2 Responses to ao2013ferrer_almagro

1. Voo de Mar says:

   March 10, 2024 at 11:15 am

   Points won by each set: | 24-28, 26-32, 36-28, 49-43, 30-19 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   36 % Ferrer – 54 of 149
   27 % Almagro – 46 of 166

   Almagro is a 4th best Spaniard of the late 00s early 10s behind Verdasco, Ferrer & Nadal. Inferiory complex is involved into his confrontations against Ferrer (1-15 H2H) and Nadal (1-15 H2H). Regarding Nadal, the explanation is quite simple: Almagro’s best times coincided with Nadal’s years on the top of men’s tennis, but his inability (over long years) to beat Ferrer is really staggering. Almagro possessed much faster serve, he was playing on equal terms an average baseline rally against Ferrer, however, he’d lost their first encounter squandering match points (six) and it built a psychological advantage for the shorter Spaniard. More about their strange rivalry here.
   In Melbourne their match no. 13. Almagro [11] was playing perfect tennis until he led 5:3* in the 3rd set. Not being broken up to that moment, he didn’t try in game no. 9 with an assumption that he would serve the match out because in previous two sets at 5:4 he served them out easily. Nerves played a crucial part though; being so close to finally beat Ferrer, he began to hit his shots conservatively which allowed Ferrer to dictate the pace. There was ‘deuce’, so two points away from victory when the longest rally of the match occurred (21 strokes), and Almagro sent his forehand wide – it was the beginning of his end. Ferrer [5], who had been shouting vulgar Spanish words before (¡puta!, ¡coño!), suddenly began to motivate himself with a typical “¡vamos!” and the momentum shifted onto his side. Almagro led with a break four times (!) in the 4th set, but every time when he broke, Ferrer broke back immediately. The previous set was copied at *5:4 (deuce) – again long rally (17 strokes), and again Almagro made an error hoping to create a match point. In the tie-break he won a point for 3-all with an overhead and felt an excruciating pain in his left groin, but he didn’t give an impression ‘now or never!’. He lost it 4/7. The 5th set it was an execution of Almagro’s limited movement and his typical lack of fighting spirit. Ferrer grabbed the last five games.

   # Thanks to this victory Ferrer has a trio of amazing comebacks in five-setters, being in theoretically hopeless situations in sets 3, 4 and 5.
   It was Almagro’s fourth and last major quarterfinal. The three proceeding ones he lost at the French Open (2008, 10, 12), all to Nadal.

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2. Voo de Mar says:

   March 10, 2024 at 11:25 am

   # Ferrer’s best comebacks to win 5-setters:

   French Open ’05 (4R): Gaudio 2-6, 6-4, 7-6, 5-7, 6-4… 0:4 in 5th
   Stuttgart ’06 (F): Acasuso 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-5, 6-4… *1:5 in 4th
   Aussie Open ’13 (QF): Almagro 4-6, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6, 6-2… *3:5 in 3rd

   Almagro was two points away to win sets 3 and 4, but before that quarterfinal, he had lost two five-setters (both vs serve-and-volleyers) when created chances to close the match in three consecutive sets:
   US Open 2008: G.Muller 7-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-7, 5-7… 3 pts away in 3rd, double MP in 4th, at least 8 points in 5th (unbroken until the last game!)
   French Open 2011: Kubot 6-3, 6-2, 6-7, 6-7, 4-6… 2 pts away in 3rd, 3 pts in 4th, led 3:0* in 5th

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