It starts with an ACE and ends with an ACE. Like the autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves, the game is over.
"Love-game", Djokovic easily held his first serve with four straight points, started smoothly, and showed his top competitive status.
In the first game, Djokovic did not scream or clench his fists. He was calm and collected throughout the whole process. He exuded a kind of confidence from the inside out. His calm eyes exuded a dark light, and he embraced everyone.
All emotions are gathered together, and you truly enter a state of mindlessness.
People who are familiar with Djokovic can see that he is already prepared.
Not just for victory, Djokovic believes that he can win. Even if the head-to-head record is not advantageous, his confidence has not been shaken at all.
This is a belief and a determination. After all the sharp edges are restrained and settled, they transform into a courageous and unstoppable posture.
From Federer Nadal to Murray Wawrinka to Gawain in front of him, Djokovic will not be afraid of any challenge.
"1:0".
Across the court, Gawain could clearly feel the pressure of the aura coming towards him, an invisible force, like the sea, all-encompassing. Even if there were no stormy waves, the calm ocean could easily swallow up all the impacts and bumps, and then
Disappeared without a trace.
This is Djokovic's ability.
Over the years, as Djokovic's playing style gradually matured and improved, his baseline skills entered a new level of proficiency. A joke from Andy Roddick spread widely on social networks:
"...First, he will destroy your legs."
Like the vast ocean, Djokovic, through the perfect combination of anticipation, movement and dribbling, has brought his talent in baseline hitting ability to a whole new level. He has truly entered another realm, with soldiers to cover up the water and the ground.
Its atmosphere, all attacks and all tricks are swallowed up, making every opponent fearful.
The Djokovic in front of him gave Gao Wen such a feeling.
But is Djokovic invincible?
Not really.
Leaving aside old rival Federer and Nadal, a group of young players have also emerged who are looking for their own breakthroughs in different ways:
From the bottom line tug-of-war between Medvedev and Zverev, to Tsitsipas’ clever layout, to Thiem, Carlos Alcaraz and Holger-Rune
violent attacks, each forming wonderful confrontations with their own characteristics.
Gawain also has his own opinions.
If Djokovic is the ocean, then Gawain is the breeze——
It seems invisible, but in fact it is more changeable, freer and more wanton.
Judging from the first game, Djokovic still made slight adjustments to his tactical combination, both for Gawain and the O2 Stadium. He cleverly used the fast indoor hard court to improve the accuracy of his serve.
At the same time, it also increases the speed of the serve and increases the power of your serve.
There were two ACEs among the four points in the game. Djokovic's entire game was very "clean".
In other words, Djokovic will still increase his dominance in the first three shots. More importantly, he will save energy in his own serve, and then put more energy and energy into Gawain's serve.
Entanglement and game.
So, what about Gawain?
Turning around, Gawain immediately responded.
In fact, there was no earth-shaking change in the technical and tactical combination. After all, from the imperial capital to the magical capital and then to Paris, there was indeed no need to drastically change the strategy after multiple encounters in a short period of time. What's more, Gawain still had the upper hand.
But change also exists objectively.
Sampras and Agassi watched the videos of all three of Djokovic's group stage games. They noticed that Djokovic's forehand was not stable, not only in the game against Federer, but also against Federer.
The same goes for the Leal-Berdych game.
The fundamental reason is that Djokovic is trying to improve the offensive power of his forehand.
Looking back at the origin, it was because of the defeat in the final in New York that it was a clear blow to Djokovic, and he realized that he needed to adjust.
The result of the discussion between Djokovic and his team is that the main thing is to improve their control of the game from two aspects: serve and forehand.
Now looking back at the final at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Djokovic's strategy in the first set was actually correct. He created an impact by suppressing the first three shots and boldly attacking to break the deadlock.
Disrupting Gawain's turn rhythm created a series of opportunities.
But the problem is that Djokovic was too hasty.
Djokovic himself is not the type of strong attack. The continuous output of the game not only consumes a lot of money but also disrupts his own rhythm.
Therefore, how to grasp the balance between the bottom line and the forced shot has become a new topic for Djokovic.
After three games in the Imperial Capital, Magic City, Paris and Gaowen, as well as three games in the group stage of the year-end finals, he has found some feeling. Although his forehand attack is still not stable, he often suffers from grabbing the hitting point or forcing the ball.
I made mistakes during my efforts, but slowly got back on track.
Therefore, Sampras believes that Gawain needs to disrupt the stability of Djokovic's forehand again——
Start by serving the ball to the net.
"...Oh, God."
"The second serve to the net in a service game, from the tactical choice of serving to the connection of steps to the net, Gao Wen's layout completely had the upper hand."
"'Love-game', Gao Wen responded with one, scoring four points in a row to keep serve."
"Obviously, this is something Djokovic did not expect."
"Now, Djokovic is the same as us. We all need to think about a question, what role does the tactic of serving and netting play in Gao Wen's game today?"
"The focus is not on serving and netting. Djokovic is not afraid of serving and netting players at all. Don't forget, he is currently the best player in the world in receiving serve. The focus should be on tactical arrangement. Gawain is a
As a dangerous opponent, serving and hitting the net is a tactic in itself.”
"Ho ho ho, it looks good, it looks so good."
"The game has just begun. The two players played very proactively in their own service games. They could not see the tactics at all. Before they had time to test, the two games were over. The atmosphere of the entire game became more and more tense. This also means that
Now, in the third game, we will continue to test."
McEnroe is indeed a professional. As a commentator, he can see the key points at a glance.
Gao Wen concealed his true intention of targeting Djokovic's forehand with sudden tactics of serve and net. When everyone was confused by the serve and net tactics, Gao Wen took advantage of Djokovic's forehand three times.
The situation of breaking through and scoring points will temporarily become a blind spot.
On that side, Djokovic was full of confidence.
In this case, Gawain was no less generous.
Sure enough, this game lived up to expectations. In just two games, less than three minutes, it was rich in content, and calculations and games were in full swing.
