Chapter 1421: Equally matched
The rhythm, route, and landing point were instantly broken——
In this shot, Nadal's two-handed backhand once again demonstrated his ability to break the balance of confrontation at a critical moment.
In the previous rounds, Gawain had been trying to limit Nadal's return by hitting the ball from deep in the baseline, forcing Nadal to use topspin continuously.
Because in extreme difficulties, Nadal often tends to use topspin to ease the opponent's impact and buy himself time to defend, but this year Nadal's forehand topspin rotation and pressure are slightly insufficient, and the quality of the ball has declined significantly, which instead becomes an opportunity for Gao Wen to continue attacking.
At this point, some people may question why Gawain cannot do the same in Madrid, since Nadal is also in poor form this year. First, Madrid is the first time in Gawain's career that he will play against Nadal in an official match, and he is indeed not used to it in all aspects.
Second, the competition environments of Madrid and Roland Garros are different. In general, the shots in Madrid bounce lower, are faster and have less spin. As the king of clay, Nadal's weapon of expertise is not just spin, but more about his understanding of clay. His tactical allocation and layout have also been adjusted to adapt to Madrid. He relies on different tactical combinations to establish advantages when there is insufficient spin. But today is different.
Third, even at Roland Garros, Gao Wen is still learning and improving, and he was still adjusting his tactical combinations at the end of the second set.
It is no exaggeration to say that Madrid and Roland Garros are two completely different competitions, even though the two opponents are still the same two players.
In the previous game, Gao Wen tried to break through Nadal's forehand at a critical moment in his own serve, and achieved good results. In this game, he changed his tactics slightly, but in essence, he still tried to find loopholes in Nadal's forehand. However, Nadal immediately showed his golf IQ.
With a two-handed backhand, facing the pressure from the deep baseline, he relied on the wrist and forearm to pull and whip, hitting a skateboard ball, directly tearing open the angle.
This is not just about mobilizing Gao Wen, but also about changing the rhythm of the round and the rotation routine with backhand flat shots, thereby disrupting the balance of the confrontation.
This is typical tennis, and also tennis for masters. In a split second, countless judgments, analyses, and choices need to be made. At the same time, the tactics in the mind need to be transformed into actions, and attention needs to be paid to the deviation between the actual shot and the mental conception, and continuous adjustments need to be made.
From the last game to this one, it was actually only about fifteen minutes, and the confrontation between Gawain and Nadal was always tense and turbulent.
Then--
With this skateboard shot, all the advantages that Gao Wen had accumulated with great effort were destroyed, and he fell into a passive position.
Although Gawain reacted quickly and moved sideways quickly, considering the eager Nadal and his subsequent layout, Gawain gave up the fighting strategy and instead completed a forehand cut with a big stride, cutting a return ball in the deep diagonal area, aiming at Nadal's backhand baseline triangle.
Unfortunately, the effect was slightly less than expected. The forehand slice did not produce enough rotation, and the return ball was unable to enter the big triangle at the baseline on Nadal's side.
Nadal has a keen sense of smell. He cut into the baseline at the first opportunity, got to a position one step inside the baseline, launched an attack from the midfield, and hammered a straight forehand shot.
Turn defense into offense!
Everything originated from that two-handed backhand just now, and then Nadal had the upper hand.
but!
Gao Wen made an accurate prediction.
It can be seen at this point that Gawain and Nadal have met three times, and this is the fourth time. Both sides have some understanding of each other's routines, especially the batting habits and route combinations of key scores, which also provides a database for the two players' preparation and prediction.
Here, Nadal's forehand was straight and sideways with great force, but Gawain predicted it accurately and controlled his steps when he cut the ball with his forehand in the previous shot. He started again without stopping, rushed to the scene in the first time, and used both hands to launch a frontal force confrontation with his backhand, and attacked with force.
On the other side, Nadal also accurately predicted Gawain's choice of deep diagonal shots, so he did not rush to the net, but adjusted his steps continuously across the court. Facing Gawain's solid and powerful two-handed attack, with a slight lag in his steps, he completed the diagonal attack again with his forehand.
When Nadal looked up, he saw Gawain standing in the original position on the diagonal line. He had not moved at all, waiting there long ago. His two-handed backhand was like a bowstring stretched into a full moon shape. Then Nadal's footsteps had already completed the start of the sudden stop and turn, and he crossed the court again to the backhand position.
Backhand, straight line.
Gawain's famous skills, especially when playing against Djokovic, whether it is breaking the deadlock, overturning the balance, or seizing the opportunity, this shot and this line can be said to be fully utilized. There is no doubt that this is Gawain's best weapon to top the US Open.
A second ago, Nadal had just turned the disadvantage around, but before the audience had time to catch their breath, Gawain, burning with youthful vigor, had already given a strong counterattack. The balance of confrontation tilted slightly towards Nadal and then returned to balance. The two players were running at high speed across the court.
One comes and one goes.
Needle tip, wheat awn.
The whole tempo and intensity went up a level, so much so that the Philippe Chatrier Stadium forgot to breathe.
Then, Gawain used his trump card, seized the opportunity, and tried to overturn the balance again, and the raging waves tilted over like a tidal wave.
Anticipation, once again, plays an important role.
In fact, Nadal's steps were a little out of place after running back and forth between the two ends of the baseline. The "wind-chasing boy" who once wore pirate pants and a sleeveless shirt could not find the youthful boldness and recklessness because of his age, injuries and condition, and his steps also had flaws.
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But it was precisely because of his accurate prediction that Nadal was able to block the shot with a two-handed backhand when his footsteps were not in place.
The so-called knock and block means that there is almost no swing of the racket. It is just that at the moment of touching the ball, the wrist makes a guillotine-like sinking movement to use the force of the ball.
In that fleeting moment, rely on the feel of your hands to complete the wrapping, and control the return ball route as much as possible without friction or force.
Slash, moon ball.
Nadal's emergency block successfully bought him some breathing space.
Although Gawain quickly crossed the court and returned from the backhand position to the forehand position at the fastest speed, Nadal still quickly adjusted his steps in the gap between the baselines and regained defensive space for himself. He even had time to observe Gawain's hitting movements and make predictions.
Gao Wen jumped into the air, used the inertia of the sprint to complete the force, and swept the forehand diagonal attack with one shot, aiming at Nadal's backhand baseline triangle again.
This time, Gawain found it!
The ball hit the large triangle area of the baseline accurately, heavy, deep, fast and spinning, like a huge wave, hitting Nadal on the head.
Quickly, everything happened too fast, and it seemed that before he could come to his senses, Gawain took the initiative in attack again, but Nadal was also ready for defense.
The suspense still swings back and forth on the steel wire rope.
(End of this chapter)