Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 243 Grass and white clothes, beautiful Wimbledon (4K)

In late June, Chen Ran packed up his gift packages, met up with his team, and officially took a direct flight from Shanghai to London, England.

Wimbledon is not held in London, but in a small town called Wimbledon ten kilometers away from London. It was jointly founded by the All England Club and the British Lawn Tennis Association.

Among the four Grand Slam tournaments, only Wimbledon is not named after a country, and it is not even named after London. Instead, it is named after an obscure small town, but it has the longest history among the four Grand Slam tournaments. , the most influential open competition.

One of the reasons why Wimbledon is so popular is that this event has a classical atmosphere, just like its long history.

However, under all the videos about Wimbledon on Douyin in later generations, there is a widely circulated joke: You must go to Wenzhou to watch a Wimbledon in this life.

This also illustrates Wimbledon's extensive influence.

Even though Chen Ran has never played on a grass court, he has to admit that playing on grass does have a refreshing and joyful feeling.

No wonder football is the number one sport in the world, and American football is the number one sport in the United States. The main reason for this is that it is played on grass.

It can even be said that grass represents tradition. Without grass, there would be no tennis today.

In professional tennis, there are many top players such as Roddick, Hewitt and others who hate clay courts and even clamor for the cancellation of the clay court season, but they never complain about the grass court season.

The grass court season is very popular with professional players and everyone enjoys it.

It's just that the grassland season is really short every year, and it only takes a month to finish the game.

Many people feel that as soon as they enter the state, they end it in a hurry.

According to the latest winning odds given by the betting company, the Australian hare Hewitt is at the top of the list, followed by Roddick, who has just won the Queen's Cup, the third is Federer, and the fourth is Philippoussis, known as the Australian cannon.

As the new French Open champion, Chen Ran was not favored because he had no experience in any grass-court tournaments. His odds were only ranked No. 16.

This also means that the betting company is not optimistic about Chen Ran breaking into the top eight, and even the top sixteen is very risky.

Of course, it’s also because Chen Ran’s coach Zhang Depei is not a grass-court expert.

With many doubts from the outside world, Chen Ran and his team arrived in London, England. Many sports reporters from China also followed him in groups, preparing to report on the Wimbledon event.

When Chen Ran walked out of London Airport, he was surrounded by many Chinese and foreign reporters.

Even though Chen Ran is not favored by the outside world, he is still the number one player in the world and the top seed at this Wimbledon Open, with high popularity.

"My goal is to get into the second week at Wimbledon."

"I'm really looking forward to playing on grass."

"Also, I'm looking forward to wearing the white jersey at Wimbledon."

There are so many things to pay attention to at Wimbledon. For example, both male and female players need to wear white jerseys both on the training ground and during matches.

It is also stipulated that it must be pure white, not off-white or cream white, and other than the sponsor's logo, it cannot have other non-white patterns.

Even football shorts, tennis skirts, hats, headbands, headscarves, wristbands and socks must also be white.

What's even more exaggerated is that Wimbledon also requires that the medical equipment and other equipment in the stadium should be mainly white as much as possible. This is obviously unique among the four Grand Slams.

The match supervisor will check carefully. If the requirements are not met, you will need to return to the locker room to change clothes.

Some individual players are so annoyed that they will withdraw from the Wimbledon event on the grounds that "I can't find suitable clothes."

For example, Andre Agassi once tried to wear a denim-style tennis uniform on the Wimbledon court, but was decisively rejected by the organizing committee.

Therefore, Agassi, who has always been unruly, directly boycotted three consecutive Wimbledon tournaments from 1988 to 1990, but later he had to obey in order to participate in the competition.

It is foreseeable that the tradition of white jerseys in this oldest Grand Slam tournament will continue for a long time.

"I like to wear white jerseys. I have prepared a lot of them for this." Chen Ran talked about various long guns and short cannons. "Wearing white clothes is like the white swordsman in martial arts novels."

"Such a retro and elegant image brings unparalleled charm to the sport of tennis."

Although Chen Ran has all kinds of complaints about Wimbledon, it cannot be denied that the ratings of Wimbledon events have always been the highest among the four Grand Slams.

"Chen, as a French Open champion and world number one, have you ever worried about being eliminated in the first round at Wimbledon?" a British reporter asked maliciously.

Chen Ran replied calmly: "Even if I am eliminated in the first round, it is normal. It is not uncommon for Grand Slam winners to be eliminated in the first round of Grand Slam tournaments."

"But you are still No. [-] in the world." The British guy continued reluctantly.

"Let me do the math..." Chen Ran clapped his fingers, "It seems that the number of weeks I have been number one in the world is less than three weeks. What does this mean?"

The British reporter looked at Chen Ran in confusion.

"Man, can you name all the players in ATP history who have reached the top of the world?"

"No... can't!"

"That's right! Being number one in the world for less than three weeks is nothing. I don't even take it seriously, so why are you so serious?"

British journalists were speechless.

As expected, this Chinese man is as eloquent as the outside world said.

"Then how many weeks do you think you need to be number one in the world to qualify?" the British guy continued to ask.

Chen Ran gave a "six" gesture and said: "At least six months, that should be 25 weeks! In my opinion, the world's number one must have at least 25 weeks to qualify!"

Remember that before his rebirth, Nadal only ranked sixth with 209 weeks, while Sampras ranked third with 286 weeks, and Federer ranked second with 310 weeks.

As for Djokovic, he is far ahead with 395 weeks. (Currently over 400 weeks)
But the reason why the Big Three are the top three in history is because Nadal has to compete with great players like Federer and Djokovic for an extremely limited number of weeks to be No. [-] in the world.

Therefore, Chen Ran’s statement that “being No. 25 in the world for [-] weeks” is considered qualified is not an exaggeration.

But these foreign reporters, including some from China, were surprised by Chen Ran's tone.

What a big breath!

"Does that mean that after this Wimbledon is over, your world number one position will not be guaranteed?" the British reporter continued to ask.

"Isn't this what you want?" Chen Ran immediately retorted, "Of course, I will have many opportunities in the future." He ignored the British reporter who was provoking trouble.

Didn’t I just not participate in the Queen’s Cup? This makes you British guys jealous.

Queen's Cup?The Witch Cup is pretty much it!
"Chen Ran, you are paying attention to domestic news." As Chen Ran walked, several Chinese reporters followed him for interviews.

"What news?" Chen Ran dragged his suitcase and walked quickly.

"The word 'dog licking' you invented has become the most popular word on the Chinese Internet today! Netizens are very curious, how did you come up with this word?"

"Some even say..."

"What did you say?" Chen Ran stopped and turned around to ask.

"Netizens say that you have been a licker, and that you have such an experience that you can create such deeply moving words."

"..." Chen Ran immediately reprimanded, "This is complete nonsense! Listen carefully, even if Xi Shi is reincarnated, I will not be a licking dog!"

"By the way, maybe I can create more Internet hot words in the future."

He walked quickly and had already walked out of the airport, then got into the special car arranged by the organizing committee to pick up the players and went directly to the hotel where the players were staying.

Chen Ran and Roddick had an agreement. After arriving at the hotel and taking a short rest, Chen Ran would practice with each other.

Although Chen Ran has not yet trained on a real grass court, he has been in the "simulation training field" in recent days and has initially adapted to grass courts.

If this were a clay court, Chen Ran would definitely not choose Roddick as his training partner.

The guy's poor record on clay courts was enough to show that he lacked clay talent, but it was different on grass courts. Moreover, Roddick took the initiative, which gave Chen Ran no reason to refuse.

There is also little-known news. Djokovic, who was later known as the tennis goat, had a disadvantageous record against Roddick in the early stages of his career, whether on grass or hard courts. .

Since Roddick retired very early, no one can verify whether Roddick's playing style restrained Djokovic or whether Djokovic was not at his peak at the time.

This also made Roddick complacent for a long time after his retirement.

So what is really special about grass courts?
From a purely technical analysis, the difference between grass and hard ground is indeed not as different as imagined. The real difference between the two is not speed or friction, but... bounce.

Although there are some subtle differences in the speed, friction, force, movement, rotation and other details of the tennis ball, the essential difference lies in the bounce of the tennis ball.

On grass, the height of the rebound of a tennis ball is very low, which is very obvious even when observed with the naked eye.

For example, when a tennis ball flies from the front, the same route and angle, but the refraction angle of the ball after rebounding is different.

Different refraction angles determine the position of the tennis ball towards the player. Among them, the refraction angle is the largest on clay, followed by hard courts and the smallest on grass.

This means that the same serve or shot may bounce toward the player's shoulders on a clay court; on a hard court, it may bounce toward the player's chest; and on a grass court, it may bounce directly toward the player's chest. The ball bounces from the player's knee to the thigh.

However, the angle of refraction will also cause players to adopt different methods of returning the ball.

Generally speaking, the most comfortable hitting position for professional players is from the chest to the waist, so hard courts are the most comfortable and simplest for players, and they often can complete the hit without adaptation.

On clay courts, players need to constantly adjust their steps and find a suitable hitting method due to the slower ball speed.

But it's different on grass courts. First of all, the tennis ball is very fast and full of power. After the tennis ball rebounds and refracts, it flies towards the player's thigh. Just think about it and you know how difficult it is to handle.

When the two top players started to attack, they increased their speed, strength, and friction to the extreme, and also shortened the time of foot movement. The audience's reaction to this was: Fast, so damn fast!
This is exciting lawn tennis.

……

That night, Chen Ran changed into a handsome white jersey and shorts and appeared at the training ground, looking like a lone swordsman in a martial arts novel.

Although he has found some feeling of playing on a grass court in the "simulation training ground", this body still has to adapt to the real court.

Chen Ran's current technical attributes are 89, but this is mainly played on hard courts and clay courts. If placed on grass courts, his technical attributes will fluctuate.

Of course, this is normal. After Chen Ran adapts to the grass court, he will be able to perform at a level close to this value here.

"Chen, I'm going to serve!"

"I will use serve and net tactics!"

After arriving at Wimbledon, Roddick became completely arrogant.

He even told Chen Ran before serving that my tactic this time was to "serve and hit the net."

boom!
The tennis ball rushed over like a cannonball.

Low bounce, fast speed, less friction, and a cannon server like Roddick made Chen Ran very uncomfortable.

He staggered back with a half-high ball. Roddick, as he just said, rushed directly to the net and hit the ball with great force to resolve the battle.

This guy has been radiant since he came to the grass court season, which is completely different from the gloomy look he had during the clay court season.

This is the difference between enduring the game and enjoying the game.

"Andy, I must admit that you are the favorite to win Wimbledon this time." Chen Ran shrugged and said calmly.

Aside from the fact that the Queen's Cup is a best-of-three game, it may actually be no less difficult than Wimbledon.

Because there are only 32 draws in the Queen's Cup, the players who come to participate in the Queen's Cup are basically top players.

For Roddick to win the championship, he must go through five fierce duels.

No wonder this guy is so powerful now.

"Any big-player player can have his or her shining moment at Wimbledon!"

Now Roddick, who has never had a Grand Slam, actually comforted Chen Ran like a senior: "Hey, Chen... your serve is very good. Although it is difficult for you to become a strong contender for the championship like me, but go Winning one or two games shouldn’t be a big problem.”

This guy has forgotten his embarrassment at the French Open and is starting to get carried away.

……

(End of this chapter)