1 Response to wb89edberg_mcenroe

1. Voo de Mar says:

   June 21, 2020 at 9:30 pm

   Points won by each set: | 35-30, 48-46, 45-43 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   32 % Edberg – 40 of 124
   40 % McEnroe – 50 of 123

   The “serve & volley” classic was interrupted due to rain for 3 hours 23 minutes with “Big Mac” leading *3:2 in the 1st set; after the rain-break he led 4:2, he also had a set point at 5:4* in the 3rd set. It was very long match given the surface, their styles of play, very good serving, and number of sets, it lasted exactly three hours. Well, McEnroe had a tendency to slow down the pace on his serve, and it was the last Wimbledon when a player could wait 30 seconds on serve between the points. The tightest 3-0 victory in Edberg’s career, he won the tie-breaks 7/2 and 7/5 finishing the match witha beautiful backhand return winner.

   MultiStar’s comment under my previous pic:

   It is really quite astounding that this match took so long, considering the fact that there were rather few break point opportunities (as you have written: Edberg 2/6 and McEnroe 1/3). This means that there were probably rather few “deuce games” but I have not seen this match completely yet. Also both were serve and volleyers which makes a match normally relatively quick. I can remember matches in the 1990s, for example between Philippoussis and Rusedski or also Krajicek with a similar scoreline that these matches sometimes took less than 2 hours, especially on grass! The pattern was just “service – ace, service – ace, etc…” Not a lot of volleying either. This was the reason they slowed down the surfaces, I believe. People wanted to see more rallies. Today, some people are nostalgic about the “serve and volley” era of the 80s and 90s.

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