Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 154 Russian Twins (please subscribe)
The Chinese tennis player’s first Masters victory has arrived.

The creator of this record is still Chen Ran!

But to be honest, these Chinese sports media were still worried before the game started, because Chen Ran's opponent, Argentinian Nalbandian, was a very difficult nut to crack.

They were worried about whether Chen Ran would go home in the first round.

Fortunately, throughout the whole game, Chen Ran's performance was "stable" in one word!
He gave his opponent almost no chance and won the game very cleanly.

From Chen Ran's perspective, it is also very clear that he must win continuously to maintain his popularity.

Tennis matches are elimination-based. If you lose, you go home. This is not like Yao Ming playing in the NBA. Regardless of winning or losing, there are 82 regular season games a year, and exposure is at least guaranteed.

"Fortunately, at least we have entered the top 32." Standing in the press area, Zhou Yuan patted his chest and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

It would be nice not to have a round trip, at least you don’t have to book a flight to Miami for the time being.

Chen Ran's overconfident decision before the start of the game, at least for now, will not be ridiculed by netizens.

When the two players walked to the net to shake hands, Nalbandian seemed very unhappy. He clapped his hands with Chen Ran very casually, then turned away and left with the words "I'm not happy" written all over his face. Character.

"As expected of a South American player." Chen Ran shook his head silently, "Every emotion is really shown on his face, and he is not secretive at all."

After he hastily dealt with the host's interview, he returned directly to the dressing room.

Chen Ran's next opponent is Kafelnikov from Russia.

On paper, before Safin won his second Grand Slam, Kafelnikov was the best tennis player in Russian history.

Although Kafelnikov has been in very bad shape for more than a year, Chen Ran still dared not be careless at all.

He found his physical coach Sergey and asked about some news about Kafelnikov.

"Kafelnikov?" Sergey walked out of the room holding up his pants and shaking his head.

Chen Ran could vaguely see a disheveled woman in this guy's room.

This is America, and you can see meat, bones and skin everywhere.

Chen Ran shook his head and ignored it all. He was already used to this situation.

"Since Kafelnikov won the Olympic gold medal, his condition has declined like a cliff!" Sergey said. "Of course, he has some elbow injuries that affect his performance."

Olympic curse?

It is true that some players will experience a huge gap in their competitive status after winning Olympic gold medals.

You have to admit the brutal competition in men's professional tennis. Kafelnikov was ranked No. 2000 in the world in [-], but now he has been forgotten by everyone.

"It's like..." Chen Ran thought of one person, Hewitt.

Not long after the rise of the Big Three, Hewitt was quickly forgotten.

Chen Ran suddenly thought of Li Na again. Even though she was the first Asian player to win a Grand Slam and also won two Grand Slams, her popularity declined very quickly after she retired.

There are many young people born in the 00s in China who actually don’t know her well.

Perhaps this is because the peak period is too short.

Of course, more than ten years later and now at the turn of the century, the situation is completely different.

Sergey continued his analysis: "Kafelnikov's height is 1 meters, which also means that he has a strong volley ability in front of the net."

"Like surfing the Internet?" Chen Ran asked.

"Yes, but his mobility is obviously declining now." Sergey said truthfully.

Chen Ran watched the opponent's game videos for a while, some from recent years and some from previous years, and indeed found that Kafelnikov's ability had declined significantly.

In terms of immediate combat ability, Kafelnikov is not as good as the Argentinian player Nalbandian who was eliminated by him before.

"By the way, how is your health? The first few rounds of the Masters are played one day at a time."

"No problem, I only played two sets yesterday."

……

One day later, the second round of the Indian Wells Masters continued to compete.

Different from the Australian Open, the Masters not only gathers experts, but except for the finals, it is also a best-of-three-set game, so the fault tolerance rate is even lower.

In a Grand Slam match, if you are behind your opponent 1-2, or even 0-2, there is still hope for a comeback, but in the Masters, if you lose two sets, you have to go home.

Andre Agassi, the top star in the United States, seems to have not recovered from the defeat at the Australian Open and is absent-minded during normal games.

He fought hard in three sets and eventually lost to Chilean player Gonzalez 1-2 and was eliminated in the second round.

Due to the special event of the Masters, the top eight seeds in the tournament received a bye in the first round, which meant that Agassi only played one game and went home directly.

"The defeat at the Australian Open shouldn't make this guy depressed, right?"

Chen Ran looked at Agassi in the audience and shook his head with great regret.

Aren't these Americans hoping that Agassi can kill his "enemy" as soon as possible and suffer the shame of being eliminated from the Australian Open with one blood?

Why not arrange for Agassi to be your opponent in the second round, so that the opponent can have a taste of his long-cherished wish.

Chen Ran also hopes to develop more potential points in Agassi.

It seems that those Americans also know that Agassi's condition is a bit sluggish, and they are worried that they will lose the rice by stealing the chicken.

However, a king-level player like Agassi has enough experience and should be able to adjust quickly.

After all, he is 32 years old, and his body cannot recover as quickly as a young man. "Chen...it seems that the defeat at the Australian Open was a big blow to Agassi!" A clear female voice suddenly came from behind Chen Ran, which seemed familiar.

Chen Ran turned around and found Sharapova sitting behind him, and there was a blonde beauty sitting beside her, and the two were watching the game together.

I don’t know when they came here.

However, it is a bit rare for this somewhat aloof Mao girl to take the initiative to talk to me.

When the Australian Open first started, Chen Ran saw Sharapova from a distance in the players' restaurant.

But Sharapova had no intention of greeting her, and Chen Ran would not ask for trouble.

The relationship between the two was just that they had competed in football skills, not in "bed skills", so they were not very familiar with each other.

Of course, from Maomei's point of view, even if she has practiced "bed skills", she may not be very familiar with them.

There is only one explanation. Her performance in the semi-finals of the Australian Open finally impressed Sharapova.

"No, maybe this race was outside of his plan, so it's normal that he didn't adjust his body to match condition." Chen Ran said calmly.

Sharapova was a little surprised because she didn't expect Chen Ran to think so far.

"Maria, you actually know each other?" The blonde next to Sharapova looked a little surprised.

Although Chen Ran is not a household name in the tennis world today, he is already well-known in the circle.

"When I went to China before, I practiced with him." Sharapova said calmly.

"Hello Chen, nice to meet you!" The blonde beauty first greeted Chen Ran and then reached out her hand.

"Hello..." Chen Ran also shook hands with the other party, "What is your name?"

He simply thought the blonde beauty was just a friend of Sharapova.

"What, you don't know me?" The blond beauty opposite was stunned for a moment, looking very surprised.

Suddenly, Chen Ran felt a little embarrassed, and then he turned to Sharapova for help.

He also guessed that the blond beauty in front of him should be a fellow tennis player.

Everyone is playing tennis and has good results. If the other person recognizes you but you don't, it will be very embarrassing indeed.

"That's Dementieva, the best female player in our country. Fortunately, you also play tennis, and you don't even know her!" Sharapova made some exaggerated expressions, with a look of helplessness on her face.

Dementieva?I seem to have heard of it a bit, but I really have no impression.

Chen Ran said with some embarrassment: "I only focus on training and am very busy...so I rarely watch WTA games."

Frankly speaking, the popularity of women's tennis is very different from that of men's tennis. In the previous life, Chen Ran only watched some WTA games during Li Na's peak period.

Among the female tennis players of this era, the only ones he could remember were Serena Williams, Henin, Hantuzova, Kristys and others.

Among Russia's Pink Legion, the only ones whose names I can remember are Sharapova and Kournikova. The latter has mediocre results, but is famous far and wide, but at the age of 22, she is already on the verge of retiring.

"Then you should watch more WTA games in the future. If you can't recognize the names of the outstanding players, it would be very rude." Sharapova said a little arrogantly, "After all, we can all recognize the outstanding players in the ATP players."

In fact, she meant well, but when she said it in this hairy girl's tone, it sounded a bit cold.

In the eyes of these female players, at least in the tennis world, male and female players should be equal, and this concept has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Tennis may have the smallest pay gap between male and female players of all sports.

At the tour level, the ATP and WTA operate independently.

But in the four Grand Slam matches, although the men win three out of five sets and the women win two out of three sets, the former far outperforms the latter in terms of box office and ratings, but the bonuses for male and female players are the same. of.

Regardless of whether it is the first round or the final winner, the prize money is the same.

But let me tell you something that many female players may not want to hear. The equal pay for equal work between male and female players in the four Grand Slams is only based on the WTA's sucking blood from the ATP.

All male players are well aware of this, but on the premise of equality between men and women in the tennis world, no one wants to be the one who stands out.

In Chen Ran's view, this is a matter between the ATP and WTA. Even if he has any objections in his heart, he will not show it.

Dementieva took the initiative to resolve the awkward atmosphere: "Chen, when will you compete?"

"I'm going on stage soon!" Chen Ran stood up, looking eager to try.

"Who is your opponent?" Sharapova also showed curiosity.

She had to admit that Chen Ran's skills were so comprehensive that it was a pleasure to watch him play.

"Kafelnikov, you Russians too."

"It's him..." Sharapova murmured, "He is the best player in our Russian history, but he has been in a very sluggish state recently."

Dementieva also interjected: "I watched your first round match. With your current state, it should be no problem to win against this senior player in our country."

"Kafelnikov would be very sad if he knew that the two beautiful players in his country did not think highly of him." Chen Ran joked.

"Both of us have been training in the United States since we were young, and we don't have much friendship with him." Sharapova said naturally.

Chen Ran seemed to feel that these two hairy girls seemed to be happy to see him "beat up" Kafelnikov.

Without thinking much, he waved his hand: "Ladies, I have to prepare for the competition..."

……

(End of this chapter)