Match Stats/Report - Wawrinka vs Djokovic, US Open final, 2016

[Waspsting]

Stan Wawrinka beat Novak Djokovic 6-7(1), 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 in the US Open final, 2016 on hard court

It was Wawrinka's third Slam title. Djokovic was going for his third Slam of the year (following wins in Australia and France) and third US Open title

Wawrinka won 144 points, Djokovic 143

Serve Stats
Wawrinka...
- 1st serve percentage (92/164) 56%
- 1st serve points won (65/92) 71%
- 2nd serve points won (37/72) 51%
- Aces 9
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (37/164) 23%

Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (63/123) 51%
- 1st serve points won (49/63) 78%
- 2nd serve points won (32/60) 53%
- Aces 6, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 7
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (33/123) 27%

Serve Pattern
Wawrinka served...
- to FH 30%
- to BH 49%
- to Body 20%

Djokovic served...
- to FH 35%
- to BH 61%
- to Body 3%

Return Stats
Wawrinka made...
- 83 (30 FH, 53 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 26 Errors, comprising...
- 18 Unforced (9 FH, 9 BH)
- 8 Forced (2 FH, 6 BH)
- Return Rate (83/116) 72%

Djokovic made...
- 124 (46 FH, 78 BH), including 1 return-approach
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 28 Errors, comprising...
- 17 Unforced (4 FH, 13 BH)
- 11 Forced (5 FH, 6 BH)
- Return Rate (124/161) 77%

Break Points
Wawrinka 6/10 (7 games)
Djokovic 3/17 (9 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Wawrinka 36 (18 FH, 12 BH, 4 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH)
Djokovic 20 (9 FH, 4 BH, 1 FHV, 6 OH)

Wawrinka's FHs - 4 cc (1 pass), 2 cc/inside-in, 5 dtl (1 pass), 2 inside-out, 4 inside-in and 1 running-down-drop-shot cc at net
- BHs - 2 cc (1 pass) and 10 dtl (1 pass)

Djokovic's FHs - 4 cc (1 return), 1 cc/inside-in at net, 2 inside-out (1 pass), 1 inside-out/dtl and 1 inside-in
- BHs - 1 cc, 2 dtl (1 pass) and 1 drop shot

- 2 OHs were on the bounce from the baseline

Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Wawrinka 87
- 67 Unforced (33 FH, 34 BH)... with 2 BH at net (1 pass attempt)
- 20 Forced (6 FH, 12 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BH1/2V)... with 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.3

Djokovic 64
- 50 Unforced (28 FH, 21 BH, 1 BHV)
- 14 Forced (8 FH, 6 BH)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46

(Note 1: all half-volleys refer to such shots played at net. Half -volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke counts)

(Note 2: the Unforced Error Forcefulness Index is an indicator of how aggressive the average UE was. The numbers presented for these two matches are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Wawrinka was...
- 10/19 (53%) at net, with...
- 0/2 forced back/retreated

Djokovic was...
- 20/28 (71%) at net, including...
- 0/1 serve-volleying, a 1st serve
---
- 1/1 return-approaching
- 1/3 (33%) forced back/retreated

Match Report
A 'who-plays-the-big-points-better' match on a slow-ish hard court. Wawrinka does - and needs to substantially because Djokovic has considerably the better of play overall in a less than well played match

Stan wins just 1 more point in the match - despite serving 41 more and winning 5 more games (counting the tiebreak he lost as a game). Break points stats read -
- Wawrinka 6/10 (7 games), Djokovic 3/17 (9 games)

Action is baseline based and unreturned serve rates are on low side. Stan is the aggressor or at least, looks to push towards it while Djokovic counter-punches for most part

Does Stan 'clutch'? Or Djoko 'chokes'? Given playing dynamic, I'd say more the former - though not in an overt way

Playing dynamics are such that Stan gives up sloppy errors regularly. Despite being the aggressor (he leads winners 36-20), his UEFI is low 45.3. In other words, missing neutral and/or regulation shots is his problem, not inefficiency in attacking. 43/67 or 64% of his UEs are neutral shots (to compare, 52% of Djoko's are)

On the important points though, he's able to keep ball in play and prolong rallies, usually while leading if not controlling them. Given the playing dynamics, that's clutching. He doesn't win break points (his own or Djokovic's) by hitting winners or forcing errors... he does it by outlasting or mildly outmanuvering Djokovic. Something he can't do at most other times

Its not a good match. Stan has 36 winners, 67 UEs. Throwing in errors forced with his winners, he wins 50 points aggressively to still finish -17. Some of that is due to Djokovic defending well. On the other side, Djoko has 20 winners, forces 20 errors and makes 50 UEs to finish -10

Serve & Return
Mild serving from Djokovic. His first serve is like a good second serve and his second serve is something an aggressive returner might lick their lips thinking of getting stuck into

Its not just pace of serve that's down. Djoko serves where Stan can reach the ball easily. When he goes particularly wide, he slows slower still. 18/26 of Stan's return errors have been marked UEs and the 8 FEs are on the mild side too. In effect, Djokovic plays should be getting minimal advantage from his serve. Almost like a clay court match

He still gets something out of it because Stan returns passively - from well behind baseline and content to poke and push returns in play. Against second serves, he sometimes takes a decent cut, but from even further behind the baseline. Return rate of 72% without being particularly damaging against this kind of serving on this court is a blackmark against Stan

On flip side, Wawrinka serves much more strongly and wide. He uses serve to open court and looks to hit third balls into open court. Some good returning by Djokovic - both in getting tough wide serves back and hitting others hard, deep and down the middle

Half way into match, Wawrinka switches to serving much more to the body. He's served 20% of the time there, almost all of it in second half. Djoko's returning against it is surprisingly off. His close-in returning position invites it, but generally, he's quick as a flash to make room and strike the ball cleanly. Here, he struggles

In nutshell, below par serving from Djokovic balanced out by below par returning from Stan... to leave things about normal. Blackmark against both. Normal, good serving from Wawrinka, good returning against the strong stuff from Djokovic, decent number of threatening deep returns but also, a little off against regulation serves, including ones to his body

 

[Waspsting]

Play - Baseline & Net
Play is almost all baseline stuff. Wawrinka attacks or pushes towards it, Djoko counter-punches

Stan uses serve out wide + third ball into open court to get lively dynamics started. Djokovic scampering defensively is one of the best things he does in the match. Just 14 FEs for Djoko... he puts a lot more forceful balls back in play than that. From neutral positions, Stan also engages in 1-2s off both sides. He's at his most effective with wide BH cc followed by BH dtl. Stan also hits hard enough neutrally (and a bit wide occasionally) to make if difficult for Djoko to attack or take charge of rallies

The aesthetic highlight is Stan's BH dtl. He has 9 baseline-to-baseline winners with the shot, which is very high for the most difficult of the basic groundstrokes. He doesn't even make errors going for the shot. Djoko has to make a lot of defensive, running FHs against it. As outlined earlier, his problem is sloppy errors. Djokovic doesn't unduly pressure him with deep shots (partially due to Stan's hitting being hard enough to make it difficult)... but regulation errors flow from Stan's racquet, particularly in first 3 sets

Stan's court position while attacking is odd. While hitting into open court or opening the court with big swings, he remains well behind baseline. And usually stays there to hit the next shot. Much better to step in and take still more time away from the on defensive Djoko. There's no down side to stepping in with Djoko on the run and the advantages are obvious

Djokovic reacts to Stan's shots. Doesn't go for much when he has initiative. Doesn't hit particularly deep by his standard. Most of all, isn't particularly consistent. With playing dynamics as they are, he would look to be more solid off the ground

For every FH winner, he has 3.1 UEs (Stan has 1.8). For every BH winner, its 5.25 UEs (Stan 2.83). Good lot of the 20 errors he forces out of Stan are from net. Even with all that, he still wins more points than he loses (sans unreturned serves and double faults, Djoko leads 107-100... and most of those are return points). Just not the important ones

Match Progression
First set is poor. Wawrinka makes all kinds of errors - casual ones, aggressive ones, foolish ones - while Djokovic puts ball in court and lets him hang himself. Djoko misses some regulation returns keeps his lead to 1 break as he serves for the set. A poor game sees him broken

Set goes to tiebreak where Stan is again poor, making 6 UEs (2 returns and 1 other not easy). Stan serves 45 points in the set, to Djoko's 33

Stan continues to be loose in second, but hits more powerfully and deeper. A few good, wide BH cc's rattles Djoko's groove and he starts falling back to unnecessary degree from the baseline. 3 breaks in the set - Stan is up a break before Djoko hits back and set ends with another

Stan ups his attacking game in the third and lets loose with a series of brilliant BH dtl shots. He breaks to move ahead 2-0 but remains error prone and under the gun. Again, he breaks to end the set with a couple of sloppy errors from Djokovic proving crucial, though Stan finishes with an error forcing FH tl. This time, he serves 56 points in the set, to Djoko's 35

4th set is most even of play. Stan again starts with a bunch of BH dtl's and again breaks early. Djokovic shows small signs of discomfort and calls the trainer to look at his leg. His movements remain fine, though his serve, which had been mediocre all match, gets weaker still

The 1 break proves enough, with rest of play neutral baseline stuff, and Stan keeping ball in play better than any other time in the match. He falls to 0-30 serving for match but holds after deuce without facing break point

Summing up, not a very good match. Wawrinka looks to attack and Djokovic counter-punches from the baseline. High points include some brilliant shot making by Wawrinka (especially off BH), good scampering defence and some challenging returning from Djokovic. More often though, Wawrinka is sloppy off the ground and Djokovic is also not particularly consistent. Both Djokovic's serving and Stan's returning is soft

Djokovic has better of play and far more chances, but Wawrinka plays solidly on important points - against the grain of how he plays overall - and ekes out the win

Stats for pair's '15 French Open final - Match Stats/Report - Wawrinka vs Djokovic, French Open final, 2015 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)