Chapter 185: Bold Experiment
Yeah. Yeah!
Sarkeesian was slapping his hands and feet in a panic, and his head was tilted back repeatedly to avoid the embarrassment of the tennis ball hitting his face.
Although pandas are really cute, he definitely doesn't want to be a panda.
From the flight trajectory of the tennis ball entering his body, it can be seen that Gawain is hiding something in his rotation. Even if Sarkeesian successfully hits the tennis ball, the flight path of the return ball may not be what he wants.
But the worst part was that he couldn't even finish the shot.
Rebounding the ball is actually equivalent to hitting a ping-pong ball. There is no need to lead or swing the racket. Just put the racket there and control the angle of the racket face. That's it.
However, even so, Sarkeesian still did not have enough time to set up his racket, which was the most depressing part for Sarkeesian.
Simply put, Gawain's shot was very deep and had a lot of spin. Sarkeesian did not predict it accurately and even rushed into it head-on without knowing it. He originally wanted to increase the rhythm of his shot, but ended up leaving himself no time to hit the ball.
Really! Sarkeesian sighed in frustration.
On the other side of the court, Gawain slightly raised his chin, looked at where his shot landed, and Sarkeesian's position, thinking in his mind -
There is no need to push the landing point any deeper, this should be enough.
In fact, the method to deal with players who are good at grabbing points is not complicated.
Or they can use pure force to suppress like Thompson - but the risk is huge, because such players are often very good at using the opponent's force to their advantage, and blindly exerting force is likely to result in backlash.
Or it could be baseline suppression like Jilong - this requires higher baseline hitting ability.
Just like what Gao Wen did just now, as long as he hits the return ball deep enough and compresses the opponent's hitting space, it will be more difficult for the opponent to seize the opportunity and he will not be able to hit the ball calmly, and his rhythm will naturally be disrupted.
It is easier said than done.
Firstly, the rhythm of a point-grabbing player is very difficult to break.
Secondly, baseline pressure carries the risk of going out of bounds, because if you don't press deep enough, the tennis ball will be sent to the opponent, making it easier to score, but if you press too deep, the ball will go out of bounds.
This was only the second point of the game, and Gao Wen was still experimenting.
For the first point, play fast; for the second point, press deep at the baseline.
The two-point batting style is different. Gao Wen needs to see where Sarkeesian's ability lies and how he should break Sarkeesian's rhythm.
The reason why Gawain was able to take the initiative in the opening stage was that his changes were ahead of Sarkisian. Once Gawain's return was predicted by Sarkisian as the game progressed, Sarkisian's rhythm advantage would soon be reflected.
In this case, let’s continue with the third point and try some changes.
Gao Wen didn't care about the score at all. For ordinary players, after getting two points in the opponent's serve, they would inevitably want to try their best to break the opponent's serve. But Gao Wen had different ideas. Rather than focusing on one game, he needed to plan for the entire game.
He would not be satisfied with just breaking one serve, he wanted to win the entire match.
Therefore, even with a two-point lead, Gao Wen still needs to continue experimenting.
However, Sarkeesian was not like that. He was trailing at 0:30 and the change in the score forced him to be nervous. He did not want to fall behind at the start.
Mentality fluctuates.
The first serve went into the net, and we had to face the second serve.
For ordinary players, the first serve is the benchmark for measuring serving strength; for top serving cannons, the excellence of the first serve is unquestionable, and the second serve is the indicator for measuring serving level.
Obviously, Sarkeesian is not a good serveer, and his second serve is even weaker.
Gawain accurately judged that Sarkeesian would choose to serve with his backhand in the middle. The key point at this time was that after the speed and power of Sarkeesian's second serve decreased, he did not even control the landing point. Not only did he fail to squeeze Gawain's position, but he also gave Gawain the opportunity to attack with just his hand.
Bang! Gao Wen's backhand attack, with his hands up and down, a step forward and a forward pressure, without fully leading the racket, he used the power of his forearm to hit a skateboard ball, which landed on Sarkeesian's forehand position.
Sarkeesian was just about to move to his left to protect the gap, but it was too late for him to adjust his center of gravity. Then Gawain directly made an ace in his return serve and easily won another point.
"0:40".
Three break points in a row.
Hmm? Something seems to be wrong with this game!
Sarkeesian held his head in annoyance, not satisfied with the quality of his second serve.
Gao Wen still did not celebrate, but thought about it carefully - perhaps he could be bolder and more adventurous when receiving the serve.
Such a return of serve, even if it results in mistakes and loss of points, can still create psychological pressure, making Sarkeesian feel nervous during the serve phase, because the second serve may be directly hit. This also requires Sarkeesian's first serve to be more powerful, and the ubiquitous pressure is formed.
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Especially after just completing the extra points, on the one hand, he could feel that his physical strength and energy were slowly recovering. His performance in the opening stage was a little slow, but he was getting into the state; on the other hand, the improvement in strength could also be felt in the details. He should make more attempts to give full play to his full strength.
He needs to keep up the good work and continue to experiment bravely.
On the other hand, Sarkeesian is far from collapsing.
The confidence accumulated since the start of the singles match gradually emerged; moreover, Gawain's absolute strength was not enough to create enough pressure, and Sarkeesian's ability to withstand blows and counterattack in extremely difficult situations was obviously in an optimal state.
Facing the break point, Sarkeesian's shots really got into shape.
The quality of the first serve was significantly improved, suppressing Gao Wen's first serve return. Then the connection between the point-scoring attacks became tighter, and the rhythm instantly accelerated.
A quick forehand straight line connection that Gawain had not expected at all allowed Sarkeesian to get the first point of the match, in the form of a winning point.
A forehand diagonal attack created pressure, and although Gao Wen predicted the line, the space for swinging the racket was too limited and the ball was forced into the net.
In a blink of an eye, Sarkeesian used his wonderful performance to recover two points in a row and saved two break points. The game was slowly returning to a balance.
Sarkeesian was about to successfully save the third break point. This time his serve still exerted pressure, forcing Gawain to barely push it away, but the speed and power were very average, and there was no spin.
Sarkeesian immediately seized the opportunity and stepped into the baseline in a timely manner, grabbing the first rising point of the tennis ball's rebound after it hit the ground. With a forehand curling shot, he hit the tennis ball back and drew a large diagonal line, utilizing the entire surface of the tennis court.
Gao Wen was very passive. He ran at full speed from one end of the baseline to the other. In the extreme situation where he had no space to swing the racket and no way to exert force, he barely reached the tennis ball with both hands. He skillfully used the strength of his forearms to draw a full moon arc and lob the ball across the court.
This is the only solution available.
Sarkeesian then moved to the net, ready to win with a high-pressure shot.
But...wait, this moon ball is a little weird !
(End of this chapter)