The whole game was still in a state of anxiety, especially in the third and fourth sets. You came and went, and the staggered rising scores kept both players in a state of high concentration. They did not allow any distraction, because
This little mistake may ruin a set or even the entire game.
The tie-break was even more suffocating.
His bubbling brain was thinking about the serving strategy. He raised his eyes and glanced at Nishikori Kei's position, and then made a decision in his mind——
Calculation and layout are things that both players must complete. It depends on whose layout can be calculated more accurately and comprehensively.
Area 1, inner corner.
Suppress the backhand.
Kei Nishikori's judgment was obviously a little slower, because Gawain had made several close attacks at critical points before, and all of them achieved good results. Kei Nishikori lacked the initiative to make a shot, and often made mistakes in a hurry.
It is difficult to return high-quality returns; instead, it is the inner and outer corners that tear apart the angle. Today, with God's help, I hit many beautiful returns.
As a result, on such an important point, Gawain actually chose the inside corner?
Nishikori Kei's kick was half a beat too slow, and he quickly discovered Gawain's intention. The power and speed of this serve were average, but the angle was very tricky. Obviously Gawain used spin to get it.
A landing point is to suppress Nishikori Kei's leverage -
Even though Kei Nishikori made contact with the ball but judged that he had not followed up, it was difficult for Kei Nishikori to hit the ball with quality no matter how he hit it.
Damn it!
Kei Nishikori realized something was wrong the moment he touched the ball, because the tennis ball still had high bounce and external spin after it hit the ground. This kind of serve only appeared twice in today's game, and the third time was such an important moment.
.
Just like the second break point in the previous game, Gao Wen, who didn't seem to have a strong serve, was always able to gain an advantage through changes at critical moments.
Kei Nishikori had to hold the racket with one hand above his shoulder, barely touching the tennis ball, and then used the strength of his wrist and forearm to hit the racket. After finishing the shot, he immediately stood on the spot and adjusted his center of gravity to prepare.
He took a shot on defense and stared intently at his own return——
Damn it!
A high curve ball, Nishikori Kei hoped to land on the baseline and restrain Gawain, but obviously this time Gawain's hidden tricks restricted Nishikori Kei's touch, and he returned a midfield ball.
, and it is a top-spin midfield ball, which also means that Gao Wen can launch the attack calmly.
Tap tap tap.
Tap tap tap.
Gawain was adjusting his steps in small steps. He was originally going to take advantage of the trend, but as soon as he took a step forward, he found that Nishikori Kei's ball flew towards the baseline. He had to admit that Nishikori Kei's touch was really good——
Under such an extremely difficult situation, the arc of the lofted ball was still able to press so deep, and this was even when Gawain was calculating mentally but not intentionally.
Gawain's adjustment was very careful. Even though his physical strength was no longer comparable to that of the first set and his thigh muscles were constantly shouting tired, he still did not slack off. He gritted his teeth and adjusted his position carefully. Then, he stretched his body and stabilized his posture.
Stand firmly on your feet:
Dapeng spreads its wings! Top down! Smash the high pressure!
boom!
The tennis ball turned into a blur of light and flew towards the court. However, on the flight path of the tennis ball, one could see Nishikori Kei's figure at a glance.
Obviously, he was still not ready to give up.
Kick! Jump! Fly!
Nishikori Kei quickly moved laterally to his left side, staring at the tennis ball with burning eyes, but Gawain's smash was so strong that it hit him like a violent storm, even if Nishikori Kei's footsteps were no longer strong.
No matter how light and fast he was, he still couldn't catch up, so he "threw" himself out.
Flying out with a leap to the top, the two-handed backhand once again evolved into a one-handed grip, stretching the body to the extreme, barely touching the tennis ball with the racket head, and wrapping the tennis ball softly and lightly with the wrist, leveraging the strength of this technique
I have used it to perfection and can complete the return of the ball with just one click.
rub!
The tennis ball raised up in a big arc, and the height seemed to be more than ten meters. It fell into the sky and disappeared into the golden glory, so that all the exclamations in the Arthur Ashe Stadium were stopped.
After being cut off, he stared up at the tennis ball with his mouth open.
At this point, Kei Nishikori has given up moving and his steps are not jumping in place, as if he has given up hitting the ball completely.
On the other side, Gawain was adjusting his steps to prepare for the second high-pressure attack. He kept reminding himself subconsciously that Nishikori Kei would never give up the ball easily. However, because Nishikori Kei gave up his movement and lost the standard of judgment, he could not guess.
Where will Torunishikori Kei move?
At this time, Nishikori Kei is standing in the middle position leaning on his backhand. It seems that the gap in the forehand position is slightly larger, but in fact the difference is not as big as imagined.
Moreover, in the face of such a high-pressure ball, if it hits the shallow area in the front court, it is very likely to go down the net. Because the flight height of the tennis ball is too high, the gravity acceleration may make the hitting point of the tennis ball more difficult to figure out. Now we can only rely on the feel of the ball and the
Use the feel to find the hitting spot.
Tap tap tap.
Tap tap tap.
Gawain continued to adjust his steps. When he raised his eyes, he could only see a patch of golden sunlight. The evening sun was burning brightly, and he almost lost sight of the tennis ball.
found it!
In the midst of all the splendor, Gawain still found the tennis ball, kicked off the ground! Jumped! Pressed down!
boom!
The tennis ball was hit hard again!
However, two details can be seen in the handling of the high-pressure ball this time. One is that physical strength has declined and the ground force is not sufficient; the other is that due to interference from the opponent, the downforce is obviously not sufficient. In other words, the high-pressure ball is still slightly closed.
After staying for a while, I didn’t exert all my strength.
tread!
You can see Kei Nishikori start immediately, which confirms what Gawain just thought: everything is just a smoke bomb, and then he has reached the backhand position in two big steps, blocking the position of the high-pressure ball.
Gao Wen pressed a deep area, but in order to avoid going out of bounds, he did not suppress it completely, so there was still about one meter of space from the bottom line.
Kei Nishikori stood firm on his feet and raised his backhand with both hands. He did not take the initiative to use force, but used the force of hitting the wall to rush towards the tennis ball.
One kick! One lift!
Kei Nishikori added a lot of friction to prevent the tennis ball from flying directly into the stands like an anti-aircraft gun, hoping that the fierce friction would make the tennis ball fall quickly near the baseline and then land in bounds.
Everything happened so fast!
Just as he kicked off the ground, the tennis ball hit him back in the next second.
Huh!
Along with the sound of gasps from the audience, the commentators in the media center also exclaimed——
"Obviously, Gawain was a little soft on the high-pressure ball just now. He didn't fully exert his strength, and it was actually picked up by Nishikori Kei..."
But, is that really the case? Was Gawain soft at the critical moment?