David Goffin, a Belgian, stayed away from the competition due to a left wrist injury, and his world ranking once dropped to 110.
Since returning to the court in July, he has achieved an astonishing record of 44 wins and four losses, including five challenge championships. He has also participated in Grand Slam and Masters level competitions and performed well.
In the end, the year-end world ranking reached 22nd, setting a new career high.
The Comeback of the Year award is indeed well deserved.
As for Gawain, actually... there is more or less some controversy, not because people don't want to vote for him, but precisely because everyone wants to vote for him, so that there is some confusion about the scope of nominations for the awards.
The Annual Most Improved Award is intended to honor the player nominated for the fastest improvement in the past year and who has contributed incredible performance to create the highest ranking in his or her career.
The Rookie of the Year Award is designed to reward the next generation of young players, that is, players who break into the top 100 in the world rankings for the first time this season and are younger than 21 years old.
Generally speaking, the nomination scope for the former should be players who have been on the tour for many years and finally made breakthroughs; the nomination scope for the latter should be the "stars of tomorrow" young players who have just entered the tour. One year old is used as the dividing point to distinguish the two nomination ranges.
Of course, this is not an official rule, it is just a conventional concept to ensure that the two awards reward two different groups of players.
However, this year is really special. My wife is special. To be precise, I should say that Gawain is too special.
According to convention, Gao Wen should win the Rookie of the Year Award, and the Most Improved Award of the Year should be awarded to another player, but the reality is-
The votes all swarmed towards Gawain.
After the award was announced, fans and reporters alike accepted the history-making result as a matter of course, although there was no controversy at all.
However, considering that this is the second time such a situation has occurred in history since the two awards were established in 1975, the ATP official website published an exclusive interview.
In 1978, John McEnroe was born. He won the Most Improved Award and the Best Rookie of the Year Award in one fell swoop, thus starting his brilliant career.
However, since then, no player has been able to win both awards in the same year. Thirty-six years have passed.
History is being written again.
Therefore, the ATP official website interviewed a series of professional players and asked them their views on these two awards and Gao Wen.
Dimitrov stated directly in an interview with the ATP official website.
"There is no doubt that Gao Wen is the most improved and outstanding player this year, bar none."
"He won a Grand Slam and a Masters, went straight into the top ten in the world from no world ranking, do we still need to discuss it? That says it all."
Obviously, the news media have also noticed the friendship between these players born after 1990, so they conducted further in-depth interviews.
On the phone, even if you can't see the expression, you can still feel the smile on the corner of Dimitrov's mouth.
"Of course, I'm looking forward to being able to face-to-face with Gao Wen on the court, but I have played a few practice games with Gao Wen and believe me, it is not a wonderful experience."
"I think the most outstanding trait that Gao Wen has shown this season is his ability to interpret the game, as if he can see through your tactical intentions."
"We all know that tennis is an ever-changing sport. We need to make countless choices in a millisecond. Sometimes we are not even sure what choice we should make. We just follow our own instincts. This is also the experience and That’s why talent is so important, but if someone can see through your choices, it makes us very passive.”
Valley table
"I mean, very, very passively."
Dimitrov stressed his point over and over again.
"So, I think he's reached a whole new level now, and the world rankings and titles speak for themselves."
Wawrinka agreed with this. The fourth-ranked player in the world unexpectedly lost to Gawain in the quarterfinals of the US Open.
"He makes you feel like you have nowhere to run. I mean, your tactics are always being seen through and he's always one step ahead of you."
"Everyone is talking about Gao Wen's offense, Gao Wen's defense, Gao Wen's backhand, Gao Wen's movement, but in my opinion, Gao Wen's ability to grasp the game is a unique talent. I and many, many outstanding players Players have played against each other, and Gao Wen has proven that he can hold his own against the top players.”
Wawrinka's idea has a wide market.
"I don't like him. Technically, I hate him."
Murray, one of the "Big Four", made a joke during an interview.
"Honestly, I kind of regret voting for him, but I guess it's because he's so 'annoying' because I hate smart people the most. Haha."
Murray, among the top players, actually likes to joke the most. His British humor always has his own special flavor.
"I would say it's enough to have one smart guy on tour, and now there's one more, and I'm a little frustrated."
After the joke, Murray still gave a serious evaluation. Even if Murray had the last laugh in the duel in Valencia, it would not affect his positive evaluation of Gawain.
"In the game, Gao Wen's interpretation of the entire game was very unique and very accurate. I mean the entire game. Many times it is hard for you to believe that he is only eighteen years old, oh, nineteen years old, he is already nineteen. Years old, right? God, is he only nineteen?"
"Sorry, I just want to say that when Gawain is standing across the net, you need to brace yourself and pay attention at all times."
Murray's lament was also conveyed to Federer by reporters.
"No, no, no, I don't want to know, I'm not interested at the moment."
Federer also made a joke and laughed happily.
"I'm on vacation, can't you just leave me alone for a while? I want to escape these problems for a while."
So far, Gao Wen and the other three giants have played against each other, but Federer is the only exception. Until now, the two have not met.
It is precisely because of this that everyone from fans to reporters are looking forward to the two people playing against each other to see what it feels like and maybe they can create different sparks.
Hence Federer's joke, deliberately stating that he refused to play against Gawain and refused to answer any questions about Gawain head-on.
Having said that, Federer responded.
"But one thing, I can be sure that Gao Wen is indeed the most improved player this year and also the best newcomer. There is no doubt that we don't need to deny this because of a little difference in selection. We should Open our arms and welcome more outstanding players to emerge."
"For that, we should applaud, we should cheer."
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