Chapter 879: Quarterfinals
How should we describe the press conference after Gawain defeated Kyrgios?
Frank and generous; sincere and straightforward; sunny and positive; bold and resolute.
Not only did he not evade, but he also did not remain conservative. He responded bravely and actively, even provoking and counterattacking. The confidence that emanated from him was presented in a light and humorous way, making all attacks seem small and humble, and not worth mentioning.
So what can Australian fans do ?
Obviously, there are still countless local fans who hate Gao Wen, and with the victory over Kyrgios, it has reached a new peak.
However, Gao Wen's upright and aboveboard performance in the post-match press conference also won over some local fans and won some support.
No matter what, Gao Wen defeated his opponent with a wonderful game and advanced to the next round. He spoke with strength, which deserves applause, doesn't it?
If the fans continue to whine and refuse to give in, it will appear that they are petty and cannot afford to lose, and they have to endure it even if it makes their livers hurt.
In the end, the local fans were so angry that they were on the verge of exploding, so they could only turn their guns on Tomic and Kyrgios and curse at them.
Tomic is still carefree and does his own thing.
Facing the fans' accusations, Tomic ignored them. Just two days after the loss, he began to frequently go in and out of bars, spending money on wine and women, and having wild parties.
In the bar, he was accused face to face by local fans and a conflict and fight almost broke out. In the end, it was Koggenakis who pulled Tomic away.
Kyrgios remains self-centered and arrogant.
This new generation player went online himself and went straight to the field to have a fight with the fans, starting a verbal exchange on social networks. The endless stream of trash talk was eye-opening.
Moreover, it was not enough to just curse at each other online. Kyrgios even continued to provoke fans during an interview, "If you can do it, come on and give it a try."
Here, all the Australian singles players were wiped out, but the spectacular drama is still going on fiercely and there is no sign of it stopping for the time being.
It even attracted a reprimand from Australian tennis doubles legend Todd-Woodbridge.
This doubles star is regarded as one of the greatest doubles players of all time, and is not inferior even when discussed together with the Bryan brothers.
After retiring, he has been committed to the training and development of the younger generation of Australians. Faced with such a situation, Woodbridge was extremely angry: "You should prove yourself with your performance on the court, instead of talking like a street thug. If you have time to curse with netizens, you might as well go back and practice some serves."
Unexpectedly, Kyrgios replied without thinking, "Sorry, no need to train, my serve is good enough already."
This directly stirred up a hornet's nest.
The off-field drama is even more exciting than the game itself. Is this really a good thing?
Silently, it was the other protagonist of the incident, Gawain, who quietly disappeared. After briefly lighting the fuse, he returned to the training ground and diligently prepared for the next game.
Over there, the Australian Open is still progressing in an orderly manner. The top eight men's and women's singles have been announced one after another, and the number of players left in the draw has dropped sharply.
This also means that the battle for the championship is becoming clearer.
The upper half of the men's singles.
In the quarter-finals, Djokovic defeated Raonic with a perfect match and advanced to the quarterfinals; he will face his old rival Berdych, who successfully met with another seeded player Felipe Lopez. Berdych delivered a donut in the second set and won in three straight sets to advance, showing an excellent competitive state.
In the 2/4 zone, two high-ranking seeded players, Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori, met successfully. Among them, Stan Wawrinka had good luck in the draw, and all the seeded players in the small zone were eliminated unexpectedly, and finally returned to the quarterfinals smoothly; Kei Nishikori defeated Ferrer in the round of 16 and won three consecutive victories over the latter.
As expected before the game, the upper half was still dominated by familiar faces and lacked new generation blood. In the end, the four top seeds successfully reached the quarterfinals.
Although there have been some fluctuations among the smaller seeds, the top eight seeds have remained stable.
In the 3/4 zone, Galvin defeated Kyrgios and Nadal easily defeated Anderson. "Galvin VS Nadal 2.0" will be staged as scheduled in Melbourne Park.
When the draw came out, this zone was the most interesting, because all the young players were concentrated in Zone 5/8 where Gao Wen was. This also meant that one player would fight among them to challenge the veteran players represented by Nadal and engage in a bloody battle for a place in the semi-finals.
Now, everything is about to happen——
Before the start of the entire Australian Open, the situation of "Big Four vs. Challengers" was first staged in the three-quarters zone. As for whether Djokovic and Wawrinka can repeat last year's duel, both players still need to go through another round of tests. Naturally, all eyes are focused here.
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In the 4/4 zone, after Federer lost to Seppi in the third round, Karlovic finally made his way to the top eight of a Grand Slam again after Wimbledon in 2009. Karlovic defeated Djokovic in Doha at the beginning of the year, and this time, he will challenge another giant, Murray.
Murray, like Djokovic, faced the challenge of another new generation player in the round of 16, Dimitrov. Last year at Wimbledon, Dimitrov defeated Murray to reach the semi-finals; this year, Murray fought hard in four sets and successfully avenged his defeat, reaching the Australian Open quarter-finals for the seventh consecutive year.
Raonic, Dimitrov and Kyrgios, three rookies born after 1990, all stopped in the round of 16. It is precisely because of this that the historical significance of Gao Wen's advancement to the quarterfinals is further highlighted.
Looking at the lower half, the only surprise came from Federer, and the 8/8 zone made Karlovic's breakthrough possible, but apart from that, the other three seats were all occupied by top seeds.
From this perspective, this year's Australian Open lacks surprises.
After experiencing the turbulent waves of the US Open, the Australian Open seemed to have returned to calm again. Among the final eight players, only Karlovic was an exception. The other seven players were all the top eight seeds. Some minor storms in the first four rounds ultimately failed to affect the overall situation.
So, what does this mean? The "challengers" are still a little short of energy, and the new generation led by Raonic and Dimitrov needs more time to grow slowly.
But is it really so? Is the dominance of the Big Four still as solid as a rock? At least, the two new Grand Slam champions from last year are still on the draw, and both Stan Wawrinka and Gawain will continue to prove themselves, so this topic is not completely over. The "challengers" have not given up and are still launching strong attacks.
In other words, the hot topic that has continued from last year to this year is finally about to kick off again in the Australian Open quarterfinals.
From the perspective of the matchup alone, the match between Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori can make up for the regret of being interrupted by Gawain at last year's US Open. Let's see who can make a breakthrough, but the overall highlights are not as good as the other game.
"Gawain vs. Nadal"! It's coming, it's finally here, fasten your seat belts! (End of this chapter)