Chapter 298 In the Crack of the Stone
"...What did you just say?" After some courtesy, Hu Litao signaled Zhan Jun to speak first.
Zhan Jun did not refuse and said with a little regret, "Nadal will definitely be absent due to a wrist injury."
From the perspective of fans and neutral commentators, they always see exciting matches. It is undoubtedly regrettable that Nadal, one of the "Big Four", withdrew from the US Open due to a wrist injury.
Moreover, over the past decade, tennis fans have witnessed the long battle between Federer and Nadal, the greatest rivals in history. Every match between them can trigger screams and cheers from the audience, which is something that Djokovic and Murray cannot achieve.
But it is very regrettable that this pair of opponents, whose number of matches continues to break historical records, have played against each other countless times on different occasions, but have never met in the US Open. This has always been a great regret for the entire professional tennis world.
Before the US Open kicks off every year, fans are looking forward to the "Federer-Nadal final", but every year it ends in disappointment.
Hu Litao can completely understand Zhan Jun's idea, "If you want to watch the Federer-Nadal final, you can only look forward to next year."
Zhan Jun sighed regretfully, "First it was Na Jie, then Na Dou, injuries are really a roadblock. I just hope their injuries won't have too much of an impact, and we'll see them back on the court playing singles again soon."
Hu Litao nodded in agreement.
Zhan Jun immediately calmed down and changed the subject, "What did you want to say just now?"
Hu Litao said "Oh" and then came back to his senses, "I said, the US Open wildcard list is out, and there is a Chinese on it."
"Huh?" Zhan Jun was very surprised, very, very surprised.
The influence of the four Grand Slams is deeply rooted in the entire professional tennis world. Even behind the issuance of wild cards, one can see the confrontation and cooperation between different organizations.
To give a simple example, in order to cultivate the Asia-Pacific market, the Australian Open has cooperated very closely with China and even held a wildcard tournament in China.
The French Open and the US Open are deeply rooted in the local professional tennis world. They tend to discover young players from their own country, but in addition to that, they also cooperate with each other. For example, the French Open gives the US Tennis Association a wild card, and the US Open also gives the French Tennis Association a wild card. As for how to decide which wild card, it is decided by the other tennis association's internal consultation.
Wimbledon, which has always been proud and noble, has also begun to cooperate with the other three Grand Slams in recent years. After all, if you want to expand the influence of the event and cultivate young players in your own country, you definitely can't work behind closed doors.
Of course, in addition to these, wild cards may also be awarded to famous players returning from injuries, young people who have performed well in other competitions, young players sponsored by the official sponsors of the event, and so on.
It is also because of this that the wildcard seats for Grand Slams are often not announced all at once, but all of them can be announced before the end of the last round of qualifying. The qualifiers and wildcard players are then mixed together for a draw and filled into the main draw match list that was drawn a week ago.
For Chinese players, female players have already made a name for themselves, so it is often easier for them to apply for wild cards; male players have always been working hard out of sight, and even the relatively close Australian Open may not be easy, not to mention the US Open on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.
The US Open did not announce the wildcard list this year until the second round of qualifying began, when the full list was revealed.
Zhan Jun did not hide his surprise at all, "Female players?"
Hu Litao's expression was also a little strange, "Male players."
Zhan Jun: …
Hu Litao: ...
Is the sun rising from the west?
Zhan Jun thought of the names of male players, but the only young players who met the criteria were Zhang Ze and Wu Di. If they were ranked lower in the world, it would be meaningless to play with wild cards, and they would probably be eliminated in the first round, wasting wild cards. However, both of them participated in the qualifying round, so who was it?
Was he a rich second-generation or an illegitimate child?
"His name is Gao Wen, but I'm not sure which one it is. The official information is only in English, saying that this year's NCAA national champion got the wild card." Hu Litao further explained.
To be honest, in recent years, with the overall rise of Li Na and the Chinese women's team, the attention and popularity of tennis in China has soared. Zhan Jun is even hailed as an encyclopedia. He knows the tennis world of the past 20 years like the back of his hand, and all the information can be presented to the audience continuously.
But, the NCAA?
Every profession has its own expertise, and Zhan Jun must admit that he does not pay any attention to the NCAA.
At present, China's only understanding of the NCAA should come from the NBA. After all, the rookies in the annual draft are all from the NCAA, but the understanding of other projects is very limited.
"Gawain Gawain Gawain..."
Zhan Jun chewed on the name carefully and felt that it was somewhat familiar. Then he suddenly slapped his thigh, startling both Hu Litao and the driver.
"Ah! That Challenger champion? Is he Chinese? I always thought he was just an Asian player with a similar pronunciation."
Hu Litao was confused. "Brother Jun, have you heard of him?"
Zhan Jun thought for a moment, "I'm not sure, but there was a news article on the ATP website last month saying that the two players worked together to create history in Europe and North America, winning fifteen consecutive Challenger tournaments and three consecutive championships."
Hu Litao's mouth can swallow a duck egg.
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Zhan Jun shook his head. "I just glanced at it and saw the name, but the ATP website didn't say much, so I didn't make any connection and thought it was an Asian player."
If it were just the Challenge Tournament championship, there would really be nothing worth writing about. According to statistics from the ATP official website, the player with the most Challenge Tournament wins and championships is the same player, Lu Yen-hsun, who is from China's Formosa Province.
From the perspective of creating history, Gawain is indeed far behind, and all of his historical records need to be prefixed with "Chinese Continent".
It is precisely because of this that ATP did not mention it separately, and Zhan Jun did not take it seriously. He just glanced at it while browsing the news daily.
However, no one expected to hear this name again from Hu Litao's mouth. He really jumped out from the cracks in the stone and caught everyone off guard.
No matter how he thought about it, it still seemed absurd, so Zhan Jun asked again, "Are you sure of your nationality?"
How could they have been completely oblivious to this? It was outrageous.
Hu Litao nodded as a matter of course. "How could I have seen the five-star red flag wrong? Besides, I was startled because I saw the national flag. Otherwise, I would have ignored the English words. Unless I was preparing materials for the competition, how could I care about who the wild card was from the beginning?"
After saying that, Hu Litao still couldn't believe it, "Brother Jun, wait, you said three Challenge Championship champions?"
The ATP official website may not have realized what this meant, but after the two professional commentators pieced together the news, shock and astonishment swept over them.
Isn’t this too amazing?
Zhan Jun and Hu Litao exchanged glances, and both realized: This is big news! (End of this chapter)