Whether it is a serious historical drama or a drama palace fight drama, the most attractive of them is the dispute over the abolition of the prince. Around this theme, you can write countless complicated and intriguing violent plots.
The situation on the tennis court is somewhat similar.
Nadal is undoubtedly the greatest clay king of all time, and the great winner of the 13 Musketeers Cups is a veritable king of super long standby. What is the concept of 13 French Open titles? Someone may have had a career of less than 13 years in their lifetime, while Nadal won 21 Grand Slams in a 21-year career, averaging 1 Grand Slam per year.
Nadal's great achievements were not believed by anyone a few years ago, and even his long-time coach Uncle Tony did not believe that Nadal could achieve such a brilliant achievement.
The style of play is too physically injurious, the technical style is too partial, and the voice of the singing has accompanied Nadal almost throughout his career. But nadal used his achievements to turn the impossible into reality again and again, making those who doubted him begin to doubt himself.
The most recent example happened this year, it happened right now. Before January 30, who could have imagined that he would win the Australian Open after almost half a year of alienation? Before Feb. 26, who could have imagined he would have won three titles in a row this year, and still be on hard-earth?
If we order the voices of doubting Nadal by time, 2019 is undoubtedly the most vocal year. The reason why the wave of doubts reached its climax that year was because Tim, known as the little prince of the red earth, had been born for 3 years, and he had been dormant for a long time and had almost broken the last layer of window paper of the Grand Slam in the French open.
Going back in time, 2016 was the first year that Thiem began to break out, and he won five consecutive games in the French Open for the third time, during which he connected Kloppez, Zverev, Goffin, and finally lost to the then world number one Djokovic in the semifinals.
At the 2017 French Open, Thiem defeated Djokovic to reach the final four again, and then lost to Nadal in three sets in the semi-finals. It was also his second meeting with Nadal at the French Open.
How strong Nadal's dominance is, how strong Thiem's determination to progress is. At the 2018 French Open, Thiem finally reached the final, but still lost to Nadal in three sets. Although losing to Nadal for the third time, everyone is optimistic that Thiem will go further and win the French Open title sooner or later.
By the 2019 French Open, Thiem reached the final for the second time, losing to Nadal again. Despite the failed second attempt, Thiem's progress was evident as he took a set from Nadal.
Thiem's real breakthrough came in the 2020 US Open, where he defeated Zverev in five sets in the first Post-90s Grand Slam final, his first personal Grand Slam title and the first Grand Slam of the entire post-90s male player.
Thiem's progress also lies in the fact that he has beaten Nadal at least once a year since 2016: in the semi-finals of Buelos Ellis in 2016, in the quarter-finals of Rome in 2017, in the quarter-finals of Madrid in 2018, in the quarter-finals of Barcelona in 2019, in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in 2020 and the year-end finals.
What no one expected was that Tim, who had climbed to the top, would soon fall from a high place.
After winning the 2020 US Open, Thiem played only 3 of the next 6 Grand Slam tournaments, including the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2020, the round of 16 at the Australian Open in 2021, and the round of the French Open in 2021.
The direct causes of Tim's decline in status were COVID-19 infection and an injury to his right wrist. Once seen as Nadal's successor, he is sinking at a speed visible to the naked eye. On March 29 this year, Thiem even played a challenge match in Spain, losing the first game to the 171st-ranked Argentine player. The following April 19, Tim made his debut in Belgrade and yesterday in Portugal.
With The Fall of Tim, Tsitsipas began to emerge. The Greek, who is 5 years younger than Tim, lost to Djokovic after replacing Tim at the 2020 French Open and reaching the semi-finals.
What happened next was almost exactly the same as Thiem in 2018, with Tsitsipas reaching the final at the 2021 French Open but losing to eventual champions Djokovic Djokovic.
Tsitsipas is distinctly different from Thiem in that although he has established himself in the top five of the world, he has not been able to immediately make a breakthrough in the Grand Slam. At the same time, Tsitsipas's personnel did not improve with the improvement of performance. Behaviors that negatively affect him include frequent controversial restroom suspensions; multiple off-site coaching; making inappropriate comments about sensitive political events; and posting "philosophical" words without depth on personal social media.
Just as people were watching, suddenly there was Alcaraz.
Alcaraz's starting battle takes place at the 2021 French Open, and at just 17 years old, he has won five consecutive games since qualifying to reach the round of 32 of a Grand Slam for the first time. Just a month later, he won his first ATP 250 in Croatia.
In the US Open in September, Alcaraz beat England's first brother Norrie and world third Tsitsipas to reach the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam in a historic way. In November, Alcaraz won the ATP New Forces Finals, bringing the 2021 season to a successful end.
2022 was a year of alcaraz status and results, as he won his first ATP 500 title in Rio and lost to Nadal in the Indian Wells semifinals. Next, Alcaraz won the Miami Masters, becoming the youngest champion ever to win the event.
Last week, Alcaraz won his fourth tour title in Barcelona, bringing together the at-250, ATP500 and ATP1000 levels.
In the latest edition of the ATP Singles Standings, released on April 25, 18-month-old Alcaraz reached the ninth highest level in the world, becoming the 20th player to break into the world's top ten before the age of 20 since the introduction of computer rankings in 1973. Of the players who achieved this feat before, 12 went on to reach the top of the world.
Many people like to compare Alcaraz to Nadal, but he himself does not like to be talked about like a certain predecessor. Alcaraz is more self-absorbed, wanting to be a unique person rather than being labeled as someone else.
Whether Alcalas liked it or not, he was again compared to Nadal by the good guys after winning the barcelona title. Alcaraz made it to the world's top ten for the first time on April 25. Coincidentally, in 2005, at the age of 18, Nadal made his first top 10 in the world after winning the title in Barcelona, and the day the ranking was announced was also on April 25. On the same day 17 years later, Alcaraz also broke into the world's top ten for the first time in Barcelona, and the experience and date of the two winning the championship and entering the world's top ten are exactly the same.
Therefore, compared to Tim and Tsitsipas, Alcaraz is now more like a successor to Nadal's mantle.
Zhang Ailing wrote in "Legend", "Fame should be early, come too late, and happiness is not so painful." Even if the individual can wait, the times are rushed, they are already in destruction, and there is still more destruction to come. This sentence is the most vivid footnote to the change of the Clay Heavenly King. (Source: Tennis House Author: Yun Cirrus Yunshu)