Chapter 132: Backfiring

On the other side, the Rikkai rest area.

"I didn't expect Shitenhoji to actually place their Captain Shiraishi in the Singles No. 3 position; that really is a clever move!"

Sanada said.

"This fits their Coach's style of doing things."

"According to my data, the Shitenhoji Coach, Watanabe Osamu, is a very shrewd person with a high IQ."

"Having their strongest player play Singles No. 3 is likely to lock in the first victory!"

"After all, they were eliminated by us in three matches last year."

Yanagi Renji said.

"As it turns out, by a twist of fate, they ran into Vice Captain Yukimura."

"Hahaha!"

"I'd love to see the look on the opposing Coach's face right now."

Kirihara was very happy.

"Captain, did you anticipate the opponent's tactics long ago? Is that why you had Yukimura play Singles No. 3?"

Sanada asked.

Besides this match, the same was true for the quarter-final match against Hyotei.

Placing Takahashi and Yukimura in the Singles No. 3 position was, in Sanada's view, simply nonsense.

The strongest player should stay in the Singles No. 1 position.

However, when combined with the opponent's tactics.

Such a change happened to break the opponent's strategy and tactics, as if it were targeted.

Especially in that match against Hyotei; later, Sanada learned that Takahashi once had a bet with Atobe.

But Sanada also didn't expect that Atobe would be willing to go to the Singles No. 3 position for this bet; he thought Atobe would at most demote himself to the Singles No. 2 position.

Atobe Keigo is someone who demands everything be flamboyant.

The Singles No. 2 position was already not very flamboyant.

Running to Singles No. 3 was something Sanada absolutely could not have imagined.

But he actually really did it.

The most ironic part is that Atobe specifically came to play Singles No. 3 to avoid running into Takahashi.

Yet he didn't expect that Takahashi had already seen through Atobe's thoughts and was specifically waiting for him at Singles No. 3.

Thinking of the expression on Atobe's face at that time, a smile couldn't help but well up on Sanada's face.

He had known Atobe for so long and had never seen such an ugly look on Atobe's face.

The match against Shitenhoji this time was the same.

Initially, upon hearing that Yukimura Seiichi would play Singles No. 3, Sanada was a bit confused.

After all, for the past two years, Yukimura, as Rikkai's strongest player, had always played in the Singles No. 1 position.

But upon hearing that the opponent was Captain Shiraishi Kuranosuke playing.

Sanada understood the opponent's meaning at once.

Trying to use Shitenhoji's strongest player to face Rikkai University Affiliated Middle School's weakest singles?

This way, the probability of Shitenhoji winning the first victory would be very high.

After all, last year, Rikkai eliminated Shitenhoji in three matches, and Shiraishi, as the Singles No. 1 at the time, didn't even have a chance to play.

Therefore, Rikkai did not have much data on Shiraishi.

If Takahashi had really followed common sense and let Kirihara or Yanagi Renji play Singles No. 3, I'm afraid the win rate for the first match wouldn't have been one hundred percent.

As the strongest school in the Kansai region, Shitenhoji's Captain Shiraishi is a figure not to be underestimated.

But the opponent probably never expected that their strongest player would run into Yukimura.

If Takahashi were not there, Yukimura would be Rikkai's strongest player.

Not to mention the strength of both sides, in terms of strategy and tactics, Takahashi did not lose to the opponent at all.

The opposing Coach is an experienced, calculating adult.

And Takahashi, someone who had just started his first year of middle school, easily cracked the opponent's moves.

It seems that Takahashi is not only highly skilled, but his arrangement of troops and formations is also quite formidable.

However, this is not surprising.

Takahashi usually loves the literary works of the Dragon Kingdom, and Sanada knows well that the literary works of the Dragon Kingdom depict the deceit and trickery on the battlefield vividly and thoroughly, especially "Sun Tzu's Art of War".

Sanada reads it constantly, finding something new every time.

Influenced by the culture of the Dragon Kingdom, plus Takahashi's ability to apply it flexibly, he not only brought the strategies of the battlefield into daily tennis practice, but also brought the strategies of deploying troops on the battlefield into the arrangement of the playing order.

Takahashi Yanichi is truly a rare genius!

Looking at the admiring and respectful gaze cast by Sanada, Takahashi couldn't help but touch his nose.

The facts were not at all what they thought.

Playing in the match was something Yukimura proposed himself.

Yukimura had fallen ill before and missed the entire Kanto Tournament.

Now that his illness had recovered quite a bit, having not played for too long, Yukimura's desire to get on the court and play was already very strong.

And Takahashi, considering that Yukimura had just recovered from a serious illness, only let him play in the Singles No. 3 position; originally, Takahashi felt that this position would not encounter too strong an opponent.

It was just to let Yukimura, who hadn't played for a long time, get familiar with the atmosphere of the match and practice a bit.

He didn't expect that by a mistake, he would crack the opponent's scheme.

On the court, after the coin toss, it was Shiraishi to Serve.

Shiraishi bounced the tennis ball on the ground, then tossed it upward, and when the ball reached the appropriate position, he leaped upward with force and swung his racket fiercely.

"Bang!"

Accompanied by the crisp sound of the ball being struck.

The tennis ball turned into a yellow streak of light and headed toward Yukimura.

……

Takahashi's eyes lit up, and he said:

"Shiraishi's hitting motion is excellent, fast and precise, with no unnecessary movements and no bad habits; it is simply as perfect as if drawn in a textbook."

Behind him, Yanagi Renji took out his data notebook and said: "This is Shiraishi's Bible Tennis. A flawless Perfect Tennis."

Kirihara said: "Perfect? Isn't it a bit much to use 'perfect' to describe Shiraishi!"

Takahashi explained: "Calling him perfect is because his fundamentals are extremely solid."

"Whether it is speed, power, technique, stamina, or Spirit Power, he has no weaknesses in any aspect of his level."

Kirihara said: "Eh? Does Master hold him in such high regard?"

Takahashi said: "Kirihara, this is also his greatest weakness."

"Huh?"

Kirihara was puzzled.

At this moment, on the court.

Taking advantage of the gap left by Shiraishi at the baseline, Yukimura placed a Short Ball at the net.

"0-40!"

"Rikkai University Affiliated Middle School scores!"

……

"Captain Yukimura scores so fast!"

"He took 3 points in just a few minutes."

Kirihara exclaimed.

"This is the biggest problem with Shiraishi that I mentioned."

Takahashi said.

"What do you mean?"

Kirihara asked.

"His abilities in every aspect are very balanced; there are no obvious disadvantages, which is to say, there are no obvious advantages."

"Against players whose skill level is lower than his own, Shiraishi can completely crush his opponents, crushing them in every aspect."

"But if an opponent is surprisingly strong in one particular area and surpasses him, he is in trouble, because he has no advantage in any aspect."

"Especially when encountering an opponent like Yukimura who can crush him in every aspect, he has absolutely no chance of winning."

Takahashi said.

"So that's how it is!"

Kirihara pondered.

"The Captain makes sense; Shiraishi's basic abilities are very strong, but Yukimura's foundation is even stronger than his."

Sanada said.

"So the opposing Coach made a bad move by mistake; Yukimura is simply an enhanced version of Shiraishi."

"Shiraishi is unlucky to have met Yukimura!"

Marui popped the bubble gum in his mouth and said.