Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 424 Thanks to the undisciplined Greek audience
The tennis competition of the Athens Olympics starts on the 14th, which is the second day of the opening ceremony.

But this is only the doubles match, while the singles match starts on the 15th.

On the first day of official competition at the Olympic Games, despite constant upsets, China's women's tennis doubles players won the first round and passed easily.

On August 8th, the singles competition began.

Chen Ran, Zheng Jie, and Li Na all appeared one after another.

As the No. 1 seed, Chen Ran's match was scheduled for prime time in the evening in Europe, but in China it was already midnight.

In the locker room, Chen Ran stood in front of the mirror and looked at himself wearing the national team jersey for the first time, feeling a little excited.

A white Nike uniform, with a small flag icon on the right.

In the original time and space, the official sponsor of the China Tennis Team in 2004 and 2008 was Adidas. In this time and space, due to the butterfly effect caused by Chen Ran, Nike became a sponsor at a high cost.

It is impossible for Nike to accept that its top players wear the clothes of its top competitors in such high-profile and important Olympic Games in 2004 and 2008. This is absolutely intolerable to them, so they can only bite the bullet and pay for it with one copy. The sponsorship contract was won with an offer that was far above normal.

Taking a deep breath, Chen Ran held the racket tightly.

For a tennis player, the Olympic Games is indeed the highest stage where they can represent their country.

It had been a long time since he had played in such an empty stadium, and it even felt like there were more security guards in the stadium than spectators.

Although the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games was beautiful, the attendance rate of this Olympic Games should be the lowest in history, not to mention the enthusiastic Chinese audience four years later.

However, when Chen Ran stepped into the stadium, his nervous and uneasy mood was relieved a lot. This was because this huge stadium was really too empty.

Especially since this is a best-of-three-set system, the error tolerance rate is very low.

Maybe it’s the special significance of the Olympic Games?

The other party makes so much money in China every year, so he must pay back what he deserves.

bang bang bang~
The heartbeat is a little accelerated!

"It's time to play, come on!"

Especially in his previous life in 2004, Federer's performance throughout the season was so strong that he completely swept the tennis world. As a result, he was eliminated early in the Olympics when the world was optimistic about him.

Chen Ran suddenly understood why giants like Federer and Djokovic frequently failed in Olympic games.

As long as you take a nap or enter the competition state slowly, your Olympic journey may end here, so there is no room for sloppiness.

It is even said that some time before the opening, all walks of life in Greece went on strike, demanding a wage increase.

For this Olympic Games, Chen Ran also brought his team with him to follow him throughout the whole process.

As expected of the undisciplined Greeks.

He clenched his fists and walked into the tunnel with determination.

But from Chen Ran's perspective, he doesn't care how much money Nike spends.

It’s a completely different pace of play and mentality.

Chen Ran even felt himself getting nervous uncontrollably.

How could this be?
Although he is young, he has already experienced all kinds of big scenes, why is he still nervous?
But in terms of competition atmosphere, the atmosphere of the four major championships is even more grand.

Although there were almost 50,000 spectators in the entire stadium during the opening ceremony, which was a huge crowd, Chen Ran suspected that the Greek Olympic Committee had brought them from other places to make up the number.

Thanks to the empty stadium, Chen Ran's tense emotions were able to relax.

The last time he played in front of such a small audience was probably the TF Hope Game he played in when he first debuted.

Chen Ran's opponent is a player from New Zealand, ranked over 50 in the world.

The two sides have no previous record of playing against each other on tour.

The opponent obviously had the idea that if he could win a game, he would make money, and launched a fierce attack from the beginning. In a best-of-three-set match, there is no need to consider physical issues, especially when facing a No. 1 seed like Chen Ran, there is no need to consider the next round.

The opponent charged very hard, with full momentum and almost no reservations.

If you can win by chance, with Chen Ran's huge popularity, it will definitely be a moment for him to become famous.

I even heard that those Chinese merchants would not only not exclude you, but would even hand you over business contracts.

As a result, the game was very tense at the beginning.

In the first 10 games, neither side broke serve.

5 to 5 draw!
Of course, from the perspective of Chinese fans and reporters, it was Chen Ran who failed to break serve.

As for his own service game, except for being a little tight at the beginning, almost all subsequent service games were held easily.

"Overall, Chen Ran's physical condition is still very good."

"I feel that the whole person is very excited, and it is not affected by the emptiness of the stadium."

The CCTV host responsible for the live commentary seemed to be relieved.

"The Olympic Games are different from the Grand Slams and the Tour. I believe Chen Ran has understood this."

"Honestly, this is the first time he's ever played in a jersey with the flag logo on it."

"Good shot, Chen Ran easily saved his sixth serve again."

Next comes the twelfth game. Will Chen Ran break serve or will the two sides enter a tiebreaker?

While Chen Ran was watching the New Zealand players hitting tennis balls from a distance, he casually raised his head and glanced around the court.

Because he was too involved in the game just now, he realized that there were already many spectators sitting in the empty stadium.

It seems that it is not that the Greeks are not interested in tennis matches, but that they are too undisciplined and are often late for most of the matches.

Do Greeks do the same thing when they go to work? No wonder this country goes bankrupt at every turn and is also known as the first of the "Four European Pig Countries".

But the Greek girl in the stands is really beautiful!
In the twelfth game, Chen Ran changed his tactics.

He decisively chose to engage in a baseline tug-of-war with his opponent, which is what he is good at.

Because he discovered that the ball speed on the hard courts in Athens was actually not very fast.

At this time, the audience became more and more lively, and the Greeks kept chattering, and their voices became louder and louder.

"See Chen-style ball again!"

At the critical moment, Chen Ran once again scored with his iconic ball, and got his third break point in the game.

The Greeks in the audience suddenly burst into cheers.

Immediately afterwards, Chen Ran, who became more and more courageous as he fought, scored another point and successfully broke serve.

7 is better than 5!

In the second set, Chen Ran was unstoppable and took the game 6-2.

This time, thanks to these undisciplined Greek audiences.

If there were so many people in the stadium at the beginning, it would be difficult for Chen Ran's mood to stabilize so quickly.

Fortunately, the Greeks were able to arrive an hour late for every game. The empty stadium allowed Chen Ran to find his groove quickly.

Even though there are more people in the game now, Chen Ran's mood has stabilized.

……

(End of this chapter)