Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 696: A New Generation of Tennis Girls

Chen Ran knew that he had probably taken the most important step in his business career, which was even more far-reaching than the agency of "World of Warcraft" and the acquisition of Qidian.

There is no suspense anymore!

In just over a month, WeChat, which is shaped like a tennis ball, has already occupied an absolute dominant share in the market.

With its high exposure and the traffic generated by QQ, it is simply invincible in the social software market.

But Chen Ran was still very sober.

If WeChat really wants to become a giant that monopolizes the social software market, it still needs the most critical step, which is the emergence of a payment system.

So it’s too early to be happy now.

Fortunately, he has the support of Penguin, and the payment system issues can be completely left to Pony Ma to handle.

With his knowledge and understanding, he must be able to see that the establishment of a "payment system" is the most critical step in making WeChat a social giant.

Of course, Chen Ran has laid a solid foundation for WeChat. The wise thing to do now is to be a hands-off boss and let Pony Ma and the Penguin team take care of the subsequent development.

After all, he is different from Zhang Xiaolong. Before the "WeChat" software came out, Chen Ran was already the second largest person in Penguin.

In the words of the ancients, it is already sealed beyond repair.

Now that WeChat has come out, Chen Ran's reputation has soared again, almost catching up with Xiao Ma Ge.

Does this count as overshadowing the master?
So at this stage, Chen Ran, who was only 26 years old, had already begun to deliberately keep a low profile.

After all, he has completed the most important business transaction in his life.

Chen Ran took the initiative to contact the fledgling Penguin in 03, when it had not even been listed in Hong Kong. But now in 2012, Penguin has become a huge empire, and he has almost witnessed its entire growth process.

What does this look like? Like Joe Tsai to Alibaba.

The media described these two people as having a forward-looking vision and being very good at investing.

But it is understandable that Xiao Cai is a well-known investor in the business world, and it is amazing that Chen Ran, who is just a professional tennis player, has such outstanding vision.

In fact, Chen Ran had already prepared a reason for this.

"I invested in Penguin at that time simply because I liked playing QQ and decorating my QQ space," he said with confidence.

After all, when he invested in Penguin, he was still a high school student. Isn't it normal for him to like playing QQ and QQ Space?
Therefore, such reasons are more likely to convince people.

All I can say is that Chen Ran's luck was really good.

"No matter what happens in the future, my position as the second person in Penguin will not be shaken." After confirming this, Chen Ran gradually handed over the decision-making power of WeChat's future development to the Penguin team.

He only holds the title of a founder.

As for Jin Man Guan Company, after divesting a series of gaming businesses, it mainly focuses on online music, novels, videos and subsequent copyright operations.

Then there is the matter of sports agency. With Chen Ran's help and the relationship with the Sports Bureau, he is like a fish in water in this regard.

Of course, as a professional tennis player, he focuses on tennis and other sports are secondary.

It was also in 2012 that Chen Ran's agency signed a 20-year-old female player named Wang Qiang.

This is the first tennis player signed by Chen Ran’s agency since its establishment.

After all, those athletes who have become famous today already have agencies that they have been working with for many years.

At this moment, Wang Qiang is still participating in low-level challenge competitions.

You know, in the WTA, there are endless talented girls.

Many people would think that if a female player hasn’t played on tour by the age of 20, it will be difficult for her to make a breakthrough.

Of course, nothing is absolute.

There are also players who have achieved success late in life, but the examples are rare.

Especially among Asian players, many of them are late bloomers.

Therefore, Chinese netizens who pay close attention to Chen Ran's every move were very curious when they learned that Chen Ran's agency had signed an unknown female player.

After all, Sun Yang and Ma Long, who were signed by Chen Ran before the Olympics, were already well-known and completely unknown compared to Wang Qiang.

Soon, Wang Qiang's voice, appearance and smile appeared on major Internet platforms.

"I'll go, it's so beautiful!"

"With such good looks, it's not a bad idea for her to join the entertainment industry!" "With a height of 1.72 meters, beautiful muscle lines, and a soft face, she is definitely the most beautiful female contestant in China's history."

"Will China have its own Sharapova?"

Surprisingly, Wang Qiang first broke the circle not because of her tennis skills, but because of her appearance.

In stark contrast to the popular aesthetic of fair, young and thin women in the entertainment industry, Wang Qiang's healthy and athletic beauty instantly captured the hearts of many male fans.

A group of men were shamelessly calling "wife" and "wife" under the comments.

This was also something Chen Ran had not expected.

When did Wang Qiang become popular in her previous life?

He reached the semi-finals of the China Open Crown Tournament and the Wuhan Open Super Five Tournament, and his world ranking once reached 12th place, which was considered a small breakthrough.

Then she defeated Serena Williams on New Year's Eve of the Australian Open and then appeared on the Spring Festival Gala stage, which was a big breakthrough.

Before this, Wang Qiang's skills and beauty only existed in the tennis circle.

"Why did Chen Ran sign her?"

"Does a 20-year-old female player who hasn't played on tour really have that much potential?"

"Or maybe what Chen Ran really values ​​is not Wang Qiang's potential, but her looks."

"Won't your girlfriend be worried if you sign her?"

Soon, the title of Chinese Sharapova or Chinese Ivanovic was given to Wang Qiang.

Of course, this is just about appearance, but there is still a long way to go in terms of achievements and honors.

However, because of this signing controversy, Wang Qiang became well-known to the Chinese people several years in advance.

Especially this girl, every time she was interviewed, she was a little shy and often smiled foolishly, which immediately captured the hearts of many male fans.

Her popularity also soared rapidly, surpassing famous Mesozoic players such as Zhang Shuai and becoming second only to two great players, Li Na and Zheng Jie.

Even in men's tennis, no one can compare to her except Chen Ran.

At the same time, some fans also had some objections to Chen Ran.

For example, in the Chinese men's tennis world, two newcomers have emerged, one is Wu Di and the other is Zhang Ze.

Especially the latter, who unexpectedly defeated French star Gasquet and entered the quarterfinals of this year's China Open.

But surprisingly, Chen Ran’s agency did not sign these two people.

"You favor girls over boys, don't you?"

"At least give the male players a chance, especially since Zhang Ze made it to the quarterfinals of the China Open."

But Chen Ran remained unmoved and did not give the two men a chance. He only said that they needed to observe for a while.

How did Li Na evaluate Wu Di and others back then?
The treatment was too good and the benefits were too many, which led to a lack of motivation. He was very lazy. Apart from waiting for the wild card for the China season every year, he never thought of taking the initiative to go abroad to play in challenge tournaments to earn points.

So Chen Ran didn't have a good impression of them. He needed to observe and see if these guys could become more diligent.

As for Li Zhe, who was first signed with IMG because of Chen Ran's recommendation, he has established a firm foothold in the tour in recent years, occasionally reaching the top eight in 250 or 500 tournaments, and his world ranking has basically remained stable, fluctuating between 8 and 50.

He is also the second best Chinese male tennis player after Chen Ran.

As for why Chen Ran wanted to sign Wang Qiang.

The girl’s beauty is one thing, but he also wants to see what Wang Qiang’s true limit is.

During the window period between Li Na and Zheng Qinwen, this most beautiful female tennis player in Chinese history was once highly expected by all fans and had extremely high popularity.

But because of the epidemic and the sudden death of her coach, her mental state became decadent and then declined rapidly.

Her highlights come and go quickly.

This girl has both gifts and talents, but she has a very Buddhist personality, so once her form slipped, she never thought about fighting back and just gave up.

So Chen Ran wanted to intervene and see how far this girl could go with the support of sufficient resources and his own encouragement.

"If Wang Qiang can really win a Grand Slam, even if it's just reaching the finals. With such a beautiful face and the support of the Chinese market, she will definitely be as good as Sharapova, right?" Chen Ran thought.

……

(End of this chapter)