Chapter 1496: The Cicadas’ Song in Midsummer
“…Watch your steps! Watch your steps!”
"Keep your steps light. 'Pa, pa, pa.' Follow the rhythm of my high-fives and step on them. Quick! Quick! Quick! This must become a conditioned reflex."
"Hey! Pay attention, pay attention! Don't be distracted when serving, but after serving, your feet must be flexible to keep up with the rhythm. This is grass, understand?"
“…Lower your center of gravity! Remember your steps, but not your center of gravity.”
"Remember, keep your knees in a springy state, and lower your center of gravity as your feet move. These movements must be done in one go..."
"Connect it, very good, connect it!"
"Rhythm, pay attention to the rhythm. Those habits from playing on clay should be thrown away now. You must grasp the rhythm and not lose focus. Make the swing movements coherent..."
A faint vapor floats in the golden sunlight, drooping on the surface of the skin damp and sticky. Lush green fills every corner of the field of vision. The breeze seems to be able to capture the whispers of the elves, hiding in the lush green and secretly observing every move of humans.
“I know, I know, I know…”
The buzzing of cicadas is surging noisily, and the scorching heat in the afternoon seems to become more and more ferocious. Even the hearing can feel the heat of midsummer, making people start to miss watermelon, soda and fireworks, lying on the mat in the afternoon with nothing to do, quietly listening to the passage of time.
Summer is the best time to relax and unwind.
However, professional players cannot do this. Not to mention daydreaming, even the time for drinking water is extremely precious. Every second counts and they must seize the time.
On the practice field, Gao Wen was hitting the ball.
Agassi stood on the other side of the court and was responsible for feeding the ball. He did not form a sustained round, but simply kept feeding the ball so that Gawain could complete basic shots, forehand shots, backhand shots, and everything went back to the basics.
Sampras stood behind Gawain and gave him instructions, from footwork to hitting the ball to center of gravity and power, and even to tactical routines.
Everything must be overturned from the basics -
After all, this was the first time in Gawain's two lifetimes that he stepped onto a grass court, which was even more unfamiliar than clay. Switching channels was much more difficult than he had imagined.
Yesterday, the curtain fell on another year of Roland Garros; today, they must seamlessly transition into the grass court season and complete the gorgeous transition from clay to grass without any breathing time.
In fact, Gao Wen’s preparations are already considered “slow”, as many players have already started competing this week.
The grass season is really too short, it's gone in a flash, only five weeks in total -
In the first week of June, there are two 250-point races, Stuttgart and ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
In the second week of June, there are two 500-point events, the Halle and Queen’s Club.
In the third week of June, there is a 250-point race in Nottingham.
Fourth week of June, Grand Slam, Wimbledon.
That's all.
Taking into account that some players have to participate in Grand Slam qualifying matches in the week before the Grand Slam, and the top players will conserve their energy for the two-week Grand Slam tournaments and often only practice and avoid participating, it means that the time to prepare for Wimbledon is actually only two weeks.
It is precisely because of this that even top players must seize the opportunity to compete in consecutive competitions without stopping to warm up and find their touch for Wimbledon.
For example, Nadal.
Nadal is a player who needs to hone his condition and improve his touch through competition. Although he is very diligent in training, he still needs more game time to adjust his condition. After being eliminated in the quarterfinals of the French Open this year, he immediately went to Stuttgart to participate in the competition and complete the venue change.
In addition to Nadal, Cilic, Lopez, Monfils and Thiem also chose Stuttgart to compete and start the grass court season.
's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands is slightly inferior in terms of marketing, but it still attracted players such as Goffin, Agut, Karlovic, Verdasco, Pospisil and others to participate.
In comparison, Gao Wen, who only finished his semi-final on Friday, started the official competition of the grass court season a little later.
Of course, including top players such as Federer, Djokovic, Murray and others, they are not in a hurry to participate in the competition. They often just choose a tournament in Halle or Queen's Club to warm up, or even skip the warm-up match and go to Wimbledon directly. This is also very common.
However, the difference is that these top players have been on tour for many years and have a full understanding of the nature and condition of the grass. Even without warming up, they know what they should do.
Gawain can't do that.
Knowing nothing about grass and going directly to a Grand Slam without any warm-up, is it like going to the battlefield without weapons, ready to face bullets and cannons with bare hands?
No, it can't.
He needs to practice, he needs to adapt, he needs to warm up, he needs to play games, start all over again, and rebuild from the basics.
Time is indeed very, very precious. Although Gao Wen skipped the first week of grass events, he must seize this week and devote himself fully to training.
It's much more difficult than the clay court season.
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
In the clay court season, not only is the preparation period longer, lasting two months, but there is even room for breathing between tournaments, giving players room to try and error, think and adjust. The performances of Gawain and Wawrinka at Roland Garros are the best reflection of this.
Moreover, clay courts are found all over the world. Even if you have not eaten pork, you have seen pigs run. Even though Gao Wen has never played on clay courts, he is not completely unfamiliar with it. He knows the nature of the court and the challenges he faces before setting foot on the clay court.
But the grass season is different.
The cycle is shorter, the venue is unfamiliar, and everything is happening at double the speed.
In fact, it is clear from the three weeks of events before Wimbledon that Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom are the few countries in the world that still insist on hosting grass court events.
For the same reason, the event that Mallorca is preparing for will be on grass, where competition is not so fierce, which can win valuable living space for the event. At the same time, it can also receive official support from the ATP and attract more top players to participate, which is undoubtedly a win-win situation.
There's a simple reason why there are so few grass-court tournaments left: They're expensive.
On hard court or clay, the venue is relatively simple to set up and maintain, but this is not the case on grass.
The grass field must be real grass, not artificial grass. This also means that every year the organizers of the event must replant the grass for the event. Once the stadium is put into use, the grass cannot be repaired after it is worn out. All venues are disposable.
Planting, building, maintaining, and putting into use until the event is over, and then starting over again.
Not only are they expensive and cannot be reused like hard courts and clay courts, they are also difficult to repair. After the tournament, it is difficult to use them in a diversified way as a practice field or performance space. The diversified income channels other than tennis tournaments are very narrow, further increasing the operational burden.
It is precisely because of this that Wimbledon has retained a tradition that the Centre Court is prohibited from adapting to the surface and can only be put into use after the defending champion appears on the court to open the tournament. This is because once the grass is used, it will be damaged and even trampled flat and bald, making it impossible to repair, which will seriously affect the viewing experience.
As you can imagine, profit-oriented businessmen have given up on grass and even clay. If they want to hold tennis tournaments, hard courts are obviously the first choice.
Because it's cheap.
Gradually, there are fewer and fewer grass-court tournaments, and the grass-court season is also shortened.
At this point, some people may wonder, "Well, why not just cancel the grass season?"
(End of this chapter)