Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 267 The word "goat" came to the stage early

The fourth Masters championship of the year not only allowed Chen Ran to tie Sampras' record, but also consolidated his ranking as the world's number one.

At the Cincinnati Masters a few days later, Chen Ran can play with ease.

He no longer has the pressure to continue competing for points.

However, when interviewed by the host after the game, Chen Ran's answer was still watertight and even used smoke bombs.

“I feel like I’m in great shape!”

"I'm looking forward to the Cincinnati Masters!"

"I want to recreate the glory of the 'Sunshine Double Crown'!"

Chen Ran showed great ambition in his words and deeds. He was telling the world that he was aiming for the Cincinnati Masters.

"Oh, God!" the ESPN host exclaimed, "If you win the Cincinnati Masters again, then the record for the number of annual Masters championships will be yours alone!"

"Yes, when this great record is in front of me, I will definitely try to break it!" Chen Ran said with confidence.

No one can doubt the authenticity of this statement.

Sometimes, a new record is more tempting than a championship.

"An unbelievable season!" the ESPN host wiped the sweat from his forehead with his hand and said with unfinished content, "You are only seventeen years old and have already won a Grand Slam and four Masters championships. Such achievements are already far away. He surpassed his coach Zhang Depei at the same time."

"Look..." the host waved to where Zhang Depei was, "look how excited he is! Because the record you tied was set by his old rival Sampras."

Chen Ran smiled and continued: "Of course, this is also due to my coach. He allowed me to adapt to the ATP Tour in the shortest time and find the technical characteristics that suit me. I am very grateful to him."

Of course, this is just a scene.

No one would have thought that Chen Ran had his own training system, and the coach he hired was just a way to hide himself from others.

If the outside world places part of the credit for his achievements on Zhang Depei's head, Chen Ran doesn't care anyway, because the championship and data are recorded on his head and no one can take them away.

In the end, Chen Ran lifted the Toronto Masters championship trophy and received a bonus of up to US$50.

When he walked from the podium carrying the championship trophy, there was a faint smile on the corner of his mouth.

Does the whole world think he will continue to chase the Cincinnati Masters championship?

Why bother!

He doesn't have an iron-clad body, so he must prepare well for the US Open.

These days, just enjoy the joy brought by this championship.

……

At this moment, the time in China happened to be around ten o'clock in the morning.

Winning the Toronto Masters and tying Sampras' record has made headlines on major portals and been reported by various television stations.

"Chen Ran's ranking as number one in the world is by no means a flash in the pan!"

"We firmly believe that Chen Ran will maintain strong competitiveness for a long time to come."

Some optimistic media people even asserted: "In the next few years, there will be a competition between Chen Ran and Roddick, and Chen Ran's advantage is the clay court."

Other senior tennis reporters in the industry said: "There are too many variables on clay courts. Who knows whether new competitors will appear in the next few years."

But in any case, most people are optimistic that Chen Ran and Roddick will compete on hard courts and grass courts.

There are also some guys who like to set the pace and complain: "Yao Ming, Yao Ming, look at how far away Chen Ran is now. The number one player in Chinese sports is becoming less and less suspenseful."

Yao Ming's fans are very dissatisfied: "There is only one NBA championship a year, but there are four in tennis. Such a comparison is inappropriate! Chen Ran must at least win one more Grand Slam! Besides, Chen Ran's current non-advertising income is still small. From Yao Ming.”

Chen Ran's current game bonus is about 360 million US dollars, while Yao Ming's annual salary with the Rockets is 400 million US dollars.

Of course, some people believe that bonuses and wages are not comparable.

The Internet is very noisy, and fans are very keen to compete for the title of the first person in sports.

Chen Ran didn't know if Yao Ming had noticed this, but he often surfed the Internet and discovered something.

Then, his head began to spin rapidly.

People who eat melons like to compete for the first place. That is human nature.

In particular, this drive to be first is not limited to a certain field.

In the sports world, even the Chinese music world, and Chinese movies, fans from all over the world like to compete for rankings.

It’s time to live a little more!

When Chen Ran thought of this, he took out his mobile phone and searched for it in his address book.

Soon he locked two numbers, one from his agency and one from Nike.

"Listen first, I have a good idea."

……

Goat means "goat" in English, but it has been given a different meaning in the sports world.

"Greatest Of All Time!"

This is what it means to be hailed as the best ever!

So the word Goat also became the abbreviation of Greatest Of All Time. And for better publicity, and to match the original meaning of the English word Goat, when people call an athlete "Goat", they will also bring a goat image.

For example, a basketball player nicknamed "King" in later generations, whether attending parties or award ceremonies, you will often see him holding a goat majestically, almost telling the world that I am the "Goat"!

So much so that the goat almost became his pet.

When Chen Ran flew to Cincinnati to prepare for the next Masters, the Chinese media took the lead in inventing the "Goat" once, which was rare for them to be at the forefront of the world.

In many cases, whether it is news media, entertainment media, or sports media, Chinese reporters can only follow the footsteps of European and American media.

The news you reported and the words you used were basically translated from the other party.

This time, because of Chen Ran's relationship, China's sports media had the opportunity to lead the world's sports trends for the first time.

"Greatest Of All Time!"

"Goat"!

And then there was a picture of a goat!

Together with Chen Ran, he held the Toronto Masters championship trophy.

This is the front page headline of the latest issue of "Sports Weekly".

As soon as this issue of the newspaper was published, it immediately caused a sensation on the entire Internet!

Chen Ran, the well-deserved "Goat" of Asian tennis!

In addition, he is very likely to become the "Goat" in the sports world of China and even Asia!

"Greatest Of All Time!" This English sentence seems to have incredible magic. It first appeared in China, and then appeared in major sports media in the world in just one week.

Who is the “Goat” in basketball? The NBA was also discussed, and then there was no doubt that it was Michael Jordan.

Who is the "Goat" in football? This answer is rich.

Some say Pele, some say Maradona, some say Ronaldo or Zidane.

Another actress named Ma Su jumped out and said: "My boyfriend Kong Linghui is the Goat in table tennis..."

The discussion in the sports world is so heated that even the entertainment industry is involved.

When some Chinese kings, queens, movie kings and queens are interviewed by entertainment media, they are often asked who is the "Goat"?

Is it Teresa Teng or Jacky Cheung, Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee?

The vigorous discussion made Chen Ran, the instigator this time, a little confused.

Is this topic so hot?

It seems that time and space are more lively than those more than ten years later.

Perhaps it is because the Internet has just emerged in this era, and the enthusiasm of netizens is far higher than that of later generations.

It may also be because on the Internet in this era, self-media and social software are underdeveloped, and various entertainment programs and games are still very scarce, so the discussion has become unprecedentedly popular.

At present, almost every netizen who surfs the Internet is playing a few games, tapping the keyboard, and joining the "Goat" discussion army with saliva.

Chen Ran looked at such a lively Internet, but still never thought about becoming the inventor of the word "Goat".

He very generously gave this opportunity to Chinese sports reporters.

Finally, China's sports media has also led a world trend.

However, what makes Chen Ran's fans a little helpless is that just when they were trying to push Chen Ran to the "Goat" position in Chinese sports, Chen Ran failed in the third round of the Cincinnati Masters.

Chen Ran can still only share the record with Sampras for the number of annual Masters championships won, and cannot form an exclusive record.

This gave everyone a feeling of "I want to die in battle, why did your Majesty surrender first?"

They suddenly lost their confidence.

After all, with one Grand Slam and four Masters, plus a record shared with others, it is not very convincing to become the "Goat" of the Chinese sports world.

Chen Ran stopped in the third round, which surprised everyone.

Before the start of the Cincinnati Masters, even the betting company offered Chen Ran very low odds to win.

Even if you didn't make it to the finals, you still made it to the semi-finals. What happened when you were stopped in the third round?

Since Chen Ran was the No. [-] seed, he enjoyed a bye in the first round.

This also means that Chen Ran only played two games before going home, losing one and winning one.

The one who defeated Chen Ran was Cannon Philippoussis from Australia.

The harsh words this guy dropped a few days ago were quickly slapped in the face.

This also surprised the entire professional tennis world to find that it seems that the cannon player with a very sharp serve has a strong restraint on Chen Ran.

For example, when Chen Ran and Roddick played, they often entered tiebreaks because it was difficult to break serve in regular games.

This discovery made many people cheer.

It seems that this tennis genius from China is not without weaknesses.

But many people have overlooked one point: How can serving be so easy to practice? Moreover, any professional tennis player will be very passive when facing a big player, but Chen Ran is not the only one.

When the outside world was busy, Chen Ran had already taken a direct flight from Cincinnati to New York.

……

(End of this chapter)