Now that I've been reborn, I have to play tennis!

Chapter 13 Taking a Difficult Path
In Saturday's duel, Meng Hao defeated Shen Dongguo perfectly, with everyone watching.

The match was decided in one game, and the score was 6 to 4.

On the court, Meng Hao relied on his excellent serving technique to easily hold his serve.

Shen Dongguo's serving skills are not as good as Meng Hao's, so every time this guy serves, he almost "holds his serve as if he were going to have a miscarriage," which is really exhausting.

Serving in tennis is indeed a very physically demanding activity.

If you consistently fail to win your service games, it will severely impact your subsequent physical reserves.

In the tenth game, Meng Hao seized the opportunity when his opponent's serve quality dropped and decisively pulled off a "last-minute steal"!
Throughout the match, Meng Hao repeatedly used slice shots, and his slice shots were of good quality, almost wearing down Shen Dongguo and forcing his opponent to frequently make mistakes.

If the opponent's return shot is of poor quality, Meng Hao immediately uses his excellent forehand to kill it with a single shot.

The score of 6 to 4 seems close, but the actual gap between the two sides is quite large.

Shen Dongguo has absolutely no chance of winning!
"Dude, I won this time, are you convinced?" As usual, the two shook hands briefly after the match.

Although Shen Dongguo vaguely felt that this person was stronger than him, he stubbornly replied, "Best of three sets, I might have a chance. In tennis, it's not uncommon for someone to lose the first set but win the next two."

After all, he still had to save face in front of so many people.

Upon hearing this, Meng Hao rolled his eyes: "If I win two games in a row, are you going to use the Grand Slam standard and make it a best-of-five series?"

Shen Dongguo blushed upon hearing this.

He never even dared to dream of winning three out of five games.

With my limited physical abilities, playing a best-of-five-sets match according to Grand Slam standards would be the death of me.

To date, Chinese male tennis players have zero wins in Grand Slam main draws.

“Actually, your skill level is definitely good enough to compete in the professional group,” Shen Dongguo said after thinking for a moment.

He doesn't think that the professional players in China are much better than him; they just have more time to train and more opportunities to play.

"What competitions are there over there lately? I'd like to go and see what it's like!" Meng Hao raised an eyebrow and said with great interest. "You know, Donghai City is a small city, not like Ningzhou where you are. There are more competitions there!"

He had specifically inquired about it beforehand. Shen Dongguo had indeed won the Zhejiang Provincial University Amateur Group Championship several times, but in the professional group, he was often eliminated in the first round, or at best in the second round if he was lucky.

In our country, there is still a significant gap between amateur and professional players.

However, professional players are professional players, and career players are a different concept altogether.

Any player who can be selected for the provincial team and receive professional training year-round can be called a professional player, but professional players rely on participating in international competitions to earn prize money to make a living.

The level of the tour is too high. You need to be able to reach the Challenger Series to be considered a professional player.

Therefore, Shen Dongguo's constant boasting that he is "the best player after professional players" is a deliberate attempt to confuse the difference between "professional players" and "expert players".

Besides, he may not actually be the "number one player below professional players".

“Okay, I’ll go find out.” Shen Dongguo nodded and replied, “By the way, you’re only 17?”

"Yes, I won't turn 18 until the second half of the year," Meng Hao replied truthfully. "There's still more than half a year to go!"

"You've got this much skill at 17!" Shen Dongguo said with a somewhat complicated tone. "You have both skill and talent, but unfortunately you haven't had many opportunities to receive professional tennis training. Now that you're older, your potential is limited."

"Our country isn't exactly a tennis powerhouse, and countless talented young people like us are being overlooked!" That's absolutely true! And it's not just tennis; it applies to all ball sports!

Just like many of our readers, they may not lack the potential to become international football stars; they've simply been overlooked by their environment!

“But since you’re not yet 18, you can sign up for a youth competition,” Shen Dongguo explained. “It’s a professional youth competition. Don’t be fooled by the fact that the players are all under 18; they’re all stronger than me, and there are more than just Chinese players participating.”

Upon hearing this, Meng Hao was overjoyed.

He wanted to participate in professional competitions, not amateur ones.

"Are there any rewards for doing well in this kind of competition?"

"There are no prizes in youth competitions, only points awarded to young participants!"

This is why tennis is so expensive during adolescence.

Either they have money at home, or they find sponsors, or they receive funding from the Tennis Association or the Sports Bureau.

"Oh, I seem to remember there's a rule that, to incentivize domestic players, if they win a championship in a local youth tournament, they can directly receive a wildcard to participate in the main draw of the local Hope Tournament!" Meng Hao asked meaningfully.

"It seems there is such a rule! This is essentially giving young players a chance to broaden their horizons in adult competitions," Shen Dongguo said doubtfully. "What, do you want to win the championship?"

"No, I was just asking out of curiosity," Meng Hao said with a smile.

He knew he had found a shortcut: a chance to directly participate in the main draw of the Hope Cup without accumulating ATP points.

But the prerequisite is strength; you need to win the championship directly in youth competitions!

Why are ATP points so hard to obtain?
The reason is that the competition in men's tennis is too fierce.

The ITF 15 level competitions held in China are generally well-equipped with various hardware and software facilities, attracting outstanding players from all over the world.

Typically, only players ranked in the top 800 of the ATP rankings, which is around 30 points, can directly secure a spot in the main draw.

Players ranked 800th or lower can only participate in the qualifying rounds.

The qualifying rounds are incredibly tough; you usually have to go through three rounds to secure a spot in the main tournament.

The ITF 15 Hope Series, as the lowest level of international professional tennis tournament, has no entry requirements.

Even if you don't have ATP points, or are just an amateur, you can register to participate as long as you pay the $25 registration fee.

In other words, anyone can register, but they have to start from the qualifying rounds, where only the fittest survive.

You need to win three qualifying matches and then win one main draw match to earn one valuable ATP point.

Then, gradually accumulate ATP points. Once you reach around 30 points, you can directly enter the main draw of the ITF15 Hope Tournament based on your ranking.

Of course, because China holds many Hope Tournaments every year, many Chinese players who don't have high enough points rankings can still get wildcards for the main tournament. But these are usually players with a sports bureau background, or some who had outstanding achievements in their youth.

Meng Hao has no background in the sports bureau, nor does he have any achievements in youth sports, so neither of these paths is viable.

He can only take the most difficult path: win the championship in a certain youth competition!

……

(End of this chapter)