1 Response to ao92ferreira_mcenroe

1. Voo de Mar says:

   December 31, 2022 at 2:35 am

   Points won by each set: | 36-30, 31-27, 29-24 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   41 % Ferreira – 37 of 90
   36 % McEnroe – 32 of 87

   A type of match which separates boys from men. The young Ferreira [46], shorty after his first full ATP season, could just enjoy breaking a new ground, playing his first major quarterfinal and facing the legend of the 80s, however, he had other ideas, and without any signs of nervousness, he outplayed his 12 years older opponent under the roof. The South Australian broke at 3-all in the first two sets, and in the opening game of the last set. A marvellous performance, he displayed a full range of strokes as well as fantastic court-coverage. A new star was born, someone with a devastating forehand. It was so unlikely at the time to think, he would wait 11 years to play his another major semifinal! For McEnroe, the loss meant farewell with Australia, later that year he decided to quit. The Aussie Open it’s the only major in which he didn’t play the end-match, but he was omitting the event in the late 70s/early 80s when it was held on grass during the Christmas time…

   I think that match it’s a benchmark of analyzing Ferreira’s not fulfilled potential (in my opinion the best player born in the 70s who didn’t get a major final) – he was merciless in passing McEnroe, and to the end of his career he was dealing well with the best serve-and-volleyers of his generation: Sampras (6-7), Rusedski (5-6), Ivanisevic (3-4), Stich (3-3), Krajicek (4-3), Rafter (6-3), Martin (4-1) yet he was struggling with the best offensive baseliners: Korda (2-6), Courier (2-9), Chang (0-7), Agassi (0-11). The pattern is quite obvious: Ferreira had no problems to absorb the power of big serving guys, but when he was facing players with similarly aggressive baseline strokes to his, yet more patient or more skillful, he was in big troubles. There are two Head-to-Heads which don’t fit to the pattern: Ferreira only won 2 out of 11 meetings against a big serving Becker (on 7 occasions he wasn’t able to steal a set), and he overwhelmed a super-fast baseliner Enqvist (6-1… Ferreira won their first 13 sets!). Ferreria’s records against the best players of his generation, who were presenting similar style to his, so offensive baseliners who used to play a lot at the net: Pioline (4-2), Rosset (4-6), Kafelnikov (5-3), Larsson (2-4), Bjorkman (7-2). Ferreira’s records against three best grinders of the time: Bruguera (3-3), Muster (1-3), Corretja (4-4).

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