Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 718: The Final Glory of the "Big Four"
When Chen Ran ended a brilliant season, the ATP arranged a special interviewer for him, who was the talented player from Australia - Nick Kyrgios.

Kyrgios, born in 1995, is only 28 years old now. Logically, he should be at the peak of his career.

However, the reality is that this bad boy has wasted his talent wantonly, and coupled with his terrible private life, his current state is basically the same as retirement.

Because this guy speaks directly and in a topical way, he was invited by ATP this year to be a live reporter to interview the players.

This time, the reason why ATP arranged for Kyrgios to interview Chen Ran has a story behind it.

A few years ago, Chen Ran publicly stated that Kyrgios' talent was outstanding among the post-90s generation of players.

Especially his talent in serving, which seems to be innate, varied, unpredictable, and full of power.

"He was born to be a tennis player."

"If he stays focused and disciplined, he will be No. 1 in the world sooner or later."

Chen Ran said this because this "bad boy" was indeed very talented, but he knew that this guy would most likely repeat the same mistakes.

But in fact, he really admired this man's tennis talent.

After all, I hired coach Michael Chang at the beginning of my career, and the two worked together for nearly two years.

But Kyrgios has not hired any coach since his debut, and the team around him is either his friends or his family.

With this kind of home workshop, you may be able to handle some low-level competitions, but it is simply a fantasy to want to become a top player.

This guy is quite good. Relying on such a home workshop, he managed to push his world ranking to the top 3 at one point and also made it to the final of a Grand Slam.

"Chen...are you disappointed in me?" Kyrgios' opening was so different. "You are still persisting, and I am about to retire."

What could I be disappointed about?

You asked for your own death, it's none of my business.

But on the surface, Chen Ran still behaved very gentlemanly: "You should have appeared in the year-end competition, not as a reporter."

Kyrgios' face flashed a gloomy look, and then he said in a nonchalant tone: "Actually, I think this is also good. First of all, congratulations on another great season."

"I want to confirm again, is next year really your last dance? In fact, in your condition, you can definitely hold on for a few more years."

Chen Ran shrugged and replied: "I think it's time for this journey to end. I have been in the ATP for 21 years, and next year will be my 22nd year. It is most appropriate to have my last dance at Roland Garros."

"What about you? Will you come back?"

Kyrgios smiled bitterly: "I want to, but my body won't allow it. I tried to come back this year, but it went very badly. I retired after only one game."

In this year's grass-race Halley 500 race, this former genius made a comeback and played a match, and his opponent was Wu Yibing from China.

As a result, this guy played passively, and despite the boos from the German audience, he lost to his opponent 0-2.

Thus began another long period of vacation.

His body no longer allows him to compete.

And the guy seems to really enjoy his job as a commentator.

In today's ATP, he can be regarded as the "No. 90 Chen fan" among those born in the s. He often praises Chen Ran as the best in the world when commenting on the games.

This is because Chen Ran's results are indeed too dazzling, and also because he once personally named Kyrgios as someone who was optimistic about him.

"I know I'm more mature than before, but my body can't go back to the way it was before."

He said with some helplessness, "I once said some unkind things to your partner. I want to apologize to him, and I also want to know what you think now."

The partner of Chen Ran mentioned by the other party is Wawrinka. Although they haven't been partners for a long time, and now Wawrinka can only play in the challenge tournament, he still refuses to retire.

A few years ago, Kyrgios was one set behind in his match against Wawrinka, and he cheated, telling Wawrinka very directly: "My buddy Kokkinakis slept with your girlfriend Vekic." (That was Vekic, who played against Zheng Qinwen in the women's singles final of this year's Olympics.)
Then Wawrinka collapsed, and Kyrgios took advantage of the situation to win two consecutive sets and achieve a comeback.

Afterwards, Kyrgios was criticized by almost all the famous ATP players. Even the ATP issued a heavy fine to him and forced him to apologize afterwards.

Since then, this guy seems to be cursed. He has been playing on and off, suffering from constant injuries, and now has almost faded out of the court.

But this question is a little difficult for Chen Ran to answer now.

"It's been many years since this happened, and both of you are in different situations. My old partner is ten years older than you, but he's still holding on. Uh...if you feel sorry, you can have a good talk with him." "I tried, but he ignored me. I guess he will never forgive me."

Chen Ran almost guessed what this guy meant, and then shrugged: "Then there's nothing I can do."

He is not willing to act as a middleman to mediate, you are dreaming.

“Okay…” Kyrgios also understood what Chen Ran meant. “I can only wish you a perfect last dance next year.”

"Oh yeah..." He thought of something else, "There's another question here that I forgot to ask. You now have 39 Grand Slams. If you were asked to choose between winning your fourth Olympic gold medal or your th Grand Slam title next year, what would you choose?"

In theory, Chen Ran will only participate in the first three Grand Slam events next year.

But in fact, it is not easy for him to get any one of them, because he will be one year older next year. Once a player of this age declines, the decline will inevitably be cliff-like.

If there is a problem in any link in terms of physical fitness, body and mind, and will, a chain reaction will immediately occur.

Chen Ran thought about it and realized that there would be many variables next year.

The aging but still strong Djokovic, and the two rapidly growing new generation players.

"I can't give you the answer now, but you will know next year. I know this last dance won't be that simple."

……

In mid-November, the year-end finals ended.

Chen Ran flew back to China and announced a holiday.

This year, the Hua Xia season has just returned, but in order to fight for the tenth year-end championship, Chen Ran had to adopt a conservative approach in the Hua Xia season.

To be precise, he must have some buffer between the US Open and the year-end finals. After all, he is no longer a young man in his early 20s.

This year's China Open and Shanghai Masters were dominated by Alcaraz and Sinner respectively.

Chen Ran was able to defeat these new generation giants in the year-end finals and bring his year-end finals championships to double digits, which was already the limit.

At the same time, ATP announced year-end dividends.

This is the first time in 20 years that all the Big Four players missed the year-end bonus.

The reason is simple. Both Chen Ran and Djokovic missed too many Masters tournaments, while Aka and Sinner received the two highest dividends of US$500 million and US$450 million respectively.

"The WTA does not have year-end dividends because they can only barely maintain profitability, while the ATP's financial situation is much better." The media commented, "It seems that they are also ready for Chen Ran and Djokovic to fade out of professional tennis."

But no matter what, Chen Ran and Djokovic still held on to the four Grand Slam championship trophies in the past year.

So what about next year? Let's see what happens.
"Man, I think next year, they won't be able to defend it."

"If the two of them can still hold on to the four Grand Slams next year, tennis will be finished."

"The world has been waiting too long for new blood."

"Also, I think Chen Ran's focus next year seems to be on the Olympics. That's what my intuition tells me."

"What about Novak?"

"Him? Although he won the Australian Open this year, he has lost to Aka and Sinner so many times since then. He will be one year older next year and will only become more passive."

"What about Rafael? Will he be back next year? Is he still competitive?"

"His condition could be even worse."

……

Perhaps in order to verify what these people said, one day in late December, Nadal announced through his team that after resting for a year, he found that he was still plagued by injuries and finally decided to retire.

The Fed Cup between the end of December and New Year's Day in January will be his farewell performance, and he will not play in the Australian Open again.

In this way, only Chen Ran and Djokovic are still holding on among the "Big Four", and 2024 is confirmed to be Chen Ran's "last dance".

(End of this chapter)