Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 644 An unexpected scene on the court (4K)

Chen Ran was lying on the bed in the hotel, with a faint look of fatigue on his face.

Not long ago, the scenes of his match with Djokovic kept replaying in his mind like a movie.

"Pity!"

“We are only one step away from our 40th consecutive win!”

But he thought in his heart that he should not play for the sake of a winning streak.

Only when you have experienced it yourself, you will know that when your winning streak gets longer and longer, and you want to maintain it, the fatigue your body will feel will become more and more obvious.

This is why the winning streak of many top-level players ends up being around 30 games.

Chen Ran's situation is more difficult than theirs because he only participates in Grand Slams, year-end finals, or 1000 tournaments, and his opponents in almost every game are masters.

In addition, he also had to admit that Djokovic's progress was amazing.

Whether it's the tie-break, the serve return, or the outstanding two-handed backhand technique, there are too many similarities between the two of them.

Even Chen Ran’s serving ability, which he was proud of, was not much inferior to that of the Serbian.

"Let's get through the semi-finals first, maybe we will meet in the finals." He thought to himself.

……

The 2007 Shanghai year-end finals may be the most exciting peak showdown in history.

Several top players did not experience a decline in form as the season was coming to an end. Instead, they showed extremely strong competitiveness.

Someone joked about this: Perhaps it was the "Tennis" movie prepared by Chen Ran that angered those players.

"The God of the Whole Court" indeed made those tennis players launch an unprecedented attack on Chen Ran.

Djokovic was the first player to do this, ending Chen Ran's winning streak in high-level competitions.

This also makes Federer envious.

He hadn't played against Chen Ran for some time, and the indoor hard court was a court he was more comfortable with.

If Novak can do it, why can't I?
Even though this is the Magic City, it is Chen Ran’s home court.

In a sense, the Serbian's performance helped Federer get rid of a certain fear of Chen Ran in his heart.

As a result, in the first semi-final, the two sides were almost tied.

This also made the host on the scene astonished: "What's wrong with the Swiss this year? He took aphrodisiacs, but he fought so bravely! Is he still Chen Ran's first male servant?"

In the first set, both sides exchanged blows.

Chen Ran broke the serve first, but in the tenth game, which was his serve to win the set, the situation suddenly changed.

When everyone thought Chen Ran would easily hold his serve, Federer staged a Jedi reversal.

In an unfavorable situation where he was trailing 30 to 40, he relied on several consecutive god-level one-handed backhand changes of direction to break back.

In the tie-break, both sides fought fiercely, and finally Federer won the first set 12-10.

Chen Ran lost the first set unexpectedly.

In the second set, Chen Ran, who was pushed to the brink of elimination by Federer, began to give it his all and won back a set with 6-3.

The two sides tied 1 to 1.

The game entered the deciding set again.

For the fans at the scene, this year's year-end finals was really exciting.

In last year's competition, Chen Ran swept through the competition at a speed as fast as cutting melons and vegetables, but this year's competition was much more intense.

This also resulted in the game being no longer calm, but full of climaxes, making the fans shout excitedly.

This is the charm of competitive sports, its ups and downs.

"I don't think Chen Ran is in the best physical condition."

"In fact, this can also be seen from the China Open and Shenzhen Masters, but it was not obvious at the time."

"Perhaps given the strength of the opponent at that time, it was not possible to put enough pressure on him."

"But this is the year-end finals and the top players will go all out."

The CCTV commentator took a deep breath and continued slowly: "After Chen Ran achieved the annual Grand Slam, his physical energy was severely depleted, or in other words, his body had relaxed a little."

This is normal, after all, it is the annual Grand Slam.

This unprecedented great achievement was achieved in the fiercely competitive 21st century.

Although Chen Ran would joke that he was not as good as Graf and Court and was only the third person in history, anyone with a discerning eye knew that this was just a humble statement from him.

He is already the first person in history.

Everyone, both inside and outside the industry, acknowledges it.

Even the former No. 1 player in history, Sampras, believes that Chen Ran is the current No. 1 player in history.

Only those unscrupulous journalists are still finding fault with everything.

It is very simple from Sampras' perspective. If Chen Ran is the third person, then he is the fourth person.

He is not stupid, so he has to admit that Chen Ran is the number one.

In addition, although Chen Ran joked that he was the third person, judging from the fact that he was planning to shoot a "tennis" movie, it was obvious that he also thought of himself as the number one, and the number one in all types of venues.

"Energy consumption and physical fatigue are one type, and the other is whether he still feels hungry or thirsty."

"After all, he has won so many honors, including an Olympic gold medal, so does he still have motivation?"

The host expressed his concerns.

Don’t forget, there will be the Yanjing Olympics next year.

But tennis is so special. Unlike other Chinese sports, it does not have a four-year Olympic cycle for preparation.

Tennis has never been based on the Olympics as a cycle, not to mention that Chen Ran already has an Olympic gold medal.

If it were an athlete from other events, after getting a gold medal, they would definitely desire a second gold medal, but does Chen Ran still have this desire?
"It would be great if the Yanjing Olympics were held this year!" the host couldn't help but sigh.

Chen Ran was in great shape this year, achieving an unprecedented annual Grand Slam, but at the end of the year, his competitive form began to decline.

This makes next year unpredictable.

The third set of the game.

Chen Ran broke the serve in the first game again, and just when the audience thought that Chen Ran would easily advance to the final, Federer broke back again in Chen Ran's serve to win the game.

Compared to Federer's excited roar of celebration, Chen Ran's expression was much calmer.

Will the story from the first set happen again in the third set?
The tie-break in the final set was as tense as the first set.

But at the critical moment, Federer's serving condition fluctuated, and he missed his first serve consecutively and had to serve for the second serve.

Federer's physical fitness has actually declined!
Maybe, after a long and hard season, and with this game so tense and intense, it is normal for physical fitness to fluctuate.

Although Chen Ran's body occasionally revealed fatigue, his physical fitness was still online and still at the top level in ATP, especially since he had not yet participated in the European Indoor Season.

You should know that there is a saying in professional tennis that when facing Chen Ran, if you fail in the first serve and try the second serve, you will most likely lose the serve point.

Unless you risk double faults and serve the second serve in first serve mode. In the end, even though Chen Ran was not in the best condition, he still completed all the mini breaks in Federer's two second serves.

7 is better than 4!

After another three-hour battle, Chen Ran won the third set with great difficulty and reversed the situation to win.

Facing Djokovic, Chen Ran won the first set, but was reversed by his opponent; but this time facing Federer, Chen Ran lost the first set, but then won two sets in a row to complete the reversal.

But Chen Ran was also very dissatisfied with his competitive state.

In today's match, I was just lucky, and Federer's condition obviously declined in the tiebreak of the final set.

I can only say that I won by luck.

"Roger, what's wrong with you?"

When the two shook hands, Chen Ran couldn't help but frown.

He found that Federer seemed a little uncomfortable, even more tired than himself.

Although Federer played one more European indoor season than himself and this semi-final was so intense, given his physical condition and fitness, he shouldn't be in a state where he seems to be unable to stand steadily.

Is he sick?

Rivals are rivals, but everyone still appreciates each other and doesn’t want anything to happen to the other person’s health.

"I'm fine... I'm just a little tired."

Federer held up his hand to indicate that he was fine.

However, an incredible scene happened. Federer took a few steps and then suddenly squatted on the ground. Then he shook his head with difficulty, and seemed to be so dizzy that he could hardly walk.

This……

Chen Ran also looked at this scene in shock, and he seemed to remember an event from his previous life.

It is now November 2007, and Federer was diagnosed with mononuclear syndrome at the end of this year.

Could it be that the disease has advanced?
At this time, Federer was already lying on the ground.

The medical staff at the scene also noticed something was wrong, and an ambulance immediately came in and carried Federer away.

Chen Ran just stood there blankly, watching the ambulance leave.

There were rumors in the past that monocytic multinucleate syndrome was a disease that only athletes would get. In later generations, a tennis player of the younger generation of China, Shang Juncheng, who was also the world's number one teenager at the time, also suffered from this disease.

This disease can easily affect physical fitness and immunity, and can also cause the body to feel extremely uncomfortable.

"No wonder Roger kept making mistakes in his first serve during the crucial tiebreak just now. It seems that there was something wrong with his body at that time." Chen Ran suddenly thought of this.

Otherwise, the outcome of the game would be unpredictable.

However, analyzing from another angle, there are hidden dangers in Federer's body, and the match with Chen Ran did induce this "single cell multinucleate syndrome" for half a month.

At this moment, Chen Ran suddenly felt that he had won unfairly.

The more than 10,000 spectators at the scene had just come to their senses from this sudden scene.

Everyone was whispering, not knowing what was going on.

Some young people even shouted at Chen Ran: "Hey, did you use Qigong on Federer? It's invisible and colorless, and it hurt him?"

Chen Ran simply chose to ignore this stupid young man.

"The match was very exciting, but opponents are opponents. We hope Roger Federer can recover soon."

The host from CCTV has been commenting on tennis for most of his life, but there is one thing he has not said, and he dare not say it.

If the semi-finals of the year-end finals were not held in China but in other countries, would Chen Ran have lost?

He probably persevered because he didn't want to lose at home and didn't want his championship record to be broken.

In fact, in the tie-break of the final set, Federer was the one with the greater advantage, but his opponent suddenly lost connection due to physical reasons when the score was tense.

"Chen Ran's current competitive state is definitely downgraded compared to the US Open period!" The commentator muttered in his heart, "I hope he can adjust his state as soon as possible."

At first, he thought that Chen Ran's gold medal in men's tennis singles at next year's Yenching Olympics was more certain than the gold medal in table tennis singles.

but it is not the truth.

Tennis, after all, is not a ping-pong ball. Like a football, it is round and full of suspense.

The world's top players are all watching you. As long as there is a slight fluctuation in your condition, your opponent may take advantage of you.

Moreover, table tennis has double and triple insurance, but tennis can only rely on Chen Ran alone, which is completely different.

More importantly, Chen Ran is a completely solo player. He can only adjust his condition by himself, and the national team cannot intervene.

You can't let Chen Ran live a closed life like other athletes in the system, locked up for training, meetings, and living in dormitories in preparation for the Olympics.

This is obviously impossible.

……

A day later, the hospital in Shanghai also announced Federer's condition.

As Chen Ran had imagined before, Federer was infected with mononuclear cell disease, and the incubation period ranged from half a month to one month.

Because of the competition, the disease broke out prematurely.

But the good thing is that before the start of next year's Australian Open, Federer's condition is almost certain to be cured.

Soon, a new joke was added to the professional tennis world.

Chen Ran was able to force out all the diseases lurking in Federer's body. That's amazing!

But many people also noticed Chen Ran's weak period. Even though Federer was ill, he still pushed Chen Ran to his limit.

His competitive state is no longer as invincible as it was more than two months ago.

This year's year-end finals will still be a showdown between Chen Ran and Djokovic.

The two sides will meet for the second time after the group stage.

Novak, it depends on you whether you can break the monopoly of the Chinese in men's tennis.

Above the annual Grand Slam, there is also the annual Super Grand Slam, which is the four Grand Slams plus the year-end finals.

During the period of the Four Grand Slams, Chen Ran was so powerful that he was invincible.

But by the time of the year-end finals, Chen Ran's undefeated streak had been broken.

Djokovic, if you can defeat your opponent for the second time in just a few days, it means that Chen Ran's dominance is beginning to loosen.

Come on, we are all rooting for you.

Go stop him!

Djokovic also had a bitter smile. He is not a popular player and often gets treated as an away player.

But this time, it seemed that the professional tennis world was on his side, trying to stop Chen Ran from achieving the "Annual Super Grand Slam".

……

(End of this chapter)