Chapter 1185: Enlightenment
Area 1.
One shot.
Gao Wen was thinking, if this was a formal competition, let's say the quarterfinals or semifinals in Monte Carlo, and then the crucial moment of the first set.
So, how will he plan?
Of course, Gawain had some tactical tricks up his sleeve, but now he needed to go a step further. If he wanted to take some risks and enrich his arsenal and tactical layout, how would he choose? Find a balance between "risk and safety" and regain the initiative? Fortunately, he had some ideas that he could test.
Inside corner, hitting Nadal forehand.
Obviously, it is not a common tactical choice to confront Nadal's forehand head-on in the first zone. If you choose it, the angle and rotation are very important. You need to try your best to prevent Nadal from finding a comfortable hitting point and attacking directly, otherwise the situation will fall into a passive position.
Generally speaking, it is easier to deploy tactics by suppressing the backhand at the outside corner, while choosing the inside corner requires courage and planning.
The speed is not fast, 176 kilometers per hour.
From here we can see that Gao Wen mainly focused on controlling the landing point, and his serve landed accurately on the outside edge of the serving area and bounced off the line.
This kind of control is not common among players of Gao Wen's height. Players with a height of 193 cm often choose to serve with heavy artillery and rarely take the control route. This is also the special feature of Gao Wen: the diversity of his serve.
Of course, this is also the advice from Agassi and Graf, they need Gao Wen to seek more different serving combinations in his serving games.
Previously, Gao Wen would occasionally use such a combination on hard courts; but now on clay, he needs to increase the proportion of different serve types.
Nadal was a little surprised, so he moved a little slower, and his forehand didn't have time to complete the whole shot.
If it is a formal match, Nadal might be a little more conservative, using the strength of his wrist to hit a backslash following the inertia of his body, and then pull out a strong topspin, even if the landing point is shallow, but as long as Gawain's step speed to enter the baseline is a little slower, after the strong spin is released, the hitting point will be very awkward.
But this is a training match.
Nadal also made a different attempt, and actually used a forehand side cut, which was rare.
Slash!
Gawain was completely caught off guard. Nadal's forehand slice was really too rare. Anyway, Gawain and Nadal had met twice, including doubles matches and practice matches. This was the first time he saw Nadal's forehand slice, and it was a big triangle that cut towards the baseline.
Fortunately, Gawain remained absolutely focused, and despite the accident, his steps were still very fast.
In addition, Nadal chose to slice the ball with strong topspin, which not only slowed down the speed but also continued to release strong spin after landing.
This also means that Gawain has enough time to complete the move—
The real difficulty in moving on clay is sudden stops and turns. If you move at a constant speed, the difference from hard ground is not as obvious as you might imagine; but when you need to accelerate or brake suddenly, your feet may slip easily due to lack of grip, and special techniques are needed to handle this.
Otherwise, the starting speed and movement speed may be affected on the one hand, and it is easy to get injured on the other hand.
This is the origin of Graf's warm-up game, which is specifically designed to train footwork control for sudden stops and turns in a small area, while avoiding more potential injuries after the acceleration reaches a certain level. In other words, control is needed before the speed is increased to reduce the pressure on the ankles.
At this time, Gawain was moving at a constant speed, his footsteps were not affected at all, he rode his horse to the scene as soon as possible, and even had time to observe.
In fact, in this shot, Gawain had an opportunity to attack, because Nadal's feet were in the center of the court, adjusting to maintain his defensive position; but the inertia of his entire body was moving towards the left, which was Nadal's forehand, which also meant that Nadal's backhand was empty.
If it is a hard court, Gao Wen will choose to hit a two-handed backhand straight line, directly find the big triangle at the baseline, increase power and speed, and aim for the winning point.
However, this time Gawain changed his mind.
Two-handed backhand.
straight line.
Same line, same position, but Gao Wen did not increase his speed and strength. Instead, he chose to hit the ball lightly with one shot to control the landing point.
Bang! Because of the improved control, the entire shot appears light and clever, hitting the dead corner accurately, while pressing the baseline and sideline at the same time.
Nadal, hurry up and come——
Steps, movement, hitting the ball, the whole action was done in one go, without even sliding. The right leg slid sideways to brake, raising a cloud of red soil and dust, and the two-handed backhand shot was already completed accurately, and the tennis ball was pushed out in a straight line again, repeating the landing point, back to Gao Wen's backhand.
Line, straight.
Landing point, deep.
This return shot successfully squeezed Gao Wen's backhand. At this time, a small detail also showed that Gao Wen still had not completed the transition to clay: his steps did not retreat.
On hard courts, in order to control the rhythm and compress time, players often refuse to retreat and more often stand at the baseline and choose to hit the rebound ball.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with doing this on a clay court, as it can increase the rhythm of your shots and the pressure on your return shots.
But the key point is that the speed of the clay court is not fast. Even if you stand at the baseline and hit the rebound ball, the hitting effect will be greatly reduced compared to the hard court. Players try to put pressure on their opponents by increasing the rhythm, but the effect is often not significant. On the contrary, they may put themselves in a passive position because of the decline in the quality of the return ball.
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So, what should players do on clay courts? Often, players will choose to step back a little, half a step or even a step, to make room for the ball, and improve the effect of the shot rather than improving the rhythm of the shot.
Here, it is not just a matter of tactical choice, but more of an understanding of the court.
On hard ground, people often pursue quick decisions, being straightforward and decisive.
When it comes to red soil, you often need to be patient, as haste makes waste.
It is important to note here that objectively speaking, it is completely possible to use hard court tactics on clay, and you can also win.
The point is that it is more strenuous; also, it may not work against a real clay court master.
Gao Wen has not yet been able to complete the tactical transformation.
He refused to step back, and while being squeezed, he used a clockwise rotation to sweep the tennis ball back with his hands.
Slash!
Diagonal!
Soon, Gawain realized that the same shot on clay was far inferior to that on hard court, and Nadal appeared soon after.
A sliding step.
A hook shot.
Nadal effortlessly hooked back the ball that Gawain was trying to speed up, which immediately sounded the alarm for Gawain:
The tactical awareness is still a little impatient.
Calm down, he needed to calm down.
(End of this chapter)