Match point

Pound feet, adjust, move—

Gao Wen's prediction was very accurate, and he moved laterally at the first time and was in place ahead of time, buying precious time for his defensive counterattack.

The point is, how should we attack?
Gawain's attention was highly concentrated, and he stared at the tennis ball intently. It was fast, flat, low and heavy, and there was hardly any rotation in the entire flight. It was like a sword beam, rushing towards it in the blink of an eye.

Although the footsteps are half a beat ahead of time, if it is converted into the hitting time, that is, the moment when thoughts flash, any distracting thoughts may miss the timing of hitting the ball, and the advantage gained by moving quickly will be wiped out. Turn around and become passive.

But that's grass.

Concentrated, calm, and composed, the forehand has already completed the shot in the first time.

At the moment of shooting, the wrist is flicked quickly, and the speed of the racket head rises to a higher level in an instant, relying on the swing of the forearm to complete the whip-like powerful whipping.

boom.

Clean and crisp.

The tennis ball has already flown out.

straight line.

dead end.

With this shot, Gao Wen made a decisive shot, aiming at the corner of Istomin's backhand bottom line, attacking neatly without any hesitation.

At this moment, Gao Wen's tenacity can be seen. Even though the whole game is always at a disadvantage, his belief is not lost, and he has been fighting and fighting hard.

however--

The feel of the ball is still mediocre, and the tactile sensation at the moment of the shot is still not able to perfectly interpret the flight and spin of the tennis ball. Even though the shot is very decisive, the rhythm of the shot is still slightly misplaced, which feels wrong.

It's like stroking a cat. On the surface, the hair looks very smooth, but the few hairs that can be touched by the fingertips still explode in the direction of development.

Especially on the grass, such a small deviation of details leads to loose control due to the acceleration of the rhythm, and the final error is magnified.

Tennis, fly up.

The flying parabola could not be suppressed, and it was supposed to be a straight line for the winning point, but the tennis ball passed the net at a height of at least [-] centimeters, like a rainbow bridge, flying from the bottom corner of Gawain's forehand to Istomin The backhand corner, speed and rhythm have not been improved.

Moreover, because of his poor ball feel, Gao Wen did not really aim at the dead corner to attack, leaving room for mistakes in both the route and the landing point, which also meant leaving room for the opponent to return the ball.

In short, the batting effect that Gao Wen expected was not achieved.

Apparently, Gawain is also aware of this point, the feeling of the ball is not like magic, just chanting a spell can come back out of nothing.

Keeping his nerves tight, he adjusted his center of gravity with small steps in a row, quickly returned to defense, his eyes followed the tennis ball, and he quickly scanned across the court from the corner of his eye, and sure enough, he saw Istomin quickly crossing the court.

There is no doubt that mobile is also one of Istomin's strong points.

In the previous shot, after a run-up sprint and a forehand strafing attack, Istomin braked on the spot, controlled the center of gravity with his hands and feet, and immediately kicked off the ground for a second start, showing his impressive grass movement.

Running, sprinting, moving sideways—

If Gao Wen's forehand line can press the parabola to complete the flat attack, then it will be difficult for Istomin to touch the ball no matter how fast he runs.

Unfortunately, no if.

Istomin's obsessive sprint gave him a lifeline, but even so, Istomin had almost no room to hit the ball. He had no choice but to slash, and his two-handed backhand barely wrapped around the tennis ball. shoot.

rainbow ball.

In a passive situation, Istomin pulled out a rainbow ball with a full parabola, and the tennis ball flew high towards Gao Wen's backhand and the bottom line.

Despite being passive, Istomin showed excellent defensive quality.

Defense, which is also the key to this game.

Istomin put pressure on Gao Wen's offense through tenacious defense. The more entangled, the easier it is to take risks, and taking risks naturally leads to mistakes.

However, everything in the world is a double-edged sword. There are advantages and disadvantages. They are twins. The most important thing is how to deal with it:
In the face of a difficult and tenacious defense, if you become more and more impatient and urgent, fall into the pattern of blindly exerting force, constantly increasing speed, and pursuing dead ends, expecting to tear apart with a faster and stronger attack, then the attack will be wrong. There will be more and more, which is also a common problem of young players.

But if you can maintain patience, keep trial and error, keep a clear mind, and re-arrange the layout, then the anxious offensive and defensive battles will become the best training for adjusting the feel and state of the ball. This is exactly what Gao Wen needs-after all, the Queen's Club There were basically no rounds in the two games of the Cup.

Gao Wen's brain is very clear. In fact, he is in a good state and has no problems. This is completely different from the ups and downs of the Australian Open final. The problem he needs to face now is to adapt to the grass. Slowly adjust the feel of the ball and rebuild your game.

Even at this moment, no exception——

You can't give up trying just because it's a moment of crisis or because it's on the edge of a cliff.

For Gao Wen, it is better to stand up and die than to lie down to survive. His game, his life, and his dreams are all like this.

"Focus, focus, focus", this is the only thought in Gao Wen's mind at this moment.

mobile.

run.

In place.

In this round, the offensive initiative was always in Gao Wen's hands. Although Istomin also tried to counterattack, the initiative was still on Gao Wen's side.

He fixed his gaze on the tennis ball, and scanned Istomin's position from the corner of his eye——

Stay put.

Obviously, Istomin judged that Gao Wen should continue to choose the diagonal line, and the two confronted in the backhand position, because Istomin's return was really difficult to control.

Rainbow ball, strong topspin, high and floating.

Even on the grass, if you forcibly pull the bottom line and spin the high ball, you can also pull the ball back with a super high rebound, but one risk you need to face is that the top spin will be swallowed by the grass, and the rebound height may be far lower than expected.

On clay, such a return will often bounce above the head; on grass, it may bounce as high as the chest.

There is a clear difference in the effect of topspin.

Of course, compared to the fact that hitting on grass is generally between the waist and thighs, the rebound height can reach the chest and even the shoulders at this time, which is indeed very high; coupled with the smoothness of the grass, the spin is almost wiped out, but there is This kind of tail force that keeps going forward, so the last high ball near the shoulder lacks friction in handling, and it is easy to make mistakes if you don't pay attention.

Therefore, generally speaking, players may choose to transition with one shot, and then re-layout.

This is how Istomin judged. The slash should be a high-probability event. During most of the entire game today, Gao Wen would indeed choose this way.

This time, however, Istomin was wrong.

But see——

Withdrawing, pausing, and kicking the ground, Gawain took a small step back with his left leg, stomped on the ground, almost fell into the grass, and supported his body; at the same time, his upper body leaned back slightly, and continued to pull Space, the speed of the backhand shot with both hands was obviously slowed down, a whole beat slower.

Wait, wait patiently, not grab the rising point, but wait for the tennis ball to fall.

Followed by.

Shot, quick swing, skateboard... power, instant release - straight line!