Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 646 2008 is coming! (4K)

An unprecedented "Super Annual Grand Slam" was achieved.

This achievement is comparable to the "Annual Golden Slam"!
Even in terms of difficulty and value, the "Super Annual Grand Slam" exceeds the "Annual Golden Slam".

More importantly, Chen Ran defeated Djokovic, who had beaten him in the group stage.

This is enough to show how precious this honor is.

Chen Ran made a comeback from failure and won the championship.

At this moment, Djokovic was in a state of confusion.

He couldn't understand how he lost the game.

The final progressed so quickly that Djokovic was caught off guard.

"It's not that I'm not as strong as the opponent, but the tactics adopted by the opponent made it difficult for me to find a corresponding strategy for a while." He carefully recalled every detail of the game.

Chen Ran obviously has excellent ability to hold the line and has unparalleled defensive skills, but in this game, he chose to adopt a fast-paced offensive approach, with the idea of ​​wanting to win quickly.

If this was the slow hard court of the Australian Open or the red clay of the French Open, Chen Ran's plan would obviously not work.

But in this year's year-end finals, the hard court of the indoor stadium not only made the ball faster, but the weight of the tennis ball also became lighter, even better than the US Open. This is simply a great help for Chen Ran.

The sudden change of tactics was the key to his victory.

Chen Ran took a deep breath and then slowly walked towards the net. Djokovic on the opposite side still looked confused.

The guy came back to his senses when he saw Chen Ran approaching him, then smiled bitterly and said, "Chen... I have imagined countless scenes about today's final, but I never thought it would be this way."

Upon hearing this, Chen Ran said, "You know... my skills are very comprehensive. Any tactics and fighting style are easy for me to master."

He was being so light-hearted on purpose.

Chen Ran would not be so foolish as to admit that he had spent a whole day watching game videos in his hotel room in preparation for the final.

He won't let Djokovic know how much he values ​​him.

This guy is growing so fast.

In addition, I no longer have any secrets in the professional tennis world. Many top players are studying me.
"Yes, I know you have a lot of skills, but I didn't expect you to adopt a completely different strategy from the group stage." Djokovic nodded and said helplessly, "After I go back, I have to think about how to deal with this situation if I encounter it again in the future."

This somewhat simple young man obviously believed in Chen Ran's words.

Today's Djokovic has far less competition experience than his later generations.

If it were Djokovic in his prime, he would probably be able to quickly improvise and come up with a solution during the game, instead of being at a loss like he is now.

However, Djokovic is still very satisfied with his trip to the year-end finals.

At least I beat Chen Ran once in the group stage, right?
At least his losing streak has been ended.

It was also the runner-up at the end of the year in terms of achievements.

I finally got rid of the worry in my heart.

If you lose, you lose. There is still a long way to go. We can fight again later!

"Congratulations, this is an unparalleled season." Djokovic also congratulated Chen Ran very generously, "The achievement of a super annual Grand Slam is unprecedented, and I think it will never be repeated."

"I am also proud of this achievement." Chen Ran laughed, "This year has been really tiring. Also... Novak, I believe your first Grand Slam is not far away."

Djokovic heard this and said with a smile: "Then I'll borrow your good words."

He paused, then suddenly asked, "Chen...let me ask you a question."

"Uh...what's the problem?" Chen Ran paused and asked back.

"After achieving such a great success, do you still feel hungry?" Djokovic continued. "Sampras retired after winning the US Open because he felt he had lost motivation."

He was far ahead of Agassi in terms of honors and had brilliant results at the US Open and Wimbledon, but the French Open championship was out of reach for him, which made him think about retiring.

At that time, Sampras was still in his peak form. If he could hold on for a few more years, it would not be impossible for him to win a few more Grand Slam titles.

"Hunger?" Chen Ran was slightly stunned, then replied, "I don't know... I can't answer your question now. It depends on what the situation is next year."

Djokovic's words somewhat woke him up.

Indeed, a hunger for championship glory is disappearing.

As for Chen Ran saying that his honors were not as good as those of Court, Graf, etc., he was just teasing those picky reporters and he didn't take it seriously at all.

In fact, both at the ATP level and at the fan level, everyone has acknowledged that Chen Ran is the number one in history.

Afterwards, Chen Ran gave a brief championship speech, thanked all the audience members who came to the event, and expressed his feelings and thoughts on achieving the "Annual Super Grand Slam".

Then, he happily received a check for a bonus of $275 million. Because he won the championship by losing one game, not by winning all five games, he could not get the full bonus of $300 million.

Of course, not everything can be perfect.

Chen Ran could also accept this imperfection.

In the year-end finals, you are allowed to make one mistake. That’s the rule.

……

The 2007 season has officially come to an end, a busy year with unprecedented achievements.

Unlike other participating players who had to fly back to their own countries one after another, Chen Ran already lived in Shanghai and did not need to travel long distances.

Next year will be the last year that Shanghai hosts the year-end finals.

Afterwards, the year-end finals will move to London, England.

At the same time, Shanghai will host the ATP Masters Tournament on a long-term and regular basis, while Shenzhen will host the WTA year-end finals.

In the past few days, apart from doing some recovery training, Chen Ran has hardly touched the tennis racket.

He has been thinking about what Djokovic asked himself not long ago: Should he continue to pursue the honor of the championship?
In fact, ever since participating in the year-end finals, Chen Ran has been in a very exhausted state both physically and mentally, and is basically holding on with great difficulty.

The reason why Djokovic was able to beat him once in the group stage was not only because of his opponent's rapid progress, but also because of his own decline in form.

"Actually...Novak himself has also experienced this scene." Chen Ran also thought of the scene in his previous life.

At that time, Djokovic completed the brilliant achievement of 2015 titles and 3 runner-up in the four Grand Slams in 1, and then won the Australian Open and French Open championships in 2016, of which the French Open championship was his first.

Not only did he achieve the Grand Slam, but he also won four consecutive Grand Slam titles across the year.

In particular, his ATP points in 2015 also reached an unprecedented height.

At that moment, Djokovic was also confused and even lost motivation.

This guy even got eliminated in the first round of the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Not only that, he was very depressed throughout 2017, kept losing, and even thought about retiring. Fortunately, he finally adjusted himself and regained the Wimbledon championship in the second half of 2018.

Chen Ran doesn't want to repeat what happened to Djokovic, so he needs to feel hungry and rekindle his desire for the championship.

So these days, he tried not to touch tennis balls or tennis rackets.

Maybe after a while, he will feel itchy.

"Winter training this year? I don't have any plans for now! I need to rest and adjust myself."

Chen Ran responded to the team's questions in this way, and he postponed the winter training plan indefinitely.

It's already the end of November, and the Australian season will start in early January. How much rest time do we have?
Although fans across the country are looking forward to Chen Ran completing the unprecedented feat of winning the Australian Open five times in a row.

But at this moment, he didn't even think about the Australian Open.

……

For the remaining month, apart from going back to his hometown to spend time with his family, Chen Ran basically lived a simple life in Shanghai.

During this period, he also symbolically went to Zhejiang University, went through the process, and retake the missed exams.

As a top student of journalism, although he is still some time away from graduation, he has already invested in a lot of media and can manipulate public opinion and make things happen with a wave of his hands.

Because the public opinion controlled by Chen Ran does not touch on some sensitive issues of the country and is basically limited to the fields of sports and entertainment, he can say whatever he wants and speak freely.

For example, during this period, the media he controlled criticized Blizzard completely.

In short, it is the image of a shameless and greedy vampire.

Controlling public opinion brings Chen Ran more pleasure than just that, such as the "Tennis" movie that is currently being prepared.

Originally, some people thought that Chen Ran was a little too arrogant and the script was a little too exaggerated, but under the brainwashing of media opinion, everyone gradually accepted this setting.

"With Chen Ran's strength, he deserves it!"

Time quickly came to 2008.

Chen Ran spent the last week of December in Sanya, Hainan.

There is a tennis training base that he invested in and built, which is also his winter training base in his future plans.

This year, Chen Ran did not seriously prepare for winter training, but instead just relaxed in this tennis training base with a vacation mentality.

After all, although he didn't really want to train in the winter, his girlfriend Ivanovic also needed to train in the winter, so he could only accompany her to practice, but the intensity of his own training did not increase at all, which was almost the same as a vacation.

When the New Year's Day of 2008 passed, the new year officially arrived.

2008 is destined to be an extraordinary year.

Chen Ran even felt a different atmosphere from the first day of 2008.

This is especially evident to me who is in the sports world.

On the first day after New Year's Day, an unexpected guest came to Chen Ran's tennis training base in Sanya, Hainan. He was China's sprinting star Liu Xiang.

Not long ago, Liu Xiang contacted Chen Ran, hoping to visit this new tennis training base and do some training.

After all, the facilities of this tennis training base are very complete, and it is more than enough even for a track and field athlete to train.

Of course, Chen Ran gave a very favorable discount price, and the fee was paid by the Track and Field Association.

In fact, Chen Ran's intuition told him that Liu Xiang must have other purposes in looking for him.

Sure enough, after arriving at the training base, Liu Xiang first greeted himself for a while, but after sending his coach away, he told Chen Ran about some of his troubles.

"You are lucky. In this cold winter, you are still on vacation in Sanya with your girlfriend, and no one comes to disturb you." Liu Xiang said enviously.

In fact, he was a little surprised. Chen Ran had been dating this foreign girl for almost two years.

Aren’t you tired of this yet?

"Is it difficult for you to find a girlfriend? Even if she's a beauty in the entertainment industry, you can pick her up as you like." Chen Ran rolled his eyes. "You don't even find one yourself, so why are you envious of me?"

"How can I have the time to think about it? For the past four years, I have been busy with either competitions or training!" Liu Xiang said helplessly, "Besides, I am different from you. I need the organization's approval to find a girlfriend."

There was a hint of envy in his tone.

After all, Chen Ran is a completely free person and no one can control him, so he is subject to more restrictions.

Chen Ran didn't say anything, but lay comfortably in the chair with his eyes slightly closed.

"Chen Ran, aren't you nervous at all? It's already 2008!"

"Why am I nervous?"

Chen Ran opened his eyes and asked back.

"Since 2008, I have been getting more and more nervous and stressed every day," Liu Xiang said in a complicated tone. "So I want to talk to you... Because so far, the two most anticipated events in this year's Beijing Olympics are the men's 110-meter hurdles and men's tennis singles."

"The people of the whole country have high hopes for you!"

After all, both of them are the defending Olympic champions.

"Oh, so you asked me to come here to talk about this." Chen Ran suddenly realized.

Indeed, in this respect, the two of them have something in common.

As for another Chinese sports superstar Yao Ming, he actually has the least pressure.

Given the overall level of the Chinese men's basketball team, we should be thankful to be able to qualify for the group stage.

Even if we lose the game, the fans can still say it was the teammates' fault.

But both Chen Ran and Liu Xiang are individual athletes, winning is winning and losing is losing.

In the past few years, Liu Xiang and Chen Ran have also won many championships in heavyweight competitions, but the more championships they win, the higher the people's expectations for the Yanjing Olympics, and the greater the pressure they are under.

So Liu Xiang thought of having a heart-to-heart talk with Chen Ran.

But to his surprise, Chen Ran looked completely carefree and relaxed, and did not seem nervous at all because of the arrival of 2008.

This puzzled him.

Chen Ran has won all the championships available in tennis, but he is almost there, having also won all the heavyweight championships in the 110-meter hurdles. But why are their mindsets so different?
"Chen Ran, have you ever thought about the consequences of not winning the Olympic gold medal in Yanjing?" Liu Xiang asked carefully.

"Uh..." Chen Ran thought for a moment and replied, "The result...at most I'll be scolded by netizens for a few days, at most a few months, at least a few days."

"You... have a really good attitude!" Liu Xiang was speechless.

……

(End of this chapter)