Stats for 1991 AO Final (Becker-Lendl)

[Moose Malloy]

Becker d Lendl 16,64,64,64


Lendl had 35 non service winners: 12 FH, 18 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV, 2 OH
Becker had 28 non service winners: 7 FH, 10 BH, 5 FHV, 5 BHV, 1 OH

Winners by set:

Lendl 6, 11, 11, 7
Becker 3, 7, 11, 7

Lendl had 5 return winners, all backhands. He had 17 passing shots.
Becker had 4 return winners, 2 FH, 2 BH. He had 3 passing shots.
Neither player hit a lob winner.

Lendl had 25 unreturned serves(I didn't count service winners for this match)
Becker had 30.

From the atp site:

Lendl won 119 points, Becker 117.

Lendl had 9 aces, 3 doubles.
Becker had 9 aces, 4 doubles.

Aces by set:
Lendl 4, 4, 0, 1
Becker 2, 1, 2, 4

Lendl was 3/12 on break points, Becker 4/8.
Becker didn't break serve until 5-4 in the 2nd set.

my net stats:

Becker was 23/48. Lendl was 10/14.

krosero, how did this compare to the '89 USO final, stats-wise?

 

[Lendl and Federer Fan]

Can you post some statistics of the great matches that Lendl actually won? :twisted:

 

[krosero]

Lendl had 4 return winners, all backhands. He had 16 passing shots.
Becker had 4 return winners, 2 FH, 2 BH. He had 3 passing shots.

Just want to be clear, do these passing shots include returns?

 

[Moose Malloy]

Just want to be clear, do these passing shots include returns?

Yes. But I don't know how many of the returns were passes, I just make a check in each box that applies.

I'm curious what the stats were like in the '86 W final, since Lendl had more winners than Becker in 2 of his major finals losses to him.

 

[Q&M son]

Thanks moose!

 

[krosero]

Lendl won 119 points, Becker 117.

Interesting, but I guess that 6-1 set must be what gave Lendl the lead. And he tied Becker in overall points in the USO final, where he also took a 6-1 set.

Becker was 23/48. Lendl was 10/14.

Per the LA Times and Philly Inquirer and a few others, Becker won 5 of 14 approaches in the second set. Per the Inquirer, he won 10 of 16 in the third set.

Couldn't find anything on winners or ue.

But, when Lendl beat Becker at the '92 USO, he had 10 aces, 4 doubles, 38 ue and 68 winners per the Kansas City Star.

Per at least two sources at least including San Jose Mercury News, he had 68 winners to Becker's 65.

 

[Moose Malloy]

I'm curious what the stats were like in the '86 W final, since Lendl had more winners than Becker in 2 of his major finals losses to him.

These were NBC's stats on the 86 W final after 2 sets:

Lendl: 25 winners, 4 aces
Becker 29 winners, 14 aces

so it looks like Lendl had more non service winners in this one as well.

 

[krosero]

missing the 1st game of the 3rd set, a Becker service game.

I have the missing game on my own copy. Becker made 6 of 12 first serves and had to save three break points. He served a double-fault and made three unreturned serves, all on first serves. He also made two BHV winners (falling to the ground on both) and a FHV winner; Lendl had a BH return pass. And I have Becker winning 4 of 6 net points, Lendl 0/0.

Lendl had 9 aces, 3 doubles.
Becker had 9 aces, 4 doubles.

Aces by set:
Lendl 4, 4, 0, 1
Becker 2, 1, 2, 4

The aces alone show Lendl's serve waning in strength while Becker's got stronger. And early in the second set, there was a moment when Lendl had already gotten to his 8th ace (nearly all the ones he was going to serve) and had not yet served any of his double-faults.

Something similar had happened in their USO final. Lendl served all of his aces in the first set and the first few games of the second set.

I don't know, maybe Lendl grew cautious as these matches got close, and took speed off his first serve to deny Becker a chance to swipe at second serves. Becker's pressure on return would also be the reason for the double-faults.

Becker was firing away with his returns at 4-5 in the second set, and again at 4-5 in the fourth. And of course it worked each time.

 

[krosero]

Stats from Australia's Ch. 7:

After nearly three sets, Becker had 30 unforced errors, Lendl 26.

Two games later Becker had made 24 forced errors, Lendl 32.

As of 1-all in the fourth, Becker had made 7 FH winners, Lendl 14. As of 4-all, Becker had made 9 BH winners, Lendl 17.


ESPN:

In the first set, Becker served at 53%. In the second he served at 80%.

In six matches Becker had served at 66% with 62 aces. Lendl was also over 60%.

This is a good AP story on the match: http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...96&dq=becker+on+top+of+world+down+under&hl=en

They mention that Becker had back trouble in the first set.

 

[krosero]

New York Times:

In the first set, as Becker received treatment for his back during changeovers, Lendl seemed to be a strong candidate for winning three titles in a row here. His 8 Grand Slam titles and 19 appearances in Grand Slam finals made that all the more likely.

But unfortunately for Lendl, Becker's back loosened and his first serve picked up dramatically, going from 53 percent in the first set to 80 percent in the second, 63 percent in the third and 72 percent in the fourth. Lendl's service returns are one of his strengths, so Becker had to serve well to win.

Unable to Do Damage

Lendl's downfall was his inability to take advantage of break-point opportunities: the American-based Czechoslovak had 12 chances to do some damage, but was successful only three times. Becker, however, had eight break points and converted half of them.

"I couldn't convert on break points," Lendl said. "I took a chance on break point in the first game of the second set and it didn't work. If I broke there, it could have been a rout. There was nothing to do but try."

After Becker evened the match, the third set became crucial. And that is when the German showcased his courage, surviving three break points. One was saved on a Lendl backhand error, but two were on scorching Becker winners.

In the ninth game, Becker squandered five set points, allowing Lendl to recoup an earlier break to reach 5-4 on serve. But Lendl couldn't hold his serve in the next game, a forehand winner at 30-40 and Becker was on his way to a routine fourth set and being the first Grand Slam champion of 1991.​

 

[NadalAgassi]

Becker was definitely in Lendl`s head. I think it is because Becker was the first player who came around who hit harder than him, well other than Connors was not a threat to Lendl anymore by the time Becker and Lendl began playing often. Lendl had an overall better and more solid ground game though and should have been able to exploit that more in their matches than he did, but he always seems tenative, on edge, played the big points poorly, and served much worse than usual when playing Becker it seemed.

 

[BeHappy]

Becker was definitely in Lendl`s head. I think it is because Becker was the first player who came around who hit harder than him, well other than Connors was not a threat to Lendl anymore by the time Becker and Lendl began playing often. Lendl had an overall better and more solid ground game though and should have been able to exploit that more in their matches than he did, but he always seems tenative, on edge, played the big points poorly, and served much worse than usual when playing Becker it seemed.

I don't know if you can say Lendl did anything better than Becker except for his movement.

 

[Moose Malloy]

here are more stats I took

Becker 83 of 122, 68%
57 of 83 1st serve pts won, 69%
19 of 39 2nd serve pts won, 49%

4 of the 30 unreturned serves he drew were on 2nd serve
I judged 4 to be service winners
Of the 30 return errors Lendl made 11 were fh, 19 were bh

Becker made 1st serves on 5 of the 12 break points he faced
Becker serve & volleyed 23 times(won 13 of them)

Lendl 63 of 115, 55%
47 of 63 1st serve pts won, 75%
27 of 52 2nd serve pts won, 52%

6 of the 25 unreturned serves were on 2nd serve
I judged 2 to be service winners
Of the 25 return errors Becker made 15 were fh, 10 were bh

Lendl made 1st serves on 1 of the 8 break points he faced

the complete match is here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKaiyJYCXhI&list=FLB9B0lqC_9Nc-RgXEe-B7vw&index=2&feature=plpp_video

Lendl saved 5 sets points at 5-3 on Becker's serve in the 3rd, then get broken at 5-4 for the set

Lendl didn't congratulate or mention Becker at all during the trophy presentation

 

[rod99]

I don't know if you can say Lendl did anything better than Becker except for his movement.

i'd take lendl's groundstrokes anyday over becker's.

 

[Mustard]

Lendl didn't congratulate or mention Becker at all during the trophy presentation

Yes. Lendl didn't mention Becker despite mentioning the Swedish fans and the 2 Swedish players that he had faced in the tournament, Gustafsson in the Round of 32 and Edberg in the semi finals.

And Becker made the shortest victory speech ever. All he said was "Well I, er, cannot say very much right now. It's just unbelievable for me at this moment. Thank you all, I'm sorry. Thank you." It lasted just 12 seconds.

 

[krosero]

here are more stats I took

Becker 83 of 122, 68%
57 of 83 1st serve pts won, 69%
19 of 39 2nd serve pts won, 49%

4 of the 30 unreturned serves he drew were on 2nd serve
I judged 4 to be service winners
Of the 30 return errors Lendl made 11 were fh, 19 were bh

Becker made 1st serves on 5 of the 12 break points he faced
Becker serve & volleyed 23 times(won 13 of them)

Lendl 63 of 115, 55%
47 of 63 1st serve pts won, 75%
27 of 52 2nd serve pts won, 52%

6 of the 25 unreturned serves were on 2nd serve
I judged 2 to be service winners
Of the 25 return errors Becker made 15 were fh, 10 were bh

Lendl made 1st serves on 1 of the 8 break points he faced

Nice stats, Moose. The return errors broken down by wing are interesting: lot of errors on the FH side.

Most of Rosewall's return errors were backhands in that last match I did, against Stan Smith at Wimbledon ('74). But that was because most of Stan's serves were directed at the BH. It did not mean that Rosewall's backhand was his weak side, or anything like that.

The same was true in the 1970 Wimbledon final against Newcombe: the vast majority of Rosewall's return errors were backhands, and again it was because Newk directed most of his serves to the BH.

Most of Djokovic's return errors were also backhands, in his win last week over Federer: 10 out of 12, per the NY Times. Obviously Djokovic's BH is his stronger wing, so Federer was probably directing most serves to the BH.

Becker and Lendl look like they were doing something different. Most of Lendl's return errors were backhands, but he made a lot of FH errors as well.

And most of Becker's return errors were FH's. That, at least, does conform to the general impression that his BH return was his better wing.

 

[krosero]

Lendl, when he managed to get Becker's first serve back, actually had a better than 50% chance of winning the point, according to Moose's stats.

These are the success rates I get for all points in which the serve was successfully returned:

Becker 46% on 1st serve (22/48 ) and 47% on 2nd (15/32).
Lendl 54% on 1st serve (19/35) and 50% on 2nd (21/42).

Whenever Becker's 1st or 2nd serve was returned, he was slightly more likely to lose the point than to win it.

But he held serve because of all the free points he got on first serve -- and you could say the same about Lendl.

Becker put 83 first serves in the box, and Lendl returned 48 (only 58%).
Lendl put 63 first serves in the box, and Becker returned 35 (only 56%).

By contrast, both players almost always returned second serves.

Becker put 35 second serves in the box, and Lendl returned 31 (or 89%).
Lendl put 49 second serves in the box, and Becker returned 43 (or 88%).