Love Tennis and Yumiko Miura

Chixian usually spends lunch with Nozaki Mikoshiba, and now and then Chiyo also joins in. The group of them (mainly Chiyo and Mikoshiba) play around and have fun.

Zhixian felt that in a few days, he wouldn't need to look over there every day. Although he had spoken very badly of the tennis club in front of Hikigaya, this was the norm for going to high school.

Moreover, Zhixian chose Sobu not for the tennis club here. In other words, even if Sobu did not have a tennis club, it would not matter at all, because he would be practicing in the club anyway.

But there are always exceptions to everything.

On this day, when Zhixian came over to take a look as usual, he found that the tennis court, which was usually very quiet, was actually surrounded by several circles of people inside and outside.

What? Is Federer coming? Is Sampras coming? Or is Sharapova coming?

(Author's voiceover: The above three are all famous tennis players.)

"Ah! Tachibana-san, you're here! Hachiman asked me to call you over." The fat guy in a windbreaker who was seen before appeared in a hurry.

"Hachiman?" A name that seemed familiar but I couldn't remember.

"Hikigaya Hachiman." The fat man reminded.

"Oh!" I suddenly realized.

"He said that now he would ask you to fulfill the promise we made in Chapter 6."

"...I'll be right there."

I didn't expect that I would have to fulfill my promise after only 2000 words... Zhixian rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and slowly walked towards the tennis club.

----split line----

"Hikigaya, I heard you were looking for me." Zhixian stepped into the tennis court filled with a strong smell of tension with a calm expression.

He saw Miura Hayama and others, as well as the audience outside who were making a fuss.

"Someone is going to destroy your tennis club's court." Hikigaya said.

"Huh? Who's going to mess things up?" Miura was a little angry, but after taking a look at Zhixian who was calm, he finally didn't get angry anymore.

"They said they're going to play mixed doubles." Hikigaya explained the current situation.

"Let me do it." Zhixian said lightly.

"Tachibana-san!" Totsuka looked very touched for some reason.

"As for partners—" Zhixian looked at his own lineup, "Yuigahama, go on stage."

"Eh? Me?" Yuigahama asked in confusion.

"If you think it's okay for Hikigaya to dress as a woman, then it's fine if he does it."

"I won't dress up as a woman!" And the person opposite, Hayama Miura, is not blind.

After both sides finished their preparations, the audience in Yeshan started to make human waves.

"HA·YA·TO! HA·YA·TO!" and shouted Ye Shan's name rhythmically.

"Shouting someone's name on the tennis court?" Zhixian glanced at the audience outside and a hint of disdain flashed across his lips.

"Well, um, Tachibana-san, what should we do? Yumiko won the county tournament." Yuigahama was very panicked when she suddenly had to go on stage. She was so panicked that she forgot that there was a national third place winner in front of her, and Miura on the opposite side was only at the county tournament level.

"It's still a long way to go." Zhixian blurted out.

"Eh?" For some reason, Yuigahama felt that her temporary partner seemed very, very reliable.

Elsewhere, Miura and Hayama were also swinging their rackets. The former's practice of swinging the racket in the air was indeed quite good, and his body movements were also very light.

However, once you give up long-term training in sports, you will quickly decline.

So even if Yuigahama is a drag, Chixian doesn't think he will lose.

"Could I ask you, Yuigahama, for help?"

"Avant-garde?" The little girl didn't quite understand these terms.

"Anyway, it's about the part at the net. If you can't get the ball, leave it to me."

"Ah good."

With Yuigahama largely ineffective, Chixian adopted a front-and-back formation, with the defenders at the baseline and the forwards at the net. The defenders specialized in forehand and backhand shots from the baseline, achieving speed, accuracy, and a variety of strokes. The forwards excelled in midfield blocking and intercepting, employing various maneuvers at the net to confuse and disrupt opponents, allowing them to launch sudden attacks and score.

However, considering Yuigahama's strength, she only needs to take care of herself. All Chixian needs to do is to counterattack from the baseline. With Yuigahama blocking the way in front, his shots can become more complicated.

The basic policy was decided and everyone took their positions.

Then, Ye Shan's serve came flying in fast and hard. It hit the corner of the court, hitting the outermost edge with pinpoint accuracy. The ball bounced out as far as it could go.

However, it was still within the receiving range, and Zhixian easily received the serve.

Then Miura hit the ball to the other bottom corner, passing Yuigahama. It seems that Miura was not focusing on Yuigahama's attack.

Zhixian's lateral movement speed was very fast, but he still caught up with the ball and hit a slice with his backhand.

Ye Shan judged the landing point in advance and rushed over in time.

However, the ball did not bounce.

"15:0" Totsuka announced.

9. Mixed Doubles (II)

"Zero-style slice." Totsuka exclaimed.

"What is that?" The Ministry of Revenue adhered to the principle of asking when one does not understand and asked decisively.

"First, slices involve rotating the racket so that the racket face is roughly parallel to the direction of the ball's flight, rather than perpendicular to it. This process creates a spin in the tennis ball, usually in the opposite direction of the return ball's flight. This is called backspin, which reduces the height of the ball's rebound and the distance it travels, making it more difficult for the opponent to return the ball."

"With a Zero-style slice, the tennis ball doesn't bounce after hitting the ground," Totsuka concluded after explaining what a slice is.

"It's worthy of being the third place in the country! It's really amazing!" Hubu exclaimed.

"There was once a report that Tachibana watched tennis king Federer's slicing videos all night long in order to practice slicing and improve his slicing skills!" Totsuka told Tobe as if he knew everything about it.

By the way, is it really okay for the referee to chat with the spectators on the sidelines like this?

"Cough cough cough!" Miura deliberately coughed loudly a few times.

"Oh, sorry! Let the game continue!" Totsuka scratched his face embarrassedly. He was a little too excited.

The next game is still Ye Shan's serve.

Ye Shan's serve is standard and fast, and ordinary beginners will definitely not be able to receive it.

But in the eyes of insiders, it is still not good enough.

Zhixian on the diagonal line received the ball again and hit it back along the diagonal line.

So Ye Shan had to fight back again.

Zhixian, who had predicted Ye Shan's move one round in advance, was well-prepared and waited at the landing point early. He made another clever slice and sent the ball directly to Miura's feet in front of the net.

Having suffered a setback from a zero-style slice before, Miura was well prepared for this time. Facing the ball landing at her feet, she swung her racket confidently.

——But his attack was in vain.

This time the tennis ball bounced up quickly, and the girl, who had deliberately lowered her racket to counter the Zero slice, naturally failed to hit the ball because the racket was too low.

"30:0"

Generally speaking, the backhand slice is a defensive technique, but depending on how it's used, it can also be a powerful offensive tool. The backswing action of the slice, similar to the backhand shot, can be exploited to unexpectedly slice the ball towards the net. Therefore, mastering the slice will undoubtedly expand your hitting range and improve your performance.

At this point, the fans who had been cheering for Ye Shan fell silent. Ye Shan lost two points in a row on his serve, and was about to be broken. At this critical moment, the audience felt a little depressed.

Zhixian scored in the next two balls and broke the serve successfully, 1:0.

Next was Zhixian's serve, and the one who received the ball was Yeshan.

There is no doubt that the serve was successfully held.

Zhixian hit four aces in a row to end the game. Judging from the situation, Ye Shan seemed to be completely powerless to fight back.

(Author's voiceover: In tennis, an ace is a serve where one player scores a point when the ball lands in the play zone but the opponent doesn't touch it. If the opponent touches the ball but it goes out of bounds or into the net, it's only a serve, not an ace.)

An ace is undoubtedly a concentrated display of power and speed. Many tall professional male players now possess the potential to break 240 kilometers per hour in their serves. However, not all fast serves are aces. A serve with speed alone, without angle, is easily adaptable to opponents and can be blocked. Therefore, an ace is not simply about speed; it's also about controlling the angle and placement of the serve. The unpredictable, powerful serve leaves opponents helpless—that's the true allure of an ace.

The audience outside the stadium was even more depressed. They had thought it would be an exciting game, but they didn't expect the result to be such a one-sided game.

The crowd started discussing things like, "Ju Zhixian is indeed a special athlete! He's incredibly good at tennis."

There were many members of the tennis club among the spectators, though they probably didn't have the nerve to admit they were. The distance between them and Zhixian was like the distance between Horio, who had only two years of tennis experience, and Echizen Ryoma.

Well, that Echizen Ryoma who defeated Yukimura Seiichi.

However, the Hayama-Miura combination can finally take a breath.

Miura won the serve game easily because Yuigahama couldn't receive the ball well at all.

Yuigahama's serve was easily broken because all the balls she served were double faults.

This girl was forced to learn tennis. She doesn't know how to serve at all. You know, serving is a very difficult part of learning tennis.

So the score came to 2:2.

10. Mixed Doubles (III)

Looking at her friend Yuigahama standing silly in front of the net, Yumiko couldn't help but recall her past with the boy behind her friend.

Although the boy and Yuigahama were not standing in a completely straight line, there was a vague sense of the Australian formation.

However, because of Yuigahama, even this position would not have any effect.

Yumiko glanced at Zhixian who was preparing to serve at the baseline. The latter had just broken the serve and now it was his turn to serve.

If the current situation continues, the opponent will win 6:4.

If Yuigahama stood in front of Chixian and squatted at this time, it would be a standard Australian formation.

When they were partners, they often took this stance so that Yumiko could intercept the tennis ball.

The Australian stance is also called the line stance, in which two people stand side by side on the center line. When receiving the ball, the two people move in opposite directions, and then restore the formation after receiving the ball. The player in front of the net can confuse the opponent, making it impossible for the opponent to predict the movement direction of the baseline player. It is a defensive style of play.

In the moment when Yumiko was stunned, Zhixian hit another ace without mercy. In his serve, Ye Shan did not touch the ball even once.

Another ace.

Yumiko felt as if she had returned to the old days. She could be completely confident in the spin of her serve and at the same time tacitly judge the best volley point.

The Australian formation is suitable for use in serving games. The key to the Australian formation is to prevent the opponent from judging which direction you will go to for the next net shot. It is a formation that requires very high basic skills and coordination ability, especially the coordination between the front and back players and the choice of serving angles.

But he didn't have so many aces in his serve games back then, the girl thought silently.

Of the two, she had always been responsible for the main attack, while he had always been responsible for support.

Even though they were no longer in contact after their partnership ended, she still occasionally checked in on him. Although she wasn't there in person, she bought every issue of Tennis Weekly.

Yumiko once read an article in her first year of high school that talked about the difference between Zhixian in his doubles days and after he switched to singles.

She still remembers its contents.

"It's hard to imagine a flawless support like Tachibana delivering such a fluid and consistent attack in singles. He certainly retains his excellent overall perspective and command of the court from his doubles days, which makes him exceptionally calm in singles matches. His long doubles career has given him the ability to remain calm in the face of disadvantages. After all, doubles requires tacit understanding and communication. He's clearly always been the one proactively communicating and reassuring his partner."

Yumiko thought about it and realized she was indeed the more impatient of the two. After reading the article, she even felt a sense of relief. Perhaps there was a reason why the two of them had never been able to achieve sync. Since they couldn't make further progress, it would be better for them to develop individually.

Now her school life is going very well, and Zhixian also won the third place in the singles competition in the national competition. This shows that his talent in singles is higher than that in doubles, and continuing to play doubles is actually hindering his growth.

Once she accepted this thought, Yumiko felt like losing the match didn't matter anymore. She'd only gotten into it on a whim after seeing Totsuka playing. Now, her goal had been achieved, and her former partner was indeed doing well.

So she shouldn't have any regrets, right? Yumiko asked herself.

"4:2."

At this time, Zhixian successfully held her serve, and the next game was Yumiko's serve.

"Yumiko, it's your turn to serve." Seeing that the girl was a little absent-minded, Ye Shan took the initiative to remind her.

"Oh, okay." Yumiko took the ball and walked to the baseline to prepare to serve.

Yuigahama was waiting at the diagonal line. Although she had enough self-awareness and knew that she would not be able to receive the serve at her current level, she still bravely stood at the baseline waiting to receive the ball.

Then, facing the swift serve coming towards her...wait, this ball is so slow! Yuigahama subconsciously swung her racket.

The ball was successfully returned.

Yumiko stood there in a daze, watching the tennis ball bounce past her without swinging her racket.

???

Yuigahama herself was stunned. A direct score from a serve? A return ace? This was too unrealistic. Even Yuigahama herself was surprised.

Zhixian wasn't that surprised. Standing at the net, he'd carefully observed Yumiko's serve—her form was off, her power unstable. This serve had neither speed nor spin, the kind a beginner could easily catch.