Match Stats/Report - Mecir vs Becker, US Open semi-final, 1986

[Waspsting]

Miloslav Mecir beat Boris Becker 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the US Open semi-final, 1986 on hard court

Mecir would go onto lose the final to Ivan Lendl. Becker had recently won Wimbledon, beating Mecir along the way and Lendl in the final

Mecir won 162 points, Becker 161

Becker serve-volleyed frequently (between a third and half) and randomly off first serve

(Note: I’ve made educated guesses regarding serve type for a considerable number of points)

Serve Stats
Mecir...
- 1st serve percentage (121/160) 76%
- 1st serve points won (82/121) 68%
- 2nd serve points won (19/39) 49%
- Aces 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (30/160) 19%

Becker...
- 1st serve percentage (98/163) 60%
- 1st serve points won (70/98) 71%
- 2nd serve points won (32/65) 49%
- Aces 13, Service Winners 2
- Double Faults 11
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (58/163) 36%

Serve Patterns
Mecir served...
- to FH 37%
- to BH 58%
- to Body 6%

Becker served...
- to FH 37%
- to BH 58%
- to Body 5%

Return Stats
Mecir made...
- 94 (30 FH, 64 BH), including 1 runaround FH & 4 return-approaches
- 5 Winners (5 BH)
- 43 Errors, comprising...
- 16 Unforced (8 FH, 8 BH)
- 27 Forced (13 FH, 14 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- Return Rate (94/152) 62%

Becker made...
- 130 (49 FH, 81 BH), including 2 runaround FHs & 10 return-approaches
- 4 Winners (4 FH)
- 28 Errors, comprising...
- 22 Unforced (11 FH, 11 BH), including 1 return-approach attempt
- 6 Forced (4 FH, 2 BH)
- Return Rate (130/160) 81%

Break Points
Mecir 5/16 (9 games)
Becker 4/13 (9 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Mecir 43 (10 FH, 17 BH, 7 FHV, 6 BHV, 3 OH)
Becker 27 (14 FH, 2 BH, 3 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 5 BHV, 2 OH)

Mecir had 13 passes - 4 returns (4 BH) & 9 regular (2 FH, 7 BH)
- BH returns - 1 cc, 1 dtl, 1 inside-out and 1 inside-in
- regular FHs - 2 cc
- regular BHs - 3 cc, 2 dtl, 1 inside-out/dtl and 1 longline

- regular (non-pass) FHs - 4 cc, 1 cc/inside-in and 3 inside-out
- regular BHs - 1 cc, 2 dtl, 1 dtl/inside-out, 1 inside-out return, (that Becker somewhat left), 1 longline

- 3 from serve-volley points (3 BHV), all first volleys

- 1 other FHV was a non-net swinging inside-out shot

Becker's FHs -5 cc (1 return, 2 passes), 2 dtl, 5 inside-out (2 returns, 1 pass), 1 inside-in and 1 net chord dribbler return
- BHs - 2 dtl (1 pass)

- 5 from serve-volley points - 1 first volley (1 BHV) & 4 second volleys (2 FHV, 2 BHV)

- 1 from a return-approach point, a FHV
- 1 OH was on the bounce

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Mecir 76
- 45 Unforced (19 FH, 18 BH, 3 FHV, 5 BHV)... with 2 BH at net
- 31 Forced (10 FH, 17 BH, 1 FHV, 3 BHV)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.7

Becker 78
- 39 Unforced (19 FH, 16 BH, 2 FHV, 3 BHV)... with 1 BH at net
- 39 Forced (13 FH, 22 BH, 4 BHV)... with 1 FH at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.2

(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
Mecir was...
- 39/60 (65%) at net, including...
- 5/6 (83%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 4/4 (100%) off 1st serve and...
- 1/2 off 2nd serve
---
- 2/4 (50%) return-approaching

Becker was...
- 46/69 (67%) at net, including...
- 29/40 (73%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 22/31 (71%) off 1st serve and...
- 7/9 (78%) off 2nd serve
---
- 5/10 (50%) return-approaching

Match Report
There’s only 1 thing you can count on in this meeting between 2 of the most make-it-up-as-you-go-along players around; on crucial points, Mecir will take net. It works, and Mecir wins. Court is normal of pace and bounce

Match could scarcely be closer

Points won - Mecir 162, Boris 161
Points served - Mecir 160, Boris 163
Break points - Mecir 5/16, Boris 4/13 (both having them in 9 games)

2nd serve points, an identical 49%, leaving things to be decided by 1st serves

1st serve in - Mecir 76%, Boris 60%
1st serve won - Mecir 68%, Boris 71%

Things being that close means result is determined by a point here, a point there or it’s a ‘who-plays-the-big-points-better’ affair

Matches labelled WPtBPB are generally, as likely a simple matter of chance or luck as anything ‘clutch’ or ‘choke’. No one can guarantee anything for 5 specific points out of 320 odd ones

In this match though, I would would credit Mecir for it. When things get close, he actively finds net. And he doesn’t do it rashly either. Doesn’t serve-volley or return-approach or try to get up there quickly. He serves, returns and rallies more or less the same way he does at all other times, but comes in almost every time (unless there’s absolutely no chance to - which with Boris’ serve isn’t rare)

Match long, he doesn’t volley particularly well, and misses good lot of easy ones. Nor is he particularly net thirsty on the whole, generally, preferring to play things out from the back where honours are about even, each player excelling in different areas (more on that later)

Boris by contrast, exhibits a dichotomous, play baseline or play net mentality, no mixing of the two. If he comes to net, he does it off the serve or off the return, but when he’s on baseline, bangs away from there. Looks to overpower the relatively gentle (though crafy and artful) Mecir groundgame. Works pretty well too - but not as well as coming in after pushing Mecir back with power

So a certain reluctance shown by Boris to come to net - whether serve-volleying or rallying his way there. He probably wins with a bump in either… he’s got a massive advantage on the serve shot alone and potentially, the return too, though he messes up on that some (more on that later)

Off 1st serve, Boris serve-volleys 31/83 or 37% of the time
Serve-volleying, he wins 22/31 or 71%
Not serve-volleying, its 33/52 or 63%
(to go along with 13 aces, 2 service winners)

Mecir serve-volleys insignificant amount, an odd surprise move, winning 5/6 when he does (twice of second serves)

Rallying to net -
Mecir wins 32/50 or 64%
Boris, 12/19 or 63%

Boris doing significantly better serve-volleying than not. And there’s nothing springing from the 2 serve-return contests to justify Mecir having so many more rally approaches. Simply, when rallying from the back, Boris doesn’t look for net, Mecir does

Call it brains (good ones from Mecir, something else from Boris), tactical choices or whatever, that’s biggest, result determining factor. Its not a contradiction to discredit Boris for his choices while crediting Mecir for the win. Boris plays smarter, he probably wins

As is, Mecir does play smart, and slivers ahead

If the above makes match appear like some neat, readily categorizable one, its given completely wrong impression

General nature of play is there is no general nature of play. Both players mix up just about everything there is to mix up in such ways that there’s no telling what you’ll find if you pick a random moment to join the action. You might find Boris serve-volleying or not. You might find Mecir returning from inside court or not. You might find Boris looking for FH inside-out winners or plying away with BH cc’s. You might find Mecir opening up the court with cute angles or hitting up and down the middle of it. You might find sloppy errors, or tight, tough baseline rallies. You might find Boris trying to hit first returns dtl for winners or hit them back safely cc

If its an important point, you’ll probably find Mecir at net. Boris, not so much

To be clear, its not as simple as Mecir taking net on important points and winning them. For starters, he loses a fair few up there on said points and secondly, he doesn’t have a chance to get up there, with Boris serve-volleying or drawing a return error or double faulting etc.

Down break point, Mec is at net 6 times, not 6 times, has no chance once. Boris on the same points is at net twice, not 9 and has no chance twice
Up break point, Mec is at net twice, not 4 times and has no chance 10 times. Boris on the same points is at net 5 times, not 10 and has no chance once

Even that’s not a fair comparison, in that it it assumes serve-volleying isn’t a viable option for Mec but is for Boris, or undervalues what a weapon Boris’ first serve is (sans serve-volleying)

 

[Waspsting]

Serve, Return & Serve-volley
Huge difference in power of serves. Boris with his canon, Mec with his pee-shooter

In staid terms, advantage for Boris from serve-return complex is 36% unreturneds to 19%, but there’s a lot more going on there than just that

For starters, there’s the small matter of double faults. 0 for Mec, 11 for Boris - just 2 fewer than his considerable aces

Its not too important (given that in such a close match, everything is and could be the coat of varnish that puts the winner over the line first). 7/11 of them are in first set that Boris wins. There are doubles in the games he’s broken in second set, but those are relatively comforable breaks to 15 and 30

At one stage, Boris has 4 aces, 11 double faults

Mec struggles to handle power of Boris’ first serve. He swithces up his return position regularly, frequently taking first serves from just inside court (not knowing if Boris will be serve-volleying or not). Its not a good move. Balls on him too fast and even the ones in swing zone jam him for pace. Good lot of errors to such balls that he can’t time to get to net even (particularly when Boris is staying back)

Boris serves a bit harder when not serve-volleying. He wouldn’t be in position at net if he went all in to serve-volley, given pace of serve and uncertainty of where Mec might take the ball

The biggest negative is Boris’ returning. Return error breakdowns -
- UEs - Mec 16, Boris 22
- FEs - Mec 27, Boris 6

There’s a lot going on behind those numbers too. For starters, Mec’s 1st serve is weak. Could pass for a second serve, and indeed, he sends down a good number that are indistinguishable from them

The good and bad of Boris’ returning is a mix. He does well to return Mec’s better first serves, that stretch him out or/and surprise him. Can’t return with much force and Mec takes charge of point off the bat, but that’s what’s supposed to happen on first serve points. From Boris’ point of view, better than missing the return

He does poorly in returning the weaker ones (of which there are a lot), particularly with his FH and due to over-aggression. Keeps trying to hit FH dtl winners to serves out wide in deuce court

He has 0 FH return dtl winners. Can rarely get the shot in play at all. 11/22 UEs (also 4/6 FEs) are FHs, despite Mec serving there just 37% of the time

Is it worth it? One would look to end the point with the return if badly outmatched in rallies, which Boris isn’t. In fact, Mec is quite prone to missing routine third ball shots presented by stock, down the middle returns

To Mec’s credit, he feeds Boris the chance by serving there often. Its not an accident when he’s only serving 37% to FH overall and he can’t have missed what Boris is trying to do

The 81% return rate of Boris could do with a realistic bump of 5-7%, sans the unnecessary and highly almost completely failed FH dtl winner attempt misses. Easy to put the ball in play cc, and start a 50-50 rally. Blackmark against Boris’ overambitious returning aggression, a check for Mecir ignoring the obvious danger and giving him the rope to hang himself with. Its not an easy choice, because the serves aren’t strong and it wouldn’t come as surprise if Boris were to have put a few away for winners. Not necessarily a bad choice by Boris, but complete failure to execute makes it a negative in his showing. Eyes bigger than stomach

Like most things, its not a constant through the match, and Boris largely drops the attempts around middle of 4th set, but it does cost him plenty.

There is plenty of aggressive returning from both players. Boris hits with powers and has 3 FH winners (excluding a net chord dribbler) and return-approaches 10 times (wins just 5 - that’s due to Mec’s passing). Mec has no choice but to counter-attack with the second shot, with Boris serve-volleying often enough. He’s not a powerful returner, but he does place the ball just so to go through for the winner and does have full repertoire of directions to go in

Its not limited to counter serve-volleying. Mec is apt to take the odd second return and sweep it wide to give Boris a running third ball shot to start with. Picks and chooses his moments to do so, and rarely misses

Like Boris, Mec returning better off the BH than FH, but for different reasons. FH’s apt to not be able to handle power as well as the FH

Coincidentally, two players serve almost identically of direction. Direction of serves in raw numbers -

- to FH - Mec 59, Boris 56 (both 37%)
- to BH - Mec 92, Boris 88 (both 58%)
- to Body - Mec 9, Boris 8 (Mec 6%, Boris 5%)

Gist - lot going on

Boris - big serve, double faults a lot (without it doing too much harm). Mec varying returning position, in trouble against pace of serve particularly on FH, placing attacking or counter-attacking returns sweetly often enough to be threatening

Mec - weak serve, with a few damaging wide ones thrown in. Boris trying and failing to dish out ultimate punishment to the weak ones, doing well to get the better ones back in play. Few powerful punishing returns too

Play - Baseline & Net
All court action - baseline rallies, rallying to net, serve-volleying and return-approaching - all on show. As with everything else, nature and quality of it all shifts and fluctuates. On the whole, quality is good - but there’s significant sloppiness from both players too

If there is a stand-out feature, its Mec’s ability to take net, seemingly at will. Its not that he’s particularly hungry to (but one can say Boris is particularly not hungry to), its that he has no trouble making the approach. He comes in off all ways - off the short ball (orthodox), after hitting wide (by manuvering Boris), manufacturing approaches (coming in off a neutral ball amidst a normal rally), quick-dash and sneak-ins (doesn’t do this much). A little serve-volley, including behind second serves, the odd return-approach The most eye catching is when he very simply hits a ball down the middle with not much heat and follows it to net. So simple, yet it gets him where he wants to. One can imagine him confused on being questioned “how do you approach net?” and replying something like “hit the ball and move forward”

Baseline rallies are a contest between Boris’ greater power (especially off FH) and Mec’s ability to hit wide and open up the court (of both sides, the BH maybe a bit better at it). Mec’s shots look almost feeble next to Boris’, and Boris’ orthodoxly placed shots, dull and ugly next to Mec’s

Neither are walls, both miss good lot of routine balls, but they do so virtually to exact same amount. Ground UEs -
- FHs - both 19
- BHs - Mec 16, Boris 15 (excluding net shots)

Neutral UEs - Boris 16, Mec 23

A bit surprising. Mec makes so many clever shots that it comes as surprise to see him miss the routine ones, but that’s where he’s sloppiest. All those aggressive returns Boris misses, yet he draws UEs with stock returns, with Mec missing the most basic shots

If Boris has consistency advantage, he doesn’t have a damaging one

Baseline-to-baseline winners
- Mec 8 FH, 5 BH, 1 non-net volley
- Boris 7 FH, 1 BH

Mec has his angles and shot combos to score - of both sides. Boris just has power of the FH, particularly the inside-out. He falters some on BH dtl attempted point finishers too, but not much. Off the BH, Boris largely sticks to conventional drive cc’s. Effective with its match low UEs, but its an ugly, crabby looking shot (made to look more so by Mec’s easy grace in hitting)

Mec’s BH goes every which way unpredictably. He’s got 17 BH winners to Boris’ 2, and the first 12 are all different. Have a look at breakdown of Mec’s BH winners - you won’t find such a wide range for anyone else

Ground FEs
Mec 27, Boris 35

A mix of passes and baseline-to-baseline endings. With similar success level at net (Boris winning 67%, Mec 65%), but Boris winning considerably more via unreturned serves and Mec having more volley winners, roughly, same number of passing errors

Hence, Mec’s advantage in baseline aggression extending to forcing errors - enough to supplant Boris’ consistency one

Subtracting net UEs gives baseline-baseline errors of the more-than-neutral variety

- Attacking + Winner Attempt UEs (baseline-to-baseline) - Mec 12, Boris 18

… cementing Mec’s being better from the back attacking

 

[Waspsting]

Rallying to net
- Mec 32/50 at 64%
- Boris 12/19 at 63%

This is the big one. Mec might be better baseliner but by no means to the extent of keeping Boris back. With his power advantage, Boris is as free to come in as Mec. Its his choice not to. Its not a good one - he’s not winning 63% of baseline rallies, he’s losing more than he wins in fact

Mec meanwhile is getting slightly better of baseline rallies, so wouldn’t have as much need to come in. But he does to boost his already present court superiority. This match is as much won and lost between the ears as on the court

Volley vs pass battle also favours Mec, due to his passing better

Volley winners - Mec 16, Boris 11
‘Volley’ UEs - Mec 10, Boris 5
‘Volley’ FEs - both 4
Passing winners - Mec 13 (9 non-returns), Boris 3

All but 2 of Mec’s passing winners are BHs. Boris has just 1, with BH FEs reading Mec 17, Boris 22

Mec passing much, much better of the BH. Its easy (and not incorrect) to note Boris getting it wrong by not coming in enough, but its also understandable why he might have hesitated to. Not as much as the figures indicate, because Mec having so many more BH pass winners is also explainable by Boris doing badly on that front

Simply as a percentage, he’d expect to get more winning shots off. Mec’s hit rate is good, but not outlandishly so

Gist - from baseline, Boris hitting harder (especially with FH) and being steadier (particularly off BH) on staple outdone by Mec finding angles and hitting wide off both sides, but more the BH. Mec’s placement, point constructed attacking > Boris’ browbeating one and that advantage greater than Boris’ slim consistency advantage

The cincher, Mec coming to net as and when he pleases, Boris rarely. About equally successful there - Mec is more apt to miss the easy volley, but he passes a lot better to compensate. Main thing is he’s there much more often

Match Progression
Competitve but not a good set to open proceeding. Boris double faults a lot and mixes up serve-volleying and staying back. Mec struggles to cope with power of the serve, even sans serve-volleying. He’s often inside court to return

Not much volleying for Boris to do, but what there is, he’s not good at. Misses easy ones, but wins most points via unreturned serves. Mec’s serve is harmless, his groundies easily graceful but not powerful or damaging. Makes the occasional trip to net

2 trade breaks early. Boris double faults 3 times to give up his, breaks back with a pair of return winners (1 a net chord dribbler), with Mec missing a routine volley on break point

Boris survives 24 and 12 point holds (saving 6 break points combined). In between, he snatches the decisive break via Mec UEs (a BH, a BHV and a FH). Boris served 53 points in the game, Mec 28

More of the same in set 2, with a good deal of sloppiness from both players. Boris serve-volleys more but continues to double fault. This time, its Mec who has the tough hold (14 points, 2 break points saved), while grabbing the extra break. Mec’s net play, passing and Boris’ doubles all have a hand in winners breaks, while Boris breaks in a very poor game from Med

Third set continues with healthy dose of sloppy, but pay picks up soon - and remains at a higher standard from thereon. Boris cuts back on the serve-volleying and makes a hash of regulation returns, often trying to hit them for FH dtl winners. Mec’s wide hitting is a treat and he’s consistent doing it - excellent from him

Its still a tough set. Mec holds 12 and 14 point games (facing and saving just 2 break points in them). Just the one tough service game for Boris, but he’s broken in it. 16 points, 10 of them first serves. His missing big FHs staying back off the those first serves prolongs the game, but when he finally turns to serve-volleying, wins 1 and loses 1 point. Appropriately, he’s broken missing an attacking third ball FH cc of another first serve point that drew a not strong return

4th set is the best of the bunch. In line with unpredictability of the match, Mec has better of this than the 2 previous sets that he won. He’s opening the court effortlessly from the back, and making sweet passes. Ground UEs from both players are at lowest in this part

Both players have chances. They trade tough holds to stay on serve near the start. Boris holds 12 point game, saving break point with a second serve-volley point before breaking by charging net

Couple of stand out shots point. Mec is particularly regal in dismissing a FH from his presence for a third ball cc winner. More amusingly, Boris finally gets a strong FH dtl return off, which he follows to net - and loses the point anyway, against an unlikely pass. He has the last laugh there as he breaks in the game

Good finale, with Boris stumbling just a bit to fall behind. In opening game, he strikes his only BH pass winner and has a break point. Good deep approach by Mec to save it. From deuce, Boris misses an easy FHV from return-approaching and point after, misses a FH winner attempt that he’d set up perfectly and was there for the shot

Failure to break is the little stumble, but getting broken is a big badly judged on top of that. Boris tries to hit a strong, back-away FH inside-out against a deep return but misses. It’s a stupid shot and puts him down 0-30 after 2 second serves. Gets the first in next 4 points, wins the first 2 serve-volleying, but stays back after that

His reward - a return to the baseline that brings up break point. And on it, a third ball attacking FH UE

Server domination from there to the end, both players playing well. Between them, they make 40/52 first serves or 77% (Mec 78%, Boris 75%). On top of the high in count, Mec serves his best, potentially damaging stuff here. Boris serves his norm, but at the much higher in-count then earlier

Summing up, an unusual and fine match. Its not complicated but there is only a lot going on
Becker has big serve, Mecir has a weak one
Becker falters with over-aggressive returning, Mecir struggles to handle the pace of Becker’s serve. Other than when he doesn’t, and pulls out some wonderfully precise passes and wide-angled returns
Becker mixes up serve-volleying and staying back, Mecir throws in a few surprise serve-volleys of his own
Both players throw in a few return-approaches to spice things up
Off the ground, Becker’s FH is the heaviest shot on show and his BH the most secure. Mecir’s shots are a weight class below of power, but he finds/creates angles to open the court and attack
Most of importantly, Mecir is far more active in seeking net, playing a genuine all court game. Becker’s net pay is mostly tied up to his serve and return and he prefers to just bang away with groundstrokes from the baseline to coming in from rallies
Mecir is sloppier on the volley, but much better on the pass

Its not all good stuff, and there’s healthy dose of sloppiness in all of the above. And things stay close as can be
Mecir edges the result - the proactive net seeking is biggest part of pushing the result his way - and more broadly, his approach is strategically superior and better judged than his opponent

Stats for the final between Mecir and Ivan Lendl - Match Stats/Report - Lendl vs Mecir, US Open final, 1986 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)

@Gizo might find this interesting