Match Stats/Report - Wilander vs Westphal, Davis Cup final rubber, 1985

[Waspsting]

Mats Wilander (Sweden) beat Michael Westphal (West Germany) 6-3, 6-4, 10-8 in a Davis Cup final rubber, 1985 on carpet in Munich, West Germany

The result gave defending champions Sweden 1-0 lead in the final, which they would go onto win 3-2. Wilander would partner Joakim Nystrom to win the doubles rubber and lose to Boris Becker in his second singles rubber. Westphal would lose the deciding rubber to Stefan Edberg

Wilander won 121 points, Westphal 90

(Note: I’m missing 1 game and 3 points
Missing game - Set 3, Game 9 - a Westphal hold
Missing points - Set 3, Game 10, Points 1-3 - 3 Wilander service points, of which he won 1, lost 2

The missing points have been included in points won total. The missing game has not been included in any way in the stats)

Serve Stats
Wilander...
- 1st serve percentage (68/99) 69%
- 1st serve points won (55/68) 81%
- 2nd serve points won (23/31) 74%
- ?? serve points won (1/3) 33%
- Aces 12
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (31/99) 31%

Westphal...
- 1st serve percentage (62/109) 57%
- 1st serve points won (46/62) 74%
- 2nd serve points won (21/47) 45%
- Aces 17, Service Winners 2
- Double Faults 7
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (35/109) 32%

Serve Patterns
Wilander served...
- to FH 52%
- to BH 41%
- to Body 7%

Westphal served....
- to FH 33%
- to BH 62%
- to Body 5%

Return Stats
Wilander made...
- 67 (24 FH, 43 BH), including 4 runaround FHs & 1 return-approach
- 4 Winners (1 FH, 3 BH)
- 16 Errors, comprising...
- 4 Unforced (3 FH, 1 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 12 Forced (5 FH, 7 BH)
- Return Rate (67/102) 66%

Westphal made...
- 68 (37 FH, 31 BH), including 3 runaround FHs & 1 runaround BH
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 19 Errors, comprising...
- 8 Unforced (5 FH, 3 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 11 Forced (8 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (68/99) 69%

Break Points
Wilander 4/12 (6 games)
Westphal 1/5 (3 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Wilander 31 (7 FH, 10 BH, 5 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 7 BHV, 1 OH)
Westphal 18 (3 FH, 5 BH, 3 FHV, 1 BHV, 6 OH)

Wilander had 9 passes (4 FH, 5 BH)
- FHs - 1 cc, 1 longline/cc at net, 1 lob and 1 'lob' (a longline shot that Westphal whiffed)
- BHs - 1 cc, 1 dtl and 3 lobs

- regular FHs - 1 cc at net, 1 dtl and 1 net chord dribbler return
- regular BHs - 1 cc return, 2 dtl returns and 1 inside-out

- 5 from serve-volley points -
- 2 first 'volleys' (1 FH1/2V, 1 BH at net)
- 2 second volleys (2 BHV)
- 1 fourth volley (1 BHV)

Westphal had 4 from serve-volley points - 2 first volleys (1 FHV, 1 OH) & 2 second volleys (2 OH)

- FHs - 1 inside-out, 1 inside-in and 1 lob return (probably unintentional)
- BHs - 3 cc (1 pass, 1 at net), 1 dtl pass and 1 inside-out

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Wilander 35
- 19 Unforced (7 FH, 10 BH, 2 BHV)
- 16 Forced (8 FH, 5 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.7

Westphal 51
- 37 Unforced (18 FH, 15 BH, 1 FHV, 2 BHV, 1 OH)
- 14 Forced (6 FH, 7 BH, 1 FHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.5

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

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Wilander was...
- 31/40 (78%) at net, including...
- 10/14 (71%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 0/1 return-approaching

Westphal was...
- 27/43 (63%) at net, including...
- 10/15 (67%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves

Match Report
Good match on a quick court, with Wilander is simply being comfortably better than his opponent

The two players play similarly of style. Good serves, standard returning. Sound, orthodox groundstrokes, with occasional forays to net. Some serve-volleying. And Mats is just that much better than Westphal at all of it

Westphal is a tall, lanky player with a 1 handed BH. Good serve, better than Mats’, but perhaps under-par for his height. Seems to prefer BH return and stands closer to center line than is orthodox in ad court. Moves over to play BH returns against body serves on that side

Off the ground, doesn’t show a preference for a wing and seems balanced of strength across wings. Amidst hitting routine groundies, likes to suddenly hit one that much harder. His BH is all arm - no shoulder or body behind the shot. Like a jab, looks almost painful. He does turn to FH when he wants to be particularly aggressive. Not net shy or averse to serve-volleying, without looking to be looking for chances to come in

He tires during the match, and is close to dropping by the end

Essentially, Mats plays the same way - and is better at all of it, with possible exception of the serve. The one area where the two players are very, very distant is passing shots. Mats is excellent, particularly with the lobs, West can almost never get a strong pass off

And Mats looks fresh as a daisy at the end. Were Wes to have been scheduled to play the doubles rubber (he didn’t play it), might have been a good idea for Mats to prolong the match and exhaust West out some more

Mats takes first serves returns early. He’s around the baseline at starting position and moves in a bit as he plays the shot. I haven’t seen Mats take returns that early - and it’s a good serve he’s up against. Not that he tries to do too much with the return, or that Wes is particularly aggressive off the third ball. Against second serves, Mats falls back to his customary position a couple paces behind, and looks to return safely, as is his norm

 

[Waspsting]

Stats & Action
Good lot of 12 aces for Mats - that’s 18% of first serves. Wes has 17 and 2 service winners, which comes to 31% - a huge figure

With healthy 57% first serves in, Wes’ rate of serving unreturnables sounds like a huge barrier to overcome in quest for victory. Mats is Mats though on the return. Anything shy of unreturnable gets returned. Just 16 return errors. And Wes is usually on baseline, not being too aggressive to start rallies, so when Mats returns the ball, dynamics soon become neutral. From where, Mats has sizable advantage

Despite big difference in unreturnable rates, unreturneds are virtually equal - Mats 31%, Wes 32%

Return errors
- UEs - Mats 4, Wes 8
- FEs - Mats 12, Wes 11 (with Wes having considerably better serve)

Gist of this is Wes’ advantage on the serve shot is roughly equal to Mats’ on the return - cancelling out and leaving serve-return complex a wash

Then they rally. Similarly. Sound, orthodox groundstrokes, occasional approaches and serve-volleys. And Mats is better at all of it

Serve-volleying - Mats 10/14, Wes 10/15
Rallying to net - 21/25, Wes 17/28

Very similar frequency of coming in. Mats doing considerably better

Passing winners - Mats 9, Wes 3 (including an accidental lob return)
‘Volley’ winners - Mats 15, Wes 10

With very similar passing errors (both have 13 ground FEs - near all of which are passing errors)

Volley UEs - Mats 2, Wes 4
‘Volley’ FEs - Mats 3, Wes 1

All very similar, with Mats being better.

And ground UEs - Mats 17, Wes 33, with both players close to evenly distributed across wings
- Mats FH 7
- Mats BH 10
- Wes BH 15
- Wes FH 18

Neutral UEs read Mats 13, Wes 20

Stats here have captured feel of play very well. Mats more consistent of the ground, both coming to net about same amount and Mats doing better there is gist of what numbers are saying - and that’s accurate

The figures are slanted a bit against Wes in that as he weakens towards end of match, his game weakens correspondingly - he makes more errors, misses more at net, passes less well (that one doesn’t actually change much - he’s barely got a good pass of all match), but that’s about it

Nutshells - two engage in orthodox baseline rallies, and Mats is more consistent off both sides in about equal measure
- 2 come to net at about same rate and Mats does better there, particulalry for passing better, though his finishing on the volley is also superior and deprieves opponent of passing chances

QED

Match Progression
Pair of easy holds to start match are followed by 2 competitive games. Mats is taken to deuce in an error riddled game, which he holds without facing break points. All but 1 point - an ace - in the game are UEs, but 2 stand out. Wes missing a high, wide BHV at 15-30, that would have given him 2 break points. And the games ending, Wes missing a routine 2nd serve return

He’s broken right after to 15. Mats comes to net after a long rally to make things 15-30. Wes is at net next point, but can only watch as a BH lob sails over his head for a winner. And its Mats turn again to take net point after, doing so with which he draws passing error and gains the break

Mats is taken to deuce again right after. Big FH inside-out forces an error and Mats’ first serve-volley of the match is met with a return to his feet. Good stuff from Wes, but FH errors keep game even. Mats again comes to net to finish it, this time with a line FHV winner

Easy holds from there to end of set

Mats breaks to start the second set. He’s at net a couple of times, including on break point, where he makes a good, reflex volley first up before winning the point with second volley. Wes once again fights back, this time taking net himself to hit 2 winners, after Mats misses easy BHV serve-volleying to bring up 2 break points. He misses makeable, but not easy returns on both points. Mat holds with an ace

No more good news for Wes in the set. Starting in the deuce game, Mats goes on a 18 service points winning run. Only point he loses is when serving out the set, a fluke lob return winner. Mats wins 24/25 service points at a stretch

Couple of other noteworthy points in second set. A very well judged, first FH1/2V winner by Mats, who eases back just enough to play the ball comfortably. And an amusing whiff, where Mats’ very weak ‘lob’ goes through about head high, as Wes fans the air around it

By start of 3rd set, Wes is showing signs of fatigue. Which aren’t helped by 3 long games. He climbs of 0-40 to hold game 3 and as has been his custom, threatens in the following game. Its an error riddled, baseline game, where Mats makes 3/10 first serves, coming off a run having made 36/45 stretching back to the first set. Mats saves 2 break points to hold

Then breaks in a winner filled, net game. 3 double faults from Wes don’t help his cause, and Mats seals the deal with his 5th net point of the game (Wes has 5 too)

Mats hits a rare BH inside-out winner in holding to love next game. Wes answers with 1 of his own the game after that

Wes evens the set with his sole break of the match. Ironically, its similar to the ones Mats has in the match - Mats missing an easy BHV serve-volleying to bring score to 30-30, West taking net twice after to break

By game 10, Wes is clearly tired. Takes a lot of effort to keep making decent first serves, that are nonetheless, a step down from what he’d dished out earlier, but his 2nd serve is like a little girls. Tired errors of the ground, not moving well (or at all) for balls, some wild shot choices. Sets on serve, but there seems no way Wes can fight out another 2 sets even if he wins this one

Which he doesn’t. FH errors get him broken to go down 8-9, before Mats serves it out to love. Nifty exchange at net in the final game, where Mats needs 4 volleys to get a winner

Summing up, good, if simple match. Two players playing in same style, where one is just better than the other at almost everything

Westphal has the more damaging serve, but Wilander is the surer returner - leaving serve-return contest about equal

Trading groundstrokes, Wilander is more secure. Both come to net about the same amount - serve-volleying or otherwise - and Wilander is cleaner in his finishing at net and in his passes

Westphal doesn’t disgrace himself. Only area he’s black-mark degree off is the pass and he scarcely gets a good one off. Wilander on the same front is very good, especially with his perfect lobs

And Wilander is fitter as insurance for his general superiority

Stats for second rubber between Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg - Match Stats/Report - Becker vs Edberg, Davis Cup final rubber, 1985 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)

 

[urban]

I remember quite well the last rubber, the match between Westphal and Edberg for the Cup. Becker had won both his singles. Westphal was over his head in those ties, aginst much better players but tried all he could do. In the last match he tried to overrun Edberg. starting with a tremendous pace, and indeed won the first set, before running out of steam. Before in the previous round vs. the Czechs, Westphal had beaten Smid in a vital, ultra long rubber at Frankfurt, when the surface carpet split and had to be repaired. Sadly, Westphal later died on HIV.