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 championship 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 schedules is also a science, otherwise they will be busy 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 the first-round bye, and the game schedule is naturally not so tight.
But if you are an ordinary professional player, I'm afraid you won'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 overnight to Lexington, 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 others 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 the game 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 a race has to be abandoned due to schedule conflicts.
For low-ranking professional players, participating in every event presents countless challenges. There is no essential difference from business trips in the workplace. They are constantly 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 excitement on the field, but also chaos in life, which is far from as glamorous as it seems.
But it is precisely because of this that Gao Wen 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 north-central 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, the Lexington Challenge also has many familiar faces.
In addition to the three Musketeers of the Bruins, players such as Kokkinakis, Cock, 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 regretted losing.
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 Gearing up and starting to look forward to it.
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 balance victory and victory. Finding the best state between failures and how to adjust the state while running around and tossing around are all a science.
Gawain still has a lot to learn if he wants to turn professional.
Turning his head, he saw Macdonald and Giron closing their eyes and falling asleep. Gawain also closed his eyes, and his excited, novel, and tense nerves slowly relaxed.
Wait, only the Bruins’ trio? What about Tobias?
This time, Gauvin heads 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 I do? Does everyone have to use buses to transfer? Can I only bear the travel expenses, accommodation expenses and training expenses myself?
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, now Gawain just wins a Challenge Championship trophy.
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.
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