Chapter 1296: Steady Progress

Although Djokovic missed the Madrid Masters, the draw is still full of stars and many highlights——

After entering the clay court season, the disadvantages of the younger generation, who lack solid basic skills and are good at hard courts but weak at clay courts, gradually emerged. Instead, the Mesozoic players felt the motivation and encouragement of the "youth storm". They also deeply realized that the Big Four are not invincible and they also have a chance.

Therefore, the season theme of "Big Four vs. Challengers" opened up a branch plot, and the Mesozoic people cheered up and shined in the tour together.

From Monte Carlo to Barcelona, ​​the momentum has continued all the way, so, can it continue to expand to Madrid?

Facts have also proved that this is indeed a season full of variables and turbulence.

Federer, who just won the championship in Istanbul last week, once again showed his excellent competitive form. Coming to Madrid, he is also considered the favorite to win the championship.

After a bye in the first round, he made his debut against a tough opponent, the Australian "bad boy" Kyrgios. This match was also a focus battle.

Throughout the match, neither player was able to break serve and ended up having to play three tiebreaks.

"6:7(2)", "7:6(5)", "6:7(12)".

In the deciding set, both players saved match points and also wasted match points, but in the end, Kyrgios won the victory.

Federer was eliminated unexpectedly in the first match.

First Djokovic was absent, and then Federer made a shocking upset -

This is also the second time this season that Federer has performed seriously poorly after Melbourne Park, and his ability to grasp key points has fluctuated significantly.

People couldn't help but wonder whether the topic of "world ranking" in recent times has created more pressure and interference than imagined. Otherwise, Djokovic said he needed to rest and adjust, and Federer's attention didn't seem to be on the court. Is this possible?

At the post-match press conference, Federer once again became the focus.

Although Federer repeatedly stated that the changes in the world rankings had no impact, and sincerely congratulated Gao Wen, his performance was worthy of the world ranking.

But the media and fans refused to believe it, and on social networks, a small number of Federer's fanatical fans once again attacked Gawain.

If you add in a small number of Djokovic fans who are watching the game in a sarcastic manner, and one or two who are gloating and attacking Federer, then the social network will be even more chaotic, with the back and forth confrontations and clashes completely unrelenting, sparking another uproar.

This excitement will not end in the short term.

In addition, seeded players such as Cilic, Monfils, Lopez, Anderson and others also performed poorly and were all eliminated in their first match.

Madrid seemed to continue the atmosphere of Barcelona two weeks ago, with cold wind blowing over the red soil again.

There is no doubt that the turmoil in professional tennis has continued from last year to this year. The theme of "Big Four vs. Challengers" runs through it all. The indestructible barriers of the era of giants seem to have exposed small cracks. Every player can see opportunities and unexpected situations may occur in every event.

But at the same time, along with opportunities comes pressure. Not everyone can seize the opportunity to achieve breakthroughs and transformation. The more you want to prove yourself, the more likely you are to fall into the shackles of self-expectations, which ultimately leads to poor performance and the game may go in another direction.

The characteristics of the clay court further amplify this uncertainty, so there are more surprises and upsets than usual. The ATP can be felt in all aspects as it is feeling the impact of a tornado, with new scenes to be seen every week.

but!

Madrid also continued the overall development trend of Monte Carlo and Barcelona: there were many upsets and surprises, but in the end, they returned to the standard routine.

In the chaos and turmoil, those who stand firm and stand out are still the truly strong ones who have withstood numerous tests. This is the star style.

In the upper half, “Gawain VS Nadal”.

In the lower half, “Murray VS Kei Nishikori”.

The top four are facing each other, and everyone is excited.

This is the standard ending of "Big Four vs. Challengers". From last year to this year, similar situations have been witnessed more than once in the semi-finals.

On the other hand, Murray continued his good form in the new season. He opened his clay court season in Munich last week and won the championship. He came to Madrid to continue his hot form and advanced to the semi-finals. He showed a completely different form from last year and officially returned to the ranks of the Big Four.

Nadal regained some touch from his struggling season, sweeping away his struggles in Barcelona last week, and once again proved with practical actions that on clay, one should never underestimate his tenacity and will. Even if he is not in good shape, his lower limit is much higher than the upper limit of many players.

On the other hand, the two players in last week's Barcelona final lineup continued their good form and both reached the semi-finals in Madrid, once again sounding the clarion call for challengers to break the pattern.

This time, Gao Wen and Kei Nishikori need to fight on their own, overcome the high walls of the two giants, strive to meet in the finals again, and stage "Asia's No. 1 Battle 4.0".

Since the 2014 Australian Open, the Challenger Alliance has risen in full swing. However, the situation where both teams won in the semifinals and blocked the giant players from entering the finals, and the challengers met in the finals, only happened once at the US Open. At other times, there were always giants who were able to continue their strong performance.

You can imagine how difficult it is.

This time, it depends on Gao Wen and Kei Nishikori.

pity.

Without success.

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To be more precise, both failed.

In the first semifinal, Murray swept Kei Nishikori in straight sets.

In the second semifinal, although Gao Wen played well and saved three match points in the second set tie-break, he still lost in two sets in the end.

The scores of the two sets were, “7:5”, “7:6 (10)”.

As people say, Nadal, who is low on health, is still a god of war on clay.

Moreover, after two tournaments, Gao Wen thought he had fully adapted to clay, but he woke up when he stood in front of the King of Clay:

He is just an entry-level player at best. Maybe, against other players, Gao Wen's superficial understanding may be enough, but it is still not enough against the giants.

Especially against Nadal.

Daily training and official competitions are two completely different things. This is the first time in Gao Wen's career that he has played against Nadal in an official match on clay.

Although they had played against each other twice on hard courts before, clay court was definitely different, and Gao Wen learned a good lesson.

It's not just the technical aspects of rotation, power, bounce, etc., but also the details of prediction, movement, space, etc., all of which come from the interpretation of clay, and permeate into every shot, every judgment, every confrontation, redefining tennis in all aspects.

Details are different everywhere.

The impact and pressure created by Nadal on the clay court are completely different from those on the hard court. He can feel the suppression of the ball quality all over.

Therefore, Nadal was able to beat Federer five times in a row on clay and beat Federer three times in a row in the French Open finals.

Therefore, Nadal was able to beat Djokovic seven times in a row on clay and sniped Djokovic in the French Open final for two consecutive years.

It’s different! It’s definitely different.

(End of this chapter)