Chapter 1419: Strong Will
Ahhhh!
Ahhhh!
It's like a volcanic eruption.
The entire Philippe Chattier Stadium went crazy, with people roaring, screaming, cheering and jumping madly, and a carnival atmosphere was spreading.
Not only the audience, but even Nadal was no exception.
With a little regret and a little regret, Nadal lowered his head and did not hide his loss, but he still raised his hands to applaud Gawain.
In this round, Gao Wen's outburst in desperate situation really proved his ability. He is worthy of being a Grand Slam champion. Gao Wen used his bloodiness and talent to fight a way out, which deserves applause and admiration.
But will Nadal give up?
The answer is 100% no.
The Philippe Chatrier Stadium has entered a frenzy and no one is immune.
Then, the media discovered an unexpected but reasonable phenomenon:
According to real-time ratings data, the Philippe Chatrier Court has more viewers than the Suzanne Lenglen Court worldwide.
Of course, since the official live broadcast signal is from the Philippe Chatrier Stadium, it is only natural that the ratings will be higher; but the key is that if the game broadcast by the official signal is not the game they want to watch, fans can change channels, switch to the Internet, or even not watch it. These choices exist objectively.
It doesn’t mean that the ratings will be high if the game is broadcast on the official signal.
When the ratings figures come out, they prove the appeal of the game itself.
What's more, the ratings of the Philippe Chatrier Stadium far exceeded expectations, not just a little bit, but more than twice as high.
At the same time, at the Philippe Chatrier Stadium, Nadal played against Gao Wen; at the Suzanne Lenglen Stadium, Federer played against Wawrinka.
As a result, according to incomplete statistics, the global viewership of the Stade Suzanne Lenglen has remained stable at around 20 million, while the Stade Philippe Chatrier has easily exceeded 60 million.
The gap is obvious.
Of course, an important reason why the ratings of the Philippe Chatrier Stadium are so crazy is that in mainland China, this game attracted 35 million viewers. Although it did not break the record of 110 million when Li Na won the French Open in 2011, it is already the second highest viewership of a tennis game in Chinese history.
Moreover, this was just a quarter-final match, which shows how popular Gao Wen is in his hometown.
But it is not entirely correct to say that the Philippe Chatrier Court relied solely on the Chinese market behind Gawain. The ratings were stable at around 45 million at the beginning of the match, rising steadily as the match progressed, and reached a new high at the end of the second set.
This shows that the excitement of the competition itself is still a major attraction.
It's not just in China. Around the world, the number of viewers who gave up the Swiss derby between Federer and Wawrinka and chose the "Big Four vs. Challengers" match between Gawain and Nadal is far beyond imagination.
From the ATP's perspective, they welcomed the new generation with open arms and legs. The atmosphere that had been brewing for five months in the media finally ushered in its harvest moment.
Every aspect, inside and outside, can deeply feel the intensity of this game——
"5:5", the second set is truly coming to an end, and any round may change the outcome.
In the next round, the situation is delicate.
Whether it is Nadal or Gawain, the physical strength of both players inevitably declined at the end of the second set. Even if they have not reached the peak, they are not far away. This is a key factor that must be taken into consideration.
The last game took ten minutes, and there was no break between games before entering the next game, which was an even more severe test for both players.
Especially Nadal, because he will be the one serving next, which will consume more physical energy; and the fluctuations in his own condition are more intense than in previous years, not to mention that he is nine years older than Gawain.
Similarly, whether Gawain, whose physical energy has been exhausted, still has the energy to launch an attack in Nadal's serve, and to what extent the attack can be achieved, is also a question mark. I am afraid Gawain himself does not have the answer.
Under the combined influence of various factors, the situation became increasingly tense at the end of the second set.
But the game did not stop and continued——
Firstly, Nadal was indeed affected by physical strength, his condition fluctuated significantly, he missed his first serve consecutively, and basically relied on his second serve to support his own service games.
Secondly, Nadal is very experienced. In the first half of his career, he basically did not rely on the first serve. He won most of the games by relying on the second serve. When reading his game data, we should not look at the first serve scoring rate, but the second serve scoring rate. On the second serve, he has a variety of tactical combinations.
Thirdly, this is the Philippe Chatrier Stadium.
“30:0”, Nadal established the advantage.
"30:30", Gao Wen launched a counterattack.
Then--
Nadal made a very simple mistake on his forehand, missed a good attacking opportunity, and failed to get the game point, but instead gave away a break point.
Then——
Nadal's super spin on his close serve successfully squeezed Gao Wen, resulting in poor quality of his return. Nadal directly followed up with the next shot to score the winning point and save the break point.
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"40:40".
The situation remains tense.
Huff, huff... With every breath, Gawain felt like a fire-breathing dragon, flames surging in his chest. Even the sunlight turned into magma boiling at his fingertips, and every pore was breathing in the heat and scalding.
tired.
The body is protesting, the brain is protesting, every muscle and every bone in the body is protesting. Although the race lasts less than two hours, it has the thrill and excitement of a marathon, which is definitely a test.
But Gawain knew that he was tired, and so was Nadal. They were the same. Now it was a battle of wills.
He never thought that he could push Nadal to such a point on clay in Roland Garros, but since he has already done so, why not go one step further? This is why he is eager to challenge Nadal in Philippe Chatrier, and this is his ultimate goal for the clay season! Maybe he can start by breaking Nadal's serve, and then move forward step by step, one small step at a time, there is no need to be greedy.
After all, so far in this game, Gao Wen has not been able to break the serve, not even once.
He couldn't remember how many opportunities he had missed, probably eighty-five?
But it doesn’t matter, what matters is always the next chance.
Breathing was like sulfur, and he could taste the blood in his trachea, but Gawain still let out a long breath and prepared for battle.
Let the storm come even harder.
Area 1.
Nadal's first serve...still didn't go in. This time it went beyond the baseline of the serving area, and the serve aimed at the inner corner of the middle didn't go in.
From the details, it can be seen that Nadal was still trying to find the landing point of "close-in backhand pressure", and through deep serve, he tried to maximize the squeezing feeling of topspin, and then squeezed Gao Wen's backhand swing to create opportunities for his own attack, but unfortunately, the first serve still did not enter the zone.
Second serve——
(End of this chapter)