Love Tennis and Yumiko Miura

"Thank you, Yumiko, for calling me." Rumi held the phone between her head and shoulders while taking off her shoes. "I just got back to the hotel room. You called at the perfect time."

"Hahaha, then I am really lucky. But since I have never participated in the Miami Masters, I am not sure."

"Eh? Didn't Yumiko participate in the Miami Masters?" Liumei was lying on the bed. She turned on the TV and English voices suddenly came out.

"No, because there was no mixed doubles competition in that event, and my ranking in women's singles was not very high, so I simply did not participate." Yumiko on the other end of the phone was a little depressed.

"Come to think of it, there aren't any mixed doubles events at the tournaments." Liu Mei thought about it and recalled that Yumiko's singles ranking wasn't very high. "But Master will participate, right?"

Many years have passed since Zhixian accepted Liu Mei as his apprentice, but Liu Mei still habitually calls Zhixian "Master", which is considered a good story in the tennis world - after all, both master and apprentice are excellent tennis players who are at the top of the standings.

"Yes, when Zhixian competes, I'm just a sparring partner or a spectator," Youmiko said. Because mixed doubles competitions are relatively rare in professional tournaments, Youmiko mostly competes in women's singles. She usually joins Zhixian in individual tournaments, occasionally winning a few.

However, the "Platinum Combination" is a well-known name, having won at least one Grand Slam mixed doubles title each year for several consecutive years. Yumiko and Chixian's achievements in mixed doubles far outweigh their singles achievements.

Although Zhixian has also won the singles titles of the four Grand Slams, it is still a little behind the mixed doubles. After all, the competition in singles is the most intense.

"But you've monopolized the Hoffman Cup for several years now. Many players have said they've lost their desire to participate after seeing you compete."

The Hopman Cup, named after the legendary Australian tennis player, is a world mixed team tournament, comparable to the Sudirman Cup in badminton. Participants must be two men and women from the same country, competing in men's singles, women's singles, and mixed doubles. Eight pairs compete each time.

"This is not our fault! It's because the competition requirements say that we have to be from the same country. After all, Zhixian and I are husband and wife!" Youmiko retorted. She has now officially changed her name to Tachibana Youmiko and has become a true master's wife studying in the United States.

"Hahahaha, then next time let me participate with the master, and you can be the audience."

"Then why don't we go to the women's doubles competition and let him be a spectator." Yumiko said with a smile.

Rumi and Yumiko have indeed teamed up in women's doubles and won several championships. As Zhixian's direct disciple, Rumi is very familiar with her master's style, and she has no problem cooperating with Yumiko, but they just don't have the kind of tacit understanding that a couple has.

"Then let's compete in the Miami Masters together next year."

"Hahaha, okay, it's a deal."

The two men laughed together.

"By the way, Zhixian said you should be able to win the championship this time." Yumiko said after laughing enough.

"Why is he so sure? You can only know about this kind of thing after a fight, right?"

"Well, because he said the official name of the Miami Masters is the 'Sony Open.'

"Ah, it became like this because of the sponsors." In fact, few people call this tournament like this. Most people still call it the Miami Masters out of habit.

"For competitions sponsored by domestic sponsors, domestic players will receive a home field bonus!"

"You talk like it's the Neon Open." Liu Mei was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

"It doesn't matter. If Zhixian hadn't been so determined to win the French Open, he might have gone to Miami too."

"That's really the master's style."

"Yes, the Monte Carlo Open is on April 12, the Barcelona Open is on April 20, and then there's the Madrid Open and the ATP Masters 1000 Rome. He plans to participate in four clay court tournaments in a row."

“It’s a bit of a struggle.”

"He said I would participate in all events if time allowed, but unless he reached the semi-finals in every event, there would definitely be enough time."

"Hahahaha, he's still so obsessed with clay."

"Who told him to idolize Federer? If you don't know him, you might think he idolizes Nadal. He's so passionate about playing on clay."

"I plan to attend the Madrid Open as well. We can meet in Madrid then."

"That's great, I thought we had to meet at Roland Garros."

"Before the French Open, I have to play some clay court matches to get used to it." The Miami Masters is on hard court, while the series of tournaments listed above by Yumiko are all on clay court.

"Then I'm looking forward to meeting you in Madrid?"

"If I win, I'll treat you to a feast." The Miami Masters singles champion receives a whopping $1028300 in prize money, while the runner-up receives only $501815, barely half that. Incidentally, Serena Williams has won the Miami Masters eight times, while poor Sharapova has only been runner-up five times. Since her debut, she's only defeated Serena Williams twice in official matches. But the awkward part is that they've faced each other over twenty times...

"Hahaha, then you have to win the championship! That way I can eat you, a rich woman, in France."

After chatting about some daily life, Liumei hung up the phone and prepared to rest.

The second day of training.

"Liumei, you're in good shape today." The coach was very satisfied.

"I spoke to Yumiko on the phone yesterday, and the master said I could win," Liu Mei said with a smile.

"Oh? Did Tachibana say that? Then your $100 million is safe."

"Hahaha, he said that because it was sponsored by Sony, I could win."

"......I thought he had analyzed it through big data." The coach was also at a loss for words. He was actually quite optimistic about Zhixian's future as a tennis coach, especially his analytical and tactical skills, which were simply too strong.

"I heard from Yumiko that he plans to stay in Europe until the French Open, and in the meantime participate in various clay court tournaments."

"Hahahaha, as expected of Tachibana, he's the only one in the tennis world who thinks the Miami Open will affect his form."

"My first Grand Slam trophy is the French Open, but every year I worry about my clay court form."

"That's Tachibana's style. He likes playing on clay."

"It's a similar style of play, but I don't care that much about clay court matches."

"That's why you can't win the French Open."

"..."

Extra: Tsurumi Rumi's Personal Opinion (Part 2)

On a beautiful day with clear skies, Chinese students from the United States attended the final of the Miami Masters.

Liu Mei's opponent in the final was Maria Sala, a mixed-race Japanese and British. The two first met in the final of the Wimbledon Tennis Open. Liu Mei was 2:1 and narrowly won in the deciding set tie-break.

The British haven't won the Wimbledon Championship for many years. They finally produced a talented player and were looking forward to her reaching the Wimbledon finals, but she was snatched away by a Japanese Cheng Yaojin who came out of nowhere.

Ever since the Wimbledon Tennis Open, Maria Sara has been fighting and failing again and again against Liumei. She will definitely show up at any event that Liumei participates in.

This time the two met again in the finals. In the interview after the semi-finals, Maria Sala said that her current motivation is to defeat Liumei, and she is looking forward to the moment of defeating Liumei.

Although Zhixian predicted that Liu Mei would win because it was the "Sony Open", in fact, it has become increasingly easier for Liu Mei to play against Maria Sara. In the most recent match, she even defeated Maria Sara 2:0.

She didn't win any of the matches for two whole years, and her name was Maria Sharapova, which made people think of another female tennis player named Maria - Maria Sharapova.

Maria Sara meeting Liumei is like Maria Sharapova meeting Serena Williams. They have similar world rankings, but she just can't beat her. It's as if it was destined, and she wins every time.

Although Maria Sala acted determined to win, Liu Mei still felt that her chances of winning would be higher. After all, only one or two months had passed, and there was unlikely to be much of a significant improvement.

After warming up, the two players come to the referee's office. The entire game is usually decided by guessing the heads and tails of a coin, which is similar to the effect of rotating the racket.

"That's right," said Maria Sara.

"Rebel." Liu Mei said.

As a result, the referee moved his hand away and the coin turned out to be tails, so Liumei chose to serve.

In contrast, Maria Sala can only choose half the game.

Liu Mei, who got the serve, took the tennis ball thrown to her by the ball boy, chose two out of three, and threw the extra one back to the ball boy.

One of the two balls in her hand remained in her hand, and the other was stuffed into the built-in pocket of her skirt.

Liumei patted the tennis ball and then got into a serving position.

He threw the ball and swung the racket, and a tricky near-corner shot immediately flew to the corner of Maria Sala's half.

Maria Sara is no pushover either. Even though she consistently loses to Liumei, that doesn't necessarily mean she's weak. Losing a match 6-0 is completely different from losing a match 7-6.

Maria Sala successfully returned Liu Mei's serve - close-range shots rarely work against this kind of opponent.

However, Liu Mei's goal was clearly not to score directly from her serve. She anticipated the opponent's return after serving, so she chose to serve and volley. The near-corner shot landed deep in the corner, pressing the line, so Maria Sala's return gave Liu Mei the opportunity to get to the net.

Liu Mei came to the front court and directly released a short ball, forcing Maria Sara to come to the net.

Maria Sala, forced to rush to the net, stumbled and caught the ball.

Liu Mei, who was waiting in front of the net, used her racket hand like a whip to whip the tennis ball out.

A powerful smash scored directly.

"15:0" the referee announced the score at the right time.

Liu Mei returned to the baseline, took the towel handed to her by the caddy and wiped her hands, then smiled at the caddy and returned the towel to him.

On the second ball, Liu Mei hit a zero serve, scoring directly. Maria Sala was caught off guard and failed to receive the ball. She subconsciously expected Liu Mei to hit a close-range shot, but she didn't expect her to suddenly use a zero serve to trick her.

This serve reminded her of their first match. When Liu Mei was trailing 6:5, she relied on the zero serve to tie the score and drag the game into a tiebreak. In the tiebreak, she defeated her with precise insight.

After the game, Liu Mei said that it was a "world of ice". She clearly saw every blind spot of Maria Sala, but it was too energy-consuming, so she used it in this tie-break.

After finding the blind spot, all you have to do is use your utmost talent to calculate how to get there.

"30:0" the referee's voice announcing the score brought Maria Sara back to reality, and a smile appeared on the corner of her mouth - this is why staying in the United States is worth being defeated!

...The premise is that you can win.

For the third ball, Liu Mei changed her serving style again because her opponent would definitely be wary of the Zero serve.

Toss the ball slightly back and left, arch your back, and as you jump up, swing the racket upward (from 7 o'clock to 1 o'clock), hitting the ball to the upper right.

A sharp outspin serve whizzed out and bounced into Maria Sara's face after landing.

An outspin serve, to be more precise, is a side-in topspin serve, not the common side-outspin serve. The common side-outspin serve is intended to serve the ball directly to the corner and then bounce out of bounds, while the side-inspin serve is aimed at the receiver's body.

Because Liumei was very confident in her ball control, she chose this kind of ball which rarely appears even in professional games.

Although she was a little slow to react, Maria Sala still fought back with her rich experience. However, this also played into the hands of the American student. If she had scored directly with the serve, it would have been fine. But if she didn't score, I have a lot of things waiting for her later.

After returning the ball, Liu Mei switched her racket hand. She predicted Maria Sala's movements, so she changed her hand first and returned the ball with her forehand.

When hitting the backhand with the forehand, the forehand is naturally in an advantageous position.

Next, Liu Mei used her advantage of being a two-wielder to seize the opportunity and hit a zero-style slice, scoring directly.

The American player, who was in the serving game, was quite active in attacking, and she was very good at using her advantages to force her opponent to hit balls that she was not good at, thereby taking control of the initiative.

As Zhixian's disciple, Rumi also belongs to the category of people that Yumiko often says, "You all have dirty hearts when it comes to tactics."

However, Liumei is not simply imitating Zhixian. She has developed her own style while learning from Zhixian. For example, Zhixian rarely goes to the net as actively as Liumei. He may be more willing to increase the rotation of the ball and spend a few more rounds.

In the fourth ball, Liu Mei hit another outspin serve and went directly to the net. The lightning-fast interception directly announced the end of the first game.

Extra: Tsurumi Rumi's Personal Opinion (Part 3)

The score was 1-0, and both teams returned to their seats. Liu Mei pulled a bottle of water from her tennis bag, took a sip, and then wiped her face with a towel.

If you can hold your serve well and maintain it, you'll be invincible. If your opponent makes a few unforced errors and accidentally breaks your serve, you can win—this is what Zhixian told Liumei after a tiring game.

Of course, the prerequisite is sufficient physical strength. If it is a final or semi-final, it is fine, but if you win the first round because of this, then the second round will definitely be affected by physical problems.

In the second game, Maria Sala served. The most notable feature of this player is her clean and neat ball handling. She likes to win games quickly and often breaks the fastest victory record in some matches.

A player like her would inevitably feel depressed when meeting someone like Liumei who likes to add control and play multiple shots - she was often annoyed by the protection of the Hundred-Armed Giant.

Not to mention any talent, any field, or any phantom.

To put it in an analogy, Maria Sara likes one-on-one close combat SOLO, but Liu Mei has been kite-ing her, forcing her to make mistakes by extending the number of beats.

However, in the first game just concluded, Liu Mei employed a completely different approach. The dragging strategy doesn't always work, and since she had the absolute advantage on her serve, she resorted to a net-focused approach. In Maria Sara's next game, she'll need to add spin to the ball to reverse the situation. If successful, she'll be able to establish a "territory," from which she can use "Phantom" to repel the opponent's return.

Although they were already adults, Zhixian still frequently reminded her not to dwell on the Zero serve and the Phantom throughout the entire match, and even in a best-of-three women's match, she needed to be careful about her timing. He said that while she was still in her prime studying in the US, there was no need to act impulsively. If a mishap ruined her career, there would be no recourse. Athletes should always prioritize their health.

The second game begins, Maria Sala serves.

Different from Liu Mei's ever-changing serve choices, Maria Sara usually chooses high-speed serve - her ball speed is quite fast, at least Liu Mei cannot serve the ball at that speed, so Maria Sara's serve scoring rate is not low.

However, the ball wasn't completely unreachable, and the high-speed serve had a high chance of double faults, making it a double-edged sword. However, Liu Mei had an idea in mind: she was going to defeat Maria Sara again using a method she hadn't tried before.

In the second game, Maria Sala successfully held her serve. In the third game, Liu Mei successfully held her serve. In the fourth game, Maria Sala successfully held her serve.

The two fought to a 2:2 draw.

"It should be working now." Before the fifth game started, Liu Mei muttered to herself as she looked at Maria Sara.

In the fifth game, it was Liumei's serve. In conjunction with the serve, Liumei began to use the Guardian of the Hundred-Arm Giant.

In a match of this level, Maria Sara couldn't always avoid the net, but if her backhand returns weren't sufficiently spun, the Hundred Arms Giant's Protection would kick in. Maria Sara wasn't typically good with her backhand, and for this reason, she was at a disadvantage against players like Liu Mei, who were both skilled in control and a dual-wielder.

When playing forehand against backhand, the forehand usually has the advantage. Moreover, Liumei started practicing dual-wielding in the sixth grade of elementary school, so he is very adept at using dual-wielding.

The way to break the Guardian of the Hundred-Armed Titan is to hit the ball with several times the rotation, which makes Maria Sara very anxious. Moreover, Liu Mei has begun to slow down the pace intentionally or unintentionally, and even if the Guardian of the Hundred-Armed Titan does not have the opportunity to score directly, it will indirectly affect her.

Maria Sara is really helpless. Every time after playing a game with the American players, she would make up her mind to practice her backhand. However, when facing two-wielding players, she felt that her backhand was getting worse and worse. She herself was just a little sister!

But now she still needs to hit several times more spin than she did in the United States to ensure she can cross the net.