"The opponent must have grown up on clay, and his hitting habit is to increase spin, which is very heavy. I think in the first two sets, Mike's backhand did not absorb the spin, and he must have missed a lot of deflection shots, so that now the final set
He didn’t dare to take action, so he was suppressed.”
Conversing lowly, in whispers without making any noise, Gawain and Gillon were discussing Macdonald's condition.
Not good, very bad.
In fact, MacDonald's opponents are typical teenage professional players. Although they have been in the professional stage for many years, they have been playing in the youth arena, so they habitually use their physical talents to form confrontations. In other words, they rarely need to use their brains to plan their own goals.
Batting tactics.
Naturally, almost all batting line combinations are routines and can be accurately predicted in advance.
But at the same time, he is young and strong, has excellent running ability, and top defensive ability. Unless it is some extreme ball, he can be in place immediately.
It is precisely because of this that MacDonald is in a dilemma. Even if he accurately predicts the opponent's return route, he needs to put more energy into the offensive phase, but the opponent can always get in place, which then forces MacDonald's offense to take risks.
More risks, easier to make mistakes.
This kind of game is not pretty.
Because the hitting lines of both players are predictable, the audience can predict how they will hit the ball, which is basically a square ball, which loses the fun; at the same time, the speed of the two players' hitting basically remains the same.
There is no change in speed, the whole process is at a constant speed, which makes people sleepy just looking at it.
As Gillon just said, MacDonald's backhand is unstable and lacks a hitting line, which makes him more passive.
The situation is indeed not optimistic.
In Gao Wen's view, MacDonald still has to dare to re-draw the line with his backhand, even if it is not a draw, and use cutting and flicking methods to draw out the straight line, in order to change the situation, otherwise the opponent will increase the number of spins.
The way he hits the ball and his defense really doesn't drop the ball.
After all, Macdonald has won a challenge championship and has more competition experience than Gowan and Geelong. They all hope that Macdonald can regain his composure, find a breakthrough, and seize the opportunity in the final set. Otherwise, if the stalemate continues,
Macdonald is still in trouble.
However, Gao Wen and Ji Long did not continue the discussion, but abided by the game etiquette and focused on watching the game.
really.
Professional players have a keen sense of smell, but MacDonald's offense still failed to withstand the pressure. He made two forehand errors and lost his serve——
Like Gao Wen's second set, in the ninth game of the deciding set, MacDonald suffered a fatal break. His opponent gained a "5:4" lead, and then ushered in his own serve to win the game.
The situation is not good.
Gawain became uncontrollably anxious. He was even more focused and nervous than when he faced the match point. He could clearly hear the sound of his heart hitting his chest. Now he can finally understand the meaning of that sentence:
Many times, the coaches on the sidelines are more nervous than the players on the court. It is no wonder that heart problems are very common among head coaches in competitive sports. At this moment, pouring a bucket of ice water on them may not work.
Turning your head, you can see Jilong chewing his thumbnail, which caused Gao Wen to smile slightly. It seemed that they were in the same mood, but Jilong was completely focused on the court and didn't pay attention at all.
Looking at Gawain's eyes, he almost couldn't breathe.
The game is still going on.
The situation is still tense, and the stalemate has not been broken, but Macdonald still made some attempts.
Unfortunately, MacDonald lacked a little bit of luck after all. Although he got a break point in his opponent's serve-winning game and saved two match points, he still failed to break back. On the third match point, he won the match.
A forehand shot ruined the entire match.
The final score is, "3:6", "6:4", "6:4".
Very regrettable.
Both Giron and Macdonald had the upper hand. Both players won the first set, which is the most direct proof. However, they both suffered comebacks and were eliminated in the first round. Even the scores in the three sets were exactly the same.
.
On the contrary, it was Gawain who, faced with a disadvantageous situation, lost the first set but managed to turn the tide and win.
Sure enough, professional events are different after all.
Looking at Macdonald who dejectedly ran to the center of the court to shake hands, Gao Wen and Giron both stood up and applauded the two players for their wonderful duel. Then Gao Wen pursed the corners of his mouth slightly and shook his head slightly to complain about himself.
.
Just now, he was thinking ambitiously that his next step would be to challenge the Big Four, but now it seems that he immediately realized that he was overestimating his abilities and his ambitions were as high as the sky. Don't let it happen because he defeated a person ranked 280th.
Players who are ranked fifth get carried away, and the Big Four are still too far away for him.
From the strength of Kokkinakis, to Geelong and Macdonald having the advantage but being overturned, the first event of his career ushered in a vivid lesson:
Keep your feet on the ground, step by step, and wait until your strength reaches the corresponding level. Everything will follow. There will be challenges, there will be victories, and there will be championships. But if you are arrogant and aim too high, you will be hurt.
There are countless geniuses like "Zhong Yong" in competitive sports, and there are even more countless professional players who are not geniuses and are fleeting.
He needs to stay calm.
Although the four giants are too far away, there is a "little giant" in the Binghamton Challenge, at least the future "little giant"——
Little Zverev.
Although Zverev is still far from mature, for Gawain at this stage, this should be another extreme challenge, far more powerful than Kokkinakis.
Moreover, Gao Wen was placed in the bottom half and Zverev was in the top half. If they wanted to meet up, they would have to wait until the finals.
finals!
Thinking of this, Gao Wen couldn't help but become excited again, eager to try. Whether it was the qualification to advance to the finals or the chance to face Zverev, Gao Wen couldn't wait to step onto the court and pass the test.
Let the storm come more violently!
"Marcos, Gawain."
The game had ended, and they saw a tired MacDonald in the players' locker room.
In terms of the difficulty of the game, MacDonald probably had the hardest time today, from the length of the game to the intensity of the match. In addition, he regretted losing, and it was inevitable that he felt a little disappointed in his eyebrows, and even his shoulders were drooping.
Seeing this, Gawain walked up, patted MacDonald on the shoulder, and simply said, "Come back next time."
The simplest words made Macdonald's nose feel sore, and his voice was slightly choked, "I could have won today, but I can't bear to accept it."