Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 147 The new coach is in place

As the saying goes, "With a piece of cloth on my head, I am the richest in the world."

The annual ATP500 UAE Dubai Open is about to kick off. In order to raise the level of the competition, those Middle Eastern tycoons are spending a lot of money to invite top players to participate.

Generally speaking, the top ten players in the world can receive a large appearance fee as long as they agree to participate.

Hewitt, Federer, Agassi, Ferrero, Safin and other famous players have signed up for the Dubai Open, and it is said that they can all get an appearance fee of 50 to 100 million US dollars.

These oil tycoons really have too much money and nowhere to spend it, and from the players' point of view, the money earned by the white turbans is not in vain.

Chen Ran has no plans to participate in this event because he is still in the recovery period.

Chen Ran's world ranking is 36, and the UAE Dubai Open has 32 draws. Theoretically, if 35 people among the top 32 sign up to participate, he will not even be able to enter the main draw.

Of course this possibility is very low.

"Chen Ran, I have contacted the organizing committee in Dubai." Xue Peng found him. "Originally, the plan was for you to go to the Dubai tournament to warm up, play one or two rounds, and go through the motions."

After all, in his opinion, Chen Ran hadn't competed for more than half a month, and his body needed to find the feeling of competing.

Xue Peng couldn't possibly know that Chen Ran had been "competing" recently and practicing on clay courts and hard courts together.

"But those white turbans are really arrogant, saying that they can't guarantee that you will enter the main draw." Xue Peng looked a little angry.

"Theoretically, this is possible!" Chen Ran smiled lightly, but seemed very calm.

"What the organizing committee means is that they will first invite the first 32 people, and so on. If the quota is not full after the 35th person, you will be considered."

"These Middle Eastern tycoons are still as arrogant as ever!" Chen Ran shrugged and decided not to go.

"Yes, then we will not sign up this year. You will train well and go directly to North America." Xue Peng's tone was also a bit unhappy, "If your grades can continue to improve, they will spend a large amount of dollars to take the initiative in the future. I’m here to beg you to compete.”

"Let's talk about the future later." Chen Ran was obviously unwilling to continue on this topic. He believed that there was no need to waste too much energy on a 500 race.

After coming out of the Huaxia Tennis Training Center, he has been in a very good mood.

The useless Davis Cup will no longer cause trouble to me. In the future, I will basically represent the national team in a competition every two years, and the duration including training will only last about half a month.

Thinking about football, basketball, and even other sports, Chen Ran really doesn't want to be too free.

Those Olympic champions and world champions will definitely be envious of themselves.

"By the way, have you rented the only clay court in Yanjing?"

"I rented it, and I rented it for half a year!"

Having a brokerage company is a comfort, and many things do not require his intervention at all.

"Very good!" Chen Ran nodded, then gave a thumbs up, "My body has almost recovered, so let's start practicing on the clay court."

"Ah?" Xue Peng was a little surprised.

The North American hard court season is about to come, but you go to the clay court to practice?He couldn't adapt to Chen Ran's behavior for a while.

Brother, there are still two months left in the clay court season. Why are you so anxious?

Then Chen Ran gave a seemingly reasonable reason: "Clay courts are softer and less prone to injuries. What if the injury recurs while training on hard courts?"

The stupid agent was prevaricated by Chen Ran.

From Chen Ran's perspective, he has adapted to the playing style of the "clay court" in the "simulation training ground", and the only thing left is that his body has to adapt to the clay court.

After a pause, Xue Peng continued: "There is also good news, you should like it. A professional clay court will be built in Hangzhou, with a total of 6 tennis courts!"

From the perspective of IMG, if we want to better promote tennis in China, we still need to increase the diversity of tennis courts.

Everyone is different, some prefer hard courts, some prefer red clay, and some prefer grass.

Just like football is not only grass football, but also indoor football and beach football.

"Oh?" Chen Ran raised his eyebrows and felt happy, "Did you come forward to contact me?"

If there were more formal clay courts in China, I would not need to fly to Europe regularly for training in the future.

As for grass courts, because maintenance costs are relatively high, the entire grass season only lasts a little more than a month.

"Yes, our company jointly invested with the Sports Bureau of Eastern Zhejiang Province."

Xue Peng admitted this slightly: "Perhaps this will be a loss-making investment, but in order to promote tennis, this loss is acceptable."

"Why do you say that?" Chen Ran was a little confused.

"Who in the normal world likes to play on clay courts?" Xue Peng was a little disapproving. "After playing, I was all dirty. My shoes, clothes, and pants were all covered in red clay. It was so uncomfortable!"

"Haha..." Chen Ran laughed loudly, "We in China have such a large population base. Maybe many people like the feeling of being covered in red soil after playing ball."

"It feels so good..."

"And I think I will also fall in love with clay."

All players who can become masters of clay court have this mental journey: enduring clay clay, enjoying clay clay, and falling in love with clay clay.

Of course, there are also some more pretentious players who cannot overcome the psychological barrier of playing on clay courts.

They will withdraw from the clay court season due to injuries, and then come back with full blood in the grass court season.

However, Chen Ran didn't have any resistance to clay courts in his heart, so he skipped the step of "tolerating clay courts".According to the trajectory of the original time and space, it was around 2010 that the Magic City had a regular clay court.

Because of the butterfly effect caused by Chen Ran, this time point has been greatly advanced.

"Xiao Chen, after all, you are now a benchmark figure in eastern Zhejiang sports, just like Yao Ming is in the Magic City."

"This is also the main reason why the Sports Bureau of Eastern Zhejiang Province is willing to fund the construction of a clay court training center."

"They believe you will drive tennis fever in China."

Chen Ran felt a little dazed after hearing this.

Is this a benchmark?But thinking about Yao Ming, it seems to make sense.

Whether it is Shanghai or Eastern Zhejiang Province, there is no shortage of Olympic champions, but these two athletes who have never won a world championship have become representatives of their respective provinces and cities.

……

A week later, the recently retired Chinese star Zhang Depei officially arrived in Yanjing and will serve as Chen Ran's head coach.

The brokerage company held a press conference specifically for this purpose, and many media also flocked to the event.

Because Zhang Depei's Chinese is very average, this interview was basically conducted in English.

"Mr. Zhang Depei, why did you accept this invitation?"

"I saw unparalleled talent and talent in Chen Ran."

"Do you think Chen Ran has a chance to win a Grand Slam?"

"Grand Slams not only rely on strength, but also require some luck, but I believe Chen Ran has this opportunity, and maybe he will have more than one in the future."

"Does Chen Ran have a chance to break your record of being the youngest Grand Slam winner?"

"This..." Zhang Depei rubbed his eyebrows, "Many people have asked me this question. I can only say that there is a chance, but the hope is not high. To be precise, Chen Ran has three chances to break this record."

The three times he mentioned were this year's French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open.

After this year, Chen Ran will have no chance to break this record.

"Chen Ran currently doesn't have any experience on clay or grass, so it's difficult..." Zhang Depei said very frankly, "So theoretically he has three chances, but he only has one chance at the US Open."

"But don't forget, I also have a record of being the youngest Masters champion. Maybe Chen Ran should aim for this first." Zhang Depei said with a smile.

He won the Montreal Masters championship at the age of 18, a record that no one can break even in 2023.

These reporters immediately started taking notes.

As for what they published in the newspaper, it was slightly different from what they published in the interview.

"Surprise! Zhang Depei is optimistic that Chen Ran will win the US Open!"

"The youngest Masters and Grand Slam champion in history? Chen Ran has a lot to do!"

Netizens are a little unhappy. You are nakedly praising me.

Everyone agreed that Chen Ran's semi-finals at the Australian Open this time had a lot of luck.

Perhaps like many rising stars in history who are like shooting stars, they reached their peak when they debuted.

"Chen Ran is too young and doesn't have enough life experience. If you continue to flatter him like this, he will get lost sooner or later."

"Damn it, these reporters are so shameless and will do whatever it takes to get attention!"

Because of the powerful alliance between Zhang Depei and Chen Ran, the media's expectations were immediately raised.

Some people even began to speculate on how many tour championships Chen Ran could win this year, and the discussion was heated on the Internet.

At this time, CCTV, which always likes to use its big brother image to calm down troubles, finally couldn't sit still.

It took the initiative to cool down. I hope everyone can lower their expectations for Chen Ran appropriately and not put pressure on others.

"Perhaps my results in the next three Grand Slams will not be as good as the Australian Open..."

"You have to be mentally prepared!"

"But never praise God when you win, and be cruel when you lose."

At this moment, Chen Ran didn't care about the disturbance from the outside world.

After deciding on the head coach candidate, he started his first training session.

However, what surprised Zhang Depei was that the venue for this first training session was actually a clay court.

But what happened next shocked Zhang Depei even more.

Chen Ran's performance on the clay court is not like a newbie, but like an experienced player who has been around the clay court for a long time.

"Chen, have you really never trained on a clay court before?"

"Yes, this clay court was just rented this month. Before you came, coach, I only trained here five times."

……

(End of this chapter)