Chapter 93 Line Layout
Sacramento's return ball went back to Gao Wen's forehand position.
At this point, Gawain already had the advantage, because he didn't need to move his feet, he could just wait in place and start attacking, but Gawain didn't rush to hit the ball directly, his peripheral vision was always observing Saramento's movement trend -
After successfully completing one shot of defense, Sacramento began to move laterally, returning to the center of the court to prepare for the next shot of defense.
Gao Wen knew Saramento's foot speed and coverage ability, and even if he tried his best, he would not be able to score the winning point.
then--
Push off the ground! Turn! Swing the racket!
Gawain pressed his forehand down a little, and simply hit the tennis ball toward the center of the court, just like... throwing it into Sacramento's arms.
Wait, is that a batting error?
Without any pressure, Gawain's forehand actually hit a non-threatening transition ball, directly sending the tennis ball to Sacramento. Doesn't this give Sacramento an opportunity to turn defense into offense? What happened to Gawain? There was a big problem with this shot.
However, tennis matches change rapidly, and before the audience had time to process their thoughts, the tennis ball was already in front of Sacramento.
Hmm? Something is wrong! In tennis, the two most basic ways of hitting the ball are the drive and the slice, and the two most important forms are the flat shot and the spin. So how do you tell them apart?
The simplest way is to look at the angle of the racket. If the racket is perpendicular to the ground, then it is a flat hit, and the whole hitting action is very flat and straight. If the racket forms an angle with the ground and the racket tilts toward the ground, it is backspin, and if the racket tilts toward the sky, it is topspin.
Of course, there are more subtle differences in the actual situation, but overall, this is roughly the case.
Just now, Gao Wen's grip on the racket was clearly to hit the ball flat, trying to increase the speed and power of the tennis ball, but at the moment of shooting, the racket was pressed down slightly, making full use of his height advantage and hitting the ball from top to bottom, just like blocking a shot.
When the tennis ball is flying in the air, it maintains a flat hitting posture; but after landing, the downward spin tendency of the ball is very obvious.
And that’s not all.
Sacramento felt it immediately. Gao Wen's return ball was very deep - very, very deep. The landing point was very, very close to the baseline, almost hitting Sacramento's feet.
No wonder! No wonder Gao Wen chose to return the ball in the middle. It was obviously calculated. He deliberately suppressed Saramento with a deep position. It was very awkward both in defense and offense, and he fell into trouble while swinging the racket.
Whoosh! The tennis ball bounced off the ground quickly and violently, with a strong backspin, forcing Sacramento to step back repeatedly, continuously taking small steps to create space, but his steps were still a little slow, and he only had time to swing halfway before being forced to hastily send the tennis ball back as a rebound.
Damn it!
Sacramento immediately realized that the situation was not good. He took small steps to adjust himself, fully shifted his center of gravity, and immediately prepared for defense.
His eyes followed the flight of the tennis ball closely. It was very difficult to control the rebounding ball. Even a top player at Federer's level might not be able to control the arc and trajectory of the return ball every time. At this time, the parabola of Saramento's return ball seemed to be a little larger, drawing a rainbow and landing near the serving baseline on the opposite side of the court.
Gowen enters.
His footsteps followed very quickly, and he crossed the baseline and entered the court in the first time, raising his forehand to prepare to complete a semi-high pressure ball attack.
Tap tap.
Saramento's center of gravity had been fully mobilized. He lightly jumped twice on the spot, and his first reaction was to move quickly sideways towards his backhand.
In fact, the forehand and backhand are relatively average, and there is no difference for Sacramento. However, when dealing with high-pressure balls, because of the footwork, for right-handed players, it is indeed more difficult to make space with the backhand, and the difficulty of returning the ball increases.
really!
When Sacramento saw Gao Wen's shot, he knew that his prediction was correct and Gao Wen did hit the tennis ball to his backhand.
Dengdeng.
The early start allowed Sacramento to successfully gain the upper hand and accurately wait for Gao Wen's shot on his backhand.
But something was not right.
The power and speed were off.
Logically speaking, a semi-high-pressure ball should be quick and urgent. If the defending side is in position in advance, they can use the opponent's force to directly launch a counterattack or even score the winning point with just a slight push. Of course, actively exerting force to switch from defense to offense is also possible, which is Nadal's unique skill.
However, Gawain's half-high ball was not hit with full force, but a light hit. The tennis ball fell lightly and nimbly, and when it came in front of Saramento, it had almost no power. This made Saramento, who was ready to use the force to hit the ball, miss, but there was no time to hesitate.
At the last moment of the shot, Saramento tried to exert force, but the force from his wrist was not enough - he was still not well prepared and just barely hit it back.
This is so weird.
The next second, Saramento realized the problem and alarm bells went off in his brain, but it was too late.
Slash!
In the crisis situation, Saramento subconsciously returned a forehand, but the angle, speed and power were all not achieved, and it just fell into the second zone serving area of the opposite court, where Gawain had been waiting.
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Take a step, adjust, and start.
Gao Wen's two-handed backhand is very stable and solid. With a full swing arc, the racket hits the tennis ball accurately, and then pushes both hands forward in parallel. At the moment of shooting, the wrist is slightly turned outward, making full use of the weight and inertia of the body to transfer all the power.
Bang! The mustard yellow tennis ball exploded into a pile of trivial fluff, like a drifting elf, disappearing in the golden sunlight, and "whoosh" rushed towards the empty space on Sacramento's forehand.
Fast and urgent.
Fierce and fast.
This time, Gao Wen really gave his all, changing the power, speed, rhythm and landing point for three consecutive beats, and finally converging on a fatal blow.
straight line!
Gap!
Bang! The tennis ball flew out directly to the ground, and Saramento's footsteps were nailed to the other side of the court. Before he even had time to start, he had already scored the winning point.
For the first time in the entire game, Sacramento was unable to make any predictions, move, or take any action on the defensive end, and Gawain had already used a backhand straight line to penetrate an open space and score the winning point; and this point came at the most important and precious moment.
There was complete silence.
Everything was quiet.
There was a brief silence in the stadium. Emotions of shock and astonishment surged in the mind, as if he had even forgotten to breathe. He was completely stunned where he was, not daring to believe his eyes. He just stared blankly at the stadium. The gurgling and boiling air was burning.
"Game, high."
"First set, Gao leads, 6:4."
First set victory, achieved! (End of this chapter)