Chapter 1506: Arrogant and proud
Dimitrov stepped forward with his right leg, using a brake to support his body, but his knee was a little weak, and the power of pushing the ground was obviously insufficient, so that his forehand shot was slightly slow, but he still relied on the power of his upper body to turn around and swung it quickly, like a swordsman unsheathing a long sword——
Bang! As the forehand shot was launched, the sweat on the cheeks and arms was thrown out by the centrifugal force, blooming in the air, and the tennis ball flew out quickly.
Dimitrov continued to tap his feet with small steps, moving sideways to the left. Although his calves were no longer strong enough to push off the ground, he still gritted his teeth and stayed focused, trying to keep his center of gravity light.
"Hold on! Gregor."
This was the only thought in Dimitrov's mind -
This is not a training match, it is still basic training.
What is being conducted at this time is forehand confrontation exercises. The two players continue to hit diagonal lines to form a forehand confrontation, but in order to ensure the quality of training, the two players are not simply standing still to perform forehand confrontation. Instead, after each forehand shot, they need to move back to the backhand position, and then return to the forehand position to continue hitting the ball.
On the one hand, forehand shots continue to confront.
On the one hand, the ability to stop and turn quickly and the defensive awareness in strong confrontations.
Although it is basic training, it involves very complex and detailed basic skills, and the mechanical repetition also tests the players' concentration.
The training seems simple and basic, but it is actually full of challenges.
At present, Dimitrov and Gao Wen have carried out ten rounds of forehand hitting training. It is hard to imagine that Gao Wen always has the last laugh.
No exceptions.
It was always Dimitrov who was the first to lose his form, either by hitting the ball into the net or out of the racket. Instead, it was always Dimitrov who lost the ball first, broke the balance, and ended the hitting training, for a full ten rounds.
Originally, this was basic training, and the feel for hitting the ball was not that tight, so some errors were inevitable, and it was common for the ball to go into the net or out of bounds, so no one cared who lost the ball first to end the training round.
but--
Once, twice, three times... slowly I began to feel something was wrong.
This is basic batting training, which means that the return ball line is fixed and does not require prediction; even if your feet need to maintain the state of returning to defense, when you return to defense, you already know that the opponent's ball will continue to return to the forehand position, so you just need to stay focused and it will be impossible to catch up.
However, it is Dimitrov who loses the ball first every time. Is this normal?
Dimitrov has always been proud. He has his own beliefs and persistence. He is surrounded by countless applause and expectations like a favored child of heaven. In addition to his talent, he is also extremely confident in his basic skills. He believes that he is definitely one of the players with the best basic skills in the tour, so what he needs to improve is his upper limit.
This is also what Rashid brought to him, allowing him to explore his limits little by little. He believes that he still has more potential waiting to be tapped.
This is what he believed and trained in all along, including the daily training matches with top players like Gawain and Federer. Every aspect proves that Rashid is right.
But today, after a long absence from basic training, his thoughts wavered.
Dimitrov couldn't understand why. It was just the most basic and simple forehand training, but he couldn't keep going.
It could be as short as ten beats or as long as forty beats, but at the end of each round, he was always the first to drop the ball. Once or twice it was a coincidence or an accident, but ten times it was inevitable.
Dimitrov still hadn't figured out why they needed to do basic hitting training - there was really no time to think during training, but now his pride was aroused, and he gritted his teeth and gave it his all.
He just didn't believe it. Was his forehand basic skills so bad?
Fifteen shots.
Thirty beats.
Fifty beats.
In a very rare case, Dimitrov and Gao Wen persisted in the basic forehand shot training and easily broke through fifty shots. Both players had entered the anaerobic state, but no one relaxed.
The back and forth continues. Even the simplest and most basic training can make one feel the heat of swords and sabers, and the pores are boiling.
Dimitrov was concentrating—
With a push, he stopped quickly, turned sharply, and returned quickly.
As soon as he started walking, Dimitrov's pupils began to shrink rapidly: change.
Gao Wen still appeared calm and unhurried, and he got to the position quickly, and had time to observe Dimitrov's movements, and then he suddenly cut the ball with his forehand.
Backspin.
It has been mentioned before in the clay court season that cutting on clay courts is often used in extremely passive situations, and cutting can slow down the pace of the round and buy yourself time to get into position.
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
The same is true on grass. Cutting is often a means to gain time and space in a passive situation; but compared to clay and hard courts, cutting on grass can also be used as a weapon to turn the situation around.
The principle lies in the bounce.
The bounce on grass is very low, and even Nadal's strong topspin can hardly create a high bounce; if cutting is used, the bounce will be even lower, and combined with the lower limit, unloading and other techniques, the threat of low bounce can be further amplified, which can not only compress the opponent's return space, but also effectively curb the opponent's continuous attack.
On grass courts, it is very common to hit the ball directly when handling a slice ball because the center of gravity is not lowered enough. It can even be said to be an integral part of the game.
So, similar to clay, grass is a venue that emphasizes change; but the difference is that grass is a venue that emphasizes rhythm.
These characteristics are also not available on hard courts. For experienced tennis fans who really like tennis, clay and grass are actually more exciting and beautiful, while hard courts are a bit monotonous and boring.
In the ATP, Federer is an intermediate to advanced player, worthy of being the king of grass.
In the WTA, Belgian player Kristen-Flipkens is a grass-court player with a variety of tactics. Although her best record at Wimbledon is only a semi-final, her grass-court game is very distinctive.
There is also Australian player Ashleigh-Barty. In addition to winning the Wimbledon championship in 2021, her slice ball has always been a very special sight in the tour, making those players who only know how to drive and attack very awkward and uncomfortable.
What Gao Wen likes most about the transition from the clay court season to the grass court season is that the tactical combinations of these two surfaces are richer and more three-dimensional, requiring players to construct the game in a three-dimensional way, which is undoubtedly very interesting.
Although it has only been two days since the grass court season began, the experience of adapting to the clay court season has helped. Gao Wen's tactical changes have obviously accelerated. In the basic training of forehand shots, Gao Wen has been constantly trying out the arrangement and combination of hitting techniques, trying to control the rhythm.
Then the tennis ball flew towards Dimitrov lightly and low.
(End of this chapter)