Chapter 648: Stalemate

Valencia, final, "Murray vs. Gawain".

Murray served first.

Apparently, Murray watched Gawain beat Djokovic in the US Open semi-finals.

In that match, Gao Wen took advantage of Djokovic's slow start and was very bold in the opening. He successfully broke the serve in the first game and steadily maintained his advantage to win the first set.

Of course, in the Grand Slam best-of-five format, just winning the first set is not enough to guarantee that Gawain will defeat Djokovic. The subsequent performances are equally important, but it is undeniable that the opening is very important.

Valencia's match is a best-of-three format, which means there is less room for maneuver and the importance of the opening is further enhanced.

The opening should be a test, and during the test, Murray has already begun to consciously lay out the plan -

Suppress Gawain's backhand.

In fact, it has only been three months since Gawain emerged, which is neither a long nor a short time. His technical characteristics have been repeatedly studied by countless players and coaches. Many people are eager to defeat Gawain and prove themselves, and the relatively unstable forehand is often the breakthrough point.

However, Murray does not follow the beaten path.

In fact, in the first half of the first point, Murray was also suppressing Gao Wen's forehand:

The serve from zone one was directed to the wide outside corner, pulling Gao Wen out of the court.

With a serve at a speed of 181 kilometers per hour, Gawain used his forehand to leverage the force of the ball and took small steps to adjust his position to defend his backhand. As a result, Murray hit another diagonal return ball with his forehand, pulling Gawain's feet back to the forehand position.

Up to this point, Murray's tactical intention to suppress Gawain's forehand was very clear, but then, Murray's hitting lines were all pressed on Gawain's backhand, continuing to put pressure on him.

Moreover, Murray's shots are very purposeful, and the landing point is basically between one and two footprints within the baseline. He does not pursue the depth of the line, but keeps the shots in a relatively deep area, limiting Gawain's shots through flat shots and backspin balls.

At the same time, the angle was not completely opened, and it was always circling near the center line, not to create a winning point, but to contain Gao Wen's footsteps in the backhand position. He repeatedly returned to the forehand position and repeatedly pulled back to the backhand position. It seemed that he was preparing to break through from Gao Wen's backhand position.

When masters fight, you can’t judge by appearances. You must look three steps ahead before taking one step.

According to Gao Wen's judgment, Murray should be preparing to use the tactic of "pressing the backhand and hitting the forehand".

Everyone says that Djokovic has the best two-handed backhand in the world, but in fact, Murray's two-handed backhand is definitely not inferior to Djokovic:

It can resist and fight, has super stability, and has many changes.

Compared to Djokovic, Murray's backhand can not only drive, but also slice, drop, lob, change the rhythm, and control the landing point. Maybe the attack power is slightly inferior, but the changes are better.

Against Gawain, Murray was absolutely confident in suppressing his backhand with his backhand.

In Gawain's matches, many defensive counterattacks start from the backhand. If Murray can suppress Gawain's backhand, then the layout of the game will be much easier, but in the end, to score, he still needs to break through Gawain's forehand and destroy the stability of Gawain's forehand.

This tactic is somewhat similar to Djokovic's "pressing forehand and backhand" against Nadal, seeking a breakthrough from the opponent's strongest technical aspect.

This match was an encounter between the two players. The start of the match was a necessary stage for adapting to the opponent's style. Murray was testing, and Gawain was also adjusting.

"Backhand vs. backhand"? Gawain was not afraid at all. Moreover, Gawain was also testing Murray's ability to deal with his backhand. What kind of changes would the change in speed and power bring? The slight difference between Gawain and Murray was that Gawain was a little... "random". The rhythm and frequency of the entire stroke were constantly adjusted.

The landing point is sometimes deep and sometimes shallow.

Rotating, sometimes fast, sometimes slow.

What Gao Wen was testing was how Murray dealt with different situations: because he also knew that facing Murray, if he was not adequately prepared on the backhand side, the game would be very, very difficult.

Moreover, Gao Wen also implemented his tactics against Djokovic and took the lead.

Objectively speaking, Gao Wen currently does not have the state to continuously attack like in the US Open semi-finals. The risk is too high, and he may even ruin the game because of his high error rate. However, if he does not dare to take action against the giants, the result of the game may be even worse.

From Djokovic to Nadal to Murray, Gao Wen has always insisted on this, and he did the same in this game.

Although Gawain was not afraid of backhand against Murray at all, it was still Gawain who changed the line first, and dared to use the backhand straight line to break the deadlock.

However, Murray had already taken precautions and remained alert to Gawain's ability to change lines, especially his backhand straight shot.

Therefore, Murray predicted Gawain's change of line in advance, defended at the first time, and sent out a straight line again to continue to suppress Gawain's backhand.

Back and forth.

The round of ball was in a stalemate, and most of the time it was a backhand duel. Even if Gawain changed the line to the forehand, after both sides hit the ball for two rounds at the forehand position, Murray once again suppressed the ball to Gawain's backhand position. The whole tactical layout was very clear and the execution was very good.

Fifteen beats.

Twenty beats.

Murray is worthy of being Murray, he never drops the ball at the baseline. Accurate prediction and flexible footwork, excellent defensive touch and soft wrapping ability also enable Murray to keep the round going in the baseline tug-of-war.

In a trance, I dreamed of returning to Flushing and playing against Djokovic again.

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The problem is that there is no sign of the end of the round.

Twenty-six beats.

Then, it was Gawain who took the lead in launching the attack.

When hitting the ball in the 27th shot, facing Murray's another suppressive backhand ball, Gawain made an early prediction and did not move towards his forehand, but took a step forward.

Grab the rising point!

Backhand straight line!

The entire rhythm instantly picked up, and Gao Wen had planned it in advance. At the moment of passing the ball, he gently flicked his wrist outward and aimed at the blind spot of the big triangle at the baseline to launch an attack.

The tennis ball shot out like an arrow, light and silent. Gao Wen did not actively exert force, but emphasized control and pursued the landing point.

Bang! The tennis ball hit the bottom line accurately! The entire center court exclaimed, almost thinking that Gawain would definitely score.

Murray did not agree.

Murray was still on guard against Gawain's shot. Although his steps were a little awkward, he started very quickly and barely arrived. He stretched out his entire upper body and completed the save with a forehand cutting motion.

Backspin ball.

Even in an extremely passive defensive state, Murray was still planning, with the tennis ball pressing the lowest position in the center of the net and moving diagonally into the gap in Gawain's forehand.

Dengdengdeng! A dark blue figure chased after him like a hurricane. From the fast and steady steps, it could be seen that this was also planned by Gawain. He rode his horse leisurely, having already anticipated that his change of line would not be able to score directly, and was ready for Murray to hit the diagonal line.

"Calculation VS calculation".

So, who was right this time?

(End of this chapter)