Tommy Harvey spent nearly two hours ending his third-round match. He did not continue at the Vodafone Arena, but quickly returned to his residence to start preparing for the next game. According to the Australian Open competition schedule, the contest between Harvey and Zhang Guan will be held in the second game the next morning.
Time was very tight for Xavi. He only had one day to prepare, so he couldn't wait to find the video of Zhang Guan's game against Nalbandian and watched it carefully.
"The right-handed backhand is the same as mine! It seems that Zhang Guan's backhand is very powerful. It can almost match Nalbandian's two-handed backhand. If we fight backhand, I don't seem to have any advantage. Ah, then it’s better not to backhand him.
Harvey continued to watch and saw Zhang Guan's serve going to the net, and then saw Zhang Guan also choosing to go to the net when receiving the ball.
"This is the front-net style of play. How come some young players still use the front-net style of play! This style of play was the most popular when I was a kid. Isn't it basically eliminated now? If you are a player in your thirties, I can understand if a 20-year-old player uses the net-playing style, but Zhang Guan is not yet 21 years old, so how can he use this style of play from 20 years ago? Is it possible that the level of tennis in Asia is still at the second level? Ten years ago?”
Harvey shook his head: "It's impossible. There are many excellent tennis players in Asian countries. Japan, Thailand, and South Korea all have players participating in the Grand Slam. China also has several people participating in women's singles and women's doubles. And Zhang Guan’s girlfriend is Sharapova, so it’s impossible for Zhang Guan not to know that the net game has been eliminated long ago. So does it mean that Zhang Guan deliberately learned this net game!”
Harvey thought of this and suddenly laughed: "It's interesting. Instead of learning the most practical baseline play, he instead learned the net play that has been eliminated by the times. This game is really impressive!"
Twenty years ago, net play was very popular for many reasons. First of all, in terms of tennis equipment, the racket materials of that era were different from those of today, so even Federer or Nadal at their peak could not hit that kind of high-intensity spinning ball. With the advancement of technology, the materials and production processes of rackets and tennis balls have made great progress, making baseline play much less difficult.
The second reason is the venue. With the development of science and technology, the plastic materials of hard courts have made great progress and are becoming more and more elastic. In grass courts, grass varieties suitable for playing tennis have gradually been cultivated; even red soil On the site, the application of composite materials makes it easier to build a drainage system on the site, and the laterite paved is much harder than before.
In addition, coupled with the continuous development and progress of tennis technology, the higher requirements for players themselves in front-of-the-net play, etc., eventually the front-of-the-net play was gradually eliminated by the times, and the baseline play began to become popular.
Players of Harvey's age group learned tennis during the era of the world champion Sampras. Playing in front of the net was the mainstream, and they also had a certain understanding of how to play in front of the net. So Harvey quickly formulated a set of tactics for himself to deal with Zhang Guan's play in front of the net.
"Nalbandian's backhand has a relatively average spin, so it will be more difficult to face opponents who play at the net. Although my backhand is not as strong as Nalbandian's, my technique for hitting the spin ball is still better. Yu Nalbandian. In tomorrow’s game, we need to increase the spin of the ball. In addition, we need to pay attention to the arc of the ball and don’t give him a chance to go to the net easily.”
"In addition, young players are often more accustomed to playing downwind games, especially tennis newbies who have not had enough games. They are definitely lacking in patience and resilience. I need to hold the game longer. The longer the game, the better for me. It should be more advantageous."
…
On the eighth match day of the Australian Open, still at Vodafone Arena, Zhang Guan faced his fourth-round opponent, the 12th seed, German Tommy Haas.
The game between Zhang Guan and Haas was scheduled for the second game. The first game today at Vodafone Arena was the women's singles match between Chakvetadze and Schneider. The game went very quickly, and Chakvetadze only spent In just over seventy minutes, Schneider was defeated with a score of 2-0.
Next is the contest between Zhang Guan and Haas. This game is also regarded as the highlight of today's Vodafone Arena.
As a wild card player, Zhang Guan was able to successfully reach the fourth round of the men's singles in his first professional tennis match. He can be said to be the biggest dark horse of this Australian Open. In any competition, a dark horse is the ultimate concerned. People often have two attitudes towards dark horse players. One is that they think the dark horse player will be eliminated soon, and the other is that they hope that the dark horse player will remain black until the end.
Among the fans at Vodafone Stadium today, there are obviously more of the latter. When Zhang Guan walked out of the tunnel, he received applause and cheers that were no less than Haas.
"The applause and cheers I am familiar with are back! Competitive sports are so realistic!" Zhang Guan sighed with emotion in his heart. Six days ago, when he appeared in this stadium for the first time as a tennis professional, the whole stadium was booed. He was a "public enemy of the world." After these six days, Zhang Guanyong won three games. Having conquered the audience, he has been able to enjoy the treatment of a seeded player in this venue.
After both sides warmed up briefly, the game began, with Zhang Guan taking the lead in serving.
Zhang Guan looked at Haas's position and felt that it would be better to hit Haas's forehand with this ball, so he aimed the ball at the sideline of Haas's forehand.
And Haas is also paying attention to Zhang Guan's serve.
"Will it be a serve to the net? It may also be a powerful flat serve! After all, this is the first ball of the game. Zhang Guan can give it a try, and the possibility of using a flat serve should be greater." Haas said silently think
Tossing the ball, swinging the racket, and hitting the ball, Zhang Guan directly used flat shots to serve. The tennis ball flew out with a "swish".
"This ball is so fast!" Although Haas knew that Zhang Guan was a "heavy shooter" in the video of the game and was prepared for it, when he actually encountered it in the game, he still couldn't help but sigh. .
At the same time, Haas was ready to catch the ball, but at the moment he was about to move, Haas discovered that the ball was about to fall out of bounds.
"This ball is going to go out of bounds. As I expected, Zhang Guan should be preparing to put pressure on me at the beginning, so the placement of this ball is quite extreme." Haas just shook his body and did not catch the ball. .
The next moment, the ball bounced on the ground and then bounced out, but Haas felt that the ball seemed to be a little bit over the line.
"It seems that the line has been pressed, but it seems that it has not been pressed. Has it been pressed? The ball was too fast, and I didn't see it clearly." Haas hesitated, and turned his attention to the line judge, waiting for the referee's decision.
"OUT!" The line judge had already shouted.
"Huh!" Haas let out a long breath. The ball was indeed a foul ball as he judged.
However, Zhang Guan raised his hand at this time and said to the referee: "I want to challenge!"
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(End of chapter)