Chapter 1231 Continuous Challenge

Today, in the second round of the men's doubles of the Monte Carlo Masters, the combination of Gao Wen and Dimitrov will challenge the top seed Bryan brothers.

Without a doubt, this is the most noteworthy doubles match today. Although it did not enter the center court, it was also scheduled on Court No. 1.

It has been mentioned more than once before that 2014 was a year of great turbulence in professional tennis, with fluctuations in both men's and women's singles. But in the end, Djokovic and Serena Williams both defended their position as the world's number one, but the impact of challengers was still clearly visible.

In fact, the same is true for men's doubles. The Bryan brothers' world No. 1 throne is under unprecedented test, and the doubles arena is also turbulent.

Of course, the Bryan brothers finally won the year-end finals championship, maintaining their world No. 1 position and putting a perfect end to their tournament.

However, entering the new season, this turmoil did not disappear, but became more and more intense.

In women's singles, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova are still strong and will meet in the Australian Open final; in men's singles, Djokovic faces a comprehensive challenge from Gawain.

So, what about men's doubles?

The Bryan brothers' dynasty was under attack from all sides.

They are already 37 years old this year, and their physical strength and energy have fluctuated significantly. Although the professional vitality of doubles matches can be slightly extended, the shackles of age in competitive sports always exist objectively. Naturally, the dominance of the Bryan brothers has also loosened significantly.

In Auckland, she was eliminated in the first round; in the Australian Open, she was eliminated in the round of 16; in Dubai, she was eliminated in the quarterfinals.

In the first half of the year, the Bryan brothers only won one championship in the 250-point tournament at Delray Beach, creating the worst start in ten years, and their world ranking advantage is being drastically eroded.

It wasn't until the "Sunshine Double" in the Bryan brothers' North American backyard that they regained some of their touch, but it was still not satisfactory.

In Indian Wells, the Bryan brothers were eliminated in the quarterfinals, losing to the American-Canadian combination of Sock and Pospisil.

In Miami, the Bryan brothers made a strong comeback, reached the final, and defeated Sock and Pospisil to complete their revenge, winning the second championship of the season and the 33rd Masters men's doubles championship trophy.

It was thought that their form was finally back on track, but in the following clay court season, the Bryan brothers suffered another blow. Houston was eliminated in the first match, losing unexpectedly to a pairing combination ranked outside the top 500 in the world. It can be seen from all aspects that their dominance is under attack from all sides.

Of course, the Bryan brothers have always been weakest on clay courts.

Don't forget that they are also players who come from the typical North American training system. Both singles and doubles are the same. They are not used to the clay court.

In their careers, as of 2015, the Bryan brothers have won 16 Grand Slam titles and 33 Masters titles, but they only won two French Open trophies and only ten clay court Masters titles. It can be seen that they are typical hard court masters.

However, Monte Carlo can be regarded as a blessed place for the Bryan brothers. They have won three championships here in the past four years. It is definitely one of the clay courts they are best at.

This year, their form has continued to fluctuate and their bodies have been put to the test. Clay is precisely their weak point, and they have not been able to win any clay court match so far.

Therefore, they are more eager and more in need than ever to regain their form in Monte Carlo and prepare for the upcoming clay court season.

However, judging from the draw, they were not very lucky.

As the top seed, he had a bye in the first round, and then... faced the combination of Gao Wen and Dimitrov in the second round.

Obviously, the Bryan brothers need more clay court events to complete their warm-up, but a doubles combination of Gawain and Dimitrov with outstanding individual abilities is definitely not the best warm-up partner. If they are not careful, the situation in Houston last week may happen again. They need to cheer up.

At the same time, the same is true for Gawain and Dimitrov.

Dimitrov needs to regain his form, and Gao Wen needs to adapt to the clay. They are not just playing around in Monte Carlo, but are going all out.

It can be imagined that Gao Wen is full of enthusiasm for challenging top players like the Bryan brothers, but this is not good news for the Bryan brothers.

But it is undeniable that, regardless of their current form, the Bryan brothers are still the biggest stars in the doubles arena, and their box office appeal is comparable to that of Federer and Nadal in singles.

At the same time, facing two super new stars, Gao Wen and Dimitrov, one of whom is a resident of Monte Carlo, the market's enthusiasm is conceivable.

then!

This game got the No. 1 treatment—

In the first three days of competition, the Center Court and Court No. 1 were always the venues for singles events, especially in the second round, when the top eight seeds appeared one after another. In order to ensure box office sales, the organizing committee naturally arranged the matches of top superstars in the two largest courts, and doubles had to stand aside.

Until now.

This is the only doubles match currently being played on Court No. 1, and one can also feel the Monte Carlo Organizing Committee’s eager anticipation and enthusiasm.

Although this game is of great significance to the Bryan brothers from various off-court factors and they need this victory to reverse the decline, they have been in the tour for long enough and they are calm and wise enough to keep public and private affairs separate and leave tennis matters on the court.

So, when they saw Gawain and Dimitrov in the player tunnel before the game, the Bryan brothers went up to greet them without hesitation and even played a prank on them.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

The mindset is completely relaxed, with people laughing and talking.

Dimitrov is a social expert. After the initial panic and confusion of the prank, he quickly calmed down, shortened the distance between him and Bob, and started chatting and laughing. The tension and anxiety before the game slowly settled, and the player tunnel was filled with cheerful laughter.

"brother……"

Mike approached Gawain with a slightly hesitant expression, but in a split second, he seemed to have made a decision.

"Do you know Vasek?"

Vasek? Vasek Pospisil? Gao Wen raised his eyebrows slightly, but did not answer. Instead, he waited patiently for Mike's next words.

Mike chose his words carefully.

"I'm not sure what happened, but, we just ran into Vasek and Jack in the gym..."

That is, Pospisil and Sok.

This young doubles pair born in the 1990s is rising rapidly. Unlike other doubles pairs who guest-starred in matches and warmed up at the same time, the two players focused on singles, but because of the fierce competition in professional tennis, they seemed unable to adapt to the rhythm of singles games. So they spent more time honing themselves in the doubles arena, and then improved their strength and returned to the singles arena.

In other words, it’s more than just a “warm-up”.

In a blink of an eye, Pospisil and Sock have both broken into the top ten in the world doubles rankings. At the same time, they are also emerging rapidly in the singles arena.

So, what's wrong with Mike mentioning these two players at this time? (End of this chapter)