HE is the voice of Shanghai Rolex Masters. Regulars at the Qizhong Tennis Center will recognize Wang Dong simply by his manner of speaking.

A native of Shanghai, he has been associated with the sport in the city of his birth since 2002 when it hosted the Masters Cup.

At first, it was all relatively simple — introducing players, doing post-match interviews and being the master of ceremonies for the opening and closing events. Over the years that role has grown with the tournament itself.

In between, Wang worked as sideline reporter for CCTV in Beijing, and G Sports and Dragon TV in Shanghai.

Being a stadium emcee is not an easy job. Part of it involves working your charm on the crowd and ensuring they remain seated — and quiet — during a break in play, or before and after the match, just so that they can carry on with their work.

Wang is polished, straight forward and underplays his enthusiasm, well aware that the real star of the show is not him but the person he is interviewing.

His preferred catchphrase is “action-packed.” “They are all high-quality games here,” Wang tells Shanghai Daily.

And because he believes in it, he doesn’t sound repetitive or tiring.

In short, Wang has mastered the craft of announcements and become the voice in the fan’s ear.

Ahead of the Shanghai Rolex Masters this week, Wang speaks of the excitement of his “dream” job that, he says, “he wouldn’t trade for anything.”

Q: How long have you been involved with the Shanghai tennis scene?

I started doing this since 2002 when I was with the UN as press officer. It was called Shanghai Tennis Cup. It was held in Pudong. ATP had flown me down. I got to know them when I was working with ESPN. They suggested if I would like to take up the job. I gladly accepted.

Q: What exactly does your role at the Rolex Masters involve?

Well, initially I was asked to do just on-court post-game interviews and the opening and closing ceremonies, a little bit of press conference, help the players, and the main draw ceremony.

When the Tennis Masters came back to Shanghai in 2005, I got more involved partially as their spokesperson for a while. I did a lot of work for the organizing committee as their translator, a bit of crisis management as well when there was this uproar about Andre Agassi pulling out, etc.

Right now, things have become more mature and more professional so I am basically an on-court MC doing interviews with players. Sometimes I help them in post-match conferences as well. Last couple of years I was also doing work with CCTV as a sports anchor. I will still be doing that for them this year too. I came back to Shanghai briefly with G Sports and Dragon TV. And now I am with Alibaba Sports.

Q: What is the most difficult part on court?

When you are caught off guard ...
it can be both challenging and embarrassing. You quickly try to cover your bases, stay calm. Sometimes when you do this interaction with the players and some — very, very few actually — can be very uncooperative especially when they are unhappy with their performance, and you are thrown off track. Then you have to do some quick adjustments to make things happen and cover up and smooth things down.

Q: You deal with the crowd, organizers, players ... Did you ever have problems with fans?

Normally they are very supportive and helpful but sometimes when their favorite player loses, they can be difficult. Like when Andre Agassi lost in the first round. For some reason, he never did well in Shanghai or even (Rafael) Nadal for that matter. I posted something on Weibo and people started attacking me ... calling me unprofessional, etc. They take it hard, but you have to calm them down and tell them you have to let go. You have to strike a balance sometimes ...

Q: You favorite catchphrase?

Usually I try to pump myself up before I come to the court, be ready completely. Get the lines ready ... Like, for example, if it is a national holiday then you say something about it, or the weather — good or bad. Or just, “I am Wang Dong. Follow me for a great day of action.”

“Action-packed” is a word I use often, especially in the quarterfinals and semifinals. You need to galvanize the crowd, ask them to stick around after the game for the interviews. The fans are the first to hear how the player feels about the match, that’s the best part of the job.

One of the things I tried with (Roger) Federer is get him to practice his Chinese in front of the crowd. I started this four years ago. Now when I am on the court with him people expect me to do it every time. We don’t even discuss it before hand. He is anyway a linguist. He speaks German, French, English ... People really like it.

Q: How do you prepare for the day, which can be long sometimes?

In general? ... Well, first of all you need to be excited yourself, however, you don’t show your excitement on the court. I mean overexcited.

You need to be ready one day before the players show up to play, keep yourself informed. You need more things as day goes by. You don’t want to read out, don’t want to bore the audience. Plan all these things in the mind.

You have to be ready for everything, what has happened or what is going to happen.

Remember, we just get two to three minutes, and you have to be to the point. At least one of the questions has to be about the game that just ended. So we have to constantly keep an eye on the screen at all times. Sometimes the favorite player loses, and you have to be ready about the opponent because you can only talk to the winner. Basically it is a very comprehensive package that you have to deal with.

Q: What is the best part of the job?

One, is interacting with all these world class tennis players ... Professionally, I am a tennis analyst and a commentator. I love the sport, so to be with them every year is simply wonderful. I would trade everything for this.

Second, all this is happening in Shanghai, my home city. I was born, bred and educated here, so this is all very beautiful. I have been involved with tennis in Shanghai since 2002. I have been promoting this event by going to different colleges and talking about it to students because you need to do it at the grass-root level.

Third, I try to be a bridge between Eastern and Western cultures. There was a time when people here did not know how to read tennis scores, or when the changeover happens, etc ... Now they know. Or teaching them not to use flash during matches to take pictures. We are grooming all that. I am happy doing all that.