After the game, Fei Lopez took off his headband, the regret in his eyes slowly dissipated, and showed a big smile. He approached Gao Wen at a trot, then grabbed Gao Wen's right hand and said with Spanish
Human enthusiasm hugged Gawain tightly and patted Gawain's back heavily with his left hand.
"Good job."
At this time, Fei-Lopez no longer had the fierceness to win in the game, and the kindness and enthusiasm in his voice invisibly shortened the distance.
After letting go of his embrace, Fei Lopez looked at Gao Wen and smiled.
"If we encounter a situation like Tannathy's in the future, just go to the court and have a good fight. Boxing already has a large enough audience around the world, so we don't need to compete with them for the market."
There is a lightness of ridicule in and out of his words. Although he still has a Spanish accent, Fei Lopez's English is much clearer and more accurate than Nadal's, and he can even make jokes easily.
Gawain reacted immediately.
It seems that Fe-Lopez did see the small conflict between him and Kogkinakis that day, but Fe-Lopez's brilliance lies in:
Instead of reprimanding and instructing Gawain or Kogkinakis in a condescending manner, he waited for the matter to settle and dissipate before making further remarks.
Moreover, Gawain is almost certain that Fe-Lopez's words, attitude, and expression should be different when facing Kogkinakis and facing him——
After all, young players are inevitably hot-blooded, impulsive and irritable, and may be thankless if they don't pay attention. Just look at McEnroe's attempt to help Kyrgios but was repeatedly criticized to death.
No wonder Fei Lopez has made friends all over the world on tour, he is indeed a character.
A smile appeared in Gawain's eyes and he raised his fist.
"My fists are much harder than my racket. Don't worry, in order to avoid killing people, I will always choose the racket first, otherwise something will happen."
A little proud, a little proud and a little light and playful, Gawain's response also made Fey Lopez laugh happily.
Words, just stop there.
Fei Lopez didn't say anything more. He wished Gao Wen good luck in the next round, then shook hands with the referee and turned around to leave.
For Gawain, the goal he set for himself was very simple:
It is enough to make a little progress each game, recover a little, get better, and develop in the right direction. As for the outcome, the outcome will be decided by on-the-spot performance.
After defeating Fei Lopez and advancing to the next round, Gao Wen's goal has been achieved. At least the performance of Magic City has been significantly improved compared to that of Imperial City. Whether it is daily training or doubles competition, no matter what it is, it has played a role.
But they are now slowly getting back on track.
After passing three levels in a row, Gao Wen successfully advanced to the quarterfinals in the Magic City Masters Tournament, and the third round of competition has gradually returned to normal, with no upsets——
The only slightly unexpected match was when fourth seed Ferrer defeated No. 11 seed Murray in three sets, so "Djokovic VS Murray" had no chance to be staged in Shanghai.
Murray, who has had ups and downs in his return from injury this season, has had a good season in Asia but a low performance. After winning the championship in Pengcheng, his performance in both the Imperial City and Shanghai Magic City failed to meet expectations. For him, the rest of the season will be difficult.
The competition should be a preparation for next year's rise.
In the quarterfinals, Gao Wen will face another SLR hero Youzhny.
Youzhny and Federer were players who entered professional tennis at the same time. He also experienced the glorious era when stars such as Safin, Hewitt, Ferrero, Roddick etc. were shining, and he was also ranked among the top ten in the world for a long time.
Top players.
Because he had served in the army for a long time, coupled with his tough playing style and bad temper, he earned the title of "Soldier" among fans.
Youzhny has an animated picture that is very famous on global social networks. After he made a mistake in hitting a ball, because he was very dissatisfied with himself, he hit himself on the head with a racket. As a result, his plasma burst and blood dripped.
The violent and bloody scenes left everyone stunned.
In fact, the same goes for his playing style, which is straightforward, crisp, daring to fight, and has a tough style of play.
The peak period of Youzhny's career should be from 2008 to 2013. During this period, he reached the quarter-finals of all four Grand Slams and reached the semi-finals of the US Open twice. Although he is a typical hard-court player, he has a strong reputation on grass.
He performs very well on both clay and clay courts and is recognized as one of the all-around players.
In addition, Youzhny also often participated in doubles competitions. His highest doubles ranking in the world was No. 38, and he won nine doubles championships.
Unfortunately, on the one hand, it is due to the impact of injuries, there are no major injuries, but minor injuries persist; on the other hand, it is due to personality reasons, with ups and downs, and the state also rises and falls, and the overall performance has always lacked a little stability.
Last season, the 31-year-old Youzhny made a strong recovery and ended the year ranked 15th in the world, creating the second best result in his career.
However, entering this season, his form has gradually declined. The first three Grand Slams were all stopped in the second round, and Kyrgios was upset by Kyrgios in the first round of the US Open.
Last year at the US Open, Youzhny broke into the quarterfinals; after being eliminated in the first round this year, he lost a huge amount of points, so his world ranking dropped rapidly, and he has now fallen to 48th.
This time in Shanghai, Youzhny had good luck in signing. In the first round, he defeated Gulbis, who was "suffering from injuries". Then he faced unseeded players ranked outside the 80th in the world in two consecutive rounds, and both rounds were decisive wins.
After winning the set, he successfully entered the top eight and was about to face off against Gao Wen across the net.
Judging from Youzhny's recent performance, the soldier's condition is indeed slowly declining, with the dual effects of age and injuries permeating all aspects.
This time in Shanghai, in the second and third rounds, they faced Ivan Dodig and Juan Monaco, who were not ranked high in the world, and both reached the deciding set.
Moreover, judging from the historical trajectory that Gao Wen is familiar with, after 2014, Youzhny has never been able to regain the touch he had at his peak.
In subsequent Grand Slam tournaments, he was basically eliminated in the first two rounds; his last appearance in a Grand Slam was the 2018 US Open. However, in this tournament where he performed best, he was helpless in the first round due to cramps.
Retiring from the tournament was such a depressing way to bid farewell to the Grand Slam.
In September of the same year, Youzhny announced his official retirement. Later, I learned that the latest news about him was that he served as the coach of Canadian rookie Denis Shapovalov for a period of time in 2019.
Look back to the present moment.
Although Youzhny is indeed slowly declining, looking at it from another perspective, despite his poor condition, Youzhny still did not give up fighting, gritted his teeth and continued to fight to the end, and was finally able to win——
His strong psychological quality and excellent adjustment ability are evident.