Chapter 1654: Young and Strong Fists
In the second game of the deciding set, Murray served.
"AD:40".
"40:40".
"40:AD".
"40:40".
——It was a stalemate. The whole situation was very stalemate. The players were completely entangled in the back and forth. Every point was a fight. Every point was a close combat. Whether it was Gawain or Murray, if they wanted to win a point, they had to gamble, plan, and confront each other. It was definitely not easy.
Seeing this scene, some people may say that it is true that young people are better than strong ones. Gawain is nine years younger than Murray, and his physical advantage is reflected at this time.
Of course, this is indeed a part of the reason that cannot be ignored; but tennis matches, or even competitive sports confrontations, are far from that simple.
In fact, what Gawain and Murray are fighting for is this serve, which is also a "momentum".
At the end of the previous set, Murray already felt the crisis.
He knew that once Gao Wen could win the fourth set, then at the beginning of the deciding set, Gao Wen, who was in high spirits, would inevitably launch a full-scale attack, firmly grasp the opportunity when he was in peak form to break the serve and widen the score, and make full use of his advantage of serving first in the deciding set to continue to exert pressure.
In fact, it is true.
For now, Gawain is in a small peak and Murray is in a small trough - the save and miss of two consecutive match points created a dislocation, and the magical eighth and ninth points in the tie-break made full use of a little bit of luck to create a gap and break the balance of the confrontation.
Thus, Gawain entered a stage of great momentum.
The impact of physical fitness is certainly objective, but the feelings brought about by fluctuations in mentality and changes in the situation cannot be ignored.
But Murray is experienced and sophisticated enough to know that this situation is only relative. The "peak" and "trough" are just an illusion. In fact, the gap between them is not that big. The back and forth tug of war still cannot break the balance, and the outcome of the deciding set is still unknown.
"The first push is strong, the second is weaker, and the third is exhausted."
Murray believed that as long as he could withstand Gawain's offensive, survive this dangerous period, and persevere, he would be able to turn the situation around.
Logically speaking, Murray should have launched an attack in Gawain's first service game, creating interference in the opponent's position and curbing Gawain's momentum; but physical fluctuations did exist objectively, and Gawain continued his excellent serving touch at the end of the fourth set, not leaving many opportunities.
After a little thought, Murray did not force it, but instead conserved his energy and prepared to resist Gawain's attack in his own serve game.
Because of this, Gao Wen won four points in his first service game very easily.
It is precisely because of this that, although Gawain is in great form, they still hold on tightly in Murray's serve.
On the other hand, Gao Wen was preparing to make a concerted effort to widen the gap.
On the other hand, Murray showed his tenacity.
In fact, from the perspective of an observer, one can see some changes in this serving game, and Xu Yang saw through this.
"In this game, Murray's posture was different. Obviously, he put more energy into the defensive end."
Note that this does not mean that Murray will not attack.
Murray knew that Gawain was in excellent form, playing at a top level on both offense and defense, and his continuous attack showed the momentum of lawn tennis.
Therefore, based on Murray's personality, he believes that instead of taking the risk of attacking and taking the risk of making mistakes, it is better to hand over the attack to Gawain, while he himself enters the defensive counterattack mode, focusing more on defense, and after resisting Gawain's impact, he will seek counterattack opportunities.
This is also the technique and tactics that Murray is famous for. In other words, Murray is more comfortable when he puts himself in a passive defensive position.
Moreover, offense consumes more physical energy than defense, while defense allows you to wait for opportunities.
Gawain was being aggressive, but Murray did not give up the game - to be precise, it was not "did not give up", but he was looking for a solution in Murray's way. Murray and Gawain were both eager to win, but the two players had different layouts and development methods in the deciding set.
As a result, the situation became stalemate again.
Here, Gao Wen got three break points and missed them all.
On the other side, Murray also had two game points, but missed them.
Back and forth, this game is still going on.
--"ah!"
Murray roared in frustration, but it was still not enough to relieve his anger.
"ah!"
He roared once more, complained and grumbled to himself, and finally couldn't help himself and roared at his own players' box.
"What the hell is this hitting point?"
In the last shot, Murray's defensive counterattack had successfully found an opportunity for himself. The forehand diagonal shot that reversed the situation and pursued the winning point was about to find an opening to realize the game point, but the hitting point was a little late, causing the parabola to be too high and the ball went out of bounds.
Murray, missed the third game point, by error.
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It can be seen that Murray was very, very dissatisfied with himself. Such a mistake should not have happened. He looked dejected because he knew how important this point was.
Everything seems familiar, and I am back to Melbourne Park in my dream.
Is he going to repeat the same mistake? Murray refused.
Taking the opportunity to wipe his sweat, Murray regained his composure. Although he was still cursing, his brain had already started working and planning for the next point.
After the sixth tie, the duration of this round officially exceeded eight minutes and was still going on, with the two players returning to the first zone again.
Take a deep breath, and then Murray serves.
Area 1, chasing.
The tennis ball, with a strong side spin after landing, went towards Gao Wen's body. Although the speed of the ball was not fast, the landing point and rotation were very accurate.
It's obvious at first glance that this was Murray's plan.
Gao Wen was squeezed and barely got out of the way and used his forehand to block the ball, but this time his feet were not completely out of the way, and he couldn't swing his racket or turn his body. He just pushed the ball roughly, and even after catching the ball, he staggered back twice and could hardly stand.
I have to say that Murray's serve was very, very good. Even though his physical strength declined and he lacked the ability to hit the serve with great power, the Scotsman still found a way to create threats through his serve.
Chance!
Murray immediately followed, cut into the baseline, and continued to move forward——
This time, it was not Murray who took the initiative to go to the net, but Gawain's return was shallow. The opportunity was in front of him, so Murray went to the net and rushed forward.
With his feet two steps inside the baseline, near the midfield, Murray showed no mercy and swept his forehand across the field, following the quick attack. After hitting the ball, he continued to move forward without any pause, getting closer to the net, covering the net like Spider-Man.
On the other side of the net, Gawain's prediction was correct. He stayed at the forehand position, waiting for Murray's 1,001th forehand diagonal shot. However, his position, angle, hitting point and shot timing were all very passive. Murray's offensive connection tore the angle apart, directly pushing Gawain into a passive defensive position.
Moreover, his messy steps did not allow him to adjust his center of gravity in time, leaving Gao Wen with little room to maneuver.
He had no choice.
Forehand, pull, swing around the head, strong topspin, the entire friction and rotation are fully attached, directly pulling up the parabola of the tennis ball completely -
Anti-aircraft gun, lob the ball high.
(End of this chapter)