Who would still play tennis after being reborn?

Chapter 42 No one escapes the wrath of Heaven! They all must die!
After Gu Cheng finished speaking, a brief silence followed, and then incoherent gasps of amazement erupted from all around.

"That ball just now was!?"

"No way?"

"Side-side topspin serve!?"

"Side-side topspin serve is never this exaggerated. Common side-side topspin serves usually bounce off the corner and go out of bounds, but this serve is clearly aimed at the player. Such strong spin is probably impossible to hit in reality."

But as soon as he said that, he looked at the figure on the field with a complicated expression.

Can't you type it out?
But someone fired it right in front of him.

Jiang Bin realized what was happening and said with a wry smile, "It seems we might have guessed wrong."

The boys from No. 3 Middle School didn't say anything, but looked at Gu Cheng with somewhat complicated expressions.

"What the hell... that's an outside spin serve!?"

Yu Haoyang managed to utter a few words.

The sidespin serve is generally used as a primary second serve technique in matches because topspin serves have a high trajectory over the net, a strong downward drop, and high stability. Therefore, many professional players use it to attack the opponent's backhand. The high bounce of the outside spin serve can pose a significant threat to opponents with a one-handed backhand. The opponent will usually chop the ball at a high point, at which point the serving player may already be waiting at the net to volley the point.

The key point is that this kind of serve is rarely used even in the professional field. A few people who use sidespin serve in their second serve include super spin maniacs like Nadal and Coria, but their power is far less than the serve that Gu Cheng just hit.

What even the world's top ten professional players couldn't do was now accomplished by a high school student who was even younger than him, only fourteen or fifteen years old. You can imagine the shock Yu Haoyang felt.

Yu Haoyang, however, had a good mindset. Although he was shocked, he quickly calmed down and turned to look at the referee.

The referee finally came to his senses, though his expression remained somewhat stiff: "It's...it's in."

"15-0."

Gu Cheng bounced the ball against the ground and served the second ball.

"Is it going to be another topspin serve?"

Seeing Gu Cheng's familiar jumping posture, another gasp of surprise rang out from the surroundings.

Yu Haoyang quickly stepped forward, the tennis ball spinning rapidly at his feet before flying towards his face.

"Damn it, what the hell..."

Yu Haoyang, who thought he could retaliate, looked at the tennis ball flying towards him and had no time to think. He leaned back and lost his balance, sitting on the ground.

"30-0."

"Continue!" Yu Haoyang gritted his teeth.

Like many tennis players and enthusiasts, he started playing tennis when he was six or seven years old. He has played in at least five or six hundred matches, including some less formal ones in China. He has even been involved in some of the more prestigious ITF tournaments in China, but this was the first time he had ever been so embarrassed.

Not only did he not touch the ball, he also fell to the ground.

This scene is like being nutmegged in a football match and then being knocked down. For a professional player, this is the darkest moment of their career.

At this moment, Gu Cheng served the third ball.

As always, when faced with this powerful topspin serve, Yu Haoyang would instinctively dodge the serve as it hurtled towards his face whenever he was about to swing his racket to return it, which resulted in Gu Cheng scoring points one after another.

Gu Cheng leads 1-0.

When the score was announced, the young man who had been brought in by Yu Haoyang to act as the referee was already somewhat numb, and even somewhat incredulous.

Yu Haoyang, who recently won the men's singles championship at the provincial games and is now active in ITF events, was surprisingly hit by a high school student in a receiving game, who not only hit a series of aces but also completed a love game.

Throughout the entire service game, Yu Haoyang not only failed to score a single point, but he didn't even touch the ball.

If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed it was true.

"Yu Haoyang won't lose this match, will he?"

The referee felt a little flustered, but seeing Yu Haoyang preparing to serve, his tense heart relaxed slightly.

Given Yu Haoyang's skill level, he should have no problem holding his serve when Gu Cheng is unable to hit an outside spin serve.

It wasn't just the referee who thought this way; Yu Haoyang himself actually thought the same.

Yu Haoyang took a deep breath, thinking that if he held his serve, it would basically drag on to a tiebreak. Once it went to a tiebreak, Gu Cheng, who could rely on his topspin serve to gain an absolute advantage, would have a greater chance of winning the match.

"It seems the only way to break serve is to find a way before the tiebreak."

The thought flashed through his mind. Yu Haoyang aimed carefully, tossed the tennis ball into the air, and then hit it with all his might towards Gu Cheng's half of the court.

The ball speed was fast and the angle was decent, but it was still far inferior to Zhang Ming's.

This is not hard to understand.

Yu Haoyang is only active in ITF junior tournaments and is still accumulating points to qualify for ATP events, while Zhang Ming broke into the top 200 years ago and has been active in ATP events ever since, fighting for a higher ranking. The two are not on the same level in terms of either the intensity of their matches or the number of matches they have played.

Gu Cheng stepped forward and returned the ball, and in the blink of an eye, the tennis ball flew back to Yu Haoyang's half of the court.

Boom! !

The tennis ball slammed into the ground, bounced back less than a centimeter, traced a semi-circle on the ground, and flew out of bounds. Yu Haoyang swung his racket forcefully, only to find that he had merely dispersed the air in front of him slightly.

At that moment, everyone began to doubt their own eyes.

"Magic, right?! That's the f***ing Swallow Return Flash?!"

Many people who enjoy playing tennis, especially young people, have watched Prince of Tennis and are even deeply influenced by it. The tennis skills of each character in the anime remain fresh in their memories even after many years.

They were certain that the ball they had just hit was one of the three types of return shots used by the genius Fuji Syusuke—the Swallow Return.

"Impossible! How could you possibly hit a shot like that?"

Yu Haoyang looked incredulous, but as he said that, he found that his back was already covered in cold sweat.

Topspin serve, backspin return...

Yu Haoyang stubbornly served a second ball, but reality once again slammed him into the gutter. The Swallow Return Flash, which was no different from the one in The Prince of Tennis, and the Dao Heart he had cultivated for more than ten years shattered like a mirror falling to the ground.

"Topspin, counter-topspin..."

Yu Haoyang recalled the method to counter the Swallow Return Flash from The Prince of Tennis, and then served a second ball with a slightly anxious tone.

Unless you hit a topspin ball, it's impossible to execute a backflip.

However, it is obvious that if you slice the ball, the tennis ball will fly much slower.

Gu Cheng smiled slightly and hit the tennis ball back before it hit the target point.

When Hao Yang hit the ball back again, he looked up and saw Gu Cheng, who was approaching the net, come into his field of vision.

"Wh...when did you go online?"

--boom!

In a split second, the tennis ball flew out of bounds from the left side of the net.

"!!"

"This guy is amazing!"

Off the field, Gu Cheng's sudden online interception really shocked many people.

No one watching the match live is a fool. It's actually difficult to judge Gu Cheng's skill level based on his topspin serve and backhand flick. All I can say is that his tennis skills, reminiscent of those in The Prince of Tennis, were truly breathtaking.

It's not clear how deep Gu Cheng's understanding of tennis is, but that volley from the net just now really impressed everyone.

This guy is stronger than I expected.

Aside from those two ball skills that everyone thought were impossible in reality, even in terms of just the basics, Gu Cheng was by no means inferior to Hao Yang, and was even... stronger!
Under these circumstances, the subsequent matches can be described as one-sided.

Yu Haoyang blocked Gu Cheng's Swallow Return Flash, but because he couldn't hit topspin shots, he was restricted everywhere. Soon, a crushing match ended when the referee shouted 6-0.

However, the result was beyond everyone's expectations.

Gu Cheng, whom everyone thought was absolutely unbeatable, surprisingly defeated Yu Haoyang, the National Games champion, with a godlike performance.

6-0, an amazing score.

Given Yu Haoyang's skill level, he might not have lost so badly even against professional players active in ATP tournaments.

After a brief moment of mental confusion, Yu Haoyang silently packed up his racket and walked over to Gu Cheng, who was also packing up his racket: "Congratulations!!"

"Thank you!" Gu Cheng replied, but after thinking for a moment, he still politely asked, "Does this mean the starting position in the men's singles is mine?"

Yu Haoyang was taken aback for a moment, then nodded: "Yes."

"Thank you."

After nodding and greeting Yu Haoyang, Gu Cheng carried his racket and walked towards the scorekeeper who was responsible for tallying the match scores.

Watching Gu Cheng's retreating figure, Yu Haoyang smiled, then suddenly his expression hardened: "Heaven spares no one! They all must die!"

On the sidelines, Jiang Bin and the other students who had signed up for singles all wore wry smiles.

Alright, let's fight for the substitute position!

(End of this chapter)