Chapter 542 Adjustment Status
Push off the ground! Jump! High pressure!
Mayer jumped into the air with a slightly awkward movement. He flicked his forehand lightly to the outside and completed a high-pressure shot with clever force.
Boom! The tennis ball landed in the service area of Gao Wen's half of the court. It was shallow, high, thin, and off-center. Then the tennis ball flew towards the spectator stands.
"Set, Mayer."
Ah! Mayer clenched his fists, jumped high, turned around after landing, clenched his fists, and roared at the audience stands.
Ah! The endless stream of emotions just burst out, as if he was using body language to vent his depression and frustration:
Playing away from home is never easy.
The entire audience gave overwhelming support to the home players. For a moment, they had the illusion that the whole world was against them and they were the only ones fighting alone. Moreover, their opponents kept exerting pressure on them. They had broken serve twice and were leading, but were quickly broken back both times. The overwhelming pressure kept their nerves tense at all times, as if they could break at any time.
Until now.
Ah! Meyer roared with red eyes, over and over again, and the veins bulging from his clenched fists showed the endless energy gushing out of his body.
Then, he turned around again and looked at Gawain on the other side of the court, his eyes flickering with the belief that he would win.
Grand Slam champion? He came here today just to cause an upset!
At this moment, Gao Wen didn't notice Mayer's eyes at all. He was looking up at the sky. He needed quiet time.
In the first set tiebreak, Mayer easily won with a score of 7:2.
In the tie-break, the margin for error was low, mistakes and fluctuations were magnified, and Gao Wen's unstable state was fully exposed. Mayer's steady and solid performance quickly widened the score difference, presenting a situation completely different from the stalemate in the first set. Without encountering too many waves, he had already won the first set.
The situation is not good.
"... Overall, the shortcomings of the team's long absence from competition and lack of training are still easily visible."
In the studio, Zhan Jun and Hu Litao are still partnering up to provide commentary. This is a partnership that CCTV-5 is consciously continuing to awaken the audience's memories of the US Open.
Precisely because they witnessed history with their own eyes, and because that history was not too far from the present, the two professional commentators were able to tell Gao Wen’s condition at a glance.
"After winning the US Open, Gao Wen was exposed to the spotlight overnight. He has been lacking systematic training. He needs to slowly adjust everything from his batting sense to his physical reserve, and gradually regain his familiar feeling. Therefore, the first round of his return to the court is always particularly difficult."
This is fair to everyone, including the "Big Four". Systematic training and gradual adaptation to the feeling of the game are a process that everyone needs. It is also because of this that the road to returning from injury is always more difficult.
The only difference is that veterans with rich competition experience naturally have better adjustment capabilities; young players who are just starting out lack control ability, so their ups and downs are more obvious.
"From the first set, it can be seen that Gao Wen was still adjusting and adapting. He came back from two falls behind, proving his strength. However, his error control in the tie-break was not very effective. Unforced errors ruined his efforts in the first set. This is obviously not the game state that Gao Wen is used to."
"However, we should still see the positive side. Gawain has been thinking of ways and his mind is always working. This means that even though he has been away from the training ground for such a long time, his fighting spirit is still there. So, let's take a look at the second set and see how Gawain performs."
Honestly, even though Gao Wen lost the first set, Zhan Jun was not worried. To be more precise, they were not concerned about the outcome of the game, but the impact of Gao Wen's performance in this game on the subsequent Asian season.
After becoming the Grand Slam champion and losing the dark horse halo, whether Gawain still has the fighting spirit to win and win the championship, especially when he has become an obvious target for everyone, how to regain his competitive form is the key to a continuous career.
Before and after winning a Grand Slam, the game state and competitive state are actually two different things.
The most obvious case does not need to be recalled too far back, Djokovic is a ready-made example.
In 2008, at the Australian Open, Djokovic won the championship with an absolutely strong performance, becoming the fourth youngest Australian Open champion in history. His future was bright, and the praise from industry insiders was beyond words. Countless people believed that he might break the dominance of Federer and Nadal.
However, after that, Djokovic's career encountered a bottleneck.
From the 2008 French Open to the 2010 US Open, Djokovic failed to make further breakthroughs in eleven consecutive Grand Slams.
Although Djokovic has firmly occupied a place in the top group in terms of world ranking, Masters record, annual performance, etc.; however, at the most critical and difficult moments of the game, Djokovic has been seen to fail repeatedly. The number of times he has retired early due to diarrhea and injuries has exceeded one hand, so that the keyword "weakness at critical moments" has become Djokovic's label.
More than once, industry insiders have accused Djokovic of lacking tenacity and willpower, and people have concluded that "perhaps he will never win one Grand Slam."
No one expected that the Davis Cup at the end of 2010 would become a turning point in Djokovic's career. In this declining national team competition, Djokovic led his team to defeat the powerful French team and win the championship. The sense of honor from the country allowed this young player to be reborn and complete his transformation.
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No one, including Djokovic himself, expected it.
Then, in the following 2011 season, Djokovic won three Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open, officially completing his transformation.
Looking at the "one Grand Slam players" from Djokovic's perspective, Del Potro in 2009 and Wawrinka in 2014, they have all more or less encountered some lows and ups and downs, because the "Grand Slam champion halo" has become a weapon to attract hatred, and the game has become another matter.
Now, it's Gawain's turn.
For Zhan Jun, he looks further ahead.
He wants to see whether Gao Wen can remain calm, whether he is still as motivated as he was at the US Open, and whether he can remain calm and steady when facing difficulties through one or two matches or one or two tournaments. This is far more important than winning one or two matches.
Obviously, Gawain also realized this -
Unforced errors became the main feature, which was definitely not Gawain's way of playing, because errors flying everywhere meant that Gawain had lost control of the game.
If you are facing a player like Kyrgios who dominates the offense, then unforced errors are an inevitable process in the confrontation; but when facing a player like Mayer who performs stably, unforced errors may put yourself in a passive position.
The most intuitive result was a big defeat in the first set tie-break.
He needs to adjust.
(End of this chapter)