2 Responses to stockholm04johansson_agassi

1. Voo de Mar says:

   September 13, 2024 at 11:28 pm

   Points won by each set: [ 21-30, 33-23, 40-37 ]
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   30 % Johansson – 28 of 93
   29 % Agassi – 27 of 91

   Johansson [42] began the final having lost all six matches to Agassi [7], but he was relatively close to win twice (Ostrava ’98 & Paris ’02) – two games away at 4-all on both occasions (actually in Ostrava he should have won cause he led 4:0 in the decider before losing six straight games!). It had seemed that he would have suffered another similar defeat as he lost a 4:2* lead in the 3rd set… the Swede throughout his career was losing tight deciding sets more often than winning them, but that time he held his nerves serving at 4:5 & 5:6 and in the tie-break three powerful forehand returns on ‘deuce’ court, helped him to take the title for the second time (previously in 2001) – on the second match point he fired an ace down the T. “There’s probably not a better occasion to beat him than in a final,” said the Swede, who missed all of the 2003 season because of injury. “I’ve been close (to beating him) before but he always fought his way out of it. This time he didn’t.”

   Johansson’s route to his 8th title:
   1 Xavier Malisse 7-6(4), 7-6(1)
   2 Robin Soderling 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-4
   Q Andrei Pavel 7-6(4), 7-5
   S Michael Ryderstedt 6-3, 6-2
   W Andre Agassi 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4)

   # Five points away from defeat to Soderling, and three points against Agassi

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2. Voo de Mar says:

   September 14, 2024 at 3:18 am

   Paradox: having very poor record in deciding tie-breaks, Johansson, his only win against the other best player of the 90s – Sampras – also enjoyed in a deciding 3rd set tie-break, at World Team Cup ’02, as he defeated the ageing champion 6-2, 6-7, 7-6 being two points away from defeat

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