Tennis, as a solo sport, players often come and go alone, accompanied only by the coaching team.
It is precisely because of this that the relationship between players and the team is often more like a family, participating and traveling together and spending days and nights together.
In comparison, it is difficult to establish friendship among players, because everyone has different participation plans. Even if a top event such as the Grand Slam Masters brings everyone together, the busy daily routine of training and competition, It is doomed that the time for private communication is very limited.
Of course, there are no absolutes.
It is not uncommon for a sincere friendship to be established in the busy daily life and then become a close friend, but generally speaking, most of them are lone rangers.
Last year, Gao Wen got to know a lot of young players successively, and established a small circle among the new generation. Then, in London and Doha, Gao Wen got to know Federer and Nadal successively. A hole was also successfully torn in the Mesozoic Era
It's not just the friendship on the field, but the friendship that also communicates, texts, contacts and talks in private.
Now, at Melbourne Park, Gao Wen has successfully entered the circle of legendary celebrities, and has gradually opened up the situation in the professional tennis world.
Perhaps, someone will say: so what?
Competitive sports, after all, still need to look at the performance on the field. These connections are not helpful for the game, are they?
To this, Tobias would reply: short-sighted.
If it is a traditional tennis powerhouse such as Spain, the United States, or Australia, then naturally it will not be affected, because the players are connected with each other and help each other, which is a powerful force that cannot be ignored in the tour.
But Gao Wen was not.
Like Djokovic, Gao Wen is now a thriving existence in his own country, relying on him alone, it is still too difficult to drive the influence of his country in the entire movement, it is almost impossible , Just look at Djokovic who is alone.
So, what should Gao Wen do?
Attract more tournaments to mainland China, attract more events to mainland China, attract more sponsors to focus on tennis, and so on.
For one thing, young players can compete more and see the world.
Second, cultivate more hobbies of young seedlings.
Third, establish a tennis atmosphere and attract more fans.
These require not only Gao Wen's star effect, but also the cooperation of official organizations and the attention of interest groups. This is a long-term investment.
Thus, the importance of establishing contacts can be seen.
A little "spoiler":
On August 31, 2020, Djokovic announced that he had officially withdrawn from the players' union, and teamed up with Canadian player Pospihill to form a new organization, the Professional Players Union pp, to compete with p.
Nominally speaking, Djokovic is completely for the interests of the players.
The p committee consists of three player representatives, three event representatives, and one chairman to form the pp committee, which is all composed of players.
Djokovic's banner slogan is to protect the income and interests of low-ranking players who are ranked outside the world's top 100.
The establishment of pp is to condemn pp for not taking corresponding measures to protect the basic interests of these low-ranking players.
The vision is undoubtedly beautiful.
But for p, it is a provocative move, not only publicly questioning p's decision-making, but also directly challenging p's authority.
This move triggered an earthquake in the entire professional tennis world. The four major grand slams and P together issued a warning to Djokovic, and at the same time sparked controversy in the entire professional tennis world.
There are supporters, some opponents, some wait and see, and some.
Among them, the two giants, Federer and Nadal, both came forward, and they supported it. Murray said that he would continue to wait and see. See what pp can do.
Many people accused the high-ranking players headed by Federer and Nadal, completely disregarding the life and death of the low-ranking players, thinking that they have no leadership spirit.
The slogan is naturally beautiful, and it is precisely because of this that Djokovic won the support of a large number of fans and expressed his disappointment with Federer and Nadal.
But there is a very, very interesting detail that Djokovic said that the purpose of PP is to protect low-ranking players with a ranking below one hundred.
However, these protected objects don't know what happened at all, they have never heard of pp, and no one joined pp.
These players, who have no names on the tour at all, said in interviews that they don't know what happened or what will happen in the future.
Of course, "language is always gorgeous and beautiful", action should be more important than words.
Since its establishment, until 2022, more than eighteen months, what did pp do?
The answer is ~www.mtlnovel.com~none.
Nothing at all.
Nothing happened except that Pospihir convinced his Canadian teammates and American players to join pp and then carried out a series of slogan campaigns.
In fact, it is wrong to say that. To be precise, no effective measures have taken place.
PP still took some actions. They established a cooperative relationship with a public relations company and a charitable organization to provide free courses, guide players to plan their careers reasonably, and find better business partners.
For example, how to invest, how to start a business, how to win sponsorship, how to speak, how to face a press conference.
However, all this looks good, does it really help the low-ranked players?
At least for now, it has had little effect.
Pospisil is still struggling to cheer for Djokovic, but
The entire professional tennis world is increasingly discovering that PP is not to protect the interests of low-ranked players. To put it bluntly, it is actually an organization to "raise" Djokovic. All projects, plans, and publicity are all centered around Djokovic unfolds, all for Djokovic.
After all, Serbia is a small country, and Djokovic has an inherent disadvantage in front of Federer and Nadal. If Djokovic wants to take his fame to a higher level, it is undoubtedly a good idea to unite low-ranked players to break the existing blockade. The smartest choice.
Except for Pospihir, the other high-ranking players who joined PP at the beginning, Isner, Raonic, etc., all remained silent and gradually lost their voices. It seems that PP only has Djokovic and Pospihir two people.
So, what exactly is missing in pp?