The chief player of the film and television world

Chapter 465 Ma Dongmei's first match, Florida Cup Invitational Tournament
Florida, IMG Nico Pollettieri Tennis Academy.

As the area with the best tennis atmosphere in the United States, the tennis-related training camps and academies here are comparable to domestic cram school training institutions, and most of them are formal, because it is difficult for informal ones to survive.

After Ma Dongmei stayed in the little-known training camp for a year and a half, under the recommendation of one of the retired players, she entered this top five tennis professional training academy in the United States to receive more detailed and formal professional training. Participate in tennis matches organized by the college to increase competition experience.

This academy has produced many tennis star players, including more than a dozen world No. [-] players, such as Sharapova, Williams sisters and so on.

Of course, none of them became famous in 2000, but just made their mark in the four major open tournaments.

Ma Dongmei was able to come to this school thanks to Zhang Jinken’s annual tuition of tens of thousands of dollars. Although it is very expensive, the college provides comprehensive services such as food, accommodation, and training. The professional team can ensure that each student can explore themselves to the greatest extent. The ultimate potential!
Ma Dongmei, who just arrived, was soon exhausted by the more professional training, diet and work and rest schedule, but she gritted her teeth and persisted.

Because before she came to IMG Academy, she went back to her home in Xihong City to meet her mother, and found that Charlotte’s name, voice and songs could be heard everywhere on TV, on the street, and even in taxi broadcasts.

Charlotte is becoming more and more famous, but she is still silently waiting for the moment when she breaks out of the cocoon and becomes a butterfly, soaring into the sky, so she will not let herself give up halfway, otherwise all the hardships she has suffered before will be in vain!

Before returning to the United States, Ma Dongmei also met Zhang Jin. When talking about the training expenses of these years, Zhang Jin just smiled and said that she can train with peace of mind. When she participates in the four major tours and gets the ranking in the future, she will naturally have a generous bonus enough for her to pay. on these costs.

After Ma Dongmei thanked him, she said that she will definitely strive to achieve the strength to participate in the tour within one or two years.

After training in the United States for more than a year, she also has a lot of understanding of the current world tennis situation. Many talented and capable players have landed in the four major tours at the same age as her and have achieved certain results.

For example, Dementieva, Kournikova, Haining and Williams sisters, as well as the current WTA world No. [-] Hingis, are all female tennis players who are about her age or even younger than her.

These people have been training since they were young, and they have entered the professional competition field at the age of fifteen or sixteen.

Like all competitive sports, most of the famous players became famous at a young age, and late bloomers are rare.

It is not that there are no students who are older than Ma Dongmei in IMG Academy, but these people have also received several years of training, and have also achieved results in some small competitions.

There is no second student like Ma Dongmei who has a short training time, because if he hadn’t seen the talent to become a professional tennis player since childhood, no family would spend tens of thousands of dollars a year to send their children to IMG Academy train.

Age, training hours, and high tuition fees have all become heavy burdens on Ma Dongmei's shoulders. Fortunately, she has a tenacious and unyielding character. Otherwise, someone else might have given up on becoming a tennis player. I went back home.

On this day, after completing the training according to the rigorous training plan formulated by the coach as usual, Ma Dongmei dragged her tired body towards the dormitory.As soon as she returned to the dormitory, she saw Isbella leaning against the door.

This typical American girl with a sorrel ponytail and freckles was her next-door neighbor.Although the other party is only 17 years old, it feels more mature than him who is 20 years old.

"Hi Mary, are you back from training?"

Mary is Ma Dongmei's English name, but she didn't choose it by herself, but with the help of the previous training camp coach.Because the coach thought it was strange to call her "horse", it would be better to call her something like "Li, Wang", so she called her Mary.

"Is there something wrong, Isbella?" Ma Dongmei opened the door of the dormitory, "Would you like to go in and have a sit?"

She still has a crush on this American chick, who is the only one who doesn't laugh at her English accent.

"No, I'm going out on a date with my boyfriend later, you know we haven't seen each other for more than a month, and I won't be back tonight." Isbella shook her head.

"So you're here to ask me to cover for you?" Ma Dongmei asked as she put down her racket and took off her wrist and knee pads.

"Of course not. Tomorrow is my day off. I can do whatever I like. I am waiting for you to tell you something. Have you signed up for the Florida State Cup that is about to start soon?" Isbella said.

The Florida State Cup is a tennis invitational tournament held in Florida, mainly to provide competition opportunities and increase experience for students from various tennis training camps and schools across the United States, and it is also a large-scale school promotion.

After several years of development, this event has become a well-known event in the United States in the American sports world with a strong commercial atmosphere, attracting many sponsors and TV stations to broadcast it every year.

Scheduled for the interval between the Australian Open and the French Open, it is a major tennis event in the spring of the United States.The prize money of the event is also very high, ranking after the US Open, WTA Championship, and Masters.

Ma Dongmei has also heard about this competition, because the students of the whole academy are discussing it, she shook her head and said, "No registration."

"Why? Don't you want to participate in such a good opportunity?" Isbella asked in surprise.

"Of course I want to participate, but my coach said that I am not strong enough to participate, and I need a year of professional training." Ma Dongmei was also a little helpless.

Hearing this, Isbella showed a very speechless expression on her face: "Come on, Mary, you are right to listen to the coach during training, but why do you have to listen to the coach at other times? He is not God!"

"Is there any problem, the coach is a professional, I..."

"Hey Mary, the coaches are professionals, but it's just training. Listen, I know you're good enough for this event. Don't listen to those coaches, know why they say you're not qualified Because you are Chinese, they only want to make your money, not really want you to succeed, understand!" Isbella was filled with righteous indignation.

Ma Dongmei fell into silence when she heard the words.

After a while, she finally asked, "If I want to participate as an individual, how should I sign up?"

Isbella saw that she finally got the hang of it, and said happily: "Go to the online event website to register, or go directly to the registration point in the town to fill in the form. I have another suggestion, how about we form a girl group to participate in doubles? Single Both singles and pairs will participate, and if we can get the ranking, we will be able to share more bonuses.”

"Doubles, but I haven't tried doubles." Ma Dongmei hesitated.

Isbella persuaded with confidence: "It doesn't matter, there is no special duo in this event, they are all improvised, everyone is not familiar with the duo, and they completely compete with the team's strength and on-the-spot performance.

You see, I have practiced tennis for a long time, and my skills in the midfield and front court are relatively good. I like to volley the ball on the net, and I am good at attacking.As for you, you have less practice time and slightly poorer technique, but you are more athletic than me, you can hit the forehand and backhand faster than me, and you have tough defense.

If we form a partner, we must make up for each other's shortcomings. If we are lucky, we may even get the top three. That's a bonus of [-] US dollars per person! "

Every time a bonus is mentioned, Isbella's eyes seem to be shining with gold, like a little money fan.

Ma Dongmei couldn't help but feel amused: "Isbella, isn't your family quite rich, why do you still care about this little bonus?"

Isbella shrugged and said disapprovingly: "Of course, the more money the better, and the family has money, and my parents won't let me spend it casually. It's better to earn money by myself. If I can get more than two With a bonus of [-] US dollars, I can buy a second-hand convertible sports car in installments, and then I can drive the convertible sports car to enjoy the wind of freedom!"

"Can't you enjoy riding a bicycle now?"

"How can this be the same, the free wind energy worth thousands is compared to the free wind worth 10,000+!"

"..." Ma Dongmei shook her head speechlessly. She was born in an ordinary worker's family in a small third-tier city, so she really couldn't imagine the difference.

"Oh! I almost forgot the time when I was chatting with you. I have to go first. My boyfriend is already waiting for me outside! See you tomorrow!"

"Goodbye!" Ma Dongmei waved at Isbella who left in a hurry, planning to go around the street tomorrow and find the registration point to sign up for herself.

Only current tennis students can participate in the Florida Cup Invitational, and only players who have not participated in the Grand Slam and Masters can sign up.

A bit similar to the nature of the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association), but not as famous.

The Florida State Cup Invitational Tournament is usually regarded as a warm-up event for the Miami Masters. The Miami Masters is a top event and is held in March every year for a total of two weeks.

Therefore, the Florida Cup Invitational Tournament was held in mid-to-late February, which also lasted for two weeks.

The schedule, competition system and rules basically follow the Masters. There are 96 draws for men's and women's singles, no seed players, 32 pairs for men's doubles and women's doubles, and no mixed doubles for men and women.

The men's and women's singles champion will receive a bonus of 15 US dollars, and the runner-up, semi-finals, and quarters will be reduced by half in turn.

The men's and women's doubles championship bonus is one-third of that of singles, and the other rankings are also reduced by half in turn.

After successfully registering for the competition, Ma Dongmei has been concentrating on training and patiently waiting for the first match of the competition.

February 2000, [-], the Spring Festival.

After talking on the New Year's phone call with her mother, Ma Dongmei tidied up her mood, put on her sports equipment and prepared to go to the training ground. When she went out, she happened to meet Isbella who just came back from outside.

Seeing that she was about to go to training, Isbella asked her to wait for her, and hurried back to the dormitory to change into equipment, and went to the training ground together. She planned to seize the time to get in touch and improve the tacit understanding between each other.

"I got the bad news that Sharapova signed up for the women's singles event at the Invitational. God, this is horrible!"

"Who is Sharapova?" Ma Dongmei thought the name sounded familiar, but couldn't recall where she heard it.

"Are you serious?" Isbella stared at her with wide eyes, "Haven't you heard of Sharapova's name? It's the Russian devil girl in the academy. She's only 13 years old this year and she's taller than us all. , the strength is very strong. If she hadn't reached her age, she would have participated in the WTA tour long ago."

"It's her." Ma Dongmei suddenly realized.

She once heard her coach talk about Sharapova, an aggressive baseline player who relies on strength to play, likes fast-paced hard courts and grass courts, and has power, depth and angles on forehand and backhand. Good, the first serve and the second serve are very powerful. For players with weaker wrist strength, they can only rely on skill to return the ball, and they are easy to be intercepted directly by the opponent.

The coaches who have watched Russian girls play all agree that the other party is already a real professional tennis player.With the growth of age and the continuous improvement of physical fitness, the opponent's strength will become more and more terrifying.

Isbella shook her head and sighed: "This time the women's singles champion must belong to Sharapova. If I can reach the fourth round and get a bonus of 1 US dollars, I will be satisfied. The remaining [-] US dollars can only be placed on On to the women's doubles, Mary, please, don't let my dream of buying a roadster be ruined, please!"

"I'll try my best. But you shouldn't give up so early. How do you know you can't beat the opponent if you haven't really tried it?" Ma Dongmei said.

Isbella said, "Have you ever played with her?"

"No."

"If you've ever played with her, you'll understand how powerful she is. I've never seen a female student who is four years younger than me and can overwhelm me in strength, and she is also white. Hell, it is worthy of Russians!" Isbella said helplessly.

Ma Dongmei did not continue the discussion on this topic. In her opinion, discussing these is a waste of time, and it is more meaningful than serious training.

The two soon came to the training ground for training. Today is their rest day, and there is no coach present, but it does not prevent them from continuing to work hard.

Days passed, and soon it was mid-February.

After a month of building momentum, the Florida Cup Invitational Tournament has received a lot of attention. Under the eyes of many media and CNN broadcast cameras, as well as tens of thousands of spectators, the [-]th Florida State Cup Invitational Tournament officially kicked off!

This tennis center located in Jacksonville, the largest city in Florida, has a total of 12 yuan venues and can hold six men's and women's singles matches at the same time.

Ma Dongmei just got the first match of the first round. She stepped onto the lawn of the stadium under the watchful eyes of thousands of people.

The sun is not too hot, even with a sun hat, it still makes her feel that the light is dazzling.

In a trance, she stood near the bottom line of the court, and the referee's voice came from her ears. The first game was the opponent's serve.

Ma Dongmei looked at the opposite side. Her opponent was a black player. Perhaps because the distance was too far, she couldn't see the opponent's appearance clearly.She raised her hand to wipe the sweat that had slipped from her forehead to the corner of her eyes at some point, and when she put her hand down, her opponent had already swung the tennis racket and served the ball.

The green tennis ball turned into a green light on the retina.

Bang!
Before she could react, it hit the lawn next to her and landed in the field!
The whistle sounded!

The opponent scored one point first, 15:0.

(End of this chapter)