Behind him, the rolling heat wave still did not stop, and the night at Arthur Ashe Stadium reached a new climax——
Because of the excitement of the first game, and even more because of the much-anticipated second game.
Obviously, the next part of the quarter-finals party is the real highlight, the main axis of the tenth match day, and the heat wave continues like this.
"Is your ankle okay?"
"There is some swelling and physical therapy is still needed."
"Ha, I feel a little relieved after hearing this. At least I have pushed you to the extreme. God, did you work too hard today?"
"Hey, Richard, do you believe it? If I hadn't tried so hard, I would be regretting it now."
Although it was a joke, Gasquet could feel the sincerity in Gawain's eyes. He was slightly stunned, and the smile on his lips rose.
On the field, Gasquet rarely showed his emotions. This is true for defeats and victories. He often maintains a professional attitude and comes and goes.
In Gasquet's view, the tennis world is cruel, and he has to face victory and defeat every week. Even the Big Four are no exception. Maybe he was the champion last week but needs to taste the bitterness of defeat this week.
Over and over again, week after week.
Therefore, he gradually began to learn to leave the game on the field, try to be calm and objective, and try to avoid the things on the field from affecting his life. He did not want to fall asleep with a defeat in his arms.
In fact, outside the game, Gasquet is a person who likes to joke and play pranks. When he is a stranger, he remains polite and keeps a distance. When he is close, he can easily mingle with his friends.
Tonight is no exception.
When hugging after the game, Gasquet didn't say a word, he just patted Gawain on the back, then turned around and packed up his equipment bag and left——
The speed was so fast that as soon as Gawain turned around, Gasquet had already disappeared at the entrance of the players' tunnel, as if he was rushing to get off work.
But when they left the field and met in the locker room, Gasquet took the initiative to talk to Gawain and once again expressed his admiration and congratulations.
Then, Gasquet hugged Gawain again and said, "Keep going."
The corners of Gawain's mouth slightly raised, "You should know about the lottery, right?"
"Ha, of course I know, the whole world knows, and I am no exception. I will continue to pay attention, but I hope you can go all the way to the end."
Gawain was a little surprised and showed a questioning look.
Gasquet didn't care and shrugged lightly.
"For a long time, no one believed that they could defeat those guys. They destroyed our self-confidence and belief with practical actions, and they didn't even have the intention to challenge."
“In the tennis world, everyone knows about the Big Four, but they only know about the Big Four. Everything else is just a foil. Even if we make it to the semi-finals or finals, in the end we will just be a wallflower in the news and no one will pay attention.
No one cares about our existence."
"All the way to you and Stan."
"You have proven our stupidity and insignificance with your actual actions. Before those guys defeated us, we had already defeated ourselves."
"I still remember what you said, the moment you give up, the game is over."
"I don't want to give up."
Gawain never expected that Gasquet would actually say such words to him.
The simple words are full of sincerity and an innocent heart that is still alive and beating.
Gasquet raised his chin slightly, "Hey, man, I don't mind if you prove my stupidity again. Fighting keeps going, right?"
The smile on Gawain's lips rose like this, it was a kind of happiness that came from the depths of his heart.
Then, Gasquet turned and entered the locker room——
The game is over, but life is not.
The same goes for Gawain.
Before going to the post-match press conference, Gao Wen needed to go to the physiotherapy room to cool down his right ankle and get a massage to relax the muscles.
In fact, for professional players, muscle cooling is a very important step.
Everyone knows that you need to warm up before formal exercise. This is to wake up the muscles. Intuitively, it is to warm up the muscles and reduce the probability of injury.
In the same way, muscles need to be cooled down after exercise to reduce the body's response to inflammation, speed up the resolution of muscle soreness, and speed up recovery from injuries.
Therefore, after the game, professional players use ice baths, showers, and more professional liquid nitrogen freezing recovery, all based on the same principle.
As Gawain just said to Gasquet, although the ankle injury has no impact, experiencing such an unreserved and hearty game is still a burden on the ankle, so much so that the ankle muscles overheated after the game.
There is swelling, so the first thing is to cool down.
Moreover, this is only the first round. After the press conference is over, there will be a second round.
Just like pre-match preparation, post-match recovery training is equally important. Especially now that the body is injured, everything needs to be more cautious.
When Pu Lan and Jiang Yanyun came to the locker room together, Gao Wen was still nowhere to be seen. Only Peart was outside the physiotherapy room.
"Martin, has Gawain gone to the press conference?" Pullan asked.
Peart still had a poker face and showed no particular emotion, "No, he is still in the physical therapy room. The pressure on his ankle is relatively high today."
Judging from the scoreboard and the game process, Gao Wen's performance was very convincing. The haze of injury seemed to have disappeared, but only then did he realize that this was not the case.
After all, the ankle sprain was only five days ago.
From a purely injury perspective, it is not serious; but what Gao Wen is facing is the impact of the second week of a Grand Slam tournament, so the situation is naturally different.
Moreover, facing Agut and Gasquet successively, the two games were different types of impacts with different styles, which put more tests on the ankle.
Pu Lan took a deep breath and tried to keep herself as calm as possible - don't worry, that's impossible, but at least she can avoid revealing it. She doesn't want to be a burden to Gawain, but should become Gawain's strongest and most powerful backing.
.
"Is the situation okay?" Pulan asked.
Peart let out a breath, "He's fighting."
Pulan's heartstrings tightened slightly. He took a deep breath again, straightened his back, regained his determination, and looked at Peart with firm eyes, "Then let's wait for him together."
A match is over, but this year's US Open is not over yet, which also means that Gao Wen will not stop and the battle is not over yet.
The semi-finals, this is a feat, and it is also a new stage. It is different from the first week of a Grand Slam, and it is also different from the top 16 and quarter-finals. When the competition reaches this level, it means that the intensity of the competition will
Take it to a whole new level.
This is especially true for the second half of this year’s men’s singles competition——
Three seats in the semi-finals have been decided, including Djokovic, Dimitrov and Gao Wen, and the last seat is yet to be determined.
The reason why Big Axis is Big Axis is not only because of the excitement and suspense of the game, but also because the numerous gimmicks and the overwhelming focus are all maintained in this one game.
