Match Point: Chapter 976 No. 3 in the world
Since the era of the Open, the history of tennis world rankings has not been as long as imagined. Although the four major grand slams are about to reach their 100th anniversary, the time for ATP and WTA to introduce world rankings is relatively short, only 40 years.
As of 2022, in the singles arena, ATP has a total of 27 world No. 1s. Coincidentally, WTA also has 27 world No. 1s.
The men's and women's latest world No. 1s were all achieved in March 2022:
In terms of ATP, the 27th in the world is Medvedev; in the WTA, the 27th in the world is Iga-Swiatek (Iga-Swiatek).
For a long time, Asian players have been relatively weak in the tennis arena. Not to mention world number one, even top players are rare. Although there are many Asian world number ones in the doubles field, the singles field still faces many tests.
In terms of women, Li Na's highest world ranking once came to No. 2. Later, Naomi Osaka made a historic breakthrough and became No. 1 in the world for the first time as an Asian player, filling this gap.
For men, there are always vacancies.
In nearly half a century of ATP world ranking history, the highest ranking of Asian players is Zhang Depei.
The world ranking of this famous Chinese player has reached the second highest level; moreover, the feat of reaching the top of the French Open at the age of 17 has long been the youngest record for the top four Grand Slam champions in men's tennis.
Other than that, it's blank.
Thailand's Sri Chaphan, he is the first player among the top ten players in the world.
Neon's Kei Nishikori set a new high in the ranking of Asian men's players last year. He once reached fifth in the world and kept setting new records.
A feat that is already extremely difficult, in the era of the Big Four, the difficulty has doubled and multiplied. It is difficult to break through the shackles of the top four.
Then, Gao Wen appeared.
Last year, after only playing for half a season, Gao Wen braved the wind and waves to reach the top ten in the world, and became the Asian twin star with Kei Nishikori.
This year, just after the start of the season, Gao Wen continued to make history.
Relying on the points he won at the Australian Open, Gao Wen surpassed Kei Nishikori in one fell swoop and became the new No. 1 player in Asia, which truly changed the status quo of Asian tennis.
At the same time, Gao Wen continued to enter the top four, surpassing Nadal and ranking third in the world, only one step away from Zhang Depei's record.
The third in the world!
All-time high!
Since Murray's strong rise to complete the last piece of the puzzle of the "Big Four Dynasty", the top four positions in the ATP world rankings have been firmly held by them.
For any player who wants to rank among the top four or even the top three in the world, this is a difficult task. There are only a handful of players who have been able to accomplish such a feat over the years:
Ferrer, Wawrinka.
That's all.
Even if you add later, until the "three small giants" fully mature and rise in 2020, there will be no more than four names added to this list:
Raonic, Del Potro, Dimitrov, Tim.
The above is all.
At the moment in 2015, Gao Wen also joined the ranks of Ferrer and Wawrinka, becoming the third player to reach the third highest ranking in the world in the past ten years.
Everything, deja vu.
Last year, Wawrinka reached the top of the Australian Open and Monte Carlo in the spring, ranking third in the world at the peak of his career, sounding the clarion call to shake the dominance of the Big Four.
This year, Wawrinka stopped in the semi-finals of the Australian Open and missed the chance to defend his title, but Gao Wen took over the scepter, won the championship with an unparalleled performance, and rushed to the third place in the world in one go.
boom!
The crowd surged.
impassioned.
Considering that it was an Asian player from China who accomplished this feat, it was even more exciting. This also proved Gao Wen's words once again:
With dreams, anything is possible.
Last year at the US Open, Gao Wen turned out to be born. The posture of the dark horse caused a lot of discussion, and the strange face made tennis fans full of question marks.
But, step by step, Gao Wen gained a firm foothold in the professional tennis world.
When the latest issue of the ATP World Ranking was released, some fans on the social network asked a question, "Who can tell me why Gao Wen is the third in the world?"
Immediately afterwards, a professional tennis reporter responded, "I think, in the Masters, one final four and one champion; the year-end finals, four finals; in addition, five finals, four wins and one loss... These results should help a little bit."
Understatement but with a little witty humor.
Netizens applauded.
Gao Wen's rise was really too fast, and it was precisely because it was so fast that it gave people the illusion that the foundation was unstable. With the current Big Four dynasty, the discomfort of the fans is bound to continue for some time.
However, in competitive sports, actual actions and game results are always more effective than words, and that is the most powerful and efficient counterattack.
What's more, compared to those black fans, Gao Wen's rapid increase in the number of fans is truly jaw-dropping.
Tobias registered several different social network platforms for Gao Wen, including Chinese and English. Moreover, Tobias listened to Gao Wen's opinion and made a bold decision. He did not hire a professional team to manage these accounts. Instead, Tobias and Gao Wen managed it themselves.
That said, maybe these social network accounts are not updated frequently, but to be sure ~www.mtlnovel.com~ is all first-hand information posted by them personally.
In just half a year, the number of fans of these accounts continued to grow, and reached a new height after the Australian Open.
Gao Wen's total followers are approaching 90 million like a rocket on multiple social networking platforms including bib, twitter, and photo wall.
A distance of 100 million doesn't seem to be that far away.
Compared with fan fanaticism, those black fans' comments are just drizzle.
so-
third in the world.
Then, the next goal is to be number two in the world, or even... number one in the world?
Just by imagining it in my mind, I became uncontrollably excited.
Of course, close at hand, but far away.
In March 2004, Federer reached the top of the world; in July 2005, Nadal ranked second in the world.
After that, for a full ten years, the top two in the world were firmly controlled. From Double Dragons to the Triple Standing and then to the official formation of the Big Four, no player other than the Big Four was able to break the shackles.
In fact, more than ten years.
According to the original historical trajectory, the reign of the top two in the world until May 2021, with the rise of Medvedev, the world ranking came to second, breaking the "top two blockade" of the Big Four for 17 years; In March 2022, Medvedev will go one step further to reach the top of the world.
In other words, third in the world? It can be seen that many players have made breakthroughs before and after; but the world's second? Disaster! Difficult to ascend to heaven!
No matter how you look at it, the third place in the world seems to be the ceiling.
So, can Gao Wen go further?
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