Standing at the high point of 2022, looking back at history, when people mention the Australian Open, they marvel at Djokovic's incredible nine championships and Federer's feat of reaching the semi-finals for eleven consecutive years.
Especially after Federer was upset in the third round in 2015, he returned to the semi-finals the following year, broke the five-year Grand Slam championship drought at the 2017 Australian Open, and then again at the 2018 Australian Open.
Net won his 20th Grand Slam championship trophy to write a new history.
Obviously, these two giants are the darlings of Melbourne Park.
However, people should not forget Murray's tragic fate of finishing runner-up five times at the Australian Open.
Indeed, from the perspective of results, Wimbledon is the Grand Slam where Murray has performed best, but it is Murray's home event, and the home court factor also plays an important role. Putting this aside, Melbourne Park is the most suitable for Murray.
The place where Lei plays——
Same as Djokovic.
As mentioned before, the playing styles of Murray and Djokovic are very, very similar, and the types of surfaces the two players prefer are also very similar.
In Melbourne, Murray reached the finals five times. Except for the first time he lost to Federer due to lack of experience, he lost to Djokovic all four times.
"If there is beauty, how can there be brightness?"
The only thing that can be said is that Melbourne Park is indeed very, very suitable for Murray, but unfortunately, besides Murray, there is Djokovic.
This is just like Federer at the French Open. The Swiss king reached the finals five times at the French Open, but only won one championship. The other four times he lost to the same opponent, Nadal.
A fateful duel, a fateful pathos.
From 2010 to 2016, Murray has only lost to two players on this field:
Federer and Djokovic.
However, Murray later defeated Federer at Melbourne Park, but was never able to defeat Djokovic at this venue, not even once.
It can be seen from all aspects that Murray does have a little bit of magic at Melbourne Park.
Perhaps, this bit of magic is not enough for Murray to win a championship trophy, but there is no doubt that it is not easy for any player to defeat Murray here.
Time, return to the present moment.
Dimitrov has the most direct say.
Last year, Dimitrov defeated his opponent at Wimbledon, where Murray is best, and reached the semi-finals. But when he came to the Australian Open this year, Murray got sweet revenge.
In Dimitrov's view, Melbourne Park is actually more suitable for Murray's style of play. It not only gives Murray more time to layout, but also has better defensive quality.
On the contrary, he himself prefers Wimbledon's low bounce and fast pace to Melbourne Park, and the entire offense looks very good.
"...Well, the entire defense's pick-up rate and placement rate are really good, and it always brings a lot of pressure."
"By the way, his movement is much better than last year."
Dimitrov showed Gawain the freshest first-hand information in the most intuitive and timely way.
Gawain nodded slightly, and his mind couldn't help but think of the last time the two met in Valencia.
Objectively speaking, Murray and Djokovic are both typical offensive and defensive players with no obvious shortcomings, but overall, both of them are slightly better at defense than offense.
But this is different from Nadal's tenacious and unyielding defense in the early stages of his career.
Nadal's style is one of accumulating advantages and full of defensive talents and skills; Djokovic and Murray are both offensive and defensive, with a comprehensive layout.
In other words, defense is a passive choice, but it is also a layout strategy.
On the defensive level, some differences can be seen in the games between Djokovic and Murray:
Djokovic is a natural hitting machine. His handling of hitting is truly unparalleled in the world. Even if his steps are occasionally not in place, he can always complete the hit. Of course, Djokovic's movement is also top-notch.
The top.
Murray is not. His talent is to interpret the three-dimensional space of the entire court and predict the layout. His hitting in passive defense needs to rely on his own steps. Once his steps are not in place, he will lose the ball.
.
Of course, in the game, the difference between the two is not obvious, because tennis is an overall sport, and it is difficult to single out a technical part for discussion. More often, they are interlocked, and an error in one link leads to
The whole game was out of control.
However, very intuitive examples are Murray and Azarenka.
In 2018, Murray was on the verge of retiring due to a hip injury; also in 2018, Azarenka came back after giving birth and started again after suffering from injuries.
Both players face the same problem. They have been unable to return to their peak after 2018. The fundamental reason is that they do not move properly.
Murray and Azarenka are both players who are good at defense, good at layout, and use defense to cause trouble and even look for counterattack opportunities.
However, both players' control of their defensive quality relies heavily on the control of the hitting point. Once they cannot keep up with their footwork, they will not be able to find the first hitting point they need - that is, the hitting point is slightly away.
If it is a little late, converted into steps, the difference may be half a step, and the quality of defense cannot be improved.
It is precisely because of this that Murray's games after 2018 were very, very strenuous even to win; Azarenka's games after 2018 were not at all as elegant as she was at her peak.
It's hard to find your own tenacity even if you go through a lot of tricks.
So, what is the revelation?
Last year's game between Valencia, Gao Wen and Murray was, to a certain extent, a replica of Simon's game, except that Murray was more difficult.
At that time, Murray's defensive quality was not at its best, and his defensive counterattack was not sharp enough, so the game was particularly tense.
In other words, at this year's Australian Open, Murray's defensive quality has returned. Naturally, his offense and layout will become more threatening.
At the same time, if you want to defeat Murray, you must either grind it out like Djokovic or use offense to open up the gap like Federer.
In the final analysis, it is still necessary to disrupt Murray's control of the hitting point during the batting round.
But Gao Wen is neither Djokovic nor Federer. He has his own playing style and strategy, so this matchup should be very interesting.
Well worth looking forward to!
Dimitrov looked at the excitement and excitement in Gawain's eyes, and felt a little dumbfounded.
"Others will inevitably have a headache when they see the draw for two consecutive matches against the Big Four, and even lament the poor luck, but why do I feel that you seem to be particularly happy?"
"Happy! Of course I'm happy!"
Gawain showed a big smile, nodded in agreement, and was eager to give it a try.
"Being able to continuously challenge top players in a Grand Slam best-of-five-set format, face severe tests continuously, and test your limits to see where your limits are is. Such an opportunity is so rare. How can you miss it so easily?"
"I think my luck at this year's Australian Open is good."