Match Stats/Report - Muster vs A.Costa, Monte Carlo final, 1996

[Waspsting]

Thomas Muster beat Albert Costa 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the Monte Carlo final, 1996 on clay

Muster was the defending champion and this would be his third and last title at the event. This would be future French Open champion Costa’s only final at the event

Muster won 161 points, Costa 137

Serve Stats
Muster...
- 1st serve percentage (88/151) 58%
- 1st serve points won (55/88) 63%
- 2nd serve points won (31/63) 49%
- Aces 1
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (18/151) 12%

Costa...
- 1st serve percentage (92/147) 63%
- 1st serve points won (49/92) 53%
- 2nd serve points won (23/55) 42%
- Aces 3
- Double Faults 9
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (14/147) 10%

Serve Patterns
Muster served...
- to FH 22%
- to BH 72%
- to Body 5%

Costa served...
- to FH 41%
- to BH 52%
- to Body 7%

Return Stats
Muster made...
- 124 (69 FH, 55 BH), including 9 runaround FHs
- 11 Errors, all unforced...
- 11 Unforced (3 FH, 8 BH)
- Return Rate (124/138) 90%

Costa made...
- 129 (46 FH, 83 BH), including 12 runaround FHs
- 2 Winners (2 BH)
- 17 Errors, all unforced...
- 17 Unforced (6 FH, 11 BH), including 2 runaround FHs
- Return Rate (129/147) 88%

Break Points
Muster 12/18 (13 games)
Costa 9/22 (11 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Muster 33 (13 FH, 9 BH, 5 FHV, 4 BHV, 2 OH)
Costa 57 (38 FH, 14 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV, 2 OH)

Muster's - 2 cc (1 at net), 3 dtl, 5 inside-out, 1 inside-out/dtl, 1 inside-in pass at net, 1 lob
- BHs - 4 cc (3 passes), 3 dtl (1 pass, 1 at net), 1 drop shot, 1 lob

- 1 from a serve-volley point, a first volley BHV

- 1 other BHV was a net chord roll over
- 1 OH was an on the bounce, baseline pass against an at net OH

Costa's FHs - 5 cc (1 pass), 1 cc/inside-in, 4 dtl, 15 inside-out, 1 inside-out/dtl, 5 inside-in, 2 inside-in/cc, 1 inside-in/longline, 4 drop shots (1 at net)
- BHs - 5 cc (1 pass), 8 dtl (3 passes - 1 return), 1 inside-in return

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Muster 62
- 43 Unforced (21 FH, 21 BH, 1 BHV)... with 1 BH at net & 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net
- 19 Forced (7 FH, 10 BH, 2 BHV)... with 2 FH running-down-drop-shot at net, 2 BH running-down-drop-shot at net & 1 BH at net pass attempt that can reasonably be called a running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.5

Costa 101
- 68 Unforced (36 FH, 30 BH, 1 BHV, 1 OH)
- 33 Forced (16 FH, 12 BH, 3 BHV, 2 Back-to-Net)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net, 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net & 1 BHV was a lob
- 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
Muster was...
- 34/49 (69%) at net, including...
- 2/4 (50%) serve-volley, all 1st serves
---
- 1/1 forced back

Costa was...
- 14/32 (44%) at net, with...
- 0/1 forced back

Match Report
Fascinating and excellent match. Within context of typical clay court grinding, Costa indulges in fantastic shot-making, especially off the FH, without trailing much on staple grind. Muster attacks by coming to net some with success. Energy level of players change over course of match and not necessarily linearly, leading to drop from 100% will-die-before-letting-a-ball-go-by grit at the start to choice taking it easy later on (Costa dropping more and more different parts). In the end, Muster seems to have just worn Costa down enough to grind his way past the finish line - said wearing down likely including a big mental component

Those fluctuating energy levels is more important to result than action, so lets deal with those first

First two sets, both players give absolutely nothing away. No return misses (almost literally from Muster, who misses 2 returns during the period, including 1 sort of throwaway one as Cost serves out second set), and any error of the ground has to be worked for

Its Muster who flags first in early-middle of third set. Costa continues to fire winners, but now, some are kinds of shots that Muster was fending back in play earlier. He lets a few go by without chase. He leaves court after being broken by 4 winners and later on, takes minor on-court treatment on his back at a changeover. By no means does he become loose or casual, but there is a drop in his they-shall-not-pass grit, including on the return

Down 2 sets to 1, Muster opens 4th set with a tough 14 point hold, saving 3 break points. And Costa levels at 1-1 with 4 winners, with Muster again not giving chase to some of the balls. At this stage, everything looks in Costa’s favour, who’s grit is still up and who’s shot-making is still firing superbly and even more effectively than earlier due to Muster’s resistance falling

Appearance is apparently deceiving as Costa’s grit takes a big dip in middle of set. Having been broken in a tough game, he plays an almost throwaway game as Muster consolidates. Game like this would have been almost unimaginable earlier in match. Thereafter, he loses stomach (or stamina) for grind - not chasing balls, bailing out of rallies with some wild shot choices (he’s been adventurous, but not wild with it upto now), missing a few simple returns. Force of stock shot goes down too and Muster takes advantage to beat him down for errors in a way he’d been unable to do earlier

That’s not all she wrote. Costa still has flickering brilliance left and carries on nailing winners to the end, and never goes into spraying the ball territory bad off the ground. For that matter, Muster has lapses too and his intensity isn’t even either

If 6-3 looks comfy in 4th set, 6-2 looks downright easy. Some truth to that, though Costa continues hitting winners to the very end. By the end, he’s slowed down, unable to defend against wide balls and getting beat down by Muster’s brute hits to greater extent than 4th set. Muster loses 1 point in his last 3 service games (having been broken in the first one with Costa hitting 3 winners)

Essentially, match is decided by physicality. It’s a cool, overcast day. Neither players sweats much. Match is little over 3 hours - no walk in the park, but relatively comfy for 5 sets on clay. Neither player seems the type to make a show of feeling fatigue, but both show signs of it. And it is a little odd that its Muster to dip first, before Costa dips lower still (with Muster’s dip not being too much)

And the tennis is excellent, with distinct similarity to future Nadal-Federer clay encounters - Muster tough as nails, Costa tough too just not as much but with spectacular shot-making to more than make up the slack. For first 2 sets, stats taker doesn’t have to worry about judging awkward errors as forced or unforced because both players inevitably don’t make errors against such balls - one of the highest compliments to a clay court showing. Consistency of stock shots is good too from both players - the UEs don’t come easy from either player and rallies are tough and long

Top notch stuff for 2 sets. Then the energy levels start shifting about as outlined earlier. Whoever has the advantage on that front makes most of it in their preferred way - Costa by dispatching higher lot of winners (his FHs dynamite all match, but BH shines particularly when Muster’s grit dips), Muster by out-lasting Costa more and eventually, beating him down to draw errors

Serve is not a factor. Both serve harmlessly. All 27 return errors have been marked UEs. There are total 4 aces, all of them delivered when returner had more or less given up on the game and doesn’t move for the return. Had they, could probably get those back in play, let alone get a racquet on the ball

Serving never reaches spin-it-in degree of point-starter, but scarcely a damaging serve to be seen. There are matches where returners do well to make many tough returns to keep the FEs down. This isn’t one of of them. Just firm, point starting serves and very consistent returning to it

Muster’s more consistent. Leads return rate 90% to 88%, not important. Most important thing would be Costa’s relatively high 8 double faults (Muster has 4)… with Muster in particular not doing any damage with the return, should be no reason to double fault, and 8 isn’t a small number. Even that is minor and doesn’t play a significant role in result

After the return is made -

 

[Waspsting]

Winners - Muster 33, Costa 57
Errors Forced - Muster 33, Costa 19
(Aggressively ended points - Muster 66, Costa 76)
UEs - Muster 43, Costa 68

Gist - Muster more consistent (which is constant throughout, though degree of it varies across different parts of the match), Costa more damaging (how damaging Muster is goes up to narrow the gap during certain parts, as Costa becomes easier to force errors out of of)

Staple of play is gritty, grindy baseline exchanges. Its from there that Costa indulges with spectacular shot-making. He isn’t wild and for most part, not even especially on look out to attack, but he goes for his shots in due time or if chance is there early in rally

Winners by shot -
- Costa FH 38
- Costa BH 14
- Muster FH 13
- Muster BH 9

Costa’s FH is chief shot-maker and is spectacular. He’s got more inside-out winners at 15 than Muster has total FH winners

Just look at the distribution of Costa’s FH winners -
5 cc based, 4 dtl, 16 inside-out based, 8 inside-in based, 4 drop shots

This could be definition of hitting winners in all directions. And he doesn’t move over to play FHs much either. Plays orthodox BHs, only moving aside to weak balls. 36 UEs to go with the 38 winners, which makes it only shot to have more winners than UEs. Beautiful and varied showing from Costa. And that side is firing regardless of how physically up Muster is. He has 10 winners in 9-game first set, and already knocks off winners in all 4 directions and drop shot at that early stage against Muster at his most resolute. Roger Federer would be proud of Costa’s showing

14 winners from the BH is excellent too, with most going dtl (8 of them) with 5 cc. Good lot of these are when Muster’s grit is down, which isn’t to say fair few of them wouldn’t go for winners were that not so, but BH point ending shots probably wouldn’t do on its own to make up for error proneness against a fresh Muster (contrary to the FH, which is irresistible)

Muster scoring a bit with the FH. In general, his chief offensive weapon is the inside-out. That’s where he has bulk 6 winners, but he eases off going there (likely, to avoid Costa’s FH) and more often plays cc to breakdown the BH. Hefty hitting BH from Muster and again, he sticks to cc. He can play longline change-ups but attempted attacking dtl shots almost always miss

UEs by shot -
- Muster FH 21
- Muster BH 21
- Costa BH 30
- Costa FH 36

Muster more consistent, as he is against almost everyone and as he’d have to be to compensate for not having Costa’s shot-making wonder. Its not by much though

Neutral UEs read Muster 24, Costa 30

Not only isn’t that much, but it goes up towards the end, when fatigue has hand in Costa being beaten down. For most of match, figure is almost equal. For neutral UEs to be equal, while Costa’s hitting winners every which way of both sides while Muster isn’t would be disastrous for Muster

Muster FH cc to Costa BH ends up favouring Muster, as one would expect. Not only does it have UE advantage, but most of Muster’s more than neutral UEs would FHs, while bulk of Costa’s BHs would be neutral

Winner attempt UEs - Muster 9, Costa 18… roughly in line with winners (Muster 33, Costa 57)

So far, we have -
Basic consistency - edge Muster
Shot making - big advantage Costa

 

[Waspsting]

Area Muster gains to offset above handicap comes out in 3 stats

Errors forced - Muster 33, Costa 19
Attacking UEs - Muster 10, Costa 20
Net points - Muster 34/49 or 69%, Costa 14/32 or 44%

An ‘attacking UE’, especially on clay, doesn’t necessarily means a shot that would have forced an error had it landed in, it’s a shot that had potential to do so or was a set up shot to the next, more aggressive shot. Even so, 20 UEs for forcing 19 errors by Costa is poor - but it also gets to heart of problem of facing Muster; forcing him an error out of him is like pulling teeth, at times, it seems nothing short of a winner will do

Muster by contrast making hay forcing errors with his fine 3:1 ratio. Costa becomes easier to force an error out of as match goes on; initially, he’s right up there with Muster as a tough nut to crack on that front

Big part of the forced errors is net play. Muster coming in quite a bit - and not just from overwhelming positions. He’s not quite manufacturing approaches from neutral but not dead duck, token approaches either. Some work for him to do on the volley - and he’s excellent at it. Drop volleys are perfect and just the 1 UE (also, couple of groundstrokes at net). There’s 4 serve-volleys in there too - always out wide to BH and BHV into open court (wins 2, loses 2 - 1 to a return winner, the other, the sole UE). Good lot of the 15 points he loses at net are to deal with drop shots (he has 6 running-down-drop-shot at net errors)

Costa’s relatively low 32 approaches speaks to his relying on his shot-making, maybe a bit too much. Hitting winners from the back regularly for 5 sets on clay and against Thomas Muster…. is a tall order. To his credit, he manages very well. Sprinkles of easier net finishes might do to push result his way. He doesn’t show much interest in net and doesn’t look too good up there. And Muster passes well

Match Progression
Muster’s in his element in the first set. He only misses 1 return (first point of match), barely misses a ball while all the while muscling heavy groundies. Costa for his part is no pushover, but ends up blinking up the errors in due time. In between, Costa finds time to slap, swish, strike all manners of FH winners in every direction

3 breaks for Muster, 1 for Costa. 2 of the breaks feature a double fault on the last point (1 for each player). Costa has 10 FH winners (including at least 1 via all 4 basic shots types + drop shot), but Muster has 6-17 UE advantage. 6-3 to Muster

In second set, Muster comes to net a bit more (he’d come in fair bit in first set as well) and Costa uses more drop shots. Otherwise, action stays largely the same. Towards end of set, both players slip a bit from iron consistency standard - Costa in particularly making the odd, rash attacking error. His shot making though remains in fine working order

7/12 games are breaks, including 4 in a row as Costa steps up to serve for the set for the second time at 6-5. With games so competitive, the serve out is surprisingly soft from Muster, who gives up an easy FH error and misses a routine second return. A wonderful, running BH dtl pass winner from Costa brings up set point on which Muster gives up another FH error to make things a set apiece

Things change in the third, with Muster showing signs of weakening. He ceases chasing every ball and misses the odd return. Costa capitalizes by adding BH winners to the still full flowing stream of FH winners

Its Muter’s whose up 3-0 to start though. Breaks first chance, in a poor game from Costa, though Muster spanks a rare BH dtl winner from normal position. Spectacular OH passing winner against an at net smash from Costa in game 4, which Costa holds with 3 winners (2 BH dtl and a FH inside-out). Then Cost breaks with 4 winners (BH dtl, and 3 FHs - inside-out/dtl, runaround drop shot and cc), broken up by a net to net point he loses

Muster steps off court briefly after the game and takes brief treatment on his back at a subsequent changeover. If he’s physically off, it doesn’t change his pace of play, which remains unchanged at his customary, no pause between points norm

Another flurry of winners, this time all BHs (cc, cc pass and dtl) gets Costa to 0-40 at 4-4 and he goes on to break. Serves out to 15, including taking net a couple of times and on set point, Muster doesn’t move as an ace goes by

Things don’t look good for Muster. He endures a 14 point hold to open the fourth set, which Costa answers with a 3 winner, hold to 15 (BH cc, FH inside-in, FH inside-out). Physically, Muster looks good, if not daisy fresh, but so does Costa

From scoreboard point of view, that’s when the wheels come off for Costa and Muster wins 11/15 remaining games to end the match, but its not as simple as that

Muster grinds out a break for 3-1 and consolidates to love in an almost throwaway game by Costa, that’s completely out of trend. Its first clear sign that he’s not as physically cool as he appears and for rest of match, his efforts wane (not chasing balls, giving up more regulation errors in short rallies, being outhit as his force of shot goes down, missing odd return, a little slow etc.) in line with tiring

Still, its that’s not the end of the story. Muster plays a horrendous game of missing routine shots to be broken (with Cost missing a couple routine returns too) but responds with a particularly intense game of hitting (while missing a couple routine returns) to break right back. He serves out to love, with Costa not making much effort the game after to send things to decider

Costa’s broken to love to start the 5th - including double faulting and missing a smash. Even that’s not curtains because he’s still got his shot making brilliance. He breaks back with 3 winners (FHV, and 2 FH inside-outs) and starts the next game with a running, third ball FH dtl winner, which he goes on to hold

That’s sort of the end for him. He doesn’t win another game and can snatch just 1 point in remaining 3 return games. HIs hitting’s soft enough by this stage that Muster’s able to beat him down in a way he hadn’t earlier. Still strikes some pretty winners in his service games (though losing them both)

Muster has 8 winners in remaining 5 games. 3 to hold to love for 2-2 (BH drop shot, OH and FH cc, which a fresh Costa would likely have got back in play). 2 to break after that, finishing with a picture perfect, wrist snap back FHV drop winner. He seals his next break with consecutive BH cc winners (1 a pass) before stepping up to serve for match

Costa gets 1 last FH inside-out winner off in that last game, but its Muster that finishes the match with the same shot

Summing up, excellent match. Muster is steadier from the back (with the degree of it increasing as Costa’s grit falls away as match goes on) but Costa plays tough too. Meanwhile, Costa’s shotmaking, especially off the FH, is superb and varied to compensate and when Muster’s grit falters, Costa adds BH point enders too

Muster sticks to hard hitting, dual winged grinding play, with his FH cc to Costa’s BH most effective. For offence, he not infrequently takes net, where he seems at home and volleys with fine finishing sense

Stamina and grit are biggest determinants of the result. Its Muster who first shows signs of weakening, but keeps his shoulder to the wheel with just minor drop in intensity. Costa’s drop comes later, and then Muster is able to boss him around as well as him grind him down to gain the hard fought win

@The Green Mile