1 Response to basel94ferreira_mcenroe

1. Voo de Mar says:

   July 29, 2025 at 8:29 pm

   Points won by each set: | 34-39, 30-20, 49-42, 32-29 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   49 % Ferreira – 71 of 143
   26 % McEnroe – 35 of 132

   [100, wild card] McEnroe’s third final and for the third time he finished as a runner-up. En route to the three-hour final he was quite lucky because in the quarter- and semifinals he defeated qualifiers ranked lower than him. Both finalists were attacking the net regularly behind their first serves. In the crucial 3rd set, Ferreira [13] came back from a *0:3 deficit, and won the tie-break converting his third set point (before it happened, both players had won points in the tie-break after dead net-cords). In the 4th set the Afrikaner escaped from 15/40 and 0/30 on serve, and got the only break leading 4:3 in a game where was 0/30 again. “I’m going through a phase now when almost everything seems to be going right,” Ferreira said. It was a two-month period in his career when he collected four titles within five events, Basel was his third title (fourth that year). Despite such a good form he didn’t qualify for Masters (he’d do this the following year with worse results). His service performance in the Basel final was jaw-dropping, especially that the event was held indoors on hardcourts not on carpet; in the 90s only a few players managed to strike 30 aces or more in four sets, Ferreira struck 36 that day (6, 9, 12, 9), one off the second serve – even though he played 39 five-setters in his career, it was the only time he entered “30” (his second best is 26 – three times). But P.McEnroe, just like Agassi, used to move forwards returning, usually finding himself on the baseline at opponent’s first serve – this attitude results in receiving many aces and making more mistakes when returning than players who try to respond while standing 2-3 meters behind the baseline.

   Ferreira’s route to his 6th title:
   1 Dirk Dier 7-5, 6-4
   2 Anders Jarryd 4-6, 6-2, 6-2
   Q Marc Rosset 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-3
   S Guy Forget 7-6(3), 6-4
   W Patrick McEnroe 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(7), 6-3

   Serve & volley: Ferreira 6/20, McEnroe 17/26

   ☆ It was the first non-European final in Basel since 1979 when Gottfried defeated Ferreira’s compatriot – Kriek, also in four sets

   Log in to Reply