On June 2, at 7 p.m. capital time, the French Open men's singles match officially started. At Philip Stadium, the first match was between Federer and Zhang Guan, followed by Nadal and Djokovic.
Federer and Zhang Guan played against each other twice, which naturally attracted worldwide attention, and the time of the game happened to be a prime time, so the ratings just went up as soon as the game started, easily breaking the 3% mark, and running towards 4%.
After a series of introductions and warm-ups, the game also began, and Federer took the lead in serving.
"Steady, reduce mistakes!" Federer muttered silently and began to serve. After more than ten consecutive shots, Federer scored one point first.
"Federer had a good start today!" the commentator could not help saying. In the past, Federer was known for his gorgeous offense, but today Federer's style has become extremely stable.
The second ball, the third ball... Federer is still the same, every shot is just right, not very unrestrained, not very conservative, can be described as flawless.
15-0, 30-0, 30-15, 40-15, 40-30, then Federer won the first game with a strong forehand.
Unsurprisingly, both sides played well, and could not find any bright spots. This is the evaluation of many audiences in the first game. Before the game, many people thought that the battle between the two strong men is full of attention and topicality. This will be a collision of Mars and the earth. The game will be very intense. However, when the first game was completed, everyone's imagination of it being a fierce confrontation has not come true.
Zhang Guan looked at Federer on the opposite side somewhat puzzled. He also felt that Federer's style of play was somewhat different from the past. He seemed to play a bit too stable. Although this stability helped Federer not make any mistake in the whole game, and no obvious flaws were revealed, Zhang Guan did not feel Federer's desire to win.
"Why does this look like the tactics used by Davydenko? Does Federer want to postpone the tie-break? Federer played so steady, without any flaws. I didn't even have a chance even if I wanted to attack, which forced me to play steadily. Ah!" Zhang Guan shook his head and started to serve.
In Zhang Guan's serve, Federer still chose to play steadily, without any risk of attack. This result made Zhang Guan keep his serve.
"In the first two games, both players played 1-1. From the situation of these two games, the players of both sides played more conservatively, probably because the players have not entered the game state at the beginning of the game, and after all, it is the semi-finals, and it is normal to choose a stable play style. I think next when the players start to enter the game, they will bring us a wonderful contest."
The narrator began to justify the two players on the court. However, contrary to expectations, the players of both sides still played very stably in the subsequent four consecutive contests. The score in the first set came to 3-3.
The six-set game ended, but the audience was in a state of disappointment. For the entire six games, neither side played a gorgeous attack, except for some symbolic applause in the audience at the end of each game. Other times are quiet. TV screens swept through the auditorium and even captured some audience yawning.
Federer has always been known for his gorgeous offense, and Zhang Guan gives people the impression that he is a player with a lot of offensive means. Originally, everyone thought that these two players should be a contest between the tip of the needle and the Maimang, but now the two offensive players had begun to play steadily and made many people feel disappointed.
The narrator frowned, continuing to say that the two were not warming up yet? Impossible. Now that we have played six games, if the strength gap between the two sides is relatively large, someone may win the game 6-0. As a professional athlete, you should also find the state of the game after the six games.
So why didn't two offensive players choose to attack? The only explanation for this is that the tactical choices of the two men are being steady not making it easy to attack.
Thinking of this, the narrator sighed, "It seems that today's game may be a boring and long game."
...
Zhang Guan tried several running and attacking methods, and achieved good results in his serve, but Federer's serve was more general, with a success rate of less than 50%. With Federer's game experience and technique and the style of playing today, this sudden change in the rhythm of the shot is not very lethal. Federer is almost good at all offensive and defensive rhythms, all of which can be adjusted by only one or two shots.
Zhang Guan could hardly catch Federer's flaws, and Federer also couldn't find Zhang Guan's weakness.
Federer's best forehand is that in the slow field of the French Open clay, it is difficult to kill Zhang Guan. Also, Federer's deliberate choice of conservative play makes him unable to get points from Zhang Guan's serve.
In this way, after the 5-5 score, Federer's serve, and then Federer played steadily. After several long rounds of stalemate, he saved his serve and changed the score to 6-5, and the next is Zhang Guan's serve.
"It's almost time to launch an offensive." Federer encouraged himself silently. Then, Zhang Guan served. After receiving the serve, Federer suddenly chose to attack. After two consecutive pressures, Federer made a large-scale move to get the next point.
The entire eleventh game was so uninteresting. Now Federer suddenly exerted his strength and played a beautiful turn from defense to offense, which immediately excited the audience. Those who were dozing off also woke up and applauded came from the auditorium.
Zhang Guan glanced at Federer very alertly. He vaguely guessed Federer's intention.
The next ball, after receiving the serve, Federer still chose an unrestrained attack, forehand pressure, and then prepared for a large-angle transfer, but Zhang Guan was already prepared, catching Federer's ball and then a pre-emptive, quickly came within the bottom line, catching the ball in advance disrupted Federer's rhythm to continue the offensive, then Zhang Guan quickly changed the offensive and defensive rhythm, successfully scored this point, the score became 15-15.
"Sure enough, Federer suddenly exerted his strength in this round and wanted to beat me by surprise. He used a psychological battle!" Zhang Guan at this time had already seen Federer's intention.
In the previous 11 games, Federer used a solid style of play and even made Zhang Guan feel that he had no desire to attack. When the score came to 6-5, Federer only needed to complete the break to win the first set, so Federer suddenly started to attack. With the foreshadowing of the first eleven games, if Zhang Guan fell into the previous inertial thinking and was paralyzed, it would be easy to lose this game. For Federer, even if this set of psychological tactics fails, then some tie-breaks can be played, so for Federer, the sudden attack in the twelfth game is sure to make him lose nothing.
But now, Federer's wishful thinking has been seen by Zhang Guan.