Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 719: Teaming up with Zheng Qinwen for the first time (4K)

What is the Confederations Cup?
This is a mixed men's and women's competition jointly organized by ATP and WTA on a national basis.

There are three matches in total, namely men's singles, women's singles, and mixed doubles.

This year is the first Fed Cup tennis tournament. You can also think of it as a warm-up match before the Australian Open, and the venue is also in Australia.

Although the start time of the competition is December 2023, 12, it has been counted in the 27 season in the ATP and WTA schedules.

The Fed Cup tennis tournament provides participating players with hefty appearance fees and considerable points, but the beneficiaries are the number one men's singles and number one women's singles.

根据排名，1-10名将获得20万美元的出场费，而11-20名获得10万美元的出场费，另外还有赢球奖金。

On the Chinese side, Chen Ran is ranked first in the world, so he can naturally get the first-tier appearance fee. Among women, the highest ranked player is Zheng Qinwen, who is ranked 11th, and she can get an appearance fee of 10 US dollars.

Since the Fed Cup tennis tournament only requires one men's singles and one women's singles, and substitute players not only do not get any points but also have very meager prize money, the country's second, third, and subsequent singles players will not choose to sign up and instead participate in the tour.

Therefore, in the first United Cup, Chen Ran and Zheng Qinwen will lead the Chinese team, and they will also be responsible for the mixed doubles competition.

As for the substitutes, there are two men and two women, all of whom are players ranked around 300th in the world. They basically come out to see the world and get some prize money.

Because the competition was held in the name of the country, Director Bai Xilin, who was recently transferred from the Basketball Association to the Tennis Association, also traveled with the team.

But the biggest difference between tennis and table tennis next door is that in the next door, Liang Zi has the final say. No matter how many world champions you are, you can only be a supporting role in front of Liang Zi.

As for tennis, not many people seem to care about the new leader.

To be polite, everyone will call you "Director Bai", and to be impolite, they will just call you "Xiao Bai".

The reason why Chen Ran signed up for this year's Federation Cup was not only to warm up for the Australian Open, but also because he knew that this was not only his first Federation Cup, but also his last.

It is a pity that he never participated in the Davis Cup in his career.

So this time representing the country in the Confederations Cup can be regarded as making up for my regrets.

This time, the Chinese team is in the same group as the Polish team and the Czech team.

Due to the relatively weak strength of the Czech team, the Chinese team won three games in a row in the first match and defeated their opponents 3-0, including the mixed doubles composed of Chen Ran and Zheng Qinwen.

In the second game, the opponent was much stronger.

The Polish team includes the world's number one female player Swiatek and the world's ninth-ranked Hurkacz.

Hurkacz has a reputation as a master of serve, but this guy was scolded by Chen Ran at Wimbledon because of his gossip.

As the best serve receiver in the world, Chen Ran has unique serve receiving skills in the tennis world, and he is not afraid of players with excellent serves.

No matter how good your serve is, he can still find a way to break it.

"Apart from serving, is there any other way he can put pressure on Chen Ran? No, not at all!" the current Australian host said bluntly, "In Chen Ran's 20-year professional career, he has seen all kinds of servers."

A player who is only good at serving but not top-notch in other aspects will definitely be beaten by Chen Ran.

Hurkacz continued his high-end manservant path, losing to Chen Ran 2-6, 3-6.

But the other women's singles match presented a different scene. Although Zheng Qinwen tried her best, she still couldn't withstand Swiatek's fierce offensive.

During this game, Chen Ran touched his chin and shook his head.

Passive, passive throughout the game.

The Polish woman took complete control of the game.

"Brother Ran, it is said that this girl is more popular in Poland than the football player Lewandowski." The person who spoke was the current head coach of the national team, Wu Di.

It is strange to say that Wu Di is five years younger than Chen Ran, but the former is already the head coach of the national team, while Chen Ran is still playing and is firmly ranked first in the world.

When Chen Ran won his first Grand Slam, this kid was still in the national youth team. Now he has become his nominal coach. Even though such a thing has already happened, the fans and the media find it ridiculous.

Wu Di was also very cautious when he was in the national team.

So a strange picture appeared. The head coach of the national team actually called his players "brother"!
"That's normal. Three French Open champions and one US Open champion. Even in women's tennis, she is a superstar in most countries around the world." Chen Ran said calmly.

This match was his first time watching the match between Zheng Qinwen and Swiatek from the sidelines.

After all, my previous self was reborn in 2023, so it can be said that the whole year of 2024 is unfamiliar to Chen Ran, and he no longer has the advantage of foresight.

But judging from the content of the game, China's number one women's singles player was indeed suppressed by Poland's number one women's singles player, and the gap is obvious.

It is not easy for her to overcome this mountain, not to mention there are Sabalenka, Rybakina, Gauff and others.

Chen Ran couldn't help but shake his head.

For this generation of male and female tennis players, men may have a chance to break into the TOP20 or even TOP10, but their hopes of a Grand Slam are very slim.

On the women's side, for Wang Xinyu and others, if they can reach around the TOP15, that should be the limit. Zheng Qinwen is the only one who is considered to have a chance to win a Grand Slam.

But now observing in person, the gap between the two sides is still huge.

In the end, Swiatek won the second game in straight sets, and the two teams tied 1-1.

China and Poland entered the third decisive battle.

Chen Ran and Zheng Qinwen VS Swiatek and Hurkacz.

In fact, both sides are top singles players, and neither side has much doubles experience.

So the outcome of this game is unpredictable.

At this time, Chen Ran suddenly turned his head and glanced at his nominal substitute Bai Yan, only to see this guy with his head down, swiping his phone, which seemed to be some betting interface.

"Who did you buy?" Chen Ran suddenly asked.

Hearing this, Bai Yan immediately put away his phone and smiled awkwardly: "Brother Ran, I was just casually checking the odds."

I believe you, you big-headed idiot.

Chen Ran shook his head, ignored it, and prepared to go on stage.

As the nominal men's singles substitute, he is not young anymore, 35 years old this year, and his world ranking is just in the top 300.

With such a ranking, he can only participate in the qualifying rounds of the Challenge Tournament, so he has been hanging around in various domestic hope tournaments for a long time to gain points.

Then, the fans gave this person a nickname "Grass Killer".

He was timid in the challenge tournament, but hit hard in the hope tournament. Even at the age of 35, he was still able to beat many young Chinese players competing in this level of competition.

Fans joked: If you, the younger generation of players, cannot beat Bai Yan in the Hope Tournament, don’t even think about playing in a higher level challenge tournament.

After all, in the challenge tournaments, there are often tour-level players coming to attack from a lower level, and the strength of ordinary players is around 200th place, which is the level of Grand Slam qualifiers.

Tennis tournaments are like this, with clear levels and the difficulty increasing exponentially.

However, Bai Yan has not retired at this age, and he frequently participates in tournaments where the prize money for the champion is only thousands of dollars, instead of becoming a more lucrative tennis coach.

In addition to the fact that he himself felt that he could still play, another very important reason was spinach.

You have to control the water yourself, and don't live too comfortably.

Of course, he is not the only one. Many players playing in low-level competitions around the world do this.

In fact, Chen Ran was a little confused as to what those bookmakers were thinking. It was fine for you to open the market for the Challenge Tournament, but why did you also open the market for the Hope Tournament? Will anyone really buy it? Are you really doing charity?
"Brother Ran, come on! We must win the third game!" Bai Yan suddenly clenched his fist and said. "Or I'll let you play Hun Shuang." Chen Ran suddenly joked.

"That's impossible. I definitely can't beat him. That guy's serve alone is enough to kill me!" Bai Yan immediately shook his head.

Chen Ran understood. It seemed that this kid had bet on us to win in the third game.

But seeing his happy expression just now, Chen Ran asked again: "Did you buy an opponent for the second game?"

"Hehe..." Bai Yan smiled awkwardly, "I hope Xiao Zheng wins, then I'll be happy even if I lose money."

Just pull it off!

Chen Ran naturally wouldn't believe his nonsense.

However, as a professional tennis player with high professional ethics who has never manipulated the handicap, he is actually curious about how much money these guys who participate in low-level competitions can make from the dog bookmakers in a year?
At this time, Zheng Qinwen called Chen Ran to prepare for the competition.

The two men, who were 16 years apart in age, ended up forming a mixed doubles partnership.

"Brother Chen, I'm very unwilling to lose the game just now. I feel that I only performed at 30% of my level!" Zheng Qinwen said unwillingly.

"..." Chen Ran's face was filled with black lines.

I'm not your sister, don't you know what the biggest insults you get from the haters on the Internet are? They mock you as a "30% girl" every day.

Can't you be a little more humble and at least say that you performed at 70% of your level in that game?

At this time, even head coach Wu Di and team leader Director Bai looked at Chen Ran helplessly, as if to say: "Why don't you take care of her? Don't let this girl keep talking so much."

Due to the particularity of tennis, the national team coach and the director of the Tennis Association were like a decoration and did not dare to question Zheng Qinwen.

Chen Ran naturally wouldn't care about such things.

Every player has his own personality. He is not a member of the player's team, nor is he a family member of the other player. There is no need for him to meddle in other people's business.

Being stubborn and refusing to admit defeat is actually not a bad thing.

Especially for female players, don’t do too much to make fun of others. Being tough is just a small matter.

Let’s play, the third game must be won.

……

When was the last time Chen Ran played mixed doubles?
That was the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, when I teamed up with Li Na in mixed doubles and won a gold medal.

This happened 14 years ago, it seems like a lifetime ago...

After the third game started, the two Poles were smart.

When Chen Ran was squatting in front of the net, Zheng Qinwen was at the baseline, and the opponent tried his best to hit the ball towards the baseline.

If Chen Ran is at the baseline and Zheng Qinwen is in front of the net, the opponent will deliberately hit the ball in front of the net.

Mixed doubles in tennis is different from mixed doubles in table tennis. It is not a case of you hit the ball and I hit the ball. Anyone can play.

This group of guys played to their strengths and avoided their weaknesses, focusing on attacking Zheng Qinwen.

Even after scoring, Swiatek stuck out her tongue at Chen Ran in a playful and cute manner.

Is this Polish woman trying to seduce me?

In fact, the Fed Cup is mainly a warm-up for the Australian Open. Although everyone is playing very hard, the atmosphere is still quite relaxed.

Only the young Zheng Qinwen had a serious expression on his face.

But in fact, there was no coordination between the two sides. Although the two Poles focused on attacking Zheng Qinwen, they made many mistakes, and many balls still missed Chen Ran.

Especially when Swiatek served and Chen Ran received, the Pole's serve was basically lost.

Chen Ran was not even worried about the men's cannon, let alone the women's serve, and often ended the battle with an ace in receiving the serve.

Little girl, it's no use winking at me or sticking out your tongue. I will still take ruthless action when it's time.

Besides, in terms of appearance, you are much worse than Sharapova and Ivanovic back then. I have seen all kinds of beauties.

In fact, Swiatek was pretty good-looking when she first debuted, but in recent years her hair has become thinner, her forehead has become balder, and she has become a bit masculine.

Could it be that the Poles are also taking it?

When Chen Ran served, both the woman and man on the opposite side were helpless in receiving the serve.

Even if they received the ball, the ball they sent out was flat and slow, and Zheng Qinwen could directly kill it with a high-pressure shot in front of the net.

Mixed doubles is actually much simpler than singles.

I don't even have to run.

Whenever Chen Ran had a chance to hit the ball, he would make a feint to the east and attack in the west, sometimes towards Hurkacz and sometimes towards Swiatek.

The quality of his ball is so high that as long as he hits it in the direction of Swiatek, the opponent will be basically very passive.

Except for serving, Hurkacz's ball quality is far inferior to Chen Ran, and Zheng Qinwen can occasionally return a few shots.

Second set, final moments.

Hurkacz served and Chen Ran received.

Just when that guy thought he had served a beautiful ace, he saw Chen Ran slightly adjust his steps, use the force of the opponent's hand to swing backhand with both hands, and lightly touch it.

"Incredible!"

"Unbelievable! Chen Ran can always beautifully resolve those shots that seem like they could be ace shots!"

The host on the scene exclaimed.

Chen Ran's return was fast and flat, flying directly to Swiatek's position.

The world's number one female tennis player didn't even react.

"You can even receive this kind of ball???" As a teammate on the national team, Swiatek knows too well how terrible Hurkacz's serve is.

In her opinion, the opponent's serve has a 70% to 80% chance of being an ace, and a 10% to 20% chance of being a direct serve.

As a result, the opponent not only hit the ball back, but also controlled the landing point and speed very beautifully.

Is this the level of the ATP No. 1?
It really opened her eyes as the number one WTA player.

Swiatek didn't move at all, watching the ball fly past her.

Break!

In the third game, China defeated Poland 2-1.

competition is over!

The Chinese team came in first in the group.

……

(End of this chapter)