Chapter 708: First Substitute

"Gawain topped the Paris Masters, winning his first Masters title in his career and will be heading to London for the first time."

"History is still being written. Gawain is unstoppable in reaching the top of Paris. What's next? The year-end finals?"

"The dark horse is finally no longer a dark horse. Gao Wen fought back against the doubts with the championship and won the second championship of his career!"

Explosive points, explosive points, all of them are explosive points.

Sports newspapers and magazines around the world were all paying attention to the championship battle of the Paris Masters. Gawain once again defeated Djokovic to win the championship: this time, it could not be described as an "upset".

Of course, from the perspective of his overall career, Gawain's victory over Djokovic again is still a small upset, because this is the second consecutive victory, and it also means that Djokovic has lost both of his encounters with Gawain so far.

This is very, very rare after Djokovic completed his transformation by winning the Grand Slam.

But when the media started reporting, the words and tone changed subtly. Although it was an upset, it was not a surprise: "Gawain saved five match points in the second set and won the final set. He showed his competitiveness with his unparalleled performance."

"Djokovic once had absolute control of the game, but Gawain proved with his actions that the game is not over as long as the last point is not scored."

"This is a loss that the world No. 1 needs to review and discuss carefully. The poor performance in key points is the key point."

Professionals can see the details and content of the game. This time, they did not find off-court excuses for Djokovic. Instead, they objectively and realistically affirmed Gawain's performance. It can be seen from the direction of public opinion that things have quietly changed.

The Chinese mainland was in a state of madness.

Originally, everyone, including the media, thought that since Gawain had won the Grand Slam and written new history, they would gradually get used to Gawain's frequent appearances in top matchups, and there would be no need to make a fuss every time.

However, when it really happened, the joy, excitement and happiness continued to surge. Who can refuse the victory after a strong competition in competitive sports? "Gawain won the Paris Masters for the first time."

The final was held in the early morning hours in China, but within less than ten minutes after the final, this keyword topped the hot search list.

It can be seen from the small details that more and more fans are paying attention to tennis, and more and more viewers are waiting in front of their computers and TV screens to watch the live broadcast.

In just two months, Gawain has brought so many surprises that his strong rise has even begun to catch up with the NBA as a new season begins. From his first Grand Slam title to his first Masters title, Gawain's upward curve perfectly replicates Wawrinka's, allowing Chinese fans to experience an incredibly good time.

Hot spot, continues.

but!

Wait, "year-end finals"? Where did that come from?

Hasn't it been reported before that with Kei Nishikori and Milos Raonic both entering the quarterfinals, Gao Wen's chance of the year-end finals has been completely cut off?

So why are some media outlets mentioning London again? Are they sure this isn't just clickbait? Of course not.

For such an important matter, even if the media wanted to attract attention with a headline, they would not dare to fabricate fake news. Just look at the ATP official website:

The media did not lie.

"Headline: Rafael Nadal officially announces withdrawal from the London year-end finals due to appendicitis surgery."

“Announcement: All eight seats in the ATP Finals have been secured, and history is written again——

The first Asian player to participate in the competition, the first player born in the 1990s to participate in the competition; in addition, the first substitute, and the first Asian player born in the 1990s. "

The news was published on the homepage of the ATP official website, and everyone could confirm that

Gao Wen would go to London as the first substitute for the year-end finals. Regardless of whether he would take the stage to compete, he had already made history.

So, let’s look back at the headlines in the media:

"Heading to London", "Year-end finals?"...

Such keywords did not confirm that Gawain would play at the O2 Arena in London, but only confirmed that Gawain would go to London as a substitute.

First of all, Nadal's appendectomy surgery was successfully completed, but he still needed to rest after the surgery and was unable to reach the level of the competition, so he had no choice but to announce his withdrawal from the year-end finals.

Secondly, after the end of the Paris Masters, the championship points list also completed its last change. Next week, this list and the world ranking list will be merged into one.

Djokovic, Federer, Nadal and Wawrinka still remain in the top four.

Murray, Berdych, Kei Nishikori and Raonic ranked fifth to eighth respectively.

Ferrer, ranked ninth.

Ferrer, who had an advantage in the early stages, lacked better performance in the European indoor hard court season and was overtaken step by step by his competitors; but because of the withdrawal of his Spanish compatriot Nadal, Ferrer still relied on his advantage in points throughout the year to be added to the list of the year-end finals.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

Here, Ferrer's points number is 4145.

Then, Gao Wen ranked tenth, relying on the 1,000 points from the Paris Masters championship. At the last moment, he overtook Dimitrov and Cilic in succession and entered the top ten with a score of 4010.

That is to say, Gawain is only 135 points behind Ferrer. If Gawain had not taken a week off, but had gone to Moscow, Vienna or Stockholm to compete, the champion of each of these three events would have 250 points, and the runner-up would have 150 points. Does this mean that Gawain could have directly squeezed out Ferrer and stepped onto the London stage? However, there is no if.

Because such an assumption is meaningless. Even if the assumption is true, temporarily ignoring the importance of that week's rest to Gawain, it also means that Gawain needs to make it to the finals for three consecutive weeks.

Let’s not talk about Federer, Murray, Raonic, Berdych, Kei Nishikori and other players who attended the competition in full but all failed to do so. Let’s further assume that Gawain did it.

So, with his ranking in London, Gao Wen has already competed for five consecutive weeks. Next, he will face the top eight players in the world in London. How much fighting power does Gao Wen have? Moreover, the possibility of injury due to fatigue cannot be ignored.

So, no assumptions are needed.

Regardless, Gawain still relied on his outstanding performance in Valencia and Paris, and incredibly won the first substitute spot in the year-end finals with only four months of professional performance.

Dimitrov was the second substitute.

The most important thing is that in the latest world rankings, Gao Wen will officially surpass Dimitrov and Cilic, continue to refresh his personal world ranking high, and enter the top ten for the first time in his career.

This is how history is created!

Following Kei Nishikori, Gao Wen wrote the history of Asian men's players.

After Raonic, Gao Wen wrote the history of the younger generation.

(End of this chapter)