Chapter 721: Come Prepared
Regarding this match, because it happened suddenly, Gawain did not have time to study Kei Nishikori's recent match videos in detail, but that does not mean that Sampras and Gawain were not prepared——
The two substitutes, Gawain and Dimitrov, stayed in London and had no other tasks. Their daily task was to watch the games. They had watched all the group matches so far live without missing a single one.
So, even if you haven't studied the game videos, you're definitely not completely ignorant.
A very noteworthy detail is that last week in Paris, Kei Nishikori lost to Djokovic; this week in London, Kei Nishikori lost to Federer, and they have one thing in common.
“6:3”, “6:2”.
The scores of both games were exactly the same.
Against Djokovic, Kei Nishikori only broke once in the whole game and wasted three break points; against Federer, Kei Nishikori got three break points in the whole game, but wasted them all and failed to break.
And, more than that, in Kei Nishikori's win over Murray this week in London, he squandered four of eight break points and broke serve four times.
At the same time, in these three games, Kei Nishikori gave away more than seven break points and lost multiple service games without exception.
Judging from Kei Nishikori's serve alone, it was a "standard ending", but judging from Kei Nishikori's break success rate, it was a clear decline compared to the US Open.
The reason is very intuitive.
On indoor hard courts, Kei Nishikori consciously adjusted his playing style and increased his aggressiveness, because the ball speed on indoor hard courts is very fast, leaving too little time for defense and defensive counterattacks, and the game often still requires victory through offense.
Kei Nishikori is not good at actively exerting force, so he uses rhythm control to compress the space for returning the ball, and further hits the rebound ball and the rising point to force his opponent into a passive position. Then, when he encounters a situation where the indoor hard court has a low bounce and less reaction time, the uncontrollable uncertainty will increase.
Naturally, the error rate will also increase.
Especially on key points, Kei Nishikori did not control his mistakes well and he should still be looking for the rhythm and feel of indoor hard court attack.
This is also a problem that Kei Nishikori's own playing style must face. The weakness of absolute strength needs to be compensated by other techniques, and the direct result can be seen in the indoor hard court season, the decline in the success rate of breaking serves.
In general, it is always difficult to face Federer with a "fast vs. fast" style of play, because Federer himself is very good at fast vs. fast and is difficult to drag down; moreover, Federer's control of rhythm during the "fast VS fast" hitting process is also unique in professional tennis.
Therefore, Kei Nishikori was defeated directly by Federer.
Relatively speaking, Kei Nishikori can have some advantages over Djokovic, Murray, Gao Wen and others, because they are not the type of players who play with absolute strength or absolute speed. They often need time to plan and also need to switch between offense and defense. Kei Nishikori can always compress the opponent's return time and then disrupt the time and space for thinking and planning.
So, facing Djokovic and Murray, Kei Nishikori won one and lost one.
Today, against Gao Wen, purely in terms of game style and type, Kei Nishikori does have a slight advantage.
So, how should Gawain respond?
Although Gao Wen is not Djokovic or Federer, Gao Wen has his own way of dealing with it. Moreover, this is their second match:
Some things still require readaptation, even if it is the same opponent, every game is different; but some things do not.
My brain has started working quickly.
Therefore, when the game started, from the first point on, Gao Wen's concentration was already immersed in the game and he immediately entered the competitive state.
"40:0".
At the beginning, Gao Wen played steadily in his own serve game.
Logically speaking, as an indoor hard court, the ball speed at the O2 Stadium should be faster, but in fact, the ball speed at the O2 Stadium is slightly slower than that at the Arthur Ashe Stadium, and the bounce height is also slightly lower, so the O2 Stadium requires higher control, and the ball needs to be more delicate and decisive between lightning strikes.
It is precisely because of this that Kei Nishikori was more aggressive in his first two games at the O2 Arena, and the entire hitting rhythm was very dense and fast. He even risked a decline in the quality of his shots and a deviation in the landing point of his return balls, trying his best to bring up the entire rhythm like a tornado.
Sampras and Gawain worked out a strategy for Kei Nishikori:
When serving, slow down and reduce force, increase topspin to get close to the serve on a clay court and limit Kei Nishikori's attack.
First of all, Kei Nishikori is relatively short, so once the tennis ball bounces above his shoulders after hitting the ground, it will be very uncomfortable for him to swing the racket.
Secondly, Kei Nishikori's strength is relatively weak, and his ability to actively exert force is insufficient, but he is very skilled in using the opponent's force to play against him, and he performs better when facing powerful serves.
Again, even when facing Federer, Kei Nishikori was very aggressive in grabbing the serve, mainly hoping to get the rhythm going by receiving the serve.
As a result, tactics tailored for Kei Nishikori were developed.
If Gao Wen chooses to serve at the inside or outside corner, he will reduce the force and speed to pull up the topspin, forcing Kei Nishikori to receive the ball in an awkward position and limit Kei Nishikori's serve.
If Gao Wen chooses to serve close to the opponent, he should increase the force and speed, and use flat serve to squeeze Kei Nishikori's swing as much as possible, forcing him to be unable to launch a counterattack.
The entire serving tactic was very clear and specific. As the game progressed, it was adjusted according to the actual situation, disrupting Kei Nishikori's tactical deployment.
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Maybe, Gawain is not a cannon player, but many people overlook one point, in fact, Gawain's serve control is very good, with a wide variety of rotation, landing point and power.
This point on the game point is the most representative.
Zone 2, first serve, outside corner.
170 kilometers per hour.
Gao Wen mainly used control and rotation, with a very shallow landing point and strong topspin. He bounced high after landing. Kei Nishikori did not predict the situation well and his steps were a little slow. He barely cut back with a two-handed backhand.
Kei Nishikori was still trying to receive the serve, and even though his hitting action was awkward, he tried his best to hit it flat, and then tried to control the landing point of the return ball in the deep area as much as possible, risking it going directly out of bounds, trying to suppress Gao Wen's next offensive connection.
But Gao Wen was mentally prepared for this.
Take small steps and make adjustments in continuous small steps.
The dazzling footsteps were just like light steps on water, and most importantly, Gawain took a half step to the side to make room, ensuring that his forehand could fully swing the racket and accurately predict the route of Kei Nishikori's return ball in the middle.
One side, one wave.
At the moment of shooting, the body is pressed forward and the feet are moving backward, but the body is pressed forward along with the swing movement, using the strength of the body to complete the push, and the wrist is gently pushed in the direction of the small diagonal line.
Hit fast, play fast.
He hit a rebound ball almost at his feet, but the speed and connection of the shot were greatly improved, and the tennis ball flew out directly.
Bang! It disappeared in the blink of an eye.
A forehand diagonal winner, a "love-game", easily held serve, taking only ninety-three seconds.
(End of this chapter)