Federer finally realized that Zhang Guan's speed had become faster, which shocked Federer. He had never seen a tennis player move so fast, even with the ability to move, Nadal, could not do this.
"Almost forgot, Zhang Guan is the fastest person in the world. But tennis is not the same as sprinting. Tennis requires countless emergency stops. He is running so fast, can his knee bear it?" Federer thought. While watching Zhang Guan backhand pick the ball across the net.
"Pick the ball? This is a chance for me to smash! But for this ball, Zhang Guan can only receive it this way. Although you received this ball, you still have to lose this game." Federer made several small broken steps, and was in front of the ball, followed by a strong smash.
The tennis ball hits the ground, then bounces high, and the next point of fall will be out of bounds.
"It's so high, Zhang Guan must not be able to catch it!" Federer looked up at the ball and then looked at Zhang Guan again, but found that Zhang Guan was running towards the position where the ball landed.
"Does Zhang Guan still want to catch this kind of ball? Even if this kind of ball is successfully caught, it will be completely passive, not to mention such a long distance, it will be difficult to control the landing point." Federer thought to himself.
Rod Laver Stadium, as the main stadium of the Australian Open, certainly covers the largest area in Melbourne, and there are large gaps left, right, left, and right. A standard tennis court will leave a 6.4-meter gap outside the front and rear edges. Rod Laver stadium has more than 10 meters of free space left and right because at the edge of the stadium the line referee and the caddie who picks up the ball need to have space there. Also, there is a large camera. If these were changed, there would be more space. Moreover, in the world's top contests, the 6.4-meter gap is not enough for players to exert their strength, so this top-level stadium has margins that are larger than standard tennis courts.
At this point, Zhang Guan has moved to the edge of the court, and behind him is the line referee, and this is also where the ball is falling towards.
He saw Zhang Guan swinging the racket, hitting the falling tennis ball, then the tennis ball turned into a long arc, leaped to the net, and landed in Federer's half.
"Wow!" cries of surprise in the audience.
The tennis ball almost fell vertically. This kind of volley is already very difficult. If the timing is not good, you will not hit the ball. Moreover, the position of Zhang Guan's swinging has reached the edge of the court, and the distance from the sideline is close to 10 meters. The distance from the sideline to the net is 11.885 meters. The distance exceeds 25 meters. For the average audience, it is very difficult to catch this ball and made it successfully fall into the circle.
Federer was also taken aback. At normal rhythm, athletes who catch this high-altitude ball out of bounds will use a challenge, because the challenge is low in difficulty and the success rate is high, but the challenger will have a major disadvantage. That is, the ball will bounce higher, which will give the opponent a chance of continuous high-pressure ball.
Zhang Guan did not use a challenge. He accurately grasped the moment when the ball fell, and then hit the ball into the sky, so that the ball will have a relatively flat arc, and Federer cannot use the high-pressure ball to smash continuously. However, this technique is extremely difficult and requires excellent ball control skills.
"This ball is beautiful!" Federer also has a feeling of being surprised, but he did not show mercy in his hand. The forehand strong topspin continued to launch the offensive. This time Federer chose to be in the frontcourt.
Zhang Guan's movement is still rapid, he has already started to move to the sideline of the court after finishing the super long-distance rush, and then the one-handed forehand received the ball is more difficult. Then Federer attacked the diagonal backcourt again, Zhang Guan ran to the position again and finished receiving the ball.
At this time, Zhang Guan was mobilized by Federer and seemed to be completely passive, but in fact, he has reversed a lot of the situation. Originally this was a must-have ball, and Zhang Guan was pulled back abruptly.
After three more shots, Zhang Guan finally got a chance to catch the ball by running.
"It's now!" Zhang Guan clasped his hands in both hands and hit with his forehand.
"The speed of this ball is quite fast, so there should not be a very strong spin." Federer looked at the flying tennis ball, ready to catch the ball.
However, the moment Federer received the ball, an uncontrollable feeling came from the racket.
"What a strong spin! This spin is almost the same as Nadal! How can there be such a high-speed spin with such a fastball?"
During tennis ball hitting, the strength of the athlete determines the speed of the ball, and the degree of friction between the racket and the ball determines the rotation of the ball. But you can't have both fish and bear's paw. A high-speed ball cannot have a strong rotation; in the same way, a ball with a strong rotation cannot have a high speed. This is best reflected in table tennis. For example, the table tennis team cuts the ball. The cut ball has a strong rotation, but the speed of cutting the ball will be relatively slow.
Among the professional tennis players, Nadal is the player who is most in pursuit of rotation. He even sacrifices some speed for the rotation of the ball. Due to the excessive pursuit of rotation, Nadal's serve was even regarded as a shortboard.
Now Zhang Guan's counterattack is comparable to Nadal in terms of rotation, but it has a faster ball speed than Nadal. This is a situation that Federer has never encountered.
"What's the matter? The speed is so fast, and the rotation is still so strong. In the first two sets of games, Zhang Guan did not play this quality of return... Wait a minute, has Zhang Guan been hiding his strength?"
This idea emerged from Federer's mind and could not be dissipated for a long time.
"Impossible! Zhang Guan has been strong enough in the first two sets. If he is still hiding his strength, how strong will he be!"
...
"40-15!" The referee shouted the score, Zhang Guan successfully pulled back a point.
"Wow wow..."
"Wow..."
Applause and cheers instantly swallowed the entire stadium.
This ball, from the moment Federer completed the smash, Zhang Guan was originally in a losing situation, but he pulled back a little bit through a ball at the edge of the court, then used his forehand to finally complete the reversal and won this point. In the contest of more than ten consecutive shots, both sides played a very high level, and the audience was even more fascinated.
Sharapova looked at Zhang Guan with admiration and murmured, "Why do I feel that Zhang Guan is suddenly stronger in this set!"