Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 101: Opponent’s “Toilet Plan” (officially available tomorrow morning)

PS: Congratulations to Zhang Zhizhen for winning the Asian Games men's tennis singles gold medal!

……

On the sixth day of the tournament, the semi-finals of the New Zealand Auckland Open officially began.

In the first game, Thai Sri Chaphan was in hot form. After an almost brutal fight, he defeated British star Tim Henman 2-1 and took the lead in locking in a place in the finals.

In the second game, Chen Ran will play against the third seed of the tournament, Youzhny, who is also Russian like Safin.

In Chen Ran's mind, this is a guy who is unhappy all day long.

During the training of the past few days, Youzhini would complain to Chen Ran privately that it would be great if he had the nationality of Xiaozhi, and he would definitely be able to earn a lot more money.

Even though Russia is still a global power, there are actually quite a few domestic idiots who are making fun of Japan and South Korea.

It can only be said that the cultural export of these two countries is ahead of China.Therefore, netizens often complain. We obviously have a 5000-year-old culture, but we encounter propaganda that is like "fighting the five scum".

Chen Ran was doing a simple warm-up, and Youzhini on the other side looked at Chen Ran with complicated expressions in his eyes.

Youzhny thought his semifinal opponent would be compatriot Safin.

As a veteran in the tour, Youzhny also knew that Safin would not devote himself fully to this level of competition, and he might be able to win the opponent.

In this way, his exposure in Russia will be greatly increased, and some businesses will even come to him for sponsorship.

As a result, all the limelight was stolen by the Chinese boy in front of him.

Winning against Safin and winning against the Chinese youngster will have completely different effects in Russia.Even if the latter had just defeated Safin, Russian fans would only think that Safin was underestimating his opponent.

But Chen Ran's mind was not on Youzhini at the moment.

Not long ago, Xue Peng, Chen Ran's manager of IMG's agency affairs, called him and told him that he had negotiated an endorsement deal with a local casual clothing brand, Metersbonwe.

This clothing brand is very familiar to Chen Ranke. Because of Jay Chou's endorsement, it was once popular all over the country and was deeply loved by student parties for its low price and high quality.

When I was in high school in my previous life, I bought a lot of Metersbonwe clothes. I didn't expect that this time the other party would come to me for endorsement.

Xue Peng, who is in charge of his management affairs, also mentioned that Metersbonwe has invited two spokespersons this time, one each from the sports circle and the entertainment circle, namely himself and Jay Chou.

This is also the first time that Chen Ran's name is associated with Jay Chou.

However, Xue Peng also mentioned that Metersbonwe's quotation for Chen Ran was far different from Jay Chou's. Asking Chen Ran to compete well would also give him some confidence in negotiations.

"Actually, 150 million a year is quite a lot..."

Chen Ran muttered in his heart.

Today, Jay Chou is so popular and has become a phenomenon-level figure in the Chinese music scene.

Therefore, the quotation given by the marketing department of "Metersbonwe" is in line with the market value of both of them.

However, Chen Ran only thought about these words in his heart and did not say them out loud.

He put aside some miscellaneous thoughts and walked to the court with his racket in hand.

……

IMG has its own views.

On some points, Xue Peng and the US headquarters are consistent.

Tennis is a worldwide sport, it will not be restricted by nationality, but Chinese concerts.

Martial arts stars such as Jackie Chan and Li Jianjie can become world-class movie kings because they have passed through the film as a communication bridge. However, it is difficult for the Chinese music industry to produce world-class singers due to language barriers.

Even at his peak, Jay Chou was not very successful in breaking into the small-life market, let alone the European and American world.

In sports, especially sports like football and tennis, there are no language barriers.

As long as you are outstanding, it is much easier to go global than a Chinese singer.

So Xue Peng put the negotiation on hold for the time being.

First the Auckland Tour, then the Australian Open. He wanted to wait until Chen Ran's Oceania season was over before making a decision.

Of course, there are too many variables in Grand Slam competitions.

There are many examples of even world-class players being eliminated in the first round.

If Chen Ran goes home in the first round, Xue Peng's negotiations will become passive.After the meeting, Xue Peng and some colleagues did not leave the conference room immediately. Instead, they turned on the TV hanging on the wall and locked the channel to C5 Sports Channel.

"Hey, it's a tiebreaker in the first set?"

"The competition is really fierce!"

At this moment, bursts of applause came from the audience at Auckland's ASB Center Stadium, all attracted by this exciting game.

It seems that Chen Ran's victory over Safin is no accident.

It is obvious that Youzhny's dedication to the game is far greater than that of Safin, and his entire competitive state has been adjusted to the best.

In the tie-break of the first set, Youzhny led 6:5 and had two serves.

Chen Ran was forced into a desperate situation.

He had to break the first serve to stay alive.

"In the simulated training ground, I encountered this situation countless times, but I lost every time."

"And this is the first time we have encountered each other on a real-world court. I hope the result will be different."

砰

Youzhny hit a powerful and heavy serve.

District one, the outer corner.

Chen Ran reacted very quickly. He kicked off the ground fiercely, rushed out, and completed the swing at the same time.

He successfully recovered the ball some distance from the right sideline and hit a diagonal shot at a small angle to suppress Youzhny's backhand.

In this round, Chen Ran showed outstanding running ability.

As soon as he finished returning the ball, he immediately ran back to the center line and adjusted his movements at the same time.

Youzhny's strategy of trying to win a quick victory by serving and attacking clearly failed.

Chen Ran withstood Youzhini's attacks one after another with almost airtight defense.

In the blink of an eye, the two sides had gone back and forth for more than ten rounds.

He studied under "Zhang Depei" in the "simulation training ground" and has stable baseline skills and strong point control ability.

But Zhang Depei has deficiencies in size and strength, but Chen Ran does not have this problem.

Youzhini became a little restless after every attack he made failed.

He suddenly turned sideways, opened his body to a sufficient angle, swung the forehand, and hit a super diagonal diagonal shot.

However, the tennis ball hit the net and jumped out of bounds.

6:6.

Obviously, the attack of more than ten consecutive shots just now made Youzhin a little numb, and he was unable to exert his full strength for a while.

Chen Ran's arm was also a little sore and he shook it slightly.

After this round, Youzhini's mentality seemed to be somewhat affected.

When facing Chen Ran's impregnable defense, he always wanted to attack, but often failed to do so.

Chen Ran seized the opportunity and won two more points in a row, winning the first set 8-6 in the "tiebreak".

Before the start of the second set, Youzhini decisively made a "toilet plan" and got into the toilet and stayed there for 8 minutes.

The ATP stipulates that players can use the toilet for 8 minutes during a break between sets.

This rule has been exploited by many players to mess with the opponent's mentality.

Especially when you are not in good condition or the other party is in good condition, "Toilet Plan" can often achieve good results.

Eight minutes later, Chen Ran watched the other party walk out refreshed.

……

　Thanks to The Weeper, Maxim Xiaomianqiu, Lin Tianwanzi, and Book Friends 20221005012213681 for their rewards.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)