Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 608: For the first time, these four people gathered as the top four!
PS: In this year's Olympic tennis competition, a lot of both male and female players withdrew, and many of them withdrew after the draw was released. Are they treating the Olympic stage as a game of house?

……

After the French Open finalists were decided, Chen Ran's popularity to win the title was getting higher and higher, while Nadal's popularity was declining.

What happened to the new king of Spain?
Why is his form far worse than in previous tours?

Could it be that Nadal is also starting to throw smoke bombs like Chen Ran did before?
But the problem is that even if Nadal wanted to throw a smoke bomb, there was no need to drag the game into a tiebreak and consume his own energy.

No player who aspires to win a Grand Slam title wants to play all five sets.

Especially since this is a clay court game, the physical strain is greater than on other types of courts.

"Guys, even though I've been winning 3-0, I'm really tired!"

Chen Ran said in an interview with the media, "You know, this is clay. It's hard for me to finish the battle in a few shots, especially in the opponent's serve."

“It’s easier to break serve, but it often leads to a long-lasting tug-of-war, which is too tiring.”

The reporters kept asking, "What do you think of Nadal's performance? He seems to be struggling a bit. Do you feel a little relieved?"

Chen Ran clearly felt that the topic of this year's French Open was clearly centered around himself and Nadal.

It seems that whoever wins will be the new king of clay.

Before the start of the tournament, Nadal was the most popular candidate due to his strong performance in a series of clay court tournaments, but now he has overshadowed Nadal because of his strong performance.

In fact, Chen Ran doesn’t care about the nickname “King of Clay”. What he wants is to be the best on all courts.

"No, I don't think so. If he and I are to compete, we can only wait until the finals, so now is the time to consider this issue." Chen Ran began to deliberately avoid this topic.

In fact, he had no intention of relaxing at all.

No matter how tough Nadal plays in the previous games, you can't underestimate him.

Maybe this guy will act too!

"The next question is, why didn't you go all out during the clay court season and chose to reserve your strength? Would that be worthy of the fans who paid for tickets to watch your games?"

"In comparison, Rafael seems more professional."

The question was asked this time by a Spanish reporter from Mundo Deportivo, which is known as the "toilet newspaper".

But in Chen Ran’s mind, those Spanish newspapers are all toilet newspapers.

My inspiration still comes from Alcaraz in Spain, but that guy is only 4 years old now.

Chen Ran understood the Spanish media's protectiveness and double standards, but he didn't take it seriously.

"At that time, my condition was indeed a bit low, so I was in the process of adjusting. There are so many outstanding players in men's tennis. If my condition declines a little, isn't it normal to lose?"

"This is sports, your Real Madrid and Barcelona occasionally lose to the weaker teams."

"In theory, team sports are less likely to be upset because if a few players get out of form, their teammates can clean up the mess or they can make substitutions, but in individual sports, there is no one to rely on."

Chen Ran counterattacked without any hesitation.

"Can you guarantee that Rafael can win the championship or at least make it to the finals in every tournament? If you can't guarantee that, your question is very naive!"

The Spanish reporter wanted to say something, but the press officer had already called on the next reporter.

That guy is really anxious.

I originally thought that with Nadal's current form, his chances of winning the championship would be much greater than Chen Ran's, but I didn't expect that after four rounds of games, the situation changed so drastically.

"The competition between us has extended from the court to off the court." Chen Ran knew this very well.

…Starting from the quarterfinals, Chen Ran raised his concentration to a whole new level.

The further into the game progressed, the less he dared to be careless.

After all, it is a Grand Slam level competition and he must give his all.

Chen Ran's opponent in the quarterfinals is his doubles partner Wawrinka.

To be precise, Wawrinka's strength on clay is already at the top four level in the world.

But his world ranking is sixth, which means that if he wants to reach the semi-finals, he must beat a top four seeded player.

Wawrinka had bad luck as he met top seed Chen Ran in the quarter-finals.

This match should be considered the most difficult match Chen Ran has experienced in this year's French Open.

In the first set, Chen Ran was trailing 5-6 and even conceded a break point and set point to Wawrinka.

Fortunately, with Chen Ran's high concentration, he turned the tide, won three points in a row, saved his sixth serve, and then won the tie-break 7-2.

In the second set, Chen Ran broke the serve first, then was broken back by Wawrinka, and finally won the game after a brutal tie-break.

Fortunately, in the third set, Chen Ran gradually got into the groove and won the game relatively easily with 6-3, securing a spot in the semi-finals.

This is the first quarter-final.

Chen Ran's attention is not just on Nadal.

He is also quietly keeping an eye on the other two of the future Big Three.

Although Federer's strength on clay is slightly inferior to himself and Nadal, he is still better than most people.

He also made it to the semi-finals smoothly and waited for his clay-court rival Nadal.

From last year to this year, Federer lost every time he met Nadal in a clay court match.

Now, he has not been able to maintain his second place in the world ranking and has been overtaken by Nadal.

This time, the Swiss king will face the Spanish king again in the semi-finals.

At least Federer can comfort himself by saying that if he could choose, he would rather face Nadal in the semi-finals rather than Chen Ran.

At the same time, Nadal finally made it to the semi-finals as he wished.

The "Federer-Nadal showdown" will be staged again, but in this time and space it is not as exciting as in another time and space.

However, what really surprised Chen Ran was that Djokovic also made it to the semi-finals of the French Open for the first time after defeating all opponents.

He will face Chen Ran in the semi-finals.

"This……"

Chen Ran suddenly realized that this was the first time in history that the four of them would meet in the semi-finals at the same time.

So, is this a meeting of special significance?

Because in future Grand Slam events, it may become a normal situation for the four of them to meet in the semi-finals.

I just don’t know if it will be the Big Four, or one superpower and three strong ones?

……

(End of this chapter)