Match point

Chapter 1495 Channel Switching
As of 2015, Nadal has reached the top of Wimbledon twice in his career, while the Australian Open has only once; but fans who are really familiar with Nadal should know that Nadal's hard court performance is definitely not weak, Wimbledon That's Nadal's Achilles heel.

Looking at the four Grand Slam records, Nadal has the least number of wins, the lowest winning percentage, and the worst average performance in Wimbledon. The only first-round loss in the Grand Slam in his career also occurred in Wimbledon in 2013. The winning percentage is also the bottom among the Big Four.

In the final analysis, it is because the bouncing of the grass is very low. Not only does it not eat spin, so Nadal’s super top spin cannot exert its power here; and the rhythm is fast, relying on serve and attack to build games, and often ends the battle in the first three shots. Dahl's game style of playing around the bottom line and slowly building an advantage is also out of place.

In fact, this is like Nadal and Federer:
One is suitable for clay, the other is suitable for grass, and even the blood flowing in the body is completely different.

The two players are so different and distinct, from style to type to talent, and it is precisely because of this that the "Fena Jue" can always collide with unimaginable sparks, just like ice and fire. Like a song, he wrote a magnificent stroke in the history of men's tennis.

2006, 2007, and 2008 were the most unbelievable and exciting years for the ATP——

For three consecutive years, Federer and Nadal have joined forces at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

At Roland Garros, Nadal is the king of clay, defeating Federer for three consecutive years to reach the top.

At Wimbledon, Federer was the king of the grass, defeating Nadal for two consecutive years in 2006 and 2007, and then came to the legendary 2008.

It was that year that Federer and Nadal faced off on Wimbledon's Center Court. The two players teamed up for a four-hour and 48-minute battle. Nadal played two sets first, and Federer stood on the edge of a cliff The Jedi counterattacked and scored two tie-breaks to tie the big score.

In the final set, the two players came and went, refusing to give an inch, and stalemate all the way. In the end, this great game must be decided through a long game.

There are no night games at Wimbledon, and the referee has the right to decide whether to continue the game or postpone it until the next day when it is dark.

At that time, the duel continued until the sky was getting dark, and the batting vision of the two players had been significantly affected. Just when everyone was worried that they might not be able to witness the end of this peak matchup today, Nadal broke serve up.

"9:7".

In the end, just as Federer ended Nadal's 81-game winning streak on clay, Nadal also ended Federer's epic grass-court 65-game winning streak and Wimbledon's [-]-game winning streak. The top Grand Slam champion outside of the French Open.

"Epic Battle"!
Later, until the distant later, the 2008 Wimbledon final was still considered by countless experts and countless fans to be the greatest game in history——

Not only because of the game itself, but also because the two players competed in two grand slams on different venues for three consecutive years, but also because of the competition between Federer and Nadal, everything was perfect, and finally Create a classic.

However, in 2008, it was already seven years ago, the world was turned upside down, the rise of Djokovic and Murray is already a thing of the past, the impact of Wawrinka and Gawain is now in progress, Nadal's He has also experienced various injuries in his career, and the former chasing boy is nearly [-] years old.

Slowly, Nadal's shortcomings in grass court competitions were exposed as he grew older and suffered more injuries. His performance at Wimbledon in the past three years has not been satisfactory:

In 2012, the second round; in 2013, the first round; in 2014, the fourth round.

In other words, a total of four games have been won in three years.

Looking back at this season, Nadal's state has further bottomed out, and the challenges and impacts of the grass season are full of uncertainties.

And, to make matters worse, from the clay court season to the grass court season, there is no time to rest and breathe --

After the end of the hard court season in the spring, there is actually a week or two to adjust the time for players to change their rhythm; but there is no after the end of the clay court season. The day after the end of the Roland-Garros season, the grass season has already started, seamlessly. Players must make the adjustments and transitions themselves.

Like the "Sunshine Doubles", it needs to continuously improve the state in a short period of time, and face double challenges in terms of mental and physical fitness; it is more difficult than the "Sunshine Doubles". After all, Indian Wells and Miami are both hard courts, but the details need to be adjusted. But clay and grass are two completely different things.

The difficulty can be imagined.

It is precisely because of this that for a long time, winning the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back was also considered a feat and had a special title:
"Channel-Slam".

"Channel" is like changing the track or mode, expressing the vast difference and sharp difference between the two venues in such a way; Excellent difficulty.

Of course, for top players, field switching is not a big problem. The real test is the basic skills.

Federer and Nadal once had a special exhibition match:

On both sides of the field, one side is clay and the other side is grass, and the two players still rotate as usual in a normal game, constantly changing the field, which also means that both players must constantly adjust their footsteps and state to complete the shot .

Especially in modern tennis, with the improvement of racket and sneaker technology, players’ style, play, and tactical changes in different venues are getting smaller and smaller, and the feeling of venue switching is gradually weakening. One problem, many players basically do not change their playing style and tactics, and travel all over the world with one move.

But for Nadal, who is troubled by injuries and troubled by his condition, this is not good news. Before he has had time to digest Roland Garros' tragic loss, the grass season has come, and everything is too compact and dense Well, there's a serious lack of breathing room.

The only good thing is that this is not Nadal's first season --

Year after year, year after year, they are all experiencing the same story, from clay to grass, seamless transition, professional players are used to it, they have slowly figured out their own ways and routines, and completed Switch, adapt, and strive to give your best performance.

For those rookies who have just entered the ATP, there is no other way but to experience it personally, to go to battle in person, to complete the accumulation with actual combat one game at a time, and one season at a time. Maybe they will be in a hurry and at a loss at the beginning. , so that the performance is terrible, but slowly, they will also become old fritters, they will also get used to the upside-down of the channel slam, and start to learn to enjoy it.

Gao Wen was a little nervous and apprehensive, but he was still looking forward to and excited, gearing up to step into the grass season and meet new challenges.

(End of this chapter)