Who would still play tennis after being reborn?

Chapter 169 Analysis Before the Quarterfinals
In fact, the entire tennis world erupted when the results of the third round of the Australian Open were announced.

Gu Cheng, a rising star in the tennis world who has swept through the competition with his amazing skills, is about to face the current king of tennis – Novak Djokovic – in the singles competition.

As soon as the news broke, social media, news outlets, and sports forums were instantly flooded with topics related to this match, with everyone discussing and speculating about the outcome.

Seven out of the top ten trending topics on Weibo are related to "Gu Cheng vs. Djokovic".

Can Gu Cheng create another miracle?
#Djokovic faces his toughest challenge yet#
#AustralianOpenFinalShowdown#
These topics continued to gain popularity, with readership exceeding one billion in just a few hours.

Netizens left comments under the topic, expressing their expectations and predictions for the match.

"Gu Cheng is awesome! His triple spin serve and unpredictable ball movement have remained unbroken to this day. Djokovic has met his match this time. I bet Gu Cheng will win!" A loyal fan of Gu Cheng left an enthusiastic comment, which received tens of thousands of likes and thousands of replies.

"Djokovic is the world number one, with rich experience in major tournaments and comprehensive skills. Although Gu Cheng is strong, it is simply a pipe dream to defeat him. I support Djokovic!"

Another netizen countered, sparking a heated debate between the two groups of fans.

"You've all overlooked a crucial point!"

The comment by sports columnist "Tennis Veteran" quickly became a top comment: "Gu Cheng's seemingly unbeatable tennis skills are actually unstoppable, but Djokovic maintains an 89% win rate on the hard courts of Melbourne Park. He can figure out the wind speed and the bounce height of the ball with his eyes closed."

Don't forget that he previously neutralized Alcaraz's incredibly fast serve on this very court, not through reaction speed, but through his masterful use of the court's characteristics.

This comment immediately sparked a heated debate among tech-savvy netizens.

Someone posted a 3D animation: "Look at Gu Cheng's net-grabbing, rapidly dropping shot in the third round. It suddenly dipped 7 centimeters at a distance of 30 centimeters from the net. This kind of shot trajectory doesn't conform to the laws of fluid dynamics at all. Even if Djokovic has thoroughly studied the court, he can't defy the laws of physics, can he?"

The critics quickly posted data on Djokovic's backhand slice: "His backhand underspin can make the ball slide half a meter laterally after landing. If Gu Cheng dares to serve his elusive ball to the baseline, he has to think twice about whether he can receive such a devilish slice."

Similar posts have also appeared on another website that specializes in tennis research.

The post titled "A Statistical Perspective on the Australian Open's Ultimate Showdown" has garnered over one million views.

Data analyst "Ball Path Deconstructor" listed a series of figures: "Gu Cheng averaged 4.2 'unforced miracles' per set in the first three rounds - those unconventional returns that left the umpires dumbfounded, while Djokovic's ability to resolve such unexpected situations in Grand Slam tournaments is as high as 91%."

More importantly, Gu Cheng has never lost a best-of-three match, but has zero experience in best-of-five matches, while Djokovic has 37 wins in five-set battles.

This analysis drew an anonymous reply from a professional athlete: "To be honest, as an ATP Tour player, five-set battles aren't about technique, they're about willpower. Djokovic played for 5 hours and 53 minutes in the 2012 Australian Open final and still managed to outrun Nadal; that kind of stamina is genetic."

Gu Cheng's fancy serve will definitely become a burden in the fifth set; lactic acid buildup in his arm muscles will reduce spin intensity by 40%.

This statement was immediately refuted by a strength and conditioning coach: "Zhang Ming's team, Wei Gucheng, specifically hired a NASA sports physiology expert. His pre-competition hydration program can increase the rate of lactate metabolism by 27%, and the effect is obvious."

"Furthermore, if his physical condition is really affected by too many matches, how do you explain the results of the first three rounds?"

"Your guesses are all nonsense. Since Gu Cheng dared to sign up for four matches at once, he must have a certain degree of confidence, and that confidence is probably over 90%."

"Otherwise, with his ability, he could have simply registered for the Australian Open singles main draw and had almost a 100% chance of winning the championship. There was no need to take such a big risk."

However, these words have also sparked much discussion and rebuttal.

Surveillance footage from Djokovic's training base suddenly surfaced on Weibo's super topic: at 4 a.m., he was practicing receiving "simulated Gu Cheng-style" high-bouncing balls on the court using a specially made ball machine. The tennis balls ejected by the machine had a strange side spin and could bounce two meters high when they hit the ground.

"See that? They've already started preparing specifically for this!"

Fans were overjoyed, but some of Gu Cheng's fans poured cold water on their enthusiasm: "Don't forget, Gu Cheng's most terrifying aspect is not the tennis skills he has already shown, but the tennis skills he has not yet shown, and even those skills that are almost non-existent in the real world. They are not the tennis skills from The Prince of Tennis. Even with Djokovic's strength and rich experience, it is still impossible for him to crack one or more completely new tennis skills in a short period of time."

The "Tactical Deduction Thread" on Hupu Forum has reached 3,000 floors.

Some people have dug up Djokovic's match footage and analyzed it frame by frame: "Notice his footwork adjustments before receiving the serve. Each time, he moves laterally by small steps, about 1.2 meters. This distance is just enough to cover most of the serve angles."

However, Gu Cheng's serve placement is random; computer simulations show that his serves have an equal probability of landing in the left, right, and center courts. This could render Djokovic's footwork ineffective.

Someone downstairs immediately posted Gu Cheng's serve heatmap: "Don't be fooled by appearances. His triple spin serve actually has a hidden pattern. In the third round, there were 6 serves that looked like they were from the center line, but they actually slid towards the sideline with strong sidespin. Djokovic's team will definitely be able to crack it."

A professor of sports biomechanics on Douyin used animation to demonstrate: "Gu Cheng's wrist rotation speed when serving reaches 780 degrees per second, which is close to the human body's limit."

However, Djokovic's receiving stance is 30 centimeters forward compared to most players, which adds 0.12 seconds to his reaction time. This 0.12 seconds is just enough for his physiological reaction cycle from anticipation to initiation.

The comments section immediately exploded, with one netizen calculating: "The triple spin serve only has a 0.7-second flight time in the air. If he takes away 0.12 seconds, doesn't Gu Cheng's advantage only become 0.58 seconds?"

Tennis bloggers on Xiaohongshu (a Chinese social media platform) started explaining the mystery: "There's a mysterious law on Court 1 of Melbourne Park: players who wear red jerseys have a 17% higher winning percentage. Gu Cheng wore white in the first few rounds, but Djokovic has always worn red. Is this just a coincidence?"

This comment drew a professional interpretation from a fashion designer: "Gu Cheng's team contacted us, saying they wanted to customize a jersey made of nanomaterials that could change air resistance. This kind of clothing would generate tiny airflows during high-speed movement, which could cause the ball's trajectory to deviate additionally."

In a late-night WeChat group for tennis enthusiasts, retired referee "Hawk-Eye Old Chen" revealed the inside story: "Djokovic has a hidden skill: he can predict the direction of the serve based on the height of the opponent's ball toss—a toss of more than 2.1 meters is likely to be an inside corner, and less than 1.8 meters is likely to be an outside corner. But Gu Cheng's wrist will slightly twitch when he tosses the ball, so the actual height is 15 centimeters lower than what is visually apparent. This trick has already fooled three referees on the ATP Tour."

The group chat exploded immediately. Someone suddenly remembered: "No wonder there was a serve in the third round where the referee clearly called it out of bounds, but the Hawk-Eye replay showed it was on the line. It turns out the problem was with the ball toss!"

As the match day approached, a betting company suddenly changed its odds: Gu Cheng's odds of winning the championship plummeted from 0.8 to 0.35.

However, a sports economics professor known as a "betting expert" warned in an article: "This is a typical trap. Djokovic's commercial sponsorship contracts include a 'defense bonus' clause, and his fighting spirit at the Australian Open has never wavered."

Just look at his comeback victory against Murray while injured in 2016; as long as he can still stand, he won't let the championship slip away.

The online debate continues, with some digging up the two men's horoscopes: "Gu Cheng is a Pisces, and his Mercury retrograde just ended this month, bringing him a lucky streak coinciding with a Grand Slam; Djokovic is a Gemini, and he's prone to underperforming on hard courts dominated by water signs." This seemingly nonsensical comment actually received an official "like" from the Astrologers Association.

On short video platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou, prediction videos about this match have sprung up like mushrooms after rain.

Someone edited together highlights from Gu Cheng's previous matches, added rousing music, and captioned it "Gu Cheng: A New Australian Open King is About to Be Born."

Some have also compiled Djokovic's illustrious career record, emphasizing his dominance and claiming that "Djokovic will surely defend the dignity of the king."

These videos have repeatedly broken records in terms of views, likes, and shares, and netizens are arguing fiercely in the comments section, with no one able to convince anyone else.

The sports forums were especially lively.

Hupu forum has set up a special discussion area for "Gu Cheng vs. Djokovic", and the number of posts keeps increasing.

Some netizens analyzed from a technical perspective that "Gu Cheng's skills are full of imagination and creativity, especially his serve, which is unpredictable in terms of spin and landing point. No matter how strong Djokovic's receiving ability is, he will find it difficult to deal with such a serve."

However, Djokovic's baseline rallies are exceptional, and if Gu Cheng cannot quickly score points in his service games to enter long rallies, he may find himself on the defensive.

Some netizens also discussed the psychological aspect, saying, "Gu Cheng, as a young player, doesn't have too many burdens and may go all out; while Djokovic carries the pressure of being the world's number one, and this match is crucial for him, so the psychological pressure may affect his performance."

On Zhihu, numerous professional analytical articles about this match have emerged.

A veteran tennis enthusiast wrote: "Gu Cheng's emergence has brought new vitality and variables to the tennis world."

His incredible tennis skills, inspired by "The Prince of Tennis," have broken the traditional technical framework of tennis. However, Djokovic's long-term reign as world number one is by no means undeserved.

His defense was rock-solid, his offense incredibly sharp, and his control of the game's tempo was masterful. The key to this match lay in whether Gu Cheng could disrupt Djokovic's rhythm with his unconventional tactics, and whether Djokovic could quickly adapt to Gu Cheng's unorthodox style of play.

This article garnered a lot of likes and comments, with many netizens sharing their insights in the comments section, sparking a heated exchange of ideas.

Not only online, but major news media outlets also dispatched their top-notch teams of reporters to Melbourne to provide comprehensive and multi-faceted coverage of the match.

Newspapers, magazines, television, and online media all featured the match between Gu Cheng and Djokovic as a major news story.

Sports Weekly devoted its entire front page to the match, with the eye-catching headline: "A Clash of Ages! Gu Cheng Challenges Djokovic, a Peak Battle Unfolds at the Australian Open."

The article provides a detailed overview of Gu Cheng and Novak Djokovic's professional careers and recent performances, analyzes their respective strengths and weaknesses, and interviews several tennis experts and coaches to predict the outcome of the match.

A former Chinese tennis player said in an interview: "Gu Cheng's talent and potential are amazing, and his skills are full of surprises. But Djokovic's strength and experience are his biggest advantages. This match will be very exciting, and the outcome is hard to predict."

The television station produced a special program, inviting well-known tennis commentators and retired stars to provide in-depth analysis of the match.

Commentators analyzed Gu Cheng and Djokovic's technical moves, tactical applications, and playing styles frame by frame by playing video footage of their matches.

They pointed out that Gu Cheng's serve and return are his most lethal weapons, especially his triple spin serve, which produces a strange bounce and spin after the ball lands, making it extremely difficult for the opponent to receive the serve.

Novak Djokovic's backhand is considered world-class; his returns are tricky, combining power and speed, and he often gains the upper hand in baseline rallies.

Retired stars also shared their views, believing that this game was not only a contest of skills, but also a test of mental fortitude and adaptability.

The coverage by online media was overwhelming.

Various sports and tennis portals update a large amount of news, videos and pictures about this match every day.

They interviewed Gu Cheng and Djokovic's relatives, coaches, and teammates, uncovering many little-known stories.

Reports indicate that Gu Cheng has been undergoing intensive training every day in preparation for this match, not only consolidating and improving his existing skills but also trying to develop new special moves.

Djokovic, meanwhile, did not dare to slack off. His coaching team developed a detailed tactical plan specifically for Gu Cheng's playing style, hoping to find a way to break through Gu Cheng's magical skills.

Tennis professionals have also shared their opinions on the match.

In an interview, renowned tennis coach Brad Gilbert provided an in-depth analysis from a tactical perspective: "Gu Cheng's skills are very unique; his triple spin serve and elusive technique are indeed very lethal."

"but……"

He drawled, "Djokovic is a very intelligent player; he is good at observing and analyzing his opponents' weaknesses."

I believe Djokovic will probe Gu Cheng's serve in the early stages of the match, looking for patterns and weaknesses. Once he finds an opportunity, he will launch a decisive attack.

Gu Cheng, on the other hand, needs to maintain sufficient consistency in his service games while taking the initiative in his return games to disrupt Djokovic's rhythm.

These remarks immediately sparked widespread discussion, with fans of both sides agreeing, but many more people still believed that Gu Cheng had a higher chance of winning the match.

No one can ignore those incredibly skillful players, especially since Gu Cheng may possess some unseen techniques, something even Djokovic is extremely wary of, and perhaps even more so...

It can be said that Gu Cheng poses the greatest threat to Djokovic, who will face him in the quarterfinals.

What is unknown is often the most terrifying.

(End of this chapter)