Match Stats/Report - Tsitsipas vs Thiem, Year End Championship final, 2019

[Waspsting]

Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Dominic Thiem 6-7(6), 6-2, 7-6(4) in the Year End Championship final, 2019 on indoor hard court in London, England

To date, this is Tsitsipas’ only title at the event. He finished top of his group with a 2-1 record and was seeded 6th. Thiem also topped his group with 2-1 record and was seeded 5th. He would finish runner-up the following year also

Tsitsipas won 110 points, Thiem 93

Serve Stats
Tsitsipas...
- 1st serve percentage (60/97) 62%
- 1st serve points won (50/60) 83%
- 2nd serve points won (23/37) 62%
- Aces 9, Service Winners 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (36/97) 37%

Thiem...
- 1st serve percentage (73/106) 69%
- 1st serve points won (52/73) 71%
- 2nd serve points won (17/33) 52%
- Aces 9, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (32/106) 30%

Serve Patterns
Tsitsipas served...
- to FH 45%
- to BH 47%
- to Body 7%

Thiem served...
- to FH 37%
- to BH 59%
- to Body 4%

Return Stats
Tsitsipas made...
- 71 (23 FH, 48 BH)
- 2 Winners (2 FH)
- 21 Errors, comprising...
- 9 Unforced (4 FH, 5 BH)
- 12 Forced (6 FH, 6 BH)
- Return Rate (71/103) 69%

Thiem made...
- 61 (35 FH, 26 BH), including 12 runaround FHs
- 26 Errors, comprising...
- 17 Unforced (12 FH, 5 BH), including 2 runaround FHs
- 9 Forced (6 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (61/97) 63%

Break Points
Tsitsipas 3/10 (6 games)
Thiem 1/4 (2 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Tsitsipas 24 (13 FH, 2 BH, 2 FHV, 3 BHV, 4 OH)
Thiem 23 (8 FH, 3 BH, 5 FHV, 3 BHV, 4 OH)

Tsitsipas' FHs - 4 cc, 2 dtl (1 return), 3 inside-out, 1 inside-out/dtl, 2 inside-in (1 return), 1 longline
- BHs - 1 cc, 1 dtl

- 2 from serve-volley points, both first volley BHVs

- 1 other FHV was a swinging, non-net longline

Thiem's FHs - 3 cc, 1 dtl pass, 2 inside-out, 1 inside-in, 1 longline
- BHs - 1 dtl, 2 longline

- 2 FHVs were swinging inside-outs (1 at net, 1 not)

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Tsitsipas 38
- 20 Unforced (12 FH, 7 BH, 1 FHV)... the FHV was a swinging, non-net shot
- 18 Forced (8 FH, 8 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.5

Thiem 47
- 34 Unforced (18 FH, 14 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)... with 1 FH at net & 1 swining, non-net BHV
- 13 Forced (2 FH, 11 BH)... with 1 BH running-down-drop-shot (not at net)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 49.1

(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...
- 18/21 (86%) at net, including...
- 2/2 serve-volleying, both 2nd serves

Thiem was...
- 17/20 (85%) at net, including...
- 0/1 serve-volleying, a 2nd serve
---
- 0/1 forced back

Match Report
Excellent match of hard hitting, attacking baseline play and a great performance by Tsitsipas, who does everything better than a well-playing Thiem. Court is quickish

Despite that, Thiem plays well enough to stay close enough that result remains up in the air. Tsis has ghost of an edge in first set, which goes to Thiem in tiebreak. Tsis dominates second set and carries on in same vein for half the third set, where he’s up a break and holding with considerably more ease. Thiem breaks back and equalizes share of play - which reflects a step up for him, a step down for the recently dominant Tsis - but he does not have better of it as match heads to cauldron of tiebreak. Which Tsis takes, fittingly

With 2 tiebreaks and split, and Tsis delivering a convincing brace, its natural match long stats favour him. But even sans the 6-2 set, he has better of things

Match long -
- first serve in - Tsis 62%, Thiem 69%
- first serve won - Tsis 83%, Thiem 71%
- second serve won - Tsis 62%, Thiem 52%

Sans the 6-2 set -
- first serve in - Tsis 62%, Thiem 67%
- first serve won - Tsis 82%, Thiem 72%
- second serve won - Tsis 57%, Thiem 59%

Thiem going up on second serve points won is deceptive since he serves a large 15/19 or 79% in the second set (he loses all 4 second serve points). In quick conditions, with 2 good servers and good in counts, the first serve points is more important - and Tsis handily has better of that - both match long and excluding the one sided set

Tsis finishes with 24 winners, 20 UEs, while forcing 13 errors. Outstanding
Thiem has 23 winners, 34 UEs while forcing 18. Good
Throw in leading unreturneds 37% to 30% and not double faulting while Thiem does so 3 times - and picture of Tsis having substantially better of things comes through.

Serve & Return
Tsis serves better and Tsis returns better. Thiem’s serve is also strong, his returning a little off at times

Aces/Service Winners are virtually same (Thiem has an extra service winner), but Tsis gaining his 10 from 60 first serves, to Thiem’s 11 from 73

Not much in that. But Tsis also has slightly more powerful serve and gets them out wider, and more damagingly. In due time, he’s able to serve aces and hard forced errors with slower, well placed sliced serves that curl away. Thiem sticks to brute force power, usually not too far out of reach

Tsis leads unreturends 37% to 30%

Off return errors, Tsis has 9 UEs, Thiem 17. These are tough for UEs, hefty serves that don’t require much movement to reach. Thiem dishes out just as many, and probably more such serves, and Tsis’ done well to keep his count so low. His returning consistency is better

And the quality of his returns are better. He gets a few deep down the middle troublingly, and whacks a couple winners against good serves. Thiem’s returning is orthodox and untroubling, as suggested by Tsis’ high second serve points won. He has a go with brute force runaround FHs without much success

Double faults - Tsis 0, Thiem 3

Gist, in just about every way, Tsis doing better. But 30% freebies and drawing good lot of soft returns by Thiem is good enough to be holding behind regularly too

 

[Waspsting]

Play - Baseline (& Net)
Winners - Tsis 24, Thiem 23
Errors Forced - Tsis 13, Thiem 18
UEs - Tsis 20, Thiem 34

2 points stand out
- Tsis FH with match high 13 winners (next best is 8 by Thiem’s FH) and only shot with more winners than UEs (its +1, with next best being his BH with -5)
- Tsis BH with match low 7 UEs (next lowest is his FH with 12, which rests alongside Thiem’s BH with 14)

Put the 2 together, this is close to perfectly played match from Tsis

There’s more
Net numbers - Tsis 18/21, Thiem 17/20

Both players doing fabulously up front, but its Tsis who gets better balance of when to play aggressively from the back and when to come to net to finish. Thiem at times flounders hammering attacking groundies from the back instead of approaching

Attacking UEs - Tsis 3, Thiem 9
Winner Attempt UEs - Tsis 5, Thiem 11

Confirmation of above point (neutral UEs are near equal - Tsis 12, Thiem 14)

Both with powerful FHs. Tsis perhaps a little more and more able to go wide to be aggressive. Thiem oftentimes just relies on brute power, not widely placed. He’s powerful enough to be effective doing so, but Tsis shows good shot tolerance and reactive rallying ability to make finishing points that much harder for the Thiem

Thiem with more powerful BH and more willing to go line to be aggressive. Again, met by good defence. Tsis’ BH holds the fort and importantly doesn’t give up weak balls. Generally speaking, aggressive BH play more often than not ends in net negatives - Thiem isn’t overly aggressive with it, but he isn’t patient and content to just trade hard hit shots either, and does end up net negative

Not a bad showing by Thiem, if an unsubtle one (which seems to just be the nature of his game), but a very smartly played and executed one from Tsis is superior in all ways. FHs, BHs, defence (his being tested more against Thiem persistent power hitting, whereas Tsis picks balls to attack and does so by going wide as well as with raw power), net instincts

Match Progression
Excellent and even first set. Both players serving big and following up with big first groundies, or coming to net or to putaway ball from mid-court. Each players hits a longline winner early on (Thiem off BH, Tsis FH) closer to center than sideline - an indicator of the power on show that such a safely placed ball goes through untouched. Both players volley nicely too - both in knowing when to come in and on the volley shots themselves. Both score with short and/or drop volleys

Still, both returners are able to get some counter play. Serving isn’t widely placed, but highly effective

No breaks in the set, but Tsis has slightly better of it. He has 3 break points across 2 games, while Thiem has 2 in 1 game. Another Thiem service game goes to deuce. In all, Tsis serves 36 points for his 6 holds, Thiem 39

Thiem faces break point in game 4, which he erases with a winning, powerful wide FH cc. Tsis faces 2 shortly after. He boldly second serve-volleys, even as Thiem moves over to play FH return, but he doesn’t cream the ball, and Tsis drop s a fine BHV winner. He saves second break point with a short shot from net also

Thiem’s down 15-40 in game 8, following a perfect FH dtl return winner against a first serve and Thiem missing a FH inside-in winner attempt. An ace and a well played FH inside-in approach get him to deuce before he holds

Last regular game goes to deuce, with Thiem missing groundies and also crashing backcourt winners, before holding with a stop BHV winner

Tiebreak. Thiem’s always ahead after taking first point and Tsis missing a couple of very makeable first returns doesn’t’ help his cause. At 6-6, Tsis sends down a relatively gentle second serve that he’s lucky isn’t belted harder by a running-around Thiem, but he gives up a routine BH error meekly to bring up Thiem’s second set point. A powerful serve seals it

Tsis’ on fire in the second set and quickly opens up a 4-0 lead, losing just 2 points in so doing. Missed attacking groundies get him the first break, but the second is a fantastic game with Tsis striking 3 winners (FH inside-in return winner, FHV set up by a running-down-drop-shot lob at net that forces Thiem back and a FH dtl ending a cc rally), and punishing a poor drop shot to force an error

Thiem’s return is a bit off in the set, and with break in hand, Tsis slices a few first serves to good effect

Tsis carries on in same vein in third set and Thiem has to save 2 break points in a 10 point game to open it. A great game, filled with excellent rallies with just 2 UEs in it

After holding to love, Tsis breaks for 2-1 in a game where he makes a number of fine, deep returns and again consolidates to love

Thiem’s been overwhelmed for a set and a half, but strikes to break back for 3-3 in a beat-down, hard hitting game. Thiem makes 2 UEs in the game, including a swinging FHV from no-man’s land. From start of second set, he’d made 2 coming into the game

Balance of play shifts from Tsis dominant to equality from thereon, with both players holding comfily. Tsis a little more comfy. One of his holds takes 67 seconds. And its onto deciding tiebreak

‘Breaker is fittingly tense. 4 consecutive points going against serve makes things 3-4 for Thiem, and on serve.Thiem losing his 2 to meaty BH errors, Tsis to a testing BH longline that draws an error and a FH inside-out set up, OH winner at net

Winning BH dtl from Thiem makes it 4-4, but he misses an attacking FH to go down a mini, leaving Tsis 2 service points away from win. Tsis misses first serves on both of them, a rally develops on first point, with Thiem missing an ambitious FH dtl winner attempt. On match point, Thiem misses a routine return

Summing up, great showing from Tsitsipas and a tough match, so Thiem is good too

Tsitsipas though is at least a little better at everything. His serve is a little bigger, better placed and has more variety. He gets a few more neutralizing and damaging returns off, with neither player able to get many against strong serving

From back of court, both players hammering FHs and looking to dictate with it, with Tsitsipas successful and more able to go wide with it, while Thiem more often ball-bashes. Off the BH the winner is steady and secure, while Thiem is apt to try to be aggressive with line shots that falter more often than not

Both players excellent at net and on the volley, with Tsitsipas showing better judgement of just when to come in

Despite general superiority from Tsitsipas, match is up in the air in final set tiebreak, which fittingly falls his way, in one of the ways he’s been superior - shot selection and aggressive choices

Stats for Thiem’s round robin match with Novak Djokovic - Match Stats/Report - Thiem vs Djokovic, Year End Championship round robin, 2019 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)