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

Chapter 71 A Little Life Surrounded by "Second Brothers"

Even in high-level challenge matches, you don't get any points if you're eliminated in the first round.

Tatsuma Ito was the runner-up in the 100K Challenger tournament last year, earning 50 ATP points. Now, he will be eliminated in the first round and will lose 50 points directly.

His immediate ranking plummeted from 99th to outside the top 110.

That's how cruel the world of professional tennis is.

In the world of professional tennis, there's a saying: If you fall out of the top 100 for reasons other than injury, it's very difficult to come back.

At the same time, Meng Hao simply clenched his fist tightly and then released it.

He stepped over the "corpses" of his second brother, Xiao Rizi, to enter the second round, and at the same time, his real-time world ranking broke through the top 300, reaching 299th!
ATP score: 151 points

The entire stadium cheered; the voices of a thousand people were deafening.

"We won! I never expected to actually beat my second brother, who's always so lazy!"

"The key is that they won so decisively!"

"That's great! This is a slap in the face for the organizing committee!"

"Meng Hao, the wildcard for the Shanghai Masters is definitely yours!"

Meng Hao also felt a sense of relief.

As expected, his earlier guess was correct.

In reality, Ryoma Ito's skill level is not as high as Coric's.

Of course, it's also related to the fact that his strength has increased dramatically in the past month.

As I said before, rankings are only a reference for tennis players.

Many players on the fringes of the top 100 barely maintain their rankings by racking up points in Challenger tournaments; they struggle to establish themselves on the tour.

Meanwhile, those young talents ranked around 200-300 are making great strides and are preparing to make their mark on the tour.

The potential between them is completely incomparable.

Sponsors are also willing to invest in these lower-ranked young talents.

"Meng Hao, please sign my autograph. I've been cheering you on!"

"You beat the second seed so easily, you're sure to win the championship!"

Meng Hao walked up to the audience and patiently signed autographs for each one.

Actually, at first, he wasn't quite used to signing autographs for others.

But after playing so many matches, I've gotten used to signing so many contracts.

"Winning the championship? Hopefully!" Meng Hao nodded with a smile.

He had a very simple and pure idea in his mind: this was his third challenge, and hopefully his last.

"I belong to the tour, and since I left the Challenger Series, I never thought about coming back!"

After Meng Hao finished signing his name, CCTV reporter Chen Yu called out to him.

"Meng Hao, I've checked the rules. If you win just one more game, you'll get a wildcard for the Shanghai Masters!"

"Uh, why do you say that?" Meng Hao turned around, somewhat curious.

Because at least one of the other local players is guaranteed a spot in the quarterfinals.

Even if he wins another game, his score will at most be the same as his opponent's.

"Because your ranking is higher than theirs, when the scores are the same, the wildcard is given to the one with the higher ranking!" Chen Yu explained.

Meng Hao countered, "What if they keep winning?"

In his view, only winning the championship is the safest option.

"Them? The top eight is their limit!" Chen Yu said with a look of disdain.

This isn't the Challenger Series from the beginning of the year. The Challenger Series before the "China Season" was packed with top players.

"Actually, I kept telling myself that there's no need to care too much about their results in this leg of the competition." Meng Hao smiled calmly, slung his tennis bag over his shoulder, and left.

No matter how many obstacles lie on the road to the Shanghai Masters, Meng Hao will sweep them all away with his racket.

... 6 to 1 and 6 to 2!

In his first professional match against a TOP100 player, Meng Hao delivered an extremely brutal sweep.

Keep in mind that Ryoma Ito just won a round of the main draw at the US Open.

This news was also reported by major portal websites immediately.

Tennis bloggers on Weibo also reported the news immediately.

"Can you believe it? Meng Hao actually beat Xiao Rizi's second brother!"

"The opponent is the second-in-command under Nishikori!"

"Looking forward to the match between Meng Hao and Kei Nishikori!"

The key point is... Meng Hao won against Xiao Rizi's second brother.

When Meng Hao learned the truth, he was both amused and exasperated.

I don’t know if it’s because the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a lot of funding, but whenever a sports superstar appears in the West, the media in China really like to promote it.

There are players from a long time ago like Hidetoshi Nakata and Shinji Kagawa, and this year, Keisuke Honda is quite popular; all of them play soccer.

In the future, there will be Eiki Kawamura, who plays basketball, and Shohei Ohtani, who plays baseball.

Let's forget about the former, since basketball is very popular in China.

Even a baseball player with a simple life is promoting himself wildly in China.

From then on, many Chinese people who had never watched a baseball game or knew the rules of baseball knew about a baseball player named Shohei Ohtani.

This year, in addition to Keisuke Honda, who plays soccer, Kei Nishikori's marketing efforts have also been very impressive.

This is understandable, given his impressive record this year, including reaching the final at the US Open.

He is the second best player after Kei Nishikori, a top 100 player, and his name even includes "Ryoma".

This is all traffic!
Coupled with the background of Meng Hao being "persecuted" by the organizing committee, the hype surrounding him suddenly surged!
Meng Hao's Weibo account is also seeing a surge in followers, having already surpassed the 10 mark!
Many fans even said they would go to the stadium to cheer for Meng Hao at the next game.

"Hall 3 only has 3000 people, we must fill it up!"

Who will be our next opponent?

"Hey, it looks like another one of Xiao Rizi's players, his name is Tenda Go, and this is Third Brother!"

"..."

"Meng Hao has fallen into the trap of being surrounded by players who are considered 'easy targets'!"

……

After winning the first game, Meng Hao didn't pay much attention to the outside world's heated discussions, nor did he care how many followers his Weibo account gained.

He glanced briefly at the comments section before putting his phone away.

Indeed, results are the best reliance.

His reputation has changed dramatically since he defeated Ryoma Ito.

Previously, Meng Hao said that "the reason for not participating in the National Games is that it conflicted with the year-end finals in terms of timing." People said he was arrogant and didn't know his own limitations.

Today, people praise his confidence, a quality essential for an outstanding athlete.

Human beings are inherently hypocritical!

Meng Hao then checked his potential opponents, not just in this round, but also in the next round.

Huh?
"My next potential opponent might be someone like Yoshihito Nishioka again!" He was speechless when he saw the draw.

Ryoma Ito is now the second oldest in the group, while his opponent in this round, Go Tenda, is not only the third oldest now, but also the second oldest in the past.

And Yoshihito Nishioka, that guy is the second older brother of the future Little Day.

So in this challenge, Meng Hao actually has to beat up his second brother from the past, present, and future?

After these "second-best" guys finish their leisure time, will Kei Nishikori, the number one player, arrange his own leisure time at the Shanghai Masters?
……

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