Roger Federer and Andy Murray started the final of the Australian Open 2010 in a very controlled manner. There was of course a lot on stake for both players.

Roger Federer volleys at the Australian Open 2010 (Photo by PAUL CROCK/AFP/Getty Images)

Andy Murray was looking for his first Grand Slam title while Roger was looking to extend his record of Grand Slams to 16 and slowly but surely create a record that most likely won’t be broken for many years to come.

Here’s what happened in the match…

First set

Andy’s tactics was immediately obvious – play to Roger’s backhand over and over again and hope that Roger becomes frustrated with his inability to finish the point and get out of backhand-to-backhand exchanges. (more…)

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer played another epic final in the Australian Open 2009 and Nadal once again proved too tough for Federer.

Rafa won 7-5, 3-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-2 and denied Roger’s 14th Grand Slam title which would tie Roger with Pete Sampras’s record.

Picture courtesy of Getty Images

While the official stats of the match do explain what happened in the match, they lack a few important stats. The first and the most important are the shots that force a mistake.

The official statistics shows only winners (shots where the opponent did not touch the ball or barely touched it) and unforced errors. (shots where the player was in a comfortable position and still made a mistake)

A shot that forces an error is a very good shot from the opponent that’s not really an outright winner but still forces the opponent into a mistake. (more…)