Chapter 1173: Ordinary
The warm-up games are still the same games, but the differences in details can change the training focus of the games and bring out new vitality.
Just like now.
On the surface, this seems to be no different from hard-court footwork exercises.
At the start, Gao Wen needs to have one foot on the baseline of the service area, which is equivalent to the starting line/return line.
At the same time, Graf stood in the middle of the serving area, or close to the net, ready to hit the ball.
When the game starts, Graf hits the tennis ball and Gawain sprints forward to return the ball. At the same time, after Graf completes the hit, she needs to immediately return to the baseline of her serving area, step on the line, then return, complete the hit, and hit the tennis ball into Gawain's court again.
Simply put, there are three steps in total: hitting the ball, returning to the baseline of your own serving area to complete the turn, and then rushing forward again to complete the hit.
Turn back and hit the ball.
Turn back and hit the ball.
In this way, they repeat over and over again, and both of them need to take the same return route. In Gao Wen's opinion, it is somewhat similar to the chase of the return run on the tennis court:
One person starts first, and the other starts later. The two people are separated by a circle, and then they keep turning back and forth, forming a chase to see who can catch who. It may be that the former circles the latter, or the latter shortens the distance to catch the former. The return route is a circle.
The only difference may be that there is red soil under your feet, so sudden stops, turns and sprint brakes may be very difficult to control.
This should be a game to train the basic skills of moving on clay.
But soon, Gao Wen found that things were not that simple.
First of all, this is indeed a basic training for footwork.
The shuttle run on clay courts requires completely different details such as starting, acceleration, braking, control, force, etc. than the hard court mode.
If you use the "emergency brake" mode on hard ground, you may not be able to push off the ground at all. If you use a little more force, you will slip. If you use a little more force, you will fall. If it is more urgent and sudden, you may suffer unnecessary strain or sprain. In other words, red clay should not be too hard.
In fact, hard courts are the most vulnerable to injury and potential sports injuries, while clay can often alleviate the impact and protect joints, muscles, ligaments, and force patterns within a certain range. In comparison, sports injuries are lower and there will be fewer injuries.
but!
If you use a movement method that requires sudden stops and turns on hard ground, or explosive charges and stops, or rush around on clay, your chances of getting injured will skyrocket.
In the 2022 French Open semi-finals, at the end of the second set between Zverev and Nadal, Zverev used the hard court emergency braking method and tried to change the line of his forehand, but his right ankle was unable to push off the ground and he was unable to slide on the clay, so he tore his ligaments and retired due to injury.
More importantly, this warm-up game is confined to the serving area, and the frequency of starting and braking is consciously controlled within a small range.
The space for shuttle runs is very limited, basically between two and three steps. In other words, footwork control needs to be completed in a short time and narrow space.
If it was on hard ground, sudden stops and turns, the whole stop and start would be very clean and smooth, without any drag, which would be basically no difficulty for Gao Wen; but now it is on red clay, sudden stops and turns are not effective at all, because hard braking often makes it difficult to control the body, and the second start speed will slow down -
In such a small-scale shuttle run, once the second start speed is slightly slower than half a beat, or the reaction speed of foot control cannot keep up, it won’t take too long for the gap to widen in three or five rounds, and then it will no longer be able to keep up, and the gap will widen step by step.
What does this mean?
This means that during the shuttle run, he needs to determine his target location in advance, adjust his steps in advance, control his steps through sliding or small steps, and avoid sudden stops and turns. Only in this way can he maintain balance and keep his center of gravity light and active for the subsequent second and third starts.
observe.
judge.
Focus.
Every time you start and every time you run, you need to feel the friction and grip of the red soil carefully.
For example, this time the slide is likely to slide 50 centimeters, or one meter? For example, after the slide, the footsteps pause, and the arm is extended, can the racket complete the hit? For example, after controlling the body, how should I adjust the footsteps, find the center of gravity, and start again? And so on and so forth.
All of this was completely unfamiliar to Gawain.
On the hard court, Gawain's footwork is undoubtedly among the best, and even Pelt praised him highly. It can be seen that Gawain has very solid basic skills and has spent a lot of sweat and effort on his footwork.
However, when he came to the red clay, Gawain's steps seemed very clumsy. He was too cautious and distracted, and his whole control was gone.
In the first round of the game, Gao Wen only lasted thirteen rounds before his staggering steps could no longer keep up and he watched helplessly as the tennis ball bounced twice.
In fact, his steps had been disordered since the seventh and eighth rounds. Gao Wen relied on his solid basic skills to barely keep up for a few more rounds, but the gap was getting bigger and bigger, and finally he could not keep up at all. He had never been in such an embarrassing posture on the hard ground before.
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In the second round, Gawain's performance was even worse. He only lasted ten rounds before he lost the ball. What happened? Gawain realized that this game was not just about footwork.
Secondly, this is also a basic training on batting.
Here, the so-called hitting the ball is not the forehand or backhand hitting in the ordinary sense, but an understanding of rotation, bounce and control.
In addition to the shuttle run, hand skills are also very important.
After each shuttle run, they need to hit the ball, but this time the hit is not as simple as hitting the tennis ball over the net.
Short line, long line, diagonal line, straight line, unloading, rotation, etc., are all allowed as long as the landing point of the ball is controlled within the boundaries of the serving area.
In fact, this is somewhat similar to the fighting in front of the net in badminton, which uses very delicate hand skills such as rubbing, jumping, lifting, flicking, hitting, and spiking to complete the shot, and increase the threat of one's own shot as much as possible within a limited time and space: either, it is beyond the opponent's expectations, such as suddenly hitting a long line to disrupt the opponent's pace.
Or, you can pursue the perfect shot, such as hitting a small ball close to the net. Even if the opponent judges it correctly and catches up, there is no space to complete the shot.
In other words, the movement of the shuttle run is to buy yourself enough time to hit the ball; and the technique of hitting the ball is to buy yourself enough time to move and add threat and pressure to your return.
At the same time, don't forget, this is a clay court -
Every shot may have irregular bounces, and the power of rotation will be brought to a whole new level.
(End of this chapter)