Match Stats/Report - Rosset vs Arrese, Olympic Games final, 1992

[Waspsting]

Marc Rosset (Switzerland) beat Jordi Arrese (Spain) 7-6(2), 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 8-6 in the Olympic Games final, 1992 on clay in Barcelona, Spain

Rosset was unseeded and beat among others, top seed and reigning French Open champion Jim Courier (USA) en route to the title. Arrese was the 16th seed. The Bronze medal was shared by the beaten semi-finalists Goran Ivanisevic (Croatia) and Andrei Cherkasov (Unified Team)

Rosset won 173 points, Arrese 179

Rosset serve-volleyed about two-thirds the time off first serves

Serve Stats
Rosset...
- 1st serve percentage (86/179) 48%
- 1st serve points won (72/86) 84%
- 2nd serve points won (41/93) 44%
- Aces 34 (2 second serves), Service Winners 2 (1 can reasonably be called a non-clean ace)
- Double Faults 13
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (69/179) 39%

Arrese...
- 1st serve percentage (121/173) 70%
- 1st serve points won (82/121) 68%
- 2nd serve points won (31/52) 60%
- Aces 3 (2 second serves)
- Double Faults 5
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (31/173) 18%

Serve Patterns
Rosset served...
- to FH 36%
- to BH 50%
- to Body 14%

Arrese served...
- to FH 14%
- to BH 78%
- to Body 8%

Return Stats
Rosset made...
- 137 (49 FH, 88 BH), including 26 runaround FHs
- 3 Winners (3 FH), including 2 runaround FHs
- 28 Errors, comprising...
- 26 Unforced (11 FH, 15 BH), including 5 runaround FHs
- 2 Forced (1 FH, 1 BH)
- Return Rate (137/168) 82%

Arrese made...
- 97 (78 FH, 18 BH), including 31 runaround FHs & 1 return-approach
- 2 Winners (1 FH, 1 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 33 Errors, comprising...
- 6 Unforced (5 FH, 1 BH), including 3 runaround FHs
- 27 Forced (10 FH, 17 BH), including 1 runaround FH & 1 two-handed BH
- Return Rate (97/166) 58%

Break Points
Rosset 5/15 (8 games)
Arrese 5/17 (11 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Rosset 37 (14 FH, 7 BH, 3 FHV, 9 BHV, 4 OH)
Arrese 34 (19 FH, 8 BH, 2 FHV, 3 BHV, 2 OH)

Rosset's FHs - 1 cc, 1 dtl return, 4 inside-out (2 runaround returns), 6 inside-in, 1 inside-in/longline, 1 net chord dribbler
- BHs - 1 cc at net, 4 dtl (1 at net, 1 slice pass), 1 inside-out/dtl at net, 1 drop shot

- 10 from serve-volley points -
- 6 first volleys (1 FHV, 3 BHV, 2 OH)
- 4 second volleys (1 FHV, 2 BHV, 1 OH)

- 1 other OH was on the bounce

Arrese's FHs - 6 cc (1 runaround return, 2 passes), 1 cc/inside-in at net, 2 dtl passes, 2 inside-out passes, 5 inside-in, 1 inside-in/cc pass, 1 inside-in/longline, 1 lob
- regular BHs - 2 drop shots (1 at net)
- BH passes - 4 cc (1 net chord clipper, 1 at net), 1 dtl return, 1 inside-out

- 1 OH was on the bounce

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Rosset 101
- 79 Unforced (44 FH, 29 BH, 2 FHV, 4 BHV)... with 1 BH at net
- 22 Forced (12 FH, 5 BH, 1 FHV, 3 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.1

Arrese 62
- 39 Unforced (22 FH, 14 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV)... with 1 BH pass attempt
- 23 Forced (12 FH, 9 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)... with 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net
- 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
Rosset was...
- 61/88 (69%) at net, including...
- 36/49 (73%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 27/36 (75%) off 1st serve and...
- 9/13 (69%) off 2nd serve
---
- 3/3 (100%) forced back

Arrese was...
- 17/29 (59%) at net, with...
- 0/1 return-approaching
- 1/4 (25%) froced back/retreated

Match Report
Rosset’s big weapon is humongous serve, with Arrese’s being harmless
Arrese is better grinder and seemingly fitter. With grinding being staple of play and match going 5 hours
There’s little in result. Arrese has slightly better of match on whole, though at the 11th hour in fifth set, things are just about even. The ending comes a bit out of nowhere. Rosset could probably have made his life a lot easier by serve-volleying more

Points won - Rosset 173, Arrese 179
Points served - Rosset 179, Arrese 173

Break points - Rosset 5/15 (8 games), Arrese 5/17 (11 games)

Whatever edge those figures point to are Arrese’s

Aces/service winners - Rosset 36, Arrese 3
2/3 of Arrese’s are second serves that Ross is moving wrong way for. Understandably, given persistent and predictable serving to BH by him. The sole first serve ace Rosset lets go at unimportant time
2/34 Rosset’s aces are second serves too, but the serves are just that good. 1/2 of his service winners can reasonably be called an ace

Even without above context, that gap in unreturnables captures serve quality of each player. Rosset top drawer, Arrese harmless

UEs - Rosset 79 Arrese 39
UEs in baseline rallies - Rosset 72, Arrese 35
Neutral and defensive UEs - Rosset 42, Arrese 17

And those figures capture the grinding contest. Arrese about twice as good

As early as late in the (90 minute) first set, Rosset shows signs of being on the road to run down. Its mild, but its there. He plays a particularly good tiebreak to take it
And follows up with his best play of the match in second set, where he actually holds even from baseline to take that too
Arrese grinds him down and ‘downer’ for next 2 sets. Rosset doing his best and not flagging, Arrese himself probably tiring though not showing it as much - but Arrese grinding Rosset down all the same

Rosset serves his best for the match in decider, serve-volleys at highest frequency (particularly off second serves, which he’d done little of earlier) and plays a coolly calculated baseline game of selective effort. Which seems him about even with the more consistent Arrese. And a bit of a bolt from blue ending things

It’s a helluva struggle and the contest becomes gripping. The tennis is below average

Big as Rosset’s serve is, Arrese seems incapable of returning it at all to blackmark territory. 34 aces is the highest I know of in clay match (though that’s very likely influenced by dearth of elite servers in said matches) by a couple of avenues
Pete Sampras’ highest count is 37 on lightning fast court in Australian Open 2000, against readily ace-able returner Agassi
Gorand Ivanisevic had about same number in 5-set final at ‘92 Wimbledon against Agassi too
Rosset dishing out that many aces on clay doesn’t say good things about Arrese’s returning. And at only 48% first serves in

And the grinding. Staple rally is Arrese back-away FH inside-out to breakdown Ross’ BH
Its not a very meaty FH inside-out. And Ross’ BH is feeble. A second rate tussle at best
A strong FH inside-out could overpower Ross’ BH
And a strong BH could have even rallies or even take lead position against Arrese FH inside-out

Serve, Return & Rosset’s serve-volleying
First serve in - Ross 48%, Arrese 70%
First serve ace rate - Ross 37%, Arrese 0.8%

Be hard pressed to find a bigger gap in first serve ace rate anywhere. Low 48% in count is price Ross pays for it and it keeps his actual unreturned rate advantage to still large 21% (39% vs 18%)

Big serving from Ross. And its just too big for Arrese to handle. Would be a handful for anyone to, but Arrese’s limitations of reaction, movement and handling pace is on show too. Big serves don’t’ have to be in corner to go through for ace. Arrese doesn’t stand too far back against them either. Worth considering doing so, given how helpless he is to cope. Stay back, in swing zone first serves jar return FEs out of him too

57/86 or 66% of Ross’ first serves go unreturned
12/93 or 13% second serves do. Sans double faults, 15%. That’s including with 16% second serve-volleying help

Big fat first serve from Ross. But 66% going unreturned and 37% going for aces reflects something about Arrese’s returning too, and its not anything good

For most of match, Ross sends down average second serves. He cranks it up when he serve-volleys, most of which occur near end of match

Arrese’s serve is harmless, with little difference between firsts and seconds
26/28 return errors he’s drawn have been marked UEs
As mentioned earlier, 2/3 of his aces are second serves the direction of which catch a tired Ross out and the other Ross lets go when well down in game

Both players, Arrese in particular, constantly runaround to hit FH returns. In both courts
Ross has 26, Arrese 31 runaround FH returns
3/5 total return winners from the match are runaround FHs
Ross has 5 UEs on the shot, Arrese 3 UEs, 1 FE on it too

Its usually not an aggressive shot, just a preference. Has to be a strong preference for both players to runaround FH neutrally in ad court. Such a move is in line with how Arrese rallies too, less so for Ross (who’d probably like to, but isn’t quick enough)

Ross is able to spontaneously runaround against first serves not rarely
Average quality second returns, leaving server with some initiative usually. The FH returns (runaround or otherwise) are better than the BHs, but the quality of returns made isn’t strong

Rosset ends up serve-volleying 69% of first serves. Doesn’t feel like that, with 40% of first serves being aces or service winners.
And 17% off second serves, concentrated in fifth set when he’s presumably at his most tired

He’d probably win match a lot more comfortably if he serve-volleyed more off both serves, and toned down strength of his first serve to raise in count
Off first serve, he wins 75% serve-volleying, 69% staying back
Off second serve, he wins 69% serve-volleying, 46% staying back (and 14% double faults)

 

[Waspsting]

Serve-volleying or not, his first serve is too much for Arrese. Which means he could tone it down, raise the 48% in count and still win large lot. 36 ace/service winners is unnecessarily strong serving. Ross is 6 foot, 7 inches. Shouldn’t be difficult to haveat least 60% first serve percentage with still winning force, but fewer aces

Strength of Arrese’s returns are such that even second serve-volleying likely wins Ross bulk of points long term (certainly more than 46% he does staying back). There isn’t much of a volley-pass contest going on in the serve-volley points because serve does most of the work

Arrese has 1 return-pass winner against 49 serve-volley points

Gist - very big first serving from Ross which is too much for Arrese to handle. At cost of low in count. Mostly average second serves to go with it. Arrese’s serve is harmless
Decent, consistency in returning by Ross, good from Arrese against second serves. Both players running around to hit FH returns a lot

Ross probably erring in how big he serves and how he little he serve-volleys. Going by Arrese’s return showing, toned down first serving at higher percentage supported by serve-volley and regular second serve-volleying would have gone better for him than what he does

Play - Baseline (& Net)
Court action is mostly baseline, grindy stuff. Ross’ serve-volleying is dominated by the serve-shot

Arrese controls it and Arrese dominates it (as in, wins bulk of points, not overpowers). When fresh, he plays move-around FHs as much as possible. Mostly inside-out to breakdown Ross’ BH and there are long, grindy cc rallies between the two shots. Second line of play is Arrese playing FH inside-in to attack mildly

Both players like to fall back to play their shots. Moving in is rare. Ross does so a little, Arrese virtually never

Ross’ FH is most powerful shot on show, without being too powerful. Its far from over-powering and most of the time, isn’t even enough for one to say it tests Arrese’s shot tolerance. Still, more powerful than any other shot

Occasionally, Ross moves over and plays FH inside-outs out of corner the way Arrese does. He’s quicker to turn to FH inside-in attacking shot when he does than opponent, and his attacking shots from this dynamic are bona fida attacking shots

Stamina is crucial. Arrese cracks Ross’ freshness even before end of first set. And keeps at it thereafter. By fourth set, Ross is visibly tired. He neither strains to hide or showcase it
Arrese shows fewer physical signs still and he’s clearly fresher than Ross, but not daisy fresh as match goes on either. He gets a little slower along natural lines and eventually, starts playing BH cc’s rather than back-away FH inside-outs

Grindy baseline rallies, with staple Arrese leading with back-away FH inside-outs from side of court, Ross reacting with pretty puny BH. Ross is apt to just lift the BH cc over the net (as opposed to top spin it)

In baseline rallies -
- Winners - Ross 17, Arrese 11
- Errors forced - Ross 7, Arrese 12
(Aggressively ended points - Ross 24, Arrese 23)
- UEs - Ross 73, Arrese 35

Aggressively ended points/UE differential Ross -49, Arrese -12
Pretty clear who’s winning - and how. Arrese, by grinding Ross down. It is a grind, and Ross keeps up rallies. There little sloppy, easy giving up off UEs by Ross. His consistency isn’t good, but his grit isn't wanting

UEs & winners by shot -
- Arrese BH - 13 and 1
- Arrese FH - 22 and 10
- Ross BH - 28 and 3
- Arrese FH - 34 and 14

Arrese’s BH the most secure because it sees the smallest amount of action. For most of match, he doesn’t play a BH if he can help it (and he controls rallies so that he can help it). Its just a rallying shot, with negligible attacking

The BH UEs from Ross is a relative win for him, given how its targetted. Also harmless, but it hasn’t cracked too badly. Consistency gap with Arrese’s FH is bigger than numbers suggest because higher lot of Arrese’s FH UEs would be attacking shots

Good yield for Arrese’s FH. Its broken down Ross’ BH and that’s not a shabby yield of winners either. Its better than even just that. All of Ross’ 12 FEs are FHs, and almost all of them are drawn by FH inside-in’s, which also has 6/10 winners (the rest are cc -1 a return). To say nothing of prolongin rallies and wearing Ross down, which has long term positive effects for Arrese

The shortcomings of Arrese’s game comes through too, particularly, relative softness of his FH inside-out. Its his staple shot, but he has no winners with it (he does have couple of passes). Also, Ross with 12 FH FEs, 0 BHs gets to how carefully Ross has protected his targetted BH. He’s below average on the running, or even just on-the-move FH and good lot of such shots have been marked UEs (including 2 defensive ones)

Ross’ FH with match high winners and UEs (and FEs too), contrary to playing dynamics. To look at these figures, wouldn’t think this was a FH inside-out vs BH cc staple baseline deal. He’s protected BH pretty well, at cost of court position for FH. FHs not too secure, just like his BH, and he does take a few chances with it

He also has bulk 7/14 winners inside-in (others include 3 returns and net chord dribbler). Taking his chances with the shot when he turns tables to leading FH inside-outs against Arrese’s BH, and occasionally, just going for the finisher when cooped up BH corner. Its crucial; last 2 points of the match are FH inside-in winners from Ross

Staple rally shifts to FH cc to FH cc liberally, after Arrese plays FH inside-in. Ross with more powerful FH, but neither player is damagingly strong. Arrese’s shot tolerance barely tested by not-weak (as opposed to powerful) FH of Ross. Certainly far from anything like Ross being over powering or even bossing action with FH. Again, Arrese remains more secure in those rallies

UE types in baseline rallies -
Defensive - Ross 2
Neutral - Ross 40, Arrese 17
Attacking - Ross 20, Arrese 11
Winner attempts - Ross 10, Arrese 8

Arrese better in all ways, with neutral the big one. Ross hasn’t tried too much to break out of grind

Rallying to net - Ross 25/39 or 64%, Arrese 17/28 or 61%
(Ross also winning 73% of 49 serve-volleys, mostly on back of big serve)

Not a bad lot of approaches from Ross. He occasionally manufactures approach with BH slice. Arrese rarely looks for net. He falls back to baseline after being dragged closer to service line than baseline more than once. Loses important tiebreak point by staying put little behind service line rather than committing to taking net

Ross on volley has 16 winners, 7 UEs, 5 FEs
Arrese on pass has 14 winners (8 FH, 6 BH), 14 FEs (7 each wing), 1 UE
(above includes serve-volleys)

 

[Waspsting]

Easy winners for Ross. He’s otherwise average in quality of volleys, and Arrese good enough to pass him for it

Arrese on volley has 7 winners, 3 UEs, 2 FEs
Ross on pass has just 1 pass winner, 5 FEs

The sole pass winner comes from unique point where Arrese rushes net after making a first return.
Close to insignificant contest by volume. It mainly gets to Arrese not looking to net as a finisher

Gist - Arrese controlling baseline rallies, leading with move-over FH inside-outs to Ross’ BH. Neither shot is potent, but Arrese is steadier. Second staple rally, sometimes flowing out of the first is FH-FH, where Arrese remains steadier, but Ross is slightly more powerful, and a little more willing to overtly attack with big FHs

Arrese looking to wear down and breakdown Ross and largely succeeding
Ross usually playing along reactively, with choosey, occasional attempts to break out and attack with power FHs or manufacturing trips ot net
Average volleying from Ross, but he’s faced with a lot of weak returns when serve-volleying. Anything less than easy volleys, he’s apt to leave fair passing shot - and Arrese making most of those

Match Progression
90 minute set to get started, filled with grinding rallies
Arrese moves over to play FH inside-outs to draw errors from Ross’ BH. Ross reacts, sometimes lifting the BH cc back over, steeled to not give up error
On flip side, Ross looks to overpower with strong FHs. Arse copes without much trouble
Some big serves from Ross. He serve-volleys negligibly

No breaks, but it’s a tough time out there, especially for Ross. He serves 54 points for his 6 holds, Arrese 36. Break points for the set read Ross 0/4 (2 games), Arrese 0/7 (4 games)

In second half of set, Arrese shifts to moving Ross around more than just trying to outlast him. It gets to Ross a bit, who lashes out a little with adventurous FHs that usually land out

Tiebreak. Arrese having looked the better player coming in, but Ross plays a good one. Ross takes couple of points with big FH play, deftly slice passes ball low and wide to force close to net BHV error, and Arrese sticks himself in no-man’s land, neither coming in to net nor falling back to baseline to have a FH error forced out of him. Ross seals the set with an ace

Second set is fluent by comparison. Ross breaks to 15 to start in an all UE game (1 volley, 4 groundies, all FH shots)
And nurses the break through. The early break frees him up and he serve-volleys more than first set and is quicker to move to bashing FHs, instead of playing who-blinks-first with BH

Average game of second set lasts 5.1 points. In first set, it was 7.5

Third set is turning point in more than one way. Arrese mounts his comeback and fatigue of both players (particularly Ross) starts to manifest
Early trade of breaks. Ross is broken to love in all 2nd serve game. A double fault, a UE of each wing, and Arrese with a very rare winning BH dtl

He breaks back for 1-2 to 30 with 5/6 points ending with ground UEs. Unusually, Arrese starts and ends the game with aggressive dtl errors (attacking BH to start, winner attempt FH to end). Having saved 2 break points to reach 30-40, the FH at end is especially odd choice

In middle of set, Arrese holds consecutive 14 point games (he only faces 2 break points in them, both in first game), and sandwiches a break to 30 in between to move ahead 5-2

Physical weariness becomes apparent in the first of the 14 point games. Even from Arrese, who starts playing BHs because he isn’t up for moving over to play FHs every ball. Rest of set, Ross with some early approaches and early big shots and some tired return UEs. Arrese too, in different way and lesser extent

BH at net miss, tired third ball FH inside-in miss and double fault set Ross down 30-40 in game 5, with a couple of aces winning him his points. He’s broken when Arrese makes a rare strong return, that forces a weak shoelace volley that Arrese dismisses from near the service line

Ross doesn’t seem upto moving for wider shots on the serve-out and Arrese knocks away a couple FH cc winners which earlier in match, would probably have been put back in play without trouble. When Ross does move, he’s slow to reach FH and makes defensive UE

The grind down gets deeper in the fourth. Ross is in trouble virtually every service game, while Arrese bar 1 blip, holds easily
Break points for set - Ross 1/1, Arrese 2/7 (4 games)
Ros first serve-volleying almost always by now, but staying back on second serves and only landing 18/37 first serves
Unusually, Arrese has little flutter of double faults (he serves 4 across 3 straight games, 1 for rest of match) and starts coming to net a bit himself to finish easily

Breaks for 2-1, threatens to almost everytime thereafter with Ross somehow holding on. Against run of play, Ross breaks to love to level at 4-4. A poor game by Arrese with a double fault and 2 attacking ground UEs in short rallies
But Arrese breaks right back. Couple of doubles from Ross, a dispatched FH cc pass from mid-court after drawing first shoelace volley and coming in to dismiss FHV winner after bossing Ross back with series of FH inside-outs

By match standards, flashy serve-out from Arrese. Combo of FH cc + dtl to set up BHV winner and a third ball FH inside-in winner in there. Also, a FH inside-out pass winner and its onto decider

Ross plays a very cool headed one. He delivers match high 57% first serves in for the set (all other sets, he’s under 50%), serve-volleys at highest frequency (including off most second serves). In return games, he mixes things up - counter-punching patiently in baseline rallies much of time, sometimes taking risk of seizing action with powerful FHs, manufacturing the odd approach to net and tanking the odd game too

Its finely balanced game that sees him break for 3-1. Turns tables by moving over to hit FH inside-outs, and draws attacking BH dtl UE counter-attempt to start game, defends with what he has left before chancily taking net to to move to 0-30. He converts his second break point in time by counter-attacking Arrese’s FH inside-in with a wider FH cc and forcing running FH error

Arrese with deuce hold next go around, but then breaks back for 3-4. Forces BHV FEs (a second reaction volley and a shoelace first), while Ros misses straightforward BHV and double faults on break point

Easy holds from thereon to love or 15 and it looks like another one to move to 7-7, as Arrese advances to 40-15. The FH inside-in winner attempt he misses on first game point is atypical shot choice and its 40-30

3 varied and well played points later, Ross breaks to end the match
Rallies develop on all 3 points
First, Ross takes his chance with strong FH inside-out, which leads to him coming away with FHV winner

Ross hangs tough defending point after and both players end up at net where they exchange shots. Ross is forced back, Arrese retreats and its back to baseline rally. Ross takes on and lands the FH inside-in winner that Arrese couldn’t few points earlier to raise break/match point

Ross patiently counter-punches on it, falling well behind baseline for FHs and pseudo moonballing a couple of BHs to keep the rally going, before moving over to play a firm FH inside-out instead. It draws a normal ball, to which he again takes on and nails FH inside-in winner to finish

Summing up, memorable long struggle with epic qualities, including a partisan crowd that’s with their own and cheer the others’ errors cheerfully. Gripping stuff, even if the tennis is ordinary

Rosset with a big serve that’s too much for opponent to handle, but at low in-count. His FH is moderately powerful, but error prone. He's looser baseliner, but not sloppy or wanting for grit there
Arrese more secure baseliner and seemingly fitter, grinding Rosset down and wearing him out longer match goes. Leads with back-away FH inside-outs to draw errors, combined with FH inside-in attacking plays. He as indecisively better of things on the whole

Its anyone’s match at the end. Rosset playing smartly and coolly at that time to rise to equality, after having been ground down and outplayed for last couple of sets. Equality, not superiority - and a small balanced calculated risk-taken bolt somewhat suddenly sees him over the line