Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 674 I can give this guy a chance

Although Chen Ran missed this year's Shenzhen Masters, he could not refuse the invitation from the organizing committee and went to Shenzhen as a guest.

However, there were some surprises this time. Among the several Chinese players who participated in the competition with wild cards, there was a guy named Li Zhe who was the same age as him. He defeated a Chinese player in the first round and a qualifying player in the second round, and entered the top 32 of the Shenzhen Masters.

In the round of 32, facing a low-seeded player, the two sides were tied 1-1 in the first two sets, but in the third set, the opponent was injured and had to retire.

In this way, Li Zhe successfully made it into the top 16 of the Shenzhen Masters.

Although he finally stopped in the round of 16, he still created the best result of a Chinese male player in the Masters Tournament except Chen Ran.

At the same time, this guy's world ranking has reached the top 200 in the world and he has won a place in the Australian Open qualifying tournament next year.

Chen Ran actually had some impression of this person. He was also a famous tennis player among the Chinese born in the 80s.

In his previous life, many Chinese fans even joked that Li Zhe was a "Chinese Golden Slam" level player because he had won the singles, doubles and mixed doubles championships in the National Games.

So, this guy cooperated very well and certified himself as the winner of the "Huaxia Golden Slam" on his personal Weibo. What's even funnier is that Weibo actually passed this certification.

But now, the real Golden Slam winner is here, and he has won two laps of the Golden Slam, so there should no longer be any Chinese fans who self-deprecatingly tease Li Zhe as the "Golden Slam" winner.

At this time, the head of IMG company found Chen Ran and asked him a question.

“Do we need to sign this person and then assign him a foreign coach?”

"Of course, the only concern is that at 22, that's not young anymore."

“But he has great physical fitness, plays very fiercely, and has good basketball IQ, which are necessary conditions if you want to gain a foothold in men’s tennis.”

Chen Ran thought about it and fell into deep thought.

If he agrees, IMG will make an exception.

Based on past experience, this company will only recruit young talents from around the world, and 22 is indeed not young anymore.

But IMG also needs to find the second male tennis player in China after Chen Ran, but this is too difficult.

Relatively speaking, the situation is better for women.

IMG has signed Zheng Jie, Li Na, and the emerging Chinese star Zhang Shuai.

"22 is not young, but I think I can give it a try."

Chen Ran thought for a moment and then spoke up: "The charm of tennis is that it has both talented youngsters and late bloomers. In fact, Sister Na is also a late bloomer, and there are more male players who are late bloomers than female players."

On the other hand, more women have won Grand Slams before the age of 20 than men.

“So we can sign him and try to put some resources into it.”

"Yes, let's try. I can be the recommender." Chen Ran recalled some past events and nodded.

The reason why he was willing to give Li Zhe a chance was not because this guy self-deprecatingly gave himself the title of "China Golden Slam", nor was it because of the top 16 of the Shenzhen Masters this time, but because of a game in his previous life.

In the 2019 Davis Cup, China's opponent is the team next door.

At that time, men's tennis was at its peak.

Not only is there the US Open runner-up, Asia's No. 1 Kei Nishikori, but even Asia's No. 70 player, Yoshihito Nishioka, is a guy who lives a humble life, a guy who is only 24 meters tall but whose peak ranking reached th.

At that time, Nishioka Yoshihito was already ranked in the top 50 in the world and had won a tour championship. But in that match, the 33-year-old Li Zhe played well and defeated Nishioka Yoshihito 6-3, 6-2, creating a shocking upset.

In a competition like the Davis Cup, you either don't participate or once you participate you are fighting for your country, and every player will do their best.

At that time, Li Zhe's outstanding performance also caused quite a stir among tennis fans in China.

At that time, this person said something that made Chen Ran feel deeply moved.

"I never think that our Chinese men's players are worse than those in the daily life. The main reason is that our group of people came out too late, have been training in China, and have not had the opportunity to go abroad to get in touch with high-level training."

"By the time I came abroad for training, I was older and my potential was basically exhausted."

Because the players of their generation were basically all within the system, the state funding was limited, and their family's financial conditions were also limited. They were not as famous at a young age as Shang Juncheng, who later became famous. He was signed by IMG in his teens and received a considerable scholarship.

Therefore, every step they take is very difficult.

There is another point that Li Zhe did not say explicitly, but it is no secret among tennis fans.

At that time, due to the success of women's tennis, such as the Olympic doubles gold medal, the Grand Slam doubles championship, and later the Grand Slam singles championship, the country always tilted towards women's tennis when allocating resources, while men's tennis did not receive much support.

"At the age of 33, he was able to beat the younger Yoshihito Nishioka, who was only 25 years old and in his prime. This is really amazing."

Because of this past event, Chen Ran decided to give Li Zhe a chance.

Let IMG sign him, continue to invest resources in him, and arrange high-level foreign coaches.

If possible, arrange a few wild cards for the tour.

IMG's authority is limited to the wild cards of the tour, because the wild cards of the Grand Slams are in the hands of the tennis associations of these four countries.

However, the wild card for the Miami Masters every year and some 250 or 500 tour wild cards are enough to feed him.

As for this opportunity, whether he can seize it depends on himself.

Of course, if Li Zhe really signs with IMG, it also means that he will go solo and be responsible for his own profits and losses. It depends on whether he is willing to break away from the system and take this risk.

However, even if you go solo, you can still choose to continue participating in the National Games and receive some subsidies from the Sports Bureau.

This is called a mixed mode, and most Chinese female tennis players are like this.

A few days later, Djokovic defeated various top players along the way, won the Shenzhen Masters Championship, and consolidated his world number one ranking.

But another piece of news overshadowed this headline.

With Chen Ran’s recommendation, IMG signed the second Chinese male tennis player—Li Zhe.

22 years old, the same age as Chen Ran.

This news also caused a stir in the media.

Many fans thought that Li Zhe got this opportunity because he unexpectedly made it into the top 16 of the Shenzhen Masters.

But only Chen Ran knew the real reason, which was because he once defeated his neighbor's second brother in the Davis Cup at the age of 33.

……

(End of this chapter)