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Florida, img Nicopolitini Tennis Academy.

As the area with the best tennis atmosphere in the United States, the tennis-related training camps and academies here are comparable to domestic cram school training institutions, and most of them are formal, because it is difficult for the informal ones to survive.

After Ma Dongmei stayed in a little-known training camp for a year and a half, on the recommendation of one of the retired players, she entered the top five professional tennis training academy in the United States to receive more detailed and formal professional training, while also being able to

Participate in tennis matches organized by the college to increase your game experience.

This academy has produced many tennis star players, including more than a dozen of the world's number one players, such as Sharapova, the Williams sisters, etc.

Of course, in 2000, they were not famous yet, they had just emerged in the four major open competitions.

Ma Dongmei was able to come to this school thanks to Zhang Jinken’s annual tuition of tens of thousands of dollars. Although it is very expensive, the college provides comprehensive services such as food, accommodation, and training. The professional team can ensure that each student can explore themselves to the greatest extent.

The ultimate potential!

Ma Dongmei, who had just arrived, was soon exhausted by the more professional training, diet and daily routine, but she gritted her teeth and persevered.

Because before she came to IMG College, she went back to her home in Xihong City to meet her mother, and found that Charlotte's name, voice, and songs could be heard everywhere on TV, on the street, and even on the radio in taxis.

Charlotte is becoming more and more famous, but she is still waiting silently for the moment when she will break out of her cocoon and become a butterfly and soar into the sky, so she will not let herself give up halfway, otherwise all the hardships she has endured will be in vain!

Before returning to the United States, Ma Dongmei also met with Zhang Jin. When talking about the training expenses over the years, Zhang Jin just smiled and said that she would train with peace of mind. When she participates in the four major tours in the future and obtains rankings, she will naturally have generous bonuses to pay off.

these fees.

After thanking him, Ma Dongmei said that she would definitely work hard to be able to participate in the tour within one or two years.

After training in the United States for more than a year, she has gained a lot of understanding of the current world tennis situation. Many talented and capable players have already entered the four major tours at the same age as her and have achieved certain results.

For example, Dementieva, Kournikova, Henin and the Williams sisters, as well as the current WTA world number one Hingis, are all female tennis players about the same age as her, or even younger than her.

These people have been training since they were young, and by the age of fifteen or sixteen, they are already participating in professional competitions.

Like all competitive sports, most famous players become famous at a young age, and those who are late bloomers are rare.

It is not that there are no students older than Ma Dongmei in the img academy, but these people have also received training for several years, and have also achieved results in some small competitions.

It is impossible to find another student like Ma Dongmei who is older and has a short training time, because if they had not seen the talent to become a professional tennis player from an early age, no family would be willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars a year in tuition to send their children to IMG Academy.

train.

Age, training hours, and high tuition fees have all become a heavy pressure on Ma Dongmei's shoulders and heart. Fortunately, she has a perseverance and will never admit defeat. Otherwise, anyone else would have given up on her goal of becoming a tennis player and fled.

Went back to China.

On this day, after completing the training according to the strict training plan set by the coach as usual, Ma Dongmei dragged her tired body towards the dormitory. As soon as she returned to the dormitory, she saw Isbella leaning on the door.

This typical American girl with a chestnut ponytail and a few freckles on her face is her next-door neighbor. Although she is only seventeen years old, she feels more mature than her twenty-year-old self.

"Hi Mary, back from training?"

Mary is Ma Dongmei's English name, but she didn't choose it by herself, but was helped by the coach at the previous training camp. Because the coach thought it was strange to call her "Ma", and it would be better to call her "Li, Wang" or something smoother, so she came up with it.

Named Mary.

"Is something wrong, Isbella?" Ma Dongmei opened the dormitory door, "Would you like to come in and sit for a while?"

She still has a good impression of this American girl, who is the only one who doesn't laugh at her English accent.

"No, I have to go out on a date with my boyfriend later. You know we haven't seen each other for more than a month and we won't be back tonight." Isbella shook his head.

"So you're here to ask me to help you cover?" Ma Dongmei put down her racket and asked while taking off her wrist and knee pads.

"Of course not. Tomorrow is my day off. I can do whatever I like. I'm waiting for you to tell you something. Have you signed up for the Florida State Cup that is about to start soon?" Isbella said.

The Florida State Cup is a tennis invitational tournament held in Florida. It mainly provides competition opportunities and increased experience for students from various tennis training camps and schools across the United States. It is also considered a large-scale school promotion.

After several years of development, in the American sports world with a strong commercial atmosphere, this event has become a well-known event in the United States, attracting many sponsors and television broadcasts every year.

Scheduled during the interval between the Australian Open and the French Open, it is a major spring tennis event in the United States. The tournament prize money is also very generous, ranking behind the US Open, WTA Championship, and Masters.

Ma Dongmei had also heard about this event, because students in the entire academy were discussing it. She shook her head and said, "I didn't sign up."

"Why? Don't you want to participate in such a good opportunity?" Isbella was surprised.

"Of course I want to participate, but my coach said that I am not strong enough to participate, and I still need one year of professional training." Ma Dongmei was also a little helpless.

Hearing this, Isbella had a very speechless expression on his face: "Come on, Mary, you are right to listen to the coach during training, but why do you have to listen to the coach at other times? He is not God!"

"Is there any problem? The coach is a professional, I..."

"Hey! Mary, the coach is indeed a professional, but that's only in training. Listen to me, I know your strength very well, and it is completely enough to participate in this event. Don't listen to those coaches' nonsense, know why they say you are not qualified

Because you are Chinese, they just want to make money from you, not really want you to succeed, understand!" Isbella was filled with indignation.

When Ma Dongmei heard this, she suddenly fell into silence.

After a long while, she asked: "If I want to participate in my own name, how should I sign up?"

Seeing that she finally got the idea, Isbella said happily: "Go to the online event website to register, or go directly to the registration point in town to fill out the form. I also have a suggestion. How about we form a women's group to participate in doubles? Singles.

If both individuals and pairs participate, if we can get a ranking, the prize money we can share will be a little more."

"Double play, but I have never tried double play." Ma Dongmei hesitated.

Isbella persuaded confidently: "It doesn't matter. There is no special duo for this event. They are all improvised. No one is familiar with the duo style. It is a complete competition of the team's strength and on-the-spot performance.

You see, I have been practicing tennis for a long time, and I have better skills in the middle and front court. I like to hit the net and volley the ball, and I am good at attacking. As for you, I have practiced tennis for a short time and my skills are slightly worse, but my athletic ability is better than mine, and my forehand and backhand hitting speeds are also faster.

Faster than me, and defensively tough.

If we form a partnership, we must make up for each other's shortcomings. If we are lucky, we may even get the top three, which will be a bonus of 30,000 US dollars for each person!"

Every time he mentioned the bonus, Isbella's eyes seemed to shine with golden light, like a little money addict.

Ma Dongmei couldn't help but feel funny: "Isbella, your family is quite rich, why do you still care about this bonus?"

Isbella shrugged and said disapprovingly: "Of course, the more money, the better, and if I have money at home, my parents won't let me spend it casually, so I am more comfortable making money by myself. If I can get more than two dollars in this event,

With a bonus of 10,000 US dollars, I can buy a second-hand convertible sports car in installments, and then I can drive a convertible sports car and enjoy the wind of freedom!"

"Can't you enjoy riding a bicycle now?"

"How can this be the same? Free wind energy worth a few thousand can be compared with free wind worth hundreds of thousands!"

"..." Ma Dongmei shook her head speechlessly. She came from an ordinary worker's family in a third-tier small city. She really couldn't imagine any difference. She couldn't bear to part with it anyway.

"Oops! I almost lost track of time while chatting with you. I have to leave first. My boyfriend is already waiting for me outside! See you tomorrow!"

"Bye!" Ma Dongmei waved to Isbella who left in a hurry, planning to walk around the streets tomorrow and find a registration point to sign up for herself.

For the Florida State Cup Invitational Tournament, only current tennis students can participate, and only players who have not participated in a Grand Slam or Masters tournament can register.

It's somewhat similar to the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) in nature, but it's not as famous.

The Florida State Cup Invitational is usually regarded as a warm-up event for the Miami Masters. The Miami Masters is a top-level event that is held in March every year and lasts for two weeks.

Therefore, the Florida State Cup Invitational Tournament is held in mid-to-late February and also lasts for two weeks.

The schedule, competition system and rules basically follow the Masters. There are 96 draws for men's and women's singles, no seeded players, 32 pairs of men's and women's doubles, and no mixed doubles events.

The men's and women's singles champions will receive a bonus of 150,000 US dollars, and the runner-up, semi-finals, and quarters will be reduced by half in order.

The prize money for the men's and women's doubles champions is one-third of that for singles, and the prize money for other rankings is also reduced by half.

After successfully registering for the competition, Ma Dongmei has been training with concentration and patiently waiting for the first battle of the competition.

February 5, 2000, is the Spring Festival.

After a New Year's call with her mother, Ma Dongmei calmed down, put on her sports equipment and prepared to go to the training ground. When she went out, she happened to meet Isbella who had just returned from outside.

Isbella saw that she was getting ready to train, so he asked her to wait for him, quickly returned to the dormitory to change into equipment, and headed to the training ground together. She planned to seize the time to run in and improve their mutual understanding.

"I got some bad news. Sharapova actually signed up to participate in the women's singles event of the invitational tournament. God, this is simply terrible!"

"Who is Sharapova?" Ma Dongmei thought the name sounded familiar, but she couldn't remember where she had heard it.

"Are you serious?" Isbella looked at her with wide eyes, "Have you never heard of Sharapova's name? She is the Russian devil girl in the academy. She is only thirteen years old this year and is taller than all of us.

She is tall and very strong. If she hadn't reached her age, she would have participated in the WTA Tour."

"It's her." Ma Dongmei suddenly realized.

She once heard her coach talk about Sharapova. She is an aggressive baseline player who relies on power to play. She likes fast-paced hard courts and grass, and has both forehand and backhand power, depth and angle.

Excellent, both the first and second serve are very powerful. Players with weak wrist strength can only rely on skills to return the ball, and it is easy for the opponent to directly intercept the ball.

The coaches who have watched the Russian girl play all agree that the Russian girl is already a real professional tennis player. As she gets older and her physical fitness continues to improve, the opponent's strength will become more and more terrifying.

Isbella shook his head and sighed: "This time the women's singles championship will definitely belong to Sharapova. If I can reach the fourth round and get a bonus of 6,000 US dollars, I will be satisfied. The remaining 10,000 US dollars can only be pinned on

Women's Doubles, Mary, please, don't let my dream of buying a convertible sports car be shattered, okay!"

"I'll try my best. But you shouldn't give up so early. How do you know you can't beat the opponent if you haven't really tried it?" Ma Dongmei said.

Isbella said: "Have you played with her?"

"No."

"If you have played with her, you will understand how powerful she is. I have never seen a female student who is four years younger than me and can beat me in strength. She is also a Caucasian. Hell, she is worthy of it.

Russians!" Isbella said helplessly.

Ma Dongmei did not continue the discussion on this topic. In her opinion, discussing these was a waste of time and it would be more meaningful to train seriously.

The two quickly came to the training ground to train. Today is their rest day and there is no coach present, but it does not prevent them from continuing to work hard.

The days passed day by day, and soon it was mid-February.

After a month of building momentum, the Florida State Cup Invitational Tournament has received a lot of attention. Under the broadcast footage and the gaze of tens of thousands of live audiences, the 8th Florida State Cup Invitational Tournament officially kicked off!

This tennis center located in Jacksonville, Florida's largest city, has a total of twelve courts and can hold six men's and women's singles matches at the same time.

Ma Dongmei happened to be drawn to the first match in the first round. Stepping onto the lawn of the stadium under the watchful eyes of thousands of people, she couldn't help but feel nervous, and her palms holding the tennis racket kept sweating.

The sun was not very bright, and even with the protection of a sunhat, the light still made her feel dazzling.

In a daze, she stood near the bottom line of the court, and the referee's voice came to her ears. In the first game, it was her opponent's serve.

Ma Dongmei looked at the opposite side. Her opponent was a black player. Perhaps because the distance was too far, she could not see the opponent's face clearly. She raised her hand to wipe the sweat that had slipped from her forehead to the corners of her eyes. When she

When he put his hand down, his opponent had already swung the tennis racket and served the ball.

The green tennis ball turned into a green light on the retina.

Bang!

Before she could react, it hit the lawn next to her and landed in the field!

The whistle sounds!

The opponent scores one point first, 15:0.