Chapter 1174 Challenge the Legend

From moving to hitting the ball, from hitting the ball to moving, this seemingly ordinary warm-up game hides too many traps, especially on clay.

On a hard court, the overall situation is relatively simple. Even if there are no tactics or tricks, it doesn't matter. As long as you exert your full strength, it is enough.

Especially in difficult situations, swing with all your might, smash hard, and swing at full speed. The principle of "force defeats skill" is applicable here, so just fight with all your might.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that fighting will necessarily lead to victory, but it does mean that “great force can make miracles happen” can work.

However, red clay cannot do this.

The feet do not move in place, resulting in deviations in the hitting point, hitting timing, and hitting space, and the result of exerting full force is counterproductive.

The tennis ball bounces irregularly. If you apply force without thinking, you will not only fail to increase speed and strength, but will also accelerate your suicide pace and lead to mistakes.

The most important thing is that the existence of clay itself destroys strength and speed. 100% of the strength will be lost by more than 40% during the flight and bounce process. If the players fight recklessly, the most likely result is that they will be sweating profusely while the opponents will be strolling leisurely, and they will still lose the game.

Simply put, clay courts require patience, change, delicacy, diversity, and thinking.

As for special cases like Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, who crushed their opponents with absolute strength and rewritten the legend of "great strength brings about miracles", that is another matter.

At this moment, standing in front of Graf, Gawain was experiencing this deeply: he, at the age of 19, had just won the "Sunshine Double".

Graf, 46, has been retired for 17 years.

As a result, in the first two rounds of the game, Gao Wen was defeated in both the thirteen rounds of the first round and the ten rounds of the second round. This was simply too incredible.

Gawain raised his head and looked at Graf across the net, not hiding his surprise.

Graf looked relaxed, as if it wasn't an effort at all. "Why? Didn't you think an old lady like me could run two laps on the court?"

The teasing made Gao Wen smile and he shook his head gently, "No, it's not surprising that I lost the ball. It's just that it happened so quickly. I thought I could hold on for a few more rounds."

Indeed, Gao Wen was not surprised that he could not keep up with the pace in his first clay court training session. After all, Graf had won six of the 22 Grand Slam championship trophies at the French Open, second only to the seven at Wimbledon. This legendary player was the most successful all-court player in history.

Among all male and female players, Graf is the only player who has won all four Grand Slams more than four times, and she is also the only player who has successfully defended all four Grand Slams. Her comprehensiveness and versatility are second to none in the long history.

Now, they are standing on red clay, which has lower requirements for strength and speed. In addition, this is a warm-up, so the endurance requirement is not that high. Therefore, Graf can fully demonstrate her basic skills and diversity. The combination of different techniques is really eye-catching.

In front of this legend, Gawain was still a child learning to walk.

Therefore, Gao Wen was not surprised that Graf won two rounds in a row.

But he was sincere. He thought he could at least last twenty to thirty rounds. After all, he had fought for forty rounds on hard courts.

I didn’t expect…

Graf looked at Gawain in front of her, frank and sincere, with a cheerful smile on her lips, but the focus and devotion in her eyes were burning.

She likes Gao Wen, who is honest about his shortcomings and deficiencies, and who always devotes himself to training with a burning desire to improve and enhance himself.

"In a warm-up game, losing two rounds in a row to a female player who has retired for more than ten years, and the performance was worse than the previous round, it was simply a ravage." Not all players can face the situation calmly and adjust their mentality to humbly seek advice. This trait is more rare than you think.

Graf did not rush to explain, but raised her chin slightly, "How is it? Are you ready for another round?"

Gao Wen did not give a direct answer, but asked directly, "Do you want to send first, or should I?"

Graf thought seriously for a moment, "I'm an old man, you should give way to me. Then, I'll start first. You're a young man with good stamina, so run a few more times."

Gao Wen deliberately made a "Popeye" pose to show off his biceps, "This time, I will try to surpass the results of the previous two rounds."

The third round of warm-up games began immediately.

On the sidelines, Sampras and Agassi were watching the training.

You can see the disgusted expression on Sampras' face at a glance, "God, every year at this time of year, I feel like I might have an allergy at any time."

Sampras, one of the greatest men's singles players in history and winner of 14 Grand Slam titles, has never concealed his aversion to clay.

First of all, the French Open is the only Grand Slam that Sampras has not been able to conquer.

Secondly, clay is indeed not Sampras' style. This serve-and-volley master is a typical grass court player. Not only in the French Open, but also in other clay court tournaments, Sampras generally performs poorly. This has been the case throughout his career. He can't help but have a headache as soon as he enters the clay court season.

Agassi looked straight ahead, ignoring Sampras, and said calmly, "It's a psychological effect."

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With just one sentence, all of Sampras' complaints were blocked in his chest. He rolled his eyes and almost choked on his own saliva.

Sampras grumbled, "You're no better than me. There's no need to show off in front of me."

Agassi, the first Grand Slam winner in history, has won all four Grand Slams, but the French Open is not his lucky place either. The only time he won the championship was more or less due to luck. Compared with clay, he still prefers hard courts, especially slow hard courts.

But Sampras was not ready to tangle with Agassi. Without waiting for a response, he cleared his throat and said, "Do you think one week is too tight?"

There is only a short week between the Miami Masters and the Monte Carlo Masters, but the venue change is obviously not that simple.

In fact, they have another choice. This week, there are two 250 clay court tournaments in Boston and Casablanca respectively. Gao Wen can choose to participate in one of them, use the competition as training, and adapt to the venue.

However, after discussion, they rejected the idea.

On the one hand, it is because the "Sunshine Double Crown" is over and Gao Wen needs to rest and adjust to avoid participating in the competition while fatigued.

On the other hand, Gao Wen has not played a clay court match for more than a year, and has no formal clay court match experience, so everything needs to start from scratch.

Now it seems that one week of training time is still too short.

Agassi's expression was as if it was a matter of course. "Isn't this a sure thing?"

Sampras: …

Agassi seemed to have not felt Sampras's gaze at all. "One week of training and adjustment, then another week of training through matches. There is no need to rush. We can take it one step at a time. Anyway, we don't have any special expectations for clay, right?"

(End of this chapter)