Chapter 421: Unyielding

Watching Kei Nishikori's matches, he seemed to be in a state of frustration, depression, and discouragement at all times. The information conveyed by his body language and facial expressions was not positive. Audiences who watched Kei Nishikori's matches for the first time might even doubt whether he might withdraw from the competition at any time?

But viewers who are familiar with Kei Nishikori know that this is a smokescreen, just like a cuttlefish firing ink to deceive its opponent. Those dejected expressions are all superficial phenomena. If you believe in Kei Nishikori's performance, you are likely to lose your attention in the game. The decline in concentration is the beginning of failure.

This situation often occurs in competitive sports: a player is accidentally injured and can only hold on, and the game is about to be unsustainable. Everyone thinks that the game may collapse one-sidedly; but the reality is often more complicated. Many players will lose their concentration because of their opponents' injuries. The decrease in the intensity of the entire game causes the feel of both sides to fluctuate.

In the worst case, you may not even be able to keep your eyes on the ball, and your shots may go awry.

Young players, in particular, are more prone to this as they lack the ability to deal with complex and unexpected situations.

This was the case in the third round of the 2021 Australian Open when Djokovic faced young American player Tyler Fritz.

Djokovic was leading by two sets when he accidentally strained his abdominal muscles. He was in a terrible condition where he could hardly exert power with his forehand or backhand, and even his serve did not pose any threat at all. Then Fritz did not press on to win the match. Instead, he was reluctant and restrained, playing cautiously all the way.

Although Fritz tied most of the game by winning two sets, he did not dare to exert his full strength throughout the game, which instead gave Djokovic more time to recover and adapt. As a result, in the deciding set, Djokovic, who had finally adapted to the pain, regrouped and swept Fritz with a huge score of "6:2" to advance.

The same is true for Kei Nishikori.

His personality is not the type to celebrate ostentatiously or vent emotions wantonly, so he always shows weakness to the enemy and is often on the verge of a "collapse". But in fact, these are all smoke and mirrors. The tenacity and perseverance in his bones have always been important qualities of Kei Nishikori.

Even players who are familiar with Kei Nishikori are often deceived by his dejected and desperate expression.

After the break, the "negative Kei Nishikori" appeared again. Gao Wen kept telling himself not to be distracted by the illusion in front of him and to be down-to-earth when serving to win the set.

Soon, Gawain proved his warning.

In the game where he served to win the set, Kei Nishikori suddenly sped up and started to grab the ball from the first serve of Gawain. No matter what the speed of the ball was, he grabbed the ball very fiercely. Moreover, the attacking point was very risky, with a high risk of mistakes. The whole offensive rhythm increased, and tennis suddenly turned into table tennis.

Layer upon layer, overwhelming, huge pressure surged towards Gao Wen, which was different from the rhythm of any previous game.

Obviously, Kei Nishikori can also improve his condition at critical moments, and his touch is still excellent. Occasionally, he will make a magical shot that will amaze everyone, and Gawain really has no way to stop it.

But Gao Wen also showed his tough psychological quality. Facing Kei Nishikori's continuous and intensive attacks, he still insisted on his own tactics and continued to control the game by varying his shots. In the strong collision of powerful balls, this was also the first time that Gao Wen was able to gain the upper hand at this year's US Open.

In terms of power, rotation and speed, Gao Wen's ball quality is indeed slightly better than Kei Nishikori's.

Then……

Kei Nishikori saved two set points and Kovan saved three break points. The two players started a long tug-of-war in Kovan's serve to win the set. This was also the most competitive and closest game in today's match. Kei Nishikori demonstrated his ability to break serve to the fullest.

The fifth split.

The air was burning, both players played at their best, and the close combat made the Arthur Ashe Stadium extremely lively with cheers and applause one after another. Neutral fans were enjoying this wonderful duel, and almost every round was a classic.

Obviously, Kei Nishikori was not prepared to give up resistance passively, but also showed his unyielding tenacity and launched a powerful attack in Gawain's serve. At present, the two sides are still in a balance and both sides have got opportunities. Now it depends on who can seize the opportunity.

Push off the ground! Bend your knees! Turn your body! Hit the ball! Bang! The whole audience is focused.

In the inner corner of the first zone, Gao Wen's serve landed steadily on the center line of the serving zone, a perfect inner corner. Kei Nishikori's backhand was unable to touch the tennis ball.

ACE.

The first ace of both players in the first set brought Gao Wen the third set point.

"ah!"

Gao Wen clenched his fist and shouted loudly. He could feel the powerful impact brought by Kei Nishikori. The confrontation in this round had entered a white-hot stage, so he needed this ACE, needed such a simple and direct score, and also needed such a strong score to boost morale.

Ah! Ah! Gu Xiao jumped up and raised his arms, shouting. From the corner of his eye, he could see large swaths of five-star red flags waving in uncontrollable excitement, dyeing the entire stadium red, which complemented the golden afternoon sun, and the rolling heat wave spread out.

The third inventory.

Area 2, inner corner.

Because of his height and long arms, Kei Nishikori is often a little passive when facing serves that are at an open angle, but his ability to deal with close serves is much better. So at the critical moment, Gao Wen still chose to open the angle, and this time he used the inner corner to suppress Kei Nishikori's forehand.

really!

Kei Nishikori threw himself out and barely managed to hit the ball with his forehand, but because his hands were hot, even a light hit showed an excellent wrap. The tennis ball flew directly along the middle to the baseline, just about one ball inside the baseline, and was pressed very deep.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

Gao Wen's position had been squeezed, and he hit a rebound ball with his forehand, compressing the flight time of the tennis ball with the fastest reaction.

He is also changing the rhythm of his batting.

The arc of the tennis ball was also well controlled, also landing in the middle one step away from the forehand, and also pressed on the baseline, showing Gao Wen's equally good touch and ball feel, but the excellent landing point still cannot cover up the lack of power and rotation, and cannot further create compression through the ball quality.

Kei Nishikori took a few quick steps to adjust. Instead of retreating, he took a small step forward and rushed forward using his best method of grabbing the rising point. Then he gently flicked his forehand outward, making a reverse diagonal line and quickly rushed towards the sideline of Gao Wen's backhand position.

Whoosh! The tennis ball was fast and flat. Although it lacked the power to penetrate, it was fast and light as a flash of lightning.

Gao Wen had made the prediction in advance and was sprinting towards his backhand position to make up for the defense. Then, Kei Nishikori could be seen pressing forward to the net. The physical pressure was like a raging wave.

Wow.

Wow.

The sun all over the sky began to burn, and the heat wave covered the sky.

(End of this chapter)