A grab, a flick, a forehand skate and a backslash.
As soon as he stepped on the ball, his feet immediately entered the field. While observing Gawain's movements, he found his position in the field, and finally simply went to the net to press.
It can be seen that Nishikori Kei has laid out his plan, creating an opportunity with a backslash on his forehand, and he immediately follows up——
In fact, Kei Nishikori's skills at the net are also his shortcomings. Mainly due to his height, he lacks some competitiveness in front of the net volleys and high-pressure skills. However, Kei Nishikori's hand feels particularly soft, so the control of small balls and unloading force in front of the net is still a problem. Very nice.
Therefore, in Kei Nishikori's games, you can often see him tactically hitting the net, not because he believes in his skills at the net, but because he creates physical pressure through the action of netting, and then superimposes the pressure through his own touch. He can often Creates a very good pressure effect.
During this year's US Open, Kei Nishikori's sudden access to the net was indeed a very important scoring weapon. He scored a lot of points against Raonic -
After all, the ability to break the net is a link that needs to withstand both psychological and technical tests. There are absolutely only a handful of players in the entire men's tennis world who can break the net as tough and powerful as Nadal.
In today's game, Kei Nishikori took the initiative to go online for the first time, breaking the balance in an instant.
Gawain was caught off guard when he was killed.
Indeed!
While he was moving quickly laterally, he caught Nishikori Kei's surfing action from the corner of his eyes. Moreover, Nishikori Kei was very smart and deliberately slowed down the speed of surfing the Internet without revealing his intention early. This also interfered with Gawain's judgment and choice. Waiting When Nishikori Kei continued to move forward and came to the net, Gawain had already had to hit the ball.
Breaking the net requires decisiveness. Any hesitation may lead to failure of breaking the net.
what to do?
If he draws the ball according to the conventional method, it is basically equivalent to going directly into the tiger's mouth. He must change the hitting line and landing point, such as hitting a small diagonal, or landing at Nishikori Kei's feet. Through this line Changes to disrupt Kei Nishikori’s online rhythm——
This is Federer's best shot.
But Gawain's batting is still too routine. With Nishikori Kei's current hot touch, I'm afraid he can handle it. He needs to break the fixed thinking framework.
He has two options, either to change the line, but now there is not enough space to hit the ball, and I am afraid the success rate is not high; or...
Lob shot.
Gawain clearly bullies Kei Nishikori's height. It is obviously less difficult to reach the top than Kyrgios and Isner, and he can reverse the passive situation.
The premise is that he needs to be more careful, otherwise if he fails to go over the top, it will be like a sheep in a tiger's mouth.
Push the ground and brake.
Gawain used his left foot to control his body, and forcefully controlled the inertia of his forward motion. His muscles were tense to the extreme, and then his body's center of gravity was completely lowered. He stood firmly with both feet, and at the same time, his hands did not fully lead the shot. It's just pushing forward from the side, but the control of the wrist and forearm is very delicate and serious.
A flip and a pick, super topspin and a big arc.
When pushing and sending, the muscles do not fully exert their force, but the height of the tennis ball is completely raised by straightening the knees, and the arc landing point is controlled with the wrist.
With just one push, the tennis ball created a stunning rainbow and shot into the sky.
Whoosh.
Whizzing.
Accompanied by low exclamations, the audience raised their chins high and followed the tennis ball with their eyes to draw a full and light parabola.
Nishikori Kei realized that the situation was not good immediately, braked suddenly and retreated quickly.
Because his steps forward were very determined, when he needed to retreat now, his center of gravity was obviously unstable. During the retreat, Kei Nishikori simply jumped on the spot and tried to intercept him halfway. However, the racket raised high fell down. He swung, but his swipe was empty——
Gawain's arc control is perfect!
Kei Nishikori didn't have time to sigh. He turned around and rushed forward, trying to catch up with Gawain's lob. Then it was discovered that Gawain's lob was controlled so accurately that it not only landed on the sideline, but also in the backhand baseline triangle. The blind spot and perfect control ruined all Kei Nishikori's advantages.
However!
Nishikori Kei's excellent condition is definitely not just talk. In such a passive situation, he actually did it! Chase! superior! Got it!
Kei Nishikori no longer had time to turn around and look at Gawain's position, so he could only face the court with his back. Just before the tennis ball was about to hit the ground, he lightly hit it with his back near his knees, hitting the tennis ball in a straight line and arcing. The line is not high, and the gentle movement creates the effect of a submarine, quietly moving along a straight line.
Huh!
Arthur Ashe Stadium was filled with exclamations. They looked at Kei Nishikori in disbelief. How on earth could such a miraculous hit be accomplished?
After finishing the hit, Nishikori Kei had time to turn around and look at Gawain.
At a glance, you can see that Gawain is following up step by step. He is completely focused. He immediately follows up after hitting the lob. The connection between shot and shot is particularly close, and his steps appear in the net early. Front.
At this time, his entire center of gravity was completely crouched down, almost in a half-crouching position, and he struck forward with his forehand, and also made a chopping motion with his wrist downwards, removing all the power of the tennis ball.
Snapped.
The tennis ball flew over the net like this, and just after landing, there was almost no rebound. It immediately jumped two or three times, and then rolled out all the way.
The whole place was completely silent, and everyone held their breath involuntarily.
"Set, high."
The referee's voice announced the score, and then the audience was awakened——
Wow!
Cheers and roars intertwined, and more than half of the audience at Arthur Ashe Stadium had already stood up, praising the two players for their wonderful duel. This service game lasted for twelve minutes and thirty-three seconds. , but in the end it was Gao Wen who won the first set.
The first set of this history-making Asian showdown was so exciting that it made people want to scream!
Suppression and counter-suppression, calculation and counter-calculation, the active transition between the two players occurs in almost every shot. Even if you concentrate on the game, you still need to deal with intricate situations. Every shot must deal with a huge Information, incredible rounds one after another, unbelievable!
But the problem is that Kei Nishikori played so well, with so many stunning and amazing shots, so how did Gawain win the first set?
The audience was happily talking to each other and sharing their opinions, but the two players also needed to calm down to summarize their gains and losses and prepare for the second set.
The only thing that is certain is that both Gawain and Kei Nishikori have faced very difficult situations at this year's US Open, and both have experienced the test of five-set battles, and have proven their ability to win tough battles——
In the best-of-five-set Grand Slam tournament, winning one set is not enough to determine the trend of the entire game. No one will let victory slip away from their fingertips easily.
However, Gawain now has the upper hand!
