Who would still play tennis after being reborn?

Chapter 137 Press Conference: Gu Shen is Participating?
Sports News Flash – Potential seed Jonathan was injured in a car accident and may miss all four Grand Slam tournaments for the remainder of the year.

Sports News – Jonathan's injury leaves Australian Open draw candidates struggling to keep up, potentially making the Australian Open the first Grand Slam tournament with an uncontested draw.

Tennis News – With Jonathan's unfortunate injury, the organizers of the Australian Open face an unprecedented challenge. As one of the most important figures in world tennis, Jonathan's absence not only means the loss of a strong competitor but also disrupts the carefully planned tournament draw.

Melbourne local tennis news – Jonathan's withdrawal will fill his place in the draw with the next-ranked player. However, these replacements often lack major tournament experience or consistent performance in top-level events. Media outlets generally believe these players may find it difficult to remain competitive at such a high level, especially against top players accustomed to direct entry to the main draw.

……

The news of Jonathan's car accident and injury spread rapidly across the internet within a day, with sports media around the world rushing to report on it.

Mainstream media outlets have made various speculations based on this.

Some say Jonathan's injury will lead to dissatisfaction with the draw at the Australian Open.

The reason is simple: Jonathan, as a potential seed and a top-tier professional player consistently ranked in the top 40 in the world, means that the professional players who could replace him have already secured a spot in the main draw.

Even if there are none left, there are some special reasons for that.

For example, injuries, or being too old to physically support the body to participate in such high-intensity international competitions.

It's fair to say that choosing the tallest person from the remaining short people is no easy task.

The reason is also very simple.

The tallest among the short is still not as good as the short ones who have already participated in the main competition. Even if the tall ones who are selected are very good, they will still cause a lot of unnecessary controversy.

Unless another qualifying round is held to select a spot in the main tournament.

However, the main competition will start in less than half a month. Although there is enough time, the physical fitness of players who have gone through the qualifying rounds will definitely be greatly affected, which is not a fair competition for them.

Therefore, the only option left is the wildcard form.

However, the wildcard format is often the most controversial.

No matter who the Australian Open organizers choose, they will be criticized by other players' fans, who will even resort to insults to support their favorite players.

This could even draw criticism from other professional players.

For this reason, the Australian Open organizing committee is currently facing a lot of criticism.

Currently, the Australian Open organizing committee faces only two options: either start the main draw with an odd number of slots, or, because the number of participants is odd, some players will advance to the next round without having to play any matches.

Moreover, because of the extra player, the opponents in each round of the competition have to be rearranged, which is definitely a considerable challenge for the Australian Open organizing committee.

The Australian Open organizers cannot redraw the draw after each round of matches; the audience would not agree, and the participating players would also have objections.

This is not an easy task.

At least from the outside perspective, the Australian Open organizing committee has gotten itself into a lot of trouble because of Jonathan's injury and withdrawal from the tournament.

However, securing a full quota of slots is still not an easy task.

Finding a professional player who can compete in the main tournament without being questioned by outsiders, or at least without much criticism, is not an easy task.

"I'm afraid Jonathan didn't expect that his injury and withdrawal would bring such a huge problem to the Australian Open organizing committee."

"If this matter is not handled properly, the Australian Open organizing committee may incur public wrath."

"Some sponsors may demand a refund from the Australian Open organizers. Of course, this won't happen often, but it's definitely a big deal for the Australian Open organizers. Otherwise, they won't even be able to pay out the prize money, and the Australian Open might become a huge joke."

"That Mr. Moke probably has several gray hairs left."

"If a wildcard player is selected that doesn't meet expectations, Mr. Moke will probably be the one who gets the most criticism."

……

Just as the outside world was preparing to see the Australian Open organizing committee and its chairman, Moker, make a fool of themselves, the Australian Open organizing committee and the ITF website simultaneously released a message.

Australian Open organizing committee chairman Moke will hold a press conference on January 5.

The news had already been released, and reporters from major news outlets, like starving people who had found a bone with meat on it, rushed into the press conference like mad dogs, drawn by the news.

Once all the reporters had arrived, Chairman Mok, accompanied by Durant, arrived at the press conference. After taking their seats, Durant gave an opening speech, and then Mok took over the reins.

"Cough cough~"

As usual, Moke coughed twice to make sure the microphone was working properly, then looked directly at all the reporters and said, "As for the welcome message, my assistant Durant has already said it. I think everyone here must have a lot of questions they want to ask."

As soon as these words were spoken, a reporter reached for the microphone: "Mr. Moker, there are rumors that Jonathan's injury has brought a huge problem to the Australian Open. I would like to ask, is this true?"

“It’s true.” Moke nodded heavily. “I can say with certainty that when my assistant Durant told me this news, it was late at night. I was so scared that I jumped out of bed in a cold sweat, and the first thing I thought of was the selection of players for the main game.”

"The Australian Open has been around for so many years and there has never been a situation where the draw was not full. It is impossible for such a thing to happen to me."

After Moke finished speaking, a female reporter's eyes lit up. Before anyone else could speak, she asked in a very fast voice, "Mr. Moke, do you already have a new candidate in mind?"

“Yes,” Moke said with a smile, “The candidate has just been decided. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here, and I wouldn’t dare to be here. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be facing such friendly inquiries from everyone. After all, I’m getting old now and can’t take all this fuss.”

The audience burst into laughter.

Then someone else asked, "Mr. Moke, what are your plans for the new main event players? Are you going to take advantage of the remaining time to play in the qualifying rounds, or will you use the previous qualifying results to replace the main event players?"

"Why can't it be a wildcard?" Moke asked with a smile.

Wildcard?

No one believed it.

This is the worst option.

Even if it's a time-consuming qualifying tournament, it's much better than a wildcard format. At least with qualifying, aside from wasting some time, it won't cause too much controversy.

But wildcards are different.

If this choice is not made well, the Australian Open organizing committee will be bombarded by trolls and keyboard warriors across the internet, as well as countless dissatisfactions from professional players' fans.

This is not something that the Australian Open organizing committee or Moke alone can handle.

Even though no one believed that Moke would use wildcards to select players for the main tournament, one of the older reporters keenly sensed something was amiss from the faint, confident smile on Moke's face. He squeezed out from the group of reporters and asked, "Mr. Moke, are you saying that you already have wildcard candidates in mind?"

Upon hearing this, everyone turned to look at the reporter who had spoken, their eyes revealing a sense of speechlessness.

Not to mention the reporters at the scene, even those online were speechless at this question.

"Has this reporter lost his mind?"

"Anyone with a brain wouldn't ask that, right?"

"Can't you ask something more practical? Wildcard format? Are you crazy? Does Moke not want to be the chairman of the Australian Open organizing committee anymore? He'll be torn apart by the entire internet."

"Unless Moker has lost his mind, he would never choose this method. Considering Moker's past press conference habits, this is definitely a smokescreen he released beforehand to incite online criticism, thereby increasing the hype surrounding the Australian Open, and then he'll announce a shocking decision. This is his usual routine." "A routine! It's all a routine. Chairman Moker has too many routines. Is this middle-aged reporter's first time attending a Moker press conference? Doesn't he understand this? Where's his professionalism?"

Everyone thought Mok was putting up a smokescreen.

However, in response to the middle-aged man's question, Mok suddenly held up the microphone and said, "Yes."

"Really?" The reporter who asked the question was a little stunned. He had only asked the question on a whim, but he did not expect that Moke would admit that it was true.

"Have you really confirmed the main draw players using wildcard entries?"

“That’s right.” Moke maintained a faint smile on his face.

His words caused everyone present to gasp in shock.

Mr. Moker, he actually admitted it, he really admitted it.

To be honest, not only those at the scene, but also netizens watching the press conference online were stunned.

Admitting the truth would be more than just a smokescreen; going back on one's word and lying to deceive reporters and netizens is an absolutely heinous act that cannot be tolerated.

Online, tennis fans around the world are getting impatient.

"Who?"

"Who is it?"

"Mok looks so confident. Could he have really found an impeccable main event competitor?"

"I glanced at the leaderboard again, and there's no one there! All the skilled players have already been included in the main tournament draw. The rest are all ranked 120th or lower. The skill gap between professional players in this ranking, up to around 150th, is not significant. There will be controversy over who to choose. Not to mention those ranked lower."

"Could it be that they made a special contribution to the four Grand Slams?"

"That doesn't make sense! These people are all so old! Let alone playing matches, I doubt they could even last a few games on the court before needing to be carried off on a stretcher. If something were to happen to them, the Australian Open organizing committee would have to disband and apologize. With Moker's shrewdness, that shouldn't happen, but who could it be?"

"Yes! Who is it?!"

"Is there anyone else who could?"

"Could it be one of the players who withdrew from the competition due to injury?"

"That's impossible! Those who are not participating due to injury these days are either too weak or very strong. But the strong ones are all seriously injured. Let alone the Australian Open, they may not be able to participate in the other major tournaments."

"If we've ruled out all of these people, then who could it be?"

"I do not know!"

"Can't Mok just say everything at once? He always keeps us in suspense like this. He's really wicked."

on Weibo.

"Who could it be? Could it be one of ours?"

"Upstairs, please face reality, okay? It's already unprecedented for Zhang Ming to make it to the Australian Open this year. There's another one, and he has to be able to replace a potential seeded player. Do you think our people have a chance?"

"Isn't there still Gu Shen?"

"That's nonsense. Gu Shen is talented, but isn't he going to play in junior tournaments? Why doesn't he take the four Grand Slam junior titles that he can win in his professional career?"

After that, no one spoke up on Weibo.

Gu Cheng was the correct answer, but everyone rejected him. No one thought Gu Cheng would give up junior tournaments to play in the Australian Open.

As for participating in both events, that's even more impossible; it would be crazy.

No matter how good a person is, their physical abilities are limited. How could they possibly participate in two major competitions at once? Unless Gu Shen has lost his mind.

The press conference site.

The reporter took a deep breath: "Can you tell us who it is?"

The question drew everyone's attention, and everyone fell silent. The once noisy press conference suddenly became deathly quiet, and even the sound of breathing seemed to disappear.

The atmosphere was somewhat somber.

But all eyes were on Moke.

A reporter took a deep breath.

One reporter was so nervous that his hand holding the microphone started to tremble.

Countless eyes were fixed on the podium.

Moke knew he couldn't keep these people in suspense any longer. If he did, he'd get scolded again. He even suspected that he was already being cursed by a group of people online. As for the reporters at the scene, they didn't dare to curse him out of politeness, but deep down, they probably thought he was a really bad old man.

Moke knew perfectly well that every time he finished a press conference, he would inevitably receive condolences and apologies from netizens for their ancestors.

But he was already used to it.

So what if I get scolded?

have what?
There were quite a few pieces of meat.

On the contrary, his popularity will soar, and the Australian Open will receive even more attention. It's a win-win situation, and he'll only get a few criticisms.

These thoughts flashed through his mind. Moke took a deep breath and said into the microphone, "The player who has been included in the main draw this time is very special. He should be the most special main draw player in the history of the Australian Open. But I believe that his arrival will not disappoint everyone."

"As for whether there will be any controversy, well... I don't really know."

"But I believe that his addition will make the already exciting Australian Open even more competitive."

"At this point, everyone is probably wondering who it is."

Everyone rolled their eyes. Nonsense.

If it weren't for the security personnel on site, some reporters would have rushed up and attacked them.

I thought I'd get an answer right away, but instead they kept me in suspense, and what's worse, it was incredibly frustrating.

So infuriating.

Ignoring the crowd's anger, Moker opened his notebook and smiled, saying, "Now... I announce that the winner of the Australian Open main draw wildcard spot is..."

At this point, Mok paused for a moment before uttering a name that everyone found hard to believe.

"—Gu Cheng!!"

……

(End of this chapter)