2 Responses to masters03_federer_agassi

1. Voo de Mar says:

   November 20, 2020 at 9:18 am

   Points won by each set: | 28-20, 25-10, 34-27 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   34 % Federer – 24 of 70
   17 % Agassi – 13 of 74

   The 22-year-old Federer [3] displayed a supreme performance from start to finish, yet the 33-year-old Agassi [5] was physically exhausted, his movement quite limited in the consequence of four consecutive three-setters, including a loss to Federer at the ’round robin’ stage (despite holding two match points #). Agassi didn’t take advantage of a quite long rain-break at *0:2 (0/30) in the 2nd set – when they’d returned the final was continued under the floodlights. “Roger played great tennis all week; he deserves to win here,” Agassi said. “I wish I could have done more today, but I just didn’t have enough… He’s doing everything great. He’s a great mover, a great striker of the ball off both sides. He’s a factor from the back of the court and when he comes to the net. His serve is very effective. He knows the game really well.” Federer’s first title in the United States in his 22nd appearance there at the main-level.
   It was the first season-ending event played outdoors since 1974, and the first one since 1985 with tramlines. Federer had negative H2Hs against all his ’round robin’ opponents entering the event: Agassi 0:3, Nalbandian 0:5, Ferrero 2:3.

   Federer’s route to his 11th title:
   rr. Andre Agassi 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-6(7) – 2 m.p.
   rr. David Nalbandian 6-3, 6-0
   rr. Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 6-1
   S Andy Roddick 7-6(2), 6-2
   W Andre Agassi 6-3, 6-0, 6-4

   # ‘Masters’ cases when a player beat the other one twice within a week (to the end of the 10s):
   New York ’78: McEnroe d. Ashe 6-3, 6-1 …and… 6-7, 6-3, 7-5
   New York ’81: Lendl d. Gerulaitis 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 …and… 6-7, 2-6, 7-6, 6-2, 6-4
   Sydney ’01: Hewitt d. Grosjean 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 …and… 6-3, 6-3, 6-4
   Houston ’03: Federer d. Agassi 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 …and… 6-3, 6-0, 6-4
   Houston ’04: Federer d. Hewitt 6-3 6-4 …and… 6-3, 6-2
   Shanghai ’08: Djokovic d. Davydenko 7-6, 0-6, 7-5 …and… 6-1, 7-5
   London ’11: Federer d. Tsonga 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 …and… 6-3, 6-7, 6-3
   London ’17: Dimitrov d. Goffin 6-0, 6-2 …and… 7-5, 4-6, 6-3

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2. Voo de Mar says:

   February 9, 2023 at 1:52 pm

   It’s the last event in Federer’s career he could’ve been called a “serve-and-volley” player; I’d specify it “serve-and-volley player of the third category” – by this I mean:

   1st category: constant attacking the net (80-100%), behind each and every service with exceptions from time to time
   2nd category: regular attacking the net (50-60%), behind each first serve (occasional 2nd serve)
   3rd category: selective attacking the net (30-40%), so twice within a six-point game more or less
   4th category: surprising attacking the net (less than 20%), so once in a few games, than twice in one game; the receive has no idea when the attack is coming

   In the final against Agassi, Federer only had 3/5 in S/V actions, but counting his modality (willingness to run forwards behind the serve when it’s an ace, unreturned serve or missed serve), it was 22/70 (a matter of interpretation) so 31%. When he entered the Australian Open ’04, from the beginning to the end of the event it was pretty obvious that he switched from a “33% serve-and-volley” player to an all-court player applying the 4th category with slightly higher frequency than an average elite player

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