A Masters tournament without a master is somewhat embarrassing for the organizers. The China Masters has been held for so many years, and this situation has never happened before.
In fact, in terms of prize money, the Rolex Masters' total prize money of more than 5 million US dollars is already comparable to the year-end ATP Finals, second only to the four major tennis tournaments. Moreover, ATP1000-level events are second only to the four Grand Slams in tennis, with few stops throughout the year. It can be said that apart from the four majors, the Masters is already the highest-level competition.
It stands to reason that a competition of this level is enough to attract players like Federer and Nadal to participate, and it will even be regarded as a very important competition, whether it is for prize money or points, so the Masters tournament over the years has always been There will be one or two king-level players attending.
However, in this year's Masters, the three kings of tennis collectively retired.
The three kings of tennis are a term that has only been proposed in the past year. A few years ago, when Federer dominated tennis, he was the only king; Nadal was always the second to Federer, and after he successfully won the Grand Slam in 2010, he was also banned by fans. For the sake of the kings, the tennis world has become a situation where Federer and Nadal are the kings of the world; then in 2011, Djokovic broke out, winning three Grand Slams in one year, sweeping many strong players, and showing his dominance Coupled with his previous fame, he also successfully advanced to the king level.
Although Murray has not won a Grand Slam championship, he is the only one who can catch up with the three kings in points, but he also retired. Suddenly, the starlight of this Rolex Masters dimmed, leaving only less-than-class players like Ferrer, and players like Ljubicic, Roddick, and Nalbandian who were past their prime. Well-known veteran. It is really difficult for such players to support such a large-scale event.
Ferrer, ranked fifth in the world, became the No. 1 seed in the tournament, but with Ferrer's level, it was obvious that he could not stop Zhang Guan from winning the championship.
Zhang Guan went all the way down, defeating Spanish players Ferrero and Odasco one after another, and then met Czech player Berdych. In the just-concluded China Open match, Zhang Guan had played against Berdych. Two weeks later, Berdych still quickly surrendered.
Later, Zhang Guan defeated Mayer and met Ferrero in advance in the semifinals.
Ferrero likes to hit some balls with tricky placement, but this also makes his stability not very good. Sometimes he pursues the placement too much, but will have more shots going into the net and going out of bounds.
If the opponent is not very mobile or is older, Ferrero's style of play often achieves miraculous results. Many veterans cannot save some tricky returns because of their pace. However, facing the world's most mobile player, Ferrero's style of play was severely restrained. On the contrary, it was Ferrero himself who suffered consecutive points due to some mistakes.
The technical characteristics of the two also determined the outcome of this game. Ferrero, ranked fifth in the world, was completely vulnerable to Zhang Guan and quickly lost the game.
Zhang Guan successfully entered the finals, and his opponent was Japanese player Kei Nishikori.
Kei Nishikori's entry into the final was quite an upset. Kei Nishikori is currently ranked outside the 50th place in the world, so before the game, no one thought how far Kei Nishikori would go in the Masters.
Kei Nishikori himself has been unlucky recently. He entered the tennis world with the reputation of "Japanese Tennis Genius". , however, it did not achieve results that satisfied the Japanese people. In terms of personal life, her relationship with table tennis player Ai Fukuhara was even more criticized by the media.
In this Masters, Kei Nishikori ushered in a breakout. His first match was the French star Tsonga, ranked tenth in the world. When Kei Nishikori was beaten 6-0 in the first set, he actually won two sets in a row with 7-5 and 7-6, eliminating Tsonga. Then he defeated Meisel and Girard one after another. Do, Dolgorolov, Simon and other strong players have entered the finals. These opponents are all ranked above Kei Nishikori in the world, and except for Giraldo, the other players are all seeded players. For an unseeded player ranked outside the 50th in the world, being able to defeat so many strong opponents and advance to the finals can be regarded as the biggest upset of this Masters.
Of course, Zhang Guan's world ranking is also outside the 50th place, and he also defeated the seeded players all the way to the finals. However, no one would regard Zhang Guan as a dark horse. The only Golden Slam among active athletes in the world, he should enter the finals and then win the championship trophy.
…
Since entering professional tennis in 2007, Kei Nishikori's only championship was at the 2008 Deirle Hantan Open. At that time, he played as a qualifier, but he defeated many strong opponents. In the end, he defeated American star Blake in the final and won the championship.
This Masters Cup allowed Kei Nishikori to regain the feeling he had back then. He made it all the way to the finals even though he was not expected at all, becoming a dark horse and even going to be dark to the end!
Standing on the field, Kei Nishikori was full of ambition. In the surrounding auditoriums, spectators from Japan had already begun to wave Japanese flags and cheer for Kei Nishikori.
After all, this is Asia, and the venue is just across the sea from Japan. For Japanese audiences, taking a two-hour flight to watch the game can go back and forth on the same day, which is much more convenient than in European countries, so there are many The Japanese audience came to the scene to cheer for Kei Nishikori.
"So many compatriots support me, I must not let them down!" The cheers from the Japanese audience around him immediately made Kei Nishikori full of fighting spirit. He couldn't help but shout while serving.
"Drink!" Kei Nishikori hit an ACE on his first serve.
…
"Nishikori-kun is very impressive today!"
"Nishikori-kun is in good condition too, another ACE!"
"Today's Nishikori-kun reminds me of the final three years ago, when he defeated American star Blake!"
"Nishikori-kun is so powerful that he might be able to defeat Zhang Guan today!"
"Nishikori-kun is indeed our Japanese genius tennis player. I believe it won't be long before he has the status of Federer! He is the pride of our Japan!"
"Nishikori-kun has got the game point, let's applaud him!"
Unknowingly, Kei Nishikori had already obtained the game point, and then scored another serve to win the first game.
…
"Kei Nishikori's luck is really good today!" Zhang Guan did not feel frustrated because he fell behind 0-1.
In the game just now, Kei Nishikori served two ACE balls, which Zhang Guan could not do anything about. In addition, Zhang Guan also scored two serves. One of them, Zhang Guan thought it was a foul ball, so he caught the ball. It was half a beat too late, and finally it was discovered that it was in bounds. As a result, the opportunity was lost. Even Zhang Guan couldn't stop this situation of extreme luck.
"The young man is very energetic, but having sufficient momentum does not mean that it can bring victory!" Zhang Guan took a deep breath and started his serve.
…
After Kei Nishikori won the first serve game, his morale was high, and the Japanese spectators around him started to cheer for Kei Nishikori harder and harder.
However, as Zhang Guan said, momentum cannot bring victory, and luck cannot always accompany a person. Sports, in the final analysis, are still competitions of strength, and morale is only part of it.
1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5, this is the score of the next five rounds.
Since Kei Nishikori won the first game, he lost five consecutive games, including two breaks by Zhang Guan, and the situation collapsed instantly.
The score of the first set was finally fixed at 1-6, Nishikori Kei was completely defeated, but Nishikori Kei did not give up.
In the first round of the group stage, when he met Tsonga, he was even shaved 0-6 in the first set, but he didn't come back. The situation now is much better than when I met Tsonga, at least I got a small score in one game.
"Even if I lose the first set 0-6, I can come back. If I lose 1-6, I will definitely be able to come back and win!"
In the second set, Kei Nishikori once again stood on the court with confidence, but was beaten 0-6 and had his head shaved.
After all, Kei Nishikori's strength is only outside the top 50 in the world, and his real level is only at the level of the first round of the four Grand Slams. He entered the finals due to his good form and performed well, but when he met a real strong player, he immediately found out The original shape.
…
Kei Nishikori sat on the chair with a frustrated look. The last time he sat here, he was still comforting himself, telling himself that he could come back from being shaved 0-6, and he could turn defeat into victory at 1-6. However, he Unexpectedly, what greeted me was another 0-6 head shave.
It was as if a basin of cold water was poured down on him, waking up Kei Nishikori in an instant. He carefully recalled what happened in the match just now, but found that the strength of the two sides was really not on the same level.
"Zhang Guan is really strong. Compared with Tsonga, Zhang Guan is simply a player of another level!"
The Japanese audience at the scene had silenced, and some even began to leave early. They had already seen that the game was one-sided, and the gap in strength between the two sides made it difficult for Kei Nishikori to organize a counterattack.
The dark horse Kei Nishikori failed to win in the end and lost to Zhang Guan in the final. Zhang Guan also won the Rolex Master Cup.
…
"I have 1,500 points. According to the rules, at least until the start of the China Open next year, I will keep these 1,500 points. I have already obtained the ticket for Olympic tennis!" Zhang Guan let out a long breath: "Next, it is time to prepare and go to Las Vegas. Vegas took my $300 million appearance fee!”
It will break out tomorrow. Please place a guaranteed monthly ticket. Thanks to lmj423, Duo Cai Ni, xsf9800, Dongfang Yiying, and Bubble 2016 for the rewards!
(End of chapter)