Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 542 Chen Ran, I can only rely on you!

Chen Ran's opponents in the group stage are Roddick, Gonzalez, and Safin.

In the three group matches, he won all the games with a score of 2-0 without any suspense and faced almost no challenge.

In another group, Federer unexpectedly lost to Nadal, but Nadal lost to Wawrinka, and Nalbandian was at the bottom of the group.

As a result, Federer, Nadal, and Wawrinka all had two wins and one loss, and they formed a win-loss cycle among themselves.

After calculating the scores, Federer ranked first in the group, Nadal ranked second, and the Swiss guy was unfortunately eliminated.

The much-anticipated "Chen Na showdown" will be staged in the semi-finals.

However, everyone also found that although Federer won first place in the group, his condition was indeed not good, far worse than the previous Paris Masters.

Chen Ran is just the opposite. He is now in high spirits and looks like he can sweep away all the enemies. Compared with his previous state in the Shenzhen Masters, he can be said to be completely new.

After careful research for a long time, many media outlets came to a conclusion.

The reason why Chen Ran is in such good shape is that he missed the European Indoor Season and got enough rest time.

The top players are exhausted.

Nowadays, there are more and more games every year, which makes the players overwhelmed.

The continuous battles have prevented these players from performing at their best.

The players are exhausted, their physical strength and energy have reached the limit, and they have run out of energy in the final sprint for a place in the year-end finals. Just look at the upsets in the Shenzhen and Paris Masters tournaments. These are understandable objective factors.

Especially in the past few days, the weather in Shanghai has not been very good and it has been raining all the time.

Although the year-end finals were held indoors, the bad weather did affect the players' preparations.

Coming from Europe to East Asia, we have to adapt to the environment.

What's more, the players' preparations for the year-end finals are not a complete cycle like preparing for the Grand Slam tournaments.

Only someone like Chen Ran who is leading in points by a large margin can arrange his or her competition plan reasonably.

As a result, several group stage matches did not produce the exciting scenes that the fans were eager to see, which disappointed many spectators who spent a lot of money to buy tickets.

After all, those who can afford the tickets for the year-end finals in Shanghai are basically middle class or above.

"Sweep", "crushing defeat" and "complete victory" are like viruses, constantly happening in the Qi Zhong Stadium.

From the process to the score, from the confrontation to the stalemate, the whole game was not intense or stalemate at all, and the quality can be said to be terrible.

So far, only Chen Ran and Nadal, the "physical freak", have maintained a level above normal, which is worthy of the high ticket price here.

But even so, all the group stage games were a bit boring.

Some media even broke the news: "Argentine Nalbandian is actually injured, so he finished last in the group and lost three games in a row, not even winning a set."

But why didn't he withdraw from the competition, but insisted on continuing with the injury?

Except for the special existence of Chen Ran, most players can only run and lift the racket, and are unwilling to give up their year-end qualifications to those substitute players.

This is normal, the appearance fee for the year-end finals is too high.

Even if he lost the game, he still received nearly $20 in appearance fees.

The players would rather drag their injured bodies and persevere than easily give up their qualification to substitute players.

Unless you really can't even walk or lift your arms, you will not withdraw from the year-end competition with great reluctance.

The organizing committee of Shanghai couldn't help but sigh: Fortunately, we have Chen Ran, otherwise the box office would be unimaginable.

……

The fifth match day was the day of the semi-finals. The first semi-final was between Federer and Chilean star Gonzalez.

However, on the eve of the game, Federer announced that he had to withdraw from the game due to a back injury.

Gonzalez secured a spot in the finals ahead of schedule.

Although the organizing committee promised that it would refund all spectators who had purchased tickets for this game as soon as possible.

But obviously, these compensations alone cannot satisfy the audience.

What about the round trip fare?
Some people even booked round-trip hotels!
Immediately, the whole audience booed and demanded more compensation.

What is certain, however, is that these requirements cannot be met.

Player injuries are unknown factors that even the players themselves cannot predict.

But if a player is injured and really can't play, you can't force him.

If the organizing committee compensates for this as well, wouldn't they be left with nothing?
As for some spectators, they requested to exchange this ticket for the next semi-final.

The tickets for the next semi-final have already been sold out and there are only so many seats. Can't we just kick them out and let you sit there?

This requirement is obviously impossible to meet.

Therefore, even though the audience was cursing, the organizing committee had no choice but to carry on.

At this moment, the 12345 hotline in Shanghai was basically overwhelmed by complaints from the audience, who strongly demanded not only a refund for their tickets but also compensation for their round-trip fare.

Shanghai hosted the annual finals for the next four years, but the first one in 2005 seemed to have a bad start.

There is pressure from the Internet and public opinion, especially in Shanghai, a city where residents have the strongest awareness of rights protection.

The competition itself has attracted national attention and brought together major media outlets. Any negative news, once amplified, will have unpredictable consequences.

Under various pressures from both inside and outside, the Magic City Organizing Committee had to make compromises.

In addition to a full refund, all spectators who have purchased tickets for the semi-final between Federer and Gonzalez can also purchase tickets for the final at a 8% discount.

The 20% discount will be used as compensation for travel expenses and accommodation.

Of course, the prerequisite is that Chen Ran makes it to the finals.

If Chen Ran is eliminated in the semi-finals, the ticket price for the finals can only be further discounted, or the audience can simply be subsidized.

"Chen Ran, I'm relying on you!"

"You must win the semi-finals and make it to the finals."

The organizing committee of Shanghai could only pray in their hearts.

"What has actually happened?"

When Chen Ran learned the result, he was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

He attaches great importance to this year's year-end because he has lacked the top honor of year-end championship in his career and hopes that he can achieve perfection.

As a result, it seemed that he himself had become the savior of this year's year-end finals.

Shanghai was prepared to make a loss in the first year of hosting this event, but it did not want to end up in a mess.

Chen Ran didn't expect that he would become the key to hosting this event.

……

(End of this chapter)