"Keep your steps light, 'papapapa', follow the rhythm of my high fives and pump your steps up, fast! Fast! Fast! This must form a conditioned reflex."
"Hey! Focus, focus! You can't be distracted when you serve, but after the serve, your steps must be flexible to keep up with the rhythm. This is grass, do you understand?"
"...the center of gravity is lowered! I remember the steps, but not the center of gravity."
"Remember, your knees should remain in a spring state. As your steps move, your center of gravity must be lowered. These movements must be done in one go..."
"Get it together, good, get it together!"
"Rhythm, pay attention to the rhythm. Those habits on clay should be thrown away now. The rhythm must be grasped, not distracted, and the swing movements must be consistent..."
A touch of water vapor floats in the golden sunshine, hanging moist and sticky on the surface of the skin. Lush green fills every corner of the field of vision. The gentle breeze seems to be able to capture the whispers of the elves, hidden in the lush greenery.
Observe every move of human beings.
"I know, I know, I know..."
The buzzing cicadas are noisily surging, and the afternoon heat seems to be getting more and more ferocious. Even the hearing can feel the heat of midsummer. People can't help but miss watermelon, soda and fireworks, lying on the mat.
Spend the afternoon doing nothing, quietly listening to the passage of time.
Summer is the best time to relax and unwind.
However, the same cannot be said for professional players. Not to mention being in a daze, even the time to drink water is extremely precious. Every second counts, and they must seize the time.
On the driving range, Gawain was hitting the ball——
Agassi stood on the opposite side of the court and was responsible for feeding the ball. He did not form a sustained round, but just kept feeding the ball, allowing Gao Wen to complete basic hitting, forehand hitting, and backhand hitting, and everything returned to the basics.
Sampras stood behind Gawain and was responsible for guiding him, from footwork to batting to center of gravity and power, etc., and even tactical routines, giving guidance one by one.
Everything must be overthrown from the foundation and started over——
After all, this is the first time that Gawain has stepped onto a grass court in his two lifetimes. It is even stranger than clay, so switching channels is much more difficult than imagined.
Yesterday, the curtain of another year of Roland Garros events just came to an end; today, they must seamlessly enter the grass court season and complete the gorgeous transition from clay to grass without any breathing time.
In fact, Gao Wen's preparations are already considered "slow", and many players have already started participating this week.
The grassland season is really too short and fleeting, only five weeks in total——
In the first week of June, there are two 250-point events, Stuttgart and 's-Hertogenbosch.
In the second week of June, there are two 500-point events, Harley and Queen’s Club.
The third week of June, a 250 points event, Nottingham.
Fourth week of June, Grand Slam, Wimbledon.
This is all.
Considering that in the week before a Grand Slam, some players must participate in the Grand Slam qualifying tournament, and top players will recuperate for the two-week Grand Slam tournament and often only practice to avoid participating, which means that they are preparing for Wimbledon.
The competition time is actually only two weeks.
It is precisely because of this that even top players must seize the opportunity, keep their feet on the ground, and play non-stop to warm up in order to find their touch for Wimbledon.
Such as Nadal.
Nadal is a player who needs to polish his condition and improve his touch through games. Although he usually trains very, very diligently, he still needs more game time to mobilize his condition. After stopping in the quarterfinals of the French Open this year, he immediately went to Stuttgart to compete.
, complete the site conversion.
In addition to Nadal, Cilic, Felipe Lopez, Monfils and Thiem also chose Stuttgart to start the grass-court season.
's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands is slightly inferior in terms of marketing, but it still attracts players such as Goffin, Agut, Karlovic, Verdasco, Pospisil and so on.
Comparatively speaking, Gao Wen, who only finished the semi-finals on Friday, entered the official grassland season competition a little late.
Of course, including top players such as Federer, Djokovic, Murray and so on, they are not in a hurry to participate. They often just choose an event in Halle or Queen's Club to warm up, or even skip the warm-up match directly and fly to Wimbledon.
Yes, this is very common.
However, the difference is that these top players have been playing in the tour for many years and have a full understanding of the nature and condition of the grass. Even if they have not warmed up, they know what they should do.
Gawain cannot do that——
Knowing nothing about grass and going directly to the Grand Slam without any warm-up, is this simply equivalent to going to the battlefield without weapons and preparing to face bullets and cannons with bare hands?
No, no.
He needs to practice, he needs to adapt, he needs to warm up, he needs to compete, everything starts from scratch and is re-established from the basic skills.
Time is indeed very precious. Although he skipped the first week of grass-court competition, Gao Wen must seize this week's time and fully devote himself to training.
This is much more difficult than the clay court season.
The clay court season not only has a longer preparation period, with two months before and after, but also allows for breathing space between events, giving players room for trial and error, thinking, and adjustment. Gao Wen and Wawrinka were in Roland Garrison
Los's performance is the best example.
Moreover, clay courts are all over the world. I have never eaten pork but I have also seen pigs run. Even if Gao Wen has never competed on clay, he is not completely unfamiliar. Before he sets foot on clay, he knows the nature of the venue and the challenges he faces.
But the grass season is different.
The cycle is shorter, the venue is unfamiliar, and everything is in a double-speed mode.
In fact, if you look at the three-week event schedule before Wimbledon, it will be clear at a glance. Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom are the few countries in the world that still insist on holding grass-court events——
It is also because of this that the tournament being prepared in Mallorca is also determined to be on grass. The competition is not so fierce, which can win valuable living space for the event. At the same time, it can also get official support from the ATP and attract more top players to participate. There is no doubt that
It's a win-win.
The reason why there are so few grass-court events left is very simple:
expensive.
On hard ground or red soil, the establishment and maintenance of the site are relatively simple, but not on grass.
The grass field must be a real lawn, not an artificial lawn. This also means that every year the event organizers must replant the grass for the event. Once the field is put into use, the lawn will be worn out and cannot be repaired.
All venues are one-time use.
Plant, build, maintain, put into use until the event is over, and then start again.
Not only is it expensive and cannot be reused like hard courts and clay; it is also difficult to repair. After the event is held, it is difficult to diversify into a practice ground or performance space. The multiple income channels outside of tennis events are very narrow, further increasing operations
burden.
It is precisely because of this that Wimbledon has retained a tradition that the central court is not allowed to adapt to the venue. It must wait for the defending champion to come on stage to open the event before it can be put into use, because once the grass is used, the grass will be damaged or even flattened.
Bald spots cannot be repaired and seriously affect the appearance.
It is conceivable that profit-oriented businessmen have given up on grass and even clay. If they want to hold tennis events, hard courts are obviously the first choice——
Because it's cheap.
Gradually, there are fewer and fewer grass-court events, and the grass-court season is also shortened.
At this point, some people may wonder, "Well, why not just cancel the grass season?"