Stats show how Andy Murray scored memorable win

January 18, 2023

Andy Murray, ATP Tennis Players, Australian Open, Tennis News

Revealed: Statistics show how Andy Murray scored memorable win over Matteo Berrettini

Andy Murray defeated Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7(7), 7-6(10-6) in four hours and 49 minutes in a thrilling opening round encounter on Rod Laver Arena. Importantly, he saved a match point serving at 4-5, 30-40 in the fifth set when Berrettini netted a backhand passing shot.

With the help of Craig O’Shannessy of Brain Game Tennis, we at Tennishead want to break down the five distinct patterns of play that formed the cornerstone to Murray’s stunning Australian Open victory.

1. SERVE DIRECTION

Murray’s masterplan when serving was to initially pull Berrettini off the court with wide serves on both sides to get him on the run for the next shot, and then also play behind him once he picked up speed.

1st & 2nd Serve Direction Combined

Deuce Court

Wide = 52
Body = 3
T = 14

Ad Court

Wide = 38
Body = 1
T = 12

Combined

Wide = 90
Body = 4
T = 26

Andy Murray made 70% of his first serves, winning 72% of them, facing only five break points in 26 service games. Murray was broken just once for the match, validating his serve strategy to pull Berrettini initially off the court to create an initial advantage.

2. BASELINE RALLIES

The tournament average for baseline points won after the first round was 47%. Murray was six percentage points higher than the average at 53%, while Berrettini plunged six percentage points lower than the average, down to 41%.

Baseline Points Won

Murray = 53% (94/178)
Berrettini = 41% (70/170)

It was the mid-length rallies of 5-8 shots where Murray reigned supreme, winning 50 points to Berrettini’s 38.

3. REDUCE ERRORS

As expected, Berrettini’s high-octane power game produced many more winners than Murray. Berrettini struck 72 winners, including 31 aces, to just 40 winners for Murray. But that was not the biggest pool of points. Errors were.

Total Errors

Berrettini = 126
Murray = 89

Berrettini hit 32 more winners, but he also yielded 37 more errors than Murray in the match. Overall, this match contained 327 points, which broke down to be 66% (215) errors and 34% winners (112). Murray was simply better at putting one more ball back in the court..

4. SECOND SERVES

Berrettini’s second serve averaged 164 km/h, which was much faster than Murray’s 143 km/h. You would think that extra heat would have helped Berrettini do well behind his second serve, but that simply wasn’t the case.

Berrettini only won 43 percent (20/47) of his second serve points, while Murray was far more dominant, winning 67% (35/52). Berrettini was broken three times in the match, with two of those points starting with a second serve.

5. RETURN ERRORS

Murray only committed 22 return errors for the match from 108 first serves and 47 second serves from the Italian. Berrettini on the other hand committed 37 return errors, proving Murray with a steady stream of free points when serving, which greatly helped take the pressure off getting broken.

Murray was complimentary of his efforts in his post-match interview

“I think I did very well to hang in at the end, because it could have got away from me with the way that he was serving and the way he was playing,” Andy Murray said.

“But, yeah, on the whole I felt like I created enough chances to win the match. Had I picked one of the break points early in the third, it could have been a slightly different outcome.”

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Craig O’Shannessy is the creator of Brain Game Tennis. For 20 years he’s been involved in tennis as a coach to players like Kevin Anderson and even Dustin Brown when he famously beat Rafa Nadal at Wimbledon. More recently Craig’s been working as a match analyst at Wimbledon and for the ATP Tour. He has also used the unique insights from his match analysis software dartfish to guide players such as Novak Djokovic with analysis of opponents and performances.

Visit BrainGameTennis.com to read the latest and best selling course ‘Getting Tight’ where Craig teams up with Jeff Greenwald to combine their specific skill sets to help you with the universal problem all players struggle with in matches.

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