Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 121 Lively post-match ([-] updates completed, please subscribe)

On the first day of the Australian Open, there was a minor upset.

Chen Ran, a Chinese teenager who participated in a Grand Slam for the first time and was not yet 17 years old, shocked the tennis world by sweeping No. 3 seed Schuttler in straight sets.

Although the No. 31 seed is considered a low-ranking seed in a Grand Slam-level event, being eliminated in the first round is not a big surprise, but because Chen Ran is too young, and the three-set match lasted less than an hour and a half. hours, this is not common.

Although Chen Ran was a little excited after winning his first victory, he calmed down after just a few breaths.

In the first game of the Grand Slam, it can be said that he adjusted his condition to the best and used a new serve-receiving tactic to catch the opponent off guard.

Passing the first round is worthy of celebration, but not enough to exult.

Schuttler did not know that he in another time and space had reached the finals of this Australian Open.This defeat even made him wonder if he had passed his peak?
When Chen Ran eliminated himself with the force of the autumn wind sweeping away the fallen leaves, Shuttler's self-confidence was severely hit.

After a brief absence, Shuttler even wiped his eyes quietly, feeling tears lingering in his eyes.

If someone advances, someone will inevitably be eliminated. Competitive sports are so cruel.

Chen Ran walked to the net, and Shuttler forced a smile and shook hands with him briefly, then walked to the corridor without looking back.

"He will most likely be the runner-up at this Australian Open...but everything has become completely different because of my appearance."

"Second place at the Australian Open was supposed to be the greatest honor of Schuttler's career, but it was all destroyed by me!"

More than half a year after his rebirth, Chen Ran finally began to realize that his butterfly effect had begun to affect the professional tennis world.

Maybe he will have more influence in the future, not even limited to the tennis world?

He shook his head and put these messy thoughts aside.

These Chinese fans were cheering him on throughout the game, and Chen Ran had to go to thank him.

We are also public figures, so we have to pay attention to our image.

In fact, these Chinese fans were also in a daze. It was not until Chen Ran came over to say goodbye that they came to their senses.

This is the end of the game?
In fact, they didn't expect that a Grand Slam match with three wins in five sets would end so quickly. Before they had time to react, Chen Ran had already won and advanced like an autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves?

These people even prepared a lot of dry food, thinking that the fight would take at least four or five hours.

Grand Slam first round?
Easy pass.

In the past, Chinese tennis players could only hang around in the first and second rounds of qualifying, but now they can easily pass the first round of the Grand Slam main draw against seeded players. This level of improvement is terrible.

But this game is really good to watch!
After regaining consciousness, the Chinese fans shouted and cheered towards Chen Ran, with the five-star red flag fluttering in the wind.

"Chen, I am a reporter from the United States. Can I be interviewed?"

A foreign reporter shouted to Chen Ran.

Chen Ranke was too unwilling to be interviewed by American reporters and would only waste time by asking some useless questions.

To be more realistic, it doesn't make much sense for me to accept interviews with some foreign media today.Perhaps one day, when he needs to expand his reputation abroad, he will change his plan. For now, he will still focus on his local base.

"No, no, no, I had an appointment with the media in my country before. I'm very sorry. Let's make another appointment some other time..." He complained in his heart and kept a smile on his face, looking very polite.

While speaking, Chen Ran also pointed at a reporter from Zhejiang TV Station.

"When do we have an appointment?"

Fortunately, this old man was a news reporter and his reaction was quite sharp, so he reacted immediately.

"Yeah, yeah, we have a reservation!"

The reporter from Beautiful Country was still a little unwilling: "Then I'll wait for him?"

"No, no, no..." Chen Ran shook his head again, "My appointments are already full. There are also TV stations such as CCTV, Yanjing, Shanghai Magic City, and newspapers like Sports Weekly."

"You know, this is the first Grand Slam match for a Chinese player, and too many people are paying attention to me."

Zhou Yuan, who was holding the microphone in a daze, finally came to his senses. It turned out that Chen Ran came up with so many excuses simply because he didn't want to be interviewed by the American media.

But Chen Ran’s English isn’t bad either?
There are too many Chinese people who are proud to be interviewed by foreign media.

Zhou Yuan didn't know what Chen Ran was thinking.

"I can't break the appointment!" Chen Ran continued to explain to the reporter from the beautiful country, "Otherwise these reporters will write random news when they go back, which will not be good for my public image."

The American reporter had no choice but to give up the idea.

He originally thought that the topic of the youngest winner of the four Grand Slams for the first time would be attractive, but Chen Ran did not give him this opportunity.

In fact, the real interview has to wait until the press conference after the game. In the players' aisle, only CCTV has the right to have a brief chat with Chen Ran alone.

After Chen Ran packed up his equipment, he walked up to the CCTV reporter with understanding.

"Chen Ran, first of all, congratulations on your first Grand Slam victory. How are you feeling now?"

"I was very excited just now, but now I have calmed down." Chen Ran said calmly, "That's how the Grand Slam competition is, win or go home. Since I survived the first round, I have to think about the second round. thing."

At this time, he was a little envious of the national football team.

At least they can compete in several games in the group stage: the first game, the opening game; the second game, a battle of life and death; the third game, a battle of honor; the fourth game, Yanjing International Airport.

But you only have one chance at a Grand Slam, and if you lose, you’re gone.

After Chen Ran briefly chatted with the CCTV reporter, he returned to the locker room under the guidance of the event staff.

The organizational skills at the Grand Slam level are undoubtedly outstanding.

Chen Ran can go to the bathroom to take a shower and change into a fresh set of clothes. Then the event staff will go to the locker room to tell him or his team whether they need to attend the press conference.

Although in theory players must cooperate to attend the press conference, it depends on the situation.

Like those team sports, even if someone gets injured, there are other teammates who can represent them.

But tennis is an individual sport, and whether a player can attend a press conference depends on his or her physical condition.

Especially the five-set best-of-three format of a Grand Slam, which may last for five or six hours, is an extreme test for the players' bodies.

If a player has a physical problem, he will go for recovery treatment first; if there is no major problem, the player must attend.

Event staff will inform you of the specific time and location, as the Australian Open has multiple press conference rooms of varying sizes.

Generally speaking, they will arrange the venues in the order of the end time of the game, and then Chen Ran can go to the press conference according to the time.

Chen Ran and Sergey waited patiently in the media center, chatting wordlessly, and their tense nerves were finally able to temporarily relax.

"Coach, have I decided on my opponent for the next round?"

"We are still playing, and the two sides have entered the fifth set, so this is good news for you!" Sergey smiled, showing some gloating.

"A five-game battle?"

Chen Ran raised his eyebrows slightly with a smile on his face.In a Grand Slam match, if you want to go far, you should play as little as possible in these five-set battles. Especially in the first few rounds, it is best to resolve the battle within three sets, or at most four sets.

If you play five sets, it will seriously affect your subsequent physical reserves.

"Chen, Roddick's match is tomorrow, do you want to book a spot?" Sergey reminded him, thinking of this.

He may feel that his opponent in the second round is a sure bet, and starts to think about his opponent in the third round in advance.

Chen Ran frowned slightly, shook his head and said, "We have to wait for the third round if we meet. Now I only consider the opponents in the second round."

"Okay..." Sergey shrugged helplessly, "But I still hope that you can meet Roddick as soon as possible and kick his ass hard."

Why is this?

Does Roddick have any grudge against you?Oh, by the way, he stole the girl of your dreams.

Sure enough, the old man gritted his teeth and said: "This American is too crazy. I hope you defeat him, and then Hilton may leave him."

Even if Hilton left him, he wouldn't look for you.

With that girl's nature, she might find a new love the day after the breakup. I don't know what you are struggling with.

"Do you think I have a chance to beat Roddick?"

"If you show today's competitive form, you will definitely have a chance!"

Chen Ran turned his head and looked at the sky outside the window.

In fact, he didn't care about Roddick, but wanted to watch Federer's game, and of course Agassi...

"Isn't it time for me yet?" Chen Ran was a little helpless.

The organizing committee will first take care of the top-ranked players. This is the helplessness of non-seeded players.

"So you have to improve your ranking as soon as possible. If you become a seed player, you don't have to wait so long." Sergey said calmly. He was already used to this.

"A seed player..." Chen Ran looked fascinated, "Next year, it can't be any later!"

"Next year, I really have ambitions!" Sergey gave a thumbs up.

In fact, everyone knows that the higher the ranking, the harder it is to improve, because the challenges you face will continue to increase in difficulty.

At this time, the staff finally came to inform, and the press conference was finally prepared.

"Chen, News Hall No. [-] is ready and you can enter now."

Chen Ran nodded to express his gratitude, and then walked towards the No. [-] Press Conference Hall with Sergey.

As a physical fitness coach, Sergey will not attend the press conference, but will only stand and wait in the distance.

Under the gaze of this old man, Chen Ran slowly opened the door of the press conference hall, and at the same time muttered in his heart: There should be a lot of media in China.

Chinese media reporters love to join in the fun.

For example, during last year's World Cup in South Korea and Japan, the number of media coming from China was the largest in the world, and a lot of them were not from the sports industry and were just there to join in the fun.

Sure enough, when Chen Ran pushed the door completely open...

In an instant, click, click, click!

Along with the thunderous sound of the shutter, the silver flash came towards his face like a waterfall, forcing Chen Ran to unable to open his eyes, as if they were going to kill him alive.

Isn’t it just a first-round victory in a Grand Slam?Is it necessary to mobilize so many troops?
Maybe this is an exclusive treatment for Chinese athletes?

Indeed, in the sports world, Chinese nationality is a well-deserved high-level nationality.

Chen Ran thought helplessly, and could only walk to his position with his back to the flash.

When the flash of light dissipated, Chen Ran took a cursory glance.

Except for a few foreign faces here and there, they were basically all Chinese journalists, and many were familiar old faces.

As expected of a Grand Slam main draw, the number of reporters in this first round was already far more than in the finals of the Auckland Open.

Of course, this situation is normal. In an ordinary 250 tour, it is impossible for too many media to rush there.

Even if Chen Ran won the championship in the end, the only Chinese media present would be CCTV and Sports Weekly.

Not long after Chen Ran sat down, those flashing lights started again.

The overwhelming sound of flashing lights was endless.

"Okay, okay, everyone, stop taking pictures and save some film." Chen Ran had no choice but to reach out and remind him, "I still need to rest. Even though there is no competition tomorrow, I still have to train. To make a long story short, what's the matter? Just ask your questions quickly.”

Many Chinese media were interviewing Chen Ran for the first time. They couldn't help laughing when they saw that this young man was quite talkative and not shy at all.

"Young is really young."

"My child is the same age as Chen Ran and is still in the first year of high school. Such a comparison is too big."

"My children are already in college, and they are still little kids. Chen Ran looks much more mature."

But everyone didn’t think much about it. They just thought that tennis, a sport that requires flying around the world to participate in competitions, tends to make people mature prematurely.

They are also thinking about letting their children sign up to learn tennis and try it out.

At least since Chen Ran was born, the popularity of tennis in China has increased a lot.

If you want to use a few words to describe today's No. [-] Press Conference Hall.

It is cramped, crowded, hot and noisy.

Those large-capacity press rooms will only be reserved for big-name players, not Chen Ran.

But at this moment, the crowded crowd in front of me seemed bustling and full, but it also seemed to have a different flavor.

The host of the press conference is a local Chinese. Since major championships have the habit of bilingual interviews, one is in English and the other is in the player's native language, so the host needs to have both these abilities.

"The players are ready and now it's time to start asking questions."

Brush brush!
As a result, many reporters raised their hands.

Chen Ran left the first interview opportunity to a reporter from Xinhua News Agency.

"Chen Ran, your first victory was so perfect that you received almost no resistance. Because of this, domestic fans' expectations for you are constantly increasing. Do you feel pressure from this?"

"I like to play under pressure, and I enjoy it very much." Chen Ran smiled slightly, "I hope everyone will come to watch my second round match."

A group of reporters looked at each other in surprise and thought again of the scene in the Auckland final.

……

(End of this chapter)