Chapter 1619: Airtight
Snap. Snap.
Dimitrov is dribbling the ball——
Does he remember the first set point of the first set?
Of course I remember.
For top players, analyzing and deconstructing the game is a very, very important link. The brain must be working throughout the game. Only in this way can they choose the correct tactics at the crucial points where the game is difficult to decide, and finally find the key to victory.
Dimitrov is no exception.
So, should he avoid the outside corner? Or should he repeat the outside corner in the opposite way? On the other side of the court, how does Gao Wen plan for this point?
Gaming and calculation, confrontation and counterattack, this is the charm of tennis.
At this moment, the confrontation between Dimitrov and Gawain had already begun before the ball was hit.
Then.
Outside corner!
Dimitrov boldly and riskily chose the outside corner again, but here, he paid more attention to the entire rotation and landing point, and he chose to hit the serve hard.
Moreover, the first shot entered the zone at a speed of 124 miles (200 kilometers) per hour.
Although he did not pursue the extreme angle and the outside corner was not completely torn open, the power and speed were excellent and he found a shot at a critical moment.
An excellent serve means that the point is halfway to success, but Dimitrov did not take it lightly and focused completely on Gao Wen.
However, Gawain kicked his left leg and flew into the air, moving backhand immediately.
Gao Wen did not predict or move in advance. In such a tense and close situation, the receiver was completely passive. He needed to avoid being impatient, reckless and impulsive. He could not count on the luck of a blind cat catching a dead mouse. He had to stay calm and focused to ensure quick reactions.
So, Gao Wen did not make any predictions, but instead focused on Dimitrov's serve.
At the moment when the racket face touched the tennis ball, Gao Wen caught the details and made a judgment of the outside corner, and his body's conditioned reflex was activated and he glared out.
A kick and a rush.
The body has already pounced out.
This ball was completely different from the first set point in the first set. On the one hand, Gawain did not move in advance, and on the other hand, Dimitrov chose to hit the serve flat. Although the angle was not completely torn apart, the impact of speed and power was different from that second serve.
This is a brand new point.
Gao Wen could clearly feel the pressure and collision coming towards him.
"Well."
Gawain groaned, but refused to retreat. He planted his feet firmly on the ground, and pushed forward with his hands at his sides, swinging the racket quickly.
The next second, the reaction force pushed the tennis ball back.
Gao Wen didn't have time to finish his shot, let alone control the details, and he could only watch the tennis ball fly in a full arc towards Dimitrov.
The parabola is too high, leaving the opponent with very obvious attacking space.
Oops.
Gao Wen kicked his feet, stopped and turned quickly, and his body moved towards the forehand position. More than half of the court was cleared and there was no space at all.
His sights were fixed firmly on Dimitrov——
Sure enough, Dimitrov was ready to attack.
Although the parabola of Gao Wen's return serve landed a little deeper than expected and Dimitrov's footsteps felt squeezed, he still relied on small steps to adjust and swept forward with a one-handed backhand without hesitation.
Slash.
The tennis ball, like a bullet, came back with a gust of air.
"Well!"
Gao Wen groaned again.
One step, one push, sudden stop and turn, second start, and return to the backhand position.
In just less than three weeks, Gao Wen's fastest progress has been in his footwork. He has successfully found some feeling of moving on the grass. The adjustments of braking and starting are very smooth. One can tell at a glance that his basic skills are solid.
but!
Although Gao Wen reacted very quickly, he was still passive. His footwork was still lacking and he was not able to get into position completely, leaving him with insufficient space to swing his racket.
What to do? Step on the ground, squat down, lower your center of gravity -
Cutting.
Facing Dimitrov's smooth attack, Gawain was indeed passive. Now he had no time and space to counterattack and could only passively cut.
Side cut, downward rotation.
In the cramped space, Gao Wen increased his rotation as much as possible, and the racket hit the ground directly, making a dull sound, but he had no time to care about it. Instead, he used the reaction force of the collision between the racket and the ground to regain his center of gravity, adjust his steps, and ran to the right.
Return to position and replenish defense.
Obviously, Gao Wen's center of gravity is unstable on the backhand, and the gap on the forehand is wide open. It is highly likely that Dimitrov will choose to go all out.
Tap, tap, tap.
From small steps to big strides, Gao Wen found the rhythm of his pace in the stormy waves, and in a flash he had crossed the midpoint and cut into the right half of the court.
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Then I saw Dimitrov's sideways forehand——
Faced with the cut, Dimitrov showed no mercy. He took small steps to adjust his position, and was ready to fire with a sideways forehand, aiming in a straight line.
Boom! The tennis ball exploded and hit Gawain's forehand baseline like a meteor.
But that’s still not all.
Dimitrov went to the net, and his continuous offensive hammering at the baseline had created enough advantage, and he needed to put further pressure on Gao Wen.
Across the court, Gawain was in a mess, very messy.
Although he bought some time by anticipating and moving in advance, it was still not enough in the face of Dimitrov's airtight offensive connection.
Moreover, Dimitrov's sideways forehand was fast, heavy, and had no bounce. It accurately found the landing point of the big triangle at the bottom line, pushing Gawain to the edge of the cliff, leaving Gawain almost no breathing space.
"……ah!"
In a hurry, his feet were barely in place, but there was no space to hit the ball. His upper body continued to extend, and finally he intercepted the tennis ball on its falling trajectory, and he picked it up with his racket very reluctantly.
High ball.
In an extremely passive situation, Gao Wen originally had no choice; at the same time, he noticed Dimitrov going to the net out of the corner of his eye, which further reduced Gao Wen's options.
The space for the ball to break through the net is basically zero, because the rebound height of the ball is too low and there is no time to adjust the footwork.
The lob is one of the few remaining opportunities.
The only thing Gao Wen could do was to increase the friction as much as possible to pull the tennis ball up.
But it's not easy either, there's no time and no space.
So, Gawain was indeed in a mess.
The initiative is tilting towards Dimitrov.
However, Gawain still did not give up.
After lobbing the high ball, Gao Wen quickly regained his balance and moved in a series of small steps, staring intently at Dimitrov who was preparing for a high pressure attack in front of the net.
For a brief moment, everyone's heartbeat stopped.
Perhaps, Dimitrov will end the fight in the second set with this high-pressure ball, and then the two players will return to the same starting line, and the best of five sets will become the best of three sets.
The audience held their breath, and everyone looked up to find the trajectory of the falling tennis ball:
See the high, not the far.
The height was enough, but the depth was obviously lacking, leaving too little space for Gao Wen to hit the ball. In the end, the tennis ball fell just a little behind the baseline of the serving area, giving Dimitrov a chance to press high in the half court.
Dimitrov is adjusting.
But Gawain was still moving.
(End of this chapter)