Federer felt a little ridiculous. Continuously pressing the backhand and then suddenly turned to the forehand. This is Federer's most used tactic in recent years and the first tactic with the highest scoring success rate. Today, Zhang Guan is using the same kind of tactic to deal with him.
Federer knows how difficult it is to use his tricks skillfully. First of all, the forehand technique must be good. If the forehand technique is not good, then the ball will not rotate well enough or the landing point will not be good enough. It must be able to suppress the opponent's backhand. Second, you have to choose a good time to switch to the forehand, specializing in the forehand. If the opponent is prepared, it will not have that good of a surprise as being caught off guard, and you might give points to the opponent.
The next ball, Zhang Guan was still using the same style of play. After serving, he forced Federer's backhand. After a few shots, Zhang Guan attacked Federer's forehand position and then scored another point through a volley. The score became 0-30, Federer fell behind by two points.
Federer's expression still looks very relaxed, because this is his trick, so of course he knows how to crack this trick.
"This kind of pressure backhand, even if it is a fierce pressure, can't win. The key is to switch to the forehand. That is when the real lethality is played. When suddenly switching to the forehand, most people will be caught by surprise and when they return the ball, there will be many flaws, so you only need to be able to grasp the timing of your forehand, so that you can return with a calmer forehand, and naturally, it will become a holding ball." Federer began to pay attention to the movement of Zhang Guan. He hopes to be familiar with Zhang Guan's rhythm as soon as possible to deal with Zhang Guan's strong backhand attack.
"Zhang Guan's rhythm feels familiar, and it's a bit like my rhythm." Federer doesn't care too much about it. Now, eight out of ten people playing tennis all over the world are learning or imitating Federer, many professional players are also learning Federer's sense of rhythm, Federer has long been accustomed to this.
On the next shot, Zhang Guan suddenly reversed his forehand with a change of line.
"It's time to attack my forehand!" Federer was ready at the same time, but this time the result was the same as the previous two, Federer still did not make a good quality return.
Federer looked up at the score of 40-0, but his face showed confidence.
"Zhang Guan's sense of rhythm is very similar to mine. Maybe next time, I won't be so passive."
Zhang Guan served again and continued to pressure Federer's backhand. Federer's return did not make major adjustments, but Federer has always been aware of the rhythm of Zhang Guan's swing.
After two and three beats. When Federer returned it was the fourth beat, his body moved two small steps in the direction of his forehand.
"Is it possible to turn the forehand on this beat? At this rhythm, the possibility is very high!" Federer is ready to use his forehand to catch the ball.
However, in the next shot, Zhang Guan still attacked Federer's backhand.
"It's not this shot, the next shot is more likely to change to the forehand!" Federer returned to the ball and moved two more steps towards his forehand again, and these two steps are bigger than before.
"Whoosh!" The tennis ball flew to Federer's forehand position, as Federer expected.
Federer quickly ran to his forehand position, this time, he made a high-quality forehand back.
Federer pre-judged that Zhang Guan would turn to the forehand in this ball, he was psychologically prepared, and he had made two small steps in advance, this master moves, sometimes a small step can determine the success or failure of a game. So this time, Federer can play a high-quality return.
Zhang Guan was ready to go on the net, but when he saw the ball, he immediately returned to the bottom line. Zhang Guan has judged that Federer's return is of good quality. If he blindly surfs the net, it will be easy for Federer to see his flaws.
"Is Federer predicting that I will focus on the forehand in this serve? He just moved two steps towards the forehand position just now, which is to guard against my sudden forehand swing. Federer is worthy of being the king, the judgment is accurate." Zhang Guan did not realize that Federer was already familiar with his rhythm.
Federer countered the original passive situation with this high-quality forehand and even vaguely grasped the initiative. For Federer in good condition, as long as he gets the initiative, the next advantage will only be getting bigger.
40-15, Federer pulled back a point.
"Pretty, this ball is really beautiful. Federer has been forced to his backhand and has reversed the situation with a beautiful forehand! Only such a point is in line with Federer's world-first status." The commentator said.
Zhang Guan continued his service, still suppressing Federer's backhand continuously. When Zhang Guan specialized in the forehand, Federer once again predicted in advance and used his forehand to grab the initiative again.
"Federer should be familiar with my rhythm. Otherwise, it will be impossible to judge so accurately by just guessing. But I am also familiar with your rhythm!" Zhang Guan's forehand directly attacked the bottom line, and he also guessed that Federer would back pressed his backhand eight or nine times.
Zhang Guan's judgment is also very accurate, Federer is indeed ready to counter Zhang Guan's backhand. Zhang Guan quickly moved to the midfield position.
Another midfielder interception!
The ball directly hit the sideline, Federer wanted to catch the ball, but stopped halfway, Federer can receive this ball, but even if he receives this ball, it will allow Zhang Guan to hit a volley in front of the net, so Federer simply gave up the point.
"Congratulations to Zhang Guan for successfully maintaining his serve. The interception of the midfield just now was very beautiful. Now the score of both sides is 3-1, and Zhang Guan temporarily leads."
There was a relief smile on Zhang Guan's face, but the opposite Federer was not so happy.
"For the point just now, Zhang Guan should have pre-judged that I would press the backhand, so instead of catching the ball at the bottom line, he chose to intercept in the midfield, which made me lose the opportunity to continuously press the backhand." Federer looked at the Zhang Guan on the opposite side then thought, "Zhang Guan could see through my intent to attack, which is really beyond my expectations. It seems that Zhang Guan also did his homework before the game. He has been studying my style of play. And my knowledge of Zhang Guan is still very limited, which is where I am currently most disadvantaged at."
Federer mentioned the racket and came to the court to start his serve.
In Federer's last service, he mainly relied on a strong backhand and then specialized in the forehand to score. This kind of effective tactics, of course, he could not use once, so after Federer served, he continued to choose a strong backhand against Zhang Guan
Zhang Guan has gradually become familiar with Federer's rhythm. After two shots, he moved two small steps towards the forehand. Then when Federer attacked his forehand, he rushed to the forehand.
Zhang Guan moved faster than Federer. When the ball landed, he was ready to catch the ball and then calmly returned the ball with a forehand.
"He is quite quick to learn my tactic." Federer swiped his forehand and moved Zhang Guan to the other side of the court.
Zhang Guan was not willing to be outdone, he ran very aggressively, and for the hitting point, he also chose a position closer to the edge. He was also mobilizing Federer.
The two sides played a 15-round long shot, and finally, Federer used a very aggressive draw to force Zhang Guan to make a mistake and win the ball.
"It seems more and more difficult to score, but it should be no problem to maintain the game in this game." Federer wiped the sweat on his head, took a few breaths, and continued to serve.
"Will Federer continue to press the backhand?" Zhang Guan's eyes widened and he focused on preparing to catch the ball.
The tennis ball is flying, and the point is still in Zhang Guan's backhand.
"It is still necessary to press the backhand." Zhang Guan returned the ball but found that Federer began to move forward.
"He is serving the net!" Zhang Guan had a hunch that he would lose the ball.
For this ball, Federer chose to serve the net.
Federer's style of play is still biased towards the bottom line, so suddenly using a service to get on the net, Zhang Guan was caught off guard, and Federer successfully scored this point.
On the third point, Federer sent an ACE ball and the score came to 40-0.
In the fourth ball, the two sides made another long shot over ten rounds.
"Whoosh!" The tennis ball flew, and Federer stared at the direction of the tennis, while the rest of his eyes swept to Zhang Guan's position.
"This ball was hit to the left!" Federer made a judgment instantly, he used his forehand to hit the tennis ball to the left of the court, and on the opposite, Zhang Guan had moved in the same direction.
"My position seems to be too far behind." Federer moved toward the middle and then thought, "If I come to catch the ball, I will use a chopped ball to hang the right side of the frontcourt, although it is a bit difficult. The risk is quite high, but if it succeeds, there may be a chance of a high-pressure ball... Eh?"
On the opposite side, Zhang Guan made an action, he used the forehand to cut the ball and directly hung the ball to the right side of the frontcourt.
"Zhang Guan's thoughts are the same as mine?" Federer moved a few steps to the frontcourt. He just wanted to use his backhand, but suddenly remembered that it might give Zhang Guan a chance to hit the ball.
"You can't use backhand, let's go to the backcourt!" Federer used the forehand to catch the ball. Instead of hitting the signature topspin, he made a draw and directly hit the backcourt.
However, what Federer didn't expect was that Zhang Guan has moved quickly to the backcourt position, and then played a diagonal to directly win this point.
"Zhang Guan guessed my thoughts!" Federer was annoyed and frustrated.
The opposite Zhang Guan took a breath.
"Sure enough, as I expected, Federer's experience book I learned, the understanding and judgment of the ball is the same as Federer. For the same ball, whatever Federer can think of, I can think of it too!"