Chapter 558: The Beauty of the Tennis World
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
For the first time in many years, Dai Li saw Herheim. They were at a famous hotel in London.
“Ready for your speech?” Helheim asked with a smile.
“Whether I actually win remains to be seen.” Dai Li shook his head.
“I think you’re absolutely going to win Best Coach. Steve and Henry didn’t come to London, which basically means they gave up.” Helheim paused before saying, “As for me, I don’t think I am going to win. I cannot even be regarded as a coach in the strictest sense of the word. When I was a driver, I won the Laureus Best Male Athlete Award two years in a row. They won’t give me Best Coach on top of that.”
“I remember seeing the Laureus trophy when I visited your home,” Dai Li said casually.
“I came to London because I was bored and wanted to find something to do. I also wanted to see some old friends.” Helheim put down the knife and fork in his hand and said, “As you know, ever since I recovered my family no longer allows me to go skiing. Winter without skiing is really boring.”
Dai Li smiled understandingly. When Helheim injured his head skiing, he had almost entered a vegetative state. Therefore, ever since Helheim recovered, he was not allowed to ski.
Dai Li continued, “Don’t forget that there is also Muhammad. The Afghan cricket team is indeed very inspirational. They were able to achieve incredible things even though being surrounded by death and destruction.”
“It is still only cricket.” Helheim shook his head. “Cricket is a British sport, so it is only played in Britain and ex-British colonies. It can’t really be counted as a global sport. Track and field is different. The influence of track and field has a much wider scope. This is the first Best Coach Award, so Laureus judges must choose a coach of a globally influential sport to win. Track and field and football are the most reasonable. As for the cricket team in Afghanistan, I think the committee may give them the Sportsmans.h.i.+p Award. ”
“Track and field and football. So my biggest compet.i.tor is the coach of the Portuguese football team, Fernando?” Dai Li asked.
Helheim nodded, “Yes, this is the first time in history that Portugal won the European Cup. It is indeed a remarkable achievement. There are many people applauding Coach Fernando in Europe. Still, I think that you have a better case than him. Although football is the world’s sport, the European Cup is only a European event. The Olympic Games is a worldwide sporting event. A continental sports event and an international sports event can’t be compared. If I were a judge, I would definitely vote for you.”
…
The Laureus Sports Awards were the world’s most prestigious sports awards. Not only did the Mayor of London personally attend, but the British Prince and the British Prime Minister attended the award ceremony as well.
“The Best Coach Award goes to…” The host deliberately stretched out this last word. He looked at the small card in his hand and then said, “Dai Li!”
The cameras immediately pointed at Dai Li. Dai Li smiled and stood up. He went on stage and took the trophy from the hands of the guest presenter. He then made a speech.
This result was not unexpected. As Helheim had said, Dai Li had had a stronger case for winning the award. Cricket was far less important on a global-scale than track and field. Although being the European Cup champion was incredible for Portugal, it was not an international event, so it was outweighed by the Olympics.
After the awards ceremony, the organizers held a reception and the winners and guests gathered together. This was a traditional Western way of socializing.
During this period, people kept coming up and congratulating Dai Li. Although Dai Li didn’t usually socialize in this way, he gradually adapted.
“Coach Li, congratulations!” A voice rang from behind Dai Li. It was another person who had come over to congratulate Dai Li.
Dai Li politely picked up his wine-gla.s.s and turned around. The young man he saw looked vaguely familiar.
Dai Li thought for a second and immediately remembered the ident.i.ty of the other party.
“Thank you, Mr. Brown,” Dai Li responded with a smile.
This man was the British athlete Tell Brown, the world champion and the king of triathlons. He was the brother of Hansen Brown, who was currently training at Dai Li’s training center. Hansen’s goal was to defeat his brother Tell.
Dai Li and Tell Brown had not met before, so they had never spoken to each other. It was because Tell Brown was a well-known athlete that Dai Li was able to recognize him. Hansen Brown training at Dai Li’s center also made Li more conscious of what his brother looked like.
The two brothers look quite alike. Dai Li subconsciously launched a detection on Tell Brown and it was as he had predicted. Tell had an S+ talent level of 966. Sure enough, this was the level needed for someone to absolutely dominate a sport.
At this moment, Dai Li felt some sympathy for Hansen Brown who was training at his center. Hansen very much hoped to surpa.s.s his brother and he was training very hard. Now, it seemed that there wasn’t much possibility of doing so.
Hansen was only an A+ talent and his brother was an S+ talent. Moreover, Tell’s ability value also indicated that he was now in his prime. Having an ability value of 966 indicated that the effects of Tell’s usual training were also excellent. Even if Hansen trained at Dai Li’s center, it was impossible for him to surpa.s.s his brother.
With this kind of gap, the only way for Hansen to beat his brother was for him to race excellently and his brother to make a lot of mistakes. As long as Tell used is full potential, even if Hansen played extremely well, Hansen would not be able to win the game.
Tell Brown asked, “Coach Li, my brother Hansen is training at your fitness training center. Is he doing okay?”
“Hansen is doing very well. He has improved,” Dai Li said diplomatically. He did not want to disclose too much information.
Tell seemed to hesitate for a second before asking, “Coach Li, did Hansen mention anything about me?”
“I’m not sure. What do you mean?” Dai Li answered.
“Does he talk about how he wants to beat me?” Tell replied.
Dai Li thought about it and nodded, “Yes, he did mention it.”
“That’s what I thought. I knew when he no longer wanted to train with me it meant that he wanted to beat me.” Tell shook his head helplessly, but a bitter smile spread across his face.
“Mr. Brown, it seems that you know your brother very well,” Dai Li said.
“I’ve always known that he wanted to beat me. He always wants to outdo me. Hansen was always eager to excel, even as a child. Back then, he wanted more praise from our parents. After becoming an athlete, he always wanted to do better in training than me. In compet.i.tions, he also wanted to beat me.” Tell seemed to be talking to himself but, at the same time, also talking to Dai Li
“It is true that Hansen is working hard. But to be honest, after seeing you, I think that Hansen may not be able to beat you in a race. Hansen is very talented at running triathlons, but you are even more talented,” Dai Li said.
When he heard of Dai Li’s evaluation, surprise flashed through Tell’s eyes.
“Actually, I am also very compet.i.tive. I like to get first place. I just don’t want to beat my brother to get it. I don’t want to compete with him. It will make our relations.h.i.+p awkward,” Tell said.
“I have trained many world champions, and they are all eager to excel,” Dai Li replied with a smile. He then lowered his voice and then said, “Mr. Brown, I have a question. Have you thought about letting your brother win once?”
“I have certainly thought about it, but I can’t do that.” Tell shook his head.
“In the spirit of fair play or because you want to keep all the glory?” Dai Li asked in a whisper.
“Neither,” said Tell. “I don’t want to hurt Hansen’s pride. He is a very prideful person. If he knew that I deliberately let him win, he would blame me. He may think that I was treating him like a charity case. The relations.h.i.+p between us brothers would get even worse. So Coach Li, I really hope that you can help Hansen achieve a breakthrough and beat me. Our relations.h.i.+p would definitely get easier. At least he would not go to the United States to avoid me.”
Dai Li nodded. He could feel that the Brown Brothers had a relations.h.i.+p that was compet.i.tive, affectionate, and some other things that couldn’t be said. It was far more complicated than what was on the surface.
…
Tell Brown had just left with a wine gla.s.s. A brown-haired girl strolled over leisurely. She was about 1.8 meters tall and she wore a diamond-encrusted black evening gown. The upper part of the dress had straps and revealed her cleavage, the lower part of the dress had a split that revealed a pair of long legs. It was an attractive look.
It’s Helen Pepe. Dai Li immediately recognized this person.
Helen Pepe was an Italian tennis player. She had the nickname “Tennis Elf.” It was easy to guess from this nickname that she was beautiful. In fact, Helen Pepe was regarded as the “the beauty of the tennis world.” She had a body with perfect proportions, and she was also the darling of the catwalk runway. Many fas.h.i.+on weeks invited her to walk The appearance fees they gave her was more what they gave supermodels.
In tennis, Helen Pepe was one of the best in the world. So far, she had won three Grand Slam t.i.tles and dozens of other world champions.h.i.+ps.
Helen Pepe was the kind of person who could obviously rely on her looks to make a living but instead chose to rely on her own strength.
After Helen Pepe expressed her congratulations to Dai Li, she asked, “Coach Li, I heard that you were very proficient in rehabilitation training?”
“Miss Pepe, how did you know?” Dai Li asked with a slight surprise.
Those who had come to congratulate Dai Li before all talked about his physical training centers. Everyone knew that Dai Li had a large-scale physical training center in the United States. It was like a golden hen in that it brought in a considerable income to Dai Li every year. The radiance of the training center masked Dai Li’s personal ability, so few people mention Dai Li’s coaching ability. None of them talked about his rehabilitation ability.
“It was the car king who told me,” Pepe glanced in the direction of Helheim.
“Helheim,” Dai Li smiled helplessly. He then nodded, “It is true. I am really good at rehabilitation training. When I first started my business, a large part of it was paid for with Helheim’s treatment fees.”
“A few days ago, at the Australian Open, I had to withdraw due to an injury. The injury has recently gotten better, but my body has not returned to its previous level. I would like to ask the great Coach Li to help with my rehabilitation training. Coach Li, when I go to find you, you have to give me a discount!” Pepe said as she gave him a wink.
Pepe’s wink suddenly left Dai Li slightly unsettled.
Beauty was indeed a very useful weapon. In the face of this “Tennis Elf’s” request, no man could refuse. Dai Li was as straight as one could be, so Dai Li nodded immediately.
“No problem, it would be my pleasure to be able to receive such a beautiful customer as Miss Pepe. I can give you a 50% discount. That is already the net cost.”
After Dai Li finished, he detected Pepe’s situation and went on to say, “The calf muscle strain in your calf is not serious. I estimate that one month of rehabilitation, plus a half-month rest will completely heal it. However, the hip injury is somewhat complicated. The long-term strain causes the inflammation to act up frequently. If you want to cure it completely, it will take at least half a year of rehabilitation training. This might affect your partic.i.p.ation in Wimbledon.”
After listening to Dai Li, Pepe’s face looked panicked.
“How did you know about the hip injury?”