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

Chapter 22 Nobody Has Confidence in Me

Donghai No.2 Middle School, Grade 11 (3)

Meng Hao has not appeared this week because he took leave to participate in a tennis competition.

The students had gotten used to it and thought Meng Hao's choice was fine.

That's also where his intelligence lies.

He practiced tennis in the school corridors during his spare time, and even set up a challenge on the school's tennis court. Through word of mouth from Shen Rongyu, a top-performing goddess and academic star, he became known as a tennis master.

In modern society, information is transmitted very quickly.

Soon, news came that Meng Hao was the only local player to make it into the semifinals of the tournament.

This caused a small stir both at Donghai No. 2 Middle School and in Meng Hao's class.

Donghai No. 2 Middle School is a key middle school. Although it has a tradition of recruiting students with sports specialties in the past, it is unprecedented for someone like Meng Hao to be able to win a place in an international competition.

"It's said that this is no ordinary competition; every participant is a master!"

"It seems that many provincial team players from various provinces have also signed up, as well as foreign players. I didn't expect Meng Hao to stick it out until the end!"

"I knew he was good at tennis, but I didn't know he was this good!"

Even our homeroom teacher, Ms. Yu, would occasionally mention during class, "Our class actually produced a tennis prodigy!"

However, this English teacher with an "international perspective" would repeatedly emphasize: "Our country's tennis level is not good, especially the men's!"

"Meng Hao plays tennis well, but at most he can get into a top university through a guaranteed admission program. Don't expect too much!"

Because some classmates have already started to imagine that Meng Hao could participate in the tour and even become a tennis star like Li Na.

Are you kidding me? How could that be!

Don't indulge in such unrealistic fantasies!

Teacher Yu decisively poured cold water on the students' enthusiasm.

During the break, Shen Rongyu quietly took out her phone and sent a message to her cousin: "Brother, my classmate made it to the semi-finals of that competition you mentioned last time."

"If there were no age limit, what place would you get if you participated?"

"Tell the truth, no bragging!"

Shen Dongguo's expression was incredibly complicated when he saw the message from his cousin.

This girl knows me too well; she completely shut me down any chance to brag.

"Although the participants in these competitions are all minors, they have received professional training for a long time, so they definitely have the skills! As for me, I may not be able to beat foreign players, but I should be on par with those domestic players!" He was still very stubborn.

"After all, it's very costly for those foreign players to come to China to participate in the competition; they wouldn't come if they didn't have enough strength!"

"Also, I'll be volunteering for today's semi-final!"

Shen Rongyu added, "If he wins today's match, then it will be the finals!"

What does reaching the finals mean?
The homeroom teacher, who is also an English teacher, is a tennis enthusiast, and she even went to look up some information about it.

If Meng Hao can reach the finals of an international youth competition, he can be rated as a "first-class tennis player" and be admitted to a key university without taking the entrance exam.

Although it's not one of those top-tier 985 universities, it's still a key university.

For homeroom teachers, this is also included in their performance evaluation!

"The finals? You're overthinking it! His opponent is a top 20 junior player in the world! I've heard of him, he's very strong!" Shen Dongguo replied confidently.

Shen Rongyu didn't reply to the message. Instead, she put her phone in her bag, slowly picked up her book, and seemed to be deep in thought.

...In the first semi-final match, the guy from France named Per defeated the American player and secured a spot in the final.

In the entire professional tennis world, if we disregard the three giants standing at the top of the pyramid and Murray, who is hailed as a semi-giant, and only consider the depth of talent, the United States and France have the strongest talent pool.

In the ATP top 100, only the United States and France have maintained double-digit numbers of players for an extended period; no other country can do that.

Even a second-rate player from either of these two countries could easily make it to the semifinals.

Since Meng Hao has no recollection of these two people, his future achievements will likely be mediocre, and he won't be able to compete in tournaments.

Meng Hao stretched his muscles and did some warm-up exercises in preparation for his appearance.

The crowd for this semi-final was much larger than the previous one, and even several reporters came.

After all, the level of attention received by a game with local players is completely different from that of a game without local players, and this is true even on a global scale.

Meng Hao even noticed several men who looked like leaders and cadres, watching from a distance, accompanied by staff members.

My outstanding performance did indeed attract the attention of relevant departments.

Just then, a tall, thin man sauntered over, carrying a tennis racket in his hand. It was Medvedev, his opponent in this match.

That guy is really tall; at 1.98 meters, he could play forward on a professional basketball team.

"Can Meng Hao...win?"

"It's hard!"

"If he can beat his opponent today, he will be the number one teenager in the country!"

Meng Hao spotted a familiar face next to the court; it was Shen Rongyu's cousin, Shen Dongguo.

This guy is here as a volunteer today too.

Bang bang bang~
"Meng Hao!" Shen Dongguo shouted, clapping his hands excitedly. "How about it? Can you win? I told my cousin that she thinks you can make it to the finals. Don't let me down!"

If Shen Rongyu were standing here and heard what he said, she would probably hit him on the head with a mineral water bottle again.

You didn't say that at all! You're such a hypocrite, as shameless as ever!
"Really? That's what I thought too! It seems your judgment is better than your ball skills!" Meng Hao nodded, reluctantly giving the other person a compliment.

"Hey, how dare you talk like that? Am I bad at basketball? You only beat me 6 to 4, it's very close!" Shen Dongguo said stubbornly.

The second semi-final match has officially begun.

From Medvedev's perspective, this was still just an ordinary match.

The opponent was not ranked in the junior world, and this tournament seemed to be on steroids, advancing all the way through. But such examples are not uncommon in the world of tennis.

"Chinese men's tennis? I only remember one person!"

He remembered the young man he trained with in Russia, a tall, dark-skinned fellow from Shanghai named Zhang Zhizhen, who had now turned professional.

He wasn't particularly concerned about the results, but at least the other side hadn't made a name for themselves yet.

In the world of professional tennis, Chinese male players have no history and no achievements to speak of.

"I will be the champion!" Meng Hao said in broken English while the two were taking a photo together.

"Huh? Interesting fellow!" Medvedev, being a chatterbox, started babbling on and on.

Meng Hao shrugged and said, "My English isn't good, I can't understand!"

This is also a form of psychological warfare.

……

(End of this chapter)