Stats for 1980 RG final (Borg-Gerulaitis)

[krosero]

Borg d. Gerulaitis 6-4, 6-1, 6-2

This win put Borg up 18-0 in his H2H with Gerulaitis.

Borg was broken twice, Gerulaitis 8 times. Vitas did not hold serve at all in the second set.

Borg won 91 of 157 points (or 58%). He gave up 27 points on serve and won more points on Gerulaitis’ serve than Vitas did (44 vs. 39).

Borg made 51 of 74 first serves (69%).
Gerulaitis made 49 of 83 first serves (59%)

Borg was serving harder than in the 1978 final, but only for the first set. Late in that set he started spinning in his first serve.

Neither man served an ace. Borg had 1 double-fault, Gerulaitis 3. Vitas made two of his doubles on break point.

I gave Gerulaitis 3 service winners, in addition to aces.


Borg made 33 winners: 12 FH, 6 BH, 5 FHV, 4 BHV, 6 overheads.

Gerulaitis made 23 winners: 4 FH, 2 BH, 7 FHV, 5 BHV, 5 overheads.

This is the highest rate of winners per game that I have found for Borg so far.

Gerulaitis' numbers at net are not surprising, but I was surprised to see Borg with so many volley winners.

Two of Borg’s 5 winning forehand volleys were swinging volleys.

Borg made four service return winners, but one occurred when Gerulaitis mistakenly let it go by at the net. Three of the returns were passes.

Apart from returns, Borg made 9 passing shots (7 FH).

Gerulaitis was trying to hit short to Borg and lob him. Borg did not let lobs bounce and failed to put away some overheads; that is how he was broken in the first set. But he eventually found his timing at the net. And Gerulaitis' short balls couldn't quite get away from Borg's forehand. That's why Borg has so few passing shots off the backhand -- Gerulaitis was not employing a conventional strategy of hitting and approaching deep to the backhand.

Gerulaitis made two passing shots, and one service return winner – but that one took place when Borg broke his racquet and could do no more than kick the ball.

Neither man had a lob winner. Gerulaitis lobbed Borg a lot, but did not topspin it; he was just trying to induce errors.

 

[AndrewD]

krosero,

What are you basing those stats on? Have you been able to locate a copy of the match?

 

[jaggy]

How did Vitas even get to the final of the French? Didnt he have a fast court game?

 

[krosero]

krosero,

What are you basing those stats on? Have you been able to locate a copy of the match?

Usually in my posts I differentiate between stats that I count myself and published stats. In this case I didn't do it because I counted them all myself; I found no published stats for this match. I bought a copy from Rick.

 

[krosero]

How did Vitas even get to the final of the French? Didnt he have a fast court game?

Vitas won an Australian Open on grass and he got to the final at the USO in '79, but he also won the Italian Open in 1977 and 1979 (the latter over Vilas in five sets). In 1980 he beat Connors in a five-set semifinal.

 

[hoodjem]

My memory has been know to be fallible, but my recollection was that Vitas had a very respectable all-surface game, but did mostly favor faster surfaces.

Again in my recollection, he was mainly a serve-and-volleyer with good footspeed and very nice touch, but not much of a baseliner.

I think he played with a Wilson Jack Kramer Autograph, (which was a more flexible, touch player's wooden racquet, not a stiffer, power racquet).

 

[krosero]

Posted this YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGvgXpuSKaE

 

[Moose Malloy]

^so which one was Cochet(at the awards ceremony)? a while back you mentioned an article where Borg said Cochet was short with Borg when giving him the trophy. Someone in that clip seemed very friendly with Borg(maybe Borotra?)

and one service return winner – but that one took place when Borg broke his racquet and could do no more than kick the ball.

do you remember at what point in the match this was?

at bit surprised at the winner rate, since it was on clay with wood racquets. but it did involve a S&V player.

 

[krosero]

^so which one was Cochet(at the awards ceremony)? a while back you mentioned an article where Borg said Cochet was short with Borg when giving him the trophy. Someone in that clip seemed very friendly with Borg(maybe Borotra?)

True, that was the Times report the next day: http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=143501

Cochet seems to be the one in white handing Borg the trophy. On Borg's left is the man who seems most friendly to him (actually to both of the finalists), and I think that's Borotra.

I've seen them before but I'm not trusting my memory; I'm going just on the French commentary (listening for the names) and the Times report that Cochet handed him the trophy.

do you remember at what point in the match this was?

I marked it down as set 2, game 2.

at bit surprised at the winner rate, since it was on clay with wood racquets. but it did involve a S&V player.

Yes, Borg passed Gerulaitis in one way or another 11 times, compared to 2 passes for Vitas.

But as I noted, Borg's total of volley winners is very high too. Gerulaitis was bringing him in a lot, so some of this has to do with the particular strategy chosen.

I also am not surprised that this is the highest rate of winners per game that I've found for Borg so far, against a man he never lost to. It's a little like the Federer-Roddick matchup; it just works out very favorably for the better player.

 

[krosero]

Additional stats

Some new stats.

Borg made 13 unforced errors: 6 FH, 3 BH, 3 overheads, 1 DF
Gerulaitis made 36 unforced errors: 14 FH, 8 BH, 5 FHV, 5 BHV, 1 overhead, 3 DF

Borg made 30 forced errors: 12 FH, 15 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV
Gerulaitis made 22 forced errors: 9 FH, 7 BH, 4 FHV, 2 BHV

Borg made 13 return errors (3 unforced). Gerulaitis made 9 return errors (4 unforced).


Borg won 35 of 51 points on first serve (69%) and 12 of 23 on second (52%).

Gerulaitis won 28 of 49 points on first serve (57%) and 11 of 34 on second (32%).

Borg made his first serve on 3 of 5 break points, Gerulaitis on 6 of 11.


Borg won 29 of 41 net points (71%), Gerulaitis 47 of 84 (56%).

Gerulaitis often hit short to bring Borg in, but as you can see from the stats Borg handled it without much problem.

Gerulaitis told the press that you have to play Borg short, lob him, and disrupt his rhythm.

(Panatta seemed to have more success drawing Borg to net in the 1978 Rome final.)

Again, as in '78, Borg won the tournament without dropping a set.

After Borg's win over Solomon in the semis, Solomon's coah, Paul Cohen, said to the press, “I don’t know if people know what they’re watching when they see Borg, but they’re watching the greatest player in history on clay.”

 

[krosero]

So Borg has a comfortable lead over Gerulaitis in winners and in forcing errors. Based on that you could say he was more successfully aggressive than Vitas.

But Borg's really big margin is in the UE -- though it's no surprise that this category is where Borg would be winning his matches on clay.

What's interesting is how closely this pattern repeats itself. In the '78 final Borg was pratically tied with Vilas in winners and also in the category of forced errors, but the UE gap was huge. Same thing in the '79 final with Pecci: the two men practically tied in winners and in forced errors, but it was no contest in the UE category.

 

[WCT]

krosero, are these forced and unforced error stats something new that you are trying? I don't recall seeing them, in your stats, before. Least not in this detail.

Are you using a particular meathod to determine forced vs unforced? For example, what degree of difficulty is involved for you to consider a missed volley forced?

 

[krosero]

krosero, are these forced and unforced error stats something new that you are trying? I don't recall seeing them, in your stats, before. Least not in this detail.

Are you using a particular meathod to determine forced vs unforced? For example, what degree of difficulty is involved for you to consider a missed volley forced?

It's true, I only did these stats for a few matches. I'm basically following the principles laid out in this interview with Leo Levin from some years back.

***************************

Designation of an Unforced Error
Q. What are the criteria for designating a shot an unforced error?
-Rolland LeBlanc, Saratoga Springs, NY

A. For this one we deferred to the industry expert, the renowned Dr. Leo Levin of IDS Sports, who does or has done statistics for all of the major tennis tournaments and then some. He's also the person who came up with the term "unforced error" in 1982. Here's what he said.

"By definition, there are only three ways to end a point - with a winner, forced error or unforced error. The idea of an error being either forced or unforced is to place the blame for the error - who is responsible for the missed shot? Was the error forced by the aggressive play of the opponent or was it unforced, just a mistake by the player who hit the shot?"

"This is how we train our staff to judge an unforced error. An unforced Error is when the player has time to prepare and position himself or herself to get the ball back in play and makes an error. This is a shot that the player would normally get back into play. The real keys here are time and position. When the opponent takes away time by hitting the prior shot with extra pace this can result in a forced error. Also, when the opponent forces the player out of position with placement (depth and/or angle) this can result in a forced error."

"As examples, most missed returns of first serves are considered to be forced errors - forced by the pace and placement of the opponent's serve. Many, if not most return errors against second serves, would be unforced errors since most second serves are just means to get the point started and do not put extra pressure on the receiver."

"Other examples, most passing shot attempts that fail would be classified as forced errors, forced by the opponent's aggressive play (the exception would be when an opponent hits a weak approach and the player has time to setup and then misses the shot, that would be unforced). Most approach shot errors would be unforced because the player is attempting to hit an aggressive shot and misses."

"Another way to look at it is this. Would you classify the prior shot as "weak" or just "in play" Or would you say it was "forcing" or "aggressive"? An error made off of a "weak" or "in play" shot would be unforced. An error resulting from a "forcing" or "aggressive shot" would be forced."

"By definition double faults are unforced errors."

 

[krosero]

Gerulaitis made a few volley errors that were somewhat difficult to judge. If he was forced to lunge to the side and to volley a low ball, it's forced. But a couple of volleys he was not really required to move much -- but he still had to volley a low dipping ball. It wasn't a sitter above the height of the net. So is that a forced error?

On one of those I put it down as unforced, because Vitas was there, and the ball he had to volley was low but not ripped right at his feet. In the terms used in the interview above, Borg was putting a shot "in play." He wasn't trying to win the point outright with that shot: he was dipping the ball low for the attacker to volley up. Gerulaitis didn't make the volley at all, so I put it down as unforced.

 

[Vegito]

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