Fight——

Murray fought for a second serve.

Gao Wen, won a forehand.

The stalemate of the game can be seen from the serve and return of this point. Both players were completely tense, and the difference was evident in their determination to shoot.

Naturally, the quality and feeling of the shots also changed. The crisp and solid sound of the shots resounded in the O2 Stadium, and the air gradually began to burn.

The tennis ball hit Gawain's racket like a wall, and before he could blink, it dragged its long tail and hit Murray again.

Before Murray could recover from his serve, he saw a comet rushing towards him head-on. His footsteps and center of gravity could not keep up at all, so he could only rely on extending his upper limbs to cover the ball. His arms and torso had been stretched to the extreme, so he could not see clearly and had to rely entirely on intuition to hit the ball.

A probe and a touch.

…I touched it! Ugh.

A gust of air hit him head-on, like a heavy punch rushing towards his chest. Murray groaned, but had no time to adjust. He relied entirely on his touch to wrap the ball and tried to get the tennis ball back. His fingertips felt numb and he had just finished hitting the ball. The next second he took small steps to pull his center of gravity back and move.

Back to defense.

That was the only thought in Murray's mind.

Because Murray knew that in the strong confrontation between serving and receiving, Gao Wen had already gained the upper hand, and the subsequent offensive connection would follow soon.

Step, cross, jump.

In the chaos, Murray continuously adjusted his steps and center of gravity, pulling his body back to the middle of the court, trying to get back to the defensive position as soon as possible, his eyes fixed on the tennis ball and on Gawain, all his muscles and nerves tensed.

Then--

Huh.

The sound of people sucking in their breath surged in the air.

Damn it!

Murray sounded the alarm, and his brain reacted immediately.

Emergency stop, emergency turn, and secondary start.

He changed direction, made a sharp turn, and like drifting, he made a "U" shape, changed his trajectory, and sprinted diagonally forward to the right.

——Small ball.

It was a small ball! Gao Wen unexpectedly chose a small ball for his next shot. He combined strength and flexibility, and controlled the rhythm and strength perfectly, from the toughness of receiving the serve to the lightness of the subsequent attack. He showed the beauty of the combination of tennis skills and tactics to the fullest.

Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.

At this time, Murray had no time to feel upset or depressed. He rushed forward with his head down, accelerated with all his strength, pushed off the ground, stepped, sprinted, and then slid out.

It's like surfing.

With the center of gravity disordered and shaking, the body had been stretched to the extreme. After finally catching up to the net, it was still not able to get in place completely.

It has to be said that Gawain's tennis is tactical, courageous and of high quality. This shot of tennis caught the softness of Murray's return, perfectly unloaded the force, and cleverly controlled it. His forehand cutting diagonal shot brought out the softness of his touch and the delicacy of ball control to the extreme, and the quality of the small ball is absolutely top-notch.

Murray, there really isn't much space.

He could only slide and hit the ball just before it bounced twice, barely picking it up.

But the quality? Abysmal.

The next second, Gawain can be seen quickly stepping up to the net, intercepting the ball with a light tap, and pushing the tennis ball into the completely empty court without any effort. With a casual and leisurely move, this round has come to an end, and all the storms have returned to calm.

"40:AD".

The break point and the count appeared.

"ah!"

Murray, angry——

Dissatisfied with yourself.

Amid the exclamations and praises at the O2 Arena, Murray roared with his signature "zombie" expression, anger burning in his eyes. He cursed and muttered, and his bulging veins, red eyes and tense muscles showed the surging emotions, released without reservation.

Dissatisfied, very very dissatisfied.

In Murray's opinion, he made too many mistakes.

In fact, the tactical combination that Gao Wen used in this goal should be Murray's forte.

He should have thought in advance that when facing Gao Wen's high-quality serve and attack, he could cut the ball to turn the situation around, instead of stupidly pushing the tennis ball back to the baseline, knowing that a return ball with no rotation, no power, no speed, and no landing point is equivalent to feeding the ball to Gao Wen.

To take a step back, even if he did not think of such a tactical layout in a flash, he should have anticipated that Gao Wen would break the conventional tactical choice. His starting speed and response reaction were too slow. Even if the quality of Gao Wen's small ball was worse, his footsteps were too slow to keep up with the rhythm.

When competing against a top expert like Gawain, any slight negligence or deviation could become a loophole, not to mention continuous mistakes?

In this round, Gawain defeated Murray in Murray's way. This is what made Murray most depressed and angry.

He is not satisfied.

"Grass!"

“Gosh, gosh, gosh!”

The mumbling words could not be heard clearly, and amid the hustle and bustle of the venue one could only vaguely catch the swear words being uttered.

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In fact, Murray also knows that he has been feeling a little... weird recently. There is nothing wrong with his condition and his body, but he just can't play his own tennis. He has lost to Gawain twice in a row recently, and both were by big scores. Murray naturally knows that today's game is not easy.

But, that's it? Murray still couldn't accept it, not because of pride, but because of self-esteem. He believed that he should be able to play better.

"Calm down, Andy, calm down!"

The emotions were finally vented and Murray tried to regain his focus.

The home crowd at the O2 Arena finally reacted. They could all see that local hero Murray was in trouble at the end of the first set. Now Gawain was ready to win the first set in one go. Murray needed their cheering and support, so the cheers became overwhelming.

"Pah! Andy!"

"Pah! Andy!"

After a brief period of boredom, a surging and scorching heat wave swept across the entire stadium, igniting the fighting atmosphere of the O2 Stadium step by step.

Now, it finally feels like the year-end finals.

The reason why the top showdown is the top showdown is not because it is exciting throughout. After all, the giants are also ordinary people. There are ups and downs in a game, which are inevitable; but because the key moments are exciting, the giants can always improve their condition at critical moments.

For example, right now.

Then.

Both players are ready.

Murray, serve.

District 2.

——Outer corner, 203 kilometers per hour.

One shot and successfully entered the zone.

At the critical moment, both Murray and Gao Wen were in good form. Murray found the first serve and formed a restraining force from the serve stage.

But Murray did not relax, because he knew Gawain's ability. Gawain's serve return ability was already on the same level as the Big Four.

Tap, tap, tap.

Murray took small steps to adjust, his pupils shrank, and he watched Gawain's return serve——

really.

Gawain's footsteps had been pulled out of the singles line, but Gawain handled it very cleverly, cutting a straight line with his two-handed backhand, perfectly resolving Murray's serve tactical intention.

Moreover, the straight line is straight and deep. Judging from the parabola, it is aimed at the blind corner of Murray's forehand baseline. This is a return serve with both defense and offense.

As expected of Gawain.

However, this time Murray was prepared.