Chapter 1189 Different Understandings

“Yeah!”

Gawain raised his hands high, cheered, and had a bright smile on his face, as if he had won the French Open championship with this point.

Pure and sincere, able to deeply feel the joy and happiness from the heart.

As a result, Nadal on the other side of the court also smiled and gave Gawain a thumbs up, expressing his praise again, saying that this point was indeed wonderful.

At the sidelines, Uncle Tony and Roig exchanged glances, mixed with surprise and delight, and then both applauded Gawain.

For two consecutive points, Gao Wen really played in his own style, making changes in the strong confrontation and cleverly using the characteristics of the clay court to create opportunities.

Overall, Gao Wen is still in a transition period. He has not been able to completely get rid of the habit of hard courts, nor has he been able to fully adapt to the characteristics of clay. Not only in the basic skills such as movement and hitting, but also in the tactical layout and hitting selection, etc., he can be seen as a "hard court player".

At this point, it was clear that Gao Wen was immature and lacked competition experience.

On the clay court, we still felt unfamiliar and not used to the climate, especially since we had no experience of switching mid-season, so everything seemed chaotic.

He needs more time to switch from hard court mode to clay court mode and rebuild his game and even his way of thinking.

Until today, they were finally able to confirm with 100% certainty that Gao Wen was indeed a freshman in the professional tour, and this could not be faked.

But it is precisely in such a situation that we have to admit that Gao Wen once again demonstrated his tennis wisdom, fully finding the most suitable and appropriate way in his current situation and arsenal, improving his competitiveness, continuing the confrontation, and working hard to find a way to turn the situation around.

rare!

It's really rare! Why were Courier and Agassi, two players who were trained in the North American system, able to break through the shackles and win the French Open? Is it because their playing style is suitable for clay? Of course not.

It is because of tennis wisdom. They are players who are good at thinking and adjusting, and find ways to play to their strengths on courts they are not good at.

From ancient times to the present, it has never been easy to deliver outstanding performances on different surfaces, from hard courts to clay to grass.

It is also because of this that Rod Laver's feat of completing the annual Grand Slam in 1969 is considered a feat that is difficult to replicate - at that time, all four Grand Slams were grass tournaments, which also means that the annual Grand Slam does not require a change of venue, only the condition needs to be maintained.

At the same time, Agassi and later Federer, Nadal and Djokovic received countless praises when they completed the Grand Slam feat. The same reason applies, because the four Grand Slams cover three different venues, and the difficulty is completely different from the early days of the Open.

In 2017, someone did a statistical analysis: Among the active players, who can win all three types of tournaments: hard court, clay court and grass court? Here, regardless of the size of the tournament, as long as it is an ATP-level tournament, it can be included in the statistics, but the statistical results show that the number is far lower than expected.

The Big Four are naturally all included.

In addition to these, add Lopez, Kohlschreiber, Seppi, Isner, Gasquet, Querrey, Agut, Cilic, Dimitrov, Thiem, and Pouille, and that's all.

There are fifteen people in total.

In other words, even including the champions of ATP 250-point tournaments, there are only the above fifteen active players who can do this.

Lucas Pouille, a French new generation "post-90s" player, was the last player to accomplish such a feat.

Logically speaking, the differences between different venues are narrowing. At the same time, the playing styles of players on different venues are becoming more and more similar. In addition, after 2017, the "post-95s" have risen across the board, and the difficulty of winning championships across three venues should gradually decrease.

However……

No.

From 2017 to 2022, for a full five years, the list remained at "fifteen people" without any changes.

It wasn't until the Mallorca Open in June 2022 that Tsitsipas won the championship and completed the last piece of the grass court championship puzzle, becoming the only player to win the championship on different venues in five years.

Among other new generation players, Zverev, Rublev, Monfils, Kei Nishikori, Schwartzman, Busta, etc., all lack grass court championships; Medvedev, Fritz, etc. lack clay court championships; Cilic, Berrettini, etc. lack hard court championships.

As for the other young players not mentioned, they may be lacking more than just one venue-type championship.

This is very meaningful.

Professionals have repeatedly stressed that the new generation has not been able to rise mainly because the four giants are too strong, even if the situation has changed later.

First, Murray was on the verge of retirement due to injury, so that the "Big Four" became the "Big Three". Later, Federer and Nadal both had to stop and play frequently due to injuries, so that the ATP became a situation where many heroes were besieging Djokovic. However, the giants are giants, and the deterrent power still exists objectively.

However, is this really the case?

In fact, as time goes by, Djokovic is no exception. The number of participants has decreased rapidly, the schedule has been streamlined and centered around the Grand Slams, and even the Masters Tournament has occasionally been absent. This has made the competition landscape of the 250-point and 500-point tournaments completely open.

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Despite this, the younger generation of players has not been able to grow up quickly enough to establish their own dominance.

From the "post-90s" to the "post-95s", there are only four players who can win championships on different venues, Dimitrov, Thiem, Pouille and Tsitsipas.

This phenomenon deserves careful consideration.

His gaze returned to Gawain.

Objectively speaking, the grass court season has not started yet and the clay court season has just arrived. Gao Wen has not played any official matches yet, only training matches. Therefore, whether Gao Wen can continue his strong performance across three different courts, or even reach the top and win the championship, is still an unknown.

However, unlike those media who "blow up without thinking", they have seen Gao Wen's training matches and his tennis wisdom.

In just less than four days, it can be seen from the movement of his feet that Gao Wen is still very green and still has a lot to learn; however, on the tactical level, Gao Wen has gradually figured out his own clay court style, and adjusted little by little from the hard court tactical framework.

Roig deeply appreciates this.

So far, the praises surrounding Gao Wen are indeed numerous and varied, and Gao Wen's tactical layout and game wisdom have also been recognized countlessly.

However, switching venues is another matter. Even Murray, the "tactical master", has no obvious difference in his playing style on different venues. On the contrary, Federer and Nadal, two "retro style" players, often adjust their playing style and tactics according to different venues.

Gawain is more like the latter, which is also the fundamental reason why Roig once again looks at Gawain with admiration.

(End of this chapter)