Chapter 406: Grasping the Essence
When Tobias came back, Gawain had finished his post-match massage, bathed and relaxed, and was watching the live broadcast of the game in the players' lounge.
When there are no games, players often go to the stadium to watch the games; but on match days, they don’t have time, so they often just glance at the live broadcast through the global signal on the big screen in the player’s lounge, and they can also check the scoreboard to follow the situation in other stadiums.
Originally, Gao Wen was about to return to the player hotel, but he accidentally glanced at the screen and stopped in his tracks.
It would be a lie to say he had no interest in his next opponents, especially since one of them is Milos Raonic.
According to the memory of the previous life, after hiring Michael Chang as coach in early 2014, Kei Nishikori underwent a complete transformation in just six months. 2014 and 2015 were the peak years of Kei Nishikori's athletic condition, and in August 2015 he reached a career-high ranking of fourth.
During this period, Kei Nishikori not only maintained stability, but also had a particularly good feel for his shots, and his overall competitive state reached a natural level.
In the original historical trajectory, this US Open did witness history. Kei Nishikori defeated three top ten players in the world, Raonic, Wawrinka and Djokovic, to reach the final. Unfortunately, he lost to Cilic in the final with three "6:3" scores and missed his first Grand Slam championship.
But Kei Nishikori still made history, becoming the first Asian male player to reach the Grand Slam final, and breaking the highest ranking of Asian male players, and so on and so forth - as for Michael Chang, he is Chinese American.
There is no doubt that Kei Nishikori is in hot form.
However, Raonic is also in great form this year, in a state of rapid growth and strong rise, so the clash between him and Kei Nishikori should be a 50-50 chance.
As of 2014, Milos Raonic and Nishikori have played against each other three times, two of which took place this year. Nishikori won the first meeting in 2012, and Nishikori won the Madrid Masters again in two tiebreaks, but Milos Raonic won in four sets at Wimbledon.
Interestingly, the two players' three encounters all took place in the round of 16, and this fourth encounter at the US Open is no exception.
Time and space change, Gawain, this little butterfly from the Amazon, changed history, but no one knows how far the storm of this butterfly effect can radiate. Last week, Gawain tried to encourage Bellis, but unfortunately he failed; then what about this week's match between Raonic and Kei Nishikori?
The first match of the night session at Arthur Ashe Stadium was very tense. Azarenka and Krunic played three full sets, and in the end Azarenka narrowly won the deciding set 6:4, so that when the second match started, it was almost nine o'clock in the evening local time.
At present, the match between Raonic and Kei Nishikori has just started the first set.
The game between the two sides was very tense.
Kei Nishikori is a player with very strong breaking ability. Even when facing the Big Four, he can always break. Breaking is never a problem, so he is not afraid of facing big players. In the first match against Raonic in 2012, Kei Nishikori directly delivered a donut in the deciding set.
However, Kei Nishikori's serving ability is very poor. The inherent limitations of his height and strength make him have no advantage in serving. Even when he is in the best form, holding his serve is his most difficult problem, and he always struggles in his serving games.
Therefore, in Kei Nishikori's match, it is not about whether he can break serve, but whether he can hold serve.
However, when facing Raonic, he is no longer the rookie he was in 2012. His serve is stable, his tactics are diverse, and his offensive combinations are more reasonable, which makes Raonic's serve very stable. However, Raonic's breaking ability is slightly inferior, and he is not careful enough in handling the opponent's serve and often misses opportunities.
So the two players intertwined like this, so the two encounters in 2014 were very tense.
Today is no exception.
The game is still a draw, “3:3”.
Standing in front of the screen, Gao Wen was watching the two players' batting, so seriously and focused that he did not notice Tobias' appearance.
"…How is the battle going?"
Tobias asked, and Gawain finally responded.
“It’s still very tense.”
In the first set, both sides are testing and mobilizing, and their physical strength and energy are at their best, so the game is bound to be very intense; but because it is easy to warm up slowly at the beginning and the state is not mobilized, it is necessary to see who can mobilize first, and the confrontation at the end of the set is often more tense.
Tobias did not ask too many questions. He and Gawain stared at the TV screen intently until Raonic held his serve and entered the break between games. Then he spoke to break the silence.
"Milos' serve is indeed very good. If you play against him, this should be the third time you face a heavy serve this year?"
Isner, Kyrgios, Raonic.
Gao Wen answered subconsciously, "In terms of serving, Milos is actually slightly inferior to John. In terms of serving strength, John is indeed capable of becoming the best in history, but Milos's offense is better, especially this year, the entire connection rhythm and line selection have made great progress."
Therefore, Raonic's overall performance is better than Isner's because his comprehensive ability is more competitive.
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But after saying this, Gawain realized that Tobias probably wouldn't be interested in any of this.
"You obviously didn't come here to ask about this?"
Tobias raised his eyebrows and smiled. "How can you be sure? No matter what, Milos could be your next opponent. It's normal for me to be concerned. To be honest, if it's against Milos, you should have a better chance of winning, right?"
From an objective standpoint, and from a paper analysis of playing style and path, Gawain does have a slight advantage against Raonic.
Galvin has faced three heavy artillery power players at this year's US Open, namely Isner, Kyrgios and Wawrinka. Among them, Wawrinka's heavy artillery firepower is slightly inferior, but in terms of power confrontation and powerful attack, he is the strongest among the three players.
In the competition of tennis, there is such an inertial cognition that if you keep encountering players of the same type on the road to promotion, your playing style will naturally become faster and easier; however, once you encounter players with a different playing style, it may take more time and energy to adjust.
In short, the players that Gawain has faced so far are mainly heavy artillery, while Borelli is a baseline stalemate player, but the difference in ability is quite obvious. So, if Gawain continues to face Raonic, he will definitely be able to adapt better because the overall game rhythm is very similar; but if Gawain meets Kei Nishikori, he may encounter more challenges——
Because Kei Nishikori has a stronger ability to entangle the ball in the round, it may often take multiple shots. This also means that Gao Wen needs to find the feeling of multi-shot tug-of-war, which is significantly different from the previous straightforward games.
Moreover, the conflicting styles of play are also a factor.
Do you still remember the "Gavant-Garvin nemesis" Sarkisian in the US Championship? (End of this chapter)