Match Stats/Report - Rusedski vs Haas, Grand Slam Cup final, 1999

[Waspsting]

Greg Rusedski beat Tommy Haas 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(5) in the Grand Slam Cup final, 1999 on indoor hard court in Munich, Germany

It was the only final for both players at the event and it was the final edition of the event

Rusedski won 148 points, Haas 129

Rusedski serve-volleyed off all but 8 serves (7 firsts, 1 second)

(Note: I’m missing 1 point
Set 1, Game 2, Point 3 - a Haas service point that he won)

Serve Stats
Rusedski...
- 1st serve percentage (80/130) 62%
- 1st serve points won (67/80) 84%
- 2nd serve points won (31/50) 62%
- Aces 30 [1 second serve (a whiff), 2 body hits (1 possibly not clean) & 1 possibly not clean]
- Double Faults 5
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (61/130) 47%

Haas...
- 1st serve percentage (81/147) 55%
- 1st serve points won (59/81) 73%
- 2nd serve points won (38/66) 58%
- ?? serve points won (1/1)
- Aces 6
- Double Faults 9
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (42/147) 29%

Serve Patterns
Rusedski served...
- to FH 42%
- to BH 48%
- to Body 10%

Haas served....
- to FH 27%
- to BH 69%
- to Body 4%

Return Stats
Rusedski made...
- 96 (34 FH, 62 BH), including 7 runaround FHs, 11 return-approaches & 1 drop-return
- 3 Winners (1 FH, 2 BH), including 1 runaround FH & 1 drop-return
- 36 Errors, comprising...
- 24 Unforced (6 FH, 18 BH), including 2 runaround FHs & 5 return-approach attempts
- 12 Forced (7 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (96/138) 70%

Haas made...
- 64 (29 FH, 35 BH)
- 4 Winners (2 FH, 2 BH)
- 31 Errors, all forced...
- 31 Forced (15 FH, 16 BH)
- Return Rate (64/125) 51%

Break Points
Rusedski 3/6 (5 games)
Haas 1/6 (3 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Rusedski 39 (6 FH, 5 BH, 8 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 11 BHV, 8 OH)
Haas 37 (11 FH, 13 BH, 1 FHV, 7 BHV, 4 OH, 1 BHOH)

Rusedski had 18 from serve volley points -
- 13 first 'volleys' (3 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 5 BHV, 3 OH, 1 FH at net)... 1 OH was on the bounce, another can reasonably be called a FHV & the FH at net was a running-down-drop-shot at net
- 3 second volleys (2 BHV, 1 OH)
- 2 third volleys (1 FHV, 1 BHV)

- 3 from return-approach points (2 BHV, 1 OH)
- 1 other OH was on the bounce from no-man's land, near the baseline

- FHs - 2 cc passes, 2 dtl (1 runaround return), 1 inside-out
- BHs - 1 cc pass, 1 dtl pass, 1 inside-in return, 1 drop-return, 1 lob

Haas had 18 (7 FH, 11 BH) passes -
- FHs - 2 cc, 3 dtl (2 returns), 1 inside-out, 1 inside-out/dtl
- BHs - 4 cc, 4 dtl, 2 inside-in returns, 1 longline

- regular FHs - 1 cc, 1 dtl, 1 inside-out, 1 inside-in
- regular BHs - 1 cc, 1 drop shot

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

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Rusedski 45
- 18 Unforced (6 FH, 4 BH, 3 FHV, 4 BHV, 1 OH)
- 27 Forced (8 FH, 9 BH, 3 FHV, 3 BHV, 2 BH1/2V, 2 OH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 51.1

Haas 39
- 14 Unforced (4 FH, 8 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)... with 1 FH pass attempt & 1 BH at net
- 25 Forced (16 FH, 8 BH, 1 Tweener)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 50

(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
Rusedski was...
- 79/117 (68%) at net, including...
- 60/87 (69%) serve-volleying, comprising..
- 31/44 (70%) off 1st serve and...
- 29/43 (67%) off 2nd serve
---
- 6/11 (55%) return-approaching
- 2/4 (50%) forced back/retreated

Haas was...
- 27/40 (68%) at net, including...
- 1/4 (25%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 1/3 (33%) forced back

Match Report
The serve-volleying Rusedski’s serve is biggest reason for his substantial superiority, but he’s tidy in all areas, returning quite comfortably and holding his own from the baseline. Haas looks to play a solid baseline game and isn’t bad at it, though matched by opponent and he’s able to approach to BH regularly for aggression too. He has no equalizer for the serve though. Court is quick

Rusedski with -
- 30 aces (Haas has 6)
- 36% first serves being aces (Haas 7%)
- 62% first serves in (Haas 55%)
- 47% unreturned serves (Haas 29%)

…to go with Haas having more double faults 9-5 (Greg also has a second serve ace), at a worse rate (14% of second serves, compared to 10% for Greg)

That’s gist of how much better Greg has of serve-return. He serve-volleys virtually always to augment effectiveness of that serve
Not bad going by Haas to conjure break points in 3 games with the storm Greg brings. He manages to break just once. Its to love and comes as Greg serves for the match in fourth set

Not bad, but far behind Greg’s returning in-roads. For starters, keeping Haas to 29% unreturneds is a good returning job on this fast court. Healthy to hefty serve from Haas, if not the best placed. Mostly credit to Greg for solid returning consistency for the freebie rate

In baseline rallies, Greg with 4 winners, 10 UEs to Haas’ 6 winners, 10 UEs. That’s not the whole picture because Haas is able to find net more often to win points, but its good launching pad for Greg to go about breaking

Despite high 9 double faults, Haas wins 58% second serve points. San the doubles, that rises to 66%. He plays well too, just not flashily, particularly compared to big serving, serve-volleying opponent

Greg wins 53% of points, serving 47% of them
Break points - Greg 3/6 (5 games), Haas 1/6 (3 games)
That’s pretty comfy for the winner

Rusedski’s serve game
Those 30 aces and 36% first serves being aces fly down in all directions in both courts
Serves 42% to FH, 48% to BH. He even has 2 body serve aces that strike Haas

Greg serve-volleys 86% of time behind first serves (wins 70% serve-volleying, 100% not) and 98% of time behind seconds (wins 67% serve-volleying, wins sole stay back point)

He stays back occasionally off first serves because his all-in first serves are too powerful for him to come in behind; he’d be about half way to service line if he tried. Those serves usually draw hard return errors. He’s staying back on fair few of what turn out to be aces too
The only second serve he stays back off is the first point of match. Behind those, he can reach good position at net

Virtually same winning rate serve-volleying across his serves (70% first, 67% second)

On ‘volley’ Greg has 29 winners, 8 UEs, 10 FEs
Haas on the pass in play has 13 winners (4 FH, 9 BH), 20 FEs (12 FH, 8 BH), 1 UE (a FH), along with 4 return winners at 51% return rate
(That’s for all net points, not just serve-volley)

Solidly good volleying from Greg. Putsaway most of what’s there to be putaway or punches well and wide to leave bad look running passing. The FEs are a little high, given he isn’t faced with many difficult volleys, but they’re disproportionately high from non serve-volley approaches (mostly chip-charge returns, which aren’t going to get him broken)

The tougher stuff is usually pretty powerful, slightly low stuff. Greg actually makes these pretty well, with decent control. He’s not tasked with a lot right to feet

Unusual that Haas’ BH has come out with so much better pass numbers (9 winners, 8 FEs) than FH (4 winners, 12 FEs, 1 UE). Its not that it is so much better but more about how Greg volleys. Much like his serving, Greg doesn’t target a wing but looks to make good quality volleys. When forced to make tough volley, he’s more apt to pointedly go to BH

So the BH gets better looks on the pass. By contrast, when free to volley aggressively, he’s apt to go to FH more, so that wing gets worse look passes
Still, that’s a pretty good job by Haas. All in the context of 30 aces and 31 return errors (all FEs), and just 5 double faults

With the aces taking the eye, low double faults is credit to Greg. Second serves are good for him to win just 3% fewer second serve-volley points than first serve ones, and he has an ace too. 10% second serve double fault rate is worth that

A shot worth mentioning is a first ‘volley’ FH running-down-drop-shot at net winner against a net chord dribbling return. 2 boy serve aces is also unusual

Gist, in context of overwhelming serve, Greg serve-volleying virtually always and volleying solidly well. Haas not bad on the pass. Might be good enough to make a contest of pure volley vs pass, but nowhere near overriding huge damage load of aces and other freebies drawn by Greg’s varied, top class serving

 

[Waspsting]

Haas’ serve game
With Greg holding so easily and quickly with aces, freebies and quick serve-volley points, Haas looks much worse. He is worse against that standard, but is pretty good in his service game

55% first serves in, 73% first serve points won, 58% second serve points won
The in count is not good (much bigger serving Greg has 62%)
But 58% second serve points won is very good
Even more so considering high 9 double faults or 14% of second serves. Sans those, Haas wins 67% points

Greg also wins 55% return-approach points, almost all against second serves. So Haas even better than 67% points won for points starting with baseline rally on his second serve
Just 4 serve-volleys (only wins 1), so baseline rallies on Haas’ serve

His serve is hefty but not well placed. Still, more credit to Greg’s returning consistency for the relatively low 29% freebies. He’s willing to just poke or push the powerful serve back into play, leaving Haas with easy third ball to maintain high return rate

Baseline rallies -
- Winners - Greg 5 (3 FH, 2 BH), Haas 6 (4 FH, 2 BH)
- Errors forced - Greg 4, Haas 5
- UEs - Greg 10 (6 FH, 4 BH), Haas 10 (3 FH, 7 BH)

So purely from baseline, things almost literally even. To go with moderate 29% freebies (and high 9 double faults or 14% second serve double faults), that’s liable to get Haas broken often. But…

Rallying to net, Greg 13/19, Haas 26/36
Greg’s also 6/11 return-approaching, Haas 1/4 serve-volleying

Baseline rallies are on passive side. Not who-blinks-first passive, but shy of either player looking to seize command of rallies. Haas leads rallies and looks to play to breakdown BH. Plays a lot of BH longlines to do so, on top of FH cc’s. Greg slices and push-slices BHs, but is very consistent so doing.

Very consistent BH from Greg, but its softness does enable Haas to approach. Not very powerful approaches either. Firm BH longline by Haas, pushed BH by Greg and Haas coming in behind slightly wide shot
Haas’ other approach line is third ball ones against weak returns. Which there are good lot of, what with Greg keeping healthy 70% return rate. Those are more powerful

Haas on volley has 15 winners, 2 UEs
Greg on pass has 5 winners (2 FH, 3 BH), 12 FEs (5 FH, 7 BH)

That’s good outcome for Haas. He’s clumsy serve-volleying, looking like he has no idea where the ball might go, but strong third ball approach or a moderate one to Greg’s softish BH are good to leave him anticipating correctly. 7/8 volley winners are BHV with Greg playing BH dtl pass and Haas nicely short-angle dropping them for winners. He’s sure in putting away the smash too

Quite a few return-approaches from Greg and he’s on look out to find net in rallies. Haas hitting just well enough to keep him back. If anything, Greg is more on look out to come in, but can’t find the right ball. Haas isn’t in hurry to get forward once rally gets going

About half of Haas’ 36 rally approaches are readily there for it third ball chances set up by serve, so he has about the same number of approaches as Greg’s 19 after a rally gets underway, despite Greg seemingly more keen to get forward

Greg could do with a bit more boldness; slice approach from neutral situation. He prefers push-slicing BHs instead, which stays steady, but leave Haas in control of baseline rally
Haas never becomes overly net hungry. His first point winning plan seems to be breaking down Greg’s BH, and when that doesn’t happen, comes in to the BH to win points more aggressively

Gist - good solid returning by Greg to keep freebies down, quite a lot of double faults from Haas (3 more doubles then aces on this fast court is bad. Greg has 25 more aces by contrast) and Greg holding even with Haas from the back. Sounds like painful day for Haas
Its not too painful because he’s wisely and unhurriedly able to use net to exploit softness of Greg’s BH

Memorable shot is a Greg BH drop return winner. A shot so out of step with rest of his showing that one would suspect it was a mishit, but its clearly an intentional shot

Match Progression
Stands are half-empty at start of match, though it does fill up in due time. A bit strange, given presence of a German in the final
Greg’s big serving overwhelms Haas in first set. Haas meanwhile serves at 50% but doesn’t get serves wide and double faults regularly - including breaking himself so doing

Greg starts match with FH dtl winner; it turns out to be the only non second serve-volley for him in the match
And breaks after that for 2-0 - starting with a FH inside-out winner, coming away with net-to-net FHV winner after a drop shot play, and Haas throwing in 2 double faults

No more breaks or break points for rest of set, but Haas doubles twice more. He’s taken to deuce once, while Greg holds more easily. Couple of return-pass winners from Haas in game 4, but their the only points he wins in the game

In second set, Greg chip-charge returns and manufactures approaches in baseline rallies fairly often. Neither of which he’d done in first set (and having little reason to, since he’d broken for 2-0). Serve is still formidable, though not as devastating as first set. Slice is very dependable

And he has 2 aces that strike Haas

Bad game to get broken for 2-3. Third ball FH inside-out winner attempt miss, a missed slice and a missed easy pass from near service line from him in it to go down 15-40 and Greg with a winning FH inside-out to complete the break

Takes Haas 14 points to hold for 4-5 awhile later, though he doesn’t face break point. A game in which both players seek and find net

Haas delivers by far his best return game as Greg serves out the set. He’s got 3 dtl pass winners in it (2 of them on the run) and raises his first break point. Greg’s big body serve hits him for an ace on it and he goes on to force passing errors to see out the set

Third set is even. No breaks, Greg serves 37 points, Haas 35 for their 6 holds going into tiebreak

Comfy holds til near the end. Greg has to save 4 break/set points to hold for 5-5. All 4 are erased with unreturned serves - 3 of them very strong serves (2 aces), but Haas has good look at a dtl winner attempt return on the other

Next game opens with an out of blue drop-return winner from Greg. Both players are at net in the game and Haas saves the only break point with a neat, angled drop BHV winner

Tiebreak. High BHV miss sets Greg behind 0-2 at the start. And Haas nurses that lead through to take the set. Greg helps by missing 2 routine second returns, but his quick, running-down-drop-shot FH at net first ‘volley’ winner against a net chord dribbling return is a highlight

Greg has sizably better of fourth set, despite the close scoreline. He serves 34 points in it, Haas 48

Greg breaks for 3-1 in a 12 point game with all kinds of things happening. He finishes the game with FH cc pass winner after drawing a half-volley and a runaround FH dtl return winner

Awhile later, he’s got break/match point at 5-3 in a game where he constantly chi-charge returns. Haas just about holds him off with good passes

Its out of the blue that Haas breaks to love to put things back on serve. Slightly tight game from Greg, whose inability to putaway a volley leads to him getting passed and he also misses a not-hard reaction second volley, but Haas does his part too with a FH cc pass winner and a low return that forces BHV error

Shortly after, its another tiebreak
Haas forces a wide BHV error to mini-break to start, but misses a simple third ball BH approach shot right after
The decisive mini is another routine BH ccc miss which takes Greg to 4-2. He stays on top of his service points after that to eventually close out 7-5 with a FHV winner

Summing up, well played match from Rusedski. Big serving and mountain of aces is at heart of it, but he also volleys well, returns a hefty serve consistently, hangs in patiently off the BH while occasionally unloading with FH in baseline rallies and as needed, looks for net in return games. With barely a blip

A decent, if quiet showing from Haas too. Hefty serve, not too well placed, but more credit to opponent for sound returning. Probing away at opponent’s BH, and when that doesn’t work, taking net to aggressively finish

He can find little counter-play against monster serve though, has no monster of his own to compensate and is pretty comfortably second best

 

[Dan Lobb]

Haas’ serve game
With Greg holding so easily and quickly with aces, freebies and quick serve-volley points, Haas looks much worse. He is worse against that standard, but is pretty good in his service game

55% first serves in, 73% first serve points won, 58% second serve points won
The in count is not good (much bigger serving Greg has 62%)
But 58% second serve points won is very good
Even more so considering high 9 double faults or 14% of second serves. Sans those, Haas wins 67% points

Greg also wins 55% return-approach points, almost all against second serves. So Haas even better than 67% points won for points starting with baseline rally on his second serve
Just 4 serve-volleys (only wins 1), so baseline rallies on Haas’ serve

His serve is hefty but not well placed. Still, more credit to Greg’s returning consistency for the relatively low 29% freebies. He’s willing to just poke or push the powerful serve back into play, leaving Haas with easy third ball to maintain high return rate

Baseline rallies -
- Winners - Greg 5 (3 FH, 2 BH), Haas 6 (4 FH, 2 BH)
- Errors forced - Greg 4, Haas 5
- UEs - Greg 10 (6 FH, 4 BH), Haas 10 (3 FH, 7 BH)

So purely from baseline, things almost literally even. To go with moderate 29% freebies (and high 9 double faults or 14% second serve double faults), that’s liable to get Haas broken often. But…

Rallying to net, Greg 13/19, Haas 26/36
Greg’s also 6/11 return-approaching, Haas 1/4 serve-volleying

Baseline rallies are on passive side. Not who-blinks-first passive, but shy of either player looking to seize command of rallies. Haas leads rallies and looks to play to breakdown BH. Plays a lot of BH longlines to do so, on top of FH cc’s. Greg slices and push-slices BHs, but is very consistent so doing.

Very consistent BH from Greg, but its softness does enable Haas to approach. Not very powerful approaches either. Firm BH longline by Haas, pushed BH by Greg and Haas coming in behind slightly wide shot
Haas’ other approach line is third ball ones against weak returns. Which there are good lot of, what with Greg keeping healthy 70% return rate. Those are more powerful

Haas on volley has 15 winners, 2 UEs
Greg on pass has 5 winners (2 FH, 3 BH), 12 FEs (5 FH, 7 BH)

That’s good outcome for Haas. He’s clumsy serve-volleying, looking like he has no idea where the ball might go, but strong third ball approach or a moderate one to Greg’s softish BH are good to leave him anticipating correctly. 7/8 volley winners are BHV with Greg playing BH dtl pass and Haas nicely short-angle dropping them for winners. He’s sure in putting away the smash too

Quite a few return-approaches from Greg and he’s on look out to find net in rallies. Haas hitting just well enough to keep him back. If anything, Greg is more on look out to come in, but can’t find the right ball. Haas isn’t in hurry to get forward once rally gets going

About half of Haas’ 36 rally approaches are readily there for it third ball chances set up by serve, so he has about the same number of approaches as Greg’s 19 after a rally gets underway, despite Greg seemingly more keen to get forward

Greg could do with a bit more boldness; slice approach from neutral situation. He prefers push-slicing BHs instead, which stays steady, but leave Haas in control of baseline rally
Haas never becomes overly net hungry. His first point winning plan seems to be breaking down Greg’s BH, and when that doesn’t happen, comes in to the BH to win points more aggressively

Gist - good solid returning by Greg to keep freebies down, quite a lot of double faults from Haas (3 more doubles then aces on this fast court is bad. Greg has 25 more aces by contrast) and Greg holding even with Haas from the back. Sounds like painful day for Haas
Its not too painful because he’s wisely and unhurriedly able to use net to exploit softness of Greg’s BH

Memorable shot is a Greg BH drop return winner. A shot so out of step with rest of his showing that one would suspect it was a mishit, but its clearly an intentional shot

Match Progression
Stands are half-empty at start of match, though it does fill up in due time. A bit strange, given presence of a German in the final
Greg’s big serving overwhelms Haas in first set. Haas meanwhile serves at 50% but doesn’t get serves wide and double faults regularly - including breaking himself so doing

Greg starts match with FH dtl winner; it turns out to be the only non second serve-volley for him in the match
And breaks after that for 2-0 - starting with a FH inside-out winner, coming away with net-to-net FHV winner after a drop shot play, and Haas throwing in 2 double faults

No more breaks or break points for rest of set, but Haas doubles twice more. He’s taken to deuce once, while Greg holds more easily. Couple of return-pass winners from Haas in game 4, but their the only points he wins in the game

In second set, Greg chip-charge returns and manufactures approaches in baseline rallies fairly often. Neither of which he’d done in first set (and having little reason to, since he’d broken for 2-0). Serve is still formidable, though not as devastating as first set. Slice is very dependable

And he has 2 aces that strike Haas

Bad game to get broken for 2-3. Third ball FH inside-out winner attempt miss, a missed slice and a missed easy pass from near service line from him in it to go down 15-40 and Greg with a winning FH inside-out to complete the break

Takes Haas 14 points to hold for 4-5 awhile later, though he doesn’t face break point. A game in which both players seek and find net

Haas delivers by far his best return game as Greg serves out the set. He’s got 3 dtl pass winners in it (2 of them on the run) and raises his first break point. Greg’s big body serve hits him for an ace on it and he goes on to force passing errors to see out the set

Third set is even. No breaks, Greg serves 37 points, Haas 35 for their 6 holds going into tiebreak

Comfy holds til near the end. Greg has to save 4 break/set points to hold for 5-5. All 4 are erased with unreturned serves - 3 of them very strong serves (2 aces), but Haas has good look at a dtl winner attempt return on the other

Next game opens with an out of blue drop-return winner from Greg. Both players are at net in the game and Haas saves the only break point with a neat, angled drop BHV winner

Tiebreak. High BHV miss sets Greg behind 0-2 at the start. And Haas nurses that lead through to take the set. Greg helps by missing 2 routine second returns, but his quick, running-down-drop-shot FH at net first ‘volley’ winner against a net chord dribbling return is a highlight

Greg has sizably better of fourth set, despite the close scoreline. He serves 34 points in it, Haas 48

Greg breaks for 3-1 in a 12 point game with all kinds of things happening. He finishes the game with FH cc pass winner after drawing a half-volley and a runaround FH dtl return winner

Awhile later, he’s got break/match point at 5-3 in a game where he constantly chi-charge returns. Haas just about holds him off with good passes

Its out of the blue that Haas breaks to love to put things back on serve. Slightly tight game from Greg, whose inability to putaway a volley leads to him getting passed and he also misses a not-hard reaction second volley, but Haas does his part too with a FH cc pass winner and a low return that forces BHV error

Shortly after, its another tiebreak
Haas forces a wide BHV error to mini-break to start, but misses a simple third ball BH approach shot right after
The decisive mini is another routine BH ccc miss which takes Greg to 4-2. He stays on top of his service points after that to eventually close out 7-5 with a FHV winner

Summing up, well played match from Rusedski. Big serving and mountain of aces is at heart of it, but he also volleys well, returns a hefty serve consistently, hangs in patiently off the BH while occasionally unloading with FH in baseline rallies and as needed, looks for net in return games. With barely a blip

A decent, if quiet showing from Haas too. Hefty serve, not too well placed, but more credit to opponent for sound returning. Probing away at opponent’s BH, and when that doesn’t work, taking net to aggressively finish

He can find little counter-play against monster serve though, has no monster of his own to compensate and is pretty comfortably second best

Rusedski is a greatly underrated player, he also won a major final against Sampras (yes, PETE Sampras!), in the Paris Masters final.