First of all, one thing needs to be affirmed. Nike chose the Thunder to sign Gao Wen, and even did not hesitate to give up the jersey for dividends, which proves their determination——
From the very beginning, Nike expected and believed that Gao Wen could become a superstar. There is no doubt about it.
However, even with high expectations, Gao Wen's growth and rise still exceeded Nike's expectations.
Step by step, Gao Wen is indeed becoming a leader of the new generation and showing unlimited potential and vitality in the global market.
This raises a question for Nike and everyone, can Gao Wen become the next generation of top superstars?
What we are talking about here are not ordinary superstars, but the top superstars who are one in a million:
Beckham, Ronaldo, Messi, Jordan, Schumacher, Serena Williams, Woods, Federer and so on.
Any name can break the shackles of its own competitive events and make waves in other fields, in the whole society, and on a global scale.
Everyone has been looking for it, but not everyone can have such luck.
In this regard, Nike always has endless courage, always dares to try and make mistakes and take risks, just like when it signed Bouchard last year.
Last year, Bouchard experienced a perfect year. He had three consecutive semi-finals at the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon, and also reached the final at Wimbledon. Although he performed regretfully at the US Open and stopped in the fourth round, at the end of the year, the world Ranking among the top five, setting a new record for Canadian players, it is indeed an extraordinary performance.
This also laid the foundation for Nike's determination to win over Bouchard. In the new season, commercial activities are in full swing——
When it comes to commercial promotions, women's players always have a slight advantage. After all, who can say no to a "sweetheart"?
To some extent, Bouchard's promotional resources are slightly ahead of Gauvin.
However, the opposite happened.
Entering the new season, this young and beautiful girl has continuously hit the wall amidst layers of pressure, ushering in the "growing pains" that all young players must face.
At the Australian Open, Bouchard performed pretty well, advancing all the way to the quarterfinals, but finally lost to Sharapova. Although he was not able to hold on to last year's semifinal points, he was already very good.
Unfortunately, after entering the spring hard court season, Bouchard slowly lost his touch. Since Miami, his record has only been abysmal one win and seven losses. Not only did he suffer two defeats in the Fed Cup, but he was also eliminated in the first round of all four events. , just won the only game in Rome.
Then, the French Open came——
Bouchard's signing was mediocre, and he encountered host player Kristina Mladenovic in the first round.
Although she is currently ranked only 44th in the world, Mladenovic is no stranger to Chinese fans. Last year, she upset Li Na in the first round at Roland Garros. Say, this is not good news.
really.
"6:4", "6:4".
Mladenovic defeated Bouchard and overturned a high-ranking seed in the first round of the French Open for the second consecutive year.
This also means that Bouchard will lose points from last year's French Open semi-finals and his world ranking will fall directly out of the top ten.
awful.
Miserable miserably.
Obviously, Bouchard has been having a hard time recently, so Nike must face a problem:
Is this a short-term downturn, or the beginning of a crash?
After all, Bouchard's rise was too fast. He suddenly appeared at the Australian Open last year and reached the ranks of the top WTA players in just one season. Then, he started to decline completely from March this year. It was difficult to judge for a while. Short-term pain, or the beginning of decline.
The same is true for Gao Wen. Last year, the US Open came out of nowhere. It has not been a year yet, and no one knows how he will develop in the future.
From Bouchard to Gauvin, Nike is gambling and will continue to gamble, but the point is, should they increase their bets on Gauvin?
This is a subject that belongs to Nike.
From an objective perspective, every young player must face growing pains——
From being an unknown person to being the target of public criticism, from having no baggage to being under pressure, from being unnoticed to being in the spotlight, the entire change in feelings and attitudes quietly changes the psychological state and affects the performance on the court; and the long and difficult tennis season is another source of stress.
Especially the clay court season.
On clay, the dual test of body and will is a subject that every player must face, especially for young players.
Therefore, when Nike makes planning adjustments for the future, the factors they need to take into consideration are not that simple.
Not just Gao Wen and Bouchard, but all other young players are no exception——
It is precisely because of this that when the first round of the three-day competition ended, a series of upsets occurred, which was unexpected, but not surprising.
Women's singles.
Two young players, Bouchard and Garcia, were both out; in addition, Jankovic, Venus Williams, A-Radwanska and Vinci were all out.
Among them, Venus Williams lost to Sloane Stephens, an American teenager born in 1993, witnessing the rise of another rising star; A-Radwanska lost to the little-known German player Anne Anika-Beck is definitely the biggest surprise in the first round.
Men's singles.
Karlovic, Gar-Lopez, Fe-Lopez, and Dimitrov all lost.
Although there are not many upsets, they are all strong; however, whether it is Karlovic who broke into the quarterfinals of the Australian Open at the beginning of the year and lost, or the two Spanish veterans Lopez both stopped in the first round, none of them can compare with Dimit Love’s elimination came as a shock——
After the draw came out, people seemed to have already expected that Dimitrov's draw this year was indeed tough enough, and an upset cannot be considered an upset.
In the first round, the "Dimitrov VS Sock" matchup was originally the focus of the battle.
In the end, Sock did not disappoint people's expectations, defeating Dimitrov in straight sets. The tie-break in the first set was fiercely contested, and the score was fixed at "9:7".
For Dimitrov, this is a very, very unacceptable result.
Since the "Sunshine Double Championship", his condition has shown obvious signs of recovery, and the Monte Carlo doubles championship is a booster shot, giving him expectations for the clay court season. Although this is not his best surface, Dee Mitrov still looks forward to his performance in Paris.
However, being eliminated in the first round was even worse than the Australian Open——
For the second consecutive year, Dimitrov lost in the first round at Roland Garros.
In fact, Dimitrov has never been good at clay courts. This year is the fifth consecutive year that he has appeared in the main draw of the French Open, but his best result was the third round in 2013, and he was in the third round in the other three years. They were eliminated in the first round and have only won three games in the past five years, which is a poor performance.
In other words, such a result is not shocking; moreover, from a points perspective, it was the same last year as this year, and there was no loss of points.
But from a confidence level, it is still a heavy blow——
As a player ranked among the top ten in the world, he was eliminated in the first round of a major championship. He was burdened with expectations and high-profile results, but he was unsatisfactory.
It is truly unimaginable the pressure and impact Dimitrov faced.
