Novel Translation

Match Point – Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – Equivalent Returns

Bang!
Outer sideline.

Bang!
Center of the baseline.

Bang!
Inner corner of the sideline.

Standing behind the service line, Gao Wen faced the wall twelve meters away, practising his serve placement.

The length of a tennis court is 23.77 meters, and half the court is 11.885 meters. Thus, a twelve-meter distance is used as the standard for wall-based serve practice. Neatly arranged on the wall with tape was a “9×9 grid,” requiring each serve to hit a specific target square.

Even along just one vertical column near the service baseline, there were nine designated spots, and every one of Gao Wen’s serves landed precisely on target.

Wait, wasn’t serving supposed to be Gao Wen’s weak point?

First of all, this is practice—there’s no pressure, so his accuracy naturally improves significantly.

Second, Gao Wen’s serve is his weak point, but the real issue lies in his power, not placement. Moreover, even the lack of power is relative. Don’t forget that his 193 cm height guarantees a high point of ball release. Using his height advantage to apply full force ensures both a favourable net clearance and high ball speed.

For example, Ivo Karlović, a legendary serve-and-volley player, stands an impressive 211 cm tall—a true giant.

Height often provides a natural advantage in serving, but tennis isn’t basketball, and taller isn’t always better.

For a long period in professional tennis, the general consensus was that the optimal height for a player ranged from 180 to 188 cm—not excessively tall.

First, mobility: beyond a certain height, players tend to move less nimbly and may appear clumsy.

Second, centre of gravity: taller players must crouch lower to handle slices or low balls, and extreme height makes it harder to get down.

Among the “Big Four,” Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal stand at 185 cm, and Novak Đokovic at 188 cm—all within the ideal range. Andy Murray, at 191 cm, is slightly taller but not by much.

However, with advancements in training methods, players born after 1995 have increasingly surpassed 190 cm. These players possess the advantages of height while also demonstrating excellent agility and footwork, making the most of their natural attributes.

At 193 cm, Gao Wen’s height does bring him some positive advantages, but his true limitation remains his strength.

Without sufficient strength:

His serve speed cannot reach its full potential and the ball lacks weight and punch, reducing its effectiveness in putting pressure on opponents.

Gao Wen was fully aware of his lack of strength, so he focused on fine-tuning his placement in practice. By leveraging his height advantage, he hoped to cover his shortcomings and create more opportunities with his service game. Judging by his placement accuracy, Gao Wen was doing well in this regard.

Bang! Bang!
The rhythmic sound of tennis balls striking the wall echoed across the court.

Before long, Gao Wen realized that the training manual provided by the system was indeed extraordinary. It was more precise, more detailed, and far more targeted than anything he’d seen before.

For instance, with serves targeting the inner corners, aiming for the sharpest angles inside the service box, the system outlined additional, even more, refined training requirements—not just for flat serves and spin serves, but for much more.

Flat serves, as the name suggests, rely on sheer power. The tennis ball carries little spin, flying straight and fast, with speed and force fully infused. For top-level servers, the average speed of a flat serve exceeds 200 km/h. During regular practice, the focus is on maximizing power and refining placement.

The system, however, introduced a different approach: brushing the ball with the racket face. The shorter the contact time between the racket face and the ball, the lower the bounce after landing; conversely, a longer brushing motion results in a higher bounce.

In other words, while flat serves typically lack spin and rely solely on speed, the system demanded that even flat serves could exhibit variation, disrupting the opponent’s rhythm.

Imagine the opponent expecting to return a flat serve in the comfortable strike zone between the waist and chest. Instead, the ball bounces outside that range, forcing them to adjust on the fly. If their adjustment is inadequate or mistimed, they might miss the return entirely or send back a weak shot.

Spin serves leverage the friction between the racket and ball to create variation. Naturally, speed and power decrease, with average serve speeds dropping to 180 km/h or even lower. But the added complexity of topspin, backspin, and sidespin makes it much harder for opponents to anticipate and react.

The system also imposed strict training requirements for spin serves, covering topspin, backspin, outswing, inswing, and two special techniques:

  1. Accelerated Kick: The ball bounces faster than expected after landing, catching opponents off guard.
  2. Dead Drop: After landing, the ball barely bounces, losing all momentum and stopping abruptly.

Both techniques disrupt the rhythm, forcing the opponent to scramble and often leads to mistakes.

For a single target spot, the system outlined twelve possible combinations of serve types. Each variation required Gao Wen to deliver ten accurate serves. If a serve didn’t meet the criteria, he had to repeat it until it did.

Bang! Bang!
One serve, followed by another, and then another.

Before long, Gao Wen had practiced over 150 serves. The entire shopping cart of tennis balls was emptied, with mustard-yellow balls scattered across every corner of the court. The sun climbed steadily overhead, drenching him in sweat that soaked through his clothes. Steam rose from his hair in the golden sunlight, making him look like a martial artist training intensely to master a legendary technique.

This was just a single target spot in his serve practice. Completing all the drills for the serve would likely require years of effort—progress couldn’t be rushed. Yet Gao Wen felt an overwhelming sense of joy and fulfillment swelling in his chest, his lips curving into a smile as he panted heavily.

Because he was back on the court, revelling in the exhilaration of hard work.

And because effort led to results—the system was likely calculating his Growth Potential, and the outcome would surely be promising.

Based on game logic, levelling up in the early stages should be relatively easy. Defeating one or two goblins could fill the experience bar to 100%. Given his 150+ serves, even if he didn’t level up immediately, the accumulated experience should be significant—or so he thought.

“Growth Potential: 37.05%.”

What?
150 serves, and his growth potential only increased by 1%?


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