Gao Wen's prediction was very accurate, and he had already moved laterally and arrived in advance at the first opportunity, buying valuable time for his defensive counterattack.
The point is, how should we attack?
Gawain's attention was highly concentrated, and he stared intently at the tennis ball. It was fast, flat, low, and heavy. There was almost no rotation in the entire flight. It was like a sword ray, and it rushed over in the blink of an eye.
Although the steps are slightly in place half a beat earlier, if it is converted into batting time, that is, the moment when thoughts flash, any distracting thoughts may miss the batting opportunity, and the advantage gained by moving quickly will be wiped out, or even
Turn around and fall into passivity.
But this is grass.
Focused, calm, and composed, his forehand was ready to complete the shot as soon as possible.
The moment the shot is taken, the wrist is flicked quickly and the belt is fast, and the speed of the racket head is instantly increased by a step, relying on the swing of the forearm to complete the powerful whipping style.
boom.
Clean and crisp.
The tennis ball had already flown out.
straight line.
Dead corner.
In this shot, Gao Wen made a decisive move, aiming at the blind corner of Istomin's backhand baseline, and launched a crisp attack without any hesitation.
At this time, we can see Gawain's tenacity. Even though he was always at a disadvantage in the whole game, his faith never faded and he kept fighting and struggling.
However--
The feel of the ball is still mediocre, and the touch of the entire shot is still not able to perfectly interpret the flight and rotation of the tennis ball. Even though the shot is very decisive, the hitting rhythm is still slightly out of place, and it feels wrong.
Just like petting a cat, the hair seems to be very smooth on the surface, but the few hairs that can be touched by the fingertips still explode.
Especially on grass, such slight deviations in details will cause the control to relax due to the accelerated pace, and the final error will be amplified.
The tennis ball is flying.
The flying parabola was not suppressed. It was supposed to be a straight shot heading towards the winning point, but the tennis ball passed the net at least fifty centimeters above the ground, like a rainbow bridge, flying from the bottom corner of Gawain's forehand to Istomin.
At the bottom corner of the backhand, the speed and rhythm failed to improve.
Moreover, because of his poor feel for the ball, Gao Wen did not really target the blind spot to attack, leaving room for mistakes in the route and placement, which also meant leaving room for the opponent to return the ball.
In short, it failed to achieve the hitting effect that Gawain expected.
Obviously, Gawain is also clearly aware of this. The feeling of the ball is not like magic. He can come back out of thin air by chanting a spell.
Keep your nerves tight, adjust your center of gravity in small steps, quickly return to defense, follow the flight of the tennis ball with your eyes, quickly scan the other side of the court with your peripheral vision, and sure enough, you can see Istomin's figure quickly crossing the court.
There is no doubt that mobility is also one of Istomin's strengths.
In the previous shot, after a run-up sprint and a forehand sweep attack, Istomin braked on the spot, controlled his center of gravity with his hands and feet, and then kicked off the ground for the second time, showing his excellent grass movement.
Running, sprinting, moving sideways——
If Gao Wen's straight forehand can suppress the parabola to complete the flat attack, then it will be difficult for Istomin to touch the ball no matter how fast he runs.
Unfortunately, there is no if.
Istomin's obsessive sprint gave him a glimmer of hope, but even so, Istomin had almost no room to hit the ball. He had no choice but to cross the line, and his backhand with both hands barely wrapped around the tennis ball.
shoot.
Rainbow ball.
In a passive situation, Istomin pulled out a rainbow ball with a full parabola, and the tennis ball flew high towards the deep area of the baseline of Gawain's backhand position.
Despite being passive, Istomin still showed excellent defensive qualities.
Defense is also the key to this game.
Istomin put pressure on Gawain's offense through tenacious defense. The more entangled it is, the easier it is to take risks. Taking risks will naturally lead to mistakes.
However, everything in the world is a double-edged sword, with advantages and disadvantages. They are twins of each other. The most important thing is how you face and deal with it:
Facing a tough and tenacious defense, if you become more and more impatient, more and more urgent, and fall into the trap of blindly exerting force, constantly increasing speed, pursuing blind corners, and expecting to be able to break open with faster and stronger attacks, then your offense will make mistakes.
There will be more and more, which is also a common problem among young players.
But if you can remain patient, keep trying and making mistakes, have a clear mind, and rearrange your layout, then the anxious offensive and defensive battle will become the best test to adjust your ball feel and state. This is exactly what Gao Wen needs - after all, Queen's Club
There was basically no round ball in the two matches of the Cup.
Gao Wen's brain is very clear. In fact, he is in good condition now and has no problems. This is completely different from the ups and downs of the Australian Open finals. The problem he needs to face now is to adapt to the grass. He needs more time to fight against the slower players.
Slowly adjust your ball feel and restructure your game.
Even now, there is no exception——
Don't give up trying just because it's a crisis moment or because you're on the edge of a cliff.
For Gawain, it is better to die standing than to lie down and survive. His game, his life, and his dreams are all like this.
"Focus, focus, focus", this is the only thought in Gawain's mind at this moment.
move.
run.
In place.
In this round, the offensive initiative was always in Gawain's hands. Although Istomin also tried to counterattack, the initiative was still on Gawain's side.
His eyes were firmly fixed on the tennis ball, and he scanned Istomin's position with his peripheral vision——
Stay where you are.
Obviously, Istomin judged that Gao Wen should continue to choose the diagonal line, and the two started a confrontation on the backhand position, because Istomin's return ball was really difficult to control.
Rainbow ball, strong topspin, high and floating.
Even on the grass, if you force the baseline to hit a high ball with topspin, you can still pull out a high rebound. However, one risk you need to face is that the topspin is swallowed by the grass, and the rebound height may be far lower than expected.
On clay, such returns can often bounce above the head; on grass, such returns may bounce as high as the chest.
There is a clear difference in the effect of topspin.
Of course, compared to hitting the ball on grass, which is generally between the waist and thighs, the rebound height at this time can reach the chest or even the shoulders, which is indeed very high; coupled with the smoothness of the grass, the rotation is almost eliminated, but there is
This kind of tail force keeps moving forward, so the final high ball near the shoulder lacks friction when handling it, and it is easy to make a mistake if you are not careful.
So, generally speaking, players may choose to transition on one shot and then reset the layout.
This is how Istomin judged it. The slash should be a high-probability event. Gawain would indeed choose this way during most of the entire game today.
However, this time, Istomin made a mistake in his judgment.
But saw——
Withdrawing, pausing, and kicking the ground, Gawain took a small step back with his left leg, stepped hard on the ground, almost sinking into the grass, and supported his body; at the same time, he leaned his upper body back slightly and continued to pull out a little.
Due to the space, the two-handed backhand shot was obviously slowed down, a whole beat slower.
Wait, wait patiently, not to rush for the rising point, but to wait for the tennis ball to fall.
Immediately afterwards.
Take a shot, swing quickly, skateboard... power, released instantly - straight line!