Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 499 Establishing Players Alliance

Chapter 499 Establishing Players Alliance (4K)

The ATP men were very confused, and some were confused.

Why are two of its top players suddenly praising the NBA?

There must be something fishy about this.

They wouldn't be surprised if they praised the Champions League or the Premier League.

Because football is very popular all over the world and has many fans.

Likewise, tennis and football are not competitors at all.

But Chen Ran and Wawrinka didn't know what was wrong with them, and they suddenly started to praise the NBA crazily.

There must be something wrong here.

As the chairman of the ATP, Gordon told himself based on his many years of experience in the industry that these cunning young people must have ulterior motives for saying this.

The ATP and NBA are very friendly on the surface.

Gordon also often sat with NBA Commissioner David Stern, chatting and thinking about the future.

But he also knew that there was a competitive relationship between the two parties.

The NBA has always wanted to promote basketball to the world, and for this purpose it has been recruiting outstanding talents from all over the world.

In Asia, Europe, and America, as long as they have strength, they will catch them all.

The ATP also hopes that players from all continents can participate, which will also help promote tennis and attract more sponsors.

What's more, in terms of global popularity and popularity, basketball and tennis can indeed compete as the second largest ball sports.

Because like football, baseball, ice hockey, and cricket, although their annual output value is not low, they are regional sports after all and are not globally popular.

Ball sports have unparalleled charm, which is unmatched by non-ball sports.

Although track and field and swimming are also very popular around the world, they are not competitive with ball sports.

So even if Chen Ran and Wawrinka praised track and field or swimming, the ATP men would not take it seriously at all.

How much prize money are there in these competitions?
But these two people praised the NBA so much that the ATP men felt that there was a problem.

At this moment, Chen Ran has returned to China.

This is even more troublesome for the ATP men.

Your kid has already withdrawn from the grass court season, what else are you trying to do?

Since there is no ATP Masters in the grass-court season, Chen Ran is not polite at all. Except for Wimbledon, he has not participated in any grass-court tournaments in the past two years.

But what shocked them even more was that Chen Ran's achievements in Wimbledon were quite dazzling, including a quarterfinal and a championship.

Some people are born to be masters on grass, so don’t you accept it?

At this time, Gordon received another news. Nadal, who had just won the French Open runner-up, announced his withdrawal from the Queen's Cup.

Ah this?

In theory, the Queen's Cup is the most influential grass-court tournament besides Wimbledon.

The British particularly like Federer and invite him to participate in this tournament almost every year.

Chen Ran has never participated in the Queen's Cup because the UK did not provide him with an appearance fee that satisfied him and was unwilling to make concessions in terms of taxation.

After all, with the exception of football, athletes from any other sport participating in competitions held in the UK must accept the UK’s global taxation policy.

As for football, the British don’t dare to do this, otherwise would your Premier League team still want to participate in the Champions League?

Obviously, the British tax authorities like to bully the weak and shy away from the strong.

Nadal also quit?
The tax issue was on the one hand, and on the other hand, he was so exhausted from the French Open final against Chen Ran that his body was almost in a state of fragmentation.

If Nadal had such an impressive record as Chen Ran, he would even consider taking a good break during the grass-court season.

Different from his previous life, Nadal in this time and space did not show his unique dominance on clay courts, which also left him with no extra energy to study how to play better on grass courts.

Chen Ran and Nadal were absent one after another. This year's Queen's Cup, the stars are dim!
Gordon was a little helpless.

"These stingy British guys!"

In fact, he is also very dissatisfied with the British, not only him, but also all previous ATP presidents, so everyone has always had a tacit understanding and has not established a grass-court Masters.

There are currently nine Masters tournaments, 6 on hard courts, 3 on clay, plus the year-end finals. This is the top resource in the hands of the ATP.

Even if there is a tenth Masters in the future, the first choice will be Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates, which are full of rich people, and the United Kingdom will definitely not be chosen.

After all, the four Grand Slams are not owned by the ATP, but are organized by the local organizing committees of these four countries. They can only drink some soup.

"Mr. Gordon..."

The assistant found him with a strange look on his face.

"what's up?"

"Currently, Chen Ran and Wawrinka are taking the lead to form a new tennis players' alliance."

"Safin, Roddick and other famous players have also joined this new players' alliance."

"As an American, Roddick even said he would visit the NBA Players Association to learn from their advanced experience."

"What?" Gordon slapped the table, his beard almost sticking out, "No wonder Chen Ran and Wawrinka were bragging about the NBA before. It turned out that this was their purpose."

I have to admit that among so many professional leagues in the world, the NBA protects the interests of players best.

For example, the "amnesty clause" newly introduced through labor negotiations not long ago allows the team to lay off players in order to avoid luxury, but it must pay the player's remaining contract in full and not occupy the team's salary space, while the player can still Sign with other teams.

This is equivalent to one person working two jobs.

This clause is a win-win for the players and the team. There is no need to avoid the luxury tax and make it ugly for both parties.

The NBA has a lot of junk contracts, which is a headache for team owners but also the envy of athletes in other sports.

His form has declined, he has lost his main position, and one day he even went to guard the water fountain, but his salary is still the same, and every penny is penny.

It's so jealous.

You must know that teams in Europe's top football leagues are still in arrears of wages from time to time.

What's more, they verbally promise to give you an after-tax annual salary, but they will deliberately forget to pay the tax, and finally let the tax department come to you.

For example, football champion Maradona was arrested by the Italian tax authorities when his plane landed in Italy on the grounds that he owed taxes, but in fact his previous club did not pay him back taxes.

The NBA is all pre-tax, and there will be no intentional failure to pay taxes or malicious arrears of wages.

"It must be Roddick!"

After Gordon came to his senses, he said excitedly: "Roddick is an American, this must be his bad idea!" He suddenly cursed in his heart.

After all, Roddick is an American, and the NBA is an American professional sports league.

"Mr.president……"

Gordon's assistant continued: "I want to know your attitude towards the players' alliance?"

"Attitude? Very good. We at ATP have always been committed to ensuring the interests of the players. When they are good, we will be good."

Gordon is also an old fox, and he said without missing a beat: "Chen Ran said that the biggest problem in tennis is the four Grand Slams, but I can't control the four Grand Slams. The bonuses given to players by the ATP Tour are already very considerable."

"I stress again, I personally have no objection to the emergence of a new players' alliance."

Of course the assistant knew in his heart that the Mr. Chairman in front of him was not telling the truth. These were just high-sounding words.

ATP's financial situation is very healthy and they make enough profits every year. Even the huge prize money and dividends from the year-end finals are only a small part of their income.

"The new players' alliance has stated that it wants to benefit the bottom players, and they are discussing response plans." The assistant continued.

"Okay, very good!" Gordon gently stroked his palms, looking very grand, "I'm looking forward to their plan and see what new ideas they can come up with."

……

From the perspective of the Chinese media, although they also reported on the players' alliance led by Chen Ran this time, it did not have the overwhelming public opinion effect like when he won the French Open.

First of all, Chen Ran has achieved financial freedom.

Several other Chinese men's players are ranked outside the 150th place in the world, and they have organized body protection. They don't need to worry about this matter at all, and they will not wade into this muddy water, although they may benefit from it in the future.

Then, this matter is mainly a conflict between men's players and the ATP, and has nothing to do with the WTA, so it is impossible for those golden flowers from China to participate.

The WTA's current financial situation is not bad, but it is not as wealthy as the ATP, so the bonuses they can give to women players have almost reached the limit.

You can't operate at a loss.

However, the issue that the Chinese media is most concerned about now is when Chen Ran will win his seventh Grand Slam championship trophy, the total number is the same as Agassi.

"I should participate in this year's US Open, but I don't know if I can win?"

"I had to rest after a long and tiring clay court season and I was still injured."

Even though several days had passed, Chen Ran still felt that his thighs were sore.

Although he has a physical attribute as high as 95, there is no absolute relationship between the physical endurance and physical attributes.

High-intensity exercise also placed a high burden on his body.

You see, among the Big Three, Djokovic is the most durable.

Djokovic has basically never suffered serious injuries, but Djokovic's body is actually not as strong as Nadal or Federer.

In particular, Nadal is as strong as an ox, full of energy, runs all over the court, and is never tired. His physical fitness is definitely the most outstanding among the three, but he also suffered the most injuries among the three.

Chen Ran knew this very well, so after experiencing an extremely brilliant clay court season, he decisively chose to rest.

train? He can do it at any time, and he also has the "simulated training ground" plug-in.

"As you know, the US Open is the last Grand Slam event. Every year at the US Open, many players' condition declines. After all, after a busy season, the players' mental and competitive state, There will definitely be fluctuations.”

"I must stress again, I am a human, not a robot!"

Chen Ran said very seriously: "My points have ensured that I can enter this year's Magic City year-end finals, so I want to relax in the next few months and go all out to prepare for the year-end."

"So far, I have won all the heavyweight championships in tennis, but I am missing a year-end championship."

"If we can win the year-end championship in Shanghai, it will be a wonderful feeling."

"As for the US Open, I was absent last year, but I won't be absent this year. As for the results? Just let it happen, I won't force it!"

The implication is obvious. He is more eager to win the year-end championship than the US Open.

Three years ago, Chen Ran came to Shanghai as a newcomer to participate in the ATP Challenger Tour, and also witnessed superstars such as Agassi, Safin, and Federer.

At that time, he made a promise that he would appear in the year-end finals three years later.

He did it, and did it better than planned.

"I think Andre will be relieved after hearing the news." Chen Ran continued, and he did not miss the opportunity to tease Agassi.

The reporters in the audience also smiled knowingly when they heard this.

When will Agassi retire?
This time is actually very flexible and depends entirely on Chen Ran's condition.

The two old and new kings are completely in a state of intrigue.

Therefore, what Chen Ran just said, indicating that he does not pay attention to the US Open, is a smoke bomb?

Chen Ran found that reporters were not interested in the players' alliance, so he planned to take the initiative to talk about this topic.

After all, he is the leader of this alliance.

"I have always felt that our relationship with the ATP is similar to the relationship between NBA players and the NBA league."

"We are all part-time workers. Others buy tickets and pay broadcast fees because of us players."

The reporters immediately echoed: "Yes, yes, it's impossible to come to see the referees, and it's also impossible to come to see those old men from the ATP."

Chen Ran shrugged and continued: "So I think we should reach a long-term and stable cooperation agreement with the ATP, instead of being like now, day by day, with no guarantee at all."

"Chen Ran, what do you mean?"

"First of all, if a player is injured during a game, should the ATP be responsible for all subsequent medical expenses? Companies in most countries in the world also talk about work-related injuries, but as the most successful professional sports league in the world, the ATP doesn't care about anything. in spite of?"

"I think whether the injury is caused by training or competition, as long as the player is in the ATP ranking system and has participated in a tour or challenge tournament, the ATP should bear the medical expenses, or they should fund the purchase of injury insurance."

"I think this is not too much to ask."

The reporter below immediately replied: "It's not too much. This is really not too much."

They travel to cover games, and if they are injured, they can report to their unit.

These tennis players are more likely to be injured than reporters.

"A few more points..." Chen Ran paused, and then deliberately took out a small note from his pocket, "I won't tell you for now, and I will tell everyone when I have the opportunity later."

He deliberately put it off to whet his appetite.

"Let's resolve the injury issue first. By the way, Roddick invited me to visit the NBA Players Association to learn from their advanced experience."

……

(End of this chapter)

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