Chapter 787: Opening the Door

This time in Doha, Gao Wen played in the competition as a high-ranking seed for the first time in his career, and the whole attention showed a completely different level of enthusiasm.

The top three seeds are Djokovic, Nadal and Berdych, while Gao Wen is the fourth seed.

The disadvantage is that it attracts everyone's attention.

All participating players are focused on the top four seeds, paying attention to the divisions they may enter and the biggest seeds guarding the divisions.

There is no doubt that no one wants to enter the group of Djokovic or Nadal. Berdych is not that strong but he is still strong. Obviously, Gawain is a soft persimmon that people want to pinch, hoping for an upset win and a chance to become famous overnight.

The target on Gawain's back is becoming more and more conspicuous.

The advantage is that you can see all the other mountains from a high place.

Being a high-ranking seed means that Gao Wen does not need to go through the nightmare difficulty of the US Open again, and face high-ranking players all the way; now, Gao Wen can avoid encountering top ten players in the world in the first two rounds and have more time to slowly adjust.

From the perspective of the entire tournament, Gao Wen can improve his condition bit by bit, rising in a step-by-step manner, and then prepare for the fierce competition later. This is also the experience accumulated by top players over time. Gao Wen is now learning from scratch.

Especially the adjustment and training during this offseason, it is still a painful period for Gao Wen.

From his previous life to this life, Gao Wen has never adjusted his technical movements and tactical layout.

Because you can't see it, and because there's no need.

In the past, he was always active in the NCAA and had no chance to see the outside world or meet top professional players, so naturally he had no way of knowing his own shortcomings.

And now, after playing against the top ten players in the world, Gao Wen knows that he still has room for improvement and his game can still be improved.

Some adjustments, although painful, are absolutely necessary.

Ending the offseason and returning to the court also means a new beginning——

Literally.

Then, the significance of the draw becomes clear. Being able to avoid high-ranking seeded players in the first two rounds will undoubtedly buy Gao Wen some breathing space.

In the singles competition in Doha, Galvin will face Djokovic in the upper half; Berdych and Nadal will face each other in the lower half. If they all advance successfully, they will face each other in the semifinals.

After the signing list came out, the media and fans were excited——

Since Gawain and Djokovic are in the same half again, does this mean that "Gawain vs. Djokovic 4.0" may be staged in the Doha semi-finals? Imagine, in the semi-finals, "Gawain vs. Djokovic"; in the finals, "Djokovic vs. Nadal" or "Gawain vs. Nadal", these scenes should be very exciting.

However, if Gao Wen wants to win the chance to play against Djokovic, he needs to win three games first.

In the first round, Gao Wen faced a qualifier, Thiemo-de-Bakker from the Netherlands.

This player, ranked 141st in the world, is 27 years old this year. His world ranking once reached a high of 40th in July 2010, which also proved that he has the impact to enter the top 100 in the world. It is a pity that his ranking has slipped due to injuries, but he still cannot be underestimated.

From the actual progress of this game, it can be seen that Gao Wen really needs more competition training and polishing——

Especially the serving part.

Obviously, due to the change in the serving action, the entire hitting point is still somewhat unstable, and the continuity of the force-generating action is also problematic.

Moreover, compared with doubles matches, singles matches require higher serve power, which also brings more challenges to Gao Wen.

Therefore, double faults become an important role in the game that cannot be ignored.

Originally, Gao Wen is not a player who relies heavily on the power of the first serve, and the safety coefficient of the second serve is relatively high, so he has always controlled double faults well.

But today, in the first set alone, Gao Wen made six double faults, tying the highest number of double faults in a full game in his career.

Every audience member could clearly feel Gao Wen’s struggle.

Moreover, because of the stumbling in the serving process, the entire tactical layout was directly affected, the offensive connection was obviously loose, and the game became more tense and intense.

However, Gawain never gave up, and continued to execute the tactics unwaveringly, and became more devoted and focused.

First of all, the techniques and tactics have been carefully honed throughout the offseason, and the training performance has been very good. The game just requires a little time to adapt.

Obviously, giving up is not an option, otherwise their entire offseason work would be wasted, which would be foolish.

Secondly, since we are not prepared to give up and should not go back to the old ways, honing our skills and adapting to the game become the top priorities rather than winning.

If we must lose, it is better to lose now than later, because if we lose now, there are still doubles matches and a week of training in Melbourne to slowly adjust; so, regardless of winning or losing, there are still many tasks to be completed in the game and we still cannot let our guard down.

In this regard, Gao Wen has always kept a clear head, starting from the NCAA period. This is his advantage and also part of his game temperament.

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In fact, after entering the second set, Gao Wen's performance became a little more stable and he made some progress. On the one hand, his performance was outstanding, and on the other hand, he became more familiar with his opponent, so the game slowly came back.

final--

"6:7(4)", "6:3", "6:2".

Gao Wen won all three matches, from doubles to singles, and kicked off the 2015 season with two wins, a good start!

After losing the first set in a tie-break, Gao Wen regained his familiar rhythm in the next two sets.

However, the number of double faults remained high. After another five double faults, the cumulative number of double faults for the entire game successfully reached double digits.

This is also an unprecedented first in Gao Wen's career, but obviously, this is not a record worth bragging about.

The entire match took two hours and three minutes, but after the match, Gao Wen obediently went to the training ground to practice serving.

Fortunately, there was still doubles competition to continue practicing.

Originally, according to the draw, the combination of Gao Wen and Nadal was about to face the top seeds of this tournament, the combination of Alexander-Peya and Bruno-Soares, in the second round.

However, it is very regrettable that the combination of Peya and Suarez was accidentally injured when serving in the first set of the first round and regretfully chose to retire.

It was indeed a pity for Gao Wen. It was fun to challenge top players at any time and in any game. He was also thinking about the last time he challenged the Bryan brothers in doubles, and this time he could challenge the player who was currently ranked tenth in the world in doubles.

What a pity.

But Gao Wen fully understands. After all, the Australian Open is less than two weeks away. All players need to be extra careful. No one wants to miss the first Grand Slam of the year.

What's more, the opponents in the second round may not be easy targets.

(End of this chapter)