Match Against Fuji

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"Game two, Xuanyuan to serve!"

Yang Tang stood slightly to the right behind the center mark of the baseline, standing sideways and facing the right net post.

"Huh?"

Everyone in the stadium was surprised because Yang Tang's sideways stance was almost identical to his posture when returning the ball just now, yet it seemed completely out of tune with Kawamura on the opposite side of the court.

He tossed the ball, swung his racket, and bam!

The tennis ball grazed past the right net post like a shooting star, then carved a wide arc toward the blind spot in the left service box of the opposite court. Not only that, the moment the ball transitioned from right to left, it underwent a sudden secondary acceleration in mid-air.

Coach Ryuzaki
Tezuka
Fuji
Oishi
Kikumaru

Anyone who witnessed this serve felt a sense of foreboding rise in their hearts.

"Aaron, don't return it!" Fuji suddenly opened his eyes and shouted.

Unfortunately, the guys from Seishun Academy, whether players or coach, were quite stubborn, and Kawamura Takashi was no exception. Judging the trajectory, he was already chasing after the landing spot.

"Thud!"

After the ball bounced, almost no one saw how it rebounded; it seemed to embed itself instantly into the chain-link fence, spinning endlessly.

Kawamura's racket arrived at least half a racket length too late.

"Whoa, incredible!" Horio yelled. "It's an ace! Xuanyuan just served an ace!"

"Yeah, it gave me goosebumps," chimed in Kato Katsuro, who was often seen with Horio.

"Too bad that guy Xuanyuan is so unsociable. We still don't know what this shot is called!" said Mizuno Katsuo, one of the Horio trio.

Arai, the dark-skinned second-year student who had previously suffered at Yang Tang's hands, chimed in contrarily, "It's just sheer luck. Didn't you guys see Senior Kawamura already moved into position? The next ball won't be nearly that easy for that guy Xuanyuan Tang."

"Is that so?" The Horio trio looked at each other, deeply uncertain.

Meanwhile, on the court.

Yang Tang tossed the ball again, swung his racket, and bam!

The same trajectory, the same landing spot. Kawamura had arrived at the landing point ahead of time, positioning his racket in anticipation of a return.

The ball arrived.

The moment it collided with the strings, Kawamura felt an immense force assault his wrist and arm. Sharp, nerve-wracking pain shot through the most vulnerable part of his wrist, causing his pupils to constrict sharply.

"Rip!"

The racket strings were forcibly torn open, and the tennis ball dropped to the ground, yet it stubbornly bounced and darted toward the fence at the side of the court, spinning and grazing against it a few times before finally coming to a stop.

Kawamura clutched his wrist, dropped to one knee, and failed to stand up for a long time.

"Aaron!"
"Senior Kawamura!"

Quite a few people intended to run onto the court to check on Kawamura. Even the second-year referee stretched his neck and asked, "Senior Kawamura, is your hand still able to continue?"

Yet right at that moment, Yang Tang's thoroughly provoking voice chimed in, "Referee, you haven't announced the score yet!"

"Ah, oh, right! 30 to 0, Xuanyuan leads!"

At the same time, Fuji rushed onto the court, shot a cold glare at Yang Tang, and then knelt beside Kawamura, reaching out to gently pinch his wrist.

"Ouch, it hurts, it hurts!!" Kawamura cried out in alarm.

Fuji knitted his brows slightly, then turned his head and declared to the referee, "Referee, Kawamura forfeits!"

"Shusuke, I..."
"Do you still want to keep playing?" Fuji said seriously. "Your wrist might have bone damage. If you don't get medical attention immediately, you might never be able to play tennis again."

Yang Tang stepped forward to play the good guy, saying, "Oh my, how could it possibly be that serious, Senior Fuji? I happen to know a bit of medicine—move aside, let me take a look at Senior Kawamura!"

Fuji smiled coldly without any warmth in his eyes. "Don't bother. You'd better prepare for your match against me in the third set!"

"It seems Senior Fuji is very confident in defeating me. I'll have to ask you to go easy on me then!" With that, Yang Tang hoisted his tennis racket over his shoulder and strolled away leisurely.

Two hours later.
Yang Tang versus Fuji.

Around the court, Tezuka, Oishi, Kikumaru, Inui Sadaharu, Momoshiro, Echizen, the Horio trio, and reporters—everyone who needed to be there had arrived.

"Captain, who do you favor in this match?" Oishi asked.

Tezuka thought for a moment and said, "Although Xuanyuan hasn't shown his full strength yet, I favor Fuji!"

Inui Sadaharu, however, had a different opinion. "But Xuanyuan's return game is no less formidable than Fuji's, and as for his power, it's probably the strongest on the team right now..."

"So what if it is?" Kikumaru clearly sided with Tezuka, favoring Fuji. "Shusuke is a master at using finesse to defeat power."

In reality, regardless of whether a tennis player's style is offensive, serve-and-volley, or baseline, professional tennis players can generally be divided into two categories. The first category consists of players with tremendous power but slightly lacking placement control, such as Safin, Roddick, and Serena Williams. The second category consists of players with average power but exceptional placement precision, such as Agassi and Hingis. Of course, there are also players who combine both traits, such as Sampras, Sharapova, and Li Na.

Take Sister Na, whom Chinese fans are more familiar with. Her style leans toward power, yet she lacked absolute power; when facing Serena Williams, she would always come up short. However, in terms of controlling the placement of the tennis ball, she was more precise than Serena, though not quite as pinpoint accurate as former tennis queen Martina Hingis, which is why Li Na's world ranking never reached number one.

In fact, as long as they are among the top ten tennis players in the world, male or female, their control over ball placement is remarkably good. While they might not be able to hit a ball into a glass cup across half the table like the Chinese national table tennis team, hitting it into a tennis ball hopper is certainly well within their capabilities.

Precisely because of this, Kikumaru's notion of "using finesse to defeat power" became entirely possible. As long as the power gap between the two players wasn't too massive, once an opponent hit the ball with excessive force, the player on this side could execute a counter-shot with precise placement. Even if the opponent managed to chase it down and return it, they would be left running for their lives.

"Game one, Xuanyuan Tang to serve!"

As Yang Tang bounced the tennis ball with his left hand, he didn't forget to mutter to himself, "It's a pity this is the first installment of The Prince of Tennis. I wonder if I'll have the chance to witness Senior Fuji's Triple Counter? If we only play one set, I'm afraid Fuji won't have time to self-evolve and upgrade!"

On the opposite side of the court, Fuji said impatiently, "Referee, he's stalling!"

Hearing this, Yang Tang's face darkened instantly. "Since Senior Fuji says so, it looks like I need to speed up the pace and shatter your Triple Counter early on!" With those words, standing at the right baseline corner, he directly struck the ball toward the left service box of Fuji's court.

"Thud!"

It was a direct, wide-angle shot. Fuji barely even had time to begin shifting his body to make a return.

"15 to 0, Xuanyuan leads!"

On the sidelines:
"The ball speed is at least two hundred and thirty kilometers per hour—the world's fastest is over 251," Inui Sadaharu announced first. "It has already exceeded the average standard of a professional player."

"Whoa, this guy really is a monster. His serve is even more direct and violent than it was two hours ago," Kikumaru cried out.

"Is he really just a middle schooler?" Momoshiro extreme doubted.

"Thud!"

While they were discussing, Yang Tang had already unleashed his second serve on the court.

"30 to 0, Xuanyuan leads!"

"Thud!"

"40 to 0, Xuanyuan leads!"

"This ball is even faster, exactly two hundred and forty kilometers," Inui Sadaharu declared.

"Doesn't this guy feel tired at all?" Oishi said with a solemn expression.

"It should be because the match just started!"

"Thud!"

"Game score 1 to 0, Xuanyuan leads, change sides!"

At this moment, Echizen, who hadn't spoken much, chimed in, "Four serves, cleanly holding his service game. Senior Fuji is in trouble now!"

"That's not necessarily true; we still have to see Senior Fuji's service game!" Momoshiro said.

"Game two, Fuji Shusuke to serve!"

Fuji stood behind the baseline, tapped the ball with his racket twice, then spun the ball with his left hand and swung his racket to serve. "This ball is going to vanish, you know!"

The corners of Yang Tang's lips curled upward as he silently activated Eagle Eye while beginning to slide-step toward the ball's trajectory.

At that moment, the seemingly slow tennis ball fluttered unsteadily a few times before vanishing from everyone's sight. However, through Yang Tang's Eagle Eye, the golden glow representing the tennis ball was simply spinning at a much higher speed.

"Now's my chance!"

Yang Tang swung his racket with force, slapping the tennis ball out of its vanishing state, while simultaneously locking his "Tier 1 Mode" onto the opposite baseline corner of Fuji's court.

It is worth mentioning that the length of a tennis court is close to twenty-four meters. The width for singles is just over eight meters, and for doubles, a little over ten meters. In other words, aside from the service game where service box restrictions make it difficult to activate the sniper-aiming Tier 1 mode, during regular rallies, as long as Yang Tang controlled his positioning, he could easily reach the critical activation distance of fifteen meters.

"Thud!"

"15 to 0, Xuanyuan leads!"

The spectators on the sidelines fell into a dead silence, save for Horio, who yelled, "Did my eyes deceive me? What did I just see? The ball had already vanished, and Ah-Tang actually hit it back anyway!"

Katsuro was also in a semi-trance state. "So, so strong!!"

On the court:
"Yo, Senior Fuji, I heard you escorted Senior Kawamura to the hospital. Is his hand alright?"

Fuji, who had been slightly frowning, instantly opened his eyes and glared viciously at Yang Tang.

"Why are you glaring at me, Senior Fuji? Are you going to play or not?" Saying this, Yang Tang suddenly turned the tables and used Fuji's own tactics against him: "Referee, he's stalling!"

Fuji: "..."

"Senior Fuji, please serve quickly!"
"Understood."

Immediately afterwards, Fuji served the "Vanishing Serve" once again. The result was identical to the previous one—crisp and cleanly returned by Yang Tang.

"30 to 0, Xuanyuan leads!"

On the sidelines, Tezuka pinched his chin and softly murmured, "Fuji, this is bad..."

After Sniper Aiming Level 3 reached its maximum level, all three shooting modes gained the "Powerful Penetration" trait, which specifically meant a boost in sheer power.

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