Chapter 1213 Man proposes, God disposes.
The 2015 Monte Carlo Masters officially kicks off.
To be precise, the clay court season started last week, and the Houston and Casablanca tournaments, as usual, fired the first shot in the court change.
However, the Masters is different after all, because it means that the top ten players in the world have come out in full force and officially joined the clay court season.
so--
Will Nadal still dominate the clay court season this year? Can Nadal, who was obviously in poor form in the first quarter, recover quickly on the clay court? What about Djokovic, who has won two runner-up and two semi-finals in the past four seasons at the French Open? Can he finally realize his dream in Paris? Federer lost to Nadal and finished second for three consecutive years, and finally defeated Soderling in the fourth year to win the championship in Paris. This is already the fifth year for Djokovic.
What about Murray? What about Federer? What about Wawrinka? What about Ferrer, Berdych, Kei Nishikori, etc.?
In the past few years, due to Nadal's absolute dominance, the terms "clay court master" and "clay court expert" seem to have disappeared from the ATP. No one dares to easily call themselves a "clay court master" in front of Nadal. Players who shine in the clay court season cannot compare with Nadal no matter how brilliant they are.
So, will we see some clay court experts perform well again this year? What about the new generation led by Milos Raonic? What about the new generation led by Gawain? The "Sunshine Double" has seen more "post-95s" figures. Will there be more fresh faces and surprises in the clay court season? After all, the possibility of upsets on clay is much greater.
All in all, with the opening of the Monte Carlo Masters, all the mysteries will be revealed, and it will be another exciting clay court season.
The first to bear the brunt are naturally Gao Wen and Federer——
At the Monte Carlo Masters, the top eight seeded players enjoyed a bye in the first round, so they went directly into the second round and waited for their opponents.
On the other side, French player Chardy and "post-90s" player Schwartzman, who passed the qualifying test, started a duel for a chance to compete with Federer.
Unfortunately, Schwartzman, who represented the youth storm, still failed to fully adapt to the rhythm of the ATP and lost in two sets. Chardy became Federer's first round opponent.
Here, Thiem, born in 1993, and Pouille, born in 1994, will face off in the first round. The winner will then face Gawain to start another youth showdown.
From Indian Wells to Miami to Monte Carlo, more and more young players are emerging and starting their professional journey with Gao Wen as their goal.
There is no doubt that the "youth storm" is indeed getting more and more intense and is slowly coming onto the stage. This time, it is not the "post-95s", but more "post-90s" have appeared.
Thiem and Pouille are only one year apart in age, but Thiem had already made a name for himself last year, while Pouille's rise was a little slower. This time in Monte Carlo, he failed to enter the main draw based solely on his world ranking. Pouille won a wild card from the organizer and was included in the draw.
Obviously, Thiem is the more favored party; moreover, the battle between friends "Tim VS Gawain 2.0" is also more worthy of discussion for the media.
However--
The opposite happened.
“6:4”, “6:4”.
Puy had the last laugh.
The match was very, very close. Thiem tried his best, but unfortunately, he was still a little short of it and missed the chance to compete with Gawain.
In fact, it can be said that the playing styles of Pouille and Thiem are incompatible. According to history, Thiem was defeated twice in his career against Pouille, and did not win a single set; of course, these two encounters occurred before Thiem's comprehensive transformation and rise, and the reference value is not great. Despite this, it can still be seen that Pouille's playing style just restrains Thiem.
As mentioned before, Thiem's playing style is to use a bold and all-out effort, so for Thiem, footwork is very important. He needs to use footwork to buy himself time and space to lead the racket and exert force. Once there is insufficient space and the force is not sufficient, his competitiveness will drop sharply.
Puy is a baseline player who plays with a fast-paced transition style. Simply put, he suppresses his opponents by constantly increasing the pace of the rounds.
Therefore, when Thiem and Pouille played against each other, Pouille always increased the tempo, compressed the hitting time and moving space, and compressed Thiem's opportunities to exert force, so that Thiem had all his strength but could not use it. Even if his steps were faster, he could not keep up with the gradually shortening rhythm of the rounds, and he was very passive.
It is indeed very difficult because of the conflicting playing styles.
When he was a teenager, Pouille was an unknown player, with his highest world ranking being only 23rd; there were no highlights in the junior competitions of the four Grand Slams, so in front of the star-studded player lineup of France's golden age, Pouille, a "post-90s" player, was far from being able to attract attention.
After turning to the professional arena in 2013, Pouille has never had many outstanding results. It was not until 2015 that he entered the top 100 in the world rankings for the first time.
However, it was such an unremarkable Pouille that had a full-scale outbreak in 2016, defeating Del Potro at Wimbledon and Nadal in the final set tiebreak of the US Open, and reaching the quarterfinals of the two Grand Slams consecutively; in 2018, he entered the top ten in the world rankings for the first time; in 2019, he reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open.
What is the reason behind it?
First, his technical style is mature. He is a typical hitting point player. He needs to grab the hitting point every time he hits the ball. It does not necessarily have to be the rising point. Instead, he adjusts the rhythm according to his own tactics. Compared with strength, he forms a intensive attack more through the connection of rhythm.
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Therefore, this places strict demands on game reading, shot selection, tactical awareness, etc. He needs enough games to accumulate experience.
The second is physical strength. During adolescence, the body is very thin and has no advantage at all in youth competitions that rely on talent. After entering the professional arena, they continue to gain weight and lose fat. As their muscle content increases, their ability to fight against the ball is improved, which changes the situation.
Although Puy does not rely on active strength to score points, strength is a necessary condition in a stalemate.
In addition, muscles also help Pouille improve the offensive power of his forehand and serve, which is also a basic and necessary ability for the new generation of top male players.
From a certain perspective, Pouille can be seen as a stronger but slightly less spiritual Kei Nishikori. Of course, his serve is more solid, and his good serve is the guarantee; but at the same time, because of his unique style of grabbing hitting points and controlling the rhythm, injuries are particularly frequent.
After entering the top ten in the world in 2019, Pouille has been plagued by a right elbow injury for more than three years and has been slow to find a way to recovery.
For Gao Wen, neither Thiem nor Pouille are easy opponents to deal with. After all, both of them have more experience on clay than him.
As for Thiem, there is no need to say much; as for Pouille, he grew up in the Roland Garros tennis training camp set up by the French Tennis Federation. Obviously, their understanding of clay is far better than that of Gawain.
Anyone facing Gawain, who is stepping on clay for the first time, has the ability to create an upset.
(End of this chapter)