Seeing Dimitrov's fully bloomed smile, Gawain felt a little relieved.
Although Dimitrov tried his best to hide it, his state was still a bit sluggish today. Gawain didn't think much about it, guessing that the shock of being eliminated in the first round of the French Open had not dissipated, and Dimitrov still agreed to come to accompany him. Gawain trained, and he kept this friendship in his heart.
It's good to see Dimitrov in the mood to joke now.
After the little joke, the training continues.
However, Dimitrov grabbed Gao Wen, who was about to turn around and return to the baseline, "Training, let's talk about training next. I'm serious."
The smile crept up to the corner of his mouth again, and it would probably be difficult to calm down for a while.
Dimitrov took a deep breath and finally regained his concentration. Looking at Gawain who rolled his eyes, he repeatedly stated his innocence.
"real!"
"I want to say, was there something wrong with my volley at the net just now?"
Dimitrov really meant what Rashid said. He believed that he could learn different things from Gawain, including techniques and mentality, but it was not in the form of players learning from teachers, but in the form of players learning from teachers. Communication between players, equal dialogue.
Of course, not all players are willing to share -
In the final analysis, they are competitors the moment they stand on the field. Helping their opponents is equivalent to weakening themselves, which is obviously not wise.
But Gawain is different. He doesn't mind sharing or discussing.
In this regard, Rashid believed that it was because Gawain did not take Dimitrov and Tim seriously, "He thinks he is higher than you, and he doesn't care about you at all, otherwise why didn't you look at them?" What about when he shares communication with Roger and Rafa? Because he thinks they are his opponents, and you are not at his level at all."
Dimitrov doesn't think so, Gawain is not that dark.
Gao Wen believes that helping each other means urging and motivating each other. When the opponent becomes stronger, it means pushing the players to continue to improve.
He does not need to maliciously belittle his opponents at all, but meets all challenges with dignity and face any possible outcome bravely.
He is not afraid of challenges and even embraces every challenge with open arms.
Look at Gawain and then look at Nadal.
After Gao Wen defeated Nadal to advance to the semi-finals, someone threw a difficult problem to Nadal at the post-match press conference to sow discord.
They asked Nadal if he regretted inviting Gawain to train in Mallorca, and whether Nadal thought Gawain succeeded in stealing the invitation and taking away the victory.
Nadal scoffed at this.
"No, I don't think so."
"Gao Wen is an excellent player. He is always growing and improving. He is always eager to learn and enrich his game. It will be increasingly difficult to face him at any time and on any venue."
"In today's game, he played better than me. It's that simple. Especially in the second and third sets, when he needed to improve his condition and perform better, he did it, from every angle. , he deserves this victory.”
"I don't think Mallorca's training represents anything. He has completed these improvements and transformations on his own. Of course, with the help of Peter and Andre, he has an excellent team."
"In fact, I was very happy to invite Gao Wen to train in Mallorca this summer. After the game, in the locker room, I extended the invitation again. I hope he can also go to Mallorca to train next year."
"Perhaps, I will need to learn from him how to defeat him."
Objective, sincere, meticulous, and with a touch of humor.
Nadal's answer is the best proof——
Be aboveboard and win or lose head-on.
really!
Gawain heard Dimitrov's question and answered it without hesitation.
“There’s no problem, but for me personally, the lack of a problem is the problem.”
"Grigor, we have discussed before, you want to be perfect, the line, the placement, the way of hitting the ball, etc. You want to show perfect tennis. Once the hit is not perfect, the frustration will come. .”
"But we all need to accept the reality that we are just ordinary humans. At least when I just confirmed it, I have not discovered the godhead yet."
Poof, Dimitrov burst out laughing.
"This is especially important on clay."
"Because of the special nature of red soil, it leaves us more room for trial and error. If we blindly pursue perfection, we will easily get ourselves into trouble."
"Just like this point."
"My shot selection breaks your expectations. The unexpected has occurred. You are passive, but you want to turn the situation around again with one shot of the ball. This not only requires perfection, but is even an impossible task."
"Do you consider yourself a 'Mission: Impossible' actor?"
"You should think like this, even if you do your best and achieve perfection, this is clay soil and the surface still leaves room for maneuver. So instead of pushing yourself to the extreme, why not make some adjustments and not pursue perfection? , but to re-establish the advantage in several steps.”
Step by step, Gawain's words completely opened up the court space.
Gawain turned around, and Dimitrov followed Gawain's line of sight and looked at the field opposite him, thinking about a question:
If he abandons the pursuit of perfection and instead applies pressure through advantage accumulation, batting should be chosen.
When Dimitrov hit the ball late, he cut a short diagonal ball or a midfield backspin ball, leaving a glimmer of hope but reducing the difficulty of his own hitting, which opened up the pattern.
First, prevent your return ball from going out of bounds.
Secondly, avoid pushing yourself into trouble and give yourself time to react.
In this way, even if Gawain arrives successfully, Dimitrov can seize the opportunity and continue to seize the high ground for the next shot.
Of course, this does not mean that Dimitrov can win this point. After all, tennis is a game of gambling, and it still depends on Gawain's response, but at least Dimitrov can continue to expand his advantage.
Tennis is like this -
If you can hit the ball perfectly and end the battle with one shot, that would be great. Federer's wife Milka is a perfectionist, and she has stricter requirements for Federer than anyone else.
But the point is, the tennis game is ever-changing. Many, many things can happen in just a moment, changing the direction of the situation. It is almost an impossible task to maintain perfection at all times.
In Gawain's view, Dimitrov lacks such flexibility.
When Dimitrov is in perfect condition, there is no problem with his playing style and he pursues perfection; but the point is, when Dimitrov is in poor condition, how should he handle the game? At this time, how should he handle the game? Reading the game, how to adjust the state, and how to find ways to regain control of the rhythm and situation within the perfect range are the signs of a mature personal playing style.
Dimitrov nodded slightly, with thousands of thoughts in his mind:
This is not the first time Gawain has mentioned this matter.
When he was in Indian Wells, Gawain had already mentioned, "Don't deliberately pursue perfection." Dimitrov thought he understood it, but in fact...
not at all.
(End of chapter)
