Match Stats/Report - Roddick vs Ferrero, Cincinnati final, 2006

[Waspsting]

Andy Roddick beat Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 6-4 in the Cincinnati final, 2006 on hard court

It was Roddick’s second and last title at the event. He’d finish runner-up at the US Open shortly after. Ferrero was unseeded and this was the last of his 6 Masters final, with the previous won having come 3 years ago

Roddick won 62 points, Ferrero 47

Serve Stats
Roddick...
- 1st serve percentage (38/55) 69%
- 1st serve points won (29/38) 76%
- 2nd serve points won (8/17) 47%
- Aces 16, Service Winners 2 (1 second serve)
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (28/55) 51%

Ferrero...
- 1st serve percentage (36/54) 67%
- 1st serve points won (24/36) 67%
- 2nd serve points won (5/18) 28%
- Aces 9
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (15/54) 28%

Serve Pattern
Roddick served...
- to FH 55%
- to BH 45%

Ferrero served...
- to FH 33%
- to BH 65%
- to Body 2%

Return Stats
Roddick made...
- 37 (9 FH, 28 BH)
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 6 Errors, comprising...
- 3 Unforced (3 FH)
- 3 Forced (1 FH, 2 BH)
- Return Rate (37/52) 71%

Ferrero made...
- 25 (10 FH, 15 BH)
- 10 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (3 FH, 2 BH)
- 5 Forced (4 FH, 1 BH)
- Return Rate (25/53) 47%

Break Points
Roddick 4/7 (5 games)
Ferrero 2/4 (2 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Roddick 10 (5 FH, 2 BH, 1 BHV, 2 OH)
Ferrero 14 (8 FH, 4 BH, 2 OH)

Roddick's FHs - 2 dtl, 1 dtl/inside-out, 2 inside-out
- BHs - 1 dtl/inside-out, 1 inside-out return

- both OHs were on the bounce (1 from baseline)

Ferrero's FHs - 3 cc (2 passes), 2 dtl passes, 1 inside-in, 1 net chord dribbler, 1 lob
- BHs - 1 cc pass, 3 dtl (1 possibly not clean, 1 at net)

- both OHs were on the bounce

Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Roddick 16
- 12 Unforced (6 FH, 5 BH, 1 FHV)
- 4 Forced (2 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BH1/2V)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.3

Ferrero 22
- 14 Unforced (7 FH, 6 BH, 1 FHV)
- 8 Forced (4 FH, 4 BH)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47.1

(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 a measure of how aggressive of intent the average UE made was. 60 is maximum, 20 is minimum. This match has been scored using a four point scale - 2 defensive, 4 neutral, 5 attacking, 6 winner attempt)

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Roddick was...
- 6/16 (38%) at net, including...
- 0/2 serve-volleying, comprising...
- 0/1 off 1st serve and...
- 0/1 off 2nd serve
---
- 1/1 forced back

Ferrero was 4/5 (80%) at net

Match Report
Roddick bulldozes an almost outmatched Ferrero. Big serving is first and most effective wave, but ripping FHs and even some attacking BHs in there from the winner. Ferrero isn’t upto standard (reactions, shot resistance in particular, consistency to lesser degree) but does somewhat surprisingly pass well. Court looks fast

Same event, and probably same court(?) earlier in the tournament, appeared slow to me in the match between Andy Murray and Roger Federer. Every number coming out of it pointed that way too - low urneturned serves, ace rates, high UEs, lot of breaks. Non-statisitcally both players looking comfy and unrushed playing their groundies

Here almost the opposite High ace rates for both players, very high unreturneds for Roddick, Ferrero all kind so of rushed
Signs of not overly fast court too. Plenty of breaks here, including 2 by Ferrero while Rod gets into return games at will. Low second serve points won. Roddick with all the time in the world to wind up and unleash full swing groundies

Whatever the matter, Roddick basically destroys Ferrero

Rod’s always ahead. Breaks for 2-0 in first set and after Fer hits back for 2-1, breaks again to lead 3-1
Takes 4-0 lead in second set
With early as can be leads in both sets, doesn’t matter too much what happens afterwards. What does happen is enough to make match long stats strange

- Rod with 51% unreturned serves. Would think its good to lock down service games
In fact, he’s broken twice and both first serve won points 76% and seconds of 47% look very low, in light of the very high freebie count

- Ferrero with a 14 winners, 14 UE showing. Wouldn’t think being on wrong end of 3 & 4 would yield such good figures

- The very heavy ace component of freebies
16/28 of Rod and 9/15 of Fer’s freebies are aces
That’s combined 25/43 unreturned serves being aces (and 2 that aren’t have been marked service winners). Can’t think of a match with that heavy a yield

Match is actually played out on second serve points, where Rod wins 47%, Fer just 28%
In first set, Fer’s an unwanted perfect 0/9 on second serve points. Also has 0 approaches

Pretty big ripping second returning from Rod, though doing so from not-early position and not enough to justify that low a figure for Fer. Normal returning from Fer, and its odd that Rod below 50% on his second serve points too, especially since he typically sends down very good ones. So strangeness there too

First serve in - Rod 69%, Fer 67%
First serve ace/service winner rate - Rod 45%, Fer 25%

Even Fer’s above combo is formidable. Making Rod’s whatever twice formidable is

Fer with seemingly no read on the serve. Didn’t have a clue in their ‘03 US Open final either
Rod serving quite aggressively (duh) of direction, with 55% to FH. Much of it out wide to open court and spank first groundie to other side. And of course, bombing them down of pace

Rod as ever, not too hard to ace. He’s not a quick responder. Is in normal returning position, not early and Fer’s serve speed/placement is above average at most. Serve that way to Murray or Federer, would likely end up 2-3 aces, not 9

Unreturned serves - Rod 51%, Fer 28%
Rod’s figure in line with huge ace rate. Fer’s is remarkably low, given his. Weirdness born of Rod’s peculiar easy ace’ibility to an average serve

Then they rally from the baseline (bar Rod losing 2 serve-volley points) and -
- Winners - Rod 8, Fer 5
- Errors forced - Rod 4, Fer 2
- UEs - Rod 11, Fer 13

Winner and errors forced counts are doing justice to Rod being aggressor
FH has match high 5 winner. He looks for big third ball FHs - and gets it after drawing weak returns

On top of the winners, FH commands action from the get go of rallies. Rips with them with full swings. Willing to come forward to rip the very soft returns from inside court (which isn’t normal for him - easy and obvious as move is), though he does usually wait behind baseline to take his crack

Fer’s reactions and resistance are not good. Powerful hitting from Rod, but much of it is within not-difficult reach. Some of balls Fer handles like difficult gets would be almost neutral rally shots to good baseliner. Such as himself a few years ago. Typical of the Rod’s big swings, there’s not much surprise in which way he’s going to go, even if he does crack the ball

The surprise of Rod’s offence comes from the BH. It has just a couple of winners (1s a return), but does go dtl with it where cc would be more natural. Not too powerful, in fact, even slices that way, but enough to draw weak running shot from Fer - and the next shot is a big, attacking FH

Fer too slips in a couple of surprise BH dtl winners. While hurried and not at all looking likely to pinch winners like. Couple more get him to net to win points

 

[Waspsting]

Fer would want at least a consistency advantage, but nope, trailing their too. Rod has little bit better of virtually everything UE related -
- FHs - Rod 1 fewer
- BHs - Rod 1 fewer
- neutral UEs - Rod 1 fewer
- attacking UEs Rod 2 fewer
Fer has 1 fewer winner attempt UE

Neutral UE advantage + sizable hitting one should equal thorough dominance. Beating down Fer or slashing winners from back or coming in off strong approaches to finish

It’s the last named where things don't work for Rod. He’s just 6/16 at net (including 0/2 serve-volleying - 1 of each serve), while coming in off commanding approaches

All credit to Fer for that. Rod’s earned a not wholly unjustified reputation for having poor net instincts and not good volleys. Both are fine here, but Fer, about as contrary to expectations as look of his shots and how rushed he seems to always be as can be, keeps passing him

Rod with just 2 ‘volley’ winners (1s a putaway smash on the bounce), 2 FEs, just 1 UE
Fer on the pass has 6 winners, just 4 FEs

Probably not best idea to approach to Fer’s FH (which has 5 winners, 3 FEs), but as outgunned as that FH is in rallies, doesn’t seem like a bad one either. Nice, precise passing from Fer

Match Progression
4 aces from Rod in opening game, along with a rushed Fer pushing a couple of BH dtl winners against strong FH inside-outs. Rod holds in 8 points

Server wins 4 points in the next 3 games, all breaks
Fer opens his service day with an ace, but loses next 4 points (FH FE against strong FH cc, couple of FH UEs and weak BH allowing Roddick up for BHV winner)
Rod’s called for 2 foot faults next game, including to lose him first serve on break point where he goes on to double. And his serve-volley is met with a wide return that he does well to get a racquet on
Fer again opens service game impressively (FH cc winner set up by big BH cc) and again gets beaten up to lose next 4 points - and Rod’s up a break again

Rod liberally sends down aces for rest of set. He’s got Fer in trouble next return game too, which lasts 12 points and Fer has to save 2 break points. Hits FH winners on both - a wonderful FH lob almost half-volleyed and third ball FH inside-in. He also has 4 aces in the game - 2 to open, 2 to close

Tricky 8 point serve-out for Rod and he’s down 15-30. Serves aces and service winners and commands a net point from there to finish

0 net points, 0/9 on second serve points for Fer in the set

He puts both right early in second set, by coming to net off a BH dtl and dispatching an OH on the bounce. How much consolation that is for getting broken - his BH gives up 2 UEs, he double fualts and Rod started the game with BH inside-out return winner - is questionable

Broken again next go around in similar way - a double fault and ground UEs, with a BH dtl getting him to net to come away with further BH dtl at net winner

Rod meanwhile 8 unreturned serves in a row across his first 2 holds

Down 0-4 and badly outgunned, match is good as over for Fer. He does deny Rod’s first attempt to serve out the match, but Rod does so second time with a third ball FH dtl winner and 3 aces

Summing up, one sided thrashing and almost a mismatch. Roddick’s serve is monstrous and he backs it up with big ripped FHs and even the odd attacking BH dtl. He’s even more consistent off the ground, while dictating play

Ferrero plays like his best days are behind him (which they probably are). No shame in being unable to handle opponents thunderbolt serves, but he’s bossed and bullied from the back to extent of being a lower tier player. Surprisingly, he passes well, but its minor cut-back in getting served and hit off the court

Stats for the second round match between Andy Murray and Roger Federer - Match Stats/Report - Murray vs Federer, Cincinnati second round, 2006 | Talk Tennis

 

[FD3S]

The years after Ferrero got wiped by chicken pox and injuries are tough to watch. He was still capable of good stretches (he'd make two Wimbledon QF's despite grass being his worst surface and get back to as high as top 20) but he was a shadow of what he used to be and it 100% showed.

 

[Galvermegs]

Roddick always liked playing ferrero and indeed most of the spaniards (although rafa and even ferrer were not so easy for him). A nice win here but then he didnt have to worry about federer as he got upset early.

 

[Gizo]

Ferrero only broke Roddick 4 times in their 5 matches / 13 sets against each other, and only had 12 break points.

It was no surprise that he named Roddick as his toughest opponent on tour.

When they played each other, typically Roddick's confidence from the baseline and on return looked to visibily increase as their matches progressed, with him safe in the knowledge that he would face very little pressure on serve.