Maybe, some people might be curious, some people might question——
It was just a draw ceremony, but how could it attract so many fans? Moreover, the sense of involvement and immersion was so strong?
Fake! Since when did tennis become so popular in China? The answer is that since Gao Wen ranked second in the world, tennis has once again opened up a whole new world in this magical continent and ushered in a great opportunity: Roland Garros.
Just as all the news media around the world are closely watching the winner of the French Open, Nadal's condition and Gao Wen's performance, China is no exception.
To be precise, China is the region that receives the most attention and enthusiasm in the world.
Although everyone knows that Gao Wen obviously needs more time to adapt to the clay court and it is probably difficult for him to achieve outstanding results in his first Roland Garros appearance, it still cannot stop the expectations from rising steadily, and the attention paid to the battle for the world ranking is heating up. Everything is ready to move.
Moreover, this is not all. Unexpected factors off the field are playing an important role that cannot be ignored.
This year, the Chinese team that went to Paris to compete suffered a heavy blow and fell into a trough.
First of all, all six female singles players who competed in the qualifying round were wiped out, including two seeded players who were both eliminated in the first round, and no one was able to break through.
The situation in men's singles is even more difficult, as there are not even any players who have qualified for the qualifying round.
Secondly, the players competing in the main competition also face severe tests. There are only four players in the women's singles, and Gao Wen is still the only player in the men's singles.
What's worse is that the bad news is not over yet. Peng Shuai, who qualified for the main draw based on her world ranking, has announced her withdrawal from this year's French Open.
Due to a back injury, Peng Shuai focused on recovery after this year's Australian Open, withdrawing from eight tournaments and her world ranking continued to decline. She later made a comeback in Madrid, but was eliminated in the first match. In an interview after the game, she also said that her injury had not yet healed and she needed to go to Germany for treatment.
Afterwards, she withdrew from the Rome and Strasbourg tournaments in succession, waiting to see if she could recover from her injury and catch up with this year's French Open.
Unfortunately, I was unable to catch up in the end.
This also means that this year there will be only three women's singles players appearing in the main competition, creating the lowest number in three years.
That’s not all.
What's worse, with Peng Shuai's withdrawal, it also means that for the first time since 2008, there will be no Chinese women's singles players ranked in the top 50 in the world appearing on the Grand Slam stage. Behind this whole predicament is a reflection of the overall decline of women's singles and the bleakness of having no successors.
Zhang Shuai, who had achieved good results in the past two years, encountered a bottleneck this year. She was only ranked 81st when she registered for the French Open, and further slipped to 125th when the competition was about to start. However, she is still the highest-ranked female singles player in the world among the three players participating in this year's competition.
At last year's US Open, Zheng Saisai and Wang Qiang both broke through the first round of the Grand Slam, setting new records, but this year their rankings have dropped significantly and their draw luck has been average.
Similarly, the men's singles also suffered a heavy blow. Zhang Ze's world ranking has slipped to 184th, and Wu Di has plummeted to outside the top 300. Both players were unable to qualify for the qualifying round, so they simply did not come to Paris.
Judging from all the signs, the prospects of the Chinese team at Roland Garros this year may be very difficult.
If you study it in detail, you will find that it is not surprising.
Firstly, China's training system is mainly based on hard courts, and clay is its weakness. It is even difficult to find too many clay training grounds, so every time we prepare for a competition, we need to go to Europe.
When Li Na won the French Open that year, even she herself was surprised.
In fact, Chinese players, both men and women, have the worst performance at the French Open.
Secondly, due to injuries, players from both women's singles and men's singles are generally suffering from injuries.
I won’t say much about the back injury that has troubled Peng Shuai since the beginning of the year, as well as Zhang Ze and Wu Di.
In fact, from the encouragement of the close encounter at the Australian Open at the beginning of the year to the side-by-side battle at the Davis Cup in March, players including Zhang Shuai, Zhang Ze, Wu Di and others have all deeply felt the positive influence of Gao Wen, and the ambitions deeply buried in their hearts have once again risen.
They look forward to following in Gawain's footsteps, and also look forward to chasing Gawain's footsteps and finally realizing their own dreams -
But the reality is often like this: you can't eat hot tofu in a hurry, and too much is as bad as too little.
The harder you work and the more you devote yourself, the more pressure you will feel, and then, more haste makes waste.
As a result, not only did they fail to achieve a comprehensive breakthrough, but they encountered their own shackles. Zhang Shuai fell into a vortex of mental demons, while Zhang Ze and Wu Di suffered unnecessary injuries in training. Although they were not serious enough to require them to miss the game, they still affected the quality of training and the state of the game.
Then, the clay court season came.
The passage of time was faster than expected. Before I had a chance to “study hard and make progress every day” to make great achievements, I encountered complete acclimatization to the red soil.
As a result, his world ranking dropped further, and when he came to the French Open, not only did he fail to get the encouragement from the Australian Open to achieve a breakthrough, but he fell further into a trough.
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
Thirdly, and the most intuitive point, Li Na retired.
The presence of a leader not only has an impact on young players and the sport as a whole; it also has the effect of raising public expectations.
In other words, when Li Na was still fighting on the court, all attention was focused on her. As long as she could perform well, people would think that the Chinese team was successful.
At that time, people didn't pay any attention to the other players of the Chinese team. Even though they were ranked in the top 50 in the world and reached the fourth round of the Grand Slam, the spotlight was still on the leader.
Once Li Na retired, the stark gap became apparent, and it was difficult for people to get used to the scene before them, which was obviously not the familiar scene they had seen before.
At this point, the answer has already come out -
Gao Wen's sudden appearance filled the vacancy and became the new leader.
However, Gawain had a fatal shortcoming. He emerged too quickly and too suddenly. Not only the general public, but even the professionals were not mentally prepared. They all witnessed Gawain climbing to the top of the Forbidden City, staring in amazement and watching intently.
From the US Open to the Australian Open, the momentum built up step by step, and then against the backdrop of the French Open, various topics were intertwined and shined brightly, attracting thousands of eyes.
then!
The grand scene at the bar appeared just like this. Even though it was just a draw ceremony, the new fans who had just joined the team were excited and the veteran fans who had been silent for a long time were jubilant. They gathered together to share each other's joy and happiness.
This year, Gao Wen is very likely the only hope of the Chinese Army. Everyone is expecting him to draw a good lottery and achieve more success.
However……