Match point

Raid!

Everything was too sudden and too unexpected, like a rainstorm in the midsummer afternoon, without any sign, the sun was shining brightly one second, and the next second it was already raining heavily, and the unreasonable torrential rain poured down head and face, and then, the southeast The Northwest was completely in chaos.

This is how Istomin is at this moment.

It couldn't be any more ordinary, and the situation changed in an instant, and before he had time to react, he was already involved in the storm.

shock!Panic!
In a hurry, Istomin didn't have time to think at all, and his eyes were a little too busy. He didn't know whether to watch tennis or Gawain. The entire court was shrinking rapidly, and there was no gap in his vision.

But, there is no time—

In fact, the quality of Gao Wen's return is so-so. In order to ensure a smooth pass over the net, Gao Wen's rebound shot is high and floating.

Normally, this would be an opportunity for Istomin.

But now it is different. Istomin needs to process too much information for a while. When he returns to the tennis ball, he realizes that the tennis ball without force is bouncing very low and is falling fast. He has to hit the ball. , otherwise it will jump twice, but what should I do?
In my mind, there are thousands of thoughts, there is no way to think, there is no way at all.

"Uh!"

With a muffled grunt, Istomin had already completed a low shot with a backhand with both hands. The hit point was really too low, basically below the knees, and there was no room for swinging the racket. He had to pull the ball back up.

--straight line.

Subconsciously, Istomin still tried to break through the net, but just after he finished hitting the ball, he felt annoyed for a while. Gao Wen obviously lacked touch in the backhand position, so he still chose the straight line by throwing himself into the net.

Damn!

However, even without time to be upset, Istomin was already desperate.

In sight, Gawain took a horizontal step, his arms stretched out, and his body light.

stop.

One button.

Comparable to a volleyball block smash, the strength of the forehand wrist is instantly smashed inward.

boom.

boom!
There is a crisp sound of hitting the ball, and a loud landing sound.

Slashes, gaps... score!
"what!"

Gao Wen quickly stuffed the racket into his left hand, clenched his right hand into a fist and jumped up high, his light and elegant figure was like Pegasus Meteor Fist.

Energy, released in a short and turbulent way——

boom!
The audience exploded.

It can be clearly seen that Gao Wen's high leaping posture caused the audience to stand up, and they were completely speechless, unable to think, just like this, unable to extricate themselves, the adrenaline detonated instantly, and the audience roared like a tsunami.

This time, Sampras turned his arms crossed and looked like he was sitting firmly on Mount Tai. From his eyes and posture, he could feel the pride from the inside out.

In the player's box, everyone else has stood up, including Pelt -

"0:30".

It can be seen from the score that in this round, Gao Wen keenly captured the opportunity and scored consecutively. This may be the turning point of the fourth set.

Agassi noticed Sampras' composure, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, and his eyes showed a hint of playfulness, but he didn't puncture his old friend.

In 2022, if you ask young players or young audiences, they may say, isn't this Federer's stunt?
Moreover, there is also an official official name, "SABR (Sneak-Attack-By-Roger)", literally translated as "Sneak Attack from Roger".

As you can tell from the name, this is a tactic exclusively for Federer.

This tactic first appeared in the match between Federer and Djokovic. When the opponent was serving, Federer suddenly cut into the bottom line, grabbed a return serve by cutting or rebounding, and then followed the ball to the net. Applying pressure to score this point is a sneak attack.

However, "SABR" cannot be used frequently, because male players serve very fast. After entering the bottom line, they often do not have enough reaction space and time. An outrageous error occurred.

"SABR" is very entertaining, and later spread widely on social networks in the form of moving pictures or short videos.

In fact, this tactic is not original to Federer. As early as half a century ago, in the heyday of serve and volleyball, some players had tried it.

Unfortunately, at that time, because the racket was still made of wood, it could not withstand too much force, otherwise the accuracy of hitting the ball would decrease, so the success rate was not high.

Until the 90s, Sampras became a master of serve and surf style, writing countless history, this tactic is also his killer.

Gao Wen's tactics came from Sampras.

With the same set of tactics, the biggest difference between Sampras and Federer lies in the positioning.

Federer is a sneak attack. His position will not only enter the bottom line, but also ride the wind and waves all the way to approach the bottom line of the service area, which is equivalent to using his body to create physical pressure, which has already formed interference before receiving the serve. Break the rules but spark controversy.

To be precise, the rules do not stipulate the player's receiving position. Therefore, in amateur games, it is often seen that some people choose to stand in the service area and deliberately put pressure on their opponents in this way, but it is basically rogue; In such a situation, the serving side only needs to choose to serve vigorously and hit it directly without hesitation, and it will be able to crack.

The same is true of the core tactics of "SABR", which disrupts the opponent's rhythm through sneak attacks. Therefore, pressing forward is the core of the tactics. As for the subsequent series of actions, including cutting and receiving the serve and surfing the net, it is just a continuation of the action.

Sampras is confrontational. His position often does not enter the bottom line, but stands on the bottom line. It is a bit similar to the rising point strategy of grabbing the serve. He grabs the serve back immediately, but does not care about the quality of the return. The most important point is the follow-up, that is, serve the net, and decide the outcome through the duel in front of the net.

In short, the real core is surfing the net. The front and back actions pave the way for one's own surfing. This is the style of the iconic serve and net player, because the surfing needs to be fast, and the opponent's return should be compressed as much as possible. The net space, so the players serve in advance to shorten the step distance.

There is a clear difference between the two in terms of tactical intentions.

Since the offseason, Sampras has been cultivating and polishing Gao Wen's pre-net skills, and throughout the Australian Open and the French Open, he has been constantly trial and error and constantly adjusted. The ultimate goal is to enrich Gao Wen's arsenal on the grass court. Become a magic weapon to break the stalemate balance at the critical moment.

In addition, this set of tactics has another advantage: saving energy.

When the physical strength is extreme or the state is not good, it is the best policy to change the rhythm of the game by serving the ball to the net and gain breathing space for yourself.

Sampras was satisfied not only because of Gao Wen's excellent execution, but also because of Gao Wen's timing, which broke the balance without warning.

Everything, just right—

For the next point, the pressure on Istomin was huge.