Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 218 Controversial ball?Luckily it’s red soil here!
PS: There will be another update later!
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A brutal tie-break!
After Chen Ran was the first to complete a mini-break by Costa, he finally relied on his extraordinary fighting will to complete a shocking reversal in the fierce tie-break.

roar!

The pressure that had been building up in my heart for a long time burst out in an instant.

Chen Ran roared hysterically at the audience.

The battle in front of the net in that round was extremely exciting, and Chen Ran won the final victory.

He never loses to anyone in his skills at the net.

Whoa!
The audience stood up, thunderous applause!
The central venue, named Stade Philippe Chartier, was in a frenzy. In the early summer season, the heat wave was rolling in as far as the eye could see.

Chen Ran relied on his performance in this set to push the atmosphere of the entire stadium to a climax.

Don’t those picky French people just like to watch such brutal battles?

I just want to satisfy you!
"Our players take the lead again!"

"The match will go into the fourth set!"

"I believe that both from my personal perspective and from the fans' perspective, we all like that Chen Ran can resolve the battle in the fourth set!"

"Another thing is that the ratings of this game ranked first among the TV stations at the same time, and it was far ahead. It was almost close to the match between Chen Ran and Agassi at the Australian Open."

"According to the news from the front. Globally, the ratings of this game have exceeded 1 million!"

"This is not only the influence of the century-old French Open, but also Chen Ran's personal influence!"

C5 host Zhan Jun said excitedly.

There is no doubt that among the four quarter-finals, Chen Ran's game will definitely be the one with the highest ratings.

Because in mainland China alone, Chen Ran attracted at least 5000 million viewers to watch the game.

What if it’s the semi-finals or even the finals?can not imagine!

Also from the perspective of the ATP, ITF, or French Open Organizing Committee, they are also ecstatic.

Today's China has a population of nearly 13 billion. Chen Ran's success will obviously make tennis popular among such a large population group.

"It's the fourth set!"

Chen Ran recited it silently in his mind, and then glanced at Costa next to him expressionlessly.

The other party applied for a three-minute medical timeout and was lying on the ground for the medical staff to perform muscle massage.

Whether Costa was really uncomfortable or just using tactics, Chen Ran didn't know and didn't care.

He knows that he is currently in good condition and in good physical condition, and his opponent's tactics cannot affect him.

The French Open audience had begun to applaud rhythmically.

This is also a unique scenery in tennis matches.

During the break between games, it is now essential for the host to have the audience applaud in order to liven up the atmosphere.

The fourth set begins...

In this set, Costa started serving.

As the defending champion, a 27-year-old tennis player who has been famous for many years, Costa has enough experience to know how to play in adversity.

He found that if he and Chen Ran were caught in a long bottom line tug of war, he would be more likely to win the ball.

Therefore, once Costa could not find the opponent's loophole for the time being, he forced Chen Ran to engage in a stalemate with him for multiple shots on the bottom line.

After all, this is a clay court, and it is difficult to use serve or net volley as a regular tactic.

1: 0!

Costa won the first game relatively easily.

Immediately afterwards, the two players exchanged surfaces without expression.

From Chen Ran's perspective, he must admit that Costa is a guy with a very tough will and nerves.

If an ordinary player is leading all the way in the tie-break and is suddenly beaten by the opponent to win three points in a row, most of his mentality will be affected after losing this set, and fluctuations are inevitable.

It may even collapse as soon as the fourth set comes.

But Costa did not do this, his mentality remained stable.

"You have to remember that for any player who can win a Grand Slam, even if there is luck, quality still plays a decisive factor."

"After all, on the Grand Slam stage, if you want to reach the final championship podium, you must play seven rounds, and each round may be at least three sets or as many as five sets."

Chen Ran is ready to play five sets, but he will still strive to resolve the battle within four sets.

Taking advantage of his advantage in the service game, Chen Ran often smashed the ball with diagonal angles from a wide angle, or played short balls like a fairy from heaven, leaving Costa exhausted.

Chen Ran's strategy is clear.

In his own service game, he has absolute initiative.

Chen Ran consciously mobilized Costa and let him run around.

Anyway, the characteristic of the Spaniard is that he has sufficient physical fitness and is good at running, so he will use his advantage in controlling the rhythm to continue to consume the opponent's physical energy.

After all, even among Spanish players, there are only a few players like Nadal who have outstanding physical fitness and are never tired.

Chen Ran does not deny how powerful Costa was at his peak, but this guy retired soon after the age of 30, which means that his body cannot withstand the high-intensity consumption of tennis.

He is like a master tactician, taking advantage of his advantage on the serving end to push Costa's physical fitness to the limit step by step.

Both sides chase each other and refuse to give an inch.

As the game progressed, the experienced Costa seemed to have discovered Chen Ran's strategy.

He had no choice but to make a desperate move and burst out all his energy at a certain moment. After reaching the break point for the sixth time, he finally broke serve.

However, because Costa's consumption was too serious, Chen Ran also broke through in the next game!

3 is better than 3!

The score is still tight!

"It's so exciting, so intense!"

"When Chen Ran was broken just now, I was extremely nervous, but fortunately, Chen Ran immediately completed the break!"

Zhan Jun said with lingering fear.

"Of course, this is not uncommon in tennis matches!"

"In close matches, a player will often give everything he has to break serve, but in this way, his condition will fluctuate in the next service game!"

Sun Jinfang, director of the Tennis Sports Management Center on the side, also spoke: "I hope Chen Ran can win this set. If it enters the final set, my heart will not be able to bear it."

The last time Chen Ran played five sets was the Australian Open match against Andre Agassi.That game was dragged into a long game decider!

This is so torturous!
But the rules of the Grand Slam format are so cruel, and you must abide by them.

So... everyone hopes that Chen Ran will not enter the long game finals again.

In the seventh game, Costa experienced three tie-breaking tests but never sent a break point. In the end, he struggled to hold serve and continued to withstand the pressure to maintain the score advantage.

In the eighth game, Chen Ran relied on his strong serve to secure the serve with a large advantage.

The score came to a 4-4 tie.

Both sides refused to give in.

In the ninth game, Chen Ran suddenly started to raise gears.

He realized that the opportunity was ripe and was ready to release the energy he had accumulated for a long time.

Costa also clearly felt the pressure he faced suddenly increased.

After the two sides fought to a score of 30-30, Chen Ran and Costa fell into an extreme tug-of-war that lasted more than 20 shots.

In such contests, Costa often has an advantage over Chen Ran, and Chen Ran even made several unforced errors.

This time, when Chen Ran saw the multi-shot tug-of-war between the two sides heading towards more than 30 shots, he chose to take the initiative to seek change.

Because on clay courts, the speed of tennis balls will slow down after rebounding. Chen Ranyi was brave enough to seize the opportunity and put a small ball directly behind the baseline.

Hey~
The audience gasped.

This was not to marvel at Chen Ran's extraordinary return of the ball, but to be shocked that this boy was too reckless.

From any angle, it was not the best time to release the ball just now.

Whether it's Chen Ran's position or the ball's placement.

Especially the experienced Costa is already well prepared for this.

But Chen Ran still released the ball!
When the tennis ball flew through the net and fell immediately through a low parabola, the Spaniard had already caught up.

Chen Ran's ball had an obvious right spin. When the tennis ball landed, he immediately looked to Costa's left and jumped over.

This makes Costa somewhat passive and difficult to exert force.

But Costa was experienced and seemed accustomed to this. He very cleverly chose a diagonal shot and pushed the ball to the far corner on Chen Ran's right.

At this moment, the entire audience held their breath, and all the bustling eyes fell on Chen Ran.

Watch how he wants to respond to this return.

One step, one step.

Chen Ran's body had already glided and rushed out, and he saw his passionate sliding step to hit the ball again.

In an instant, his body had stretched to its extreme.

Chen Ran completely turned his back to Costa. Relying on his instinctive touch, he swung the racket lightly and lifted the ball high.

At this time, Chen Ran's unparalleled touch and precise control of the tennis ball played a decisive role.

This return shot was high and far, and it was also beyond Costa's expectation.

Costa raised his head and ran back.

However, after chasing for a few steps, he found that he could not catch up with the ball and had to give up.

It should be out of bounds, right?

Costa prayed.

Chen Ran's lob hit the white line.

The landing is very obvious!

But Costa signaled to the referee for the first time that this was an out-of-bounds ball.

This is psychological warfare, and it is also based on a sense of luck.

The line referee raised his hand, indicating that the tennis ball was out of bounds!

There were boos and cheers in the audience, all mixed together.

Chen Ran also immediately reached out to the referee to protest.

My eyes are like rulers, this is definitely a good shot!
He was not in a hurry because the final decision rested with the referee.

Fortunately, this is a clay court!
In this era before the advent of eagle eyes, misjudgments existed in tennis matches.

If the ball is on a hard court or grass court, because the ball speed is too fast, ambiguity will often occur when the ball lands on the edge of the ball line.

You often can't make an accurate judgment as to whether the ball went out of bounds.

What's more, some linesmen will also bring their own subjective and emotional factors into their decisions.

This situation will get better when eagle eyes become more popular.

But this is a clay court, and the ball leaves a mark after it hits the ground.

Therefore, it is also for this reason that after the popularity of Hawkeye in later generations, it was not introduced on clay courts, saying that it was necessary to maintain the original flavor of clay court games.

After Chen Ran protested, the referee got down from the high chair, walked to the spot where the tennis ball had just landed, looked at it very carefully for a long time, and then gave a signal that the ball was valid.

Chen Ran clenched his fists and roared angrily, but Costa was dissatisfied and chirped at the referee to protest, meaning that the linesman said it was out of bounds. Why don't you, the referee, believe the linesman?
What about trust between people?
But the referee's meaning was very clear, the ball did not go out of bounds, and I have the final say here.

FUCK!

Costa cursed angrily.

He actually knew that the ball was not out of bounds, but why not take advantage if he could take advantage of it?

Costa was emotionally affected.

One shot wipes the net, inbounds!

Continue to serve, out of bounds!

Second shot!

Taking advantage of the ball just now, Chen Ran was full of momentum and directly responded to Costa with a beautiful return ace.

He broke serve for the second time in the fourth set!

At 5:4, Chen Ran took the lead for the first time in this set, and the next game was his own serve.

He is only one step away from entering the semi-finals!

……

(End of this chapter)