Chapter 541: Tough Opponent
In his first match after winning the US Open, and also in his first match at home, Gao Wen will face L-Meyer.
At present, there is more than one "Meyer" in the men's professional tennis world. There are Mayers in Germany, Chile, Spain, etc., so the official needs to add the first capital letter of the name as a prefix to distinguish them.
Mayer from Argentina is now in the best form of her career. This year, she not only won her first ATP-level singles title in her career, but also entered the top 30 in the world ranking for the first time. She is currently ranked 23rd this week, and she is refreshing her personal best ranking with every step.
In addition, the performance in the four Grand Slams was also very stable, reaching the second round of the Australian Open, the third round of the French Open, the fourth round of Wimbledon, and the third round of the US Open.
In general, Mayer is a player who performs better on clay courts than on hard courts. Stability and balance are his advantages. Although explosiveness is not his strong point, his overall performance has remained stable. His upper limit is relatively low and his lower limit is also relatively high, so the fluctuation range is relatively narrow.
He may lack a little competitiveness when facing top players, but he has always been a very difficult and tough character among ordinary players.
Moreover, Mayer's baseline shots have their own characteristics. He has solid basic skills in flat shots, slices and rotations, which also gives him more room to adapt to changes - although he is not a player who is good at changes.
It is very noteworthy that Federer once took the initiative to invite Mayer to train with him for a period of time and serve as a sparring partner - which is Russell's current role. This also means that Federer believes that batting practice with Mayer can help himself, which is undoubtedly an affirmation.
But after careful consideration, Mayer declined.
"I think it's good to train with superstars like the Big Four, but it's not easy. They will bring extra pressure to you because even in training, they will fight for every ball, so you have to devote 100%."
For Mayer, this is a pressure and a burden.
Mayer's character can be seen in the small details.
In the Imperial Capital Open, Gao Wen faced Mayer in the first round. As Sampras said, this is a good thing, because Mayer is stable but lacks a little explosiveness and impact. This also means that he can practice through the game and find more time to slowly adjust his condition. At least it is better than facing Djokovic or Cilic in the first round.
The facts have proved this to be the case.
Before the draw was released, major news media were already eager to analyze the possibility of Galvin and Cilic meeting again. The gimmick of "replay of the US Open final" even surpassed the potential possibility of Galvin facing Djokovic in the first round, which attracted attention.
After the draw results came out, Cilic faced Bo Yan, and Gao Wen faced L. Mayer. More importantly, the two players were placed in the upper and lower halves of the draw respectively. However, the news media still reported enthusiastically: "The only chance for a repeat of the US Open final is a second meeting in the final. Can a miracle happen again?"
"A familiar draw, a familiar situation. From the US Open to the capital, is it possible that the story will repeat itself?"
"From the sign-in sheet, this scene seems familiar. Is it really going to be a scene like 'I've seen this before'?"
If you think about it carefully, it's interesting, indeed it is interesting.
Federer did not come to the capital to participate in the competition, but went directly to the Magic City to participate in the Masters next week. The main reason is that he signed an appearance and competition agreement with Basel in Switzerland. After the Magic City Masters, he needs to fly back to Basel's home court to participate in the competition immediately, so the itinerary has to be adjusted.
Instead, Nadal, who had been absent from the entire North American season, chose to return at the Imperial Capital Open to prepare for the upcoming Asian season and European Indoor season. Three of the "Big Four" are here again, and they are ready to gather at the Shanghai Masters next week.
Among them, Djokovic and Murray entered the same half of the draw, Nadal guarded the lower half alone, then Cilic was drawn into the upper half, and Gao Wen entered the lower half. All aspects have a mirror effect with the US Open draw, except that the positions of Cilic and Gao Wen have changed slightly.
It is no wonder that the media could not contain their excitement and could not wait to hype the event. The noise could not stop and all resources were used to promote Gao Wen. Even the enthusiasm of the "Big Three" participating in the competition could not compare to that.
The anticipation is overwhelming.
But for Gao Wen, there is only one thing he needs to focus on at this moment: L. Mayer, the first-round opponent, is not as easy to deal with as imagined.
Perhaps, for ordinary fans, they rarely pay attention to Mayer, who has never been in the top 20 in the world rankings during his career; but for professional players, who have really experienced hard work and tried, they know that the world ranking can be used as a reference to some extent.
The top three hundred and those after three hundred are two different things; the top one hundred and those after one hundred are also two different things.
The top fifty and those after the top fifty are two different things; the top twenty and those after the top twenty are two different things again.
Simply put, players who can maintain a stable ranking in the top 50 in the world for a long time are already part of the top layer of the professional tennis pyramid. Then, within this level, they are divided into three tiers: top ten, top twenty, and top fifty, but the gap between them is relatively limited.
In other words, victory or defeat depends entirely on on-the-spot performance, and even if an upset occurs, it cannot be considered a shocking surprise.
L-Meyer has remained stable and shown a gradually upward trend since she first entered the top 50 in the world rankings last year.
Since entering the top 30 for the first time this year, he has never fallen out - and, in the following two years or so, he has maintained this ranking, which also means that he has always been able to compete as a Grand Slam seeded player, and he has performed well in terms of stability and durability.
This is definitely an opponent that should not be underestimated. He is very tough. If you take it lightly, the result of the game may be different:
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In April, in the Hamburg competition, Mayer defeated Ferrer, who was known as the "stable man", and defeated a world-ranked player for the first time in his career, and won the first ATP-level men's singles championship trophy in his career.
The facts have proved this to be the case.
The first set of the game between the two sides was tense.
Facing the new US Open champion, with the enemy in the open and herself in the dark, Mayer was fully prepared. She quickly got into the game at the opening stage, dared to fight and was the first to break Gao Wen's serve. The audience was even still looking for seats and before they had time to sit down, Mayer had already taken the lead.
But Gao Wen immediately gained a firm foothold, actively sought changes to disrupt the rhythm of the game, and then completed a counter-break to tie the score, and the two sides returned to the same starting line.
During the middle stage of the set, both sides held their serve and were at peace. Then Mayer took the lead at the end of the set, breaking Gao Wen's serve for the second time, taking a "5:4" lead and serving to win the set.
However, Mayer did not see the set point in her serve-winning game, as Gawain broke her serve on the first break point with his signature straight backhand. The first set ended in a tie for the second time, and the stalemate continued.
And then? And then, with the two sides fighting fiercely and chasing each other, the two sides entered the tiebreak, and the outcome of the first set would be decided by the tiebreak.
Everything seemed familiar, as if we were back in Flushing.
(End of this chapter)