Match Stats/Report - Muster vs Washington, Essen final, 1995

[Waspsting]

Thomas Muster beat MaliVai Washington 7-6(6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the Essen final, 1995 on carpet

It was Muster’s 12th title of the year and third masters (also Monte Carlo and Rome) and first of 2 non-clay masters titles he would win. Washington was unseeded and beat top seed Andre Agassi among others en route to the final

Muster won 123 points, Washington 113

Serve Stats
Muster...
- 1st serve percentage (61/109) 56%
- 1st serve points won (45/61) 74%
- 2nd serve points won (33/48) 69%
- Aces 5
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (33/109) 30%

Washington...
- 1st serve percentage (69/127) 54%
- 1st serve points won (54/69) 78%
- 2nd serve points won (28/58) 48%
- Aces 15 (1 second serve), Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (34/127) 27%

Serve Patterns
Muster served...
- to FH 20%
- to BH 79%
- to Body 1%

Washington served...
- to FH 47%
- to BH 49%
- to Body 4%

Return Stats
Muster made...
- 91 (49 FH, 42 BH), including 4 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 18 Errors, comprising...
- 6 Unforced (2 FH, 4 BH)
- 12 Forced (6 FH, 6 BH)
- Return Rate (91/125) 73%

Washington made...
- 74 (26 FH, 48 BH), including 13 runaround FHs & 5 return-approaches
- 2 Winners (1 FH, 1 BH)
- 28 Errors, comprising...
- 13 Unforced (4 FH, 9 BH), including 4 runaround FHs & 1 return-approach attempt
- 15 Forced (6 FH, 9 BH)
- Return Rate (74/107) 69%

Break Points
Muster 3/9 (6 games)
Washington 3/4 (4 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Muster 26 (14 FH, 3 BH, 3 FHV, 4 BHV, 2 OH)
Washington 31 (9 FH, 5 BH, 8 FHV, 8 BHV, 1 OH)

Muster's regular FHs - 5 dtl (1 return), 1 dtl/inside-out, 1 inside-out, 1 inside-in
- FH passes - 1 cc, 3 dtl, 1 inside-out/dtl, 1 lob
- BH passes - 3 cc (1 at net

Washington's FHs - 4 cc (2 passes), 3 inside-out (1 return, 1 at net), 1 inside-out/dtl, 1 inside-in/cc
- BHs - 2 cc (1 return), 2 dtl (1 pass), 1 longline pass

- 6 from serve-volley points - 5 first volleys (1 FHV, 3 BHV, 1 OH) & 1 second volley (1 FHV)

- 1 other FHV was a swinging shot and 1 BHV was a non-net shot

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Muster 46
- 25 Unforced (14 FH, 10 BH, 1 FHV)... with 1 FH at net
- 21 Forced (12 FH, 7 BH, 2 FHV)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net, 1 FHV was a baseline pass attempt & 1 FHV wasa non-net pass attempt
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 49.6

Washington 62
- 39 Unforced (12 FH, 15 BH, 6 FHV, 4 BHV, 2 OH)
- 23 Forced (9 FH, 10 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 BHOH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.5

(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...
- 19/26 (73%) at net, including...
- 0/1 serve-volleying, a 1st serve

Washington was...
- 41/66 (62%) at net, including...
- 14/16 (88) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 11/13 (85%) off 1st serve and...
- 3/3 (100%) off 2nd serve
---
- 2/5 (40%) return-approaching
- 1/1 forced back

Match Report
Fun match of open court baseline rallies and all court, attacking action, which Muster further colours with his dog-on-a-bone grit in both offence and defence, Washington is calmer but no less eager to attack, though his defence isn’t same calibre. Both players attack from front and back - Muster more from back, Washington more from front. And Muster is better at it. Court is on slow side for ‘90s carpet but still quick - hefty first serves are a challenge to return and powerful groundies troubling

2 areas where Washington is wanting. Returning second serves and on the volley

He doesn’t volley badly in absolute terms, winning 62% at net for large 66 approaches - 16 of them serve-volleys, 5 return-approaches and bulk 45 approaches from rallying. But he’s got 12 UEs in forecourt. For UEs, they’re not easy - firm balls around net high, or wide, just under net but with Washington having time to play his shot without undue hurry. Kinds of volleys he’s be expected to put back in play, or when the court is open (as it often is), place inside for a winner - but not high, easy putaways, not even routine, net high stuff

17 winners, 12 UEs in forecourt is not good. His ability to make the tricky or not-easy volley (as opposed to easy or putaway) is not good enough

The other area is returning second serves. He misses 14 second returns (Muster 6, including an ace and a serve-volley). Mal is moderately attacking with the return - runaround FHs, chip-charges, the odd big cut or early taken return. Not enough to justify 14 errors. Muster only serves 46 second serves (sans double faults), so Mal’s throwing away 30% of those with missed returns alone - and at a level of aggression that doesn’t promise he’ll win the points he makes

Muster wins 19/32 or very healthy 59% of his second serve points when a return is made. With all the freebies Mal gives up, that jumps up to a towering 69%

Court is quick enough that both players are likely to dominate first serve points. And they do - Muster wins 74%, Mal 78%. With similar and not high in-counts (Muster 56%, Mal 54%), that leaves things to be decided on second serve points

Second serve points won - Muster 69%, Mal 48%

Action is lively. Open court, side-to-side fluid rallies with well angled cc shots and longline change-ups, including wrong footing ones are staple. Stationary cc exchanges are rare, and when one goes on for more than 5-6 shots to ending with error, it stands out. Plenty of net play springing from that dynamic too. Mal actively looks to come in and Muster isn’t shy to either

In that context, Muster displays a full package of attacking plays
- Bludgeoning groundies as starting point, from where he goes wide to open court - and the ensuing side-to-side rallies
- hammers short balls and comes in behind them. Or not, and he hammers it wider and more threateningly but stays back, ready to pounce on the next ball if it comes back
- goes for winners from the back, even when its not the obvious option, so adventurous with his shot choices, though rarely going into rash territory
- 1-2s - first shot to open the court, second shot into open court for the point ender. The ‘1’ comes from either wing, the ‘2’ is mostly FH
- passes very well. Good lot of winners and otherwise, gives tricky or not-easy volleys - in line with the kind Mal’s missing proves so costly

His one concession to his clay-game base is returning from well behind baseline, though he’s quick to move forward afterwards. Mal looks to exploit this by serve-volleying behind moderately wide serves and is quite successful with it. Also uses drop shots and occasionally draws Muster forward with deliberate short balls, often slices

Mal plays an all-court game. He’s at his best when coming to net to finish after gaining advantage in the fluid rallies, but also manufactures approaches from neutral situations, serve-volleys some (off both serves), return-approaches some, makes quick-dash and ‘sneak in’ approaches

His groundstrokes don’t lack for power, but he trails Muster on that front. As such, he’s more apt to go for the winner from out of nowhere or without proper set-up. Not bad at it, and given how baseline rallies go, not a bad choice either

His attempts to return aggressively fall flat, with lots of misses. This is badly judged - said attacking attempts are moderate enough that its doubtful they’d unduly trouble Muster even if he made the returns (which he doesn’t). In short, risk not worth potential reward - and he fails on the risks most of the time

Defensively, Muster is better. Mal doesn’t have many answers for Muster’s attacks. Its Muster’s point to win or lose once he goes on attack. The opposite isn’t true. Muster typically makes unlikely gets, making Mal play an extra shot or two. Mal usually goes on to win these points - but usually isn’t always and strained to hang even from the back to begin with, every little bit of extra pressure Mal faces is a bonus for Muster. More so than it would were the shoe on the other foot

 

[Waspsting]

Serve & Return
The big take away from this is Mal’s substandard second returning

1st serve Aces/Service Winners - Muster 5, Mal 15
1st serve unreturnable rate - Muster 8%, Mal 22%

… and that’s with Muster returning from far back, making it harder for Mal to hit aces. Fairly clear indicator of who has the stronger first serve (the extent of how much is exaggerated, but still)

In that light, Muster leading unreturned rate 30% to 27% is a big fail for Mal. With so much better a serve, how is he trailing freebies??

Return errors -
- FEs - Muster 12, Mal 15
- UEs - Muster 6, Mal 13

With aces out the way, that leaves Mal facing a lot more first serves than Muster, so his having a few more FEs is expected. It’s the UEs - all those missed second returns - that have kept Muster not just level, but actually, ahead in the serve-return game. If Mal reduces his missed 2nd returns to Muster’s 6 (only 4 of Muster’s UEs are against second serves), he’d have a 4-5% lead in freebies

As stated earlier, part of the reason for the misses is Mal trying to be aggressive. That aggression though, hasn’t done him much good even when he does make the returns. Sans double faults and unreturneds, Muster still wins 19/32 or 59% of his second serve points. Return-approaching - 1 of the ways Mal tries to be aggressive - Mal wins just 2/5 points

Bad job by Mal returning second serves. He has better first serve by considerable amount, but he’s made a hash of second returning to the point of leaving Muster ahead on serve-return complex

Play - Baseline & Net
Perhaps aggressive returning is necessary for Mal because he trails Muster from the back of the court?

Not really

Baseline-to-baseline
- Winners - Muster 7, Mal 8 (including a non-net FHV)
- UEs - Muster 23, Mal 27

- Neutral UEs - Muster 11, Mal 14 (+ 1 defensive UE)
… with FEs about the same

Just a slight edge for Muster in consistency and basic consistency - areas where he’d be expected to have much larger advantage. Gist of these numbers is aggressive returning wasn’t really necessary for Mal. He’s done just dandily hanging with Muster from the baseline. Muster might be harder hitter, but it hasn’t led to him winning a significantly larger lot of points

If baseline play is near equal, where is Muster’s advantage? At net, due to Mal not being good enough on the volley

Rallying to net -
Muster 19/25 or 76%, Mal 25/45 or 56%

Passing winners - Muster 9, Mal 4
Volley UEs - Muster 1, Mal 12
Net volley FEs - Mal 4 (Muster’s 2 volleying FEs are baseline, passing errors)

For starters, just the 1 volley error by Muster. He comes in off strong approaches - hit hard, wide and approach is one of his weapons in play - but not overwhelming ones. Not many difficult volleys, but his finishing is flawless - putsaway the volley, or leaves not-good passing chances. Not much wrong with Mal’s passing - you’d say he’d done well to make more than he does, not that he does badly as he has - great stuff by Muster, both in his net instincts and his volleying

On top of coming in behind similarly strong approach shots as Muster, Mal also has his share of sneak in’s and quick-dashes, so its understandable that he wouldn’t do as well as net. But not a full 20% not as well… that’s down to him messing up on the volley

As UEs go, not the easiest. Bit wide, bit low, but has time to reach comfortably (as opposed to high, easy ones), stuff like that. Decent job by Muster to leave not easy putaways, but by far, the blackmark here goes to Mal’s volleying. A few great, running passing winners from Muster of the improbable variety. The kind of thing that’s bound to happen some percentage of the time. His rate of making such shots is decent, not exceptional, but certainly not bad

Mal’s net numbers also include a near flawless 14/16 serve-volleying - he’s done well to exploit Muster’s return position. It’s coming in from rallying (and the small 2/5 he wins return-approaching) where he’s fallen behind the curve

From the back, Muster’s FH the deadliest shot on show, both on the pass or otherwise. 6 dtl based winners (+ 3 passes). These come both after moving Mal other way to set up and just going for the shot from near routine position

It has a price

Winner Attempt UEs - Muster 10, Mal 11

… bulk of Mal’s would be volleys, while almost all of Muster’s are groundstrokes. He’s about 50-50 going for the kill shot from the back, Mal does better but doesn’t go for it as often (and isn’t able to set up chances to because Muster’s harder hitter and more in lead position during rally), preferring to come to net as an alternative

So it all comes back to Mal not being good enough at net

Match Progression
Low in-counts (Muster 43%, Mal 47%) sets the stage for lively, fun opening set filled with good rallies. Mal misses a bunch of second returns trying - not only when he’s trying to aggressively take them early. Muster engages in bludgeoning, beat-down/pressuring hitting to lead and scampers with typical gusto in defence. Mal comes to net a good amount

Muster has better of the set. Serves 30 points going in the ‘breaker, to Mal’s 40. Both players break once

Muster breaks to go up 3-2 in an excellent game from both players. Its 12 points long, Mal’s at net for 6 of them, Muster 3, and just 2 UEs (first 2 points, 1 from each player - Muster’s a FH winer attempt). Muster has 5 winners, including back-to-back BH cc passes to end the game

Mal breaks back for 4-4, a very deep but loopy return drawing an error on break point

Tiebreak. And its Mal faltering in forecourt that allows Muster to creep ahead. FHV UE puts Muster up a mini 3-2, which he hand back at once with a double fault. A supebr, unlikely FH dtl passing winner keeps Muster on course as he manages to stay on serve for 6-5. At 6-6, Mal’s second volleying UE of the game, a BHV, gives Muster set point on his own serve. Which he takes not just by coming to net, but re-approaching after being forced back the first time

Playing dynamics don’t change much in second set, though result does with Mal taking it 6-2. He continues to seek net and throw sin some good, wide returns too. Muster’s a little more error prone on his attacking shots

Despite scoreline, not a one sided set. Break points for it read -
- Mal 2/2, Muster 0/4 (2 games)

Things don’t change much set after either, bar Muster being steadier from the back. He break to love for 3-1 - reaching 0-40 with FH dtl winner and forcing wide BHV error and a BH passing one. Terrible smash error by Mal on break point, when he mistimes his jump for the shot

He reaches break point in next game though, which Musters saves with a big OH on the bounce form the baseline to get back to deuce. Mal’s at net point after, and makes 2 tough volleys before missing an easy one to let Muster off the hook. No more chances for Mal as Muster holds serve to see out the set

Just the 1 break in the fourth set. A terrible game from Mal. From 15-15, he misses easy FHV, OH and routine third ball FH to go down 3-4. The only really bad game of the match. Muster’s held clinically since end of third set and that doesn’t change as he nurses the break through to victory

Summing up, a good, lively and fun match of open court rallies and attacking play from both front and back of the court by both players. Muster’s attacks are more biased to baseline, Washington’s more to net

Muster’s defence is better and Washington falters in two key areas; the return, where he misses a boatload of second serves not entirely due to aggression and with said aggression not being too effective even when he makes the shots. And in his volleying, where he misses good lot of simple balls

These set him back enough to allow the vigorous Muster to grab the result fairly comfortably

Stats for Muster’s semi-final with Pete Sampras - Match Stats/Report - Muster vs Sampras, Essen Indoors semi-final, 1995 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)

 

[Drob]

Interesting. watched the wonderful Muster semifinal but never thought about the final. thanks

 

[Waspsting]

Interesting. watched the wonderful Muster semifinal but never thought about the final. thanks

That semi was funny

Pete Sampras isn't the easiest guy to read, but I think its pretty clear he's raring to go for that one

He (and Agassi) had a thing about Muster and looks like he wanted to put the dirt baller in the dirt. Year End Number was still open too between him and Agassi

Couple hours later, tail between his legs, under 50% net points won... not pretty

All credit to Muster. Haven't seen too much of him, but from what I have, there's not much to support common takes on him - poor passer, terrible at net etc.

This match here... wonderful attacking baseline tennis, with plenty of variety to it - good stuff