Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 227: Reporters dig holes, final scene (4K)

What are Chen Ran's current attribute values?

Technical attributes are 88, mental attributes are 87, and physical attributes are 88.

Even in the heyday of the Big Three, Chen Ran could definitely steal several Grand Slams. What's more, Federer is far from reaching his peak now, and this is still his relatively weak clay court.

When Chen Ran placed himself in the "simulation training ground", he asked Zhang Depei, Nadal, Djokovic, Alcaraz and Federer to have a real game on the clay court.

The reason why I only choose one set is because if I choose the best of three sets, there is simply no time.

He himself stood quietly and observed silently, and at the same time fell into thinking.

It wasn't until around 10 o'clock in the evening that Chen Ran came out of the "simulation training ground", washed briefly and went to sleep.

……

June 2003, 6, the French Open men's singles final, and the finale of the entire French Open will be staged at Roland Garros.

Just yesterday, Belgian Jinhua Henin easily defeated her compatriot Kim Clijsters in straight sets 6-0, 6-4 and won the championship trophy-Susan Langland Cup.

But for the discerning Paris audience, this game was too lackluster, not exciting at all, and even made people feel lethargic.

Therefore, high hopes were placed on the men's singles final as the finale, and the French Open organizing committee also wanted to rely on the showdown between Federer and Chen Ran to save the precarious ratings.

Federer's popularity in Europe is not bad, but behind Chen Ran is the Chinese market of nearly 13 billion people.

A conservative estimate would be that at least [-] million people will watch this final. Isn’t that too much?
The French Open organizing committee feels a little excited just thinking about it.

If nothing else, the ratings of this game will create a new high in the history of the French Open final.

On the morning of the final day, Chen Ran conducted court training at the Stade Philippe Chartier, the final venue.

"Chen Ran, come on for the final!"

"We must come back with a championship!"

"Clap clap clap!"

Cheers and cheers erupted one after another, and the bustling fans blocked the exit channel of the stadium with water. The scene was quite spectacular.

Observing the fan group, although there are many Asian faces, there also seem to be a lot of whites, Latins, and some blacks, which is enough to prove Chen Ran's current popularity.

Both Chen Ran and Federer reached the Grand Slam final for the first time.

Comparing the important honors of both sides, Chen Ran is three Masters champions, including the highly valuable "Sunshine Double Crown", while Federer is two Masters champions.

Therefore, Chen Ran surpassed Federer in terms of age and honor, which also made his popularity surpass that of the Swiss.

This also won him the love of many local European audiences.

There was a cute French girl, jumping up and down, waving her arms, shouting: "Chen Ran, I love you!"

Chen Ran looked back following the voice and joked: "Girl, I hope your boyfriend didn't hear it."

The fans watching around also burst into laughter.

It is really rare to find such humorous and interesting Chinese athletes.

"Don't worry, my boyfriend won't care." The French girl said excitedly when she saw Chen Ran replying to her.

Is your boyfriend a tauren?
After completing another batting training, Chen Ran said: "Maybe he just doesn't care on the surface..."

"If you are willing to be my boyfriend, I will break up with my boyfriend right now." As expected of a French girl, she is straightforward.

Chen Ran was also silenced by this bold French girl.

He wanted to say that actually, even if you want to have sex with me, you don’t have to be my girlfriend.

But it would be best if Chen Ran just smiled and did not continue to answer.

"Look at him being shy, how cute he is." The French girl and a few of her best friends who came with her were chirping, their eyes looking like tigers and wolves.

Some Chinese reporters who came, with gossip in their eyes, took out their pens and wrote on small notes: Chinese player Chen Ran encountered a beautiful French girl in Paris who showed her love to her face, which made everyone envious!
Presumably a group of netizens, especially male netizens, will be very excited when they see such a title.

Amidst the laughter, Chen Ran ended today's spot training, then accepted interviews, signed autographs for fans, and finally returned to the hotel.

The game time is 2 pm Paris time, which is exactly 9 pm Yanjing time.

However, CCTV specially produced a special topic for this purpose. Just like Li Na's French Open final in 2011, it was broadcast live on three TV stations at the same time, namely C1 Comprehensive Channel, C5 Sports Channel, and C13 News Channel.

Among them, C13 News Channel just started pilot broadcasting in May this year.

"Dear viewers, according to the latest ATP points, whoever wins this match will be number one in the world!" After CCTV confirmed that the news was correct, it told hundreds of millions of viewers through live TV.

The champion and the world's number one come together, and the winner will have a double blessing.

Chen Ran is currently ranked third in the ATP real-time rankings, while Federer is second.

Ferrero has maintained the No. 1 ranking for nearly half a year, but after today, the owner of the top spot will inevitably change.

"Does winning make you truly number one in the world?"

After the ATP announced the latest rankings, Chen Ran also learned this information.

Winning a Grand Slam and becoming world No. [-] at the same time, is there anything more wonderful than this?

Of course, in most cases, it is difficult to become the world's number one when you win the Grand Slam for the first time.

However, after Chen Ran has a 250 championship, an Australian Open semi-final and three Masters championships guaranteed, as long as he wins the first Grand Slam championship trophy, he can aspire to be the world's number one.

The youngest number one in the world.

At this moment, it seems that the eyes of the whole world are focused on Roland Garros Stadium.

However, in the pre-match press conference, those cunning Western reporters began to dig holes for Chen Ran again.

A reporter from Le Monde from France asked: "Chen Ran, yesterday's women's final made the audience in Paris complain. Not only was the game very boring, but it was also one-sided. So everyone has high expectations for today's men's final." , does this put any pressure on you.”

The reporter from CCTV also felt the trap in the words.

Since C5 Sports also broadcast the press conference live, the host in the studio also frowned.

"Yesterday's women's final was very exciting, both are world-class players." Chen Ran immediately retorted, "Also...I have no pressure, and Roger must be the same. I believe we will also give a wonderful duel. "

"But yesterday's ratings for the women's final were the lowest in several years. We have to trust the audience." A reporter from Le Monde stressed.

"Ratings don't explain everything. After all, Belgium is not a country with a large population. If you just want ratings, you can arrange for an Indian player to play the final with me. Then no matter what the opponent's level is, the ratings will definitely be high."

Chen Ran continued to express his opinion: "Of course, this is just a joke on my part. I believe that the two players who can reach the finals must be the two players who perform the best in this competition. Regardless of the ratings, this is unquestionable Doubtful." Then, the CNN reporter spoke.

"Chen Ran, do you think the prize money setting of the Grand Slam tournament is unfair?"

"Why do you say that? The prize money for tennis matches is already very high among many sports."

Chen Ran glanced at the CNN reporter and said slowly: "Grand Slam champions and runner-up bonuses are very high. Of course, if the bonuses for the first and second rounds can be increased, I believe all tennis players will welcome it with raised hands."

The prize money for the first round of the French Open is roughly around US$2.5. The other three Grand Slam tournaments may be lower or higher, but overall they are not much different.

Chen Ran took this opportunity to speak for those players who were ranked outside the 100th place.

The CNN reporter was obviously very speechless. He tried hard to dig a hole, but in the end it seemed that he gave the other party an assist to gain a good reputation.

This guy was very unwilling and continued to dig holes.

Isn't he just a 17-year-old young man who is still young?
I don't believe you can fight against old foxes like us.

"Chen Ran, women's tennis is a best-of-three-set system, while men's tennis is a best-of-five-set system, and your prize money is the same. Is this unfair? Are you also dissatisfied with this?"

Yes, you say equal pay for equal work, but in fact, Grand Slam level events can only be said to be equal pay but different work.

This CNN reporter thought that the young, frivolous and energetic Chen Ran would probably use this to express his dissatisfaction, and then he could take the opportunity to add insult to injury.

Chen Ran stared at the guy and smiled, your thoughts were written on his face.

Tennis is the sport that emphasizes equality between men and women, and female tennis players should also be the athletes who like to talk about women's rights the most. Of course, this "women's rights" is completely different from the "women's rights" spoken by Chinese fairies in later generations.

But in any case, it is impossible for Chen Ran to be the first person to accuse the Grand Slam tournament of equal pay and different work.

This is a matter between the ITF, ATP and WTA. Is it none of my business?

I don’t want to be eaten alive by those women from the WTA.

"This question is too profound for me."

"In terms of age, I'm still a high school student, and I'm still a freshman. Your question is too high for me. I will answer your question when I'm old enough to graduate from college."

"I think you should ask the players who have more experience in life."

Chen Ran had some unexpected questions, which left the CNN reporter open-mouthed and not sure how to respond.

"I think WTA matches are pretty good to watch anyway. If you don't think they're good to watch, that's your personal matter."

"Again, I'm just a high school student!"

"Don't ask questions that are beyond my knowledge!"

The CNN reporter looked a little embarrassed under Chen Ran's counterattack.

"Chen Ran's answer was good, very appropriate." Several people in the CCTV live broadcast room said happily, "He thinks very quickly."

"This American reporter is too insidious." someone complained.

"Those foreign media reporters like to dig holes very much, so some athletes choose to talk less and do more."

"Is the game about to start?"

"There are still two hours!"

……

An hour before the official final, the Stade Philippe Chartier was already crowded with fans and reporters.

In fact, not only the stadium, but also the squares, restaurants, bars and other places outside the stadium are also crowded with fans coming to watch the game.

The French Open final is not just a match, it is more like a grand party and an annual event.

The men's singles final, as the finale, also pushed the 2003 clay court season to an unprecedented climax.

Even the most conservative estimate is that at least 1 million viewers will watch the French Open final through television broadcasts.

"Hello viewers, welcome to C5 Sports, the much-anticipated French Open final is about to begin."

"The opponents are Chinese player Chen Ran and Swiss player Federer."

The person responsible for hosting today's game is Zhan Jun, a senior football and tennis commentator, but today's commentators are two people, a man and a woman.

They are both from the Chinese National Tennis Team. The man is Jiang Shan and the woman is Li Na. It is said that they are a couple.

Originally, CCTV was planning to continue to invite Sun Jinfang, the director of the Tennis Sports Management Center, but she was temporarily unavailable, so she recommended the two of them.

Even the host of CCTV joked: "The tennis team is quite open-minded. After all, the badminton and table tennis teams have expressly banned their members from falling in love."

In fact, they didn't know that it was because of Li Na's stubborn temper and super personal strength that the leaders had to choose to compromise.

After all, tennis talents are too scarce in China, unlike table tennis and badminton where there is a glut of talents.

At this time, the CCTV picture changed.

Yanjing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, and Chen Ran’s hometown Dongzhou City have all launched activities to gather in squares to watch the live broadcast of the game, and then join the thousands of fans watching the live broadcast at home. Together we are waiting for the finals to be staged.

After a few more minutes, the CCTV picture changed again.

Roland Garros Stadium appears in sight. This is a spectacular view from above.

Then the screen changed again, and Chen Ran and Federer, the final opponents, appeared in the players' tunnel.

"here we go!"

"Players from both sides are on stage!"

Looking at Li Na on the big TV screen, her eyes showed fascination.

Roland Garros is also her dream stage, and she also hopes that she can participate in the French Open as soon as possible.

Perhaps no one in this world, except Chen Ran, could have imagined that this humble girl in front of her would win the heavy French Open championship trophy 8 years later.

But in this time and space, with a leader like Chen Ran, maybe everything will become completely different.

When the camera switched to Chen Ran, the image of a sunny boy appeared in front of hundreds of millions of viewers.

He also gave the camera a thumbs up and smiled.

It seems that Chen Ran is in a very good mental state today. I wish him good luck in the finals!
……

(End of this chapter)