Match Point: Chapter 1495 midsummer cicadas

Latest URL: "...steps, watch your steps!"

"Keep your footsteps light, "Papa Papa", follow the rhythm of my high fives and pound your footsteps, hurry up! quick! quick! This must form a conditioned reflex. "

"Hey! Concentrate, concentrate! You can't be distracted when serving the ball, but after the serve, your feet must be flexible and keep up with the rhythm. This is grass, understand?"

"...The center of gravity is lowered! I remembered my steps, but I didn't remember my center of gravity."

"Remember, the knee maintains a spring state, while the foot moves, the center of gravity must be lowered, and these movements must be done in one go..."

"Coherent, very good, coherent!"

"Rhythm, pay attention to the rhythm, those habits of clay clay should be thrown away now, the rhythm must be grasped, and the swing movement should be coherent..."

Faint water vapor floats in the golden sunlight, moist and sticky drooping on the skin surface, lush green fills the corners of the field of vision, the breeze seems to be able to capture the whispers of elves, secretly hiding in the lush greenery Observe every move of human beings.

"Got it, got it, got it..."

The buzzing cicadas are buzzing loudly, and the heat in the afternoon seems to be getting more ferocious. Even the hearing can feel the heat of midsummer. People can't help but start to miss watermelon, soda and fireworks, lying on the mat In the afternoon of doing nothing, quietly listening to the passage of time.

In summer, it is best to be in a daze and let go.

However, professional players can't do it. Not to mention being in a daze, even the time to drink water is extremely precious. Every second counts, and they must hurry up.

On the driving range, Gawain was hitting the ball—

Agassi stood on the opposite side of the court and was in charge of feeding the ball. He did not form a persistent round, but just kept feeding the ball, so that Gao Wen could complete the basic shots, forehand shots, backhand shots, and everything returned to the basics.

Sampras stood behind Gawain and was in charge of giving instructions, from footsteps to batting to center of gravity and force, and even tactical routines.

Everything must be overthrown from the foundation—

After all, this was the first time that the two Kings of Gao Wen had set foot on the grass court, and it was even stranger than the clay court. Switching channels was much more difficult than imagined.

Yesterday, another year of Roland-Garros tournament just fell; today, they must seamlessly enter the grass season, complete the gorgeous turn from clay to grass, without any breathing time.

In fact, Gao Wen's preparations are considered "slow", and many players have already started competing this week.

The grass season is really too short, too short, and it is only five weeks in total—

In the first week of June, two 250-point races, Stuttgart and 's-Hertogenbosch.

In the second week of June, there are two 500-point races, Harley and Queen's Club.

In the third week of June, a race with 250 points, Nottingham.

Fourth week of June, Grand Slam, Wimbledon.

That's all.

Considering that in the week before the Grand Slam, some players have to participate in the Grand Slam qualifying competition, and the top players will recharge their batteries for the two-week Grand Slam tournament. They often only practice to avoid participating, which means, preparing for Wimbledon The game time is actually only two weeks.

Because of this, even the top players must seize the opportunity to warm up continuously without touching the ground and without stopping to find the touch for Wimbledon.

Like Nadal.

Nadal is a player who needs to polish his condition and improve his touch through the game. Although he usually trains very, very hard, he still needs more game time to mobilize his condition. After the French Open stopped eight this year, he immediately went to Stuttgart to compete , to complete the site conversion.

In addition to Nadal, Cilic, Faye Lopez, Monfils and Tim also chose Stuttgart to start the grass season.

The marketing of 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands is a bit weaker, but it still attracts players such as Goffin, Agut, Karlovic, Verdasco, Pospisil and so on.

In comparison, Gao Wen, who only finished the semi-finals on Friday, entered the official competition of the grass court season a little later.

Of course, including Federer, Djokovic, Murray and other top players, they are not in a hurry to participate. They often just choose Halle or the Queen's Club for a warm-up event, and may even skip the warm-up match directly and parachute to Wimbledon. Deng, this is also very common.

However, the difference is that these top players have been on tour for many years and have a full understanding of the nature and state of the grass. Even without warming up, they also know what they should do.

Gawain can't—

For the grass, knowing nothing, going directly to the Grand Slam without any warm-up, this is simply equivalent to going to the battlefield without weapons, ready to face bullets and cannons with bare hands?

No, no.

He needs to practice, he needs to adapt, he needs to warm up, he needs to play, start from scratch and rebuild from the basics.

Time is indeed very, very precious. Even though he skipped the first week of grass court competitions, Gao Wen must seize this week and fully devote himself to training.

This is much more difficult than the clay court season.

In the clay court season, not only the preparation period is longer, there are two months before and after, and there is even room for breathing between games, giving players room for trial and error, thinking, and adjustment. Rose's performance is the best embodiment.

Moreover, clay courts are spread all over the world. Even though Gao Wen has never played on clay courts before, he is not completely unfamiliar with them.

But the grass season is different.

The cycle is shorter, the venue is unfamiliar, and everything presents a double-speed mode.

In fact, looking at the three-week event schedule before Wimbledon, it is clear at a glance. Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom are the few countries in the world that still insist on holding grass-court events—

Also because of this, the event being prepared by Mallorca is also determined to be a grass field. The competition is not so fierce, which can win valuable living space for the event; at the same time, it can also get official support from the ATP and attract more top players to participate. Undoubtedly It's a win-win.

The reason why there are not many grass events left is very simple:

expensive.

On hard or clay courts, courts are relatively simple to set up and maintain, but grass is not.

The grass field must be a real lawn, not artificial turf. This also means that every year the event organizers must replant the grass for the event to be held. Once the field is put into use, the lawn cannot be repaired after it is worn out. The venues are all one-offs ~www.mtlnovel.com~ Planted, built, maintained, put into use until after the event, and then restarted.

Not only is it expensive, and it cannot be reused like hard courts and clay courts; it is also difficult to repair, and it is difficult to use it as a practice field or performance space after the event is held. The multiple income channels other than tennis events are very narrow, and further increase operations burden.

It is precisely because of this that Wimbledon retains a tradition that the central court is forbidden to adapt to the venue, and it must wait for the defending champion to come on stage to open the game before it can be put into use, because once the grass starts to be used, the lawn will be damaged or even flattened If you step on baldness, it cannot be repaired, and it will seriously affect the look and feel.

It is conceivable that profit-oriented businessmen have given up grass and even clay. If they want to hold tennis matches, hard courts are obviously the first choice—

Because it is cheap.

Gradually, the number of grass-court events became less and less, and the grass-court season was also shortened. .

At this point, some people may wonder, "So, why not just cancel the grass season?"