Raid!

Everything happened too suddenly and too unexpectedly, just like a rainstorm in a midsummer afternoon. There was no sign at all. The sun was shining brightly one second and it was raining heavily the next. The unreasonable downpour poured down on us, and then all directions became completely chaotic.

This is the situation of Istomin at this moment.

It couldn't be more ordinary. In an instant, the situation changed drastically. Before I could react, I was already caught in the storm.

Shocked! Panic! In a hurry, Istomin had no time to think, and his eyes were too busy to see whether he should look at the tennis ball or at Gawain. The entire court was shrinking rapidly, and there was no space in his field of vision.

But there was no time—

In fact, the quality of Gao Wen's return ball is average. In order to ensure that the ball bounces smoothly over the net, the parabola is high and floating. When it reaches Istomin's side, it has no rotation, no power, and no speed.

Under normal circumstances, this would be an opportunity for Istomin.

But now it was different. Istomin had to process too much information at once. When he returned his attention to the tennis ball, he realized that the ball bounced very low without any force attached to it and was falling rapidly. He had to hit the ball, otherwise he would have to jump twice. But what should he do? There were so many thoughts in his mind that he couldn't think. There was absolutely no way.

"Well!"

With a muffled groan, Istomin completed a low backhand shot with both hands. The hitting point was too low, basically below the knees, and there was no room for swinging the racket, so he had to pull the return ball up.

--straight line.

Subconsciously, Istomin still tried to break the net, but he felt annoyed just after he completed the shot. It was obvious that Gawain lacked the touch in the backhand position, and he ended up falling into the trap by choosing the straight line.

Damn it!

However, Istomin did not even have time to regret, as he was already in despair.

In sight, Gawain took a sideways step, his arms stretched out, his body light.

A block.

One buckle.

It's comparable to a volleyball block and smash, with the forehand wrist force instantly smashing inward.

Bang.

Bang! There was a crisp sound of the ball hitting the ground, and a loud sound of the ball landing.

Diagonal line, gap...score! "Ah!"

Gao Wen quickly put the racket into his left hand, clenched his right hand into a fist and jumped high. His light and graceful posture looked like the Pegasus Meteor Fist.

Energy, released in a short and violent manner -

Boom! The whole place exploded.

You can clearly see that Gawain's high leaping figure makes the entire audience stand up. They are so dumbfounded that they are completely unable to think. They are so immersed in it that they cannot extricate themselves. The adrenaline explodes instantly and the entire audience cheers.

This time, Sampras crossed his arms across his chest, looking as if he was sitting on a mountain. From his eyes and posture, one could feel the pride from the inside out.

In the players' box, everyone else had stood up, including Pelt.

"0:30".

It can be seen from the score that in this game, Gao Wen keenly seized the opportunity and scored consecutively, which may be the turning point of the fourth set.

Agassi noticed Sampras' calmness, and the corners of his mouth rose slightly, with a hint of amusement in his eyes, but he did not expose his old friend.

In 2022, if you ask young players or young audiences, they might say, isn't this Federer's trick? Moreover, there is an official name, "SABR (Sneak-Attack-By-Roger)", which literally means "cunning attack from Roger".

As the name suggests, this is Federer's exclusive tactic.

This tactic first appeared in Federer's match against Djokovic. When his opponent was serving, Federer suddenly cut to the baseline, grabbed a serve by cutting or bouncing, and then went to the net with the ball, winning the point by exerting pressure in front of the net. It was a sneak attack.

However, "SABR" cannot be used frequently because male players serve very fast. After entering the baseline, they often do not have enough space and time to react, which may backfire. Even a player with excellent touch like Federer often makes outrageous mistakes.

“SABR” is very entertaining and was later widely circulated on social networks in the form of animated images or short videos.

In fact, this tactic was not invented by Federer. As early as half a century ago, during the heyday of serve and volley, some players had tried it.

Unfortunately, at that time, the rackets were still made of wood and could not withstand too much force, otherwise the accuracy of the hit would decrease, so the success rate was not high.

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Until the 1990s, Sampras became the master of the serve-and-volley style, making countless history, and this tactic was also his trump card.

Gawain's tactics came from Sampras.

With the same tactics, the biggest difference between Sampras and Federer is the positioning.

Federer's attack was a sneak attack. His position would not only enter the baseline, but also advance all the way to the baseline of the serving area. This was equivalent to using his body to create physical pressure, which had already created interference before receiving the serve. This was the same as serving with the underhand hand. It did not violate the rules but caused controversy.

To be precise, the rules do not specify the player's serve-receiving position, so in amateur competitions, you can often see some people choosing to stand in the serving area, deliberately putting pressure on their opponents in this way, but this is basically tantamount to playing rogue; in the face of such a situation, the serving party only needs to choose to serve hard and hit the ball directly without hesitation to break it.

The tactical core of "SABR" is the same, which is to disrupt the opponent's rhythm through sneak attacks. Therefore, pressing forward is the core key of the tactics. As for the subsequent series of actions, including cutting, receiving serves and going to the net, they are just continuations of the actions.

Sampras is a confrontational player. His position is often not to enter the baseline, but to stand on the baseline. It is a bit similar to the rising point strategy of grabbing the serve. He will grab the serve back as soon as possible, but does not care about the quality of the return. The real focus is the follow-up, that is, serve and volley, and the victory or defeat is decided by the confrontation in front of the net.

In short, the real core is going to the net. The previous and subsequent actions are all paving the way for going to the net. This is the iconic serve-and-volley style of play for players. Because going to the net needs to be fast and the opponent's space for returning the ball and breaking the net needs to be compressed as much as possible, players serve in advance and take a shorter step distance.

There is a clear difference between the two in terms of tactical intentions.

Since the offseason, Sampras has been cultivating and honing Koeman's net skills, and has been doing so throughout the Australian Open and French Open, constantly trialing and adjusting. The ultimate goal is to enrich Koeman's arsenal on grass courts and become a winning magic weapon to break the stalemate at critical moments.

In addition, this set of tactics has another advantage: saving physical energy.

When you are at your most exhausted or in poor condition, the best strategy is to change the tempo of the game by serving and volleying to give yourself some breathing space.

Sampras was satisfied not only because of Gawain's excellent execution, but also because of Gawain's timing, which broke the balance without warning.

Everything is just right——

The next point was full of pressure for Istomin.