Outside the bus window, the night was getting darker. Gawain looked at the scenery that was constantly receding. The small town with its first lights gradually faded away, and the whole world became quiet.
He chewed on Elena's words in his mind, feeling a little moved and a little burdened. From the fans he met in the hotel lobby to the familiar Elena, he felt the power of competitive sports on another level like never before.
It turns out that he can also become someone's idol and role model; it turns out that his hard work and struggle can also bring courage and strength to someone; it turns out that his spirit and will can also become a guide for someone to move forward.
A ray of light; it turns out that competitive sports are not just about victories and championships.
In fact, there is only one champion in an event and only one winner in the end, but the core of competitive sports is far more than that.
Vaguely, Gawain felt something different again.
The Binghamton Challenge has come to an end, but Gao Wen, Macdonald, and Geelong have no room to rest and breathe. They need to travel day and night to the next event:
Lexington Challenge.
In the professional tennis tour, there are events every week from the second week of January to the last week of November, all year round. How professional players arrange their own schedules is also a science, otherwise they will be racing non-stop every week.
If he competes locally, Iron Man may also run out of energy one day.
There are many closely connected events like the Binghamton Challenge and the Lexington Challenge, so how should you arrange your schedule?
If they are top professional players, on the one hand they have their own private jets, which not only shortens their travel time, but also allows them to get adequate rest; on the other hand, they are often among the top eight seed players and compete in both tours and gold medal tournaments.
You can enjoy a bye in the first round, so the game schedule is naturally not so tight.
But if you were an ordinary professional player, I'm afraid you wouldn't have such treatment.
What to do? Salad!
We can only bite the bullet and march quickly!
For example, Gawain at this moment.
After winning the championship, there was no time to rest, let alone a chance to celebrate. He took the bus to Lexington overnight, and then notified the organizing committee in advance, asking them to adjust their competition schedule as far back as possible——
Some organizing committees are willing to coordinate, but some are not.
Therefore, it is not uncommon for players to arrive in a participating city in a hurry and have to rush to the stadium to play before they have time to pack their suitcases.
Occasionally, if there are mistakes in the organizer's hotel arrangements, it is not unheard of for players to leave their suitcases in the corridor and play in games without a room.
If the ranking is too low and you still need to participate in the qualifying round, you must arrive in the participating city two days in advance. Therefore, there are more than once or twice that you have to give up a race due to schedule conflicts.
For low-ranking professional players, participating in every event poses countless challenges. There is no essential difference from business trips in the workplace. They just keep traveling to different cities to participate in competitions. Not to mention traveling and sightseeing, I am afraid that even between the stadiums
There are no opportunities to browse outside the city streets.
Competitive sports not only involve the excitement on the field, but also the chaos in life, which is far from as glamorous as it seems.
But it is precisely because of this that Gawain prefers the moment when he is standing on the court, where he can release himself as much as he wants without reservation.
Lexington, located in the north-central part of Kentucky, is also a small town. It is about 700 miles away from Binghamton. The biggest problem is that there is no direct flight and requires a transfer, which can take at least four hours.
When arriving, Greyhound buses can reach you directly.
Ten hours, a full ten hours of overnight bus, and a night's sleep on the bus, you can arrive in Lexington from Binghamton.
Judging from the draw, there are also many familiar faces in the Lexington Challenge.
In addition to the three Musketeers of the Bruins, players such as Kokkinakis, Kauk, Odensnik, Krajicek, etc. also rushed slowly from Binghamton to Lexington to compete.
In addition, among the eight seeded players, we can also see some names worth looking forward to.
Britain's Dan Evans has proven his stability by reaching the third round of the Grand Slam six times, and giving Djokovic his first defeat of the season at the beginning of 2021 also shows his stability.
of explosive power.
James Duckworth of Australia, just this year, he attended all the first three Grand Slams. The Australian Open is a wild card, and the French Open and Wimbledon all passed the qualifying test and advanced to the main draw.
.
Among them, in the first round of Wimbledon, they faced French player Richard-Gasquet. The two fought fiercely for five sets, and it was not until the final set that the winner was decided. Duckworth unfortunately lost.
Perhaps, compared to Binghamton, Lexington's starlight is not as shining, but in terms of strength, it is definitely not inferior, and the competition is also very fierce.
When arriving in Lexington, it means that Binghamton's victory must be temporarily forgotten behind him, and then start from scratch, a new game, a new battle, even if he encounters the same opponent, it is a completely different duel, Gawain can't help but
I started to look forward to it with eagerness.
For young players, the most difficult thing to adapt to is the pace of professional tennis, because there are games every week, but no one can always remain undefeated. How to adjust their mentality while switching between different events, and how to win and win.
Finding the best state between failures and how to adjust the state while running around and tossing around are all a science.
If you want to switch to a career, Gao Wen still has a lot to learn.
Turning his head, he saw Macdonald and Gillon closing their eyes and falling asleep. Gawain also closed his eyes, and his excited, novel, and tense nerves slowly relaxed.
Wait, are there just three Bruins? What about Tobias?
This time, Gao Wen traveled to Lexington to compete for the second consecutive week.
On that side, Tobias officially took action and shouldered his responsibilities as an agent——
Why is it so troublesome to move players between different cities?
Obviously not all players can have enough game bonuses to pay for private jets. What's more, Gao Wen is not a professional player yet, and the Binghamton Challenge championship bonus cannot be withdrawn for the time being.
So what should we do? Does everyone have to use a bus to transfer? Can the travel expenses, accommodation expenses and training expenses only be borne by yourself?
The answer is, sponsors.
Tobias has officially embarked on the journey to sign a sponsor for Gawain, but won't he be too anxious?
After all, Gawain just won a challenge championship trophy now.
In Tobias's view, now is just the right time. What sponsors need to invest in is the future. Otherwise, when Gao Wen truly becomes famous, the sponsorship contract fee will not be so affordable——
Investment needs to be done as early as possible, and the test is their vision.