Chapter 419: War of the Mind

Raise high, put down gently.

Just before touching the ball, Gao Wen changed his hitting method and used a cutting move, unconventionally cutting the high ball from the baseline into a small ball in front of the net.

Unexpected!

In fact, the quality of Gao Wen's small ball was not satisfactory. In order to fool Kei Nishikori with a fake move, it was extremely difficult to control the high ball at the baseline, which was already difficult to release the force and difficult to control. Moreover, Gao Wen's small ball ability was indeed average, and as a result, the arc of the small ball in front of the net was not controlled well.

If it is too long, the ball will land in the deep area of ​​the serving area; if it is too high, the force will not be removed at all, and there will still be space left after the ball bounces off the ground.

but!

Very very unexpected!

The fake move that was so realistic that it was indistinguishable from the real thing completely fooled Kei Nishikori. Nishikori, who was concentrating on running to make up for the defense, was shaken and his steps to shift his center of gravity and restart were obviously slower. Although he changed his running route immediately, Gawain's small ball was just a surprise, forcing Kei Nishikori to make a sharp turn and come back as if drifting, with his steps obviously a little confused.

After all, it was still a little bit slow.

After landing and jumping twice, Kei Nishikori was powerless to save the situation. He looked up to the sky and sighed as he watched the tennis ball bounce on the ground.

Boom! A successful counter-break! In this quarterfinal match, both sides exchanged a serve game at the beginning, but... wait! How did Gao Wen break the serve successfully? Judging from the shot selection and line layout, Gao Wen's game was really a bit off the track, and Kei Nishikori was the one who took the initiative. What happened?

The layman watches the excitement, while the expert watches the details. Agassi reacted immediately and leaned forward slightly involuntarily. He thought Gawain's match was interesting.

If someone asks Kei Nishikori, which player among the Big Four he dislikes facing the most, the answer may be a little surprising. Judging from the data, it should be Andy Murray.

As of 2021, Kei Nishikori is completely outclassed by the Big Four, just like most players. This is not surprising. What is worth noting is the specific record -

Against Federer, he has three wins and eight losses, against Nadal, he has two wins and twelve losses, against Djokovic, he has two wins and eighteen losses, and against Murray, he has two wins and nine losses. From this point of view, Kei Nishikori loses the most to Djokovic and wins the most against Federer.

But if we adjust the time point to 2014, the data will be slightly different:

He has two wins and two losses against Federer and Djokovic, seven consecutive losses against Nadal, and three consecutive losses against Murray. In other words, Kei Nishikori's playing style is indeed not afraid of facing Federer and Djokovic.

Among them, he lost the most against Nadal and it was difficult to win, but as mentioned earlier, Kei Nishikori's point-grabbing style of play always made Nadal very uncomfortable, and the scores were often very close.

However, facing Murray was a different situation. During the three consecutive losses, there were a total of seven sets. Not only did Kei Nishikori fail to win a single set, but he also only won fourteen games, including two donuts and a fried dough stick. He was simply crushed. Even at the peak of his competitive form, Murray was still a thorn in Kei Nishikori's side.

Looking at Kei Nishikori's games against the Big Four, most of the sets he lost by "0:6" or "1:6" were at the hands of Murray.

Why?

In fact, it is not complicated. Kei Nishikori is a player with excellent ball feel. Facing the hitting styles of Federer and Djokovic, he can wrap the ball on both ends of offense and defense. He can not only create opponents' mistakes, but also often hit amazing balls.

Moreover, under the training of Michael Chang, Kei Nishikori began to learn to play to his strengths and avoid his weaknesses. In order to make up for his shortcomings, he often needed to use his brain to complete the line layout, create one trap after another, force his opponent into his own routine, and then he would complete the winning shot.

The key lies here. Murray is a tactical master. His game is like minesweeping. How to lay mines and how to defuse mines are always running at high speed in his brain. From the perspective of tactical layout alone, Murray can also be the leader among the Big Four. Coupled with his balanced ability on both offense and defense, Murray's game becomes very rich and complicated.

Kei Nishikori, it is very difficult to break through Murray's tactical blockade -

Simply put, just like a chess game, Kei Nishikori can't outsmart Murray.

Now, facing Gao Wen, Kei Nishikori also has this feeling:

Calculation and counter-calculation, suppression and counter-suppression, the two players' shot layout, Gao Wen always seems to be slightly faster than Kei Nishikori by one or half a step.

This was the case with Kei Nishikori's break point in his serve game. Both sides were "calculating", but in the end it was Gao who calculated to the last shot and broke the serve.

Agassi finally understood why Sampras was so steady. Gawain's test was not out of the blue. Everything was as planned. It was an attempt, a disturbance and an impact. At the beginning of the game, the tolerance rate was relatively high, so Gawain was bolder and more adventurous, and continued to test.

Kei Nishikori really doesn't like this feeling, not only because the initiative is out of his control, but also because his rhythm is constantly disrupted; however, Kei Nishikori is in really good form this year, with more than one or two magical goals both offensively and defensively, and it seems that he can score no matter how he plays.

It is precisely because of this that the game between the two players is not like the direct punches on the boxing ring, but more like the mysterious indirect attacks in the shadow of swords. Both of them are trying to take the initiative and drag the rhythm of the game into their familiar routines. It all depends on who has better calculation ability.

No, that's slightly not accurate.

Now it can be seen that Gawain's calculations were ahead of Nishikori's, and Kei Nishikori was able to counter Gawain's moves. However, because Kei Nishikori's touch was really excellent, he not only resolved many of Gawain's traps, but was also able to hit incredible returns, making Gawain's calculations completely fail.

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In the end, does the east wind prevail over the west wind, or does the west wind prevail over the east wind?

"1:1", "2:2", "3:3", after exchanging a serving game at the beginning, the two players each saved two serving games and still maintained the balance.

But it can be seen that Gao Wen's serve still had a slight advantage. He established offensive opportunities through varied serve combinations, and then scored points strongly. After the first game, he never gave away break points. Kei Nishikori's serve, as always, endured huge firepower, and Gao Wen was able to get at least two points.

Then, after Gao Wen saved another serve and took a "4:3" lead, the situation changed subtly. This time, Gao Wen got another break point in Kei Nishikori's serve.

In Kei Nishikori's four service games so far, three of them have had break points; in the previous two times, one was broken and one was saved, so what about this time?

Area 2, outer corner.

Nishikori chose to suppress Gawain's backhand, but his serve was only 103 miles per hour (166 kilometers) -

This is a first serve! It can be clearly seen that at the critical moment, Kei Nishikori's serve was not only not strong, but also obviously weak, and he was more focused on ensuring the first serve success rate.

At this speed...

(End of this chapter)