Cilic took a deep breath and adjusted his mind.
Facing Berdych and Federer, Cilic always positioned himself and played the role of an attacker, but this was not the case when facing Gawain:
The opponent is a dark horse, the opponent is the first Grand Slam in his career, and the opponent has not even entered the main draw of any ATP-level professional event... Everything indicates that Cilic has the upper hand, and Cilic has the chance to win the championship. On the higher side, Cilic is the one dominating the game.
Coupled with the raucous atmosphere of a Grand Slam final stage, everything becomes different.
In the opening game, from Gao Wen's four straight points to secure serve to Cilic's first four serves, the whole strong impact made Cilic feel faintly uncomfortable.
A little awkward.
call……
Cilic took another deep breath, regained his composure, and then began to prepare to serve.
"30:30".
In the first area, press the forehand from close range.
Cilic made a slight adjustment to his serving tactics, using close serves to create suppression, trying to contain Gao Wen's intention to attack in the first shot. Regardless of success or failure, if Gao Wen keeps fighting like crazy, Cilic will The psychological pressure will also increase, and he needs to suppress Gawain.
At least he can't let Gawain do whatever he wants.
From this point of view, Cilic's football intelligence is still good, at least he does not blindly exert his strength to the end.
But Gawain still batted at his own pace.
Cilic's first serve ensured the speed, and Gao Wen reluctantly stepped aside to get out of the way. He quickly waved his forehand to block and tear. It can be clearly seen that Gao Wen's handling of this shot was a bit hasty -
There was a lot of luck in the two consecutive ACE returns.
The return ball drew a flat parabola; and the return point of the return ball was not deep enough, and it landed in a position that was neither up nor down in the half court.
Objectively speaking, this is the normal situation when receiving Cilic's serve. Cilic can often establish an advantage through serving, which also makes his subsequent attacks easier.
However, Cilic did not expect that Gao Wen's return ball was shallow!
No matter what, two consecutive ACE returns created psychological pressure, especially Gao Wen's mediocre reaction, which made Cilic feel heavy pressure.
Of course, Cilic was burdened with Gao Wen's return serve, and the result——
That's it?
Unexpectedly, Cilic's reaction speed was obviously a little slower.
For the audience in front of the TV, this slight delay in reaction, which is just a pause in footsteps, seems innocuous; but to the audience at the scene, they can clearly feel the serious impact of Cilic's footsteps——
At the point of impact, something is wrong.
Cilic stepped forward quickly, but the tennis ball had reached its highest point and then entered the decline zone. This also meant that Cilic's chance to conduct a half-court attack was gone. In order to avoid hitting the ball into the net, he also needed to adjust his steps. , make sure the center of gravity is squatted, and the entire hitting action is full enough to hit the tennis ball over the net.
In other words, it was originally a chance to directly form a winning point, but now it gave Gawain a chance to fight back.
Diagonal, forehand, backhand.
Gao Wen saw that Cilic's starting speed was slightly slower by half a beat and immediately made a judgment. The small diagonal forehand was a high probability event——
Because Cilic is a full 198 centimeters tall, he is also a bulky big man. Because of his solid basic skills and good movement and defensive abilities, some shots are still limited by height.
To put it simply, the same is true for Gao Wen. Naturally, Gao Wen can understand what kind of shots can make Cilic uncomfortable. He may need to be more careful and cautious, and then the return line will be restricted accordingly.
Such as this time.
If you are a big man, half-court ball, and miss the hitting point, in order to avoid hitting the net and ensure landing point and power control, a small forehand slash is the safest choice.
And Cilic happens to be a player who chooses a very conservative hitting line.
Chance!
Although this was not an opportunity laid out in Gawain's plan, he immediately caught the change in the situation and realized that this was an opportunity.
Gao Wen made a sideways step and shook Cilic with a fake move. Then he immediately kicked off his left calf to push his body in the opposite direction. When Cilic hit the ball and came in front of him, he was already in place. The forehand leads the shot in advance——
Stand firm, stand straight, and face forward.
Whoosh!
Swing the racket!
Speed up, speed up, speed up all over!
In an instant, Gawain's arm swing speeded up significantly, and the speed of the entire racket head immediately increased. The rotation of his upper body was extremely complete, and then the tennis ball was directly knocked out.
boom!
Slash! Diagonal!
The tennis ball was like a naughty elf, crossing right in front of Cilic in a light and agile manner.
It can be seen from Cilic's position that he was obviously unprepared. He neither stepped up in time to block the opening of the net, nor retreated back to the baseline to prepare to hit the ball. Such a position that was neither up nor down nor awkward caused him to Caught in a dilemma, half of the field in front of him became a space for Gawain to break through——
This is also the most classic breakthrough line when the players fail to adjust their footsteps in time to keep up with the rhythm.
sudden.
Cilic reflexively pounced towards his forehand, but in the end he was still unable to get in position. He watched helplessly as the tennis ball passed over his racket, fell into an open position in the bounds, and then escaped.
"30:40."
Wow!
Tate was the first to stand up and raise his arms and shout, venting his emotions passionately, but he soon found that he was the only one standing and turned to look at Jiang Yanyun, Sampras, Meng Xiushan and others beside him. Te laughed twice, but did not panic too much. He opened his arms and made a gesture of hugging the court.
"Who can not like this sport?"
Although it was a bit abrupt, the bustling applause and cheers of Arthur Ashe Stadium had already begun to surge, and the atmosphere of the final was quietly filled with red bayonets. Then, looking at Tate's actions, it was not so abrupt.
Involuntarily, people are reminded of the two semi-finals. Both Gao Wen and Cilic quickly entered the state in the opening stage and launched an attack as challengers. After breaking the opponent's serve, they won the game at the beginning "2:0" ” the lead, and finally won the first set.
At this time, Gao Wen also got a break point in Cilic's first service game, and he won four points in a row after losing two points first. Everything was very similar to Djokovic's game. Similar, could it be...
ACE!
Cilic directly used his strongest weapon to stand firm and save the first break point of the final. With a direct performance, he proved to the audience at Arthur Ashe Stadium that this was a brand new game. He obviously did not hand over the championship. Plan for the opponent——
"ah!"
Cilic clenched his fists and shouted at Gawain on the other side of the court, like an angry bulldog. He tried to mobilize his enthusiasm at the beginning of the game, as if he was shouting to Gawain:
I'm here to compete for the championship!
