Love Game - Season 2011 (32 page)

              Elise nodded conspiratorially. Suddenly having a partner in crime Gabriella felt lighter and fresh. And when her sister called her over to continue practice she jumped up, gave Elise a low-five and sprinted to the baseline. There was a world outside of the Galloway Twins’ universe and it was time for Gaga to give it a try.

***

Tom looked terrible and he knew it. Since he had landed in California he had gotten a tan, but now that he looked into the mirror his skin seemed oddly pale and under his eyes were dark rings. He wasn’t sleeping well, dreaming of Ted sometimes or lying awake because he was afraid of dreaming of Ted but nonetheless thinking about the Brit.

              He hadn’t spoken to Ted since that fateful morning in Wimbledon, when he had told him about his idea for
30 Love
. Ted had not replied to his e-mails nor had he answered any of his calls. It was over between them and Tom had to accept that it was due to his idea of forcing all the players out of the closet. He wondered if Ted had talked about Tom’s plan to his friends on the tour and if they planned to do something about it. For the first time this year he feared the moment the WTA and ATP would join each other again for a tournament. He didn’t want to know what would happen if he met Ted by accident.

              He gave his cheeks a little rub and then rushed out of the hotel to the tournament site. He had an appointment with Candice Crantz, his boss.

              “Sit down, Tom,” Candice smiled, when he entered her little office. He could tell that she and some other people had noticed the change in his demeanor and looks and he knew that they were a bit worried about him.

              “How are you?” Candice sat herself down in her office chair and gave Tom a close inspection.

              “Fine,” he answered. “Wonderful.”

              “You don’t look fine. Nor wonderful, to be honest,” she said. “Is something bothering you?”

              Tom sighed. He really wanted to keep this whole story to himself, but on the other hand longed to talk to someone. Since he had kept the relationship with Ted a secret there was hardly anyone he could trust to talk to about the break-up. But Candice was herself in a relationship with a player, Agnes Lion. He looked up at his boss.

              “I had a relationship with one of the players,” he blurted out.

              Candice grabbed the armrest and rolled forward with her office chair.

              “Oh, dear,” she said leaning on her desk. “Who is it?”

              “I don’t think it wise to tell. Besides, it’s over now,” Tom shrugged, as if it didn’t bother him at all.

              “Well, I think I can't blame any girl who falls for you,” Candice grinned. Raising an eye-brow, Tom slowly shook his head.

              “Not a girl, Candice,” he gravely said.

              Now it was Candice’s turn to lift her eye-brow.

              “An ATP player?”

              Tom nodded. He could see from Candice’s surprised look that she had had no clue that he was gay. Suddenly, she laughed.

              “And I was worried you’d break all the girls’ hearts.”

              “No,” he grinned. “I leave that to you.”

              He gave his boss a little mischievous wink and then joined in on the laughing. He realized that it was the first time since he had arrived four days ago. It felt great.

              “I see you did your homework,” Candice said with a smile. “But I can assure you, no heartbreak for me anymore. I’ve been with Agnes for six years now and I have no intention of changing that.” She leaned back in her chair.

              “There’s actually something else I wanted to talk about,” she continued. “We plan to promote the doubles players a bit more. Of course, not as much as the singles players but just to show the variety of the game and make it more popular among the fans.”

              “Sure,” Tom nodded, waiting for his assignment.

              “I want you to do some interviews and photo shoots. Maybe a video. Make it look fun,” Candice explained. “I have to say I’m even more glad I chose you for this job, now that I know that you will understand that some doubles partnerships have a deeper foundation than others and that a relationship between two players must not be addressed, of course.”

              Tom swallowed thinking about his blog. He managed to give Candice a little smile.

              “Yes, of course.”

***

Throwing her racquet bag onto the floor, Amanda let out a quiet sob and sat down on her hotel room bed. She covered her eyes with her hands and let her head sink onto her knees. That was it, she thought. She had seen it coming. Yes, she’d known it all along since she had lost that third round match at Roland Garros. But here she was facing the facts.

              Her cell phone buzzed and with a glance she saw that Elise had sent her a message:
Want to talk?
No, she didn’t want to talk to Elise. Not now.

              Only an hour ago it seemed she could hold up and might win the match, but Ivana Katina had braced herself and in the end she had broken Amanda to gain the lead in the second set, held for 5-3 and had broken Amanda again to win the match. She was a much younger and more inexperienced player than the Australian but it seemed Amanda wasn’t able to awe the young players any longer. No wonder, when she hit the ball like a recreational player.

              “Crap,” she shouted. It really was. Losing in the second round in Stanford meant that she was out of the Top 10 for the first time in two years. She had kept a straight face during her press conference but she felt the doubts and the murmurs that had been uttered by her critics for the past month creeping in on her and finally clasping her heart like a cold, wet towel. Maybe she wasn’t a Top 10 player at all. Maybe she had only been lucky the past few years. Instead of winning trophies, she was losing in early rounds. Her performances in Paris and Wimbledon had already taken her ranking down a peg. But having been a quarterfinalist in Stanford last year, her early exit now had taken her out of the Top 10 altogether.

              After calming down she slowly got up and walked to the bathroom to wipe her nose. When she flushed the paper down the toilet she heard a knock on the door. Amanda sighed. She should have answered Elise’s message. Now she had to face her new girlfriend and she didn’t want to in a moment of defeat. Unlike Amanda, Elise was thriving in Stanford, having beaten both of her opponents so far in straight sets and couldn’t be happier. Not exactly what Amanda needed right now.

              Again, there was a knock. Amanda checked her eyes in the mirror but had to accept the fact that she looked puffy and dreadful. So be it, she thought. Why shouldn’t Elise see her beaten and knocked out? Wouldn’t be the last time probably, so the German better get used to the fact that her new Australian girlfriend was a loser who couldn’t hit the ball into court. And if the new Wimbledon quarterfinalist superstar couldn’t take it, they had better end it right now. Angrily, Amanda sniffed and walked over to open the door.

              “Hello, babe,” Natsumi grinned through the door. “Heard you are now able to join me in binge drinking this little bottle.” She waved a huge bottle of saké in front of Amanda’s nose. Despite her sullenness Amanda couldn’t help grinning. She let her Japanese friend in. Natsumi gave her a little kiss on the cheek, settled down in a chair and opened her bag to produce a fine array of sushi rolls.

              After gorging the food and half of the saké bottle, Amanda felt better.

              “How are you and Elise?” Natsumi leaned back taking a sip from her glass.

              “Ok, I guess,” Amanda answered.

              Feeling that her reply lacked the required newly-in-love enthusiasm she explained, “It’s all good. Really. I just don’t like the situation we are in. It’s weird to talk to Elise’s parents knowing that they have no idea what I do to their little daughter at night.”

              “Details please,” Natsumi demanded but Amanda shook her head.

              “Is she good?” the Japanese girl inquired with a grin and Amanda finally nodded. Yes, the sex was much better than she had anticipated, after learning that Elise was completely inexperienced.

              “She’s very ambitious,” Amanda explained. “On the court and off the court.”

              “Keep her,” Natsumi said. Even though she had winked at Amanda there was a serious tone in her voice. Amanda smiled at the Japanese. There was probably no one on the tour who knew Amanda better than her former lover and now best friend.

              “I’ll try,” Amanda said. Natsumi nodded but then took a look at her watch and decided that it was time to leave.

              “Yes, I’ll try,” Amanda repeated, while walking Natsumi to the door. But her whole life had turned out to be one frustrating repetition of trial-and-error, clearly visible right now whenever Amanda stepped onto the court. She closed the door behind Natsumi and felt the tears creeping back into her eyes. With her head soaked in Japanese wine, the doubts were closing in even more now and Amanda was wondering if Elise would keep
her
in the long run or if she would get bored with Amanda when she finally was able to overtake her. Perhaps Elise didn’t love her after all. Perhaps this was just the younger player’s way of getting a taste of success while playing it safe by not telling her parents. It was only a matter of time until Elise would make the Top 10. And then she would dump Amanda.

***

Gabriella hurried into the hotel lobby. Looking around, she saw Elise sitting in her chair and checking her cell phone. The German looked worried and flinched in surprise when Gabriella poked her in the back.

              “Are you texting Amanda?” Gaga grinned at her trying to glimpse over Elise’s shoulder to see the cell phone’s display.

              “No, just waiting for her reply actually,” Elise explained. Apparently she was wondering if she should text her Australian girlfriend again or even call her. “She lost her match today.”

              “Yes, I heard about it,” Gabriella frowned. “Sorry about that.” She understood that is was not only a match lost but also Amanda’s Top 10 ranking, which would hurt even more.

              “She will have better days,” Elise mumbled.

              Gabriella sensed that Elise was not only gloomy because her girlfriend had lost an important match but because Amanda hadn’t bothered talking to Elise about it.

              “Come on,” she grabbed Elise good-humoredly by the shoulders and pushed her through the door of the restaurant that was next to the hotel lobby. At a table in the back Morgana had already unpacked her huge bag of
Tennis Nurse
novels. Gaga and Elise sat down and looking over the titles grinned like Cheshire cats.

              “May I borrow this one,” Elise asked excitedly, holding up an edition of
Tennis Nurse and The Wiz Kid of Oz
. Morgana looked up from sorting the novels by publishing date. She paused for a moment.

              “
Qui, qui
. This one is ok,” she nodded. “I just need to make sure that I keep all the books published before 1999 for my research.”

              “Research?” Gaga wondered while looking through the treasure heap.

              “
Mais qui
. You see, in the novels from 1997 to 1999 there is a group of eight players who play Task Tennis,” Morgana replied impatiently while Gaga and Elise gave each other questioning looks. Task Tennis? They both had only read newly published
Tennis Nurse
novels.

              “But it is not really explained what Task Tennis is,” Morgana continued her lecture. “I’ve asked around and no one seems to know about this game. The reader is made to believe that it is some sort of secret training method. But it was not.” Elise giggled at seeing Morgana all excited.

              “When I was in Brighton I found out that this group really existed,” Morgana opened her eyes in triumph.

              “Brighton?” Now Elise and Gaga cracked up laughing. “When did you go to Brighton?”

              “During Eastbourne,” Morgana said matter-of-factly. “With Sasha. She was supposed to help me, but she let me down.”

              “Sasha?” Elise and Gaga said simultaneously, then looked at each other awkwardly. Even though Gabriella was glad to have Elise as a new friend, she avoided talking about Sasha as she knew that Elise didn’t like the Czech. But she didn’t know why and was reluctant to ask Elise. Even Morgana seemed to sense the uneasy shift in their conversation. She quickly went on with her explanation.

              “Well, anyway,” Morgana said. “I went to that address again after Sasha got drunk in that bar, and thought I might look in one of the windows.
Quelle surprise!
There was Monica Jordan with another woman. I couldn’t see the woman’s face as she was sitting with her back to me. They were drinking tea in the living room, which was brightly lit so I could see the walls. Books, books, books. And a whole shelf of
Tennis Nurse
novels.”

              Elise and Gaga looked at the French player in amazement. This was the most hilarious story Gabriella had ever heard. Sasha drunk? This could not be true. Morgana must have made that up or had lost her mind. Everyone knew that Morgana was a bookworm, she was highly intelligent and well-read. But this was incredible.

              “Didn’t you talk to them?” Elise gave Morgana a questioning look.

              “
Mais non
,” Morgana replied. “But when they walked out of the room I pushed up the window a little bit and stuck my head in to get a better look. Right under the window was a writing desk with papers.” She shifted in her chair a little uneasily.

              ”I didn’t want to steal it, you have to believe me,” Morgana shrugged. “I just grabbed some of the papers to have a quick look. So I was sitting there under the window going through the papers when suddenly I heard them coming back and I had to duck. They locked the window from inside.”