When facing the King of Clay, it was Gao Wen who took the lead in using small ball tactics, and his exquisite and ingenious touch control was amazing.
Nadal was slightly stunned. He had no idea that the first person to use the small ball today was Gawain. He had obviously forgotten this technology for the time being.
His footsteps came to a stop, and then the smile on Nadal's lips rose, he raised the racket, tapped the racket surface with the heel of his right hand, and applauded Gawain.
Accident! Totally unexpected!
but!
Wonderful!
On the edge of the court, Toni Nadal, who was watching the training match, also grinned. He turned to look at Francisco Roig, the other coach next to him, and shook his head repeatedly in sigh. He seemed to be disappointed with the high performance.
Wen's use of the ball was also highly praised.
When people mention Nadal's coach, Uncle Tony is undoubtedly well-known. After 2016, it was Carlos Moya, the 1998 French Open champion. These two coaches made Nadal's glory one after another.
Moreover, Nadal is a well-known patient with obsessive-compulsive disorder and does not like changes, so once a coach is determined, he does not like to change the mode frequently. In Nadal's view, the coach is indeed very important, but the real key to training and competition is
It depends on the players, internal factors are the key to victory or defeat.
Therefore, Uncle Tony and Moya have become the representative faces of Nadal's coaching team, but in fact, there is another long-term coach:
Roig.
This is also a Spanish tennis player who once specialized in doubles, with a world ranking of 60 in singles and 23 in doubles. His best record in the Grand Slams was reaching the third round of the French Open in singles and entering the doubles in the French Open.
Exceeding the quarterfinals once is all glory.
Although he chose to retire in 2001, Roig actually partnered with Nadal in a doubles match in 2004.
That doubles partnership became an opportunity. Then in 2005, Roig joined Nadal's coaching team and was responsible for Nadal's frontcourt technical training. It was just a part-time job at first, but slowly, bit by bit,
As a result, Roeg plays an increasingly important role in the coaching team.
Later, after experiencing two consecutive low seasons in 2015 and 2016, countless industry insiders suggested more than once that Nadal should change the coaching team because Uncle Tony had nothing new to teach Nadal; but Nadal always refused, he believed
This is not necessary——
Players should still rely on their own efforts and hard work.
Instead, it was Uncle Tony who opened up the possibility. He personally found Moya and persuaded Moya to join Nadal's coaching team.
After a season of running-in, Uncle Tony decided to retire and spend more time at Nadal's tennis school. Moya served as Nadal's head coach; at the same time, Roig will also play a more important role and officially become Nadal's head coach.
As the second coach, he and Moya work together.
At this time, people finally realized the existence of Roig, but in fact, Roig had stayed in Nadal's coaching team for more than ten years.
What is slightly ironic is that there are still many professional tennis media who do not recognize Roig and have mistaken him for Uncle Tony many times.
When Gao Wen released an exquisite ball, Uncle Tony turned to look at Roig, because the midfield and frontcourt were Roig's work areas.
From Federer to Djokovic, to Thiem, and then to Zverev Jr. and Tsitsipas, generations of top clay court players are looking for ways to beat Nadal. Small balls are undoubtedly very important.
A tactic, but they always have difficulties when facing Nadal:
Firstly, the ability to move; secondly, the ability to predict and always be alert to the ball; thirdly, the handling skills.
In addition, you need to always be wary of small balls from Nadal.
Nadal's personal abilities and technical characteristics can always be fully demonstrated on clay courts, which also means that Nadal is not afraid of small balls.
If you want to directly form winning points through small balls, then the quality needs to be very, very good, but with it comes the risk of control.
It is precisely because of this that Gawain's small ball winning points are so rare.
Roig could detect the joking in Uncle Tony's eyes. He spread his hands helplessly, raised his chin slightly and gestured to the side:
Agassi crossed his hands with his chest and looked at the court intently. There was a touch of relief in his eyes, expressing satisfaction with Gawain's small ball this time.
Uncle Tony showed a shallow smile, and then, not long after, Uncle Tony and Roig both cast their eyes towards Sampras——
what happened?
"15:0".
Immediately after the next point, Gao Wen and Nadal started a tug-of-war on the baseline. Nadal had a slight upper hand and suppressed it through super topspin.
Gawain's backhand withstood the impact, but he never found a chance to counterattack; moreover, this time, Gawain was obviously much more patient, and launched an attack directly without any rush.
Later, Gao Wen seized an opportunity, took half a step, and completed the line change by increasing the speed of his racket head. However, it was slightly different from the previous attack. Gao Wen did not go towards the winning point. He still controlled the line and
Focusing on the landing point, one straight shot, one diagonal shot, and two consecutive backhands completely mobilized Nadal.
Nadal showed his excellent defensive ability, innate defensive sense and accurate prediction, and resisted Gawain's two consecutive shots to turn the situation around.
Evenly matched.
Don't give in an inch.
Although the offensive and defensive situation has been changing, the balance of advantages and disadvantages between the two people has not been broken, and no one has found an opportunity to overturn the situation.
Then Gawain struck out——
The small diagonal line of the forehand pressed into a deep area, and the third consecutive shot made full use of the entire court space by controlling the landing point.
At the same time, following his own hitting, Gawain went straight to the net.
Go online with the ball.
At this time, Nadal realized that the three consecutive shots were all foreshadowing. Gawain's tactical intention was not to break the balance, but to divert Nadal's attention.
It must be noted here that Federer has used this tactical combination countless times, but Nadal has never been afraid of it.
It is precisely because Federer has used it countless times that people can see Nadal's rich and diverse techniques of crossing and breaking the net. He is known as the "first person to break the net" in contemporary men's tennis, and can even be said to be the best in history.
In other words, Nadal is not worried about his opponent going to the net at all, because he is in a passive situation and his ability to defend and counterattack is truly unrivaled in the world.
So, what’s so special about Gauvin’s net break? Is it any different from Federer? Isn’t Gauvin worried about Nadal’s net break?
If Gawain was running around ignorantly, then Uncle Tony and Roig would just sigh. The young people were indeed full of enthusiasm and youth, completely forgetting Nadal's ability to break the net, and also forgetting that Federer's pressure on the net was very high.