Chapter 1984 Superstar Treatment

A superstar is born!

In 2015, social networks have already taken off around the world, but they have not yet reached their peak. Everything is in a stage of vigorous development.

Compared with global sports such as football and basketball, the development of tennis in social networks lags behind a little. The most intuitive example is that many players, including Federer, do not even have a Twitter account.

Of course, neither did Messi.

As of September 2015, there is only one male tennis player with more than 10 million followers on all major social networking platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter: Nadal.

Federer and Djokovic followed closely behind, and were evenly matched. Federer had more Facebook fans, while Djokovic had more Twitter followers.

At the same time, overall, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova have far more fans on social networks than male players, demonstrating top popularity.

Until now——

Gao Wen, an "old" guy who usually disappears from major social networking platforms, focuses on training and competitions. Updates are often handled by Tobias. But thanks to Tobias' foresight and professional operation, Gao Wen has come from behind and opened up a new era for male tennis players.

The total number of fans on major social networking platforms has exceeded 20 million, taking the lead in truly elevating tennis to a new level among the younger generation. This is something that Federer and Nadal have not yet achieved and are trying to do, and Gao Wen’s youth has become the best weapon.

Tobias captured this point.

The marketing effect is amazing! Major sponsors have also noticed that compared with the media's exaggerated claims, numbers are always more intuitive, clearer and more impactful.

It is no wonder that Gao Wen's commercial value continues to rise and he is even considered to have the potential to surpass Federer.

And, this is still not all.

In addition to Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, Weibo is equally influential. As the core of the Chinese social networking platform, Gao Wen has demonstrated his appeal.

After the Davis Cup, Gao Wen's number of Weibo fans has easily exceeded 50 million, surpassing Li Na who retired last year and becoming the tennis player with the most Weibo fans. Even compared with popular sports such as football and basketball, she is not inferior.

Of course, the growth trend in the number of fans remains encouraging, and there is no sign of slowing down.

The most important thing is——

Gao Wen rarely posts anything or pictures, very rarely.

He has also stated more than once on different occasions that he prefers to focus on training and competitions. The online world is really too attractive, and once you get involved, it may be difficult to control yourself.

"I was just scrolling through my phone, and before I knew it, two hours had gone by. I thought I could have used those two hours to practice my footwork."

These are Gawain’s original words.

However, the growth of fans on major social networking platforms continues unabated, and the traffic is staggering.

In other words, whether in Chinese or English social networks, Gao Wen has now become the number one male tennis player.

The influence and appeal are evident.

Who could miss Gawain?

Rumor has it that a series of brands that hastily signed Gao Wen as their spokesperson last year have entered the contract renewal stage without even waiting for the contract to expire, and Tobias has been very busy during this period.

In the Davis Cup, China made history by entering the World Group stage for the first time, which also pushed Gao Wen's popularity and reputation to a new height.

As a result, tickets for the two tennis tournaments in the Imperial Capital and the Magic City became hot commodities.

After a year, Gao Wen will return to his homeland again to start his Asian season; this time, not only will he have two more Grand Slam championship trophies, but he will also have the title of Davis Cup hero, which is definitely a superstar treatment.

Highly anticipated!

The reason is very simple. It is difficult for Chinese players to even win a game in a competition with local superstars, let alone win the championship.

Just like the Australian Open in Melbourne and the French Open in Paris, fans of the host country have been eagerly looking forward to the day when local players can lift the championship trophy.

Now, here comes Gawain.

After experiencing the consecutive highlights of the US Open final and the Davis Cup World Group play-offs, expectations were so high that discussions about the two events in the capital and the Magic City also reached a new height.

This is the first time ever.

When the Shanghai event was first upgraded to a Masters Tournament and it was confirmed that both Federer and Nadal would come to participate, there was no such popularity.

To put it in professional terms, it is the difference between going out of the circle and not going out of the circle.

This time, tennis has completely gone viral.

Both the Imperial City and the Magic City events realized that the opportunity had come. The US Open and the Davis Cup were just warm-ups and they must seize the opportunity.

Keep up with publicity, keep up with marketing, keep up with popularity.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

Tennis has gained unprecedented attention in mainland China. Not to mention Gao Wen, even Zhang Ze and others have been caught in the center of the heated discussion.

In fact, this year is indeed a good opportunity——

In addition to the local superstar Gao Wen, there are also surprises in the participating lineups of the Imperial Capital and the Magic City.

In the capital, apart from Federer and Murray who have chosen not to participate, only Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori among the top ten in the world have chosen Japan, where the tournament is held in the same week. Such a lineup is an absolute surprise for a 500-point tournament, and both the topic popularity and the quality of the competition are guaranteed.

In Shanghai, as a Masters tournament, top players gather together and all the top 20 in the world compete. Such a lineup is completely comparable to the Grand Slam. This will also be the first time that the "Big Five" plus Wawrinka will appear in the same event. Just thinking about it makes the blood boil.

The heat comes just in time.

However, from another perspective, precisely because of the full lineup of top players, the difficulty of Gao Wen's winning the championship amid the expectations and cheers of local audiences has increased sharply, which is basically no different from the US Open two weeks ago. As expected, the world of competitive sports is essentially a challenge.

despite this!

The Chinese mainland still welcomed Gawain's triumphant return with the most top-level and enthusiastic attitude, because of the Davis Cup victory and the upcoming tournament. From the moment he was picked up at the airport, he was treated like an international superstar, and the procession continued all the way to the hotel where Gawain was staying.

Originally, Gao Wen thought that he had witnessed it once last year, so there should be nothing surprising this year, but reality proved that he was still too young.

The scale and attitude are even ten times crazier than last year.

If you think about it carefully, it is not surprising. After all, Li Na was a dark horse last year and fans were looking for the novelty. No one knew whether Gao Wen could continue her outstanding performance. In addition, the popularity of tennis promotion has not reached its peak and people are generally immersed in the sadness and loss of Li Na's retirement.

But this year, the whole situation has changed. The local fans naturally welcomed Gao Wen with the most enthusiastic attitude without reservation.

“Welcome home!”

One sentence is enough.

(End of this chapter)