Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 619: World-Shocking Advice (4K)

PS: I was going to update more to celebrate Zheng Qinwen's Olympic gold medal, but today is Sunday and I'm a bit busy, so I only have 4K. I'll try to update at least 6K tomorrow! And the day after tomorrow too!
……

"I know Nadal's uncle is thinking about his nephew and is doing it out of selfish motives."

"But I think...what he said before was basically nonsense, but this time it can't be said to be unreasonable."

"I have seriously suggested to the ATP that we should rotate the year-end finals on hard courts, grass and clay."

“I personally welcome this warmly.”

"That way, I believe it will be fair competition for all the players in the world, and I believe some guys will stop complaining."

It was obvious who the "certain guys" Chen Ran was referring to.

see it?

Pattern, this is the pattern of the world's number one person.

Chen Ran is good at hard courts, even indoor hard courts are easy for him.

But he actually publicly suggested reforming the year-end finals.

"The year-end finals are important, just as important as the Grand Slams."

"So I'm thinking, should the year-end finals be like the Grand Slams, adding some venue types to make it more diverse?"

The world of tennis was shocked by this statement.

They never thought about this issue. Even when Nadal's uncle clamored to hold the year-end tournament on the clay court, they just thought it was nonsense.

But when Chen Ran took the initiative to bring it up, everyone was shocked.

But human nature is selfish after all.

Those masters of clay and grass courts would definitely welcome Chen Ran's suggestion with open arms.

If the year-end finals were really held in the stadium where they are good at, they might be able to win a few more games and even advance to a deeper round.

That means more bonuses and points.

"I support Chen Ran's statement!"

"It would be fair to all players if the year-end finals were held in different venues every year."

"This is a good thing, but it will be a lot more troublesome for the ATP."

Soon, many professional players expressed their opinions.

Not only male tennis players, but female tennis players have also started to follow suit.

As long as the ATP year-end finals really adopts this suggestion, the WTA year-end finals will definitely follow suit.

The word these guys like to emphasize most is: fairness.

So what can hard-court experts do?
I can only remain silent.

If they object, it will be seen by others that you want to compete in an advantageous environment and do not support fair competition.

Some things are indeed hard to say out loud.

Players who are good at playing on clay and grass actually have the right to make such a request. The key is whether the ATP will adopt these suggestions.

……

“I think the Super Slam should be made a little more difficult!”

“For example, the year-end finals can also be set as the year-end Grand Slam.”

"You have to win the year-end grass, year-end clay and year-end hard courts to be considered to have achieved the year-end Grand Slam."

"Completing the year-end Grand Slam and adding the Golden Slam can be considered the true Super Golden Slam."

"If we only win the year-end finals championship, that would be a key step to completing the Super Golden Slam, wouldn't that be a bit easy?"

Many professional sports media have also begun to analyze this matter in detail and feel that there is great potential for improvement.

As a result, waves of public opinion offensives were launched on the Internet.

For example, the year-end finals currently being held in Shanghai will definitely be played on a hard court, and that cannot be changed.

But after the Magic City is London.

London has temporarily signed a three-year contract with the ATP, from 3 to 2009.

They have indoor courts and grass courts.

Although the currently agreed court type is hard court, there is a possibility of changing the court type.

After all, for the British, lawn tennis is so popular that it has almost been integrated into their blood. Both the Queen's Cup and Wimbledon have a very long history.

If the year-end finals were moved to a grass field, British fans would certainly be more willing to pay for it, and would not hesitate to pay a high price.

You should know that in the UK, tickets for tennis matches are even more expensive than Premier League matches.

In just a few days, public opinion has been aroused.

……

In the past few days, Chen Ran returned to the Magic City to recuperate, but did not do any training. He was in a very relaxed state.

After all, there are no grass courts in China.

The weather in Shanghai in June is too hot and not suitable for outdoor training at all.

This is why the Lawn Tennis Grand Slam in July is held in the UK, where the temperature is only around 7 degrees Celsius.

Physical therapy, then a nutritionist to match the right diet, and some yoga exercises to keep the body flexible.

Chen Ran wants to take this opportunity to repair the damage to his body to ensure that he can extend his career.

This time when he returned to China, Chen Ran was almost silent. He did not attend any business activities and did not even show up in his own company.

It is to make a physical recovery plan for yourself.

At the same time, he continued to add fuel to the flames and create the concept of "Super Golden Slam" through online interviews with the media.

It turns out that Chen Ran has actually achieved a "Super Golden Slam".

But if the year-end finals are really to be held in different types of venues in turn, it means that the "Super Golden Slam" in Chen Ran's hand will temporarily disappear.

Of course, Chen Ran didn't care about the disappearance of this achievement.

In his words, he is looking forward to winning the championship in the year-end finals on clay one day.

In this way, both Nadal and his uncle had to accept the result with all their heart.

……

After resting in China for more than two weeks, Chen Ran took a flight directly from Shanghai to London, England.

As usual, London was still shrouded in haze and drizzled with rain.

However, many British reporters also became very excited when they saw Chen Ran coming.

When the world's absolute number one began to express his hope that the year-end finals could be held on clay and grass, these already very enthusiastic British reporters also immediately followed suit.

"The year-end finals on grass?"

"That must be arranged!"

“The year-end finals held in London must be on grass!”

After all, in the eyes of these arrogant British people, lawn tennis is the real and purest tennis.

Because the sport of tennis originated in Europe, and first in the UK, it was a grass court, so grass has always been known as the most traditional and orthodox tennis court. The so-called original flavor, full of historical vicissitudes of lawn tennis.

Then, tennis began to flourish and become popular in Europe. At this time, clay courts played an important role. Clay courts of all sizes were spread all over the European continent, becoming an important contributor to the popularity of tennis in Europe.

When tennis crossed the ocean and spread to North America, grass and clay were still the most important surfaces, but it became the same as other cultures that were introduced to North America: fully commercialized.

This is true of movies and literature.

Of course, the same is true for tennis.

Once anything reaches North America, it is easy to be commercialized.

Tennis has always been a sport for the aristocracy. Only the middle class would get involved, and it was out of reach for ordinary people.

Therefore, this shortcoming makes it difficult for tennis to become popular among the civilian population in North America.

This is extremely detrimental to the commercialization of tennis.

Thus, the hard tennis court was born.

This cement court, like a basketball court, is simple, convenient and can be found everywhere. With any racket and a worn tennis ball, anyone can try to hit a tennis ball, even in the slums.

After this wave of improvements in North America, tennis began to truly become closer to the masses and enter the lives of ordinary people.

As a result, tennis gradually began to flourish.

For example, the reason why the Williams sisters started playing tennis was because their father firmly believed that tennis could make money and that his daughters would definitely be successful, so they started out in the slums swinging rackets and then changed their lives.

Later, when tennis continued to spread to Asia, it was mainly played on the cheapest hard courts.

Today, different continents have different types of venues that are popular.

However, this also ensures the excitement and diversity of tennis.

But in the eyes of those British reporters, now that the ATP year-end finals have returned to the UK, shouldn't they abide by their British traditions?
ATP old guys, put away your stubborn North American style.

Not all year-end finals have to be held on hard courts.

This is Britain!
Please respect the traditions here.

What’s important is that they have Chen Ran’s support.

Chen Ran also firmly expressed the hope that the year-end finals to be held in London next year will respect the tradition of Wimbledon.

The organizing committee of the 2012 London Olympics had already announced that the tennis matches would be held on the grass courts of the All England Club.

"If the Olympics can do this, why not the year-end finals?"

Chen Ran obviously knew how to fan the flames and said so deliberately.

In theory, the ticket prices for the year-end finals are really expensive, and are definitely much higher than tickets for the Olympic tennis matches.

Therefore, fans who buy tickets also hope to have a good experience and enjoy the most authentic and traditional lawn tennis.

On the first day Chen Ran arrived in London, he was asked many questions by British reporters about "holding the year-end finals on grass".

They are also building momentum, hoping to put pressure on the London organizing committee and the ATP.

In short, you must listen to us.

We don't want to watch the "North American" and "popular" hard court tennis in London.

Some British journalists even shouted: "I have watched tennis in London all my life, and I have never watched a tennis match other than on grass. We British must keep this purity."

This pressure is quite great.

This also led to the London organizing committee constantly communicating with the ATP, hoping to modify the terms of cooperation and change the hard court to grass.

Indoors is indoors, and the type of court can still be adjusted.

Chen Ran said only this one sentence from beginning to end: I personally strongly support this suggestion.

It seems like there is really hope!

Chen Ran soon discovered this.

Under these waves of pressure, these officials in ATP actually began to be tempted.

The main reason why they always wanted to preserve the hard courts was that they felt that the hard courts that became popular in North America were more suitable to represent tennis and were suitable for the year-end finals.

Unexpectedly, this time, because of Chen Ran's unexpected words, the British audience and the London organizing committee began to change their original ideas.

They want to see a grass-court-type year-end finals.

……

"Chen Ran's opinion is very good. We are also discussing it in a meeting!"

"Indeed, we have been pursuing the goal of allowing professional players to practice in a safe and fair environment."

"We will definitely consider it seriously."

“Rest assured, we also hope that athletes who are good at this type of venue will not feel that they are being treated unfairly.”

"What? This has nothing to do with Uncle Nadal. Who is he? We are mainly considering Chen Ran's suggestion seriously."

"But it's still early before 2009, so there's no rush."

During this year's Wimbledon, everyone was seriously discussing this topic.

As for ATP, although I am not very willing to do so, I have to start considering this issue seriously.

The most important thing is that the achievement of "year-end Grand Slam" is indeed very tempting.

If this concept is really launched, the importance of the year-end finals will become more and more important, and tennis will have more and more milestone achievements.

"It's mainly a bit troublesome!"

ATP officials thought about it with some headaches.

If they agree to London's suggestion, then should the city they prefer after London, Turin, Italy, use clay courts to host the year-end finals?

Everyone has their own little thoughts.

"If the year-end finals are really messed up, the importance of hard court tennis to tennis will be greatly reduced."

This is what worries the ATP officials.

They still want to maintain the unique status of hard court tennis.

……

Amid the turmoil in the outside world, this year's Wimbledon Open has entered its second week in the blink of an eye.

The remaining 16 players are all true grass court masters.

Unexpectedly, this time, because of Chen Ran's unexpected words, the British audience and the London organizing committee began to change their original ideas.

This has also led to Chen Ran becoming a hot topic in recent days.

Fortunately, his condition was not affected. In the first week of Wimbledon, Chen Ran won 9 sets in three games without losing a single set.

Obviously, after winning the title of "King of Clay", Chen Ran is ready to strive for the title of "King of Grass".

So on the clay court, Nadal can pose a threat to Chen Ran, but is there anyone similar on the grass court?
It seems that the only suspense is who will be the runner-up.

Hell, let's discuss whether the year-end finals in London will be played on grass or hard court.

……

(End of this chapter)