Match Point

"...the race is good, I am watching the race while warming up on the bike."

With a smile on his face, Nadal hugged and greeted Gao Wen and Dimitrov respectively. It could be seen that he was in a good mood and was ready.

Today, the last big axis event in Monte Carlo is the upper half of the men's singles semi-finals. Djokovic and Nadal confront each other again.

Because of this, Nadal arrived at the venue early in the morning and started warming up step by step, preparing for the game step by step.

Before entering the two singles semi-finals, the men's doubles finals took the lead, opening the full-day schedule for today's center court, so Gao Wen and Dimitrov arrived at the court earlier, completed all pre-match preparations, and left the gym to go to When I was on the court, I met Nadal.

Nadal has a good relationship with the two young people in front of him. As soon as they met, he enthusiastically walked over to say hello and sent sincere blessings.

After bidding farewell to Nadal, Gawain and Dimitrov put on their equipment bags again and walked towards the player tunnel.

Standing at the entrance, putting down the equipment bag, the two of them started to activate their muscles, doing some simple stretching movements, waiting for the arrangement of the organizing committee.

inhale.

exhale.

Dimitrov took two deep breaths in a row, trying to adjust his heartbeat, noticing Gawain's gaze, he showed a restrained smile, and frankly admitted.

"A little nervous."

What Dimitrov didn't want to say was that he had a little bit of trouble with Rashid yesterday.

Rashid believes that in the last two doubles matches, Dimitrov was not active enough or active enough. He did not have any initiative in tactical layout, and Gao Wen was basically in charge. Maybe this is conducive to winning the game, but for Dimitrov Troff's clay-court preparations did little good.

"Don't forget, doubles is entertainment and support, and singles is the focus. Our ultimate goal is not a doubles championship, but a breakthrough in singles."

Dimitrov understands that Rashid thinks of him wholeheartedly, but he doesn't understand why he can't enjoy the joy of tennis.

He has not enjoyed the game for a long, long time, and every time he plays the game, it seems to be a kind of pressure. The depression and distress make him just want to escape from the game; but now he finally found some happiness, and he started again Enjoy the game, why can't things be simpler? ..

For this reason, Dimitrov and Rashid parted ways.

Inevitably, today's attention is a little distracted.

Of course, being nervous is also true—

Due to the poor overall state this year, Dimitrov has not won consecutive games for a long, long time, let alone advanced to the finals.

The last time he advanced to the final was in Stockholm in October last year. That is to say, after half a year, he returned to the final stage. Even if it was a doubles match, his mood was a little delicate.

Gao Wen didn't know about Dimitrov and Rashid, but he knew that Dimitrov was really having a hard time in the first quarter of this year.

The corners of Gawain's mouth slightly raised.

"Nervousness is a good thing. It represents desire and motivation."

"Also, I was a little nervous playing the Masters doubles final for the first time. Should we go left or right? Does a coin toss make any difference? Wait, we're in the Masters doubles final now, the next step is Isn't it the Grand Slam doubles final?"

"You said, will we become experts in doubles on clay? Then start a new chapter in our career?"

As he rambled on, the words were full of ridicule and excitement, no special content was needed, and the smile on the corner of Dimitrov's mouth rose accordingly.

Knowing that Gao Wen was talking nonsense, Dimitrov still chuckled, then nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, the next stop is the French Open final."

Feeling relaxed again.

While speaking, there was movement behind him, and with a glance from the corner of his eyes, he could see a familiar figure—

Sauk

.

Today, the opponents of Gao Wen and Dimitrov in the men's doubles final in Monte Carlo are the combination of Sock and Bospisir.

So, is this a narrow road to enemies?

But in fact, Dimitrov and Sock have a good relationship. As soon as they met, they both showed smiles and quickly walked towards each other and hugged each other, so that Gawain and Pospisil, who were a little slower, were like this. Was "left behind" behind, opened a distance.

Jack Sock, who was born in 1992, is actually the same group of players as Dimitrov. Because the surname "Sock" literally translates to socks, he is affectionately called "Sock Classmate" by fans.

Sock, who became famous at a young age, became the US Open junior champion in 2010, becoming the first American male player to complete such a feat after Roddick. He is also known as the young hope of American men's tennis.

However, after turning into professional competitions in 2011, Sock has been unable to adapt to the rhythm of professional competitions. Occasionally, he has some outstanding performances but it is difficult to coherent. The performance of different competitions is also very unstable. Until 2014, The world ranking has only stabilized in the top 100.

The prodigy boy of the past failed to become a blockbuster in the professional tennis world.

However, Sock's talent is indeed worthy of recognition.

First of all, he is a typical North American hard-court player. He has a sharp and powerful forehand, which is very aggressive and entertaining. He also has different hitting techniques and handling methods. This weapon alone is indeed a world-leading player. Ten or even the top five levels.

Secondly, he is not so typical. He is a player with good golf intelligence. He is actually quite thoughtful in the selection of hitting lines and tactical layout; and he dares to take action and try boldly in actual games. It also makes his game richer.

In the end, he is a player who dares to change and is not one-sided. In fact, his forehand is one of the few players in the tour who can both flat and spin~www.wuxiaspot.com~ When he needed to spin, his forehand averaged 3,000 rpm, only slightly behind Nadal.

It can be seen from various reasons that Sock has excellent weapons and unlimited potential. The key point is how he should fulfill it.

After turning into a professional game, Sock himself was also very confused and couldn't find the rhythm, so he chose doubles.

Firstly, his playing style is indeed very suitable for the doubles arena, with rich tactics and changeable techniques, which also makes him have the ability of top doubles players.

Secondly, he is slightly different from other singles players. He also hopes to improve his singles level through doubles. It was chosen, but carefully arranged like singles.

Obviously, Sock quickly proved the correctness of this choice—

Currently, Sock's doubles world ranking ranks third, just behind the Bryan brothers. This is the most intuitive proof.