Who would still play tennis after being reborn?

Chapter 90 Croatia, Junior's Professional Debut in the Zagreb Cup (Bonus Chapter 33 for Subscribers)

It's 2-0 now.

On the field, the atmosphere was completely ignited by this score.

Gu Cheng's serve and return shot were incredibly impressive.

Gu Cheng was already used to this kind of situation and went straight back to the baseline. The third game was his service game. According to the doubles rules, Qi Yuanchun should have served, but since everyone was just playing around, they didn't follow those rules.

This left Feng Song, who had been trying to put up a fight, utterly desperate.

If Qi Yuanchun serves, at least they can touch the ball.

Gu Cheng served, and losing a point was secondary; the most embarrassing thing was not even being able to touch the ball.

As expected, facing Gu Cheng's powerful serve, the aging Wang Honglang had no chance to fight back. Even though he had figured out a way to break the topspin serve, his aging body could not be driven by mere thoughts.

The score quickly reached 3-0.

The middle-aged man in charge of keeping score coughed and announced loudly, "The final is over. Um, now I announce the winner is..."

Wang Honglang gave a wry smile: "Old Li, stop talking. We lost, and we accept it wholeheartedly."

The middle-aged man, addressed as Old Li, smiled and nodded: "Okay, that's settled then."

Qi Yuanchun, who had stood on the court without moving an inch and hadn't even swung his racket, raised an eyebrow at Feng Song after Lao Li announced the end of the match: "Lao Feng, I'll take the racket with me in a bit."

Feng Song's face immediately fell, and he gave a wry smile: "Old Qi, you're too cunning. It must have been your idea to completely prevent that young man from showing his true colors before, right?"

"Never mind that, I won anyway."

Feng Song was speechless: "I didn't ask you to hire professional players! How are we supposed to play like this? One of them could beat both of us, and we couldn't even fight back. You didn't even lift a finger. How can you play doubles like this!"

"Just tell me whether you won or not."

At this point, Feng Song was speechless.

Wang Honglang stepped forward and patted Feng Song on the shoulder: "Old Feng, it's just a racket. Give it to Lao Qi. If you really want to see it, just go to his house. He can't refuse to take it out, can he?"

Feng Song sighed: "It's not about the racket, it's just that I feel a bit frustrated. I lost without even touching the ball. Are all professional players this good? When I watched the matches on TV before, they didn't seem that strong!"

Wang Honglang's eyes flickered as he said, "Professional players aren't as amazing as you think. He's just a special case. To put it bluntly, there are probably fewer than a hundred people in the whole world who can beat him, and even they might not be able to beat him."

After saying that, he turned to look at Gu Cheng and said with a smile, "I should have thought of it a long time ago. Zhou Yuan mentioned it to me some time ago, but I didn't pay much attention to it until you hit that return shot with such an exaggerated bounce angle."

Feng Song was taken aback. Did Old Wang know the other party?

There are fewer than a hundred people in the entire world who could beat him.
"Who?"

"Do you know Old Wang?"

Everyone was curious: who exactly was this young man?

Wang Honglang laughed and said, "Didn't I mention to Lao Zhou, or Zhou Yuan, a while ago that he mentioned the National Middle School Tennis Championship? At that time, he mentioned a young man named Gu Cheng. And, if I remember correctly, he was on CCTV a couple of days ago."

"He can hit topspin serves, and he also has that exaggeratedly angled return shot..."

By this time, some people had already formed an impression.

"I know who it is now."

"Gu Cheng, a genius teenager who won the men's singles championship at the National Middle School Tennis Championships and swept every opponent in the Australian Open wildcard tournament, is known online as the 'Tennis Fraudster'."

"Oh my god! It was him!"

“I’ve heard of him.”

"I've heard about it too."

"No wonder he's so powerful, it turns out it's him. I was wondering why Old Qi was so confident, it turns out he invited Gu Shen!"

Everyone was stunned; no one had expected that Qi Yuanchun would invite Gu Cheng to be his doubles partner.

Isn't this just pure bullying?
Lao Zhai was the youngest among the dozen or so people, and he had always kept up with the latest tennis tournaments. He had followed the National Tennis Championships, but had never watched the matches. However, he still remembered Gu Cheng's name, not to mention that Gu Cheng had appeared on CCTV's Australian Open wildcard final.

He did manage to watch the screen recording for a few minutes, but he didn't think about it that way. When Wang Honglang mentioned Gu Cheng's name, he was stunned and almost vomited blood.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but glare at Zhai Qing: "Why didn't you say he was your classmate earlier?"

Zhai Qing pouted, "I asked you to come over, but you didn't! I can't exactly drag you here! Besides, you all support Uncle Feng and are bullying Uncle Qi, so I have to stand up for him!"

Old Zhai said irritably, "I can tell you clearly sided with Dean Qi because you knew Gu Cheng was strong and would definitely win."

After her father pointed it out, Zhai Qing immediately fell silent.

Feng Song walked over with his racket, looking extremely annoyed: "Old Qi, you're so shameless! You called Gu Cheng over, and now you've tricked me! How can a bunch of amateurs like us possibly beat a professional player like him!"

Although Feng Song had never heard of Gu Cheng, he knew from Wang Honglang's words that although Gu Cheng was not very famous, his strength was no less than that of the world's top 100 professional players, and even stronger.

A professional player of this caliber, let alone him, would be no match for two young Wang Honglangs!
Qi Yuanchun smiled and said, "I didn't set the rules."

Feng Song rolled his eyes and said, "You deliberately tricked me. No wonder you were so angry that day, but then you agreed and even helped me persuade the others. You were just waiting for me to do this."

"And Brother Gu Cheng, it's one thing for Lao Qi to swindle us, but you're helping him too."

Facing a group of senior figures, Gu Cheng was very modest: "I was just lucky."

Feng Song shook his head: "You don't need to be modest in front of us. Don't lie. Old Wang used to specialize in tennis training. He said your strength is no worse than the world's top 100 professional players, so it must be true."

"Besides, you're still young. Who knows, in a few years, your name might be at the top of the world rankings."

Gu Cheng cupped his hands in greeting.

Feng Song then handed the racket to Qi Yuanchun and said with a mournful sigh, "Losing to him is not unjust, not at all."

However, Qi Yuanchun pushed the racket back: "How about I lend it to you for a while longer? Let's set the timeframe at ten years?"

Everyone was stunned. Ten years? What's the difference between this and returning it to Feng Song?
……

Accompanying Qi Yuanchun to play matches was just something Gu Cheng did in his spare time.

After less than two days at school, Gu Cheng received a message from Yu Haoyang about the ITF Junior Championship. Considering the level Gu Cheng could participate in and the principle of maximizing points, Yu Haoyang chose the Junior Zagreb Cup, which would be held in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, on December 2.

Gu Cheng looked it up online and found that the Junior Zagreb Cup is a Level 4 event with 30 points for the champion, belonging to the J30 level, and the competition venue is an indoor hard court.

As is well known, tennis courts are generally divided into three types: grass tennis courts, clay tennis courts, and hard tennis courts.

Hard surfaces are further divided into indoor and outdoor.

Many people might think that outdoor hard courts and indoor hard courts are the same thing, but in reality, they are two completely different surfaces.

Outdoor hard surfaces are solid blocks of synthetic concrete, which is what we usually think of as hard surfaces, while indoor hard surfaces are hard carpets made of synthetic resin, which are laid on the ground.

Due to differences in materials and construction, indoor hard surfaces have extremely low bounce, not only lower than outdoor hard surfaces, but even Wimbledon's grass surfaces have much better bounce than indoor hard surfaces.

This is one of the reasons why many professional players perform poorly on indoor hard courts. For example, Nadal's technical system is based on topspin, but when topspin hits a bouncing indoor hard court, its power is greatly reduced.

Therefore, almost all professional players have their own preferred playing field.

Just like Nadal is known as the King of Clay because clay has excellent bounce, which gives Nadal, who is good at hitting topspin shots, a huge advantage.

This is also one of the reasons why many people prefer to practice outdoors rather than indoors.

However, quite a few professional players do practice on indoor hard courts.

Meanwhile, Gu Cheng also learned from Yu Haoyang that there are a total of 32 singles spots and 8 doubles spots in the Junior Zagreb Cup.

On November 25, Gu Cheng departed from Ningbo and took a flight to Beijing, where he met Yu Haoyang at the Capital Airport. They then took an early morning flight to Brussels, the capital of Belgium, and transferred in Brussels to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia.

We arrived in Zagreb at noon on the 27th.

"How are you? Getting used to it?" As he got off the plane, Yu Haoyang glanced at Gu Cheng, who seemed a little dizzy.

Gu Cheng shook his head and gave a wry smile: "I had only heard before that tennis was an aristocratic sport, and that without a certain income, one could not afford to travel there. Now I have experienced it for myself."

From Ningbo to the capital, then transferring to Brussels, the capital of Belgium, and then continuing to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, the journey takes about two days, which is secondary. The most important thing is that the travel expenses are almost tens of thousands of yuan.

This only covers the cost of airfare. After landing, you'll have to pay for your own taxis, accommodation, and meals. What seems like a five-day competition will actually take at least ten days in Zagreb.

The cost of these ten days is also astronomical. A single match, including the return trip, would cost at least 40,000 yuan. If you stay in nicer accommodations and eat better food, the figure would be even higher.

Yu Haoyang smiled and said, "That's true. Playing professional tennis matches is indeed very expensive. Ordinary families simply can't afford it, especially in the early stages. Even if you win the championship, the prize money won't be enough to cover the expenses."

"Compared to tennis, football and basketball are much better. Both have clubs, and many people can simply apply for a study visa, eat and drink at the club, and still get a salary. So the expenses are not that much."

"Even if there are matches, the club pays for the travel, but tennis is different. It's basically all paid for by the individual. Even if you go abroad to study, the cost of studying abroad is astronomical." "Actually, the main thing is that tennis matches are different from football and basketball. Football and basketball matches are basically in the same country."

“Tennis is different. In order to accumulate points and play in ATP events, or even the four Grand Slams and other top events, every professional player has to travel all over the world, which increases travel expenses.”

"This is only in Croatia. I've even had three or four layovers before, spending three or four days in the air. At first, I was almost numb."

"I used to scoff at the idea that parents would take time off work to accompany their children who played professional tennis. But after experiencing it myself, I finally understand. This thing is... incredibly tiring."

Gu Cheng wholeheartedly agreed: "No wonder Brother Ming asked me if I wanted to form a team in advance."

"Brother Ming?"

"Zhang Ming".

"Oh, him? No wonder. Zhang Ming is very good, but he's also unlucky. He always gets drawn against top-ranked professional players, so his ranking has never really improved."

Gu Cheng silently mourned for Zhang Ming for a minute.

After leaving the airport, Gu Cheng followed Yu Haoyang to get a local SIM card and, once connected to the internet, went to check into a hotel near the competition venue.

The next day, we took a taxi to the venue to get used to it. This is a unique characteristic of Chinese people. Whether it's a competition or an exam, we will definitely go to check out the venue a day or two in advance.

On the one hand, I'm worried you won't be able to find the place on the day, and on the other hand, I want to get used to it in advance.

For the next few days, Gu Cheng and Yu Haoyang went to the competition venue almost every day.

Occasionally, you'll encounter other players who have also registered for the Junior Zagreb Cup. Most of them are from Croatia, but there are also players from other countries, though they are mostly from countries near Croatia. It's rare to see players like Gu Cheng and Yu Haoyang who travel thousands of miles to participate.

On December 2nd, the opening ceremony of the Zagreb Youth Cup and the draw for the qualifying matches took place.

Gu Cheng's first-round opponent is Carlo Borgart from Croatia, a 16-year-old dark-skinned boy ranked 198th in the ITF Junior rankings.

The ranking isn't too high, but people who can rank in the top 200 are generally quite strong.

Of course, this is what Yu Haoyang said; it's hard to comment on his actual strength since he hasn't beaten Gu Cheng.

After the draw, the first round of singles matches began because the tournament only lasted five days.

However, Gu Cheng not only has a singles match, but also a doubles match with Yu Haoyang in the afternoon.

Many players, due to insufficient skill, usually give up doubles to conserve their energy for singles events.

In the past, Yu Haoyang was like this: he would only sign up for singles matches and give up doubles.

This year is different. With Gu Cheng as a strong teammate, he basically doesn't need to worry about physical fitness. In his eyes, although he has lost the singles championship, the doubles championship is a sure thing.

This is also the biggest downside of teaming up with Gu Cheng. The singles championship is basically out of the question, and you have to avoid him as much as possible in the early stages, otherwise you might be eliminated in one or two rounds.

Fortunately, with a solid doubles championship already in hand, Yu Haoyang is quite satisfied.

If you can't win the singles championship, then playing as many rounds as possible and getting more points is also good.

10 o'clock in the morning.

The first round of the Junior Zagreb Cup singles competition has officially begun.

Stadium No. 15.

5 PM Beijing time.

Zhu Wen's live stream room.

"Good afternoon, guys. I've compiled everyone's voting results in the group, and 90% of people chose to watch Gu Shen's match. Okay, after searching all day, I finally found a live stream source. The quality isn't great, but it'll do."

"Also, brothers who haven't joined the group yet, hurry up and join. I will announce the competition information in the group in advance."

"We can miss any other game, but not Gu Shen's."

"The Zagreb Youth Cup, held in the Croatian capital, should be considered Gu Shen's first professional match in the conventional sense. I, like the brothers in the live broadcast room, am looking forward to Gu Shen's performance on the professional stage."

Zhu Wen spoke excitedly because CCTV wouldn't be broadcasting ITF junior tournaments, making him arguably the first on the platform to do so. Among tennis broadcasters today, he's already considered the top streamer in the field.

Nearly 70% of the Happy Bean players on the website who enjoy tennis are in his live stream.

Where's Gu Shen? I want to see Gu Shen.

[Brother Pig's live stream uses a pirated source; the director can't see any information at all. The person above should stop talking.]

[Will Gu Shen use any other skills in his first professional match? I'm so excited!]

[I checked Gu Shen's opponent; he's ranked 198th in ITF Junior, his skill level is average, definitely not as good as that Wei Lin who got beaten to tears.]

【Vilin: o(╥﹏╥)o】

At this moment, the camera suddenly jumped, and the director focused on Gu Cheng and Carlo, who had already entered the field.

"Chinese?"

As Caro walked onto the pitch, he saw that the person standing on the opposite side of the field was Chinese. His brow furrowed slightly, but he quickly relaxed.

Zhu Wen's live stream.

"Brothers, Gu Shen has walked to the baseline and is holding the ball. It looks like Gu Shen has the first serve."

"Wow! I can watch Gu Shen stomp on newbies again."

"An outside spin serve or a serve that disappears? Or perhaps... the Asura Path?"

"Stop messing around upstairs. It's still the regional competition, not even the national competition yet. It's too early for Asura God Path."

"Why use a sledgehammer to crack a nut?"

……

The Happy Bean players were incredibly excited. More than half a month had passed since the Australian Open wildcard tournament ended, and they hadn't even seen Gu Cheng. Now that Gu Cheng's figure had reappeared in their sight, everyone was extremely excited.

Meanwhile, at the Zagreb Youth Cup.

Stadium No. 15.

The referee looked at Gu Cheng and nodded, indicating that he could serve.

Gu Cheng took a deep breath and took a step back.

It wasn't because I was nervous, but because it was my first time playing a competition in a completely unfamiliar country with no familiar faces around me, and I had a strange and wonderful feeling about it.

I felt uneasy, yet excited.

Professional esports arena!

he came.

Who would have thought that he, who hadn't even made it to the national tournament in the world of Prince of Tennis, would step into the professional arena so early after returning to his original world.

However, judging from her age, this is already considered quite late.

Looking at the scattered spectators pointing and whispering around him, Gu Cheng could guess what they were saying, even though he couldn't hear what they were saying.

She looks down on him.

The reason is simple: there isn't a single professional male singles player in China who is ranked in the top 100 in the world, so it's no wonder that other countries look down on them.

It wasn't just the audience; his opponent, Carlo, also displayed similar emotions, though he hid them better.

Once he got here, he realized that what Zhang Ming had said before made a lot of sense. Regardless of whether he thought winning the four Grand Slams was easy, he should just do it and give the world a shock first.

Thinking of this, Gu Cheng gently twirled the tennis ball in his hand.

The tennis ball, with a slight spin, slipped from his hand and reached Gu Cheng's knee level by the time he had already swung his racket.

The underhand serve, also known as the basic serve.

At least that's what his opponent Carlos, as well as the audience and referees thought.

But in Zhu Wen's live stream, the Happy Bean players were stunned.

"It's a serve that disappears!"

"Gu Shen's professional debut featured a serve that left a lasting impression!"

(End of this chapter)