Chapter 337: Out of Nowhere

The 2014 U.S. Open has already gone on for two days, and there have been some upsets, but overall all the top seeded players have made it through, so there is still a lack of excitement.

So far, there are two most surprising upsets.

One of them was in the men's singles competition, where Kyrgios defeated the 21st seed Youzhny in the first round.

But on the one hand, Youzhny's ranking is not in the top 20; on the other hand, Kyrgios has already emerged strongly into the public eye early on, and his rising momentum in the first half of this year has subtly suppressed Zverev Jr., and he has become a representative topic figure of the new generation.

Therefore, Kyrgios' victory was indeed unexpected, but it was not an exaggeration.

The second was the women's singles competition. The 15-year-old genius girl Catherine-Bellis, who participated in the Grand Slam for the first time in her career, defeated the 12th seed and this year's Australian Open runner-up Dominika-Cibulkova in the first round.

Cibulkova became the biggest dark horse at the Australian Open at the beginning of the year, eliminating the favorites to win the championship all the way to the final. However, she lost to Li Na and finished second. She ushered in a full-scale outbreak in her career in the first half of the year, and her world ranking repeatedly set new highs. After entering the North American season, her performance gradually declined and was lackluster. However, her elimination in the first round of the US Open was indeed an upset.

Bellis's experience is a classic route for a genius. She was ranked first in the world junior rankings at the beginning of the year. She did not turn to the professional arena but still entered the tour to hone herself. After several months of playing in the Futures and Challenger level events, she entered the US Open main draw list with a wild card and made her Grand Slam debut.

Then, at the age of fifteen, Bellis became the youngest player to win the US Open women's singles main draw since Anna Kournikova in 1996.

Two upsets, different meanings.

Wait, does Bellis’ story sound familiar?

Non-professional? Wild card? Debut? Upset? Indeed, it was the same for Gao Wen. Even the seeded players he defeated were very similar, one was number 12 and the other was number 13.

However, Bellis has already achieved many brilliant results in the youth arena and is ranked first in the world among the youth. She is known as a true "genius girl" and has attracted much attention. So when she unexpectedly defeated Cibulkova and made history, her joy was greater than her shock.

Gao Wen jumped out from a crack in the stone. The attention to the challenge tournament was really too low, far less than that of the youth arena. Before this game, he was basically unknown.

Moreover, there is one most important factor. Bellis was born in San Francisco. She is a player from the host country. The "upset" should be more of a victory of the weak over the strong, but Gao Wen is a non-host player. Defeating the local hope of winning the championship, the "upset" means extinguishing hope. The entire emotional investment and output are completely different.

Due to various factors, all major media outlets gave the title of "the biggest upset" to the match between Gawain and Isner. It can be clearly seen that the "surprise, surprise" should have been a far greater shock than joy.

"On the second day of the US Open, the first shocking upset occurred, as wildcard player Wen Gao defeated the 13th seed John Isner!"

"Arthur Ashe Stadium witnessed history! He upset the 13th seed in his first Grand Slam appearance!"

"Three tiebreakers, the host's hopes of winning the championship were stopped in the first round!"

"The new American No. 1 had a strong start to the North American season but ended up losing in the first round of the US Open for the second time in his career."

"Cold! Cold! Cold! Isner was eliminated in the first round. The young player who made history was not ranked two months ago!"

"Wild card player Wen Gao successfully sniped Isner with a perfect game!"

Looking at the news headlines in the English mainstream media, the series of unexpected news makes people feel the incredibly powerful impact.

Although there has never been a shortage of upsets in the four Grand Slams, the first round of the competition has witnessed many miracles and surprises. Even the top seed has been eliminated in the first round more than once, but each time it happens it still triggers a collective exclamation from the news media: on the one hand, people are looking forward to miracles, and every upset is an inspirational story in competitive sports; but on the other hand, people are worried about the quality of the game, and the expected strong confrontation may not take place.

It is this contradictory mentality that makes every upset burst out with more powerful force.

But objectively speaking, the dark horses are often unknown young players who lack appeal to the general public. Their attention is more focused on the high-ranking seeded players who are upset. After all, the aura of these players is what people are accustomed to.

This time is no exception, especially the American media, who couldn't believe their eyes.

Isner actually had a good start in this year's North American season, winning the championship in Washington and the runner-up in Atlanta. His hard court strength was fully demonstrated, and being the "favorite to win" was definitely not just talk.

But his performance in the following two Masters tournaments, Montreal and Cincinnati, declined significantly. Especially after he was eliminated in the first round in Montreal due to a foot injury, he temporarily applied for a wildcard for Winston-Salem, hoping to adjust his condition in time and return to the ranks of strong competitors.

However, Winston-Salem ended up withdrawing from the tournament and was eliminated in the first round of the U.S. Open, which caused all major media outlets to sigh.

In the view of the mainstream media, Isner's injury should still have some impact, especially his already poor mobility, which made the situation even worse. Various signs could be seen in the previous two weeks. Coupled with Gao Wen's extraordinary performance, the first upset of this year's US Open occurred.

But not all media is so boring.

The front-page headline of the Los Angeles Times is elegant and refined.

“The California Dream is happening in Flushing! Bellis and Gao Wen are making history together!”

Bellis is from San Francisco, while Gawain is from Los Angeles. Both cities belong to California, so their perspectives are naturally very different. They cheered for the two young players, shouting "California youth storm sweeping New York", and the scene was full of singing and dancing, which made other readers look sad.

Is there really no problem with this?

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

What is certain is that the entire North American continent has noticed the sudden emergence of the news. On the one hand, Bellis represents the American dream, and on the other hand, Gawain extinguished the American dream. These two extreme experiences of ice and fire happened on the same match day, which was difficult for those loyal tennis fans.

I can neither laugh nor cry.

However, a look at the news headlines in China's mainstream media shows a completely different picture, sweeping across the country with overwhelming force and momentum.

"Gawain, making history, first Grand Slam victory for a male player!"

“Win!”

"Breakthrough from zero!"

"The 18-year-old young player Gao Wen made history at the US Open, defeating the 13th seed Isner and advancing to the second round!"

"The biggest upset at the 2014 US Open was created by China!"

"Who is Gawain, the man who made history and broke through the nightmare of his first Grand Slam victory?"

"Out of nowhere! A brilliant debut! Gawain's Grand Slam debut is a stunner!"

Sorry, the chapter number was repeated in the previous chapter.

(End of this chapter)