Chapter 470: The cold reception continues
Who could have thought that Gawain didn't even need to speak, he just made a gesture, and the whole effect came out, easily filling the entire press conference room with cheerful laughter——
Could this be a derivative version of "Silence is better than words"?
The reporters who were walking back and forth in the corridor and capturing the noise of the press conference with their hearing were all full of questions. They jumped up and down like moles, hoping to penetrate the crowd and see what was going on inside the room. This made the air in the corridor boil and it was indeed lively.
No matter what Gawain was praying for, it is certain that his goal was to defeat his opponent and become the Grand Slam champion. So, reporters were free to interpret it:
"Gawain, pray for more miracles in the finals."
"Gawain, leave your fate to God."
"Gawain, devoutly awaiting the winner of Federer and Cilic."
"Gawain, the young warrior is full of confidence and is ready to meet all challenges."
"Gawain: The opponent I'm looking forward to is..."
No matter how it is interpreted, the free expression of media reporters can spark topics and bring its own humorous effect, which is undoubtedly the favorite of reporters.
The post-match press conference ended in laughter. It was obvious that Gao Wen had won a group of supporters for himself, but the reporters' work was not over yet.
Not only is the manuscript for the first semi-final still waiting to be written, but another semi-final is about to take place later. It is indeed a busy day.
Moreover, it is a day worth looking forward to, but very few people can foresee it in advance. It is also a day that will go down in history.
When the first men's singles semi-final of the 2014 US Open ended, it was around three o'clock in the morning in mainland China. The world shrouded in the vast night had fallen asleep, and only a few night owls were still active.
Therefore, although the keywords of Gao Wen making history can be seen on the hot search list, it will take some time for the news frenzy to break out.
Then, the second men's singles semi-final took the lead -
"Cilic vs Federer".
Born in 1988, Cilic can be said to have achieved fame at a young age.
As a teenager, he was appreciated by his Croatian compatriot Ivanisevic, the "Wimbledon wildcard miracle maker", and he performed very well in the youth arena; but after turning to the professional arena in 2005, the teenager was lost for a while and was unable to adapt to the professional rhythm.
It was not until 2008, when Cilic won the New Haven Championship in the United States, that he completed his transformation and breakthrough. In the following year of 2009, he presented his masterpiece that made him famous, defeating the then world No. 2 Murray in the fourth round of the US Open to reach the quarterfinals.
Cilic is a very typical hard court player with sharp serve and forehand. However, compared with pure cannon players, Cilic has very solid basic skills and more delicate basic techniques, which is reflected in his baseline hitting technique, which is rough yet delicate. The softness of the tennis ball can be seen in the hard serve. Coupled with his excellent mobility, this also makes him more impactful and capable.
As early as 2007, Cilic had reached the fourth round of the Australian Open and Wimbledon respectively; in 2010, Cilic performed well at the Australian Open, first defeating the previous year's US Open champion Del Potro, and then defeating American cannon Roddick to reach the semi-finals. That year he also entered the top ten in the world for the first time in his career.
However, in 2011, he was plagued by injuries and fell into a slump. He had no performance for two whole years. In April 2013, he was tested positive for banned drugs during a competition in Munich. The investigation results showed that he accidentally took glucose containing some banned drugs. Cilic was banned for nine months by the International Tennis Federation. Later, after an appeal, the sentence was reduced to four months.
In October 2013, Cilic returned from suspension.
This year is still difficult for Cilic, and it is a slow climbing process. He reached the second round of the Australian Open, the third round of the French Open, the quarterfinals of Wimbledon, and then came to the US Open where he had the best overall performance. In this arena where he had reached the quarterfinals twice, Cilic burst out with amazing energy.
In the third round, Cilic defeated Anderson of South Africa and in the fourth round, he eliminated Simon of France in five sets. Cilic finally found his best form and swept Berdych in three sets in the quarterfinals, which also won Cilic the opportunity to choose Federer in the semifinals.
In his career, Cilic has lost five times and won none against Federer, and has never been able to defeat Federer. He has lost eleven sets and only won two sets.
It is worth mentioning that just two weeks before the start of the US Open, Federer defeated Cilic in straight sets in the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup.
From all aspects, it seems that Federer's victory over Cilic is a high probability event, and it may even be less suspenseful than the other semi-final. However... this year's US Open is destined to witness the birth of history——
"6:3", "6:4", "6:4".
The final score was in straight sets, but the winner was not Federer, but Cilic, who had never beaten Federer.
Marin Cilic defeated Federer for the first time in his career and made a successful breakthrough in the second Grand Slam semi-final of his career.
Boom! Boom boom boom! The media went wild.
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
Not one, but two upsets, two in a row, which instantly stunned the global media and made their brains freeze.
One upset can make the media so excited that they can't sleep, but two upsets can make all the media retreat into the ice cellar. Things are really not going well.
What does this mean? This means that for the first time since 2005, a full decade later, no one of the "Big Four" will be seen in a Grand Slam final.
It is foreseeable now that the ticket revenue and viewership of the final will be disastrous. More importantly, is the world of men's tennis about to change?
The rise of the "Big Four" began with Federer's absolute dominance on grass and hard courts, and Nadal's absolute dominance on clay. The most notable sign was Nadal's first French Open title in 2005. The clay court king won four consecutive French Open titles, while Federer won five consecutive titles at Wimbledon and the US Open.
This situation continued until Djokovic broke the blockade and won the Australian Open in 2008. Since then, Federer and Nadal have won a total of eleven Grand Slam titles. Subsequently, Djokovic and Murray both rose to prominence, and the "Federer-Nadal Final" gradually evolved into the current "Big Four".
Among them, Del Potro's victory over Federer to win the US Open in 2009 was a small episode. Djokovic won three Grand Slam titles in 2011 and firmly occupied the third place. Murray won the US Open and Wimbledon titles and won the 2012 London Olympic Games championship, and together they completed the blockade.
The name of "Big Four" comes not only from the four players' control over the championship - the four players have indeed basically swept all the Grand Slam and Masters championships; but also because the four players performed stably and strongly, forming a first group and directly widening the gap with other players.
Until today, the blockade of the Big Four has been broken.
(End of this chapter)