Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 607: I’m not acting anymore, so are you starting to act?
The previous king of clay, Kuerten, was once so glorious, but now he is in such an embarrassing situation.

This is the cruelty of competitive sports.

Although Chen Ran also knew that this kind of drawing was done out of the French Open Organizing Committee's bad taste, he would not let it go.

Why prolong the game and waste energy when you can win it quickly?

Chen Ran had no reservations because he was determined not to downshift in the race.

干净利落的2个6比0和一个6比1，陈然以无比强势的姿态拿下了法网的首场胜利。

Chen Ran still gave some face to Kurten, the previous king of clay, and deliberately gave his opponent a serve game in the last set.

This match will also be Kuerten's farewell match at the French Open.

How glorious it once was, how desolate it is now.

"Chen... maybe after this French Open, you will have the same number of French Open titles as me."

Although Kurten lost badly, he seemed to be in a good mood and had already accepted this loss of glory.

"Oh?" Chen Ran smiled, "Do you think I can beat Nadal?"

"Isn't that the ultimate purpose of your holding back during the previous clay season?"

Chen Ran shrugged and said nothing.

The biggest difference between him and Alcaraz is that although they are both acting, it is difficult for him to confuse others.

But from now on, Chen Ran doesn't need to act anymore.

After nearly a clay court season of accumulating strength, Chen Ran has adjusted his condition to the best.

This also makes him very much looking forward to the final result of this French Open.

If it weren't for the French Open, Chen Ran was actually not very willing to come to Paris.

The garbage in this city is increasing year by year, and the streets and alleys are getting smellier and smellier. You don't even know when a guy will suddenly appear and use his superb thief skills to steal things from you without you knowing.

Is this really the Paris described by Yilin?

By the way, it seems that Paris will host the 2024 Summer Olympics. I don’t know what kind of things will happen then. Unfortunately, I have been reborn, so I won’t be able to see it.

In the match two days later, Chen Ran once again faced the Spanish player Ferrer who had defeated him in the Rome Masters a few days ago.

Before the game, that guy did have a dream of achieving two consecutive wins over Chen Ran on the clay court.

Then, reality is cruel.

The Masters and the Grand Slam are indeed two different things, and it is not an exaggeration to say that they are worlds apart.

"God! Is this really the same guy I played against more than a week ago?" This was the only thought in the Spaniard's mind after only half an hour of the game.

The control of the court displayed by the opponent was so terrifying that it was no less than that of his compatriot Nadal.

In half an hour, Chen Ran won the first set 6-1.

Ferrer felt that he really had no chance at all, and his heart was even filled with despair.

How to fight this?
The characteristic of Spanish players is that they are particularly resilient, especially on clay courts. They are very common in coming back from behind.

So even though Ferrer lost badly in the first set, he still put all his energy into fighting back in the second set.

But soon Ferrer's face was filled with a feeling of powerlessness.

I can’t beat him. I can’t beat him at all!

There's absolutely no way to fight this!

Especially in Chen Ran's serve, except for a few unforced errors he made occasionally, the battle could basically be resolved within five shots.

Clay court matches are based on tug-of-war and consumption. Being able to resolve the battle within five shots means that Chen Ran has established a huge advantage as soon as the ball is served, resulting in very poor quality of Ferrer's serve reception.

In the second set, in Chen Ran's first three serving games, Ferrer only scored one point thanks to one of his opponent's shots going into the net, performing extremely passively.

This situation also shifted the pressure to Ferrer's own serve.

In this set, Chen Ran broke serve twice. Ferrer won 6-2, winning only one more game than in the first set.

After falling behind by two sets and being suppressed so strongly by Chen Ran, even a player as resilient as the Spanish player almost gave up resistance.

The score of the third set was exactly the same as the first set. Chen Ran once again defeated his opponent with a score of 6 to 1.

After this battle, the bookmakers also adjusted their odds for winning the championship.

Chen Ran surpassed Nadal and became the biggest favorite to win the championship.

After all, Ferrer is now almost the second best player in Spain, especially on clay court, his strength is higher than his actual world ranking. Even so, he was beaten so badly. His strength is too strong.

In the third round, Chen Ran's opponent was still the player who had defeated him in the ATP Dubai Open not long ago, the rising star Gasquet from France.

He ended Chen Ran's 36-game winning streak against French players.

At this moment, Gasquet, like Ferrer before him, was hoping for an upset.

Since you have won once, why can't you win a second time?
But soon, he experienced the despair of the Spaniards.

6比2，6比3，6比2。

Chen Ran still won three sets in a row and easily advanced to the second week of the Grand Slam. He did not give his opponent even a break point throughout the game.

This also made many players realize that Chen Ran in the Grand Slam is so terrifying.

……

Chen Ran's strong performance seemed to have affected Nadal's mentality.

For the guy to hold back during the clay court season, it was no surprise to Nadal.

After all, the other party had already played the same trick once last year, and this year they are just repeating the same old trick.

But the difference is that this year when Chen Ran made a comeback, he seemed to be well prepared and had done some preparatory work.

Nadal feels that he has improved compared to last year, but Chen Ran has also improved a lot.

But the problem is that Chen Ran was obviously holding back in the previous clay court season and did not try his best. So where did his improvement come from? Was it just from training?

Damn it! He wanted the title of "King of Clay" so badly.

Because Nadal himself knows that on hard courts and grass courts, his competitiveness and advantages are far less than that.

If he loses this year's French Open, the ratio of French Open titles between the two will be 1 to 3.

By then, even if the Spanish media calls him the new generation "King of Clay", he will probably be so ashamed that he will find a hole to crawl into.

In such an irritable state of mind, Nadal's condition seemed to have some ups and downs.

Although he successfully entered the second week of the French Open, he lost a set and did not sweep all the way like Chen Ran did.

When the competition entered the second week, the French Open officially reached its climax.

Chen Ran continued his strong performance in a strong showdown between him and Russian model worker Davydenko.

He encountered strong resistance from his opponent in the first set and was not able to break the serve until the 12th game, winning the match with difficulty 7-5.

In the next two games, Chen Ran encountered less resistance and won 6-4 and 6-3 respectively.

So far, Chen Ran has not lost a single game, and he is indeed the biggest favorite to win.

However, Nadal, who is recognized as Chen Ran's biggest competitor, was in a tough battle with Coria.

The Spaniards even experienced the embarrassment of falling behind 0-1 and 1-2, and finally made a difficult comeback after shouting a "toilet break".

This is completely lacking the sweeping momentum of the previous clay court season.

At this moment, even Chen Ran himself was a little confused.

I don't even want to act anymore, so why are you going to act now?

……

(End of this chapter)