Chapter 18 – Serve and attack
Damn it!
Alarms blared in Giron’s head. His judgment had slipped again—his read on the spin and the power was off, and in the final instant his hands scrambled in panic.
The ball clearly wasn’t fast, yet it hid a tricky twist. Giron misjudged it, reacted a beat too late, and he was already losing the exchange before he’d even made contact. That was not a good sign.
But there was no time to think. It was a body serve, and without an early read he hadn’t opened up enough space with his footwork. He barely twisted his torso aside, stiff and off-balance, relying on upper-body strength alone to scrape the ball back. The next second, he was already trying to recover his position.
However—
Too slow!
Giron had only just shifted his weight and steadied himself. His quick recovery steps hadn’t even begun when his eyes caught Gao Wen’s tall figure surging forward, wings unfurling like Batman as his imposing frame swept over the front court.
Thud thud thud!
Just a few strides, and Gao Wen was already inside the service box, planting his feet aggressively to smother the front court.
Giron’s return was squeezed out of him—he hadn’t even completed the swing properly. Naturally, the ball floated back weakly, high and slow, wobbling over the net and dropping toward the middle of the court.
Gao Wen, tracking it perfectly and closing the space, completely shut down the net angles. With a forehand cover-and-crush volley, he struck the ball out of the air before it could bounce, fast and decisive, slamming it down.
Bang!
Clean and sharp, the ball smacked into the open space just past the service line and before the baseline, landing in Giron’s forehand gap before whistling off toward the stands.
Giron remained rooted to the spot, centre of gravity still unsettled, unable to react at all. He could only watch the ball fly away.
“30–0.”
A surprising start to this mini-duel. Gao Wen, often criticised for having a “weak serve,” had twice used spin variation to disrupt Giron’s anticipation. With only three total ball contacts, he’d taken two straight points, leaving Giron without any meaningful counterattack.
Huff.
Huff.
Giron’s breathing was slightly uneven—not from physical exertion, but from agitation. Two straight misreads on the return. Even without an ace, Gao Wen had built enough of an advantage off the serve to take the points quickly and finish them cleanly.
This was clearly not the rhythm Giron was used to.
Focus!
He slapped his own forehead, reminding himself again: Gao Wen seemed especially sharp today. He needed to get into gear immediately.
Bang!
Wide forehand serve!
Flat serve!
Correct read!
On the third return, Giron finally got the prediction right. He immediately took a series of quick adjustment steps, shifting laterally to his right. His racket arm fully extended, forearm snapping forward, waist rotating smoothly—his entire upper body power channelled cleanly into the swing.
Bang!
Clean contact!
Giron fully unleashed his counterpunching skill, absorbing and redirecting all the pace from Gao Wen’s flat serve, sending it back even faster. With a light upward pull from his vibrating forearm, the ball rocketed along the crosscourt line at full speed.
Crosscourt—also Gao Wen’s forehand!
The key was this: serving from the deuce court, Gao Wen still needed to recover and reset after the serve, and his momentum would naturally stall near the centre for a brief moment. If his read wasn’t immediate, his movement would lag half a step, turning that forehand side into a difficult “turn-back ball.”
Clearly, Giron was trying to disrupt Gao Wen’s balance by forcing him to turn back.
But—
Gao Wen was ready. After serving, he completed his footwork adjustment instantly, sliding laterally to his own right. His eyes locked onto Giron’s movement, then shifted to the speeding ball, and he successfully anticipated the landing zone between the doubles alley lines.
Step in!
Lean forward!
Apply pressure!
Power flowed from his feet through his knees to his core, his torso driving the push. His back and arm muscles tightened, racket accelerating through the swing.
Contact!
Sweet spot!
Vibration!
At the exact moment the strings drove through the ball, his forearm accelerated, his follow-through snapping shut. The racket head speed jumped another level, and with that closing motion, he forcibly redirected the shot from a sharp crosscourt angle into a straight-line missile—its pace kicking up yet another gear.
Whoosh.
Bang.
The ball smashed straight into the deep corner down the line.
Thud.
It then slammed hard into the backboard behind the court, echoing loudly.
By the time Giron realised that Gao Wen had changed direction and gone down the line, his first step was already late—and he would have needed to sprint across half the court to reach it.
In any ball sport, if you chase without anticipation, no human speed can make up the difference.
This was no exception.
Giron hadn’t even reached mid-court before the ball landed, bounced, bounced again, and died.
Huff.
Huff.
Giron gulped for air, but a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.
It wasn’t simply a misread—every one of his follow-up moves had fallen perfectly within Gao Wen’s calculations. Like in a chess match, where your next move and the one after have already been predicted, the opponent can lay out the board five moves ahead, gradually tightening control.
In the tactical battle of these first three points, Gao Wen held complete initiative. Two serves and one forehand—none of them high-risk or technically extreme, arguably even straightforward—but every one of Giron’s responses played right into his hands, unable to stir up even the slightest wave.
Before Giron had time to steady his breathing, he’d already dropped three straight points.
This is the true charm of tennis: no matter the difference in skill, in your own service game, the serve grants you control— especially in men’s tennis. Unlike the relatively softer serves in the women’s game, the men’s serve can leverage speed, power, and spin to build a larger advantage, allowing early-point tactics to fully unfold.
“40–0.”
In the blink of an eye, Gao Wen had taken another two points—both times striking immediately off the serve, using variation to seize the initiative and following up with excellent second-shot aggression. Just like that, he’d reached game point on his serve, and not just one, but three in a row. By contrast, Giron hadn’t managed to win a single point, looking a bit slow to warm up.
A slight surprise.
But in tennis, this is hardly unusual—if anything, it’s typical. Just like in table tennis, in these quickfire exchanges, every point contains countless possibilities. Winning four in a row or losing four in a row can’t really be called unexpected. Even players like McDonald and the others were watching quietly, waiting to see how Giron would respond.
Gurgle.
Gurgle.
The atmosphere on the court had subtly shifted. The surrounding players were now watching with heightened excitement, almost buzzing, as if the very air was beginning to boil.
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