Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 93: The Best in History (3000 words)
Not long after Chen Ran woke up the next day and was washing up, he received a call from Sergey.

The old man said enthusiastically: "Chen, I watched Safin's game yesterday."

"and then?"

"The opponent was very weak, and he took away the game 2-0. However, I found that Safin's eyes kept flickering, and he looked hesitant, and seemed to be struggling."

"I know him very well." Sergey said confidently: "I guess he must be thinking about when is the best time to quit the game."

"Then why didn't Safin lose on purpose in the first round?" Chen Ran rolled his eyes, "Anyway, I already got the money."

The appearance fee is a full 10 US dollars, which makes Chen Ran envious. This is the treatment of top players.

You must know that the first prize of the Oakland Open is only 5 US dollars. You have to work hard to win five games in a row to get it.

"You don't understand this." Sergey showed an "I understand everything" look and continued: "Put a long-term approach and catch big fish. Next year, if you still want to continue to make extra money along the way... …”

"This eating scene shouldn't be too ugly. Only the top 8 can barely explain it."

"After all, Safin is the guarantee of box office for this competition. We cannot let the organizing committee be too shameless."

So you caught a sheep and pulled it hard?

Safin's methods are still better than Agassi's.

You see, Agassi was eliminated in the first round and won $100 million, but his reputation was ruined.

In 2003, Agassi also took the initiative to express his desire to come to the Magic City to compete, saying that he wanted to avenge the previous year. Of course, the appearance fee should not be less.

Do you want revenge?This is obviously treating others as fools.

After all, this $100 million is no different from what you picked up for free.

However, the people of Modu who suffered a loss have learned their lesson and are unwilling to pay such a high appearance fee this time.

Therefore, Agassi was never seen again at the Heineken Tennis Open in Shanghai.

"Chen, but you must realize one thing." Sergey continued to analyze, "If you cannot show enough strength, Safin will not mind playing one more round."

This also means that Chen Ran must perform well enough to make Safin feel that there is no point in getting into a tough fight with this guy, so he will consider pretending to lose to the opponent.

After all, as one of the top five players in the world, an ATP250 championship will not add to his honor. He might as well devote himself to preparing for the Australian Open.

"Coach, you can rest assured about this. I am a newcomer to the tour and I must go all out in every game."

Chen Ran nodded and asked again: "But now the first thing to consider is the opponent in the next round. Only after passing this level can we consider the issue of Safin."

"Chen, your opponent in the next round is Juan from Argentina, ranked over 60 in the world."

"Argentinian..." Chen Ran frowned slightly, then smiled happily, "So he is a clay court expert?"

"Yes! People from Latin countries must be good at clay courts." Sergey nodded, disapprovingly, "So you have been training and competing on hard courts, so you have a great advantage."

Latin America is the entire American continent except the United States and Canada, and Latin countries are Latin America, plus Portugal and Spain in Europe.

What these countries have in common is that they either speak Spanish or Portuguese, and they are culturally the same.

Players from Latin countries have basically been practicing on clay courts since childhood.

Nadal from Spain will be called the King of Clay in the future. This is a supreme honor, but it also shows from another perspective that his dominance on other surfaces is not that strong.

Throughout his career, Nadal has won 22 Grand Slams, including [-] French Open championships, which represents the highest honor on clay.

However, Nadal has never won even one year-end finals. His uncle was so angry that he said: ATP should consider holding the year-end finals on clay courts instead of hard courts every year, otherwise This is so unfair to Nadal!
Of course, no matter how much Nadal's uncle screams, the ATP has always ignored him.

At least until Chen Ran was reborn, the year-end finals had been held on hard courts.

The difference between clay courts and hard courts is that the ball speed in the former is slower and the rebound is higher, while the ball speed in the latter is faster and the rebound is relatively regular.

"I have observed Juan's record, and the matches where he has achieved good rankings are basically on clay courts. So I am sure that in terms of hard courts, the opponent is definitely not as good as you."

Sergey said confidently, "Of course you won't be Juan's opponent on the clay court. After all, you are not very familiar with it."

Clay court?
Chen Ran has practiced less, but this does not mean that he is not familiar with clay courts.

The "simulation training field" not only has a hard training field, but also a grass training field and a clay training field.

Chen Ran will conduct some targeted training.

For example, he will choose to practice with Nadal on clay courts, and he will also choose to practice with Federer on grass courts.

Of course, Chen Ran would not mention these words to anyone.

Whether it is clay courts or grass courts, his familiarity far exceeds others' knowledge of him.

But overall, Chen Ran was relatively lucky when he faced a player who was not very good at hard courts in the top 8.In Sergey's view, it is a high probability that Chen Ran will enter the top [-].

During this period, the two continued to watch Juan's game video for a while, and Chen Ran suddenly received a call from the agency.

Xue Peng, who is in charge of his management affairs, told Chen Ran that as long as he can enter the top 8 of this tour, the company will build momentum for him.

At present, the best performance of Chinese players on the ATP Tour is the top 250 of the 8 tournament, and it happened in the relatively distant year of 1995.

As long as Chen Ran reaches the quarter-finals, and since he is under 17 years old and equals the best result of a Chinese player on the ATP Tour, it will obviously have a certain public opinion effect.

There is no need to wait for the opening of the Australian Open. Just surrounding the topic of the Auckland Open can create enough topics for Chen Ran.

"Hehe..." Sergey smiled, "Chen, it seems that your agency is not optimistic that you can beat Safin. If you make it to the semi-finals, I look forward to their surprise."

Chen Ran also started to look forward to it.

He likes to keep making some new history and see his name in the news.

……

After a short nap at noon, Chen Ran rushed to the stadium in high spirits.

However, he suddenly received a call from Xue Peng, the head of the brokerage company.

The latter's tone was a little strange and asked: "Xiao Chen, did you reveal to the media that you were participating in the Auckland Tour?"

"Ah? No!" Chen Ran was confused, "I keep my mouth shut, what happened?"

"It's strange. Today, Sports Weekly published your news on the front page, saying that you are the youngest Asian player to win his first ATP Tour victory." Xue Peng was also depressed.

"Since "Sports Weekly" has reported this news, I think the country will know about it soon."

IMG has already prepared marketing materials, and they will start sending them to the media just waiting for Chen Ran to break into the top 8. As a result, it feels like someone has been the first to get there.

"Maybe the other party got the information from the ATP official website." Chen Ran's mind turned quickly and he immediately thought of this possibility.

The updates on the ATP official website are still very timely. Challenge matches may be delayed, but for tournaments of this level, player bonuses and points are updated almost simultaneously.

Xue Peng was also stunned and patted his thigh with some annoyance: "This is such a pity. The people at Sports Weekly are so troublesome."

Imagine that when no one was mentally prepared, the news that "Chen Ran reached the top 8 of the tour" suddenly jumped out and appeared in front of everyone. This would have an impact.

Chen Ran was also a little helpless. This reporter from "Sports Weekly" had a nose as sharp as a dog.

Why don't you just keep an eye on Yao Ming and the national football team?
"Chen, what's going on?" Sergey saw that Chen Ran had a strange look on his face and stepped forward to show concern.

Chen Ran shook his head, clenched his fists, and smiled lightly: "It's okay, I'm just excited about the upcoming game."

During the conversation between the two of them, Chen Ran's opponent Juan from Argentina happened to look at Chen Ran, and was a little surprised at the other's youth.

In the first round, Chen Ran eliminated an American player with an overwhelming advantage, which also attracted Juan's attention.

This Chinese man is very extraordinary. He has such strong strength at such a young age, which reminds him of Zhang Depei when he was young.

That year, the 17-year-old won the French Open and became the most incredible fairy tale in the history of the four Grand Slams.

Juan is a traditional Latin American player who is good at clay courts and has always had an average record on hard courts.

At this time, Chen Ran walked onto the court with a stern look on his face, carrying his racket.

Looking at his face, he seems unhappy...

Juan didn't know that he had become Chen Ran's punching bag to vent his depression.

As a clay court master, he is accustomed to a slow-paced, multi-round style of play, while Chen Ran likes to resolve battles in a fast-paced manner on hard courts.

As the game progressed, Juan quickly realized how desperate the so-called "playing against each other" was.

When Juan wanted to go online, Chen Ran also chose to go online first, and easily completed the interception in front of the network.

When the two were locked in a multi-shot stalemate, Chen Ran's fast-paced hitting style often left Juan overwhelmed and unable to parry.

Especially the quality of Chen Ran's serve is terrifyingly high.

The first serve success rate was astonishingly high at 80%, and an incredible 30 ACE balls were served in the two sets.

In just over an hour of play, Chen Ran took the game away with two 2-6 scores.

With this victory, Chen Ran also tied the best record of mainland Chinese players in the history of the ATP Tour - the top 8 of the tournament.

……

(End of this chapter)