Chapter 206: Fighting Hard

Jilong didn't need to look up to feel the firm will and high morale burning in Gao Wen's shot selection.

He had no time to observe Gawain's eyes, but was immersed in his own regret:

In fact, in the last point, both he and Gawain had chances to attack, but neither of them seized the opportunity, which exposed their intentions and became opportunities for the opponent to counterattack. Then, Gawain became more decisive and determined, and chose a risky route despite his poor touch and strength.

This really broke his prediction.

High risk, high reward.

Jilong was upset that he should have been bolder.

"pretty!"

"At the end of the second set, Gao Wen's backhand straight line made mistakes. I can't confirm it now, but at least I remember that three of them went into the net and one went out of bounds. There is no doubt that the decline in physical strength caused his footwork to arrive late and his swing was slow, which disrupted his hitting rhythm."

"But at the critical moment, Gao Wen still gritted his teeth and hit the route he wanted."

"The most important thing about this shot was Gao Wen's step forward. He didn't slack off and pushed out, so he got the ball in the right spot and kept up with the speed."

"It looked like a very simple and clean winner, but it was a huge risk for Gawain and a significant reward for it."

"Now on Geelong's serve, Gao Wen got a break point for the third time."

"The eleventh game of the second set is still not over. Jilong needs to save a crisis again."

Sofar sat in the live broadcast room above the stadium, overlooking the entire field from a high vantage point. He could clearly feel the excitement of the scene even through the glass box.

“We can see that in this game, the difficulties faced by Jilong may be the sum of the difficulties faced by the whole game. This is also a reflection of Gao Wen’s ability to interpret the game, because he knows that every point in the future is crucial to the trend of the game, and he needs to give his best performance.”

"If Jilong can turn the situation around and hold serve, then he will have a slight advantage in the second set and we may be able to look forward to a deciding set, but the prerequisite is that Jilong still needs to see if Gao Wen agrees."

"It's obvious that Gao Wen will not let Jilong escape easily like he did in the first few break points in the second set. Jilong must take the initiative to stand up if he wants to win the serve."

Jilong did realize this. Gao Wen would never give up this game. He needed to be more proactive and stronger.

But the problem is that proactive attack has always been Jilong's relative weakness, and now his physical strength has obviously declined, making it even more difficult to proactively attack.

What to do? Jilong is trying to find a solution.

In a tennis match, apart from the breaks between games and sets, there are actually no strict regulations on the adjustment time between points.

Because the game is very special, sometimes, an ACE ends a point, so there is no need to adjust and you can go directly to the next point; but sometimes, both sides fight with all their strength for thirty rounds and enter an anaerobic state, so when a point is over, both sides need to adjust.

Therefore, as long as it is not too outrageous and within the reasonable range of the rules - the sense of proportion is mainly in the hands of the referee, it is okay for players to make slight adjustments while wiping sweat or picking up the ball; occasional actions such as changing rackets or shoes are also within an acceptable range.

Until the 2017 U.S. Open, like badminton, table tennis, volleyball and other sports, in order to speed up the game process based on the existing rules and make it more convenient for live television broadcasts, they introduced the serve timing rule for the first time, that is, the time between the end of a point and the next serve cannot exceed twenty-five seconds, and timers are installed at different locations on the court to supervise the players.

If the violation is overtime, one warning will be given, two penalties will result in loss of one serve (i.e. one serve becomes two serves), and three penalties will result in a direct penalty.

But in fact, between points, adjusting breathing and relaxing muscles is one aspect, while organizing thoughts and tactical layout is another aspect.

Just like now.

Jilong made full use of the time to wipe the sweat off his face to think about how to play the next point.

At the moment, the serve timing rules had not yet come into effect, and Jilong's adjustment time was a little longer, but the audience was completely silent. Everyone stared with bated breath. The buzzing vibration in the air was spreading silently, making people more and more nervous.

Turning to the baseline, Jilong raised his hand to apologize to Gao Wen, and then started to dribble the ball.

Snap. Snap. Snap.

The sound of the tennis ball hitting the ground was jumping, like a dolphin leaping out of the golden sea, attracting the attention of the entire audience.

Ah! Push off the ground! Turn around! Swing your arms!

Jilong groaned because of the strong force, looked up at the mustard yellow tennis ball disappearing into the golden sunlight, and then put all his strength into the tennis ball.

Whoosh! The serve was hit flat on the inside corner, and the speed of the serve returned to 177 kilometers per hour. It was fast and flat, and the angle was very tricky, directly pressing on the T point of the service area.

Serve! At the critical moment, Jilong also went all out, gritting his teeth and fighting for a first serve, with the speed and angle he needed. Even if the power was slightly insufficient, it already made Gao Wen very embarrassed.

snort.

Gawain groaned. Even though he had predicted correctly, the force from his kick was still not enough, and he just took a big step sideways and rushed out - it was not because he was lazy, but because he did not have the strength and time. Jilong's inside corner serve was fast enough to compress Gawain's reaction time.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

It’s too late!

Gawain's upper body was completely stretched out, and the balance of his body's center of gravity was completely broken. When his feet were unable to provide enough strength to support him, his upper limbs were completely extended out.

Ah! I got it! He twisted his wrist hard, and in the blink of an eye, there was no friction or force. He just used the force to hit back, and a diagonal line without any angle was hit back, and then returned to the middle of the road near the forehand position, but the rotation, power and landing point were not enough to create a threat.

Oops!

Gawain knew immediately that Jilong had got the chance to attack, and he took small steps to adjust his body's center of gravity. His calf muscles were stretched to the extreme, and he continued to exert force, as if he was running wildly on molten lava.

Then we saw Jilong's batting shot -

Accident!

Jilong did not choose to use all his strength on his forehand, probably because he realized that his strength was not enough to win the point in one shot. So Jilong took a step forward, grabbed a rising point with his forehand, and made a sweep, increasing the rhythm by compressing the return time, and then using speed to create suppression.

The ball was returned so fast! It seemed as if Gawain's shot had just passed by, and the next second the tennis ball flew back again, without any rotation or power, but just as fast as lightning.

Tap tap.

Tap tap.

Gao Wen was still trying to find his balance while adjusting, and then he saw the ball coming -

It was almost a head-on collision, like two cars rushing out of an intersection at the same time.

Car accident scene?

Third update.

(End of this chapter)