Chapter 1125: Psychological Contest
Exploded, exploded.
Gawain dropped the bombshell with ease, triggering a media frenzy that completely overshadowed the other players.
Even Djokovic, Nadal and others were asked questions about the new generation born after 1995 at the press conference, and no one was an exception.
This craze swept across Miami.
In professional tennis, people are used to the "Federer-Nadal final", "Derrick Rose-Nadal final", "Derrick Muller final" and so on. People are tired of talking about the permutations of the Big Four; however, the strong confrontations outside of these have never been able to create enough momentum, and any confrontation seems to be lacking in weight.
This is even more true for the new generation of young people, who are still very far away from the rhetoric of "old enemies". Whether in the number of duels or the quality of the duels, there is a big gap.
It is a pity, because the most moving and exciting thing in competitive sports is precisely the "duel between old rivals". Every great era has classic rivals.
If the new generation of players, whether they are those born in the 1990s or 1995s, want to truly change the landscape of professional tennis, it is far from enough to rely on a few players to challenge the Big Four; they also need to contribute wonderful matches among themselves, meet again and again, and clash again and again to create sparks.
Starting from the most basic and simplest number of encounters, to the number of encounters in the Masters Grand Slams, to the excitement of classic duels, and finally to the suspense of the difficult victory or defeat, these factors are all key to establishing a "rival". Unfortunately, the new generation of players are still far from reaching such standards.
The new generation representatives such as Raonic, Dimitrov, and Gawain have only faced each other on the same hand, let alone being rivals.
The post-90s generation is still climbing the ladder; the post-95s generation has quietly emerged, and they are younger, more impulsive and more passionate. Perhaps they can bring hope? For example... "Gawain vs. Zverev"? Let's not talk about others for now. At least from the media publicity and professional point of view, one is a hot and popular youngster, and the other is a talented future world No. 1. The youth storm of the same age group has indeed created a visual sense of Mars hitting the Earth. The quality of the match is worth looking forward to.
What's more, the pre-match interviews between the two players had already sparked sparks, and there was no need for the news media to fan the flames; the smoke of war was already filled with gunpowder.
Looking forward to it!
Perhaps this is just the first meeting between the two players at the ATP level, but who knows, this is the debut of a new pair of rivals.
…
Stare! In a blink of an eye, only the participating players were left in the player tunnel. Zverev finally couldn't control himself anymore and glared at Gawain fiercely.
He simply couldn't believe that Gawain had embarrassed him so much at the press conference. His arrogant and ugly face was simply disgusting, but at the same time, it just proved his judgment of Gawain, that he was a super villain who used a mask of humor to hide his true evil face.
Gawain seemed to notice Zverev's gaze, turned his head and saw the raging anger in his opponent's eyes.
However, Gao Wen's mouth corners slightly raised, and he smiled with a sincere and friendly smile, as if he didn't notice the tension between them at all.
“This guy!”
Zverev was dumbfounded, he could hardly believe his eyes, rage exploding in his chest, he almost lost control of the situation.
When he came to his senses, Zverev found that he had clenched his fists so tightly that veins were bulging and on the verge of bursting.
He will beat him.
He! One hundred percent! Can defeat him!
Zverev looked away, barely controlling himself before the tunnel became a boxing ring, and told himself this over and over again.
So much so that Zverev didn't notice at all that Gawain glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, then quickly looked away and looked forward.
Gao Wen, are you really that impulsive?
Of course not.
In competitive sports, "psychological warfare" is also a very important part. Although tennis does not involve psychological warfare as frequently as football or basketball, the competition that extends from the court to outside the court always objectively exists.
Zverev is indeed gifted. In terms of ability alone, the experts are not wrong about him. He does have the potential to be the world's number one.
But everything in the world is a double-edged sword, and it is precisely because of this talent that Zverev has been carrying the "aura of genius" since he was a child, overflowing with self-confidence, to the point that it has evolved into a kind of pride, a burden, and a constraint. Therefore, Zverev's psychological endurance has always been criticized.
Two pieces of data are very typical evidence:
Although he had won two consecutive Masters championship trophies as early as 2017, he did not reach the semi-finals of the Grand Slam until the 2020 Australian Open.
In addition, despite being ranked third in the world, it was not until the 2022 French Open that he defeated a top-10 player in a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in his career.
Is this the case because Zverev doesn't have the ability to do so?
Of course not.
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Psychological stress resistance and endurance are the key.
By 2022, with five Masters titles and a long-term stable top five world ranking, Zverev has long proven his talent, so every time he goes to a Grand Slam, he is bound to be the focus of attention; however, once he bathes in the halo of "favorite to win the championship" or ignites the hope of "becoming the world's number one", the pressure will come down like a tidal wave.
At such moments, Zverev is always complacent and seems to enjoy the praise and attention he receives very much. However, when he is really on the court, he always performs poorly. He has all his strength but cannot use it. He repeatedly fails at critical moments and is eliminated early again and again.
Simply put, Zverev enjoys the spotlight. This is what he has been treated to since he was a child. He longs to bathe in the spotlight. This is his nourishment.
However, he was unable to strike the right balance between attention and pressure. He would be surrounded by frustration at the slightest obstacle and then defeat himself.
Later, Zverev lost control of his emotions even further, and was accused of "violent rumors" both on and off the court. He abused his girlfriend off the court and attacked the referee on the court.
Literally, in the 2022 Acapulco doubles semi-finals, Zverev was dissatisfied with the penalty and attacked the referee's chair with his racket, causing the racket to be directly destroyed and almost attacking the referee's left foot.
The problem of losing control of emotions is getting worse and worse. Is Zverev becoming another Kyrgios? Pressure is the keyword for every professional athlete and the only way to the championship throne. No one can be an exception.
So, what should Gawain do?
To be precise, Gawain wasn't going to do anything, because he didn't think it was necessary; but...
Since the opponent had already come to provoke him, pointed at him and scolded him, showing a flaw, if Gawain still turned a blind eye, wouldn't he be betraying his opponent's sincerity? So Gawain went with the flow, provoked him a little, and then patiently waited for things to ferment -
Sure enough, Zverev exploded.
(End of this chapter)