Match Stats/Report - Vilas vs Gottfried, French Open final, 1977

[Waspsting]

Guillermo Vilas beat Brian Gottried 6-0, 6-3, 6-0 in the French Open final, 1977 on clay

It was Vilas’ first Slam title and he would go onto win the US Open later in the year on green clay, beating Jimmy Connors in the final. This was Gottfried’s only Slam final. Vilas was seeded 3rd, Gottfried 5th

Vilas won 91 points, Gottfried 54

Gottfried serve-volleyed off most first serves

(I’m missing parts or all of the following 4 points, some of them tracked via audio

Set 2, Game 1, Point 1 - a Gottfried second serve, serve direction and return type unknown, non-serve-volley, ending recorded
Set 2, Game 3, Point 1 - a Gottfried first serve, serve-volley, serve direction and return type unknown, ending marked third volley FHV UE winner attempt based on limited visual
Set 2, Game 9, Point 8 - a Gottfried second serve point to body, returned by FH, ending unmarked - probably a Vilas net point and Gottfried passing winner
Set 3, Game 6, Point 7 - Gottfried service point won by Vilas - missing entirely)

Serve Stats
Vilas...
- 1st serve percentage (54/72) 75%
- 1st serve points won (37/54) 69%
- 2nd serve points won (11/18) 61%
- Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (8/72) 11%

Gottfried...
- 1st serve percentage (41/72) 57%
- 1st serve points won (18/41) 44%
- 2nd serve points won (12/31) 39%
- ?? serve points won (0/1)
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (7/72) 10%

Serve Patterns
Vilas served...
- to FH 10%
- to BH 86%
- to Body 4%

Gottfried served....
- to FH 36%
- to BH 52%
- to Body 12%

Return Stats
Vilas made...
- 61 (38 FH, 21 BH, 2 ??), including 9 runaround FHs
- 3 Winners (3 FH)
- 7 Errors, comprising...
- 3 Unforced (2 FH, 1 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 4 Forced (1 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (61/68) 90%

Gottfried made...
- 61 (8 FH, 53 BH), including 1 runaround FH & 4 return-approaches
- 7 Errors, comprising...
- 6 Unforced (6 BH), including 2 return-approach attempts
- 1 Forced (1 BH)
- Return Rate (61/69) 88%

Break Points
Vilas 8/11 (8 games)
Gottfried 0/4 (2 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Vilas 18 (9 FH, 7 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)
Gottfried 10 (1 BH, 4 FHV, 2 BHV, 3 OH)

Vilas had 16 passes (9 FH, 7 BH)
- FHs - 1 cc, 2 dtl (1 net chord pop over), 1 dtl/inside-out, 3 inside-out (2 returns), 1 inside-out/dtl, 1 inside-in return
- BHs - 2 cc, 3 dtl, 1 inside-out/dtl, 1 lob

Gottfried had 5 from serve-volley points
- 2 first volleys (1 FHV, 1 BHV)
- 3 second volleys (1 FHV, 2 OH)

- 2 from return-approach points (1 FHV, 1 BHV)

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Vilas 33
- 11 Unforced (8 FH, 3 BH)
- 22 Forced (12 FH, 10 BH)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot (non-net) & 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index

Gottfried 60
- 36 Unforced (9 FH, 18 BH, 6 FHV, 3 BHV)
- 24 Forced (1 FH, 7 BH, 8 FHV, 4 BHV, 2 BH1/2V, 2 BHOH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.9

(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
Vilas was...
- 10/11 (91%) at net, including...
- 1/1serve-volleying, a 1st serve
---
- 1/1 forced back

Gottfried was...
- 34/76 (45%) at net, including...
- 15/33 (45%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 3/4 (75%) return-approaching
- 0/1 forced back

Match Report
Scoreline speaks for itself. Vilas is much steadier from the back, Gottfried wisely switches to an all-out net seeking game and Vilas’ passing is better than Gottfriend’s volleying - QED

“Vilas much steadier from the back” -
Ground UEs - Vilas 11, Got 27

“Gottfried switching to all-out net seeking game” - in first set, he serve-volleys 4/11 first serves. Thereafter, 29/30. His net seeking from rallies goes up a bit too, but he’s net seeking by any normal standard in first set too

“Vilas’ passing gets better of Got’s volleying”
- Vilas pass winners - 16
- Gott volley winners - 9
- Vilas ground FEs (virtually all passes) - 22
- Gott volley errors (UEs and FEs) - 25
(And Gott forcing just 4 return errors - i.e. serve-volleying)

Questions that remain are what all of the above are due to

Action - Baseline
Is Vilas much steadier from the back because he’s commendably steady? Or because Gott’s dis-credit-worthily loose?

Not really either - its more like a mismatch where Gott not belonging in the same league. Vilas hits harder, and moves around energetically (more than is necessary, but it doesn’t hurt). There’s top spin to his shots, but no moonballing (worth pointing out because in both ‘78 and ‘82 finals, moonballing is what he primarily does). Leads with FH cc’s to Gott’s BH

Gott push-slices BHs without heat. Looks to approach and isn’t rashly over-eager to do so. No heat behind his shots (his FH is just a push, as opposed to a push-slice). Few pretty BHs, particularly nice inside-out ones he approaches behind to Vilas BH. And far too many error

Direction of action is normal, cc centered, with Vilas setting the terms (primarily his FH cc to Gott’s BH), and Vilas gets better of both types of rallies

UEs across typical cc rallies -
- Vilas FH 8, Gott BH 18
- Vilas BH 3, Gott FH 9

Neutral UEs - Vilas 7, Gott 16 (+ 1 defensive)

Gott’s a bit lead footed of movement. Unlike Vilas, whose movements could drop with minimal loss of effectiveness, a bump in Gott’s would do him plenty of good. Slightly wide balls to his BH cause him disproportionate amount of trouble. Firm shots from Vilas, but hardly powerful

Gott does have the only winner from a baseline rally, where its Vilas whose slow to react to a not too wide BH cc slicey shot

Attacking UEs - Vilas 4, Gott 11…. Gott’s high number is almost entirely approach errors (+ a couple of FH dtl misses). He rallies forward 39 times, so that’s about 1/4 would-be net points he doesn’t even make it to net for

Given how uncomfy he is rallying, not too surprising and not a bad idea to try to bail on the neutral rallies he has little chance of coming out ahead in, but as with many things, not a good hit rate

 

[Waspsting]

Play - Gottfried at net
Does Vilas pass supremely well to get better of Got at net? Or does Got volley poorly?

Bit of both. Vilas is tricky in his passing, often going in unexpected direction with last second flick of the wrist. Gott doesn’t read it well, and it’s the second pass that goes for the winner. Precision of placement more than power is key point of his finishing pass

Not bad volleying from Gott in terms of decisiveness on the routine volley. It’s the surface that keeps those from being finishing shots. But consistency not good - 9 UEs is high for such a short match

Not good reactions from Gott. Good lot of his 8 FEs are reaction/reflex volleys. With these, net player can only stick racquet out in general direction of the pass - some percentage land in, some out. Gott misses virtually all such volleys and Vilas’ power isn’t overwhelming. Not easy volleys by definition, but just in terms of percentages, a fail there for Gott

On the low stuff, Gott’s about 50-50 making or missing

And then there’s Gott’s approach shots, starting with the serve. His first serve is harmless and sans serve-volleying, scarcely any would qualify as forceful. No aces, nothing close to a service winner, in fact, just forces 4 return errors

Comfy returning from Vilas to commendable degree. Harmless or not, 90% return rate is excellent

Interesting choice by Gott to never 2nd serve-volley. There isn’t much gap between his 2 serves - if the first is harmless, the second isn’t weak. Given comfort with which Vilas returns first, seems sound to not serve-volley behind seconds. On the other hand, what does he have to lose by doing so? He’s getting slaughtered in baseline rallies and most of that from his point of view is about trying to escape the rally by coming to net. His ground approach shots are ordinary of quality, and probably less strong than his second serve would be

Doesn’t matter much in that no change of tactics would turn run of play around. Not second serve-volleying at least makes for a more interesting watch with more variation

Vilas is 10/11 at net. Comes in off good approaches that even a good passer (such as himself) would struggle to handle. Gott’s movement and groundies don’t promise good passing and what he’s faced with is well beyond him

Gott’s 16/39 rallying to net or 41%. A little worse than serve-volleying’s 45%, with all the same volley vs pass dynamics

Both players have 1-handed BHs. Vilas serves with 2 balls in hand, Gott 1

Match Progression
In first set, Gott serve-volleys a bit, return-approaches a bit and seeks net some. Vilas reacts accordingly

Not bad volleying from Gott on whole and some very nice, precise passing by Vilas, but some really easy, routine ground misses by Gott. Fairly firm of shot by Vilas, not at all moon-bally

Vilas starts match with a calmly assured BH dtl pass winner and Gott loses his 2 other net points in the game too (1 UE, 1 FE). Couple of third ball FH errors gets him broken a second time

Vilas stretched to 10 points to hold for 4-0, with Gott crowding net. Vilas finishes the game with a genuinely strong wide serve that he comes in behind

Particularly neat BH inside-out/dtl pass winner gets Vilas third break, before he serves out to 15 for the bagel

From second set, Gott ups his net seeking. Up 2-1, he’s got 3 break points to actually lead, but misses BHs on all 3 points (FE to deep ball, routine UE and a routine return miss)

Combo of low returns and routine volley misses get Gott broken to go down 3-2 and he’s broken again to end the set where he makes just 3/10 first serves

Third set bagel is a little more competitive than the first

First bagel points - Vilas 26, Gott 12
Second bagel points - Vilas 28, Gott 13

Vilas’ first 2 holds last 8 and 10 points. He saves a break point in the latter, with an error forcingly wide BH cc. Lowest set in-count of match of 9/17 by Gott means there’s plenty of baseline action in the 3 games he’s broken in, with a good lot of approach errors

Summing up, good showing by Vilas with potential to be more curtailed by insufficient resistance. Off the ground, he’s consistent while hitting with a good mix of firm force with top spin for control. Gottfried’s groundstrokes are a league or two behind, with a feeble BH and not strong FH, both of which are categorically looser than Vilas’ shots

Though getting thrashed, Gottfried plays a smart match at least, by turning to more net play as he’s beaten from the back. Coming in for him is imperative and he’s appropriately eager without going into over-board wildly low percentage with it, but he’s outdone at net too. Not the best movement around net and with below-par reactions would make life not easy at best of times and Vilas’ excellent, well-disguised, tricky and precise passing makes it far from the best of times

More a mismatch - where it looks like two different calibre players competing - than an overly great performance from Vilas to gain one of the most one-sided of Slam final results

 

[Gizo]

In the first 44 clay court major finals in the open era (until Federer-Soderling at RG in 2009), including the 3 at Forest Hills from 1975-1977, this was the only one in which the winner wasn't broken at all. Kodes and Nastase dropped their first service games of the match during their respective very one sided wins in the 1970 and 1973 RG finals, Borg was broken multiple times vs. Vilas in 1975 and 1978 and vs. Gerulaitis in 1980, Orantes was broken 4 times by Connors in Forest Hills in 1975, Nadal once by Federer in 2008 etc.

5 weeks earlier, Vilas had also demolished Gottfried on clay in a Davis Cup tie in Buenos Aires (dropping 6 games), but this RG final was even more one sided than that. Ultimately once at the net Gottfried was typically unable to hit deep, penetrating volleys, with them instead landing short, ripe for Vilas to pound decisive passing shots.

The weather for this final was pretty lousy, with on and off rain and windy conditions.

Vilas was previously seen as something of a habitual runner-up / nearly man, having lost in big finals to Borg at RG in 1975 and in Dallas in 1976, Panatta in Rome in 1976 and Tanner in Kooyong earlier that year. It was brought up a lot by the Argentinean media in-particular. So he was understandably delighted and emotional with this victory and title win.

 

[bobcolbert]

Gottfried was very impressive since the beginning of the year. But he could'nt do anything this day, Vilas was too strong. The weather favored Vilas because the clay was heavy and slow. Vilas's forehand on Gottfried's backhand was the key of the match. Like Nadal with his opponents. Vilas beat 2 top ten in this FO (Ramirez and Gottfried) + 1 top 15 (Fibak) + 1 Grand Slam winner (Stan Smith). Great victory.

 

[chrischris]

Gottfried was very impressive since the beginning of the year. But he could'nt do anything this day, Vilas was too strong. The weather favored Vilas because the clay was heavy and slow. Vilas's forehand on Gottfried's backhand was the key of the match. Like Nadal with his opponents. Vilas beat 2 top ten in this FO (Ramirez and Gottfried) + 1 top 15 (Fibak) + 1 Grand Slam winner (Stan Smith). Great victory.

Brian lacked a powerful backhand drive. His was a slice and a great approach shot but did not with stand well gainst heavy topspin nor could it be Weapon in counterpunching or hitting Winners.

 

[Waspsting]

Brian lacked a powerful backhand drive. His was a slice and a great approach shot but did not with stand well gainst heavy topspin nor could it be Weapon in counterpunching or hitting Winners.

Chris, how many 1-handers were there in that period who don't fit this description?

I've seen Borg playing Ashe, Newcombe, Gerulaitis, even Laver... and they pretty much all fit this description