Who would still play tennis after being reborn?

Chapter 146 The Profound Realm of Selflessness

After finishing his meal and returning to the hotel, Zhang Ming collapsed onto the bed, exhausted, his limbs outstretched, as if his soul had been drained.

This was the first time he truly experienced the cruelty and reality of a three-set tiebreaker.

This wasn't the kind of endless physical exertion you see in casual tennis; it was a real, life-or-death struggle. If he hadn't been careful, the victory might have gone to Hewitt, not him.

Of course, if we only look at the overall score of 3-1, the gap between the two is a bit big. But if we look at the smaller scores, it is obvious to anyone with a discerning eye that the gap between the two is not that big.

Moreover, Hewitt is a veteran in his thirties, and his physical condition is not up to par.

Even so, he still fought hard and won three tiebreakers. Hewitt's performance today was so good that Zhang Ming was a little frustrated.

He originally thought he would easily win the game 3-0 today, but reality is often much crueler than imagined.

"If I had lost the tiebreak, I might have been reversed in the third set." He muttered to himself, staring at the ceiling. "Lady Luck was on my side, but I can't be this lucky every time."

But he did it. He defeated Hewitt, a legend who had beaten numerous seeded players to win the US Open in 2001 and 2002.

"Never mind, I won't think about it too much. I'll rest for a while and try to run a bit in the afternoon's race."

Zhang Ming shook his head, sweeping away those troubling thoughts.

The afternoon doubles match is different from the singles match, and the opponent is the second seed in doubles. We can't put all the pressure on Gu Cheng.

If he wins, that's fine, but if he loses and is eliminated in the first round, he'll be a major sinner.

Perhaps Gu Cheng will also face external scrutiny.

Given Gu Cheng's personality, even if he loses, he probably won't care, and he might not even care about what others say or say.

But Zhang Ming couldn't do it.

He himself didn't care, but he had to consider Gu Cheng's feelings.

Given Gu Cheng's skill and reputation, he could easily find other players for doubles, even top singles players. Even if the two had never played doubles together before and didn't have much chemistry, Gu Cheng's skill was undeniable. As long as his teammates didn't drag him down, doubles wouldn't be a difficult task.

But Gu Cheng came looking for him.

This is different from Gu Cheng using Yu Haoyang as a tool in the ITF Junior Tournament.

The Australian Open is a tournament teeming with top players; doubles matches at this level are sometimes too demanding for one person to handle.

The more he thought about it, the more agitated he became. Unable to fall asleep, he got up and sat down to make himself a cup of coffee, but he didn't dare make too much.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has lifted its ban on caffeine but keeps it on its watch list. A caffeine concentration in urine exceeding 12 micrograms per milliliter may be considered a violation, equivalent to drinking eight espresso shots in a short period of time.

Thinking of this, Zhang Ming couldn't help but smile.

Eight portions? He's probably crazy.

Zhang Ming sat down with his coffee, gazing out the window, lost in thought.

Suddenly, the tennis court in the distance caught his attention.

As the host city of the Australian Open, Melbourne has tennis courts almost everywhere, and many hotels near Melbourne have their own tennis courts.

In addition, there are many free or paid tennis courts nearby for players to train at when they come to participate in the competition.

Some top-tier professional players can even use the competition venue to practice.

Of course, there are fees to pay.

Zhang Ming suddenly stood up and went to the window to look at the distant stadium.

"That's... Acheng and that kid Yu Haoyang?"

Zhang Ming looked surprised.

After they finished eating, they went their separate ways to their rooms to rest. Unexpectedly, not long after he returned, the three guys went to the basketball court.

"Aren't you tired?"

Zhang Ming was speechless. Although he knew that Gu Cheng hadn't expended too much energy fighting his first-round opponent, there was no need for him to go to training at noon when he still had a doubles match in the afternoon.

"It must have been Yu Haoyang who dragged Acheng there, right?"

Zhang Ming instinctively assumed that Yu Haoyang had dragged Gu Cheng out, since with Gu Cheng's abilities, it seemed unnecessary for him to go out for training in the middle of the day.

Yu Haoyang and Cao Hui, while not weak, still need to improve if they want to achieve good results in the Australian Open Junior Championships.

Seeing Gu Cheng and the other two on the court, Zhang Ming couldn't sit still any longer and quickly left the hotel.

The tennis court inside the hotel.

"Yes, don't hit it too fast, and don't give it too much spin."

Gu Cheng loudly reminded, "Pay attention to the power of your serve and return."

Yu Haoyang said helplessly, "No, Acheng, there's no need to play like this. You won't learn anything from it. It's fine if I play slower and use less force, but your opponent won't!"

"There's no point in you practicing this!"

Yu Haoyang was a little confused.

After dinner, Gu Cheng suddenly approached him and said he was going out to practice for a while. He didn't think much of it. Anyway, the youth tournament didn't start until late afternoon, so as long as he didn't do anything reckless, it wouldn't affect his afternoon match.

On the contrary, light exercise helps him maintain a good competitive state.

Furthermore, since it was Gu Cheng who called him, he assumed that Gu Cheng was going to teach him the palm technique that descended from the sky, so he naturally ran over eagerly.

Cao Hui came along too.

To his utter surprise, Gu Cheng had only invited him here to play this extremely slow tennis game.

Of course, the speed isn't too slow, and the force isn't too light, but he's used to playing fast and powerful shots, so when he plays this kind of shot now, he feels very frustrated and like he can't use his strength.

Especially now, when Gu Cheng told him to lighten his strength again, Yu Haoyang couldn't help but speak up: "Acheng, tell me, I really don't understand. From childhood to adulthood, except when I first started playing tennis, because I couldn't play fast and couldn't exert much force, I always used as much force as I could."

"If it were related to defensive techniques like chopping, I could understand it."

"But the baseline shots are so long, they seem to have no effect at all! If you play like that in a real match, what's the difference between that and giving away points?"

"Old Cao, don't you think so?"

Realizing he couldn't convince Gu Cheng on his own, Yu Haoyang turned around and decided to drag Cao Hui onto his side.

Cao Hui was also wondering why Gu Cheng did this. His thoughts were almost the same as Yu Haoyang's: playing this kind of ball was almost meaningless for training or improving skills.

Considering Gu Cheng's personality and strength, the other party probably wouldn't be doing something meaningless at lunchtime when there's nothing else to do.

After pondering for a moment, Cao Hui said, "Acheng must have his own reasons for doing this."

Upon hearing this, Yu Haoyang rolled his eyes: "You... if you can't figure it out, just don't. Why do you have to say things like that? Do you want me to be the bad guy?"

Cao Hui smiled awkwardly, realizing Yu Haoyang had seen through his thoughts. Yu Haoyang turned his head helplessly and stared straight at Gu Cheng.

Gu Cheng was also somewhat helpless. Of course, he knew that asking Yu Haoyang to do this would definitely be incomprehensible to the guy, but if Yu Haoyang didn't hit the ball lightly and with just the right amount of spin, and if he used the ultimate technique honed through countless trials, doubling the power and spin, Yu Haoyang simply wouldn't be able to receive it.

To test whether the power of selflessness could be applied to the national tournament finals, Echizen, when facing Yukimura Seiichi, transferred the power of selflessness to other positions, ignoring the flaws brought about by the ultimate refinement.

The ultimate refinement through countless hammer blows is indeed formidable. When it can return double the opponent's force and spin, its power is undeniably strong.

However, the prerequisite for gaining such power is a significant decline in other physical abilities.

Running speed is slow, and even reaction time is affected. In this situation, if Tezuka's Domain fails, the ultimate of Thousand-Times-Refined Technique becomes an easy target.

This can be seen from Tezuka's doubles match against Chitose in the National Tournament.

Tezuka Kunimitsu's mastery of the Tezuka Domain was almost completely blocked by Chitose. In the end, it was only by combining his own and Chitose's talents to the fullest extent that he was able to suppress Chitose.

In other words, the combination of the ultimate refinement and Tezuka's domain is not invincible; there are ways to break or even block it.

Leaving aside the Tezuka Zone, even a ball without spin or an instinctively unstable ball control can affect the Tezuka Zone.

The ultimate refinement is even simpler: if you hit the ball with slightly less force and without spin, the ultimate refinement will crumble without a fight.

It can be said that whether one is tempered by countless trials or bursts with talent, there are obvious flaws.

Even with the most brilliant talent, one can only fight opponents of similar or weaker strength. If one is significantly stronger than oneself, having an engine in one's brain is useless.

Only the most flawless and perfect garment is truly without any defects.

"We need to make it flawless!"

Gu Cheng was slightly annoyed, then looked at Yu Haoyang and explained, "I'm testing some things, which are related to the afternoon's match or the matches after that. I'm still a bit confident in the singles match, but it's hard to say about the doubles. Ming and I haven't cooperated much, so we can say we have no chemistry at all. In the first round, we're playing against the second seed in doubles. Even I don't have much confidence."

"You don't have confidence either?"

Yu Haoyang was somewhat surprised, after all, he and Gu Cheng had teamed up for doubles more than once or twice. Apart from contributing to the doubles matches later to train himself, he was basically the same as netizens said, just a stationary figure on the court, while Gu Cheng alone was enough to deal with the opposing doubles.

Moreover, it's not just enough to deal with them; more importantly, it's so brutal that it's no exaggeration to describe it as utterly devastating.

Now Gu Cheng told him that he wasn't confident about the doubles match that afternoon, so he naturally had some doubts.

They don't even believe it.

But upon closer reflection, it makes sense.

This is the Australian Open, not an ITF junior tournament. Everyone who makes it to the Australian Open is a top player in the tennis world, ranked in the top 100.

It's easy to imagine how strong a doubles team composed of these players would be.

Moreover, the opponent in the afternoon doubles is the second seed in doubles, which is basically equivalent to Roger Federer in singles.

If it were just a one-on-one match, Gu Cheng might not be worried.

Doubles is different. When the opponent has two players, their defense is much stronger than in singles. With many techniques essentially countered, if Gu Cheng can't come up with new techniques, it will be too difficult for him to win the next doubles match by playing solo.

Moreover, Zhang Ming's physical exertion in the morning's singles match was too great, so he can basically be ignored in the afternoon.

In other words, Gu Cheng will have to face the second seed in doubles all by himself.

It's perfectly normal to feel stressed.

If it were him, he probably would have done the same.

"Then you should be able to tell me what you're going to try, right?"

"If you succeed, you'll see the results of the afternoon's match. If you don't succeed, it doesn't matter whether you say it or not."

Yu Haoyang said somewhat helplessly, "Well... alright then!"

"So, did you succeed?"

"Not yet, but I'm starting to get a clue."

"Then let's try again."

Yu Haoyang was about to serve when Zhang Ming rushed over. Before he even arrived, his voice reached the three of them: "Hey you three, you came out to play ball without even calling me?"

"Especially you, Yu Haoyang, Acheng participated in two competitions and didn't have much time to rest. Why did you drag him along to practice with you?"

"Heaven and earth bear witness, Brother Ming, it wasn't me who called Acheng out this time, it was him who called me out, saying he wanted to test something. Anyway, he didn't tell us anything, I'm innocent too!" Yu Haoyang shouted, accusing himself of being wronged.

"If that doesn't work, you can ask Acheng or Lao Cao."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Ming subconsciously looked at Gu Cheng.

Gu Cheng said, "That's pretty much what he said."

Zhang Ming asked, "What are you testing?"

Yu Haoyang immediately said, "I asked him, but he wouldn't tell me. He said that if the experiment was successful, we would know in the doubles match this afternoon, and if it wasn't successful, there would be no use in telling him."

Zhang Ming shrugged: "Alright then, any requirements?"

"Slow down, use less force, and don't add too much spin."

"Then I'll do it. It doesn't take much energy anyway, and besides, I don't have much energy left to burn. But these two kids have matches this afternoon. I don't want to affect them. If they get eliminated in the first round, it won't sound good. They are your top students, after all." Zhang Ming said, but he had already picked up his racket and walked onto the court.

Yu Haoyang looked annoyed: "Brother Ming, can't you wish us something better?"

"Go down, I'll do it."

Zhang Ming ignored him and kicked Yu Haoyang directly.

Yu Haoyang dodged and left the area with a grin.

Zhang Ming didn't ask any questions and served directly.

The speed isn't fast, and there's not much spin, but Zhang Ming is clearly much better than Yu Haoyang at ball control.

Gu Cheng countered with a single blow.

When Zhang Ming caught up, he could clearly feel that the ball was much heavier than the one he had hit, and the spin was also much stronger.

"He told me not to hit the ball with too much force, but his return shot was surprisingly powerful. What is this kid trying to do?"

Zhang Ming couldn't quite understand it, and subconsciously increased the pressure on his hands.

Gu Cheng wanted to try it out; he actually had some ideas of his own.

Just then, Gu Cheng returned the ball.