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

Chapter 41 The Little Prince of Clay

"There's no mistake! To my knowledge, no male tennis player has ever hit such high-quality moon balls so frequently!" Chen Yu said excitedly, his eyes sparkling, while taking notes.

The "moonball" tactic is commonly used on clay courts.

Because of clay courts, the ball bounces naturally higher.

The moon, on the other hand, is characterized by its high parabolic trajectory and strong topspin.

Combining these two factors results in an even higher bounce for the tennis ball.

Meng Hao seized upon the opponent's weakness of being old and frail, and directly used high-quality Moon Balls to wear him down.

The results are clearly very good!
"However, my opponent is a seasoned veteran of clay courts. After making adjustments in the second set, he did put a lot of pressure on me."

Meng Hao waited patiently for the right opportunity, only finding a chance to break serve towards the end of the second set.

They won three consecutive matches without dropping a single set and advanced to the semifinals!

Such an impressive record has attracted a lot of attention.

For example, on Weibo, many tennis bloggers, both full-time and part-time, reported the news immediately.

"With Zhang Ze's elimination, Meng Hao, who is only 17 years old, has become the only Chinese player still in this clay court tournament!"

"This is incredible! This is extremely rare! Our country has actually produced a master of clay!"

"In my first professional clay court tournament, I managed to win three consecutive matches without dropping a single set and advance to the semifinals!"

"It was him, it was him! He ruined Diego's French Open campaign this year!"

"I believe this is a young man with great potential!"

Meng Hao is still very little famous, but in any case, he has already gained some popularity in the tennis world.

Strength is the only true passport!
The quarter-final match was held at 11 a.m., while CCTV Sports News broadcast it at 6 p.m.

Surprisingly, when sports news broadcasted news about the Kunming Open, Chen Yu, the reporter covering the event, described Meng Hao as the "Little Prince of Clay".

"I've been watching tennis for so many years, and I've never seen a male tennis player from our country resonate so strongly with the clay court!"

"Everything he does on the court is so natural, even his clay court slide is so effortless!"

"I would call Meng Hao the Little Prince of Clay!"

The hosts of CCTV's sports news are a man and a woman.

The two men maintained their smiles as they looked at the reporter on the video screen. When they heard the reporter refer to Meng Hao as the "Little Prince of Clay," they felt a strong urge to laugh out loud, but they had to force themselves to hold it in.

The Little Prince of Clay? Are you kidding me?

This is just a small 25K competition!

Moreover, this young man only made it to the semi-finals, not the championship.

However, the two hosts had a vague idea of ​​the reason.

CCTV Sports has a tradition of loving to create stars.

Because it is the national television station, CCTV rarely criticizes athletes, and mainly focuses on cheering and encouraging them. They even rarely criticize the national football team unless absolutely necessary.

It can be said that CCTV is a very kind and approachable patriarch.

Meng Hao's outstanding performance also made Chen Yu, a CCTV reporter, think about using CCTV as a platform to create stars!

Tennis is, after all, a globally popular sport, the first ball sport and the first sport played by a single person, and its popularity in China has been growing rapidly in recent years. This is one of the advantages of being an athlete: a rare and irreplaceable resource, with CCTV actively promoting your sport!
If it were some companies wanting to advertise on CCTV, I wonder how much money they would have to spend!

"Alright, let's look forward to this young player named Meng Hao achieving good results in this competition!" one of the female hosts said with a smile, suppressing a laugh.

However, she cautiously exchanged a glance with the male host next to her, both expressing the same thought: It's fine to create stars, but our colleague is a bit too impatient!
It's very difficult for men's tennis to make a name for themselves!
In the current Chinese men's tennis scene, if a player wins a Challenger tournament, CCTV Sports will promote it extensively, making it seem like they've won a tour championship.

But look at Kei Nishikori next door; he just won the ATP Barcelona 500 title.

This is a long-established and prestigious tournament, and it ranks quite high among ATP 500 tournaments.

As a result, Kei Nishikori's world ranking rose to the top fifteen.

The gap is really huge!

After finishing their news broadcast, the two CCTV hosts chatted quietly.

"Na Jie is already 32 years old, and her peak period probably doesn't last much longer!"

"In the final in Stuttgart a few days ago, Li Na lost to Sharapova again!"

"Sharapova is a child prodigy! She's 5 years younger than Li Na, but she became famous 7 years earlier! She's still in her prime, and she'll probably stay that way for several more years!"

"I have a feeling that this year will be a highlight for Kei Nishikori, not just for winning the Barcelona Open. At that time, our country's men's tennis will be used as a benchmark for criticism, just like the men's football team."

After all, whenever the national football team achieves success, the Chinese national team inevitably becomes the backdrop.

Following this trend, men's tennis is increasingly showing the same trend.

"That's inevitable! Even if our country has a player of tour-level skill, they can't escape being compared to by fans, let alone the fact that our country doesn't have one yet!"

"We're still a long way from the tour!"

The two sighed and ended their conversation.

……

At this moment, the QQ group of Class 3, Grade 11 is bustling with activity.

Meng Hao didn't watch the sports news on TV; he only learned about his new nickname, "Little Prince of Clay," after being reminded by a classmate.

For his male classmates, watching the 6 pm sports news every night wasn't just about watching football and basketball news; they were also very interested in whether their classmate Meng Hao was on CCTV again.

Immediately, the "Little Prince of Clay" went viral.

"Little Prince of Clay, bring back a clay court championship!"

"Bro, I'm paying more attention to you than LeBron James right now. Aren't you touched?"

Upon seeing this, Meng Hao knew it was Jiang Jingjie, the sports committee member, who had said it, and quickly replied, "No, buddy, you should focus on LeBron James!"

"When is the semi-final? Will CCTV broadcast it live?" The question was asked by Yan Cong, Meng Hao's deskmate.

"The semifinals are this afternoon, there won't be a live broadcast. CCTV doesn't even broadcast the Challenger Series, let alone the Hope Series!" Meng Hao replied, adding a joke in the process.

"Brother Cong, I was underestimated this time, so don't underestimate a young man like me. Next time, it's up to you."

"..."

Meng Hao put away his phone, picked up his tennis bag, and prepared to head to the court.

……

(End of this chapter)