Chapter 1572 The horn sounded
High up, high up... the tennis ball flew into the golden sunlight that filled the sky and the ground, spinning and flying like a free eagle.
On both sides of the court, Istomin was adjusting his position with small steps, and Gawain was also adjusting his center of gravity with small steps. Both players kept their footsteps busy, the former looking at the tennis ball, the latter looking at the former, one thing after another, in the short time that the tennis ball was flying, the surging undercurrents were colliding violently.
Until gravity dragged the tennis ball down, the air began to boil again, and it seemed that one could feel the rolling heat waves spreading out in all directions.
Istomin, step forward.
——Gawain’s lob was not controlled to the extreme, landing about two steps inside the baseline, in the backhand position; so Istomin went directly into the baseline, quickly adjusted his steps, switched to the sideways forehand mode, waited for the tennis ball to hit the ground and bounce, and then went for high pressure from the baseline.
Push off the ground, jump up, swing the racket...press down.
The whole action is like serving a ball.
But the difference is that this time the "toss" is not controlled by Istomin himself, so he needs to pay attention to details such as rotation and strength when hitting the ball.
At this time, Istomin's lack of explosive power was fully exposed. He was cautious with the high pressure at the baseline and did not dare to exert his full strength. The main reason was that he was worried that excessive force would lead to a loss of control. In the end, he could not hold the tennis ball down or control its arc, and directly hit the tennis ball into the audience stands.
It was obviously a baseline high pressure, but it only had speed but no power, and the main focus was on controlling the landing point.
Diagonal large diagonal.
On the other side of the court, Gawain didn't stop. He started, pushed off the ground, and ran at full speed.
The previous ball was from the left end to the right end; this ball was from the right end to the left end, just like doing a baseline shuttle run training.
This time, his footsteps were in place in time, but there was still no space to hit the ball; moreover, Istomin's high-pressure ball was too light and floating, and the rebound after landing on the grass seemed erratic and difficult to control; plus, Gawain's footsteps had been pressed four meters away from the baseline, and he was standing parallel to the baseline referee. The sense of space in the entire court was also a bit weird, and the result of a rash counterattack might be brute force hitting the wall.
In a flash, Gawain had made his decision.
Again, use both hands to backhand the ball, and pull the tennis ball up lightly and nimbly. When the full parabola passes through the net, it should be as high as three stories.
High and spinning, with strong topspin.
Seemingly simple, but actually dangerous——
Firstly, the vertical height is too high, which means that when falling, due to the acceleration of gravity, the speed at the hitting point is faster and not easy to grasp.
Secondly, because the vertical height is too high and the sunlight is glaring, the rotation cannot be seen clearly, and when falling to the hitting position, it is not easy to find the accurate hitting point.
On the surface, even amateur players can kill such a high-pressure ball with one shot, but when you actually play in the game, you will find that it is far beyond imagination.
Throughout Djokovic's career, he has always been prone to making mistakes when handling such returns. Even after he later received special training in high-pressure balls, he would still occasionally make mistakes in actual games. Even if he did not make mistakes, the quality of his return shots might be far below expectations.
Istomin, very careful and cautious—
Thanks to the protection of sports glasses, he doesn't have to worry about the glare of the sun and can find the position of the tennis ball, but the effects of altitude and rotation still exist.
Small steps, small steps, continuous small steps.
Istomin's footsteps have completely entered the baseline and come to the midfield between the serving area and the baseline. He moves from the backhand position to the central area little by little. His muscles are tense, waiting patiently for the tennis ball to land. He does not rush to make a high-pressure volley, but conservatively chooses to land the ball on the ground.
Land, bounce, rise; and then... fall.
Until the opportunity arises.
Istomin then pulled out his forehand, his whole body tensed up, he bent his bow and shot the eagle, making a powerful attack.
"Ugh!"
Istomin, exert your strength.
Continuous high pressure could not end this point. If the stalemate continued, self-doubt would begin to breed and the situation would change.
He needs to hit.
Therefore, Istomin chose to land with high pressure and add a layer of insurance, and finally, exert full force.
As for the line -
Small diagonal line, aiming at Gawain's backhand, and again and again.
“Ahhh…”
After releasing the power, Istomin was about to return to his position when he caught a glimpse of a white figure in the corner of his eye, striding, sprinting, and arriving at the position.
Then, he leads the racket, rushes forward, and swings along with inertia. The entire backhand action is smooth and connected, and the explosion of power can be clearly seen.
A heavy sword has no edge, and great skill is not elaborate.
It's a clean backhand swing, without any unnecessary techniques. From the lead to the end, it's very crisp, short and powerful, using the opponent's force to hit the target.
A bump, a push, that's all.
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
Then, Gawain pushed back Istomin's fatal blow, which was injected with all his strength. He did not even risk changing the line, but just chose a diagonal line along the trajectory of the swing. With a stable center of gravity and a solid swing, he pushed the force back completely, and the tennis ball turned into a streak of light and disappeared from the sight.
Oops!
Istomin's alarm bells were ringing.
Oops, oops, oops!
Istomin's hitting action after completing the smash had just landed on the ground, just like the serving action. Before he had time to regain his center of gravity, he saw a flash of light passing across his eyes. He reflexively stretched out his racket to the left, trying to block it, but missed.
Only wind.
The next second, he saw out of the corner of his eye that the tennis ball was breaking through his position and his trajectory was no longer visible.
In bounds? Out of bounds? Boom! Immediately afterwards, every figure in sight of Court No. 2 stood up in ecstasy, raised their arms and shouted. Their faces, filled with disbelief, were excited, leaping for joy, and cheering. The sound was resounding, and there was no need for words. The answer was clear as day.
Istomin subconsciously looked behind him, but he only saw the referee put his hands together to make an in-bounds gesture and made a decision.
“Gao…………Wen…………!”
From the commentary booth next door came a bombardment of vowels that sounded like a soccer goal. Xu Yang was startled and subconsciously turned his head to look. Then he saw a little old man with white hair, blushing and slamming the table as if he was drunk, expressing his joy with his whole body movements. The words that came out of his mouth were like machine gun fire, igniting the atmosphere bit by bit.
"Break!"
"Jesus Christ, Gawain resolved Istomin's continuous high-pressure ball attack in an incredible way, and finally broke the net to score the winning point."
"In the seventh game of the fourth set, Gao Wen was the first to break the serve!"
"The game is not over, the game is not over, Gawain has once again accomplished a Gawain-style feat!"
Unable to help himself, Xu Yang's blood started to boil. He turned his attention back to Gawain on the court, his high morale burning fiercely.
This time, he did not celebrate, did not roar, jump or cheer, he just clenched his fists, like a god of war, and scanned the entire Court No. 2 with a sharp gaze.
Without words, one can feel the overwhelming momentum spreading throughout the stadium, as if they were challenging the stadium head-on with actual actions: Seed Grave? Let's see who can have the last laugh! (End of this chapter)