Who would still play tennis after being reborn?

Chapter 139 Australian Open First Round, Tannhäuser Serves

Djokovic is more frustrated than anyone else right now.

Of all his old friends, he was the most depressed.

Seeing that the others didn't seem inclined to comment, Djokovic couldn't help but say, "In doubles, the only person Gu Cheng can find is Zhang Ming. With one strong and one weak pair, our chances of winning the doubles championship are over 70%, or even higher. But if we choose a strong-weak pair like him, he might actually win the doubles championship."

"Djokovic, is it really necessary to be so self-deprecating?" Wawrinka, who was originally the No. 4 seed but is now the No. 5 seed, had been silent until he heard Djokovic's words, and finally couldn't help but put down his coffee cup.

"I admit that Gu Cheng is strong, there's no doubt about that, as you could see in his previous match against Federer, and..."

Wawrinka paused for a moment, then continued, "Looking at Gu Cheng's matches from his emergence to now, he will never reveal his true strength unless he is in a really desperate situation. Perhaps he even hid some of his strength in his previous match against Federer."

"Not maybe, definitely," Federer said.

The three men's eyes fell on him: "You all saw the outcome of that game. I definitely gave it my all. Gu Cheng also seemed to give it his all, but to be honest, I could feel from the scene that he didn't actually give it his all. He was at least hiding something."

"As for whether he can be exposed earlier this time, that depends on Djokovic."

"You and he are both in the first section of the draw. If nothing unexpected happens, the quarterfinals should be between you and Gu Cheng."

Hearing this, Djokovic said somewhat helplessly, "I'll do my best."

Nadal laughed and said, "Old buddy, have some confidence. After all this time, you should be able to hit the no-spin ball by now, right? Once you've mastered the no-spin ball, you can break Tezuka's domain. Without the support of Tezuka's domain, it's like crippling one of his arms. Although you still can't suppress him, the outcome will be hard to say."

Djokovic sighed: "I'm afraid he's hiding something else!"

Wawrinka frowned and said, "You mean..."

"The state of selflessness?"

Djokovic nodded, then glanced at Nadal, who was about to speak, and said, "Don't speak yet. I know what you want to say. Don't talk about whether he can or can't. He can even master the Tezuka Zone. Do you dare to say that he hasn't mastered the state of selflessness?"

Nadal was speechless for a moment; he couldn't guarantee that either.

The main problem is that Tezuka's domain is too overpowered; he can even do that ball skill. The Muga no Kyoukai (Muga no Kyoukai) is a bit special.
The four of them fell silent.

In the end, Djokovic said, "Anyway, I'll try my best to force him to use more of his strength. If you lose, you'll have to work hard; if you win, everything will be fine."

At this time, no one outside knew that because of Gu Cheng's participation, the original four top seeded players would actually gather together.

……

time flies.

The qualifying rounds for the Australian Open Junior Championships concluded smoothly over the next few days. Yu Haoyang secured a spot in the main draw thanks to his exceptional strength, while Cao Hui, despite a mediocre performance, still managed to qualify as one of the main draw players, finishing near the bottom of the group.

2015 1 Month 19 Day.

The 2015 Australian Open officially kicked off in Melbourne. Founded in 1905, the Australian Open has a history of over 100 years. In its early days, the tournament was named the Australasia Championships, and it has a huge influence in the tennis world.

Especially this year, due to Gu Cheng's participation, its influence reached an unprecedented level in a short period of time.

In the men's singles, Gu Cheng, at under 16 years old, is the top seed, leading the pack. Djokovic, Federer, and Nadal are the second, third, and fourth seeds, respectively.

The previous No. 4 seed, men's singles defending champion Stan Wawrinka, has been moved up to No. 5.

女单这块，小威廉姆斯作为女单头号种子领衔出战，莎拉波娃、哈勒普、科维托娃则分别以第2、第3、第4种子选手的身份各自镇守一个1/4区。

Two-time champion Victoria Azarenka will compete unseeded. Among the Chinese players, only Peng Shuai will compete as the 21st seed; Zheng Jie, Zhang Shuai, Zheng Saisai, Wang Qiang, and Duan Yingying are all seeded due to their lower world rankings.

Actually, looking at the women's singles rankings, there are some deficiencies in the men's singles.

Logically speaking, Gu Cheng shouldn't be in the same quarter section as No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic, but the Australian Open organizers, for reasons unknown, put them together.

This was something the outside world didn't expect.

But no matter how the teams are divided, Gu Cheng's sudden participation will mean that one of the original four seeded players will inevitably have to face off against the current No. 1 seed, Gu Cheng.

This cannot be changed.

However, this arrangement is clearly unfair to Djokovic.

However, Djokovic himself did not object, leading to speculation that he may have reached some kind of agreement with the Australian Open organizing committee, but no one knows for sure.

However, there are many such speculations.

Neither Djokovic nor the Australian Open organizers offered an explanation, and in the end, the matter was dropped and no one mentioned it again.

For most tennis fans, being able to see a battle between two seeded players in advance is absolutely acceptable.

Fortunately, the Australian Open organizers placed the two players in the upper and lower halves of the quarterfinals respectively, meaning their earliest encounter would be in the quarterfinals. This is a relief for both Djokovic and Gu Cheng.

Otherwise, if they were to meet in the early rounds, even if Djokovic remained calm, he would probably cause trouble for the Australian Open organizers.

On January 19, the first round of the Australian Open officially began at Elburn Park.

Time came to the day of the competition.

As part of the first round of the Australian Open, Melbourne Park attracted hundreds of sports journalists.

Click!Click!
In this situation where there are more applicants than available spots, agile reporters always have an advantage. A short and capable young reporter rushed forward and asked the first question: "Mr. Moke, what are the considerations of the Australian Open organizing committee in placing Djokovic and Gu Cheng in the quarter-finals?"

"Actually, there wasn't much to consider. The organizing committee consulted with both of them before making this decision."

Moke responded calmly. Of course, he wouldn't say that he made this arrangement because he wanted to see the tournament between the former and current top seeds in advance.

He didn't even mention this to his assistant, Durant.

If this gets out, I'll be torn to shreds by the sharp-tongued netizens.

"What are your thoughts on this year's Australian Open champion?"

"It's hard to say. All the seeded players have a chance. If I had to choose, I would lean more towards Gu Cheng and Djokovic in the quarterfinals. Whoever wins the quarterfinals has a better chance of winning the championship."

Mok smiled and said, "Because before this, Djokovic was the number one seed. Between the current and former number one seed, whoever wins the quarterfinals naturally has a greater chance of winning the championship. I believe that not only I, but others also think so."

"Of course, if these two are locked in a serious stalemate and their stamina is depleted too much in the quarterfinals, others will also have a chance."

Before the match even started, Chairman Moke had already spouted a whole bunch of nonsense.

Ultimately, the 2015 Australian Open champion will likely emerge from among the seeded players.

"Cough cough!"

"Good afternoon, everyone. I am Hu Li, your commentator today, and I am Tong Xin."

"I really didn't expect that Gu Cheng would get a spot in the Australian Open as a wildcard under these circumstances, becoming the youngest main draw player in the history of the Australian Open."

On CCTV5, as soon as the footage came on, Hu Li, the commentator who was in charge of broadcasting the tennis segment, appeared on screen.

Following that, Tong Xin smiled and said, "Not only is he the youngest main draw player, but Gu Cheng is also the first-ever Australian Open player to become the top seed. This is a miracle for the world tennis scene, and for China, it is not only a miracle, but also a good start."

"Of course, it's not just Gu Cheng, but also Zhang Ming. Their entry into the main draw of a Grand Slam has set a precedent for us. Here, we also hope that more and more domestic players can break into the world's top 100, play in the four Grand Slams, and achieve good results in various tournaments."

The two exchanged a few words and then began to introduce the match being broadcast live today.

The match, which takes place around 11 a.m., is very friendly to domestic audiences.

"Today's live broadcast is a match in the first quarter of the Australian Open. There is also a live broadcast of Zhang Ming in the second quarter. If you are interested, you can go to other channels."

"Now let's introduce Gu Cheng's opponent in the first round, Yez Janowicz."

As Hu Li finished speaking, the director switched the camera to the competition field.

Jędrzej Janowicz was born on November 13, 1990, in Łódź, Poland. He is a right-handed player with a double-backhand grip. During his junior years, Janowicz won the runner-up title at the 2007 US Open and the 2008 French Open, and reached the Wimbledon semifinals, becoming the first Polish player and the first player born in the 1990s to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam men's singles.

"To be honest, they are very strong."

"Moreover, he is still very young. Reaching the Wimbledon semifinals at the age of eighteen has already surpassed many people."

“In the past, with Janowicz’s ability, he would have had a chance to reach the quarterfinals, without a doubt.”

"However, he encountered Gu Cheng in the first round."

"Of course, a professional player who can play in the Australian Open and reach the Wimbledon semifinals is definitely not as good as a junior player. Whether he can gain an advantage in the match against Gu Cheng, please wait and see in the next match."

Hu Li spoke humbly, not making Gu Cheng's intention to win too obvious.

This aligns with the mindset of many Chinese people.

No matter how strong someone is, even if they are invincible, they wouldn't boast about it too obviously when they say it.

But Hu Li was unaware that the expression on his face had completely betrayed his thoughts at that moment.

"Okay, the match has started. Gu Cheng has the first serve. This is his first time participating in a Grand Slam. I hope he can perform as well as he did in the junior tournament."

That's quite obvious.

The same performance as in the youth competition?

In youth competitions, Gu Cheng basically shuts out his opponents!

Isn't it too much to shut out the Australian Open?
The key point is that Janowicz is no pushover!

They may not be as good as top-ranked seeds like Federer, but anyone who makes it to the four Grand Slams is no pushover.

On the court, Gu Cheng was ready to serve. Janowicz had seen Gu Cheng play against Federer and had watched The Prince of Tennis many times. In particular, after learning that Gu Cheng was participating, he had specifically looked for videos of Gu Cheng's matches in the ITF Junior Championships in the past few days.

To be honest, when Janowicz first started watching The Prince of Tennis and Gu Cheng's match videos, he was just thinking that if he were to encounter Gu Cheng later, he wouldn't be caught off guard.

But I never expected to be so unlucky, encountering the opponent I least wanted to face in the first round.

He would rather play against Federer, Djokovic, or Nadal than face Gu Cheng.

Those incredibly skillful shots are much harder to deal with than top professional players like Djokovic. The key is that remembering how to counter so many of those skills is also a challenge.

He had a headache, especially when he thought about the Tezuka Domain that Gu Cheng had fought before.

Since Gu Cheng demonstrated Tezuka Zone, a trend of no-spin shots has emerged in the tennis world, specifically to counter Gu Cheng's Tezuka Zone. If you can't even break through Tezuka Zone, then there's no way you can win.

He had practiced it before, but he wasn't very skilled.

"He has so many different serves that it's hard to tell which one he's going to use. The way to deal with and counter each serve is different. Is it an outside spin serve? Or a disappearing serve? Or a big explosion serve? Or... does he actually know other serves but just hasn't used them yet?"

Too many thoughts flashed through my mind.

He wasn't sure either.

But at that moment, Gu Cheng had already thrown the ball.

Then Janowitz saw Gu Cheng bend over in an extremely exaggerated posture, and then Gu Cheng's legs seemed to be equipped with highly elastic springs as he leaped up, his racket hitting the tennis ball directly.

--Snapped! !
A crisp sound of the ball hitting the court rang out, and the next moment, the tennis ball seemed to be enveloped in a ball of orange flame, streaking across the air above the court before crashing heavily to the ground.

"An extremely ordinary serve?"

Janowitz was slightly pleased and was about to step forward to return the ball, but just as he swung his racket, he found that the tennis ball did not bounce at all when it landed, but flew straight out of bounds, sticking tightly to the ground.

Janowitz turned around and saw a trail of tennis balls on the court.

"A serve that doesn't bounce?" Janowicz felt a wave of dizziness. This... such high intensity right from the start? Can't they take it slow?

……

The audience at the scene and those watching on television were in an uproar after they realized what had happened.

"That serve barely bounced?"

"It looks just like Yan Huishan!"

Until someone in the arena shouted, "Tannhäuser serves?"

"Was that a Tannhäuser serve?"

"My God, is that the Tannhäuser serve that Atobe used when he played doubles against the American team?"

(End of this chapter)