Chapter 1601 Grass Court Master

So far, Gao Wen has played a total of five official matches on grass courts in his career:

Kyrgios, Anderson, Istomin, Mahut, Troicki.

Judging from their results, Kyrgios and Anderson can both be said to be "good at grass", and Troicki is also suitable for grass; but in fact, neither of them can be said to be a true grass master.

Including Mahut, these players are able to have a good record on grass, not because of their understanding of grass and the adjustments and changes in their techniques and tactics based on the grass; but because their technical characteristics can be brought into play on grass, and the serve and forehand can resolve the battle within three shots.

In reality, grass is all about bounce and rhythm.

Among the active players, Federer is the first one who can truly understand the characteristics of grass, followed by Murray, while Djokovic and Nadal cannot be mentioned. The grass court games of the latter two giants are more reflected in their understanding of tennis and the game, which is not thorough in terms of grass alone.

In addition, among the top 20 in the world rankings, those who can be called grass court masters include Berdych, Dimitrov and Lopez.

That's basically all.

There is no way. The grass season is getting shorter and shorter. If it weren't for the brand effect of Wimbledon, perhaps the grass season would have been swallowed up by the commercial torrent long ago.

Today is the sixth grass court season of Gao Wen's career, and then he will face Dimitrov, a new generation player who is really good at grass court.

Strictly speaking, Raonic can perform well on grass, which is the same reason as Kyrgios and others; Dimitrov is another matter.

It is precisely because of this that Gao Wen attaches great importance to this game——

Regardless of winning or losing, Gao Wen really hopes to learn something from Dimitrov and have a deeper and different understanding of grass.

Not just because of this year's Wimbledon, but because of the long career ahead.

In the first service game, Gao Wen could already feel the difference.

In the second point, Dimitrov served and attacked, and his forehand long ball from the baseline was very unexpected:

He did not pursue a low bounce of a flat shot, but instead deliberately pulled topspin, and hit the tennis ball to the deep area of ​​the baseline with his forehand, pressing the half ball inside the baseline. Then the bounce was very strong, which was different from the hard court and clay, so that the hitting point was a little uncertain, and Gao Wen's return ball went straight into the air.

On the third point, Dimitrov chose to serve and volley, relying on his serve to establish an advantage, and then blocked the net and scored very easily with a volley.

Unlike Mahut, Dimitrov's net play was very light and skillful. He started with a comprehensive plan from the landing point, speed and rotation of the serve, and did not leave much space for Gao Wen to break through the net. This was a completely different feeling from when Gao Wen faced Mahut in the second round.

In the second round, Gao Wen was able to easily break the net against Mahut, showing his rich baseline layout ability; but when facing Dimitrov's net for the first time, Gao Wen was unable to find a way to break the net.

From this we can see that Nadal's rich net-breaking tactics, in addition to his own talent, are also honed bit by bit from countless peak duels with Federer in the early stages of his career.

Gao Wen has the technical ability, but still needs more practical training.

In the fourth point, Dimitrov hit a wide diagonal backhand with one hand to pull Gao Wen out of the court, and immediately followed up with a sideways forehand straight line attack.

A classic and ordinary grass baseline offensive tactic, smooth and gorgeous.

Four points, four tactical combinations, starting from the serve to lay out and establish the entire situation, clean and straightforward, the most important thing is that the number of rounds is controlled within three to five shots, fully turning the characteristics of the grass into one's advantage.

"Love-game", Dimitrov's start was indeed very good, and the entire technical and tactical layout and execution were very smooth.

Immediately afterwards, Gao Wen encountered a crisis in his own serve game.

"30:40".

Break point.

Gao Wen was not in a hurry to continue serving, but reviewed the point that broke the balance in the "30:30" situation, which was obviously representative.

In this point, Gao Wen has established an advantage through serving and subsequent attacks, and continued to put pressure on Dimitrov's backhand, forcing Dimitrov to lose his position.

Backhand.

Like Federer, this is Dimitrov's Achilles heel. The uncertainty of the one-handed backhand often leads to a lot of mistakes under strong strikes and pressure.

In particular, Gao Wen has enough confidence in his backhand and can gain the upper hand in the backhand duel, which has become the tactical focus of today's game.

The backhand stalemate did work, and Gawain managed to gain the upper hand.

However, Dimitrov did not give up.

When he was out of position, Dimitrov was unable to successfully backswing the racket because his footsteps were not in place, so he used a backhand slice to complete his defense.

A fast and low cut, landing deep in the baseline, and at the same time rushing and rushing, the whole bounce is very low——

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Although Gao Wen had seen a lot of cuts in the previous five grass court matches, he thought he had some experience, but now it seems that it is not enough. The quality and method of those cuts are completely incomparable to Dimitrov's. The rhythm and bounce, landing point and rotation are all different.

The result was that Gawain's rapid offensive rhythm was slowed down by the cut, and he had to reorganize his offensive routine; however, Dimitrov, who had won a breathing time through the cut, seized the opportunity to change his rhythm, adjusted his position with small steps, and drilled straight into the gap with his backhand.

Light and chic.

Straight line gap, winning score.

And earned Dimitrov a break point.

Judging from the results, Dimitrov's backhand slice played the role of a turning point, but if you think about it carefully, the timing of changing the offensive and defensive rhythm after the slice is the key.

Dimitrov's grasp of rhythm and timing really showed his understanding of grass and his offensive talent, which is something worth learning for Gao Wen.

If Gao Wen wants to break the routine, he should have different tactics and corresponding follow-up arrangements when dealing with cutting.

So far, this is only the second game, and it is still the best opportunity for Gao Wen to test and explore, so his brain continues to work at high speed.

With a turn, Gao Wen came to the second zone, ready to face the test of break point.

Break points are crucial. Gao Wen needs to avoid falling behind at the start. This is grass, and the serve plays a more important role. A break may directly ruin a set. Therefore, players need to stay fully focused in their serve and try to avoid problems in their own links.

But Gao Wen believes that this should not be the only time he will face a break point today. He does not think the game will be so easy, so he should know how to choose and arrange tactics under critical scores, including break points in his own serve or break points in Dimitrov's serve. The performance of these key points is crucial.

This is the deciding factor when top players meet each other on a narrow road.

Therefore, tactical layout is necessary, but tactics cannot be chosen blindly.

(End of this chapter)