The Four Nations' Strongmen

The month-long preparation period has come to an end.

With South Africa and Australia arriving at Tokyo International Airport, the Four-Nation Exchange Tournament officially began.

As the nominal host Japan Team was unaware of and did not inquire about the invitation and gathering of teams for this exchange match, or anything that happened before the match.

It was all organized by America; it was essentially just that they borrowed a venue in Japan. As for why Japan was chosen as the host city, there are many different opinions.

In addition to the event's initiator America and local representative Japan, the participating teams also include those from South Africa and Australia.

As the host of next year's Melbourne World Cup, Australia attaches great importance to this exchange and has sent almost all of its team's strength.

In order to adapt to the rules of next year's World Tournament, this competition will be conducted entirely in the same manner as the World Tournament group stage.

Due to changes in the rules of world tennis, the next U-17 World Cup will specifically include half of the participants as junior high school students.

Furthermore, a new rule has been added to the competition.

Therefore, at least three of the seven players in each match must be junior high school students, and each player can only play once in the group stage.

In this way, whether it's Australia, South Africa, or the Japan Team themselves, they all turned this exchange match into a training exercise.

All four teams participating in the exchange tournament are quite strong, with America being the strongest America, which seems to be the weakest, despite its seemingly incomplete Japan.

Therefore, how to arrange the lineup is also a challenge for the team leaders and coaches.

At the Japan U17 Training Camp, the junior high school students who had just announced their selection list gathered in the restaurant with the high school students who were also participating, discussing the event.

Excitement, nervousness, and elation flowed from the junior high school students' words.

Seeing this Saito Itaru, who was acting as the Mental Coach, didn't say anything more; his task for this training camp was complete.

The current sentiments among middle school students are reasonable.

However, a hint of worry flashed through his mind as he looked at the match list in his hand.

As the coach of the Japan U17 team, he naturally wanted his players to achieve good results in the exchanges, but considering the current strength of the training camp, he sighed.

It's just an exchange competition; winning or losing doesn't matter. What's most important is the growth of these junior high and high school students.

I believe that after this experience...

With so much investment in the early stages, next year's World Tournament will be the best time for them to reap the rewards.

Tokyo, Arena Forest Park Central Stadium.

This is the venue for the third National Tournament in the original work, and it is also the venue for this Four-Nation Exchange Tournament.

Although Japan didn't promote the competition much, it did receive some media coverage.

Therefore, most tennis enthusiasts were aware of this exchange match.

As the match time approached, a crowd began to gather at the entrance of the venue, among whom were many familiar faces.

For example, Seigaku's Oishi Kikumaru, Momoshiro Kaidoh, Hyotei Academy's Ryo Shishido Ryo, Mukahi Gakuto, Ohtori Choutarou, etc...

There were also players from various schools including Yamabuki and St. Rudolph.

At this moment, a practitioner dressed in black Daoist robes, who looked very upright, also entered the venue.

However, his upright demeanor vanished upon seeing the many beautiful girls around him, instantly transforming him into a lewd and lecherous man.

Just as he was about to offer his critique and admire the development of these people, a soft snort came from behind him:

"Uncle, I'm going to tell Auntie if you're like this!"

"Ah, Nanako, I didn't do anything! Hahaha, let's find some seats!"

The middle-aged man was none Echizen Nanjirō.

They were all there to watch the game; besides the spectators, there were also many sports reporters who came specifically to cover the event.

"Unexpectedly, just over a month after the National Tournament ended, this Four-Nation Exchange Tournament is being held again. I heard that many junior high school students will participate in this competition."

So, Saeki, Yukimura, and Tezuka should all be participating, right? I just wonder how strong the international competitors are...

As the crowd grew larger and the venue became more and more lively, Inoue Mamoru snapped a few photos and couldn't help but sigh.

In previous years, East Asia was known as a tennis desert, and Japan tennis made no achievements in the world tennis arena, showing a clear decline.

These world-class teams never come to play against Japan, so there's practically no news coverage about it.

However, since last year's World Tournament, Japan tennis seems to have undergone a complete transformation, with more and more countries showing interest in the Japan.

This Four-Nation Exchange Tournament is a very clear signal.

This was the first time in recent years that a foreign team had appeared in Japan, and the reporters who came with Inoue Mamoru were overjoyed, as it meant that Japan was finally no longer a tennis wasteland.

However, they were also very worried, since they had no idea about the strength of these foreign players.

"Yes!"

A reporter standing nearby, also a tennis enthusiast, nodded in agreement upon hearing Inoue Mamoru's words.

"Based on the information we've gathered, America is performing extremely strongly on the world tennis stage."

They're even aiming for fifth place now, while Australia and South Africa are both top-15 teams in the world...

These words made the surrounding reporters a little nervous. Their ranking in Japan was only approaching twentieth place, and the top fifteen were all formidable opponents for them.

"Yes, they are all strong teams. I wonder if our Japan players can achieve good results."

Upon hearing this news, even Inoue Mamoru was very confident in the junior high school students, couldn't help but sigh, and his expression became somewhat serious.

Thinking of this, Inoue Mamoru stopped talking and prepared to shoot some more footage. As he pointed the camera at the audience, a middle-aged man in a black taekwondo uniform appeared in his line of sight.

"This is... Echizen Nanjirō?"

Inoue Mamoru was immediately excited. As a die-hard fan of Echizen Nanjirō, although he didn't know when Nanjirou had returned to Japan, he was thrilled to see his idol here.

How could he possibly hold back!

He left the group of reporters and ran towards the audience.

At that very moment, in the Japan Team's rest room, Mitsuya Akito was also introducing the strong opponents that the Japan players needed to be wary of in this exchange match.

"I have distributed detailed information on all four teams to everyone. You can look at the specific details later. Now, I'm going to introduce the true powerhouses of these three teams!"

Mitsuya gently brushed a strand of hair behind his ear, his voice clear and resonant. "First, there's America's captain, and their comrade-in-chief Ralph Reinhardt!"

"He has the skill level of a professional player. I'm afraid that apart from Ghost, no one here can compete with him. However, I estimate that in this exchange match, he will at most be just there to support us, and he won't actually play!"

"Besides him, other strong individuals in America who require close attention include Dudu Obondo, Alan Hopkins, and this middle school student, Chiko Balentin."

Mitsuya enlarged the man's portrait, and everyone saw the petite boy who looked like a girl. This man was likely to be a rival that the middle school students would encounter.

Then, Mitsuya continued speaking rapidly, introducing the Australia prodigies, Noah Gorgia and J. J. Gorgia.

And South Africa's talented star player, Shapoka Golpe...

However, Muneyoshi wasn't listening to any of that at the moment, except for the Australia genius Noah, who hadn't yet fallen due to overdeveloping his mental power like Yukimura, which made him somewhat realize something.

His entire attention was drawn to another person in America.

"Echizen Ryoga, junior high school..."

P. S.: "In the US, middle school is two years and high school is four years. Next year, I'll be attending Ryoga High School. In other countries, it would be considered middle school."

After writing about Australia and South Africa, there will be no World Tournament, and the Japan Team's group stage roster will also change.