Match point

"30:0".

Taking advantage of the time when he was wiping his sweat, Istomin let out a breath secretly, secretly clenched his fists to cheer himself up, and once again convinced himself not to be easily swayed:

Looking back at the whole game, his performance has been excellent, which is why he was able to lead the score. There is no need to question yourself just because he missed a match point. The ups and downs of the last serve will not change the trend of the game. You should scare yourself into disrupting your game.

"One point, another point, it's game point."

Istomin took a deep breath, then put on his windshield sports glasses again, returned to the baseline, and was ready to serve.

a district.

At the outer corner, the speed is 188 kilometers per hour, and the first shot enters the zone smoothly.

On the opposite side of the court, Gawain took a long horizontal stride and his body was fully extended. Although the speed of the ball was not fast, it landed well and completely tore apart the angles. The way blocked a shot, and cut out a backspin ball in the middle.

tread!tread!
Only two steps, because Gao Wen chose to slice, the speed of the ball was not fast, Istomin quickly returned to his position, and after only two small adjustments in small steps, he was already in place in the middle, and he made the racket in advance to prepare for a quick attack. Convergence improves the rhythm of the round and realizes one's own serving advantage.

Sight, focus.

Muscles, tight.

coming!

...Wait, huh?
What's the matter with the refraction angle of a tennis ball bouncing off the ground?

As mentioned in the clay court season before, the irregular bounce, due to the material of the clay, leads to uneven density of the field, and with the movement and trampling of the players, the density of the field continues to change all the time, and finally there may be irregularities. Regular bouncing, totally unpredictable.

In fact, the same is true for grass courts.

For one thing, the soil under the turf is also soil, and there will be uneven density. Although it is not as common as red soil, it also exists objectively.

Secondly, the green grass itself also has density differences. Even if it is trimmed finely and neatly, it cannot be [-]% evenly distributed.

In addition, the sideline of the grass court is drawn with lime powder. Although the lime powder is completely powdery, the density and texture of the particles are still different.

For various reasons, grass courts also have irregular bounces.

Of course, it is not as frequent and common as clay courts; at the same time, irregular bounces on grass courts are relatively single, and generally low bounces——

To put it simply, according to the rules of normal power rotation, after landing and bouncing, the refraction angle should be [-] degrees, which is already a very, very low bounce, showing the characteristics of grass; but if you encounter a "landmine", then the refraction angle may be It's only fifteen degrees, and it could be even worse.

Because of this, low bounce is the key word on grass, and players need to keep their knees bent and keep their center of gravity low all the time.

When accidentally encountering a landmine, it depends on the player's center of gravity control and secondary reaction.

It's like this moment—

mines!

Originally, Gao Wen chose to cut the backspin, and the rebound height of the return ball was already limited. Istomin was already ready to hit the ball near the knee; the refraction angle was actually even lower, almost at the position of the calf bone. He knew that he had encountered a landmine, and swallowed his strength silently.

The most wonderful and special thing is that the clay court encounters landmines, which can often be seen by the audience, but the grass court is not so obvious.

As a result, spectators are often able to see that players somehow miss all shots, and only realize that they are mines after being slow for several beats.

Istomin: ...

He didn't even have time to swear, his knees were already bent down immediately, but it was still too late, so the backhand stroke could only be transformed into a backhand slice, using a sliced ​​topspin ball at the calf position, trying to stick to the ball The net cuts the tennis ball back and takes as much control as possible.

A small accident disrupted Istomin's attack plan.

At the same time, it can be seen from this return shot that Istomin still lacks the ability to deal with unexpected situations, and his cutting technique is very rough. Although he tried to control the parabola of the return ball, he obviously failed to control it. In a panic, Just hastily sliced ​​the tennis ball back.

The high-flying parabola was neither high nor low. When it flew to the other side of the court, it actually gave Gawain a hit height at the waist and abdomen——

Gao Wen, how could he miss it?

Small steps are adjusted, the backhand with both hands is solid and steady, and the front is fast, and the hitting point is just right, and the whole rotation is clean and solid.

boom!
The tennis ball hit the racket in the way of hitting the wall and then bounced off, drawing a light backslash and rushing towards the deep area of ​​Istomin's forehand.

From height to position to timing, everything was perfect for Gao Wen, which was equivalent to feeding the ball in a practice match. Therefore, Gao Wen seized the opportunity, everything fit together seamlessly, and his crisp attack was flawless.

Like a flash of lightning.

Although Istomin stretched out his racket reflexively and tried to complete the defense in the forehand position, the tennis ball directly penetrated the defense and scored easily.

"30:15".

Istomin felt a little helpless. Standing up straight, he could see Gawain's gesture of stretching out his hand——

Although the landmine was an unintentional accident just like the netting, Gao Wen still benefited indirectly and scored, so he still needs to apologize politely.

Istomin understood that such a situation was purely accidental, and there was no way to premeditate or prevent it. Everything happened suddenly, and it depended on whose on-the-spot response ability was better. Both require judgment and making the best choice right away.

So, it's not anyone's fault.

If you must condemn it, you can only condemn Court No. [-].

But just knowing this, Istomin was even more powerless, with his hands on his hips, he glanced at the location of the mine just now:
Didn't the No. [-] court be a "seed grave", so it should be more friendly to unseeded players. Why did it help Gao Wen at a critical moment?

Because of the fluctuation of missing the match point, he finally stabilized by scoring two consecutive points, and now he is shaking again because of the detonation of a landmine.

Inexplicably, there is a sense of frustration that "the whole world is against me".

Take a deep breath.

Take another deep breath.

Istomin reminded himself that he needed to calm down and not allow negative emotions to occupy his mind, otherwise he would be dragged into the darkness and never recover.

Take another deep breath.

"One more point, one more point, it's the game point, and it still has the advantage now, so there's no need to panic."

Istomin clenched his fist again to cheer for himself.

"30:15".

Second District.

Istomin looked up at Gawain's position, and then started to serve——

Snapped.

Send it off the net.

It can be seen from throwing the ball that Istomin is also preparing to speed up, trying to form an impact with speed and strength, but he presses too hard and falls off the net.

Second serve.

Istomin's hands were a little tight, but he didn't pause, to avoid any possibility of distracting thoughts, he held his breath, and without pausing, he directly shot the second shot.

Kick off.

toss.

Swing.

hit the ball.

——Outside corner, large outside corner, strong topspin and side spin, completely tearing the angle apart.