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

Chapter 35 Shock from the National Player

Chen Yu, representing CCTV, interviewed Meng Hao briefly, and the cameraman also filmed the interview.

While interviews may be conducted, this content may not necessarily be broadcast on CCTV's sports news.

After all, sports news has limited time, and CCTV still needs to review and edit it.

Meng Hao's humble words were entirely within Chen Yu's expectations.

Young people should definitely keep a low profile when playing professionally for the first time!
Although Chen Yu hadn't been a reporter for long, he knew that the industry was very complex.

These veteran national team players are not people a newbie like me can afford to offend.

"Yes, that's right, participation is the most important thing!" Chen Yu was also very satisfied with Meng Hao's answer.

He even wanted to write a draft in advance, saying that two Chinese male players had already secured their spots in the French Open qualifiers.

"Two! That's a new record for Grand Slam qualifying!"

"Stop saying that our country's men's tennis is no good. It's slowly improving, okay?"

"I believe that in time, men's tennis in our country will be able to catch up with women's tennis."

Chen Yu had already thought of all the details in advance.

As a new reporter, he knew he had to build good relationships with the senior members of the national team in order to get more interview opportunities.

However, on the other hand, if he could discover a few talented young people, it would be a great thing for him.

But it seems there aren't many promising young talents among the current junior athletes.

As Chen Yu pondered this, he led the cameraman into the media section.

Just then, Meng Hao's warm-up exercises came into his view, and Chen Yu was immediately stunned.

At that moment, he had only one thought in his mind.

"This guy's clay court gliding is so skillful and natural, but I remember him saying that this is his first time playing on clay!"

Meng Hao thoroughly enjoys and loves the feeling of gliding on clay courts.

To describe it with a line from a song: Friction, friction, that's the devil's pace.

He can display a sliding step on clay courts that is comparable to a "devil".

"Hmm, he probably... only knows how to slide!" Chen Yu couldn't help but think.

This is normal. Some players can learn the clay court sliding step and become fast, but that doesn't mean they are clay court masters.

At this moment, Meng Hao and Wu Di have already started practicing.

The stadium, which can accommodate more than 3000 people, was already filled with spectators.

Although the competition was not of a high level, the tickets were very cheap, and there were many free tickets. In addition, the city government promoted it vigorously, so quite a few people came.

In recent years, the popularity of tennis has been on the rise, and going to watch tennis matches live has become a fashionable activity.

The problem is that most viewers only recognize a few star players in women's tennis, while the men's tennis team's performance is so ordinary that most people don't know them.

To them, Meng Hao and Wu Di were no different, since they had never heard of them.

"The clay of this center court... is quite similar to that of the French Open courts," Meng Hao muttered to himself as he stomped around a few times.

The clay courts he used to train on actually had a faster ball speed, similar to the fast clay courts of the Madrid Masters.

God helps me too!

The slower the clay court, the better it suits his powerful topspin shot.

Meng Hao was in high spirits and ready to start the competition.

As the current second-best male tennis player in China, Wu Di is determined to win this match.

He genuinely dislikes playing on clay courts, so naturally he doesn't want to travel to Europe in April or May to rack up ranking points. Currently, there are only lower-level prospective tournaments in China, with higher-level challenger tournaments mostly taking place in the second half of the year. However, for a player ranked around 200, gaining points in lower-level prospective tournaments is a very slow process.

This has made his place in the French Open qualifiers precarious.

However, not liking to play on clay doesn't mean you don't like playing Grand Slam tournaments on clay like the French Open.

Even the prize money for being eliminated in the first round of the French Open qualifiers is higher than the prize money for winning many Challenger tournaments.

Given the current level of Chinese men's tennis, qualifying for the Challenger Series is already their limit.

Tournaments? You can only sit back and wait for the organizing committee of the "China Season" to issue wildcards every year.

Among domestic players, his world ranking is either first or second, and no one can compete with him for a wildcard.

"Win one match today, then another, and my points will be just enough to secure my place in the French Open qualifiers!" That was Wu Di's plan.

The reason it's called a safety line is that if he only wins one match, he might still be able to qualify for the French Open, but only if there aren't too many players using protected rankings, otherwise he'll easily be squeezed out.

In tennis, the so-called protected ranking means that if you miss more than six months of competition due to injury, you can register for competitions based on your average ranking in the three months prior to the injury.

You can use 12 opportunities within a year, including two Grand Slam events.

Wu Di looked at his opponent, already looking forward to his trip to Paris.

However, given his level of skill in playing on red clay, he didn't expect to hold out for long!

They'll most likely be eliminated in the first round, but that's enough.

Meng Hao was awarded the opportunity to serve first.

He was incredibly excited to be playing on clay for the first time.

Sunshine, blue sky, and red soil.

This was a scene he had experienced countless times within the system, and now he was finally experiencing it firsthand.

boom!
Meng Hao mustered all his strength and struck the tennis ball that had been tossed up.

A powerful and heavy shot, with strong sidespin!
The tennis ball landed almost on the sideline and then bounced back up.

It was clay court, after all, so the ball bounced very high and had a strong spin, flying directly towards the wide left corner of the court.

Wu Di watched the tennis ball fly away, only twisting his body slightly; otherwise, he made no other movement.

"Damn, that serve was so powerful! Or was it just a coincidence?"

He recalled that ball, his heart filled with shock.

On the second ball, Meng Hao served from the second service box. His first serve went into the net, forcing him to take a second serve.

The two players engaged in a rally at the baseline.

One beat, two beats, three beats... nine beats, ten beats!
No more, no less, after ten shots of stalemate, Wu Di's return shot went into the net.

"What the hell? This spherical texture, are you kidding me?! This isn't an illusion, is it?!"

Meng Hao's shots are very heavy, with amazing topspin, and the ball lands very deep, often squeezing out his space to return the ball.

This is practically professional clay court playing technique!

On such a slow clay court, my flat-hitting style of play was almost completely countered by my opponent's topspin style.

He had a vague, uneasy feeling about it.

In just three minutes, Meng Hao swept four points with ease, winning the first game.

At that moment, Wu Di had only one thought: "When did our country have such a skilled clay-court player?"

……

(End of this chapter)