Match Stats/Report - Zverev vs Berrettini, Madrid final, 2021

[Waspsting]

Alex Zverev beat Matteo Berrettini 6-7(8), 6-4, 6-3 in the Madrid final, 2021 on clay

Zverev had previously won the title in 2018. It was Berrettini’s first Masters final and he would finish runner-up at Wimbledon later in the year

Zverev won 107 points, Berrettini 98

Serve Stats
Zverev...
- 1st serve percentage (66/95) 69%
- 1st serve points won (50/66) 76%
- 2nd serve points won (16/29) 55%
- Aces 5 (1 second serve)
- Double Faults 7
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (28/95) 29%

Berrettini...
- 1st serve percentage (74/110) 67%
- 1st serve points won (53/74) 72%
- 2nd serve points won (16/36) 44%
- Aces 7, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (22/110) 20%

Serve Patterns
Zverev served...
- to FH 48%
- to BH 52%

Berrettini served...
- to FH 34%
- to BH 61%
- to Body 6%

Return Stats
Zverev made...
- 87 (31 FH, 56 BH)
- 14 Errors, comprising...
- 3 Unforced (2 FH, 1 BH)
- 11 Forced (3 FH, 8 BH)
- Return Rate (87/109) 80%

Berrettini made...
- 60 (29 FH, 31 BH)
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 23 Errors, comprising...
- 7 Unforced (5 FH, 2 BH)
- 16 Forced (6 FH, 10 BH)
- Return Rate (60/88) 68%

Break Points
Zverev 4/8 (6 games)
Berrettini 1/3 (2 games)

Winners (excluding serves, including returns)
Zverev 10 (6 FH, 1 BH, 3 OH)
Berrettini 24 (16 FH, 2 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV, 3 OH)

Zverev's FHs - 1 cc, 2 inside-out (1 at net), 2 inside-in, 1 running-down-drop-shot dtl pass at net
- BH pass- 1 cc slice at net

Berrettini's FHs - 2 cc (1 return), 3 dtl, 1 dtl/inside-out, 3 inside-out, 4 inside-in, 3 drop shots (2 at net)
- BHs - 1 dtl, 1 running-down-drop-shot cc at net

- 1 OH was a non-net shot

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Zverev 45
- 26 Unforced (14 FH, 11 BH, 1 BHV)
- 19 Forced (10 FH, 8 BH, 1 FHV)... with 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.5

Berrettini 68
- 51 Unforced (30 FH, 20 BH, 1 OH)... 1 BH was a wrong challeng & the OH was on the bounce from just behind the service line
- 17 Forced (11 FH, 5 BH, 1 FHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47.6

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

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Zverev was 13/16 (81%) at net

Berrettini was 17/21 (81%) at net, with...
- 1/2 forced back/retreated

Match Report
Server controlled, competitive match and typical solid Zverev showing as he ultimately wears Berrettini down with greater consistency and shot-resistance

Just 4 breaks in the match and 2 come near the end when Ber finally wobbles enough to lose serve. He’d been second best for most of match in sense of holding less easily than opponent, but still, holding with fair comfort

Fat serving and steadiness from the back define the match
Both serve big. 130-140mph serving is common, though usually not wide at high in counts (Zver 69%, Ber 67%). Zver has some (unimportant) double faulting trouble (he has 7, Ber just 1). Both handle the big power on the return well, Zver more so

Fat serving, even with moderate freebies (Zver 29%, Ber 20%) is good for both players to dominate first serve points (Zver wins 76%, Ber 72%), leaving things to be played out on second serves

Second serve points won - Zver 55%, Ber 44%. That’s with Zver handing over 7 doubles, Ber 1
In light of high in counts, that’s not necessarily enough to be decisive, but it shows which way the wind is blowing

Court action is mostly about who can keep ball in play longer in firm rallies. Hitting is contained and firm - not ‘powerful’ but closer to it than pushing/passive. Denying opponent openings to attack (for Zver, necessarily so), moderately pressuring stuff. Zver plays dual winged, Ber favouring FH

UEs - Zver 26, Ber 51 (just 1 non-groundie for each player)
Speaks for itself, significantly back-cut by winners (Zver 10, Ber 24), but still, the biggest part of the contest and Zver handsomely having better of it. Ber’s attempts to attack also not working too well - both for Zver offering stout resistance and Ber just not being too good at upping things to higher gear

First serve in - Zver 69%, Ber 67%
With typical first serve speeds in 130-140mph range, direction not wide and readily coverable
Despite limited aggressive placement, pace like that at counts that high is potentially devastating - both to draw errors and weak returns. Especially in Madrid, where returns tend to ‘fly’ out

Unreturned rates - Zver 29%, Ber 20%
That’s a good job returning from both players, especially Zver. Neither return from too far back either and wouldn’t blame them if they did. Zver putting more returns in play, Zver making fewer soft returns
Ber going wider with the serve more often and he leads first serve ace/service winner rate 11% to 6%. Low rates for such power serving, getting to conservative serve placement

Return UEs - Zver 3, Ber 7
Return FEs - Zver 11, Ber 16

Very good from Zver in particular. He misses very little that’s simple and makes more tough returns too
Quality mostly about consistency and minimizing downright weak returns. In other words, little damaging returning by either player. Would take some doing against the calibre of serves on show

Zver double faulting high 24% second serves (Ber just once or 3%). Products of going big. Which he can afford, with 69% first serves in. Potential ace calibre second serve miss loses him critical point in first set tiebreak. Otherwise, not much of a practical problem. He goes for big seconds much of the time

Adding double faults to unreturned serves, points won - both 29, setting nice even stage for court action, where...

 

[Waspsting]

Winners - Zver 10, Ber 24
Errors forced - Zver 17, Ber 19
UEs - Zver 26, Ber 51

Action doesn’t change much through the match; firm hitting, probing baseline rallies, with Beri more top spinny with the FH occasionally. Zver plays dual winged, Beri usually moves over to play FHs when he can. Rallies are not short. Its not a sloppy match

Negligible, bona fida net play. Both players win 81% of their net point (Zver 13/16, Ber17/21). Almost all of it is crushingly easy approaches set up by the serve, near token approaches. Most of what little isn’t come about from Beri’s drop shots. With 81% winning rates, clearly a very good way to finish

All that’s side-show to main item of consistency battle off the ground.

Baseline UEs (and winners) by shot -
- Zver BH 11 and 1
- Zver FH 14 and 6
- Ber BH 20 and 2
- Ber FH 30 and 16

Errors forced - both 10

UE counts speak for themselves; Zver twice as consistent off both wings
Contrary to raw numbers, but hinted at by winners, Ber’s BH the most vulnerable shot on show because its in action a lot less than his FH

While Zver plays of both wings about equally, Ber plays FHs much as possible. As match goes on, he ceases moving around as much and accepts more BHs, but realistically, if Zver rallies 50-50 across wings, Ber’s done so about 70-30

For BH to still cop 20 UEs, it’s been the loosest shot on show. Still, even Ber’s BH is decent and doesn’t give up the errors quickly. Takes time, takes probing. Zver just better at keeping ball in play, not Ber’s BH being an error machine

Ber’s FH with comfily match high 30 UEs is about it doing roughly 70% of the neutral rallying (and not being as secure as either of Zver’s shots) and also being by far the most aggressive shot and with that, comes aggressive errors (which other shots don’t make because they don’t go for them)
It has 16 winners, all other shots put together (including net shots) total 18

Neutral UEs - Zver 12, Ber 24
Largely self-explanatory, and to repeat, in decent length rallies and not with sloppy play. Zver’s better shot tolerance is factor too in keeping edgy rallies to neutral because he doesn’t give up weak balls from balls with potential to draw weaker replies

Attacking UEs - Zver 11, Ber 15
Errors forced - Zver 17 (10 baseline rallies, 6 passes, 1 volley), Ber 19 (10 baseline rallies, 8 passes, 1 volley)

Zver’s defence and shot resistance more a factor here. He’s tough to push back and even then, tough to finish off. More so than Ber, whose shot tolerance and defence are normal
Credit Zver here, not discredit Ber

Funnily, spearhead of Zver’s limited offence is FH inside-in. Its BH cc’s that put Ber in ad court (not wide in corner) and when Zver chooses to be aggressive, its with back-away FH inside-in, not BH dtl he turns to from there
All 10 errors Zver forces in baseline rallies are FHs, most of them drawn by his own FH. Just one the dangers of moving over to play FHs regularly

Winners - Zver 10 (6 FH, 1 BH, 3 volleys), Ber 24 (16 FH, 2 BH, 6 ‘volleys’)
Winner attempt UEs - Zver 3, Ber 12

10 winners in 3 sets is decidedly low. Outlasted in neutral rallies, onus falls on Beri to attack. With just 1 ‘net’ UE (its an OH on bounce from just behind service line, technically, a non-net shot) and easy enough volleys, almost all of Ber’s misses are FHs. Middling success, would need to be better, givng his consistency handicap

Gist - decent length neutral rallies with Zver more consistent and Zver defensively stout enough to keep Ber’s success with measured FH attacking play down to come out on top. Not much aggression from Zver, but he limits opponent’s chances to get on front foot and handles himself well on back foot

Match Progression
Close and tough opening set, with hunky serving at the center. Zver is good at returning powerful serves, but Ber misses a few more but isn’t bad. Ber throwing out a few FH winners and attacing drop shots. He’s not very good with the droppers

Most action is solidly strong exchange of groundies. Ber doesn’t play a BH if he can help it

Long opening, with Ber needing 16 points to hold for 1-1 and Zver being taken to deuce game after. Zver doing well to return steadily in his return game, as he’d be all match. Has just 1 break point, where Ber pins him back with series of FH inside-outs and finishes with a nifty FH drop shot winner. Ber doesn’t have break point game after and gets to deuce after defending his way to Zver missing an easy FH putaway

Trade of breaks to move from 3-3 to 4-4
Zver gives up the ground UEs and loses a point where he’s drop shotted into to net to be broken to 30
Bad game of missed FHs by Ber to level up by same score

No more breaks or break points going into tiebreak. Zver’s served 34 points, Ber 44 points to get there; the early 16 point game accounts for it entirely

Ber’s always incharge of the ‘breaker, opening up a 5-0 lead. Mini-breaks to open with a very decisive FH inside-out. Wins next 2 return points too - the first with a surprise BH dtl/inside-out that catches Zver out and forces another error
Missed slice and third ball FH drop shot UE get Zver on board, but he’s down 5-6 set point returning awhile later. Draws a makeable, running FH FE with a line BH to get things back on serve, btu still down set point
Long, grueling rally ends with a leading Ber missing a pressing-for-advantage FH, with Zver counter-punching well for the rally and its 6-6. Zver smacks down ace to raise his first (and it turns out, only) set point
Server wins next 3 points by taking net to stay at 8-8, when Zver misses a big second serve. Beri’s wide first serve after that doesn’t come back

The serving is slightly less strong in second set and court action continues along same lines as before. Ber holds his first 3 service games to love, to take his run of consecutive serve points won to 15, Zver loses a few points for in holding pretty comfily too

Couple of moderate FH inside-out misses end Ber’s service points streak and he has to save a break point in game 7 with typical, serve set up overwhelming net point before closing with third ball FH winner and
drop shot
Zver turns it up with aggressive FHs to hold for 4-4 after
And then set’s sole break. Ber hitting and missing with big FHs, before turning to drop shot. He hasn’t played many, but they’ve been well set up and caught Zver out but Zver’s onto this one in a hurray and comes away with a neat BH slice winner net-to-net. Ber double faults to complete the break

Zver onto another drop shot quickly to take net-to-net point to finish the serve out and level the match

Third set is a little different, with Ber’s play along lines of tiring slightly. He plays more BHs than earlier in match and is quicker to go for aggressive FHs. Not wild or trigger happy, but subtley different from essential sound choices earlier

Couple of double faults gets Zver into trouble and he’s down break point in game 4. Knocks away rare third ball FH inside-out winner to save it and defends a powerful shot before winning next point before holding
Zver breaks for 3-2. Ber starts the game with an odd BH dtl slice error. Ber goes on to lose the game missing winner attempt FHs, but in good rallies, with Zver making 2 great gets for one of them

Awhile later, Zver breaks again to end the match in 12 point game. Good rallies for most of the game, but Ber with a horror putaway OH on the bounce from around service line miss raises break point. He saves that one, but loses next 2 points to tame BH UEs

Summing up, good, solid, sound match, Zverev’s good - specifically of consistency and shot toerlance, including on the return. Berrettini’s not bad but trails

Both players with big serves, conservatively placed. Berrettini more aggressive and Zverev with a little double faulting trouble
Zverev commendably secure in returning. More so than opponent, who isn’t bad

Baseline action features probing, firm hitting rallies with consistency and shot-tolerance tested in good length rallies. Zverev better on both fronts, playing balanced game, Berrettini not bad but trailing while looking for FHs as much as possible
Berrettini attacking some with FH and drop shots but often thwarted by Zverev’s resistance and defence and Zverev giving up no easy balls. Neither does Berrettini, but Zverev winning consistency contest means he doesn’t need them to grind out points

 

[Berrettini_Fan]

Berrettini hit more way more winners! He should've won

 

[Third Serve]

Really wanted Berrettini to win this. Actually not a bad match tbh

 

[Galvermegs]

Zverev really is very good on clay. He should have won a rg title by now.. was definitely unlucky against an aging nadal a few years back.

Matteo is such a good competitor but tends to come up short against the very best in semis and finals. Definitely a fun style of player and he seems to enjoy the day job.