Chapter 13: The Chosen
One The current No. 1 singles player for the Brown Bears is senior Clay Thompson, who is 198 cm tall and weighs 88 kg, and has excellent physical condition.
In the previous three years, his performance was still not very stable, but after entering the senior year, on the one hand, his physical condition was completely formed, and on the other hand, his psychological quality became increasingly stable, and his overall performance underwent a complete transformation.
Since August this year, he first won a Challenge Tournament championship, and then after losing the opener in the fall season, he started a 19-game winning streak, and was once the No. 1 seed in the United States. His performance was exceptionally outstanding. He is currently ranked No. 2 seed and is still one of the top players in the United States.
Thompson is undoubtedly the team's number one singles player.
But in terms of physical condition and tennis talent, Marcos Giron is the future hope of the Bruins.
Jilong is already a junior this year, and his technical style is taking shape. With a height of 180 cm and a weight of 77 kg, he is not very solid, but he is very good at leveraging the opponent's force. His shots are solid and accurate, and his tactical mind is outstanding. The layout and distribution of the entire return ball line are significantly higher than those of his peers. Prediction, feel, etc. are also invisible advantages.
During adolescence and college, because of their immaturity and lack of experience, playing basketball tends to rely more on the body, and court wisdom is neglected. The game is relatively simpler, and the physical advantages are often more obvious.
If Thompson and Giron faced off, perhaps Thompson would still be able to win in the end by relying on his physical advantage, but the process would be very difficult and might require some effort.
Currently, Jilong is firmly in the team's second singles position.
Billy Martin attaches great importance to Jillong. Everyone knows that once Thompson is in poor form, it is not uncommon for Jillong to serve as the first singles player.
It is precisely because of this that the players often tease Giron as a "chosen one" and often joke about it, and even Thompson is no exception.
As for Giron himself, he grew up surrounded by praise and was full of confidence in himself. Although he did not show off his talents, he was more or less proud and had higher expectations for himself. He had already determined his future goal of becoming a professional player very early on, so compared to anyone else, he was the one who was most strict with himself.
In fact, Jilong's subsequent career development trajectory also proves this point -
Just this season, Gillon won the singles championship of the NCAA National Championship, which was the first time in eight years that the Bruins brought the men's singles championship trophy back to UCLA. Immediately afterwards, Gillon bid farewell to college and turned to professional competitions, and achieved impressive results early on.
Jilong achieved results even earlier than McDonald. Shortly after turning professional, he was able to enter the main draw of the Masters through the qualifying round, demonstrating his outstanding competitiveness.
But unfortunately, injuries became a stumbling block. Just over a year into his career, when he was in a period of rapid growth and advancement, Jilong suffered a serious blow from a hip injury. He underwent surgery at the end of 2015, and his career was almost ruined.
Jilong himself had thought about giving up many times, but after careful consideration and repeated struggles, he decided to persevere and slowly recovered from the surgery. Finally, he ushered in a new life in 2019, winning two championships and one runner-up in the Challenge Tournament, and passed the qualifying test for the first time to enter the Grand Slam main draw.
At the beginning of 2021, Jilong created a new personal ranking high, breaking into the top 100 and ranking 70th. Relying solely on the ranking, he was able to directly enter the highest-level events such as Grand Slams and Masters, compete with top players, and even defeated several top 20 players.
In terms of talent and ability, Jilong is indeed very outstanding, even better than McDonald.
From childhood to adulthood, Jilong has always been the focus of thousands of people's attention. Even though he did not enter a professional tennis school for further studies, he has always been a "rising star" in the NCAA.
Jilong didn't care at all about the good-natured jokes from his teammates. He walked straight to the edge of the court and put down his tennis bag.
For Jilong, he is already a junior this year. If he wants to turn professional, it means that he does not have much time left to continue to improve himself, so he needs to seize every opportunity and devote himself to training and competition wholeheartedly. There is no other shortcut.
Jilong jumped a few times gently on the spot, adjusted his body slightly, and prepared to start warm-up exercises. However, he noticed a burning gaze falling on his shoulder out of the corner of his eye, and the hair on his back immediately stood up as if he had been electrocuted.
Huh? Jilong turned his head reflexively and looked over. Without any effort, he could see Gawain walking towards him with a smile on his face.
"Hey! Marcos, good morning."
Noticing Jilong's gaze, Gawain took the initiative to wave and greet him, his smile blooming like a flower, his bright eyes sparkling in the sun, just like a puppy seeing "Rice Field Gong", no, no, ugh! It should be like a big bad wolf seeing a little lamb.
Wait, why am I the little lamb? Shouldn't I be the big bad wolf? Jilong didn't understand what was going on with his thoughts.
But before Jilong could figure out what was going on, Gao Wen took the initiative to speak, "Marcos, can I play against you in the practice match later?"
In Gawain's eyes, Jilong is indeed a little lamb, the kind that can be wooled well -
He wanted to prove his theory and see whether the growth potential would change when facing opponents of different levels.
For now, Giron's strength is indeed more outstanding than McDonald's; and unlike Thompson's power tennis, Giron's style of play is more agile and lighter, which also means that without the suppression of power, Gawain will be able to use his hands and feet, and he will be able to engage in a more intense confrontation with Giron.
Compared to Thompson, Jilong is a more suitable "guinea pig".
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Jilong was a little surprised, "I thought you were used to sparring with Mike."
Gao Wen did not answer, but smiled and said, "I have been too exhausted by the final exams recently, and my brain has been hollowed out. So I thought about challenging the limits of my body. This way I can clear my mind and feel more relaxed. What do you think?"
Jilong: ??? The look in his eyes when he looked at Gawain changed. What kind of strange brain circuit was this?
After being severely frustrated by the final exams, other players all wished they could take some time off and avoid training, but this guy actually did the opposite?
But then he noticed Gao Wen's gaze, Ji Long coughed twice to cover up the question mark in his mind, quickly shifted his gaze, and replied lightly, "Of course there is no problem, it's just a practice match after all."
"Oh Yeah!" Gawain cheered, turned around and trotted towards MacDonald like a happy Samoyed.
Jilong tilted his head, watching Gawain's back as he left, and actually became somewhat expectant: since Gawain wanted to be tortured, he would definitely not show mercy.
(End of this chapter)