Chapter 905: Full Motivation

Standing at the high point of 2022, looking back at history, when people mention the Australian Open, they marvel at Djokovic's incredible nine championships and Federer's feat of reaching the semi-finals for eleven consecutive years.

In particular, after Federer was upset in the third round in 2015, he returned to the semi-finals the following year, broke a five-year Grand Slam title drought at the 2017 Australian Open, and then won his 20th Grand Slam title at the 2018 Australian Open, writing a new chapter in his history.

Obviously, these two giants are the darlings of Melbourne Park.

However, people should not forget Murray's tragic fate of finishing second five times at the Australian Open.

Indeed, judging from the results, Wimbledon is the Grand Slam where Murray performs best, but that is Murray's home tournament, and the home court factor also plays an important role. Putting this aside, Melbourne Park is the most suitable venue for Murray to perform.

Same with Djokovic.

As mentioned before, Murray and Djokovic have very similar playing styles, and the two players prefer very similar surface types.

In Melbourne, Murray reached the final five times. Except for the first time when he lost to Federer due to lack of experience, he lost to Djokovic in the next four times.

"Since we have Yu, why do we need Liang?"

The only thing that can be said is that Melbourne Park is indeed very, very suitable for Murray, but unfortunately, besides Murray, there is also a Djokovic.

This is just like Federer at the French Open. The Swiss king reached the finals five times at the French Open, but only won one championship. The other four times he lost to the same opponent, Nadal.

The fateful confrontation resulted in a fateful tragedy.

From 2010 to 2016, Murray has only lost to two players on this court:

Federer and Djokovic.

However, Murray later defeated Federer in Melbourne Park, but he was never able to beat Djokovic on this court, not even once.

It can be seen from all aspects that Murray does have a little magic in Melbourne Park.

Perhaps, this little bit of magic is not enough for Murray to win a championship trophy, but there is no doubt that it is not easy for any player to beat Murray here.

Time, back to the present.

Dimitrov has the most direct say.

Last year, Dimitrov defeated his opponent and reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon, Murray's best tournament, but this year at the Australian Open, Murray completed his sweet revenge.

In Dimitrov's opinion, Melbourne Park is actually more suitable for Murray's style of play. It not only gives Murray more time to prepare, but also has better defensive quality.

On the contrary, he himself prefers the low bounce and fast pace of Wimbledon to Melbourne Park, and the whole attack is very beautiful.

"... Well, the entire defense's ball-taking rate and accuracy are really good, which always brings great pressure."

"By the way, his movement is much better than last year."

Dimitrov showed Gao Wen the freshest first-hand information in the most intuitive and timely way.

Gawain nodded slightly, and his mind couldn't help but think of the last time they met in Valencia.

Objectively speaking, Murray and Djokovic are both typical players with balanced offense and defense, without obvious weaknesses, but overall, both of them are slightly stronger in defense than offense.

But this is different from Nadal's tenacious defense in the early stage of his career.

Nadal's style is to accumulate advantages and max out his defensive talents and skills; Djokovic and Murray are both the type who are good at both offense and defense and have an overall layout.

In other words, defense is a passive choice, but it is also a layout strategy.

On the defensive level, some differences can be seen in the games between Djokovic and Murray: Djokovic is a natural hitting machine, and his handling of the ball is truly unique. Even if his footwork is occasionally not in place, he can always complete the shot - of course, Djokovic's movement is also top-notch among the top.

Murray is not like that. His talent lies in the interpretation of the three-dimensional space of the entire court and the prediction of planning and layout. When he hits the ball in passive defense, he needs to rely on his footsteps to be in place. Once his footsteps are not in place, he will lose the ball.

Of course, in the game, the difference between the two is not obvious, because tennis is a holistic sport, and it is difficult to single out a technical part for discussion. More often than not, they are closely linked, and a mistake in one link will cause the entire game to get out of control.

However, a very intuitive example is Murray and Azarenka.

In 2018, Murray was on the verge of retiring due to a hip injury; also in 2018, Azarenka returned to the tennis court after giving birth and started again after suffering injuries.

Both players are facing the same problem. They have been unable to return to their peak since 2018. The fundamental reason is that their footwork is not in place.

Murray and Azarenka are both players who are good at defense, good at setting up, and creating trouble through defense and even looking for counterattack opportunities.

However, both players' control over the quality of their defense relies heavily on the control of the hitting point. Once their footsteps cannot keep up and they cannot find the first hitting point they need - that is, the hitting point is slightly late, which may be a difference of half a step when converted into footsteps, then the quality of defense cannot be improved.

It is precisely because of this that Murray has had a very difficult time even winning games since 2018; Azarenka's games since 2018 have completely lost the style of her peak period. Not only are her performances showing obvious fluctuations, but it is also difficult for her to find her tenacity when competing against top players.

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So, what is the revelation?

Last year's match between Gawain and Murray in Valencia was, to some extent, a replica of Simon's match, except that Murray was more difficult.

At that time, Murray's defensive quality was not at its best, and as a result, his defensive counterattack was not sharp enough, so the game was particularly tense.

In other words, at this year's Australian Open, Murray's defensive quality has returned, and naturally, his offense and layout will be more threatening.

At the same time, if you want to defeat Murray, you can either grind like Djokovic, or use offense to open up a gap like Federer.

Ultimately, it is still necessary to disrupt Murray's control over the hitting point during the hitting round.

But Gawain is neither Djokovic nor Federer, he has his own playing style and strategy, so this matchup should be very interesting.

Looking forward to it!

Dimitrov looked at the excitement and joy in Gawain's eyes and felt a little amused.

"Other people would inevitably feel headache when seeing the draw for two consecutive games against the Big Four, or even lament their bad luck, but why do I feel like you seem particularly happy?"

"Happy! Of course I'm happy!"

Gao Wen showed a big smile, nodded repeatedly to show his agreement, and rubbed his hands, eager to try.

"It's a rare opportunity to challenge top players and face severe tests in a best-of-five Grand Slam tournament. How can I miss it?"

"I think I have good luck in this year's Australian Open."

Dimitrov: ...I admit defeat! (End of this chapter)