Meng Hao didn’t care about other people’s stares at all. He swung the racket with boundless enthusiasm.
Forehand, backhand!
As this guy swung, his footwork was also extremely nimble, shifting back and forth as if he were undergoing professional tennis training.
When Meng Hao’s classmates saw this scene, they were dumbstruck, standing frozen in place.
What kind of madness had come over him?
Not far away, there was even a group of girls having PE class. Was he really this unconcerned about his image?
The problem was that Meng Hao was far too absorbed, almost forgetting himself completely.
Still, to be fair, this kid’s swings really did look quite smooth and good-looking. As for whether they were at a professional level, they had no idea.
“Rongyu, look over there! Meng Hao is so funny.” A girl tugged at Shen Rongyu’s sleeve, pointing into the distance with a light laugh. “He’s holding a tennis racket, not a badminton racket, right?”
Shen Rongyu was currently holding a badminton racket and was just about to play badminton with her female classmates.
“Meng Hao… is very good at tennis.” Shen Rongyu recalled what had happened at noon. “Huang Ling, he even beat the foreign teacher!”
“The foreign teacher?” Huang Ling revealed an incredulous expression. “I remember the homeroom teacher saying that this foreign teacher’s tennis level was the best in our school, and that he’d swept all the opponents at the nearby tennis club.”
Their English teacher, because she herself liked playing tennis, would often use English to introduce the class to some basic tennis knowledge. As for the male foreign teacher’s tennis level, she praised him endlessly.
“Good? I don’t really understand it anyway, but I know Meng Hao won very easily today and forced the other side to admit defeat on his own. If you compare that to badminton, their levels definitely weren’t on the same plane,” Shen Rongyu thought for a moment, then said honestly.
She felt that the homeroom teacher had exaggerated that foreign teacher’s level a little too much.
“I wonder how his level compares to my cousin’s?” Shen Rongyu thought of this question.
That cousin of hers, Shen Dongguo, was on his university’s tennis team and had actually won several championships in university tennis competitions. Because of that, he often boasted that he was the number one player beneath professional tennis athletes, invincible across the amateur circuit.
This cousin of hers also often sighed up at the heavens: if he had received professional training and been specially cultivated from childhood, he would definitely have become the leading figure of Chinese men’s tennis by now.
Shen Rongyu’s understanding of tennis wasn’t all that deep. Listening to this cousin spout nonsense all day, she didn’t know how much was true and how much was false, but he did count as one of the top experts in the amateur group.
Meng Hao swung the racket 200 times in one breath, 100 forehands and 100 backhands, and was so tired that he was panting heavily.
Even basic tennis training was an extremely exhausting thing.
“Even if I have a cheat, I can’t rely only on the cheat. To play tennis, you need excellent physical fitness. If your body is sickly and weak, what use is even the best technique? For example, those guys in later generations of Chinese men’s tennis…” Meng Hao couldn’t help thinking to himself.
At this moment, he had one hand on his waist while the other rested the racket on his shoulder, taking a brief rest.
Just then, the PE teacher walked over and looked at Meng Hao with a surprised expression as well. “This tennis racket—you got it from the storeroom?”
“Yeah, I searched for ages before I found it!” Meng Hao said with a smile.
The PE teacher had already forgotten where this tennis racket had been placed. He remembered that it had been bought along with the construction of the tennis court two years ago.
In fact, this PE teacher also knew a bit of tennis. He had even spent money to teach himself a few years ago, though he was only at a beginner’s level.
But ever since he had been crushed by that male foreign teacher, he had never touched a tennis racket again.
From then on, this racket had gathered dust like a pearl covered in grime, until today when it finally saw the light of day again.
“This racket is a Yonex. The quality isn’t bad. If you restring it, it can still be used!” the PE teacher said, pointing at it.
“Teacher, then lend it to me for a few days. I’ll use it to practice. In a few days, once I buy a new racket, I’ll return it to you,” Meng Hao thought for a moment and said.
A good tennis racket, one used for competition, would basically cost over a thousand yuan.
That was no small sum.
And in this third-tier city, it might not even be possible to buy such a good tennis racket. He would have to go to neighboring Ningzhou City to look around.
For now, if it was just for practice, this racket would be enough.
Once he had to compete officially in the future, he could switch to a new racket.
Meng Hao remembered that there was a Russian player named Safin, who had smashed more than a thousand tennis rackets throughout his professional career. And every single one of those rackets had been quite expensive. Just thinking about it made his heart ache.
For the entire PE class, Meng Hao didn’t rest at all, constantly working hard at swinging the racket.
Right now, there was only one thought in his mind: work hard, work hard, and work even harder!
Stamina +1
Meng Hao’s current stamina value had reached 71.
The improvement of his real-life physical fitness was much slower, but as long as it could improve, that was enough.
After one PE class, the boys in the class looked at Meng Hao as if they were looking at a monster.
A person could actually spend an entire PE class doing nothing but swinging a racket in such a boring way.
If they themselves tried to persist for even a few minutes, they would probably go crazy!
“Meng Hao, why did you suddenly want to learn tennis? Why aren’t you even playing basketball anymore?” As the class sports committee member, Jiang Jingjie was also on the school basketball team.
Next month was the school basketball tournament. As the core of the class basketball team, he carried a heavy responsibility and was determined to lead everyone to good results.
Every time there was a basketball game, as soon as he thought of the enthusiastic cheers from the girls in the class, he felt strength surge through his entire body.
“Don’t forget, you’re one of the main players in the class, my right-hand man!” Jiang Jingjie said, patting Meng Hao on the shoulder.
After all, with a strong teammate like Meng Hao, Jiang Jingjie could breathe a little easier on the defensive end and just focus on scoring. He could also spread both hands from time to time and put pressure on the referee.
“I… I suddenly really like playing tennis. I discovered that I have a lot of talent for tennis, even more than basketball!” Meng Hao began laying the groundwork in advance. “I may not be able to participate in next month’s basketball tournament.”
“Ah, how can that be? Without you, I can’t hold up the whole team alone!” Jiang Jingjie spread both hands. “You know, for the past two years, we’ve always been brothers fighting side by side!”
The basketball team of the neighboring class also had members of the school basketball team. If he wanted to win the game, he had to have strong teammates.
“Bro… sigh!” Meng Hao also patted the other party on the shoulder. “You know, tennis is a one-on-one duel. There’s no such thing as winning being someone else’s credit and losing being your own fault. How wonderful and pure that is!”
The corner of Jiang Jingjie’s mouth twitched slightly, and he smiled. “That’s true. What you said does make sense. Basketball is a team sport; someone has to make sacrifices. Some people can only be role players, while some are destined to be the focus.”
“The most important thing is that the team wins!”
“We should put class honor above all else!”
……