For a moment, Yu Jia was not sure whether Gao Wen was a real European emperor or a fake European emperor——

Originally, during the draw ceremony, when they saw that Gao Wen's first-round opponent was a qualifying player, they all high-fived to celebrate.

It was not until the fifth Grand Slam of Gao Wen's career that he was drawn against a player in the first round of qualifying for the first time. This should be the best first-round draw so far. Now they can finally rest assured. As long as the first week of competition can give Gao Wen time to adjust and adapt, they will have confidence in Gao Wen's subsequent performance.

but!

After waiting for all the qualifying rounds to come to an end, the organizing committee will conduct another subsequent draw and place the qualifying players and wild card players into the draw positions one by one.

After Zverev became Gao Wen's first-round opponent, Yu Jia and the others were at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

So, is this a joke of fate? By the way, the overall performance of the Chinese team at this year's US Open was sluggish, just like the trend of the entire professional tennis world. The situation of being plagued by injuries in the last Grand Slam of the year was indeed very serious, and no one was exempt.

In the men's singles, due to injuries, only Zhang Ze participated in the qualifying round.

Zhang Ze's pressure can be clearly felt. After all, he performed well at the Australian Open at the beginning of the year. However, he fluctuated when he had the serve to win the match, and his opponent turned the tables. He had physical problems in the deciding set and could not keep up with the rhythm at all, and unfortunately he was eliminated in the first round of qualifying.

The women's singles performed slightly better. Nine players participated in the qualifying round, five advanced to the second round, but only two persisted to the final round and won.

Zheng Saisai and Wang Qiang have become the Chinese team's top women's singles contenders in this year's US Open.

then--

Once again, all eyes were focused on Gawain.

Of course, this is already a familiar scene, and no one feels unfamiliar with it. There is no doubt that Gao Wen is the absolute leader of the entire Chinese sports at present. Not only is he limited to tennis, but he has also climbed to a new peak in all competitive events, writing incredible myths time and time again.

Having said that, on the first anniversary of Gao Wen's championship, he returned to Flushing and saw the familiar scene again. His whole mentality and expectations had undergone subtle changes. The pressure also increased. It was incomparable. He could feel it in all aspects that this was a special tournament.

Here comes the topic.

Not to mention the fans and the media, even the bookmakers are keeping a close eye on every move of the event. As early as when the Cincinnati event came to an end, the odds for winning the US Open had already been released; and after the draw was finalized, the bookmakers updated the odds as soon as possible.

In the women's singles, Serena Williams, who has won three Grand Slam titles this year, is far ahead with odds of 1 to 1.83.

Azarenka, Halep and Sharapova ranked second to fourth respectively, but their odds are far from those of Serena Williams. Even Azarenka's odds are only 9 to 1, which is not on the same level at all. The obvious gap can be clearly seen from the numerical level.

Objectively speaking, Serena Williams has bad luck in the draw this year and will face strong opponents in the first three rounds, but... her odds of winning the championship are still far ahead.

In the men's singles, there were unexpected events and surprises. Just as mentioned before the game, this year is a year of fierce competition and truly full of infinite possibilities.

Djokovic ranks first with odds of 1 to 2.1. After all, he reached the finals of all three Grand Slams this year; and he withstood the fierce impact of Gawain and still firmly holds the throne of world No. 1. Despite losing the finals in Toronto and Cincinnati, he is still the number one favorite.

Following closely behind is Murray, with odds of 3 to 1; and Federer, with odds of 3.5 to 1.

The numbers are clear at a glance. These three players are still the biggest favorites for this year's US Open, but it is a little surprising that Murray has surpassed Federer.

In fact, from Roland Garros to Wimbledon, Murray's condition has gradually recovered, but his performance in the Grand Slams has never been able to improve to the best, and overall he is inferior to Federer; but as the champion of the US Open series, Murray relied on his overall performance to beat Federer and won the favor of bookmakers.

These three players, from strength to condition to mentality, undoubtedly constitute the most popular team.

Next up is the second tier, but as can be seen from the odds numbers, the bookmakers' expectations have plummeted.

Wawrinka, 13 to 1; Gawain, 17 to 1; Nadal, 23 to 1.

Maybe fans will say, how is it possible!

It is understandable that Nadal is in poor form and lowers expectations; but why have Wawrinka and Gawain still not received corresponding recognition?

But this is the reality. They need to prove themselves again and again, and overturn those prejudices with practical actions. Winning the strong with the weak and winning the big with the small is always an unknown in the world of competitive sports. Just look at the miracle that Gao Wen created last year.

The difficulty of defending the title has been mentioned more than once before. Now that Gawain has suffered an injury and has made a hasty comeback, his future performance is indeed full of uncertainties. It is normal for bookmakers to lower their expectations. What's more, Gawain's unbeaten streak in the Grand Slam came to an end at Roland Garros.

If you think about it carefully, "1 to 17" is not a bad odds. At least among the 128 participating players, it ranks fifth.

It can be seen at this point that Wawrinka and Gawain have entered the top ranks of the pyramid. Although they have not yet won the treatment of giants, they are parallel to Nadal who is in a sluggish state. This has already proved their strength, which was absolutely not seen in the past.

In addition, players such as Kei Nishikori, Berdych, Cilic, Dimitrov, Raonic, Tsonga and others are also on the list.

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Although the specific odds are average, with the three most favored players, Berdych, Cilic and Dimitrov, only having odds of 51 to 1, at least they are in sight.

Unlike last year's Gao Wen, before the start of the game, even if someone wanted to bet on Gao Wen to win the championship, the bookmakers did not list the corresponding odds.

It is in this context that players such as Murray, Nadal, Federer, etc., who are about to face tough battles in the first round, have also attracted more attention.

Gao Wen is also one of them——

Zverev is the youngest player participating in this year's main draw.

In addition, the youth storm that had been rising across the board has slightly declined in the second half of the year. There are only three players born after 1995 who have successfully entered the main draw list, namely Gao Wen, Cilic, and Zverev Jr. Two of them will now have a head-on collision in the first round, and the other will challenge Nadal.

The topic exploded easily.

At the pre-match press conference, this also became a hot topic that reporters could not miss, but before the absolute focus came out, there were some routine matters.

Especially for Gawain.

“Welcome back to Flushing.”

"Gao Wen, this is your first time competing in a Grand Slam as the defending champion. Do you feel the same this year as last year? Is there anything special?"

"Have your expectations changed for this year's US Open? What impact did the injury that disrupted your plans just before the tournament started have?"