Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 598: Chen Ran is not around, I can't play basketball anymore (4K)

Finally, Chen Ran successfully defended his title in the year-end finals.

He has said before that the year-end finals are as important as the Grand Slam.

But at this moment, Chen Ran opened his heart and said: "If we talk about the difficulty of defending the title, there is no doubt that the difficulty of the year-end finals is higher than that of the Grand Slam."

Not only because it only happens once a year, but also because the event is held at the end of the year.

After a busy season, you have to defeat other world-class players in the Huashan Contest.

The difficulty can be imagined.

As for this amazing bonus, it is the best compliment to you.

"It's a pity that Chen Ran lost a game in the group stage and was unable to get the full bonus of $300 million for winning all five games. According to the rules, losing a game will result in a loss of $30 in the winning bonus. Chen Ran received $270 million in this year's year-end finals, the same as last year." The CCTV host explained the bonuses and rules in a nagging manner, even with a somewhat regretful tone.

Maybe in his opinion, Chen Ran should have won the match in the group stage.

This is still a perfect season, even more perfect than last year.

He won three Grand Slam titles and one runner-up, plus the year-end finals championship. Although he only won two Masters titles, which is much less than last year, this did not affect Chen Ran's position as the world's number one.

To date, Chen Ran’s honor roll includes two year-end championships, ten Grand Slams, and sixteen Masters titles.

This honor far exceeds any other active player.

“Four seasons!”

"Chen Ran has been ranked first at the end of the year for four consecutive seasons."

“Next year, will there be someone else to end his strong run?”

The ATP's official website also had the same headline.

In today's professional tennis, it seems that only the competition between second and third place has become suspenseful, while the first place is always as solid as a rock.

Meanwhile, China's "Sports Weekly" also published a headline: Is tennis becoming table tennis? Don't worry!

Chen Ran is just a special case, a talented tennis player who emerged out of nowhere. He was born for tennis.

Because of Chen Ran, tennis has become popular in China.

However, the overall strength of Chinese tennis is still very backward, especially on the men's side.

In the ATP rankings of the top 200 in the world, there is still only Chen Ran, the only male singles player in the entire China.

In the Davis Cup, a team competition, the Chinese national team is still struggling to win.

Even at the lower-level Asian Games held not long ago, Chinese men's singles tennis players still didn't win a single bronze medal.

On one hand, Chen Ran was making great progress, while on the other hand, the other Chinese male tennis players were struggling to win.

Such a tragic and sharp contrast also made many reporters believe that table tennis would not become the only dominant sport.

"What if Chen Ran retires one day?"

"Although he is still young and it is too early to assume this, this day will come sooner or later."

"Besides, many players will go downhill after the age of 30, so ten years is not far away."

"At that time, will Chinese tennis return to its previous state?"

"Or in other words, if Chen Ran is injured and misses an important competition, then there are no other Chinese male athletes worth paying attention to?"

Many Chinese media outlets have expressed concern.

As the saying goes, if you don't plan for the future, you will have immediate worries.

The Chinese people's character trait is that they like to plan ahead.

It's not just tennis. Chinese men's basketball is currently at its most prosperous period in history, but poor youth training and weak reserve talents have made many media people in the industry worried about the future.

As for football reporters, they are even more worried about this: with China's youth training system now almost collapsed, it is now second-rate in Asia, and in the future it will be third-rate in Asia.

So, after the press conference, someone specifically asked Chen Ran this question.

"In such a huge country like China, how long will it take for the next player to gain a foothold in the tour besides you?"

"how long?"

Chen Ran touched his chin, then glanced at the year-end championship trophy beside him, and also felt that this question was difficult to answer.

Under normal circumstances, if we follow the trajectory of our previous lives, we will have to wait until at least 2020.

But even so, those Chinese male players can only play supporting roles in the ATP tour.

A second week at a Grand Slam, or a semi-final or even a final at a top event, remains elusive.

Tennis, after all, is a winner-takes-all sport.

If you can't make it deep into the tour for a long time, then there is no way to talk about fame or exposure.

"This is very difficult." After a short silence, Chen Ran spoke, "Your world ranking must be at least around 100th to be eligible to appear on the tour, excluding wildcards."

"But you also know that in professional tennis, there are about a hundred players who are replaced one after another every year."

"Because even though you have reached this level, you may not be able to gain a foothold at this level. If you are not strong enough, you will fall out quickly."

To give the simplest example, Wu Yibing, who was the first to win the ATP Tour Championship in his previous life, once had a world ranking of over 50, but his fragile, glass-like body could not support such high-intensity competition.

A year later, he quickly fell out of the ATP tour circle.

This is not an isolated case, but a very cruel fact that happens to tennis players in many countries every year.

Even in this time and space, there are ready-made examples.

For example, two years ago, when Chen Ran emerged, he also brought another newcomer, Zeng Shaoxuan, who was born in 81, to participate in the tour.

This guy had some outstanding performances at one point, reaching the second round of a tour tournament and beating super clay rookies like Roddick at the Clay Masters.

But his strength is obviously not enough to keep him a foothold in the tour for long.

After barely holding on for more than half a year, he had to go back to the Challenge Tournament because he kept losing.

"The tour platform is actually very cruel to those players other than the top players." Chen Ran talked about it, and this is also his true feeling.

"There are quasi-first-rate players, second-rate players, quasi-second-rate players, and those one hundred or so third-rate players. The gap between them is not that big, and it is normal for them to win and lose against each other."

"Also, there are always great newcomers in this sport. Some are ranked outside the top 500, or even around the top , but they burst into the tour with unstoppable momentum."

"There are always some good young guys who come and kick the ass of some old guys. This is tennis. You can't rely on your age to gain advantage."

If it is a team sport, the elder brother can just leave the hard and dirty work to the young people, and then happily brush some data, and then let the media market how strong he is, how impressive the data is, and that the loss is only due to the teammates' lack of strength. As a senior and a veteran, you must respect me!

But tennis is different. Young players only want to beat the veterans.

Respect? What the hell is that? It doesn't exist!
Chen Ran has personally witnessed that quasi-giant players like Murray and Wawrinka could only participate in some challenge tournaments at the end of their careers, and they felt extremely lonely.

Chen Ran's words also made many reporters present nod in agreement.

In recent years, more and more Chinese journalists have entered this industry to report tennis news.

Just as Yao Ming supports a bunch of basketball reporters, Chen Ran supports an even larger number of tennis reporters.

Everyone also deeply realized how cruel the competition in tennis is.

Tennis and table tennis are completely different.

"Who knows? Maybe my condition will suddenly decline one day and I won't be competitive anymore." Chen Ran said with some self-mockery, "After all, so many people are staring at me. I am the target of everyone's criticism."

"Think about Martina Hingis. She was so popular. Many people thought she would dominate women's tennis for a long time, but she fell at a very fast pace."

He also knew someone, Haining.

Henin's peak period may only last for one or two years, and he will soon be forced to retire due to injuries.

Serena Williams? She did have a long peak. But she is American, and like Agassi, she can take drugs like crazy.

Everyone knows it.

Especially at Serena Williams' home court, the US Open, drug use was even more unscrupulous.

But he is not as stupid as Agassi to brag about his drug use in his autobiography and leave such obvious evidence.

They are very low-key in this regard, and the ATP can only turn a blind eye.

The so-called World Anti-Doping Agency is full of people from the United States. How can you fight against them?

Like Djokovic and Chinese swimmer Sun Yang, they have to undergo countless drug tests throughout the year, and there is no room for any chance for cheating.

It’s just that the ATP is stronger and willing to protect its star players, unlike the amateur team like the World AFC.

Over the past year, Chen Ran has also frequently undergone drug tests.

He also used cheats, but the way he used cheats was impossible for the other party to detect.

"Then Chen Ran... do you think it will be difficult for Zheng Jie to recreate the glory of last year's French Open?"

Soon, another reporter raised a question that many Chinese football fans were particularly concerned about.

At this moment, at the WTA year-end finals held in Madrid, Spain, Zheng Jie lost all three group matches and ranked last in the group.

The only reward might be the appearance fee of about 50 US dollars for three games.

Many Chinese fans expressed their disappointment: This is her second and most likely her last trip to the year-end finals.

Today's WTA is full of stars, and the competition is also the most intense.

She has fulfilled her talents and even pushed her potential to the limit.

But even so, the year-end finals stage is indeed a bit too difficult for her.

What is even more frustrating is that some media have begun to add insult to injury: Instead of suffering three consecutive defeats in the group stage, it would be better to honestly participate in the Asian Games and still have a chance to win gold.

There isn't much reward for a gold medal in a major Asian Games, how can it compare to the considerable appearance fee at the year-end finals?

Many fans also followed suit and started to mock.

Indeed, Zheng Jie lost so badly in the year-end finals that all kinds of rumors emerged.

She couldn't do what Chen Ran did, sweeping away all the opponents with his strong performance and dispelling all objections.

"At least she has won the French Open. No matter what the future holds, her career has been exciting enough. A Grand Slam title is what many tennis players dream of." Chen Ran could only say this after a pause.

"As for her choosing the year-end finals instead of the Asian Games, this is normal. Any tennis player with a normal brain would know what to choose."

"Really, there's no need to take this kind of multi-sport event too seriously. It's not important."

He was already very disgusted with the fact that some people always compared this thing with the year-end, so he directly and bluntly refuted it.

"I have another question, about your girlfriend..."

Chen Ran covered his forehead and smiled helplessly.

Ivanovich is indeed a girl who "keeps her word".

Her form at the end of the year was indeed good. She won the 500 tournament, reached the Masters final, and reached the US Open semi-finals.

But the Serbian beauty was in very bad shape in the year-end finals in Madrid.

Like Zheng Jie, she was also eliminated from the group.

But unlike Zheng Jie, Ivanovic was eliminated in the group stage, which surprised many people.

The only game she won was against Zheng Jie, and her performance in other games was totally unsatisfactory.

The lead was overturned, or the game was reversed after getting the match point.

After the group stage, the girl hurriedly packed her luggage and prepared to take a flight directly from Madrid to Shanghai, without any intention of staying.

But when this girl was interviewed by the media, she said without any reservation: "Without Chen Ran around, I feel like I can't even play basketball anymore."

This tennis goddess is so straightforward.

Chen Ran was speechless because of his honesty.

Can we talk about the jokes we make in private outside?

Perhaps, in the eyes of the other party, this is just a way to show affection.

However, because of Ivanovich's words, those European and American reporters with dirty thoughts in their heads wondered: Is it because you don't have a "body fluid exchange" relationship that caused your competitive state to decline?

After all, there have been rumors that Chen Ran is the Tang Monk in professional tennis.

"Damn it, these guys are really like dogs that can't spit out ivory."

Especially because the WTA was held in Madrid, Spain at the end of the year, several famous "toilet newspapers" in Spain really analyzed seriously why Ivanovic's condition had declined so much without Chen Ran around.

This group of malicious Spaniards may be seeking revenge on Nadal for always being beaten by Chen Ran.

……

(End of this chapter)