Chapter 34 Special Session
In July this year, Sharapova ended the entire season early due to injury. Since then, she has been recovering from the injury and preparing for her comeback in the new season.
This time, she accepted the invitation of the United States Tennis Association to appear in the charity exhibition match against Venus, which was also, to some extent, to test her recovery from the injury.
After all, this is an exhibition match, the impact of winning or losing is almost zero, and being able to play against a master like Venus is naturally the best thing.
It is also because of this that Gao Wen believes that Venus may have a slightly greater chance of winning, and Sharapova still needs some time to find her rhythm and touch.
But MacDonald remains a little reserved.
"Sharapova's playing style is to be aggressive to the end. No matter how good or bad her condition is, she will just swing her racket and attack vigorously, even if she makes mistakes. Momentum is very important to her. She can't relax just because of the exhibition match. I think she may have a better chance of winning."
"Venus might be more reserved because of the exhibition match and be relatively relaxed?"
"Yeah, that's it."
Gao Wen raised his chin slightly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. It was an exhibition match, so anything was possible. But no matter what, it was a competition, and they still needed to compete to know the result.
"Oh, by the way, we have arranged a fan sparring session today. How about it? Are you interested?"
"Who are you sparring with?"
"I'm not sure, there should be both, right? I heard that only singles are arranged. I think you can give it a try. Professional players are different from us after all. I'm also going to raise my hand to sign up, ha!"
Fan sparring is a regular feature of charity exhibition matches and a fixed part of almost all charity events. The content is very simple, which is to invite fans to come on stage and win the opportunity to play on the same court with top superstars.
For example, two spectators are invited to play mixed doubles with a professional male or female player, standing across the net.
For example, invite an audience member to come on stage and have a one-on-one "battle" with a professional player.
Of course, the word "competition" here must be put in quotation marks, because the players in charity exhibition games are often the top players among professional players. Even in professional games, they have a greater chance of winning, let alone for ordinary spectators?
It is precisely because of this that the audience often gives their all, but the professional players take it easy and may even deliberately create some funny scenes. It is more of an experiential teaching than a "duel", just like parents playing with their children.
However, there are occasional exceptions.
For example, the audience wants to experience what a professional serve is like? What is the level of a forehand full force? How about the impact of a high-pressure ball? Because it is difficult to truly feel the pressure of speed, power and rotation when watching a game on TV, it is easy to have a wrong feeling, "That shot is too easy, I can catch it"; after getting the opportunity in the charity exhibition match, they also want to experience it for themselves.
Then, professional players will naturally demonstrate their professional level to satisfy the audience's curiosity.
etc!
Gao Wen came up with a bold idea:
If I could have a practice match with a professional player and give it my all, would that mean that my growth potential would explode? …
Ah!
Ah!
Screams, roars, and cheers filled the entire venue. The thunder roared and roared, and the air was boiling. The bustling crowd was jumping and jumping. Everyone stood on tiptoe to look out, trying to get a close look at the superstar.
For Gao Wen, there is no such worry. His height makes it easy for him to stand out from the crowd, and his vision is very broad.
The players are entering the field, and the first two male players to appear in front of the fans are.
Compared with the two top superstars Sharapova and Venus, the two male players in this charity exhibition match are obviously much inferior.
But it still cannot be underestimated.
Milos Raonic, a Canadian player, is 23 years old this year. He turned to the professional arena in 2008 and started to achieve results as early as 2011. In just three years, he has reached the top 16 of the Grand Slam four times. He also had an explosion this summer and reached the final of the Masters, the highest level of the tour, for the first time.
Currently, he is ranked eleventh in the world and continues to refresh his career-high ranking. He is undoubtedly the leader of the "young players born after 1990".
It is worth mentioning that Raonic was born into a highly intellectual family. His father is a senior engineer and his uncle once served as Deputy Prime Minister of Montenegro. It is precisely because of this that Raonic is very humble, polite and graceful in private, and his academic performance has always been outstanding.
Canada is adjacent to the United States, so Raonic can be considered to be playing half at home. His appearance won whistles and cheers from the fans, which made him a little shy. He lowered his head and smiled awkwardly.
Nick Kyrgios, an Australian player, was born in 1995. He is the same age as Gawain and McDonald, but he has outstanding physical talent. After winning the Australian Open Junior Championship at the beginning of this year, he turned directly into a professional and appeared in front of the public like a comet.
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Many professionals believe that Kyrgios is a tennis genius that only appears once in twenty years. His burst, balance, coordination, strength, speed and touch are all top-notch. If we only talk about physical conditions, he is even better than Federer and is definitely a strong successor to the next king of tennis.
Kyrgios lived up to his talent, reaching the main draw of two Grand Slam tournaments and winning his first Grand Slam victory in his career at the French Open.
When he turned professional at the beginning of the year, he had no ranking, but by the end of the season, his world ranking had soared to 182nd.
For other players, things that may take countless efforts to accomplish, Kyrgios can accomplish easily, even effortlessly.
He is indeed a genius, but it is precisely this dazzling talent that makes Kyrgios arrogant and conceited. No one can take him seriously - perhaps Roger Federer is the only exception, because Federer is his idol and the only person he respects on the tennis court.
He has a hot temper, behaves erratically, speaks without restraint, is arrogant and a troublemaker. Even though he has only been a professional for a year, the name of "bad boy" has already spread like wildfire.
As soon as he came on the court, the whole audience warmly welcomed Raonic's name. No matter it was half a home court or his current world ranking, Raonic deserved such treatment. But Kyrgios felt unhappy. Seeing that no one in the audience shouted his name, he got angry.
Quietly, Kyrgios raised his middle finger behind his back and walked into the court with a swagger. If it wasn't for the charity exhibition match, I'm afraid this middle finger would have been raised high. Looking at the smile on Kyrgios' face, he seemed very proud and liked his own "low-key" behavior.
Then, in the crowd, Kyrgios saw Gawain at a glance, and their eyes met.
(End of this chapter)