Chapter 1119: A World of Difference

"The previous wave was powerful, and the next wave was fierce: for the second week in a row, Gawain is about to face the challenge."

“The 'Post-95s' youth storm has officially stepped onto the Masters stage!”

"Before the post-90s generation took over the tennis world, a new wave of post-90s generation has already arrived."

"From challenger to challenged, is it possible that Gao Wen will encounter a challenge in his Miami debut?"

"The new generation challenges the new generation, and Gao Wen needs to prove himself."

Are the media really that optimistic about Coric/Rublev? Not necessarily.

In essence, the media are not kicking someone when he is down, but fanning the flames and adding fuel to the fire. If there are no hot spots, then they will create some; if there are no topics, then they will create some topics. They can always come up with something out of nothing, fabricate things out of thin air, and make up stories based on hearsay.

First it was Coric from Dubai, and then Rublev from Miami. When the draw came out, the reporters' eyes turned green, like sharks smelling blood, scrambling to "fabricate" the news, like chefs preparing to burn down the kitchen.

Show your skills.

The media were all looking forward to Gao Wen's reaction, and even expected Gao Wen to lose control: Angry? Irritated? Disdainful? Arrogant? Contemptuous? Or something else?

But obviously, the media underestimated Gawain, or rather, they still haven't really understood Gawain yet——

Sprinkle some water.

Such a provocation is really not worth mentioning.

In Gao Wen's opinion, the new generation has not yet fully grown up, but the younger new generation has already arrived with great force. This is the eternal core topic of competitive sports.

This is not only true for tennis, but also for football, basketball and other sports. The middle-aged, new-generation, new-new-generation and old but strong veterans compete on the same field, with a hundred flowers blooming and a hundred schools of thought contending. Only in this way can the competition become exciting and promote each other.

not to mention--

If you knew that the opponent you were about to face would grow into the top ten in the world in two years, appear in the quarterfinals of Grand Slams many times, and defeat Federer and Nadal, would you still think that this "unknown" opponent is not worth mentioning at all?

Obviously, no.

"Don't look down on the young and poor", because people will never know where their growth limits are. From Cilic to Rublev, it's actually the same.

Just like last year's US Open.

At that time, people underestimated Gao Wen's existence, and finally witnessed a miracle; the same is true for the tour now. These young players have emerged like mushrooms after rain, indicating that the new generation born after 1995 is ready, and fresh blood has joined the tour one after another.

The wheel of time has moved forward a little bit.

Against Rublev, Gawain did not slack off at all.

The 25-year-old Rublev plays in a somewhat "stubborn" way. He attacks, attacks, and attacks again. He attacks whether he has the opportunity or not. Moreover, he can easily get into a dead end if he is not careful. He exerts force, exerts force, and exerts force to the end, regardless of whether the opportunity is appropriate or not.

The advantage is that the morale is high and they fight until the last point.

The disadvantage is that they don’t know how to adapt when faced with changes or difficulties.

Therefore, there is an obvious bottleneck in Rublev's game——

There is no problem in reaching the quarterfinals of Grand Slam tournaments, as they perform very well against lower-ranked players. However, when entering the second half and facing top players, they often find it difficult to break through and are trapped in their own obsessions, unable to break through.

At least this is the case until 2022, and this is also the difficult problem that lies ahead in Rublev's career. If he wants to go further, he must break through.

Professionals like to regard Rublev as another Ferrer, who is conscientious and sincere, a kind and upright man both on and off the court, with a stable state but difficult to break through; the only difference is that Rublev's forehand is better than Ferrer's.

Perhaps, in the future Rublev may make further breakthroughs and reach heights that Ferrer cannot reach. This depends on his own efforts.

The 19-year-old Rublev had just finished his junior professional career and did not even have much experience in challenge tournaments. He was like a newborn, and his playing style was even more so. He rushed forward with passion and brute force, regardless of anything. That was all:

Forehand, forehand, backhand hold, sideways forehand, forehand, backhand hold, forehand again.

Simply put, any chance, Rublev will immediately complete the shot with a forehand -

There is no doubt about the power. Rublev's forehand is not the penetrating type, but the heavy hammer type, and the whole ball is heavy.

But the entire tactical layout was relatively simple, and the opponent could easily predict it, then break the balance, change the situation, and force Rublev into trouble.

It is undoubtedly good news for Rublev to appear on the Masters stage for the first time in his career and defeat a good player in the first round to advance to the second round.

However, the encounter with Gawain was a wake-up call, and Rublev received a good lesson in professional training.

First of all, Gao Wen's two-handed backhand is excellent. Not only is it durable, but it also has the ability to change lines when facing continuous pressure.

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Secondly, Gawain's rhythm, layout and strokes are rich in variety. He is very good at making power players uncomfortable and putting them in a position where it is difficult to exert force. In other words, he can make Rublev's violent forehand useless and instead keep him in a position that needs adjustment.

Finally, Gao Wen's grasp of timing, control of momentum, and reading of the game were sophisticated and mature enough, and he performed well in key points.

In addition, there is another very important objective fact that cannot be ignored, especially for Rublev, which has a direct impact: the competition environment.

What does it mean? To sum it up simply, there are two key words: venue and ball.

Of course, the influences of strong winds, temperature, humidity, sunlight, etc. also exist objectively, but in addition to these, there are two key factors that deserve attention.

First, the venue.

Indian Wells is a slow hard court, and Miami is also a slow hard court. The key is that the court material in Miami is different from that in Indian Wells, and the speed, bounce, spin and texture of the ball are obviously different.

Objectively speaking, Miami is between fast hard court and slow hard court. The overall ball speed will be slightly faster, the bounce height will be slightly lower, the hitting feeling will be heavier, and it can release more power.

Second, use the ball.

As mentioned before, all major North American competitions use the Payne brand ball owned by Hyde, and almost all NCAA competitions are no exception. This is also the game ball that Gao Wen is most familiar with.

Indian Wells uses Payne.

This was once the case in Miami, but after IMG Group took over, the event changed the sponsor of the game ball to Dunlop, and the situation is different.

Overall, Payne is a "blue-collar" ball, well-rounded and balanced, with neither weaknesses nor strengths; Dunlop is a "tough guy", and in fact its characteristics are not obvious, but its liner is excellent and particularly durable, so it is particularly popular on clay courts. Overall, there is a clear difference in the batting feel between the new ball and the old ball.

What is certain is that the feel of Paine and Dunlop's batting is worlds apart.

These are all objective influencing factors that "interfere" with the game.

(End of this chapter)