Chapter 977: World No. 3

Since the Open Era, the history of tennis world rankings is not as long as imagined. Although the four Grand Slams are about to be a hundred years old, the time when ATP and WTA introduced world rankings is relatively short, only for a short forty years.

As of 2022, in the singles arena, ATP has had a total of 27 world No. 1s. Coincidentally, WTA has also had 27 world No. 1s.

The latest world No. 1s for men and women both reached the top in March 2022, one after the other:

In terms of ATP, the 27th world number one is Medvedev; in terms of WTA, the 27th world number one is Iga-Swiatek.

Asian players have always been relatively weak in the tennis arena. Not to mention the world's number one, even top players are rare. Although the doubles arena has produced many Asian world number one players, the singles arena still faces many challenges.

On the women's side, Li Na's highest world ranking was once second. Later, Naomi Osaka made a historic breakthrough and became the world's number one for the first time as an Asian player, filling this gap.

As for men, there is always a vacancy.

In the nearly half-century history of the ATP world rankings, the highest-ranked Asian player is Michael Chang.

The world ranking of this famous Chinese player once reached the second highest level; moreover, his feat of winning the French Open at the age of only 17 has long been the youngest record for winning the four Grand Slam titles in men's tennis.

Other than that, it's blank.

Srichapan of Thailand, who is the first player to break into the top ten in the world rankings.

Japan's Kei Nishikori set a new ranking record for Asian male players last year, once ranking fifth in the world and constantly setting new records.

This feat, which is already extremely difficult, has become exponentially more difficult in the era of the Big Four. Breaking through the shackles of the top four is extremely difficult.

Then, Gawain appeared.

Last year, after only half a season of competition, Gao Wen broke into the top ten in the world and became the twin stars of Asia with Kei Nishikori.

This year, just as the season kicked off, Gao Wen continued to break history.

With the points from winning the Australian Open, Gao Wen surpassed Kei Nishikori to become the new number one in Asia, truly changing the current situation of Asian tennis.

At the same time, Gao Wen continued to advance into the top four, surpassing Nadal and ranking third in the world, just one step away from Michael Chang's record.

Third in the world!

Historical high!

Since Murray's strong rise and completion of the last piece of the puzzle of the "Big Four Dynasty", the top four positions in the ATP world rankings have been firmly held by them.

For any player to be among the top four or even the top three in the world is a difficult task. Over the years, there are only a handful of players who have been able to accomplish such a feat:

Ferrer, Wawrinka.

That's all.

Even if we add later, until 2020 when the "Big Three" fully mature and rise, this list will only add four more names at most:

Raonic, Del Potro, Dimitrov, Thiem.

That’s all.

In 2015, Gawain joined the ranks of Ferrer and Wawrinka to become the third player in the past decade to reach the third highest world ranking.

Everything seems familiar.

Last year, Wawrinka won the Australian Open and Monte Carlo consecutively in the spring, and his world ranking reached the third place at the peak of his career, sounding the clarion call to shake the dominance of the Big Four.

This year, Wawrinka was eliminated in the semi-finals of the Australian Open and failed to defend his title, but Gawain took over the scepter, won the championship with an unparalleled performance, and rushed to the third place in the world in one go.

Boom! The crowd surged.

Passionate.

It is even more exciting considering that the person who accomplished this feat is an Asian player from China. This once again proves what Gawain said: With dreams, everything is possible.

At last year's US Open, Gao Wen emerged out of nowhere and his dark horse status sparked a lot of discussion. The unfamiliar face left tennis fans with a lot of questions.

However, Gao Wen took one step at a time and established a firm foothold in the professional tennis world.

When the latest ATP world rankings were released, a fan on social networks asked a question, "Can anyone tell me why Gao Wen is ranked third in the world?"

A professional tennis reporter responded immediately, "I think the Masters, one semi-final and one champion; the year-end finals, the semi-finals; in addition, five finals, four wins and one loss... these results should be of some help."

There is a little bit of humor in the understatement.

Netizens applauded.

Gawain's rise was so fast, so rapid, that it gave people the illusion that his foundation was unstable, like a meteor across the sky. What's more, Gawain is challenging the Big Four dynasty that lasted for a full decade, and the fans' discomfort is bound to continue for some time.

However, in competitive sports, actual actions and performance are always more effective than words, and that is the most powerful and efficient counterattack.

What's more, compared to those black fans, the rapid increase in the number of Gao Wen's fans is truly jaw-dropping.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

Tobias registered several different social networking platforms for Gao Wen, including Chinese and English. Moreover, Tobias listened to Gao Wen's advice and made a bold decision. Instead of hiring a professional team to manage these accounts, Tobias and Gao Wen managed them themselves.

In other words, perhaps these social network accounts are not updated frequently, but they are guaranteed to be authentic, and all the information is first-hand and posted by them personally.

In just half a year, the number of followers of these accounts continued to grow and reached a new height after the Australian Open.

On multiple social networking platforms including Weibo, Twitter, and Instagram, Gao Wen's total number of followers has skyrocketed to nearly 90 million.

It seems that the distance to 100 million is not far away.

Compared to the fanaticism of the fans, the comments from the black fans are just a drizzle.

so--

3rd in the world.

So, the next goal is to be the second in the world, or even... the first in the world?

Just imagining it in my mind makes me uncontrollably excited.

Of course, it’s so close, yet so far away.

In March 2004, Federer became the world's number one; in July 2005, Nadal's ranking rose to world number two.

After that, for a full ten years, the top two in the world rankings were firmly controlled. From two dragons playing with a pearl to a three-way competition and then to the official formation of the Big Four, no player other than the Big Four could break the shackles.

In fact, more than ten years.

According to the original historical trajectory, the top two in the world rankings dominated the world rankings until May 2021, when Medvedev rose to second place in the world rankings, breaking the "top two blockade" of the Big Four for seventeen years; and in March 2022, Medvedev went a step further and became the world's number one.

In other words, being third in the world? We can see many players making breakthroughs; but being second in the world? Hard! Hard as hell!

No matter how you look at it, third in the world seems to be the ceiling.

So, can Gawain go one step further?

(End of this chapter)