Adapting to clay is no easy task.
In Graf's view, three seasons may not be enough. One season to adapt, two seasons to adjust, and three seasons to be considered as an official introduction. After all, the current clay court season is really too short, and there is not much time to breathe. How can it be completely reborn in three days?
From a theoretical point of view, Gao Wen's rich and varied and flexible style of play is indeed very suitable for clay court, but this is only on paper.
Judging from the actual situation, Gao Wen is a typical hard-court player. His way of thinking is still hard-court mode, and naturally he cannot quickly adapt to the rhythm of clay court—
It's like learning a language.
Perhaps, someone is really a genius, he has a natural sense of language and excellent memory, from any angle, he can easily learn a new language.
In fact, it is true. I am proficient in grammar, vocabulary, reading, and writing. There is no problem with all of them. It seems that I have fully understood the new language, but when it comes to the communication link, that is, speaking, it is easy to get stuck, including listening. Never keep up with the native population.
what happened?
In fact, it is a question of way of thinking. Maybe all the knowledge of this brand-new language is in my mind, from grammar to words to structure, etc., but if the way of thinking is still my mother tongue, I have to experience it when switching. A process, this is the stuck moment.
For example, in a Chinese-English conversation, when the other party speaks a sentence in English, I first need to convert it into English in my mind to understand it; then I conceive a response in Chinese, and then convert it into English and speak it out. Not to mention that the grammatical structure is completely different, and even the reaction time cannot keep up with the speed.
way of thinking, here’s why —
It is precisely because of this that many people often stumble when communicating in non-native languages, because a conversion process is required in their minds.
If it is a three-way switch such as "Chinese-English-German/Spanish/Italian", it will be even worse, and the head may crash directly on the spot.
Only by switching the way of thinking and thinking in English, things will become smoother.
Tennis, too.
Gao Wen is currently in the preliminary stage, so he habitually thinks about clay courts with a hard way of thinking. Even though his style of play and tactical weapons are very suitable for clay courts, they may not be able to integrate well on clay courts—
He needs time, and at the same time he needs games, many, many, many games, to really feel the ever-changing changes on the field and the ever-changing clay court.
In the past few days, Graf has witnessed Gao Wen's progress with her own eyes, as well as Gao Wen's "chaos and struggle". She knows that this is a necessary process—
This is the first professional season. Waiting for Gao Wen to truly mature, switching between different venues every season will not be so difficult.
"...But I think you are ready." Graf looked at Gawain and said with a smile.
Gao Wen was a little surprised, "You mean, against Rafa?"
This afternoon, Gao Wen will go to the clay court training ground to face the "King of Clay" Nadal.
Graf nodded slightly, expressing affirmation, "Training is always endless. You still have too many hard-court hitting habits and ways of thinking that need to be changed. Even if you spend a week on the court training, you still can't train After that, only when you step on the court, really engage in the confrontation and really participate in the game, the training content will become your own thing."
serious face.
The words paused for a while, elongated the ending, fell into deep thought, and then—
Gao Wen's smile bloomed in an instant, "This is too exciting!"
Graf was taken aback by the ready-to-fist and ready-to-try appearance, and turned his head to look at Sampras, Agassi and others on the sidelines with a face full of astonishment.
Agassi shrugged innocently and spread his hands: I don't know either.
Rafael Nadal is without a doubt one of the greatest players in tennis history.
The best battle in history between the Big Four is put aside for the time being, and Nadal's excellent performance on the hard court is not inferior to the clay court, but if Nadal is "one of the best in history", it is There is no doubt that among them, it can be said that Nadal was born for clay.
It doesn't need to be until 2022, even at the moment of 2015, Nadal has already raised the historical record of clay to a whole new level.
Except for Villas' unbelievable number of clay court victories, almost all the records on other clay courts belong to Nadal.
Clay-court winning streak, career clay-court winning percentage, total number of clay-court champions, Masters and Grand Slam winning streaks, French Open victories, etc., etc., if listed in detail, I am afraid it will take a while , but it is certain that these records belong to Nadal.
"King of Clay", well deserved.
As of 2022, Nadal has reached the top of Roland-Garros for the 14th time in history, and once again further refreshed his record for winning a single Grand Slam.
You know, apart from Nadal, there is no player who has won double figures in the number of single Grand Slam titles. The closest to this record is Djokovic and Navratilova. Net and the latter have won nine times at Wimbledon.
In addition, there is another record. Also by 2022, Nadal's wins and losses in the French Open have reached an incredible 112 wins and three losses. Both the number of wins and the winning percentage are all the highest in the history of the four Grand Slams. First, who are the second and third in history?
Second in history, Federer, Wimbledon, 106 wins and 14 losses, winning rate 88.2%.
Third in history, Djokovic, Australian Open, 85 wins and 8 losses, winning rate 91.4%.
In addition to Nadal's French Open, Federer's Wimbledon, and Federer's Australian Open, the number of single Grand Slam wins has reached 103.
A simple comparison can once again show Nadal’s unparalleled dominance at the French Open. No wonder the French Open officially erected a statue for Nadal at Roland-Garros in 2020~www.mtlnovel.com~ This is also the first time in history. The player is still active in the professional game but there are statues erected for him.
In fact, on the whole, the clay court season is the vane of Nadal's state. From the performance of the clay court, one can judge Nadal's state curve throughout the season—
For Nadal, the clay court is always special, and the French Open is the top priority. Once the clay court season is not good, it also means that Nadal's competitive state has fallen to the bottom, which just proves what Graf said :
Nadal, his understanding of clay is unmatched.
In a way, this is the same as Federer's understanding of grass.
Maybe Federer will lose on grass, just like Nadal will lose on clay, but their understanding of this field is unique, which also means that any player wants to beat them. It may take 200% effort.
(end of this chapter)