First of all, one thing needs to be affirmed. Nike chose the Thunder to sign Gao Wen, and even gave up the jersey for dividends, which proved their determination——
From the very beginning, Nike has expected and believed that Gao Wen could become a superstar. There is no doubt about this.
However, even with extremely high expectations, Gao Wen's growth and rise still exceeded Nike's expectations.
Step by step, Gao Wen is indeed becoming a leader of the new generation and showing unlimited potential and vitality in the global market.
This raises a question for Nike and everyone, can Gao Wen become the next generation of top superstars?
What we are talking about here are not ordinary superstars, but the top superstars who are one in a million:
Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, Jordan, Schumacher, Serena Williams, Woods, Federer and so on.
Any name can break the shackles of its own competitive events and make waves in other fields, in the whole society, and on a global scale.
Everyone has always been looking for it, but not everyone can have such luck.
In this regard, Nike always has infinite courage, always dares to try and make mistakes and take risks, just like when it signed Bouchard last year.
Last year, Bouchard experienced a perfect year, reaching three consecutive semi-finals at the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon, and also reached the finals at Wimbledon; despite a regrettable performance at the US Open, stopping in the fourth round, the world's best performance at the end of the year
Ranking among the top five, breaking the record for Canadian players, it is indeed an extraordinary performance.
This also established Nike's determination to support Bouchard in one fell swoop. In the new season, commercial activities are fully laid out——
From being an unknown person to being the target of public criticism, from having no baggage to being under pressure, from being unnoticed to being in the spotlight, the entire change in feelings and attitudes quietly changes the psychological state and affects the performance on the court; and the long and difficult tennis season
is another source of stress.
Not just Gao Wen and Bouchard, but all other young players are no exception——
On clay, the dual test of body and will is a subject that every player must face, especially for young players.
Unfortunately, after entering the spring hard court season, Bouchard gradually lost his touch. Since Miami, his record has only been abysmal one win and seven losses. Not only did he suffer two defeats in the Fed Cup, but he was also eliminated in the first round of all four events.
, just won the only game in Rome.
However, things backfired.
Although she is currently ranked only 44th in the world, Mladenovic is no stranger to Chinese fans. Last year, she upset Li Na in the first round at Roland Garros.
Say, this is not good news.
To some extent, Bouchard's promotional resources are slightly ahead of Gawain's.
awful.
Since the "Sunshine Double Championship", his condition has shown obvious signs of recovery, and the Monte Carlo doubles championship is a booster shot, giving him expectations for the clay court season. Although this is not his best surface, Dee
Mitrov still looks forward to performing well in Paris.
At the Australian Open, Bouchard performed quite well, advancing all the way to the quarterfinals, but finally lost to Sharapova. Although he was not able to hold on to last year's semifinal points, he was still very good.
Bouchard had a mediocre signing and met the host player Kristina Mladenovic in the first round.
In the first round, the "Dimitrov VS Sock" matchup was originally the focus of the battle.
However, being eliminated in the first round was even worse than the Australian Open——
For the second consecutive year, Dimitrov lost in the first round at Roland Garros.
This also means that Bouchard will lose points from last year's French Open semi-finals and his world ranking will fall directly out of the top ten.
It is precisely because of this that when the first round of the three-day competition ended, a series of upsets occurred, which was unexpected, but not surprising.
really.
Miserable.
Among them, Venus Williams lost to Sloane-Stephens, an American teenager born in 1993, witnessing the rise of another rising star; A-Radwanska lost to the little-known German player Anne
Anika-Beck is definitely the biggest surprise in the first round.
From an objective perspective, every young player must face growing pains——
Obviously, Bouchard has been having a hard time recently, so Nike must face a problem:
Is this a short-term downturn, or the beginning of a crash?
After all, Bouchard's rise was too fast. He suddenly appeared at the Australian Open last year and became one of the top players in the WTA in just one season. Then, he started to decline completely from March this year. It was difficult to judge for a while.
Short-term pain, or the beginning of decline.
Two young players, Bouchard and Garcia, were both eliminated; in addition, Jankovic, Venus Williams, A-Radwanska and Vinci were all eliminated.
Although there are not many upsets, they are all strong; however, whether Karlovic, who broke into the quarterfinals of the Australian Open at the beginning of the year, lost, or the two Spanish veterans Lopez both stopped in the first round, none of them can compare with Dimit
Love’s elimination came as a shock——
When it comes to commercial promotion, female players always have a slight advantage. After all, who can say no to a "sweetheart"?
In the end, Sock lived up to people's expectations and defeated Dimitrov in straight sets. The tie-break in the first set was fiercely fought, and the score was fixed at "9:7".
Therefore, when Nike makes planning adjustments for the future, the factors they need to take into consideration are not that simple.
The same is true for Gao Wen. Last year, the US Open was born. It has not been a year yet, and no one knows how he will develop in the future.
After the draw came out, people seemed to have already expected that Dimitrov's draw this year was indeed tough enough, and an upset could not be considered an upset.
"6:4", "6:4".
Then, the French Open came——
From Bouchard to Gauvin, Nike is gambling and will continue to gamble, but the point is, should they increase their bets on Gauvin?
This is a subject that belongs to Nike.
Karlovic, Jia Lopez, Fey Lopez, and Dimitrov all lost.
Especially the clay court season.
For Dimitrov, this is a very, very unacceptable result.
Women's singles.
Men's singles.
Entering the new season, this young and beautiful girl has continuously hit the wall amidst layers of pressure, ushering in the "growing pains" that all young players must face.
Mladenovic defeated Bouchard and overturned high-ranking seeds in the first round of the French Open for the second consecutive year.
In fact, Dimitrov has never been good at clay courts. This year is the fifth consecutive year that he has appeared in the main draw of the French Open, but his best result was the third round in 2013, and he was in the third round in the other three years.
They were eliminated in the first round and have only won three games in the past five years, which is a poor performance.
In other words, this result is not shocking; and, from a points perspective, it was the same last year as this year, and there was no loss of points.
But from a confidence level, it is still a heavy blow——
As a player ranked among the top ten in the world, he was eliminated in the first round of a major championship. He was burdened with expectations and high-profile results, but he was unsatisfactory.
It is truly unimaginable the pressure and impact Dimitrov faced.