Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 152 Chen Ran, are you confident or arrogant?

Seeing that the lottery was more difficult than the Australian Open, there was a lot of discussion on the Chinese Internet, and the discussion was lively.

The popularity of the Indian Wells Masters in China is almost as high as that of the four Grand Slams.

Before Chen Ran came out, only the four Grand Slam games had some popularity in China. The Masters level games were only reported in domestic sports news, and the popularity may not be as popular as an A-A football game.

From the perspective of the Chinese audience, no matter how high your Masters level is, without us Chinese players, what is there to pay attention to.

But now because of Chen Ran, the Chinese audience's expectations for the Indian Wells Masters are constantly increasing, especially Chen Ran's enthusiasm for breaking into the semi-finals of the Australian Open.

"Conspiracy, those Americans must have signed it!"

"This is revenge, the American emperor is too cunning!"

Of course, Chen Hei is definitely indispensable on today’s Internet.

"Hehe, this kid is too crazy. Didn't he say that he wants to guarantee the semi-finals of the Masters? Let's wait and see what he says after the first round!"

"The semi-finals of the Australian Open must have some luck involved. Chen Ran's good luck has come to an end!"

Some netizens complained: "Damn, I wonder if these Chen Hei's vests are the editor's own, deliberately to increase the popularity."

However, the front page of Sports Weekly gave an eye-catching title: "The road to the Masters is full of thorns. Can the miracle of the Australian Open be repeated?" 》

Tennis reporter Zhou Yuan wrote the manuscript himself. He believed that Chen Ran had gone through another month of rest and training after experiencing a fantastic trip to the Australian Open.

If he can adjust his competitive state well, he may be able to create even greater miracles!
As a result, this article was reprinted by many portal websites.

A bigger miracle than the Australian Open?

The Australian Open is one of the four Grand Slams. The points awarded to the semi-finalists are 720 points, while the points awarded to the runner-up in the Masters are 600 points.

So if you want to achieve a greater miracle than the Australian Open, you can only win the championship!

This editor really dares to think!
But if you just think about it, why should you write it out openly, if you are not afraid of being laughed at?

"Even though Chen Ran created unprecedented results for Asian players at the Australian Open, he is still a rookie in the world of tennis!"

"The Indian Wells Masters is the fifth Grand Slam, and many top players are eyeing it. I personally think it is a victory for Chen Ran to reach the quarterfinals!"

"It's good to reach the quarter-finals, but there is a precedent of Grand Slam semi-finals, so this result will not surprise anyone!"

……

There was a lot of discussion on the Internet, and even if Chen Ran didn't pay attention, he felt some pressure.

Masters champion?Even the golden flower Li Na, who has won two Grand Slams in her previous life, has never won the WTA 1000 championship (the WTA Crown is equivalent to the ATP Masters)
When Chen Ran arrived at the press conference, a group of reporters set up long guns and cannons one after another, and the silver light curtain kept flashing.

Most of these reporters were Chinese, and they followed Chen Ran to Indian Wells.

"Only our Chinese media can create such a big battle..." Chen Ran rubbed his forehead helplessly.

At the turn of the century, China was already the country with the largest news media industry.

Last year's World Cup in Japan and South Korea alone, Chinese media went to more than 300 venues.

The number of people who came to Indian Wells today was only one-tenth of the number at the Football World Cup, but it was already massive enough.

Before the game started, Chen Ran attended a press conference as a routine and was quite surprised after seeing this formation.

Oh my god, this is only the first round of the competition.

If he really goes home in the first round, can this group of media still stay in Indian Wells?
Not to mention that many of these reporters are not majoring in sports. Even among those sports reporters, many are temporarily transferred from other sports. There are very few reporters majoring in tennis.

The foundation of tennis in China cannot be said to be very good, and the current popularity of tennis is entirely due to Chen Ran.

If he is really eliminated, this group of media reporters will probably come and leave in droves. Maybe these people can take a trip in the name of a business trip at public expense.

They will not be interested in the games played by players from other countries.

"Chen Ran, what do you think of this draw? It seems to be very difficult."

"Chen Ran, do you think this Masters can replicate the miracle of the Australian Open?"

"Chen Ran, which female star in the entertainment industry is your favorite?"

As soon as Chen Ran sat down, the reporters started talking and asked all kinds of strange questions.

As for the reporter who asked "Which female star do you like best?", it turned out to be an entertainment reporter.

Why is it that even the entertainment reporters came to a tennis match?
Is this too much of a worry?
"The draw is decided by the local organizing committee. It doesn't matter how I look at it. I hope that this year's Magic City Heineken Open held locally can arrange a good draw for me." Chen Ran said calmly, and mentioned the end of the year Heineken Open in the Asian season.

Because this year’s year-end Masters Cup will be moved to Houston, USA, and the tour will return to the Magic City. "As for whether he can replicate the miracle of the Australian Open?" Chen Ran paused and said leisurely, "First of all, I hope I won't be eliminated in the first round."

As for the entertainment reporter's gossip issue, he simply ignored it.

But the entertainment reporter still refused to give up and continued to pester.

Chen Ran had no choice but to reply: "Liang Jingru...because in the men's professional tennis world where there are so many masters, I really need the courage to fight."

The entertainment reporter was immediately speechless. Can you relate to this?
Chen Ran glanced at the reporter from CCTV and seemed to have thought of something.

With his current enthusiasm and popularity, no matter where he goes to compete, he will be followed by a group of full-time reporters.

However, tennis matches are different from professional leagues such as football and basketball. Players' travel itineraries are flying all over the world, but they are not fixed. It is possible that they may arrive in a certain city and temporarily change their minds and withdraw from the competition.

Therefore, these reporters who followed Chen Ran to cover tennis all the time had a much harder time than those basketball reporters who followed Yao Ming.

Therefore, Chen Ran took the initiative to announce his itinerary at this press conference.

"Everyone, after the Miami Masters, I will choose to go back to China to rest for a while and will not participate in any subsequent 250 or 500 series events!"

"You can also book your flight back home as early as possible, so you don't have to follow me around."

As soon as these words came out, most sportsmen who didn't know much about the game of tennis just breathed a sigh of relief.

It seems that the work of going abroad this time is not onerous. I only need to follow Chen Ran to the two cities of Indian Wells and Miami.

But there were also some professional tennis reporters who looked surprised and looked at Chen Ran with some confusion.

March and April every year are a great time to improve your scores!
Because the competition in the Masters is too fierce, if many tennis players are unlucky enough to be eliminated early, they will frantically participate in various 200 and 500 tournaments to rack up points in the hope that their rankings will not drop too much.

Before the start of the Indian Wells Masters, Chen Ran directly announced that he would return to China directly after the Miami Masters and would not stay in North America or go to Europe.

If you perform poorly in these two Masters tournaments and are eliminated after just a few rounds, and if you don't go to other 250 or 500 tournaments to gain points, your ranking will decline.

"Chen Ran, you are now ranked 36th. At this stage, if you want to continue to improve, you can only continue to score big points!" Zhou Yuan from "Sports Weekly" was a little puzzled, "This means that in these two Masters... …”

As Chen Ran said before, strive to get 720 points in the "Sunshine Double Tournament".

But Zhou Yuan also assumed that even if Chen Ran failed to score 720 points in the "Sunshine Double Tournament", it would not be the end of the world. He could also go to other tournaments to gain points.

Although Zhou Yuan didn't like traveling around the world because it was too tiring, he still considered the issue from the perspective of Chen Ran's career.

In early April, the clay court season officially started.

The prestigious ATP500 Barcelona Open is held in early April. This stop is obviously a good place for many tennis players to score points.

Chen Ran’s plan is to return to China directly after playing the Miami Masters in late March, which also means that he will not participate in the Barcelona Open.

Most reporters who come here to interview don't know the routine, but some senior tennis reporters do.

Chen Ran also saw their situation and smiled slightly: "At the beginning of April, I need to make a good adjustment and then go directly to France to participate in the Monte Carlo Masters."

This is too confident!

After giving up a bunch of 250 and 500 events, are you sure that your ranking will be able to directly qualify for the Monte Carlo Masters?

It also shows from another perspective that Chen Ran is confident that he can at least make it to the third round in the "Sunshine Double Tournament".

"But..." Zhou Yuan was a little confused, but looking at Chen Ran's expression, he didn't say what he was saying.

He originally thought that if Chen Ran accumulated more points, he could attend the French Open three months later as a seeded player.

Then Chen Ran may get a relatively easy pick, at least in the first few rounds.

Chen Ran just glanced at the reporters quietly, and then said calmly: "This is my decision."

"He is really confident!" Zhou Yuan sighed in his heart.

However, his colleagues glared at Zhou Yuan, seeming to say: Why are you talking so much nonsense?
Isn’t it good for people to want to return to their country?We don’t want to follow Chen Ran all over the world.

Working abroad may seem like a beautiful job, but it’s also really tiring. Isn’t it good to just pick out a few key stops?

"I hate having a struggling person among my peers!" Several people looked at each other.

With everyone having their own thoughts, Chen Ran ended the interview.

Half an hour later, major portals published relevant interview news: "Give up the point-earning trip and return to China after playing the Sunshine Double Tournament! Is this arrogance or confidence?"

……

(End of this chapter)