Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 42 Why is it you again!
After Chen Ran returned to the hotel room, he sat quietly on the chair for a while.

Not long ago, he had agreed to Liang Hui's invitation and was willing to join China's tennis talent pool.

Chen Ran still maintains an independent identity and is not considered a player within the system, but after entering the talent pool, all his future matches will be under the observation of the Tennis Association.

As long as I can succeed in the future, I will give Liang Hui, the recommender, a political achievement.

In the future, when Liang Hui mentions Chen Ran to the outside world, he can brag that he discovered it himself. Of course, this also requires Chen Ran's cooperation, implicitly stating that he is indeed a talent discovered by Vice Chairman Liang, and you are my Bole.

This can be regarded as a mutual exchange of interests.

If Chen Ran wants to participate in the 2008 Yanjing Olympics, he will join the talent pool of the Chinese Tennis Association sooner or later. Whoever this introducer chooses will be a reward for him.

A young man who is only 16 years old and is ranked among the top 200 in the world must have huge potential and will make countless people jealous.

Of course, after Liang Hui obtained the identity of the introducer, he must also give equal benefits in return.

Chen Ran would definitely not accept the transfer of monetary benefits on the surface, because it would easily lead to a trap.

He agreed to participate in the National Games with the Sports Bureau of East Zhejiang Province, so he could get the training subsidy with peace of mind. But since he has declined the Busan Asian Games a month later, he is too embarrassed to take money from the country.

The conditions Liang Hui offered Chen Ran were that one was a qualifying wild card for the Australian Open, one of the four Grand Slams, at the end of January next year, and the other was a main draw wild card for the Heineken Tennis Open in Shanghai next year.

The main draw wild cards of the four Grand Slams are very precious and rare. The organizing committee usually gives them to local players, or to those players who have been famous for a long time, but are low in the ATP rankings due to long-term absences due to injuries.

Since Australia's time zone is close to that of Asia, the Australian Organizing Committee also attaches great importance to some Asia-Pacific countries and will prepare some wild cards for the qualifying rounds. China also has a share.

It's just that the qualifying competition is too cruel. You have to win three rounds in a row to get a precious seat in the main draw and become one of the 128 players.

As for the Magic City Heineken Tennis Open, it will be suspended for one year this year and will resume next year. It is not difficult to give a wild card to the main draw for a locally held competition.

Liang Hui also promised that Chen Ran’s travel expenses to Australia will be borne by the Tennis Association.

After all, the cost of a round trip like this starts at least five figures, and the bonus from the qualifying round is fine if you can make it to the final round, but if you are eliminated in the first or second round, you won't make any money at all.

However, this wild card spot in the Australian Open qualifying tournament is still very coveted. Chen Ran still needs to meet some conditions if he wants to get this wild card.

After all, even if Liang Hui is the vice chairman of the association, he cannot ignore the feelings of many national team players and insist on his own way. This is easy to offend people.

The condition he gave was that Chen Ran must achieve good results in the Magic City ATP10K Challenge held at the end of October to get this wild card. This result should be at least the semi-finals.

With the results of the semi-finals of the ATP100K Challenge and the age of 16, he is convincing enough.

However, the problem comes again. It is not that easy to participate in the ATP100K Challenge. Your ranking must be at least within 300.

Chen Ran's ranking is far from enough, and he can only hope for a wild card.

At present, there are only two ways to obtain wild cards. One is to let the organizing committee give a wild card, and the other is that the champion and second place in this 25K Hope Race can each receive a wild card.

However, the wild cards given by the organizing committee had already been booked and were two players from the national team. Chen Ran only had one way to reach the finals of the 25K Hope Competition.

"First, I won the championship of the 25K Hope Tournament, and got the wild card of the 100K Challenge. Then I broke into the semi-finals and got the wild card of next year's Australian Open qualifying tournament."

Step by step!
Chen Ran analyzed it silently in his mind.If Chen Ran can't do the above, he can still enter the talent pool, but the benefits of choosing Liang Hui as a recommender will be discounted, and he will only have a wild card for the main draw of the Magic City Heineken Open next year.

So how much reward you can get depends on your performance on the field.

……

In the remaining days, Chen Ran continued to pass all the tests and easily broke into the semi-finals. During this period, he eliminated another national team player, which made the head coach grit his teeth.

As for the opponents of the top four...

Brother, why is it you again?
Chen Ran's opponent in the top four turned out to be an old acquaintance, Lu Yanxun from Taiwan.

When the other party saw Chen, he was also shocked. They were enemies on a narrow road.

"It's you again, why is this happening!" When Lu Yanxun opened his mouth, his thick Taiwanese accent came to him, making Chen Ran's skin crawl.

Chen Ran wanted to reply to him, "You're a motorcycle," but he curled his lips and gave him a calm and "gentlemanly" smile in return.

This was not something he deliberately pretended to be, but he had practiced a lot with Federer in the "simulation training ground" and was unknowingly infected by him.

"This guy's temperament seems a little different from two months ago..."

Lu Yanxun took a deep breath, and this thought flashed through his mind.

After the two shook hands, Chen Ran finally joked: "Friend, are you planning to stay in the mainland?"

"The main issue is the cost. It's cheaper to compete in mainland China." Lu Yanxun replied truthfully. After all, he also paid for himself.

However, he complained silently in his heart: If I hadn't met you last time, I wouldn't have stopped at the top eight, and the bonus would have been a big loss.

After all, this guy has the potential to enter the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam in the future. This level of hope tournament is just for quickly gaining points.

"I was careless last time, I must win this time!" Lu Yanxun encouraged himself.

However, as the game progressed, Lu Yanxun's mood sank to the bottom.

The last time the two of them fought, they were barely evenly matched, but this time they were completely suppressed by the opponent.

In Chen Ran's serving game, Lu Yanxun faced a "topspin" serve with astonishing rotational speed and ball speed, and had almost no room for resistance.

However, in Lu Yanxun's own service game, Chen Ran showed an extraordinary ability to receive the serve. When the two of them were fighting for multiple shots, almost every shot landed very deep, and then they seized the opportunity to counterattack and win with one hit. .

Especially in Chen Ran's arsenal, various techniques emerge one after another, especially his backhand, which is endlessly varied.

Chen Ran started with a two-handed backhand, but when he was in a tug-of-war with his opponent, he would often catch the opponent off guard and use a one-handed backhand to score a point.

比赛不过进行了1个小时多点，陈然便以6比3，6比2拿下了比赛。

……

(End of this chapter)