Chapter 31: The Arduous Task of Releasing the Small Ball

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“All right, let’s continue!”

After resting for about half an hour, Jiang Hong stood up and turned to Su Cheng.

“Okay!”

Su Cheng naturally had no objections. She nodded, took a sip of water, and rose as well.

Today’s workload was much lighter than what they had done at school. When it came time to collect the balls, they could simply sweep them all together with a suitable tool and dump them into the ball hopper.

They then walked over to the service area where the ball machine was set up.

The machine could adjust the initial serving speed, as well as produce topspin and underspin.

For Jiang Hong, that was more than sufficient.

“Orange, just adjust the machine’s direction randomly later. But don’t make the angle too extreme, or the serves will fly outside the court!”

Su Cheng lowered her head and studied the controls for a moment. Then she looked up and made an “OK” sign.

“Don’t worry!”

Jiang Hong went to the opposite baseline and settled into a receiving stance.

“Are you ready?” Su Cheng asked.

“Go ahead!”

At Jiang Hong’s response, Su Cheng switched on the ball machine.

Bang!

A tennis ball shot straight out of the machine.

After bouncing off the ground, it headed directly toward the baseline.

Jiang Hong immediately retreated. When the ball dropped below his waist, he gave it a slight slice with his wrist.

With underspin on it, the ball floated lightly over the court.

Jiang Hong kept his eyes fixed on its trajectory.

Tap, tap, tap!

The tennis ball eventually drifted toward the net, landed, and bounced several times.

“It didn’t even clear the net!”

Jiang Hong was somewhat helpless, but he was not discouraged.

After all, he had only just begun practicing drop shots. At his current level, it was impossible for everything to go smoothly.

Otherwise, drop-shot experts would be everywhere.

Another reason was that the serves were coming with considerable power, which made executing a drop shot even more difficult.

Most tennis players did not choose to play drop shots off serves.

Jiang Hong bent down again, preparing to receive the next ball.

This time, as the ball came toward him, he prepared in advance and carefully controlled the strength in his wrist.

Bang!

The ball successfully cleared the net, but Jiang Hong did not look pleased.

It had traveled far too deep—nearly three meters from the net.

At that distance, the drop shot could essentially be declared a failure. His opponent would be able to reach it and would even have a chance to attack.

[Drop Shots: 0/1,000]

The system panel did not register it either, because the mission had specific requirements for where the ball needed to land.

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It seemed this mission would take quite some time.

“Keep going, Orange!”

Jiang Hong called out before settling back into his receiving stance.

He still failed with the next two balls.

It was not until the third ball that he finally managed to place the shot near the center line, roughly one meter from the net.

[Drop Shots: 1/1,000]

At last, he had gotten on the board. Jiang Hong recalled the sensation of that successful shot.

But the next moment, his excitement vanished.

The ball immediately afterward resulted in another failed drop shot.

“Other people spend months or even years training a specialized technique. I can see myself improving after every session, so there’s no reason to be impatient!”

Jiang Hong calmed himself once more, no longer thinking about the mission’s progress.

Instead, he treated every drop shot as though he were playing in an actual match.

After adjusting his mindset, Jiang Hong’s success rate improved somewhat.

He became immersed in the rhythm of running, positioning himself, and slicing the ball.

Su Cheng rotated the ball machine, sending the tennis ball sharply toward the inside corner of the first service box.

Because it carried spin, the ball veered toward the second service box after bouncing.

Jiang Hong accelerated, chasing the ball’s trajectory through the air.

“Now!”

His arm bent to the side, his wrist snapped forward, and his racket sliced across the ball.

Carrying underspin, the tennis ball floated lightly toward the opposite first service box.

Jiang Hong stared intently at its landing point.

“Yes!”

Seeing the drop shot land successfully, Jiang Hong clenched his fist.

At last, the system’s notification sounded beside his ear.

[Ding! Objective completed. Claim reward?]

“Claim it!”

Without the slightest hesitation, Jiang Hong claimed the reward and immediately assigned the technique points to his net play.

There was no use in saving the points.

On the contrary, spending them would improve his technique, speed up his progress on the mission, and perhaps even increase the rate at which he earned more technique points.

It was practically a perfect positive feedback loop!

He was taking off with one foot planted on the other.

[Net Play: 34–37]

After adding the technique points earned from the drop-shot mission, his net-play skill reached thirty-three. He had just gained three more points from successfully executing the drop shot.

The initial value of thirty-four was probably the result of the improvement he had gained during the training session.

That did not mean training alone could improve him so quickly.

The reason he could make progress after just one session was mainly that Jiang Hong’s net play had been disastrously poor.

In less tactful terms, he had simply been terrible.

In more tactful terms, he had tremendous room for improvement.

After all, when you are already at the bottom of a ruin, every direction leads upward.

Once his drop-shot score reached sixty, however, even ten or more days of training might not raise it by a single point.

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“At last, I can take a break!”

Jiang Hong lowered his racket and sat on the ground to rest for a while.

Su Cheng came over from the other side and handed him a bottle of water.

“Training’s over?”

Because the ball machine did most of the work, Su Cheng was not tired either.

She was mainly bored.

Only after taking a sip of water did Jiang Hong nod.

“The drop-shot training is over!”

“Are you doing your physical training at the club or at school today?” Su Cheng knew Jiang Hong’s training schedule by heart.

She knew that, apart from his forehand and backhand drills, only physical training remained.

Naturally, the forehand and backhand work would also be done here.

After all, the facilities were complete, and the ball machine could assist Jiang Hong with his training.

“Of course I’m doing it at the tennis club!” Jiang Hong replied without hesitation.

The club had fitness equipment, not to mention air conditioning.

Summer had arrived, and the temperature was climbing higher every day.

Jiang Hong had no masochistic tendencies, so the choice was obvious.

After taking a short rest, Jiang Hong began his forehand and backhand training.

With the ball machine, he no longer had to entertain himself.

“By the way, Orange, make the serves a little trickier later, and set the speed to maximum!”

Training was, after all, meant to prepare him for competition.

Jiang Hong still wanted to simulate actual match conditions.

The machine’s maximum speed was 152 kilometers per hour.

That was only slightly above the average speed of a professional male tennis player’s second serve.

The average speed of a professional man’s first serve had already reached 180 to 200 kilometers per hour.

For a power server—a true serving cannon—the speed could reach 220 kilometers per hour, or even approach 260.

But Jiang Hong was currently preparing to challenge an ITF Futures tournament, so he did not need to worry too much yet.

Jiang Hong officially began training.

Before the session started, Su Cheng adjusted the machine to send the balls at extremely difficult angles.

Several of them were even aces.

However, after he managed to return such shots, the progress calculated by the system panel advanced more quickly as well.

After finishing his forehand and backhand drills, Jiang Hong completed his physical training inside the tennis club.

By then, it was already six in the evening. Only then did Jiang Hong and Su Cheng return to school together.

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