Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 467 I’m still the boy I once was!
While Chen Ran was on vacation, the world's top masters gathered in Houston to start a new round of Huashan sword debate.

Of course, this year's year-end finals seemed a little dim due to Chen Ran's absence.

Many outsiders firmly believe that Federer will not be challenged and can easily defend his title.

At the beginning, the game progressed as expected. The Swiss pushed hard all the way and entered the year-end finals with almost unstoppable momentum.

The opponent in the final was still an old acquaintance, Russian Tsar Safin.

In the group stage, Federer easily defeated Safin 2-0, but in the final, his style suddenly changed.

The Russian showed strong resilience and excellent competitive state. After three sets and two tie-breaks, which lasted three hours, the two finally defeated Federer with a score of 2-1.

After winning the Paris Masters and the year-end finals in a row, Safin finally returned to the top of the world after nearly a year of recovery from injury.

With the year-end championship, Safin's world ranking returned to the top 5.

Federer, who has become the world's No. 1 again, is not happy at all, but full of sadness.

The Swiss King won the first year-end number one in his career, but he was not happy at all. He could even feel the cynicism of the people around him.

In their opinion, Chen Ran gave up the number one spot at the end of the year, and the opponent didn't care about this false reputation at all. In the two heavyweight competitions at the end of the year, he didn't win a single championship, and he still lost to the same person.

"So God...what's the point of being number one at the end of the year like this?" Federer couldn't help but look up to the sky and sigh as he held the plate representing the runner-up glory.

The 2004 year-end finals will be a strange and interesting event. Although Chen Ran did not participate in the competition, news about him was spread everywhere in the competition.

Of course, there are the endless complaints from the Houston Organizing Committee like a whiny woman.

At the same time, the WTA year-end finals were held in Los Angeles, another city in the United States. Jinhua Zheng Jie from China entered the year-end as a substitute ranked ninth, and became the first Chinese player in history to enter the WTA year-end finals.

However, this big stage is still a bit difficult for Zheng Jie today.

In the end, she won one and lost two, and stopped in the group stage.

The Russian talented girl Sharapova continued her magical journey. In the final against Serena Williams, the latter was affected by injuries and her competitive state was greatly reduced, so she was lucky enough to win her first year-end championship.

At this point, the 2004 tennis season has come to an end.

Looking back on the past season, the world's number one Federer only leads the number two Chen Ran by just over 300 points, and the gap is very slim.

But Chen Ran, who is second, is ahead of Roddick, who is third, by more than 2,000 points, and the gap is obvious.

At this time, many tennis fans and sports media believe that for a long time to come, the main theme of professional tennis will still be "Chen Fei duel", and famous players such as Roddick and Safin can only become spoilers.

Another thing that is very obvious is that Agassi's era has definitely passed.

Maybe by 2005, he will fall out of the top 10 in the world.

From Agassi's perspective, he hopes that he can have a decent retirement scene like Sampras.

But the young people of this generation are obviously unwilling to give him this opportunity.

The overall structure of the tennis world will be one of two superpowers and many strong players.

Of course, this cannot rule out other factors.

The new generation of players born after 85 like Nadal and Wawrinka are also rising rapidly. Who can say that they do not have the ability to win Grand Slams?
For the new generation of players, one year is enough time to transform themselves.

……

"God, I haven't even won a Grand Slam yet, and Chen Ran is already a Golden Slam."

Stimulated by Chen Ran, Nadal trained particularly hard this winter. Spain's warm climate makes it the first choice for many professional tennis players for winter training.

In comparison, the climate in the Magic City is much colder.

But Chen Ran doesn't care about this. When the weather is cold or bad, he can choose to train indoors with the air conditioner on.

Rather than wandering abroad, it is better to stay in a familiar country.

In addition, as tennis has gradually become more popular in China, Sanya, which is like spring all year round, has begun to build many new tennis courts, so that tennis players and enthusiasts from all over the country can continue to play outdoor tennis in the winter.

"Sanya finally realized the business opportunities in this area."

"Very good, this is more than ten years earlier than the original time and space."

From now on, when netizens think of Sanya, they will not only think of the words "Haitian Feast".

During this period, Chen Ran also made a special trip back to his alma mater.

After being very embarrassed and declining the principal's invitation to give a public speech at the school, he followed the normal procedure and completed the exam questions.

Chen Ran estimated that even if the teachers didn't give the answers in advance, there shouldn't be any problem with a score of 60.

Of course, this result is simply unachievable in such a key high school.

"It feels like a lifetime ago!"

After more than half a year, Chen Ran returned to his alma mater, and it felt like a century was so far away.

During this period, the school built a new tennis court, adding to the two tennis courts donated by Chen Ran.

Wherever you look, there are boys and girls playing with tennis rackets.

Compared with other sports, tennis is still very popular among girls.

At this time, a familiar figure flashed in front of Chen Ran's eyes. It was Zhou Jing, the squad leader and classmate in junior high school.

I haven't seen him for almost a year, and my classmate has not changed much. His handsome face has a youthful atmosphere and a smile like a flower.

I just stayed in a key high school for two years, surrounded by students from 985 and 211. Under the influence of my ears and eyes, my bookishness became even stronger.

The difference between this era and ordinary high schools is that in many key high schools, there is actually no difference between first-year high school girls and senior high school girls.

Because in the past three years, they have basically been in a relatively closed learning environment, and they are only in contact with the classmates around them. In addition to studying, they occasionally watch the news and watch TV dramas.

So that won't change much.

Of course, if you have been hanging out in society for three years, the situation will be different.

"Well...compared to the charming Alizee, although these high school girls are about the same age as her, they feel completely different and seem much more honest."

Thinking of this, Chen Ran rubbed his forehead helplessly.

The last time he and the French beauty met was in Athens, Greece. After that, the contact between the two gradually decreased.

It seems that the passion once was slowly fading away.

Fortunately, Chen Ran is no longer an innocent and ignorant young man, and he will not worry about gains and losses because the beauty is gradually moving away.

He doesn't care about eternity, he only cares about what he once had. Anyway, all the postures that should be unlocked are unlocked, so he doesn't lose anything!
After going through thousands of sails, I am only eighteen years old, still a boy!
……

(End of this chapter)