Tennis: He's so obedient!

Chapter 174: Post-match boast: Ranking rises, Olympic spot secured! (Please subscribe)
After a brief silence, the cheers of the Chinese fans erupted.

"Well done! You've made it to the quarterfinals!"

"Jiang Shen is great, no need for further explanation!"

"You don't even have the strength to go toe-to-toe with Jiang Shen."

The fans in the stands were filled with excitement; after all, reaching the quarterfinals of the Masters tournament speaks for itself.

The prestige of the competition is evident from the rankings and past records of the other eight finalists.

At that moment, Zhang Sheng, who was in the broadcasting studio, stood up and shouted excitedly.

"They won! They won! Jiang Hong won!"

"After nearly three hours of fierce competition, Jiang Hong successfully won the match."

"His dream journey at the Madrid Masters continues; he hasn't stopped yet!"

"Continuing to make history and forge the glory of Chinese tennis."

"Let's give a round of applause and cheers to this young Chinese man who has made history!"

Meanwhile, the viewers in front of their televisions were already cheering excitedly when the game ended.

After losing the first set, he swept the next one, and in the tense third set, Jiang Hong withstood the pressure and won.

For a spectator, this match was as thrilling as watching a horror movie, keeping them on edge the entire time.

Jiang Hong lowered his raised arm and took a deep breath.

I actually won the game.

His reborn butterfly finally triggered a chain reaction.

It swept away Nalbandian's glorious moment of winning three consecutive titles, the most glorious moment of his career.

However, let me complete the Golden Path that Nalbandian didn't finish.

Nadal, Djokovic, Federer!

In his previous life, he could only sit in front of the TV and watch them perform on the field. Now he finally has the opportunity to challenge them.

Jiang Hong paused for a moment, caught his breath, and then turned and walked towards the net.

Nalbandian stood expressionless at the net, the match clearly having a significant impact on him.

To be honest, his performance in this game was the best he's had in all the competitions he's participated in this year.

Even though the problems were mostly old issues, and had even decreased somewhat, they still ultimately lost to the young man in front of them.

That's how professional tennis is; every year, a new generation of young people storms into the tennis world.

Although Nalbandian was arrogant and unrestrained before the match.

However, he still faces defeat with great grace and composure.

After all, as a professional player, he should have this kind of mentality.

However, looking at Jiang Hongyun's nonchalant demeanor, Nalbandian was somewhat puzzled.

"Why are you so calm after winning the game? After all, those Spaniards were mocking you!"

"Don't you want to fight back against their boos?"

Nalbandian was also aware of Jiang Hong's situation with the Spanish fans.

Moreover, there's half a sentence that Nalbandian hasn't said yet.

After all, you'll be ridiculed by everyone tomorrow, so you might as well have some fun today.

"Perhaps I should even thank them for their boos, which ignited my fighting spirit when I started to doubt myself, making me even more eager to win the game!" Jiang Hong shrugged and said very frankly.

Upon hearing this, Nalbandian's eyes widened immediately.

I glanced at the Spanish fans in the stands.

He immediately started cursing in his mind.

"Those Spaniards!"

"If it weren't for them, I might have won the game!"

In his view, many young athletes will either perform exceptionally well or underperform due to off-field factors.

Nalbandian felt that Jiang Hong might be in this situation.

If I don't lose control of my emotions in the end, my opponent might not be a match for me.

It's all the Spaniards' fault!
It's such a pity that I couldn't withstand the pressure back then.

But it's too late to say anything now.

After all, there's no going back in this world.

Nalbandian took a breath, adjusted his mindset, and reminded Jiang Hong with a gloating smile.

"Jiang, congratulations on winning this match!"

"Thanks……"

However, before Jiang Hong could finish speaking, Nalbandian continued.

"In the next match, you're playing against Nadal, who is a Spanish superstar. You'll probably face even more pressure from the Spanish fans!"

"You can't go through all that trouble to beat me and then hand Nadal a free meal!"

"After losing the game, these Spaniards and their journalists won't be as gracious as you!"

Jiang Hong looked up and glanced at the Spanish fans in the stands.

They were probably all waiting for Jiang Hong to lose the game.

"In that case, let's just not give them a chance to mock us!" Jiang Hong said with a confident smile.

Although Nadal is one of the greatest players in the history of tennis, my sword has never been at a disadvantage!

Nalbandian was taken aback by Jiang Hong's confident expression.

I don't know whether to say he was just being fearless like a newborn calf or genuinely confident.

"Then I wish you good luck!"

"Okay, goodbye, my fans are already impatient!" Jiang Hong nodded, then said, "Looking forward to playing against you again next time!"

After all, I did learn a lot from my encounter with him.

This made Jiang Hong realize that he had many shortcomings in terms of tactics.

Nalbandian turned his head and looked at the Chinese fans sitting in a corner of the stands. Although there weren't a lot of them, there were still over a thousand.

"so good!"

After all, it's really not easy to have thousands of people supporting you when you're competing in a foreign country.

Tennis is a solitary sport, but Jiang Hong has never seemed to be so lonely.

After shaking hands with the referee, Jiang Hong turned around and walked towards the stands.

Reporters and fans from China Media Group leaned over the edge of the stands, waving and holding banners at Jiang Hong.

His face was flushed, and he shouted excitedly.

Although Jiang Hong's current results are not the best among Asian players in the Masters tournament.

For example, Srichaphan successfully reached the semifinals of the Paris Masters in 02, and again in the Miami Masters in 03.

However, the best result for an Asian player in an ATP Masters tournament this year was Lee Hyung-taek reaching the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters.

At the time, the South Korean media gave it a lot of praise.

Jiang Hong, on the other hand, successfully advanced to the quarterfinals of the Madrid Masters.

If we only consider active Asian players, Jiang Hong could probably be considered the number one player in Asia.

As for reaching the semi-finals, it equals the best result ever achieved by an Asian player in an ATP Masters tournament.

Reporters and fans who know even a little about tennis wouldn't dare to imagine it.

After all, Jiang Hong's next opponent is Nadal!

He has already achieved a three-peat at the French Open and also has eight Masters titles to his name.

He is currently the second-best tennis star after Federer, and that's just in terms of results. If they were to face each other, neither of them would have a guaranteed win.

"If Jiang Hong were placed in a different half of the bracket and didn't run into any of the world's top three, would he have a chance to make it to the semifinals?"

"That's quite possible, after all, Jiang Hong has faced several players before!"

"Pity!"

However, they also knew that if they were placed in another half of the bracket, they might encounter the world's top three teams earlier, which could lead to their early elimination.

But I still can't help but fantasize, what if...

Jiang Hong had no idea what they were thinking. Did they give up just because the enemy was too strong?
"Master Jiang, please sign your autograph!"

Suddenly, the chubby boy Jiang Hong met yesterday shoved a tennis ball, about the size of a basketball, into Jiang Hong's hand.

Jiang Hong saw that a considerable number of signatures had already been collected on it.

"You've collected quite a few signatures, haven't you?"

"Hehe, Jiang Shen, your signature should definitely take the center position!" The chubby boy chuckled and pointed to the center position.

After taking the pen, Jiang Hong signed his name with a flourish.

"God Jiang, good luck tomorrow!" the chubby boy said earnestly, encouraging Jiang Hong.

"Thank you!"

Jiang Hong interacted with the fans of China Fortune and gave away a few autographed tennis balls.

Just as Jiang Hong was about to finish taking his leave, several young Spanish girls squeezed in excitedly.

"Jiang, can I get your autograph?"

Jiang Hong was stunned for a moment upon hearing this; he really hadn't expected it.

"Okay!" Jiang Hong nodded, but still couldn't find a place to sign: "Where should I sign?"

The Spanish girl immediately pointed to her chest, "Sign it on my clothes, okay?"

As expected of a Spanish girl, she's certainly bold.

As a seasoned veteran, Jiang Hong certainly wouldn't back down and signed his name with a flourish.

A reporter nearby saw this and his eyes lit up. He immediately raised his camera and took several photos.

Several news headlines flashed through my mind.

"Jiang Hong is infatuated with Madrid", "Female Madrid fan boldly expresses her love for Jiang Hong"...

Anyway, for journalists, the first priority is to attract attention; who cares about the truth?

After finishing her thank-you speech, Jiang Hong returned to the rest area to tidy up her belongings. Then, at the invitation of the organizing committee staff, she gave a post-match interview.

Movistar plus+, the television network that owns the broadcasting rights to the Madrid Masters, has the rights to interview all the players after the match, except for the first few matches.

Jiang Hong wasn't anything special before, but things are different now. He's made it to the quarterfinals and will face Nadal tomorrow.

The photographer, with a camera slung over his shoulder, followed the reporter to Jiang Hong.

With a professional smile on his face, the host walked up to Jiang Hong with a microphone and began the post-match interview.

"Thank you, Jiang Hong, for bringing a wonderful match to the fans. You are also the youngest player among the quarterfinalists in this year's Madrid Masters."

"Defeating several top players seems to have set a new record for Chinese men's tennis!"

In men's tennis, it has become extremely rare for someone to achieve a Grand Slam at the age of eighteen since the turn of the century.

Although the competition in tennis is very fierce, the rankings of top players are relatively fixed unless they are injured.

Most of them are familiar faces. Players like Jiang Hong, who suddenly appeared out of nowhere and swept through the ITF Hope Series, ATP Challenger Series, International Tour, International Gold Series, and Masters Series in just six months, are definitely a rare breed. It would be hard to find many like him in the entire history of tennis.

"Yes, this Madrid Masters has been a wonderful experience for me, and I hope this dream can have a perfect ending."

"Oh? Then I wonder what your definition of a perfect ending is, Jiang Hong? Does it refer to the quarterfinals, semifinals, finals, or... the championship?"

The host's eyes lit up, and he immediately grasped the details in Jiang Hong's words.

It's important to know that Jiang Hong's next opponent is Nadal. If Jiang Hong agrees, it can be said that he is arrogant and conceited; if Jiang Hong denies it, it can be said that he is already afraid before the battle even begins.

For them, these are all gimmicks to boost ratings.

Jiang Honghe understood the underlying meaning in the host's words.

“I don’t think any player you interview would say, ‘I’m already satisfied with my current results, please eliminate me,’” Jiang Honghai vividly described.

"As a player, I think the goal of all the participating players is the championship!" Jiang Hong said with a simple smile, then changed the subject and asked, "What do you think?"

"You're right!" The host was momentarily speechless, then moved on to the next question: "Jiang Hong, in the next match, you will face tennis superstar Nadal. Do you feel any pressure?"

Since it's a Spanish TV station, they genuinely felt that a young player would be incredibly nervous playing against a superstar like Nadal.

"As I just said, this Madrid Masters trip has been wonderful for me. I've let go of the pressure and can play with a light heart. I'm just looking forward to playing against a superstar like Nadal!"

Jiang Hong was already looking forward to facing the future Big Three before the start of the Madrid Masters.

After all, Jiang Hong knew that Nadal's future achievements would not be just a few Grand Slams, but as many as 22, achieving a Grand Slam.

No one would have imagined that the current top three in the world would dominate the tennis world for nearly twenty years, and that the third-place player would have won an astonishing 24 Grand Slam titles.

And it directly crushed an entire generation of players born in the 90s.

Of course, with Jiang Hong, a reborn individual, involved, it's estimated that they will find it difficult to reach the expected level.

The host wasn't satisfied with this conventional interview, so he continued to press for more information.

"Jiang Hong, what are your expectations for tomorrow's match against Nadal?"

Again!
Jiang Hong glanced at the host, knowing that the other party was digging a hole for him.

He took a deep breath and said calmly.

"Before I participated in my first professional match, I posted a message on a website in my country, hoping that I could beat Federer and Nadal in the future. I hope I can achieve my goal!"

The host's mouth dropped open. Jiang Hong, who had been so slippery just moments before, had suddenly uttered such a shocking statement.

Tennis fans who were watching Movistar plus+ were furious when they heard this.

I think Jiang Hong is too arrogant. As a player ranked outside the top 50, how could he want to defeat a superstar like Nadal?

If Jiang Hong were on social media platforms like Instagram, the comment section would probably be bombarded by these Spanish fans instantly.

The television station finally ended the interview after achieving its goal.

However, for Jiang Hong, this was his goal, and there was nothing to be ashamed of.

As long as he doesn't hurt anyone, Jiang Hong doesn't want to be forced to say things with high emotional intelligence after being reborn.

Although Jiang Hong knew that if he lost, he would definitely face backlash from public opinion.

However, this also proves that I am not strong enough, and these opinions spur me to work harder.

Achieving our initial goal by then seems like a pretty good thing.

CCTV5 also broadcast the post-match interview live, and I didn't expect such a bold statement.

After some hesitation, I finally decided to translate it all.

Viewers reacted in various ways to these videos.

Young people feel that athletes should have their own spirit, while some older people feel that athletes represent the image of China and should show a humble attitude, in case they lose the game and it is shameful.

Among Chinese tennis fans, Nadal's fans are the most conflicted.

As a three-time French Open champion, Nadal still has quite a few fans in China.

Upon hearing Jiang Hong's words, he was torn between supporting Jiang Hong, his compatriot, and Nadal, his idol. For a moment, he didn't know who to support.

However, most fans still support Jiang Hong.

Wow, Xiao Jiang is awesome! He directly said what he said on Tieba in the post-match interview!

[Jiang Shen, please be a little more modest. I'm worried you'll become too attached to Spain.]

[The person upstairs is overthinking it. Jiang Shen has already won over the Spanish female fans. I just saw a news report that a Spanish female fan asked Jiang Shen for his autograph.]

[Jiang Shen, stay calm! Don't let this wicked woman fool you. She's deliberately trying to affect your state! I've seen through everything.]

Before long, the forum comments started to go off-topic.

After hearing Jiang Hong's answer on television, Zhang Sheng, who was sitting in the press conference room, turned his head and glanced at Wu Chen, a reporter from Sports Weekly.

Just now, the two of them were discussing whether Jiang Hong could make it to the third game.

It's not that the two of them lacked confidence in Jiang Hong.

The main issue is that if the Chinese national football team suddenly rises up and defeats South Korea, you can't expect them to be able to defeat Brazil and Argentina in the next round, can you?

I was originally thinking about how to stop those tabloid reporters from stirring up trouble!

Unexpectedly, Jiang Hong directly exposed himself.

I don't need you to come, I'll set the pace myself.

The reporters immediately seized the opportunity, their fingers flying across the keyboards as they eagerly produced news articles, worried they would be a step behind.

“Jiang Hong is so confident, what if he loses…” Zhang Sheng grinned, knowing full well what would happen if he lost the match.

However, Jiang Hong's public opinion environment will then take a complete 180-degree turn.

The more those tabloid reporters boast now, the harder they'll trample on them later.

They might even fabricate a whole bunch of rumors about Jiang Hong's drinking and womanizing.

"The competition hasn't even started yet, so the outcome is still uncertain. Let's take it easy; maybe Jiang Hong will perform exceptionally well!" Wu Chen could only say this in the end.

As soon as Jiang Hong entered the press conference room, the group of reporters immediately began asking questions.

Everyone wanted to get a few more bombshells out of Jiang Hong.

Although Jiang Hong believes that a player should at least maintain confidence before a match, he will not make unfounded statements.

Although the tabloid reporters didn't get the answers they wanted, they weren't discouraged.

After all, one sentence Jiang Hong said in a post-match interview was enough for them to launch a massive publicity campaign.

After the interview, Jiang Hong returned to his hotel.

On the way back to the hotel, Fu Yunlong gave Jiang Hong a thumbs up.

"Old Jiang, you're really something, saying something like that before the competition. Aren't you afraid they'll make things up for you? What if you lose..."

Fu Yunlong, who once worked as a physiotherapist in the national team, is well aware of the terrifying power of public opinion.

"The game hasn't even started yet. As long as you're on the court, anyone can win or lose!" Jiang Hong shrugged, appearing very calm.

After taking a shower, Jiang Hong received physical therapy from Fu Yunlong.

Although I did expend a lot of energy today, my current energy recovery rate of 89 is still quite fast.

At least for the time being, there's no need to worry about the team collapsing at the start of tomorrow's match.

Mark Jie then began explaining information about Nadal to Jiang Hong.

Although Jiang Hong had already memorized his information perfectly, he still hoped to get some useful information, such as whether he had been injured recently.

However, Jiang Hong ultimately did not receive such news.

When Jiang Hong was studying match data to add tactical points, he focused on the matches between Federer and Nadal.

Therefore, they basically know the tactical characteristics and style by heart.

Jiang Hong did not study Nadal's match data tonight.

After seeing Fu Yunlong and Mark Jie off, Jiang Hong was left alone in the room.

"system!"

Jiang Hong silently recited it in his heart.

In an instant, the familiar azure blue panel appeared before my eyes.

[Ding, Nalbandian lost control of his emotions. Recommended to complete. Spirit +2]

You break down someone's defenses, and then increase your own mental stability, right?
Jiang Hong mentally scoffed and silently put it away.

[Ding! Completed 10 serve return and attack attacks, reward: Serve Training Card +1]

[Ding! Successfully defeated Nalbandian to advance to the quarterfinals and face Nadal. Would you like to claim the reward?]

After a brief cutscene, Jiang Hong saw the reward finally appear.

[Ding! Congratulations, host, you have gained +2 Tactical Attribute Points]

Today, the system's three rewards, apart from the serve training card, can both improve Jiang Hong's immediate combat ability.

Mental attributes cannot be increased through training; they can only be improved through the pressure of competition or through system rewards.

Tactics, at present, are a relatively weak attribute for Jiang Hong.

This is definitely a good thing for tomorrow's match against Nadal.

"System, add more!"

We'll still use the attribute points as soon as we get them; saving them is out of the question. Are we just waiting to lose the game?

[Mental state: 87-89]

[Tactics: 82-84]

Then I turned on my computer and calculated my gains from the game.

"The Madrid Masters quarterfinals earn 125 points, and the 15 qualifying rounds bring the total points to 140, for a total of 602 points. He is currently ranked 61st in the ATP rankings, and the prize money is $49000!"

Jiang Hong's eyes lit up instantly; his current world ranking has reached 61st.

"Have you already secured your ticket to the Olympics?"

Although it is said that only the top 56 players in the ATP rankings can be directly allocated a spot, in reality, many players do not participate in the Olympics. Basically, Jiang Hong's ranking is enough to directly qualify him for the Olympic men's singles tennis tournament.

(End of this chapter)