Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 117 Lottery Ceremony and Butterfly Effect

The draws of the four Grand Slams are very ritualistic and rhythmic.

First of all, the first step is the division between the No. [-] seed and the No. [-] seed. Which half of the zone the No. [-] seed enters, then the No. [-] seed enters the corresponding half of the zone.

The current number one in the world is Australia's local darling Hewitt. Since he won the Magic Masters Cup at the end of last year, he has locked up the No. [-] seed in this year's Australian Open.

The second seed is American King Andre Agassi.

Ultimately decided by drawing lots, Hewitt entered the upper half and sat in the 1/4 zone, while Agassi entered the bottom half and sat in the 4/4 zone.

The second step is to draw lots between the third seed and the fourth seed. The principles are the same as above.

Safin, the third seed, entered the lower half and settled in the 3/4 area; Spanish star Ferrero, the fourth seed, entered the upper half and settled in the 2/4 area.

"Oh……"

There was an obvious exclamation from the reporters present.

Safin is obviously much trickier than Ferrero, which means that Agassi's half is more difficult than Hewitt's half.

It is very common for tournament organizing committees to look after local players in draws and make things difficult for their main rivals.

Everyone exclaimed, but they had already become accustomed to it.

Next is the third step. The fifth to eighth seeds will draw lots to form matchups to see how they match up with the top four seeds. This will also determine the candidates for the top seeds in the eight sub-divisions under the four major divisions. .

For most ordinary players, they don't need to think about things after the quarterfinals for the time being, so they focus on the big seeds in their own division.

But for the media, the matchup between the top eight seeds not only means the strength of the top eight matchups, but also the integrity of the eight small divisions.

Everyone was talking a lot, and the entire press conference room No. [-] was as lively as a vegetable market.

The reporter from "Sports Weekly" looked at all this with excitement and thoughts.

In the past, when he came to participate in the Grand Slam draw ceremony, his mood was very calm, like a passerby who had nothing to do with him.

But this time it was very different, because due to the participation of local player Chen Ran, Zhou Yuan became nervous and prayed to God to arrange a better lottery for Chen Ran.

The lottery continues, and the lottery numbers for the 5th to 8th seeds are announced one after another.

5号种子莫亚进入4/4区，6号种子费德勒1/4区，7号种子诺瓦克进入2/4区，8号种子科斯塔进入3/4。

"Sure enough, Agassi's lower half is more difficult than Hewitt's upper half." Zhou Yuan touched his chin and pondered.

At present, Hewitt has a US Open and a Wimbledon. Australia hopes that he can win the trophy at home.

For this reason, the tournament organizing committee is also racking its brains to help Hewitt make it as easy as possible to get a spot.

However, the competition in men's professional tennis is so fierce, and dark horses emerge from time to time, everything is full of unknowns.

With the top eight seeds taking their respective positions, this also means that the climax is over. Of course, the subsequent draws will still be interesting.

In the fourth step, the No. 16 seed to No. [-] seed will form a counterpoint with the top No. [-] seed again.

The fifth step is to move from the No. 17 seed to the No. 32 seed, and then form a matchup with the previous No. 16 seed.

There are a total of 32 seeds in the Grand Slam competition. If you are lucky enough, you will not meet the seeded players before entering the top 32.

Step by step, when all the draw matches were completed, 120 eight players formed 64 matchups, slowly opening the curtain of the new year's Grand Slam.

Then, the drawing ceremony officially ended.

But some reporters from the Chinese media frowned because Chen Ran's signing seemed a bit... no, it should be said to be very difficult.

Chen Ran met German Schuttler, the 31st seed, in the first round. (The original runner-up of this competition in time and space)

If Chen Ran is lucky enough to pass the first round, the opponents he will encounter in the top 64 will be slightly better, non-seeded players.

After all, the organizing committee wants to ensure that the top 32 seeded players will not meet before the top 32. Of course, usually there are always many seeded players who are upset and eliminated before the top 32.

If Chen Ran is lucky enough and breaks into the third round, he may meet the No. 9 seed American supernova Roddick.

So what about the fourth round and the top [-]?

It is the fifth seed, Spanish star Moya.

If Chen Ran could reach this point, he would be lucky enough.

Going one step further?Even the optimistic Zhou Yuan did not dare to think any further.

A mere 250 Tour championship is nothing in the world of Grand Slams.

Many Masters champions often stop in the first round or the second round.

At this moment, Chen Ran also got the lottery results for the first time, and he found that he had entered the 4/4 area where Agassi was in charge.

This also means that if you go all the way to the top 8, you will meet the second seed Agassi.

"The Australian Open champion this time was Agassi." Chen Ran stared at the senior and thought to himself.

As for Hewitt, although he was the No. [-] seed in the tournament, Chen Ran vaguely remembered that this guy's results were not very satisfactory and he failed to live up to the expectations of his fellow Australians. (Hewitt stopped in the top [-])

The media has already started writing news and imagining the upcoming peak showdown.

Many American and Australian media have concluded that Agassi and Hewitt will reach the finals. Of course, European media also have their own players to support.It has to be said that Russia today has a relatively harmonious relationship with European countries. Russian Czar Safin is very popular and has received support from many European journalists.

They all believed that the young and strong Safin could defeat the aging Agassi and reach the final.

Of course, the media in most countries must pay close attention to their country's biggest championship hope or the highest-ranked player, and then analyze the quality of the lottery and the difficulty of advancement.

At this time, Chen Ran was also surrounded by some Chinese media.

The first interview was with a reporter from CCTV C5 Sports.

"Chen Ran, it seems that you were not very lucky in your first Grand Slam trip. You met a seeded player in the first round." Zhang Sheng said with some regret.

Chen Ran seemed very relieved and said with a smile: "In the 64 games, there is a half chance of meeting a seeded player, so this is what I expected. Think about it from another angle, the No. 31 seed, not the No. 21, the No. 11 , or even the No. [-] seed, that’s pretty good luck.”

"Schuttler is 27 years old, almost ten years older than you. He is a famous German general who has been famous for a long time. So... have you known him before?" Zhang Sheng continued to ask.

To be honest, he didn’t even know Schuttler, and he didn’t even think that this guy had won the 2001 Heineken Tour in Magic City.

Of course, Chen Ran wasn't much better.

So he replied very frankly: "I need to study the video carefully when I get back."

Because it is so long ago, many memories have long been blurred.

Which tennis stars are coming to Germany?

The one who impressed me the most was Becker, who had retired for several years and won six Grand Slams.

In terms of women's players, there is a very famous Graf, who has also retired for several years.

She has an incredible 22 Grand Slams, the most in the Open era.

Although Court in ancient times held 24 Grand Slams, 13 of them were in the non-Open era.

Therefore, Graf is well-deserved No. 1 in women's tennis, and even No. 1 in the entire tennis world without any suspense. After all, the number of men's No. 1 Sampras only has [-] Grand Slams.

This time, Graf also accompanied her husband Agassi to Australia, hoping to accompany her husband to hit the eighth Grand Slam of his career.

This magical couple also attracted the most attention from the media. No matter where they went, they were surrounded by reporters.

As for other German tennis stars?
Chen Ran still has an impression of Zverev many years later.

This period seems to be a vacuum period for German tennis.

"Then are you confident that you can beat Schuttler?" Zhang Sheng continued to ask expectantly, "You have defeated Safin and Sri Chapan. Both of them are ranked higher than Schuttler."

Chen Ran replied calmly: "No matter what opponent you face, you need to have confidence, otherwise you will lose the meaning of competitive sports. But you should understand that Grand Slams and tours are completely different competitions."

"So I won't judge the Grand Slams based on my record on tour."

"Facing a seeded player like Schuttler, I will challenge the strong with the mentality of a weakling."

Zhou Yuan of "Sports Weekly" interjected: "I think the chance is great. If you can get past Schuttler, it is very likely that you can go straight to the top 32."

"You have to eat one bite at a time, and you have to walk one step at a time." Chen Ran shrugged, "I am not qualified to consider my opponents in the second round right now."

Although he said this, Zhou Yuan still had confidence in Chen Ran, believing that the opponent was likely to break into the top 32 and then join forces with the American super star Roddick.

This is also the conclusion reached by Zhou Yuan and CCTV reporters.

It is already a huge breakthrough to reach the top 32 in my first Grand Slam trip.

Other Chinese tennis players can't even reach the main draw.

Zhou Yuan asked another topic that was not very related to Chen Ran: "Who do you think will win the Australian Open this time?"

"Who..." Chen Ran thought for a moment and then gave an answer, "It should be Agassi."

After all, he has a God's perspective.

After this Australian Open ends, these Chinese media will definitely exclaim "Chen Ranshen predicts!".

"Agassi and you are in the same 4/4 zone."

"Yes!"

"If you want to meet, you have to wait until the quarterfinals. This possibility..." The reporter's words stopped abruptly, and the meaning was self-evident.

Chen Ran also smiled and said nothing.

Indeed, no normal person would dare to have such a crazy idea.

"It seems..." Chen Ran looked at the sky and couldn't help but think to himself, "I remember that when Agassi won the last Grand Slam, his opponent in the final seemed to be a not-so-famous German..."

German! ! !
Chen Ran suddenly picked up the draw sheet again. Among the 32 seeded players, there was only one German, Schuttler.

Ah this...

This time, if Shuttler and Agassi meet, it will be in the quarterfinals.

Is it my butterfly effect?
……

(End of this chapter)