All-round Athlete

Chapter 367 Reaching the Top of the World

Sitting by the computer, Zhang Guan watched the media's post-match interview with yesterday's Wimbledon final, and the video of Nadal's interview is being played now.

"I think I'm honored to lose, you know, in the pre-tournament survey, nearly half of the people thought it was impossible for me to make it to the Wimbledon final, so for me, getting to the final is pretty good. .” Nadal laughed at himself and continued, “I’m a pretty good loser!”

Zhang Guan in front of the computer smiled. He remembered that he had said to Nadal after the game, "You played well", but Nadal said that he was a "good loser".

On the video, Nadal went on to say: "Gap? On the grass court, the gap between me and Zhang Guan is indeed a bit big. But I think the gap between any player and him is very big, unless it is Sampras at his peak. When we get to the stadium, we can probably compete with Zhang Guan at Wimbledon!"

Nadal shrugged his shoulders: "At this time tomorrow, I will enjoy a good time on the beach in Mallorca. To be honest, I am very satisfied with my series of performances in this Wimbledon. From French Open to Wimbledon , The continuous game is really tiring, so I need to relax and take a vacation to adjust my state. It is rainy season in the UK, and these days, it is raining or waiting for rain, which is too depressing .Now I really can't wait to enjoy the sunshine on the Iberian Peninsula!"

Zhang Guan said: "Nadal is going on vacation. Mallorca is a 'Mediterranean Paradise'. It should be a good season to go there. Sunshine, sand, sea breeze..."

"There are many beauties!" Sharapova interjected, "Do you really want to go too?"

"I just want to ask if you have any plans, such as going on vacation," Zhang Guan said.

Sharapova shook her head: "I want to train."

"Training?" Zhang Guan was a little puzzled: "You still have injuries..."

"That also needs training." Sharapova said a little irritably: "You have already won three Grand Slams, and I only have two."

"Uh..." Sensing Sharapova's attitude, Zhang Guan didn't know what to say for a while. He knew that Sharapova was actually very strong, and he didn't expect that his three Grand Slams would actually put pressure on Sharapova. He wanted to persuade Sharapova not to work so hard. , but he felt that it might be counterproductive.

"Maybe I shouldn't come to play tennis." Zhang Guan looked at Sharapova worriedly.

Just at this moment, Zhang Guan's cell phone rang, diverting his attention.

Zhang Guan picked up his mobile phone and saw a text message from Zhuge Wenbo. There were only seven short words in the text message: Congratulations, number one in the world!

"No. 1 in the world? By the way, today is Monday, and ATP announced the new world ranking again. Could it be that I have risen to No. 1 in the world?" Thinking of this, Zhang Guan immediately entered the official website of ATP to check the new issue World Ranking.

In the recently released world rankings for tennis men's singles, Zhang Guan has already ranked first. He has won three Grand Slam titles this year, and each championship is worth 2,000 points, so now he is exactly 6,000 points .

Federer came in second, this is the first time in the past three years that he has scored below 6,000 points. At his peak, Federer had to maintain around 8,000 points all year round, but due to the appearance of Zhang Guan, Federer first lost an Australian Open championship, and did not get the runner-up at the French Open. Wimbledon also stopped in the semi-finals. 1800 points, so the points dropped directly below 6000.

Nadal, who is third, still maintains a score of just over 4,000 points. He was the runner-up at Wimbledon last year, so there is no big change in points after Wimbledon.

On the contrary, Djokovic, because he entered the semi-finals of Wimbledon, his score rose by one place and became the fourth in the world.

"I'm number one in the world!" Zhang Guan said softly.

...

For the media, Zhang Guan ascended the throne of the world is obviously more attractive than the Wimbledon champion. There are many tennis matches every year, and there are also many champions. Even if it is a Grand Slam champion, Zhang Guan has won two. Now the third Grand Slam champion obviously does not have the sensational effect of the previous Australian Open.

But the number one in the world is different. There is only one number one in the world, and it represents the top player in this field. The key is that Zhang Guan squeezed Federer to the second place.

Since 2004, Federer has been firmly sitting on the throne of the world's number one. He won three Grand Slam championships in 2004, two Grand Slam championships in 2005, and three Grand Slam championships in 2006. At that time, the gap between him and the world's second Nadal was as high as nearly 3,000 points. Federer's dominance looks unassailable, and no one thinks Federer will lose the world number one. And this year, Zhang Guan has suddenly emerged, squeezing Federer, who is in good shape, to the second position in the world.

The domestic media obviously pay more attention to this point. Any "world number one" is the most eye-catching thing for readers, so when the domestic media reported that Zhang Guan won the Wimbledon championship, they also focused on promoting Zhang Guan's ranking in the world. First things first.

At this time, Director Liu of the Tennis Center is also in pain and happiness. The happiness is because Zhang Guan has won the Wimbledon championship, and his ranking has risen to No. 1 in the world, and the pain is because of the headache of the China Open in September. .

This year's China Open is from September 10th to September 16th, which is similar to previous years, but the time for the US Open, one of the four Grand Slams, is from August 27th to September 9th Although the China Open and the US Open are close together in terms of time, for the players participating in the US Open finals, the time overlaps.

Tennis finals are usually held in the afternoon of local time, and there is a 12-hour time difference between China and the United States. Therefore, when the U.S. Open finals on September 9th began in the United States, it was already the early morning of September 10th in China. The net finals are over, and it is almost dawn in China, plus the more than ten hours of flying from New York to Beijing, based on this calculation, it is impossible for the players participating in the US Open finals to go to China to participate in the China Open competition the next day .

If Zhang Guan participates in the US Open and enters the final, he will definitely not be able to catch up with the China Open held the next day. Between the U.S. Open and the China Open, the U.S. Open, one of the Grand Slams, is of course more important, and now Zhang Guan has only one U.S. Open champion left to win the Grand Slam. The Tennis Center must also ensure that Zhang Guanshuai participates first US Open.

But the China Open is equally important. The China Open needs a local player who can win the championship. The broadcaster needs Zhang Guan to appear on the field.

In order to allow Zhang Guan to participate, the Tennis Center even applied to the World Tennis Federation to postpone the China Open, but the International Tennis Federation did not agree. The reason was that the event plan had been determined as early as the end of last year, so it cannot be changed.

"This group of foreigners is really rigid! It's just a postponement of the match for a day or two." Director Liu said anxiously, "If Zhang Guan enters the final of the US Open, is he really required to give up the China Open? No, Zhang Guan must be allowed to participate in the China Open. It seems that we have to think of some other ways."

Director Liu closed his eyes, and after a while, he suddenly thought of an idea. He took the file box related to China Open, and looked through the relevant materials carefully.

"There is a way! As long as Zhang Guan participates in the competition, he must be the No. 1 seed. At that time, we will arrange a wild card player for Zhang Guan in the first round to ensure that Zhang Guan can advance to the second round. If Zhang Guan comes back in time, we will Let him play the game, and if he can't make it in time, you can let that wild card player abstain!" Director Liu nodded in satisfaction, obviously satisfied with his arrangement.

The number of wild cards is basically reserved for local players. This year's China Open, the national tennis team has two wild cards in the men's singles event. If Zhang Guan plays against wild card players in the first round, he will actually be against the national team. As a player on the tennis team, this is tantamount to pre-determining Zhang Guan to advance to the second round. Even if Zhang Guan does not come back from the United States in time, the wild card player can directly abstain, and Zhang Guan can still enter the second round. It's just that this wild card player must be sacrificed.

For domestic men's tennis players, it is not easy to be able to participate in the China Open, especially for wild card players, it is likely that there is only such a chance in a lifetime. But in order to protect Zhang Guan, he had to make sacrifices!

Thinking of this, Director Liu sighed a little disappointed.

"For the sake of Zhang Guan, I can only sacrifice a wild card. But this kind of sacrifice will never be wasted. This kind of sacrifice can be exchanged for the public's attention to tennis and the development of our tennis. It is worth it, I believe One day, we will have more and more tennis players on the world stage!"

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