Chapter 1300: Parenthood
The laughter surged for a short moment, but then subsided in the blink of an eye. Only the sound of hitting the ball on the tennis court echoed, further highlighting the silence.
Sampras turned his head and looked at Gao Hongli. He could feel the worries of parents: on the one hand, they expected their children to grow up and fly high; on the other hand, they were worried that their children would encounter difficulties and never recover.
It is also because of this that when children encounter difficulties, they always fail to judge the right measure. They want to help but worry that they may make things worse. They stand by and watch but feel uneasy. They clearly tell themselves that they should treat children as adults but cannot help but treat them as three-year-old babies.
Worrying about gains and losses, being caught in a dilemma.
In the end, whether you help or not, there are unspeakable troubles.
After retiring, Sampras was completely isolated from the public for a very long time and never appeared in any form of reports or interviews because he chose to return to his family and concentrate on playing the role of husband and father at home to make up for the time he missed in competitions around the world.
Sampras has two sons, one is thirteen years old and the other is ten years old this year.
In the blink of an eye, both children have grown up, started school, have their own lives and ideas, and slowly, they no longer need their parents' company. The older one seems to have entered puberty and began to resist his parents' approach, hoping to take the initiative in both big and small things.
At home, Sampras was in a dilemma, not knowing how to deal with the situation. In the end, he simply turned a blind eye and went back to work.
After that, Sampras slowly returned to the public eye, from commentary to charity games.
So, Sampras was able to understand Gao Hongli as a father to another father.
After hesitating for a moment, Sampras was not sure whether he should give Gao Hongli advice. After all, he had less experience as a father than Gao Hongli. But in the end, he still spoke up to comfort him, putting himself in his father's shoes, exchanging sincerity for sincerity, and expressing his inner thoughts.
"Don't worry, Gawain is doing great."
Gao Hongli was a little surprised, and Sampras smiled.
"When I was 19 years old, I defeated Lendl in the semi-finals of the US Open, stopping his record of advancing to the final for the ninth consecutive year, and then defeated Andre to win the first US Open championship in my career. Bathed in the lights and applause, at that time, I really thought I owned the world."
"The pressure, the noise, the prosperity are dazzling and there is no peace at all."
"You know, young people are full of curiosity and vitality, but also full of impetuousness. A little bit of popularity can make people lost, and a little bit of temptation can make people lose control."
“At the time, I thought I knew what I was doing, but in fact, I had no idea at all.”
With his self-deprecating words and a wry smile, Sampras successfully made Gao Hongli chuckle.
"It wasn't until three years later in London that I won my second Grand Slam title and became world number one."
“Three years!”
“Jesus Christ, if I had figured myself out in those three years, maybe I would have a lot more championships now.”
Puff.
After saying this, Sampras couldn't help laughing out loud, and one could still feel the pride in Sampras' bones from his self-boasting words.
As a player, Sampras was confident and determined. Even after retiring for a long time, he still maintained this noble character. But it must be said that after leaving the court and staying away from competition, looking back on his career with an objective and rational attitude, Sampras also saw his own weaknesses.
He thought he was perfect, but the reality is that no one is perfect. At least, when he was nineteen, his mental adjustment and psychological condition were not as good as Gao Wen's. When he was young, he took many detours and hit many walls, and wasted a lot of time in his youth.
However, precisely because of this, Sampras saw more possibilities in Gawain, which made him full of confidence in his disciple.
Then he and Gao Hongli both looked at Gao Wen.
"Gawain..."
There was a period of silence following the long tail, as if the speaker was organizing his words.
"He has a maturity and wisdom that is not in line with his age. He is calm enough, smart enough, and most importantly, focused enough."
"He knows what he is doing and how he should do it. Those off-court distractions have never been a stumbling block to his progress."
“So, we should trust him.”
Another pause.
"I'm not sure what you personally think, but at least, I believe him."
This teasing made Gao Hongli laugh again, and his heavy mood relaxed.
What are they worried about?
Pressure is still pressure.
The second Grand Slam of the year is about to kick off, and pressure from all aspects has reached a new high.
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In addition to the old topics, such as "the battle for the world's number one", "the Big Four vs. the challenger", "the storm of youth", etc., the pressure continues to grow and rises around Gao Wen. In just a few weeks, the public opinion frenzy has reached a new stage that cannot be ignored.
On the one hand, there is attack.
On the Internet, negative voices attacking Gao Wen continued and increased, and the ridicule and attacks became more and more intense.
In fact, Gao Wen's overall performance in the clay court season is pretty good. He won the Barcelona championship, reached the semi-finals in Madrid, and reached the quarter-finals in Monte Carlo and Rome.
Among the new generation of players, he is still the undisputed leader; among many challengers, he is also half a body length ahead.
Kei Nishikori, Stan Wawrinka, Berdych, Ferrer, Fognini and others also performed well, but compared with Gawain, they are all slightly inferior; Raonic, Dimitrov, Thiem, Goffin and others occasionally had highlights, but overall they are not worth mentioning and are not comparable.
It can be said that Gao Wen's overall performance is completely at the top five level in the world, basically on par with Nadal, and slightly inferior to the other three giants.
It would be ridiculous if such performance was still ridiculed, complained and besieged. Moreover, Gao Wen is only 19 years old and has not yet completed the first season of his professional career, but he has already achieved such results. Those negative comments are even more unreasonable and unbelievable.
But the point is that whether the performance is good or bad, we need to consider the reference -
In comparison, Gao Wen did perform well, and considering that this is Gao Wen's first clay court season in his career, it can even be said to be amazing.
However! In vertical comparison, in the spring hard court season, there were four championships in Doha, Melbourne, Indian Wells, Miami, and another semi-final in Dubai.
With one Grand Slam title and two Masters titles, such achievements are in front of us. Looking at the performance in the three Masters tournaments on clay, it is indeed disappointing.
It was precisely because Gao Wen's performance in the first quarter was too crazy and too strong that people found it difficult to adapt to the results of the clay court season for a while: the impact of each loss was magnified, the results of the semi-finals and quarter-finals could not meet people's expectations, and they all exaggerated the failures.
The attack came like a wave.
(End of this chapter)