"30:0".
While wiping his sweat, Istomin secretly exhaled, secretly clenched his fist to cheer himself up, and convinced himself again not to be easily shaken:
Looking back at the whole game, his performance has been excellent, which is why he was able to take the lead. There is no need to question himself because of missing a match point. The ups and downs of the last serve will not change the trend of the whole game. He should not scare himself and disrupt his game.
"One point, one more point, it's game point."
Istomin took a deep breath, then put on his wind-blocking sports glasses again, returned to the baseline, and prepared to serve.
Area 1.
Outside corner, speed of 188 kilometers per hour, one shot, successfully entered the zone.
On the other side of the court, Gawain took a big sideways step and stretched his body completely out. Although the ball was not fast, the landing point was excellent, which completely opened up the angle, so that Gawain did not have enough space to swing the racket. In the end, he blocked the ball with his forehand in a cutting manner and cut out a mid-court backspin ball.
Step! Step! With just two steps, because Gawain chose to slice, the ball speed was not fast. Istomin quickly returned to his position. With only two small steps, he was already in the middle of the court. He made a racket-leading action in advance, ready to attack quickly, and improved the rhythm of the round through quick connection to realize his serve advantage.
Sight, focus.
Muscles, tight.
Here we come!
...Wait, huh? What's the angle of refraction when a tennis ball bounces off the ground?
Irregular bounces have been mentioned before in the clay court season. Due to the material of the clay, the density of the court is uneven, and as the players move and step on it, the density of the court continues to change all the time, which may eventually cause irregular bounces that are completely unpredictable.
In fact, the same is true for grass courts.
Firstly, there is also soil under the turf, and the density may be uneven. Although it is not as common as red soil, it does exist objectively.
Secondly, the density of green grass itself varies. Even if it is trimmed very carefully and neatly, it is impossible to achieve 100% uniform distribution.
In addition, the sidelines of grass courts are drawn with lime powder. Although lime powder is completely in powder form, the density and texture of the particles are still different.
Due to various reasons, grass courts also have irregular bounces.
Of course, it is not as frequent and common as clay courts; at the same time, the irregular bounces of grass courts are relatively simple, and generally low bounces -
Simply put, according to the rules of normal power rotation, after landing and bouncing, the refraction angle should be thirty degrees, which is a very, very low bounce, highlighting the characteristics of grass; but if you encounter a "land mine", the refraction angle may be only fifteen degrees, or even worse.
It is for this reason that low bounce is the key word on grass, as players always need to keep their knees bent and their center of gravity lowered at all times.
When encountering a landmine unexpectedly, it depends on the player's center of gravity control and secondary reaction.
Just like this moment——
Mine!
Originally, Gawain chose to slice the backspin ball, and the rebound height of the return ball was already limited, and Istomin was ready to complete the shot near the knee; but the refraction angle was even lower, almost at the position of the calf bone, and it was obvious that he had encountered a landmine, and the power was silently swallowed up.
The most amazing and special thing is that when there are mines on clay courts, they can often be seen by spectators, but they are not obvious on grass courts.
As a result, spectators often see players inexplicably miss all shots, and only realize they are mines after being several beats late.
Istomin: ...
He didn't even have time to swear as his knees had already bent, but it was too late. So, his backhand drive could only be transformed into a backhand slice, using a slice of topspin at the calf position, trying to cut the tennis ball back along the net and control the situation as much as possible.
A small accident disrupted Istomin's offensive plan.
At the same time, it can be seen from this return shot that Istomin's ability to deal with unexpected situations is still insufficient. His cutting technique is very rough. Although he tried to control the parabola of the return ball, he obviously failed to control it. In a panic, he just hastily cut the tennis ball back.
The parabola flew high, neither too high nor too low, and when it reached the other side of the court, it just gave Gawain a hitting height at his waist.
Gao Wen, how could I miss it?
He adjusted with small steps, and moved forward quickly and steadily with a two-handed backhand, grabbing the hitting point just right. The whole turning movement was clean and solid.
Bang!
The tennis ball hit the racket like a wall and then bounced out, drawing a light backslash and rushing towards Istomin's forehand deep area.
From the height to the position to the timing, everything was perfect for Gawain, which was equivalent to feeding the ball in a practice match. So, Gawain seized the opportunity, and everything fit together seamlessly, and the clean and neat attack was flawless.
Like a flash of lightning.
Although Istomin reflexively stretched out his racket and tried to complete the defense on the forehand, the tennis ball went straight through the defense and he scored easily.
"30:15".
Istomin was somewhat helpless. He stood up straight and could see Gawain reaching out to signal——
Although the landmine and the net hit were both unintentional accidents, Gawain still benefited indirectly and scored points, so he still needed to apologize politely.
Istomin understood that this situation was purely accidental. There was no way to plan or prevent it. Everything happened suddenly. It all depended on who had better on-the-spot response ability. Both he and Gawain needed to make a judgment in a split second and make the best choice immediately.
So, it's not anyone's fault.
If we must condemn something, we can only condemn Stadium No. 2.
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
But knowing this, Istomin felt a little helpless. He put his hands on his hips and glanced at the location of the minefield: Isn't Court No. 2 the "seed grave"? It should be more friendly to non-seeded players. Why did he help Gawain at the critical moment?
The team had finally stabilized after missing the match point with two consecutive scores, but now it was shaken again by the explosion of a mine.
I inexplicably feel a sense of frustration that "the whole world is against me".
Take a deep breath.
Take another deep breath.
Istomin reminded himself that he needed to calm down and not let negative emotions occupy his brain, otherwise he would be dragged into darkness and there would be no escape.
Another deep breath.
"One more point, one more point, and it will be game point. We still have the advantage now, there is no need to panic."
Istomin clenched his fist again to cheer himself up.
"30:15".
District 2.
Istomin looked up at Gawain's position, then started serving.
Pop.
One shot and the net is gone.
It can be seen from the toss that Istomin was also preparing to speed up, trying to create an impact with speed and strength, but he pressed too hard and the ball ended up going into the net.
Second serve.
Istomin's hands were a little tense, but he did not pause to avoid any possibility of distracting thoughts. He held his breath and served the second serve without pausing.
Push off the ground.
Toss the ball.
Swing the racket.
Hit the ball.
——Outside angle, big outside angle, strong topspin and sidespin, completely tearing the angle apart.