Sampras officially hit 84 winners in this four-set match, which is his best performance that I'm aware of. He hit an average of 2.05 winners per game, which is higher than his published rates for the 1999 W final (1.87), the 1995 W final (1.74), a '97 Davis Cup victory over Rafter (1.68 ), his loss to Agassi in the 2000 AO (1.65), and his four-tiebreak win over Agassi in the 2001 USO (1.54).
Of his 84 winners in '02, I counted 75 clean winners. So he hit a clean winner or ace on just over 27% of all the points in the match, which is among the higher rates that we have in this list (see the column second from right).
Those matches (and his loss to Becker in Hanover in '96) are the highest Sampras rates I know about, though I'm sure he has other high ones in his career, particularly in victories over lesser players.
However Sampras himself thought that this '02 final against Agassi was the highest level he ever played.
From http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/t...as-577514.html
Sampras was 31, Agassi 32.
McEnroe said Agassi’s serve had improved in the last few years, that he volleyed better than ever, and that he was one of the few players who were better after the age of 30 than before.
This was Sampras’ 14th Slam title -- and his 5th U.S. Open, tying him in the Open Era with Connors. His 7th Slam on hard court set a new record since 1978 when Slams started being played on that surface (Federer broke the mark a few weeks ago).
And it was Sampras’ 8th U.S. final, tying him in the Open Era with Lendl.
He hadn’t won any of his previous 33 tournaments.
The final was Pete’s fifth match in 7 days and he started getting weary in the third set.
Score: Sampras d. Agassi 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4
The following are my own stats.
Sampras won 151 points overall, Agassi 126.
SERVICE
Sampras won 104 of 152 points on serve, Agassi 78 of 125.
Sampras won 15 straight points on serve, including the first dozen of the second set.
Sampras won 10 service games at love, Agassi just 3. On the other hand, Sampras served the longest games of the match.
Sampras served at 57%, making 87 of 152 first serves.
Agassi served at 66%, making 82 of 125 first serves.
Sampras’ first-serve percentages by set:
18/32 (56%)
17/24 (71%)
28/51 (55%)
24/45 (53%)
Agassi’s first-serve percentages by set:
14/19 (74%)
21/31 (68%)
26/41 (63%)
21/34 (62%)
Sampras served 27 more points than Agassi, but that is a little inflated given that he had one more service game. Still it's a large margin. He got caught in three long service games, holding after 14 points in the middle of the third set, getting broken after 16 points in the last game of the set, and holding after 20 points a few games later.
In the first two sets, by contrast, they were even: each man had to serve an average of 5.6 points in his service games.
Sampras converted 4 of 8 break points, Agassi 2 of 12.
Sampras put his first serve into play on 6 of 12 break points. (On his last 5 break points he was down to second serve). Both times he was broken it was on second serve.
Agassi put his first serve into play on 5 of 8 break points. (On his last 5 break points he made his first serve). He was broken twice on first serve and twice on second.
Sampras hit 33 aces and 13 doubles.
Agassi hit 7 aces and 4 doubles.
(Sampras was up from 25 aces in their four-tiebreak match the previous year, Agassi down from 18).
Sampras' aces by set: 12, 4, 10, 7
Agassi's aces by set: 3, 1, 1, 2
Sampras drew 34 return errors, with 12 serves that I judged as service winners.
Agassi drew 31 return errors; by my judgment he didn’t have any service winners.
But even though they were pretty even in return errors, Sampras got more credit in the published stats. In the New York Daily News boxscore he had 84 winners – 9 more than my count of clean winners. Probably most of those 9 were service winners. Agassi was credited with 27 total winners, which looks like he was credited with just 1 service winner.
Sampras drew 11 of 34 return errors with second serves, Agassi 10 of 31.
WINNERS
Sampras had 42 clean winners apart from service: 6 FH, 12 BH, 16 FHV, 8 BHV.
Agassi had 19: 14 FH, 4 BH, 1 BHV.
Sampras’ winners by set: 5, 10, 11, 16
Agassi’s winners by set: 3, 2, 8, 6
Sampras, then, had 15 winners in the first two sets, but nearly twice as many in the last two sets when he was more tired. It reflects to some degree how much he was trying to finish points quickly. He was going for big returns in the fourth set.
Each man had 18 ground stroke winners. But Pete led 24 to 1 in volleys/overheads.
Agassi didn’t have winners from any stroke except his FH, until he hit a BHV winner at 4-all in the third set: his only volley winner of the match.
Sampras had 6 return winners, all backhands, and four of them off first serve. None of them were passes, but he had one regular BH pass.
Agassi had 5 return winners: three FH’s off first serves and two BH’s off second serves. All were passes, and he had 7 more passes (including six FH’s).
ERRORS (forced and unforced)
Sampras made 100 errors of every kind; Agassi made 76. I didn’t count all those; it’s just the totals I get by subtracting the winners/aces from the Total Points Won.
Of Sampras’ 100 errors, I counted 13 double-faults and 31 return errors. So that leaves 56 errors that he made in actual rallies (a rally consisting of at least a successful return of serve).
Of Agassi’s 76 errors, I counted 4 double-faults and 34 return errors. So that leaves 38 errors that he made in actual rallies.
So in the rallies Agassi made 18 fewer errors than Sampras, but also 23 fewer winners. And Sampras had a 26-point lead in aces, which is really what won him his 25-point lead in total points. That’s essentially what won him the match.
Of his 84 winners in '02, I counted 75 clean winners. So he hit a clean winner or ace on just over 27% of all the points in the match, which is among the higher rates that we have in this list (see the column second from right).
Those matches (and his loss to Becker in Hanover in '96) are the highest Sampras rates I know about, though I'm sure he has other high ones in his career, particularly in victories over lesser players.
However Sampras himself thought that this '02 final against Agassi was the highest level he ever played.
From http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/t...as-577514.html
Sampras was 31, Agassi 32.
McEnroe said Agassi’s serve had improved in the last few years, that he volleyed better than ever, and that he was one of the few players who were better after the age of 30 than before.
This was Sampras’ 14th Slam title -- and his 5th U.S. Open, tying him in the Open Era with Connors. His 7th Slam on hard court set a new record since 1978 when Slams started being played on that surface (Federer broke the mark a few weeks ago).
And it was Sampras’ 8th U.S. final, tying him in the Open Era with Lendl.
He hadn’t won any of his previous 33 tournaments.
The final was Pete’s fifth match in 7 days and he started getting weary in the third set.
Score: Sampras d. Agassi 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4
The following are my own stats.
Sampras won 151 points overall, Agassi 126.
SERVICE
Sampras won 104 of 152 points on serve, Agassi 78 of 125.
Sampras won 15 straight points on serve, including the first dozen of the second set.
Sampras won 10 service games at love, Agassi just 3. On the other hand, Sampras served the longest games of the match.
Sampras served at 57%, making 87 of 152 first serves.
Agassi served at 66%, making 82 of 125 first serves.
Sampras’ first-serve percentages by set:
18/32 (56%)
17/24 (71%)
28/51 (55%)
24/45 (53%)
Agassi’s first-serve percentages by set:
14/19 (74%)
21/31 (68%)
26/41 (63%)
21/34 (62%)
Sampras served 27 more points than Agassi, but that is a little inflated given that he had one more service game. Still it's a large margin. He got caught in three long service games, holding after 14 points in the middle of the third set, getting broken after 16 points in the last game of the set, and holding after 20 points a few games later.
In the first two sets, by contrast, they were even: each man had to serve an average of 5.6 points in his service games.
Sampras converted 4 of 8 break points, Agassi 2 of 12.
Sampras put his first serve into play on 6 of 12 break points. (On his last 5 break points he was down to second serve). Both times he was broken it was on second serve.
Agassi put his first serve into play on 5 of 8 break points. (On his last 5 break points he made his first serve). He was broken twice on first serve and twice on second.
Sampras hit 33 aces and 13 doubles.
Agassi hit 7 aces and 4 doubles.
(Sampras was up from 25 aces in their four-tiebreak match the previous year, Agassi down from 18).
Sampras' aces by set: 12, 4, 10, 7
Agassi's aces by set: 3, 1, 1, 2
Sampras drew 34 return errors, with 12 serves that I judged as service winners.
Agassi drew 31 return errors; by my judgment he didn’t have any service winners.
But even though they were pretty even in return errors, Sampras got more credit in the published stats. In the New York Daily News boxscore he had 84 winners – 9 more than my count of clean winners. Probably most of those 9 were service winners. Agassi was credited with 27 total winners, which looks like he was credited with just 1 service winner.
Sampras drew 11 of 34 return errors with second serves, Agassi 10 of 31.
WINNERS
Sampras had 42 clean winners apart from service: 6 FH, 12 BH, 16 FHV, 8 BHV.
Agassi had 19: 14 FH, 4 BH, 1 BHV.
Sampras’ winners by set: 5, 10, 11, 16
Agassi’s winners by set: 3, 2, 8, 6
Sampras, then, had 15 winners in the first two sets, but nearly twice as many in the last two sets when he was more tired. It reflects to some degree how much he was trying to finish points quickly. He was going for big returns in the fourth set.
Each man had 18 ground stroke winners. But Pete led 24 to 1 in volleys/overheads.
Agassi didn’t have winners from any stroke except his FH, until he hit a BHV winner at 4-all in the third set: his only volley winner of the match.
Sampras had 6 return winners, all backhands, and four of them off first serve. None of them were passes, but he had one regular BH pass.
Agassi had 5 return winners: three FH’s off first serves and two BH’s off second serves. All were passes, and he had 7 more passes (including six FH’s).
ERRORS (forced and unforced)
Sampras made 100 errors of every kind; Agassi made 76. I didn’t count all those; it’s just the totals I get by subtracting the winners/aces from the Total Points Won.
Of Sampras’ 100 errors, I counted 13 double-faults and 31 return errors. So that leaves 56 errors that he made in actual rallies (a rally consisting of at least a successful return of serve).
Of Agassi’s 76 errors, I counted 4 double-faults and 34 return errors. So that leaves 38 errors that he made in actual rallies.
So in the rallies Agassi made 18 fewer errors than Sampras, but also 23 fewer winners. And Sampras had a 26-point lead in aces, which is really what won him his 25-point lead in total points. That’s essentially what won him the match.
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