Chapter 340: Not Hearing the Outside World
Some people say that competitive sports only look at results, and as long as you can produce excellent results, you can sweep away everything.
This statement is half true and half inaccurate, at least not when it comes to sponsorship and endorsements.
In terms of performance, Djokovic and Murray are firmly among the Big Four. They are already a small group of the top and most elite players in the entire professional tennis world, but their commercial value is a step lower than that of Federer and Nadal. Between Federer and Nadal, Federer is slightly better.
Is it just because Federer has more Grand Slam titles? That is partly true, but the real reason lies in his personality, brand image and market value.
Federer's humorous, fashionable and elegant image is the reason why he truly occupies the pinnacle of commercial value.
In 2008, he first signed a contract with Nike for $12 million per year and $120 million for ten years. Then in 2018, when Federer was already 36 years old, Nike gave up the contract due to concerns about Federer's possible retirement. As a result, Uniqlo signed a contract with Federer for $30 million per year and $300 million for ten years.
This contract also created a historical record in global sports.
In other words, performance on the field is the basis of commercial cooperation; but if you want to win top contracts, then market value is needed.
The most direct example is Ivanovic. Although she only won one Grand Slam title in her career, her market value has always been high. Even after she officially retired, Adidas still renewed her contract at a high price and invited her to participate in Adidas' product development and marketing process.
Did Adidas reject Halep's request for $2.4 million per year just because Halep's performance was not good enough? Obviously, this is not the whole story.
Of course, in January 2018, "Forbes" also mentioned a point of view that tournament results are the direct impact on promoting the agreement of commercial contracts. Halep made it all the way to the final that year. If she could take advantage of the situation to reach the top and break the embarrassing situation of zero Grand Slam titles, then Adidas would definitely agree to the contract.
However, Halep lost to Wozniacki, who also had no Grand Slam title, and the contract naturally fell through; moreover, Wozniacki was the main spokesperson for Adidas, which further highlighted Halep's predicament at the time.
Now, the same thing happened to Gawain.
In Tobias's opinion, Gawain's personality and market value are both important bargaining chips. He firmly believes that Gawain's advantage in the Chinese market should get a higher price; but top brands such as Adidas and Nike still need to continue to wait and see, and this game will continue to be deadlocked.
Not only Adidas, Nike has also called Tobias and directly offered him a sponsorship contract of $250,000 per year.
It’s not because they are more generous than Adidas, but because their personal relationship with Tobias is indeed closer, and the bond of trust is naturally different.
This is very, very close to Tobias' idea of $300,000 a year, so Tobias wants to take a further look and take a gamble.
Next, it depends on who can break the balance first.
So, where did Tobias get the confidence to not agree to Nike's proposal and choose to wait and see? On the one hand, it should be the ratings of the second round of the US Open in China. Regardless of whether Gao Wen wins or not, the ratings are the most direct reflection of the market appeal.
On the other hand, Tobias, like many Chinese fans, was looking forward to Gao Wen's opponent in the second round.
Because Gao Wen’s second round opponent is an unseeded player!
Simone-Bolelli of Italy.
This player was born in 1985 and is 29 years old this year. Since he entered the professional tennis world in 2003, his performance in the past 11 years still lacks any stunning highlights.
Of course, Burelli is a typical blue-collar player on the tour. His highest career ranking was 36th in early 2009, but he has never been able to play as a Grand Slam seeded player, and his performance in the Grand Slams has also lacked outstanding results.
Her best results at the Australian Open were the second round twice in 2008 and 2009, the third round once at the French Open in 2008, the third round twice at Wimbledon in 2008 and 2011, and the second round only once at the US Open in 2007.
It can be seen from the data that 2008 was the best time of his career. He was not only stable but also outstanding, especially when facing low-ranked players, he was able to get through them smoothly. However, even when he was in the best condition, his performance on hard courts was mediocre, and he was in the second round of both the Australian Open and the US Open.
This is a typical clay court player with solid basic skills at the baseline and the ability to hold on, but lacks burst and often lacks the means to score after persisting in a stalemate. In addition, this is a player who plays with his brain, slightly leaning towards the technical type. The whole style of play seems light but not agile enough.
To be honest, in terms of style, Gao Wen should face more challenges when facing such players, because both sides will be thinking and changing throughout the game - compared to a cannon player like Isner.
Moreover, this year, Borelli's performance has improved slightly. He recently entered the third round of Wimbledon, but unfortunately lost to Kei Nishikori in the final five sets. This time in the US Open, he once again experienced a five-set battle in the first round and narrowly defeated Canadian rookie Pospisil, showing his tenacity.
Of course, fans don’t look at these. From the perspective of the world rankings, Borelli is currently ranked 88th in the world. Compared with Isner, he is obviously less threatening, and much less threatening. This also means that Gawain seems to have the possibility of continuing to move forward.
How could we not be excited?
There was a lot of chatter, and everyone was talking about the upcoming showdown, and Tobias was no exception.
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However, here in Gawain's place, it was a completely different scene.
When Tobias arrived at the training ground, the number of Asian faces gathered outside increased significantly. One could even see a TV station filming the training ground. The protagonist they focused on was naturally Gao Wen, who made history in the first round.
But Gao Wen was not affected at all and concentrated on training with Sampras.
"Right step up...right step back...right step up..."
Sampras' voice echoed over the training ground, while Gawain was concentrating on marching on the spot, taking small steps at a high frequency to keep his body light. Then, at Sampras' command, he continued to move vertically and horizontally, probably training his footwork.
Beads of sweat the size of beans slid down one by one, and the dark blue jersey had been soaked into ink-black. But more importantly, Gawain's eyes were focused and devoted. He was completely unaware of the changes in the environment and devoted himself wholeheartedly to training.
This level of concentration is enough to attract people's attention, as if the person is completely unaware of the earth-shaking changes in the outside world.
(End of this chapter)