Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 509: Unpopular Hotbed
"Chen Ran, what do you think of the results of the draw?"

Just as Chen Ran was flirting with the little Saihei girl, a Chinese reporter hurried over to ask him.

What? The lottery results have come out?
Chen Ran almost forgot about this incident.

At this moment, Ivanovich stood quietly aside, even a little at a loss, like a little girl who had made a mistake.

She suddenly realized that she had been so busy chatting that she had forgotten to pay attention to the ongoing lottery ceremony.

"Will Chen Ran blame me?"

Ivanovich thought involuntarily.

However, Chen Ran showed disapproval and asked directly: "Is it the upper half or the lower half?"

"Bottom half!" the reporter immediately replied, "You and Roddick are in the same half, and Federer and Nadal are in the same half."

In the same half zone as Roddick again?
It seems that the organizing committee did not take much care of the current number one player in the United States.

Although this guy has maintained a losing streak whether facing him or Federer.

But from the perspective of possibility analysis, Roddick's probability of defeating Federer is greater than Chen Ran.

But from the perspective of the organizing committee, this guy can't win anyway, so it's better to hype up the topic of the showdown between China and the United States in the semifinals, raise the ticket price, and celebrate.

Of course, the premise is that Roddick can reach the semi-finals. If he performs abnormally, he is likely to be eliminated early.

After all, this guy's state has been very unstable recently, which has led to poor relations with some American media.

Obviously, the United States has been extremely disappointed with Roddick, especially after losing to Hewitt at home last year, they even criticized him verbally.

Chen Ran took a rough look at the lottery form, and this time he could only say that it was quite satisfactory.

The road to the finals cannot be said to be easy, but it is by no means smooth sailing.

According to the lottery order, the quarter-finals will face Safin, and the 8/1 finals will face Grosjean. The first three rounds are all unseeded players.

"As the biggest favorite to win the championship, we all look forward to whether you can equal Agassi's number of Grand Slams at this US Open. Do you think so too?"

An American reporter mentioned this point specifically for some unknown purpose.

Some guys like to emphasize this point tirelessly and want Chen Ran to be the target of public criticism.

The new king succeeded the old king, and it happened at Agassi's home court. It's exciting to think about it.

"This is too far away. My goal is to play well in the next game. I don't think about it so much." Chen Ran was very humble. "I know that my performance in Toronto and Cincinnati was good, but it is not good for me to get out of shape too early." A good thing, so I have to be a little cautious."

He told himself that he must remain calm at all times.

Now that we have entered the Internet age, everyone has the habit of surfing the Internet.

However, one of the major drawbacks is that players are likely to be confused by countless rainbow farts and lose themselves.

The competition has not officially kicked off, and the raging heat wave can already be deeply felt.

Everyone now likes to pit themselves against Agassi.

Chen Ran remembers clearly that even Agassi at the end of his career still had bright spots.

For example, at this year's US Open, he unexpectedly made it to the finals, but ultimately lost to Federer.

Regardless of whether this guy took drugs or not, his performance was far better than that of his nominal heir Roddick. As an athlete from America, don't tell me that this guy will be a good boy?

So is it time to let the damn media divert their attention sometimes?
Chen Ran glanced at the little girl beside him, and then said directly in front of the Chinese reporters: "Ana, since we are planning to form mixed doubles next year, we can train together later."

Ivanovich's eyes lit up and he immediately replied: "Yes, of course no problem."

For a professional female tennis player, the best sparring partner is definitely the top male players in the ATP. They are the highest level tennis players on the planet. "Don't let me, you must increase your intensity." Ivanovic said immediately, "I want to see how big the gap is between me and the real number one player in the world."

The first person in the WTA can only be regarded as the first woman, while the first person in ATP is the real first person in the world.

Is there a situation?
Several Chinese reporters looked at each other.

Could it be that Chen Ran has a close relationship with the rising star in tennis from Serbia and Montenegro?

Especially looking at the girl's eyes, her admiration is undisguised.

……

The US Open has officially begun.

On the first competition day, the men's first half and women's first half competitions kicked off first.

Although all four Grand Slams are no exception and event arrangements need to take attendance into account, there is no doubt that the US Open is the event with the most resolute implementation.

No player has any privileges in Flushing. Everything is aimed at "attendance, ratings, and box office." This is the only criterion.

The US Open always likes to arrange topical duels, focus duels, and gimmick duels in the most important courts.

It can be easily summed up in a later word: traffic.

New York has a large Asian population and a significant economic influence.

The organizing committee very considerately arranged for Chen Ran's first opponent to be Thai Sri Chaphan.

A showdown between two of Asia's best players.

Poor Srichaphan, he is currently the highest ranked unseeded player in the world, which means that he just fell out of the seed seat and was used as a tool by the beautiful country.

However, because Chen Ran is in the bottom half, his game can only be played on the second match day.

The US Open is indeed a hotbed of unpopularity.

On the first match day alone, six seeded players in the women's singles were eliminated, including Jinhua Zheng Jie of the China Women's Tennis Team.

The curse of "Grand Slam Syndrome" continues, and some media have even begun to call for Zheng Jie to change her coach.

Indeed, when a player reaches a bottleneck or even declines in competitive form, it seems that the only option left is to change coaches.

In addition, Li Na and Yan Zi from the Chinese Women's Tennis Team also failed in the first round.

This means that in just one day, the Chinese women's tennis team with a strong lineup was completely wiped out.

It seems that although China's tennis is strong, its dominance is still far from that of badminton and table tennis.

No matter how great Chen Ran's advantages are, it is impossible to turn tennis into table tennis and badminton.

On the men's side, three seeded players were also eliminated.

In particular, there is a heavyweight Safin.

This was originally Chen Ran's potential opponent in the quarter-finals in the preview.

As a result, the Russian Tsar was in a very sluggish state. He lost to a qualifying player 1-3 and packed up his bags and left early.

Chen Ran watched Safin being eliminated, but he was very calm: "I just said, the draw is not accurate, especially at the US Open."

……

(End of this chapter)