Chapter 425 Continuous High Voltage
Snap. Snap. Snap.
Gawain is dribbling the ball.
The entire match was still in a tense state, especially in the third and fourth sets. The scores kept rising back and forth, which made both players always maintain a state of high concentration. They did not allow any distraction, because such a small mistake could ruin a set or even the entire game.
The tie-break was even more breathtaking.
His boiling brain was thinking about his serve strategy. He raised his eyes and glanced at Kei Nishikori's position, then made a decision in his mind -
Calculation and layout are things that both players must accomplish. It depends on whose layout can be calculated more accurately and comprehensively.
Area 1, inner corner.
Suppress the backhand.
Kei Nishikori's judgment was obviously a little slow, because Gao Wen had sneaked up on him several times at key points before, and all of them achieved good results. Kei Nishikori lacked the initiative to exert force, and it was often difficult for him to return the ball with high quality in a hurry; instead, he opened up the angles of the inside and outside corners, and today he seemed to be assisted by God, and hit many beautiful returns.
As a result, for such an important point, Gao Wen actually chose the inside corner?
Kei Nishikori's push off the ground was a little slow, and he soon discovered Gawain's intention. This time, the power and speed of the serve were average, but the angle was very tricky. It was obvious that Gawain used the rotation to find a landing point in order to suppress Kei Nishikori's leverage.
Even if Kei Nishikori completes the contact with the ball, but his judgment is not in sync, it will be difficult for him to hit the ball with quality no matter how hard he hits it.
Damn it!
Kei Nishikori realized something was wrong the moment he touched the ball, because the tennis ball bounced high and spun outward after landing. Such a serve only occurred twice in the entire game today, and the third time was such a crucial moment.
Just like the second break point in the previous game, Gao Wen, whose serve did not seem to be strong, was always able to gain an advantage for himself through changes at critical moments.
Kei Nishikori had to hold the racket with one hand above his shoulder, and very, very reluctantly touched the tennis ball, and then used the strength of his wrist and forearm to hit the ball. After the shot was completed, he immediately stood in place to adjust his center of gravity and prepare for the next shot of defense, staring intently at his return ball.
Damn it!
Kei Nishikori hoped that the high arc ball would land on the baseline and restrict Gawain, but it was obvious that Gawain's hidden tricks restricted Kei Nishikori's touch this time, and the result was a mid-field ball returned, and it was a topspin mid-field ball, which also meant that Gawain could launch an attack calmly.
Tap tap tap.
Tap tap tap.
Gao Wen was taking small steps to adjust his footwork. He was originally preparing to go to the net, but just as he took a step, he found that Kei Nishikori's ball flew to the baseline. He had to admit that Kei Nishikori's touch was really good.
Under such extremely difficult circumstances, the arc of the lob was still able to go so deep, and this was done without Gawain intending to do so.
Gao Wen adjusted very carefully. Even though his physical strength was not as good as in the first set and his thigh muscles were tired, he still did not slack off. He gritted his teeth and carefully adjusted his stance. Then, he stretched his body and stood firmly on his feet: Great roc spreads its wings! From top to bottom! Smash high pressure!
Boom! The tennis ball turned into a blurry light and flew towards the court. However, Kei Nishikori could be seen on the trajectory of the tennis ball.
Obviously, he was still not ready to give up.
Push off the ground! Jump! Fly!
Kei Nishikori quickly moved sideways to his left, his eyes fixed on the tennis ball, but Gawain's smash was too strong, coming at him like a violent storm. Even if Kei Nishikori's steps were light and fast, he couldn't catch up, so he "threw" himself out.
He flew out in a diving header posture, and the two-handed backhand turned into a one-handed grip again. His body was stretched to the extreme, and he barely touched the tennis ball with the racket head. His wrist wrapped the tennis ball softly and lightly. He had used the technique of using the opponent's force to hit the ball to perfection, and he could return the ball with just a touch.
Swoosh! The tennis ball flew up in a large arc, and it seemed to be more than ten meters high. It seemed to have sunk into the sky and disappeared into the golden splendor, so that all the exclamations from the Arthur Ashe Stadium were cut off, and everyone just stared at the tennis ball in amazement.
Here, Kei Nishikori has given up moving and his feet are not jumping on the spot, as if he has completely given up on hitting the ball.
On the other side, Gao Wen was adjusting his steps to prepare for the second high pressure. He kept reminding himself subconsciously that Kei Nishikori would never give up on hitting the ball easily. However, because Kei Nishikori gave up moving and lost his judgment criteria, he could not guess where Kei Nishikori would move.
At this time, Kei Nishikori was standing in the middle, close to the backhand position, and it seemed that the gap in the forehand position was slightly larger, but in fact the difference was not as big as imagined.
Moreover, facing such a high-pressure ball, if you hit the shallow area in the front court, it is very likely to go into the net, because the tennis ball is flying too high and the acceleration of gravity may make the hitting point of the tennis ball more difficult to figure out. Now you can only rely on the feel of the ball and your hand to find the hitting point.
Tap tap tap.
Tap tap tap.
Gawain kept adjusting his steps in small steps. When he raised his eyes, he could only see a patch of golden sunlight. The evening sunset was blazing brightly, and he almost lost the tennis ball.
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Found it! In the midst of all the splendor, Gawain finally found the tennis ball, pushed off the ground! Jumped! Pressed down!
Boom! The tennis ball was hit hard again!
However, two details can be seen in the handling of the high-pressure ball this time. One is that the physical strength decreased and the force of pushing off the ground was not sufficient; the other is that he was disturbed by the opponent and the downward force was obviously not sufficient. In other words, the high-pressure ball was slightly restrained and not exerted with full strength.
Step! Immediately, we can see Kei Nishikori start immediately, confirming Gao Wen's idea just now: everything is just a smokescreen, and then he has reached the backhand position with two big steps, blocking the high-pressure ball.
Gao Wen pressed a deep area, but in order to avoid going out of bounds, he did not press it completely, so there was still about a meter of space from the baseline.
Kei Nishikori stood firmly on his feet and raised his hands to hit the backhand. He did not actively exert force, but instead used the force of hitting the wall to rush towards the tennis ball.
With a push and a lift, Kei Nishikori increased the friction to prevent the tennis ball from flying directly into the stands like an anti-aircraft gun, hoping that the intense friction would cause the tennis ball to fall quickly near the baseline and then land in the court.
Everything happened so fast!
He had just pushed off the ground when the tennis ball hit him back the next second.
Huh! As the audience gasped, the commentators in the media center also exclaimed in amazement—
"Obviously, Gao Wen was a little soft in his high-pressure shot just now. He didn't use his full strength, and Kei Nishikori actually caught it..."
But is it really so? Did Gawain show weakness at the critical moment?
(End of this chapter)