The game has been going on for four hours and forty minutes.
It’s 11:40pm local time in Melbourne, and there are still 20 minutes to midnight. Judging from various signs, it should be impossible to end the game “within today”. They will accompany each other across the midnight hour,
Watch side by side this match that may go down in history.
Although it was approaching midnight, the temperature at the venue was still rising steadily, and Rod Laver Arena was like an active volcano.
After entering the final set, both players made slight adjustments and had a smooth start. Neither of them encountered challenges in the service game and easily maintained their serve.
In the fifth game, Djokovic was the first to experience fluctuations and sent a break point. Although he used his serve to attack the break point, he then sent a second one.
A small detail, Djokovic's forehand and backhand returns were obviously much more conservative, and he began to continuously move the ball and entered the bottom line see-saw mode.
On the one hand, this is the round rhythm that Djokovic is best at and likes most. While it consumes Gao Wen's physical strength and energy, it can also consume the patience and will of young people.
On the other hand, this also shows that Djokovic's entire tactical strategy has fundamentally changed. The more active and adventurous style of play in the first three sets no longer exists. He has begun to enter the "Tai Chi" stage, throwing all risks to
Gao Wen himself is sitting firmly on the Diaoyutai. This is also a new tactic adopted by the world number one after the fourth set.
In terms of experience, whether it is a Grand Slam final or a tour, Djokovic is several levels higher than Gawain. It can be seen at this time that in the fourth set, Gawain still went all out,
Djokovic has already begun to prepare for the decisive set.
There is no doubt that Djokovic exerts his strength in the final set, but Djokovic's "effort" is slightly different from that of ordinary players, and the situation presented is also different.
However, the actual situation was slightly different from Djokovic's expectations, because Gao Wen's hot state and feel did not decline. Not only did he not, but he still maintained a high-frequency and high-intensity state and continued to exert pressure.
Now the focus of the game has quietly shifted, mainly depending on Gao Wen——
First of all, how long can Gawain's concentration and impact last? It lasted from the second half of the third set to the fifth set. After all, there was a time to take a breather.
Secondly, when will the new physical peak come? Will he be able to persist until the end of the final set, or will Djokovic take the lead in turning the situation around?
Every round, every point...it's all a competition. The stalemate of the game has reached an unprecedented height.
At this time, Gao Wen got the second break point of the game.
Moreover, Gao Wen understood that this was the deciding set, and it was different from the fourth set. It was absolutely impossible for Djokovic to give in, so every opportunity was even more rare——
The ability to seize opportunities and grasp key points is often the winning point in head-to-head competitions between top players.
One shot, out of bounds.
Djokovic's first serve was still unstable; moreover, this time the serve went out of bounds so outrageously that even a person with a thousand degrees of myopia and taking off his glasses would know that the landing point and line were off track.
"Come on! Novak!"
"Noel, come on! Noel!"
The cheers of support sounded sparsely, but they were quickly stopped by the audience, who "shushed" and signaled everyone to keep quiet——
Are those fans really not undercover agents?
At such a critical moment, he actually made a sound between Djokovic's first and second serves, ruining the rhythm of serving. Damn it!
In the blink of an eye, the stadium became quiet, and you could even hear the night breeze blowing gently. For a very, very brief moment, goosebumps popped up all over the place, as if they couldn't wait to see this incredible event.
duel.
Who would have thought that Gao Wen could drag Djokovic to the fifth set?
However, this is all happening right before our eyes.
Pah. Pah. Pah.
Djokovic is shooting the ball. It seems that if no one reminds him, he can keep shooting like this until the end of time and never stop.
finally!
Djokovic dropped the ball.
Second serve.
Close and press the forehand.
The landing point is not surprising.
Gao Wen made an accurate prediction because he knew that Djokovic was trying to get the ball going in the round, which was completely different from the previous two sets when he served and attacked and even served to the net.
Serve speed, 134 kilometers per hour.
slow.
Literally slow.
However, in this serve, Djokovic had obviously calculated it, and the entire topspin was completely pulled up. It was not like Djokovic's serve at all, but it was similar to Nadal's second serve strategy.
Top spin means not only turning, but also drilling. After landing, it will drill towards Gawain's face. Judging from the flight trajectory, it will almost jump above the head.
Ingenious indeed.
In this way, even if Gao Wen accurately predicts the service line and landing point, he will not be able to attack and may even fall into passivity.
For the second serve, the tactical intention of limiting the attack is clearly demonstrated.
Gawain was not panicked.
The left side of two consecutive cross-step changes moved laterally to make room. Without any hesitation, the forehand was raised and hit.
When the ball was struck diagonally above the head, there was no way to exert force at all, and even the swing was irregular, but Gawain's ball was very clever.
Gently flick your wrist to make full use of the high point of the ball - for reference, Gao Wen is 193 centimeters, which also means that the hitting point is already higher than two meters, and then push your forearm forward.
There is no need to exert force at all, but a cutting light hit creates a strong backspin effect, going straight and hitting the wall to complete the ball.
Basically, wherever tennis comes from, it goes back to where it came from.
state.
Even the sound of hitting the ball is not very clear.
However, the effect of the return was very good, because Gao Wen's return landed in Djokovic's position, basically under his feet, very close to the baseline.
Djokovic anticipated the route of the return, but not the method. Moreover, he had no way to exert force, nor could he borrow any force from the ball. He could only barely bounce the ball back and hit it back.
, there is no control at all, but the quality of the return is lost.
Djokovic, serve smartly.
Gao Wen, the return serve was wonderful.
From here we can see the different game content that Agassi brought to Gao Wen after joining the coaching team.
Danger!
Danger Danger Danger.
When Djokovic saw the arc of his return, he immediately sounded the alarm and quickly moved laterally towards his forehand.
Because Gao Wen's forehand was directly raised without hesitation, without pause or breath, he attacked with all his strength and swept diagonally with one shot.
boom!
Djokovic was a little embarrassed. Although he moved in advance, Gao Wen's landing point was very beautiful, hitting the bottom line within the triangle area; at the same time, with both speed and power, this also forced Djokovic to do something
Make a split motion and pocket the tennis ball back again with your forehand.
slash!
Gao Wen's footsteps were very fast, he stepped forward in small steps, almost moving on the baseline, and once again hit the forehand across the court, launching a bombing.
slash!
Another slash!
Very, very rarely, Gao Wen and Djokovic faced off in the forehand position, and it was Gao Wen's attack and Djokovic's defense.
but!
This is the shot!
Gao Wen prepared to hit the target repeatedly and caught Djokovic off guard. However, he did not expect that Djokovic accurately predicted the hit.
With one brake and one step, Djokovic has already found the hitting point, and his forehand sweeps like a big windmill, turning defense into offense!