After that frantic match, Yan Zhi Ming was the next player. Jia Li exhaled shakily, her hands rubbing against each other as dread crept within her for fear of seeing another player get hurt.
"Did you know?" Wei Ming spoke up from beside Xing Zi. "Yan Zhi Ming and Liu Lian were actually doubles players before in the National League."
The new information made Jia Li watch the two players intently, "So they must know each other's tactics very well?"
Wei Ming nodded, "Yes. Not only that, but they're also both data-tennis players and they're childhood friends."
"Oh." Jia Li's lips parted into an 'o' shape, noticing now how Zhi Ming and Liu Lian shook hands like old friends.
Yan Zhi Ming started their match with his 'Super Speed' serve, immediately gaining the upper hand. Liu Lian was only able to return the ball which unfortunately, reached the net. So far, Yu Qing was in the lead for two sets with Zhi Ming giving his all and not letting Liu Lian score.
"Yan Zhi Ming is good," Wei Ming spoke up again, watching the ongoing match intently. "But that isn't Liu Lian's full power."
Xing Zi agreed, nodding her head, "Yes, when he played with us, he wasn't like this."
Jia Li then became curious on when Liu Lian was going to unleash his full strength. But as if reading her mind, Liu Lian suddenly scored, silencing Yu Qing's crowd, which made Jia Li blink furiously at what just happened.
Liu Lian had managed to confuse Zhi Ming's predicting look by letting him think that he wasn't able to perform a 'High Speed Slice'. Supposedly when using that move, the racket's tip wasn't supposed to be lowered to produce a high hit. But for Liu Lian, he was able to perform it by tipping his racket lower, which made Zhi Ming confuse at the angle, deeply knowing that a 'High Speed Slice Ball' was definitely impossible to do when the racket was tipped like that.
"You thought that because I lowered my racket, I couldn't possibly hit a slice, right?" Liu Lian smirked, standing up from his previous crouched position. He then scoffed at Zhi Ming's calculative look that seemed to question Liu Lian's moves. "It seems I'm right."
He gained the upper hand, surpassing the collected data that Zhi Ming had written down in his notebook. Zhi Ming's confident look of calculations had crumbled, and uneasiness replaced it as Liu Lian cracked through each of his predicted data.
Baffled at what was happening, Zhi Ming's moves then became sluggish and sloppy, far from the impeccable ones he had shown earlier at the beginning.
Liu Lian had ruined Zhi Ming's confident data-tennis.
"You've collected a lot of data on me," Liu Lian snickered, his teammates proud of him. "But do you really think that will help you beat me?" His snickers disappeared as a smirk overtook his features. "Don't forget who taught you data-tennis."
Liu Lian taught Senior Zhi Ming data-tennis? Jia Li thought to herself, baffled at the new information she had just heard. If he was the one who taught Zhi Ming, why did they separate from being partners? It was obvious how their moves were similar to each other and considering how they pretty much knew each other so well.
Her thoughts broke as Zhi Ming exploded with a loud yell, bursting with frustration as he kept smashing the ball hard in every direction on Hai Guang's court. One of his smashes knocked down Liu Lian's racket, who gasped in shock, twisting his wrist that possibly got hurt from the impact. His outburst caused him to be aggressive, returning every ball with heavy smashes, which helped him gain the upper hand once again, taking the lead.
However, his actions brought unfortunate results.
During the past months she had been with the team, Jia Li had observed how Zhi Ming played tennis based on his data. His moves were always calculated, unpredictable as he analyzed his opponent's moves. However, with what he had shown previously, Zhi Ming burst as if he had just thrown away all his collected data on Liu Lian, relying on his instincts alone. With data, Zhi Ming was confident and collected in playing tennis. But without it now, Zhi Ming involuntarily allowed his body to move, using his instincts before his brain to think, which was totally unlike of him.
As Zhi Ming did another smash, he fell to the ground and his glasses jumped off from his face, snapping itself into two. His teammates stood up in worry, even Liu Lian glanced over at his childhood friend, worry visible in his eyes.
Shakily, Zhi Ming stood up and walked over to where his teammates were. Jia Li watched with worry as he blindly searched his tennis bag. His teammates surrounded him, covering him from the audience's prying eyes. When they pulled apart, Zhi Ming was already wearing another fixed set of eyeglasses.
Maybe he brought extra ones for emergencies.
"Bring it on, Liu Lian." Zhi Ming pointed his racket at his childhood friend, whose worry disappeared from his face upon seeing Zhi Ming was alright when they resumed the game.
Grunts, thwacks, heavy pants, and balls crashing against the courts and nets filled the area as both players continued playing. Jia Li watched in awe at how Yu Qing's tennis strategist played with his data collected on the spot, surpassing Liu Lian's expectations based on his baffled expression.
Determination, perseverance, and willpower overthrew the sweat and exhaustion decorating their appearances as their scores tied at 6-6, striving harder to take a win for their respective teams.
Please let Yu Qing win this match.
The crowd sat at the edge of their seats, anticipating which player would win. Even the confident expressions on Hai Guang's faces had disappeared once they saw Liu Lian struggling against Zhi Ming's willpower.
Then, excited hollers and cheers broke through when Zhi Ming suddenly leaped, smashing the ball hard at the corner of Hai Guang's backcourt. Yu Qing students jumped from their seats, waving their cheering sticks with happiness as Yu Qing finally won their first match of the day with the score of 7-6.
· · ─────── ·☆· ─────── · ·
Author's Note
You guys might wanna check out the post in my profile. I'm going to need your opinions for it :)
- r
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𝙋𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙥𝙝 ➝ Zhuo Zhi
FanfictionIn every tennis game Jia Li had witnessed, she believed that whenever a ball comes bouncing to your court, all you had to do was return it. But after transferring to Yu Qing for her last two years of High School, Jia Li realized there's more to it i...
