Chapter Eleven: The In-House Selection Tournament — The Pedestal Cup
In the blink of an eye, half a month had already passed!
Due to the increasing number of training projects during this period, Jiang Hong found it impossible to fully keep up with his school courses.
So, he could only skip the compulsory classes and avoid the electives altogether.
However, Jiang Hong’s efforts hadn’t been in vain.
“Panel!” Jiang Hong called out silently in his mind.
[Host: Jiang Hong]
[Age: 17]
[Dominant hand: Right]
[Status: Energetic]
[Serve: 62]
[Baseline: 56]
[Forehand: 60]
[Backhand: 51]
[Net play: 30]
[Tactics: 60]
[Stamina: 55]
[Speed: 70]
[Spirit: 75]
Except for his net play, all of Jiang Hong’s attributes had basically reached a professional level.
In some ITF Futures or ATP Challenger events, Jiang Hong was already qualified to cause upsets.
But once attributes hit 60, progress inevitably slowed down.
After finishing today’s training, Jiang Hong returned to the dormitory.
As soon as he walked in, Li Hua exclaimed in surprise, “Old Jiang, you’re really reckless, skipping Old Gao’s class and all! Don’t you know if you skip his class, you’ll fail?”
Jiang Hong chuckled and gestured to reassure Li Hua.
“It’s fine. Old Gao won’t let us fail.”
“Hopefully,” Li Hua said doubtfully, shrugging his shoulders.
Suddenly, Li Hua seemed to remember something and turned to ask, “By the way, Old Jiang, someone just mentioned in the group chat that the tennis club is holding a selection tournament tomorrow. Are you going to participate?”
“A selection tournament?” Jiang Hong paused, then his vague memories gradually became clearer.
Chang’an was a city rich in higher education resources.
There were many universities—sixteen of which had tennis clubs.
Every year before summer break, they held a tournament.
Though it wasn’t officially sanctioned, it was more of a friendly competition.
But the scale was not small; it started with thirty-two players.
Moreover, the champion’s trophy allowed the winner to choose four defeated opponents to be engraved on its base.
Because of this, the tennis club jokingly called the tournament the “Base Cup.”
However, Jiang Hong’s school’s tennis club had never performed very well.
“Of course I’ll join!” Jiang Hong was quite interested in this selection tournament.
After all, since his rebirth, he had only sparred twice with Li Hua, who was still a novice.
Having trained for so long, Jiang Hong wanted to test his own strength.
Li Hua immediately snapped his fingers and said with a grin, “Heh heh, I expected this, so I already signed you up.”
In fact, Li Hua had another idea.
Jiang Hong’s obsession with tennis had reached a fanatical level recently; he never skipped classes before, but now he even dared to skip the strictest classes taught by Old Gao.
Li Hua figured that after this selection tournament, if Jiang Hong realized he hadn’t improved much, he would return to the right track.
The next morning, both Jiang Hong and Li Hua arrived at the tennis courts.
Usually, not many people showed up for the tennis club, but today the crowd was sizeable.
Obviously, it was because of the selection tournament, drawing spectators who wanted to watch the excitement.
The club president, Yu Lin, a senior about to graduate, was said to have rushed back from his internship just to participate.
His skills were the best, and he was guaranteed a spot.
As for the other spot, several players were competing for it.
“Everyone knows the rules of this selection tournament, so I won’t waste time. Those who signed up will be grouped to compete. The last person standing will represent us in the university championship.”
Jiang Hong glanced around; besides himself, two sophomores had signed up.
The other club members were surprised by Jiang Hong’s participation.
Most who joined had learned tennis before entering university.
A beginner like Jiang Hong rarely dared to step up and risk embarrassment.
“Alright, since there are four of you, you can pair off and play. If the loser has any objections, they may challenge me. If you can beat me, you’ll earn the spot.”
However, nobody paid much attention to Yu Lin’s suggestion.
Everyone knew the club president was their strongest player.
“Since there are no objections, let’s draw lots to decide the matchups!”
“Wait!” At that moment, Wang Li, standing next to Yu Lin, spoke up.
After returning to his dorm, Wang Li had been brooding and realized something wasn’t right.
He found out Jiang Hong had been mocking him.
This time, he was determined to make Jiang Hong lose face.
“What’s the matter?” Yu Lin frowned. He wasn’t fond of the vice president.
Although Wang Li’s skills were good, he always acted arrogantly around the other members.
Wang Li’s face broke into a smile as he said, “I have a good relationship with Jiang Hong, so can we team up?”
Yu Lin looked oddly at Jiang Hong, puzzled as to how he had offended Wang Li.
“Choosing your opponent requires consent from the others!”
Yu Lin didn’t immediately agree, giving Jiang Hong a chance to refuse.
The other two immediately shook their heads and said hastily, “No objections.”
No way would they want to face Wang Li; their chances of winning would be slim.
Besides, Wang Li clearly wanted to face Jiang Hong. If they opposed it, they might be targeted later.
Better to stay out of it and keep their heads down.
Wang Li kept smiling as he looked at Jiang Hong.
“Jiang Hong, you’re not going to refuse, are you?”
“Why would I? Senior Wang Li even helped me with my serve technique before!” Jiang Hong’s words were sincere, not just politeness. Without Wang Li, he wasn’t sure when his system would have activated.
Besides, was he really afraid of Wang Li?
Yu Lin glanced at Jiang Hong and said nothing further.
“Since there are no objections, let the matches begin!”
Wang Li turned away and urged, “Junior Jiang, let’s start then.”
Jiang Hong’s mouth twitched slightly. Wang Li really couldn’t wait, huh!
“Alright!” Jiang Hong smiled innocently.
Yu Lin stepped forward, “Since you’re starting first, toss a coin to decide who serves.”
“No need,” Wang Li waved his hand and looked at Jiang Hong.
“I heard Jiang Hong has been practicing his serve lately, so let me see if there’s any improvement.”
Jiang Hong smiled earnestly, “In that case, I’ll rely on you to give me some pointers.”
The two stood on opposite sides of the court.
The onlookers unmistakably sensed that Wang Li was targeting Jiang Hong.
But that only made the match more interesting.
“Wang Li seems really strong. Does Jiang Hong stand a chance?”
“A chance? As long as he doesn’t get completely humiliated, that’s a win for Jiang Hong!”
“The tension is thick with rivalry!”