The distance between hearts can be out of reach, separated by the vast ocean and thousands of mountains and rivers, and no matter how hard you try, you cannot touch a moment of warmth; but it can also be close at hand, and a smile, a look, and a hug can easily break through that indestructible barrier.

In Paris, at Roland Garros, people never really liked Nadal:

"Even if he wins more championships, I can't like his playing style. It's like a bull. Tennis shouldn't be like this."

Until today.

Perhaps, Nadal's playing style is not Paris's orientation, and it is still not now, but no one can deny that Nadal interprets the ultimate of competitive sports with his actual actions, always fighting, always running, always burning, always challenging, not just for victory.

Nadal, with his tenacity and perseverance, with his purity and sincerity, once again left a strong mark in Philippe Chatrier, like a bull.

Then.

There was thunderous applause. The proud Parisians finally broke through the window paper and took off their hats to salute a champion in the simplest and most rustic way.

Nadal, totally unexpected.

He won victory after victory, championship after championship here, but he had never felt this kind of enthusiasm and sincerity, hot and crazy.

Stop and turn around.

There was a gleam of surprise in Nadal's eyes and his expression was slightly stunned.

The applause from the audience was actually still rising little by little, like a tropical storm, continuously releasing amazing energy sweeping across the entire venue.

Then, Nadal saw Gawain on the court at a glance: his eyes were bright and determined, his smile was brilliant and warm, his hands were raised high and clapped hard, no words were needed, but the emotional power was better than a thousand words.

Nadal nodded slightly towards Gawain.

An exchange of glances was enough.

Then, Nadal waved to the audience, with a little sadness and bitterness, a little nostalgia and regret, but more with the courage and belief to start again. He turned around and left amid the thunderous applause of the audience, and the back figure disappeared in the blink of an eye.

However, vaguely, one could catch a glimpse of tears flashing in Nadal's eyes.

In people's narrow concept, championship is really simple. It is the first place in a competitive sports event. Period. Everything is so clear and obvious.

However, today, at this moment, after witnessing such a peak showdown, people have truly realized that if we open up the narrow concept, we can see a vast world. The champion is not just the first place. Every fighter who persists in fighting, challenges the limit, and breaks through himself can become a champion.

In 2000, at the Sydney Olympics, a 100-meter freestyle qualifying competition that was originally ignored by everyone attracted worldwide attention because of Eric-Moussambani.

Musambani comes from a small African country, Equatorial Guinea, with a population of less than 700,000. A year before the Sydney Olympics, he couldn't even swim.

In fact, he learned all his swimming skills by himself in a private hotel's swimming pool in the eight months before the Olympics. The hotel's swimming pool was only open from five to six in the morning. Musambani could only train three hours a week, but he often went to swim in the river or the sea and asked some fishermen for technical movements.

The 13-meter-long swimming pool of this small hotel was once all Musambani’s fantasies about swimming pools. Later, when he came to Sydney Olympic Park and saw the 50-meter-long swimming lane for the first time in his life, he was stunned.

Later, in the preliminaries of the 100-meter freestyle, Musambani was competing alone and nearly drowned in the second half due to exhaustion, but he still gritted his teeth and insisted on swimming the entire course, finishing in 1 minute 52.72 seconds, more than 40 seconds slower than the passing line, even longer than the other athletes' full 200-meter time, setting the slowest 100-meter freestyle record in Olympic history.

Yes, from the perspective of competitive sports, Musambani lost, completely lost, and was not even qualified to compete; but in the Olympic Games, Musambani did not give up. In the last thirty meters, the audience worked together to cheer him on, and the whole audience was united.

He didn't give up.

When Musambani completed the 100-meter freestyle, he defeated himself and broke through himself, so he was a champion.

There is no doubt that competitive sports are about winning and losing and about championships, but its charm is never just that. Failures, setbacks, lows, struggles, battles, side by side, breakthroughs, challenges and limits can also make competitive sports shine.

Today, the Philippe Chatrier Stadium also witnessed the courage of a champion!

Even though he was in a low state, exhausted, and even though there was little hope, Nadal still fought until the last moment, using his courage and perseverance to put an end to this wonderful duel and become an indispensable part of this peak duel. He proved that he still has the heart of a champion.

He burned out, without reservation.

For the first time in a decade, Nadal won the hearts of Roland Garros with a defeat.

Philippe Chatrier at this moment is full of vitality.

Then.

The applause continued to rise and swept across the entire audience, and it was no longer possible to control the emotions.

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After seeing off Nadal, a huge wave of heat came towards Gawain. Even though Gawain had just eliminated the last local hope for the championship, Tsonga, in the previous game, at this moment, Gawain still conquered Philippe Chatrier with his championship performance.

It has nothing to do with history or records, it's just for this battle.

The whole place was in turmoil, and the excitement kept spreading mightily. I was afraid that tonight would be another sleepless night.

While waiting for Gawain to return to the players' lounge, the adrenaline and excitement gradually faded, and the emptiness after the hearty catharsis slowly came over him. Then, he saw -

Sebastian Nadal.

Originally, Gao Wen was looking for Jiang Yanyun in the crowd and was just about to say hello when he saw Sebastian, with a big smile on his face, hugging Gao Hongli. He thought he was seeing things.

As a result, Maribel and Uncle Tony also appeared.

Gawain: ??? Walking a little closer, I could see Sebastian talking to Gao Hongli, sincerely congratulating Gawain on his victory.

Noticing Gawain's approaching figure, Uncle Tony also came forward.

"Congratulations! Today's match was really beautiful. Your performance in the second set was so outstanding. You are worthy of being a Grand Slam champion. You totally deserve the victory."

If the fans fantasize that there might be a rift between the two players and the two groups after the game, and that the tense feeling of life and death on the court will continue all the way off the court, or even lead to a fight in the players' lounge until they are bleeding, then they will definitely be disappointed.

The scene in front of me seems to be different from what I imagined.