Who would still play tennis after being reborn?

Chapter 33 Tennis Has Barriers
With a broad smile, Zhang Ming's dark eyes suddenly swept across the surroundings of the court. Even though there were so many people that it was impossible to find anyone, he was absolutely certain as he shouted to everyone.

In the crowd, Gu Cheng's heart skipped a beat, and an ominous premonition surged into his mind almost instantly.

Before he could even react, he heard Zhang Ming shout from the court below: "Gu Cheng, I know you're here. Don't just stand there watching the show, come down and play a couple of balls!"

The sudden shouts came from loudspeakers in all directions, freezing the students who were about to get up and leave in place, and all eyes turned to Zhang Ming.

"Gu Cheng, we've all come to No. 1 High School, it's not right for you, as the host, not to come out and say hello!" Zhang Ming shouted again.

Wei Wentao, who was standing to the side, was stunned for a moment and asked, "Mr. Zhang Ming knows students from our school?"

Zhang Ming nodded: "Yes, his name is Gu Cheng."

"Gu Cheng?"

Wei Wentao frowned slightly. The name seemed somewhat familiar, but he didn't have a strong impression of it.

As a physical education teacher, he has taught too many classes. He is mostly familiar with students in the second and third years of high school who have some special talents in sports, or like Yu Xinjie who plays tennis. However, he doesn't really have much of an impression of this student named Gu Cheng.

Could it be a first-year high school student?

He had only been in high school for less than two months and knew very few students.

Wei Wentao had no recollection of him, but at that moment, in the crowd of Class 2, Grade 11, Li Yang suddenly turned around: "Acheng, do you know him?"

Yu Xinjie looked at Gu Cheng in surprise: "Holy crap, Zhang Ming was calling you, wasn't he? When did you two meet?"

Gu Cheng touched his nose: "I met him at the stadium last weekend, then we had a meal together, that's all."

He really didn't expect Zhang Ming to pull this stunt, and was caught off guard.

This guy doesn't play by the rules at all.

“No wonder you didn’t want to sign up. Turns out you know someone. If it were me, I wouldn’t bother signing up either. Wouldn’t it be better to just get private tutoring?” Yu Xinjie looked at Gu Cheng with envy.

Li Yang, who was standing next to him, couldn't help but say, "You're so damn lucky. You just go out to practice and you run into a professional player, and you even become acquainted with him."

"You've been hiding it too well, A-Cheng," Zhou Xiao said, looking at him.

"Of course!"

Yu Xinjie was extremely frustrated: "If it were me, I would have spread the word about knowing Zhang Ming far and wide long ago, afraid that no one would know. But he's too tight-lipped; he really didn't mention a word about it!"

"If Zhang Ming hadn't shouted that out, we would still be completely in the dark."

The group sighed, and just then, someone shouted, "Gu Cheng is here!"

In an instant, everyone's eyes turned to Gu Cheng.

Zhang Ming noticed the commotion immediately and spotted Gu Cheng in the crowd in the shortest time. He shouted, "Want to play two balls?"

Knowing he couldn't avoid it, Gu Cheng could only nod and say, "Okay!"

Zhang Ming, a world-class professional player, isn't afraid of losing the game in front of all the teachers and students of No. 1 High School, so what is he being coy about?
He then pushed through the crowd and entered the stadium.

"Ming-ge, are you sure you really want to play two balls?"

"Of course, otherwise why would I call you out?"

Gu Cheng looked at him quietly, and seeing that Zhang Ming didn't seem to be joking, he nodded in agreement: "Then let's fight!"

"Will it be okay to use my spare racket?"

"If that doesn't work, you can ask someone else for a racket that's a bit more comfortable to use."

As he said this, Zhang Ming glanced at the excessively beautiful girl who had already left the court and was about to return to the girls' dormitory to change her clothes, but suddenly turned around.

Gu Cheng knew who Zhang Ming was talking about. He hadn't touched the racket Xia Zhitong used, but judging from the sound of the ball hitting the shuttlecock, he could roughly tell that the racket she was using had a relatively low tension. So he shook his head and said, "Take your spare racket!"

"Row."

"Liu Xing, bring me the racket."

After Zhang Ming finished speaking, he looked at Wei Wentao and said, "Teacher Wei, could you please ask Principal Deng to let me borrow your No. 1 Middle School's court to play a couple of games with Gu Cheng?"

Wei Wentao nodded, glanced curiously at Zhang Ming, and then turned his gaze to Gu Cheng.

I didn't remember him before, but now I do have some impression of this student. He plays basketball well, and his hand movements are rarely matched by other first-year high school students.

Can you play tennis?
To be honest, the only person he really remembered from his first year of high school was Yu Xinjie.

Of course, now there's Xia Zhitong too. As for Gu Cheng, I really didn't know he could play tennis.

"Do you know?"

We met at the stadium over the weekend.

Zhang Ming offered a casual explanation without saying much more.

Wei Wentao didn't ask any more questions. After nodding in agreement, he hurriedly ran to report the matter to Deng Yunhua.

Deng Yunhua was somewhat surprised to hear that one of the students knew Zhang Ming. He had originally planned to play a couple of balls with Zhang Ming after the students finished their coaching match.

He loves tennis, but has never played against a world-class professional player, and is itching to try it out.

However, when Zhang Ming suggested playing a couple of balls with Gu Cheng, he had no reason to refuse: "Let's wait until they finish playing, it won't take long anyway."

Wei Wentao understood what Deng Yunhua meant by those words, so he nodded and said, "Why don't you go change your clothes and warm up first? You can go on stage right after his match with Gu Cheng is over."

Deng Yunhua thought it made a lot of sense, and after exchanging a few words with Chen Qingsheng, he strode towards the administration building.

……

on the field.

The two players, who were already standing on the baseline, seemed to have a tacit understanding and both walked towards the net.

"Which?"

Zhang Ming braced his racket against the ground.

"Smooth".

After spinning a few times, the racket suddenly fell to the ground with a thud.

"Rough, I'll serve first!"

"Then I'll take this court."

"Row."

Many students who didn't understand tennis were completely bewildered by this scene. Li Yang looked at Yu Xinjie and asked, "What are they doing?"

"This is one way to determine the right to serve and the right to choose sides in an official tennis match. Acheng guessed the wrong side, so Zhang Ming got the right to serve first, while Acheng got the right to choose sides first," Yu Xinjie explained.

"Why didn't you do that just now?"

"It's not even a formal competition, is it a waste of time to do all this?" Yu Xinjie said, speechless.

"It seems so."

"But Acheng is quite serious. He's only just started learning tennis and he's already taking it so seriously. Lao Yu, he might even play better than you in tennis in the future." Li Yang chuckled.

Yu Xinjie didn't take it seriously. When did he start learning tennis? In kindergarten. And Gu Cheng? Nowadays, tennis isn't like basketball or football, where you can just learn the rules, practice for a couple of days, and then you can play. Even if you're not good at it, you can still pass the ball. Tennis has barriers; otherwise, it would be difficult to serve over the net.

Many beginners, after taking more than ten lessons, still can't even serve properly.

Tennis requires not only talent, but also sufficient experience.

Otherwise, why would professional tennis players start determining their careers at the age of six or seven?

In tennis, even if you can serve over the net, it's still difficult to hit the ball in the right spot without years of practice.

Many people practice tennis for half a year, but can only use the simplest serving method, or can't even hit the ball into the service box at all.

How long has Gu Cheng been studying?

I only started playing tennis last week and have been learning for two days. Even if Gu Cheng really has the talent, it would take him at least two or three years to learn before he can play with me.

Moreover, it's limited to fighting.

Winning against him is still a long way off.

However, Yu Xinjie didn't mention this. Explaining these things to Li Yang, an outsider, would be pointless. Rather than wasting words arguing with him, it would be better to let Li Yang see for himself the upcoming matches and see just how big the gap was between Gu Cheng and himself.

As Yu Xinjie's thoughts raced, the two players on the court returned to the baseline.

A match that everyone expected to be a one-sided affair has begun.

(End of this chapter)