The Olympic Games, World Cup, and World Championships are known as the three most prosperous events in the world. Each event can attract global attention and trigger thousands of topics. Their significance has long surpassed competitive sports itself, and they are also of commercial value.
and a high degree of integration of urban planning.
Every competitive sport has its own top event and the highest honor, and tennis is no exception.
As an individual sport, and as a sport for nobles and gentlemen for a long time, tennis has resisted professional competition for a long, long time.
To put it simply, those top events are all private club models, and they only allow their own members, that is, non-professional players, to participate; while professional players can only participate in small events with professional sponsors because the nobles refuse to allow them to participate.
The sport became commercialized.
The key is that those events with long history, glorious tradition and strong influence all continue the "private club" model, which has also prevented the professionalization of tennis from being promoted.
Among them, there are four most famous top club competitions:
In 1877, the Wimbledon Club Championship began in London, England. This is a grass-court event. It was originally an internal event of a private club.
The U.S. Men's Tennis Championship was founded in New York in 1881. It was a hard-court event that initially only allowed players from the U.S. National Tennis Association to participate.
In 1891, the French Tennis Championships officially started in Paris, France. This was a clay court event that initially only allowed members of the French Tennis Club to participate.
In 1905, Australia started the Australasian Championships in Melbourne. It was initially a grass-court event and was not transformed into a hard-court event until 1988. The original intention of this event was to organize cultural exchanges between Australia and New Zealand.
Including the above four events, they only allow amateur players to participate.
In the initial tennis competition, amateur players and professional players were two completely different systems, with different organizations behind them. They also prohibited each other's players from participating in competitions not organized by themselves, which also made the commercialization of tennis develop slowly.
However, players' protests, organizational games, and competition for interests have always been happening. After multiple power confrontations and confrontations, changes finally ushered in.
In 1968, the French Tennis Championships took the lead in making changes. They changed their name to the "French Open" and officially accepted the participation of professional players.
This year is also known as the "First Year of the Open", with 1968 as the boundary. Before that, it was the non-open era, and the champions of the top events were often non-professional amateur players; after that, it was the open era.
, professional players have officially become the main participants in major competitions.
Of course, after the French Open was changed, there was still a period of turmoil for several years. After the struggle for power, it was not until 1972 that it finally stabilized and formed the professional tennis system that continues to this day——
itf, the International Tennis Federation, is mainly responsible for the four Grand Slams, youth events and national team competitions, etc.
ATP, the Professional Tennis Players Association, is mainly responsible for the organization of men's tours at all levels.
WTA, the International Women's Tennis Association, is mainly responsible for the organization of women's tours at all levels.
The three organizations are independent of each other and have many conflicts of interest, but they also cooperate with each other to assist the operation of the entire professional tennis world.
In today's professional tennis competition system, the highest honors are the four Grand Slam tournaments, because the tournament has the longest history, and also because the tournament has the most players and the largest prize money. Of course, the most important thing is that among the three major tennis organizations
The points level is also the highest.
The four Grand Slams are the above-mentioned four events with profound historical background: Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open.
Any player who can win a Grand Slam championship means the highest honor in his career!
If you can win the four Grand Slam honors, it will be called a "Grand Slam". If you can also win the Olympic gold medal, it will be a "Golden Slam."
In the Open era, the most legendary superstar in men's professional tennis is none other than Pete Sampras. This player born in 1971 won the US Open championship for the first time in 1990, making the history of the event.
The youngest men's singles champion in the world, he has been out of control ever since.
In Sampras's career, the number of weeks ranked No. 1 in the world, the number of No. 1 rankings at the end of the year, the total prize money in professional events, etc. are all historical record holders; moreover, he has won a total of fourteen
A Grand Slam champion is also a unique presence in history.
The only regret is that Sampras has never been able to conquer the French Open. He lacks a Grand Slam championship and has not been able to achieve the "Grand Slam" glory.
When Sampras announced his retirement on the opening day of the 2003 US Open, countless experts believed that the record of fourteen Grand Slam titles would be impossible to beat for a long, long time.
However, in 2009, Swiss player Roger Federer first tied Sampras's record of fourteen Grand Slams, and then broke the record the following year. As of 2014, his number of Grand Slam titles
It has reached the seventeenth level, and it is considered an unattainable height.
However, at this time, no one thought that after 2014, miracles were still being born, history was still being created, and the two most glorious and dazzling decades in men's tennis still continued to write myths.
Although historical records are being broken step by step by younger generations, Sampras is still one of the most influential iconic idols in professional tennis. Until 2014, and until 2021, Sampras's name and records are still
It is a part that cannot be ignored when people discuss the history of tennis.
There is no doubt that Sampras is a legend.
Today, the "Pete" who appears next to Sofar is none other than the legendary Pete Sampras.
After retiring, Sampras has never left tennis. He can be seen in the commentary booth, exhibition matches, charity events and other occasions. The most important reason why he came to commentate on the Los Angeles Derby as a special guest today is
He has direct ties to the Bruins --
Sampras' sister, Stella Sampras, is the head coach of the Bruins women's tennis team.
He was also very concerned about the game between the Bruins and the Trojans. When he received the invitation from ESPN, he nodded and agreed without hesitation.
At this time, faced with Sofar's question, Sampras also said bluntly, "I think the formations of the coaches on both sides have been carefully considered. We have only seen the surface, but we all should know that competitive sports
The outcome has never been determined by ranking and words."
Although he didn't say it explicitly, you could feel it both inside and outside the words. Sampras was actually saying that there might be surprises in this matchup and that Gawain should not be underestimated.
Sampras turned to look at Sofal and asked with a smile, "You just watched the Bruins game three days ago. What do you think?"