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

Chapter 32 Departure to Kunming
Chen Yu is a full-time tennis reporter for CCTV Sports.

He had just graduated from university and entered CCTV's sports channel through a competitive selection process.

Since Li Na won the French Open two years ago, tennis has become incredibly popular in China, which even led CCTV's sports channel, which is usually quite frugal, to add more tennis reporters.

Chen Yu was fortunate enough to get a job at CCTV.

In the grand sweep of this era, the destinies of many are being inadvertently altered.

"The Kunming Open is our country's only clay court tournament."

"This year there have been upgrades; the pay for men has increased from 15K to 25K, while the pay for women has increased from 15K to 35K!"

"Wow, our country's male athletes are all top-notch!"

Although this competition is not of a high level, it is still a rare event in China that is co-organized for men and women.

Although CCTV Sports will not broadcast the event live, it will still send reporters to cover the entire process.

In short, CCTV's sports news reports on any professional tennis tournament held in China, regardless of its level, which demonstrates their emphasis on the sport.

Currently, only Zhang Ze and Wu Di are ranked in the top 500 among the male players on the Chinese national tennis team, while all the others are ranked below 500.

Zhang Ze is currently ranked 192nd, while Wu Di is ranked 216th.

Normally, these two players would only participate in ATP Challenger tournaments, and it's unlikely they would participate in such a low-level prospective tournament.

But don't forget, this is the only international clay court tournament held in China, so both of them signed up.

The reason is simple: both of them are terrible on clay. Since there are clay court competitions in China, why not participate more and accumulate experience?

"Huh, who is this Meng Hao? I've never heard of him before!"

Chen Yu saw an unfamiliar name, but since he joined CCTV Sports, he had been responsible for reporting on domestic men's tennis, and he had no recollection of this person at all.

"17 years old, currently no ATP points!"

"How could someone get a wildcard? Does this person have such a powerful background?!"

If it were just a qualifying wildcard, Chen Yu wouldn't care, but this is a main tournament wildcard.

Currently, apart from Wu Di and Zhang Ze who qualified directly based on their world rankings, the other national team players can only apply for wildcards.

There are only four wild cards available. National team players can only get three, and the remaining one was given to a South Korean player named Chung Hyeon.

Chung Hyeon, that's the runner-up in the Wimbledon junior division last year, and a top-ten ranked junior in the world.

According to the regulations of the International Tennis Federation, with such outstanding results, applying for a mere 25K tournament should definitely warrant a wildcard.

As a result, the national team players who didn't get wildcards will have to play in the qualifying rounds.

"Huh, so... this person's wildcard is outside of these four wildcards?"

Chen Yu suddenly realized something and began to look up Meng Hao's information.

The champion of Ningzhou Junior J60 directly received a wildcard for the Kunming Open!

No wonder!

However, Chen Yu quickly forgot about the name.

The reason is simple: there have been similar examples in the past.

Winning a junior tournament and receiving a wildcard entry to the main draw of a futures tournament is a benefit that the International Tennis Federation provides to junior players.

Let them experience adult competitions and see what it's like to receive prize money.

After all, even if you are eliminated in the first round of the main tournament, you can still get a prize of about $200.

"They're basically all eliminated in the first round!"

Chen Yu believed that this Meng Hao wouldn't be any different, especially since this was a relatively rare clay court in China.

"I wonder who will be lucky enough to draw such a newbie in the first round?"

"A competition held on home soil will definitely benefit our own people!" ...

For Meng Hao, the trip to Kunming was a long journey.

Even in my past life, I had never been there, but I had heard of its beautiful mountains, rivers, and scenery.

This has always been a beautiful tourist city.

However, with the little money Meng Hao has in his pocket now, he will definitely have to be careful with it. Even if the principal agrees to provide travel expenses, it is impossible for him to take a plane or high-speed rail.

He first took a bus early in the morning and arrived in Ningzhou again, and then took a high-speed train from Ningzhou to Kunming.

The journey of over 2000 kilometers would take about 15 hours. Even with a sleeper berth, Meng Hao still felt quite tired.

"This must be the reality for most professional tennis players on their daily commute!" he couldn't help but think.

For most professional tennis players who are not at the top, regardless of gender, it's a constant process of going to one tournament after another.

Because many of the competition venues are in different cities, they have to constantly travel between these cities.

Because many low-level tennis tournaments are held in China every year, some foreign tennis players will stay in China for a long time.

This is somewhat similar to those marathons held in China.

One was to save money by accumulating points, while the other was to make money.

Two foreign women boarded the train when it stopped at several stations along the way.

They carried tennis bags and heavy suitcases, looking around curiously.

The two foreign women were visibly taken aback when they saw that Meng Hao was also carrying a tennis bag.

Could it be a colleague?
In fact, Meng Hao reacted in the same way.

"Kunming?"

"Yes!"

Meng Hao laughed, and the two foreign women laughed too.

We're definitely in the same industry!
Moreover, they were all going to participate in the same competition.

Although Meng Hao's English was not very good, he could still communicate with a mobile phone translator, which was barely enough.

Both of these foreign female athletes are from Eastern European countries; one is almost 30 years old, and the other is not yet 20.

These two players are ranked between 300 and 400 in the world.

For the past two months, they have been traveling to major cities across China to participate in tennis tournaments of various levels, ranging from 35k, 50k, and 75k.

To save money, they dare not take high-speed trains or airplanes, and can only take bullet trains. If the journey is short, they will even choose standing tickets.

"Our matches next month will all be held in Thailand!"

"Then we'll go back to Europe!"

They need to compete continuously and accumulate points in order to have a chance to get a wildcard for the main draw in a 250-level tournament held in their own country.

"Young man from China, what about you?"

"I'm still a junior player. I got a wildcard reward because I won the last tournament!"

"How lucky! I can directly enter the main tournament without needing a world ranking!"

The older foreign female player said thoughtfully, "You seem different from the other young Chinese players; you're not accompanied by a parent."

“I don’t need my parents to accompany me!” Meng Hao laughed. “Tennis is a solitary sport. If I want to improve quickly, I must learn to play alone.”

At this time, the bullet train had arrived at Kunming Station.

……

PS: Thank you to reader 天灰SGrey for the donation!
(End of this chapter)