When people mention Federer, they will definitely think of sharp serve and smooth attack; when people mention Nadal, they will definitely think of super topspin forehand and never give up defense.
When people mention Djokovic and Murray, the biggest impression that comes to mind is that they are balanced in all aspects but lack outstanding weapons. Relatively speaking, Djokovic's ability to change lines and Murray's layout
Ability is the most powerful presence in their various skills, and the different styles of players can be seen from the side.
Even after 2017, Djokovic adjusted his training focus and his serving ability improved significantly. However, because Djokovic's baseline ability is so good, people always ignore his serving ability, just like Serena Williams.
Si's serving ability is so good that people always overlook that her baseline ability is also at the top of the pyramid.
Then, the eyes returned to this semi-final. Why did Gao Wen choose to receive the serve?
Part of the reason is indeed because Djokovic's serving ability was not top-notch during this period, but the main reason is because of Djokovic's slow start.
Djokovic is a very, very slow player. Because of his playing style, he needs a lot of time to find the feeling of hitting the ball in the baseline round. He also needs a lot of time to adapt to the opponent's serving style. This is also
This makes him even slower to start than the "King of Clay" Nadal, and he often faces many challenges at the beginning of the first set.
Gao Wen chose to take the lead in receiving the serve to prevent Djokovic from gaining more time to adapt to the ball in his own serve game. After all, Djokovic's ability to receive the serve is too strong. If Gao Wen takes the lead in serving, he will
Give Djokovic more time to find form.
So, this is a strategic choice.
Moreover, this is only part of Gawain's tactics.
Pah. Pah. Pah.
Djokovic is shooting the ball.
Professional players all have habits they have developed since childhood. Djokovic's is to shoot the ball. He is used to adjusting his breathing and rhythm by shooting the ball. At the same time, he also determines the serving tactics in his mind. The more nervous he is, the more times he shoots the ball.
more.
Usually, it is normal to hit the ball more than ten times, but at the critical moment, Djokovic even hit the ball more than thirty times, so that the opponent had to wait until it was cold.
Later, tennis changed the serving rules, allowing players only 25 seconds to adjust after the end of a ball, and then they must serve. Otherwise, they will be directly penalized after two warnings and lose a first-serve opportunity.
The biggest influencers of the service interval timing rule are Djokovic, who likes to shoot the ball, and Nadal, who has obsessive-compulsive disorder routines.
However, in order to shorten the game time and facilitate live broadcast on television, this rule is still implemented. However, according to the specific conditions of the field, the referee can adjust the proportion——
For example, two players have just gone through an extremely long round of thirty-six shots, so of course the twenty-five-second timing rule should be relaxed to at least allow the two players to take a breather.
Now, the service timing rule has not been introduced yet, so Djokovic can still shoot the ball slowly.
Gao Wen's attention remained highly concentrated. Even though Djokovic kept hitting the ball, he was not impatient. His body kept shaking slightly, waiting for the signal from Djokovic to throw the ball.
Then--
Throw the ball!
His attention followed the tennis ball, but all Gao Wen knew about Djokovic came from TV videos. Since he had never played against each other, he had no way of predicting it. He could only stay focused and observe Djokovic's serving habits.
Close and press forehand!
Gawain's brain immediately sounded the alarm, and he took a half-step to his left, while his upper body continued to retreat to make room for his swing.
Djokovic's serve is not very fast. At least after experiencing Isner and Kyrgios, he is much more calm when facing such a serve.
But Djokovic's serve often needs to be placed very accurately to limit the opponent's return route and then prepare for his next attack.
At this time, Gawain's position was squeezed, but his ducking action was very timely, and the entire conditioned reflex made room for him in an instant.
When the forehand is squeezed, swing it quickly and touch the ball as quickly as possible in your own hitting space. Then your upper body completes a turning movement, and the speed of the racket head is immediately increased.
boom!
You can clearly see the detail of the wrist being thrown outward in the entire hitting action. At the last moment, the speed and angle of the return ball are brought up by the speed of the racket head.
Although there is no room for active efforts, you can still clearly see an improvement in the overall rhythm.
Whoosh!
The next second you can see the tennis ball flying back along a diagonal line.
Because there was not enough room to swing the racket, it was almost impossible to change the line. Just as Djokovic calculated, Gawain returned a slash.
But the moment Gao Wen took the shot, Djokovic immediately realized the slight increase in rhythm, and immediately kicked his steps towards his forehand.
pedal.
Djokovic's upper body was completely stretched out. Although Gao Wen's wrists put in some effort and the tennis ball jumped out very obviously after landing, Djokovic still caught up, and it was not cutting, relying on his forehand.
With a flick of the forearm, the tennis ball was knocked back.
Rely on backhand in the middle.
In a hurry, Djokovic still cleverly completed the package and control. From the line to the landing point, his strong control of the baseline shot can be seen.
However, the feeling was not hot in the opening stage, so the depth was not controlled very well.
From the perspective of tactical intention, Djokovic chose the middle route. He needed to use his backhand to catch the ball on the path of Gawain's lateral movement. If the suppression was deep enough, the backhand swing would not be fully developed and he would follow the inertia of running to return a ball.
Backslash or middle should be the biggest possibilities.
Then Djokovic can wait to complete the next shot on his forehand half to reverse the situation.
Unfortunately, the depth is a little lacking.
When Gao Wen was moving quickly laterally, he noticed the landing point immediately. He made a quick decision and took a small step forward, almost stepping on the inside edge of the baseline. His backhand had already been set up with both hands——
One kick! One grab!
Grab the rising point.
One push! One throw!
Fully exert force.
Gao Wen's two-handed backhand attack was strong, directly grabbing a rising point, and then used speed and power to suppress Djokovic's return shot, hitting a low and flat diagonal line.
Whoosh!
Djokovic realized that his return shot was too shallow, but he didn't realize that Gawain's connection awareness was so outstanding. He grabbed it immediately, and then the ball was gone.
Djokovic watched helplessly as the tennis ball turned into a streamline and jumped out from his backhand position, landed, rebounded, and hit the billboard behind him.
boom.
There was a muffled sound, and Djokovic didn't even have time to step forward to defend, and the point was over.
"0:15", Gao Wen took the lead to grab the first point!
Obviously, facing the world number one, Gao Wen did not have any baggage or nervousness and was fully prepared from the beginning.
