556 Becoming Famous Overnigh (1/2)

Perry was the third seed in the tournament. His first match was also that day. However, he did not receive the same treatment as the tennis king Basel and was not scheduled to play at the Centre Court.

Perry's opponent was also a player who got in through the qualifiers, so the talent gap between the two sides was too large. Perry beat his opponent in three sets, and easily advanced to the second round.

When the game ended, Perry walked out of the stadium. He heard a round of applause when he walked past the Central Court.

That is very enthusiastic applause. I don't know who is playing at the Central Court. Perry looked towards to the court and saw an enormous electronic display in front of the door. It showed the details of the ongoing game and the upcoming game.

Perry saw the name ”Basel” straight away.

Basel? How is he still playing? Is his match not finished? When I got here, he was already playing. My match has finished, but he is still playing? How can it be dragging on for so long? What happened?”

Perry was puzzled. He decided to check out why Basel's game was going on for so long.

As the third seed of the tournament, Perry was naturally allowed admission into the court. He immediately saw Basel.

It's really Basel. His game is not over.

Perry then looked at the scoreboard.

An advanced set? That means that the previous two sets were tied? What is going on? This is only the first round. How can Basel be facing someone as good as him? Perry couldn't believe it

7-6, 6-7, 7-6, 6-7. Did they play four ties? What is going on? There is actually someone who is able to tie Basel four times?

Perry turned to the other side of the court, and then he saw Zhen Chen.

Who is this guy? Perry frowned. As the third seed in the tournament, Perry was ranked third in the world. He certainly wouldn't know such a low-ranked player.

...

Who is this guy? He actually reached an advanced set with Basel.

The board says that he is Zhen Chen. Other than his age, nationality and world ranking, there's not much to know about this guy.

He must be quite good if he was able to push Basel to this point.

Is he really ranked around 200? As far as I know, even the top 10 players in the world lose in three sets when playing Basel. Chen's performance today is much better than those that.

At that moment, everyone watching was paying attention to Zhen Chen.

A wind of change rippled through the audience.

At the beginning of the game, everyone cheered for Basel. After all, Basel was the tennis king and, therefore, deserved the most attention.

As for Zhen Chen, he only managed to get a bit of applause when he played well. The applause was more of a courtesy than an acknowledgment of his skill.

However, now that the game had reached this stage, the audience also started to change. They began to applaud and cheer for Zhen Chen. Although the audience still didn't know who Zhen Chen was, a supposedly weak player, was facing off against the Tennis King in an advanced set. Even the fussiest of audiences had to cheer for him.

The applause excited Zhen Chen. He never thought that he would be so enthusiastically cheered for at the U.S. Open at the Central Court. He could feel the audience giving him recognition. For such a weak player, it was already impressive to compete in the Grand Slam. Getting the recognition of the audience was just another blessing.

...

Maurez was the president of a well-known watch brand in Switzerland. He was also a hardcore fan of the tennis king Basel, so Basel became the spokesperson for the watch brand.

Maurez came to watch Basel's game that day. As a fan of Basel, he certainly hoped that Basel could win the U.S. Open. As the president of the company, he hoped that his company's spokesperson could win the Grand Slam.

Maurez did not pay much attention to this match. After all, it was only the first match. Victory was inevitable for Basel. He would be able to destroy the cannon fodder. There wasn't supposed to be any drama.

However, as a hardcore fan of Basel, Maurez still came to watch the match, even though it was predicted to only last half an hour. Maurez really hoped that Basel could play longer. After all, Basel was the spokesperson of their company; the longer the game, the more exposure the company got.

When Zhen Chen won a set, turning the total score to 1-1, Maurez was somewhat satisfied that his company got more time in the spotlight.

Now, however, Maurez felt anxious.

How can this be? This opponent was supposed to be weak. An advantage set?