Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 507 Welcome back to New York
Chen Ran arrived in New York early.

"Let us welcome the number one player in tennis, Chen Ran, back to New York!"

The US Open Organizing Committee specially hung a huge altitude picture in Times Square in New York, with this line of text.

Chen Ran on the poster is holding a tennis racket and looking majestic.

I remember that in his previous life, Djokovic, who missed the US Open for two years due to the epidemic, returned to the US Open in 2023. The organizing committee also specially hung a welcome poster on the big screen in Times Square. (Djokovic refused to play YIMIAO due to physical allergies, and did not hesitate to miss the Australian Open and the US Open for this reason. Facts have proved that he is right...)
Chen Ran also missed last year's US Open and returned this year.

In order to welcome the well-deserved number one player in the world back to the US Open, the New York Organizing Committee has given ample arrangements.

Although on the surface, Agassi is still the number one active player with seven Grand Slams, everyone knows that this is Chen Ran's era.

He is only 19 years old. If there are no injuries and no new talents emerge, Chen Ran is likely to rule for a long time.

From the 70s, 80s, and even the 90s in the future, it seems that they will all live in Chen Ran’s shadow.

"Chen, how does it feel to be back in Flushing again?"

After arriving in New York, Chen Ran appeared in the public eye for the first time.

I saw him wearing blue short-sleeves and white shorts, with a faint smile hanging on the corner of his mouth, so bright that countless cameras clicked their shutters.

This is a new US Open jersey specially designed by Nike for Chen Ran.

It is foreseeable that this style of sportswear will become a best-seller in the future.

North America and China have always been the two markets that Nike attaches most importance to.

Today is Chen Ran's first training at Flushing Stadium.

"Very good. I regretfully missed the US Open last year, but I have always missed the feeling of playing in Flushing." As Chen Ran spoke, he waved to the surroundings with a smile, which attracted a burst of cheers from around him.

"Among the four Grand Slam courses, Flushing Stadium is the largest. Playing here is like being in a huge and empty space. It feels so different."

Everyone was suddenly speechless.

Is this a compliment or a disservice?
US tennis courts are often criticized by players for being too large and empty.

So they were a little confused for a while.

"Do you think you are the favorite to win the championship?"

"I'm just one of the favorites... I haven't been to Flushing in two years, so I have to adapt to the stadium here."

Since winning the Rogers Cup and Cincinnati Cup back-to-back, Chen Ran's competitive status has reached a peak.

If he can keep up his efforts and win the US Open, he will dominate the entire North American season.

In addition, Chen Ran also mentioned before that the US Open should be the last tournament he participates in overseas this year.

After September, there will be the Chinese season, and then there will be the year-end finals in Shanghai. Chen Ran will no longer participate in the European indoor season.

He burned his last passion in Flushing.

"Who do you think will be your strongest opponent?"

"Grand Slam tournaments are different, so I can only confirm it after reaching the quarterfinals. If I am careless, it is not impossible to be blocked from the quarterfinals."

Audiences who are familiar with competitive sports should know that the competitive state requires adjustment, improvement, and adaptation. Through the polishing of actual combat and the influence of competition, only in this way can the best competitive state be slowly found.

In a best-of-five-set Grand Slam match, the attention, atmosphere, and the players' own mentality adjustments will always affect your on-the-spot performance.

This is a completely different rhythm from the Tour or even the Olympics.

Therefore, Chen Ran acted very cautiously, saying that he would first target the top eight and wait until he reaches the top eight before discussing anything else.

He is under great pressure, and even all aspects of his actions will receive huge attention. The whole world is paying attention to Chen Ran's every move.

Because once he wins the US Open, the number of Grand Slams will be equal to Agassi's.

This is an honor, but also a huge pressure.

Chen Ran is not yet 20 years old.

But he must move forward under heavy pressure.

At the same time, there were screams and cheers on social networks.

Chen Ran's fans from all over the world seem to think that it is a sure thing that he will win the US Open.

The goal of tying Agassi in one fell swoop will be accomplished soon.

There are even some radical fans who said: Andre, if you want to be more dignified, just retire. It's still too late!
Indeed, if Chen Ran equals Agassi's number of Grand Slams in his territory, it will be a very heart-wrenching thing.

Wouldn't it be even more frustrating if the two met again in the game?
It can be said that in this time and space, Chen Ran has replaced Federer as the most watched superstar.

In Flushing, he received almost more attention than the second-place Federer, the third-place Nadal, and the fourth-place Roddick combined.

Tennis is indeed a winner-takes-all sport.

Similarly, for Chinese journalists, this year's US Open is also a test.

What they are hesitant about is how much reporting resources to invest.

After Zheng Jie won the French Open, she unsurprisingly fell into the "Grand Slam Syndrome" and failed to break into the deep rounds either at Wimbledon or the WTA Tour.

Therefore, CCTV is not very optimistic about the female tennis player Jinhua’s trip to the US Open.

The focus is still on Chen Ran.

How far he can go determines the resources invested by Chinese media.

But they can't be too favorable to one and ignore the existence of women's net too much, so as not to attract people's attention.

As a last resort, CCTV finally showed courage after hesitation and hesitation.

They will set off as planned according to the original size of the original team. Visas and hotels have been booked, and they are not prepared to back down.

After all, no matter what, on the surface China has male and female Grand Slam winners. For the sake of fairness, it still invests massive reporting resources on both sides.

Although two local TV stations eventually canceled the trip, it is hard to believe that the official and unofficial interview teams from China totaled more than 300 people. This was the statistics when the two TV stations canceled the trip. Such a large scale Than the Olympics.

The difference is that there are more than 20 different events in the Olympics and hundreds of athletes; however, there is only one event in the US Open, and there are barely seven or eight Chinese players participating, including all qualifying players.

There is no doubt that this is the first of its kind.

When the large-scale Chinese media arrived in New York, they were also attracted by the large poster in Times Square that read "Welcome Chen Ran back to New York."

The Chinese people at the turn of the century were too eager to win respect and recognition from the outside world, especially from beautiful countries like this.

When they saw the welcome poster, they were very excited and immediately sent the news back to China.

Even "Xinwen Lianbo" made a special report.

What a show.

……

(End of this chapter)