1 Response to wb87_lendl_edberg

1. Voo de Mar says:

   June 21, 2023 at 3:06 pm

   Points won by each set: | 22-31, 34-27, 42-41, 38-32 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   39 % Lendl – 48 of 123
   35 % Edberg – 51 of 144

   Although Lendl was the best player in the world for a couple of years at the time, Edberg [4] could be perceived as a slight favorite being a more natural grass-court player, and having defeated Lendl in their only previous meeting on the green surface (Aussie Open ’85). The Swede began the match trailing 0/40 on serve, but held, and a break at 3:2 gave him the set. It was tough to expect that he wouldn’t create another BP chance in the next two sets. Admittedly Lendl’s net-game was far from excellent, nonetheless his volley skills were much better than volley skills of majority of best players nowadays, besides he belonged to the Top 5-10 servers in the 80s. Hypothetically Edberg was quite close to win the semifinal in straight sets; in the 2nd set there was 30-all on Lendl’s serve at 4-all, in the following game the Swede led 40/0 on his own serve… in the 10/8 tie-break of the 3rd set, the Swede had two set points (6:5, 8:7) – Lendl withstood them both with service winners. Those unfortunately lost sets discouraged Edberg, and he was lethargic in the 4th set while Lendl very motivated shouting “Come on!” a few times. The Czech already led *5:2 (30-all). He failed to serve the match out with volley errors of thin margins, but on the second try his big serving was decisive, and he sealed the 3-hour 2-minute victory with an ace out-wide.

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