Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 196 Real Madrid superstar and aloof Chen Ran
Novak from the Czech Republic?

This is Chen Ran's opponent in the top four, who is ranked seventh in the world, one place higher than him.

In the quarter-finals, the clay court master eliminated Federer, who Chen Ran "missed", and locked in one of the semi-finals.

This made Chen Ran a little disappointed, but at the same time, he felt a sense of expectation in his heart.

Novak was supposed to be Chen Ran's opponent in the Australian Open semi-finals.

But because Chen Ran withdrew due to injury, he gave Novak a gift package leading directly to the "Australian Open Finals".

Is this some kind of divine will?
In the semi-finals of another important event, Chen Ran and Novak met again.

As a result, the enthusiasm of many Chinese media was once again ignited.

Is this revenge?Probably not.

But Chen Ran can take this opportunity to prove to the world that you were able to enter the Australian Open finals because I was injured and gave you the opportunity.

Chen Ran also looked forward to meeting the Czechs again, but he didn't expect this day to come so quickly.

Until this moment, those arrogant European media finally admitted that Chen Ran not only has the ability to win the hard court Masters, but also has the ability to win the clay court.

Many people even believed that the talented boy who emerged from nowhere would definitely eliminate Novak and join Ferrero in the finals.

Even Chinese reporters, who are always cautious, are very optimistic.

"Although Novak is ranked one place higher than you, he actually doesn't have very good results." The speaker was Zhou Yuan from "Sports Weekly". When he was chatting with Chen Ran, he also talked about the other person's semi-final performance. Opponent in the final.

Many Eastern European players are model workers. In order to earn more bonuses, they fly around the world and participate in competitions in various countries.

If an Eastern European player cannot win a Grand Slam or end the year in their career, it is basically difficult for them to make much money.

Think about Djokovic, if he were of a certain Western European nationality, his business income would skyrocket several times.

Going one step further, if he were American or Chinese, the sensational effect would be even more unimaginable.

Novak is a typical Eastern European with very balanced strength but no top honors, so he will sign up for as many games as possible as long as his body allows.

"Compared to Novak, I'm really ashamed." Chen Ran touched his nose and muttered secretly.

Because now he doesn't even want to play those 500 and 250 games, and compare it to a model worker like Novak.

"If I were from Eastern Europe, even if I was possessed by the system, I would probably have to play a lot more games. Fortunately, I am from China." Such thoughts flashed through Chen Ran's mind.

He was very humble: "Tennis is full of uncertainties. Just because Novak didn't have top honors before doesn't mean he won't have them in the future. I can't be careless."

Somewhat cruelly, with Chen Ran's current wealth, the bonus he would get from reaching the Madrid Masters final is almost insignificant, but it may be a huge sum of money for Novak.

But even so, Chen Ran still had to win.

The glory of reaching the finals is more important than the prize money.

At this time, Chen Ran's assistant called and said that some Japanese and Korean media wanted to conduct an exclusive interview with him and asked him if he was willing to accept the appointment.

Japanese and Korean media?
The relationship between China, Japan and South Korea is somewhat delicate, and Chen Ran understands this very well.

There is a joke on the Internet in later generations: The friendship between China and Japan depends on South Korea, the friendship between China and South Korea depends on small lives, and the friendship between Japan and South Korea depends on China.

But there is an indisputable fact that China, Japan and South Korea will all be amazed by the sports superstars emerging from their neighboring countries.

Chen Ran's performance attracted the attention of Japanese and Korean media, which is a normal thing.

"Wait a minute." After Chen Ran thought for a while, he declined the other party politely, "Let's make an appointment again after the Madrid Masters."

In fact, at this point in time, the relationship between Huaxia and Xiaoli is relatively harmonious, but in a few years the relationship will become tense.

As a public figure, Chen Ran would still decline the endorsement of Xiaolili products in order to avoid being criticized. He does not lack that kind of money.

However, Chen Ran did not reject being interviewed by Xiaoli media and exporting the image of Chinese athletes to the outside world.

The IMG agency behind Chen Ran also hopes to build an Asian superstar image through his popularity in Japan and South Korea.

So after the semi-finals of the Australian Open and the Sunshine Double, plus the honor of a clay court Masters championship, it should be a wonderful feeling to be interviewed by Japanese and Korean media, right?
Yes, although Chen Ran has never revealed his inner thoughts to others, he has already set his sights on winning the Madrid Masters.

Now, and in the future, at least until the time of Chen Ran's rebirth, there has never been a grass-court Masters tournament.

So Chen Ran was eager to leave an exclusive record of his own.

He won the first hard-court Masters and the first clay-court Masters.

Such an honor is enough to be passed down to future generations.

……

The match day of the Madrid Masters semi-finals arrived quietly under the spotlight.

This game was broadcast live by C5 Sports.

CCTV originally planned to broadcast Chen Ran's game live in the top 8, but that was just a plan.

Because Chen Ran was uncharacteristically low-key before the start of the match, CCTV mistakenly thought that Chen Ran was not confident enough in his clay court strength, so they were not ready to broadcast the quarter-finals live.

As a result, on the day of the quarter-finals, Chen Ran happened to encounter a focus battle of the Champions League semi-finals.Compared with the uncertainty of the time of tennis matches, the broadcast plan of football matches is determined in advance.

In particular, CCTV bought the rights to broadcast the Champions League with a lot of money. They could only give up broadcasting Chen Ran's game despite the angry scoldings of many sports fans.

However, when the semi-finals officially started, CCTV no longer had any reason to let go.

On this day, the tournament organizing committee also specially invited the superstars of Real Madrid to take photos and interact with the semi-finalists.

The famous French superstar Zidane and the Brazilian superstar "Alien" Ronaldo appeared together.

The appearance of these two people instantly stole all the attention from Chen Ran. Even the Chinese reporters kept pressing the shutter on these two guys with their cameras.

The Magic Box Stadium, which can accommodate 15000 people, was filled with applause and cheers at this moment.

Most of the spectators who usually come to watch tennis matches are Real Madrid fans.

Chen Ran quietly glanced at Zidane's shining forehead, and immediately remembered the shocking goal in the World Cup final three years later.

This one also gave France the World Cup championship away.

It also left the world with a century-old mystery: What did Materazzi say to Zidane at that time?
This taciturn guy is definitely a ruthless person.

As for Ronaldo, he now has a haircut again, which is the kind of hair style he wore during the World Cup, which was also popular in China for a while.

Afutou, also known as tile head, means that only a small amount of hair is left in front of the forehead, the size of a tile, and the rest is shaved off.

Today's La Liga championship competition has reached a fierce stage.

Ronaldo regained his hair because he hoped that his good luck in last year's World Cup in Korea and Japan could also be brought to Real Madrid.

As one of the top stars in world football today, he has not won any top league championship so far. Ronaldo is already looking forward to it.

When taking a group photo, Chen Ran was very low-key and did not show any desire to chat with them.

He is very aware that what he has achieved so far is not enough in front of Zidane and Ronaldo.

No matter how attentive you are, it's just a hot face but a cold butt, and people won't take you seriously at all.

Just like last year's World Cup, the national football players wanted to change jerseys with Ronaldo, but they wouldn't change with you.

They came here today just as a routine matter.

If you want to chat and laugh with them, you must at least be a tennis king like Agassi.

"This Chinese is quite noble." Ronaldo glanced at Chen Ran in surprise.

He vaguely remembered how crazy the people there were for him when he went to China.

A smile or a wave can trigger crazy screams.

This even gave Ronaldo the illusion that I was a superstar among superstars in China. They all worshiped me and I was a god!

There was an owner of a company called "Golden Throat" who offered him a lot of money. All he wanted was to let him sit there, drink tea, take a few photos, and didn't even have to eat.

How could the naive Ronaldo understand the endless routines of Chinese bosses?

"But what about this Chinese guy? He's so damn cold!"

“I thought he was going to say how much he loved watching me play, but he just kept smirking!”

"On the contrary, the Czech man looked excited, as if he had met an idol he had admired for many years."

Although Chen Ran always had a smile on his face, it was obviously a perfunctory professional smile.

After the interactive session, Ronaldo and Zidane walked and chatted: "Zi Dan, I even doubt that the Chinese guy doesn't know us? He acted too bland."

"Really? I didn't notice this." Zidane touched his bald head and replied.

His attention was not on Chen Ran at all.

"I don't care, I'm going to cheer for the Czech guy later because he is my fan." Ronaldo said angrily.

"It's up to you, Ronnie!" Zidane shrugged, "I just hope this game will be played faster. After all, a long tennis match will take far more time than a football match."

On the court, Novak asked Chen Ran curiously: "Chen, don't you usually watch football?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Facing the number one and number two superstars in the world, I think you act very mediocre?"

Chen Ran shrugged and said with a smile: "Actually, I am a fan of your Czech Republic, and I know Nedvěd!"

"Really?" Novak opened his mouth in excitement.

What an innocent child!

……

(End of this chapter)