Chapter 225: First Career
After hanging up the phone, Gawain turned around and saw MacDonald's half-smiley expression. It seemed that he had accidentally heard the voice coming from the receiver. Gawain said with a smile.
"Laugh if you want to."
A smile appeared in MacDonald's eyes, but he waved his hands repeatedly to clarify himself.
"I just think your family is very lively and very..."
"lively?"
"Yes, yes, very lively."
"It was because they were so lively that I had so much energy to vent and started learning tennis."
Looking at the graceful Gao Wen, MacDonald showed a hint of envy in his eyes.
Gao Wen nudged MacDonald with his shoulder, "Next time my parents come over, I'll introduce you to each other. I often talk about you when I chat with them. They are always very curious. My mom often asks, how is Mac? Do you have a girlfriend?"
Hahaha.
Gawain and MacDonald both laughed happily. Jilong turned his head and looked at the two of them, with a smile in his eyes.
Gawain and his companions officially ended their summer training and set out on their journey to participate in the challenge competition, but there were some slight changes in their companions -
Thompson was different from them. He went to Europe alone to start his professional career.
Although summer is the North American season, this only means that the top events are centered in North America with the US Open as the center, while there are still a large number of professional events going on in other cities around the world, especially challenge tournaments and future tournaments.
After all, only the top 300 players in the world can participate in Grand Slam events, while professional players ranked below 300 also need to continue to participate.
Some players choose to come to North America to participate in challenge tournaments and hope tournaments. Their ultimate goal is to appear in the US Open series. It is precisely because of this that there are relatively more top players.
Some players take a longer-term view and improve their ranking step by step. In this case, it would be more advantageous to avoid North America in the summer, after all, the top players gather in North America.
In addition, some players have realized that it is difficult for them to rank among the top 300 in their careers, so tennis has become a job to make a living. They often participate in challenge tournaments and hope tournaments to earn bonuses, just like office workers who work from 9 to 5. Naturally, they prefer Europe, where there are fewer top players.
It was with this in mind that Thompson went to Europe to compete, hoping to improve his ranking as much as possible before the Asian season and the European indoor season, so as to get more opportunities to compete in the second half of the year.
As for Gao Wen and his three companions, they have not yet determined the direction for the second half of the year. Staying in North America to compete with top players and feel the atmosphere of the Grand Slam will be conducive to their growth.
At this time, the three were taking a plane across the North American continent, from Los Angeles on the west coast to New York on the east coast, preparing to participate in their first professional event: the Binghamton Challenge.
Binghamton is an industrial city in New York State, located 240 kilometers northwest of New York. It has a large number of processing factories for shoes, clothing, dental equipment, auto parts, electrical, metal products, office equipment, etc., so you can see many immigrants.
In addition, the Binghamton campus of the State University of New York is also located here, and young students have become an important part of the city's residents.
Although Binghamton is a small town with a permanent population of only 47,000 and has not seen any major changes for many years, the Binghamton Challenge has a long history. It has been held for 20 years since 1994.
You know, the competition in professional tennis tournaments is also very fierce. If there is not enough attendance, there will be no sponsors. Without sponsors, there will be no funds to hold the tournament and no bonuses to be awarded to players, so naturally there is no way to continue holding the tournament.
Generally speaking, it is extremely rare for a tournament to be held for more than ten years; tournaments like the four Grand Slams, which have been held for nearly or more than a hundred years, become even more precious.
The Binghamton Challenge has been held for twenty years amid fierce competition, which shows how popular the event is in the local area.
The challenge tournament levels are divided according to ATP certified points and prize money, starting from a total prize of US$15,000 to the highest level of US$120,000, and are divided into seven levels overall.
The Binghamton Challenge is a third-level event with a total prize of $50,000 and 80 points for the champion.
Never underestimate an event of this level. Although it is a far cry from a Grand Slam, there are indeed many players around the world who want to participate in an event of this level: there are sixteen draws in the qualifying round, and four players are decided through three rounds of competition to enter the main draw; then there are thirty-two draws in the main draw, and the champion is decided through five rounds of competition.
Points and prize money are all arranged in a progressive manner according to the rounds. First of all, if you enter the main competition through the qualifying round, you can win three points regardless of the outcome of the first round. But if you enter the main competition directly through the ranking or wild card, you will not get any points if you lose the first round.
Secondly, all players will have points as long as they enter the second round, and the points will gradually increase with the promotion rounds. The second round is seven points, the third round is fifteen points, the semi-finals is twenty-nine points, the runner-up is forty-eight points, and the champion is eighty points.
All these points can be counted towards the world ranking. As long as you have one point, you can have a world ranking.
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But the problem is that there are still many players who are struggling in the Hope Tournament and may not get any points. It is not easy to enter the world rankings.
According to the rules, McDonald can directly qualify for the competition based on his world ranking, after all, he has won a Challenge Championship trophy; but Gawain and Gillon have no choice, because neither of them has a world ranking, even for the qualifying round.
Generally speaking, they need to start from the Hope Tournament and win points in at least one Hope Tournament before they can enter the qualifying list for the Challenge Tournament.
However, Martin believes that with the current level of Gawain and Jilong, there is no challenge in participating in the Hope Tournament. Both of them can win easily, and as long as they perform normally, there will be no problem in winning the championship. The lack of confrontation and challenge makes the Challenge Tournament a more suitable option for the two people's level.
As a local event, the Binghamton Challenge has a total of three wild cards, which they are also very happy to award to NCAA players.
So, Tobias helped Gao Wen and Ji Long submit their applications, successfully obtained wild cards, and skipped the qualifying round to directly enter the main draw.
When Gao Wen and his three companions arrived at New York's LaGuardia Airport, Tobias had already arrived in advance to greet the three new rookies in the professional arena.
Third update.
(End of this chapter)