Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 359 The world’s number one in danger

"The tennis season is long, and any top player will stumble at some point!"

"Besides, with Safin's strength, defeating Chen Ran is not an upset."

"Both of them are the best players in the world."

Unlike some netizens and portal websites who like to badmouth, CCTV, as a representative of the official media, still likes to say words of encouragement and comfort as always, and it can also find a lot of excuses and reasons.

Sound familiar?

Sharp-eyed netizens discovered this. CCTV has always been a good guy.

Not just for Chen Ran.

You see every time the Rockets lose, they say the same thing.

In addition, it is the national football team.

CCTV's love for the national football team is endless. Even if they lose day after day, they always give comfort and encouragement, never harsh criticism.

This also caused netizens to complain about CCTV, saying that the national football team has been spoiled by you.

But people actually have it very clear in their hearts.

Even if they say it, it probably won't be of much use.

In this case, we might as well have a good relationship.

After all, whether it is football, basketball, or tennis, it is their guarantee of ratings and can bring a steady stream of advertising and money income, which is enough.

At present, as long as there are competitions in which Chen Ran participates.

Whether it is the Masters or the Grand Slam, CCTV's advertising is getting more and more expensive. Of course, this is also because they monopolize the resources of important events.

"Currently, Chen Ran is still more than 1200 points ahead of the second-placed Swiss Federer!"

"So until the end of the Miami Masters, Chen Ran's world number one is still stable."

"We believe that Chen Ran will adjust his condition in time and appear in the Miami Masters with the best spirit."

"We also believe that Chen Ran can maintain the number one ranking in the world."

"We also welcome everyone to continue to watch the second leg of the 'Sunshine Double Tournament'!"

Chen Ran was eliminated, but the CCTV host gave an emotional speech that made the fans feel numb.

"Damn it, is it necessary to be so sensational?"

"I think it's a pity for this guy to be a host. He should be a poet!"

After Chen Ran knew this, he couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Where are we now?

If you heard CCTV's speech about Liu Xiang's two retirements, then today's scene is nothing compared to the big one.

However, with the two golden flowers of the Chinese Women's Tennis Team reaching the finals, for CCTV, the ratings can still be guaranteed.

Although tennis is also a popular sport around the world, before Chen Ran was born, its popularity in China could only be described as tepid.

When Zhang Depei was at his peak, tennis still had some popularity in China.

But after 2000, as Zhang Depei's condition continued to decline, the popularity of tennis actually declined compared to previous years.

Although famous players such as Agassi and Sampras are also well-known in China, there is a sense of distance for Chinese fans.

More importantly, at that time, whether it was Agassi or Sampras, their competitors in China were not other tennis players, but football superstars such as Ronaldo or Michael Jordan.

Given the huge popularity and influence of these two team ball sports in China, these tennis superstars are naturally at a disadvantage.

Fortunately, Chen Ran appeared in time, so local stars can maximize the popularity of tennis.

Especially today, after Chen Ran fought alone for a year, he is no longer alone.

Even though he stopped playing this Indian Wells Masters early, China Golden Flower's outstanding performance can still keep the attention of many fans on CCTV Sports.

When everyone goes abroad to compete together, they are all Chinese players.

When one player is eliminated, fans can still cheer for another player.

This is what Chen Ran hopes to see.

What he is most worried about is the emergence of a crazy fandom similar to that of table tennis in later generations. Those crazy female fans either bully their opponents online or pray for them to lose to foreign players. Fortunately, in this time and space, there is no such thing as Weibo, and no one will deliberately create a fandom, and there will be no "fans" who deliberately want to be black and cause conflicts.

To be honest, many Internet trends have been ruined by Weibo, and the companies behind it only care about traffic and never know what face is.

That place was either used for "boxing" or for various fights in the food circle. It is very appropriate to describe it as a "toilet".

Again, Chen Ran likes the era of "the turn of the century", everything is so pure.

……

Although Chen Ran was eliminated, he did not rush to Miami.

He continued to stay in Indian Wells, mainly to observe the state of his main opponent.

The "Sunshine Double", like the Australian Open, is a slow hard court.

Therefore, the playing style of many players also continues the style of the Australian Open.

One can even compare the "Sunshine Double" to the continuation of the Australian Open.

I have to admit that the "Sunshine Double" is worthy of the reputation of the fifth Grand Slam.

Every top player in the world is fully committed to the game.

Because it is a best-of-three-set match, those big-seeded players don’t have to worry about physical distribution and can give their best from the start.

Local darling Roddick followed in Chen Ran's footsteps and stopped in the quarterfinals.

This big-mouthed guy was regretting that Chen Ran was eliminated so early and that he didn't have the chance to compete with him again.

Roddick feels that he is in hot shape now.

As a result, as the third seed, he only lasted one more round than Chen Ran.

It was Croatian star Ljubicic who eliminated Roddick.

There is no doubt that Ljubicic is also the top player in today's professional tennis. However, the strange thing is that this guy performed very well in the Masters, but his performance in the four Grand Slams was very ordinary.

So far, although he has not won the Masters championship, he has been runner-up several times. However, his best result in the four majors was only in the third round.

Therefore, many insiders are whispering whether Ljubicic has taken medicine.

Grand Slam drug testing is stricter, so he didn't dare try it.

But in the Masters, Ljubicic became bolder.

So when Roddick was eliminated, he also looked dissatisfied, and his big mouth couldn't hold back the words in his heart.

"I think Ljubicic was particularly excited today, much more excited than he was at the Grand Slam."

"It's different from other tennis players."

Between words, Roddick almost said clearly that the bald man had taken medicine.

Then, a group of American reporters also started heckling.

In the eyes of many arrogant American reporters, how can any athlete from Russia or the former Yugoslavia not take medicine?

As for their American players? That means someone is physically ill and has been approved to take medicine legally, which is fundamentally different.

But no matter what, the fact that Roddick was eliminated cannot be changed.

The game still goes on...

This time the final is between Federer and Safin.

In the end, Fei Tianwang defeated Safin 2-1 after three hard games.

Federer not only consolidated his ranking as No. 2 in the world, but also narrowed the distance between him and Chen Ran.

The points gap between the two sides is only over 200 points.

……

(End of this chapter)