Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 88 There’s something fishy about the tour
When January comes every year, it also means a new season for professional tennis players.

At this time, China is still in a cold winter, but Australia and New Zealand in the southern hemisphere are in a hot summer.

Chen Ran's original plan was to parachute directly to participate in the qualifying rounds of the Australian Open.

But because IMG helped him apply for a wild card for the Auckland Tour of New Zealand, he had to change his plan and board a plane to New Zealand in advance.

He was finally going abroad to compete, and he was a little excited.

ATP World Tour!
There is also the Australian Open, one of the four Grand Slams!
Chen Ran's professional tennis career will officially enter the Sunshine Avenue from this day.

His primary goal is to stay on the tour, instead of being bullied by those masters and having to return to the challenge in despair.

In fact, there are three tour stops in the entire Oceania season, namely Auckland, New Zealand, Brisbane, Australia, and Adelaide. The Australian Open, one of the four Grand Slams, is the climax of the Oceania season.

"Good morning, dear passengers, thank you for choosing Air New Zealand as your partner for this journey. Ahead is the final destination of our flight, Auckland. I am your captain..."

In the cabin, the in-flight radio was rustling.

Chen Ran was a little sleepy, lying lazily on the business class seat, and then stretched out a lot, feeling very comfortable all over.

Through the window, I saw white clouds floating in the sky. Looking down from an altitude of nearly [-] meters, I saw the blue sea and the green islands.

On their first trip abroad, Chen Ran's team only brought one person with them, his physical coach Sergey.

There is no need for a sparring partner, and he has never hired a coach. He can travel all over the world with just a physical coach.

This is different with a brokerage company. In order to let Chen Ran rest peacefully, he directly booked two business class air tickets. The air tickets will be directly deducted from his bonus or endorsement fee in the future.

Chen Ran's original intention was to keep a low profile. Although his current strength has enabled him to play the role of a dark horse in tournaments and even Grand Slams, it's better not to show off.

Tennis matches are no less unpopular than football matches. Chen Ran cannot guarantee 100% that he can pass the three qualifying rounds of the Australian Open.

The agency also understood Chen Ran's intention and stated that it would not use media resources to build momentum until he entered the main draw of the Australian Open.

However, before the start of the Australian Open, Chen Ran still has to focus on the Auckland Tour in New Zealand.

After all, this ATP250-level event is regarded as a warm-up before the Australian Open, but it is a matter of trying our best to achieve a relatively good result. This is also a science.

Not only Chen Ran, many top players will also face such a choice.

Some people will directly come to the Australian Open, such as Agassi, Hewitt and others, while Federer signed up for the Brisbane Station in Australia, and some top-ranked players in the world chose the Adelaide Station.

The list for Auckland, New Zealand has been released. The top seed is Russian player Safin, currently ranked 3rd in the world, while the second seed is Sri Chapan, ranked 13th in the world, and is currently the well-deserved No. [-] brother in Asia.

The latter is now the national idol of the entire Thailand. In order to exempt Sri Chapan from military service, the Thai government even pretended to arrange a lottery ceremony, and the result was naturally already decided.

The opponent Chen Ran met in the first round was Russell, a relatively rare black player from the United States who broke through from the qualifying round.

The world ranking is similar to his, both around 300.

"Is it possible that the top eight will face Safin?" Sergey, Chen Ran's physical fitness coach, looked at the lottery list and was very excited.

He even slapped his thigh excitedly, with joy on his face: "Chen, this is great. Believe me, this is your perfect chance to defeat Safin!"

Chen Ran was confused. Could it be that this old man's head was burned out?With my luck, I will meet the No. 8 seed in every top [-] match. For example, in the last Shanghai ATP Challenger Tour, I met the No. [-] seed Korean Lee Hyung Taek in the top [-].

"Chen, you don't understand this!" Seeing Chen Ran's puzzled look, Sergey shook his finger and showed a proud look.

When the old man said this, Chen Ran understood.

"Coach, you mean...the Australian Open is coming soon, will a player of Safin's level stop playing?"

"More than just holding back and beating? Hehe, I understand the tricks in this!"

The more Sergey talked, the more excited he became: "Safin participated in this kind of competition just for the appearance fee, and he got the appearance fee. He just warmed up and left. Have you forgotten the Heineken Open in Shanghai?"

Since Chen Ran was reborn, he often checked some news about tennis on the Internet, and he suddenly realized it.

In tennis competitions, the four Grand Slams and the year-end Masters Cup only have bonuses and no appearance fees, but everyone wants to participate in the players, and they cannot miss them as long as they are not injured.

The nine-station ATP1000 Masters is a mandatory tournament and only has bonuses and no appearance fees.Players are required to participate if they are not injured, but players are also allowed to miss two of the events a year if they are healthy.

Of course, the scope of "injury" is very broad, and players have a lot of room for manipulation.

However, the Masters is the top event after the four Grand Slams and the year-end. Both points and bonuses are very attractive. The Masters championship is also an important criterion for evaluating top players. Therefore, as long as most players have no injuries and are physically healthy, Still willing to participate if allowed.

However, ATP 500 and 250 tournaments are not attractive enough to the world's top players, so some appearance fees will be paid to attract top players to participate.

Here I have to mention some tennis tournaments in China.

Later Magic City Masters tournaments were compulsory and did not require appearance fees for players. However, such as the China Tennis ATP 500 tournament, as well as the Chengdu and Zhuhai ATP 250 tournaments, appearance fees will be given to some of the top players in the world.

The first time Shanghai held the ATP250 Heineken Tennis Open was in 1998.

The Chinese are face-saving. In order to gain a good reputation and good luck in the first competition, they invited Zhang Depei, the Chinese player who was at the height of his popularity and ranked second in the world.

How much was the appearance fee paid at that time?A full 100 million US dollars!
This was $1998 million in 100!
Of course, Zhang Depei had a professional spirit and played hard, and finally won the championship, which made the Magic City Organizing Committee lament that the money was well spent.

Last year, the Heineken Open was suspended for a year due to the year-end Masters Cup. However, the Heineken Open held in 2001 invited Agassi, who was also ranked second in the world, and the appearance fee was also US$100 million.

But Agassi's operation is intriguing. In the first round, he lost 0 to 2 to Rabadez, who was ranked outside the 100th place in the world. The latter even called his brother to brag and said that he had defeated Agassi. The younger brother still looked unbelievable and felt that his brother Bragging.

The Heineken Open championship prize was only US$5, but Agassi was eliminated after one round and walked away with US$100 million. The audience in Shanghai was so angry that they shouted: RNM, refund your money!
Relevant memories flashed through Chen Ran's mind one by one.

In fact, it's not just Agassi, many giant-level players have done this.It's just that some people's eating looks are better, and they may wait until the top 8 before showing off.

Of course, because the Auckland Tour is close to the Australian Open, it is a good warm-up opportunity, and the appearance fee will be low, with a maximum of 10 US dollars.

It's not too much for someone like Safin, just make some extra money along the way.

"Chen, you believe me, Safin can only last until the top 8. I understand his character and will definitely focus on the Australian Open." Sergey looked very confident, "If you meet Safin in the top 8, , it is very likely that you will get a ticket to the semi-finals!"

So this fortune is not bad, rather good?
……

PS: You said that the protagonist will go to India or South Korea to play games in his childhood. Do you want to do the same and just take money to avoid others after the first round?
　Thanks to Maxim Xiaomianqiu and Lintian Wanzi for their tips.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)