Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 663: Liang Zi's cleverness backfired (4K)

Many Chinese audiences who were watching a tennis match for the first time were also shocked. Are all tennis matches so maddening?

What aristocratic sport, what gentleman's sport, it's almost a shameless sport!
Many decent people complained after watching this much-anticipated semi-final.

The semi-final between Chen Ran and Djokovic completely subverted their cognition.

Is this still the Olympics they remember?
This is the Olympic Games' ability to break through the circle.

Especially since this is an Olympic Games held in China.

The various psychological warfare between Chen Ran and Djokovic, plus the dramatic plan, really opened everyone's eyes.

Some people who claim to be morally squeamish would sneer at this and feel that the victory is unfair.

Of course, most people just like to have fun.

Some netizens even shouted online: I think I am suitable for playing tennis. If I admit that I am second to none in terms of being scheming, no one dares to claim to be first.

Naturally, some netizens mocked: "Maybe you are shameless enough to play professional tennis, but your body can't support it. Can you swing the ground-shaking racket?"

However, for the media and fans, the happiest thing was the tennis singles competition of the Yanjing Olympics, where both male and female players entered the final gold medal battle.

At this moment, the whole country was rejoicing.

The gold medal match is sure to be something the whole country is looking forward to and the focus of all eyes.

After the game, a CCTV reporter specifically found Chen Ran and asked, "Chen Ran, do you think the ratings of this final will break the record of your previous sixteen Grand Slam titles?"

"That's for sure." Chen Ran nodded and acknowledged the problem. "First of all, our country currently has a huge population of more than 13 billion. Not everyone can understand the concept of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments."

"But the Olympics is a household name, known to everyone, young and old."

Another foreign reporter continued to ask: "But in your tennis circle, the Grand Slam is definitely higher than the Olympics."

As soon as Chen Ran took a glance at this man, he knew that this guy was here to cause trouble.

At this moment, his final opponent has been announced, and it is still Nadal.

Just like in the previous life, Spain overcame all obstacles and defeated all the strong opponents to reach the final.

"I admit... there is indeed such a saying in the tennis circle." Chen Ran said frankly, "But you know... my influence has already surpassed the tennis circle. Those points and bonuses are important to many players, but not so important to me."

This is indeed a bit crazy.

For example, many professional players, even top players, are struggling for points and bonuses.

But Chen Ran is different, his vision has surpassed this limitation.

"I think that not only in China, but also around the world, many people who don't usually watch tennis matches may watch the Olympic tennis matches through TV broadcasts."

“So I think this is a very good stage to promote tennis to the world and let more people who don’t usually watch tennis fall in love with this sport.”

As soon as Chen Ran finished speaking, the whole audience burst into thunderous applause.

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

The foreign reporter who was simply trying to stir up trouble was suddenly speechless.

In fact, from Chen Ran's perspective, although tennis is a popular sport in the world and the first human ball sport, it cannot be compared with football.

Football people do have the confidence to ignore the Olympics. After all, the influence and popularity of the World Cup even surpass that of the Olympics.

But tennis does not have this capital. Even for the four Grand Slam tournaments, before Chen Ran emerged, its popularity in China could only be described as lukewarm.

Non-tennis sports fans may only be able to name a few people such as Sampras or Agassi. As for Kournikova, who was equally famous back then, did she rely on tennis? It was entirely because of the YY and spread of LSPs.

Therefore, tennis needs to use the Olympic platform to promote itself.

Just like the NBA back then, it relied on the promotion of the Dream Team led by Michael Jordan at the Barcelona Olympics.

"There is no doubt that the ratings for the men's and women's singles finals will set new records." Chen Ran repeated this sentence with certainty.

After the semi-finals, he finally got a rare day off.

However, the day of rest for the men's players is the final day for the women's tennis.

The duel between Li Na and Dementieva may create a new high in ratings for this Olympics.

Of course, the game with the highest ratings must be Liu Xiang's.

After all, the competition is short and has no viewership threshold, so any normal person can understand it. It is definitely the undisputed number one in ratings.

Ball games, whether it is football, basketball, or tennis, still have certain viewing thresholds.

However, before the women's tennis final, there will be a men's singles table tennis final.

The women's singles final has been decided, with the championship and runner-up both won by Chinese players.

The two players in the men's singles final were both Chinese, and they also won the gold and silver medals.

Among all ball games, table tennis is indeed the most stable.

After all, China can often come up with double or even triple insurance configurations, so how can other national teams play?
Even those sparring partners of the Chinese national team, any one of them would be able to sweep away thousands of enemies if they went abroad.

Some people also describe that the Chinese table tennis champion is the result of the sacrifice of countless people, and it is only with the self-sacrifice of countless world-class sparring partners that one Olympic champion after another is achieved.

This is table tennis.

If it were tennis, there would be no nationality restrictions in the professional tour, and these talented players could make a lot of money and earn points by playing in the tour, but this is not the case in table tennis.

"Wang Liqin versus Wang Hao, a duel between two kings."

Although the Chinese national table tennis team can finally secure the men's singles gold medal again after eight years.

But Chen Ran was still very curious whether the butterfly effect he caused would continue to expand.

Is it that Wang Liqin finally realized his dream, or is it that Wang Hao, who has been the "eternal runner-up", finally broke the curse?

With Chen Ran's status, it was not difficult to get a ticket to the finals.

So he put on a mask and went to the venue of the men's singles table tennis final with his assistant.

But when he arrived at the finals, he was shocked.

Wow, there are so many female fans at the final!
If we were to compare the proportion of women in various Olympic events, table tennis would definitely be ahead by a large margin.

But...what year is it tonight?

It seems that the Chinese national table tennis team has not yet started the large-scale fan club mode.

Chen Ran was suddenly confused.

Could it be that because of my butterfly effect, those fan clubs came into being?
Chen Ran saw a familiar CCTV reporter, so he walked up to him and greeted him in a low voice.

The CCTV reporter also stroked his chin and looked at the spectacular scene thoughtfully.

How crazy is this scene?

Countless girls held up billboards, shouting "Wang Hao"'s name, chattering and making a lot of noise.

"Is this the legendary support?" Chen Ran muttered silently.

The thing called "cheering" originally belonged only to popular stars, but was later inherited by the national table tennis team and even developed further.

But it’s only 2008.

"Xiao Li, what's going on? Has the Chinese national table tennis team always been like this?" Chen Ran couldn't help but ask the CCTV reporter in a low voice.

The CCTV reporter replied, "No... It is said that for today's final, Coach Liu specially found a group of Wang Hao's female fans to come and cheer for him." "..." Hearing this, Chen Ran could only complain in his heart, "This is really very Coach Liu..."

When it comes to the number of female fans, the pretty boy Wang Hao definitely beats Wang Liqin, that goes without saying.

Even Wang Liqin himself admits this.

Chen Ran also got confirmation from Wang Liqin at the opening ceremony.

But why did Liangzi do this?
Chen Ran is an insider, so he naturally knows the reason.

Although for the media and fans, both players are Chinese, it doesn’t matter who wins the championship.

But for coaches or athletes, the difference is huge.

Coaches certainly hope that their favorite players will win the championship, but for athletes, the treatment of the champion and runner-up is very different.

Liangzi definitely likes Wang Hao but not Wang Liqin.

So he started to take action. He used his connections to find a group of female fans to cheer for Wang Hao, hoping to encourage him.

"This... is really fan-circled!"

After all, with Chen Ran's vision and knowledge, he was very sure that these female fans only had their own brother in their eyes.

My brother's opponents, even if they are also Chinese athletes, are thorns in their eyes and are regarded as their lifelong enemies.

Liangzi is really good at making things happen!

Chen Ran couldn't help but sigh.

But there is no way, after all, the commercial value of table tennis is relatively low. Usually, tickets for the Table Tennis Super League are not sold even at 20 yuan per ticket with a free lunch box.

The prize money for the table tennis champion is not even as good as the first round of the China Open or Shenzhen Masters.

Therefore, Liangzi must make good use of this big platform of the Olympics.

After all, table tennis is the national sport. Although there is not much attention in ordinary competitions, once it comes to the Olympic Games, it becomes the focus of the whole country.

Both the attendance and ratings were very encouraging.

After all, the Chinese people's passion for table tennis all comes from its outstanding performance in the Olympics.

Liangzi also wanted to use this opportunity to show the world that our table tennis players have so many female fans.

What does it mean to have a lot of female fans?
In the entertainment industry, if a star has a lot of female fans, it means that your fans have strong purchasing power, as well as sufficient traffic and exposure, and are easily favored by various advertising products.

Then athletes should be no different.

Female fans' ability to spend money is much stronger than that of male fans.

After all, they don't have to worry about buying a house, a car, or saving up for a wedding gift. They have money and can spend it however they like.

So in Liangzi's imagination, once Wang Hao wins the championship and has so many female fans, advertisers will definitely flock to him after seeing him.

"There are so many female fans. This game will be lively." Chen Ran whispered softly.

These girls are so dedicated.

After the game started, this not-so-big stadium became extremely noisy.

The voices of the male audience were almost negligible, and it was all the cheers of the female audience, and they were all cheering for Wang Hao.

At the beginning, amid the cheers of many girls, Wang Hao was in good shape and took the first set.

The female fans were delighted and felt that their brother's championship was a sure win.

However, Chen Ran felt that this matter was not that simple.

Wang Liqin's expression remained very calm and composed, with murderous intent occasionally flashing in his eyes.

For top athletes, the worse the environment, the more it tends to stimulate their competitive spirit.

The female fans in the stadium were cheering for Wang Hao like a tsunami, but in fact they were angering Wang Liqin.

The more you cheer for each other, the more he wants to win the championship and prove it to everyone.

Chen Ran suddenly thought of something and turned his head to look. As far as his sight could reach, he saw Liangzi tilting his head habitually, which was his signature move.

Then, Liangzi crossed his arms over his chest, a smile on his face becoming uncontrollable, as if everything was under his control.

But can the facts turn out as he wishes?

Chen Ran felt that he had overestimated the positive effects of fan circles and underestimated their negative impact.

After the second set started, the situation suddenly changed.

Wang Liqin showed extraordinary form, both his forehand and backhand were extremely fast and could be described as impeccable.

He won the game and tied the score.

At this moment, the court became even more noisy.

The cheers from the female fans were overwhelming.

Chen Ran also noticed that Wang Hao looked a little anxious, and Wang Liqin's eyes became even colder.

In terms of strength, the two are indeed on par with each other, and it all depends on their performance on the spot.

But the negative impact of those fan clubs on players has begun to show.

Chen Ran covered his face helplessly. This was being broadcast live nationwide. He would be so embarrassed if this continued.

In the third set, Wang Hao was defeated and completely crushed by Wang Liqin.

1 to 2, Wang Liqin completed the reversal.

The female fans started to get nervous, and some even started to curse Wang Liqin.

However, all this had no effect on Wang Liqin. Instead, his eyes became even colder.

In the fourth set, both sides played very fiercely, but at the critical moment, Wang Hao's mentality exploded and Wang Liqin seized the opportunity.

1 is better than 3!

Wang Liqin was only one step away from winning the championship, while Wang Hao was already on the edge of the cliff.

At this moment, Liangzi's face looked strange, very gloomy, totally different from his previous calm demeanor.

As for the female fans, they were so upset that they even cried.

My brother was leading 1-0 just now, but now he is behind 1-3 in the blink of an eye.

Shouts, curses, and cries echoed in the stadium.

In the fifth game, Wang Hao's mentality completely collapsed. Wang Liqin did not show mercy even though his opponent was his teammate from the national team. He won the game very cleanly without any mercy.

4 to 1, he finally won the Olympic gold medal in men's singles table tennis.

This was the championship he had always dreamed of and he had been waiting for four years.

At this moment, the shouting and cursing in the audience became louder, and Liangzi had a stern face and said nothing.

Liangzi couldn’t understand why they lost with so many female fans cheering for them!
……

PS: This chapter satirizes Liangzi.

(End of this chapter)