Dallas WCT final	41.8%	Connors 16.7%
1986 AT&T Atlanta final	41.3%	Becker 28.6%
1980 USO final	39.4%	Borg 15.2%
1984 YEC final	39.3%	Lendl 22.7%
1980 Wimb final	38.8%	Borg 28.6%
1985 AO QF	37.7%	Zivojinovic 40.0%
1983 YEC final	37.1%	Lendl 24.0%
1987 USO QF	36.8%	Lendl 38.7%
1980 USO SF	36.8%	Connors 13.497%
1990 USO SF	36.2%	Sampras 38.0%
1979 Davis Cup	35.7%	Alexander 30.4%
1982 Queen’s final	35.7%	Connors 27.451%
1978 YEC final	35.2%	Ashe 35.4%
1981 Wimb final	34.8%	Borg 24.0%
1982 Wimb final	34.4%	Connors 17.7%
1984 Davis Cup final (indoor clay)	34.4%	Wilander 8.8%
1987 Davis Cup	34.2%	Becker 33.3%
1985 USO final	34.1%	Lendl 33.0%
1991 Philadelphia SF	33.9%	Sampras 38.6%
1982 USO SF	33.7%	Lendl 26.7%
1980 YEC RR	33.6%	Borg 23.3%
1984 USO SF	32.4%	Connors 15.6%
1987 USO R32	32.1%	Zivojinovic 31.9%
1984 RG SF	31.5%	Connors 18.1%
1992 Wimb SF	30.8%	Agassi 27.5%
1981 USO final	30.7%	Borg 21.4%
1979 USO SF	30.7%	Connors 17.6%
1982 YEC SF	28.4%	Lendl 32.5%
1983 Wimb final	28.1%	Lewis 20.0%
1983 TOC FH final	27.9%	Gerulaitis 7.7%
1979 Las Vegas SF	26.2%	Connors 14.7%
1985 USO SF	25.7%	Wilander 17.9%
1987 Rotterdam final	23.5%	Edberg 25.9%
1979 USO final	23.2%	Gerulaitis 19.0%
1983 YEC SF	22.6%	Wilander 9.5%
1984 RG final	22.6%	Lendl 18.1%
1982 Davis Cup (indoor clay)	21.6%	Noah 29.7%
1989 Toulouse final	20.7%	Connors 9.1%
1992 USO R16	17.6%	Courier 29.1%
1984 YEC SF	16.2%	Wilander 12.5%
1985 RG SF	14.2%	Wilander 18.1%

There are a couple of others that I haven't included because games are missing.

I don't have a list made for aces and service winners.

 

[jrepac]

WCT Final was a big deal back in the day....I just remember this as a bleak day for Connors....Mac's play was up near the level of the later Wimbledon final...not quite, but close. And, Connors was not passing the way he needed to. Suggestion to attack more was likely a wise one. Just a command performance from Mac on serve. When his serve was rolling like that, very hard to stop him. Connors ALMOST did in the later USO semi, but not quite.

 

[Waspsting]

This is my own list of unreturned rates, though I'm sure others here have more comprehensive ones....

Great list - thanks!

Might have a couple I can add, might take a day or two

One thing I like about Mac's serve is even when he's getting a big unreturned serve yield, there's some art to it - placement, disguise, variety etc. Not just banging down unreturnable serves

Wilander seems to excel at denying Mac cheap points... in line with my hypothesis he was on the receiving end of a lot winners because he was willing to put balls in play not necessarily strongly to a greater extent than others (and had the ability to put it in play, of course)

Would be curious to know what Mac's unreturned serve against Wilander in their grass court encounter at AO '83 was.... maybe there's a news paper clipping of that somewhere
----------------------------------------------

Calling on @No Mercy .... we've been discussing how big WCT Finals event was in comparison to the Masters and how/when that changed

I think a few years ago Mac said something like, "When I won in Dallas in '79, it was a huge event." But it declined in later years. When it began in '71 it was genuinely a blockbuster event and bigger than the YEC Masters; in the 80s you'd have to say the Masters was bigger. Exactly when the Masters overtook Dallas as a "big" event is a debated

Would be interested in hearing your insights on it

 

[krosero]

Great list - thanks!

Might have a couple I can add, might take a day or two

One thing I like about Mac's serve is even when he's getting a big unreturned serve yield, there's some art to it - placement, disguise, variety etc. Not just banging down unreturnable serves

Wilander seems to excel at denying Mac cheap points... in line with my hypothesis he was on the receiving end of a lot winners because he was willing to put balls in play not necessarily strongly to a greater extent than others (and had the ability to put it in play, of course)

Would be curious to know what Mac's unreturned serve against Wilander in their grass court encounter at AO '83 was.... maybe there's a news paper clipping of that somewhere
----------------------------------------------

Calling on @No Mercy .... we've been discussing how big WCT Finals event was in comparison to the Masters and how/when that changed



Would be interested in hearing your insights on it

It's been some years since we did that WCT vs. Masters thread (if it was a thread?) and right now I'm not up for re-studying the issue; but somewhere I have some files that I can send to you, at least.

I'd love to have stats on that Wilander-McEnroe match. Mats told the press, "I enjoyed the game but I am surprised he missed so many returns.” But I can't find any detailed stats, for this match and for those last Kooyong AOs in general.

Cash-Pernfors, 1986 Davis Cup final at Kooyong, classic match that I'd love to see detailed stats for, but can't find them.