Borrowing Your Racket

He couldn't help but glance at where He Jingping was.

It wasn't a provocation, but rather the mindset of a young dreamer seeking affirmation from his idol.

However, Wang Chao made a universally recognized gesture for a timeout at this moment.

Wu Li was a bit confused.

The game had just ended, it wasn't an interval, and they were allowed to rest anyway. Had Wang Chao made a mistake with this timeout?

He hadn't made a mistake.

Wang Chao placed his racket on the floor off the court and looked at Luo Zhihong, "Director Luo, I request to change my racket."

Then he turned to Jiang Shan, "Can I borrow your racket?"

Jiang Shan was stunned.

"Hurry up, I'll give it back to you," Wang Chao urged with a smile.

Jiang Shan blinked, completely bewildered.

"No, what are you doing, bro?" Jiang Shan, afraid Wang Chao had lost his mind, reminded him softly, "Don't you have a custom racket? Mine is a shakehand grip, a shakehand grip! It won't match yours!"

Wang Chao nodded, "I want the shakehand grip."

Jiang Long reprimanded from the side, "Play properly, don't mess around."

Wang Chao glanced at him but didn't say anything. Meanwhile, He Jingping suddenly shouted loudly, "Let him switch!"

Luo Zhihong froze. He was right beside He Jingping and heard him more clearly. He Jingping's shout clearly contained a trace of a very subtle tremor, as if he were somewhat excited.

Wang Chao got Jiang Shan's spare racket as he wished.

It was a shakehand grip racket.

He placed the racket in his right hand, gripped it, swung it a few times, then moved it to his left hand, gripped it tightly, and swung it a few times. He didn't switch hands again.

"Hurry up and switch back, what are you doing? Take the game seriously," Luo Zhihong reminded him dutifully.

Wang Chao, however, shook his head. He firmly gripped the handle of the shakehand racket with his left hand, picked up the small ball with his right, placed it in his palm, shifted his stance slightly, and assumed the standard ready position before serving.

By this point, everyone knew Wang Chao wasn't just playing around.

He had actually switched from a right-handed penhold grip to a left-handed shakehand grip.

Switching hands and rackets?

What was he trying to do?

Only Wang Chao's personal sparring partner, Li Shaoqin, suddenly trembled all over at this moment, his eyes showing disbelief.

No one had ever seen Wang Chao play with his left hand using a shakehand grip, but he had!

During his brutal ten-plus days of sparring, there were a few times when he was practicing extra in the early morning, around five o'clock, and he found Wang Chao had silently switched to a left-handed shakehand grip.

But Wang Chao's custom racket was a penhold grip with a short handle, so holding it in a shakehand grip felt like he was just playing around. Li Shaoqin hadn't taken it seriously, thinking Wang Chao was just finding some fun because he was tired from practice.

He vaguely remembered that Wang Chao's success rate with his backhand shakehand attack was pretty good, but that wasn't much, because he, the "human serving machine," was serving with emotion, and the balls he sent out were not difficult at all.

Even he himself could achieve a similar effect by switching hands.

But now he finally understood!

That damn Wang Chao was this insidious!

He had secretly practiced with his left hand while everyone else was still asleep!

This was a long-planned scheme!

He was clearly trying to ambush Wu Li!

Wang Chao glanced at the sidelines, sensing intense resentment emanating from somewhere.

He saw Li Shaoqin's constipated expression.

"Have I been bullying him lately?" Wang Chao thought for a moment, then dismissed the thought, focusing his attention on the present.

The surrounding noise around the table became unusually quiet. Everyone held their breath, waiting for Wang Chao's debut after this unusual racket switch.

Would it be a farce or a miracle?

"It's clearly a farce. This kid is under too much pressure and has been pushed to the brink," Luo Zhihong shook his head slightly, with no expectations.

Reality wasn't a novel, and there weren't so many dramatic twists. He didn't object to players switching hands or rackets for practice, but you had to understand a principle: practice makes perfect.

If you don't practice for a day, your skills will deteriorate. If you don't practice for a month, a professional will become an amateur.

There was no such thing as saying someone's backhand was better than their forehand, so they would always hide their backhand, neither using nor practicing it, and then bring it out in a match to dominate the opponent and catch them off guard.

That was unscientific.

Because professional athletes relied on muscle memory and conditioned reflexes.

If you don't practice, your muscle memory will slowly disappear.

Only the hand that practiced daily would develop deep-rooted conditioned reflexes, allowing the movements to keep up with thought during play.

This world is definitely materialistic!

Absolutely not idealistic!

Wang Chao served.

A simple, short backspin.

But everyone's focus wasn't on what kind of serve he made, but whether his serving posture was standard and the quality of the served ball was up to par.

Very standard, very up to par.

Even though he switched hands and switched paddles, Wang Chao's entire movement was relaxed and fluid, just like a natural left-handed shakehand player, showing no hint of awkwardness.

Wu Li remained as stable as a machine. He didn't care if Wang Chao was right-handed or left-handed. The only thing he did just now was adjust the perception in his mind, changing "Wang Chao is a right-handed player" to "Wang Chao is a left-handed player."

The significance of this was that when Wang Chao served with the same motion, the spin direction of the ball was the opposite of the first game.

Many people feel uncomfortable when they first encounter a "left-handed player," but Wu Li wouldn't. He could easily switch the direction problem.

So, he steadily advanced and pushed the ball back.

This return was of high quality, low and short, with a slight backspin, just grazing the net. This kind of ball is rarely attacked directly because the difficulty is too high and the risk of self-destruction is too great.

At least, Wang Chao chose to continue playing short in the first game when he encountered such a ball.

But this time, Wang Chao stepped forward, moved his body to the left, flipped his wrist, met the ball forward, and then swung his paddle upwards fiercely!

The power of this swing was immense. Jiang Shan's paddle's reverse side was very sticky, with strong friction, and its elasticity was far greater than his own paddle. With this swing, the ball was as fast as a shooting star, directly drawing a steep arc and flying to Wu Li.

This was a twist.

This was not a simple twist.

"Overlord Twist!" Jiang Shan shouted from the sidelines.

Jiang Shan himself had been practicing the Overlord Twist diligently, but he always felt that his power-generating posture wasn't good enough and he couldn't fully release his strength.

In his mind, Wu Li was undoubtedly the best at twisting in the base.

However, seeing Wang Chao's twist, he felt both exhilarating and beautiful. The elegance of his posture and the amazing arc of the ball's flight were no less than Wu Li's.

Wu Li hadn't expected it at all, but he was still able to keep up. He forced his footwork, forced his power, and pulled the ball back.

Wang Chao didn't attack desperately or change direction desperately like he did in the first game.

When he picked up the left-handed shakehand paddle, his entire demeanor had subtly changed from the first game.

It was like a peerless swordsman who had finally obtained a suitable weapon.

He retreated half a step, swung his arm, and hit a forehand drive with a "snap." There was no loop, just a hard hit. This ball had no spin, but it was faster, smashing onto the opposite table.

He didn't care if the paddle was sticky, if he should loop, or if he should use friction. He played however he wanted because he could control it all.

He felt that a fast ball was needed at this moment, so he hit it.

It was like an extension of his arm, effortless and natural.

Wu Li was already feeling that something was wrong.

Although Jiang Shan's paddle actually emphasized friction more, Wang Chao, who had switched to a shakehand paddle, seemed to have been freed from the various forced forehand loops he had been executing. This last shot was almost instinctive, yet it was faster than any previous ball.

Wu Li retreated two steps, his legs spread wide, his body almost entirely crouched below the table, turning into a backward-leaning horse stance with an extremely low center of gravity. But even with his body contorted like this, he didn't lose balance and forcefully saved the ball.

Wang Chao flipped his arm again and drove the ball back.

This time, it was a standard forehand loop, but the angle was slightly off, subtly a topspin with side spin. The ball seemed to float in the air, its trajectory difficult to grasp.

Wu Li stood up from his crouched position, his calf muscles already feeling strained, but he was always accustomed to fighting. He lunged to the side, and while in mid-air, despite the risk of losing balance, he powerfully smashed the ball back.

Then Wang Chao stepped forward, positioning his paddle in front of the net in advance, returning a delicate, ultra-short ball and easily scoring a point.

1:0, this was Wang Chao's first lead.

"Wow!" The shouts from around the table were deafening.

A simple point represented an unbelievable fact.

Wang Chao's left-handed shakehand was very strong!

Extremely strong!

The few drives just now were long and short, looped and hit, left and right. The final ultra-short ball represented an extremely refined technique of absorbing force. Although it was only three lightning-fast exchanges, it displayed a subtlety rarely seen in most shakehand players.

It was so casual.

It gave people a sense of effortless flow.

Wu Li picked up the ball, threw it to Wang Chao, and gritted his teeth, "Again."