Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Wiggins was the best tennis coach in the U.S. He used to coach many players that went on to play in the grand slam. Of course, his fee was the highest. $20,000 for one week. For tennis coaching, this was ridiculously high.
The reason Wiggins dared to charge so much for his services was that his training was worth that price, especially for young players who needed to work on their technique. With guidance from Wiggins, these players improved by leaps and bounds.
Zhen Chen was exactly the kind of young player whose technique needed work. It was fair to say that his weaknesses were abundant; that is how Wiggins saw him. The current Zhen Chen was too weak. He was filled with mistakes and shortcomings.
Zhen Chen was, after all, a player who grew up in China. The training standard and the overall tennis environment in China was far from those in the Western countries. So, compared to Western athletes, he had lots of room for improvement.
The more weaknesses an athlete had, the more areas he could improve on. This meant that his area for improvement was large. For athletes like that, every weakness remedied was a big step towards getting better.
Zhen Chen was just like that. Based on his B+ talent potential grading, although it was impossible for him to win the grand slam, it was still possible for him to make it into the main tournament. That meant that he could make it into the top 100 in the world rankings. However, he only made it to the top 200. The reason was that, in China, his training was so bad that a lot of his weaknesses were never improved upon.
After arriving in Coach Wiggins’ training camp, Zhen Chen’s main goal was to be transformed by Coach Wiggins. He tried to change and remedy the various mistakes in his technique.
Zhen Chen had never received the guidance of a world-class tennis coach like that before. To Zhen Chen, an opportunity like this was incredibly valuable. Every sentence, every word Coach Wiggins told him, was as holy as the Bible. Zhen Chen executed Wiggins’ suggestions without deviation, he did not dare to be sloppy.
Coach Wiggins also lived up to his name. Under him, Zhen Chen improved each day. Although the entire length of the training was a mere five days, under Coach Wiggins’ direct one-on-one guidance, Zhen Chen improved significantly. He grew a great deal.
Although Zhen Chen wasn’t the best, he wasn’t the worst either. After receiving the best training around, he had been reinvigorated.
It was as if he had was a piece of jade processed by a master carver. A mineral of the highest quality would be ridiculously expensive without any sort of processing. However, after going through the hands of a master jade carver, its price would skyrocket. It might even be regarded as a priceless treasure.
If it were a less valuable type of jade rock, its quality would be less than a high-quality one. However, if the one responsible for processing that lesser jade were a master jade carver, then, after processing, the value of the lesser jade would still significantly increase. Although it was far from comparable to the higher-quality jade, it was still a very highly valued item.
Zhen Chen did not have an S grade talent, he didn’t even reach an A grade. His B+ talent could be regarded as lesser quality jade, but Coach Wiggins was clearly a top-class “Jade carver.” After his processing, even if he were a lesser jade, he could still be sold for a decent price.
…
Among the four grand slam tournaments held every year, the first was the Australian Open. It was usually organized in the last two weeks of January every year, in Melbourne, Australia.
The second was the French Open. It was usually organized annually in either May or June. The third was the Wimbledon Open. It was the tournament with the longest history, and was usually held in the month of June or July. The last tournament was the U.S. Open, which was usually held in August or September.
It was an Olympic year. So, all international competitions took a step back for the Olympics. The dates of the French and Wimbledon Opens were moved forward, while the U.S. Open was slightly postponed.
Before the U.S. Open, the qualifier and wildcard tournaments began. The participants in the qualifier were based on the world rankings, and the wild card tournament consisted mainly of American players. It was the U.S. Open, so they had to take better care of the American players.
The qualifier was a single-round elimination tournament, which meant that, as long as one could win three rounds, one would most certainly advance to the main tournament. Losing once meant elimination. For every player taking part in the qualifier, every match was a death match.
Zhen Chen’s ranking was around 200. Among the 128 participants of the qualifier, he was among the middle-lower rankings. The opponent of his first match was most certainly someone with a higher ranking.
Zhen Chen was very nervous, as this was his first time in the qualifier of a grand slam tournament. He performed terribly in the first round, and Zhen Chen’s opponent was clearly not participating in the qualifier for the first time. His head was in the game right away, so he easily beat Zhen Chen with the score of six – two.
In the men’s single of the grand slam, the main tournament utilized a system of three victories in five rounds. The qualifiers and the wildcard tournaments both used only a two-out-of-three rounds victory system. This meant that after losing the first round, the opponent could win with the next round.
Zhen Chen was forced into a corner. After losing a round, he finally used all of his potential and won the round, with the final score being seven to five.
That round gave Zhen Chen confidence. In the third round of the match, Zhen Chen had clearly become used to the match. He was no longer nervous and he showcased his true abilities, beating his opponent with a score of six to four.
The final score was two to one, with Zhen Chen advancing to the second round.
…
In the second round of the qualifier, Zhen Chen’s opponent was a Frenchmen. He was also ranked above Zhen Chen.
However, Zhen Chen won easier this round easier than the first round. Two rounds with the score of 6 to 4 meant an overall score of two to zero.
Clearly, the French player was not good at playing on a hard court, which Zhen Chen was very adept at.
Among the four major tennis tournaments, the Wimbledon Open used a grass court, the French Open used a clay court, and the Australian and U.S. Opens used a hard court. The difference between the U.S. and the Australian Open was that the Australian Open used rubber, so the ball bounced slower. In the U.S. Open, they used cement floors with a special material on top of it, it was regarded as a fast hard court.
The tennis courts in China were basically all rubber courts. There were no grass or clay courts. However, the rubber courts in China mainly used acrylic materials of normal quality. Courts conscientiously constructed would have two layers of coarse rubber under a layer of fine-grained rubber. For courts that were hastily constructed, the surface hardness was pretty much the same as a cement floor.
Most tennis players in China, therefore, were more used to playing on hard courts. They could easily adapt to the Australian and U.S. Open. It was the French Open, because of the clay court, which was the most difficult.
…
It was the third round of the qualifier. Zhen Chen’s opponent’s world ranking was 119. For him, it was an extreme challenge.
Zhen Chen’s opponent clearly did not take him seriously. Just a few months ago, in the Wimbledon Open, Zhen Chen wasn’t even eligible to participate in the qualifier for the grand slam tournaments. For his opponent, Zhen Chen was only a passerby.
The 119-ranked player clearly did not realize that his real opponent was himself. His overconfidence was his biggest enemy!
Although Zhen Chen’s world ranking only just passed the 200 mark, he had transformed himself. He wasn’t that much weaker than his opponent. “119” underestimated his opponent too much. As a result, he suffered defeat at the hands of Zhen Chen in the first round.
After losing the first round, his opponent was mentally imbalanced. He was anxious to try and take back a round but, in the end, it resulted in more unforced errors. Zhen Chen capitalized on these errors and scored points consecutively.
Zhen Chen, who was in the lead, gained momentum as he played. On the contrary, his opponent became more anxious by the second. In the end, the result was completely one-sided.
Another two to zero. Zhen Chen won the third round of the qualifier and obtained a spot in the main tournament of the U.S. Open!
Beside the court, Dai Li let out a sigh and said, “I did not waste that 20,000 dollars!”
After that, Dai Li looked towards the court. He saw Jianguo Chen.
The current Jianguo Chen was laughing and crying at the same time…
The grand slam dream of two generations of people was finally realized!