It's a new year and a new day. Looking back at yesterday, today's you and I don't seem to have changed much. Stretching the timeline will reveal that there have been some changes in the past year.
Life is like a tennis game, it's no different to lose a point or win a point, when the points lost or won accumulate to a certain extent, you will feel that you are standing on the edge of a cliff, or the victory is within reach.
When I fell in love with tennis, I was in my early thirties, flesh and blood, feeling that I was improving every day, getting better and better every year, and always looking forward to the future. I don't know when I realized that not every year is always better than the other, and the future is not always full of sunshine, it begins to rise up, and uneasiness and fear arise in my heart.
Looking at the world from the perspective of tennis, how do you evaluate everything you have experienced in 2021?
Surprise, anxiety, sadness, joy, pride... Looking back on the past year, countless emotions are intertwined, and they have jointly written footnotes of the times. Among them, "magic" can be called the darkest background color.
Federer, the top traffic star in the tennis world, played only 13 games last year, not only fans, but even ticket sellers and TV broadcasters can't accept such a low appearance rate, people want to see his game too much.
When Nadal delivered eggs to three opponents in the first five rounds of the French Open, we thought his 14th title was secure again. In the semi-finals that followed, Djokovic completely destroyed Nadal's back garden, and the King of Clay was largely alienated from the court in the second half of the year.
In the humid heat of Tokyo, Djokovic, who lost in the semifinals, buried his head in Zverev's chest, physically and mentally exhausted. At Flushing, he hid his face and cried before the final was over, and the great champion was like a helpless child at the moment.
In addition to regret and loss, we also gained some happiness last year. Every time Tsitsipas went to the bathroom, we couldn't help but laugh. When Zverev accused Tsitsipas of going to the bathroom to be instructed by the coach's cell phone, Tsitsipas' father was fiddling with his phone.
In the age of magic, happiness carries the magic of complex meaning.
Over the past year, magic hasn't always been illusory, and those incredible fairy tales have really become a reality. Who can believe that Radulcannu, who participated in a grand slam for the second time, won all the way from 10 consecutive qualifiers and did not lose a set?
Over the past year, magic has also meant elusive contrasts. Before the French Open, Kregitskova was still hovering around 40th in the rankings, and she was an ordinary girl who did not pay attention to the tour. The Czech player, who was mediocre in appearance and skill, shined at the French Open, winning both singles and doubles titles.
However, the French Open doubles champion is like a gust of wind blowing in Paris in June, rolling up a trace of red soil and soon after quietly, many people do not know who the women's singles champion of this year's French Open is, let alone the name of Krejickova.
There was a similar encounter with Barty. The equally mediocre-looking Australian Aboriginal girl won her second Grand Slam title and finished first at the end of the year for three consecutive years, but her off-field endorsements and fame were far inferior to Naomi Osaka's.
When it comes to Naomi Osaka, many people have mixed emotions in their hearts. At the Australian Open three years ago, when Li Na presented the championship trophy to Naomi Osaka, the media interpreted it as the inheritance of Asian women's tennis. But whether Naomi Osaka, a mixed-race, can represent Japan or Asia has sparked widespread discussion.
On July 23, the torch at the Tokyo Olympics proved that Naomi Osaka is not only the pride of Japan, but also the pride of tennis.
Naomi Osaka was praised by Billy Jane Kim as a leading figure in women's tennis, but her extraordinary experience last year was also magical. Her retirement from the French Open has sparked widespread concern about depression, more players have bravely spoken out about their psychological hardships, and Andreescu withdrew from this year's Australian Open for mental health reasons.
Some people withdrew, and more people chose to stick with it. Murray, 34, who has worked tirelessly on the pitch with a metal hip, took to 13 tournaments on the tour last year with 13 wild cards and won just 16 games, while this year's Australian Open he received another wild card.
It's not just Murray who is tenacious. Del Potro, who has returned from multiple injuries and multiple times, resumed training last month and will return on clay in South America in March. Tim, Wawrinka, Churich, Goffin, Tsonga... These players, known as the "GlassMen", have gone through many difficult comebacks and they equally deserve respect.
Magic and restlessness are footnotes of last year, and the tenacity of countless people gives us hope for recovery.
Even the oldest players are stubbornly extending their careers into 2022. There are 11 active players over the age of 40 in men's tennis, the oldest of whom Toshihide Matsui is over 43 years old, and he ranked 1043 in the challenge in Turkey last month. This year, Kalovich will turn 43 and Federer and F. Lopez will turn 41. Veterans don't die, they just slowly wither.
There is withering, and there is more rebirth. Although off the bench, the 20-year-old Zinner already has year-end finals experience, winning four titles last year and winning all three in the Davis Cup. Alcarraz, 18, is still playing grand slam qualifiers in the first half of the year, reaching quarter-finals at the US Open in the second half of the year, and after winning the ATP New Forces Finals, he rose 109 places in the ranking last year.
Raducano, Fernandez, Koscyuk, Gauff, Musetti... These under-20 players are becoming more and more familiar to us. This dynamic new generation is the most promising group in tennis, and their every progress makes people feel the surging power of tennis.
Globally, tennis, which has been hit hard by the pandemic, has largely recovered, most tournaments have returned to normal, and the number of spectators is close to that of the epidemic, wimbledon achieved a profit of 44 million pounds last year. Thanks to the hot ticket sales, the Paris Masters paid 1 times the bonus to the players after the end, which was like a shot in the arm, injecting inexhaustible impetus into the recovery of the tennis world.
If magic and uneasiness are the end of 2021, we obviously see that recovery is slowly growing, like a new shoot that breaks the ground, trying to move up to the first rays of the new year.
In the new year, I wish the tennis world prosperity, and I wish you who love tennis - Happy New Year! (Source: Tennis House Author: Yun Cirrus Yunshu)