Tim supported his body with his racket, bent over at a 90-degree angle, sweating profusely, and tried to take deep breaths several times before he could adjust.
Then he stood up straight, looked at Gawain in front of him, still panting like an ox, showed a big smile, and sighed.
"Brother, this training is really tough."
"It doesn't seem like much, but when you actually put in training, every part must be functioning accordingly. If you can't keep up, you can't keep up."
Tim waved his hands repeatedly to express 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 a "training maniac", and his image of being dedicated to training is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
"You're surrendering now? You're just warming up."
Gawain walked forward, and then Tim opened his arms and gave Gawain a big hug.
"Congratulations, brother, congratulations on becoming the Grand Slam champion."
Although he had celebrated through text messages before, this was the first meeting after the US Open, and Tim still expressed his congratulations very formally.
Gawain's eyes were full of smiles, "This happened in the last century. We should learn to forget it."
Tim was not good at words or 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 game, I knew you would definitely win.
.”
Gao Wen knew that Tim was telling the truth. The last thing he was good at was being polite, so he felt warm in his heart, "Next time you play in the Grand Slam final, I will be there to watch and cheer."
Gawain is also serious.
According to the historical development trajectory, Thiem matured in the 2018 season, reaching two French Open finals and one Australian Open final, until he successfully reached the top of the US Open final in 2020 to complete his transformation.
There is no doubt that Tim later grew into the leader of the new generation of players born after 1990. His overall performance has surpassed that of the young players who have been famous for longer, and he became the transitional link between the "Big Three" and later the "Little Big Three".
.
After hearing Gawain's words, Tim also made a rare joke that was not a joke, "Are you sure you are watching the game live and not fighting on the court?"
Huh? Does this mean that two people are facing each other in the Grand Slam final?
Gawain pursed his lips, "Then it's a pity that the championship doesn't belong to you."
Tim looked at the confident Gawain, took a step back, and made an inviting gesture with full intention. His eagerness to try could be felt all over his body.
"Try it? Try it now?"
Gawain was naturally happy to accompany him. No need to say anything more, he just entered the court with the racket in hand.
From a batting partner to a doubles partner, Gao Wen and Tim had a lot of work to do. They had no time to exchange pleasantries and immediately immersed themselves in training.
At this time, Gao Wen was finally able to put aside all the off-field distractions for the time being and devote himself wholeheartedly to system training. The addition of Tim was undoubtedly even more powerful.
Over there, the Magic City Masters Tournament is also in full swing. The qualifying rounds have entered the final round, and the bloodbath of the main draw is already around the corner.
As the penultimate 1,000-point ATP Masters of the year and the only Masters in the Asian season, Shanghai Magic City continues to attract the best and most famous players to compete:
The "Big Four" such as Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, and Murray are all gathered together, as well as Wawrinka, Ferrer, Berdych and other in-form players, plus the top players who performed well at the US Open.
Wen, Cilic, Kei Nishikori, etc. are all absent. It can be said that it is truly a gathering of heroes.
In fact, in the latest world rankings, only three of the top 20 players are absent——
Tsonga, Del Potro, Monfils.
From the scale to the specifications to the lineup, the Masters is worthy of being a Masters. It can completely compete with the Grand Slam, and the intensity of competition is comparable.
Of course, there are still differences between the Grand Slam and the Masters:
First of all, the competition system, the Grand Slam is a best-of-five-set system, and the Masters is a best-of-three-set system, which also means that the uncertainty of the game is higher; the schedule, the Grand Slam is a full two weeks, and the Masters is only
One week is still the normal rhythm of the tour.
Secondly, the lottery, the Grand Slam has 128 lottery, and the Masters has 56 lottery. Among them, there are only 16 seed seats in the Masters, which is directly reduced by half; but correspondingly, the top eight
The No. 1 seeded player can enjoy a first-round bye.
More than one player has said that the Grand Slam tests the state within two weeks and adjusts oneself step by step; while the Masters tests the ability to improve the state in the short term:
Because in the first three rounds of a Grand Slam, you may often encounter some qualifying or wild card players whose world rankings are outside 100; but in the first round of the Masters, you may have to face the top 50 or even the top three players in the world.
Players at level 10 don't have time to adapt, so their intensity goes up immediately.
In addition, young players are full of enthusiasm and momentum. In a best-of-three-set match, it is more likely and easier to burst out with frightening energy. It is precisely because of this that the Masters was upset in the first two rounds.
In fact, there are more than the Grand Slam, and a lot more.
The emergence of a new generation often starts from the Masters.
Before the main draw, the Magic City Masters announced this year’s wild card list and seed seats.
In the singles wild card list, Argentinian player Juan-Monaco and three other Chinese players Zhang Ze, Wu Di and Wang Chuhan won the wild cards.
In the doubles wild card list, the names of the Chinese combination Zhang Ze/Wu Di and the multinational combination Gao Wen/Tim are prominently listed.
Gao Wen, the new US Open champion who has become very popular recently, is about to make his doubles debut at the Magic City Masters. This is undoubtedly an unexpected news, but it has not triggered a large-scale discussion. Instead, it seems a bit dull. However, this is not
It was an accident, and it could even be said to be the result Tobias expected.
First of all, Tobias actually considered inviting Dimitrov and Gawain to play doubles. From the perspective of appearance, the topic must be unusually popular, and Nike is definitely willing to add fuel to the fire.
However, after experiencing the baptism of the Imperial City Open, Tobias also realized that he needed to cool down a little to reduce the pressure on Gawain, so he deliberately avoided the possibility of hype, and then invited Tim.
Compared to Dimitrov, the newly emerging Thiem is not very topical, and is not even widely known.
Secondly, in the final analysis, the discussion of doubles competition is still too low, especially in China. Even the popularity of singles competition is still on the rise, let alone doubles?
In the end, the real hot spot is not here, but in the seed list announced by the Magic City Masters.
It is not surprising that Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Wawrinka are ranked among the top four seeds respectively, but Gauvin, currently ranked fifteenth in the world, is because of Tsonga and Del Potro who are ahead of the rankings.
He didn't come to participate and ended up ranked as the 13th seed. This is news.
Since participating in the challenge for the first time in July, due to a combination of circumstances, until last week's Imperial City Open, Gao Wen was an "outsider" with a wild card; now, for the first time, he has been shortlisted for the Masters with his own ranking, and
As soon as he came up, he became a seed, and he was only one step away from being ranked among the top 12 seeds.