John McEnroe beat Ivan Lendl 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-4, 6-3 in the Philadelphia final, 1983 on carpet
McEnroe was the defending champion and he would go onto win the next 2 editions of the tournament as well, beating Lendl in the '84 final again. Lendl had won a record 66 straight matches indoors coming into the match
Lendl had won the pair's last 7 matches and 19/20 sets, stretching back to French Open 1981. Including this match, McEnroe would win 8 of their next 9 meetings
McEnroe won 143 points, Lendl 130
McEnroe serve-volleyed off all first serves, most seconds and return-approached off all but 1 second serve
Serve Stats
McEnroe...
- 1st serve percentage (67/127) 53%
- 1st serve points won (51/67) 76%
- 2nd serve points won (35/60) 58%
- Aces 10 (3 second serves), Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 7
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (49/127) 39%
Lendl...
- 1st serve percentage (83/146) 57%
- 1st serve points won (61/83) 73%
- 2nd serve points won (28/63) 44%
- Aces 7 (1 not clean), Service Winners 6
- Double Faults 5
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (44/146) 30%
Serve Patterns
McEnroe served...
- to FH 34%
- to BH 54%
- to Body 12%
Lendl served...
- to FH 30%
- to BH 67%
- to Body 3%
Return Stats
McEnroe made...
- 97 (29 FH, 68 BH), including 1 runaround FH & 46 return-approaches
- 2 Winners (1 FH, 1 BH), including a would-be return approach
- 31 Errors, comprising...
- 10 Unforced (3 FH, 7 BH), including 1 runaround FH & 9 return-approach attempts
- 21 Forced (7 FH, 14 BH), including 1 return-approach attempt
- Return Rate (97/141) 69%
Lendl made...
- 71 (27 FH, 44 BH), including 3 runaround FHs
- 6 Winners (1 FH, 5 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 38 Errors, comprising...
- 2 Unforced (2 BH)
- 36 Forced (16 FH, 20 BH)
- Return Rate (71/120) 59%
Break Points
McEnroe 4/12 (8 games)
Lendl 2/6 (4 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
McEnroe 41 (2 FH, 3 BH, 13 FHV, 2 FH1/2V, 17 BHV, 4 OH)
Lendl 35 (13 FH, 16 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV, 3 OH)
McEnroe had 22 from serve-volley points
- 12 first 'volleys' (4 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 7 BHV)… 1 BHV was a net chord dribbler
- 9 second volleys (4 FHV, 3 BHV, 2 OH)
- 1 fourth volley (1 FHV)
- 9 from return-approach points (3 FHV, 5 BHV, 1 OH)
- 1 other BHV was a net chord dribbler
- FHs - 1 dtl and 1 inside-in return
- BHs - 3 dtl (1 return, 2 passes)
Lendl's FH passes - 6 cc (1 runaround return), 1 dtl and 1 inside-out
- regular FHs - 5 cc (2 at net)
- BHs (all passes) - 6 cc (2 returns, 1 running-down-drop-shot at net - that was also a net chord pop over), 6 dtl, 3 inside-in returns and 1 lob
- 2 from serve-volley points - a second volley FHV and a third volley OH from behind the service line
- the BHV was a swinging shot from well behind service line and not a net point
- 1 other OH on the bounce behind service line but has been counted a net point
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
McEnroe 44
- 17 Unforced (1 FH, 7 BH, 6 FHV, 3 BHV)… including 1 FH at net
- 27 Forced (6 FH, 7 BH, 6 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 6 BHV, 1 BHOH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47.6
Lendl 48
- 12 Unforced (5 FH, 4 BH, 2 BHV, 1 OH)
- 36 Forced (14 FH, 20 BH, 2 FHV)… including 1 BH running-down-net-chord-dribbler at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.3
(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
McEnroe was...
- 106/155 (68%) at net, including...
- 65/91 (71%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 43/59 (73%) off 1st serve and...
- 22/32 (69%) off 2nd serve
---
- 29/46 (63%) return-approaching
- 0/2 forced back/retreated
Lendl was...
- 18/27 (67%) at net, including...
- 3/3 (100%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 2/2 off 1st serve and...
- 1/1 off second serve
Match Report
A high quality, if very 'pattern-ized' match, but for a drop in Lendl's level in the last set (seemingly somewhat mental of nature). Two inter-connected keys to the match: Strength of second serve and McEnroe's chip-charge returning is the key to the match -
Play is very easy to describe -
a) McEnroe first serves... always serve-volley. Lendl belts returns, some with overwhelming power, many misses and Mac otherwise volleying winner or to Lendl's BH
b) Mac's second serve.... mostly serve-volley, or come in early - and as a)
c) Lendl's first serve... huge, often unreturned or weakly returned. Lendl pounces on third ball with big groundstroke, almost always FH
d) Lendl's second serve... Mac chip-charge returns and as a)
The Court
Looks fast-ish to my eye, but commentators claim its somewhat slow for indoors
On a general note, unless otherwise stated, the frame of reference I use when eyeballing court speed is based on the potential for forcing points to an end baseline-to-baseline. Sometimes commentators have a different frame of reference - for example, they claimed a carpet match between Boris Becker and Pete Sampras was slow and noted that returns were being made, as a frame of reference
Not sure what they're referencing in this case. Surface looks faster than the Masters matches between the two, and the unreturned serve rates are higher than those matches. Those Masters courts aren't particularly fast, but I'd think would be a good anchor point for pace of carpet in general, as the pre-eminent indoor tournament of the year
It is slow compared to the '81 Philly court where Jimmy Connors beat McEnroe. I would call that court "lightning fast" (Connors' serve looked almost unreturnable on it). If one were to call that simply "fast", I suppose this '83 court being "not fast" is consistent
McEnroe - Strategy & Play
McEnroe's strategy is simple: Come to net as often and as early as possible
He chip-charge returns all but 1 Lendl second serve in the match. The one exception is an error, and its likely he would have tried coming in off that too, but it isn't an obvious return-approach attempt
Serve-volleys 100% off first serves (normal enough) and 64% off second
To win the match, he needs to volley well - and he does
The first serve is placed conservatively - probably by design. Lot of balls within Lendl's reach and not much stretching and jumping needed to deal with. He approaches the same way in rallies - down the middle of the court, minimizing the angle for Lendl to make a pass through - which suggests the placement was deliberate
Second serve is strong, and the main difference between the two players. Note the 3 second serve aces. Don't think anybody could chip-charge all of them, the way Mac does to Lendl's
Only in first set is the finishing touch on the volley not great. He fails to kill a number of balls that were there to be finished... thus giving Lendl a second or third shot at a pass. Thereafter, he's excellent in the forecourt, and against some very heavy hitting
Serve-volleying, chip-charging or rallying to net, most points end 1-2 strokes. A Lendl passing winner or error against the approach shot or a Mac first volley winner or error
Especially early on, Lendl blasts his returns and passes. There's no subtlety to it, just brute power. Given how well McEnroe volleyed, 14 volleying FEs to 10 UEs is a good indicator of the power of Lendl's passing. Even comfortable volleys above the net are relatively difficult because they're hit hard and rush Mac for time
Mac almost always approaches to Lendl's BH, except in the last set. More so than Lendl's FE distribution (14 FH, 20 BH) would indicate
From baseline, Mac's at Lendl's mercy. He hits feeble groundstrokes, while Lendl hammers the ball... and usually, Lendl has a head start as they're mostly his first serve points
McEnroe was the defending champion and he would go onto win the next 2 editions of the tournament as well, beating Lendl in the '84 final again. Lendl had won a record 66 straight matches indoors coming into the match
Lendl had won the pair's last 7 matches and 19/20 sets, stretching back to French Open 1981. Including this match, McEnroe would win 8 of their next 9 meetings
McEnroe won 143 points, Lendl 130
McEnroe serve-volleyed off all first serves, most seconds and return-approached off all but 1 second serve
Serve Stats
McEnroe...
- 1st serve percentage (67/127) 53%
- 1st serve points won (51/67) 76%
- 2nd serve points won (35/60) 58%
- Aces 10 (3 second serves), Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 7
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (49/127) 39%
Lendl...
- 1st serve percentage (83/146) 57%
- 1st serve points won (61/83) 73%
- 2nd serve points won (28/63) 44%
- Aces 7 (1 not clean), Service Winners 6
- Double Faults 5
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (44/146) 30%
Serve Patterns
McEnroe served...
- to FH 34%
- to BH 54%
- to Body 12%
Lendl served...
- to FH 30%
- to BH 67%
- to Body 3%
Return Stats
McEnroe made...
- 97 (29 FH, 68 BH), including 1 runaround FH & 46 return-approaches
- 2 Winners (1 FH, 1 BH), including a would-be return approach
- 31 Errors, comprising...
- 10 Unforced (3 FH, 7 BH), including 1 runaround FH & 9 return-approach attempts
- 21 Forced (7 FH, 14 BH), including 1 return-approach attempt
- Return Rate (97/141) 69%
Lendl made...
- 71 (27 FH, 44 BH), including 3 runaround FHs
- 6 Winners (1 FH, 5 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 38 Errors, comprising...
- 2 Unforced (2 BH)
- 36 Forced (16 FH, 20 BH)
- Return Rate (71/120) 59%
Break Points
McEnroe 4/12 (8 games)
Lendl 2/6 (4 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
McEnroe 41 (2 FH, 3 BH, 13 FHV, 2 FH1/2V, 17 BHV, 4 OH)
Lendl 35 (13 FH, 16 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV, 3 OH)
McEnroe had 22 from serve-volley points
- 12 first 'volleys' (4 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 7 BHV)… 1 BHV was a net chord dribbler
- 9 second volleys (4 FHV, 3 BHV, 2 OH)
- 1 fourth volley (1 FHV)
- 9 from return-approach points (3 FHV, 5 BHV, 1 OH)
- 1 other BHV was a net chord dribbler
- FHs - 1 dtl and 1 inside-in return
- BHs - 3 dtl (1 return, 2 passes)
Lendl's FH passes - 6 cc (1 runaround return), 1 dtl and 1 inside-out
- regular FHs - 5 cc (2 at net)
- BHs (all passes) - 6 cc (2 returns, 1 running-down-drop-shot at net - that was also a net chord pop over), 6 dtl, 3 inside-in returns and 1 lob
- 2 from serve-volley points - a second volley FHV and a third volley OH from behind the service line
- the BHV was a swinging shot from well behind service line and not a net point
- 1 other OH on the bounce behind service line but has been counted a net point
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
McEnroe 44
- 17 Unforced (1 FH, 7 BH, 6 FHV, 3 BHV)… including 1 FH at net
- 27 Forced (6 FH, 7 BH, 6 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 6 BHV, 1 BHOH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47.6
Lendl 48
- 12 Unforced (5 FH, 4 BH, 2 BHV, 1 OH)
- 36 Forced (14 FH, 20 BH, 2 FHV)… including 1 BH running-down-net-chord-dribbler at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.3
(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
McEnroe was...
- 106/155 (68%) at net, including...
- 65/91 (71%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 43/59 (73%) off 1st serve and...
- 22/32 (69%) off 2nd serve
---
- 29/46 (63%) return-approaching
- 0/2 forced back/retreated
Lendl was...
- 18/27 (67%) at net, including...
- 3/3 (100%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 2/2 off 1st serve and...
- 1/1 off second serve
Match Report
A high quality, if very 'pattern-ized' match, but for a drop in Lendl's level in the last set (seemingly somewhat mental of nature). Two inter-connected keys to the match: Strength of second serve and McEnroe's chip-charge returning is the key to the match -
Play is very easy to describe -
a) McEnroe first serves... always serve-volley. Lendl belts returns, some with overwhelming power, many misses and Mac otherwise volleying winner or to Lendl's BH
b) Mac's second serve.... mostly serve-volley, or come in early - and as a)
c) Lendl's first serve... huge, often unreturned or weakly returned. Lendl pounces on third ball with big groundstroke, almost always FH
d) Lendl's second serve... Mac chip-charge returns and as a)
The Court
Looks fast-ish to my eye, but commentators claim its somewhat slow for indoors
On a general note, unless otherwise stated, the frame of reference I use when eyeballing court speed is based on the potential for forcing points to an end baseline-to-baseline. Sometimes commentators have a different frame of reference - for example, they claimed a carpet match between Boris Becker and Pete Sampras was slow and noted that returns were being made, as a frame of reference
Not sure what they're referencing in this case. Surface looks faster than the Masters matches between the two, and the unreturned serve rates are higher than those matches. Those Masters courts aren't particularly fast, but I'd think would be a good anchor point for pace of carpet in general, as the pre-eminent indoor tournament of the year
It is slow compared to the '81 Philly court where Jimmy Connors beat McEnroe. I would call that court "lightning fast" (Connors' serve looked almost unreturnable on it). If one were to call that simply "fast", I suppose this '83 court being "not fast" is consistent
McEnroe - Strategy & Play
McEnroe's strategy is simple: Come to net as often and as early as possible
He chip-charge returns all but 1 Lendl second serve in the match. The one exception is an error, and its likely he would have tried coming in off that too, but it isn't an obvious return-approach attempt
Serve-volleys 100% off first serves (normal enough) and 64% off second
To win the match, he needs to volley well - and he does
The first serve is placed conservatively - probably by design. Lot of balls within Lendl's reach and not much stretching and jumping needed to deal with. He approaches the same way in rallies - down the middle of the court, minimizing the angle for Lendl to make a pass through - which suggests the placement was deliberate
Second serve is strong, and the main difference between the two players. Note the 3 second serve aces. Don't think anybody could chip-charge all of them, the way Mac does to Lendl's
Only in first set is the finishing touch on the volley not great. He fails to kill a number of balls that were there to be finished... thus giving Lendl a second or third shot at a pass. Thereafter, he's excellent in the forecourt, and against some very heavy hitting
Serve-volleying, chip-charging or rallying to net, most points end 1-2 strokes. A Lendl passing winner or error against the approach shot or a Mac first volley winner or error
Especially early on, Lendl blasts his returns and passes. There's no subtlety to it, just brute power. Given how well McEnroe volleyed, 14 volleying FEs to 10 UEs is a good indicator of the power of Lendl's passing. Even comfortable volleys above the net are relatively difficult because they're hit hard and rush Mac for time
Mac almost always approaches to Lendl's BH, except in the last set. More so than Lendl's FE distribution (14 FH, 20 BH) would indicate
From baseline, Mac's at Lendl's mercy. He hits feeble groundstrokes, while Lendl hammers the ball... and usually, Lendl has a head start as they're mostly his first serve points
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