The so-called "Grand Slam Syndrome" is known as a curse in professional tennis. From men to women, professional players are troubled without exception.
In fact, that is to say, after experiencing the fierce competition in the Grand Slam, the physical and energy consumption are very obvious. In addition, the excellent Grand Slam record will inevitably put the players on the back and become the target of other players' challenges. One plus and one minus
Under such circumstances, subsequent performance is prone to fluctuations.
In 2001, Australian player Hewitt defeated Sampras in the US Open final to win the championship. Then he participated non-stop in the Neon Tournament and won the championship. At the same time, he also represented his country in the Davis Cup and ushered in two consecutive victories.
His record and performance are outstanding. As of 2021, he is also the last player among all men's and women's players to win the championship in the first tournament after winning a Grand Slam championship.
So, what about the Big Four?
In 2003, Federer reached Wimbledon for the first time. After the match, he returned to his hometown to participate in the Gstaad clay court tournament, but unfortunately lost to Czech player Jiri Novak in the final and finished runner-up.
In 2005, Nadal reached the French Open for the first time, and went to Halle to participate in a grass-court event the next day. He was unable to adapt to the venue and was eliminated in the first round.
In 2008, Djokovic won the Australian Open for the first time. After winning the championship, he took a break before competing again. However, his hand was still not good. He only won one game in Marseille before losing to the French player Simon.
In 2012, Murray won the US Open for the first time. After a full month's rest, he went to Neon to compete. As a result, he unfortunately lost in the semi-finals to Raonic, who had defeated him on his way to the top of the US Open a month ago.
This is even more true for female players.
Especially for the new members of the "Grand Slam" who have won a Grand Slam championship for the first time, the Grand Slam syndrome is even more obvious. The reasons behind it are complicated, but completely understandable.
Because, not only the Grand Slam champions, but also all the players participating in the Grand Slam must undergo the double test of physical strength and energy. Adjustment after the event is bound to be a problem; even the Big Four have won the Grand Slam many times.
After that, they all made the same choice:
No matter what the Grand Slam record is, they will not compete for the time being after the tournament, but will go home to rest and adjust for a period of time.
Among them, increasing age is one of the reasons that cannot be ignored, but more importantly, with the increase in competition experience, they also realize that the victory or defeat of the Grand Slam is often more impactful. They are also ordinary people and need to
It takes a period of time to digest and settle before you can meet new challenges.
Similarly, Gawain is also learning this, everything is new; and Gulbis is no exception.
In the U.S. Open match, Gulbis faced Thiem. He played two sets first and had an absolute advantage. The victory was already in hand. However, he encountered a strong counterattack by Thiem and lost three sets. It was a duck in his mouth.
It just flew away, which was undoubtedly a blow to Gulbis's confidence.
Especially after reaching the semi-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time at the French Open, Gulbis has higher expectations for himself. Losing is not the end of the world, but losing in such a collapse way is indeed difficult to accept, even if Farah
Sheng's story happened a month ago, and it's still hard to get rid of.
In the first round of the Imperial Capital Open, he could not feel the pressure for the time being against Fognini, who was not doing well. But in the second round, Gulbis could feel the pressure deeply when facing Gao Wen, who was actively looking for touch.
The game "Gulbis VS Gawain" is nicknamed the "Battle of the Backhand" by professionals. Both players' abilities in the backhand position are obvious to all. They can defend and attack, and can withstand the impact, even in extreme situations.
The situation can also be changed in difficult situations, and the state of the backhand determines the lower limit of the game.
Sure enough, after the game started, Gulbis repeatedly tried to form a breakthrough on the backhand position——
Although Gulbis is not a player with strong offensive firepower, he is definitely a player with a tough style of play and a courage to fight.
He has won against Federer, Djokovic and Murray, which is the best proof that his tough attack and solid baseline ability are particularly outstanding.
However, facing Nadal, he lost all seven encounters in his career. This is the best portrayal of the fact that Nadal's backhand is completely defeated by the left-hand shot of Nadal's forehand.
Obviously, Gawain is not Nadal, so Gulbis took the lead and applied pressure, trying to control the game and seize the initiative in this confrontation.
However, how did Gawain win the US Open?
Facing heavy artillery attackers with full firepower like Isner, Kyrgios, and Wawrinka, they are still able to withstand players with continuous firepower output and are full of tenacity.
Especially now that his own touch is not good, Gao Wen relies more on layout to create traps, and his focus shifts from offense to defense, using anticipation, movement, rotation and wrapping to complete the return. Although the defensive kick-off rate is
Compared with the US Open, it has declined, but the success rate is still excellent.
As a result, Gulbis was under tremendous pressure.
In the first game of the game, Gao Wen took the lead in serving. However, he could not find the feeling of hitting the ball at the beginning. The placement rate of the entire landing point was not satisfactory, which gave Gulbis room to attack and score; coupled with his own
An active error will give your opponent two consecutive break points in the blink of an eye.
"15:40".
On the first break point, Gao Wen performed very well.
After his first serve hit the net, facing the pressure from his second serve, Gao Wen boldly chose the inside corner and challenged Gulbis's backhand head-on.
Gulbis tried to grab the second serve, but the bounce height of the serve was higher than expected, so that Gulbis grabbed the hitting point, but was unable to suppress the spin. The execution effect of the entire grab-and-return tactic was mediocre.
Giving Gawain breathing room.
but!
Gao Wen did not attack directly, but suppressed the middle and returned a deep ball from the baseline. It was almost a repeating shot from the same line as the serve, once again throwing the offensive problem to Gulbis.
Gulbis's backhand is very tough. He adjusted his backhand in small steps continuously and hit the backslash. When the space in the left and right half of the court was almost equal and it was difficult to open the angle, the backhand attack pressed into the triangle area of Gawain's forehand bottom line.
Inside, the angle is forcibly broken, breaking the balance of the round ball.
If Gawain is a little slower when he is in position, the ball will continue to jump out after it bounces off the ground, putting pressure on Gawain's stance and swing.
However, Gao Wen predicted Gulbis's hitting line in advance and adjusted his steps very timely. Not only did he arrive in advance, but his forehand directly swept diagonally across the shot. He did not pursue the angle and landing point, but suddenly adopted
Flat strike to increase speed and power——
In order to ensure the safety factor of hitting the ball, Gao Wen did not pursue a blind spot, and finally chose to land near the sideline. There is still two feet of space before going out of bounds. However, the relatively shallow landing point combined with strong side spin can make the tennis ball continue to move outward after landing.
jump up.
Gulbis immediately fell into passive position.
While continuing to move laterally, Gulbis still tried to exert force with his forehand, but in order to ensure successful defense, his foot position was nearly three meters away from the baseline. Even if he hit the ball forcefully, he could not fully unleash his power.
The landing point of the return ball was obviously shallow, and the arc was not suppressed.
Gawain entered the baseline immediately, hit a diagonal shot with his backhand, and entered Gulbis's backhand gap.