Chapter 249 Strong Performance
The overwhelming news headlines on social networks are really shocking. Even though the North American series kicked off with great fanfare, the world's attention was focused on the first stop in Atlanta. In comparison, the Challenge Tournament was not worth paying attention to at all, but it was unexpected that such a hot topic would be discussed.
The spectators were fanning the flames and enjoying the fun.
However, it had no impact on the two parties involved.
Gawain's words were just a passing topic. No one paid attention to what happened to this unknown young man. Only a small number of people noticed that the name "Gao" looked like a Chinese name. As for Tobias, he did not show any abnormality, and his usual performance did not make Gawain smell anything unusual.
Zverev didn't care at all. He could vaguely feel some commotion among his team, but when he asked, his agent intercepted all the negative news and just told him that some media were paying attention to Binghamton. Such attention and pressure were simply daily routine for Zverev, and he turned around and put them behind his mind.
So, when the second match day kicked off, neither player felt anything unusual. Everything was calm and the match was the focus.
Gao Wen's opponent in the second round is an American player, Austin-Krajicek, who is also from the NCAA and comes from the traditional football school Texas A&M University.
Krajicek was born in 1990. He has a world-famous cousin, Richard Krajicek, who won the 1996 Wimbledon Tennis Championships and became the first Grand Slam champion in Dutch history. His highest world ranking reached fourth.
Although Austin's talent is not as good as his cousin, he also made history in the NCAA.
Krajicek won the U.S. doubles championship in his senior year, the first tennis championship in the history of Texas A&M University. However, he had just finished his college career before Gao Wen entered the university. He has been working hard in the professional arena for the past year and has not yet been able to make a breakthrough.
Krajicek is smaller than Gao Wen in height and build. He has very good running ability, but his baseline technique is relatively rough. His hitting technique, rotation, control, etc. are all unsatisfactory. He basically hits the ball with all his strength, and his tactical routines are relatively simple. His relative advantage is that he has excellent technique at the net and dares to go to the net.
In today's professional arena where the baseline is king, serve-and-volley players are becoming fewer and fewer, as rare as pandas, but there are still a few.
Although it was the second round, both sides had already gone through the test of one round of competition and were obviously stronger; but for Gawain, Krajicek was an easier opponent to deal with than Kokkinakis.
Of course, no matter what, it is a professional game, and any opponent needs to be taken seriously; moreover, the fact that Jilong lost to the veteran in the challenge match yesterday is still fresh in his mind, and Gao Wen will not take it lightly. The final score is -
“6:4”, “6:2”.
Although the first set was a little stalemate, the pace and intensity of professional games are obviously different from those of NCAA. Gao Wen still needed more games to adapt, which took some time; but overall, he did not encounter too many challenges and easily defeated his opponent in two sets to advance to the third round. The whole game took 67 minutes.
Bu Bu's strong performance proved that he has established a firm foothold, and the comeback victory over Kokkinakis in the first round was not luck.
After the game, when Gao Wen left the stadium, he could see a crowd of reporters at the exit, with their cameras pointed at him, as if they were waiting anxiously.
Who? Who are they waiting for? Could it be Krajicek? After all, he has a cousin who is a Grand Slam champion.
Just when Gao Wen's head was full of question marks, the flash lights came towards him with a click, and a silver light poured down, making him dizzy in an instant.
Before Gao Wen could react, someone pulled his arm and he left the surging crowd and came to a small corner next to the court.
"John?"
It took a while for my eyes to adjust to the lack of flash, and then I could see clearly that it was Tobias in front of me.
Tobias didn't exchange pleasantries with Gawain. Instead, he whispered in his ear a few words about the situation, explaining Zverev's remarks and the reaction of the online news media. Then he pulled away and looked at Gawain, his eyes slightly nervous.
"Can you handle it?"
Gawain was slightly stunned, then he chuckled, patted Tobias on the shoulder, and without saying anything else, he walked out again, ready to face the storm of reporters.
Instead, Tobias stood there, paused for a moment, and the corners of his mouth rose.
Tobias was the first to learn the news yesterday, but this matter could be a big deal or a small one. If he said it formally, it would seem too solemn, but if he just mentioned it casually, it would be hard to explain. After thinking about it over and over again, he finally didn't say it out loud in order to avoid affecting Gawain's performance in the game.
When the game was going on today, Tobias was watching the game in the players' box, and he immediately noticed the surge of reporters -
Exceeded expectations.
In fact, Tobias was a little annoyed. He had never expected the reporter's reaction to be so intense.
According to common sense, the reporters should focus on Zverev, and then pay attention to Gao Wen. This level of attention is just right. Tobias does not want reporters to pay attention to Gao Wen too early. There is really no need to make a fuss during the challenge match to avoid adding unnecessary off-court pressure.
What happened? What happened? Tobias even suspected that Zverev's agent was trying to divert attention and direct the reporters to Gao Wen.
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Tobias was very dissatisfied with his own misjudgment, which was a dereliction of duty as an agent.
But now, looking at Gawain who was calm and composed, Tobias couldn't help but laugh. How could he forget that psychological quality was one of Gawain's most important advantages? Maybe such things might affect the mood of other players, but for Gawain it was just a drop in the bucket.
Here, Gao Wen has walked towards the reporters again, and then he came back. Then the flash lights started to pour down again, and the sweat on the surface of his skin started to boil again. For a moment, he seemed to be at the center of the universe, with the eyes of the whole world gathered around him, and every pore could feel the surging heat wave.
Gurgling.
Gurgling.
"Sasha", "feelings", "dark horse", "ignore", "victory", "competition", "confidence", "nameless"... the rolling waves of sound hit us like an overwhelming force, but it was impossible to distinguish a complete sentence, there were not even any words, only one syllable after another overlapping and colliding with each other.
In the end, it evolved into a series of "Ahhh" and "Ohhhh" sounds, coupled with faces with wide-open mouths. From the visual effect, it was like a group of hungry baby birds waiting for their mother bird to return from foraging.
Honestly, the scene is kind of funny.
(End of this chapter)