Chapter 3 – Growth Potential
In 2001, Gao Wen was six years old and only just began playing tennis.
That year, Lleyton Hewitt defeated Pete Sampras at the US Open to claim his first Grand Slam title. In October of the same year, at just 20 years and 8 months old, Hewitt became the youngest world No. 1 in history.
At the time, Gao Wen’s first coach believed that even though his forehand lacked power, he could grow by modelling his game after Hewitt.
In 2008, Gao Wen graduated from elementary school.
That year, Rafael Nadal was the year-end world No. 1 in men’s professional tennis, known for his powerful forehand and signature defensive counterattacking playstyle.
By this point, Gao Wen’s mother and coach recognized that he had an incredibly long journey ahead of him for his talent to translate into a professional career.
On one hand, Gao Wen needed more specialized training, but the coaching resources in smaller cities were limited. On the other hand, the high cost of professional tennis training was a financial burden that his family couldn’t bear.
After much deliberation, Gao Wen’s mother chose the path of attending high school and college in the United States, which meant participating in junior tennis leagues and the NCAA.
The NCAA, the American collegiate sports league, encompasses sports like basketball, football, and tennis. It has a comprehensive league system that serves as a pipeline for talent to professional leagues. At the same time, universities’ emphasis on these leagues often leads to scholarships specifically designed to support student-athletes in their training.
The key difference between the NCAA and professional tennis academies lies in philosophy: the NCAA believes that not all athletes will transition to professional sports and aims to ensure their future.
First, they are students, and only then are they athletes, distinguishing them from professional players.
As a result, even if they don’t make it to the pros after graduation, they would still earn a degree.
Moreover, the NCAA imposes a minimum academic credit requirement on all athletes; failure to meet this standard results in suspension from competition.
For Gao Wen’s mother, the NCAA was undoubtedly the best choice.
Gao Wen’s physical limitations could impose more restrictions in the future, making a professional career uncertain. Under these circumstances, with the family unable to provide sufficient financial support, joining the NCAA would allow Gao Wen to receive professional training while also ensuring his education, preparing him for multiple potential futures.
Gao Wen worked hard and excelled, earning both tennis and academic scholarships. From high school to university, he steadily moved forward.
Regrettably, his mother’s worries eventually came true—injuries derailed his progress.
After graduating from college, he joined a public relations firm and became an office worker.
More than once, Gao Wen had wondered: what if he hadn’t been injured? What if he had been able to continue training? What would have happened?
Now, a second chance had truly appeared. So, what should he do this time?
His gaze fell once again on the attributes panel.
Even with a fresh start, the problems remained. The key lies in how to confront those problems and find solutions. When February 15th came again, would he repeat the same mistakes?
Perhaps this system would help him find the answers.
Thinking of this, his gaze shifted to the fourth panel in the bottom-right corner.
Rank Title: Advanced Player
Growth Potential: 36.01%
Huh? What do these mean?
Frowning slightly, Gao Wen focused on the term “Advanced Player,” and a descriptive text appeared naturally:
“Advanced Player: The advanced stage of tennis learning. Represents a competitive level capable of strong performance, signifying the top tier among non-professional players and the high level of youth players nearing a professional transition.”
So that’s how it is!
Below the explanation, there were two additional pages of text. Scrolling down revealed further descriptions:
“Beginner: The introductory stage of tennis learning, representing a phase of rapid skill development.”
“Intermediate Player: The intermediate stage of tennis learning. Represents an amateur competitive level, corresponding to a higher level for youth players and an intermediate level for adults.”
In other words, from Beginner to Intermediate to Advanced Player, these all fall within the range of non-professional players. There’s still a gap before reaching the professional level.
Advanced Player seems to be the peak stage of non-professional levels. Gao Wen had already earned the Beginner and Intermediate titles and was now at the third stage.
The NCAA is a competitive league, but objectively speaking, it’s not at a professional level.
Players who transition to professional tournaments usually start with lower-tier events, like Futures and Challenger tournaments. Competitors there often rank beyond the world’s top 500, making it challenging to show significant competitiveness at ATP or WTA-level professional tournaments.
At least, that’s the general average level.
Still, Gao Wen wondered how far it is from Advanced Player to professional level.
And what about Growth Potential?
“Growth Potential points can be earned through basic training, daily practice, and matches. The specific amount varies based on the content, intensity, difficulty, and methods of training or competition.”
The explanation was formal and somewhat vague, lacking detailed guidance, but it wasn’t hard to grasp.
It’s akin to a video game: you complete quests, defeat enemies, and gain experience points. The amount of experience depends on the difficulty of the tasks or the level of the opponents.
So, the recent “Growth Potential +0.01%” must have been triggered by his chase with McDonald?
No, to be more precise, it was probably due to the running itself.
With this realization, Gao Wen immediately started doing high-knee exercises in place in the bathroom.
Under normal circumstances, Gao Wen wouldn’t act so recklessly. The bathroom was clearly an unsuitable place for training. But after the string of unbelievable events, it seemed as though he had regained a hint of youthful exuberance. The excitement and eagerness were uncontrollable, and he was desperate to test it out.
And so… he did.
Thud, thud, thud.
Thud, thud, thud.
“Growth Potential +0.01%”
“Growth Potential +0.01%”
A series of blue text scrolled upward across his vision. The visible growth ignited a surge of adrenaline. Even after stopping the high-knee exercises, he continued bouncing lightly in place, brimming with excitement:
Did this mean that consistent training could lead to improvement?
And what would happen if Growth Potential reached 100%?
T/N – If you don’t understand something well when it comes to tennis stuff please tell me and I will try to explain it to you down in the comments.