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)
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)