So far, Gao Wen has played a total of five official games on grass courts in his career:
Kyrgios, Anderson, Istomin, Mahu, Troiki.
Judging from their results, both Kyrgios and Anderson can be said to be "good at grass", and Troicki is also suitable for grass; but in fact, neither of them can be said to be true grass-court experts.
Including Mahu, these players can have good results on grass, not because they understand the grass and adjust and change their techniques and tactics based on the grass; but because their technical characteristics can be brought into play on the grass, and their serves can be accelerated.
Forehand, the battle is resolved within three shots.
Actually, grass is all about bounce and rhythm.
Among active players, those who can truly understand the characteristics of grass are Federer first, followed by Murray, and neither Djokovic nor Nadal can be mentioned. The grass-court games of the latter two giants are more reflected in their tennis and tennis skills.
My understanding of the game is not very thorough purely on grass.
In addition, among the top 20 players in the world currently, who can be called grass-court experts, are Berdych, Dimitrov and Felipe Lopez.
That's basically all.
There is no way, the grass court season is getting shorter and shorter. If it were not for the brand effect of Wimbledon, perhaps the grass court season would have been swallowed up by the commercial torrent.
Today is the sixth grass-court game of Gao Wen's career, and then he encounters the player of the new generation who is really good at grass-court, Dimitrov.
Strictly speaking, Raonic can perform well on grass, which is the same as Kyrgios; Dimitrov is another matter.
It is precisely because of this that Gawain attaches great importance to this game——
Regardless of winning or losing, Gawain very much hopes to learn something from Dimitrov and gain a deeper and different understanding of grass.
Not just because of Wimbledon this year, but also because of the long career ahead.
In the first service game, Gao Wen could already feel the difference.
In the second point, Dimitrov served and attacked, and his forehand shot of a long ball from the baseline was very unexpected:
He did not pursue the low bounce of the flat shot. Instead, he deliberately used topspin and sent the tennis ball deep into the baseline with his forehand, pressing half the ball inside the baseline. Then the bounce was very fast, which was similar to that on hard clay soil.
It was so different that the point of hitting the ball was somewhat unclear, and Gao Wen's return ball flew straight away.
In the third point, Dimitrov chose to serve to the net, relying on the serve to establish an advantage, and then blocked the net and completed the score with a very easy volley.
Unlike Mahu, Dimitrov's netting is very light and full of skills. He starts from the point of serving, speed and spin, and does not leave much room for Gao Wen to break through the net. This is different from Gao Wen's first
When facing Ma Hu in the second round, the whole feeling was different.
In the second round, Gao Wen was able to easily break the net when facing Ma Hu, showing his rich bottom line layout ability; but when facing Dimitrov's net for the first time, Gao Wen was unable to find a way to break the net.
It can be seen from here that Nadal's rich net-breaking tactics, in addition to his own talent, are also honed bit by bit thanks to countless peak duels with Federer in the early stages of his career.
Gawain has the technical ability, but he still needs more practical training.
In the fourth point, Dimitrov used a one-handed backhand to pull Gao Wen out of the court, and immediately connected with a sideways forehand straight attack.
Classic and ordinary grass baseline offensive tactics, smooth and gorgeous.
Four points, four tactical combinations, starting from the serve to establish the entire situation, crisp and straightforward, the most important thing is that the number of rounds is controlled within three to five shots, fully turning the characteristics of the grass into your own advantage.
"Love-game", Dimitrov's start was indeed very good, and the layout and execution of the entire technical and tactical strategy was very smooth.
Immediately afterwards, Gao Wen encountered a crisis in his serving game.
"30:40".
Break point.
Gao Wen did not rush to continue serving, but reviewed the point that broke the balance in the "30:30" situation, which was obviously representative.
In this point, Gao Wen has established an advantage through serving and subsequent attacks, continuously pressuring Dimitrov's backhand, forcing Dimitrov to lose his position——
Backhand.
Like Federer, this is Dimitrov's Achilles' heel, the uncertainty of the one-handed backhand which often leads to a large number of errors under strong strikes and pressure.
In particular, Gao Wen has enough confidence in his backhand and can gain the upper hand in backhand duels, which has become the tactical focus of today's game.
The backhand stalemate did work, and Gawain successfully gained the upper hand.
However, Dimitrov did not give up.
Out of position, Dimitrov was unable to successfully complete the shot because his steps were not in place, so he cut backhand to complete the defense.
The cutting was fast and low, landing in the deep area of the baseline. It was fast and rushing at the same time, and the whole bounce was very low——
Although he had seen a lot of cuts in the previous five grass court games, Gao Wen thought he had some experience, but now it seems that it is completely insufficient. The quality and method of those cuts cannot be compared with Dimitrov's, rhythm and bounce.
The landing point and rotation are all different.
As a result, Gawain's attacking rhythm was slowed down by this cut, and he had to reorganize his offensive routine; however, Dimitrov, who had gained breathing time through cutting, keenly seized the opportunity to change the rhythm, adjusting his position in small steps continuously.
Shoot your backhand and drill straight into the neutral position.
Light and chic.
Straight line gap, winning score.
And earned Dimitrov a break point.
Judging from the results, Dimitrov's backhand chip played the role of a turning point, but if you think about it carefully, the timing of changing the offensive and defensive rhythm after the chip is the key.
Dimitrov's grasp of rhythm and timing really shows his understanding of the grass and his offensive talent. This is something Gawain deserves to learn from.
If Gawain wants to break the routine, he should have different tactics and corresponding follow-up layouts when dealing with cutting.
So far, this is only the second game, and it is still the best opportunity for Gawain to test and explore, so his brain continues to operate at high speed.
Turning around, Gao Wen came to the second area, preparing to face the test of break point.
Break point is very important. Gao Wen needs to avoid falling behind at the beginning. This is grassland, and the serve plays a more important role. A break of serve may directly ruin the game. Therefore, players need to stay focused on their own serve and try their best to
Avoid problems with your own links.
But Gao Wen believes that this should not be the only time he faces a break point today. He does not think the game will be that easy, so how should he choose to deploy tactics under critical scores, including the break point of his own serve or Dimit
Love's break point in serve and the performance of these key points are all key.
This is the winner when top players meet on a narrow road.
Therefore, tactical layout is necessary, but tactics cannot be chosen blindly.