Chapter 1661 Attack and Defense
Snap.
Oh! One shot, the net is down.
There were exclamations at the scene, and one could clearly feel the tension in the air, with layers of pressure being released.
Hush! But then, the audience spontaneously gave a reminder, and the noise disappeared in an instant, and fell into an even more tense and burning silence again.
My heart could hardly bear it.
"District 2."
"Second serve on match point, this is Murray's chance."
Bend your knees, push off the ground, and throw the ball.
Bang! With a crisp sound, the tennis ball flew from Gawain's end to Murray's side.
Inner angle.
Back to Murray's forehand position; and this time the serve speed was significantly reduced -
108 miles (175 km).
For a moment, it was unclear what was going on. Was it intentional? Or was it a soft move under heavy pressure? Or was it a conservative move to avoid double faults? There was no time to think about it carefully. My attention was completely focused on the confrontation in front of me.
Murray was unfazed.
For the second serve, he had to attack quickly. No matter how effective Gao Wen's serve was, he had to seize the initiative, otherwise, he would never have another chance.
Murray's first reaction was very quick. He started immediately and began to lead the racket with his forehand. Then, Murray also noticed the speed of the serve.
In fact, from the perspective of the receiver, the direct feeling of the serve speed is not so obvious, because the speed meter tests the speed at the moment when the tennis ball and the racket touch each other; but the wind resistance encountered by the tennis ball during flight, the friction encountered after landing, etc., are all invisible to the speed meter.
So, sometimes, the ball speed feels like it’s just average, but it turns out to be the fastest speed in your tournament; sometimes, the ball speed feels like it’s extremely fast, but the numbers on the speedometer seem to be just that.
What really alerted Murray was not the speed of the ball, but its bounce.
It can be clearly noticed that Gawain did not exert any force, so the bounce of the tennis ball after landing was not high, and was even lower than the bounce height of an ordinary second serve.
Alarm bells, alarm bells! Murray's forehand had already been launched, but he soon found that the impact point was lower than expected.
Oops!
In an instant, Murray was not panicked and turned his wrist lightly.
He did not choose to hit the ball with a lob, because the parabola is difficult to control. If it is slightly lacking, the arc may be pulled up, which is equivalent to giving Gao Wen an offensive opportunity. The entire hitting position is very comfortable, which is obviously Gao Wen's serving strategy.
He chose to push and block with a cut, relying on a light flick of the wrist. This is also an advanced technique. To be precise, it is more often used in transition. When you are in a passive situation with no offensive opportunities but do not want to passively defend, use such a light hit to control the landing point:
On the one hand, it can completely open up the space on the field, and on the other hand, it can limit the opponent's attack through low bounces that unload force.
Now, Murray uses it when receiving serves.
The effect is significant.
The tennis ball shot out in a small diagonal direction, then hit a shallow ball that landed near the baseline of the serving area and bounced very low.
Finally, an effect similar to an outside corner serve is created.
So, Gao Wen was given a difficult problem: to go online or not.
Previously, Gawain also cut out such a ball, making full use of the characteristics of the grass and deliberately hitting a ball that was neither deep nor shallow, leaving a difficult problem for Murray.
At that time, Murray chose the baseline, but his shot went up in a parabolic trajectory, and was then attacked by Gawain to score the winning point.
Now, Gao Wen chooses...
Also stick to the bottom line.
But the difficulties were obvious. The ball landed shallowly and bounced low, not giving Gao Wen much space to hit the ball.
Then, Gao Wen also rushed over with big strides, and then he used his forehand to pull up a parabola and hit the ball towards the large triangle area at the diagonal baseline.
To be precise, Gawain and Murray's handling is very, very similar, the whole routine is equivalent to copy and paste, but now the positions of the two people are reversed.
The intensity and closeness of the game between the masters can be seen again at this time.
Just after finishing the shot, Gao Wen suddenly braked, pushed the ground with his right leg, and in the next step, he quickly sprinted sideways to his left.
Generally speaking, Murray's forehand should be more diagonal, even a little stubborn.
But in this game, standing on the edge of the cliff, Murray also consciously broke the routine. The forehand line has been opened, and both diagonal and straight lines are possible; now, Gawain's footsteps have come to the vicinity of the right sideline, and the gap in the backhand position is very obvious. Judging from Murray's character, there is no reason not to choose it.
Gawain ran all the way, his eyes fixed on Murray, the howling wind stirred under his feet, and then Murray had already successfully arrived at the right position to open his forehand -
straight line!
Sure enough, it was a straight line! At the same time, along with a forehand straight line, Murray's footsteps directly cut into the baseline and went to the net.
Murray also went online!
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Don't forget that grass is the surface Murray is most familiar with. Seeing Gawain frequently going to the net, at the critical moment, Murray suddenly broke the balance, used all his real technical and tactical combinations, and gave it a try.
Tap, tap! Gawain could clearly feel the overwhelming pressure coming at him, so much so that even his lateral steps could feel the hotness and roughness of the air, as if he was walking in magma. Every step he took was in a burning sensation of hotness and stinging pain, and he could be reduced to ashes at any time.
crisis!
However, there is a way out in desperate situations.
Murray's forehand is different from that of Gawain. He seldom exerts force and focuses on control. Of course, in Gawain's serve-winning game, Murray's forehand force and line changes increased significantly, but the habit is still deeply rooted in his bones, which can be seen from the details of his shots: either force combined with diagonal lines, or control combined with straight lines. In other words, between force and line change, Murray rarely chooses one or the other.
Occasionally.
But at least, not this time:
Murray chose to change line.
However, in this game, Murray's tactics did become richer, rough but detailed. Although the change of line was not accompanied by force, it was accompanied by going to the net.
In other words, Murray knew that his forehand straight line left a slight gap, and Gao Wen might not miss it, so he continued to put pressure on the net.
Now, Gao Wen needs to seize this gap.
Sprinting, running, across the court, his eyes fixed on the tennis ball, observing carefully and judging seriously, not only the rotation and landing point of the incoming ball, but also Murray's position. The space of the entire court was clearly and three-dimensionally presented in the midst of the storm.
Push! The left foot braked urgently to control the body, and the two-handed backhand was raised early, but the grip was changed at the moment of shooting.
Braking, one-handed, cutting, light picking——
lob.
In the fierce clash of bayonets, Gawain forcibly broke the deadlock and cleverly got past Murray with a fake move.
It seemed that he was preparing to force a backhand diagonal shot through the net, but in fact he used a lob to break the balance of the confrontation, replaced offense with defense, tore a crack in Murray's blockade, and launched a counterattack with a hidden trick.
Attack. Defense.
Defense. Attack.
The two players, Gao Wen and Murray, showed the peak confrontation of modern tennis. Every touch and every shot could be the key to turning the situation around:
Using defense instead of attack, defending within offense, turning defense into offense, making it difficult to distinguish between offense and defense, the subtle changes in balance are elusive, truly interpreting the art of "rapid change".
(End of this chapter)