Chapter 555: Backhand Battle

The so-called "Grand Slam Syndrome" is regarded as a curse in the professional tennis world. From men to women, professional players are no exception and suffer from it.

In fact, it means that after experiencing the fierce competition of the Grand Slam, the physical and mental consumption are very obvious. In addition, the outstanding Grand Slam record will inevitably make the players a target and become the target of other players' challenges. With one plus one minus, the subsequent performance is prone to fluctuations.

In 2001, Australian player Hewitt defeated Sampras in the US Open final to win the championship. He then immediately participated in the Neon Open and won the championship. He also represented his country in the Davis Cup and won two consecutive victories. As of 2021, he is also the last player among all male and female players to win the championship in the first tournament after winning a Grand Slam title.

In 2003, Federer won Wimbledon for the first time and returned home to compete in the Gstaad clay court tournament, but unfortunately lost to Czech player Jiri-Novak in the final and finished second.

In 2005, Nadal won the French Open for the first time, and went to Halle to participate in the grass tournament the next day. He was unable to adapt to the venue and was eliminated in the first round.

In 2008, Djokovic won the Australian Open for the first time. After winning the championship, he took a break for a while before competing again. However, his touch was still not good. He only won one game in Marseille before losing to French player Simon.

In 2012, Murray won the US Open for the first time. After a full month's rest, he went to Japan to compete. Unfortunately, he lost to Raonic in the semi-finals, whom he had defeated on the way to the US Open championship a month ago.

This is even more true for female players.

Especially for the new members of the "One Grand Slam" who won the Grand Slam championship for the first time, the Grand Slam syndrome is more obvious. The reasons behind it are complicated, but completely understandable.

Because, not only the Grand Slam champions, but all the players who participate in the Grand Slam must go through the dual test of physical strength and energy, and adjustment after the event is bound to be a problem; even the Big Four, after winning the Grand Slam many times, they all made the same choice:

Regardless of the Grand Slam results, you will not participate in any competitions after the tournament is over, but will go home to rest and adjust for a while.

Among them, age is one of the reasons that cannot be ignored, but the more important reason is that with the increase in competition experience, they also realize that the victory or defeat of the Grand Slam is often more impactful. They are also ordinary people and need some time to digest and settle before they can meet new challenges.

Likewise, Gawain was learning this, everything was new; and Gulbis was no exception.

In the US Open, Gulbis faced Thiem and won the first two sets, holding an absolute advantage and victory was in his grasp. However, he encountered Thiem's ​​strong counterattack and lost three sets. The duck in his mouth just flew away, which was undoubtedly a blow to Gulbis' confidence.

Especially after reaching the semifinals of a Grand Slam for the first time at the French Open, Gulbis had higher expectations for himself. Losing is not the end of the world, but losing in such a devastating way is indeed hard to accept. Even though the Flushing Meadows incident happened a month ago, it is still hard to get rid of it.

He was not able to feel the pressure in the first round of the Imperial Capital Open when facing Fognini who was in poor form recently, but in the second round when facing Gao Wen who was actively looking for his touch, Gulbis could feel the pressure deeply.

The match of "Gulbis VS Gawain" was jokingly called the "backhand battle" by professionals. The abilities of both players in the backhand position are obvious to all. They can defend and attack, withstand blows and impacts, and can change the situation even in extremely difficult situations. The backhand state determines the lower limit of the game.

Sure enough, after the game started, Gulbis repeatedly tried to break through on the backhand position.

Although Gulbis is not a player with strong offensive firepower, he is definitely a player with a tough style of play and dares to fight.

He has won against Federer, Djokovic and Murray, which is the best proof that his tough attack and solid baseline holding ability are particularly outstanding.

However, facing Nadal, he lost all seven matches in his career, which is the best reflection of the fact that his backhand is completely inferior to the forehand of the left-handed Nadal.

Obviously, Gawain is not Nadal, so Gulbis took the initiative to put pressure on him, trying to control the game and seize the initiative in this confrontation.

But how did Gawain win the U.S. Open?

Facing heavy artillery attackers like Isner, Kyrgios and Wawrinka who are firing on all cylinders, he is still able to withstand the continuous firepower output of players, showing great tenacity.

Especially now that his own touch is not good, Gao Wen relies more on layout to create traps, and the focus of attention shifts from offense to defense, completing the return of the ball by anticipation, movement, rotation and wrapping. Although the defensive ball placement rate has decreased compared to the US Open, the success rate is still excellent.

As a result, Gulbis was under tremendous pressure.

In the first game of the match, Gao Wen served first. However, he couldn't find the feeling in the opening stage and the accuracy of the entire landing point was not satisfactory, which gave Gulbis space to attack and score. Coupled with his own unforced mistakes, he gave his opponent two consecutive break points in a blink of an eye.

"15:40".

On the first break point, Gao Wen performed very well.

The first serve went out of bounds. Facing the pressure of the second serve, Gao Wen boldly chose the inside corner to challenge Gulbis' backhand head-on.

Gulbis tried to grab the second serve, but the serve bounced higher than expected, so that even though Gulbis got the hitting point, he was unable to suppress the spin. The execution of the entire serve-and-receive tactic was mediocre, which gave Gauvin some breathing room.

but!

Gawain did not attack directly, but instead suppressed the middle and hit a deep ball from the baseline, which was almost a repeat of the serve, once again throwing the offensive problem to Gulbis.

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Gulbis' backhand was very strong. He took small steps to adjust and hit a diagonal shot. When the space in the left and right half of the court was almost equal and it was difficult to open an angle, his backhand attack pressed into the large triangle area of ​​Gao Wen's forehand baseline, forcing an angle to break the balance of the ball.

If Gao Wen's steps were a little slower, the ball would continue to jump outward after it hits the ground and bounces, pressing on Gao Wen's stance and swing.

However, Gawain predicted Gulbis's shot route in advance and adjusted his footwork in time. Not only did he get to the ball in time, but he also swept the ball diagonally with his forehand. He did not pursue the angle and the landing point, but suddenly used a flat shot to increase the speed and power.

In order to ensure the safety of the shot, Gao Wen did not pursue a blind spot, and finally chose to land the ball near the sideline, with two feet of space away from going out of bounds. However, the relatively shallow landing point combined with the strong side spin allowed the tennis ball to continue to jump outwards after landing.

Gulbis immediately fell into a passive position.

While continuing to move sideways, Gulbis still tried to exert force with his forehand, but in order to ensure a successful defense, his footwork was already nearly three meters away from the baseline. Even if he forced the ball, he was unable to fully unleash his strength. The return ball landed obviously shallowly, and the arc was not suppressed.

Gao Wen entered the baseline as soon as possible and hit a diagonal backhand shot into the backhand gap of Gulbis.

Score easily and save a break point.

(End of this chapter)