Bab 263: Expect to meet
Melbourne, the seventh day of the Australian Open.
Today's game is very fierce, there are several focus battles. In the women's singles project, Williams Jr. against Jankovic and Sister Nafina will also play against Savannah. Also, Maurice, Dementieva, and Kuznetsova will be on the stage. In the men's singles, in addition to the contest between No. 6 seed Roddick and No. 9 seed Anisic, Federer will also face the challenge of young teenager Djokovic.
In addition to the ongoing games on the field, the most talked about topic is Zhang Guan's victory against Nalbandian.
Non-seed players defeating seed players can be regarded as very popular, non-seed players defeating No. 8 seed is a big upset, and this non-seed player got in using the wild card to win the game, which is a big topic.
The Australian Open holds too many matches every day, and every match can't be a focus game. When Zhang Guan defeated Grosjean before, although it attracted some attention, it was very limited. But this time Zhang Guan's victory over Nalbandian was completely different. After all, Nalbandian was a veteran strongman, and he also carried the name of the world's strongest backhand, and he was the 8th seed of the tournament. If he can beat Nalbandian, the gold content will be much larger than the previous victory over Grosjean.
All of a sudden, the video of the game between Zhang Guan and Nalbandian became a big topic for every fan. Everyone wanted to know how Zhang Guan defeated Nalbandian. Fans were all surprised when they saw Zhang Guan playing in front of the net. In today's tennis world, almost everyone in the singles project plays in the bottom line. The front-line style has almost been eliminated. This retro style, which is disappearing from the tennis world, has returned and instantly became a hot spot.
Some older fans, especially those over the age of 40, have experienced the era of the netplay from Sampras. At that time, the pre-net play was the most popular style of play, so when they watched the game video when Zhang Guan used the play in front of the net, they immediately aroused the memories in their hearts, and the nostalgic feeling broke out. This nostalgia is a very touching and beautiful thing, so many old fans in their 40s and 50s have become fans of Zhang Guan after watching Zhang Guan defeat Nalbandian.
The younger generation, especially after 2000, began to pay attention to tennis. They have always accepted the baptism of the bottom line. They saw Federer's gorgeous bottom line offensive and Nadal's tough bottom-line defense. So this is a very new thing for them. Although the turnover rate in front of the net is very high, as long as the interception is successfully made before the net, it is indeed superior to the bottom line drawing. And because of the relatively high turnover rate, the audience will also feel more irritated. So some fans who like freshness and excitement have also become fans of Zhang Guan.
Also, Zhang Guan is the most famous track and field athlete in the world. He was originally a well-known sports star with a broad fan base. Some tennis fans themselves will also pay attention to other projects. When a more familiar star achieves results, the attention itself will be several levels higher than that of the new face.
Within a day, Zhang Guan became the most popular player in the Australian Open. People discussed Zhang Guan more than Federer and Nadal.
...
In the evening, Federer ended his fourth round of the Australian Open. In the game, he defeated Djokovic, a young teenager with unlimited potential, with a total score of 3-0.
At this time, Djokovic has shown a sharp edge. He was ranked 16th in the 2006 ATP year-end ranking, and early 2007, after winning a series of results such as the Adelaide hard court championship, his world ranking also rose to 14th place. However, the tennis genius is still far away from Federer. Even if he is constantly trying to attack Federer's SLR with a double-reverse, he lost to Federer because of too many mistakes.
So far, Federer's promotion has been very smooth. From the first round, Federer has beaten his opponents 3-0 in every game. According to Federer's current status, it seems that he has earned the current Australian Open championship.
Federer soaked in the jacuzzi for a while. When he stepped out of the bathroom, he saw his girlfriend Mirka playing with the laptop.
"Roger, just now Mr. Roche called and said that there was a very interesting game. Let me take a look. I have found the video of the game for you." Mirka said while putting the laptop on the table.
Mr. Roche in Mirka's mouth is Federer's tennis coach. Roche can be said to be the most famous tennis coach in the world. At that time, Federer spent a lot of effort to make Roche his coach. However, Roche will only give Federer some guidance before the big game, and he will not play with Federer around the world on weekdays.
Hearing that the game was designated by Roche, Federer did not dare to carelessly. He quickly wiped his hair with a towel, sat down by the sofa, and said at the same time, "Who is in the game?"
"Zhang Guan vs. Nalbandian," Mirka answered.
"This is it! I know that Zhang Guan defeated Nalbandian 3-0. Yesterday when I heard that about it, I was also surprised. I know the strength of Nalbandian best, although he was affected by his injury, that sharp backhand of his is still the world's strongest. Incredibly, Zhang Guan was able to defeat him. I wanted to find this video yesterday to watch it, but I had to prepare for the battle with Djokovic's game, so I didn't go watch it." Federer finished clicking the mouse and started playing the video of the game.
"Zhang Guan is a one-handed backhand! And like me, it is also held in the right hand... That backhand ball feels very familiar to me!" Federer said while watching the video.
"Of course it will feel familiar, don't you think Zhang Guan's backhand is very similar to your backhand?" Mirka said.
"It's really like my backhand, but it feels more powerful than my backhand! But even then, it can't deal with Nalbandian! You see, a backhand change of Nalbandian, does not affect him" Federer said.
The game video quickly came to the second game.
"This is him serving the volley!" Federer sighed, and then said, "Zhang Guan is the fastest person in the world. His mobility is definitely very strong, and the use of serving a volley is also very normal. And this kind of play restrained Nalbandian's backhand."
"The timing of the volley access is very good, and the hitting point is also well controlled. It is exactly where Nalbandian cannot reach. Well, Zhang Guan's serve-volley looks very skilled, and he can just rely on it. It is estimated that this volley serve is at the level of a grand slam seed player! Where did he learn this serve from, was it, Sharapova?"
"Huh? How to catch the ball and hit a volley! This is not a good choice for hitting a volley, but he succeeded!" Federer's expression finally changed. He already understood why Coach Roche would let him look at this specifically.
"This ball is going to be volley too! Is the ball in front of the net? Beautiful! This ball is so beautiful that it completely mobilized Nalbandian!"
"Still volley! This ball is not necessary. Wouldn't it be better to draw at the bottom line! Sure enough, it was out of bounds. But this ball is not likely to be unsuccessful, but the luck is slightly worse..."
Federer became more and more serious and couldn't help but fall into the game. At the same time, he was thinking about how he would respond if he faced this kind of ball.
The video reached the third set of both sides. Nalbandian was in a state of utter fear for his injury. Federer also paused the video. He knew at that point there was no meaning in continuing to watch. Federer had already seen what he wanted. All the information was obtained.
"Yes, this is the volley play! This is the world's top volley play! This play reminds me of Sampras!" Federer's breath suddenly rushed, he closed his eyes and remembered the scene at Wimbledon in 2001.
In 2001, Federer, less than twenty years old, met Wimbledon's then-time champion, Sampras. Federer defeated the king of Wimbledon on the grass. That was also Federer's battle for fame.
But Federer knew that he was not facing Sampras in the heyday. At that time, Sampras was 30 years old, and his speed was not as good as before. Sampras had lost his speed and had greatly reduced his power.
For Federer, failing to compete with Sampras at the peak is a very regrettable thing, especially in recent years, Federer has stood at the peak of the world, this feeling of regret has increased.
But now, Federer has seen this world-leading volley play again, and the fire in his heart is burning again. He feels that he finally has the opportunity to make up for this regret!
"I want to compare with Zhang Guan! Hurry up and see when I will meet Zhang Guan." Federer immediately found the match table, then a look of disappointment appeared on his face.
"Zhang Guan is in Zone 3, and I am in Zone 1, we won't meet until the finals! How could this be?"
In the Australian Open seed group, the No. 1 seed is in Zone 1, the No. 2 seed is in Zone 4, the No. 3 seed is in Zone 3, and the No. 4 seed is in Zone 2, and the semi-final match is against zone 1 players against zone 2 players. The qualifying players in Zone 3 play against the qualifying players in Zone 4, which means that the players in the upper half of the zone will only meet the players in the lower half of the zone.
"Now it's the fourth round, and Zhang Guan's fourth round has not yet started. Can he reach the finals? Zhang Guan's zone 3 also has a Davydenko, they may meet in the quarter-finals, and Nadal is in Zone 4. They may become the qualifying players in Zone 4. Zhang Guan needs to win against those two before entering the final. Can he do it? By the way, Zhang Guan's fourth round has not started yet, let's see who his opponent is in the fourth round!"
Federer immediately found the fourth round of the match table and saw Zhang Guan's opponent.
"Why is it such a tough guy!"
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone