Match Point

From moving to hitting, from hitting to moving, this seemingly ordinary warm-up game hides too many traps, especially on clay.

On a hard court, the overall situation is relatively simple. Even if there are no tactics or tricks, it doesn't matter. It is enough to exert full strength—

Especially in adversity, the principle of "swinging hard, smashing hard, and swinging at full speed" is applicable here, just fight with all your strength.

Of course, it doesn't mean that fighting will definitely win the victory, but that "strengthening miracles" can work.

However, red clay does not work.

The footsteps are not moving in place, so that the hitting point, timing, and hitting space are deviated, and the result of full force is a disservice.

Tennis **** bounce irregularly, and exerting force recklessly will not only fail to increase the speed and increase force, but will also speed up the pace of suicide and make mistakes.

The most important thing is that the existence of clay itself disintegrates strength and speed. 100% of the strength will lose more than 40% in the process of flying and bouncing. Khan and the opponent strolled in the court, but he lost the game.

To put it simply, clay courts require patience, change, delicacy, variety, and thinking—

As for special cases like Serena Williams and Sharapova, crushing with absolute strength and rewriting the feat of "strengthening miracles" is another matter.

At this moment, standing in front of Graf, Gawain was deeply experiencing this:

He, nineteen years old, had just won the Sunshine Double.

Graf, forty-six years old, has retired seventeen years.

As a result, in the first two rounds of the game, Gao Wen lost both after 13 rounds in the first round and 10 rounds in the second round. This is simply unbelievable.

Gawain raised his head and looked at Graf on the opposite side of the net, without hiding his surprise.

Graf's face was relaxed and freehand, as if he hadn't put much effort at all, "What? Didn't you think that an old man like me can run two laps on the court?"

A ridicule made Gao Wen's mouth smile, and he shook his head lightly, "No, it's not a surprise to drop the ball, it's just an accident that it all happened so fast, I thought I could last a few more rounds."

Indeed, Gao Wen was not surprised that his first clay court training session could not keep up with the rhythm. After all, among Graf's 22 Grand Slam championship trophies, the French Open has a full six, the number is second only to Wen Seven of the Nets, the legend is the most successful all-court player of all time—

Among all men's and women's players, Graf is the only player who has won more than four Grand Slam titles, and is also the only player who has successfully defended all four Grand Slam titles. Comprehensive and changeable, it is also second to none in the long history.

Now, they are standing on clay, and the requirements for strength and speed are slightly lower. In addition, this is a warm-up, and the endurance requirements are not so high, so Graf can fully demonstrate his basic skills and diversity. The arrangement is really impressive.

In front of this legend, Gao Wen was still an ignorant toddler.

Therefore, Gao Wen was not surprised that Graf was able to win two rounds of games in a row—

However, he was sincere. He thought he could last at least 20 to 30 rounds. After all, he had played all 40 rounds on hard courts.

did not think of…

Graf looked at Gao Wen in front of him, frank and sincere, with a cheerful smile on the corner of his mouth, but the focus and devotion in his eyes were burning.

She likes this kind of Gao Wen, who honestly faces her shortcomings and deficiencies, and is always burning with high morale to train, improve and improve herself.

"In a warm-up game, losing two consecutive rounds to a female player who has retired for more than ten years, and the performance in one round is worse than the previous round is simply ravaged." Not all players can face it calmly and put it right. The mentality is humbly seeking advice. This trait is more rare than imagined.

Graf did not rush to explain, but raised his jaw slightly, "How is it? Are you ready for another round?"

Gao Wen didn't answer directly, and asked directly, "Will you go first, or should I go first?"

Graf thought about it seriously, "I'm an old man, you should be courteous, then, let me go first, you young man has good physical strength, run twice more."

Gao Wen intentionally made a "Popeye" pose, showing off his biceps, "This time, I will first try to surpass the results of the previous two rounds."

The third round of the warm-up game started right away.

On the sidelines, Sampras and Agassi are watching the training.

You can see the disgusted expression on Sampras's face at a glance, "God, every year this season, I feel like I may be allergic at any time."

Sampras, one of the greatest men's singles players in history and the winner of 14 Grand Slam titles, has never concealed his rejection of clay.

For one thing, the French Open is the only Grand Slam that Sampras has not been able to conquer.

Secondly, the clay court is indeed not Sampras' style. This master of serve and net is a typical grass court player, not only the French Open, but in other clay court events, Sampras generally performed poorly. In this way, entering the clay court season can't help but have a headache.

Agassi didn't look sideways, ignored Sampras at all, and said calmly, "Psychological effect."

In one sentence, all of Sampras' complaints were blocked in his chest, and he rolled his big eyes, almost choking on his own saliva.

Sampras grumbled and complained, "You are half a catty, so there is no need to show off in front of me."

Agassi, the first Golden Slam winner in history, has reached the top of all four Grand Slams, but the French Open is also not his blessed place. The only time to reach the top is more or less luck; On clay, he still prefers hard courts, especially slow hard courts.

But Sampras wasn't going to tangle with Agassi either. He cleared his throat without waiting for a response, and then said, "Isn't it too tight for a week?"

From the Miami Masters to the Monte Carlo Masters, there was only a short week in between, but the venue change is obviously not that simple.

In fact, they have another choice. This week, in Boston and Casablanca, there will be two clay-court 250 races~www.wuxiamtl.com~ Gao Wen can choose to participate in one of them. Leveling, adapt to the venue.

However, after deliberation, they denied the idea.

On the one hand, because of the end of the "Sunshine Double Championship", Gao Wen needs to rest and adjust to avoid fatigue in the competition.

On the other hand, it was because Gao Wen hadn't played clay court competitions for more than a year, and he didn't even have formal experience in clay court competitions. Everything needed to be started from scratch.

Now it seems that one week of training time is still too short.

Agassi's expression of course, "Isn't that for sure?"

Sampras: …

Agassi didn't seem to feel Sampras' eyes at all, "One week of training and adjustments, and then we will practice in games. We don't need to worry. We will take it step by step. Anyway, we have never had any special expectations for clay. Isn't it?"

(end of this chapter)