Who would still play tennis after being reborn?

Chapter 80 ITF Junior Tournament
Gu Cheng returned to his hotel room with an embarrassed expression. Compared to Lu Youwei's rigid demeanor, the nanny from the Xia family was much more lively and didn't seem like a woman in her thirties or forties at all.

At this age, and in this era, women with a personality like Wu Yan are truly rare.

Many people may know this in their hearts, but few would say it so bluntly.

Most importantly, he and Xia Zhitong are both still young and not old enough to be dating.

Of course, for Gu Cheng, the body of a 15-year-old was inhabited by a greasy middle-aged man who had already experienced his thirties and forties.

Looking at Xia Zhitong from this perspective, the young girl is truly so tender and youthful that you could almost squeeze water out of her.

He had just finished showering, and it was already midnight. Wu Yan sent him a message while he was showering, saying that Xia Zhitong was already asleep. Just as he was about to put down his phone and go to sleep, his phone rang at an inopportune moment.

Gu Cheng glanced at it, not intending to answer, but seeing that it was Zhang Ming calling, he had no choice but to answer the phone.

As soon as the call connected, Zhang Ming's excited voice came from the other end.

"You're quite the sly one! You've been hiding so many good things from me."

"Where did I hide anything good?" Gu Cheng was completely confused and didn't understand what Zhang Ming was talking about.

"Still saying no?"

"You won't shed a tear until you see the coffin, huh?"

Zhang Ming said irritably, "I've never seen you use that disappearing serve, the spinning dart, or the clear sky smash before."

Gu Cheng immediately understood and said helplessly, "Isn't it because you think it's unnecessary?"

Zhang Ming: "o(╥﹏╥)o"

Zhang Ming was immediately extremely frustrated.

Am I not worthy?
Gu Cheng realized what he meant and explained, "Brother Ming, I didn't mean anything by it!"

"So I'm just making myself uncomfortable, huh?"

"You said it yourself, I didn't."

Zhang Ming said helplessly, "Never mind that, let's not talk about that. I want to discuss something with you."

"You said."

"Starting in December, ITF competitions for teenagers at all levels will begin."

Gu Cheng asked, "Brother Ming, are you planning to have me sign up for the ITF competition?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean."

Zhang Ming's tone was slightly serious: "I know your strength. I wasn't sure before that you could make it into the top 100. After all, the top 100 and outside the top 100 are two different worlds. But after seeing your performance in the Australian Open wildcard tournament, I think you should go to professional tournaments as soon as possible. Playing in some small, unknown tournaments is basically just bullying weak opponents, which is meaningless."

"The key point is that you haven't even earned any points yet, so it's a complete waste of time."

"If you had shown your talent earlier, I wouldn't have recommended you participate in the Australian Open wildcard tournament. There was no need."

Since he had already decided to pursue a professional career, Gu Cheng naturally had no objections: "Okay, I'll listen to you."

"It's not about whether you listen to me or not; you have to have your own ideas too."

Zhang Ming said helplessly, "I was originally planning to have you sign up for the ITF junior tournament after a while, but now I really think it's unnecessary. Instead of wasting time at school, it's better to be more direct. Once you start, you might not be able to stop."

Gu Cheng immediately said, "Brother Ming, just say it."

"Every professional player is accumulating points to play in ATP events or the four Grand Slam tournaments. You should know that, so I won't go into details."

Zhang Ming said: "The key is that every professional player's points are not static. For example, if you play a game, win the championship, and accumulate one or two hundred points, if you don't play a game for a long time, your points will be cleared. In other words, you played the game for nothing, won the championship for nothing, and you have to start all over again."

"So if you really want to play professionally, you need to accumulate enough points in a short period of time. To play in ATP events, you first need to be ranked within the top 500 of the ITF Junior rankings. Only then will you have a chance to qualify for ATP Challenger Series. Those who perform well can directly enter the main draw."

"At this point, you basically start accumulating ATP tournament points. But to play in real ATP tournaments, you generally need to be ranked within the top 200. Being within the top 200 means you need to have an ATP score of 250 or higher. Of course, this isn't always the case; sometimes you get more, sometimes you get less. Anyway, you have to try your best to accumulate ranking points."

"This is just a regular ATP 500 tournament. If it's a 1000 tournament or one of the four Grand Slams, unless you go through the wildcard route, you generally have to be in the world's top 120 to have a chance. And that's just a possibility, and you still have to go through the qualifying rounds."

"Of course, I'm not worried about the qualifying rounds. With your strength, you'll definitely be fine. But at the very least, you have to meet the most basic requirements for registration. If you can't even register, no matter how strong you are, it's useless."

"So, playing ITF events still doesn't earn you ATP tournament points?"

"Correct."

"The prerequisite for playing in ATP tournaments is to accumulate ranking points through ATP Challenger tournaments, and before you can qualify for ATP Challenger tournaments, you basically have to play in ITF junior tournaments."

After a moment of contemplation, Gu Cheng asked, "Which ITF junior tournament has the highest ranking points?"

"Level A, the champion can get 300 ranking points."

Gu Cheng's eyes lit up: "Does that mean that winning an A-level tournament will get you into the top 500?"

"You're dreaming."

Zhang Ming said irritably, "There are prerequisites for registering for A-level events. Different levels of ITF competitions have different ranking point requirements, and players from different countries must also meet the relevant requirements of their national tennis organizations. Moreover, in order to participate in ITF tennis competitions, players must be in the top 1000 and ranked among the top in their country."

"Your ranking points are still zero, you're not even qualified for A-level tournaments, you can only play in 5-level tournaments at most." "How many ranking points does a 5-level tournament champion get?"

"15."

Gu Cheng: "..."

“That’s too little.”

Gu Cheng complained, "Doesn't this mean that if I want to break into the top 500, I need to win at least seventeen or eighteen Level 5 tournaments?"

"That's not the way it works."

Zhang Ming was speechless for a moment: "How did you manage to play tennis so well? Didn't you ever have a coach before? With your skill level, any coach would talk to you about playing professionally, right? Didn't they teach you the basics of ITF tournaments?"

Gu Cheng opened his mouth. He learned tennis in The Prince of Tennis, where he played in school tournaments. Coach Ryuzaki Sumire wouldn't mention professional matches, and even if she did, it wouldn't be the same as reality. How could he know anything about it?
Even back in reality, it's only been a month now. If he hadn't met Zhang Ming, who knows when he would have made up his mind to go pro.

Before this, he only knew about the four Grand Slams, and nothing else, let alone ITF or ATP.

"Fine, let me explain it to you properly, so you won't be embarrassed for our country when you go abroad to compete and don't even know this."

"People who don't know the situation might think that our country doesn't even have a proper coach."

After making a couple of complaints, Zhang Ming briefly introduced some basic knowledge about the ITF Junior Championship to Gu Cheng.

The ITF, or International Tennis Federation, organizes a wide range of tennis competitions, with events tailored to players of different ages and skill levels.

For teenagers, the competition is divided into four categories.

The first category is Class A, which is the Super Series. There are nine tournaments in total, consisting of the four Grand Slam junior tournaments (Wimbledon, French Open, US Open, and Australian Open) and five other tournaments (Abierto Juvenil in Mexico, Galdau Cup in Brazil, Italian Junior Open, Osaka Mayor's Cup Junior Tournament, and Orange Bowl).

A-level tournaments are top-tier junior tournaments, second only to the Grand Slams, and typically enjoy extremely high global recognition.

The second category is Class B, also known as the Regional Championships or Continental Championships, which are held in five regions: North and Central America, Europe, Africa, Asia-Pacific, and South America.

The third category is Class C, which generally includes international team competitions such as the Davis Cup for Youth, the Youth Federation Cup, the Sun Cup, and the Connolly Intercontinental Cup.

Then there's the lowest level, the ITF Junior Circuit, which is divided into five levels, with the lower the number indicating the higher level. Lower-level tournaments typically feature players from the same country or region.

This was the first time Gu Cheng had ever realized that there were so many intricacies involved in an ITF junior tournament.

But Gu Cheng quickly raised his own question: "Since only players from the country or region participate in low-level competitions, shouldn't there be similar competitions in China?"

"Yes, of course."

"The ITF Junior Circuit Level 4 tournament will be held in Shenzhen at the end of December."

"Then why don't I just participate in this competition?"

“Other tournaments start in early December, so you have plenty of time to participate in more. The ranking points for lower-level tournaments are already low. If you only play one tournament a month, when will you accumulate enough points to play in ATP tournaments?”

Gu Cheng scratched his head: "So that's how it works?"

"What else do you think?"

After making a complaint, Zhang Ming patiently continued, "I checked for you. Most of the ITF tournaments in December are at the beginning of the month, with only two at the end of the month."

"So I can only participate in two events at most?"

"You've become smarter!"

"I'm not stupid to begin with."

"Ha~"

Do you think I believe that?

"And one more thing."

Compared to explaining ITF junior competitions, Zhang Ming's tone was much more serious at this moment: "Team."

"A team?" Gu Cheng asked, puzzled.

"It means building your own personal team."

Zhang Ming explained: "A personal team usually includes a coach, sparring partner, agent, physical therapist, tactical analyst, mental mentor, etc. There are a lot of people in total. However, only top professional players, those ranked in the top 20 in the world, are paired with a large team. For ordinary professional players, two or three people are enough."

"Not all professional players have their own teams, right?"

"That's for sure!"

"Hiring a professional team requires a huge expense, which is simply beyond the reach of ordinary professional players."

"Then I..."

Gu Cheng was interrupted by Zhang Ming before he could finish speaking: "What do you mean, 'you'? Can you compare yourself to me?"

Yesterday, because the book was just released, the update was at midnight. Otherwise, the update time will remain at 9 AM. I will notify you if there are any special circumstances. Updates will be approximately 10,000 words per day, with a reduction in updates due to special circumstances. Also, the subscription rate should have exceeded the previously set target; I will add more chapters after the book is fully released. Additionally, three extra chapters will be added for those who patronize the patron.

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(End of this chapter)