Chapter 388 Seed No.
3 Two months ago, Gao Wen participated in the Challenge Tournament for the first time and stepped onto the professional stage. In the first round, he faced Kokkinakis and felt the strong impact of professional players. After withstanding the severe test and successfully advancing, Gao Wen had a dream at that time:
If he could step onto the highest stage of the Grand Slam, if he could challenge the top 20 or even the Big Four in the world, if he could fight with the real top players and challenge his own limits...
Unexpectedly, this day would come so soon. Today, Gao Wen is about to challenge the third seed Wawrinka at the Louis Armstrong Stadium.
After winning the Australian Open at the beginning of the year, Wawrinka's world ranking reached a career-high third place, second only to Nadal and Djokovic. Although he was later overtaken by Federer and slipped to fourth place, he still ranked as the third seed in this US Open because of Nadal's withdrawal.
There is no doubt that these are the highest-ranked players that Gao Wen has faced in his career, and they are also the top players in the current professional tennis world.
Afraid? Horrified? Uneasy? None of that.
It is an anticipation and excitement of challenging the limits, eager to try, full of energy as never before, and eager to fight.
Among the top players, Wawrinka is the only special one. His move of separating from his wife and daughter to focus on tennis is completely different from Federer. Federer, on the other hand, settled down completely after getting married and achieved a new breakthrough in his career. Moreover, after winning the Australian Open, Wawrinka changed his name.
Changing his name from the official "Stanislas" to "Stan", Wawrinka applied for the name change in all official documents and on all tours at the same time.
When the French Open started, all the paperwork was finalized and officially announced to the public, so much so that this matter even became the focus of the pre-match press conference.
"Because everyone calls me Stan, I'm not kidding, I just want to keep my name simple on the draw sheet and in the press conference, that's the only reason. Murray has done this before, just wanting to keep everything simple, that's all, no other reason."
Andy Murray's original name is "Andrew-Murray", and Andy is Andrew's nickname. In fact, nicknames are often used in daily life, so Murray later simply applied to modify the relevant official documents of ATP and ITF, and unified them all into the simpler Andy.
From this incident, we can see that Wawrinka is the only very simple player. His tennis philosophy is -
Attack, attack, and attack again.
In comparison, his defensive ability is indeed lackluster, and it is very difficult for him to create opportunities for himself through defense. His game requires him to attack with all his strength. This player who holds the racket with one hand for both forehand and backhand has a strong offensive ability to continuously output from both ends.
The characteristic of Wawrinka is that he is very good at the strong confrontation of "power VS power". He can withstand both forehand and backhand, and his offensive firepower can be continuously output. The whole offensive rhythm is relatively balanced and relatively strong. However, facing the continuously changing round balls, his handling ability can only be regarded as second-rate.
When facing the Big Four, Wawrinka's overall record is more losses than wins, but when facing Djokovic, Wawrinka's wins are the most crucial. The reason is that Djokovic's baseline rounds are relatively stable and even, and Wawrinka's offensive speed-up is particularly handy.
As of 2021, Wawrinka's total record against Djokovic is six wins and nineteen losses. However, in the 2014 Australian Open, the 2015 French Open, and the 2016 US Open, Wawrinka won the Grand Slam championship three times, and defeated Djokovic all the time. The Australian Open was a quarterfinal match, and the French Open and US Open were both finals.
Facing the other Big Three, Nadal has three wins and nineteen losses, Murray has nine wins and twelve losses, and Federer has three wins and twenty-three losses.
It is clear from the record that Murray and Djokovic have similar playing styles, and Wawrinka's winning rate has improved significantly; but he has a hard time facing Nadal and Federer, because these two players' various means of rotation, arc, cutting, pulling, etc. can often interrupt Wawrinka's power.
In other words, it is difficult to limit Wawrinka's offense just by changing the rhythm. Murray is the best proof of this. Moreover, the change of rhythm also requires threatening suppression and the ability to suppress Wawrinka's firepower on the offensive end. This is how Nadal and Federer won.
This year, Wawrinka broke out in the first half of the year. He first defeated Djokovic and Nadal at the Australian Open, and then defeated another nemesis of his, Federer, to win the Monte Carlo Masters, winning his first Grand Slam and first Masters title.
It is no exaggeration to say that when Wawrinka plays like crazy, he will indeed enter a "super god state".
However, after the full outbreak, Wawrinka's unstable performance gradually became exposed.
Offense requires a feel for the ball, and when Wawrinka is in top form, the offense is smooth and uninterrupted, with one astonishing goal after another.
But when the state is not good, the attack is stumbling and out of control, especially the one-handed backhand. Because of the inherent instability of holding the racket with one hand, the requirements for the hitting point are higher and it is more closely related to the state.
Moreover, Wawrinka has a problem, "strong against strong opponents and weak against weak opponents". When facing players who are not so high in the world ranking, he is often not excited enough, inexplicably fails, has no offensive touch, and cannot hold the ball on the defensive end. Even some qualifying players can win with just three tricks.
This was the case after entering May. At the French Open, he was unexpectedly eliminated in the first round by Spanish veteran Guilermo-Garcia-Lopez. At Wimbledon, his form improved and he made it to the quarterfinals, but was eliminated by Federer. Then in the North American season, his performance was even more mediocre.
In the Rogers Cup, he was eliminated by South African player Kevin Anderson; in Cincinnati, he was eliminated by French veteran Julien-Benneteau.
In the two Masters tournaments, Wawrinka only won three games in total, and was obviously not in his best form.
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Coming to the US Open, Wawrinka had good luck in the draw. His opponents in the first two rounds were players ranked outside the top 80 in the world, but Wawrinka still performed mediocrely, playing three tie-breaks and losing one set, barely getting through. In the third round, his opponent retired before the game due to injury, and then Wawrinka made it to the fourth round.
Overall, just like the two Masters tournaments in the North American season, Wawrinka's form is still bumpy and ups and downs, and he has not yet found the touch of the first half of the year. It is precisely because of this that when Gawain eliminated Isner and Kyrgios as a dark horse and became Wawrinka's fourth-round opponent, the media were all excited.
On the one hand, Gawain is a test of Wawrinka's form. If Wawrinka can get into his best form through the game, then he will most likely face Djokovic in the semi-finals. Obviously, this is a match that everyone likes to see.
On the one hand, Wawrinka is the threshold to test whether Gawain is a dark horse. No matter in terms of strength or ranking, Wawrinka is the strongest opponent Gawain has ever encountered in his career. What kind of performance can Gawain show, whether he will continue his miracle journey or show his true colors, the answer will be revealed soon.
The focus showdown is here!
(End of this chapter)