Love Game - Season 2011 (29 page)

Wimbledon, Great Britain

“What the hell are you thinking?” Ted stared at Tom in disbelief.
              “I believe it’s the right thing to do,” Tom countered self-assuredly.

              “No, Tom,” Ted yelled. “It’s not. These are peoples’ lives you are playing with. You cannot do this!”

              Tom shook his head in disagreement, however, made a step forward and reached out his hands in reconciliation.

              “I believe that I can change the lives of all of us for the better,” he said calmly to his boyfriend. But his amiable tone just sparked Ted’s fury even more.

              “Are you fucking gay Jesus now? You must be mad. Absolutely mad!”

              With a leap Ted stormed to the bedroom door and pulled it open. He turned around and seeing the fury and disappointment – and maybe sadness – in Ted’s eyes made Tom’s heart slump.

              “When I come back,” Ted said with thin lips, “I want you to be gone.”

              He slipped out and closed the door. Tom sat down on the edge of the bed and sighed. Clearly this had been a terrible idea. He should have never told Ted about his blog and how he had finally come to envision it now. Or maybe the blog was a terrible idea? No, no. He shook his head. He was right. It was a wonderful idea, but he should have known that Ted would disapprove of it. After all, it would affect him, too.

              Tom perhaps should have waited another week before telling Ted. Perhaps only after he had published the first article on his blog and there was no turning back. Ted had been cranky since he had lost in the semifinal yesterday and, of course, the prospect of being forced out of the closet by his own lover could not cheer him up. Annoyed by his own myopia Tom got up and sat down at the desk.

              The screen of his laptop displayed the words he had so proudly read aloud only a couple of minutes ago. He had spent hours polishing and tweaking the text until the words had seemed perfectly right. Now, they seemed merely a black on white proof of his own utopian convictions. Again he went through the arguments he had written down. They were deliberate and well-thought-out. In no way had he pointed out a single player or given any names.

              But he had to admit that his article had the power to make a lot of people uncomfortable. It brought attention to a subject that was handled as a taboo, especially for the male players. Giving a precise and unadorned insight into the hardship and efforts of gay and lesbian players to keep their private life undisturbed by the media might bring exactly the attention they were all so keen to avoid. Tom clenched his teeth and logged onto his blog
30 Love
.

              Remembering how he found the name for his website almost made him cry. Was it over between him and Ted? It looked like Ted was serious. But Tom was serious about this, too. And one day, he hoped, Ted would understand. He pasted the article into the blog and went over it for the last time. It was a good first article and it was only the beginning. He would feed the readers with little tidbits and behind-the-scenes information but would not give any names. Not until he had evidence of each and every gay and lesbian player currently ranked in the Top 20. Once he had gained all the evidence he needed, he would announce the sexual orientation of all the players and make it public with one single blow. It would not be a case of one player being singled out to be tarred and feathered, but instead the media would be completely overwhelmed by the number of players and the players themselves wouldn’t be alone. In the end they would have to stick together and weather the storm side by side.

              It was a congenial idea and he knew it. He also knew he was playing with other people’s lives. Tom looked at his words a last time and then pressed
PUBLISH
.

***

“Why should I do that for you?” Gabriella Galloway looked at her sister and shook her head. “You can do it yourself. You’ve proven you can play good tennis.”

              She and Lulu were sitting on the veranda of the players’ restaurant overlooking the Wimbledon site, both staring into their tea cups.

              “Yes,” mumbled Luella. “But not against Sasha.”

              Gabriella was about to get impatient. Since their dispute last week, after Lulu had lost Gabriella’s match they had not talked about switching matches again. Gaga thought she had made it clear to her sister that this was over.

              Being out of the tournament, Gaga had functioned as Luella’s hitting partner and they had achieved modest success in the doubles competition by reaching the third round. That had been Gaga’s last match in Wimbledon and that was exactly a week ago. Lulu had done well. She had had easy opponents in the early rounds but had managed to oust Tamara Parova in the quarterfinal and Yelena Kovalenko in the semifinal. Against all odds, here she was in her very first Grand Slam final. Even Gaga was impressed by her twin sister. Suddenly it seemed Lulu could put it all together once she could no longer rely on Gabriella stepping in for her.

              Why would she now ask Gabriella to play against Sasha? True, Gaga had the better head to head against the Czech player, but she hadn’t played competitively for one week. This could be a disadvantage.

              “I told you, I wouldn’t play for you again.”

              “Yes, that’s what you told me.”

              Luella poured more and more sugar into her tea cup. By now, the infusion must have become undrinkable.

              “You played really well the whole week. You can do it.”

              Lulu looked up and gave Gaga a little smile.

              “That’s nice of you to say.” Lulu sighed. “I would have preferred Elise though.”

              “I don’t know if Elise would have been the easier task,” Gabriella said thinking about her friend and had to smile a bit. Elise had had an incredible run in Wimbledon. She had become the overnight sensation with the newspapers already forecasting a Grand Slam win with a Wild Card entry. Not only had Elise reached the quarterfinal before falling short against the more experienced Sasha Mrachova, the German had reached the doubles final with Amanda Auster which was played right after the ladies’ singles final. Gabriella smiled, as there were already jokes being told in the locker rooms about Elise and Amanda, that love for sure was a great performance enhancer.

              Luella had been silent for a while, but finally she looked up and opened her mouth.

              “Listen, Gaga,” she said meekly, “I’m sorry about what I said last week. I know I’m not the better player. I know you did a lot more for my ranking than I did for yours. I know I messed up your Wimbledon. Please play for me.”

              Dumbfounded, Gabriella watched her sister. Never before in their lives had Luella been so humble.

              “Why?” Gaga leaned back, still watching her sister. She knew how hard it was for Luella to show her affection.

              “Because I know, that I cannot beat Sasha. She’s in my head,” Luella finally said. Gabriella almost had to laugh. She’s in my head, too, she wanted to tell Lulu. “And because you are my sister and –,” Lulu stumbled. She took a deep breath and then looked up to meet Gabriella’s eyes. “And because I love you a thousand times more than I could ever love Rafael.”

              Gabriella swallowed. She knew Lulu was honest and in this moment she understood how much her sister’s love meant to her. Many thoughts rushed through her head at once. Would Lulu still love her if she revealed her interest in girls? Would she ever be able to do that? Why was the thought of playing against Sasha so intriguing and confusing at the same time? Could she even imagine holding up that trophy?

“Please, play the final for me,” Luella asked again. “Please, play it for us.”

              Pushing all these images away she sat up straight in her chair.
              “Ok, I will do it,” Gabriella said with a clear voice. “I will play the final. For us.”

***

This was clever, Sasha had to admit when she sat down on her chair on Centre Court. Very clever. She had observed the Galloways during the last few days, telling herself that she was not giving in to her previous obsession with the twins but was preparing for the possibility that she had to face Luella Galloway in the final. And now the day had come.

              Here she was in another Grand Slam final and here was the Galloway on the other side of the net, in her very first Grand Slam final. But it wasn’t Luella as the scoreboard suggested. It was Gaga. To be honest, it had surprised her a bit that it wasn’t Luella who played. The loudmouthed Galloway twin had stunned the crowd during the last week and had silenced her critics. She was hitting the ball in terrific fashion the whole week. Why not today? It had to have been their overall plan, Sasha concluded, that Gabriella would go out early in the tournament to save her energy while Luella played the early rounds. Yes, that was clever. While Sasha had battled new wunderkind Elise Renard in three long sets in the quarterfinal and then defeated Tamara Parova in the semifinal, Gabriella was fresh as a wild flower.

              Her superiority in energy and movement showed. Gabriella Galloway had taken a 5 – 2 lead in the first set and would now serve for the set.

              With a well-placed wide serve Gaga forced Sasha to step far out. The Czech managed to get the serve back but it was rigorously punished by the American player.

              “15 – Love.”

              After two lengthy rallies which stunned the crowd and were both decided by pin-point down-the-line winners, Sasha had taken the lead again.

              “15 – 30.”

              But Gabriella would not give up. After Sasha’s forehand return clipped the netcord and fell short into the court, Gabriella sprinted forwards and slammed the ball for a winner. Her next short-angled serve forced Sasha to hit a forehand return outside the lines.

              “40-30.” Gabriella had a set point.

              Most of the players the Czech had beaten in finals were merely playing not to lose when playing against her – and not playing to win. Most of them would have said there was no difference. But Sasha knew that was not true. The harder you fought and the more engrossed you became in the fight the more it hurt if you lost. That was the reason some players didn’t give it their all. But today she had a different opponent. Sasha felt that the young player on the other side of the net was suddenly willing to take the title.

              With a scorching forehand deep into the corner Gabriella decided the game in her favor.

              When Sasha sat down on her chair, she looked up to her box. Jaro was nodding in support, as was her coach. A little to the left sat Gabriella’s entourage. There was the new coach, Rafael, the fitness trainer and several other people. Next to Rafael was the other Galloway twin. Luella, whose name was below Sasha’s own on the scoreboard. She looked pleased.

              Suddenly, an idea struck Sasha. If Gabriella won against her, she would win in her sister’s name. She would win a Grand Slam and would never be able to claim victory for herself. Her achievement, her fight would go unnoticed. It wouldn’t be her name on the trophy, not her name announced and not her name going down in history, but Luella’s, who was sitting calmly in the player’s box. It would be Luella’s name forever engraved in tennis history. Through the umpire’s chair Sasha glanced over to the other player. Why would anyone do this, she wondered? Sharing everything with another person. Your whole life. Your passion. She shook her head. No, she couldn’t do that. Not with a sister nor a partner. She was a lone wolf.

              “Time.”

              Sasha heard the words as if she was under water. Walking back to the baseline to begin the second set she wondered if it was her destiny to stay alone for the rest of her life.

***

The players’ lounge was almost empty on finals’ day. Elise was sitting with her parents at one of the tables near the window and looked out onto the Wimbledon site. Her grass season had been amazing so far. Not only had she won s’Hertogenbosch, the first tournament since she had come back from injury, she had been granted a Wild Card into Wimbledon’s main draw and had reached the quarterfinal in the singles competition. In doubles, she and Amanda would play the final today against their good friends Monica Jordan and Agnes Lion. It was incredible, she contemplated. Sure, she had worked hard in the past months and she had gotten better and better since Indian Wells, but deep down she knew that her recent success was related to the joy she felt every morning she woke up and her first thoughts went straight to the Australian girl who was lying in a bed only two streets away. Her happiness had carried her all the way to the final days of the tournament.

              Hearing Dan Metic’s voice behind her, Elise turned away from the window. Her father greeted Dan and Amanda and the two sat down at the table. Elise gave Amanda a huge smile, however, the Australian only nodded in a friendly way. Due to Elise’s situation they had to keep on pretending they were only a doubles team. Elise bit her lip and glanced at her parents. They hadn’t noticed her smile nor her slight embarrassment which always settled in after she caught herself going gooey-eyed over Amanda. Elise sighed. Amanda was really good at playing this game. They would come out of the locker room after a match to be greeted and congratulated by their teams, and no one could tell by Amanda’s face that only seconds ago they had kissed passionately. Elise herself wasn’t that cool. She always feared that her admiration and desire was evident for everyone to see.

              After the failed attempt to get it on in the shower they had laughed about it, and there was no denying that it made Elise feel better when Amanda told her they had as much time as needed. But since then Amanda had not approached her again and Elise was too shy to come forward with her own desire. Looking over at the redhead at the other end of the table, Elise wondered how willing Amanda was to engage in a relationship with Elise. When she had confessed to Amanda that she was only out to a handful of people she had seen the Australian swallow and had understood that she was asking a lot of her new girlfriend. Even though Amanda kept her private life away from the spotlight she didn’t have to lie about it to her family and her team.