Prelude
On this day, the eyes of football fans around the world were focused on Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, USA.
Following his victory at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells last week, Tezuka Kunimitsu has once again reached the final of the Miami Open.
If he wins today's final, he will go down in tennis history as a double champion of the Sunshine Double with a seven-match winning streak.
Even more dramatically, her opponent in the final is once again Azarenka, currently ranked second in the world, from last week's match. Historically, in these back-to-back finals where the same group of players faces each other again in a short period of time, the winner of the previous match often has a greater advantage, both psychologically and in terms of momentum.
In other words, the probability of Tezuka Kunimitsu achieving a "double kill" is extremely high!
This means he will gain 2,000 points in just two weeks. Subtracting the 300 points he only gained last year due to a shoulder injury in these two matches, he will have a net gain of 1,700 points in the Sunshine Double, which would allow him to surpass Azarenka and become the world's second-ranked player.
Meanwhile, world number one Rude will miss the match due to entry issues, and will have his points from one title and one runner-up finish last year deducted. At that time, the points gap between Tezuka and Rude will be even smaller than the current points gap between Azarenka and Rude.
In short, if Tezuka can achieve a "double kill" in this match, he has a chance to reach the top of the world tennis scene this year!
What? No current world number one participated, so this championship has no value?
If you think about it that way, then you can look at his opponents in the first six matches; he has already defeated all the top active players except for Ruud. Furthermore, if he wins the title, he will also achieve another milestone—becoming the youngest player to win both the Sunshine Double and Sunshine Tournament titles.
If he can maintain this peak performance until the French Open in May, then becoming world number one is not impossible.
Japan is going crazy; this will be their first time being number one in the world!
People placed unprecedented expectations on Tezuka Kunimitsu.
Even before the Miami tournament began, Japanese netizens thoroughly examined everything that could affect Tezuka's performance, including the tournament groupings, venue, referees, spectators, and even sponsors. As soon as they found the slightest sign, they launched a barrage of criticism.
You could say they're all career-oriented.
This delighted the Tezuka team. Under such intense public pressure, they didn't even have to do anything. The organizers would naturally put in 200% effort to arrange everything perfectly. Even the initiative for sponsorship was transferred to them. The client was extremely cooperative, and their only concern was that the team would choose other brands over them.
Apart from one sponsor, their attitude remained as arrogant as ever, and they ostentatiously walked towards the athletes' locker room during the athletes' pre-competition preparation period.
There was a knock on the locker room door, and before anyone inside could answer, it was pushed open.
Atobe, dressed in a well-tailored white casual outfit, walked in with an arrogant air.
Tezuka, who was wrapping his hands with duct tape, looked up and gently shook his head at the staff member outside the door who was looking at him with some embarrassment, indicating that it was okay.
The staff member breathed a sigh of relief, carefully closed the door, and left.
"Hmm, you're in good shape, Tezuka." Atobe raised an eyebrow, looked Tezuka up and down, stepped forward, and naturally raised his hand to bump fists with him.
"Ah." Tezuka was already used to his style, so he didn't stand on ceremony and greeted him before continuing to focus on his work.
Atobe didn't mind his coldness and casually stretched out his arms and leaned back on the comfortable sofa provided for the players.
The air conditioning inside was very cool, keeping out the humid heat typical of Florida evenings and the gradually warming noise outside.
Atobe lit his temples, observed Tezuka for a few seconds, and saw that he remained calm and steadily wrapped the glue around his hands, showing no signs of nervousness before the competition. So he gave a satisfied hum and prepared to talk to him about serious matters.
Just as he was about to speak, a dull thud interrupted him.
The sound came from the side pocket of Tezuka's tennis bag, which was leaning against the bench. This sound made Tezuka stop wrapping his grip tape, put down the racket he was almost finished wrapping, and go to get his phone.
Upon seeing this, Atobe narrowed his eyes.
Not many people would actually call Tezuka's personal cell phone during such an important time as the final.
Atobe guessed who the person was almost immediately and couldn't help but scoff.
As expected, when Tezuka saw the name flashing on his phone screen, his expression didn't change, but his aura softened considerably. He gestured for Atobe to wait a moment, then walked to the window at the back of the changing room and answered the phone.
“Melodia.” His voice lowered subconsciously, carrying a gentleness rarely shown in public.
The final match is in the evening, and it's already 11 PM in Heidelberg, which is the time for Hezou to go to sleep.
She and he agreed not to stay up late to watch the game, but before falling asleep, she still wanted to hear his voice.
Listening to his quiet voice on the other end, she calculated the time and asked, "Guoguang, have you arrived at the venue yet?"
"Yeah, she's in the locker room." Tezuka heard her sleepy voice and couldn't help but think of her sleeping face, his tone softening unconsciously. "Why aren't you asleep yet?"
He Zou couldn't help but yawn, and said with a smile, "I'm about to go to sleep, but I remembered I didn't tell you to cheer up, and I was afraid you were waiting for me."
Tezuka raised the corners of his lips slightly: "I know." Knowing that she would definitely call, he refused Kobel's request to turn off his phone.
Her gentle voice came from the other end of the phone: "I dreamt yesterday that you hit a really beautiful through ball, right in the spot you marked for me to practice repeatedly."
"You still remember?"
"Then you picked up a very beautiful trophy, I don't know which one it is, it looks very heavy, and I don't know what it's made of."
He knew what she wanted to say, but the way she encouraged him indirectly, afraid of putting pressure on him, was really cute, and it made his throat feel a little itchy.
But remembering that there were other people around, he clenched his fist to suppress the smile that was about to spill from his lips.
This made Atobe feel that his insight had been insulted. He swiped his phone and laughed at his friend behind him without turning his head: "Laugh if you want, it's not like I haven't seen it before." He muttered to himself, "Even Tezuka is so unglamorous now."
"Huh?" Hearing the signature flamboyant voice coming from the phone, Kanade was a little surprised. "Atobe-kun is here too? Is something wrong?"
After Atobe exposed him, Tezuka no longer concealed his smile and replied softly, "It's nothing, it's probably just awkward pre-match concern."
Atobe: "...Hey!"
It was rare to see him joke with others, so He Zou chuckled, stretched, and then, in his usual relaxed tone, said during their bedtime phone call, "But it's time for me to go to bed. I have experiments to do tomorrow."
"Okay, go to sleep."
"I'm going to sleep now... Message me when the match is over, I've muted my phone, so you won't wake me up."
“Okay.” His steady tone carried a reassuring strength. “Goodnight, Melodia.”
Hearing the busy tone on the phone, Tezuka looked down at the person on the screen, feeling a sense of peace.
"Looks like we don't need any pre-match pep talk from the sponsors," Atobe said jokingly, crossing his legs.
His demeanor always gave the impression that he might pull out a bottle of red wine at any moment and savor it elegantly.
Tezuka put away his phone, ignoring his teasing, his face returning to its usual cold expression. "Atobe, what were you trying to say?"
Atobe glanced down at the dazzling diamond watch on his wrist. There was still plenty of time, so he dropped his joking expression and his gray-blue eyes turned serious: "I've looked at the information you sent me before. My team has done a preliminary assessment."
Tezuka put his phone back into the side pocket of his tennis bag, sat down on the bench, and gestured for him to continue.
Atobe rolled his eyes slightly, annoyed by Atobe's confident demeanor, but he remained highly professional when it came to business. Leaning forward and lowering his voice, he said calmly, "The direction has great potential, especially in terms of foresight and fairness. Once it yields results, its impact will be immeasurable."
"In other words, your assessment results are feasible."
“That’s right. The team is working on a detailed implementation report and funding model. But it’s not just about investing money; it requires establishing a management and long-term evaluation system.”
Hearing this, Tezuka nodded: "That's why I contacted you."
"Are you so sure I'll agree? This project isn't like a seasoned player like you, where you can get immediate returns."
Tezuka's gaze behind his glasses was calm. "It will succeed."
Atobe snorted arrogantly, "That's true. None of the projects under my management have failed." When he spoke again, his elegant voice carried the sharpness of a conglomerate heir: "We'll discuss the specific details after the financial model is finalized. For now, focus on the competition."
"Thank you." Tezuka crossed his arms and glanced at him. "So this is your pre-match concern?"
His blunt words made Atobe freeze for a moment. As he got up and walked outside, he muttered in a voice that Tezuka could hear, "What did he learn from that woman... so unglamorous."
The locker room returned to silence.
Tezuka closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and cleared his mind of all distractions. When he opened his eyes again, all that remained was a pure desire for victory and a sharp, calm composure.
Meanwhile, in the makeshift meeting room next to the locker room, Kerber stared at the information on his computer screen, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.
The topic of "Tezuka Kunimitsu's suspected non-celebrity girlfriend" continues to generate increasing discussion.
For the already highly entertainment-oriented sports world, this news is undoubtedly a major blow to career-oriented fans.
At this critical juncture, some anonymous accounts claiming to be "insiders" began to emerge, vaguely revealing some ambiguous information.
Kerber looked at the keywords "Heidelberg" and "internship" and had a bad feeling.
Public opinion is a double-edged sword.
The public opinion that was initially convenient for the team seems to be starting to become somewhat uncontrollable.
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