God of Tennis

Chapter 18.1: 2nd Round Qualifying
Translator: Pineapple

Editor: Oer_

Daniel Patterson.

Thinking about him again, I can’t remember anything. That means that this person wasn’t worth mentioning because this player probably went through the preliminaries just like I did.

The players that Han Woo Jin remembered were only high world ranking players in the future or players with special skills or circumstances like Okuta. He never remembered the players who were below the top 50 in the ATP rankings.

Of course, Daniel might be a player that was a high ranking player that he just didn’t remember. But it might also not be true. That’s why it is best for him not to waste energy thinking of these things.

‘Andrew… isn’t here.’

He looked through the bracket and didn’t see Andrew on it. Maybe he was already seeded in the top 32 or 16. Then he began to look for Choi Yeon Hyuk’s name other than Andrew Murray.

The player list wasn’t that big. After looking shortly, he soon found Choi Yeon Hyuk. He also saw his next opponent’s name.

Mark Jeffrey.

It was once again a name didn’t recognize. Right now, he could have seen all of the statuses of the players that were gathered around the tournament bracket but he didn’t want to do that.

It was enough for him to just be able to see Daniel Patterson’s status.

Han Woo Jin looked around and searched for a person that was looking at him. There were only two asians participating in this tournament, him and Choi Yeon Hyuk. Therefore, his next opponent should be looking out for him.

His intuition was correct.

‘Bingo.’

His height was over 180 cm. He had blonde dyed hair and a short mustache. He looked like a northern European and was staring at him. His eyes made it extremely obvious that he was looking at him. When Han Woo Jin made eye contact with him the man slightly curled his lips upwards.

He looked like the vikings of old and his smirk reminded Han Woo Jin of a wild animal. Han Woo Jin repositioned his racket bag that was slung over his shoulder.

*grip*

He grabbed the handle of his racket without taking it out of the bag. This was another way of him being able to use his skill while holding his racket and his opponent’s status appeared.

[Daniel Patterson]
Strength 61 / Stamina 60 / Agility 57

HP 1980/2400 SP 600/600

Forehand: 10/20

Backhand: 8/20

Serve: 8/20

Volley: 8/20

Smash: 8/20

Dropshot: 9/20

Lob: 9/20

Special skill: None

He’s formidable.

Han Woo Jin had a very simple evaluation of Daniel Patterson. That was the only thing that came up to him after seeing his status.

He didn’t have any specialties but was a very well-rounded type of player. Furthermore, his stats and skills were all pretty high-leveled.

‘Isn’t he dangerous?’

While still holding onto his racket he was able to see other players’ statuses however, Daniel’s status was the cream of the crop. Han Woo Jin’s luck for his second preliminary round was pretty crappy.

Daniel who was staring at Han Woo Jin, looked away and looked back at the list. He looked as if he no longer cared after he got a good look at his next opponent.

Somebody’s hand came up and touched his shoulder while he was staring at the back of Daniel.

“Hey, we’re not against each other. That’s a relief.”

“…we’re lucky.”

Han Woo Jin and Choi Yeon Hyuk were located in the middle of the tournament bracket and they won’t be going against each other until they reach the top four. They were ranked eighth and ninth respectively. They were in the exact middle of the ladder that divided them.

Choi Yeon Hyuk will be playing first in the second preliminary round and Han Woo Jin after. It was the opposite of the first preliminary round.

How is Choi Yeon Hyuk’s condition? Han Woo Jin, while holding his racket looked at his status.

HP 2130/2600 SP 630/680

‘He’s still in good condition. … His SP went down. Did he use a special skill?’

It was the first time he saw a player that was able to make Choi Yeon Hyuk use SP other than himself.

That means that Choi Yeon Hyuk used his ‘Slipper’ in the first preliminary round.

That means that his first round wasn’t that easy.

The two people were already feeling the pressure and difficulty from the preliminaries of the ATP tour.

“ [All players, sit down please, now we will begin the second round of the preliminaries.] “

Han Woo Jin and Choi Yeon Hyuk could only understand “sit down please” as they sat down. As Koreans, they hardly knew any English so they could only understand simple phrases like that and couldn’t understand the rest of the sentence.

That’s why the two players were only waiting to hear their names to be called. It’s impossible to improve their English in only one month.

“ [Now we will start the first match. Players Gurt and Clark, please make your way to the court.] “

Two people that were sitting stood up. Han Woo Jin looked at the two players walking down to the court and observed their status and wanted to know which one will win. Maybe one of them will be an opponent for Choi Yeon Hyuk.

‘No. they won’t.’

Han Woo Jin turned off their statuses right away.

He didn’t have any time or energy to think about other things because of his next opponent, Daniel Patterson so he turned off his power. He made the decision to only focus on getting ready for his match while searching for Daniel in the crowd.

Untied blonde hair, rough looking mustache, Han Woo Jin sat approximately 10 meters away from Daniel. He saw Daniel’s status and immediately looked back at his own status and compared.

[Han Woo Jin]
Strength 59 / Stamina 62 / Agility 53

HP 2190/2480 SP 590/590

Forehand: 10/20

Backhand: 9/20

Serve: 12/20

Volley: 7/20

Smash: 10/20

Dropshot: 6/20

Lob: 5/20

Special Skill: Sparrow (Serve). Slug (Smash)

The only part that Han Woo Jin had an advantage over Daniel was his serve and smash. He was either equal or inferior to him in all other aspects. They could probably only attack each others’ weaknesses. Win or lose, he knew that this game would be incredibly difficult.

He was envisioning their rallies and imagined hearing the referee’s signal.

“Player Ready!”

That’s how the first game of the second preliminary round began.

Time went by fast.

The three matches went by in the blink of an eye. Each game had a winner and a loser but the two players weren’t interested in them.

As soon as the third match ended, Choi Yeon Hyuk stood up from his seat. His face wasn’t nervous at all but it looked anxious for some reason.

“I’ll go ahead first.”

“Yeah.”

Because of their anxiety the two of them didn’t speak much. Choi Yeon Hyuk didn’t look back as he walked down the court. Han Woo Jin also didn’t look at him as he concentrated on simulating rallies against Daniel in his head.

As he focused more and more the environment around him became dull. Han Woo Jin’s concentration was at a really high level and all sounds were blocked out and disappeared from his ears. Although his eyes were opened halfway he couldn’t see anything.

His consciousness only came back 50 minutes later because Choi Yeon Hyuk came back and woke him up.

***

“Hey, are you sleeping?!”

“… is it my turn already?”

Choi Yeon Hyuk shook his shoulder, thinking he was asleep. Han Woo Jin opened his eyes widely as soon as Choi Yeon Hyuk’s fingers touched him. His mind was clear.

Han Woo Jin looked at Choi Yeon Hyuk with a deep look because his eyes were closed for a long time. His hair was wet with sweat and his shirt was drenched with sweat and could see that his stamina consumption was large.

However, his face didn’t look worried.

Han Woo Jin spoke to him.

“Did you win?”

“Of course. I can’t lose without entering the top 16.”

He’s right. Eventually, everything is an excuse if they say that their opponent is strong or their condition was bad. If he couldn’t reach a good conclusion, it would be shameful. They flew all the way to France, so they won’t want to go back without even getting through the preliminaries.

Han Woo Jin stood up and looked at Daniel. He was already halfway down to the court.

“I’ll be back.”

Han Woo Jin put his racket on his shoulder as he walked down over to the court. He heard Choi Yeon Hyuk’s voice that sounded tired and high pitched.

“I’ll head over first?”

He sounded really hateful. (because he already won his match and had nothing to worried about so he was jealous.)

That’s what Han Woo Jin thought.

After you win your second match of the preliminaries, you are allowed to leave the premises. He thought Choi Yeon Hyuk was going to go watch from the stands with the audience.

The person who wins the game first no longer has any burdens, but those who are left have an increased pressure.

“Alright, I’ll see you later.”

He answered curtly. He wasn’t the type of person who was overconfident before a match. Han Woo Jin went onto the court and looked nervous. He disliked the way Daniel came onto the court all confidently with a smirk on his face.

Han Woo Jin walked over to the net with a fast beating heart. The referee made eye contact with both players and tossed up the coin.

*Ping!*

“Front.”

“…Back.”

Han Woo Jin spoke before the coin dropped and Daniel was a little annoyed that he spoke late.

The referee smiled a little as if he was having fun and uncovered his hand to reveal the coin.

It was on the front side. Han Woo Jin chose to serve.

“Shit!”

Daniel cursed as he walked over to his side of the court. He most definitely had a temper like a viking.

Han Woo Jin thought that if Daniel played like his personality/temper then he would be easier to play against, because if a player is open with their emotions then he would be able to read the opponent.

However, his eyes don’t show any emotions. He is acting right now.

He couldn’t believe Daniel’s acting skills compared to the way he looked. His eyes were ice cold. In contrast to his viking-like exterior, inside is a cold hearted snake.

As soon as the two players got into position the referee spoke.

“Woojin Han on my right! Daniel Patterson on my left! Woojin Han to serve!”

The referee got up from his seat and waved hand.

“Love all (0:0)! Play!”
The match began but Han Woo Jin didn’t move right away.

‘My opponent is not the type of person to do a surprise attack.’

Daniel prepared to receive the serve and lowered his body before the referee even spoke. It meant that he didn’t want to be caught by surprise. He has experience and is skilled. He is a difficult opponent.

Anyway, first he had to get the first point. Han Woo Jin decided to use the sparrow.

*pang!*

The ball that was thrown up suddenly divided the air. In that short split second nobody could believe what just happened, that that small asian was able to hit the ball that quickly. That’s why Daniel’s reaction was too slow.

“Fifteen love (15:0)!”

One more time.

Han Woo Jin used the sparrow one more time. The serve with the scarily fast speed arrived at Daniel’s side of the court. As soon as the ball hit the ground, you could hear an explosive sound upon contact.

But Daniel didn’t just stay still. He unhesitatingly moved forward toward the ball.

*Hooong!*

“Thirty love (30:0)!”

He swung his racket widely across the air and you could hear the air vibrate. The ball hit the side of the court and Han Woo Jin got the point.

Although Han Woo Jin successfully got two service aces, his expression wasn’t great. It was because his opponent was able to somewhat adapt to the speed of his Sparrow already.

Han Woo Jin knew what was going to happen.

If he used the sparrow on the next serve, then he will definitely return it. Maybe, wouldn’t lose the game but it isn’t good for him if his opponent already figured out one of his special skills, in only three serves.

After thinking for a bit, he switched it up. He used a flat serve with some speed and accuracy.

*Pang!*

It had good speed to it. If they measured it with a speed gun it would probably be over 200 km/h.

It was a serve that if you didn’t see it coming then you would lose a point to it.

But, Daniel, expected it and was able to return it.

*Pang!*
“Thirty fifteen!”

The serve that Han Woo Jin hit was received easily by Daniel so the ball was returned back to him with even greater speed. No one could return this ball. The ball already flew out of the court after it bounced before Han Woo Jin could reposition himself.

‘This is annoying!’

Read latest Chapters at WuxiaWorld.Site Only

Han Woo Jin could do nothing but admit it.

This man across the net who looks like a fierce viking is probably the most dangerous person in this Metz Open preliminary among all the players. He didn’t have any obvious weaknesses in skill and experience because he could respond to many sudden changes in his serve.

Han Woo Jin felt that Daniel’s body was bigger than before and more intimidating as he tossed up the ball once more.

*Pang!*

The ball sliced through the air as it hit the ground.