Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 367: Training her to become Zhang Depei in WTA?

good idea!

Zheng Jie became famous at the right time, neither too early nor too late!

She was born in 83 and is still under 21 years old. Theoretically, she has great potential.

As for Zhang Depei, he is best at coaching small players and stimulating their maximum potential.

Obviously, it is more appropriate for Zhang Depei to coach Zheng Jie than to coach Li Na.

With this mentor, Zheng Jie is very likely to achieve even more brilliant achievements than in her previous life.

Players who are agile, baseline-oriented and technical can achieve good results even in the men's tennis world where there are many macho men, let alone the women's tennis world.

At Wimbledon in 2012, Zheng Jie was just one step away from defeating Serena Williams.

It was an exciting game.

In the deciding set, Zheng Jie dragged Serena Williams into a long-set deciding match.

You know, it was also that year, and it was the same stadium.

In the women's singles final of the London Olympics, Serena Williams beat Sharapova to tears at her peak.

At this moment, looking at the glorious Chen Ran, Zhang Depei, the head coach, fell into deep thought.

Three Grand Slam championships and six Masters championships are the honors Zhang Depei won after coaching Chen Ran for one year.

He sometimes wonders whether such a brilliant report card is due to his own good coaching, or whether Chen Ran's talent is really outstanding and can be achieved by another coach.

Zhang Depei always felt that the help he gave Chen Ran was not as great as the outside world publicized.

This is one of them.

Secondly, he also wants to make more money.

After all, if you go out to work, what else do you want if you don’t make money?

The treatment offered by Xiaozhi not only doubled the salary, but also promised to provide some endorsements.

This made Zhang Depei very excited.

But Zhang Depei's first choice is to stay in China. As he said, his blood comes from this land. (Explanation, at about this time in the original time and space, Zhang Depei was indeed invited by the Tennis Association to coach in China, but later they parted ways due to different ideas and he went to Japan.)

But in China, who else can he coach besides Chen Ran?

The difference between tennis coaches and coaches in other team sports is that they only serve one person.

Their income is also closely related to the number of players participating and game bonuses.

If the player himself misses the game for a long time due to injury, the coach may find another job.

When Zhang Depei was hesitant, Chen Ran walked over slowly, and there was a petite woman following him.

It seems familiar...

"Coach... I believe that emotionally you would rather coach a Chinese player."

"I know the conditions offered by Xiaoli are very generous, but we won't treat you badly."

"If you are willing to continue coaching Chinese players, I am also willing to waive the liquidated damages."

Chen Ran walked up to Zhang Depei and said slowly.

"But besides you, who else can I coach?"

Zhang Depei seemed to have thought of something while he was speaking, and his eyes rested on the woman next to Chen Ran.

He finally had some impression.

This girl seems to be the Chinese player who defeated Chris Tiers and Venus Williams not long ago, causing quite a stir in the entire professional tennis world.

What does it seem to be called?

Zhang Depei couldn't remember the name for a while.

"Coach, her name is Zheng Jie, you should know it, right?" Chen Ran pulled Zheng Jie and introduced her, "This time she is the runner-up in the women's singles of the WTA Miami 1000."

"Of course I know!"

Yes, that's the name.

Zhang Depei nodded: "She is a very good player. I believe that over time she will become a presence in the WTA that will not be ignored by anyone."

This is a piece of rough jade, and it is still very young.

Although his body is a bit mediocre, his golf intelligence and skills are visible to the naked eye.

If she had a team that worked for her, she would have been able to achieve even more.

It's a pity that she can't build a team centered on herself like Chen Ran. etc!

He was a bit belated and finally realized something.

"Do you want me to coach her? But isn't she a player in your Chinese system?"

In his impression, players within the Chinese system cannot find a head coach for themselves alone and must obey the organizational arrangements.

Even they sign up for many competitions, which is a collective action.

"Yes now, but maybe not in the future." Chen Ran said with a smile, "Coach, do you think she can achieve greater achievements if she participates in the tour as an individual like me."

"This... I admit that there is a possibility, and it is not small." Zhang Depei nodded candidly, "Of course, there are risks for everyone. But Chinese players have great advantages over other countries."

Even solo players, not counting the Olympics, can still receive a lot of subsidies as long as they promise to participate in low-level competitions such as the National Games and Asian Games. This is what Chen Ran told them.

What's more, the huge market owned by China also allows players to reduce financial pressure from endorsements and commercial activities.

In theory, an ATP or WTA player ranked around 100 can barely make ends meet with tour prize money.

But if this player is Chinese, he should be able to live a more comfortable life.

"Doesn't she also want to form a team on her own like you?"

"Yes, she is now the most popular female athlete in China. She has signed many endorsement contracts. There is definitely no problem with her financial strength."

Chen Ran said straightforwardly, which also confirmed Zhang Depei's previous guess.

"Zheng Jie, the opportunity is given to you, you need to convince the coach yourself."

"Hello, sir. I now formally extend an invitation to you, hoping that you will become my head coach." Zheng Jie said very seriously, "And I think I am the most suitable player for you in the WTA, in terms of playing style and body shape. That’s all true.”

Indeed, both Zhang Depei and Zheng Jie are petite in the ATP and WTA.

IQ, running, technique, and will.

So many similarities.

"To train Zheng Jie to become Zhang Depei in the WTA, this should be a very attractive goal?"

After all, Chen Ran cannot become the next Zhang Depei. He is the first Chen Ran, and now his achievements have far exceeded Zhang Depei's entire career.

Even though Zhang Depei is Chen Ran's coach now, apart from having abundant physical fitness and running around the court, it is difficult to find other similarities between the two, whether it is playing style or technical characteristics.

"I didn't expect that my second job would be to coach a WTA player." Zhang Depei was in a trance.

In fact, in sports such as football and basketball, the best coaches usually choose men's teams. Only if they can't find a job or want to practice as a newcomer will they consider choosing women's teams.

However, in tennis, the gap between men's tennis and women's tennis is not so obvious.

Top coaches will choose to coach male players as well as female players.

This is mainly due to the fact that in tennis, male and female players are very close in prize money and commercial value, and the four Grand Slams and several Masters tournaments are all held at the same time and in the same place.

"In addition, I can waive the liquidated damages." Chen Ran suddenly raised his position, and of course he also saved a lot of coaching salary.

In addition to the basic salary, the income of a tennis coach also includes a share of competition bonuses.

Since Chen Ran was the first player to be coached by Zhang Depei after his retirement, he had little coaching experience before, so the share was very small.

In the future, when you have been coaching for a long time and become well-known in the coaching circle, you will naturally increase your share of the revenue by a certain percentage.

Therefore, for Zhang Depei, job-hopping is inevitable, it just happens sooner or later.

The idea of ​​coaching Zheng Jie made him very excited.

As long as Zheng Jie can enter the finals of any of the four Grand Slams, let alone the championship, even if she can get a runner-up, her commercial value will skyrocket, even as much as those of Eastern Europe's Grand Slam golden flowers.

At this moment, China's economy has not yet exploded with huge energy.

Zhang Depei also didn't realize the commercial value of a Chinese female tennis player who could one day defeat Serena Williams.

The same goes for Sharapova.

At this time, the beautiful Russian player was still a super newcomer to the WTA. No one could have imagined that her advertising effect would make her the first person to take the lead.

"Okay, let's sit down and talk about it later." After a brief pause, Zhang Depei also gave his answer.

……

(End of this chapter)