manynovel Chapter 144 Prince of Tennis National Tournament Begins
Chapter 144 Prince of Tennis National Tournament Begins
In the following time, everyone was engaged in intensive training. In addition to Zhao Lan's own training, he occasionally served as a sparring partner for them and took Xiao Xuanfeng out to play in his spare time.
On this day, everyone at the Rikkai University Tennis Club had just finished training.
"Oh~ So, Hyotei will also participate. This makes it even more interesting." Niou Masaharu said as he shook his pigtails.
Yukimura and his friends received news that the national competition would be hosted by Tokyo, and the host city could recommend a school to participate in the national competition.
The school recommended by Tokyo this time is Hyotei.
"No matter who the opponent is, the winner in the end can only be Rikkai University!" Sanada's eyes were firm. Wait, Tezuka! !
"Rikkai University, no blind spots!!"
"Rikkai University, three consecutive championships!!"
Looking at the people over there who were getting excited because of a phone call, Zhao Lan called Atobe with a smile.
"I received the news so quickly." It was hard to tell whether the voice on the other end of the phone was unhappy or not.
However, based on her understanding of Atobe, although his self-esteem does not allow him to accept it, as the captain of the Hyotei Tennis Club, he will definitely not refuse.
"Yeah, I just heard everyone talking about it, so I called to cheer you on, Hyotei, for the national competition, do your best!"
"Yes, I will not lose this time!"
"Ah."
Time passed slowly, and in the blink of an eye it was the day for the national competition to begin.
The day before the game, Zhao Lan called Tezuka and the others and agreed to go to the stadium to cheer them on, but then he hung up the phone.
I called Yuko again and agreed to meet at the venue, then she hung up and went to rest.
Early the next morning, she released Little Tornado into the home and let it play with its friends by itself. Then she followed the Rikkai University car to the competition venue.
They were going to attend the entrance ceremony before the game started, so Zhao Lan went to meet Yuko by himself.
"There are so many people. It's worthy of being a national competition."
According to the match schedule Zhao Lan had seen before, Rikkai University's first opponent was BYE, and the next opponent would only be known after Rokurigaoka and Maikosaka decided the winner.
Yuko first looked at the match schedule of Seigaku. "Huh? I didn't expect Seigaku and Hyotei to be grouped together again. Really, they are both schools in Tokyo. What kind of fate is this!"
Zhao Lan followed her line of sight and saw that it was indeed Hyotei, Seigaku, Rokkaku Junior High School, Higa Junior High School, and Shishiraku. "It looks like Tezuka will have to have a formal duel with Atobe this time."
At the start of the first game, Rikkai University won easily, but according to the rules, the first set had to be played for five games even if they won, so it still took some time.
The other two teams' matches hadn't started yet, so Zhao Lan followed everyone to watch the other teams' matches.
The match that just started on the court was the singles 3 match between Rokkaku Junior High School and Higa Junior High School.
Aoi from Rokkaku Junior High School is very good at hitting the tennis ball. Everyone thought that this ball was going to score.
But unexpectedly, the player from Higa Junior High School, who spoke with an Okinawan accent, took a strange step, came to the net in an instant, caught the ball and scored.
"Wow, did you see that? That guy, what happened to him just now? It seemed like he came to the net in an instant."
Yanagi Renji nodded. "Okinawa martial arts. I heard that their captain, Kimetsu Yushiro, recruited talented young men who had been learning martial arts since childhood. It is said that with their footwork, they can reach the net from the free throw line with just one step."
Kirihara, "Okinawan martial arts? It looks almost like teleportation."
Zhao Lan thought back to the man's movements just now: "It's a kind of footwork in martial arts. Actually, it's not that exaggerated to put it bluntly."
"It uses the friction between the feet and the ground, combined with the twisting of the waist, to achieve rapid lateral or longitudinal displacement. The visual effect looks like a flash, but it is actually rapid movement."
As she spoke, she used the footwork with her waist twisting, moving to show them: "It's like this, a combination of split-leg stepping and martial arts sliding. In clay court competitions, don't you often see players sliding to save the ball?"
Marui suddenly realized: "Ah... that... you are amazing, you can use it after just reading it once?"
Kuwabara was confused, "But is it really possible to get from the baseline to the net so quickly just like this?"
Zhao Lan continued, "He must have observed the trajectory of his opponent's racket swing, predicted his opponent's movements before hitting the ball, and acted in advance, so it looked like he arrived instantly."
"And this set of footwork is somewhat dependent on the opponent's hitting rhythm and landing pattern. If he encounters a player who is good at changing speed or a player who is good at fake moves like Niou, it will not be so useful."
"I see. Arashi is indeed extremely talented in martial arts. You can learn moves like this just by watching them once." Yukimura praised her with a smile.
Zhao Lan raised her chin. Seeing her smug expression, Yukimura's smile deepened.
Next, the contestant from Liujiao Middle School was really helpless against this kind of footwork. He didn’t get any points and lost the game.
Yuko covered her lips and exclaimed, "I never thought that Aoi Kentaro would lose 6-0. He was such a strong player in the previous Kanto tournament..."
"Okinawa's Higa Junior High School can be said to be the dark horse this year. They defeated Shiziraku Junior High School, which was in the top four last year, and dominated the Kyushu region." Yanagi Renji thought of the information he had investigated.
Sanada looked down and said, "It seems that the opponent of Seigaku's first match will probably be Higa Junior High School."
The next player to play is Saeki from Rokkaku Junior High School.
During the game, their coach, the old man, recognized the footwork they used, which is called the Shrinking the Earth Method.
This name is quite good. It sounds much better than the names others gave her, such as Ghost Shadow.
Suddenly, "Ah——" Yuko exclaimed.
Zhao Lan looked over and saw that the player from Higa Junior High School actually hit the tennis ball directly at the old man over there.
Zhao Lan materialized a small stone and threw it over, but before the ball reached the old man, she hit it away.
At the same time as her, the tennis balls hit by Yukimura and Sanada were also thrown.
"Who is that?" Kide Yushiro looked in the direction where the tennis ball came from, and said to Yukimura and the others, "That is..."
"It's Yukimura and Sanada from Rikkai University..." The group of people from Seigaku who were watching the game below also saw them, and Zhao Lan who was with them.
"It's Tezuka!" Sanada and the others also saw the Seigaku group cheering for Rokkaku Junior High School at the side of the court below.
The eyes of several people met in the air and there was a slight pause. Tezuka and Fuji's eyes swept past them and fell on Zhao Lan.
Zhao Lan blinked and waved over there.
"It's really bad,"
Yuko didn't see the people from Seigaku over there. She was looking angrily at the players from Higa Junior High School below.
"That guy definitely did it on purpose, because that old man told me about his footwork!"
Everyone turned their attention back to the competition field.
Although he already knew the principle of his opponent's footwork, Saeki still lost to his opponent 6-4 in the end.
The losing Liujiao Middle School was also ridiculed by the opponent.
"They are really too bad!!"
Sanada took one last look at Tezuka and the others below him and said, "We're leaving too. It's time for the next game to start."