Match Stats/Report - Sampras vs Chesnokov, Davis Cup final rubber, 1995

[Waspsting]

Pete Sampras (USA) beat Andrei Chesnokov (Russia) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4 in a Davis Cup final rubber, 1995 on indoor clay in Moscow, Russia

The rubber gave USA 1-0 lead in the match. They would go onto win 3-2, with Sampras clinching victory in the fourth rubber by beating Yevgeny Kakelnikov. In between, Sampras partnered Todd Martin to win the doubles rubber over Kafelnikov and Andrei Olhovskiy. Chesnokov won the final, dead rubber over Jim Courier. His win-loss record for the year was 20-25

Sampras won 164 points, Chesnokov 144

Sampras serve-volleyed off most first serves

Serve Stats
Sampras...
- 1st serve percentage (75/153) 49%
- 1st serve points won (56/75) 75%
- 2nd serve points won (44/78) 56%
- Aces 13 (1 not clean, 1 possibly not clean), Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 5
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (41/153) 27%

Chesnokov...
- 1st serve percentage (93/155) 60%
- 1st serve points won (63/93) 68%
- 2nd serve points won (28/62) 45%
- Aces 11 (1 second serve)
- Double Faults 6
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (27/155) 17%

Serve Patterns
Sampras served...
- to FH 42%
- to BH 57%
- to Body 1%

Chesnokov served...
- to FH 42%
- to BH 52%
- to Body 7%

Return Stats
Sampras made...
- 122 (69 FH, 53 BH), including 12 runaround FH
- 2 Winners (2 FH)
- 16 Errors, comprising...
- 13 Unforced (9 FH, 4 BH), including 2 runaround FHs
- 3 Forced (2 FH, 1 BH)
- Return Rate (122/149) 82%

Chesnokov made...
- 107 (39 FH, 68 BH)
- 2 Winners (1 FH, 1 BH)
- 27 Errors, comprising...
- 4 Unforced (2 FH, 2 BH)
- 23 Forced (18 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (107/148) 72%

Break Points
Sampras 7/12 (9 games)
Chesnokov 5/10 (7 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Sampras 49 (29 FH, 3 BH, 6 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 8 BHV, 2 OH)
Chesnokov 30 (8 FH, 20 BH, 2 FHV)

Sampras had 10 from serve-volley points
- 7 first 'volleys' (2 FHV, 2 BHV, 3 FH at net)
- 3 second 'volleys' (1 FHV, 2 OH)... with 1 OH on the bounce

- FHs - 4 cc (1 pass), 10 dtl (1 return, 2 passes), 1 dtl/inside-out, 4 inside-out (1 at net) and 7 inside-in (1 return)
- BHs - 1 cc pass, 1 dtl and 1 longline at net

Chesnokov had 11 passes (3 FH, 8 BH)
- FHs - 3 cc
- BH - 2 cc, 4 dtl and 2 lobs

- regular FHs - 2 dtl (1 at net), 1 inside-out/dtl, 1 inside-in return and 1 inside-in/cc
- regular BHs - 1 cc, 8 dtl (1 return, 2 at net), 1 inside-out and 2 inside-out/dtl

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Sampras 82
- 66 Unforced (44 FH, 15 BH, 3 FHV, 2 BHV, 2 OH)... with 1 FH at net & 1 non-net FHV
- 16 Forced (5 FH, 6 BH, 1 FHV, 3 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)... with 1 BH at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.9

Chesnokov 68
- 34 Unforced (14 FH, 19 BH, 1 FHV)... the FHV was a non-net shot
- 34 Forced (17 FH, 16 BH, 1 BHV)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.6

(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
Sampras was...
- 62/87 (71%) at net, including...
- 35/50 (70%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 32/47 (68%) off 1st serve and...
- 3/3 (100%) off 2nd serve

Chesnokov was 10/18 (56%) at net

Match Report
Sampras keeps the match on his racquet with an all out assault of big serving, serve-volleying and especially, furious FH attacking play. Its too furious to be uniformly successful, but match is his to win or lose. He wins, and has more better of action than scoreline would suggest

Sampras wins 53.2% of the points while serving 49.7% of them
He has break points in 9 games, Chesnokov 7 (and breaks 7 times, while being broken 5)

At the cener of it all- for good , for bad, but never for ugly - his FH

Pete’s FH has 29 winners. Putting that in perspective, Ches has 30 total winners, and Pete 20 non-FH ones (including a FH1/2V, which is technically, another FH)

Pete’s FH has 44 UEs. Putting that in perspective, Ches has 34 total UEs, and Pete 22 non-FH ones

The winners aren’t passing shots and they’re rarely running shots. Going for broke shots from near routine position makes up the bulk and they go in every direction
3 cc. 8 dtl based. 3 inside-out, 6 inside-in. And that’s excluding passes, returns and net shots

The flip side is 22 winner attempt UEs. He only has 7 net UEs - so the bulk of those would be grouondies, and almost all FHs. FH also draws about half of Ches’ 34 FEs (most of the rest being passing attempts), and dominates Pete’s 15 attacking UEs

I can’t think of a match, let alone a 5-setter, that’s shaped to such a degree by a single shot

“Shaped” being operative word, not “dominated” (in the purely positive sense). It seems for every winner, there’s a winner attempt miss. For every error forced, there’ an attacking error. For every beat-down UE drawn, there’s a ‘neutral’ UE. The shot is rarely out-and-out ‘neutral’, almost always a least a bit sturdier than that - and usually, much more

The errors keep pace with the winners to keep scoreline competitive, but its not the only thing Pete’s got going on

He’s got the big serve, that draws 27% unreturneds. Not a small amount on clay, and much of the errors it draws are hard forced ones (and would be, serve-volleying or not). Ches reaches them on the stretch or lunge, just trying to put it in play anyway he can. Very big contrast to other side of the contest, where Pete very comfortably returns against an average serve

And he’s excellent at net. Serve-volleys often (47/61 or 77% of the time to be exact) behind first serves, winning 68%. The net plays shines through even more in the 27/37 or 73% he wins rallying to net. He doesn’t have a a volley UE until 3rd game of 5th set, but goes on a mini-spate of them to make things tense and keep a struggling Ches in with a chance. Ends with 7 UEs - so 0 UEs in first 43 games, 7 in last 8 games (with 6 of them coming in 3 game run starting from the first)

Ches is 10/18 at net. He shows virtually no interest in coming forward. Doesn’t even come to net to shake hands at the end because Pete collapses as soon as he sees the last ball go out and has to be half-carried off by 2 team-mates, limping

A word on the court. Commentators repeatedly refer to it as very slow, which is also the account I remember hearing at the time. It doesn’t look unduly slower than normal clay. Pete’s serve is about as troubling as it is on clay, his FHs go through it and most of all, the volleys do too, though he does punch those beyond his norm

Generally, Pete’s not the biggest puncher of volleys, preferring to guide and steer them instead, and is volleys get ‘stuck’ on clay. He’s getting them through significantly better here. Bounce of the court is on the high side though

And what of Ches? Statistically, he’s got his own dragon in the BH, to answer Pete’s dragon FH

Ches’ BH has 20 winners, 19 UEs. 9 of the winners are ground-to-ground shots. Both winners and UEs trail only Pete’s FH

Its nowhere near as ubiquitous as Pete’s FH though. While looking more secure in neutral BH rallies (the balance of the look being made up of Pete looking a bit troubled against the shoulder-high ball, not Ches looking fully at ease), it actually isn’t and gives up neutral UEs about the same rate as Pete’s. And its mode is neutral, very unlike Pete’s FH that’s always pressing towards aggressive

Some superb dtl winners from Ches of the BH (he’s got 5, plus 3 inside-out based), upper-chest level balls taken on the up. Like everything else, its overshadowed by Pete’s FH firing and misfiring, but Ches’ BH probably takes the cake for most successful groundie on show. Certainly in winner/UE differential

Essentially, Ches is the canvas, Pete is the flying paint. Ches stays back and looks to stay solid off both sides, to decent success. Pete, when he’s not serve-volleying, is always looking to attack with his FH from the back

And Pete’s getting better of things in all ways

First serve ace/service winner rate - Pete 19%, Ches 11%
Double fault rate - Pete 6%, Ches 10%
Unreturned rates - Pete 27%, Ches 17%
Points in play - Pete 117, Ches 112

Pete winning 56% of his second serve points, and 55% of Ches’ is best indicator of his court game superiority

 

[Waspsting]

Alternatives for Sampras?
The way Pete plays raises all kinds of interesting possibilities and alternatives

He’s out for blood, and in a hurray about it. His knief is his FH. Goes for point ending shots to not-strong and not-deep balls (as opposed to weak or short ones), near regulation balls and low percentage

What about waiting for the short one? Or looking to come to net, where he’s more efficient in finishing than with his big FHs?

He doesn’t have to worry about Ches attacking any short balls he might throw up, because Ches isn’t doing much anything against balls short of otherwise; just putting them back in play neutrally

Around this period, Pete developed a dichotomous, baseline or net mentality, not often mixing them two. If he were at the back, he banged away with FHs or looped in BHs - rarely seeming to look for ways to get to net

He throws in some net seeking - a lot less than he could have, with Ches having zero interest in coming in - here, and it proves more effective than these point ending FHs he takes on far more regularly. He’s at his best in second set when mixing FH attacking play and approaches

He comes in after generally overpowering Ches. Strong approaches. Well as he volleys, it’s a good move because the clay isn’t easy to penetrate with volleys. On that front, Pete excels beyond his norm - or almost anyone elses. Stefan Edberg doesn’t get his volleys through clay better than Pete does here

Breaking down even Pete’s FH winners some, most are products of shot-making (i.e. going for the winner off near routine ball), not point construction (outmanuvering Ches first, then going for it). Minor 1-2 combos (first shot slightly wide, next 1 going for winner in opposite side) is about is about height of the set-up. The best set up ones come out of overpowering, not outmanuvering Ches and usually, he’s well up the court to finish then

Here, he’s backing away to hit a lot of FHs, far more than is norm. Preference of inside-in to inside-out is normal for him

Finally, the most drastic possibility; normal clay court tennis

He’s not at all bad in trading neutral groundies with Ches, for whom that seems to be staple
Neutral UEs read Pete 29, Ches 22 (with Pete’s ‘neutral’ being relatively heavy of the FH)

BH cc rallies make up bulk of out-and-out neutral play (Pete tends to turn it into something more if his FH gets involved)

BH UEs read Pete 15, Ches 19 (some of Ches’ would be dtl attacking or more shots - more so than Pete’s)

He might look uncomfy to the shoulder/upper chest BH, and not be packing much of a punch of that side, accentuated by Ches looking very at home in same situation - but he can hold steady and close to even on those who-blinks-first-BHs

To be clear, Ches though secure, is no BH wall, but he’s good - and Pete’s near equal to him at it

Perhaps its just stamina that shapes Pete’s choice of how to play. Its not a long match (given the surface and scoreline), but as collapsing at the end indicates, its about all Pete can manage. Prolonging rallies waiting for short balls might just be too much for his energy reserve

 

[Waspsting]

Action & Stats
Low in count of 49% by Pete. It goes up as match goes along. He misses 15 straight first serves from end of first set to early in the second, and at its worst, in-count is 8/31 or 26%

So 67/122 or 55% after that - not bad. Particularly since he pays the price for the poor start by losing the first set

2nd serve points won - Pete 56%, Ches 45% is clearest indicator of Pete’s superiority

From Ches’ point of of view, he has average serve (as opposed to Pete’s big one) and he’s outplayed in rallies. Would need a lead in in-count to compensate. 60% not big enough it turns out, and is on low side given average serve

Unusual for 13/16 Pete return errors to be marked UEs, while Ches has healthy 10 aces (+ a second serve one). Ches mixes up his first serves considerably, many indistinguisable from seconds, with just the occasional big one that tends to catch Pete out

Pete’s missed a trick in his serve directions. 20/27 return errors he draws are FHs or 74%, yet he directs just 42% serves to that side. Ches, who stands upright and motionless as he waits to return, never makes a hint of moving around to hit a FH return. A tell-tale sign of a player who is much more comfy returning with BH (though that doesn’t necessarily mean better, but in this case, it does)

Early on, Pete’s aggression extends to on the return, and he’s moving over to play FH returns against second serves regularly, including in ad court. Likes to go for the attacking inside-in from there. Doesn’t persist with it. 8/12 runaround FH returns are in first 12 games (including his service games), so just 4 more in matches remaining 39 games

Ches looks your classic, stay solid baseliner, almost never coming to net and rarely stepping in to attack from the back. FH looks average of force, but he keeps good depth with it. BH is untroubled by shoulder height balls

FH of course, is outhit by Pete’s, who throws all his weight behind his. BH is steady with hitting strength against Pete’s BH not a factor. Those rallies are just about not missing

He does take the occasional BH dtl on - and usually nails it. 15/20 of his BH winners are dtl or inside-out based, just 3 cc. Regular BH attacking play isn’t what he’s about though - its very much spice to staple of cc neutral shots

Pete occasionally looks to attack with BH too. Not much, he prefers to move over and hit FHs instead. Sticks to BH cc’ng, using a combo of loopy top spin and slices

Not great shot tolerance from Ches. He’s up against handful, but does give up light FEs or hard UEs to hard hit balls

Finally, Pete’s volleying is superb. Barely misses anything, until a 3 game period early in 5th set. Swishes the volleys away with particular punch, or angle drops them, which is more normal for him. Uncharacteristically, he lets a couple of OHs bounce and uses more drop shots than his norm (which is close to 0). They’re not good drop shots, and Ches can reach them and hit top spin shots, usually behind service line

Match Progression
First set is marked by low in-counts, with the 2 combining for 16/47 or 34% first serves in (Pete 31%, Ches 38%)

Pete serve-volleys off all first serves and is very aggressive off the ground and on the return with his FH, looking for runaround returns and FH winners all the time. Makes some, misses some, misses a bit more. Ches plays normal baseline tennis, preferring BH cc rallies with the ball getting up to shoulder height. Takes a couple such balls and puts them away nicely for dtl winners

There are 4 breaks. Pete goes first in a game where he makes 1/6 first serves. Only 1 FH UE from him in the game, but a poor drop shot is punished, a perfect BH dtl return winner against a very wide second serve and on break point, Pete double faults. Ches consolidates in a 6 point game with no first serves, though he sends down matches only second serve ace in it

Consecutive breaks in middle of set leaves Ches still in lead. Pete breaks to 15 in a strong game, but is broken back to love - missing a couple of FHs after good returns forces volleying errors. And Pete’s broken to end the set where he has 0/8 first serves in and makes 3 heavy FH UEs (also hits an inside-in winner)

Pete tightens up his game in the second set. The in-count gradually goes up (it’d be hard for it to go down), eases back on wanton FH shot-making (though still attacking from that side) and constant runaround returning. Shows reasonable patience in BH-BH rallies on which he stays steady enough. Best of all, he combines approaching off short balls to his attacking repertoire, which til now, had consisted solely of blasting FHs

Just the 1 break and its in the opening game, brought on by net play. Pete wins 4/4 net points and strikes a BH dtl winner to override his ground UEs to win it. Play is about even for rest of set, with Pete having the sole break point in it

In 3rd set, Pete starts staying back some off first serves for the first time and gets a good lot of unreturned serves

The two trade breaks to open the set, and carry on to 2-2. Amazing game from Pete to break to love for 3-2 - 3 winners (BH cc pass, FH dtl return against first serve and best of all, a gorgeous FH1/2V from just behind service line) and an error forcing FH inside-in do the trick

Misfiring FHs almost hand the break back, but serve saves Pete. He breaks again to end the set

Pete looks in complete control of match as he opens up a 4-1 lead with a break in the 4th set.

He wins 15 straight service points and extends run to 17/18 in reaching 40-15, a point away from 5-3 lead
4 points later - a double fault and 3 FH UEs - set is back on serve. And eventually goes to tiebreak

Ches is always in control of it, with leads of 4-1 and 5-2. Unusually, Pete lets a weak lob bounce before smashing it from net for winner to win his first point and trail 1-4. Good serving from Ches, who has 2 aces in the ‘breaker and good job by Pete to fight back to 5-5 on back of a power return to baseline and 2 volleying winners. Its FH fails him again at 5-5 as he misses a dtl winner attempt and he double faults to send set into decider

Things get tense in it. Ches comes to net just a little and smacks a few FHs attackingly. Pete continues his own way and still has edge

Pair of tense, tough holds as score moves from 2-2 to 3-3, with Pete choking a bit, Ches clutching about the same

Ches holds a 12 point game, saving 2 break points. Pete reaches 30-40 on back of FH point enders. But starts missing net shots for first time, including an OH. Ches saves second break point with an improbable BH cc passing winner, before holding with an ace. Close shave

Its Pete’s turn next. 14 point game, 1 break point. Pete continues missing net shots (including another OH) and double faults to bring up break point. Ches takes on a BH dtl against a not-strong FH inside-out and just misses. Unreturned serves gain Pete the hold

Another fantastic return game gets Pete the decisive break, and again, to love. Starts with 3 FH winners (cc pass, inside-in return and dtl), before Ches misses a neutral FH inside-out

Pete had shown no more than the usual fatigue of a 5 setter up to near the end. At last change-over, he’s limping slightly, before coming out to serve things out. Does so to 30, with a thrilling match point where Pete’s forced back from net but returns to force an error and end it. He collapses right after and has to be helped off the court by 2 team-mates, limping considerably

Summing up, a fun match. Chesnokov is the blank canvas of a steady, secure game, Sampras is the paint that fills it and his FH is the brilliantly erratic brush that’s slapping on the colour - more of it hitting the canvas than the wall behind, but a good lot on the wall too

Things get tense and dramatic towards the end too, a bit more than necessary. Sampras has comfortably better of thing - his brutal combination of FH shot-making, big serving and immaculate volleying well in the net positives, while Chesnokov just barely has better of basic ground consistency, with occasional thumping BH dtl winners building on it some more, but short of his opponent’s fierce game