Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 246 "Grand Slam Syndrome and Seed Grave" Failure

The greatest charm of competitive sports is that everything is possible before the real battle.

Chen Ran, like many others, knows this.

He even knew that the outside world was full of doubts about him, the new French Open champion, so he set up a strong obstacle in the first round at Wimbledon.

Philippoussis, who is already known as a cannon in serving, will only be even more powerful on grass courts.

In addition, since the previous "King of Grass" Sampras has retired and the defending champion Hewitt has been in mediocre form throughout the 2003 season, people are also looking forward to whether a new king will be born at Wimbledon.

Roddick, who has just won the Queen's Cup and is in hot form, and the Swiss Federer are favored by many people. In addition, the Spanish star Ferrero is also a strong contender for the championship.

The war at Wimbledon is about to ignite, and we will have to wait and see who will win.

When Chen Ran arrived at Court No. [-], he was surrounded by bustling reporters.

"Chen Ran, I am a reporter from "The Sun"..." A British man introduced himself and tried to interview him.

"The Sun..." Chen Ran's alertness immediately rose to the extreme, "What's your problem?"

"Do you want to have a romantic encounter with a British beauty? I know some of the more famous nightclubs in London, where there are so many beauties."

The implication is that Premier League players love to go to nightclubs.

This is indeed the style of "The Sun", which is shameless and shameless to the extreme.

Chen Ran was amused by the reporter from "The Sun", and then replied: "I don't think I can compete with Premier League players, so I'd better not meet him by chance."

"Uh..." The reporter from "The Sun" was stunned for a moment. He had thought of countless possible answers, but he didn't expect it to be this.

He had heard before that this Chinese man was eloquent and often said some fantastic words.

"Wait a minute..." The reporter from "The Sun" wanted to say something else, but Chen Ran had already walked away and did not give him a chance to continue asking questions.

These people are deliberately engaging in mentality, right?
After Chen Ran arrived in the locker room, he cursed secretly.

Of course, these little tricks have no effect on him.

Chen Ran walked slowly to the mirror and said to himself: "Your third Grand Slam match has begun."

……

Bustling and crowded!
This is the grand scene of the first match day at Wimbledon.

After a drizzle, today's weather turned blue and cloudy.

The golden sunshine falls on the green grass, like a peaceful rural picture.

At Wimbledon, all courts kick off at exactly one o'clock in the afternoon, and spectators can come to watch the game after lunch.

The focus of the match between Chen Ran and Philippoussis is the opening match on Court No. [-].

Stadium No. 4000 can only accommodate [-] spectators, but it is already full at the moment.

The tradition of Wimbledon is not only reflected in some regulations regarding jerseys and billboards, but also in ticket purchasing.

The Internet age has arrived, and buying tickets through the website has gradually become popular. However, Wimbledon still adheres to the tradition. Audiences who want to watch the game need to arrive at the venue and queue up to buy tickets.

The earlier you come, the better tickets you can grab.

Of course, the Internet had just emerged in 2003, and in a few years, Wimbledon would have followed the trend.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, the competition kicked off on time.

Standing on this lush green lawn, Chen Ran felt extremely comfortable.

But it’s already the end of June after all, and it’s time again. The weather is a bit sultry and the temperature has reached around 25 degrees.

During the warm-up, Chen Ran suddenly discovered that Philippoussis's popularity was actually higher than his own.

This is not only because Philippoussis has reached the quarter-finals three times in a row at Wimbledon, but also because of the special relationship between Australia and Great Britain.

Australian players can be considered as having half of their home court in the UK.

Even though Chen Ran is the French Open champion, he has been blank at Wimbledon and even the entire grass court season.

It seems that many British viewers came here hoping to see an upset.

Under the influence of "Grand Slam Syndrome" plus "Seed Graveyard", the two DEBUFFs obviously want to see the top seed eliminated in the first round.

"Friends in the audience, this eye-catching game is about to begin."

"The two sides are the new French Open champion Chen Ran and our Wimbledon darling Philippoussis from Australia!"

The host of the local British Sky TV station said: "I believe this is a suspenseful game...if Chen Ran is in excellent condition. But he has not played a game since the French Open, and this condition seems difficult to guarantee."

After the game started, Philipsis took the lead in getting the right to serve.

He scored four points in a row in the first game, including three aces, and won the first game with great momentum.

This made the audience and host excited. It seemed that it was extremely easy to win the No. [-] seed in the knockout round.

The host of Sky TV continued to say with some profound meaning: "Perhaps... this is the weakest No. [-] seed in the history of Wimbledon."

What is the French Open champion?Don’t you know that we British hate the French the most…

The pace of the grass game is very fast, which can almost be described as wind and clouds.

The fast-paced duel between the two players will tell the result quickly, unlike the frequent battles on clay courts.

Soon, the results of the first set came out.

Philippoussis, who was playing great games, broke Chen Ran's serve and won the first set 6:3 amid the cheers of the audience.It's back, that feeling is back!
The 1-meter-tall Australian cannon roared.

The poor form in the first half of the 2003 season made him irritated, but after returning to Wimbledon, it felt like everything was coming back.

Defeated the No. 1 seed and continued to advance.

Even winning Wimbledon is not impossible!

Philippoussis naturally thought in his heart.

"That Chinese boy's strength on the grass is definitely not on the same level as mine!"

"And...this is my home court."

On the other side, Chen Ran's face was as dark as water.

Is this what playing on grass is like?The pace of the official game is really fast. It can't be compared with training. You can only feel part of it when playing in the "simulated training ground".
But the difference is that now it's real games and real audiences.

In the "simulation training ground", if he loses, he can continue to compete again, but if he loses here, he will be eliminated.

Philippoussis not only serves powerfully, but his forehand attack is also extremely sharp.

"I have adapted to playing on grass. It's time to get serious." Chen Ran felt that if he didn't concentrate, he might be eliminated.

After the start of the second set, Chen Ran's attack rhythm obviously accelerated and changed even more.

Under the silence of the entire audience, Chen Ran scored 8 points in a row!
In other words, he sent two consecutive "love games" in his own serve and the opponent's serve.

Unbelievable!

In the second set, the situation suddenly changed.

"God, is Chen Ran really a tennis genius?"

"Even though I didn't participate in the grass tournament, I got used to the grass court after just one game."

The Sky TV presenter was stunned from ear to ear.

Because Chen Ran improved his return of serve, Philippsis's powerful serve seemed to be ineffective.

Immediately afterwards, Chen Ran completed a volley in front of the net amidst the exclamations of the audience, forming the winning point and breaking serve for the second time!
God!

What did we see?
He actually skated on the grass!

Skating on grass is just like on clay. It is not impossible, but it is not easy. Whoever can do this is not a grass expert.

Because compared to clay courts, grass courts are too slippery.

Even though this was half the Australian home court, the audience still gave Chen Ran warm applause for his wonderful performance.

The score in the second set was 6:1!

It was even worse than the first set, but the winner was Chen Ran.

The third set should be exciting, right?Just like Mars hitting the Earth...

In fact, Philippoussis is also looking for form at this moment, which is far from the level he achieved when he was the Wimbledon runner-up in later generations.

After all, his performance in the first half of the year was really bad, which also caused huge pressure on his heart.

What's more, Philippoussis is already 27 years old. In this era, many top players aged 27 have begun to decline.

So the disastrous defeat in the second set made Philipsis a little panicked.

What's more, Chen Ran has a reputation as a talented tennis player. He has never played on grass, but his ability to adapt to grass courts cannot be underestimated.

After the start of the third set, the two sides launched a fierce attack.

The tall Philippoussis also often used the method of serving and hitting the net, but he found that Chen Ran's ball feel was so good that he could often hit the ball at a small angle quickly or hit the ball just right, which made his plan often fail. Return with success.

After the two sides reached a stalemate at 4-4, Chen Ran once again hit the ball as hard as a roc spreading its wings to break serve!
Although his physical talent is not as good as those powerful cannon players, he has a good grasp of the timing and angle of his force. He can easily hit lightning-fast shots, and Chen Ran's ability to control the landing point has improved to The world's top level.

The break of serve in this game seemed to make Philipsis's inner defense suddenly collapse.

In the serve game after Chen Ran, this guy didn't even make any resistance.

6: 4!

Chen Ran completed the overtake!
After the game entered the fourth set, Philippoussis seemed to give up resistance.

Chen Ran held serve at the beginning, then broke serve, and only allowed the opponent to score one point.

Immediately afterwards, there was another "love game" and we were once again leading 3-0.

At this time, the British audience at the scene began to boo Philippoussis loudly.

Are you worthy of the pounds we spent on you?
Refund!
Philippoussis, whose mentality was almost explosive, had already started to fight randomly, but Chen Ran broke serve again.

6:1, exactly the same as the second set.

Chen Ran won three sets in a row and won the first round of Wimbledon 3-1.

Get your money back this time!

"Grand Slam Syndrome and Seed Graveyard" didn't work this time.

……

(End of this chapter)