Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 396 The test of "Seed Grave"
Those arrogant and picky American reporters wanted to speak for Roddick. In fact, they were also dissatisfied with Sampras's choice and were full of criticism.

But in a tennis sport that values ​​individualism and extreme heroism, they cannot be too harsh on Sampras's choice.

They can only respect Sampras's choice.

But what can be seen with the naked eye is that since this breaking news broke, Roddick's face has been very bad, as if someone owed him money.

Some American reporters even felt as if they were going to yell at them at any time when interviewing him on this issue.

At first, everyone didn't think anything of it. After all, Roddick had been very sincerely inviting Sampras to come out. Everyone could understand his frustration and anger.

But if you are not afraid of comparing goods, you are afraid of comparing yourself with others. Once you have a reference, everything becomes different.

"Andy, I was originally biased towards you, but I have to praise Chen Ran's style."

"You are really different from him."

"Maybe that's the difference between a one-time Grand Slam winner and a three-time Grand Slam winner."

He also won no more top-level championship honors.

"The two kings cooperate, and the world's No. 1 announces that it accepts the challenge."

"Am I crazy? Those are the only fourteen Grand Slams."

Once again, Roddick, who was already emotionally depressed, became Chen Ran's backdrop.

Chen Ran faced Hewitt, the Wimbledon champion the year before and the former world number one.

The current situation of the two people also corresponds to the saying: the world of competitive sports is ever-changing and unpredictable.

However, the biggest injury in professional tennis and even professional sports happened to Zhong Yongshi.

One day later, Wimbledon's quarterfinal matchup was scheduled.

After this press conference, media outlets around the world published Chen Ran’s response.

At that time, he not only won two Grand Slams, but also stayed at the "world number one" throne for 80 weeks.

Two years later, Hewitt's number of weeks as "No. 80 in the world" did not increase at all and remained at weeks.

"Welcome Pete Sampras, he shouldn't be retiring so early."

At that time, Hewitt was only 21 years old, and Agassi, 32, had been the "world's number one" for 101 weeks.

After all, Hewitt was too young at the time and had unlimited success, with unlimited possibilities for the future.

He showed a different side of himself.

When Chen Ran first debuted, Hewitt was very popular.

……

Almost everyone in the world believes that Hewitt's "number one weeks in the world" surpassing Agassi is a certainty and there is no suspense.

Pattern, vision, and magnanimity.

A sports reporter from Europe thought so.

"At that moment, I even thought that Chen Ran would one day surpass Sampras in the number of Grand Slams and become the GOAT in professional tennis!"

At the same time, another younger tennis talent was rising rapidly.

Is there any chance that Hewitt's "world's number one in weeks" will surpass Agassi's?
Although he is only 23 years old, many people believe that Hewitt has no chance.

Not only that, he is also faced with the dilemma of being surpassed by Chen Ran in his "world's first number of weeks".

In the blink of an eye, Chen Ran's number one week in the world has reached 60 weeks.

And he is very similar to Hewitt back then. The number of weeks as "No. 1 in the world" was not accumulated intermittently, but he has never been down since he sat at that position.

For one year and one month, Chen Ran has been holding on to this position. Some people have also joked, if Chen Ran comes down from the position of "No. 1 in the world", will he be like Hewitt now and never return to that position?

This is unknown, and the biggest interest of many people today is how long Chen Ran will stay in this position.

Hewitt, nicknamed "Australian Hare," also faced similar questions from reporters.

"I have indeed been disappointed."

"But no matter what, I'm still a top ten player in the world."

"In this year's Wimbledon, I still reached the quarterfinals."

"I love tennis and I know I may never be on top of the world again, but I still enjoy it."

He said this, but to many outsiders, it seemed a bit old-fashioned, like a veteran who had seen through life.

But you are obviously only 23 years old.

Perhaps the blow of successive failures in the past two years has caused this once high-spirited young man to lose a lot of his energy.

"Chen Ran is very young, has very comprehensive skills, and his serve is much better than mine. I think he will have a much better future than me."

"Of course, regardless of whether his number of weeks as world No. 1 will exceed mine, his number of Grand Slams has already surpassed mine."

Hewitt was very open-minded and showed the demeanor of a world-famous player.

"But it won't be easy for him to get to the semi-finals. I have a lot of experience on grass courts, especially at Wimbledon."

"Besides, the duel between us is on Court No. 2, right?"

Hewitt seemed to have thought of something, "Everyone knows what Court No. 2 at the All England Club means."

……

In the hotel, when Chen Ran returned to rest after completing training, he received a temporary notification.

The quarter-final match between him and Hewitt will be temporarily arranged on Court No. 4 of the All England Club.

Chen Ran, the dignified No. 1 seed and one of the favorites to win, failed to enter the center court.

You must know that in the previous four rounds, as the No. 1 seed, he has always been arranged in the center court without any hindrance, and his box office is very good, and every game is basically full.

According to common sense, it is a default unspoken rule that the No. 1 seed is arranged on Center Court, although this is not written in black and white.

But this time, the British apparently discovered the business opportunity in Federer.

The unprecedented cooperation between Federer and Sampras is obviously more worthy of attention and discussion, and should be more suitable for buying tickets.

There are indeed many Chinese spectators who come to watch Wimbledon, but Wimbledon will never lack spectators, and tickets are always in short supply.

The difference is that with the topic of cooperation between Fedeli and Sampras, it is obvious that if the number of ticket buyers does not fluctuate too much, the ticket price will inevitably fluctuate upward.

Wimbledon remains the most profitable tennis tournament in the world.

Similarly, football, which is already expensive, can become very profitable in the Premier League. This has to be recognized by the British business and marketing capabilities.

"Court Two?"

Chen Ran entered the No. 2 stadium known as the "Seed Tomb" with some curiosity.

Indeed, in both men's and women's tennis, too many top players have failed here.

Obviously, those British people also want to try the "seed grave" curse of Court No. 2 to see if it also applies to Chen Ran.

……

(End of this chapter)