by M. B. Gerard
“I thought so,” she said complacently. “I’ve never seen you here before, so I guessed you worked at the tournament.”
Tom nodded.
“It’s always very busy here during the Family Circle Cup,” the girl continued. “You might even get a chance to pick up a player.”
“Is that what you are here for?” Tom asked with a grin. He liked the self-assured woman. She laughed at the thought shaking her head. No, she was on holidays with her family who lived here, she explained. But she would cover some of the matches on her blog site.
“You write a blog?” Tom loved the idea.
“Yeah, it’s called Urban Skies. Just thoughts and tidbits about my life,” she said with a shrug. “Mostly my love life, I should say. But as I live in New York it’s also about the city. Hence the name.” She gave him a wink.
“You write about your love life?” Tom wondered.
“It’s anonymous,” she laughed. Now, that was interesting, Tom thought. He raised his eyebrows as a thought crossed his mind.
“I’m Melanie, by the way. See, now you know more than most of my readers do.”
Tom also introduced himself and explaining what he did in Charleston they sat down at a table.
“So you do interviews and photo shoots with the players?” Melanie inquired.
Tom nodded.
“Have you done interviews with Monica and Agnes?” she asked. Tom was dumbfounded. He knew most of the players by now, but he had not heard of these two yet. He shook his head.
“Who’s that?” he asked. Now it was Melanie’s turn to look flabbergasted.
“Well, them, of course,” she nodded in the direction of the doubles players. Tom shrugged in embarrassment.
“Sorry, I’m only catching up now with doubles players. They are not my focus, you see,” he explained.
“Doubles my ass,” Melanie snorted. “Monica Jordan and Agnes Lion are legends, dude. They won several single slams in their prime. You really should do your homework.” She shook her head in amazement. “Who employed you for heaven’s sake?”
Tom laughed at the thought that his boss was sitting in the same bar but kept it to himself. He directed the conversation to Melanie’s blog again. An idea had taken hold of him and he needed to know how he could set up his own.
***
The knock on the door made Elise jump up. Smiling she opened the door and let Angela in. They had rooms next to each other and had decided to spend the evening watching a movie and talking doubles tactics. Angela was holding up two bottles grinning mischievously.
“Beer?” Elise was slightly distressed. They had a match tomorrow.
“Amiplörre,” Angela corrected her. “It’s basically water.”
Angela sat down on Elise’s hotel bed while Elise began to take out her DVD collection. She was reading the titles out loud but Angela shook her head. None of the movies seemed to interest her.
“Can I ask you something?” Angela finally said.
Elise nodded without looking up.
“You don’t really like talking about guys, do you?” She looked at Elise who suddenly felt her hands sweating. That question had come out of nowhere. She didn’t dare look up.
“Sure, I do,” Elise answered.
“I was wondering – ,” Angela began with a questioning look, but then stopped.
“What?” Elise could hear her own voice and the panic in it. What was Angela wondering? Hopefully, she only assumed that Elise was simply inexperienced. Elise had the feeling, they all believed she was still a virgin, which was completely embarrassing – and true. But the other thing? They would have never guessed that. No one ever had. Probably Angela wanted to set her up with a male player. That must be it. Elise breathed in deeply and tried to relax. Yes, that must be it. She could handle that. Just say no, she decided.
“What are you wondering,” she asked again, this time more friendly.
Angela shook her head. It looked like she had changed her mind. Elise picked up her DVD box again. She was just about to read out a title again, when Angela opened her mouth.
“Are you into girls?”
Bingo! This was the worst case scenario! Elise was baffled. Staring at her DVD box she was silently reading the DVD title a hundred times over until finally she looked up to meet Angela’s eyes. There was not one reasonable word coming into her mind. She could say yes, of course. But she couldn’t. On the other hand she didn’t want to lie to her friend. She knew she had to say something soon. But she was paralyzed.
“Wow,” Angela finally said reading Elise’s silence correctly. “Who would have thought?”
Well, Angela obviously. Had the other girls been talking about her, Elise wondered. They probably had placed bets on her. She hated the thought that Carina knew about her and probably told others with that look of disgust on her face. But what could she do about it now?
Elise looked at Angela and shrugged in defeat. If they all knew, so be it. Angela was still sitting on the bed holding the two beer bottles but upon seeing Elise’s distress she laughed compassionately.
“Oh, Elise. You know, I’m cool with it, don’t you?”
She slipped from the bed and sat down next to Elise. She looked at her friend until Elise nodded. Yes, Angela seemed fine with it.
“Do the others know?” Elise feared the answer, but Angela shook her head.
“I don’t think so, and I won’t say a word. Come on. Take this.” Angela handed Elise the beer bottle. “Let’s talk girls for a change, alright?”
Elise wasn’t sure she wanted to. What could she say anyway? But Angela had already placed her arm around Elise’s shoulder and clinked their bottles.
“Now, tell me, Miss Renard, what’s your type?”
***
There had been a cake with candles and a flower bouquet from the tournament director. The attempt of a dozen fellow players to sing “Happy Birthday” for Amanda went down in cackles as they switched into their respective native tongues one after another. Besides that, the athletes were horribly unmusical. The cacophony brought fits of laughter to everyone who attended Amanda’s impromptu birthday celebration and it took Amanda’s mind off of the worrisome thoughts she had had all night. Felicia hadn’t called yet but for a short moment the redhead had forgotten about it. Now she sat down on the couch to gather her breath and all her concerns came flooding back to her.
“This cake is a dream,” Monica sighed. She approached Amanda chewing on a mouthful of the strawberry cake. “I just cannot stop.”
“I just hope there will be some left after my match. I only had half a piece,” Amanda said checking her watch. She was scheduled first on center court to play Robyn Lawrence in less than an hour.
“Well, the match should be a piece of cake itself.”
Monica sat down next to Amanda. Robyn was a good player but still no match for Amanda. However, Amanda only shrugged. Monica looked her young friend over, realizing that something had to be wrong. Wasn’t Felicia supposed to be here?
“How’s my little Wiz Kid doing?”
The nickname made Amanda smile. Ever since she was 12 years old she had been called that name. Yet, her Australian fans seemed to fancy calling her “Oister” for obvious reasons. She didn’t like it. She still preferred “Wiz Kid”. Before she could give Monica an answer her phone rang. She looked at the display and – as if a light bulb had been switched on – she had to smile. Giving Monica a little sign that she would be back in a second she got up and hurried outside to take the call.
“Happy, happy Birthday, baby,” Felicia was singing as soon as Amanda had answered the call. It was actually the first time Amanda heard her sing apart from the records she had bought eventually even though the music was not her taste. She had a lovely voice, Amanda thought. Suddenly she felt all better.
“When will you arrive,” Amanda asked after the serenade. She checked her watch again. Only forty minutes left. She needed to get ready but first she wanted to know if Felicia fin
ally had ended the charade with Ted Curry.
“Darling, I hate to tell you, especially since it’s your Birthday today, but I won’t be able to come.”
Amanda felt her heart slump.
“Why?” she asked weakly.
“You know I talked to Ted yesterday. Apparently, there are rumors about you and me, Amanda. We cannot have that.”
Amanda was confused. We? Of course, she didn’t like rumors, but most rumors would die on their own. She knew that from experience.
“Where did these rumors originate?” she demanded to know.
“Well, all the players seem to know,” Felicia explained.
“But that’s alright.” Amanda laughed in relief. “Nobody will say a word. That’s just a rule, you see. You don’t have to worry.”
“But I do,” Felicia said impatiently. “And Ted is also concerned. So, we have decided that I won’t see you for a while.”
The sudden realization that ‘we’ included Felicia and Ted instead of Amanda felt like a punch in Amanda’s stomach.
“That’s not how I envision a relationship,” she said with a tight voice. She could hear Felicia exhale in surprise, followed by a long silence.
“Amanda, I’m sorry,” Felicia finally said. “You see, I’m flying around the world, you’re flying around the world. I’m afraid there was a misunderstanding. I’m really sorry. Take care.” Before Amanda could say something she had hung up. Not bothering to go back into the players’ lounge Amanda sluggishly headed to the locker rooms.
***
Lynn Pepplestone had looked forward to this second round match. She liked Amanda’s game and enjoyed umpiring at her matches, even though she remained neutral in behavior and tone.
“Love – 40,” she said into the microphone.
She wished she could have said something different, but there were the facts right in front of her. Robyn Lawrence had three break points on Amanda Auster’s serve.
Amanda went over to the other side of the baseline and accepted two balls from the ball girl behind her. One she tucked underneath her skirt, the other she let bounce a couple of times. Then she tensed her muscles and tossed the ball high in the air. Too high. She wouldn’t be able to hit it in her usual rhythm so she let it fall back to the ground and started anew.
Lynn Pebblestone kept a straight face but she was amazed. One thing that was reliable in Amanda’s game was her serve. She could serve like a machine. Her ball toss was never too high. At least Lynn couldn’t recall any match where her serve was unreliable and this was already the third time in this match she had to start her serve again. Lynn followed the ball over the net. It kicked up high and Robyn Lawrence struggled to get it back, but she did. Her return landed directly in Amanda’s strike zone. The red-haired player stepped back with her right foot ready to smack the ball with her impeccable forehand. The loud crack when the ball hit the racquet frame produced a murmur of disappointment in the audience as they saw the ball flying high into the air and wide into the stands. Robyn had broken Amanda to love and was now leading 5-1.
That was incredible, Lynn thought. Amanda was an excellent clay court player while Robyn had grown up playing on hard courts and grass mostly. There was no doubt that Amanda should win this match easily. Besides that, she was the defending champion. But it was not so much the British youngster’s effort but Amanda’s lack of performance that had put her in this position. Robyn’s service game went to Deuce. Lynn could tell that Amanda tried to get into the match but also Robyn had made up her mind. She sensed there was a chance to advance to the next round and claim a victory over a Top 10 player. She pulled herself together, managed to get an AD point and served out the game and the set.
During the break Lynn glanced into the stands. The crowd was taking their seats and Lynn liked the look of excitement on their faces. Sometimes she spotted celebrities or actors at the matches, but that happened usually at the Grand Slams. There were players though. She had already made out Monica Jordan in the block reserved for officials and players, as well as Amanda’s friend Natsumi Takashima, who was sitting next to Monica. Checking her watch she advised the crowd to take their seats quickly.
“Time,” Lynn said. Both players got up and walked to the service line.
Lynn checked back on the crowd. There was still someone squeezing through the rows to an unoccupied seat in the upper half of the stands. It was Elise Renard. Lynn looked at Amanda to see if she had noticed Elise’s arrival, but the Australian player remained stone-faced and began serving. Once in a while Lynn glanced up to Elise but with every time Amanda got broken Elise looked more sad and confused. Before Robyn Lawrence converted her match point, Elise had left the stadium.
***
There were the facts. Right before her eyes. She had written them down and now looked them over and over again. Sasha knew she was right, but she couldn’t believe it. This was just too incredible, too daring to be true. She looked up from the little black note book she had filled with her scribbling over the last five days and glanced through the bushes onto the court in front of her. Luella and Gabriella had been hitting balls for the last thirty minutes. Their coach was giving them instructions once in a while. Everything looked normal, but Sasha knew it wasn’t.
It wasn’t just the incident with Gabriella in the locker room that had confused her. Sure, the behavior had been surprising, but sometimes a loss made you cranky and afterwards you pretended to have forgotten about your outbursts. Sasha could understand that. But what was more striking was Gabriella’s playing style. They had faced each other in the quarterfinal of the Australian Open and Sasha had won the encounter in three sets after Gabriella had two match points. But she got tight and in the end lost track of first her game and then the match. In the end it had been easy to win against the more inexperienced player.
Only a few weeks later they played again in the final of Indian Wells. Knowing Gabriella’s game style Sasha went into the match with a clear plan. She would basically play like she had in the Australian Open quarterfinal. But in Indian Wells Gabriella was returning well. She hit winners with her backhand and her forehand and her service percentage looked great. Before Sasha could adjust to her opponents new-found wit and energy she had lost the first set.
The second set wasn’t better from her point of view. Gaga held her service games and had forced Sasha to come to the net where she had never felt comfortable. Even the baseline rallies went Gabriella’s way. In the end Sasha was able to fight her way back into the match and gave it all she could but was still outplayed by the younger player. Her opponent’s drastic change in game style and spirit however had taken her by surprise. And now, Sasha was sure she knew why.
During the whole last week in Miami she had observed the Galloway twins. Not only their practice sessions but also their matches whenever possible. It was hard to tell them apart. Even the commentators had problems during their doubles matches. But with time Sasha had spotted the little differences that made out their characters. Little tics and gestures they couldn’t unlearn.
During one of the matches a lightbulb went on. She understood that while she had indeed played Gabriella in the Indian Wells final it had in fact been Luella in the Australian Open quarterfinal, even though the score board showed Gabriella Galloway’s name. The twins were switching matches.
So it had been Luella who had been unfriendly in the locker room and had been clueless about the Tennis Nurse novels? While it was Gaga in the bathroom talking to Elise? This seemed to make much more sense now. Sometimes it was Luella playing for Gabriella, sometimes the other way round. Sasha was intrigued. That was just as risky as what she was doing with Jaro. She liked it. She also loved the fact that she knew about it.
Stuttgart, Germany
Lying in her hotel room bed, Elise stared at the ceiling. The alarm bell had woken her fifteen minutes ago and she had gotten up immediately to open the window and let in the cool morning air before retreating again to the warm cavity of the blanket.
It was a new day, and Elise knew that it could only be a good day. Stuttgart had been a great tournament so far. Due to her injury last year she had missed the tournament and had no points to defend. Without the pressure she had made the third round in singles where she was defeated by Tamara Parova, a feisty and dangerous player. Even though the loss had hurt for a moment she knew that it was a good result and she could build on it. Still struggling in the Australian tournaments she had become better and more confident step by step and now she was sure that one day she could get her old ranking back, perhaps even finish the year in the Top 50 again.
Even though she had lost the quarterfinal she was still in the tournament. Like in Charleston she was playing doubles again and today was semifinals day. Cheered by the German fans her doubles team had been unexpectedly successful. Today they could even make it to the final.
Feeling the warmth of her own body underneath the sheets Elise thought back a week, when Agnes had taken her out to dinner with Candice and Monica. Even though she felt it looked a bit weird to hang out with people who were that much older than her she felt comfortable with them. So much had happened in only a few weeks after she had talked to Agnes in the little café in Indian Wells. The fact that her friend Angela knew about her now and couldn’t care less about Elise’s preferences gave her a new confidence. How relaxing it was that she didn’t have to pretend anymore when she was around Angela. She could even handle Stephanie’s teasing much better, countering with a joke once, which she felt had gained her Stephanie’s respect.
Elise closed her eyes one last time before she had to get up. Her team would play against favorites Martina Rodriguez and Antonia Sapore and could face Stephanie and Angela tomorrow in the final if they won today. Her team. Elise bit her lip thinking about it.