Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3, 7-6(3) in the Monte Carlo final, 202 on clay
Tsitsipas was the defending champion. Fokina was unseeded and beat among others top seed Novak Djokovic in reaching the final
Tsitsipas won 72 points, Fokina 57
Serve Stats
Tsitsipas...
- 1st serve percentage (45/61) 74%
- 1st serve points won (32/45) 71%
- 2nd serve points won (8/16) 50%
- Aces 3
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (19/61) 31%
Fokina...
- 1st serve percentage (52/68) 76%
- 1st serve points won (27/52) 52%
- 2nd serve points won (9/16) 56%
- Aces 1
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (10/68) 15%
Serve Patterns
Tsitsipas served...
- to FH 35%
- to BH 65%
Fokina served...
- to FH 24%
- to BH 60%
- to Body 16%
Return Stats
Tsitsipas made...
- 57 (25 FH, 32 BH), including 5 runaround FHs
- 9 Errors, comprising...
- 8 Unforced (1 FH, 7 BH)
- 1 Forced (1 BH)
- Return Rate (57/67) 85%
Fokina made...
- 41 (12 FH, 29 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 16 Errors, comprising...
- 10 Unforced (5 FH, 5 BH)
- 6 Forced (3 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (41/60) 68%
Break Points
Tsitsipas 4/6 (4 games)
Fokina 3/4 (3 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Tsitsipas 13 (6 FH, 1 BH, 3 FHV, 3 OH)
Fokina 16 (8 FH, 4 BH, 2 BHV, 2 OH)
Tsitsipas' FHs - 1 dtl pass, 5 inside-out (2 passes - 1 at net)
- BH pass - 1 cc
- 1 FHV was a non-net, swinging cc
Fokina's FHs - 1 dtl, 2 inside-out, 1 inside-out/dtl, 3 drop shots, 1 net chord dribbler
- BHs - 3 dtl (2 passes), 1 drop shot
- 1 OH was on the bounce
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Tsitsipas 30
- 16 Unforced (7 FH, 8 BH, 1 BHV)... with 1 non-net, swinging FHV
- 14 Forced (7 FH, 6 BH, 1 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.3
Fokina 39
- 28 Unforced (15 FH, 12 BH, 1 OH)
- 11 Forced (6 FH, 4 BH, 1 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.7
(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
Tsitsipas was 7/10 (70%) at net
Fokina was 15/22 (68%) at net, with...
- 2/3 (67%) forced back
Match Report
Tsitsipas doing the needful (with some style) against an all-over-the-place, often sloppy Fokina
28 UEs from Fokina. Putting that in perspective, both players combined have -
- 28 unreturned serves (Tsis 18, Fok 10)
- 29 winners (Tsis 13, Fok 16)
- 24 FEs (Tsis 14, Fok 10)
- Tsis has 15 UEs
Forget just UEs. Fok has 12 third ball UEs. In 11 service games (counting tiebreak as a service game), he doesn’t have a third ball UE in just 2 (both are love holds). Against routine - not damaging - returns. Balls many a player would look to attack. 7 of his are neutral shots, 4 attacking and just the 1 winner attempt
Harmless serve. Varies return position from well-back to normal position. Has hard time handling pace of serves from normal (not early, normal) position. He changes his game about. Lot of topspin on his stock shots, not a whole lot of power. Varies where he rallies from, and while he looks like he’d prefer to play from well behind baseline, but without much power, gets outmanuvered from there. So moves further forward, where consistency becomes a problem
At least he has brains to change things up. Best of his showing is attacking net, which is the thing to do when losing from baseline. Which leads to him leading both winners and errors forced
And Tsis? Zips around court, has hitting advantage, isn’t bothered by potentially troubling top spin, swipes the ball off both sides. Not particularly aggressive, but way Fok plays, doesn’t have to be. He can work his way to net nicely when Fok’s camped out well back. 13 winners, 15 UEs , forcing 10 errors ain’t too shabby. Fok’s 28 UEs taking the biggest part of the cake isn’t on him. Fok’s sloppy to bad degree, Tsis’ consistency isn’t allowed to be the cause, what with 12 third ball UEs
Unreturend serves - Tsis 31%, Fok 15%
Fok with harmless serve. 1 ace and 8/9 return errors he’s drawn have been marked UEs. Tsis doing the needful with normal level force, Fok winning 52% first serve points and 56% seconds another indicator of his having 2 ‘second serves’
Tsis with hefty serve. Fok returning from well back puts back sort returns that are commanded, but when he takes them from normal position, tends to miss routine returns. 10/15 return errors have been marked UEs
Tsis serving exactly 33% to FH and rest to BH. But drawing virtually same number of errors across wings (7 FH, 8 BH)
Then they rally
Winners - Tsis 13, Fok 16
Errors forced - Tsis 10, Fok 14
UEs - Tsis 15, Fok 28
Fok’s UEs accounting for lion’s share of points. His 12 third ball UEs alone are same size as every other category - and there’s 16 more not taking much longer to come
Action is dual winged and both players with similar UEs across wings (Tsis 7 apiece, Fok 15 FH, 12 BH), with neutral UEs reading Tsis 9, Fok 16
Tsis responding Fok’s FH spin with spinny FHs of his own, but he does swipe BHs. Not particularly hard. In time, the error prone Fok turns to net
Net points - Tsis 7/10, Fok 15/22
Good move from Fok. His being able to get up to net is indicator of Tsis not being too powerful off the ground. He forces 8 passing errors (Tsis 2), which is what sees him lead aggressively ended points
Just in baseline rallies, Tsis with 3 winners, forcing 7 errors, Fok 9 winners, forcing 5
So Fok more successful there too
He also has 12 aggressive UEs to Tsis’ 6
All this reads like standard 1 player more aggressive and more error prone (Fok), other steadier and less aggressive (Tsis). That’s somewhat true, with Fok switching to aggression when rallying along goes against him. At least its smart
But Fok’s sloppiness front and center of it all. 28 UEs, 12 of them third ball groundies, 16 of them neutral shots. His being able to take net high 22 times sign that all those UEs aren’t due to pin-back strong hitting from Tsis
Match Progression
Despite all that, match starts brightly and ends tensely
Fokina plays beautifully in the first 3 games and comes away a break up from it
Holds for 1-1 with style (winners from FH drop shot, FH inside-out and BH dtl) and a winning on the bounce smash from no-man’s land
Then breaks with some more - starting with FH dtl winner from routine position, ending with a BH drop shot one and forcing errors with FH inside-in and after being drop shotted into net
He’s broken back immediately to love. Third ball BH UE and double fault in there, but Tsis with a very good, running FH dtl pass winner to finish
Fok struggles to return for rest of set and gets himself broken in a poor, error riddled game to 30 to fall behind 3-5, before Tsis serves out
That’s part of a run of Tsis winning 20/24 points from 3-3 in first set to 2-0 Tsis in second
Its another poor game by Fok to get broken to start second sect, beginning and ending with third ball UEs
He breaks back for 2-2 with net play and winning a long rally
Match does get tense at the end, with a series of long games and the tennis is good too
Tsis breaks in 12 point game for 5-4, with Fok making bad errors on crucial points
Is broken to 30 when trying to serve out. Nice drop shot in - BH dtl pass winner 1-2 from Fok early in the game and he ends it by overpowering Tsis to take net and dispatch a smash
He needs 10 points to hold game after
Lot of hustling around this period. Tsis doggedly makes Fokina hit 2 or 3 OHs to end points
All the while, crowd getting unusually involved, which is rare for Monte Carlo. Fok orchestrates them and they respond. Another strange aspect of match. Crowd are unusually involved even without Fok’s help. Who are these vocal supporters? - presumably, neither player has inspired huge support, so one would think its nationality based. And since they’re used to Spaniards excelling there, one would think Greek supporters. Yet they respond to Fok’s orchestration and calls for applause and enthusiasm
Normal Monte Carlo final involves very audible clinking of glasses. At a recent one, Chair asked the diners not to open champagne bottles as the players are about to serve
Not a bad tiebreak. Tsis dispatches third ball FH inside-out winner to get on the board and makes most of a poor drop shot to come away with mini-break for 3-1. Fok’s with a couple sloppy errors, including his statutory third ball one and harried approaches. Tsis strikes winning BH cc passes against a couple - 1 for a winner to reach 5-1, the other forcing BHV error to end the match
Summing up, forgettable match. Fokina is enthusiastic and gets the crowd going, but is sloppy off the ground. He does make smart adjustments in his return and rallying positions and switch to seeking net but execution remains sub-par. Tsitsipas is vigorous, with how well he can play capped by Fokina’s showing
Tsitsipas was the defending champion. Fokina was unseeded and beat among others top seed Novak Djokovic in reaching the final
Tsitsipas won 72 points, Fokina 57
Serve Stats
Tsitsipas...
- 1st serve percentage (45/61) 74%
- 1st serve points won (32/45) 71%
- 2nd serve points won (8/16) 50%
- Aces 3
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (19/61) 31%
Fokina...
- 1st serve percentage (52/68) 76%
- 1st serve points won (27/52) 52%
- 2nd serve points won (9/16) 56%
- Aces 1
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (10/68) 15%
Serve Patterns
Tsitsipas served...
- to FH 35%
- to BH 65%
Fokina served...
- to FH 24%
- to BH 60%
- to Body 16%
Return Stats
Tsitsipas made...
- 57 (25 FH, 32 BH), including 5 runaround FHs
- 9 Errors, comprising...
- 8 Unforced (1 FH, 7 BH)
- 1 Forced (1 BH)
- Return Rate (57/67) 85%
Fokina made...
- 41 (12 FH, 29 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 16 Errors, comprising...
- 10 Unforced (5 FH, 5 BH)
- 6 Forced (3 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (41/60) 68%
Break Points
Tsitsipas 4/6 (4 games)
Fokina 3/4 (3 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Tsitsipas 13 (6 FH, 1 BH, 3 FHV, 3 OH)
Fokina 16 (8 FH, 4 BH, 2 BHV, 2 OH)
Tsitsipas' FHs - 1 dtl pass, 5 inside-out (2 passes - 1 at net)
- BH pass - 1 cc
- 1 FHV was a non-net, swinging cc
Fokina's FHs - 1 dtl, 2 inside-out, 1 inside-out/dtl, 3 drop shots, 1 net chord dribbler
- BHs - 3 dtl (2 passes), 1 drop shot
- 1 OH was on the bounce
Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Tsitsipas 30
- 16 Unforced (7 FH, 8 BH, 1 BHV)... with 1 non-net, swinging FHV
- 14 Forced (7 FH, 6 BH, 1 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.3
Fokina 39
- 28 Unforced (15 FH, 12 BH, 1 OH)
- 11 Forced (6 FH, 4 BH, 1 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.7
(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
Tsitsipas was 7/10 (70%) at net
Fokina was 15/22 (68%) at net, with...
- 2/3 (67%) forced back
Match Report
Tsitsipas doing the needful (with some style) against an all-over-the-place, often sloppy Fokina
28 UEs from Fokina. Putting that in perspective, both players combined have -
- 28 unreturned serves (Tsis 18, Fok 10)
- 29 winners (Tsis 13, Fok 16)
- 24 FEs (Tsis 14, Fok 10)
- Tsis has 15 UEs
Forget just UEs. Fok has 12 third ball UEs. In 11 service games (counting tiebreak as a service game), he doesn’t have a third ball UE in just 2 (both are love holds). Against routine - not damaging - returns. Balls many a player would look to attack. 7 of his are neutral shots, 4 attacking and just the 1 winner attempt
Harmless serve. Varies return position from well-back to normal position. Has hard time handling pace of serves from normal (not early, normal) position. He changes his game about. Lot of topspin on his stock shots, not a whole lot of power. Varies where he rallies from, and while he looks like he’d prefer to play from well behind baseline, but without much power, gets outmanuvered from there. So moves further forward, where consistency becomes a problem
At least he has brains to change things up. Best of his showing is attacking net, which is the thing to do when losing from baseline. Which leads to him leading both winners and errors forced
And Tsis? Zips around court, has hitting advantage, isn’t bothered by potentially troubling top spin, swipes the ball off both sides. Not particularly aggressive, but way Fok plays, doesn’t have to be. He can work his way to net nicely when Fok’s camped out well back. 13 winners, 15 UEs , forcing 10 errors ain’t too shabby. Fok’s 28 UEs taking the biggest part of the cake isn’t on him. Fok’s sloppy to bad degree, Tsis’ consistency isn’t allowed to be the cause, what with 12 third ball UEs
Unreturend serves - Tsis 31%, Fok 15%
Fok with harmless serve. 1 ace and 8/9 return errors he’s drawn have been marked UEs. Tsis doing the needful with normal level force, Fok winning 52% first serve points and 56% seconds another indicator of his having 2 ‘second serves’
Tsis with hefty serve. Fok returning from well back puts back sort returns that are commanded, but when he takes them from normal position, tends to miss routine returns. 10/15 return errors have been marked UEs
Tsis serving exactly 33% to FH and rest to BH. But drawing virtually same number of errors across wings (7 FH, 8 BH)
Then they rally
Winners - Tsis 13, Fok 16
Errors forced - Tsis 10, Fok 14
UEs - Tsis 15, Fok 28
Fok’s UEs accounting for lion’s share of points. His 12 third ball UEs alone are same size as every other category - and there’s 16 more not taking much longer to come
Action is dual winged and both players with similar UEs across wings (Tsis 7 apiece, Fok 15 FH, 12 BH), with neutral UEs reading Tsis 9, Fok 16
Tsis responding Fok’s FH spin with spinny FHs of his own, but he does swipe BHs. Not particularly hard. In time, the error prone Fok turns to net
Net points - Tsis 7/10, Fok 15/22
Good move from Fok. His being able to get up to net is indicator of Tsis not being too powerful off the ground. He forces 8 passing errors (Tsis 2), which is what sees him lead aggressively ended points
Just in baseline rallies, Tsis with 3 winners, forcing 7 errors, Fok 9 winners, forcing 5
So Fok more successful there too
He also has 12 aggressive UEs to Tsis’ 6
All this reads like standard 1 player more aggressive and more error prone (Fok), other steadier and less aggressive (Tsis). That’s somewhat true, with Fok switching to aggression when rallying along goes against him. At least its smart
But Fok’s sloppiness front and center of it all. 28 UEs, 12 of them third ball groundies, 16 of them neutral shots. His being able to take net high 22 times sign that all those UEs aren’t due to pin-back strong hitting from Tsis
Match Progression
Despite all that, match starts brightly and ends tensely
Fokina plays beautifully in the first 3 games and comes away a break up from it
Holds for 1-1 with style (winners from FH drop shot, FH inside-out and BH dtl) and a winning on the bounce smash from no-man’s land
Then breaks with some more - starting with FH dtl winner from routine position, ending with a BH drop shot one and forcing errors with FH inside-in and after being drop shotted into net
He’s broken back immediately to love. Third ball BH UE and double fault in there, but Tsis with a very good, running FH dtl pass winner to finish
Fok struggles to return for rest of set and gets himself broken in a poor, error riddled game to 30 to fall behind 3-5, before Tsis serves out
That’s part of a run of Tsis winning 20/24 points from 3-3 in first set to 2-0 Tsis in second
Its another poor game by Fok to get broken to start second sect, beginning and ending with third ball UEs
He breaks back for 2-2 with net play and winning a long rally
Match does get tense at the end, with a series of long games and the tennis is good too
Tsis breaks in 12 point game for 5-4, with Fok making bad errors on crucial points
Is broken to 30 when trying to serve out. Nice drop shot in - BH dtl pass winner 1-2 from Fok early in the game and he ends it by overpowering Tsis to take net and dispatch a smash
He needs 10 points to hold game after
Lot of hustling around this period. Tsis doggedly makes Fokina hit 2 or 3 OHs to end points
All the while, crowd getting unusually involved, which is rare for Monte Carlo. Fok orchestrates them and they respond. Another strange aspect of match. Crowd are unusually involved even without Fok’s help. Who are these vocal supporters? - presumably, neither player has inspired huge support, so one would think its nationality based. And since they’re used to Spaniards excelling there, one would think Greek supporters. Yet they respond to Fok’s orchestration and calls for applause and enthusiasm
Normal Monte Carlo final involves very audible clinking of glasses. At a recent one, Chair asked the diners not to open champagne bottles as the players are about to serve
Not a bad tiebreak. Tsis dispatches third ball FH inside-out winner to get on the board and makes most of a poor drop shot to come away with mini-break for 3-1. Fok’s with a couple sloppy errors, including his statutory third ball one and harried approaches. Tsis strikes winning BH cc passes against a couple - 1 for a winner to reach 5-1, the other forcing BHV error to end the match
Summing up, forgettable match. Fokina is enthusiastic and gets the crowd going, but is sloppy off the ground. He does make smart adjustments in his return and rallying positions and switch to seeking net but execution remains sub-par. Tsitsipas is vigorous, with how well he can play capped by Fokina’s showing
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