In area one, the middle road is near the inner corner.
The first serve went smoothly into the zone. This was not a difficult serve/receive. Nadal adjusted his steps slightly and prepared to attack with his forehand.
Um?
etc!
Nadal's shot paused for a moment, and when he was waiting to hit the ball again, the hitting point was a little wrong. He forced the force, but failed to control the arc of the swing. As soon as he touched the ball, he already realized that the situation was not good.
, and then watched helplessly as the return ball went directly out of bounds.
He made a mistake in receiving the serve, so Gawain served straight and got——
"40:0".
Nadal looked up at the sky with some annoyance. Obviously, this score was not deserved.
what happened?
To put it simply, Gao Wen sneaked in a de-energized serve with a speed of about 165 kilometers per hour, and squeezed Nadal's swing space through a close landing point.
In the end, Nadal successfully made a mistake in returning the serve.
Of course, the specific explanation is not that simple.
On hard courts, top players will also try to reduce the force to serve tactics, but the tactical purposes and serving strategies of hard courts and clay courts are completely different.
On hard courts, de-forced serves tend to control the landing point, which affects the opponent's movement, causing loss of position, reducing the quality of the return and even making the return error.
Therefore, on hard courts, when serving with reduced force, it is more likely to choose a large angle, outside angle or inside angle, to tear the angle apart.
On clay, because the speed of the ball decreases, the power of the serve is reduced, so the receiving side may stand deep in the baseline area to improve their success rate of receiving the serve. This trend can be seen among all professional players, but Nadal has promoted this tactic.
To a whole new level——
Generally speaking, players stand about three meters away from the baseline to receive the serve, while Nadal will retreat to a position four or even five meters away.
The position is wider, which means that the receiving side is given more time and space to complete the return; but it also means that when waiting for the tennis ball to reach the receiving position, the power and rotation are also weakened, which requires the return of the serve.
One party must take the initiative to exert force, otherwise it will be difficult for the tennis ball to fly over the net.
Therefore, on clay, reduced-force serves often take advantage of the opponent's position to receive the serve, further limiting the opponent's ability to use force and forcing the opponent to make mistakes when exerting force——
If the force is too light, the returned serve will go directly into the net; if the force is too strong, the arc cannot be controlled and the ball may go out of bounds.
Therefore, on clay, when serving with reduced force, the position closer to the body is often chosen, that is, close squeezing. Instead, it is necessary to avoid opening the angle to let the opponent run. Once running, the run-up inertia can bring power and speed. This
You can also get some help from others.
However, nothing is absolute, and the arrangement and combination of tactics are always relative——
The same is true for serving with reduced force, close squeezing on hard ground, and tearing angles on clay. They also occasionally occur. There is no absolutely correct tactic, only relatively correct timing.
Moreover, whether it is a hard surface or a clay soil, the de-forced serve cannot be used frequently, because reducing the speed of one's serve means giving up the advantage of serving and waiting to be beaten passively.
Like Nadal, from 2005 to 2014, he dominated the clay court with his second serve. This is also an incredible miracle and cannot be replicated.
It can be seen from the side that in the past ten years, Nadal has reached the peak of his bottom line stalemate ability and unparalleled defensive counterattack ability.
Just now, Gao Wen sneaked a de-energized serve, and he also pressed the forehand from close range, challenging Nadal's strongest weapon head-on. However, due to the suddenness, it achieved miraculous results, easily earned a point, and then won three consecutive points.
game point--
In this game, three points, three ways to score.
This also proves Graf’s point:
In fact, people have always had a wrong impression of clay soil, as if any game on clay would turn into a long tug-of-war, which is not only difficult, but also boring.
In fact, what is really easy to fall into the "boring" rut is fast courts, such as grass, indoor carpets, and fast hard courts.
These fast venues do not leave much reaction time for players. "Serve plus forehand" does not even require three axes, two axes are enough. The score of resolving the battle within three shots is consistent throughout, and there is not even a round ball. The final evolution
It becomes a serving practice match, with no confrontation at all.
It is precisely because of this that Karlovic's games are often..."boring", without any attack or derogation, but his games are basically serve, serve, serve, and then most of the time he will enter a tiebreaker, and occasionally once
Or two mistakes can determine the outcome of the game.
But the clay court is different. After the ball speed slows down, on the one hand, it gives more time to hold the ball in the round, and on the other hand, it also gives the players more room to play. They can complete the game through different tactical combinations, different hitting methods, and different unexpected situations.
A double test of physical strength and energy.
Of course, there is an objective view. They believe that the clay court is too long and too painful. A game often takes three hours. This is also a kind of torture for the audience. They may become distracted watching it, especially in modern times.
This is even more true with the wave of live sports broadcasts on television.
From volleyball to badminton to table tennis, the reforms in different sports are actually compressing the game time for the sake of ratings.
This is an objective fact. According to unofficial statistics, the average time for hard court events is generally around 100 minutes, and the average time for clay court events is around 150 minutes.
Interestingly, according to official ATP data, the venue with the longest match time in the history of the Open era is not clay soil.
On the Grand Slam stage, among the top five longest matches, three took place at Wimbledon, one took place at the Australian Open, and only one took place at the French Open.
Including all events, among the top ten, there are three events each on hard courts and clay courts, and two events each on grass courts and indoor carpets. They are almost all fast courts.
The reason is very simple. On a fast court, although there are not many balls in the round, the power of the serve increases. Even a serving cannon like Karlovic with only one weapon can easily keep serve. The difficulty of breaking the serve increases so much that
The chance of entering a tie-break increases with each set.
It is conceivable that the competition time cannot be reduced. Finally, fast venues such as grass and indoor carpets are prone to super long competitions.
In other words, it is one-sided, narrow-minded and unnecessary to discuss the difference between clay and hard courts simply based on the time spent in the game.
Different venues have their own styles and characteristics.
Now, Gawain reads the color of the red earth bit by bit like this——
For the fourth consecutive point, Gao Wen once again chose a different tactic.
This time, the bottom line is a stalemate.
In clay court matches, not only against Nadal, but also against most opponents, the baseline round is a compulsory course. This is the main body of the game.
What's more, Gao Wen is no stranger to this. This is an important key to his success on hard courts. Therefore, he needs to make adjustments to match the clay soil——
Rebuild your own tactical system and layout step by step.