Federer felt that he was having a bad year. At the Australian Open at the beginning of the year, he lost to Djokovic in the semifinals. At the French Open, Federer entered the final for the fifth time but lost to Nadal. At Wimbledon, where he is best, In the competition, he lost to French player Tsonga in the quarter-finals.
Federer has won at least one Grand Slam trophy every year since 2002. However, this year, Federer's condition is worrying. If he fails at the next US Open, it will be equivalent to creating the worst record since 2002.
Not far away, Federer's twin daughters were playing there, while Federer looked at the newspaper and sighed helplessly.
"Roger, what's wrong? Why are you sighing?" his wife Milka asked.
"Look at this, the IAAF has just issued the latest regulations. An athlete can only participate in three Olympic track and field events. This is obviously aimed at Zhang Guan." Federer said.
Milka nodded: "I think the IAAF will not allow Zhang Guan to dominate in track and field. I remember that in the last Olympics, Zhang Guan won 10 gold medals! But this What does it have to do with us?”
"Of course it does matter." Federer continued: "Zhang Guan can only choose three track and field events to participate in, so he can put more experience in other events, such as tennis. If Zhang Guan participates in the Olympic tennis competition, It looks like I will never get a Golden Slam in this life!”
Federer was quite disappointed when he said this, and Milka came over to comfort her husband. She said: "Zhang Guan has not participated in tennis matches for two or three years. Maybe he is no longer in form? And he is now in The ATP points should be zero, right? He still needs to pass the Olympic wild card qualifying tournament before he can get on the Olympic stage, right?"
"You reminded me." Federer took the laptop and searched for Zhang Guan's information.
"Sure enough, Zhang Guan announced that he will participate in this year's China Open." Federer pointed to a piece of news and said.
"Chinese Open? That seems to be an insignificant event, right?" Milka asked.
"It doesn't matter, but the winner of the China Open has 500 ATP points, which is enough for Zhang Guan to directly enter the top 100 in the world. Moreover, there are no big-name players participating in the China Open, so it will be easy for Zhang Guan to win the championship." Federer continued: "Zhang Guan may be able to regain some form in the China Open, and then face the next Shanghai Rolex Masters, which is an ATP1000 event. Zhang Guan only needs to get a top four ranking. His points Then he can be firmly ranked in the top 50 in the world, and he will definitely get a ticket for Olympic tennis. It seems that Zhang Guan will definitely be seen in the Olympic tennis racing."
…
The women's singles competition at the China Open is a WTA first-level event, with a total prize money of 1.34 million US dollars. The total prize money for the entire China Open competition is only 2.34 million US dollars. After deducting the 1.34 million US dollars in prize money for the women's singles, the remaining men's singles, The women's doubles and men's doubles have to share a bonus of US$1 million, so the bonus for the men's singles is not much.
Of course, the small prize money is not enough to attract big-name men's singles players to participate. The total prize money of the ATP 1000 Masters is a full two to three million US dollars, so big-name players disdain to participate in the China Open. Those slightly famous players are participating in the China Open for the 500 points. After all, if the world's top players don't participate, it will be relatively easy to get these 500 points.
There are 36 players participating in the men's singles of this year's China Open. The top seed is French player Tsonga. With his excellent performance at Wimbledon, Tsonga has just entered the top ten in the world. The current world ranking is 9th. He is also the only player in the top ten in the world at the China Open.
As the organizer, China will have three quotas for host countries to participate in the competition. Zhang Guan naturally occupied one, and he also took care of it during the grouping. The first opponent was Russian Gabashvili, ranked around 100 in the world. , most of the results of participating in the four Grand Slams were stopped in the first round.
Such an opponent is obviously very helpful for Zhang Guan to find the game state. After a few familiar games, Zhang Guan easily defeated Gabashvili 6-4 and 6-1 and entered the second round.
Zhang Guan's opponent in the second round is veteran Ljubicic. Ljubicic is actually only 32 years old this year, but he debuted relatively early, became bald early, and looks older, so he feels like a veteran. However, Ljubicic's condition is no longer as good as it was back then. Historically, Ljubicic also announced his retirement in April next year.
Ljubicic, who will retire next year, is obviously more famous than his strength. After one game, Zhang Guan gradually found the feeling of a tennis match. In the end, he defeated Ljubicic 6-3 in two sets. strange.
Zhang Guan’s third opponent is Russian player Youzhny. This is an old opponent that he has played against before. However, as he grows younger, Youzhny has also reached his peak. When he played against Zhang Guan, Youzhny was The top fifteen players in the world are still seeded even in the four Grand Slams. However, Youzhny is currently ranked over 40 in the world and is not considered a seeded player in the China Open.
The difference in strength also determined the outcome of this game early. After Zhang Guan defeated Youzhny, he finally faced a relatively difficult opponent Cilic.
Before this, Zhang Guan had only encountered "old, weak, sick and disabled" players, such as Ljubicic. Although he was famous, he had already passed his peak period. Naturally, he could not talk about such people who were about to retire. What strength. Cilic, from Croatia, is a player on the rise.
Cilic's world ranking reached the ninth position in the world last year, and he successfully reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open. In the future, Cilic also won the championship at the US Open in 2014. Such a young and rising player is Zhang Guan's first whetstone.
The first time Cilic participated in a Grand Slam match was in 2008. Zhang Guan had already faded out of tennis at that time, so there was no record of a match between Cilic and Zhang Guan. Zhang Guan launched a strong attack.
Cilic is 1.98 meters tall and tall. He is a typical Croatian strong man. There is no doubt that he is a powerful player. His serve is powerful and heavy, and his forehand is also full of power. This kind of player may not be suitable for the French Open. Clay court, but on the hard court, he is obviously at home.
However, Cilic picked the wrong opponent. Roddick, the American cannon at his peak, was no match for Zhang Guan. Cilic, who was slightly weaker, could not be Zhang Guan's opponent.
After a period of fighting, Cilic was defeated very simply. Even the audience who didn't know much about tennis could already see that Cilic's failure was due to his inferior skills.
After defeating Cilic, Zhang Guan advanced to the final of the China Open, where his opponent was the all-purpose player Berdych.
Berdych is also a player who has risen rapidly in recent years. He reached the semi-finals at last year's French Open and the runner-up at Wimbledon. Currently, Berdych is ranked 11th in the world. Among the contestants at the China Open Only this and Tsonga, and he also advanced to the China Open final after defeating Tsonga.
Berdych is the famous "nerve knife". At Wimbledon last year, he defeated Federer and Djokovic one after another. At that time, Federer and Djokovic were both in good condition, but they encountered a player who performed well. Berdych still suffered a failure. This kind of "nerve knife" is invincible when it is in good condition, but when it is in bad condition, it often loses to some unknown people.
Berdych's condition today cannot be said to be good or bad, it can only be regarded as average. However, after the game started, his condition quickly dropped from "average" to "poor". Because almost no one in the entire tennis court cheered for him.
After all, the China Open is Zhang Guan's home court. Especially in the finals, the home audience will definitely support Zhang Guan one-sidedly.
For the "nervous knife" type of players, this strong away atmosphere is most likely to affect their mood and state of play.
Neurosurgery usually makes you braver and braver as you fight, and the more you fight, the more courage you have to fight. Once it is deflated, it is like a balloon with a hole in it. No matter how hard you try to blow it up, you cannot inflate it. . No one was cheering for Berdych today. He couldn't be brave and couldn't fight, so he quickly surrendered.
The final was a best-of-five set. Zhang Guan defeated Berdych in straight sets and won the China Open championship.
…
Sweeping the China Open, Zhang Guan is back! - "Sports Times" gave a big headline.
The first chapter has been delivered, please give me a guaranteed monthly ticket.
(End of chapter)