Chapter 626 A Possibility

Has the era of the "Big Four" really come to an end?

Judging from the four Grand Slams, the dominance of the Big Four has indeed reached the lowest point in ten years—

Wawrinka at the Australian Open, Nadal at the French Open, Djokovic at Wimbledon, and Gawain at the US Open, the four championship trophies eventually belonged to four different players.

Interestingly, the last time such a situation happened was actually not far away. It was two years ago, in 2012, Australian Open Djokovic, French Open Nadal, Wimbledon Federer, and US Open Murray. The year in which the giants officially established their absolute dominance.

So, what does it mean this time? Does it mean another new reshuffle?

From the perspective of the Masters, the Big Four are also facing severe challenges—

Indian Wells Djokovic, Miami Djokovic, Monte Carlo Wawrinka, Madrid Nadal, Roman Djokovic, Montreal Tsonga, Cincinnati Federer, Magic City Federer.

The last time the Masters champion fell outside the Big Four was in 2012, when Ferrer reached the top in Paris.

And go back to the more distant 2010, Indian Wells Ljubicic, Miami Roddick, Paris Soderling.

What is obvious is that Paris is undoubtedly the Masters Tournament where the Big Four have the weakest dominance.

If this year's Paris Masters is once again a dark horse, then 2014 will also be the first time since 2010 that the overall nine-race Masters has three championships and falls outside the Big Four; coupled with the obvious loosening of the Grand Slam , perhaps the era of the "Big Four" has indeed begun to decline.

Of course, analysis on paper is just a bunch of data. After all, competitive sports still need to go to the court to compete and see. The outcome is unpredictable.

But it is undeniable that 2014 is a magical year, but it is also a turbulent year, and a little trouble may spark heated discussions.

On the one hand, Federer won the Shanghai Masters, and there were endless discussions. Obviously, the Big Four are still very competitive. Maybe the Australian Open and the US Open are just accidents.

On the other hand, the sights are all bustling towards the Paris Masters, looking forward to this event can point out the direction for the professional arena in the coming year.

Witnessing the rise of legends, witnessing peak duels, witnessing the change of dynasties... Witnessing history is always the most interesting thing. Gathered over—

Don't forget that entering the European indoor hard court season also means that the competition for the year-end finals has officially entered the bayonet stage.

The so-called year-end finals, as the name suggests, is the last "peak duel" of the year.

Since 1970, every year in the first week of November, the year-end finals have been staged as scheduled. As the final battle of the annual season, Huashan will discuss swords and fight against the top of the Forbidden City.

The year-end finals will be best-of-three sets, with a total of eight seats set up and divided into two groups.

First of all, a round robin will be held within the group to determine the top two teams in the group to advance to the semi-finals.

Then, enter the single knockout round, pass the semi-finals and finals, and decide the champion.

According to the ATP schedule, the level of the year-end finals is second only to the four Grand Slams, and the status is still above the Masters.

In terms of points, the championship points in the year-end finals are 900 points, but each victory in the group stage is worth 200 points. 500 points, higher than the 1,000 points of the Masters and lower than the 2,000 points of the Grand Slam.

In terms of bonuses, the bonuses for the year-end finals are calculated according to the number of games. First of all, as long as you can be shortlisted for the finals, you can get 93,000 US dollars.

Then, every game in the group stage, semi-finals, finals, etc., is the same. If all games are played and won, the accumulated prize money can be as high as 2.3 million US dollars, which is already equivalent to the four Grand Slams Level up.

Of course, the most important thing is that the champion of the year-end finals is equivalent to the "lord of the martial arts". Unlike the year-end world number one, this championship trophy has more significance.

For any player, winning a grand slam is a dream, and it is another dream to be shortlisted for the year-end finals and reach the top.

So, how is the shortlist for the year-end finals drawn up?

It's very simple. According to the ranking of championship points every year, the top eight players are automatically shortlisted, and the ninth and tenth players are substitutes. If someone is injured and withdraws from the game, they will be replaced at any time—

This is why points and bonuses are calculated according to the number of battles played.

However, ATP also considered other possibilities and added a special clause:

Assuming that there is such a player who won two Grand Slam championship trophies, but due to other reasons, the championship points failed to enter the top eight, then he will be the eighth player to be shortlisted for the year-end finals; The eighth-ranked player serves as a substitute.

However, so far, such a situation has never appeared in the ATP.

In the case of the WTA, the rules that have been formulated are that the champions of the four Grand Slams are directly shortlisted, and then included in the list of finalists based on the ranking of championship points each year.

Then they found out that in this way, the situation was very chaotic:

Because the four Grand Slam champions are so easy to be upset that it is difficult for the list of the year-end finals to reflect the elements of "the most stable and outstanding performance throughout the year". The existence of winning the championship is always unprepared.

As a result, the WTA also revised its entry rules, which are now basically consistent with the ATP.

According to the schedule of each year, September is the Asian season, and October is the European indoor hard court season. The seasons in the two regions are four-week and three-week schedules, and then, after a week of rest and adjustment, the year-end finals will blow the horn —

And the competition for championship points ranking~lightnovelpub.net~ will end at the last Masters of the year, which is the Paris Masters.

Therefore, after entering the Asian season, the points update of the world ranking and championship ranking every week is particularly eye-catching, because there may be changes every week, and the results of each week may directly affect the results, just like the Olympic 100-meter Airman Wars in general:

Entering the sprint stage, everyone is doing their best, whether it is the champion who is leading in front, or the other competitors who are following closely behind.

This year, even more so.

From the Grand Slam to the Masters, the turbulence is felt in all directions. So, can we see new faces in the year-end finals?

On October 13th, the latest ATP world rankings were officially announced. In an instant, all the eyes of the world were focused, and it was even more difficult for the Chinese media to restrain their excitement, because for the first time in history, they realized that their own Players may also sprint for a seat in the year-end finals!

if! Just assume! If Gao Wen is shortlisted for the year-end finals, will this young player be able to continue to bring surprises on the stage of Huashan Sword?

Just imagining it in the brain, the blood is already boiling, and who can refuse?

(end of this chapter)