He was as light as a swallow, lifted up, and for a moment, a very, very brief moment, just like Michael Jordan's slam dunk moment, he was briefly suspended in the air. He seemed to be able to escape the shackles of gravity, open his arms to embrace the blue sky, and the whole world was crawling.
Under your own feet.
Then.
Stretch your arms, fully open them, fully extend them, release all the energy hidden in every corner of your body, and extend them to the extreme.
The racket has evolved into a part of the arm, and the fingertips seem to be able to clearly touch the fuzz on the surface of the tennis ball, and the power deep in the Dantian is instantly released.
Fold.
push down.
Block shot.
smash.
In this short moment, a moment that cannot be counted in milliseconds, the O2 Arena fell into extreme silence, and all sounds disappeared.
Silence, breathtaking silence.
Immediately afterwards, the grace and beauty comparable to the blooming of an epiphyllum were released.
boom!
There was a loud noise.
Thunder on the ground.
Instantly released, the magic was lifted, and the stagnant moment was restored to its original state. Everything was played at ten times the speed, and my heart shrank.
Only then did I see a force that was about to explode the tennis ball blooming in the middle of Federer's forehand position, and a ball of mustard-yellow fireworks exploded.
Roaring and stirring.
Slam dunk, win——
ah!
Gravity pulled Gawain back to the ground, but then he jumped high again, clenched his fists, and roared to release all his energy.
Ahhhh!
That roar looked up to the sky, causing ripples like this. You could clearly feel the rolling air waves sweeping across the entire venue with overwhelming force.
They just stared at the court like this, even forgetting to make a sound. They just felt their hearts pounding against their chests irrationally, and there was a roar above their eardrums, and their hearts surged uncontrollably.
nice!
Gawain clenched his fists heavily and continued to cheer for himself. The second set was not over. Although Federer had just scored eight points in a row to reach the peak of his morale, Gawain refused to give up without a fight. He was still fighting and fighting hard.
It's too early to win or lose.
At this moment, Gao Wen was inspired with high fighting spirit, as if he was the player standing on the edge of the cliff fighting hard, as if he was the player who was in danger and could lose at any time.
Compared with Federer, Gao Wen is hungrier and more eager, not only to be the world number one at the end of the year, but also to be the year-end finals champion.
Federer already has countless honors, including six year-end finals championships, but Gawain still has nothing. He is still young, still hungry, still eager, and he has not lost his focus even if he is leading.
Because Gawain knows the ability of his opponent, everything is possible in the final set. Even if they still have to compete in the final set, Gawain cannot give up the second set. Things are not that easy; what's more,
Who said that Gawain had no chance in the second set?
"30:40".
In the blink of an eye, three consecutive break points left only one last chance.
Gawain looked across the court with scorching eyes, looked at Federer upright, smiled at the corner of his mouth, then clenched his fist again and roared again——
The storm has arrived.
Turning around, Gawain walked towards the bottom line and took a deep breath.
The third break point is often the most dangerous. Seeing that three consecutive crises are about to be resolved, you will either be impatient or relax, and then your efforts may not be so meticulous, and the situation will deviate from your control.
Moreover, now is different from before. Gao Wen knows that the power of the serve is reduced and it is more difficult to make an ACE or a straight serve, so he needs to be more careful in his layout.
You can't just muddle through things casually.
Gawain took advantage of the break to wipe his sweat, slightly controlled his rhythm, adjusted his breathing, and sorted out the situation with his brain, and then returned to the bottom line unhurriedly.
Second District.
...backhand?
Yes, backhand!
This time when he came to the second area, Gao Wen did not hesitate to aim his gun at Federer's backhand, but he did not choose the outside corner, mainly to avoid Federer's attack. Instead, he used the angle to open up the angle; instead, he chose to get close and press the backhand with one shot.
After landing, the serve rotates inside to control the situation skillfully.
Speed 178 kilometers per hour.
Snapped.
It can be judged from the sound of hitting the ball that it is not crisp. Spin replaces power and becomes the protagonist of this serve.
However, just after serving, Gawain realized——
Oops.
Federer, step up.
Although it is not "SABR", it is a perfect continuation of Federer's method of stepping up to receive the serve and applying pressure aggressively during the North American summer hard court season.
Gawain is reading the game, and obviously Federer is not distracted either.
Federer is also able to judge the situation. Now both sides are facing some difficulties in serving, mainly due to the influence of physical fluctuations. When the ball speed cannot maintain sufficient suppression effect, the purpose of containment and layout is often achieved through a combination of rotation and landing point.
Serving from close range is one of them.
Although Federer cannot predict which direction Gao Wen will choose to serve, as long as it is a close serve, he can take a step forward and attack.
There is no need to completely cut to the bottom line, just taking one step forward is enough.
Grab it!
Then, what's next?
Federer maintains a high degree of concentration because he knows that his active step forward will shorten his reaction time, and he will be more cramped and crowded when facing close serves, so he cannot let his mind wander.
Not only can’t your mind wander, but you also need to concentrate. Everything depends on your reaction speed.
Federer dares to use "SABR" in the duel between top players because he has such confidence——
At this time, the same is true.
Almost at the same time as he took a step forward, Federer judged that Gao Wen had chosen to press the backhand serve from close to him. He did not move his steps and did not make adjustments or dodges. He just leaned his upper body back, staggered to a different position, and raised his one-handed backhand.
There is no need to swing the racket, relying on the forward movement of the feet to complete the push and exert force.
First block.
A flick.
The seemingly simple batting action actually poses a severe test to reaction, flexibility, coordination, balance, and the most important point:
Feel.
But I saw that the angle of Federer's racket was turned sideways, and I could tell at a glance that he was going to hit a diagonal shot, but this time the difference was slightly different in that the angle was particularly obvious.
When a tennis ball collides, it bounces out in the direction of the reaction force.
slash.
Big slash.
A diagonal line that completely cuts off the angle.
Federer's return shot actually made an incredible arc and landed in the small triangle on the bottom line of Gawain's left service area. After landing, it continued to jump out.
The angle is amazing.
Easily breaking all predictions, because even Federer himself doesn't know how effective the return will be, let alone others?
And, this is still not all.
Because Federer didn't swing the racket at all, he had almost no power. He was just using force to hit the ball. In addition, Gao Wen's serve was mainly about rotation and had little power. After pushing back with one shot, the tennis ball would be fluttering.
After landing, I could almost feel no strength.
Therefore, the return serve was shallow, deflected, light and low.
In an instant, Gawain was pushed to the edge of the cliff, and there was no room to hit the ball before he even started his steps.