Chapter 226: Deja Vu
"…I have already made an appointment in advance, and you have already told me that 3pm is no problem, and now you suddenly tell me that there is no schedule? What is going on? If you don't give me an explanation, I will not leave here today."
"This is my right, you must give me an answer."
"I've followed the rules and regulations, but you're treating me like a fool. If 3pm isn't an option, then who is using the venue? Why is he taking up my time and squeezing me out? I need an explanation."
The first thing to do after arriving in Binghamton and checking into the hotel is to sign in at the tournament office.
In fact, Tobias could help Gawain with these things, but since it was Gawain's first time participating in a professional competition, he was a little curious, and he was used to being self-reliant, so he went with Jilong and MacDonald. Of course, Tobias also accompanied them all the way.
This top agent has officially become a member of Gao Wen's team, and now it finally feels real.
However, as soon as we entered the event office, we saw a "farce". There seemed to be some conflict. The small room was blocked by the queue and we couldn't get in for a while.
With his height advantage, Gao Wen passed through the crowd and saw the protagonist of the farce at a glance——
Yannick Hanfman! An old rival of USC, how could he not know him?
Just when Gao Wen and the others were confused, Jilong saw another familiar face, Ryan Shawn from the University of Virginia.
In the U.S. Championships, they were mortal enemies. There is no need to elaborate on the feud in the Los Angeles derby. It was Jilong who eliminated Sean and entered the top 16 on the road to the singles competition; however, leaving the university, they are all newcomers to the professional arena.
In addition to Sean and Hanfman, Gao Wen also saw his singles semi-final opponent Dennis Nguyen, and the two of them also nodded and greeted him in a friendly manner.
The bustling crowd seemed familiar, as if I had returned to Athens, or as if it was the U.S. Championships again, with only a different group of contestants. But the familiar faces still felt cordial.
At this point, it can be seen that the plans of NCAA players are more or less similar. They make full use of the summer time to participate in hope games and challenge games to prepare for the new season and pave the way for their professional careers.
They once fought fiercely in the college arena, but after entering the professional arena, they felt a little more familiar with it because of their experience in the NCAA.
Jilong asked Sean about it, and Sean explained the situation in a few words.
In fact, it is a question of training time at the practice field.
Arriving at a new tournament or a new venue, first of all, the players need daily training, which is the case every day during the tournament; secondly, the players need to be familiar with the venue, especially when they have just arrived, which makes the arrangement of the practice field very particular.
There are two types of driving ranges, one is the ordinary driving range.
Everyone can practice, but everyone must make an appointment. After all, all players need to practice, and ordinary driving ranges do not have strict practice time regulations. Three hours or five hours are no problem. Just make an appointment in advance to facilitate the arrangement of the event organizer. This also highlights the importance of driving range reservations.
One is field practice, which means adapting to the competition venue.
The larger the competition, the more obvious the differences between the venues. The differences between Venue No. 1, Venue No. 2, Venue No. 3, etc. are all particularly huge.
Among them, venue No. 1 is naturally the center court that accommodates the largest number of spectators. Because of the spacious space and numerous seats, the whole atmosphere is different. The airflow, light, temperature, sound, sense of space, etc. are all different, and the feeling of hitting the ball is also different. Adapting and not adapting are two different things.
But obviously, not every player can enter Court No. 1 to adapt to the venue. Often only the top and most famous players have such an opportunity.
Because there is only one venue, even though the event organizers limit the training time, generally to one hour or at most two hours, it is still in short supply.
It is for this reason that training to adapt to the venue is not an appointment, but an application.
Whether it is the former or the latter, the reservation system and event arrangements are taken for granted.
The Binghamton Challenge is just a small tournament, and arranging a practice field is not a difficult task. Moreover, the tournament has been running for twenty years, and the tournament director is no longer a rookie. But how could he make the low-level mistake of time conflict?
The most likely possibility is that a big-name player - or a big-name agent - put pressure on the tournament and took away the practice time that should have belonged to Hanfman. Anyway, Hanfman is a college player without an agent or backing, so the most he can do is complain and protest, but he can't make any substantial resistance.
In fact, there is no need for the staff to give Hanfman an answer. When the waiting time is up, he will naturally know who the player is who has taken up Hanfman's practice time.
Rustling.
Rustling.
The news outside the office quickly spread.
Alexander Zverev.
So, who is Zverev? Before introducing Zverev in depth, we need to talk about a little concept first.
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray have dominated the tennis world for nearly twenty years. They were hailed as the "Big Four" by the media. Later, Murray fell behind due to injuries, and only the "Big Three" remained from the "Big Four". Together, they suppressed an entire generation of players born in the 1980s and 1990s, and no one could break through their blockade.
Time is their only enemy.
Until later, with the increase of age and injuries, their dominance loosened slightly, especially the Masters Tournament, which is second only to the Grand Slam, began to gradually lose ground. A group of "post-95" players emerged like mushrooms after rain, seized power, and then, after the test of time, slowly formed the "Big Three" -
Russian player Daniil Medvedev, born in 1996, Greek player Stefanos Tsitsipas, born in 1998, and German player Alexander Zverev, born in 1997.
Among them, Zverev was the first to achieve results.
Zverev was born into a tennis family. He and his brother are both professional tennis players. In order to distinguish the two brothers, the younger brother is also called Zverev Jr.
Earlier this year, Zverev won the Australian Open junior championship and became the world's number one junior. In 2016, he was already in the top 30 in the year-end world rankings. In 2017, he became the first post-90s player to win the Masters Championship, and his world ranking has risen to third.
It can be seen from a series of honors that Zverev is undoubtedly the leader of the "post-95" players. When he was 19 years old, he had defeated Federer and Djokovic consecutively. From talent to strength, he is undoubtedly a top player.
Even back to now, Zverev, who is only seventeen years old, started competing in the professional arena last year and officially turned professional. He has already demonstrated top ability early on.
No wonder, when they heard Zverev's name, the crowd started buzzing.
First update.
(End of this chapter)