2 Responses to kb95sampras_bjorkman

1. Voo de Mar says:

   March 11, 2024 at 5:54 pm

   Points won by each set: | 27-29, 29-14, 30-13 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   39 % Sampras – 29 of 74
   10 % Bjorkman – 7 of 68

   # Bjorkman was one of several players in the 90s who enjoyed one season above their overall potential finishing the year in the Top 10 once. In his case it was the ’97 season, but in the preceding years, he obtained two results which certainly helped him to see himself much higher in the ranking: quarterfinal at US Open ’94 and semifinal at Key Biscayne ’95 – in both events he defeated his much older compatriots (Edberg, Wilander) whom he admired as a teenager in the 80s, and in the end stations he stole sets from the top players.
   In the opening set against Sampras [1], Bjorkman [44] took advantage of very low 1st service percentage of the best player in the word (just 37%), but as Sampras came back to his normal service disposal, it was a one-way traffic. Sampras won ten straight games (Bjorkman had break points in two games in the meantime) and finished the night session encounter in just 84 minutes.

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2. Voo de Mar says:

   March 11, 2024 at 6:10 pm

   Players who enjoyed one season much above their average seasons, the years 1988-99 (their age when they did it):

   1988: Carlsson (20), Hlasek (24)
   1989: Mancini (20)
   1991: Forget (26), Novacek (26)
   1994: Berasategui (21)
   1997: Bjorkman (25)
   1998: Kucera (24)
   1999: Kiefer (22), Lapentti (23)

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