Table tennis: Swinging the racket billions of times, achieving a grand slam

Chapter 274 An accident happens
11:30, hotel room.

Chen Jin lay on the bed, holding his phone, intently watching the replay of the match.

The room was quiet.

The only sound was the rushing water from the bathroom.

Sudden.

"Bang bang bang."

There was a knock on the door.

Chen Jin ripped off his headphones and shouted, "Who is it?"

"it's me."

A familiar voice came from outside the door.

Chen Jin quickly got up, opened the door, and saw: "Coach Wang?"

"It's so late, aren't you resting yet?"

Wang Hao laughed and said, "You haven't rested yet either?"

With that, he went into the room.

"Where's Little Stone?"

Wang Hao asked.

"bath."

Chen Jin pointed to the bathroom.

He peered through the glass door, but it was all foggy and he couldn't see anything. Wang Hao reached out and knocked: "Don't wash your hair while taking a shower, or there might be a celestial dog."

Having finished speaking.

Wang Hao winked and smiled at Chen Jin.

"Coach Wang."

Chen Jin asked, "What brings you here so late?"

In fact, he had already guessed some of the reasons why Wang Hao had come.

Tomorrow is the semifinals, especially the match between Lin Shidong and Zhang Benzhihe, which is crucial.

As the head coach of the men's table tennis team, how could Wang Hao sleep tonight without giving some instructions?

"Something came up, but nothing much."

Wang Hao picked up a chair and sat down, looking at Chen Jin. "Tomorrow is the semi-final. Since your match with Wang Chuqin is an internal battle, I can't say much."

"But there's one thing you need to remember."

Wang Hao's expression was serious as he said in a deep voice, "Don't complain about Wang Chuqin's serve during the match like you did at the previous Macau Championship."

"Whether the serve is against the rules is the referee's business. If you complain during the match, it is easy to cause misunderstandings and make people think that there is discord within our national table tennis team, which will have a bad impact."

During the Macau Championship, if Chen Jin hadn't had other matches to play, his complaint would have already been severely criticized by the coaching staff.

The coaching staff also discussed this matter in a post-match meeting.

However, considering that Chen Jin had committed his first offense and had won the Macau Championship, the matter was dropped and left unresolved.

This time, Chen Jin and Wang Chuqin met again on the field.

Fearing that Chen Jin might have developed a bad habit, Wang Hao privately approached him and gave him a heads-up.

"clear."

Chen Jin nodded.

"Don't worry, as long as Wang Chuqin serves, if there is anything irregular, the referee on site will definitely not sit idly by."

Wang Hao patted Chen Jin on the shoulder and said, "Good luck in the game, don't hold back."

"Yes."

Chen Jin knew that Wang Hao was in a position where he had some things he couldn't control.

It was so late, yet he personally came to my door and gave me these words of advice, which showed his concern.

While talking.

The bathroom door suddenly opened.

Lin Shidong, wearing only a pair of shorts, came out while drying his wet hair, and smiled shyly: "Coach Wang."

"Young man, you've gotten quite strong."

Wang Hao laughed.

"..."

Lin Shidong stuck out his tongue and quickly wrapped his bathrobe around himself.

"How about it?"

Wang Hao smiled slightly, "You're playing against Tomokazu Harimoto again tomorrow. How do you feel? Are you nervous?"

"Fortunately."

Lin Shidong shrugged slightly. "We lost to him in the last Asian Championships, so this is a good opportunity for revenge."

"Having confidence is a good thing, but we still need to pay attention to the methods and approaches."

Wang Hao said, "Although Coach Liu Zhiqiang will be your off-court coach for tomorrow's game, I still have to remind you of a few things."

"Pay close attention to Tomokazu Harimoto's first three shots and his defensive counter-attacks."

"Change the landing point more often, attack Zhang Ben's backhand and middle position, pay attention to continuity and connection."

"And, most importantly, mindset."

"With your technical and tactical skills, you are no less than Tomokazu Harimoto, but you are sometimes too impatient, which leads to mistakes. You must stay calm in tomorrow's game."

Wang Hao patiently and earnestly offered guidance.

It's like the homeroom teacher's incessant reminders on the eve of the college entrance examination.

The following day. The two men's singles semifinals were held one after the other.

The match between Lin Shidong and Zhang Benzhihe will start at 5:20 pm.

Chen Jin and Wang Chuqin followed closely behind.

As usual.

The morning was spent training.

After lunch, at 3:30, I arrived at the training hall ahead of schedule to continue warming up and preparing for the match.

During breaks from training.

With only half an hour left before the competition, Chen Jin and Lin Shidong chatted while replenishing their energy.

"I remember I used to play penhold for a while, but my fingers and wrists hurt terribly, and my coach said that it was too difficult to achieve good results with penhold, so I had to give it up in the end."

Lin Shidong couldn't help but sigh.

"If you had insisted on practicing penhold back then, you might be even better than me now."

Chen Jin laughed and said, "It's a pity that the penhold grip world has lost a fierce general."

"Luckily I didn't practice penhold grip, otherwise you would have completely dominated me."

Lin Shidong stuck out his tongue. "Why did you choose the penhold grip instead of the shakehand grip?"

"For me, penhold grip is a belief."

Chen Jin laughed and said, "Actually, sometimes when I feel like I've hit a bottleneck in practice, I'll use a shakehand grip to find my rhythm."

"Oh?"

Lin Shidong laughed and said, "Then can I use a penhold grip to find my feel for the game?"

"How about giving it a try?"

As Chen Jin spoke, he casually handed over his racket.

"Okay."

Lin Shidong immediately became interested.

The two immediately exchanged rackets.

Chen Jin held a shakehand grip, while Lin Shidong used a penhold grip; one attacked, the other defended, and they began practicing together.

In fact, the basic movement frameworks of penhold and shakehand grips are largely the same.

However, there are subtle differences in the use of the wrist and fingers.

Lin Shidong retreated to the mid-to-long range and smashed the ball with his forehand.

"Fuck!"

Even Lin Shidong himself was a little surprised, "I feel that my forehand with a penhold grip is more powerful and explosive than with a shakehand grip."

"It's definitely gotten a bit out of control."

Chen Jin smiled.

"Try a backhand."

Lin Shidong immediately switched to a backhand topspin, and after a few shots, exclaimed, "Wow, that backhand, that spin, that arc..."

"Is it too late for me to switch to penhold grip?"

It must be said that although Lin Shidong usually uses a horizontal grip, once he masters one thing, he can master everything else. His penhold horizontal grip is also quite impressive.

The quality of his horizontal backhand flick is significantly higher than that of the penhold players on the provincial team.

"No, no, no."

Lin Shidong quickly discovered the drawbacks of the penhold backhand style: "My fingers really hurt."

They quickly stopped practicing.

Although I only practiced for a short while, my right index finger was rubbed sorely by the shoulder of the straight handle.

He flipped his racket over and looked up at Chen Jin: "Your blade is the N301, right? Hey, the handle even has Coach Wang's picture on it..."

"Ouch, I'll go!"

Before Chen Jin could answer, Lin Shidong lost his grip on the racket.

In exclamation.

Snapped!
The racket fell to the ground.

Lin Shidong was so frightened that he almost lost his mind, and his face turned deathly pale.

You have to understand that for professional players, the racket is like a swordsman's sword or a knife; there can be no room for error.

Moreover, Chen Jin has another match later.

If I break it, wouldn't I be a sinner for all eternity?
Fortunately, the training hall floor was covered with soft rubber, so the racket was not seriously damaged.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

Lin Shidong kept apologizing as he bent down to pick it up.

Unexpectedly.

At the next table, a ping-pong ball flew towards Lin Shidong's face with lightning speed.

With a quick glance, Lin Shidong instinctively took a half-step to dodge the incoming ball.

Click!
A snapping sound was heard.

Lin Shidong immediately sensed something was wrong and hurriedly looked down.

But Chen Jin's racket, which had fallen to the ground, had been broken by his own foot.

"Boom!"

Lin Shidong felt as if he had been struck by lightning, as if the sky had fallen.

Standing there, stunned and bewildered, completely at a loss.

(End of this chapter)