Chapter 89: Tough Opponent

"…Deuce."

The referee's voice announcing the score came calmly from the microphone. Gawain spread his legs wide apart, using the core strength of his waist and abdomen to control his body balance. He looked breathlessly at the other side of the court. Saramento was celebrating by jumping with his fists clenched, and continued to cheer himself up.

Boom boom boom! Boom boom boom! The Trojans' fans were cheering loudly because Sacramento had just saved a break point on his serve for the second time.

"Ah, what a pity. It was just a little bit off. It should have been just one ball out of bounds. Just a little bit off. Gawain's backhand straight line could have resulted in the winning point."

Sofar knew that Gawain's backhand straight line was as if assisted by God in the previous game, and it performed very well, and it became the key to the final victory over Harris. However, the opponents are different, the quality of the return ball and the hitting line are naturally different, and the challenges faced by the same backhand straight line are also different, and they cannot be compared.

Sampras nodded slightly in agreement.

"Sacramento's defensive coverage was really excellent, forcing Gao Wen to open a wider angle when returning the ball. This backhand straight line was also aimed at the sideline. If it went in, it would be the winning point, and Gao Wen would be able to break Sacramento's serve for the first time in the game, but unfortunately, he was just a little bit short."

A little bit, but even a hair's breadth is still out of bounds.

Standing on the court, Gao Wen still had a trace of regret in his eyes. He looked at the landing point reluctantly, panting heavily.

Today's match against Sacramento was a brand new experience. It was the first time for Gao Wen to play as the team's first singles player. However, the novelty did not last long. The intense and difficult match forced Gao Wen to concentrate completely on the game.

Saramento's absolute strength is actually not top-notch. His thin body is much thinner than Gawain, and the limitations of his physical talent are visible to the naked eye. But Saramento was able to break into the top ten in the United States and become the Trojans' number one singles player, so he is naturally no pushover.

His playing style is very special.

Simply put, it's slimy.

Although his offensive firepower is insufficient and his forehand is almost unable to exert force, in terms of strength, he is even inferior to Gao Wen three months ago; but his basic skills are very solid, his forehand and backhand are relatively balanced, and both have the ability to withstand blows.

Most importantly, the defense was very, very good.

On the one hand, it has good prediction, high rate of footsteps, and large coverage area, and can almost cover every corner.

On the other hand, he has a good touch. Whether facing a flat shot or a spin, he can wrap the tennis ball, which also allows the tennis ball to always return smoothly to the opponent's court.

That is, don’t drop the ball.

No matter what the ball comes from, Sacramento is always able to save the field as much as possible, even if it is extremely passive, forcing the attacking party to have to take one more shot.

At first glance, Sacramento's game is really nothing to watch, just running all over the court and causing the opponent to make mistakes, even ugly ones, but! He can win.

In fact, this style also exists in the professional tour, such as French player Gilles-Simon.

He is 183 cm tall and weighs only 65 kg. He is very thin and weak, with no offensive ability and relies entirely on defense. However, at the end of 2008, he defeated Nadal, Federer and Djokovic, three of the top three players in the world, in succession. In early 2009, his world ranking reached the sixth highest in his career.

In other words, Simon is also one of the top professional players.

Facing a player like Simon, it is difficult to win with a single, ruthless attack. It is still necessary to establish an advantage through patiently planning the return line. Otherwise, if you want to score by relying solely on two or three shots of attack, you will ultimately end up being impatient and making more mistakes the more you attack.

Of course, there is no comparison value between the world-class defensive abilities of Sacramento and Simon, but the playing styles are indeed similar.

Originally, Gawain was not the type who could attack smoothly and fluently; moreover, Sacramento's strength was indeed above that of Gawain at the moment, so it was difficult for Gawain to make a breakthrough. The game fell into a stalemate from the start, and neither side was able to establish an advantage at the start.

After entering the court, Sacramento won the coin toss and chose the venue, which was to receive the serve. His playing style could be seen from the details.

No matter what, everything starts with defense, which is also the part he is most familiar with and confident in.

Soon, Gawain discovered how difficult Sacramento was.

Saramento can cover the usual line combinations and offensive routes in time. Not only can he return the ball in the first place, but he can also find opportunities in defense, suddenly launch a sneak attack and turn defense into offense.

Even if the offensive quality is not high and cannot directly generate winning points, it can still interrupt Gao Wen's hitting and running rhythm and regain the advantage.

Of course, Sacramento's weaknesses are also very obvious. On the one hand, the quality of his offense is not high, and it is difficult for him to score the winning points directly. Every point is a tug-of-war.

On the other hand, the quality of defense is not top-notch. Some defensive returns are very good and can curb subsequent attacks; some returns are of mediocre quality, basically returning the tennis ball to the court without any thought or purpose, which means that the opponent must hit one more shot no matter what.

It is precisely because of this that in Sacramento's serving games, relying on his advantage in serving, he can often create more scoring opportunities; while in Gawain's serving games, he can entangle the score, consume Gawain's physical strength and energy as much as possible, and gradually erode the advantage.

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Gao Wen once caught up to a tie in Sacramento's serve, but he was never able to get a break point, let alone break Sacramento's serve.

On the other hand, Sacramento had five break points in Gao Wen's serve, but all of them were saved by Gao Wen's wonderful performance at the critical moment.

As a result, neither side was able to break the serve, but instead they each held their serve and fought all the way to "5:4". Gao Wen, who served first, had the score advantage. Currently in progress was Sacramento's serve. If Gao Wen could break the serve in this game, he would be able to win the first set directly.

really!

Under pressure, Sacramento also showed signs of fluctuation. After the two sides were tied, Gao Wen got the first break point of the whole game, which was equivalent to a set point.

However, at the critical moment, Sacramento still held on to the score, saving two break points, especially the second one.

Gawain had created opportunities through patient maneuvering, but Sacramento's footwork covering the entire court still affected him. His backhand shot went straight out of bounds on the last shot and he still missed the break point, which really made Gawain annoyed and depressed.

calm!

Gao Wen kept telling himself that in a tennis match, one point is one point, and no matter whether you win or lose, you should not let the emotions of one point affect the next point, because winning or losing one point cannot determine the direction of the entire game. Even if you get the match point, you may lose the victory. That's how it is.

(End of this chapter)