Chapter 60: Battle

of Wisdom and Courage Martin saw and remembered all of Gawain's growth and transformation.

Judging from his performance in the practice matches alone, Gawain has surpassed Di Giulio, and even has a slight advantage over Brymer and McDonald.

However, there is still a clear difference between practice matches and actual combat. Gao Wen needs more practical training and practice before he can truly transform his performance in the practice field into his own strength.

Of course, Martin is also willing to give Gawain more opportunities.

Assuming that this game is played at home, then facing a strong opponent, Martin would dare to take advantage of the situation and directly promote Gao Wen to the third or fourth singles position, catching the University of Oklahoma off guard. This may completely disrupt the opponent's layout and achieve miraculous results.

However, now that the initiative is in the hands of the opponent, Martin needs to consider more issues when arranging the order of appearance.

"Grant, what do you think?"

Martin needs a little bit of objective advice to help him sort out his thoughts and create more sparks, and the assistant coach is undoubtedly the best person to discuss with.

Grant was also studying the player information of the University of Oklahoma. When he heard Martin's question, he did not rush to express his opinion, but thought about it seriously.

"Coach, we have all seen Gawain's progress. I would like to believe that Gawain has greater potential for development. However, what we see, he can also see. Even if he doesn't understand it as clearly as we do, he should know it at least a little bit."

"What's more, Gao Wen and MacDonald are new faces. They will not take it lightly."

This is also the part that Martin is most concerned about.

Gathering intelligence is something every team does. Knowing yourself and your enemy will ensure victory in every battle. The freshmen as fresh faces are definitely the focus.

Moreover, unlike other sports, age and experience are not so important in tennis. There are countless talented players at the age of 15 or 16, and Rafael Nadal was only 19 when he won his first Grand Slam title. In other words, it is painful to underestimate freshmen.

For coaches, what they hate most is unknown opponents. They wish they could study the freshmen inside and out before the game and nip any unexpected events in the bud.

Martin could sense the hidden meaning in Grant's words, so he asked, "What do you mean..."

"They must be thinking about how we will deploy our troops and how we will play to our strengths. For example, we can use Gao Wen as a surprise player to challenge their stronger players. A successful challenge would be a windfall, and a failed challenge would not be a loss. After all, Gao Wen is our No. 6 singles player."

Grant put forward his own guess, and Martin's thoughts followed Grant's words and naturally thought, "So they will also avoid the edge and form a dislocation?"

Grant chuckled, "Coach, you should know more about Nick than I do."

Nick Crowell, head coach of the University of Oklahoma Sooners, like Martin, has also been in this position for many years. Although the University of Oklahoma is a member of the Big 12 Conference and is not in the same conference as the University of California, Los Angeles, and the two teams do not meet many times in the regular season, both teams are strong and have played against each other many times in the National Championship Games.

Martin raised his chin slightly and touched the fleshy neck flesh under his chin. "Nick will definitely do the opposite, hoping to get ahead of us."

"Unless... unless we dare to promote Gao Wen to the number one singles position, otherwise the change of lineup is actually not very meaningful. We change and they also change." Martin finally sorted out a clear idea and grasped the key.

Grant nodded slightly in agreement, and then gave a word of advice, "But, coach, there is no need for us to put so much pressure on Gawain from the beginning. If we promote him to the third singles position against their third singles, once Gawain can win, maybe we can win four singles games early."

Even if Gawain unfortunately failed to win, Bremer, McDonald and Di Giulio could still gain an advantage by switching to the last three singles positions. This is the simplest Tian Ji horse racing strategy; and because Gawain has a certain impact, the third singles matchup may not necessarily mean throwing in the white flag in advance.

Martin did not respond, but remained silently lost in his own thoughts.

Grant didn't say anything more, after all, Martin was the head coach.

So, does Martin have the guts to do that? Nick Cowell is also thinking about the same question.

"With Billy's personality, what's impossible?" Cowell curled his lips. "Don't forget, in the round of 16 of the U.S. Championship last season, he directly pulled Brymer to the first singles position, which shocked everyone."

Although there were other people sitting in front of him, Cowell did not expect a response and continued.

"The question now is, what is the level of strength of this freshman?"

In Cowell's opinion, if Gawain's ability level goes to two extremes, Martin will dare to take risks-

The extreme meaning is that either they really have strong strength and can upset the Sooners' first two singles players; or they are just smokescreens and their current strength is far from expectations, so they are used as discarded pawns to destroy the Sooners' first two singles players.

But if Gao Wen's strength is "neither good nor bad", he has reached a certain level but has not yet achieved a breakthrough, then Martin should not rashly change the formation. After all, the effect of changing the formation is not obvious, and it may disrupt his own advantage.

Unfortunately, Gawain has only had two complete matches so far, and the information they have collected is very limited, so the deployment of troops has turned into a psychological warfare.

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Knock. Knock. Knock.

Cowell's nails tapped lightly on the table, making a muffled sound. Even in a private meeting in the dead of night, he was still dressed in a suit and tie, with not even his tie unbuttoned. His meticulous image showed the spirit of a superior who was in control of the overall situation, and the sound of his nails tapping on the table was solemn.

There were four people sitting in the busy, not very spacious conference room, but the other three did not speak and just stared at Cowell.

"Billy is a fox."

"What if he makes a little adjustment and uses the freshman as our third singles player?"

It is neither too risky nor too conservative. A clever move can disrupt the deployment, and then the balance of power between the two sides may be broken.

"But, we also make the same adjustment, what if the third singles and sixth singles switch positions?"

Cowell was still talking to himself, but after he finished, he needed a response, so he raised his head and looked at the three people around him, casting inquiring glances.

Finally, someone in the conference room broke the silence and cautiously raised an idea, "Coach, is it possible that the Bruins won't adjust anything and stay the same in the face of ever-changing circumstances?"

(End of this chapter)