Chapter 1179 Positive signal
One step.
A kick.
Gao Wen's right foot touched the baseline of the serving area. He pushed his foot lightly, and the power extended from his toes along his calves. The sole of his shoe could feel the rustling sound of red soil particles flowing between the edges, followed by a soft but tough texture of the soil that rebounded and pushed his body out.
A turn.
His body had already flown out, and then he saw Graf retreating and adjusting her feet, and also rushed to the baseline of the serving area; but Gawain only glanced at her with the corner of his eye, and then his eyes were fixed on the tennis ball, noticing Graf's little ingenuity.
It was a light lob, without deliberately controlling the length of the return ball, but the angle and rotation were very tricky.
The return ball hit the sideline lightly, and after it landed and bounced, it spun sideways and pulled the ball outward in a parabola. At the same time, almost all the force was removed, and the material of the sideline further weakened the rebound force, so that when Gao Wen turned back, there was almost no bounce height.
This also means that the hitting space is limited.
However, Gawain was not at all panicked.
Unlike the big strides combined with small steps on hard ground, at this time, Gao Wen pushed the ground with two consecutive small steps, with his right leg and left leg, pushing the ground hard, completing the acceleration in a short time, and relying on the reaction force of pushing the ground to push his body out suddenly, and then rushing forward with his right leg.
Slide!
The inertia of the forward rush has pushed the body forward, the legs are fully split and stretched out, and the right hand holding the racket continues to extend.
The ground was covered with a thin waterfall of red clay, like a car passing through a puddle on a rainy day.
Then, it touched! In fact, not only did it touch, but Gawain actually had time to make changes. Graf had already controlled the return ball to the extreme, but Gawain still found space in the gap to skillfully use his wrist, gently pushing along the side, softly wrapping the tennis ball -
One pick.
There was almost no strength involved, it was all about using the wrist and forearm techniques, all hand skills, to push the tennis ball in a straight line.
Without pausing, he used the power of his right leg to push off the ground, turned around on the spot, took small steps to adjust, lowered his head and rushed forward, returning to the baseline of the serving area again.
A charge, a kick... "Ah! Damn it!"
At this moment, Gao Wen could clearly feel that his footwork on the red clay was still lacking in maturity.
From turning back to sliding state, then turning on the spot, speeding up to sprint, and finally to braking control, this is a series of complex footwork transitions.
If it is hard court, Gao Wen can easily control it, the whole connection is smooth, and he can improve his movement speed in the smoothest and simplest way, while also saving physical strength to achieve the best effect; but on clay, the adjustment of details and the change of footwork are not smooth.
Look, this time when he returned to the baseline of the serving area, his steps were not adjusted in time, so in order to save time, Gao Wen braked suddenly again.
Of course, it doesn't mean that you can't brake suddenly. Even Nadal and Djokovic must have braked suddenly on the clay court. But braking suddenly also means that you fall into a passive state, and your footwork cannot be adjusted smoothly and freely, and you may face difficulties next.
The same principle applies to warm-up games.
Today is the fourth day since Gawain arrived in Mallorca. He has to adapt to the venue and adjust tactics. The training time flies by in the blink of an eye.
Obviously, Gawain's footwork has improved significantly.
In this warm-up game, the confrontation between him and Graf has reached 38 rounds, which is a huge difference compared to the day when they first arrived in Mallorca.
However, the thirty-eight rounds were not a fierce confrontation. After all, it was just a warm-up game with limited intensity. Then in the second half, Gao Wen's footsteps returned to his hard court habits. From this, it can be seen that the training time on clay is still far from enough.
really!
A sudden stop and turn is just the beginning, just like a domino effect, the first domino falls and then triggers a chain reaction.
Gao Wen's footwork became more and more passive; returning the ball became more and more difficult.
Forty-three rounds.
Forty-eight rounds.
Seeing that Gawain's advantage was being eroded little by little, things seemed to be returning to the pattern that Graf was familiar with. Although Gawain was still holding on and did not drop the ball, anyone with a discerning eye could see that Gawain was very passive, very, very passive, and the balance of the confrontation had tilted.
Gao Wen did not give up.
Push off the ground.
Turn around.
Charge forward.
The whole action, in one go - using hard ground footwork, it can also survive on clay, it's just more laborious, but now Gao Wen has no choice, right? Head-on, hit, meet the ball.
Gao Wen slightly turned his body to the side, not to use a forehand, but to use a backhand instead.
With his knees bent and his center of gravity lowered, he used both hands to backhand the ball and cut sideways toward the tennis ball. It looked like just a regular return in a passive position.
However, when he was about to touch the ball, he let go of his left hand and changed from a two-handed backhand to a one-handed backhand, relying on the strength of his wrist and forearm to cut down forcefully.
change.
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
The tennis ball, feeling the strong force, spun at high speed, like a butterfly, fluttering over the net, and then... falling lightly.
Sticking to the net!
Furthermore, the one-handed backhand gives up stability in favor of adding intense spin.
After landing, you can see that the tennis ball rotates outward. There is not much rebound force to begin with, which further pulls the hitting line apart.
On the other side of the net, Graf had already arrived successfully, but Gawain's wrist control in returning the ball was too delicate and exquisite.
The line, landing point, force unloading and rotation are all top-notch.
Graf's forehand was already in position, but there wasn't much room to hit the ball, so she could only try to pick the tennis ball up with a slight flick of her wrist.
However--
The parabola was not controlled well and hit the net.
Lower the net.
In this round of warm-up games, Gao Wen had the last laugh.
Gawain stood up again, panting heavily, his chest heaving violently. It was obvious that his physical exertion was aggravated by the way he moved in the second half. Large beads of sweat flowed down like small streams, but the smile on the corners of his mouth was fully blossoming under the sunlight.
A pure joy.
Graf also stood up and gave Gawain a thumbs up, with a hint of relief in her eyes.
Indeed, in the second half of this warm-up game, Gao Wen's footsteps had already lost the touch of clay and returned to his familiar hard court style, but the point is -
Gao Wen not only held on, but also found the correct way to return the ball in an extremely passive and difficult situation.
In fact, it can be seen from here that Gao Wen’s understanding of red clay has made great progress.
Graf is very satisfied with the results achieved in less than three days of training, which shows that Gao Wen's understanding is very encouraging.
This is a positive sign.
(End of this chapter)