Chapter 808: Favorite to win
Snap!
Click, click, click…
The flash lights and shutter sounds came towards me, mixed with the golden sunlight, as if a light explosion was set off. Before I could react, the world exploded.
Then, waves of heat came one after another, and I could clearly feel the burning and boiling, as well as a burnt smell on the surface of my skin.
The conversation was rudely interrupted before it could even begin, and the next second they could see a massive crowd surrounding them.
At this time, Gao Hongli realized that they were approaching the training ground and could see the players in training from twenty meters away.
Not only reporters, but also bustling fans surrounded the training ground, with crowds of people filling every corner of the sight.
Boom boom boom! In an instant, the fans' sights were cast over and gathered here, but their sights were blocked by the reporters. They could only tiptoe and peek, trying to see the figure in the encirclement clearly. Then, one after another, some fans could not help but gather here out of curiosity.
The crowd at the scene was like cotton candy, rolling around in circles, and then getting bigger and bigger.
However, to be honest, such scenes have become a daily occurrence in Melbourne Park. It happens every year, starting from the day the qualifying round kicks off: on the court, players ranked outside 130 in the world compete in the qualifying rounds, fighting for a place in the main draw.
Training ground, the world's top 30 players have arrived at Melbourne Park and started daily training to adapt to the venue.
So, every day you can see enthusiastic fans coming and going in Melbourne Park, walking around like it's an amusement park, having a lot of fun.
I can often meet legendary celebrities like I am doing now, and take photos with my childhood idols.
Graf was very familiar with this. She gave Gao Hongli an apologetic smile. Obviously, because of her and Agassi's presence, they became the focus of reporters.
Gao Hongli waved his hands repeatedly and returned a smile, with a hint of helplessness in his eyes. For Graf and Agassi, even after retiring, it is still not easy to travel.
“Andre…”
“…Andre.”
There is no doubt that Agassi was the primary target of the crowd's siege, and the shouts continued to linger in his ears.
Finally, a reporter shouted out a path in a groundbreaking way.
"Andre!"
Because the roar was so shocking and burst out with heart-wrenching energy, the sounds that had not yet fully surged stopped one after another. Then, the reporter took the opportunity to ask his questions.
"Excuse me, what was the opportunity that led you to become Gao Wen's coach? How was the cooperation between you and Sampras?"
"Now many people think that Gao Wen is the favorite to win the Australian Open this year. What do you think about this?"
Crackling, a series of questions were thrown out continuously. He seized the opportunity and kept outputting questions like a machine gun within just five or eight seconds, fearing that he would be interrupted by other colleagues if he hesitated for a moment.
However, Agassi's reaction was very slow, like a snail. He touched his bald head slowly, showing a shy and restrained expression, so that silence spread at the scene.
One second. Two seconds.
Agassi always had a faint smile on his face but did not utter a word, as if he had entered outer space.
All the reporters stretched their necks and pointed the recorders in their hands towards Agassi, ready to stuff them into his mouth, wishing they could pry open his mouth and get into his head to find the answer themselves.
Agassi was still leisurely, showing a simple smile, and then he finally spoke.
"Hasn't Gao Wen already answered those questions at the press conference? I won't repeat them here."
Reporters: …
But that's Agassi.
It was like this when he was a professional player. Reporters would ask him ten questions but he might not get an answer. Moreover, he would often answer questions irrelevantly or irrelevantly, which made the reporters very upset. If Agassi was pushed into a corner, he might just turn around and leave.
After retiring, he has become less aggressive and his personality has become much gentler, but the rebellious nature in his bones remains, and the rhythm of the entire question-and-answer session remains the same.
"As for the championship, are you thinking too much?"
Reporters: …
Were they being criticized? "Andre, we are just stating the facts."
"Don't you have faith in Gawain?"
“As the double champion in Doha, Gao Wen has undoubtedly shown good competitive form in the first week of the new season and is clearly ready to compete for the championship.”
"Moreover, he continues to set new career highs in his ranking and will soon compete in a Grand Slam as the top eighth seed for the first time. He should naturally be on the list of favorites predicted by different experts to win the championship. After all, he is the final champion of the last Grand Slam."
"Andre, you refuse to respond, are you trying to relieve him of the pressure?"
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"How are Gao Wen's off-season preparations going? Are you satisfied?"
"He mentioned modifying his serve in Doha. Was that your opinion? Or Sampras'? How do you feel after joining Koeman's coaching team? Is the cooperation with Sampras and Koeman going smoothly? What do you expect from Koeman in the new season?"
"If it's not the championship, what is your goal?"
Blah blah.
Blah blah blah!
The hustle and bustle is endless.
It was obvious that the reporters would not let Andre off easily. To be more precise, they came prepared. They had probably been ambushing Sampras or Agassi over the past few days. In the end, Agassi was unlucky and was caught by the reporters. Now he had nowhere to escape.
Not to mention Graf and Agassi, even Gao Hongli and Jiang Yanyun could feel the eager eyes of the reporters fixed on them:
It was like the Big Bad Wolf seeing Little Red Riding Hood, after Agassi, the next target was Gawain’s parents, no one could escape today.
reason?
It's very simple. Just as the reporter said, Gao Wen's every move is now under everyone's attention, and everyone is concerned about his next performance.
In 2015, the first week of the new season of professional tennis has come to an end: Federer won the Brisbane championship and Wawrinka won the Chennai championship. These were all expected results. The top seed won the championship smoothly, which was what everyone expected.
The champion of Doha is Gao Wen, and he is also a double champion.
Strictly speaking, this is not an upset. After all, winning the Paris Masters relieved Gawain of a lot of external pressure. But from another perspective, an unexpected event is still an unexpected event.
With such a luxurious lineup of Djokovic, Nadal, Berdych and Ferrer all participating in the competition, it was Gawain who stood out again.
This championship trophy cannot but make people think a lot.
(End of this chapter)