In the early morning of July 2, the performance of the China Open team can be described as amazing, with four of the nine players playing on the first day of Wimbledon to advance to the second round, creating the best record in Wimbledon in recent years.
In particular, Zhang Zhizhen and Shang Juncheng both defeated their opponents in straight sets, achieving the first Wimbledon victory of the Chinese men's tennis team.
In such a joyful atmosphere, China's first sister Zheng Qinwen was out in the first round, which was particularly dazzling.
Before Wimbledon, Zheng Qinwen's victory was a certainty. One of them is, of course, that she is the highest-ranked, and she is the big seed in the TOP8 town guard; The second is that her opponent, New Zealander NO.123 Sun Lulu, is very weak, not only is she not well-known, but she also has very few opportunities to participate in the Grand Slam.
The pre-game odds, Zheng Qinwen 1.14: Sun Lulu 5.5, indicating that even the bookmaker can't think of any surprises in this game!
However, in the author's opinion, Zheng Qinwen's defeat was foreshadowed in the dark.
The first is Zheng Qinwen's statement in an interview before Wimbledon.
She said, I didn't pay attention to the draw at all, everyone knows what I'm like, and I really don't care who I fight with, because as long as you're strong enough, you can win against whoever you fight.
When asked about his current form, Xiao Zheng said that he felt pretty good, and he had a few good games in Berlin, so he felt pretty much better. A couple of good fights included Naomi Osaka and the one I lost in the second round.
Isn't it confident enough? Isn't it domineering enough?
In fact, there is a word hidden behind domineering - arrogance!
When the same question was asked to the first brother Zhang Zhizhen, he analyzed in detail the characteristics of the low-ranked opponents in the first round, and said that he should calm down and play steadily, especially to see the gap with the masters, and continue to make up for his weaknesses.
This may be one of the reasons why the first brother won Wimbledon for the first time and the first sister was out of the first round.
At the same time, there is also a background that has also become an important driving force for this game.
In this Wimbledon, Zheng Qinwen drew a good draw that can be compared to the Australian Open to win Asia, there are almost no opponents all the way (the French Open is also a good draw), and the big seed Sabalenka in the same half of the region suddenly retired before the game, and the fans have drawn a straight path to the semifinals on the draw sheet.
Optimism spreads, and the risks are compounded.
Because, there is also a word hidden behind optimism - happiness and sadness!
Returning to this game, many fans are puzzled, why did a Grand Slam runner-up lose this game in the face of a challenger-level player with an advantage of at least two grades?
said frankly that judging from the competition, Zheng Qinwen's strength is still obviously superior. First, the serve is threatening; second, the ball quality and ball speed of the shot; The third is the experience of coping with the game.
In the above three items, Zheng Qinwen obviously overshadowed his opponent by at least one grade. If both sides play normally, the match should be over in two sets soon, as everyone predicted.
But why did it stretch to three sets, and finally it was an upset?
It's a matter of state and mentality, and it's not about technology.
Let's start with the state.
In this game, Zheng Qinwen was in a low competitive state. Specifically, the first-serve goal rate is low, and it is close to the level of "Zheng Sancheng"; 8 double faults, which is more than ACE; The ball was a little uncontrollable, there were too many hitting errors, and the feeling in the hands was poor.
However, any player has peaks and lows in form. Learning to relax the mind, adjust the style of play, make a good transition, and find the form when the state is not in good shape is the basic ability of every high-level player. A player can be sluggish for a while, but he must not be sluggish for a single game, he can't self-regulate, and he can't be called a high-level player at all.
Zheng Qinwen has not been able to get back the state of this game. The opening serve didn't go in, there were multiple double faults, everyone thought it was a slow state, but the game reached the third set, and they still didn't find their state, which was a little incredible.
Let's talk about mentality.
From the pre-match interview, it can be seen that Zheng Qinwen really regards himself as a big seed, full of self-confidence, and will not adjust his tactics and playing style for low-ranked opponents.
Under this hint of extreme self-confidence, it is easy to panic once the game encounters an unexpected trend, and then self-doubt, and the problem of insufficient preparation before the game is exposed.
One is that he thinks he played a good ball, and the opponent stubbornly comes back, and he is not prepared to play one more shot at all, so he makes a mistake directly;
The second is the opponent's serve, always trying to attack, but the hand feeling is not good, resulting in a large number of rushes failing. Even so, if you continue to grab the ball in the back, you have to compete yourself, and forget that you have a great advantage in hitting the bottom line in the round;
The third is that the first three boards are always playing baseball, and they feel very frizzy, outrageous out-of-bounds balls are flying all over the sky, and the scores are like flowing water, and they are soon gone.
The above problems are all caused by an imbalance in mentality. Although Xiao Zheng's basic skills are not good, this loss should have nothing to do with technology.
Even if it is played like this, the game can still go to the end of the deciding set, which can only show that the opponent is indeed limited.
In addition to the Australian Open, this year's French Open and Wimbledon, Xiao Zheng is in the draw table, and he easily loses to low-ranked players, as if he wants to prove that he does not have the top 10 level.
Losing a game is not the end of the world, but if you can't learn from the game, you will repeat the same mistakes next time,
I'm afraid it's the end of my career.
Compared with last year, in addition to the world ranking, Xiao Zheng's performance and state seem to have not advanced but regressed.
We can't help but wonder, what is it that is dragging down our hopes?
Xiao Zheng's three stubborn diseases, serve, stability, and mentality have not changed substantially, so day after day, I am afraid that there is not much time and space left for her to improve.
If you look for the same problem as last year, her coach is Ribba.
The basic skills are not solid, the preparation for the competition is not sufficient, and the ability to cope with changes is insufficient.
The manager is inseparable!
Is it only by changing the coach that the temperament of the game can really change?
Let's see what the future holds!