stats for 1979 US Open F(McEnroe-Gerulaitis)

[Moose Malloy]

score 7-5,6-3,6-3

McEnroe was seeded 3 & Vitas was 4

Mac had 3 aces, 3 doubles

Vitas had 2 aces, 7 doubles

Mac had 37 winners: 5 forehands, 10 backhands, 17 volleys, 5 overheads

Vitas had 16 winners: 2 forehands, 4 backhands, 8 volleys, 2 overheads

Mac was 4 of 16 on breakpoints, Vitas 1 of 3.

After Mac was broken in the 10th game of the 1st set(when he was serving for it) he didn't face another break point until the last game of the match.

krosero does the NY Times have any stats on this?

after the match was over, a lot of people were milling about around the court. One guy picked up Vitas' racquet & Vitas pushed him & snatched the racquet back. The guy then just wandered over to Mac & shook his hand.
I was watching an Italian feed, so have no idea what that was about.

I recall fans rushing the court & picking Vilas up when he won in '77, guess security was still a little lacking back then.

 

[Jonny S&V]

score 7-5,6-3,6-3

McEnroe was seeded 3 & Vitas was 4

Mac had 3 aces, 3 doubles

Vitas had 2 aces, 7 doubles

Mac had 37 winners: 5 forehands, 10 backhands, 17 volleys, 5 overheads

Vitas had 16 winners: 2 forehands, 4 backhands, 8 volleys, 2 overheads

Mac was 4 of 16 on breakpoints, Vitas 1 of 3.

After Mac was broken in the 10th game of the 1st set(when he was serving for it) he didn't face another break point until the last game of the match.

krosero does the NY Times have any stats on this?

after the match was over, a lot of people were milling about around the court. One guy picked up Vitas' racquet & Vitas pushed him & snatched the racquet back. The guy then just wandered over to Mac & shook his hand.
I was watching an Italian feed, so have no idea what that was about.

I recall fans rushing the court & picking Vilas up when he won in '77, guess security was still a little lacking back then.

Wow, thanks for the stats. Was this match not very clean? Seems like Mac either wasn't serving at a high percentage or was just spinning in serves so he could finish it off with his trademark volley. What were the serving percentages for both of them (didn't realize Vitas double-faulted that much).

 

[Moose Malloy]

deleted post

 

[krosero]

krosero does the NY Times have any stats on this?

Only that it lasted 2 hours 14 minutes.

A fairly high winner rate for McEnroe.

Please always include service percentages when you have them. I'd love to see them, not just for the service quality but also it gives me a way to see how long the match was. Straight-set victories, I suspect strongly, are going to have different winner-per-game ratios than close matches, but the only way to know is to get a count of the total points. I've done it myself for 84W and some other blowouts before 1991 (the year the ATP starts providing that stat).

 

[Moose Malloy]

my revised stats:

Mac served at 58.5%(48 of 82)
He won 36 of 48 pts on 1st serve(75%)
and 25 of 34 on 2nd(73.5%)
3 aces, 3 doubles
drew 16 return errors(4 on 2nd serve)
4 service winners
5-16 on break points(Vitas made 1st serves on 6 of them)

Vitas served at 51%(54 of 105)
He won 37 of 54 pts on 1st serve(68.5%)
and 22 of 51 on 2nd(43%)
2 aces, 7 doubles
drew 18 return errors(6 were on 2nd serve)
1-3 on break points(Mac made 1st serves on all 3)

Mac won 107 pts, Vitas 80

Mac had 39 non service winners: 6 fh, 10 bh, 12 fhv, 5 bhv, 5 ov
Vitas had 17: 2 fh, 4 bh, 7 fhv, 3 bhv, 1 ov

passing shot winners
Mac: 5 fh, 9 bh
Vitas: 1 fh, 4 bh

both players had 11 unforced errors(not counting doubles)
I had Vitas with 1 ue in the 3rd set

watching this again I was struck by how fast Mac was. he was making incredible gets, running down everything(ending up in the stands at one point)
basically playing like someone who badly wanted a USO title.

 

[Moose Malloy]

here are some stats on the last 2 sets of the Gerulaitis-Tanner semifinal

Tanner served at 40%(23 of 58)
Gerulaitis served at 65%(36 of 55)

Tanner had 3 aces, 3 doubles
Gerulaitis had 2 aces, 2 doubles

Tanner drew 8 return errors
Gerulaitis drew 15

Gerulaitis was 3-5 on break points
Tanner was 0-1

There were only 2 break points in the 5th set(one from each player), I though it was a high quality set, after a dip from Tanner in the 4th. Tanner had more winners than Vitas in the 5th.

 

[kiki]

Great statistics
Both players had an amazing season and I guess that clash decided the number 4 position
Vitas deserved it and had a better record at majors
I think, career wise Gerulaitis is a notch above Tanner

 

[Gizo]

Mac was incredible in his last two matches at the USO that year. He was young, hungry, fast and fearless. While 1984 was his best year overall and 1980 was his toughest draw, I think that his best standard of tennis at the business end of the US Open actually came when he won his first title there that year.

 

[krosero]

Going with your UE count:

McEnroe’s Aggressive Margin was 40%.
Gerulaitis’ was 27%.

That is just tremendous from McEnroe. He hit the zone in his first GS final.

Compare that to a similar performance in the 2000 final: Safin's Aggressive Margin was 32% (Sampras' was 22%).

 

[krosero]

McEnroe served on 82 points and 19 serves did not come back: 23.2%
Gerulaitis served on 105 points and 20 serves did not come back: 19.0%

 

[krosero]

Mac served at 58.5%(48 of 82)
He won 36 of 48 pts on 1st serve(75%)
and 25 of 34 on 2nd(73.5%)

Vitas served at 51%(54 of 105)
He won 37 of 54 pts on 1st serve(68.5%)
and 22 of 51 on 2nd(43%)

Unbelievably good number for Mac on second serve. I know Vitas was not a returner like Connors/Borg, but nevertheless to put up numbers like that on second serve, with a wood racquet, is impressive.

McEnroe's second serve was definitely the best in the game at the time.

Here are the overall figures for points on which serves were returned successfully:

McEnroe 64% on first serve (21/33) and 78% on second (21/27).
Gerulaitis 58% on first serve (23/40) and 42% on second (16/38 ).

 

[kiki]

Mc Enroe had no QF match since Dibbs retired with injury

 

[Gizo]

Their 5 set 1981 semi-final at the USO was completely different.

McEnroe was pretty subpar that day and didn't look overly confident at the net actually. He admitted that he was lucky to win. But Vitas had an awful lot of break points that he couldn't convert.

Both players berated the umpire a lot. McEnroe shanked a volley on match point which appeared to land out but was called good. Vitas wanted it to be overruled and when this was refused ranted and swore at the umpire for a while, while Mac stood waiting at the net. Earlier in the 5th set, Mac was enraged when a point that he won was replayed after a fan had thrown a loose ball onto the court during the middle of it. Lively stuff. There's no doubt that most of the crowd were firmly rooting for Vitas against his fellow New Yorker that day.

Vitas had come through another eventful 5 set match in the 4th round against Lendl of course. He again lost his temper a lot, having fired a ball at a lineswoman that actually hit a spectator in the leg. He was 2 sets and a break up when Lendl drilled him with a forehand into the forehand that floored him. He tried to repeat that in the 5th set but Vitas ducked out of the way and hit a volley winner to grab the crucial break.

 

[kiki]

Their 5 set 1981 semi-final at the USO was completely different.

McEnroe was pretty subpar that day and didn't look overly confident at the net actually. He admitted that he was lucky to win. But Vitas had an awful lot of break points that he couldn't convert.

Both players berated the umpire a lot. McEnroe shanked a volley on match point which appeared to land out but was called good. Vitas wanted it to be overruled and when this was refused ranted and swore at the umpire for a while, while Mac stood waiting at the net. Earlier in the 5th set, Mac was enraged when a point that he won was replayed after a fan had thrown a loose ball onto the court during the middle of it. Lively stuff. There's no doubt that most of the crowd were firmly rooting for Vitas against his fellow New Yorker that day.

Vitas had come through another eventful 5 set match in the 4th round against Lendl of course. He again lost his temper a lot, having fired a ball at a lineswoman that actually hit a spectator in the leg. He was 2 sets and a break up when Lendl drilled him with a forehand into the forehand that floored him. He tried to repeat that in the 5th set but Vitas ducked out of the way and hit a volley winner to grab the crucial break.

Loved those hot Ivan vs Vitas matches.To me one of the greatest rivalries ever because it just happen to spur the best of each.Almost all their matches were extremely competitive, and their exos were incredible.That was something.

Nice you brought the 1981 USO semi and 4 th round match.Broadway Vitas, after one and a half year playing very erratically, came back to the top.

He was a very temperamental player.Later that year, I think he was defaulted in the final of the Sidney Indoors against Peter Mc Namara.

 

[Moose Malloy]

Unbelievably good number for Mac on second serve. I know Vitas was not a returner like Connors/Borg, but nevertheless to put up numbers like that on second serve, with a wood racquet, is impressive.

I had him at 75.5% on 2nd serve pts won vs Alexander in Davis Cup that year.

 

[krosero]

I had him at 75.5% on 2nd serve pts won vs Alexander in Davis Cup that year.

That was on grass, but equally impressive.

Then the next summer at Wimbledon he had 63% on 2nd serve against Borg.

 

[Moose Malloy]

here are some stats on the last 2 sets of the Gerulaitis-Tanner semifinal

Tanner served at 40%(23 of 58)
Gerulaitis served at 65%(36 of 55)

Tanner had 3 aces, 3 doubles
Gerulaitis had 2 aces, 2 doubles

Tanner drew 8 return errors
Gerulaitis drew 15

Gerulaitis was 3-5 on break points
Tanner was 0-1

There were only 2 break points in the 5th set(one from each player), I though it was a high quality set, after a dip from Tanner in the 4th. Tanner had more winners than Vitas in the 5th.

USTA added nice highlights of this SF. wish they would post the full match.

 

[WCT]

Boy, some of those points illustrate how Vitas could cover court. And Tanner is the much bigger hitter with clearly inferior movement to Gerulaitis. I'd like to see the entire match as well. Months back, they showed highlights from all the Mcenroe/Connors matches. The most I've ever seen from their 1978 match. Maybe 15-20 points.

Both that one and this match were joined in progress by CBS. The first mens semi used to start at 11 AM and I think CBS came on at noon. It was that way into the 80s. But you can see from these highlights, looking at the courtside scoreboard, that they are showing points from early in the first set. So maybe all the video exists even if it wasn't televised,

Probably recorded it as backup in case the other matches went really quickly or there was an injury. Anyway, there doesn't seem to be any consistent strategy to how they upload matches. They have uploaded complete matches. It's not like they are against it. I just wish they'd do it with some of these partials.

 

[Gizo]

I thoroughly enjoyed the Gerulaitis-Tanner SF.

In the first 2 sets, Tanner was killing Vitas with his big serve and power hitting, and also punishing Vitas's weak 2nd serve. When Vitas foot-faulted to conceded the break at the start of the 3rd set (and then tried to hit a ball at the line judge who made that call), it looked to be all over for him. But then his serving improved dramatically to the extent that Tanner could barely get a look-in on it, and he chipped low returns diffusing Tanner's power and giving him no pace or angle on the first volley. So match transformed from being a power contest on Tanner's terms, to a cat and mouse contest on Vitas's terms, and he was able to use his variety and full repetoire of shots to bamboozle Tanner.

Most of their matches followed that same pattern, with Tanner making a strong start and initially overwhelming Vitas with his power, before Vitas began to deal with it, switch the pace a lot and throw junk and other things at him. Tanner struggled to deal with that. It was interesting that Tanner's one win over Vitas (that's recognised) came on har-tru, with Vitas of course the far superior player on clay (Tanner was a major 'victim' of Forest Hills switching from grass to har-tru from 1975-1977).