Chapter 644: Rising Curve
"Speed up."
In fact, there is no magic or secret. To put it simply, Gawain accelerated at the critical moment. As the commentator of ESPN for this game, Sofar revealed the answer to the audience.
"Looking at the whole match, in the second set, Gao Wen improved his condition and evened the score, but his physical strength and energy were severely tested. Sure enough, at the beginning of the third set, Chadi took advantage of Gao Wen's physical strength and broke his serve, taking the initiative in the final set."
"So, what did Gawain do at this time?"
"He knew he was facing a physical test, so he consciously controlled the game, even slowed down the tempo a little bit, and focused on his serve."
"In contrast, in Chardy's serve, his passive defense began to increase, and his defensive counterattacks decreased. If Chardy could score by attacking, he would let it go; but if he couldn't, he didn't care."
“Naturally, the pace of the whole game slowed down and became a little messy.”
"Then, after waiting for his physical strength to recover, starting from his own serve, Gao Wen slowly increased his speed and began to adjust his attacking touch, successfully holding his serve. Then he launched a strong challenge in Chardy's serve to win the match. His speed and condition were completely improved."
"On a tactical level, Chardy was completely unaware that he had fallen into Gawain's trap. His relatively smooth rhythm was interrupted without warning. Especially in an indoor hard court environment, once the rhythm is completely controlled by one side, it is easy to lose the accuracy of the shot."
“Before Chadi could recover, he had already lost eight points.”
"Gao Wen seized the opportunity keenly, and the quality of his shots on both offense and defense was obviously improved to a higher level, and he took the absolute initiative with a smooth scoring momentum."
"In the last four innings, Chadi was getting more and more nervous, as if he didn't know how to play. His hitting was aimless, and then the game fell apart."
Sofar is very familiar with this, not even during the US Open, but since the NCAA era. This is one of Gao Wen's most outstanding qualities.
It's been a long time since I last saw Gao Wen, a man with a big heart, on the court again. It has been exactly seven weeks since he won the US Open.
As for Chadi, he was still confused, with a hundred thousand questions lingering in his mind for a long time. He was absent-minded when shaking hands after the game, and turned away with confusion in his eyes.
I need to analyze and summarize it carefully after I go back. If I can't figure it out, I'm afraid Chadi will have a psychological trauma in the future.
As Sofar said, Gawain is on the right track.
At the end of the game, Gao Wen's performance was like a god, which not only showed his strength, but also showed Gao Wen's competitive temperament: on the one hand, the ability to improve his condition at critical moments and the ability to dare to change the rhythm.
On the other hand, physical reserves are slowly returning to the expected level. After experiencing the physical peak, we regain the initiative and patiently look for opportunities to turn the situation around.
These are the most precious things, and are also the "feelings" that we hope to find through game after game.
After winning three games in a row, Gao Wen has successfully entered the semi-finals in Valencia and performed well.
However, the fact that the competition has reached this stage also means that the competition has further intensified.
Among the main competitors for the year-end finals, apart from Berdych and Cilic who were upset in the first round, Ferrer and Murray also performed strongly and remain in the draw.
In the semi-finals, sparks flew.
In the upper half, Murray vs. Ferrer.
In the lower half, Gao Wen vs. Robredo.
The difference between the semi-finals and the finals is one game, but the points difference is very considerable. More importantly, what is being competed for now is the qualification to compete for the championship.
After all, championship points are the most valuable.
In the upper half, the two competitors Murray and Ferrer meet on a narrow road, which also means that no matter who the final winner is, someone will be eliminated. This is Gawain's opportunity to shorten the points gap.
The prerequisite is that you must reach the finals.
But obviously, this is not an easy task.
In the fourth round, he will face the Spanish star Tommy Robredo.
This "veteran" who was born in 1982 once reached a career-high ranking of fifth in the world in August 2006. He is a very comprehensive master.
Robredo is a typical Spanish player who performs best on clay. He has reached the round of 16 five times at the French Open.
At the same time, Robredo also showed good competitiveness on hard courts; and, similar to Busta, he is better at fast hard courts.
Australian Open, once in the round of 16, four times in the fourth round.
US Open, once in the round of 16, eight times in the fourth round.
Overall, the US Open is the Grand Slam where Robredo has performed most consistently and best, even more consistently than the French Open. He also reached the fourth round of this year's tournament.
Robredo is a very stable and solid player, somewhat similar to Ferrer, but with a different style. Ferrer plays with a connecting rhythm and is known as a "stable man"; Robredo is more changeable and tougher, and more decisive and determined in offense.
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It is precisely because of his own style that Robredo has maintained a good competitive state. He is 32 years old this year, and his world ranking is still among the top 20. He is currently ranked 18th. His competitiveness cannot be underestimated. Moreover, he is even more difficult to deal with than Busta and Chadi.
With rich competition experience and the advantage of fighting on home soil, coupled with his humble and low-key style, Robredo will definitely not take it lightly when facing Gao Wen.
The competition is bound to be very difficult.
However, if Gao Wen wants to qualify for the year-end finals, or even show himself on the year-end stage, then dedicated masters like Robredo are the hurdles he must overcome.
The facts have proved this to be the case.
"7:6(8)", "6:7(9)".
The first two sets were all tiebreaks, and the scores were extremely close. Every point was a fight to save the set points. In the end, Gao Wen and Robredo won one set each, which also meant that the match had to enter the deciding set.
The confused spectators saw the score and thought it was a match between Isner and Raonic.
This is also a notable feature of indoor hard courts.
The ball is faster, bounces lower, and the reaction time is further compressed. The power and speed of the offense are released, and it is very, very difficult to control the entire rhythm.
Moreover, the cannon serve can have some advantages on indoor hard courts because the power of the serve is further amplified; but at the same time, it also needs to face challenges. There is less time to return to the position after serving, and the technical requirements for offense and defense are more delicate. It is not enough to rely on serving as a single trick.
To some extent, the most suitable venue for the cannon serve is grass, followed by indoor hard court.
It is precisely because of this that mistakes can occur if you are not careful, and there are a lot of mistakes.
On the surface, they appear to be unforced errors, but in fact, they are all forced errors caused by trying to complete the connection between offense and defense as quickly as possible, which leads to deviation in the hitting point. The confrontation between suppression and counter-suppression runs through the whole process.
On the one hand, it increases the power of the serve, and on the other hand, it also increases the rhythm of the attack, making it more difficult to break the serve, so the score becomes more stalemate.
(End of this chapter)