"ah…"
Tim supported his body with the racket, bowed at 90 degrees, sweated profusely, and tried to take a few deep breaths in a row before he adjusted.
Then he stood up straight, looked at Gao Wen in front of him, still panting like a cow, showed a big smile, and sighed.
"Brother, this training is really too harsh."
"It doesn't look like anything. When you actually put it into training, every part must work accordingly. If you can't keep up, you can't keep up."
Tim waved his hands again and again to say no.
This made Gawain laugh happily, Tim is still young now—
You know, among the younger generation of players, Tim is well-known as a "physical superman" and "training madman", and his image of working hard and practicing hard is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
"Surrender now? It's just warming up."
Gawain walked forward, and then Tim opened his arms and gave Gawain a big hug.
"Congratulations, bro, congratulations on being a Grand Slam champion."
Although they had already celebrated through text messages before, this was the first meeting after the US Open, and Tim expressed his congratulations very formally.
Gao Wen's eyes were full of smiles, "This is already a thing of the last century, we should learn to forget it."
Tim is not good at words and jokes, but he knew that Gao Wen was joking, so he laughed and said honestly, "I watched the live broadcast of the final at home. From the first round, I knew that you would definitely win .”
Gao Wen knew that Tim was telling the truth, and what he was worst at was politeness. He felt warm in his heart, "Next time you play a grand slam final, I will watch and cheer on the spot."
Gao Wen was also serious.
According to the historical development trajectory, Tim matured in the 2018 season. He entered the French Open final twice and the Australian Open final once, until he successfully reached the top of the US Open final in 2020 to complete his transformation.
Undoubtedly, Tim later grew into a leader of the new generation of players born after 1990. His overall performance has surpassed the young players who have been famous for a long time, and he has become the transition link between the "Big Three" and the later "Little Big Three". .
Hearing Gao Wen's words, Tim also made a rare joke that was not a joke, "Are you sure you are watching the game live, not fighting on the field?"
Um? Is this what it means for two people to face off in a Grand Slam final?
Gao Wen pursed his lips, "Then it's a pity that the championship doesn't belong to you."
Tim looked at the confident Gao Wen, took a step back, and made an invitation gesture full of desire, his eagerness to try could be felt all over his body.
"Try? Try now?"
Gao Wen was naturally willing to accompany him, he didn't need to say anything, he just entered the field with the racket in his hand.
From batting partner to doubles partner, Gao Wen and Tim had a lot of work to do. They didn't have time to greet each other, so they immediately devoted themselves to training.
On that side, the Shanghai Masters Tournament is also in full swing, the qualifying round has entered the final round, and the **** storm of the main match is close at hand.
As the top 1,000-point Masters Tournament, the penultimate station of the ATP, and the only Masters Tournament in the Asian season, Magic City, as always, attracts the top and biggest players to participate:
The "Big Four" such as Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, and Murray are all gathered, Wawrinka, Ferrer, Berdych and other players who are in good shape are also in place, plus the outstanding US Open players Wen, Cilic, Kei Nishikori, etc. were all absent, and it was truly a gathering of heroes.
In fact, among the top 20 players in the latest world rankings, only three are absent—
Tsonga, Del Potro, Monfils.
From scale to specification to lineup, the Masters is worthy of being a Masters. It can completely compete with the Grand Slam, and the competition is as intense as it is.
Of course, there is still a difference between a Grand Slam and a Masters:
First of all, the competition system, the Grand Slam is a best-of-five-set system, and the Masters is a three-set best-of-three system, which also means that the uncertainty of the game is higher; the schedule, the Grand Slam lasts for two weeks, and the Masters only One week, it is still the normal rhythm of the tour.
Secondly, the lottery, the Grand Slam is 128 lottery, and the Masters is 56 lottery, of which the seed seats of the Masters are only 16, directly shrinking by half; but correspondingly, the top eight No. 1 seed players can enjoy the first-round bye treatment.
More than one player has said that the Grand Slam tests the state within two weeks and adjusts himself step by step; while the Masters test is the ability to improve the state in the short term:
Because in the first three rounds of the Grand Slam, you may often encounter some qualifiers or wild card players, whose world rankings are outside of 100; but in the first round of the Masters, you need to face the top 50 or even the top three players in the world. Ten players didn't have time to adapt, and the intensity went up directly.
In addition, young players are full of enthusiasm and vigor. In a best-of-three match, it is more likely and easier to burst out with frightening energy. It is precisely because of this that the upset situation in the first two rounds of the Masters In fact, more than a Grand Slam, and a lot more.
The rise of the new generation often starts from the Masters.
Before the draw for the main match, the Shanghai Masters announced this year's wild card list and seed seats.
In the singles wild card list, Argentine player Juan Monaco (Juan-) and three other Chinese players Zhang Ze, Wu Di and Wang Chuhan won wild cards.
In the doubles wild card list, the names of the Huaxia team Zhang Ze/Wu Di and the multinational team Gao Wen/Tim are impressively listed.
Gao Wen, the recently popular new U.S. Open champion, is about to make his doubles debut at the Shanghai Masters. This is undoubtedly an unexpected news, but it did not trigger a large-scale discussion. Instead, it seemed a bit dull. It was an accident, and it could even be said that it was the result Tobias expected.
First of all, Tobias has actually considered inviting Dimitrov and Gawain to play doubles. From the perspective of appearance, the topic is bound to be unusual, and Nike is definitely willing to contribute to the flames.
But after experiencing the baptism of the Imperial Capital Open, Tobias also realized that he needed to cool down a little~www.mtlnovel.com~ to reduce the pressure on Gao Wen, so he deliberately avoided the possibility of hype on the topic, so he invited Tim.
An up-and-coming Tim is less topical, or even widely known, than Dimitrov.
Secondly, in the final analysis, the discussion heat of doubles is still too low, especially in China, even the popularity of singles is still in the climbing stage, let alone doubles?
In the end, the real hot spot is not here, but in the seed list announced by the Shanghai Masters.
It is not unusual for Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Wawrinka to be the top four seeds respectively, but Gao Wen, who is currently ranked 15th in the world, is due to Tsonga and Del Potro Did not come to the competition, and finally ranked No. 13 seed, this is news.
Since participating in the challenge for the first time in July, Gao Wen was an "outsider" with a wild card to participate in the Imperial Capital Open last week due to a blundering relationship; As soon as you come up, you become a seed, and you are only one step away from the top 12 seeds.
This is the focus!