Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 199 The changed “China Open”

PS: Today I have a cold due to rhinitis, which makes me feel very uncomfortable. The update is a bit late.

……

When the morning sun rises in China, TV stations, print media, and the Internet are all buzzing!
pattern!This is the pattern of Chinese sports leaders!

When Chen Ran entered the Madrid Masters, he did not get carried away and took the initiative to calm down the situation.

This also made many people praise it.

After all, he is only a 17-year-old boy, and it is understandable to be young and frivolous occasionally.

"When I woke up and watched the news, Chen Ran unexpectedly reached the finals of the Madrid Masters again!"

"The first Clay Court Masters champion beckons!"

"Ranked sixth in the world, a Grand Slam semi-finalist, and three Masters finals, Chen Ran is already ahead of Sri Chapan. It's great!"

The gap between Asia's No. 1 and Asia's No. [-] is like a cloud of mud.

Not only is there a huge gap in honors between the two, but Chen Ran is also 7 years younger than Sri Chaphan.

Even those anti-fans admit that it is impossible for Sri Chapan to catch up with Chen Ran now.

In addition, as the Houston Rockets did not enter the playoffs, there was no suspense about who was the most popular athlete in Chinese sports in the first half of 2003.

In order to attract attention, those football reporters immediately reported everything Chen Ran said to the leaders of the Football Association.

Now that Chen Ran had taken the initiative to seek peace, these savvy Football Association leaders also used Po Xialu's excuse to express generously: Young people, it is normal for them to be arrogant and make a mistake occasionally, and the matter will be over.

But Chen Ran is obviously a person who is very good at raising banners. If the phrase "working hard for a better future of Chinese sports" is slapped on his head, he has to go with this appointment or not.

"Okay, that's the deal!" The leaders of the Football Association slapped their thighs and immediately gave the answer in front of many reporters.

Thinking about the Chinese Super League that will be launched next year, our national football team will definitely be able to "super".

As a result, reporters from all walks of life reported on it, and major portal websites immediately followed up, and even specially opened a special topic for this news event.

Although the word "traffic" has not yet appeared on the Chinese Internet in 2003, many things are actually the same.

Gaining attention, increasing website views, and newspaper sales are obviously things that the editors know very well.

Today's Chen Ran is the "super top" of mobile in this era. Not only does he have excellent results, but he can also constantly create topics to attract the public's attention.

But no one noticed that the popularity of tennis was rising because of Chen Ran's relationship.

Not only because of his dazzling achievements, but also because of the topics Chen Ran continues to arouse.

……

On the eve of the Madrid Masters, another sensational event came from China.

Yanjing officially announced that it will officially host the China Tennis Open from 2004, and Chen Ran also served as the image ambassador of the "China Open".

Different from the temporary Heineken Open in Shanghai, the China Tennis Open is a permanent ATP World Tour event established in China.

But there was one thing that surprised Chen Ran, the image ambassador.

"I remember that in my previous life, the China Open didn't upgrade to the 2009-level event until 500. It started with the 250-level event. This time, it went straight to the 500-level event. Is it because of me?"

In tennis, the ATP500 tournament is already considered a relatively high-level competition, and both the prize money and points are very considerable.

Basically, except for the TOP5, most players attach great importance to the ATP500 competition.

So what is certain is that the Yanjing organizing committee must have put a lot of thought into directly classifying the "China Open" as a 500 tournament.

Similarly, the ATP also took into account the tennis craze caused by Chen Ran in China, so they struck while the iron was hot and directly skipped the inspection period to upgrade the level of the "China Open".

"So... the butterfly effect I caused has become more and more obvious."

Compared with the previous life, this time the China Tennis Open was not only widely reported by many media, but also attracted the attention of the majority of fans.

Everyone is looking forward to Chen Ran competing in front of his hometown elders.

In comparison, when the China Tennis Open was first established in the previous life, the excitement was only at the official level, and the response from private sports fans was not intense.

To put it bluntly, whether it is the future Magic City Masters or the China Tennis Open, it will basically be a stage for foreign players. Chinese players will not make any splash if they get a wild card and then rush for a round.

But things are different now, because Chen Ran's sudden emergence has made the attention of "China Open" far different from that in previous lives.

Whether they are tennis fans or sports fans, they all hope to watch Chen Ran play in the ATP Tour in China.

It can even be said that because of Chen Ran's relationship, the value of "China Open" has been fully improved by several levels.

However, what left Chen Ran speechless was that the Yanjing organizing committee was not petty at all. They kept claiming that they would make the China Open the fifth Grand Slam, which was exactly the same as in the previous life.

It’s just that in 2023, when Chen Ran was reborn, the China Open was still an ATP500 event, far from the ATP1000 Masters, let alone the fifth Grand Slam.

On the WTA side, it is the Women's 1000 Crown Tournament. The prize money for the women's singles champion is so high that it slightly exceeds the prize money for the Magic Masters.

But this happened in another time and space after all. At that time, the performance of the Chinese women's tennis was far better than that of the men's tennis. But now all this has been overturned by Chen Ran.Therefore, for the China Open starting next year, because the organizing committee will focus its main energy on men's tennis, the WTA's classification will still be 250.

This also means that the China Open is composed of ATP500 and WTA250.

"The ATP500 tournament has settled in Yanjing, so now it's up to me to bring this wave of tennis popularity to the next level."

……

Madrid Masters, final day.

The Magic Box Stadium, which can accommodate 15000 people, was packed, and the VIP seats were basically all the celebrities in the city, including the entire Real Madrid team and the King of Spain who was also present.

They're all here to cheer on Spain's homegrown favorite, Ferrero.

As the best-selling sports newspaper in Spain, Marca also has a place on the front page for the Madrid Masters.

"Revenge and reach the top again! Can there be a more wonderful journey to the finals?"

In the opinion of the editor of "Marca", Ferrero can not only sweep away the "shame of defeat" in Indian Wells in today's final, but also consolidate his position as the number one in the world. It is simply killing two birds with one stone.

Will you lose?

Spanish fans, who are always optimistic and proud, have never considered this possibility.

After all, for a rookie player like Chen Ran, reaching the final of the Clay Court Masters for the first time is a result he can be proud of.

In the audience, two Brazilian superstars who played for Real Madrid were whispering.

"Ronnie, I really didn't expect a Chinese to reach the final of the Madrid Masters." Robert Carlos lowered his head and whispered to Ronaldo.

In Brazil, tennis is the second most popular ball sport after football, and in Carlos’s impression, Chinese tennis, like Chinese football, is on the edge of the world.

"I watched the semi-finals and he was lucky!" Ronaldo thought for a moment and said, "I originally thought the Czech would be the one to enter the finals. He is a fan of mine!"

On the side, Spain's number one star, Raul Gonzalez, known as the "Lord of the Rings" said: "Today's champion will get the opportunity to watch the game from the VIP seats at the Bernabeu Stadium. This is what Ferrero has dreamed of. …”

"Haha, so he will definitely work very hard today!" Portuguese superstar Luis Figo interjected.

Several Real Madrid superstars sitting in the VIP seats were chatting and laughing.

If any one of these guys appeared alone on the street, it would cause a huge sensation, but Real Madrid can bring so many superstars together in one team.

On the other side, after arriving at the media area, Chen Ran accepted interviews with some Chinese media with a relaxed expression.

When he heard the football reporter say that the leaders of the Football Association had agreed to an agreement with him, Chen Ran almost laughed out loud.

A few years later, these leaders will find that the longest road they have traveled in their lives is the routine of this "Tennis King".

"Also, what do you think about the China Open settling in BJ?" Finally a reporter mentioned this topic, "This will be the first ATP500 tournament held in China."

"I'm very happy and looking forward to it. I also promise here that the China Open will be my 500-match debut in my career!" Chen Ran said slowly with a calm smile.

ATP500 debut!

The eyes of these reporters lit up.

This gimmick is good!

Does this mean that Chen Ran will not participate in any ATP9 events from now until September next year?

What a big breath!
This also means that Chen Ran is very confident in himself and believes that only participating in the Masters and Grand Slams is enough to earn points.

"The China Open hopes to become the fifth Grand Slam in tennis. Do you think this is possible?" The reporter continued to discuss the next question with Chen Ran.

"This..." Chen Ran didn't know how to answer.

As for the Masters, Magic City has been striving for it, and the possibility is very high.

Asia is now the only region without an ATP Masters.

But because the year-end finals are touring around the world, some insiders estimate that the Masters will officially settle here after the year-end finals cycle ends in Shanghai.

So for Yanjing, it is unlikely that the "China Open" will be upgraded to the ATP1000 Masters in the future.

After all, the Masters is a mandatory event and a major event under the ATP umbrella. Nine stops a year is already a lot. Adding one more stop will only reduce the gold content.

After pondering for a while, Chen Ran spoke: "Australia has the Australian Open, America has the US Open, and Europe has the French Open and Wimbledon. Theoretically, Asia should also have a Grand Slam tournament."

"But the four Grand Slams have a profound historical heritage. Even the youngest Australian Open has a history of 98 years."

"I think if the China Open wants to become the fifth Grand Slam, it must first increase its foundation in the future."

"I want to wait until one day when tennis becomes very popular in China and you can see children playing tennis at any time in schools, just like table tennis or basketball, then the China Open will become the fifth Grand Slam."

……

(End of this chapter)