Chapter 1062: Special Circumstances
"…Grigor, are you okay?"
After chatting and laughing, Raonic paused for a moment and asked with concern.
In fact, Raonic was not clear about Dimitrov's specific situation, but as partners who rose to prominence in the same period, they also paid attention to each other's news. Naturally, they could see that Dimitrov's performance had been struggling in the past two months, and things had obviously fluctuated.
Gao Wen let out a long breath.
"No, I don't think so, even though he insisted that he was fine and just needed to adjust."
"But some things still need to be solved by yourself, so I just play the role of a friend and show my support, that's all."
Gawain did not elaborate on Dimitrov's situation, but Raonic quickly understood.
They are all professional players, and they all know clearly the intricacies of the matter of "competitive status".
Raonic nodded slightly and said nothing more. "I'll ask Ivan to confirm the training schedule later to see if we can train together."
As Gao Wen said, the only help they can provide as friends is to stay with Dimitrov and show their support.
Gawain nodded in affirmation and patted Raonic on the shoulder. Then Raonic took another step and left with Ljubicic.
Gao Wen also opened his equipment bag and devoted himself to training day after day.
From Doha to Auckland and then to Indian Wells, jet lag is an unavoidable problem along the way, as are climate and weather conditions.
In addition, the intensity of the two games, losing to Federer and defeating Venus, is completely different, which also means that Gao Wen needs to adjust her touch, otherwise it will be difficult to achieve good results in Indian Wells.
From this perspective, doubles attempts are indeed very necessary.
During the first hour of practice in Indian Wells, the wind was strong.
During the second hour of practice in Indian Wells, the wind was strong.
Third hour of practice in Indian Wells…still windy.
Gao Wen had prepared himself mentally. He thought that after Doha and Dubai, the strong winds in the two desert events had indeed left a deep impression on him, so Indian Wells should be similar. However, the cruel reality still taught him a good lesson: never underestimate nature.
In Doha and Dubai, strong winds did play an important role, but the heat and dryness played a bigger role, which also changed the spin and bounce of the tennis ball.
Indian Wells is different.
First of all, the texture of the court here is even more special. Although it is a hard court, like Flushing, poured with cement, the gravel texture is more obvious.
This is probably because it is a desert area. When the court is watered, the gravity of the sand and gravel increases, which also causes the bounce of the tennis ball to be slightly different when it hits the ground.
First, the ball is slower; second, it bounces higher.
Although from a physical perspective, the error may only be 0.01 seconds, you can feel during the actual hitting process that the ball speed has slowed down significantly.
Even slower than Melbourne Park.
Secondly, the strong wind here is completely unpredictable, blowing left and right, up and down, just like a child playing hide-and-seek, extremely naughty.
There is no pattern! There is absolutely no pattern! Moreover, there is a gust of wind, and the sand and rocks are flying. Even though the training ground is surrounded by green belts, the wind and sand still blur the vision; what is more terrible is that, unlike the fine dust on the red clay court, the granular sand can be felt in these gusts, which is comparable to the level of shotgun.
Strictly speaking, the Indian Wells court should be considered a special kind of court between hard court and clay. Some players even complained that it was "sand court".
then--
The ball speed on the field is slow to begin with, and coupled with the interference of strong winds, the flight trajectory of the tennis ball often has slight deviations, making control more difficult.
Does this mean that power players have a slight advantage here?
Not necessarily.
Slow-pitch courts tend to "absorb" power, and pure power players find it difficult to fully and thoroughly play their game here; it requires more comprehensive abilities.
Since 2004, Federer has won the Indian Wells men's singles championship four times, Nadal and Djokovic have won three times each; the only time the title fell to someone else was in 2010, when Ljubicic defeated Roddick to win the title.
In addition, a piece of data that is very worth referring to is that Chang Depei won the championship here three times, which is consistent with the number of championships of Nadal, Djokovic and Connors, and is tied for second in history, while Sampras and Courier only have two championship trophies each, which is slightly behind.
From this we can see that the Indian Wells venue poses a test to the players' comprehensive abilities and also contains potential uncertainties.
If I don’t adapt to the venue well, I really don’t know how to play here. Every time I hit the ball, I doubt my life, “Is it supposed to be like this?”
"Is this the ball I hit?"
"What's up with the flight path?"
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Errors, deviations, and accidents are very subtle and trivial throughout every shot, which means that footwork adjustments need to be very agile; at the same time, more concentration and dedication are required when hitting the ball, both for control and for potential unexpected situations.
After a training session, Gao Wen was full of question marks.
Looking at Gao Wen, Sampras couldn't help but laugh. "I thought you were half a host player. The strong wind here is similar to that in Los Angeles, right?"
"Yes, I thought so too." Gao Wen's eyes widened in surprise. "After going through Doha and Dubai, and playing in Los Angeles for so many years, I thought I should have a little advantage and adapt to here without any problem. But look at it? What happened to those shots?"
The vivid complaints jumped lightly between the lines, making Sampras laugh happily.
Sampras turned to Agassi with a gloating look, "Maybe you can have a good exchange of ideas with Andre."
Before the training started, Agassi arrived at the venue and rejoined Gao Wen's team to start the journey of the "Sunshine Double Crown". This time he will accompany the whole process.
Agassi's hitting style is mainly based on fast connection, controlling rhythm, and grabbing rising points. He was able to win the Australian Open four times on slow hard courts, but he was affected by strong winds in Indian Wells and performed poorly. He only won the championship once in his career in 2001.
He is also the last American player to win Indian Wells.
Agassi didn't even bother to pay attention to Sampras, and didn't even bother to look at him. He looked at Gawain and said, "Practice more and you'll find the feeling."
"Signing up for doubles is the right decision," Agassi affirmed.
Just as Gao Wen was about to respond, he saw Dimitrov and his group passing by outside the training ground. He raised his racket and swung it.
"I haven't signed up for the doubles yet. I'm waiting for that gentleman's response."
He replied to Agassi with a smile, and then Gawain raised his voice.
"Grigor, Andre just asked about signing up for the doubles, what do you say?"
(End of this chapter)