Chapter 1178: Down to Earth
In fact, Gao Wen can fully understand Graf's earnest words——
From her sudden emergence at the US Open, to her reversal at the Australian Open, to her youngest record of winning the "Sunshine Double", it has been a very smooth journey.
Although there have been some lows and twists and turns, overall it has always maintained an upward curve, continuously writing history and continuously challenging limits.
In the blink of an eye, I went from a nobody to third in the world. Even the topic of "becoming the world's number one" created an overwhelming clamor. While I was still dizzy, my life had been turned upside down. I was surrounded by spotlights and the bustling sounds continued to roar and bombard me.
Becoming famous overnight, becoming an overnight sensation, the subversion of life, the impact of daily routine, being surrounded by the bubble of popularity, everything can make one lose oneself.
Look at Kyrgios, Zverev, and Janowicz. They are all no exception. They all have to face the impact of being the center of attention. They feel the gaudy and cruelty of the world before their minds are fully mature, and then their mentality loses balance.
This is especially true for Gawain.
actually--
If this was not Gawain's second life, he would have been dizzy and lost his way in the glamorous and dazzling world of fame and fortune.
Maybe!
Therefore, Gao Wen fully understands Graf's concerns.
Entering the clay court season, which is a completely different surface and a completely unfamiliar surface for Gao Wen, who has grown up as a hard court player throughout his career, now needs to change his habits, awareness, understanding, etc., and even change his way of playing.
This is not easy. Not only is it not easy, it can be said to be full of challenges, because it requires Gao Wen to be down-to-earth and learn from scratch.
But does Gawain have such patience and courage?
Especially the media has been fanning the flames:
Whether it was the hard court Grand Slams in the spring season in the first half of the year, or the world rankings closing in on the two giants, the media never stopped making threats: "In the clay court season, will Gao Wen still be competitive?"
"It is possible to challenge the world's number one. Can Gao Wen accomplish such a feat?"
“As we enter the clay court season, where will Gao Wen’s challenge and impact on the Big Four go?”
"From the perspective of playing style, it is clear that Gao Wen is more suitable for clay courts."
“Will Gao Wen continue his strong performance in his first clay court match in his career?”
"How high will this 19-year-old young player go in his history-making steps?"
“Maybe the French Open favorite should add another alternate?”
And so on and so forth.
The expectations were heated up little by little, and the pressure on Gao Wen continued to increase. All the praise, all the attention, and all the expectations poured down layer by layer.
"Praise to death" is always the most effective and never-failing method used by the news media. All it requires is to simply and crudely give all the praise.
This is just like the stepfather/stepmother, "how to destroy the original children and maintain their own perfect and kind image", "praising to death" is the perfect answer, they only need to constantly encourage the original children to "be themselves" and do whatever they want without restraint, this is enough -
Those teenagers will destroy themselves without even having to do anything themselves.
The most brilliant and cunning part of the "praise to death" strategy is:
No one can resist compliments and praise.
Even veterans who have been on the battlefield for many years, surrounded by praise and attention day and night, will have the illusion that they are standing on top of the world, and then the pressure will come down on them unknowingly. Even if they have been through many battles, the pressure is still the same when they step onto the stage of the Grand Slam final again.
What about these young people who are just starting out? Once Gao Wen's mentality is slightly unbalanced, he will either rush to prove himself or be complacent and think that he can easily control the clay.
It doesn't take much, just a little imbalance to break the good state of the first quarter, and a little setback will make things different.
So, surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the media, after winning the "Sunshine Double", can Gao Wen really calm down?
Think about it carefully. Less than 24 hours ago, Gao Wen had just won the Miami Masters. With a turn, he had to stand on the clay court, just like a child who had just started to learn tennis. He was asked to start from scratch and start training from the basics of footwork, observation, and return.
It's not easy indeed.
Gao Wen could fully understand Graf's caution, worry and concern.
However, in Gao Wen's opinion, this is not a difficult task.
Because he has lived two lives and is a reporter, Gao Wen has been mentally prepared for these situations; moreover, he also has the system at his side.
The existence of the system constantly reminds Gawain that he must keep his feet on the ground. There are always people better than you, and he is far from reaching the top.
The most surprising thing is that from Indian Wells to Miami, the growth potential value did not stop growing as expected.
Originally, from Melbourne to Doha, and then to Indian Wells, the entire growth pace was gradually slowing down, so Gao Wen thought that the bottleneck was about to come, and the final growth potential value would remain at 99.9%, and then no longer grow, waiting for a breakthrough in the clay court season.
However, there was no——
In Indian Wells, in the first match against Rublev, the growth potential value successfully exceeded 99.9% and reached the maximum value again.
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It seems that throughout the Australian Open, although the growth potential value increased slowly, it continued to increase and finally exceeded the maximum value.
This time, Gao Wen directly added physical attributes, which also means that the three basic attributes have all entered the 90th level, ready for the clay court events: because the clay court season will test the body unprecedentedly, rising to a whole new level.
In Miami, after the final against Djokovic, I unexpectedly discovered that my mental attributes had naturally increased a little bit, from 93 to 94.
From the Australian Open final to the Miami final, in the two finals, Gao Wen's mental tenacity and ability to adapt to changes have indeed reached a higher level.
Currently, the properties are:
Physical attributes, 90.
Technical attributes, 90.
Spiritual attributes, 94.
Hidden attributes, 78.
So, what does this mean?
To Gao Wen, it is not complicated, and is even very intuitive.
Originally, Gao Wen thought he had reached a bottleneck, just like the end of all NCAA competitions last year, and reached his current highest level.
However, this is not the case. There is still a long way to go before reaching the bottleneck. Even on the hard court, there is still room for improvement. This is not enough to be complacent.
The system was undoubtedly calm and objective, and gave Gawain a clear hint:
Even though he has won the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Miami titles consecutively, he still has room for improvement and his potential has not been fully tapped.
It is conceivable that the upcoming clay court season and grass court season will certainly be even more severe challenges.
This is clearer and more direct than a thousand or ten thousand words of praise from the news media.
There was no need for words, Gao Wen naturally became humble and faced the new challenges down to earth and honestly.
(End of this chapter)