Chapter 587: Dreamy Bubbles
Fame brings trouble.
This is an eternal truth, just like after Djokovic won the Australian Open for the first time, he was a moving target for nearly two years.
During that period, Djokovic often retired from competitions due to physical reasons, and often when he was behind in the score. However, there was no sign of any injury on him. Most of the time, he suffered from heat stroke, cramps and the like. Over time, everyone from players to fans disliked Djokovic very much, complaining that the new Grand Slam champion had the ability but no will.
The condemnations have never stopped, both inside and outside the industry.
It wasn't until 2011 that Djokovic completed his transformation and won three Grand Slam trophies in one year, which put all the controversy to rest.
Many years later, Djokovic gave an explanation. After an in-depth examination by the doctor, it was discovered that his body was allergic to a grain protein, an uncommon allergy. He had never known about it, so his body was often in a state of fatigue and allergies, which led to frequent withdrawals from competitions in 2009 and 2010.
After that, Djokovic began to try a gluten-free diet, completely adjusted his diet structure, completely said goodbye to allergies, recovered his body, and then started his journey to the top.
Now, the same thing happened to Gawain.
Winning the US Open can inspire players like Kubert and become a role model; at the same time, it can also anger players like Koggenakis and become a target. Things always have two sides, with advantages and disadvantages. While enjoying the halo of success, you also need to bear pressure.
All of this was unfamiliar to Gawain.
From Gulbis last week to Koggenakis this week, similar situations will continue in the future. Unless Gawain can continue to prove himself and continue to defeat them on the court, until he silences those negative voices through countless victories and championships like Djokovic, the world will be able to calm down.
However, although it is new, Gao Wen is not surprised. After all, his feud with Kyrgios and Koggenakis started long before the US Open.
However, for Tim, his little heart could not bear it.
"…Are you okay?"
After holding it in for a long time, Tim looked at Gawain and uttered these words.
Gao Wen was amused by Tim's expression, "It's okay, of course I'm fine."
"Then...what...happened to him?" Tim stuttered and could hardly speak.
That's right, the honest Tim is a kid who is wholeheartedly immersed in the court. He has not yet experienced the bright lights and nightlife of the real world, so it is normal for him to feel shocked for a while.
"It's okay. It's just a story about how he wanted to defeat me but failed and got so angry that he lost face." Gawain succinctly summarized the whole story in one sentence.
Think about it carefully, isn't the grudge between Gawain, Kyrgios and Kojicnakis just like this? Competitive sports are sometimes so simple.
Now Gao Wen finally understands what Kyrgios meant:
I just like the way people hate me but can't defeat me.
Honestly, it’s really… cool.
But how could someone as low-key and humble as Gawain be so arrogant and defiant?
All he does is go out on the field and beat the haters squarely, and that's all. The game is always the best counterattack, and it can easily shut them up.
If possible, Gawain really wanted to fight Kojkinakis again in the Magic City. On the one hand, it was to test his own growth in the past two months, as well as Kojkinakis's growth; on the other hand, it was to teach Kojkinakis a good lesson, as he still felt aggrieved by today's conflict.
However, if he had a choice, he would still like to challenge Nadal again.
After all, that's Nadal!
Of course, ideas are ideas, but competitive sports cannot be run by relying on ideas alone. After all, it still needs to be played out game by game.
Whether facing Koggenakis or Nadal, Gawain must win two games in a row before he can get the chance to play against one of them in the third round; if Gawain fails in the first two rounds, he'd better just shut up.
This time in Shanghai, both Thiem and Gao Wen had average luck in the draw: in the doubles arena, not to mention facing the Australian Open champion in the first round, they also faced the top seed Bryan brothers in the second round. It was an extremely dangerous draw for everyone to see.
The same is true in singles competitions.
Thiem's first-round opponent is Czech player Lukas-Rosol, who became famous for his shocking upset in the second round of Wimbledon in 2012 when he eliminated Nadal. Although he has not had any outstanding performances in singles since then, he still has a place in the professional tour.
If he defeats Rosol, Thiem will challenge top seed Djokovic in the second round.
This is the first time that Gao Wen plays as a seeded player. His opponents in the first two rounds are not that strong overall, but in the third round, he may face the second seed Nadal.
This was also a repeat of last week’s Imperial Capital Open quarterfinals.
In fact, Nadal, who just returned from injury, is far from his best condition and needs more games to adjust to his best. After defeating Gawain to advance to the semi-finals last week, Nadal lost to Berdych for the first time in his career. The latter has indeed reached his peak this year, with solid basic skills and a balance between offense and defense, making him very competitive.
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Therefore, if Nadal and Gawain meet again, the outcome will still be full of suspense.
For others, facing Nadal for the second consecutive week is undoubtedly a very, very bad draw, but for Gawain, it is an encouragement: he is eager to play against Nadal again, and he is also eager to challenge Nadal again. It is fun to compete with a master.
So, Gao Wen is indeed full of energy.
After the doubles match, Gao Wen and Thiem returned to the training ground. The two doubles partners became each other's training partners and had a training match to prepare for the upcoming singles match.
Meanwhile, Gao Wen has temporarily put aside the off-field incident and devoted himself to training;
Over there, the first round of singles match between Koginakis and Felipe Lopez has already started——
The competition was more intense than expected.
Kogiinakis seemed to be stimulated and vented all his anger and frustration in the game. In the first set, both sides broke each other's serve twice and entered the tie-break. In the end, Kogiinakis saved four set points and won the first set with a score of "14:12".
After winning the first set, Koggenakis roared and screamed at Lopez for a long time, and no one else knew why.
However, ginger is still spicy with age.
Lopez quickly gained his foothold and won the second and third sets with scores of "6:3" and "6:4", defeating Koggenakis and advancing to the second round.
So... the dream bubble of "Kojkinakis VS Gawain 2.0" burst before it even had time to be blown up, and there was no suspense at all.
(End of this chapter)