The big devil in table tennis

The opposing player took a deep breath, clenched his knuckles until they turned white, and turned the racket half a circle in his palm, as if to crush all previous mistakes.

The whistle sounded, and the ball was thrown, pushed off the ground, and turned. The movements were as smooth as a knife being drawn from its sheath, and the tennis ball turned into a yellow-green lightning and went straight to the baseline.

Jianhua's pupils shrank.

The serve had an obvious side spin and landed precisely three centimeters inside the sideline, and when it bounced it suddenly turned towards his backhand blind spot.

But at this moment, the opposing player was radiant, as if he had changed his previous playing style, and began to compete with Jianhua constantly.

Jianhua shook his wrist, and the racket slashed out at the critical moment, barely pushing the ball back to the opponent's half.

However, this hasty return ball was high and floating, leaving the opponent with an excellent attacking opportunity.

The opponent's eyes flashed, and he took a big step forward without hesitation, leaping into the air and swinging his right arm like a whip.

"boom!"

With a violent smash, the tennis ball hit the service line hard, splashing fine red soil.

There was a commotion in the audience. Someone whispered, "Why is this guy like a different person today?"

Jianhua could feel that every ball the opponent attacked was attacked with unprecedented aggression, as if they wanted to unleash all the long-accumulated strength.

At this moment, the ping-pong ball drew a sharp white light on the blue table. "Bang!" The crisp sound of the rubber racket colliding with the ball had not yet dissipated, and the ping-pong ball had already shot towards Jianhua's half like a bullet.

The opponent player retreated half a step, the muscles of his right arm stretched into sharp lines, and his eyes burned with the fire of unwillingness to admit defeat.

This was the seventh consecutive kill, and the stalemate made the air in the venue freeze.

"Bang!" The ball hit the corner of Jianhua's table along the sideline, and the splashing sweat drew a bright parabola under the light.

The other player's eyes were determined, as if to say: I'm going to win this game!

The veins on his wheat-colored neck bulged, and his sneakers made a harsh squeaking sound as they rubbed against the floor.

Jianhua wiped the sweat beads that dripped onto his eyelashes, and when he bent down he caught a glimpse of his trembling knees.

But when he held the still spinning ping-pong ball, he felt a familiar grainy sensation in his palm, just as the coach said during the special training last week: "The more anxious he is, the more you have to push him like Tai Chi."

Then the other player threw the ball high up again, this time twenty centimeters higher than usual.

The fluorescent light cast a jagged shadow on his tense jaw, and the wind from the swing of the racket lifted the scorer's bangs. When the ping-pong ball whizzed at a speed of 112 kilometers per hour, Jianhua suddenly remembered the frog he dissected yesterday. The speed of nerve reflex is much faster than consciousness.

Jianhua stared at the ping-pong ball coming towards him, his pupils shrinking slightly.

The ball left a blurry afterimage in the air, and the slight buzzing sound it made as it spun was like some kind of provocative signal.

His body reacted before his brain did. His knees were slightly bent, his center of gravity dropped, and the racket cut out at an angle at the critical moment.

"Snap!" At the moment the ball rubbed against the rubber, the rotation was cleverly resolved, and the return ball drew a strange arc and passed through the net.

The opposing player obviously didn't expect this. In his hasty save, the edge of his racket just barely touched the ball. The ping-pong ball bounced high, drawing a dazzling silver line under the light.

There was a brief exclamation from the sidelines, followed by deathly silence.

Everyone held their breath, staring at the slowly falling ball. Which side would it land on?
Jianhua did not wait for the result. His body instinctively adjusted his position, with his toes lightly tapping the ground, ready to go like a cat.

He knew that regardless of whether the ball was scored or not, the opponent's rhythm had been disrupted.

However, after hesitating for a few seconds, the opponent player still threw the ping-pong ball in his hand up. The ball spun and rose under the light like a slowed-down meteor.

Jianhua's fingers gently stroked the rough surface of the ping-pong ball, and he felt a slight sweat in his palms.

The incandescent lights on the top of the stadium cast a dazzling spot of light on the surface of the ball, leaving a dazzling trajectory as the ball rose.

"Snapped!"

His serve was clean and neat. The ball brushed past the net, hit the opponent's table lightly, and fell rapidly.

The opponent reacted very quickly, rushed forward, swung his racket diagonally, and scooped up the ball that was about to fall to the ground. The ball flew high up, with irregular rotation, like a hummingbird out of control.

Jianhua didn't hesitate and attacked sideways! His arm drew a smooth arc, and his wrist shook violently at the moment the racket hit the ball.

"boom!"

The ping-pong ball shot straight into the opponent's blind spot on the table like a cannonball. The opponent player tried hard to save the ball, and almost flew out sideways. His racket barely reached the ball, and he hit the ping-pong ball onto Jianhua's table again.

Jianhua's counterattack was fast and fierce, and the ping-pong ball bounced in a sharp arc on the corner of the opponent's table.

The opponent obviously did not expect this desperate counterattack. He hastily turned sideways, and the racket just touched the edge of the ball, and the ping-pong ball flew high to the ceiling.

Amid the exclamations in the stadium, the ball streaked silver light next to the ceiling light, like a falling meteor.

Jianhua tilted his head back, sweat dripping down his jawline into his collar. He suddenly remembered the parabola formula he learned in junior high school physics class. At this moment, wasn't the spinning ball performing the most perfect free fall?
When the ball fell into his own half of the zone, he somehow used the "fishing for the moon in the bottom of the sea" technique he had just seen in a short video.

The racket tilted 45 degrees and rubbed the bottom of the ball. The ping-pong ball passed the net with a strange rotation and hesitated on the net for half a second. During this half second, the audience held their breath, and finally rolled gently onto the opponent's table.

Jianhua heard the roar from the audience surge in like a rising tide.

He looked at his sweaty palms. The indentations of three strips of racket tape were clearly visible, like some mysterious totem of victory.

Sunlight slanted in through the tall windows of the venue, turning the flying dust into golden swarms.

The ping-pong ball bounced twice on the table and finally came to rest.

The scoreboard changed to 7:2, and the sidelines erupted in even louder applause and cheers.

Jianhua took a deep breath and felt the blood in his chest still boiling, but his heartbeat had gradually calmed down.

He raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, only to find that his jersey was already soaked and stuck to his back.

The referee signaled to continue, and the opponent was already standing at the other end of the table with an equally determined look in his eyes.

The ping-pong ball was thrown high into the air, drawing a white line in the air, and the contest between the two began again.

The crisp sound of racket and ball colliding echoed in the stadium, like a never-ending battle song.

The other player's eyes were fixed on the fast-spinning ping-pong ball, and the racket vibrated slightly in his palm.

The opponent changed his strategy this time and made several tricky slices in a row, and the frequency of the two players' play was very close.

Jianhua also felt the pressure from the opposing player. Even so, Jinghua remained relatively calm and hit the ping-pong ball in his hand onto the opposing player's table with a bang!

Suddenly, the opponent made a backhand fast attack, and the ping-pong ball flew over along the sideline. Jianhua almost instinctively stepped sideways, and the racket reached the ball at the last moment - "Snap!" A beautiful loop ball drew an amazing arc and hit the opponent's blind spot on the table.

The audience was instantly excited, and some people even stood up. However, the opponent's reaction was faster, and he jumped to save the ball, and the racket lifted the ball less than ten centimeters from the ground.

The ping-pong ball flew high up in a strange curve, and was about to go out of bounds - but at the last moment it was gently pushed by a gust of wind, and strangely fell back to the corner of the table on Jianhua's side.

"Brush off!" the referee announced loudly.

7:3
Jianhua was stunned for a second, then shook his head and smiled.

This is the charm of competitive sports, there are always unexpected variables.

When he stood back in position, Jianhua caught a glimpse of a little boy in the first row of the audience holding up his mobile phone to record a video, his eyes sparkling. He suddenly remembered that ten years ago, he was also lying outside the railing of the provincial team training hall, obsessed with watching the athletes swinging their rackets.

"Go on!" The referee's voice brought him back to reality.

Jianhua took a deep breath and looked at the opposing player.

The opposing player bounced the ping-pong ball three times on the table.

This time, he will use his best backspin serve to get the game back to his own rhythm.

The moment the ball was thrown up, the entire venue seemed to become quiet, and everyone's eyes were focused on the small, rotating white ball.

The opponent's serve split the air like a white lightning, and the ping-pong ball hit the net with a strong downward spin.

Jianhua obviously predicted this signature serve, but was still deceived by the strange rotation. The moment the racket touched the ball, the ping-pong ball fell straight down as if under a spell, hit the table with a "bang", and bounced almost vertically.

The sound was particularly clear in the silent venue.

Jianhua felt his right hand holding the racket trembling slightly, and then he discovered that the muscles at the base of his palm had cramped.

He flicked his wrist vigorously and looked up to see his opponent glaring at him.

This cannot change Jianhua's determination to win!
Next, we'll see the other player.
A rare reverse rotation is emitted.

The ping-pong ball drew an unnatural S-shaped trajectory in the air, like a hummingbird out of control.

Jianhua made the decision within a few tenths of a second, abandoning the conventional serve and receiving posture and instead using a rare "chop-style" receiving method, with the racket almost parallel to the table and lifting it upwards at the moment of contact with the ball.

"Snapped!"

The ping-pong ball was thrown high to the opponent's table, and suddenly fell down when it was about to go out of bounds. The opponent obviously did not expect this "comeback".

Soon the other player came to his senses and immediately hit the ping-pong ball onto Jianhua's table, making a loud noise.

The ping-pong ball left white afterimages on the blue table, and the "bang bang" sound of the ball shook the entire gymnasium like a rapid heartbeat.

The opponent's pupils shrank to the size of a needle tip, and his hawk-like eyes fixed on every move of the Chinese player Jianhua.

The cold air from the air conditioner lifted his sweaty bangs, revealing the three-centimeter-long old scar on his brow bone.

"Ha!" With a loud shout, the opponent suddenly changed the rhythm and made a backhand "ghost cut" to slice the ball.

The ping-pong ball strangely changed its direction of rotation the moment it passed the net, as if it was pushed hard by an invisible hand.

Jianhua's racket brushed past the edge of the ball, and a tsunami of exclamations suddenly erupted from the stands.

When the scoreboard turned to 7:4.

This group match, which should have ended within half an hour, lasted for forty-three minutes.

The opposing player slammed the table top with his racket, and the rubber and the wooden board collided with a heart-pounding muffled sound.

He stepped back three steps and stood on the edge of the backboard. This dangerous distance made the coaches stand up immediately.

The ping-pong ball was thrown high into the opponent's palm, and the sunlight filtered through the ceiling glass, casting spider-web-like shadows on the blue veins on the back of his hand.

Jianhua suddenly discovered that his opponent's breathing rhythm had changed. Every time he inhaled, there was a slight tremor, which was the characteristic of the opponent's "Zanshin" breathing method.

Before he could adjust his position, the opponent's dunk had already torn the air apart, and the moment the ping-pong ball exploded on the table, sparks were visible to the naked eye.

"Snapped!"

7:5
The other player caught up with him again. This was something Jianhua had never expected.
In the past, he thought that the opponent would leave him far behind, but he didn't expect that they would get closer and closer, which made Jianhua start to worry.

Next, the opposing player won a point and started serving. When he served, he first weighed the ping-pong ball on his own table, and then it landed on Jianhua's table with a bang.

When Jianhua saw the ping-pong ball coming towards him, he responded immediately.

Jianhua's eyes focused and the racket gently turned in his palm.

The serve came straight to the backhand with a sharp spin, and when he pushed off the ground and turned sideways, his sneakers rubbed against the rubber floor, making a sharp "squeaking" sound.

The moment the silver ball hit the table, his forearm muscles suddenly tensed up, and he chopped it out with the racket face tilted forward 45 degrees.

Bang! The ball turned into a streak of white light and pierced the opponent's corner, exploding in an exaggerated arc at the sideline.

The opposing player seemed to have anticipated this and slid across most of the table.

The hem of his blue sweatshirt fluttered as he turned his waist, and his right arm holding the racket swung out like a whip.

When the rubber came into contact with the ball, a special muffled "clang" sound was heard, and the return ball unexpectedly made a strange side turn and went straight to Jianhua's forehand at a large angle.

There was an immediate buzz of discussion in the audience; this counter-attack was clearly a shot that European players were good at.

Jianhua's Adam's apple rolled and he took a step back, making a dull thumping sound on the wooden floor.

He suddenly changed from holding the racket with both hands to holding it with one arm, and his whole body arched backwards like a fully drawn bowstring.

When the ball bounced to the highest point, he pounced forward like a released spring. The racket face subtly shook its wrist and changed direction the moment it touched the ball. The moment the ball hit the net, the opponent had already staggered to the far table.

The white ball bounced twice lightly in the corner, 8:5
Jianhua finally won another point. When he saw this point, Jianhua felt very pleased. Finally, his hard work paid off!

Next time, he couldn't be careless. He played very seriously just now, so he didn't lose to the opponent by 1 point!

Especially when he saw the other player's eyes looking at him, Jianhua became even more determined. He must win, and he must win beautifully and gloriously.

(ps: Please recommend, please monthly, please reward, please leave your little feet if you pass by, the author is very grateful here, let the author know that he is not fighting alone, be lonely, thank you!) (End of this chapter)