Match Stats/Report - Murray vs Djokovic, Miami final, 2009

Waspsting

Hall of Fame
Andy Murray beat Novak Djokovic 6-2, 7-5 in the Miami final, 2009 on hard court

It was Murray's first title at the event. Djokovic had previously won it in 2007. The 2 would go onto contest finals in 2012 and 2015 (Djokovic winning both)

Murray won 77 points, Djokovic 57

Serve Stats
Murray...
- 1st serve percentage (34/61) 56%
- 1st serve points won (26/34) 76%
- 2nd serve points won (14/27) 52%
- Aces 8 (1 second serve)
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (15/60) 25%

Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (44/73) 60%
- 1st serve points won (24/44) 55%
- 2nd serve points won (12/29) 41%
- Aces 2, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 5
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (14/73) 19%

Serve Patterns
Murray served...
- to FH 41%
- to BH 52%
- to Body 7%

Djokovic served...
- to FH 38%
- to BH 47%
- to Body 15%

Return Stats
Murray made...
- 54 (23 FH, 31 BH)
- 11 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (4 FH, 1 BH)
- 6 Forced (3 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (54/68) 79%

Djokovic made...
- 46 (23 FH, 23 BH), including 2 runaround FHs & 1 return-approach
- 2 Winners (1 FH, 1 BH)
- 7 Errors, comprising...
- 4 Unforced (1 FH, 3 BH)
- 3 Forced (2 FH, 1 BH)
- Return Rate (46/61) 75%

Break Points
Murray 5/11 (7 games)
Djokovic 2/5 (3 games)

Winners (excluding serves, including returns)
Murray 16 (9 FH, 5 BH, 1 FHV, 1 OH)
Djokovic 14 (5 FH, 3 BH, 4 FHV, 2 BHV)

Murray's FH passes - 4 cc (1 at net)
- regular FHs - 1 cc, 2 dtl (1 at net), 1 inside-out at net and 1 inside-in
- BH passes - 4 cc (1 at net)
- regular BH - 1 longline

Djokovic's FHs - 1 cc return, 1 dtl and 3 inside-out
- BHs - 1 dtl return, 1 inside-out/dtl and 1 drop shot (net chord dribbler)

- 1 from a serve-volley point, a 2nd volley FHV (not clean)

- 1 FHV was a non-net swinging shot

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Murray 29
- 18 Unforced (3 FH, 14 BH, 1 FHV)
- 9 Forced (4 FH, 11 BH)... with 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.1

Djokovic 41
- 32 Unforced (14 FH, 15 BH, 2 FHV, 1 OH)... with 1 FH at net & 1 non-net, swinging FHV
- 9 Forced (4 FH, 2 BH, 1 FHV, 2 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.8

(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 for these two matches are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Murray was 8/10 (80%) at net

Djokovic was...
- 14/28 (50%) at net, including...
- 3/4 (75%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 0/1 return-approaching

Match Report
Murray's the steadier player from the back, Djokovic is a bit harried and takes to approaching net (wisely) and Murray is outstanding on the pass to put himself over on a slowish court

Action isn't uniform. Djokovic plays poorly to get wiped out in early first set. Rest of match is competitive - Djokovic taking up the aggressive role to good effect, Murray counter-punching/attacking and coming out ahead

Djoko's fitness is a significant issue. He's breathing heavily even in first set after not particularly intense, medium lenght rallies. Nothing wrong with his movements though, which are first rate. Djoko being gassed relatively easily is common around this period. He'd retired from the Australian Open quarter-final not long ago, where he'd been the defending champion. It appears to be typically, Miami hot, but nothing unduly intense. Murray shows no sign of fatigue

On court like this and with these two, baseline rallies tend to go on 'til someone makes the error. Who the steadier player is varies match to match. Here, right from get-go, its clearly Murray. Onus thus falls on Djoko to attack more. Alternative is to lose who-blinks-first game from the back, or turn it his way by steadying up. He goe the attacking way and makes no effort to hang in tougher while passively hitting from the back. Possibly related to fitness issues, but regardless, its good thinking

Groundstroke UEs read Murray 17, Djoko 29 (excluding a FH at net, including a FHV from back). And that difference is essentially all on the FH

BH UEs are virtually even (Murray 14, Djoko 15). FHs are not (Murray a measly 3, Djoko 14)
In short, consistency from back across 3/4 shots are virtually equal - with Murray's FH the standout steady shot by a long, long way

That's in context of Djoko going for his shots more.

Baseline-to-baseline winners read Djoko 8, Murray 4 (excluding 2 Djoko returns)
Attacking UEs - Djoko 6, Murray 3
Winner attempt UEs - Djoko 11, Murray 4
....with negligible net shots involved - Murray 1, Djoko 2 - among the UEs

Murray also leads neutral UEs 11-15, which is small enough that it might be ok for Djoko to play who-blinks-first. In this match, Djoko is proactive in attacking, as opposed to turning to it after coming off second best at keeping ball in play. He's just plain sloppy at start, before turning to relatively attacking game. And doesn't look back, at times being harried if not in a mad rush to attack

Djoko's attaks consists of powerful returning (Murray indulges in this too), hitting harder and occasionally wider to at least pressure Murray (he rarely goes all out in looking for winners to corners), back-away FH inside-outs and hard hit BH dtl change ups. Murray is typically steady and fast of foot in defending and largely able to thwart the attacks

That leaves Djoko to come to net. He's there substantial 28 times (to Murray's small 10) but can wins just 50% up there. That's key to match outcome - and all credit to Murray on the pass

Murray has 8 passing winners and forces 3 'volley' errors. Djoko has just 3 UEs in forecourt. Djoko's volleying has room for improvement in that he doesn't place routine or even easy volleys well, but he ends up winning those points. The passing winners come against strong approach shots - powerfully struck and deep, often from inside court - balls that Djoko could expect to finish the point, or at least, yield an easy putaway volley. Running, stretching and rushed, Murray pulls off pinpoint perfect passing winners off both sides instead

In general, Murray tends to throw up lobs rather than passing shots even when he has options and even more so when he's rushed (as he is against most of Djoko's strong approach shots). Not here. All 8 of his passing winners are cc, even distributed across wings. Top class passing from Murray

That's the match. Murray steadier from the back - especially off FH - Djoko proactive in attacking, Murray defending well to thwart attacks, Djoko upping attacking to come to net and Murray passing superbly

What else? Neither player serves too well. Murray's 1st serve is lot less powerful than it would come to be. Both players 2nd serves are weak enough to invite attacks. Djoko has 5 double faults to 2 aces (+ a service winner). Both return steadily against first serves (high return rates of 79% for Murray and 75% for Djoko) and hammer 2nd serve returns

Difference in 2nd serve points won (Murray 52%, Djoko 41%) is virtually all about the double faults. Murray's 76 % 1st serve points won is particularly high given steadiness of Djoko's returning

Djoko 'slices' neutral balls more than his norm. Not a good shot. More a chip than a slice - harmless as can be

Match Progression
Murray's up 3-0 with 2 breaks at first changeover, with Djoko making 7 UEs (+ a double fault) to Murray's 1. Thereafter, play is close with Murray a bit better

No more breaks but Djoko is pushed to 10 point hold, saving a break point before Murray serves it out

A rot seems on when Murray breaks to open the 2nd set too, with Djoko double faulting twice and Murray hitting 3 perfect winning passes in a long game. Djoko though fights back to take the next 4 games - much of it through coming to net behind powerful shots, though he snatches his 2nd break in error strewn game

Murray struggles through 16 point hold (2 break points) to keep things to just 1 break down, before a quick Djoko hold gives him 5-2. Its last game he wins

Serving for set, Djoko has 2 set points. Some good returns from Murray in the game, and another untimely double fault turns it Murray's way

Couple of excellent passes from Murray and couple of poor FH errors from around service line from Djoko gets Murray another break before he serves it out

Summing up, top class passing by Murray against powerful approach shots is standout feature in a match where Djokovic attacks from front and back and Murray counter-punches. Murray's FH also stands out as the rock of the match. Somewhat harried showing by Djokovic, but not a bad one and very good one from Murray

Stats for Djokovic's semi with Roger Federer - Match Stats/Report - Djokovic vs Federer, Miami semi-final, 2009 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)
 
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