The laughter surged briefly for a moment, but then calmed down in the blink of an eye. Only the sound of hitting the ball on the tennis court echoed, emphasizing the silence even more.
Sampras turned his head and glanced at Gao Hongli. He could feel the worry of a parent:
On the one hand, they expect their children to grow up and fly high; on the other hand, they worry that their children will encounter difficulties and fail to recover.
It is precisely because of this that when children encounter difficulties, they always have a bad sense of proportion. They want to help but are worried that they may not be helpful. They stand by and watch but feel uneasy. They tell themselves that they should treat their children as adults but tolerate it.
You can't help but think of them as three-year-old babies.
Worrying about gains and losses, being in a dilemma.
In the end, whether you help or not, there are unspeakable troubles.
After retiring, Sampras was completely isolated from the public for a long, long time and never appeared in any form of reports or interviews. This was because he chose to return to his family and concentrate on playing the role of husband and father at home to make up for himself.
Time spent absent from global competition.
Sampras has two sons. As of this year, one is thirteen and the other is ten.
In a blink of an eye, both children have grown up, started going to school, have their own lives and their own ideas. Slowly, they no longer need the company of their parents. The older one seems to have entered adolescence and has begun to resist the approach of his parents, regardless of big or small things.
Everyone wants to be able to take the initiative themselves.
At home, Sampras was also in a dilemma, not knowing how to deal with it. In the end, he simply turned a blind eye and picked up work again.
After that, from commentary to charity matches, Sampras slowly returned to the public eye.
Therefore, Sampras can understand Gao Hongli as one father towards another father.
After hesitating for a moment, Sampras was not sure whether he should give Gao Hongli advice. After all, he was still less qualified than Gao Hongli in taking on the role of father. But in the end, he still offered words of comfort, empathizing with each other and exchanging sincerity.
Be sincere and speak your inner thoughts.
"Don't worry, Gawain did a great job."
Gao Hongli was a little surprised, and Sampras showed a smile.
"When I was nineteen years old, I defeated Lendl in the US Open semi-finals, preventing him from advancing to the final for the ninth consecutive year, and then defeated Andre and won the first US Open title in my career, bathed in lights and applause.
At that time, I really thought I owned the whole world."
"The pressure, the noise, the bustle, it's so dazzling that it can't be quiet at all."
"You know, young people are full of curiosity and energy, but also full of impetuosity. A little pursuit will make people get lost, and a little temptation will make people lose control."
"At the time, I thought I knew what I was doing, but in fact, I had no idea at all."
With self-deprecating words and a wry smile, Sampras successfully made Ko Hongli chuckle.
"It wasn't until three years later in London that I won my second Grand Slam championship and became the world's number one."
"Three years!"
"Jesus Christ, if I could figure myself out in those three years, maybe I would have more championships now."
Phew.
After saying that, Sampras couldn't help but laugh out loud. You can still feel the pride in Sampras's bones in his self-praising words.
As a player, Sampras is confident and determined. Even after retiring for a long time, he still maintains his aloofness; but I have to say that leaving the game and staying away from competition can review his career with an objective and rational attitude.
, Sampras also saw his own weaknesses.
He thought he was perfect, but the reality is that no one is perfect. At least, when he was nineteen years old, his mentality adjustment and psychological condition were not as good as Gawain. When he was young, he did not walk less
There were many bumps into the wall along the detours, and I spent a lot of time frivolously in my youth.
However, precisely because of this, Sampras saw more possibilities in Gawain, which made him full of confidence in his disciple.
Then he and Gao Hongli looked at Gao Wen again.
"Gawain..."
After the long coda, there was a period of silence, which seemed to be organizing the words.
"He has maturity and wisdom that belies his age. He is calm enough, smart enough, and most importantly, focused enough."
"He knows what he is doing and what he should do. Those off-field interferences have never been a stumbling block for his progress."
"So, we should believe him."
There was another pause.
"I'm not sure what you think personally, but at least I believe him."
A joke immediately made Gao Hongli laugh again, and his heavy heart relaxed.
What are they worried about?
Pressure is actually still pressure.
The second Grand Slam of the year is about to kick off, and the pressure on all aspects has reached a new high.
In addition to the commonplace topics, "The Battle for the World's No. 1", "Big Four VS Challengers", "Youth Storm", etc., the pressure continues to grow, surrounding Gao Wen, and in just a few weeks,
Within a few years, the frenzy of public opinion has reached a new stage, which is impossible to ignore.
On the one hand, it is an attack.
On the Internet, the negative voices that badmouthed Gao Wen and attacked him continued to rise, and the cynicism and siege became more and more intense.
In fact, Gao Wen's overall results in the clay court season were pretty good. He won the Barcelona championship, the semi-finals in Madrid, Monte Carlo and Rome were all the top eight.
Among the new generation of players, he is still the well-deserved leader; among many challengers, he is also half a body ahead.
Kei Nishikori, Wawrinka, Berdych, Ferrer, Fognini and others also performed well, but compared with Gawain, all of them were slightly inferior; Raonic, Dimitrov
, Tim, Goffin and others have occasional bright spots, but overall they are not worth mentioning, let alone comparable.
It can be said that Gao Wen's overall performance is completely among the top five in the world, basically on the same level as Nadal, and slightly inferior to the other three giants.
It would be ridiculous if such a performance is still ridiculed, complained about and besieged; moreover, Gao Wen is only nineteen years old and has already achieved such results before the first season of his career is completed. Those negative comments
It is even more unreasonable and unbelievable.
But the point is, whether the performance is good or bad, you need to consider the reference -
In terms of horizontal comparison, Gao Wen did perform well, and considering that this is the first clay court season of Gao Wen's career, it can even be said to be amazing.
However!
In terms of vertical comparison, in the spring hard court season, there were four championships in Doha, Melbourne, Indian Wells, and Miami, as well as the semi-finals in Dubai.
One Grand Slam champion, two Masters champions, with such achievements before our eyes, and looking at the performance in the three clay court Masters events, it is indeed disappointing.
It is precisely because Gao Wen's performance in the first quarter was so crazy and so strong that it was difficult for people to adapt to the results of the clay court season:
The impact of every defeat is amplified, and the results of the semi-finals and quarter-finals cannot meet people's expectations, and the failures are exaggerated.