Apparently, Murray watched Gauvin defeat Djokovic in the US Open semifinals.
In that game, Gao Wen took advantage of Djokovic's slow start and was very bold in attacking at the beginning. He successfully broke serve in the first game and steadily maintained his advantage to win the first set.
Of course, in a Grand Slam best-of-five-set system, just grabbing the first set is not enough to ensure that Gauvin beats Djokovic. The subsequent performance is equally important, but it is undeniable that the opening is very important.
Valencia is a best-of-three series, which means there is less room for maneuver, and the importance of the opening is further enhanced.
The opening should be a trial, and during the trial, Murray had already begun to consciously lay out——
Suppressing Gawain's backhand.
In fact, Gao Wen was born in just three months, and his technical characteristics have been repeatedly studied by countless players and coaches. How many people are eager to defeat Gao Wen to prove themselves, and the relatively unstable
The forehand is often the breakthrough point.
However, Murray took an unconventional approach.
In fact, in the first half of the first point, Murray was also suppressing Gawain's forehand:
In the first zone, he chooses the wide outside corner to serve and pull Gawain's position out of the court.
On his first serve at a speed of 181 kilometers per hour, Gao Wen used the force of his forehand to hit back. He adjusted his steps back in small steps to defend his backhand. As a result, Murray hit the diagonal return ball again with his forehand.
, and pulled Gawain's steps back to the forehand position.
Up to this point, Murray's tactical intention of suppressing Gawain's forehand was very clear, but then, Murray's hitting line was all on Gawain's backhand, continuing to exert pressure.
Moreover, Murray's hitting is very purposeful. The landing point is basically between one footprint and two footprints within the baseline. He does not pursue the depth of the line. He keeps the hitting in a relatively deep area and uses flat hits and downward strokes.
Spin restricts Gawain's strokes.
At the same time, the angle is not completely broken, and it is always spinning near the midline area, not to form a winning point, but to contain Gao Wen's footsteps in the backhand position, repeatedly returning to the forehand position and repeatedly pulling back to the backhand position. See
He stood up and seemed ready to break through from Gawain's backhand position.
In a duel between masters, you can't look at the surface. When you take one step, you must look at three steps——
According to Gao Wen's judgment, Murray should be preparing to use the tactic of "pressing the backhand and hitting the forehand".
Everyone says that Djokovic has the best two-handed backhand in the world, but in fact, Murray’s two-handed backhand is definitely not inferior to Djokovic:
It can withstand and fight, is extremely stable, and is ever-changing.
Compared with Djokovic, Murray's backhand is not only capable of cutting, releasing small balls, lofting the ball, changing the rhythm, controlling the landing point, but is proficient in everything. The attack power may be slightly inferior, but
The changes are even better.
Against Gawain, Murray used his backhand to suppress his backhand. Murray was absolutely confident.
In Gawain's game, the starting point of many defensive counterattacks is the backhand. If Murray can suppress Gawain's backhand, then the layout of the game will be much easier, but in the end, to score, you still need to break through Gawain's forehand.
Destroying Gawain's forehand stability.
This tactic is somewhat similar to Djokovic's "pressure forehand and backhand" against Nadal, seeking a breakthrough from the opponent's strongest technical link.
This duel is an encounter between two players. The beginning of the game is a necessary stage to adapt to the opponent's style. Murray is testing, and Gao Wen is also adjusting——
“Backhand VS Backhand”?
Gao Wen is not afraid at all, and Gao Wen is also testing Murray's backhand response ability. What changes will the changes in speed and strength bring?
The slight difference from Murray is that Gao Wen is a bit..."random", and the rhythm and frequency of the entire bat are constantly being adjusted.
The landing point is sometimes deep and sometimes shallow.
Rotating, sometimes fast and sometimes slow.
What Gao Wen is testing is how Murray handles different situations:
Because he also knows that facing Murray, if he cannot be fully prepared on the backhand side, the game will be very, very difficult.
Moreover, Gao Wen also implemented his own tactics against Djokovic and took the lead.
Objectively speaking, Gao Wen currently does not have the state of continuous impact and attack like in the US Open semi-finals. The risk is too high. Instead, he may ruin the game by himself due to the high error rate; but against the giants, if he dare not take action,
The outcome of the game could have been much worse.
From Djokovic to Nadal to Murray, Gao Wen has always insisted on this, and he did the same in this game.
Although Gawain was not afraid of facing Murray with his backhand, it was Gawain who was the first to change the line and dared to break the deadlock with a straight backhand shot.
However, Murray had already taken precautions and was always wary of Gawain's line-changing ability, especially the straight backhand shot.
Therefore, Murray also predicted Gao Wen's line change in advance, put the defense in place immediately, and sent a straight line again to continue to suppress Gao Wen's backhand.
Back and forth.
The rounds were stalemate, and most of the time it was a backhand duel. Even if Gao Wen changed his line to the forehand, after the two sides hit the forehand position for two rounds, Murray once again suppressed the shot to Gao Wen's backhand.
position, the entire tactical layout is very clear and executed very well.
Fifteen beats.
Twenty beats.
Murray, as expected of Murray, the bottom line does not drop the ball
Accurate prediction and flexible footsteps, excellent defensive touch and soft wrapping ability also give Murray the ability to keep the round going in the bottom line tug-of-war.
In a daze, I dreamed of returning to Flushing and playing against Djokovic again.
The problem is that there is no sign of the end of the round.
Twenty-six beats.
Then, it was Gawain who was the first to attack.
When hitting the ball on the 27th shot, facing Murray's another suppressed backhand ball, Gao Wen completed his prediction in advance and did not move towards his forehand, but took a step forward.
Grab the rising point!
Backhand straight line!
The whole rhythm increased instantly, and Gao Wen had already planned it. At the moment when the ball was released, he flicked his wrist outward and aimed at the blind corner of the big triangle on the bottom line to launch an attack.
The tennis ball flew out like an arrow, light and silent. Gawain did not take the initiative to exert force, but emphasized control and pursued the landing point.
boom!
The tennis ball accurately pressed the blind spot on the bottom line! The whole center court let out a cry of exclamation, almost thinking that Gawain would definitely be able to score.
Murray did not agree.
Murray was still on guard against Gawain's shot. Although his steps were a little awkward, he started very quickly and managed to catch up. He stretched out his entire upper body and completed the save with a cutting forehand.
Backspin.
Even in an extremely passive defensive state, Murray is still laying out the ball. The tennis ball presses the lowest position in the center of the net and enters Gawain's forehand gap along the diagonal.
Kick, kick, kick!
A dark blue figure chased after him like a strong wind. It could be seen from his fast and steady footsteps that this was also planned by Gawain. He rushed to the horse in no hurry. He had already expected that his change of direction would not be possible directly.