122 Florida Table Tennis Championships
◎If it doesn’t work this time, I’ll definitely do it next time.◎
The men's singles match was over in the morning.
The result was somewhat unexpected. Qin Xiaoba actually defeated Daxiong [4:3] and advanced to the finals to play against Song Linzhou tomorrow.
This is an unprecedented first.
Before, no matter it was an internal or external team match, even in the World Cup a month ago, Daxiong was the one who pressed Qin Xiaoba on the table and rubbed him.
But today, Qin Xiaoba played above his level. He and A Shui are both players who thrive on form. Sometimes, when they're in good form, they can save any ball. But sometimes, when their form cools down, they're prone to making big mistakes.
Perhaps he was also aiming for the holy grail of men's singles, so even when he was serving against Big Bear, he was still pumping his energy. The thin tracksuit clung to his bulging muscles, and coupled with his recent growth, his arms relaxed as he swung the paddle.
As soon as Daxiong's serve went high, Qin Xiaoba would follow up with an attack.
Act decisively and without hesitation.
"Your brother is doing well today." The cat next to him who was preparing for the competition also came over to watch.
Maomao will compete with Xi Ling'en again tomorrow.
The North Korean team had only a handful of players, and Xi Ling'en was the only female player. She couldn't find a sparring partner, so when two of Zhu Qi and the other two were practicing, the other could only watch. So, they just sparred in the training hall.
This led to four girls in the training hall, three Chinese and one Korean, actually getting together to practice with each other.
Xi Ling'en obviously hadn't paid attention to anything other than table tennis. He looked at Qin Xiaoba in the camera with some curiosity and asked, "Your younger brother?"
Zhu Qi nodded, and worried that North Koreans didn't understand the various kinship relationships in China, he explained to her: "His mother and my mother are sisters."
Xi Ling'en showed an understanding expression. She had also met Qin Xiaoba when she played mixed doubles, and she felt that Qin Xiaoba's playing style was very similar to Zhu Qi's.
Qin Xiaoba had performed very well in the World Championships, with many details of his forehand being optimized. Unfortunately, Daxiong blocked his chance to reach the finals, but the situation was reversed in this National Table Tennis Championships.
I don’t know if it’s because Daxiong has been in the army and has been going to military training every year, but he looks very strong these past two years, and the balls he hits are even heavier than those in the previous two years.
In fact, the heaviness of the ball is mainly reflected in the combination of speed, rotation and power.
Judging from the distribution ratio of these three factors, the ball with more speed, less spin, and the least power is a flexible and light ball. Players with this type of ball usually hit the ball with variable placement. The ball they send out can make it difficult for players with less good footwork to keep up.
Zhu Qi has the most rotations but a relatively balanced speed and strength. He can make his opponents suffer in a stalemate or subsequent rotation.
But the one that Big Bear plays is pure power plus rotation. The speed doesn’t seem that fast, but the ball he sends out feels very difficult to slice.
If it was a chopper like Huang Jiajia of the Hong Kong team, it would be difficult to beat a player of Daxiong's quality in mixed doubles.
After losing the game, Daxiong felt a little disappointed, but he and Qin Xiaoba still hugged each other and prepared for tomorrow's bronze medal match.
In the last competition, Daxiong lost to Song Linzhou and did not win the "Pembroke" Cup, and this time he failed to enter the finals.
It seems that I am just one step away from achieving my Grand Slam.
Before the women's singles competition started in the afternoon, several reporters came over and gave individual pre-match interviews to the three members of the women's team.
At that time, Ah Shui had been training in the training hall for the whole morning and had just come out of the shower room next to the locker room. He was about to cool down the water on his body before going into the waiting room.
This has been Ah Shui's habit when playing games over the years, which is to take a shower two hours before entering the venue to keep his body fresh so that he can play the game in a relaxed state.
As a result, as soon as he went out, he was blocked by several familiar reporters. They probably knew that Ah Shui had this habit and were waiting at the door.
"Hey, why are you interviewing at this time?" Ah Shui asked curiously while wiping the water droplets dripping from the ends of his hair.
"I just finished interviewing your two teammates, and now you're the only one left, so I'm waiting here." Reporter Mori slid the microphone towards A Shui with a smile and teased. "You had a really great left-handed switching catch in the last game. How long have you been practicing that technique?"
"I started practicing when I was about 15 years old. Actually, I didn't practice for very long. Sometimes when my left hand got tired, I would switch to my right hand and play a few boards as well." Ah Shui scratched his hair a little embarrassedly.
Looking around, among the current active players, A Shui is basically the only one who has this skill.
It is almost impossible to switch between left and right hands because the left hand has its own way of playing and the right hand has its own way of playing.
It's basically like a person who practices penholders sometimes and shaken boards sometimes. In the end, his own tactical system will become confused.
Ah Shui just had a sudden inspiration at that time. She knew that the quality of the ball was not high. It was just that Jin Lili was frightened and couldn't catch up in one breath, so Ah Shui scored continuously.
After returning, Jin Lili thought about it carefully and came to her senses, and she realized that A Shui's right hand actually did not have much killing power.
Reporter Mori continued, "In an hour and a half, you'll be competing with your old teammates for a spot in the finals. Are you nervous?"
"There's nothing to be nervous about. Baobao and I have known each other for such a long time. We often have small competitions with each other in private." Although A Shui said this, he was actually still a little excited in his heart.
No one wants to lose.
Even if the other person is your best friend.
The three people on the seventh floor actually have a common rule in their minds.
That is, no matter what kind of game or what kind of situation you become your opponent, you should only treat the opponent as an opponent.
After the fight, no matter whether you win or lose, everything remains the same.
So since they are opponents, A Shui certainly wants to win.
After playing in competitions for so many years, I have only won doubles and team gold medals, and not a single world-class singles gold medal.
On the bulletin board at the entrance of the national team, there was no list of world champions, and I was not on it.
Ah Shui looked at Reporter Mori, put away his playful smile, and said seriously, "I will give my all in this match, because I am also looking forward to having a serious fight with her."
Since both teams in the women's singles semi-finals are Chinese, no off-court coaching will be assigned.
Zhu Qi and A Shui had to complete the entire race on their own.
Starting from choosing the order of receiving and serving, the two of them began to gauge each other's mentality.
Because they are so familiar with each other, A Shui can often understand Zhu Qi's thoughts instantly.
Zhu Qi is the type who serves very hard. He will basically transition on the third board but will start to actively attack after the fifth board.
Therefore, Zhu Qi prefers to grab the serve right at the beginning of the game, so that he can gain the advantage as soon as possible.
The game begins.
In the first game between Zhu Qi and A Shui, both sides performed relatively well. Zhu Qi took the lead by serving at the beginning, but A Shui also used his long rubber soft playing style to catch up slowly.
Although Zhu Qi scored 11 points first and got the first big score.
But A Shui did not seem to be flustered. When it was his turn to serve at the beginning of the second game, he began to switch between various long rubber and anti-rubber to hit the ball.
The coaches who were watching the game nearby were whispering to each other, discussing this Chinese civil war.
"A Shui's performance in this competition was really good. The most important thing is that I feel his hand skills have improved."
"Yeah, compared to the others on the team, Shui isn't the most talented, isn't the best at attention to detail, and isn't as hardworking as Bao Bao. It's not easy to get to this position."
In fact, Zhu Qi once joked that Ah Shui is also the type of person who “everyone doesn’t think highly of him, but he still strives to do well.”
The long rubber playing style is actually useless. As long as the opponent is familiar with the long rubber, it is difficult to expand the advantage.
Long rubber is not as offensive as inverted rubber. It is very suitable for being a protective shield in doubles, but it is very weak in singles.
But A Shui is as his name suggests, as slippery as a non-substantial stream, and his playing style is also very steady and long-lasting.
Her ball is not as violent as Zhu Qi's, but it is more tenacious.
Zhu Qi has watched some of A Shui's games recently and can feel the improvement in A Shui's ability to save the ball, but when they really started playing face to face, he found that he still underestimated A Shui.
Ah Shui's angled position has always been her weak point, and Jin Lili also likes to move at large angles when fighting with Ah Shui.
Zhu Qi also used this tactic in the first game. Although he won the first big score, Zhu Qi felt that A Shui's body moved very quickly.
Zhu Qi pulled the ball to a small corner. He thought it would be difficult for Ah Shui to catch it based on his speed, but he didn't expect Ah Shui to slide and hit the ball back at the same time.
Whoosh——
The sound broke through the air.
Even the commentators on the other side of the TV thought that the save was great.
From Fang Miao running over to her swing and hitting the ball, everything happened almost simultaneously. She completed the swing while running, seemingly using the momentum of her forward movement to add enough spin to the ball.
——[Fang Miao's coordination is quite good, and his core strength seems very strong, as can be seen from the last match against the Korean players.]
——[Yes, I heard that Fang Miao served as a sparring partner for many players in the national team at the beginning. Perhaps many viewers don't understand that for national team players, sparring is a very arduous job. The first and foremost requirement is to be able to successfully return the ball hit by the main player, so that the main player can feel any shortcomings in his own shots during practice.]
——[I previously interviewed Fang Miao, and she told me that she often practices with the team's two main players, and as she practices, she finds her skills improve.]
——【After all, he has two of the strongest players in the world right beside him. Their quality is extraordinary. Playing, playing, the first thing is to be able to catch the ball. As long as you can catch the ball, there is hope of scoring, so this also gave Fang Miao such a unique ability to save the ball.】
A Shui is in great shape today.
No, to be precise, it was after the fight with Jin Lili yesterday that Ah Shui has been in an extremely excited state until now.
Zhu Qi especially felt that Ah Shui played like crazy today. Every ball he played was as stable as if it was a programmed program, without any mistakes.
Zhu Qi attacked from the side, but was swept away by A Shui.
Zhu Qi rushed forward, but was pushed back by A Shui with long rubber.
Zhu Qi hit a backhand triangle shot, but was countered by A Shui...
Zhu Qi saw that every killing shot he made was blocked by A Shui.
Ah Shui is really extraordinary now.
Zhu Qi also experienced what Jin Lili felt yesterday.
There is a feeling of helplessness as if you are desperately shooting arrows at the opponent, but every arrow is blocked by the opponent's shield.
There are several ways to show strong stage protection ability. One is like Qin Xiaoba, who is tall and has long arms and has the ability to protect the stage.
One is like Ah Shui, who can move left and right very quickly.
In the second game, the score was deadlocked.
[11:10], [12:11], [13:13]…
Finally, Zhu Qi saw the ball was about to fly past him, and when he slid back a step and tried to catch the ball, he made a mistake. He did not add enough spin to the ball, and the ball failed to cross the net... It was a pity that he lost the second game by two points.
Ah Shui clenched his fist and whispered "Hey" to encourage himself.
The two men walked to their rest area with their backs to each other, wiping their sweat while adjusting themselves.
After all, Zhu Qi had experience as a coach and was able to extract his own state from the athletes very well. Unfortunately, he reviewed all the mistakes that occurred in the first two games.
But A Shui relies more on the instructions of her coach and teammates, which is why she likes to play doubles.
Ren Xinhua watched from the side and sighed: "At the beginning of the third game, Ah Shui didn't seem as aggressive as in the first two games."
"Yeah..." Chang Hongxia was watching from the side. In fact, she also knew the difference in skills between A Shui and Zhu Qi, as well as some of the gaps between the two.
After taking care of A Shui for so long, Chang Hongxia knows that A Shui is actually a very strong-willed girl.
It’s just that usually with Zhu Qi and Maomao in front, they think their brilliance is not that dazzling, but they are also trying hard to release their own weak candlelight.
A Shui has always been worried that if Maomao retires before them in the future, Zhu Qi will be the only one holding up the entire national team and will not be able to hold on.
She hopes that she can grow up quickly and fill the third role besides Zhu Qi and Maomao.
At this moment, I can give Ah Shui off-field guidance, which will definitely help Ah Shui calm down and continue to waste time with Zhu Qi.
The longer the time goes on, the more likely Ah Shui will have a chance of scoring from Zhu Qi.
She was narrowing the distance between herself and Zhu Qi...
Every time Ah Shui saved the ball sideways, he left drag marks on the floor mat caused by the friction between his soles and the mat.
As more and more marks appeared on the floor, A Shui gradually began to realize that Zhu Qi was frequently attacking his backhand.
Ah Shui's backhand was average. Because she'd been practicing backhands with Chang Hongxia, she'd mostly been switching between long and inverted rubber on her forehand. Consequently, she'd missed out on backhand practice. During one backhand, Ah Shui could feel her waist sink a bit. Zhu Qi had added spin to the ball, and to successfully get it on the table, she had to use her waist to exert force.
When Ah Shui received the last one, he tried his best and his expression looked as if he was struggling.
"It's over now, Ah Shui is going to lose." Ren Xinhua looked at Ah Shui and felt that Zhu Qi was smart enough to secretly add spin to the ball.
This time the CCTV commentator is not Sen Qiaobei, he was sent to Florida for live reporting.
The sports channel is currently preparing a new magazine called "Table Tennis World".
Because the Chinese table tennis team won six gold medals in Moscow this time, the General Administration of Sport believes that this is a good start and said that the Chinese table tennis dream team deserves an exclusive magazine series.
Sen Qiaobei, a reporter who has been reporting on table tennis columns since six years ago, was assigned to work part-time as an assistant editor for this magazine.
Since we are going to make a magazine, the protagonists in the magazine are naturally these athletes who have won glory for the country.
Therefore, this Florida National Table Tennis Championships will be the first report in the first issue.
As the saying goes, a good memory is not as good as a bad pen. While Sen Qiaobei was taking note of the key points, he asked Ren Xinhua beside him, hoping that she could help him understand some of the slightly confusing techniques. "We're only halfway through the third game. Why do you think this game must go to Zhu Qi?"
"Many popular table tennis players know that the forehand is easier than the backhand. Even those who haven't practiced their racket for a while can easily regain their previous form when they pick it up again. However, if you don't practice your backhand for a while, you'll notice a significant decrease in your chances of hitting it," Ren Xinhua observed Zhu Qi's every backhand swing, narrowing his eyes as he spoke. "The reason many backhanders find it easier to achieve results is that, aside from the lack of pure power, the backhand possesses many advantages over the forehand, such as easier line changes, more subtle spin creation, and a smaller swing range, making it easier to sneak in spin without being detected by the opponent..."
When Zhu Qi played against Jamie before, he secretly added spin to the ball.
Many swinging postures look no different from usual, but the balls hit are more and more twisted, and when receiving the balls, they fly in different directions, which makes people confused.
Jamie was completely fooled by Zhu Qi. He couldn't understand why there was nothing wrong with his position, strength and racket shape when he received the ball, but there was always something wrong with the ball every time he hit it.
"...Because Jamie's basic skills are not good, when he pulls the ball, he always hits it first and then rubs it, so he can't understand Bao Bao's clever idea of secretly adding spin to the ball."
After listening to Xinhua, Sen Qiaobei roughly understood and began to write and draw on the paper.
Just as Ren Xinhua said, Zhu Qi won the third game.
[Big score, Zhu Qi 2:1 Fang Miao]
Sen Qiaobei asked again: "As the head coach, please be impartial and say what you think Fang Miao needs to change in order to defeat Zhu Qi in this match?"
"Many players experience stage fright to varying degrees when playing in large-scale competitions. Ah Shui never gets stage fright when playing doubles or in a team, and can give 95% of his ability because he has teammates and a coach to guide him. But in singles, Ah Shui is above average if he can give 80%. This time, he was okay, but his nerves were tense, and he never knew when he would lose his energy. But Zhu Qi is different. She's a natural-born player for big competitions. She's never let off-court factors distract her, and she's completely immersed in the competition, which is why she's unbeatable."
Ren Xinhua talked mostly about Ah Shui's mentality. Sen Qiaobei took notes while pondering to himself: "So, with this mentality, can playing more games help alleviate it?"
"You can use games as training. You'll get used to it after playing more games. But there's still a part you need to adjust to on your own, especially during internal matches when there's no coach to help you. You can only rely on yourself to handle it."
Ah Shui himself knows this.
In fact, she was very satisfied with her performance in this competition, but she still wanted to work hard to make a breakthrough and see if she could seize the power and snatch the qualification to enter the finals from Baobao, the most powerful player in her mind.
And it is precisely because of this mentality that A Shui plays without any worries and is very relaxed, with all distractions in his mind.
Just think about how to score, and there is no pressure after losing the game.
Zhu Qi found that A Shui's swing was becoming more and more aggressive. Whenever A Shui started to increase the quality of his swing, the ball that was hit back by the long rubber became more and more erratic.
After a full-strength burst, the white ball flew back to Zhu Qi's table in a very strange backspin arc.
It was like a boomerang flashing with silver light, and it made a "whoosh" sound when it hit the table.
This ball is very similar to the new serve that Yuan Xiang introduced in the World Games. The ball can spin on the table before bouncing up, like a small "tornado".
Privately, they also like to imitate some outsourced playing styles, serving as sparring partners and studying with each other.
Ah Shui had practiced the "Tornado" serve with Yuan Xiang during training, and now that he could use it on the court, Zhu Qi was somewhat surprised.
Ah Shui... is growing up.
The referee flipped A Shui's scoreboard and it changed from "8" to "9".
[Score of the third game: Zhu Qi 10:9 Fang Miao]
It’s still Zhu Qi’s match point.
Zhu Qi's serve started to have no spin, and A Shui didn't dare to judge the spin easily, so he could only respond with a short sucker shot.
Then when he looked up, he saw Zhu Qi starting to lean back, guessing that Zhu Qi wanted to lengthen the ball. When Ah Shui hurriedly ran back, he found that Zhu Qi had turned his racket and hit the ball from top to bottom at a right angle like chopping the ball with a kitchen knife.
Ah Shui reacted quickly and ran to the right.
But when he ran over, he found that there was a distance between them, and he would definitely not be able to catch up. Fortunately, the quality of the ball Zhu Qi hit did not seem to be very high.
Ah Shui suddenly had an idea and brought the racket in his left hand forward again. He leaned back with his right hand and grabbed the ball, and he actually pulled the ball back.
As a result, Zhu Qi predicted A Shui's prediction, as if he deliberately let A Shui hit the ball with his right hand, waiting for a backhand quick drive where the ball was hit.
With a "click", it landed on the distant table leg.
[Score of the third game: Zhu Qi 11:9 Fang Miao]
[Big score, Zhu Qi 3:1 Fang Miao]
Sen Qiaobei was watching in amazement.
He wrote on the paper.
I feel like American Shackleides Jamie is like a sharpening stone for the Chinese women. After playing against her, Zhu Qi's overall quality has improved. Many foreign media outlets describe Zhu Qi as China's "Valkyrie," capable of crushing any opponent with her presence. But I believe that for Zhu Qi, her strongest opponent is always by her side...
In the fourth game, Ah Shui fought back and seemed to have completely forgotten about the score. He devoted himself to the game and stuck to the characteristics of rotating the racket. He began to use long rubber to hit back frequently, and won back another game, bringing the overall score to [3:2].
By now, Zhu Qi felt that most of his physical strength had been consumed.
The clothes on her back were soaked with sweat and stuck to her skin. She reached out and tugged at the clothes, hoping to let some air get through to dissipate the sweat smell.
As a result, when Zhu Qi looked up, he found that A Shui opposite him had done the same thing.
The sudden tacit understanding between the two made them look at each other and suddenly smile.
Sen Qiaobei then wrote on the paper: [An interesting scene during the game...]
Whether he can win or not is no longer important to A Shui.
She was very happy that she had relied on her real strength to climb step by step to the point where she could meet Zhu Qi.
She also thought of many ways to score from Zhu Qi.
Although he lost to Zhu Qi with a score of [4:2] in the end, as the whole audience cheered for Zhu Qi, A Shui also showed a bitter smile at being eliminated in the semi-finals.
"What a pity..." When Ah Shui was leaving, he walked to the cabinet where the "Miriam" cup was placed, stretched out his hand to touch the Holy Grail through the air, but what he touched was the glass that was blocking him.
She looked at Zhu Qi's name engraved under the "Miriam" cup and sighed with envy.
"Not this time, but definitely next time."
【Author’s words】
I believe that readers who have read Radar must have smelled the end of the story [菜狗]
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