Chapter 576: Becoming a Seed

"Ah..."

Tim supported his body with the racket, bent over at 90 degrees, sweating profusely, and tried to take several deep breaths before he adjusted himself.

Then he stood up straight, looked at Gawain in front of him, still panting, smiled widely, and sighed.

"Brother, this training is really too harsh."

"It may seem like nothing, but when you actually put it into training, every part of your body has to work together. If you can't keep up, you can't keep up."

Tim waved his hands repeatedly to indicate no.

This made Gao Wen laugh happily. Tim is still young now.

You know, among the younger generation of players, Thiem is well-known as a "physical superman" and a "training maniac", and his image of working diligently and hard has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

"Are you surrendering already? We're just warming up."

Gawain walked up to him, and then Tim opened his arms and gave Gawain a big hug.

"Congratulations, bro, congratulations on becoming a major champion."

Although they had celebrated via text message before, this was their first meeting after the US Open, so Thiem still expressed his congratulations very formally.

Gao Wen's eyes were filled with laughter. "This happened in the last century. We should learn to forget it."

Tim is not good at speaking or joking, but he knew Gao Wen was joking, so he laughed and said honestly, "I watched the live broadcast of the final at home. From the first game, I knew you would definitely win."

Gao Wen knew that Thiem was sincere. He was not good at being polite, so he felt warm in his heart. "Next time you play in a Grand Slam final, I will be there to watch and cheer you on."

Gao Wen was also serious.

According to the historical development trajectory, Thiem matured in the 2018 season, reaching the French Open finals twice and the Australian Open final once, until he successfully reached the top of the 2020 US Open final and completed his transformation.

There is no doubt that Thiem later grew into a leader of the new generation of players born after 1990. His overall performance has surpassed a group of young players who have been famous for a longer time, and he has become a transitional link between the "Big Three" and the later "Small Big Three".

After hearing Gao Wen's words, Tim made a rare joke that was not a joke, "Are you sure you want to watch the game live, not fight on the court?"

Huh? Is this a Grand Slam final match between two people?

Gao Wen pursed his lips and said, "Then unfortunately, the championship does not belong to you."

Tim looked at Gawain, who was full of confidence, and took a step back, intending to make an invitation. He could feel his eagerness to try from head to toe.

"Try it? Try it now?"

Gao Wen was naturally happy to join in, so there was no need to say anything. He just walked into the court with racket in hand.

From batting partners to doubles partners, Gao Wen and Thiem had a lot of work to do. There was no time for small talk and they immediately immersed themselves in training.

Here, Gao Wen was finally able to temporarily put aside the disturbances outside the field and devote himself wholeheartedly to systematic training. Tim's joining was undoubtedly a great help.

Over there, the Shanghai Masters is also being carried out in full swing. The qualifying round has entered the final round, and the bloody main competition is just around the corner.

As the penultimate ATP Masters tournament of the year and the only Masters tournament in the Asian season, the Magic City has attracted the top and most famous players as always: the

"Big Four" including Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Murray are all present, as well as Wawrinka, Ferrer, Berdych and other top players who are in good form. In addition, Gawain, Cilic, Kei Nishikori and others who performed well in the US Open are all present. It is truly a gathering of heroes.

In fact, in the latest world rankings, only three of the top 20 players are absent:

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Marcelo Bielsa and Andreas Monfils.

From its scale to its specifications to its lineup, the Masters is worthy of being the Masters and can completely rival the Grand Slam, with the intensity of competition being comparable.

Of course, there are still differences between the Grand Slam and the Masters: first of all, the competition system, the Grand Slam is a five-set three-win system, while the Masters is a three-set two-win system, which also means that the uncertainty of the competition is higher; the schedule, the Grand Slam is a full two weeks, while the Masters is only one week, which is still the normal rhythm of the tour.

Secondly, the draw. The Grand Slam has 128 draws, while the Masters has 56 draws. Among them, there are only 16 seeded seats in the Masters, which is directly reduced by half; but correspondingly, the top eight seeded players can enjoy a bye in the first round.

More than one player has said that the Grand Slams test one's condition over two weeks, adjusting oneself step by step, while the Masters tests one's ability to improve condition in a short period of time:

Because in the first three rounds of a Grand Slam, you may often encounter some qualifying or wildcard players who are ranked outside the top 100 in the world; but in the first round of a Masters tournament, you may have to face players ranked in the top 50 or even top 30 in the world. There is no time to adapt, and the intensity increases directly.

In addition, young players are full of enthusiasm and momentum. In a best-of-three match, it is more likely and easier for them to burst out with terrifying energy in one go. It is for this reason that there are more upsets in the first two rounds of the Masters than in the Grand Slams, and much more.

The emergence of a new generation often starts from the Masters Tournament.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

Before the main draw, the Shanghai Masters announced this year's wildcard list and seeding seats.

In the singles wildcard list, Argentine player Juan-Monaco and three other Chinese players Zhang Ze, Wu Di and Wang Chuhan won wildcards.

In the doubles wildcard list, the names of the Chinese combination Zhang Ze/Wu Di and the multinational combination Gao Wen/Thiem are prominently listed.

The newly crowned US Open champion Gao Wen, who has become extremely popular recently, will make his doubles debut at the Shanghai Masters. This is undoubtedly unexpected news, but it did not trigger widespread discussion. Instead, it seemed a bit dull. However, this is not unexpected, and it can even be said to be the result that Tobias expected.

First of all, Tobias actually once considered inviting Dimitrov and Gao Wen to play doubles. From the perspective of their appearance, the topic will definitely be very popular, and Nike will definitely be willing to add fuel to the fire.

But after experiencing the baptism of the Imperial Capital Open, Tobias also realized that he needed to cool down a little to relieve Gawain's pressure, so he deliberately avoided the possibility of hype and invited Thiem.

Compared to Dimitrov, the emerging Thiem is not a hot topic and is not even widely known.

Secondly, the bottom line is that the discussion about doubles matches is still too low, especially in China. Even the popularity of singles matches is still in the climbing stage, let alone doubles?

Finally, the real hot spot is not here, but in the seed list announced by the Shanghai Masters.

Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Wawrinka are the top four seeds respectively, which is not surprising, but the news is that Gao Wen, who is currently ranked 15th in the world, finally ranked 13th because Tsonga and Del Potro, who are ranked higher than him, did not come to participate in the competition.

Since participating in the Challenger Tournament for the first time in July, due to coincidences, Gao Wen was an "outsider" participating in the tournament with a wild card until last week's Imperial Capital Open. Now, he has qualified for the Masters Tournament for the first time based on his own ranking, and right from the start, he has become a seed, just one step away from the top twelve seeds.

This is the focus!

Second update.

(End of this chapter)