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

Chapter 84: My first-round opponent is the ATP's number one "scumbag"? (Please subscribe!)
Federer had already left the lounge by this time.

He will also participate in the entire draw process as a player representative.

Shanghai really loves Federer.

Every time Federer comes, the organizers give him the utmost treatment as a superstar.

After all, this is an ATP 1000 Masters tournament, and even the draw was a grand affair.

The drawing of lots took place in a large conference hall, which was specially decorated.

The seats below the stage were almost full of people, either staff members or representatives of sponsors.

The Shanghai Masters has always been outstanding in attracting investment, ranking among the top even among all nine Masters tournaments.

The lottery ceremony is underway.

Meng Hao stood at the back of the crowd, looking up calmly at the big screen, and couldn't help but think: "Generally speaking, for this kind of tour level, especially the Masters tournament, the Chinese organizing committee rarely makes draws. They are very straightforward."

Therefore, his fortune depends entirely on the will of God.

Djokovic is the No. 1 seed, and Nadal is the No. 2 seed, placed in the upper and lower halves of the draw respectively.

Djokovic is certainly stronger on hard courts than Nadal now, but the organizing committee still placed the No. 3 seed Federer in the upper half of the draw where Djokovic is located.

Clearly, there was no foul play, and no fortune telling was done.

Then, one seeded player after another was placed into their respective draws.

Meng Hao took a look at Kei Nishikori. This top-ranked player, being the No. 7 seed, also received a bye in the first round.

"Is the organizing committee going to put me in the first round so I can face Kei Nishikori after I advance?" he couldn't help but wonder.

After all, he recalled his experience at the Shanghai Challenge, surrounded by a group of ordinary people.

However, this did not happen, and Kei Nishikori's potential opponent in the second round was the winner between an American player and an Australian player.

"So who will I be? Will I face a seeded player?"

The Shanghai Masters has a total of 16 seeded players, but only the top 8 seeds can receive a bye.

This means that the eight seeded players from the 9th to the 16th will have to participate in the first round of the competition.

In the first round of the competition, there were 24 groups, which meant that Meng Hao had a 1/3 chance of encountering a seeded player.

However, in a Masters tournament with 96 seed players, the first round has 32 seeds receiving a bye, so you won't encounter any seeded players.

Soon, Meng Hao's name was drawn and placed into the first round of the draw.

He looked closely and realized that his opponent was... the tenth seed, Bulgarian star Gmitrov!
To my utter surprise, my first-round opponent was Dimitrov.

This is definitely a hard-sell deal!
Dimitrov is only 23 years old, but he's already considered a veteran in the tennis world.

At Wimbledon in 2025, 34-year-old Dimitrov was leading Sinner 2-0 in the round of 16, but had to retire from the match due to a recurrence of his injury.

Otherwise, Sinnardo would most likely have missed out on the Wimbledon title that year.

“Australian Open quarterfinals, Wimbledon semifinals, these are his Grand Slam results this year.” Meng Hao’s mind quickly analyzed the player’s current data. “He has tour titles, but they are all at the 250 and 500 level so far.”

He hasn't reached his peak yet, but he's still a formidable top 10 goalkeeper.

Then, Meng Hao observed that he was in the half of the draw where Nadal was, which meant that he had avoided Federer and Djokovic, the two strongest players on hard courts.

“I was originally in the same quarter of the draw as Kei Nishikori. If I could win all my games and my opponent wasn’t eliminated, we might meet in the round of 16.”

Of course, he is still a long way from the round of 16.

The key is how to deal with his first-round opponent, Dimitrov.

No matter who his opponent is, Meng Hao doesn't want to be eliminated in the first round.

Hopefully, this will be a good memory of my first appearance on the tour.

As for the rest of the draw, including the three other domestic players, Meng Hao didn't have the leisure to pay attention. Wait, it seems Ziwei isn't in the draw!

There's only one possibility: that guy failed in the qualifying rounds.

Not long ago, that guy boasted that he wanted to fight me again in the Masters tournament, and this is what happened?

Ziwei is exaggerating again! That's so typical of Ziwei!
Meng Hao also posted the match schedule in the class QQ group and shared it with his classmates.

"My opponent for the first round of the Shanghai Masters has been announced. He is Gmitrov, who is ranked tenth in the world!"

"Who is Dimitrov? Top ten in the world, is he that good? But I've never heard of him?"

For many students, apart from the Big Three, they may not have heard of other tennis stars, except for Kei Nishikori who recently gained some popularity.

"Do you know Sharapova?"

"Of course I know, she's the most beautiful woman in tennis!" a pervert immediately replied. "I'm a huge fan of hers!"

“My opponent’s current girlfriend is Maria Sharapova!” Meng Hao explained.

"Huh? Isn't Sharapova's boyfriend Vujacic?"

"That was ages ago! We've been broken up for who knows how many years!"

Meng Hao was speechless; all this group of people knew was Vujacic.

"Does Serena Williams know about this?"

"Yeah, I know! Female orcs! They're really fierce!" another student said.

Meng Hao then changed the subject: "Serena Williams interfered in the relationship between my opponent and Sharapova, meaning Dimitrov was two-timing her! This is all public knowledge."

"Holy crap, this guy is awesome!" Many students were also excited. "It's awesome to be two-timing, but to be dating Sharapova while also making a move on Serena Williams is even more awesome."

Serena Williams was very excited during her recent match against Maria Sharapova, and she was eager to prove her strength by defeating her opponent in one fell swoop.

But what's the use of that? You've only proven that your skills are better than your opponent's, but you're still not as beautiful as them, far inferior.

……

In the mobile internet era, information spreads at an extremely rapid pace.

The draw had barely been released when tennis bloggers on Weibo immediately updated their posts.

Nowadays, the latest news in professional tennis is always released on Weibo first.

Breaking news! Meng Hao will face Dimitrov in the first round!

"What the hell? I'm facing a top ten player in the world in the very first round!"

"A Masters tournament with 56 draws has a limited number of slots, which is perfectly normal."

However, Dimitrov is not very well-known, at least in China, he is far less famous than Sharapova's ex-boyfriend Vujacic.

"Shanghai Masters, Sharapova's boyfriend vs. Meng Hao!" Some tennis bloggers deliberately post this to attract attention.

Some fans who regularly watch basketball and occasionally tennis had the following reaction upon seeing this title: What? Vujacic vs. Meng Hao? Is this a basketball or tennis match?

A blogger named "Tennis World" went even further, exaggerating: "China's top male tennis player's first-round opponent is the ATP's number one scumbag!"

His blog posts are entirely about Kopdimitrov's extensive romantic history and his impressive track record of dating both Sharapova and Serena Williams simultaneously.

The vivid descriptions and writing style truly have the flair of Sina's Chi Ge back in the day.

Netizens are wondering if this "Brother Chi" has switched from writing about football to writing about tennis?

Soon after, the blog post went viral, just like Yi Jianlian's "slight smile" a few years earlier.

……

(End of this chapter)