Andy Murray (Great Britain) beat Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina) 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the Olympic Games final, 2016 on hard court in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Murray was the defending champion, while del Potro had won the bronze medal in at previous edition in 2012. Kei Nishikori (Japan), who Murray had beaten in the in the semi-final, would win the Bronze medal by beating Rafael Nadal (Spain)
Murray won 141 points, del Potro 128
Serve Stats
Murray...
- 1st serve percentage (64/126) 51%
- 1st serve points won (46/64) 72%
- 2nd serve points won (30/62) 48%
- Aces 10
- Double Faults 6
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (23/126) 18%
del Potro...
- 1st serve percentage (103/143) 72%
- 1st serve points won (64/103) 62%
- 2nd serve points won (14/40) 35%
- Aces 3
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (25/143) 17%
Serve Patterns
Murray served...
- to FH 29%
- to BH 61%
- to Body 10%
del Potro served...
- to FH 44%
- to BH 50%
- to Body 6%
Return Stats
Murray made...
- 116 (48 FH, 68 BH), including 3 return-approaches
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 22 Errors, comprising...
- 14 Unforced (10 FH, 4 BH), including 1 runaround BH
- 8 Forced (4 FH, 4 BH)
- Return Rate (116/141) 82%
del Potro made...
- 97 (37 FH, 60 BH), including 11 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 13 Errors, comprising...
- 8 Unforced (2 FH, 6 BH)
- 5 Forced (4 FH, 1 BH)
- Return Rate (97/120) 81%
Break Points
Murray 9/23 (10 games)
del Potro 6/12 (8 games)
Winners (excluding serves, including returns)
Murray 34 (9 FH, 10 BH, 5 FHV, 4 BHV, 6 OH)
del Potro 36 (20 FH, 4 BH, 2 FHV, 5 BHV, 5 OH)
Murray FHs - 4 cc (1 return, 3 passes), 1 dtl pass, 2 inside-out, 1 longline, 1 drop shot
- BHs - 5 dtl (1 slice, 2 passes), 1 dtl/inside-out, 1 inside-out pass, 1 drop shot, 2 lobs
- 2 BHVs were non-net swinging passes
- 2 OHs were on the bounce (1 from the baseline)
del Potro's FHs - 3 cc (1 return), 2 cc/inside-in, 1 dtl pass, 6 inside-out (1 pass), 4 inside-in, 2 inside-in/cc, 1 longline/drop shot, 1 running-down-drop-shot drop shot at net
- BHs - 3 dtl passes, 1 net chord dribbler
- 1 FHV was a swinging, non-net shot & 1 OH was on the bounce
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Murray 61
- 39 Unforced (20 FH, 18 BH, 1 FHV)... the FHV was a swinging shot
- 22 Forced (11 FH, 10 BH, 1 FHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 43.8
del Potro 82
- 54 Unforced (36 FH, 17 BH, 1 BHV)... with 1 FH at net
- 28 Forced (16 FH, 8 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.6
(Note 1: all half-volleys refer to such shots played at net. Half -volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke counts)
(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
Murray was 20/28 (71%) at net, with...
- 2/3 (67%) return-approaching
- 3/3 forced back/retreated
del Potro was 20/40 (50%) at net, with...
- 1/1 forced back
Match Report
A very weird match. Its hot, sticky, crowd are raucous rambunctious, court is slow. del Potro is winded before end of first set, extending to physically half-gone by the third set. Murray is not and has an easy time doing whatever he likes, until he goes off on awful run of play to keep things interesting to the end
“Interesting”. Not “good”. The deciding set is God awful stuff from both players. Gutsy stuff from the moving-like-a-rock Delpo at the end. Better fitness would obviate the need for such guts
With Murray have steam rolled through the third, with Delpo growing wearier and slower by the game, 6-1 Murray in the fourth would be a good bet
Instead, we get 7-5. 7 breaks, including first 4 games. Murray double faulting, missing routine groundies and returns. Delpo doing what he can gutsily but not well. He’s so out of it that he goes to the wrong side to serve after saving a break point
Delpo serves for the set, but is broken for 5-5, not before saving 3 break points. He’s so out of it that on one of them, he can’t move to a slightly wide, but powerful ball and just reaches out for it with his wide wingspan, not without luck, fending it back in play for an unintentional, effectively drop shot winner
He’s got 0-30 next game and blasts a deep FH that Murray manages to fend back from well back, with Delpo moving in for the kill when ball is called out and Chair overrules to in. It was in, and point is replayed, with Murray taking it niftily
Rest of game remains as it is, but Delpo wins that point, he breaks. There’s drama in the last game too, with crowd distracting Murray as he’s about to putaway a FH. Couple of fans in Argentina football jerseys are evicted (unrelated to the incident). Ends up not mattering as Murray breaks after 10 points to put the match out its misery
If Delpo breaks previous game we go to tiebreak. Seeing how bad the tennis is, it’s a small pity it doesn’t and we don’t get a 5th set. Or not
Dramatic stuff. The tennis ain’t so great though
Prior to that though, good match from both players on slow surface. Murray staying solid and working the ball about, using the net effectively. He’s got big hitting advantage on the BH and his FH proves a lot more solid, he drop shots, he comes to net, he moves the slow Delpo about… all the little subtleties of his game, done well
Delpo slices BHs and watches and waits on the FH. The big booming FH is only shot on show that can do damage on a painfully slow surface, but he doesn’t overdo it or look to. There are winners, occasionally he unleashes big shots from routine positions but not often, and more often, just big powerful extensions of ‘neutral’ shot that are strong enough to draw errors from even the resolute Murray without going too wide. Calling his BHs a slice is an exaggeration. Its more like a 1-handed push, with a hint of under-spin, harmless as can be. Vitas Gerulaitis used to play the same BH. Its very steady though, and Murray doesn’t look to overwhelm it (which is very do-able)
At best, he’s a a wall from the back. He’s slow even at start, showing signs of fatigue half-way through the first set (which he tends to do in general, and it would be unwise to count on it). By third set, he’s out on his feet
He however, almost never loses his head. Doesn’t get carried away with FHs or looking for big serves or coming to net. Which, given how he’s moving, sounds like a temptation. Given he how competitive he makes things, his choices are justified
Good first couple of sets
One sided third, and a fourth that’s as interesting as it is badly played
Serve & Return
First serve in - Murray 51%, Delpo 72%
First serve won - Murray 72%, Delpo 62%
Second serve won - Murray 48%, Delpo 35%
Court is slow and probably not worth lowering in count to bang down big serves. Neither player tries
It is an option. However slow, the first serves of both players is capable of doing damage. Way Delpo is gassed, for him in particular, looking for quick, cheap points seems like an idea
Nope. Both players send down average first serves, conservatively placed. Returning is not difficult job
Murray has substantial 10 aces, which along with low in count, doesn’t seem to fit above description.
Most of those aces are product of Delpo not moving and most of his serves are 3-quarter paced, in-swing zone stuff. The slightly wider ones are a little irksome, again because Delpo’s movements are so poor, not because serves are great
Poor job by Murray to get just 51% first serves in, way he serves
Justified smart one by Delpo to deliver 72%. His very low second serve points won speaks to trouble he gets into if he doesn’t. Going for bigger serves likely won’t draw errors from Murray anyway, but will lower in count… and Murray’s all over his second serves
Murray moving forward and smacking second returns has big hand in Delpo’s low second serve points won. For the energy he puts into the move, he doesn’t seem to be getting corresponding damaging value, but given his substantial rallying advantage, he doesn’t need to
Delpo walling up on the return. Aced 10 times (about half the time due to lack of effort), but just 13 return errors. Good job. He returns with normal strength - with only a rare powerful one. Rarely goes for a big FH to wide serves, usually missing
Murray’s returning, like many parts of his game, goes off in fourth set. He’s got 14 UEs on the return to 8 FEs. Lot of regulation return misses - especially for him
Low unreturned rates (Murray 18%, Delpo 17%) sums up serving quality and court speed. Murray in particular has room for returning even higher than 82% he does. Wouldn’t hold it against Delpo though - he’s generally not as secure on the return as Murray to begin with, and as physically out of it as he gets, he’s doen well to return so surely
Notable in all this is Delpo maintaining steady game and sticking to high percentage choices, with calculated risk taking only. Doesn’t bang down big serves to try to get cheap points. Rarely looks for big return (11 runaround FH returns are high for him, he usually doesn’t do that)
Solid serving, solid returning from Delpo
Low in count is not good from Murray, given average serving force. A little off on return consistency at times, but pressuring with his pouncing forward second returns
Then they rally
Murray was the defending champion, while del Potro had won the bronze medal in at previous edition in 2012. Kei Nishikori (Japan), who Murray had beaten in the in the semi-final, would win the Bronze medal by beating Rafael Nadal (Spain)
Murray won 141 points, del Potro 128
Serve Stats
Murray...
- 1st serve percentage (64/126) 51%
- 1st serve points won (46/64) 72%
- 2nd serve points won (30/62) 48%
- Aces 10
- Double Faults 6
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (23/126) 18%
del Potro...
- 1st serve percentage (103/143) 72%
- 1st serve points won (64/103) 62%
- 2nd serve points won (14/40) 35%
- Aces 3
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (25/143) 17%
Serve Patterns
Murray served...
- to FH 29%
- to BH 61%
- to Body 10%
del Potro served...
- to FH 44%
- to BH 50%
- to Body 6%
Return Stats
Murray made...
- 116 (48 FH, 68 BH), including 3 return-approaches
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 22 Errors, comprising...
- 14 Unforced (10 FH, 4 BH), including 1 runaround BH
- 8 Forced (4 FH, 4 BH)
- Return Rate (116/141) 82%
del Potro made...
- 97 (37 FH, 60 BH), including 11 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 13 Errors, comprising...
- 8 Unforced (2 FH, 6 BH)
- 5 Forced (4 FH, 1 BH)
- Return Rate (97/120) 81%
Break Points
Murray 9/23 (10 games)
del Potro 6/12 (8 games)
Winners (excluding serves, including returns)
Murray 34 (9 FH, 10 BH, 5 FHV, 4 BHV, 6 OH)
del Potro 36 (20 FH, 4 BH, 2 FHV, 5 BHV, 5 OH)
Murray FHs - 4 cc (1 return, 3 passes), 1 dtl pass, 2 inside-out, 1 longline, 1 drop shot
- BHs - 5 dtl (1 slice, 2 passes), 1 dtl/inside-out, 1 inside-out pass, 1 drop shot, 2 lobs
- 2 BHVs were non-net swinging passes
- 2 OHs were on the bounce (1 from the baseline)
del Potro's FHs - 3 cc (1 return), 2 cc/inside-in, 1 dtl pass, 6 inside-out (1 pass), 4 inside-in, 2 inside-in/cc, 1 longline/drop shot, 1 running-down-drop-shot drop shot at net
- BHs - 3 dtl passes, 1 net chord dribbler
- 1 FHV was a swinging, non-net shot & 1 OH was on the bounce
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Murray 61
- 39 Unforced (20 FH, 18 BH, 1 FHV)... the FHV was a swinging shot
- 22 Forced (11 FH, 10 BH, 1 FHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 43.8
del Potro 82
- 54 Unforced (36 FH, 17 BH, 1 BHV)... with 1 FH at net
- 28 Forced (16 FH, 8 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.6
(Note 1: all half-volleys refer to such shots played at net. Half -volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke counts)
(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
Murray was 20/28 (71%) at net, with...
- 2/3 (67%) return-approaching
- 3/3 forced back/retreated
del Potro was 20/40 (50%) at net, with...
- 1/1 forced back
Match Report
A very weird match. Its hot, sticky, crowd are raucous rambunctious, court is slow. del Potro is winded before end of first set, extending to physically half-gone by the third set. Murray is not and has an easy time doing whatever he likes, until he goes off on awful run of play to keep things interesting to the end
“Interesting”. Not “good”. The deciding set is God awful stuff from both players. Gutsy stuff from the moving-like-a-rock Delpo at the end. Better fitness would obviate the need for such guts
With Murray have steam rolled through the third, with Delpo growing wearier and slower by the game, 6-1 Murray in the fourth would be a good bet
Instead, we get 7-5. 7 breaks, including first 4 games. Murray double faulting, missing routine groundies and returns. Delpo doing what he can gutsily but not well. He’s so out of it that he goes to the wrong side to serve after saving a break point
Delpo serves for the set, but is broken for 5-5, not before saving 3 break points. He’s so out of it that on one of them, he can’t move to a slightly wide, but powerful ball and just reaches out for it with his wide wingspan, not without luck, fending it back in play for an unintentional, effectively drop shot winner
He’s got 0-30 next game and blasts a deep FH that Murray manages to fend back from well back, with Delpo moving in for the kill when ball is called out and Chair overrules to in. It was in, and point is replayed, with Murray taking it niftily
Rest of game remains as it is, but Delpo wins that point, he breaks. There’s drama in the last game too, with crowd distracting Murray as he’s about to putaway a FH. Couple of fans in Argentina football jerseys are evicted (unrelated to the incident). Ends up not mattering as Murray breaks after 10 points to put the match out its misery
If Delpo breaks previous game we go to tiebreak. Seeing how bad the tennis is, it’s a small pity it doesn’t and we don’t get a 5th set. Or not
Dramatic stuff. The tennis ain’t so great though
Prior to that though, good match from both players on slow surface. Murray staying solid and working the ball about, using the net effectively. He’s got big hitting advantage on the BH and his FH proves a lot more solid, he drop shots, he comes to net, he moves the slow Delpo about… all the little subtleties of his game, done well
Delpo slices BHs and watches and waits on the FH. The big booming FH is only shot on show that can do damage on a painfully slow surface, but he doesn’t overdo it or look to. There are winners, occasionally he unleashes big shots from routine positions but not often, and more often, just big powerful extensions of ‘neutral’ shot that are strong enough to draw errors from even the resolute Murray without going too wide. Calling his BHs a slice is an exaggeration. Its more like a 1-handed push, with a hint of under-spin, harmless as can be. Vitas Gerulaitis used to play the same BH. Its very steady though, and Murray doesn’t look to overwhelm it (which is very do-able)
At best, he’s a a wall from the back. He’s slow even at start, showing signs of fatigue half-way through the first set (which he tends to do in general, and it would be unwise to count on it). By third set, he’s out on his feet
He however, almost never loses his head. Doesn’t get carried away with FHs or looking for big serves or coming to net. Which, given how he’s moving, sounds like a temptation. Given he how competitive he makes things, his choices are justified
Good first couple of sets
One sided third, and a fourth that’s as interesting as it is badly played
Serve & Return
First serve in - Murray 51%, Delpo 72%
First serve won - Murray 72%, Delpo 62%
Second serve won - Murray 48%, Delpo 35%
Court is slow and probably not worth lowering in count to bang down big serves. Neither player tries
It is an option. However slow, the first serves of both players is capable of doing damage. Way Delpo is gassed, for him in particular, looking for quick, cheap points seems like an idea
Nope. Both players send down average first serves, conservatively placed. Returning is not difficult job
Murray has substantial 10 aces, which along with low in count, doesn’t seem to fit above description.
Most of those aces are product of Delpo not moving and most of his serves are 3-quarter paced, in-swing zone stuff. The slightly wider ones are a little irksome, again because Delpo’s movements are so poor, not because serves are great
Poor job by Murray to get just 51% first serves in, way he serves
Justified smart one by Delpo to deliver 72%. His very low second serve points won speaks to trouble he gets into if he doesn’t. Going for bigger serves likely won’t draw errors from Murray anyway, but will lower in count… and Murray’s all over his second serves
Murray moving forward and smacking second returns has big hand in Delpo’s low second serve points won. For the energy he puts into the move, he doesn’t seem to be getting corresponding damaging value, but given his substantial rallying advantage, he doesn’t need to
Delpo walling up on the return. Aced 10 times (about half the time due to lack of effort), but just 13 return errors. Good job. He returns with normal strength - with only a rare powerful one. Rarely goes for a big FH to wide serves, usually missing
Murray’s returning, like many parts of his game, goes off in fourth set. He’s got 14 UEs on the return to 8 FEs. Lot of regulation return misses - especially for him
Low unreturned rates (Murray 18%, Delpo 17%) sums up serving quality and court speed. Murray in particular has room for returning even higher than 82% he does. Wouldn’t hold it against Delpo though - he’s generally not as secure on the return as Murray to begin with, and as physically out of it as he gets, he’s doen well to return so surely
Notable in all this is Delpo maintaining steady game and sticking to high percentage choices, with calculated risk taking only. Doesn’t bang down big serves to try to get cheap points. Rarely looks for big return (11 runaround FH returns are high for him, he usually doesn’t do that)
Solid serving, solid returning from Delpo
Low in count is not good from Murray, given average serving force. A little off on return consistency at times, but pressuring with his pouncing forward second returns
Then they rally