Chapter 445: Tactical Preparations

"Beautiful!"

Zhan Jun clenched his fists heavily in celebration, but his voice remained calm as he continued his explanation diligently.

"In the first game, both players were in the testing stage, but it was obvious that Gao Wen was more daring and more aggressive in attacking, and the entire route selection was very risky."

On the break point, facing a half-high ball from the baseline, Gawain chose a backhand straight line to grab the point, which was truly unexpected and broke the routine, so that all of Djokovic's feints failed and he didn't even get a chance to make up for the defense.

“But the rewards of taking risks are huge.”

"Gawain was the first to break the serve in the semi-final against the top seed."

As he spoke, Zhan Jun couldn't help but get excited.

"It's Gao Wen's serve next. Obviously, he needs to be very careful. The strongest ability of the Big Four is to improve their condition when they are behind. They are often able to break back immediately after being broken, exerting pressure on their opponents from both the score and psychological levels."

“Also, Djokovic is one of the best returners in the world, which will be a tough test for Gawain’s serve ability.”

Gurgling.

The stadium was boiling with excitement. More than 80 percent of the fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium supported Djokovic. The boisterous cheers and support instantly eclipsed the fluttering of the five-star red flag.

Obviously, the Big Four still have unparalleled popularity in professional tennis. Although everyone always jokes about Djokovic's "global away game", that is only relative to Federer and Nadal. Compared with other players, Djokovic still has an absolute advantage in support rate.

At this moment, even if all the Chinese fans huddled together, it would be difficult for them to make their voices heard in the Arthur Ashe Stadium. They were like shivering baby birds in a storm, compressed in a corner of the large space of the Arthur Ashe Stadium, waving their flags at the top of their lungs but unwaveringly.

As soon as the game started, one could already feel that the atmosphere of the semi-finals was extraordinary.

But both players on the court were very calm.

Gao Wen just clenched his fist to celebrate, turned around and immediately calmed down.

Djokovic didn't have any special expression, as if he was thinking about the shot he had just made in the first game, and then he walked to the position ready to receive the serve.

The game has just begun, breaking and counter-breaking are both possible.

In the previous life, Kei Nishikori defeated Djokovic in four sets in the semifinals and continued to make history by entering the finals. So, how did Kei Nishikori win that game? The premise is that Kei Nishikori was indeed not afraid of Djokovic's hitting style during his peak period.

Then in that match, first of all, Nishikori was in good shape and had a hot hand. In contrast, Djokovic was obviously weak and did not dare to attack at critical moments. He played with some restraint. After the match, a reporter asked: Was it because Djokovic's wife was about to give birth, which disturbed Djokovic's mind and made him less focused? Djokovic denied it.

In fact, looking at Djokovic's games before the semi-finals, he only lost one set against Murray, and he won all other games easily in straight sets. It can be seen that even if his condition is not at its best, it is still good.

Therefore, Djokovic's conservatism at critical moments is more influenced by his own hitting style. The instability of his forehand attack is magnified, so that he begins to worry that his active attack may go into the net, and naturally becomes conservative.

The key to exposing the instability of Djokovic's forehand attack lies in the performance of Kei Nishikori, which brings us to the second point:

Secondly, Kei Nishikori's pre-match tactics were very smart. He dared to shoot, dared to attack, and dared to take risks.

How did Wawrinka beat Djokovic at the Australian Open? It was because Wawrinka's violent shots dared to hit Djokovic's forehand.

Many of the technical characteristics of Djokovic and Zverev are somewhat similar: the backhand is very stable. Although the backhand is less aggressive, it is very difficult for the opponent to open up the situation with the backhand; and the forehand is more powerful, but due to the limitation of their own strength, the forehand is also not very stable.

Of course, Gawain is a bit similar.

But Gao Wen's backhand can be used for both offense and defense, and his offensive firepower is definitely not weak. Moreover, his attacking methods are diverse and varied. He can even occasionally transform into a one-handed backhand to create some opportunities. This is also an important detail that distinguishes him from the above two players.

Wawrinka was able to defeat Djokovic by using unreasonable attacks to tear open Djokovic's forehand defense. In fact, many young players did the same later, including Karen Khachanov, Dimitrov, Tsitsipas and so on.

The same is true for Kei Nishikori, but he did not use continuous impact of power to tear through Djokovic's defense, but achieved his goal with airtight rhythmic pressure.

The full-court pressure style forced Djokovic to not take risks with his forehand at critical moments.

Tennis is always a contest between the east wind prevailing over the west wind or the west wind prevailing over the east wind. Judging from the results, people saw that Djokovic was not decisive enough at the critical moment, but judging from the process, Kei Nishikori's full-court pressure was the key to breaking the balance of the key points between the two sides. The suppression and counter-suppression between the two players ran through the entire process.

Compared to Wawrinka's way of winning, Kei Nishikori's way is more suitable for Gawain, but Gawain also has his own style of play. He draws experience and lessons from the victories of Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori, especially Sampras' sharp analysis as a veteran, which gives Gawain a professional perspective.

Therefore, in the first game, Gao Wen played very actively and proactively, showing strong fighting spirit from the very first shot of receiving the serve.

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Moreover, Gao Wen knew that Djokovic's prediction has always been one of the best players in the tour. Once the hitting line enters the routine, Djokovic can always find a way to predict it in advance and then create opportunities for his early hitting.

Just look at the games between the Big Four and you will know. Because they have played against each other so many times, they have almost memorized the batting routines, but they have been trying to break each other's predictions, and the competition on the mental and tactical levels has risen to a whole new level.

In this game, Gao Wen has also made sufficient preparations in choosing his batting lines.

At this point, we can see a key point——

Djokovic is the world's number one, and all players can study him through countless game videos, but Gawain suddenly popped out of nowhere, and everything was strange and new. Therefore, Gawain had enough understanding of Djokovic's return lines, but Djokovic did not.

Naturally, the difference can be seen in the preparation stage.

Of course, the most important thing is to move from paper talk to actual execution. Judging from the results, Gao Wen played very well in the first game and was the first to break the serve. This at least proved that this semi-final should not be a one-sided game and Gao Wen is ready to challenge Djokovic.

Next, it depends on the response of the world's number one.

(End of this chapter)