Chapter 1251 The Era of Giants
Ten years!
How many decades can a person have in his life? Gawain has only one so far, and the second one has not yet been completed. Even Federer has only three decades.
It is already astonishing that the Big Four have dominated professional tennis together for a full decade; and it is even more extraordinary that Gao Wen can become the first person to break the shackles of the ten-year period.
From this perspective, the weight of history is no small matter.
Some media hold slightly different ideas.
They believe that the past decade should be called the "era of giants", mainly because the giants have demonstrated top-level competitive level and brought professional tennis to a new level. It's not just about who wins the championship, but also about their ability to consistently control the semi-finals and quarter-finals of all tournaments.
In the "era of giants", Federer is the first giant and Nadal is the second giant. These giants have remained strong from 2004 to the present.
Afterwards, they faced many challenges and shocks, and maintained top performance time and time again. After the test of time, Djokovic and Murray emerged one after another.
In other words, in their view, "giants" is a concept, but the "Big Four" is not a whole. After all, Djokovic and Murray had to wait until 2011 and 2012 to truly mature. Before that, they had been competing in the tour for many years but were not considered giants.
The difference between the two views lies in that the "era of giants" will not stop with the four giants. There may be the emergence of five giants, six giants, or even a heyday where many giants compete and a hundred flowers bloom.
Therefore, their news reports would not emphasize that Gowon broke the "Ten-Year Dynasty" and that the rule of the "Big Four" would not last until 2004; at the same time, they saw Gowon from a slightly different perspective, that the era of the giants did not collapse, but ushered in a new era of prosperity.
Just like when Djokovic and Murray completed their transformation and became the third and fourth giants respectively, the so-called "Big Four" has only a short history of three years.
"From the four giants to the five greatest masters in the world, the fifth giant has quietly returned!"
"Next stop: Giants. The era of Gawain has just begun."
"Second in the world, confirmed! Next step, the fifth giant?"
"In the golden age of men's tennis, more top matches are worth looking forward to."
"Gao Wen not only represents the future of tennis, but also the present of tennis."
"Giant? Why not!"
"From a challenger to a giant, Gao Wen's future has just begun."
Overall, the shock and amazement are consistent, and the excitement of all news media can be clearly felt, but there are slight differences in the details.
If you think about it carefully, both ideas are correct and have their own reasons. The difference lies in when will Gawain be recognized by the giants? So far, Djokovic has won seven Grand Slams, Murray has won two Grand Slams, and Gawain has also won two Grand Slams. He has even won the Masters Championship three times in less than a year. His speed of collecting championships is not inferior to these two giants.
Perhaps the only thing Gao Wen lacks is time, time to further prove that he can maintain his peak level for a long time.
The most intuitive one is——
Monte Carlo.
In the eyes of those picky black fans and trolls, Gawain did not defeat Federer and did not win the Monte Carlo Championship, so his status as the world's second is unconvincing.
"Top five most water-drenched places in the world."
"Tiger, are you serious?"
"Please don't make Gawain sound like a savior. He is not, he is not, he is not even as good as Murray."
"I really don't know why those people are so excited. Gawain really has no persuasiveness at all, okay?"
"I don't like Gawain at all. Period."
"Let me tell you a joke, the second best article in the world."
"No. 2 in the world, but lost to Ferrer in Monte Carlo. Hahahahaha, so funny."
"There's something wrong with the ranking system. No matter how you look at it, Gao Wen doesn't deserve to be the world's second."
Rustling.
twitter.
The voices of criticism and questioning are endless.
But that's the reality. When a person becomes famous, he or she will be surrounded by gossips. The more negative comments there are, the more it proves that Gao Wen's current popularity is something that no one can ignore.
Fans of the Big Four, spectators who can't stand the media's hype about Gawain, trolls who criticize him just for the sake of criticizing him, and blind people who ignore his two Grand Slams and three Masters titles, all make their voices heard in a sarcastic way, and their activeness has become another landscape.
However, these negative voices still cannot stop the overwhelming praise and admiration on social networks and in real life. Chinese media have already begun to celebrate the New Year.
"Ranking, a new high, the new world number two, Gao Wen!"
"Making history! Gawain's steps have not stopped yet."
"Breaking the blockade of the Big Four, Gao Wen continued his strong performance after the Australian Open."
"The miracle of writing came a little earlier than expected, and Gao Wen's world ranking hit a new high."
"History! History! History!"
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
Of course, there is also the simplest and most intuitive headline: "Second in the World."
Coupled with the photo of Gawain clenching his fist to celebrate his victory, that's enough.
The official media paid attention and reported on it immediately, but the more lively ones were always the netizens. One of the short articles became a hot topic on the entire network:
"Eastern Evil, Western Poison, Southern Emperor, Northern Beggar, Central Divine Power, so which one is Gawain?"
Hotly discussed across the Internet.
The bustling discussion simply couldn't be stopped.
Objectively speaking, the failure to usher in a historic moment by winning a game or winning a championship has greatly affected the party atmosphere among the media and netizens.
Moreover, this is only the second place in the world and has not yet reached the top of the world. At most, it can only tie the historical record, and the impact is not as great as that of a Grand Slam championship.
Therefore, the subsequent waves were relatively limited. Compared with being the "second in the world", people were just looking forward to Gao Wen's subsequent performance and had high expectations.
But there is no doubt that Gao Wen's popularity around the world can still be deeply felt in the rolling heat, and his every move is the focus of attention.
In Monte Carlo, four old faces born in the 1980s finally gathered in the semi-finals, and the continued rise of the new generation of storms in the new season seemed to have finally hit a wall.
However! For neutral fans and the general public, confrontation is exciting, suspense is fun, and the contention of the new and middle generations can give men's tennis more possibilities.
Meanwhile, Ferrer and Monfils both made it to the semi-finals and ensured that one of them would eventually make it to the final and make an impact on the Masters title. From Gawain winning three consecutive Masters titles to Wawrinka winning the Monte Carlo title last year, everything made this year's final full of suspense.
On the other hand, despite losing the game, Gao Wen still rose to second place in the world. As a leader of the new generation, he continued his upward momentum.
All these things mean that the Mesozoic and Cenozoic generations are rising in an all-round way. The emergence of fresh blood will stimulate other players to explode, thus forming healthy competition, and the game will be more exciting.
There will be more suspense.
Naturally, the spectators were all excited and expressed strong expectations for the clay court season. Monte Carlo was undoubtedly off to a good start.
It is precisely because of this that, although the new generation of Gawain, Dimitrov and Raonic all failed to advance to the semi-finals, and although Federer and Wawrinka, two players with box office appeal, were eliminated early, industry insiders are still very satisfied with the result.
Even applauded to express warm welcome.
So, what's next? (End of this chapter)