Gawain, breathing heavily, tried his best to transport oxygen into the cells.
Sweating like rain, exhausted, the whole person felt as if he was in a sea of fire. Every muscle and nerve could feel the burning heat. The strength spread out in an ebbing posture, and then you could feel the pain in your fingertips, knees, and calves.
The twitching feeling started to stir up little by little.
Uncontrollably.
He needs to take a breather.
In fact, I didn't feel pain at this time, only a deep fatigue, dragging my ankle slowly down, and I couldn't even move my fingers.
Breathing was like a raging fire, almost scalding his chest, as if he could hear the gurgling of lava in his chest.
Using the last bit of willpower to support himself and stand up straight again, Gawain finally took steps. Through the net, he could see that Tsonga was already standing there waiting, also sweating profusely, and his face was also tired.
Tsonga was a little dazed, and for a moment, he still didn't understand what happened.
The entire third set seemed abnormal, full of surprises and weirdness, so that when the game was over, it still had no sense of reality, and it was a bit... baffling; but calm down and think about it seriously, it seems that I missed so many break points early and early.
This foreshadows this ending.
Bitter? Sad? Depressed? Angry? Lost?
Perhaps, there are some of all the above emotions, intertwined and mixed together; but what really occupies the center of gravity is still confusion——
Why did you lose the game?
The more confused he became, the more he looked up at Gawain with admiration, as if he was seeing a monster.
Tsonga stretched out his right hand, took the initiative to hold Gawain's right hand, and pulled hard, and the two people's shoulders collided together.
"Others still say I am a monster, but now it seems that you are the real monster of ATP."
Very rarely, Tsonga made a little joke.
In fact, in private life, Tsonga is a joker, humorous and cheerful; but on the court, he rarely shows this side, only when he meets several other friends of the same age and generation in France,
Only then will Tsonga show his naughty side.
And today, Tsonga rarely showed off.
The corners of Gawain's mouth slightly raised, and even though he showed a smile, he still couldn't hide his fatigue, and the feeling of overdraft radiating from the inside out lingered.
"Sorry, it's me who wins."
A little bit of teasing, a little bit of joking, it still has Gawain's signature mark, but you can still notice that this is different from usual.
Tsonga couldn't hold it back and laughed out loud. He obviously seemed to have a lot to say, but in the end he swallowed it down, gave Gawain a warm hug again, and said in Gawain's ear, "Man,
you're worth it."
Simple words, but contain so much.
For Tsonga, he announced his return from injury before the French Open. In the past three months, he has been struggling to recover and try to return to his peak condition.
Obviously, this isn't easy.
Until Toronto, I finally found some touch and recovered a little bit, but I encountered such an abnormal game again, and ended in a loss. It was one thing not to be able to successfully defend the title, but it was another thing to hit a wall when my recovery momentum hit a wall.
Something happened.
It's inevitable to be disappointed.
However, looking at Gawain's abnormal amount of sweating and the color gradually disappearing from his face, the broken feeling after overdraft could no longer be hidden.
Tsonga understood immediately.
He himself has not completely gotten rid of the troubles of injuries. What Gao Wen is experiencing now is the nightmare he has experienced in the past few months and is still experiencing.
At this moment, his words had more resonance, and thousands of words finally turned into a sentence of admiration and congratulations. This was a feeling of sympathy and admiration from his colleagues. It was precisely because he was going through it himself that he understood it better.
What happened today is so rare.
Loosening the hug, Tsonga looked at Gawain with concern, "Is everything okay?"
Gawain let out a breath and showed a bitter smile, "I'm not sure. But at least, I completed the game. Maybe, it's not that bad."
Tsonga understood 100%, and his expression became solemn. He nodded slightly and said, "End the press conference as soon as possible and go to the hospital for a detailed examination."
After saying that, Tsonga lightly patted Gao Wen's shoulder and conveyed his blessings. Without saying anything more, he turned and walked towards the referee. There was no politeness or refusal. Tsonga took the lead in shaking hands with the referee, and then
Just give the court to Gawain, and the next moment will belong to the winner.
When Gawain shook hands with the referee and returned to the center of the field, the entire audience stood up.
At this time, there were not many spectators at the scene. The spectators who left in the middle caused the venue to be mostly empty, and the attendance rate was less than 50%. It seemed that it was back to the period when Gao Wen had just entered the professional arena; but the specific situation was different. These spectators who stayed until the end
Without hesitation, I gave Gawain a wild round of applause.
"Bah! Gawain!"
"Bah! Gawain!"
The sparse shouts were neither majestic nor deep. They struggled to hold up in the strong wind in the evening in Toronto, and were torn to pieces in the blink of an eye.
But looking at the scene in front of him, Gawain was filled with emotions and his nose was slightly sore.
There was no cheering, no roaring, no jumping, no celebration... nothing. Gawain just put his left hand on his chest, feeling the power of his heart beating, raised his right hand and waved to the audience, looking around the audience 360 degrees,
Quietly, the scenery in front of you is imprinted in the depth of your mind bit by bit.
Plop. Plop. Plop.
The heart is pounding hard.
In fact, the importance of this game is far less precious. This is just a quarter-final match of the Masters. With Gao Wen's victory, he successfully advanced to the semi-finals of this year's Rogers Cup. That's all, and
Gao Wen's countless previous games are simply not comparable.
But as far as Gao Wen is concerned, this is a game that once again changed the trajectory of his career.
To be honest, he thought he would not be able to continue and he thought he would retire midway. Compared with the victory or defeat, injuries are the real focus.
After experiencing the nightmare of retiring early due to injury in the previous life, encountering injuries again, completely restrained, the inner demons have regained control of the soul, those fears, timidity, shrinkage, hesitation, the negative emotions that have not been felt for a long time are once again bustling and vivid.
Come alive.
More than once, Gao Wen thought about quitting the game. What if the injury worsened? What if he was not necessary stubborn and caused the injury to cause more damage? Even if he rationally controlled his footsteps and did not leave, he was still in the game.
Still distracted and unable to concentrate at all.
He thought that he could not cross this threshold.
However.
He did it, not only finished the game, but found a way to win.
For Gao Wen, the value of this victory is no less valuable than last year's final in Flushing where he defeated Cilic.
"6:4", "5:7", "6:4".
He will not forget this game, nor will he forget this score.