Chapter 270 Continuous Impact
Running! Braking! Pushing the ground! Swinging the racket!
The whole action was smooth and seamless. The powerful collision of "power vs. power" happened in a flash. The wall-hitting shot made the audience hold their breath and stare. They were reluctant to even blink, for fear of missing any excitement.
Boom! The tennis ball flew so fast that it turned into a stream of light, running through the entire court!
Zverev had just landed, and hadn't even had time to adjust his center of gravity. His steps were still adjusting in turbulence, when he saw a mustard yellow streamline rushing out from his right side.
As light as a startled swan and as fast as lightning.
Bang! The sound of the tennis ball hitting the ground and bouncing back resounded throughout the stadium like a bomb blast. In the blink of an eye, it flew into the audience stands and disappeared. Then, all the audience members looked in the direction of the linesman. Everyone held their breath, and even the sound of their heartbeats disappeared in a trance.
Including Zverev.
In bounds? Out of bounds? In bounds!
The ball landed accurately within the right half of Zverev's court. The linesman's eyes and expression were very firm. He put his hands together with the backs of his hands facing upwards, made an in-bounds gesture, then bathed in the burning gazes of the audience, and stood up again. His affirmation could be felt from his body language.
"30:30".
The referee has already announced the score directly.
It was only then that the audience realized what had just happened. Zverev's high-pressure ball almost had the point in his grasp; but Gawain's forehand whipped it over and scored the winning point! Is this possible? This... this is too exciting!
Boom! Ahhhh! The stands of the stadium suddenly exploded with shouts. The booming and mighty sound swept across the entire stadium, swallowing up the two players in an instant.
Roar, roar, roar! Oh, oh, oh! The cheers were overwhelming, and it seemed that even the sunlight in the sky and on the ground was rolling along with it.
In an instant, the situation changed drastically.
Zverev looked at the landing point of the return ball in disbelief, and then looked at Gawain. At this time, Gawain raised his right fist high, without shouting or roaring, but just used his hard fist to show his strength, perseverance and resolute belief to fight back head-on.
Zverev's chest felt tight, as if he had been hit hard by a punch.
What's going on?
Zverev was a little unsure, was this shot just luck, or...? Gurgle!
Gurgle!
The air is burning.
Zverev's confidence was slightly shaken. In the last point, he had almost reached the extreme on the offensive side and even created a chance for a high-pressure ball, but why did he still not score?
Zverev was a little confused.
Although he has started to participate in professional tournaments at the tour and gold levels, he is still too young. His condition and performance fluctuate significantly. He still lacks the ability to think about the game on his own, and he inevitably has many blind spots when encountering difficulties.
It was obvious that Zverev's pupils were shaking violently, revealing a lack of confidence and doubt. He then turned to look at his own player box. His coach and father both asked him to calm down. Although there was no conversation, their expressions seemed to be asking him to continue to stick to the current tactics. So, was the point just luck? Well, luck.
Zverev secretly clenched his fist to cheer himself up, and he accepted this statement.
The game continues.
Next, the score became tense.
Zverev Jr. still demonstrated his solid hitting ability from the baseline, and his basic skills and touch were excellent, initially revealing his potential to be among the top ten in the world in the future, but the shortcomings that were later criticized by countless fans and professionals have also appeared.
First, they don't dare to take action at the critical moment, and second, the hitting line is particularly conservative at the critical moment.
It can be seen from the details that the opponent took the winning point in the high-pressure ball, which took absolute initiative. The impact of this point was more far-reaching than expected.
Equal. First. Equal. First.
Back and forth, Zverev got four game points, all of which were saved by Gawain. The two sides were tied for the fourth time, and this game was still not over.
Among them, at the game point, Zverev Jr. gave away two points due to an active offensive error and one point due to a defensive return error. In other words, only one point was scored by Gao Wen's offense, and the other three points were decided before Gao Wen launched an offensive. Zverev Jr. was constantly wasting opportunities.
It seemed that Zverev played with all his strength and played very well, but in essence, the situation remained unchanged.
Don't forget, this is only the first game of the second set.
The only thing worth mentioning is that Zverev has not given away a break point so far, which means that he is still in control of the initiative in his own serve.
However……
Can't stand praise.
One point after the fourth tie, Gawain launched a powerful forehand attack, pressing deep and hard, almost just inside the baseline, suppressing Zverev's counterattack space. However, he still wanted to counterattack in an extremely passive situation, and used his forehand to force the opponent's shot regardless of the consequences. As a result, the force of his knee pushing the ground was not sufficient, and he was unable to pull himself up completely.
The return ball went into the net.
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"First, Gao."
After four deuces, Gao Wen got the first break point of the second set.
It can be seen from this point that Zverev was still a little impatient. Because he had been exerting force continuously, he hoped to play with more momentum and quality, and to suppress Gao Wen with great ease. He forced a counterattack even though he was in an extremely passive position. However, Gao Wen's offense and defense were at an excellent level, which invisibly put more pressure on Zverev and forced his offense to be more tricky.
Then, the mistakes happened.
Judging from the situation, this was Zverev's mistake.
But a deeper study reveals that the mistakes are the result of a combination of strategies between the two players.
No matter what, Zverev's forced effort failed to quickly win the serve, and instead he had to face a break point again.
On the break point, Zverev was as impatient as ever, eager to serve an ace and save the break point neatly, but his swing when serving was obviously too hard, and the tennis ball went directly into the net in an outrageous way.
This was a serve error that only a beginner would make. It occasionally happens in professional competitions but is really uncommon, and it caused a low exclamation from the audience.
Second serve, hits the net.
It can be seen that Zverev wanted to fight for the second serve and pressed very hard. Even though he added a lot of insurance, it still hit the net.
Just like table tennis, if a serve hits the net, you need to re-serve it. If it is the first serve that hits the net, then it will continue to be the first serve; if it is the second serve that hits the net, then it will continue to be the second serve. Moreover, no matter how many times the serve hits the net, you will continue to re-serve it until it hits the net without hitting the net.
A first serve error and a second serve that hit the net meant that Zverev needed to serve a third time, and then it was noticeable that he was a little soft again.
Continuing with the second serve, this time Zverev chose the outside corner, a classic routine.
Fourth update.
(End of this chapter)