The sun is getting higher and the temperature in Melbourne is rising rapidly. If you stay outdoors for too long at this time, you will inevitably sweat.
Federer finished his morning training and returned to the room. He took off his sweat-soaked clothes. He was about to walk to the bathroom but heard the voice of the speaker from the TV.
"Twenty times, 20 consecutive challenges to Hawk-Eye success! Zhang Guan made history again. Is he going to bring the record-breaking attitude of track and field to the tennis game?" The commentator's remarks made Federer feel particularly harsh.
"Twenty consecutive challenges to Hawk-Eye success? Is this a joke?" Federer stopped in front of the bathroom door and turned to walk to the TV.
"Zhang Guan's game against Haas, the second set, the score is 3-3, it seems to be a balance of power, the first set turned out to be Zhang Guan 6-4 victory. Although this guy has a little luck in his usual week, the strength is still very good. Zhang Guan was even broken in the first set. It seems that Zhang Guan should not be underestimated. Maybe he has a chance to enter the finals and meet me."
Federer couldn't help but sit down and started watching the game between Zhang Guan and Haas.
"How did this ball hit such a limit? Sure enough, it was out of bounds... is Zhang Guan going to challenge Hawk-eye? The challenge was successful! Just pressed the sideline a little bit, this Haas is enough to back, this ball challenged by Zhang Guan was successful, it looks like this guy has been in bad luck for all these years, and it still hasn't dissipated until now... The twenty-first challenge is successful? The twenty-one consecutive challenge was successful! This is impossible!" Federer suddenly exclaimed, he still felt that the narrator was joking, so he immediately went to the computer, looking for the report of the game so far.
"Challenge success, challenge success, challenge success..." In the battle report, Zhang Guan's previous challenge successes were all normal expressions, and every subsequent Zhang Guan's challenge success was used in boldly.
"17, 18, 19, 20! Counting that time just now, it was 21 times! What hell! Being able to challenge 21 times in a row is certainly not a coincidence, nor is he blind, it is Zhang Guan who sees the ball's landing point! Is his eyesight so good that it can be the same as a computer? Is today April Fool's Day?"
...
"The ratings of Zhang Guan and Haas have reached a new high? Are we close to last year's semi-finals? This is the fourth round! The 22nd challenge was successful? The twenty-two consecutive challenge was successful? My God What! Even the TV audience in Melbourne is waiting for Zhang Guan to challenge twenty-three times in a row!" Australian Open Committee Chairman Terry hung up the phone and then quickly switched the TV in the office to this game.
"Let Zhang Guan participate in the Australian Open, haha, I'm such a genius! This will be the most-watched Australian Open in history! Looking forward to Zhang Guan rushing to the finals and confronting Federer. It will surely create a grand slam viewing miracle!" Terry was looking forward to a bright future. On the screen, Zhang Guan had already started his twenty-third challenge.
"Twenty-third time! It must be successful!" Terry began to pray silently in his heart.
...
CCTV, sports channel guide room.
"Sister Na 1-2 lost to No. 6 seed Henin, this time our gold flower in the women's singles project was completely wiped out by the army. You can let some people on the stage come back first, leaving a few people to report on the doubles. The game is enough." The director sighed and suddenly remembered Zhang Guan.
"I don't know what happened to Zhang Guan. His opponent in the fourth round is the German Golden Boy Haas. What does it look like now? Did Zhang Guan advance to the quarterfinals?" The director said to a subordinate, "Cut the signal from Vodafone Stadium and let me see."
Soon, the broadcast signal from Vodafone Stadium cut to the display screen in front of the director. The director put the headphones on and looked at the score on the screen.
"Zhang Guan leads! The score of this set has reached 5-3. If Zhang Guan wins the next game, he can win this set. The first set is also Zhang Guan's victory, so Zhang Guan distance 2-0 is very close." The director thought silently.
"Challenge! Challenge! Challenge! Challenge!" The audience shouted strongly from the headphones.
"Challenge? Is it a challenge to Hawk-Eye? Isn't it a challenge to Hawk-Eye? Why is this atmosphere so tense, it feels like kicking a penalty shootout." The director was a little puzzled, and at this time, Zhang Guan on the screen had already challenged success.
More violent cheers rang from the scene, the audience boiled, and the commentator's tone was also very excited.
"Twenty-fourth consecutive challenge to Hawkeye's success? My goodness!" The director stayed on the spot. The next moment, he yanked the headphones violently, his expression even more distorted.
"Why don't you let me broadcast this kind of game! Today is the weekend, and if it can be broadcast, the ratings will skyrocket! No, I have to go to the director, even if it is recorded, I have to broadcast this game. Go out!"
...
Even on the weekend, Director Liu of the Network Management Center did not rest at home today. He came to his office because there are conditions here to see the Australian Open game, and the other is because he is waiting for a very important call.
"2-0! Zhang Guan won again! If he wins again in the next set, he will enter the quarter-finals of the Australian Open! Twenty-five successful consecutive challenges to the Hawk-eye, I think this Hawk-eye system should be changed. The name is Zhang Guan System!" Director Liu said to himself.
At this moment, the phone at Director Liu's hand rang and he answered it immediately.
"I am Xiao Liu! The honorary chairman, his old man, will help us speak? Hello, next year to the people of the Radio and Television Bureau! Great, this old man will lift Zhang Guan's blockade! Okay, rest assured, I must be prepared here. Once I receive the notice, I promise to raise the propaganda efforts!"
Director Liu put down the phone and let out a breath, "This time this old man is willing to speak, which is great! I will wait for tomorrow, when the people of the whole country know Zhang Guan has entered the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, they will be surprised!"
...
In the hotel room, Coach Joyce is also watching the live broadcast of this game.
"That may not be possible, maybe I can challenge it 100%!" Zhang Guan's words were constantly circling the side of Coach Joyce's brain.
"One hundred percent time the challenge was successful, this is not a joke, Zhang Guan actually can do this! Is this guy an alien? To accurately determine the place of tennis in the game, but with good eyesight, it's not enough, the image is presented on the retina, and then it is transmitted to the brain through the nerves, and the brain makes analysis and judgment, so he must have excellent brainpower. This requires not only the best vision but also the strongest brain! It seems that our king of track and field is not only fast at running but also faster at other stuff!"
...
The fourth set of the third set of both sides. At this time, Haas once again ran out of challenge opportunities.
"Whoosh!" The tennis ball flew over the net, but Haas struggled to run but still didn't receive the ball. Then the referee directly judged Zhang Guan to score.
"This ball is out of bounds! Is the referee blind? If he still has a chance to challenge, he will tell the referees with facts that he is right!" Haas shook his head in exasperation, he hoped to protest to the referee, to express his dissatisfaction, but he also knows that maybe only the opposite effect will be achieved.
"Oops, the last thing I want to see seems to have happened. The success of Zhang Guan's continuous challenge has also put a lot of pressure on the referee. Some of the balls are between out of bounds and in bounds. When it is not possible to make a clear judgment, he will directly make a judgment in favor of Zhang Guan. They are also worried that Zhang Guan will challenge success and cause their misjudgment!" Haas can feel that now not only the score is behind, but even the overall situation is becoming more and more unfavorable to him.
Every successful challenge of a player is a misjudgment for the referee. As a referee, of course, does not want to have too many misjudgments. Now that Zhang Guan has successfully challenged more than twenty times in a row, he has also given tremendous pressure to the referee. Also, the audience on the scene was afraid of the chaos in the world. Every challenge Zhang Guan followed was coaxing, which made it even more so for the referee to become more and more cautious in his decision.
The ball speed of Zhang Guan is originally a kind of fast speed, especially the serve, the ball with a speed of more than 200 kilometers per hour, during the landing bounce, the contact with the ground is only instantaneous, so in many cases, for the line referee is also impossible to make a 100% accurate judgment. Some line referees even think that the possibility of going out of bounds is greater, but they are worried about their misjudgment. So the referee will often make some judgment in favor of Zhang Guan.
At this time, Haas felt very tired. Although the game came to the third set and there were not too many rounds, Haas still felt very tired. This tiredness is not the cause of physical fatigue but caused by psychological stress.
The audience was expecting Zhang Guan's next challenge to succeed. Today's Vodafone Stadium has become Zhang Guan's home ground; the line referee is more biased towards Zhang because of the misjudgment that he has experienced. More importantly, Zhang Guan can also succeed in every challenge!
Afterward, every time Zhang Guan said he wanted to challenge, he gave Haas a feeling of shock. Whether the referee awarded Zhang Guan a point directly, or the penalty was reopened, Haas had a hard and wasteful frustration.
Haas very much hopes to be able to play a few beautiful holding balls, show his perseverance and boost morale, but Zhang Guan did not give Haas this opportunity. Zhang Guan's choice of returning to the ball are all very extreme. An unsuccessful attitude of Zhang Guan ended the ball in three or five shots.
"I can fall, but I can't be knocked down!" Haas didn't give up, even if he trailed 0-2 in the total score, even in the third set, he was broken by Zhang Guan. But he still insists on fighting back.
In the end, the score of 6-4 in the third set also fully proved Haas's intent to stick to the end. If it was not unfortunate that Zhang Guan got a break in the game, maybe Haas might have been able to drag the game into the tie-break.
"The game is over! Congratulations to Zhang Guan who defeated Haas, and successfully advanced to the quarterfinals! At the same time, we also congratulate Zhang Guan for creating history, his first time participating in a game of professional tennis, and entered the quarterfinals of the Grand Slam." The commentator paused, and then said, "Perhaps before the game, many people speculated that Zhang Guan might defeat Haas to enter the quarterfinals, but I think everyone knew that this game was going to be difficult. The two sides may be very long-lasting. But no one will think that Zhang Guan will win the game in this special way. In the entire game, the hawk-eye was successfully challenged thirty-two times in a row by Zhang Guan! I didn't think Zhang Guan has such an accurate judgment. I think that in the future competition, no matter which player meets Zhang Guan, it will be a bit troublesome. At least in terms of challenging Hawk-Eye, Zhang Guan cannot lose."
...
Thirty-two consecutive challenges have been a success which has brought not only widespread attention but also a lot of doubts. Anything that makes people feel surprised will lead to doubts, not to mention Zhang Guan's success in challenging Hawk-Eye for thirty-two times in a row. It looks like a fantasy in everyone's eyes.
These doubts are also various, some say that the Australian Open's Hawk-Eye system has loopholes, some say that there is a problem with the operation of the Hawk-Eye system, and even more conspiracy theorists say that the Australian Open Main Committee aims to increase ratings and media attention so they gave "intentional help" to Zhang Guan.
Faced with doubts, the main committee of the Australian Open first came forward to clarify.
"There is no problem with our operation on the Hawkeye system." The spokesperson continued, "Although the Hawkeye system does require an operator to operate, the operator only needs to press a few buttons during operation. The entire 3D simulation screen is still generated by the computer system, and the operator can't change the 3D simulation screen generated by the computer system. And we also checked every challenge of Zhang Guan after the game, and the result is the same as in the game."
"The computer programs of the Hawk-Eye system are all designed. We just bought this system, but we didn't buy the patent rights of this system, so we don't have the program key and related code, and we can't carry out the established program. So, the so-called 'intentionally helping Zhang Guan to promote' is impossible. "
"I don't want to answer this question about whether there are loopholes in the Hawk-Eye system. Because the Australian Open Organizing Committee is not the organization who invented this system." The spokesperson looked at the manuscript and then said, "Our Hawk-Eye system is provided by Hawk-Eye System Innovation Co. Ltd, not only us, but the Hawk-Eye System of other Grand Slam events and some tennis high-level events is also provided by Hawk-Eye System Innovation Co. Ltd. The Hawk-Eye System Innovation Co. Ltd. has the patent right to use this system and is also a qualified company designated by the International Tennis Federation."
A spokesperson for the Australian Open successfully dumped the "pot" to Hawk-Eye System Innovation Ltd., a supplier of Hawk-Eye systems.
However, just over an hour later, a statement appeared on the official website of Hawk-Eye System Innovation Co. Ltd. The general content of the statement is that the company's Hawk-Eye system is free of vulnerabilities. At the same time, there are several attachments behind the statement, including the patent certificate of the Hawk-Eye system, the certificate of science and technology innovation award issued by the Royal Palace Test Association of the United Kingdom, and the American Emmy Award for Excellence Science and Technology Contribution Award Certificate, Qualification Certificate issued by the International Tennis Federation, the audit test report of many tennis players who are responsible for reviewing this technology, etc. Hawk-Eye System Innovation Co. Ltd. placed an urgency in this matter to prove that the Hawk-Eye System has no problems.
...
In the conference room of Hawk-Eye System Innovation Co. Ltd., General Manager Allen put down the phone.
"I just spoke with Professor Paul Hawkins, the inventor of the Hawkeye system, and Professor Hawkins said that our Hawk-eye system captures the ball trajectory with a high-speed camera, including the trajectory before landing and the trajectory after landing, and then passes the formula to calculate the falling point of the ball, and then generate a three-dimensional image. The formula for calculating the falling point of the ball is not complicated. I think you have already learned about the calculation of the parabola in middle school!"
Allen took a sip of coffee and then said, "So according to this theory, if you are a mathematician or a physicist, even if you don't look at it with your eyes, you can calculate the fall of a tennis ball simply by relying on a few parabolic figures point. Maybe Zhang Guan used this method?"
"It's calculated? I don't believe it! Did he bring a calculator and measuring tools to the court?" Someone immediately shook his head.
"I also don't believe it!" Allen sighed, "But the movie "Rainman", you should know it! Like Raymond in "Rain Man", he can remember it quickly and count it out quickly. The speed of toothpicks and mental arithmetic falling on the ground is not any slower to a calculator..."
"But that's just a movie!" The man retorted just now.
"But "Rainman" also has a prototype!"
"But the public and the media will not accept this explanation!"
Alan waved his hand, motioned for everyone to be quiet, and said, "The public and the media really will not accept this ridiculous explanation, so we need Zhang Guan to prove himself that he has this ability to judge the point of tennis!"
"Let Zhang Guan prove it for himself? Would he have to play against Haas again?"
"Of course not so troublesome, we can get a public test in Melbourne and invite media reporters and officials of the International Tennis Federation to take part. Find a serving machine, serve the sideline, and let Zhang Guan stand in front of everyone to determine if the ball is out of bounds," Allen said.
"If Zhang Guan doesn't want to come?"
"Pay money for him! Immediately contact Zhang Guan's agent and ask him how much he needs to play!" Allen said firmly, "Everyone, the Hawk-Eye system is our company's only product, so in any case, we must prove to the world that our products are the safest and most reliable!"