Chapter 1482: Bombardment
"...Sir, sir! Mr. Gao!"
The voice of calling came from far away and gradually got closer. Gawain shuddered and woke up. He subconsciously looked around to observe his position.
He came to his senses only when he saw the hotel outside the car window, which he had been so familiar with for the past two weeks. He actually fell asleep during the short drive from the stadium back to the hotel.
"Phew... Sorry, I just wanted to close my eyes and take a rest, but I didn't expect... Haha, it looks like I won't have insomnia tonight."
Gawain made a self-deprecating joke and was about to get out of the car with his equipment bag, but the driver's voice from the front made Gawain pause for a moment.
"Mr. Gao, today's game was very exciting."
Gao Wen was slightly stunned, raised his eyes to look at the rearview mirror, and then he could see the gleam in the driver's eyes, with determination and enthusiasm.
Light, yet warm.
"Thanks."
The smile on Gawain's lips rose slightly, and the invisible burden that weighed heavily on his shoulders seemed to lighten a little, and his tense lines also relaxed.
The game is very hard, very, very hard, there is no doubt about that; but if you ask the players, they will probably say that the post-match press conference is the real torture, because the game is often simple and pure, but dealing with reporters requires countless extra thoughts -
In 2021, four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka encountered such a dilemma.
Because she carries countless expectations, her commercial value continues to rise, and she is considered to be the next generation leader after Serena Williams, once her performance on the court falls short of expectations, the media will swarm around her like sharks smelling blood, which makes the delicate and sensitive Naomi Osaka miserable.
At that year's French Open, Naomi Osaka finally mustered up the courage to speak out, saying she would refuse to attend post-match press conferences because being surrounded by reporters was not good for a player's mental health.
The French Open issued a warning and started communicating with Naomi Osaka's team, but after winning the first round and advancing, Naomi Osaka still missed the post-match press conference.
According to the rules of the four Grand Slams, attendance at the post-match press conference is mandatory, and absence requires a fine. Serena Williams and others have been fined before, and the French Open also issued a $15,000 fine to Naomi Osaka.
Immediately afterwards, the joint committee of the four Grand Slams issued a warning that if Naomi Osaka continued to boycott the post-match press conference, she would receive a higher fine, or even be disqualified from the competition or banned from the Grand Slam.
Then, after careful consideration, Naomi Osaka announced her withdrawal from the competition.
In the statement, Naomi Osaka said that the current situation was not what she had expected at the beginning, nor was it what she wanted to see. She believed that the best way for the event, other participating players and her own mental health was to withdraw and focus back on the French Open.
At the withdrawal press conference, Naomi Osaka said that reporters' questions caused great harm to the players' mental health, and she herself had suffered from this for a long time.
The statement also mentioned that he had been suffering from long-term psychological depression since winning the US Open in 2018. Participating in the 2021 French Open was like a nightmare. He felt tremendous pressure every time facing reporters, so he decided to miss the press conference.
"I have written an apology letter to the organizing committee and expressed my willingness to communicate, but now I do need to leave the court for a while. I hope to discuss how to make things better for the players, fans and media in the future."
After this statement was released, it triggered a storm of discussion on social networks. Many people believed that Naomi Osaka was creating topics to attract attention; but these attacks also caused Naomi Osaka to fall into a more painful abyss.
Later, she missed Wimbledon and did not return until the Olympics that year. However, she was unexpectedly eliminated in the third round due to the tremendous pressure she was under, and she burst into tears at the press conference after the game.
In fact, due to the threat to her mental health, Naomi Osaka fell into the trough of her career. Injuries from psychological to physical levels made her withdraw from the ranks of top players.
He was eliminated in the third round of both the 2021 US Open and the 2022 Australian Open. Subsequently, he was eliminated in the first round of both the French Open and the US Open. He missed the Wimbledon due to injury. He only won two Grand Slams throughout the year, ending his record of winning at least one Grand Slam title every year since 2018, and his world ranking plummeted.
It is precisely because of this that the issue of players' mental health has been pushed to the forefront and become a new focus of attention.
In fact, Naomi Osaka is not the only one. Countless players have been embarrassed by being surrounded and blocked by reporters. There are also many male players, including Kei Nishikori, Paire, Kyrgios, Stan Wawrinka and others, who have lost control in post-match press conferences.
Even the four giants have been angered by reporters at press conferences, including Nadal, who has the most honest personality and temper, and has directly changed his face.
There is no doubt that it is the job of reporters to surround players and create eye-catching highlights, so the post-match press conference often becomes a battlefield.
Just like today.
After waiting and waiting, the reporters finally reached an important turning point: no one would let Gao Wen go easily.
From the end of the Grand Slam winning streak to the competition for the world ranking to the feelings about this defeat, they launched an all-round attack, grabbing Gao Wen's wounds and rubbing them, a little bit of blood was no longer enough to satisfy their needs, and they even picked up a sharp knife and stirred the wound vigorously.
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Bombardment!
Blades flashing and sabers daringly flying! Behind their aggressive pursuit and interception, one could even sense a gloating malice, which also subtly changed the nature of the conversation.
Although Gao Wen was not afraid or panicked, and was calm and leisurely throughout the press conference, making the reporters return empty-handed one by one, and he was able to turn defense into offense while countering each other's moves. The reporters on the scene were also miserable; but the mental exhaustion was particularly considerable. The tension of being teetering on the high-altitude wire rope all the time completely eliminated the possibility of relaxation. He felt overdrawn, tired, exhausted from the inside out. After the press conference that lasted for a full 45 minutes, Gao Wen didn't even want to move a finger.
Moreover, it is a completely different kind of tiredness from competition.
Perhaps, Gawain has never been afraid of the media, because this is his profession and also his peers. Reporters have no secrets in front of him, and as long as he holds the key, he will not get into trouble; but if it were up to Gawain to choose, he would rather fight for three hours on the field than a 30-minute post-match press conference.
Even after five hours of fighting, Gawain might still make the same choice. The attacks from reporters were really... endless.
Now I have finally arrived at the hotel, but my mind is blank, I have no thoughts, and the whole world is plunged into a hazy halo.
Then Gawain saw Plan——
For a moment, Gao Wen thought he was dazzled and had an illusion.
(End of this chapter)