Who would still play tennis after being reborn?

Chapter 165 Mirror Serve
The air at Rod Laver Arena seemed to solidify, and sweat and tension intertwined in the scorching morning sun.

Gu Cheng stood behind the baseline, his sneakers deeply embedded in the blue hard court, leaving two barely noticeable scratches.

The score in the second set was now 3-1. He had just forced Monfils into an error with a powerful backhand slice and won his service game.

Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the dome, refracting into shimmering golden light on his sweat-dampened hair, while the flame burning in his eyes blazed brighter than the Southern Hemisphere sun.

"It's time to show him his real trump card," Gu Cheng muttered to himself, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down with each swallow.

He could feel Monfils's gaze piercing his back—the Frenchman was wiping the strings of his racket with a towel, his knuckles white from the force, clearly still reliving the fear of being dominated by the reverse cut in the previous game.

That return shot was like the Grim Reaper's scythe. After the tennis ball crossed the net, it fell vertically at an angle that defied the laws of physics, and bounced back onto the net the instant it touched the ground. Monfils's leaping swing ultimately only caught a wisp of air.

The moment the referee shouted "Game, Gu Cheng, 4-1," the entire stadium erupted in thunderous cheers.

But Gu Cheng did not relax at all. He bent down to pick up the yellow tennis ball at his feet, and his fingertips rubbed the surface of the ball, making a rustling sound.

He has repeated this move thousands of times, but today it takes on a completely different meaning—the mirror serve, a self-created technique that has consumed countless efforts in training, is about to be unveiled on the world stage.

Although the mirror serve was the first self-created ball technique he used after returning to the real world, very few people had actually seen it, and the group of students at No. 1 Middle School did not spread it.

Or rather, their reach is not strong enough.

This serve has always been known only within a small circle, and very few people actually know about it.

Moreover, under the circumstances at the time, even if a student uploaded the video online, astute netizens would only assume it was a video created using technological means.

It's a special effect.

In reality, no one can hit such a terrifying serve.

No one would believe that such a serve could exist in the real world.

Therefore, Gu Cheng is not worried about the mirror serve being exposed in advance.

Indeed, that's true. Given Gu Cheng's current fame in the tennis world, if the mirror serve were to become widely known, it would have been exposed long ago.

The mirror serve is a serve that almost no one can return, even in the world of Prince of Tennis.

This serve involves more than just visual changes.

More importantly, the power of this serve is no less than that of the Big Bang, and may even be greater.

This is incomparable to serves that disappear or vanish without a trace.

As Yukimura, the son of God, said, there is only one tennis ball, and it will not disappear. As long as you see through its essence, returning this type of serve will not be too difficult.

However, the mirror serve is different.

The mirror serve is very powerful.

Simply being able to understand the essence of the serve is not enough to return it.

At this moment, Monfils also noticed something was amiss. He stood in the opposite service area, his pupils slightly constricted.

He noticed that Gu Cheng was standing further back than usual, with his left foot almost touching the advertising sign at the edge of the baseline.

Even more bizarrely, Gu Cheng's body was in an exaggerated bent-over posture: his knees were almost touching his chest, his right hand holding the racket hung behind him like a fully drawn bow, his spine formed an astonishing arc, his neck was slightly raised, and his eyes were fixed on the tennis ball that was about to be thrown into the air.

"Why is this guy's posture so weird?" The Australian commentator in the front row put down his statistics board, and his glasses slipped down to the tip of his nose.

A murmur arose from the audience, and even the usually composed technical table referee couldn't help but lean forward.

Gu Cheng took a deep breath, his chest expanding like a balloon, and then suddenly threw the ball into the air.

This time, the ball was tossed much higher than ever before, and the tennis ball hovered briefly at the apex, as if being held up by an invisible hand.

Just as the ball began to fall, his body sprang up like a spring, his right leg pushed off the ground and his left leg stepped forward, his entire body drawing a perfect semicircle in the air.

The trajectory of the racket swing is no longer a straight line, but rather like a paintbrush drawing a parabola, sweeping from the right side of the body behind the head and then suddenly slashing forward.

"boom!"

The sound of the ball hitting the ball was more muffled than ever before, with a metallic hum.

"So fast!!"

Monfils' pupils suddenly contracted. The serve was too fast, and more importantly, he seemed to find the spin of the tennis ball somewhat strange.

Before Monfils could even react to what was happening, the next moment...

Even more astonishingly, the air seemed to distort the moment the tennis ball crossed the net—the originally single ball suddenly split into two identical tennis balls, which shot towards the left and right corners of the Monfils court with lightning speed.

Two white streaks of light, like twin lightning bolts, landed with a sharp, tearing sound, scattering fine particles of hard ground upon impact.

"Oh my God! What is this?!" The commentator jumped to his feet, dropping the microphone to the ground with a piercing noise.

The stands erupted into a frenzy, with fans in the front rows even standing up and pounding on the railings. Screams, gasps, and the clicking of camera shutters filled the air.

Monfils's mind went blank. He watched helplessly as two tennis balls flew towards him simultaneously. His body instinctively moved to the left, and just as he was about to swing his racket, the ball on his right bounced off the ground and hurtled towards him with terrifying force.

He turned around hastily to return the ball, and the moment the racket touched the ball, a tremendous force came through the handle, making his arm go numb and the racket almost fly out of his hand.

Even more terrifying, the "ball" on the left suddenly disappeared after landing, turning into a wisp of white afterimage and dissipating into the air—it turned out that it was just a phantom image produced by the mirror!
"Mistake! Gu Cheng scores!" The referee's voice trembled with disbelief.

Gu Cheng slowly straightened up, his forehead stray hairs stuck to his face with sweat, but he didn't care at all.

He watched Monfils stand there, racket hanging limply at his side, a cold smile curving his lips.

The principle of the mirror serve is to use the ultra-high speed spin and special angle of the swing to create a visual split effect, while the real ball carries multiple spins and extremely strong impact.

In that last shot, he deliberately made the illusion extremely realistic in order to completely disrupt Monfils's judgment.

“How could this be…” Monfils muttered to himself, a genuine fear appearing in his eyes for the first time.

He had tried to crack the triple spin serve, studied the trajectory of the invisible serve, and even used technological means to analyze the mechanical principles of the reverse cut, but the mirror serve in front of him was completely beyond his comprehension.

The exaggerated posture, the splitting sphere, the terrifying force—every element proclaimed Gu Cheng's invincible strength.

The score is now 5-1, and it's Gu Cheng's serve.

Monfils stood in the receiving area, gripping his racket tightly with both hands, his knuckles turning white.

He could feel the sweat seeping from his palms, soaking the anti-slip tape.

The French fans in the stands had fallen silent, and the few scattered cheers sounded particularly weak.

In contrast, the local Australian audience went wild, waving their national flags and chanting Gu Cheng's name in waves of cheers.

"Calm down, Monfils, you must calm down," the Frenchman repeatedly told himself.

He recalled his coach's instructions during the break: "Pay attention to the height of his ball toss and the trajectory of his swing. The illusion of a mirror serve lasts only a short time, and you need to seize that moment of weakness." But even so, the stunning image of that serve kept replaying in his mind, making his heart beat faster involuntarily.

Gu Cheng once again assumed the ready position for a mirror serve.

This time, he bent over even more, almost in a lunge position, with his racket hanging down behind his right side like a samurai's sword.

The flashbulbs in the stands twinkled like a galaxy, and everyone held their breath, anticipating the next visual spectacle.

"They're here!" someone shouted.

The tennis ball was tossed into the air, and Gu Cheng leaped up like a cheetah, his racket drawing a dazzling arc.

Another dull thud was heard as the tennis ball bounced over the net and split into two again.

Monfils was prepared; he stared intently at the two spheres, trying to distinguish between the real and the illusory.

Just then, he noticed that the ball on the right was flying in a slightly unstable trajectory, seemingly with some kind of strange rotation.

"This is it!" Monfils was overjoyed and suddenly moved to the right, swinging his racket at the "real" ball.

However, just as the racket was about to touch the ball, the ball suddenly accelerated downwards, as if it were being pulled by an invisible hand, and slammed vertically to the ground!

"This serve...it's terrifying! Both its speed and power are far beyond anything we've seen before, and the visual effect it creates is simply amazing!!" The commentator's voice was completely hoarse.

Monfils's movements froze in mid-air.

He watched the marks left by the tennis ball hitting the sidelines, just centimeters from the sideline.

This serve doesn't seem like a visual illusion; rather, it makes the tennis ball appear to actually split into two.

"Game, Gu Cheng, 6-1! Second game over!"

The referee's whistle rang out like thunder across Rod Laver Arena.

The entire audience rose to their feet, erupting in a thunderous roar of cheers. Some embraced each other in excitement, some were in tears, and others tossed their hats into the air.

Gu Cheng threw down his racket, looked up at the sky and roared. Sweat dripped from his chin, spreading a small dark stain on the blue hard court.

Monfils slowly lowered his racket, leaned against the net, and gasped for breath.

He watched Gu Cheng celebrating in the center of the field, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

From a 4-3 comeback in the first set to a crushing 6-1 defeat in the second set, the situation changed dramatically in just half an hour.

The combination of the mirror serve and the reverse cut was like two sharp blades, completely severing all his hopes of a counterattack.

"That's terrifying... Just how many more hidden skills does this guy have?" Monfils gave a wry smile and covered his face with a towel. He could feel countless eyes focused on him from the stands, some sympathetic, some regretful, but mostly amazed by Gu Cheng's unpredictable and incredible skills.

During the break, Monfils' coach anxiously flipped through the game footage on his tablet.

"You see, the key to the mirror serve is the instantaneous rotation of his wrist when he swings the racket, as well as the angle of his body rotation."

The coach pointed to the slow-motion replay on the screen, "If we could predict the spin direction before he hits the ball, there might still be a chance..."

"Anticipation?" Monfils interrupted the coach, his voice weary. "His movements are so fast that they are almost impossible to catch with the naked eye, let alone distinguishing between real and feints. Coach, we must admit that Gu Cheng's strength has exceeded our understanding."

The third set begins with Monfils serving.

He tried to adjust his tactics, increasing the proportion of slice shots, hoping to find counter-attack opportunities by controlling the ball speed.

However, Gu Cheng's ability to anticipate attacks is now vastly different from before, and he easily deflects both inside and outside corner kicks.

During a long rally, Gu Cheng suddenly used the "Divine Invisibility" technique, causing the tennis ball to disappear in the air for a moment before reappearing at Monfils' feet.

"Break! Gu Cheng has successfully broken serve!"

The score is now 1-0, and it's Gu Cheng's serve.

He adopted the mirror serve stance again, and this time, Monfils took a risk—he stood in the center of the court, trying to deal with the two possible balls by moving left and right.

However, Gu Cheng's serve was so tricky that the actual ball grazed the sideline and landed, while the illusory image disappeared in mid-air.

"Ace!"

The audience erupted in cheers once again.

Some people held up signs that read "Gu Cheng = God of Tennis," and others began to clap rhythmically.

Reporters in the media section frantically typed on their keyboards, sending the latest match updates back to headquarters.

"This is no longer a tennis match, it's a surreal performance!"

A sports reporter from The Times of London exclaimed during a live broadcast, "Gu Cheng's mirror serve has completely overturned our understanding of this sport. The ball splits into two after crossing the net, it's like a scene from a science fiction movie!"

The third game of the third set, Monfils's service game.

He gave it his all, increasing his serve speed to 220km/h, but Gu Cheng remained calm and composed.

In a thrilling baseline rally, Gu Cheng suddenly used a reverse slice, causing the tennis ball to drop vertically after clearing the net and bounce back onto the net.

Monfils barely managed to get there, but could only return the ball to the opponent's court with extremely poor quality. Gu Cheng seized the opportunity and scored directly with a powerful forehand smash.

"Break! Gu Cheng breaks serve again! Score 3-0!"

Monfils' face turned ashen.

He could feel his energy rapidly depleting, while Gu Cheng seemed tireless, each shot brimming with power.

French fans in the stands began to leave one after another, and those who remained just watched the game numbly, having lost the energy to shout.

The fourth game, Gu Cheng's serve.

He used mirror serves three times in a row, each time using different angles and spins to confuse Monfils.

The French tried forehand returns, backhand slices, and even risked net volleys, but all of them failed.

The power of the mirror serve is astonishing. Once, Monfils barely managed to receive the ball, but the force of the serve made his arm go numb and his racket almost slip from his hand.

"Game score: Gu Cheng, 4-0!"

The fifth game, Monfils' serve.

His eyes had lost their former sparkle, and his serves became utterly harmless. Gu Cheng easily broke serve, bringing the score to 5-0.

In the sixth game, Gu Cheng's serve, was also the game that would decide the outcome of the third set. He stood behind the baseline and took a deep breath. The entire audience stood up; they knew that the moment to witness history was about to arrive.

"The last goal!" the commentator exclaimed excitedly.

Yes, it's the last ball!!
(End of this chapter)