Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 627 I will experience generations of golden flowers
"Chen Ran, it would be great if the Cincinnati champion prize money was the same for men and women." Li Na said with some envy as she looked at Chen Ran's bonus check.

Chen Ran's singles championship prize is $50, while Li Na's singles championship prize is only $30.

The gap is too big!

Not only in Cincinnati, but there is a big gap in prize money for the men's and women's singles champions in the same tour.

Cincinnati's 60% ratio is already quite good, as some events only have a 50% ratio.

Only in the four Grand Slam tournaments do male and female players receive the same prize money.

So far, the prize money of the China Open WTA1000 tournament is the highest among all 1000 tournaments, even slightly higher than the current Shenzhen Masters.

Chen Ran laughed: "The prize money is not as good as the China Open, so China is still the best at implementing equal pay for equal work for men and women!"

Therefore, while the European and American worlds are calling for gender equality every day, it is China that is doing the best.

Don’t think that all professional tennis players are self-employed. They have all received funding from their own country’s sports bureaus. (A group of marketing accounts said that Zheng Qinwen is a self-employed person and his family spent 2000 million yuan. For the sake of topics and hype, they have no bottom line and can only say that Zhang Xuefeng won again.)
To give the simplest example, there are too many outstanding female tennis players in Russia, the competition is fierce, and resources are limited.

When she was a teenager, the talented and beautiful girl Lebakina had to become a Kazakh citizen because she could not get funding from the Russian Sports Bureau.

Perhaps it was God's will that in 2022, Wimbledon banned Russian and Belarusian players from participating. However, Rybakina, who had become a Kazakh citizen, was not only spared, but also won the Wimbledon championship that year.

This is also the only Grand Slam title she won in her career.

All I can say is that what happens in the real world is often more incredible than movie scripts.

For example, now, Li Na, who was touted by the media as a pioneer in fighting against the system in her previous life, appears to be very dependent on the system. Even after winning the Cincinnati Masters, she still has not made up her mind to go solo.

After deducting taxes from the $30 prize, the remaining amount is only a little over $20, which is still not enough to cover the expenses needed by the team after going solo.

Of course, it is impossible for Li Na to only receive bonus from this one tournament throughout the year. However, with endorsement fees being scarce, it would be a huge pressure if the team's expenses depended solely on bonuses.

"Unless Nike gives me a big contract, I won't consider going solo," Li Na said firmly.

This also gave Chen Ran a huge sense of absurdity. When did Sister Na become so attached to the system?
Perhaps economic interests play a decisive role.

"Actually, there is no need to choose Nike. I think Anta is good. If they are willing to pay a high price, why don't you consider it, Sister Na?" Chen Ran suddenly said.

It's a good idea to let this lady explore the way first.

Now, because of Chen Ran, the domestic tennis market in China is very hot. Major sports brands have also entered the tennis market and tried to sign tennis players.

This is not like in the previous life, because of Yao Ming, a bunch of sports brands swarmed into the basketball market. If they couldn’t sign Yao Ming, they would sign Yao Ming’s teammates.

For these sports brands, Chinese players are definitely the first choice, but among the men, only Chen Ran can be chosen, while female players have more choices.

"Anta?" Li Na was a little surprised.

You work for Nike, and yet you encourage me to switch to Anta?
However, she would not think that Chen Ran said this to deliberately exclude her as a competitor. After all, the gap in achievements between the two was too big.

"Anta is testing the tennis market, and they also need to bet on athletes, but they don't have a wide range of options to choose from," Chen Ran said. "So in theory, they can offer a higher price."

For any sports brand, if they want to enter a new field, the remuneration for spokespersons must be doubled. This is the price of being a newcomer.

As for Nike, if Li Na wants to get a contract comparable to Zheng Jie's, she has to at least win a Grand Slam, which is too difficult.

This is a very practical issue.

"Let me think about it." Li Na said after thinking about it.

She admitted that she was moved.

Although Nike has sponsored her since she was sixteen years old, the price of the contract renewal offered this time was far from her psychological expectations.

This was mainly because the bulk of the soup was eaten by Chen Ran, and the remaining soup was drunk by Zheng Jie.

Nike also doesn't think it needs to spend such a huge price to sign three Chinese tennis players.

After all, tennis is a winner-takes-all sport. It can even be said that Chen Ran alone is enough for them to monopolize the Chinese market.

……

When was the last time Chinese male and female players monopolized the singles titles in top tennis tournaments?
That was in the distant year of 2005, when Chen Ran and Zheng Jie won the French Open championship together.

Even CCTV, which has always presented itself as a good guy, had to admit this time that Li Na has begun to slowly rise. It seems that it is only a matter of time before she surpasses Zheng Jie to become the number one female tennis player.

Whether it is backhand or forehand, this sharp and fierce attack is top-notch even in the entire WTA.

Although most of the Chinese tennis players today are still in the system, due to the particularity of tennis, they are basically in a free-range state and do not need to act in groups like table tennis or badminton players.

Although endorsements and bonuses are split 50-50, athletes can form their own teams, with the costs borne by the state. Under Chen Ran's influence, the tennis association of this time and space has developed a hybrid system between the individual system and the national system.

Chen Ran also feels that this mixed system is the most appropriate, and when the national team needs it, the athletes will serve the country without hesitation.

Only Chen Ran is special. He gave up all subsidies for the national team, so he can choose not to participate in any competition except the Olympics.

In fact, in the original time and space, after Li Na retired, many tennis players resolutely ended their solo careers and returned to the system. The reason was very simple: the team expenses were too much for them to bear.

……

A day later, the WTA updated the latest rankings.

With the help of the Cincinnati Open championship, Li Na's world ranking rose to tenth, while at the same time Zheng Jie's world ranking fell out of the top ten.

At this time, Nike was also very troubled.

Li Na's contract is about to expire, while Zheng Jie's contract still has three years left.

Did they sign two huge endorsement contracts at the same time?

Come on, although women's tennis is undoubtedly the number one women's sport, its market is not that big.

Li Na's agent insisted that the endorsement fee must not be lower than Zheng Jie. Not only is she a Cincinnati singles champion, but you should also have the potential to pay for it.

potential?

What potential does a 25-year-old female tennis player have?

Many female players are about to retire at this age, right?

Nike's negotiating representative was also furious. You guys have no sincerity in negotiating at all.

We have Chen Ran, the best tennis player ever. Can we do without you?
When Chen Ran won the French Open for the first time, Yao Ming's Nike endorsement contract was about to expire.

At that time, Yao Ming's team demanded that Yao Ming's contract be aligned with Chen Ran's, which also angered Nike.

He is a Grand Slam champion, how can you be worthy of that when you haven't even made it to the playoffs?

So, Yao Ming switched to Reebok.

But it turned out that Nike's decision was correct at the time.

Reebok's performance was a mess, with no improvement at all, and it was even acquired by Adidas.

Chen Ran and Nike have created an incredible business myth, both in China and in the world.

As a result, Nike took a tough stance and rejected Li Na's request for a pay increase.

They firmly believed that Chen Ran alone would be invincible.

Chen Ran is only 21 years old and is at the peak of his career.

As a result, Nike and Li Na parted ways unhappily.

Of course, Li Na's side is strong because they have found a backup.

On the eve of the US Open, Li Na immediately announced that she had reached an agreement with Anta.

As for Anta, they also announced very provocatively that they had signed the number one female tennis player in China today.

Grand Slam titles and Olympic medals? Very likely!
From this moment on, Anta officially entered the tennis market with great momentum, unlike in the past when it sought to sign a contract with Yao Ming's Rockets teammates, which was ridiculed by netizens as picking up rags!

……

"The No. 1 female tennis player has indeed started to change since Na won the Cincinnati Championship."

"The No. 1 player changed from Zheng Jie to Li Na, but I am still there."

Chen Ran even had a strange idea. In the years to come, no matter how the number one female tennis player in China changes, she can still sit safely on the top of the mountain and watch the wind and clouds rise and fall.

"Will it be possible...when Zheng Qinwen becomes the number one female tennis player in China in the future, I will still be sitting on the top of the mountain, witnessing the changes of the leading figures of the golden flower generation after generation?"

“It’s quite interesting to think about it.”

Chen Ran suddenly began to look forward to it.

……

(End of this chapter)