Match Stats/Report - Tanner vs Vilas, Australian Open (January) final, 1977

[Waspsting]

Roscoe Tanner beat Guillermo Vilas 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in the Australian Open (January) final, 1977 on grass

It would be second seeded Tanner’s only Slam title. Top seed Vilas would go onto win French Open and US Open later in the year and the Australian Open the next 2 years
Another Australian Open would be played later in the year in December

Tanner won 100 points, Vilas 70

Tanner serve-volleyed off all serves, Vilas off about a third off first serves

Serve Stats
Tanner...
- 1st serve percentage (37/84) 44%
- 1st serve points won (36/37) 97%
- 2nd serve points won (25/47) 53%
- Aces 14 (2 not clean), Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (39/84) 46%

Vilas...
- 1st serve percentage (51/86) 59%
- 1st serve points won (32/51) 63%
- 2nd serve points won (15/35) 43%
- Aces 4
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (22/86) 26%

Serve Patterns
Tanner served...
- to FH 51%
- to BH 44%
- to Body 5%

Vilas served...
- to FH 47%
- to BH 43%
- to Body 10%

Return Stats
Tanner made...
- 61 (30 FH, 31 BH), including 1 runaround BH
- 5 Winners (2 FH, 3 BH)
- 18 Errors, comprising...
- 9 Unforced (3 FH, 6 BH)
- 9 Forced (4 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (61/83) 73%

Vilas made...
- 41 (18 FH, 23 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 3 Winners (1 FH, 2 BH)
- 24 Errors, all forced...
- 24 Forced (15 FH, 9 BH)
- Return Rate (41/80) 51%

Break Points
Tanner 5/10 (7 games)
Vilas 1/9 (4 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Tanner 25 (7 FH, 5 BH, 6 FHV, 7 BHV)
Vilas 20 (14 FH, 3 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH)

Tanner had 12 from serve-volley points -
- 10 first 'volleys' (5 FHV, 4 BHV, 1 FH at net)
- 2 second 'volleys' (1 BHV, 1 FH at net)

- 6 passes - 3 returns (2 FH, 1 BH) & 3 regular (2 FH, 1 BH)
- FH returns - 1 cc, 1 dtl
- BH returns - 1 cc
- regular FHs - 1 cc, 1 lob
- regular BHs - 1 dtl slice

- regular (non-pass) FH - 1 inside-out/down-the-middle (a bad bounce related whiff)
- regular BHs - 1 cc/down-the-middle return (bad bounce related whiff), 1 inside-in return, 1 longline

Vilas had 15 passes - 3 returns (1 FH, 2 BH) & 12 regular (11 FH, 1 BH)
- FH return - 1 inside-in
- BH returns - 1 cc, 1 inside-out
- regular FHs - 2 cc, 1 cc/inside-in, 3 dtl, 1 dtl/inside-out, 2 inside-out, 1 inside-out/dtl, 1 lob
- regular BH - 1 dtl/inside-out

- regular (no-pass) FH - 1 longline/down-the-middle (bad bounce related whiff)

- 3 from serve-volley points - 2 first 'volleys' (1 BHV, 1 FH at net) & 1 second volley (1 OH)

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Tanner 24
- 17 Unforced (8 FH, 4 BH, 4 FHV, 1 BHV)... with 1 FH at net
- 7 Forced (2 FH, 3 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.2

Vilas 33
- 20 Unforced (13 FH, 4 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV)... with 1 BH pass attempt
- 13 Forced (10 FH, 1 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.5

(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 for this match are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Tanner was...
- 51/76 (67%) at net, including...
- 46/65 (71%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 21/22 (95%) off 1st serve and...
- 25/43 (58%) off 2nd serve
---
- 1/2 forced back

Vilas was...
- 14/26 (54%) at net, including...
- 13/22 (59%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 10/17 (59%) off 1st serve and...
- 3/5 (60%) off 2nd serve

Match Report
Big serving, full serve-volleying Tanner gets stronger and stronger, while weak serving Vilas gets weaker and more passive in an un-uniformly one sided match, that’s not too far from being a mismatch by the end. Court yields good lot of bad bounces

Perfectly uniform scoreline is deceptive. First set and a bit are quite competitive. Tanner missing a few volleys, Vilas scoring with some excellent passes and serve-volleying regularly himself

That changes in second set, where Tanner shoots ahead. By third set, he can’t seem to miss a volley if he tried. Vilas meanwhile stays on baseline more and more, his serve remains unimpressive and by the end, he’s even sloppy from the baseline and gives up fair few third ball ground errors

Stand out feature is Tanner’s serve. He amazingly wins 36/37 first serve points. He’s on course to win 100% such points when he steps up to serve out the match, but misses an easy first ‘volley’ FH at net at 15-0, to end his run of straight first serve points won at 33, before reeling off the next 3 to end the match @Moose Malloy

41% of his first serves are aces/service winners and his unreturned rate overall is 46%

One big, fat first serve. Seconds are swervy and very good also. Certainly good to serve-volley behind. With just 44% first serves in, could be a bit problematic if it weren’t (of course, winning 36/37 first serve points goes a good way towards lessening the need for it also). Wins more than good enough 58% second serve-volley points, and avoids double fault trouble (he has 4, or 9% of second serves)

10/12 serve-volleying winners are first ‘volleys’. Not overly easy stuff. Stuff around net high that he dispatches with exemplary efficiency. He’s also got 6 volley UEs. 4 are in 1 game that he manages to hold, so essentially near flawless volleying from Tanner, bar 1 uncostly blip. He’d face much easier first volleys than this in the ‘79 Wimby final and not be anywhere near as good at finishing points off. 10/12 serve-volley winners being first volleys would be telling in any period, but especially wooden racquets period, where rallies between volleyer and passer tended to be longer and 3-4 volleys to finish a point wasn’t unusual

Just 2 FEs on the volley. Not faced with much tough stuff, but makes near all of what there is

Worth noting is his targetting Vilas FH
Serves there 51% of time, to 44% to BH - and draws more than proportionate 15 FH return errors, compared to 9 from BH. Vilas also with 2 BH return winners and just 1 FH. Apparently, it’s a good move

On pass in play, Vilas has -
- on FH, 11 winners, 9 FEs
- on BH, 1 winner, 1 FE, 1 UE

Tanner knocks volley winners away in both directions, but almost anything less than that, volleys to FH. To the point where we don’t see enough BH passing to gauge whether its justified. Those are great numbers from Vilas passing too. As the very heavy first ‘volley winner distribution suggests, its on the return that he’s rendered helpless, not pass in play

Again, nod to Tanner’s serve being just too good, and though not difficult first volleys, he is outstandingly efficient in dispatching routine returns. Good lot of Vilas’ passing FEs are hopeless looks too - making the near 1:1 winners to errors on the pass even more impressive

Those passing winners though are disproportionately in Vilas service games. Tanner wins just 5/11 rallying to net. Even very good passing just to hold serve is a losing game, but still, some very good passing from Vilas. Against a less monstrous serve, might have made for a good volley-pass contest

 

[Waspsting]

Vilas’ serve and service game is weak
For starters, at best average serve and often, less than that. Sans serve-volleying, I’d estimate about 1/3 first serves to qualify as forceful (as in, errors they might draw would be marked FE instead of UE). An odd powerful or particular wide serve, amidst medium paced stuff within ready reach

Right at the start, he’s serve-volleying regularly. Cuts it out for second serves. Starts staying back of a few first first serves. And smoothly settles into staying back off first serves too. By third set, just the odd surprise serve-volley

He serve-volleys 36% of time behind first serves. Wins 59% so doing, 60% staying back (excluding aces)
Off second serve, does it 16% of the time. Wins 60% so doing, 44% staying back (excluding double faults)

It’s a weak enough serve and the little volleying Vilas does inconsistent enough that one wouldn’t back him to be able to hold for long against even average, net high returning. Just making Vilas make the routine volley would probably be good to break sufficiently to win sets

On the ‘volley’, Vilas with 3 winners, 3 UEs, 2 FEs. The winners include a FH at net and excludes an unusual net-to-net play. No confidence inspiring numbers and he wins just 54% net points and its not surprising that Tanner can get winning returns off against such a calibre serve. It would be bad returning not to

On the pass in play, Tanner with 3 winners (2 FH, 1 BH), 4 errors (1 FH, 3 BH), to go with 3 return-pass winners

Vilas not good on volley + Tanner doing well on pass should equal ‘Vilas staying back a good move’. One hindrance to that is bad bounces. Plenty of bad bounces in the match. As a server, one wouldn’t like to take chance of letting ball bounce. There are 3 baseline winners in the match that are whiffs from opponent due to ball shooting through low

Vilas does deliver the best volley of the match, neatly putting away a powerful, lowish return. Small consolation for 54% success at net

With Vilas serve-volleying a total of 28% possible points, there’s plenty of baseline rallying and UEs are key to it

In baseline rallies (including return winners, but excluding return errors)
Winners - Tanner 4, Vilas 1 (3 of the 5 winners are bad bounce related whiffs)
Errors forced - both 1
UEs - Tanner 11, Vilas 16

And UE breakdown…
- FHs - Tanner 7, Vilas 13
- BHs - Tanner 4, Vilas 3

Its even worse than it looks from Vilas’ point of view because most of his UEs are routine, neutral misses, with a higher lot of Tanner’s being approach errors

Neutral UEs - Tanner 7, Vilas 14
Attacking UEs - Tanner 6, Vilas 3 (figure includes volleys, which are roughly the same)

Even worse than that even because Vilas makes a whole a bunch of third ball UEs late in the match. Some pretty good, firm returns from Tanner (which Vilas’ serve invites) to draw minor number of them, but still very much UEs

Rallying to net - Tanner 5/11, Vilas 1/4

Little attempt by Vilas to get forward either. And as mentioned earlier, good lot of his passing winners are to win these service points of his

Rallying neutrally from the back seems to be Vilas’ main game. He’s not being aggressive from there and he’s not seeking net. To be successful playing that game, he’d have to steadier than Tanner. Which he isn’t. The UE gap is more down to Vilas being poor than Tanner being especially consistent, and rallies tend to be short, even without the bundle of third ball UEs by Vilas. Tanner looking to come in, but not desperately

Not serve-volleying much, and with his serve and the volleying consistency he shows, doesn’t seem like that would see him hold for long either
While Tanner bombards big serves down and fluently dispatches volleys like clockwork
Close to a mismatch

Match Progression
Match is competitive upto early second set

After Tanner holds for 6-3, 1-1, break points read -
- Tanner 2/2, Vilas 1/9 (4 games)
Upto this stage, Tanner missing a few volleys and Vilas with some very good passing. Vilas serve-volleying most of time (admittedly, not very well)

Thereafter, break points read Tanner 3/8 (5 games), Vilas 0
… with Tanner crushing big serves, barely missing a volley or leaving a decent passing look and Vilas playing more and more from the baseline while being shakey off the ground

Tanner’s down 0-40 in opening game on back off missing a difficult, low second volley and 2 double faults. Good serves see him though to hold in 10 points
Vilas holds to love to get on the board - an ace and 3 first serve-volley points
Vilas is broken next go around where he makes 1/6 first serves and serve-volleys just once (off a second serve). Tanner takes net to dispatch a FHV winner first point and Vilas double faults on the last

He’s broken again to fall behind 1-5 - missing routine FHV and Tanner striking a FH cc return-pass winner raise break point. Pretty testing return from Tanner on it (Vilas had serve-volleyed off all the first serves in the game prior to this one) and Vilas misses an easy enough FH to be marked a UE

Vilas breaks right back - double fault, FHV UE, a Vilas FH dtl pass winner and finally, Tanner forced back from net (Vilas declines to approach) missing FH from the back

The serve-out is the best game of the set and goes on for 12 points, with Tanner saving 2 break points. Vilas has 4 passing winners (FH lob and 3 returns - BH inside-out, FH inside-in and BH cc), there are no UEs in the game with the FEs being hard forced ones. Tanner with just 1/7 first serves to start the game, bu the delivers 4 in next 5 points, none of which come back. Seals the set with an unclean ace that looks like it kept low

Poor game from Tanner that he’s lucky to hold early in second set. 2/10 first serves in and 4 volley UEs in it from him (he only has 2 more in whole match). Draws a return error with second serve to save the only break point, Vilas a good look on FH pass point after that but misses (he’s been making most good look passes upto this point), and Tanner wraps up the game with first FHV winner

That’s it for being competitive. Rest of match, Tanner’s serve is untouchable and he cant’ seem to miss a volley if he tried. Vilas starts staying back more and more and getting worse and worse in giving up ground errors

Bad bounce related return winner cc/down-the-middle and a casual FH cc pass winner from Tanner sets him on way to breaking next game, which he completes with a return to Vilas’ serve-volleying feet

Vilas survives 4 break points in 16 point game next go around, needing to strike a couple of good FH passing winners to do it, but is broken again next time to give up the set. Doesn’t serve volley at all in that 5/6 first serves game, gives up a couple third ball FH UEs and Tanner even whacks a sturdy BH longline winner

Despite just being broken once, third set is even worse from Vilas and he regularly misses third ball groundies (at least 5 in the set). He serve-volleys rarely and usually successfully, including a gorgeous first BHV winner against a powerful, low-ish return

And he does manage to hold onto serve and even take Tanner to deuce before Tanner holds for 4-3.

Bad game from Vilas to loser serve (2 FH UEs and a double fault). He gets away with at least one clear center-line foot fault in the game too; Unusual aspect of the match is Vilas flirting with center-line foot faults. Tanner’s sharp enough to realize it and even queries the center line judge on one point where Vilas is very closet to having erred. The one gets away with in this game is probably not the only one in match

Other odd sight is Vilas’ manager Ion Tiriac, who in years to come would become the postcard picture of a businessman in a suit, following the game bare-backed

Tanner serves out to 15. Missing a simple FH at net for a winner second point is the only first serve point in the match that he loses

Summing up, Tanner being very good + Vilas being pretty bad = easy result

Very big (albeit, at low in count) serve and near flawlessly efficient volleying from Tanner
Gets a few good return-passes off too, but basically, just has to put the return in play against staying-back Vilas and not wait long for ground errors to follow (or not wait at all)

Some very good passing by Vilas is high point of his showing. On down side, serve is weak, he’s pretty sloppy off the ground, apt to miss routine volleys when he does come in. And Tanner’s serve is just too good for him to do much with

 

[bobcolbert]

Tanner was impressive on grass. Vilas improved his serve and volley greatly in the months that followed. He served and volleyed very well in the US Open final, and in Australia in 1978-79.

 

[Mustard]

A very impressive match by Tanner.

 

[Galvermegs]

That 1979 wimby final loss to borg must have hurt especially as tanner wanted to win the most prestigious grass event, and his game was most suited to the surface. Gerulitis was another (even better) player who never quite put it together at wimbledon despite a fine s/v game.

 

[GuyForget]

tourney sponsored by Marlboro .. + Tanner has quite the rap sheet now

 

[Galvermegs]

tourney sponsored by Marlboro .. + Tanner has quite the rap sheet now

I still find him fascinating and magnetic compared to some 'saints' before and since

 

[jrepac]

I still find him fascinating and magnetic compared to some 'saints' before and since

His personal life went South in a big way long after he left the game. I recall that Connors tried to help him out a bit, getting him on the Seniors tour in the 90's, but it didn't stick. He was something to watch when that serve was crackling.

 

[Galvermegs]

His personal life went South in a big way long after he left the game. I recall that Connors tried to help him out a bit, getting him on the Seniors tour in the 90's, but it didn't stick. He was something to watch when that serve was crackling.

Perhaps the best serve for someone of his height? I am fairly sure he wasnt as tall as sampras or federer.

 

[Gattone]

A lefty vs. lefty show that is just on the verge of being one-sided (although, having also watched the RG 1977 final, I think I'll save the adjective for that match). Aside from the funny bounces, there are many occasions where Vilas hits the ball off-center, but I couldn't figure out if it's a matter of timing, the sheer strength of Tanner's shots, or - again - something related to the uneven bounces.

Commenting Tanner's SF against Connors in Wimbledon 1975, I wrote that having a serve like his, in that era, was akin to bringing a gun to a fistfight - a gun that, in that particular match, had a tendency to jam. Here, it is a nuclear weapon: as soon as he tunes it up (two of his four DFs are in the first three points of the match), it's pretty much over. To Vilas' credit, he never really lets go, managing to break Tanner in the 1st set (even if he's already down 1-5) and hitting some good passing shots here and there.

Then again, if I'm not mistaken, after the second game of the second set he doesn't get a single break point, while having to struggle to hold serve in most of his turns, so his fate appears to be sealed quite soon. At the start of the 3rd set the commentators urge (almost beg) him to attack more, but I don't know how much it would have helped him - even though, as I noticed in that match against Connors, Tanner's groundstrokes are sensibly less powerful than what I would have expected, based on his serve.

Tanner starts strong, serving and volleying impeccably (save for a few low volleys, for which Vilas must be credited), with power and precision, and only gets better from there - in the 3rd set, especially, it seems like you're watching someone like Ivanisevic in one of their best days.