Paris is an elegant city.The world-famous art capital and fashion capital.The Seine River meanders through it, adding a touch of poetic flavor to the city.
May and June are the best seasons of the year in Paris, with pleasant weather and blooming flowers.The Roland Garros stadium under the blue sky and white clouds is very beautiful.The stadium, located in Mont Heights, west of Paris, is named after the legendary French national hero, the pilot Roland Garros who died in World War I.This is the holy land in the eyes of all tennis players and tennis fans, and it is the most representative clay court.
Clay courts were one of the first tennis courts.Although the current clay court is no longer the previous natural ground, but is paved with six layers of different materials, the characteristics of the court have not changed.Its elasticity is higher than that of hard courts and grass courts. The ball will bounce high and spin very strongly, which makes the rhythm of the game appear slower, so some people call the clay court "slow court".In this kind of "slow field", due to the slow speed of the ball, the players will have a lot of room for sliding during running, especially when they stop and return suddenly, which puts higher demands on the players' physical fitness, running and moving ability. requirements.
Winning the championship on clay court is the most difficult, because not only comprehensive skills are required, but also super physical fitness, enough patience and tenacious will are required.
In the French Open in 1989, the 17-year-old Chinese player Zhang Depei defeated many famous players and became the youngest singles champion in the history of the French Open. He was also the first Asian player to win this honor.
In 2011, I went to the French Open as the No. 6 seed.To be honest, I didn't have too many expectations for this game.I am not good at clay courts. I prefer hard courts. I usually use hard courts for training and competition. The French Open is the only Grand Slam event I have not entered the quarter-finals so far.Before the start of the French Open, a local reporter conducted a one-on-one interview with me. The reporter asked me: "How would you feel if you won the French Open?" Grand Open champions, but Roland Garros may be the last one.
It was not an easy battle for me on the clay court at the Susan Lenglen Stadium. I needed time to get used to the clay court. The first two rounds were very hard.
Whenever I feel emotional fluctuations, I will look at the box of my team. Their eyes and gestures can give me new confidence.
Throughout the French Open, Jiang Shan left the field three times.
The first time was against Steikova of the Czech Republic in the first round.I originally thought that this game could be won easily. I played against Steikova in the third round of the Australian Open at the beginning of this year, and it was easy to win.
Unexpectedly, after just over three months, she suddenly seemed to be a completely different person, and she played like a miracle.We have played against each other many times, and we have a little understanding of each other's personalities. The Steikova in my memory is a girl who is prone to ups and downs after playing, but that day she was not disturbed by emotions, her state was extremely stable, and she seemed to be able to play any ball Anti back.Although I came back and won the first set 6:3, the second set was always in danger. With the 5:2 overall situation in hand, I suddenly lost two serve games in a row and was tied by my opponent.Jiang Shan couldn't sit still at this time, he stood up and left the venue.
With Jiang Shan not in front of me, my heart calmed down instead.I won this game.But in the next tie-break, I failed to grasp two match points. As a result, my opponent scored 4 points in a row to reverse, and finally lost the set.
After the loss, I was very annoyed. I felt like I was running on the field, stupid and embarrassed.
By the time the third set started, I felt so tired that I couldn't move my legs.I looked to the sidelines, and I happened to catch Jiang Shan's helpless expression on the sidelines.The fire in my heart came up immediately: I worked so hard and worked so hard on the court, no matter what the score is, you must have a little body language, give me more encouragement!
On the tennis court, players are not allowed to communicate with coaches.Sometimes I would yell when I got close to the box where Jiang Shan was, and this was also a way for me to adjust my mentality.Everyone's habits are different.I don't like shouting very much when I play.Shouting at high decibels like those of Sharapova and Azarenka is said to be a way to regulate breathing and release stress.
The French Open women's match adopts a three-set two-elimination system.When I finally won the third set, I was so tired that I was paralyzed, and I said in my heart: It can finally be over.
Unexpectedly, the first round was played so hard.
The opponent in the second round, Espinosa, is a new face. She is a Spaniard.I don't know this opponent at all, I don't know anything about her.I also asked many other players before the game, trying to get some information about Espinosa, but got nothing.It was a tough start to that match, the opponent had a good forehand, hit the ball very hard and was a difficult player to play against.
I fell behind 0:3 in two consecutive sets.Jiang Shan left the field early again, so he didn't see the few points that I turned defeat into victory.Then he came back to the game and asked me to take a deep breath and relax.
When I'm on the court, I really hate when people give orders to me.You know, the people who watch the ball don't feel exactly the same as the people who play the ball.You know what you're supposed to do on the court, but they don't know what you think.In a state of high tension, Jiang Shan's kindness was also understood by me as he was expressing "How could you do this? How could you be like this? What should you do?" This is clearly dissatisfied with my performance.I immediately became furious and thought: You better go out and forget it!Then I yelled at him a few times, "Don't talk! Don't talk," and he stopped talking.
Strange to say, after yelling at him, I immediately felt refreshed, the pressure was relieved, and my state returned.I won this game again.
It seems that God is deliberately testing me. From the fourth round onwards, I began to encounter the favorites to win the championship frequently.In the fourth round, I met Kvitova, the No. 9 seed of this tournament, who just beat me in the semi-finals of the Madrid Open earlier this month.I remember her powerful serve, and the speed of almost every serve was over 180 kilometers per hour.
I couldn't break her serve at all, and she broke my serve if I was a little careless.I quickly lost the first game with a score of 2:6.
In the end, I decided: No matter what happens, I will catch her serve first, and try to make her next serve less comfortable.
When I started to pay attention to the link of receiving and returning the serve, the opponent's serve was no longer so deadly.I came back and took the game to a decider.
The first serve was broken in the third set, which put me in a difficult position again.At that time, Jiang Shan couldn't stand such a heart-wrenching scene, so he left the court early.In fact, I didn't expect to be able to recover after 0:3. I just kept telling myself: "After all, I was only broken for one serve. As long as I can break her, I can get back to the same starting line, and then I still have a chance."
With this belief, I won three games in a row to tie the score.In order to encourage myself, at 40:40 in the sixth game, I yelled to myself: "Come on, Li Na!" Six innings achieved a major reversal.I don't know what happened.Maybe it was because Jiang Shan left the game that I was able to win six games in a row.
I joked with Jiang Shan: "You might as well leave the field a few more times in the future. As soon as you leave, I will win!"
Jiang Shan understands my feelings better than others, and I understand him too.I know he won't take my yelling on the court seriously, because that's essentially how I relax and decompress myself.When you see a game where you were leading by a big score, and you are suddenly pulled back by your opponent in a very easy situation, you will feel from the bottom of your heart that you are incompetent and unable to control the situation. At this time, you need to communicate and communicate. and help.But according to the rules of the tennis game, when the game starts, players are forbidden to talk to anyone.Tennis is a game where you have to do everything alone.
Tennis is a lonely sport.You don't get that sense of belonging that you get when you play alongside your teammates.You know that everyone is watching, so when you get stuck in the mud, crawling alone in full view; you struggle to find answers to your doubts, curse yourself inwardly, debate with your inner self, try to Find ways to break your opponent's serve.Of course, this is all done by you alone.You can't even have physical contact with your opponent.The domain that belongs to you is just a few small grids among these white lines, the racket, and your lonely and restless figure.
The lingering, all-pervasive loneliness and overwhelming stress are driving people crazy.
When your opponent's attack is as violent as a storm, and you have a heated debate with yourself and can't get an answer, the only thing you can do is to vent your anger on yourself.Many tennis players find themselves venting their inner stress in weird ways: slapping rackets, screaming, or yelling at the umpire closest to you.
My way of venting is to yell at Jiang Shan.He would be uncharacteristically gentle on the court, forgiving all my rough and childish behavior.Afterwards, I don't need to explain, and I don't need to apologize.Because he knows everything about me.
Some friends also joked with him, saying that he was my "punching bag", and asked him if he would be angry.He said frankly: "No! Because I also play basketball, I fully understand how she felt at that time. When the game is not good, she will feel very helpless. Helpless, lonely and under the watchful eyes of her relatives, she will feel even more nervous. This is a mentality that is easy for everyone, not just her. At this time, all players see parents, children, friends, sponsors, coaches who are helpless and have high expectations for them, and anyone who has something to do with them People in the relationship are very nervous. Her nervousness is projected on me, and she feels that I am also nervous when she sees me. She wants to let these relatives leave the scene as soon as possible. She is not targeting me, but because I am more suitable than anyone else. She knows I understand her, she knows I don't blame her. In fact, all emotions come from the people on the court. If she is not in that extremely tense situation, I will put a bottle of wine on the sidelines, drink and chat Even singing karaoke will not affect her. So in this case, I get up and go out. After going out, her nervous state of mind will gradually calm down.
"Because tennis is a confrontational sport, everyone's mentality will have ups and downs during the game. When you are happy and everything is going well, you wish that many people will be there to watch, and hope that everyone can see your good. Everyone hopes to show their own good On the one hand, she shows it and hides her own darkness. When the situation is at a disadvantage, she doesn't want her relatives to see all this. It's just that she shows it like this. Everyone expresses it in different ways, but the psychological level is the same Same. And sometimes if it’s not going well for a while, you might wish there was something that would change the situation, break the situation, like in a basketball game, the coach will call a timeout at the right time.”
My friend asked him if he would worry about me after going out, and if he would find a place to hide and watch the live broadcast of the game.He said: "Of course I will be very worried after I go out, but after I go out, I will no longer look for big screens or TVs to watch her games. It's not that I don't dare to watch, but I think she has the ability to turn the situation around. When this happens So many times, she's not a teenager. I feel like she's in control. I trust her, I know she's amazing, she's okay."
Every sentence is what I want to say in my heart.Jiang Shan also knows me.A reporter once complimented me and said, "Fortunately, Chinese tennis has Li Na." I said quietly in my heart, "You're not entirely right. Fortunately, Li Na has Jiang Shan."
When I reached the quarter-finals, I began to feel that I had slowly established a tacit understanding with the red soil.I started to get into the game faster, and Jiang Shan didn't have to hide from the sidelines to let me perform at my normal level.
Azarenka, who met in the quarterfinals, is the No. 4 seed in the tournament.Azarenka is indeed an extremely good player. In addition to her powerful serve, Azarenka also likes to cheer herself up by roaring. Every time she finishes hitting a ball, she will scream "咻", which shakes the audience.
Many players like to cheer for themselves with shouts.This may be a manifestation of the unrestrained personality of Westerners.I've always been shy about shouting. When I need to vent my emotions, I will probably find Jiang Shan who is sitting in the box and yell at him.
The match against Azarenka started cautiously, we both held our serves carefully.Until the tenth game, the score was still tied at 5:5; but in the eleventh game, I won the game with a beautiful backhand and led 6:5.Azar was obviously a little nervous, she failed to keep her next serve.I won the first set 7-5.
The young Azarenka is also a player with great psychological fluctuations. In the second set, she still performed very tenaciously and even saved the match point twice, but this did not bother me.The more I played, the more confident I became. I knew this game belonged to me, and the red soil seemed to protect me.Every attack and turn of mine is extremely handy, and I seem to be back on the court where I practiced as a child. The scorching gray sand glared dazzlingly in the midday sun, and the soles of the thin "pullback" sneakers were burned by the sand. Gotta be piping hot.
I won the second set!Straight sets!I beat Aza!
Jiang Shan seemed to have a good understanding with me. Instead of leaving the field for "refuge", he sat in the box with a smile and watched the whole game.
Finally hit the semi-finals, my opponent is Sharapova.We have played against each other many times before. For me, this game is just another encounter with an old opponent. It is normal and nothing to make a fuss about.
But the reporters got wind of it and swarmed like sharks smelling blood. They surrounded me and asked me, "I'm going to play Sharapova soon, how do you feel?"
There is only one reason why they are so excited: Sharapova's current coach is my previous coach-Swede Thomas.
I couldn't help wondering: Does the reporter's favorite player have to be as tough as Tyson, and if I bite off my opponent's ear, will they like me more?
Although it is only the semi-finals, the media has already determined the nature of this competition for us in advance: "Battle of Revenge"!That's what they called the 2011 Roland Garros semi-final, really, because Sharapova hired my old coach.
I saw the headline "Li Na takes revenge on her teacher" in more than one newspaper.
I find it kind of funny.
It must be admitted that Thomas' coaching played a good role in Sharapova. Sharapova, who has never been good at clay, performed very well on clay this time.In the past, like all players who are used to playing on hard courts, Sharapova's strength will be slightly compromised on clay courts.This humorous girl once joked to herself that "it's like a cow skating on clay".But this time was different.Before that, she easily defeated Germany's Petkovic 6:0, 6:3.Thomas helped Sharapova find a better way to serve, and she could easily hit difficult shots without worrying about an old shoulder injury.
This of course made Sharapova, who has made great military exploits, even more powerful and even more powerful.
Everyone knows how eager Sharapova is for the French Open champion.If she wins the championship, she will not only win the French Open championship for the first time, but also have four Grand Slam champions in one, which is the legendary "Grand Slam".Many media believe that Sharapova will be the most powerful contender for the French Open title.
We have played seven times before and Sharapova has won five of them.In addition, Thomas, who knows my situation well, is also in Sharapova's camp, and everyone seems to be sweating for me.I told the reporter: I have great confidence in myself, and so does Jiang Shan.No matter how careful the coach's strategic deployment is, when he is on the field, it is the players who will fight hand to hand. I believe in my on-the-spot reaction ability.
To be honest, before this, I never thought that I could enter the semi-finals of the French Open.On the one hand, I told myself: you have performed better than ever, this is your best performance at the French Open, now all you have to do is enjoy this game with all your strength.On the other hand, the belligerent "Li Na" in my body was ready to move, igniting a raging fire.I hunger for a victory like never before, like the dry land longs for the rain from the sky!
In this arena, Zhang Depei, a senior tennis player who is also a "descendant of the dragon", has created a miracle here.Will the same lady of luck favor me?
In the first set, I won 6:4.
Sharapova fought back with all her strength in the second set. She got 3 break points in a row in the first game and won the first game smoothly, but I tried my best to keep my serve and catch up with the score. 4:4 flat.
In the crucial twelfth game, Sharapova lost confidence. She made two double faults, and I finally won the second set 7:5.It was a very difficult game, but I won in the end.Like Azarenka, Sharapova also likes to cheer for herself, but the game against Azarenka has made me used to screaming. Besides, I also have my own unique hidden weapon: I can shout Jiang Shan.
