1 Response to wb00philippoussis_schalken

1. Voo de Mar says:

   June 30, 2022 at 1:43 pm

   …According to the Wimbledon stats, Philippoussis edged in aces 44 to 30…

   Points won by each set: | 26-28, 31-22, 39-41, 38-34, 113-100 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   44 % Philippoussis – 100 of 224… 33 % Schalken – 83 of 248
   Winners by percentage:
   40 % Philippoussis – 100 of 247… 40 % Schalken – 91 of 225

   Court no. 2 and the last Wimbledon with very fast grass, I assume that match could contribute to the decision of the officials to slow it down because Schalken [53], who wasn’t known as a big server, held his serve plenty of times with no trouble, winning points quickly. Philippoussis [18] played a pure serve-and-volley game, the Dutchman played it in ~80% mode – I’d say – at the end of the match he caught a more defensive mode though, being visibly tired. He saved a set point at 5:6 in the first tie-break (with an ace) and was four points away from winning another tie-break at 3-all (the tie-breaks: 7/9, 7/4). In the deciding set he was two points away from the victory in five games: 5:4 (30/15), 9:8 (30/0), 11:10 (30/15), 12:11 (deuce) and 14:13 (30/0) – in the 28th game he was the closest to get a match point – Philippoussis played a stop-volley winner with the help of the frame of his racquet, on another point he fired an ace on the line with his second serve (normal pace). The Australian showed guts at 15/30 in the 10th game when he delivered a second serve down the T with the speed of his standard 1st serves… Actually after four sets it was tough to predict the decider would be so long: the Australian already led 5:2* (40/0) in set no. 2 and 4:1* (30/15) in set no. 4 – he was a more natural grass-court player hence it seemed a matter of time he would get his vital break – he needed to wait for it more than two hours! Before it finally happened, he had his chances twice: BP at 8-all and three break points at 16-all; in the 17th game Schalken saved the break point with a tremendous cross-court backhand pass, hitting the ball 4-5 meters behind the baseline – Philipoussis dived (in a consequence his elbow was heavily bleeding to the end), Schalken raised his arms in the triumphal gesture. I don’t know whether it was a coincidence or some sort of magical rituals to avoid last year’s destiny, but at 11-all the Dutchman left the court for three minutes (toilet break) and removed his baseball cap (a year before he lost 11-13 the deciding set to Courier so maybe he wanted to do everything to not repeat the same outcome). When he lost the game at 14:13 he slammed his racquet, perhaps he felt it was his last chance because after that he was not so eager to attack the net behind the serve. He led 18:17 when his opponent took 12 out of the last 13 points dropping the only one with a double fault. They overcame the previous Grand Slam record for the longest fifth set which belonged to McNamee & Nelson, 19-17 thirteen years before, but in terms of duration, two Wimbledon matches had lasted longer at the time (of 1969 & 1989). # Three seasons later, their Wimbledon ’00 record will be overcome by two games in Australia… ten years later on court no. 18, Isner & Mahut play a very similar match in its progression to that produced by Philippoussis & Schalken, which is an ultimate record given the reduction of fifth sets at majors that occurred at the beginning of the 20s decade.

   # Comparison of two similar record matches:
   Wimbledon 2000: Philip’ssis d. Schalken 4-6, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 20-18… 5 hours 1 minute… Total points: 247-225 (aces: 38-26)
   Aussie Open 2003: Roddick d. El Aynaoui 4-6, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4, 21-19… 4 hours 59 minutes… Total points: 250-234 (aces: 28-25)

   The five longest Wimbledon matches:

   Time:
   2010 (1R): Isner d. Mahut 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68… 11 hours 5 minutes
   2018 (SF): Anderson d. Isner 7-6, 6-7, 6-7, 6-4, 26-24… 6 hours 36 minutes
   2012 (3R): Cilic d. Querrey 7-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 17-15… 5 hours 31 minutes
   1989 (2R): Holmes d. Witsken 5-7, 6-4, 7-6, 4-6, 14-12… 5 hours 28 minutes
   2018 (SF): Djokovic d. Nadal 6-4, 3-6, 7-6, 4-6, 10-8… 5 hours 15 minutes

   Number of games in the decider:
   2010 (1R): Isner d. Mahut 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68
   2018 (SF): Anderson d. Isner 7-6, 6-7, 6-7, 6-4, 26-24
   2000 (2R): Philippoussis d. Schalken 4-6, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 20-18
   2016 (3R): Tsonga d. Isner 6-7, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, 19-17 (games: 79)
   1987 (1R): McNamee d. Nelson 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 1-6, 19-17 (games: 70)

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