Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 304 Glory is more important than money

what's the situation?

When Chen Ran went through two tie-breaks and once again defeated a famous French player with a difficult 2-1, even with the boos of the audience, he looked around and discovered to his surprise that only the top 4 seeds were He reached the semi-finals of the Paris Masters alone.

Why did you all withdraw?

Chen Ran observed carefully and found that Agassi, Roddick, Ferrero, and Federer had stable year-end quotas.

But among these four guys, perhaps only Roddick really wants to go further in this Paris Masters.

Not for the bonus, but for the points.

At present, only Roddick still threatens Chen Ran's year-end No. 1 ranking, and other players have almost no chance.

But obviously this American guy was too tired and had to stop in the top 16 of the Paris Masters.

In fact, this is normal. In the men's professional tennis world where competition has accumulated, even a top 1 player like Chen Ran may lose to a top 100 player or even a player outside the top 100 if his body is tired and his condition declines.

The strength gap between professional players is actually very close, and ranking is sometimes not the only criterion.

For example, a world No. 200 player like Roddick might even lose to a Latin player ranked outside the th place if he were to play on a clay court.

"Otherwise, I would have escaped because of that record!"

When Chen Ran left the stage, he couldn't help but cursed secretly.

There is no way to do the Grand Slam. All tournaments last for two weeks.

But when it comes to the Paris Masters, the always arrogant French are going their own way.

Chen Ran seemed to have thought of something, and then carefully checked the men's champions of the previous Paris Masters.

Good guy!

Only then did he discover that there were many men's singles champions that he couldn't even name.

Zhang Depei has never won the Three Kings of the United States. The other two king-level figures Agassi and Sampras have only won 15 times in their nearly 4-year career, and most of them were in the early stages of their careers.

After reaching the peak of his career, he went home early.

It seems that everyone has a very clear mind and knows when to use force and when to reserve force.

Chen Ran’s opponent in the semifinals was a little-known Romanian player named Andrei Pavel.

The qualifiers had an upset all the way to the semi-finals.

"I don't even know what he looks like..." Chen Ran sighed helplessly.

He was also very tired after playing three sets in three consecutive rounds.

Although with Chen Ran's current physical fitness, it is indeed nothing to play three sets, but he plays one match a day, and plays three sets in each game, which is indispensable for the body.

Now the biggest motivation that drives Chen Ran to continue moving forward is not points or bonuses, but the record that he has always been thinking about.

The current annual Masters championship record is shared by him and Sampras, both of which are four championships in one year.

Chen Ran wants to create a record that is exclusive to him. He is very eager to win the fifth championship of the year.

What's more, at this moment, those high-ranking seed players have already left in an upset, so this opportunity is simply a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Chen Ran obviously knows that as long as this record is broken this year. In the days to come, you can participate in the Masters Tournament without worries.

How he wants to fight and to what extent he wants to fight is completely up to him.

As for the focus of the competition, it can be completely focused on the four Grand Slams and the year-end.

Therefore, he had to grit his teeth to win this year's Paris Masters championship.

So on the fifth match day, Chen Ran also competed for four consecutive days, but the players on the opposite side not only competed for five consecutive days, but also played two qualifying matches before the main match.

Today turned out to be his seventh game.

Chen Ran was a little tired, but the Romanian opposite him named Andrei Pavel was obviously even more tired.

Being able to unexpectedly break into the semi-finals may have used up all Pavel's good luck.

This semi-final became Chen Ran's easiest game since participating in the Paris Masters.

6 to 2, 6 to 3!

It only took Chen Ran 51 minutes to take away the game 2-0.

Reached the finals of the Masters for the fifth time this year!

The French audience at the scene was even more confusing. In the last game, they were booed by the audience, but in this game, they were cheered and cheered by the audience.

Perhaps it is because the only high-seeded player in this tournament is Chen Ran, and they hope that the money they spent on tickets will be worth it.

It really lives up to the saying, the French are like scarecrows, they will fall wherever the wind blows.

Shortly after this semi-final ended, another semi-final also started.

The two sides are British star Henman and Russian model worker Davydenko.

Both of these players are outside the top ten players in the world, and they are not French. They are obviously not attractive enough to the somewhat picky and arrogant Paris audience.

Therefore, completely different from the first semi-final, this semi-final was sparsely filled with only about 60-70% of the audience.

Henman is already a declining veteran, his form is no longer what it used to be, and even in his prime, he was not considered a top-five player.

As for the old Russian guy Davydenko, the number one model worker in ATP, to be exact, he is the number one involution king in men’s professional tennis.

No one in the world loves playing games more than him. Every day he flies around the world to participate in various tournaments and win prizes. This is also an important reason why Davydenko can maintain the top ten rankings in the world for a long time in the future. No one knows how to score points better than him.

2003 is the second season of this model worker, but he has already shown his unparalleled "king of volume" qualities.

Chen Ran felt that the ATP must appreciate this old guy very much, and even thought that the big-name players should learn from this guy and let everyone get involved together.

This semi-final was extremely fierce, with both sides eager to get the only remaining ticket to the final.

In the end, the more experienced British star Henman was even better, defeating the Russian king Davydenko with great difficulty 7:5, 5:7, 6:4, and met Chen Ran in the final.

At Wimbledon, Henman was cheered by the British audience, and Chen Ran played five sets before he won 3-2 with difficulty.

So you must not underestimate the enemy!

The difficult match at Wimbledon still worries Chen Ran.

After finally reaching the finals, the only way left is to win the championship. We must not take anything lightly.

When the semi-final ended, Chen Ran immediately left the viewing box and returned to the hotel where he was staying.

Then he and coach Zhang Depei began to analyze Henman's game video.

At this moment, Zhang Depei has obviously realized that an incredible record is approaching, and the possibility of realizing it has been infinitely expanded.

He was even a little unbelievable.

When Zhang Depei first started coaching Chen Ran, Chen Ran had not yet won a Masters championship, and only had a semi-final in the Australian Open, which was not bad.

But who would have thought that in just one year, Chen Ran would have won two Grand Slams and four Masters championships.

Now, the fifth Masters championship is slowly approaching.

This may even be an unprecedented achievement.

The opportunity to make history is right in front of us, and as a coach, Zhang Depei will also be recorded in history together with Chen Ran.

"Chen, I know this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but you have to relax and just treat it like an ordinary Masters final!" Zhang Depei gave his own experience and thoughts.

He didn't want Chen Ran to be defeated by the pressure.

In addition, as long as Chen Ran wins the Paris Masters, the points gap between him and Roddick will be widened to more than 1500 points.

This means that Chen Ran will lock in the first place at the end of the year in advance.

Because even if he failed to win a game in the Houston year-end finals, and Roddick won all five games, he still only had 1500 points, and it was impossible to catch up with Chen Ran.

So as long as Chen Ran wins this game, he will create two incredible records at the same time.

Five Masters championships of the year and the youngest year-end No. 1 in history.

This is also a heavyweight honor and a bargaining chip for him to build upon in the future.

"Don't worry, coach, I will adjust my mentality." Chen Ran nodded silently.

There was some nervousness, but more of it was anticipation and excitement.

Although the schedule of the Paris Masters made many top masters including Chen Ran complain, but after Chen Ran reached the finals, that negative emotion disappeared.

At this moment, even if the Paris Masters champion gets zero prize money, Chen Ran will fight for these two records!

Zhang Depei suddenly thought of something and asked: "If you were asked to make a choice between the Paris Masters and the year-end finals this year, which one would you choose?"

"Which one to choose?" Chen Ran was stunned and replied, "Although the prize money of the former is only one-third of the latter, I still choose the Paris Masters."

He obviously knew that he could earn the bonus again in the future, but if he missed this opportunity, it would not be so easy to get it again.

Zhang Depei was very satisfied with Chen Ran's answer, then gave a thumbs up and said with a smile: "Well said, honor is more important than money."

"Because I'm really not short of money..." Chen Ran muttered silently.

……

The finals and semi-finals were finally no longer back-to-back, and Chen Ran had two days of valuable rest.

Four games in four consecutive days, I have never fought such a hard battle in my life.

On the seventh match day of the Paris Masters, the 1 seats at the Palais des Beaux-Arts were filled with spectators.

This arena is not far from Roland Garros but it is a different kind of culture. The sacredness and excitement have faded away, leaving only excitement and splendor.

The venue of this arena has a stage feel.

Today, there are local French people and Chinese people wearing five-star red flags, and it is very lively.

The side of the stadium was also densely packed with reporters and media.

These people came here because they all wanted to witness a new history.

……

(End of this chapter)