Chapter 885 Entering the State

"oh……"

The entire Rod Laver Arena erupted in exclamations of frustration and looking around, one could clearly see faces of people covering their heads and holding their hands, expressing regret and deep sorrow.

Although the five-star red flag was waving vigorously and excitedly, the spaciousness and vastness of Rod Laver Arena quickly drowned out the red color and was immersed in the sighs and regrets surging from the entire stadium.

On the court, Gawain's eyes were bright, his fists were clenched, and his whole body exuded a sense of determination. He celebrated the point simply and briefly.

Just now, Nadal had created an opportunity through continuous offensive pressure, but in the last shot, he made a forehand diagonal attack, ready to score the winning point, but it went slightly beyond the baseline and out of bounds. Not only did he lose the point, but he also gave away the third break point in his first service game.

"40:AD".

As we all know, Nadal is slow to warm up and is often slow to enter the game state; moreover, he likes the outdoors, likes the sunshine, likes to sweat under the scorching sun, likes to feel the temperature, the humidity, the temperature, and the sky as the game environment, so that he can mobilize his state more fully.

Because of this, Nadal's performances on indoor courts have always been mediocre, even when the court roof has to be closed due to weather conditions.

At the same time, Nadal's several frustrating losses in Melbourne Park also occurred at night.

Of course, this is not inevitable, but it is also true that for top players, differences in details do play an important role that cannot be ignored.

After the game started today, Gao Wen was the first to take action.

Although this was his first time on Centre Court and first time on a night stage at Melbourne Park, it was never a problem for him.

Gowen did it once in Flushing; now in Melbourne Park, the more mature Gowen still has the innocent heart of a newborn calf.

After coming on the court, Gao Wen played very actively and proactively, showing his confidence from the first point.

The difference between night games and day games is very obvious. Objective natural factors such as low temperature and strong wind directly cause the texture of the tennis ball to become heavier, and at the same time, the bounce will be slightly lower. Moreover, the court lighting is no longer natural light, but artificial light, and the whole sense of space is also different.

It is indeed slightly different from Nadal's preferred style of play. He still prefers shots that bounce higher and stay in the air longer.

In addition, Nadal is a typical "durable player" with a habit of slow warm-up. This is not only reflected in his defensive counterattack style, but also in the fact that he needs time to adapt, deepen and adjust in the game. As the confrontation progresses and the pressure accumulates, Nadal's state can often be mobilized.

Therefore, in the opening stage, the young and energetic Gao Wen gained the upper hand.

Gao Wen, who won the coin tossing round, chose to serve first.

In the first service game, Gawain made a forehand error and lost a point. Nadal was under pressure and his forehand error went into the net, which resulted in a point. In addition, Gawain scored three winning points in offense.

Clean and quick, hold serve.

Then, in Nadal's serve, when Nadal got the game point first, Gawain continued to exert pressure and performed well, which created trouble.

The match was tied four times before and after, and now Gao Wen got the break point for the third time.

The game had only been going on for five minutes and already, without any nonsense, it had entered a tense state.

Obviously, this was not the situation that the home audience and Spanish fans wanted to see. They were all very upset, but Nadal was very calm.

No regrets, no regrets, not even too many expressions, just focusing on yourself, following the steps, and preparing for the next serve.

Follow the steps.

Thunder and lightning cannot change it.

On this side of the court, Gawain knew that Nadal's serve process was rather complicated, so he took his time, organizing his thoughts and determining his tactics.

In fact, after Djokovic emerged and won seven consecutive games against Nadal, his technical and tactical layout against Nadal was no secret.

Simply put, it's all about the forehand.

Nadal's strongest point is his forehand, but at the same time, his breakthrough point is also his forehand - this is Djokovic's tactic.

However, it is easy to talk about it on paper. Gao Wen himself has played against Nadal, and he knows that it is not easy to break through Nadal's forehand.

Moreover, not all players have Djokovic's baseline hitting ability.

Of course, Gao Wen also has his own characteristics.

For this match, Sampras and Agassi developed a tactic against Nadal. The first and foremost rule was: be mentally prepared for continuous suppression and hammering on the backhand.

At least on the strategic level, not only should we not be afraid, but we also need to be tough and decisive, and even force Nadal to change his tactics.

This is somewhat similar to the match against Djokovic, the difference is that Gawain's backhand is also a backhand against Djokovic, and it is currently the top number one backhand in the tour, while Gawain's backhand is against Nadal's forehand, the Spanish king's strongest weapon.

Gao Wen was ready to break through with his backhand, taking himself as the main focus.

Snap. Snap.

Nadal is bouncing the ball.

District 2.

It has been mentioned more than once before that Nadal fully utilizes the advantage of his left hand and serves from the outside corner of the second zone to suppress his opponent's backhand. This is the most mature, perfect and handy tactic.

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It doesn't matter if his opponent sees through him, Nadal still has a clear advantage, even when facing the other Big Three.

The only weakness of this tactic is Nadal's own serving condition. If Nadal's first serve success rate is not high, or the quality of his outside corner serve is mediocre, then the tactic will be difficult to execute.

Therefore, the two keys to measure Nadal's competitive state are his forehand and his serve from the outside corner of the second zone.

Push off the ground! Throw the ball! Sure enough.

Outside corner.

On the break point, Nadal still chose his most mature tactical routine, however——

"Out of bounds!"

The first serve failed to enter the zone, which once again proved that Nadal was slow to warm up in the opening stage.

However, Nadal was not panicked.

Based on the coach, Nadal's career atmosphere is divided into the Uncle Toni period and the Moya period.

During the Moya period, Nadal's hard court strength improved significantly and the importance of the first serve also increased; but during Uncle Toni's period, Nadal's games were basically based on the second serve.

In other words, when watching Nadal's game status, one should look at his second serve scoring rate, while other male players need to look at their first serve scoring rate.

This is a very special point.

Nadal is used to the second serve, and he has a wide variety of second serve tactics.

The most basic and intuitive point is that Nadal has strong confidence in his defensive ability, so he is not afraid of the poor quality of his second serve and the inability to launch an attack like the first serve. He is very willing to calm down and patiently play long rounds of multi-shot tug-of-war and maneuver at the baseline.

It is also because of this that Nadal's second serve insurance coefficient is often relatively high. He will not take risks, but instead use rotation and landing point to suppress his opponent to prevent his opponent from directly attacking. Among them, the proportion of close serves is relatively high.

During the Moya period, Nadal's second serve tactics became more aggressive, and he would occasionally try to serve and volley.

But this kind of tactical awareness did not exist in 2015.

For example, this second serve.

As expected, close range pressure forehand! (End of this chapter)