Love Game - Season 2011 (33 page)

              By now, Gaga and Elise were looking at each other with open mouths.

              “I couldn’t do anything, even if I wanted to put them back in place.” Morgana had spread out her arms in a helpless gesture. “So I had to take the papers with me.”

              “Was there anything interesting in them for your research?” Gaga snickered, even though Morgana gave her an annoyed look.

              “Yes, there was.” She pulled out a sheet of paper from her bag. “The rules for Task Tennis. Written down by one of the real players herself. Now I only need to analyze the handwriting to find out who is behind the original group of eight players. I’ve already started to collect the autographs of all the players active in those years.”

              “You do know that you are a bit peculiar, Morgana?” Elise said carefully.

              “Yes, I know,” Morgana shrugged. “But it’s ok to be different. Nothing wrong with that.”

              Gaga and Elise looked at each other from the corner of their eyes and Gabriella wondered if the French woman knew what her words meant to both of the younger players.

***

“It will be Renard,” Sasha’s coach said over the phone. “You’re going to play Elise Renard in the next round.”

              Interesting, Sasha thought. She had just finished her press conference after her victorious afternoon match and was heading back to the hotel. A rematch of their Wimbledon quarterfinal. It wouldn’t be an easy round at all but the anticipated difficulty of the face-to-face increased her determination even more.

              Sasha got into one of the tournament cars, and cruising through the town she looked back on the past weeks and smiled to herself. Eastbourne and more precisely the fiasco of Brighton seemed far behind, now. From time to time she couldn’t but come across Anastasia, the umpire she had spent the night with in Eastbourne, or Morgana on her way to practice but neither the French player nor Anastasia Stea had insisted on furthering the relationship. The Brighton incident was almost like a big grey cloud over the British sky vanishing with every ball she hit. In addition, Wimbledon had been a great experience and reaching a Grand Slam final after months of hard work had instilled the thought in Sasha that she indeed could get back to the very top. She could even say she had enjoyed her time with Jaro. Dutifully he had attended her matches in London and being an athlete himself understood her determination and uncompromising will to win. Jaro was a nice guy. She had grown to like him. She had almost scared him the day they had said good-bye in Wimbledon as she had thrown her arms around him. There were no journalists around in the early morning at Heathrow and no need to put on a show. She had felt truly sorry to leave him as he had turned out to be sympathetic guy with great patience. For several nights he had listened without complaining when she had told him the Brighton story – at least those parts she was able to remember. When she thought about it they were very similar in a lot of ways and now she wouldn’t even be lying if she said she had spent the night with him. A good match, she thought with a grin.

              The car arrived in front of the hotel and in a good mood Sasha climbed out and shouldered her racquet bag.

              The most important thing was tennis again and her climbing up the rankings after Wimbledon had pushed her mood through the ceiling. She was back on track at last, meaning she was back in the Top 10. Her next goal was the Top 5, where the air got thin and the peak was within reach. Being back in the Top 5 was one thing but what Sasha really wanted was to get the No. 1 spot back. She was willing more than ever to work hard for it. It had hurt for a moment that she hadn’t won Wimbledon but then she had accepted the lost match and moved on. She had lost to a tough opponent. Gabriella Galloway.

              Now that Sasha thought about it, she felt great about her runner-up trophy. Much better than what Gabriella had to deal with. No, Sasha wouldn’t mourn over a Grand Slam which wasn’t hers. Gabriella could tell her a thing or two about it. She could imagine that it was no fun for the American to win her first Grand Slam final only to know that it was her sister’s name in the history books.

              Tennis wasn’t just about the number of trophies you had but it certainly was very pleasing to see your own name on a shiny silver plate. Seeing her name on a runner-up trophy – the first in two years – Sasha was proud of the evolution of her game, and the progress she had made. She had made huge strides and had silenced her doubters with a magnificent summer reaching the final in Rome and the quarterfinal in Paris. With her success in Wimbledon she was suddenly a heavy favorite for the U.S. Open series. She deserved it. Everyone had to acknowledge that her comeback was well-earned. Every day she spent a huge amount of time on court and dedicated most of her time off to discussing tactics with her coach or at the gym working on her fitness. Once in a while she allowed herself to think about Gabriella and Luella and the confusion the twins had temporarily brought to her mindset.

              But being an athlete and determined to be the best meant making sacrifices. The idle days were over. She would have plenty of time for friends and more when she retired. For the moment, it had to be all about tennis. No time for trips to the countryside with Morgana to hunt down the author of
Tennis Nurse
, no time to follow the Galloways around.

              Entering the hotel, Sasha was sporting a big grin, but then stopped dead in her tracks. Speak of the devil! There was one of the Galloways with Morgana and Elise right before her in the hotel lobby. Sasha was puzzled by the coincidence and seeing these three together, but then quickly went to the elevator.

***

“Ok, what’s new?” Gemma Heffington sat down heavily in the plastic chair that was placed courtside. Her arms were dangling at each side and she looked like she couldn’t hold a racquet for another second. Ivana Katina had come from the court next to Gemma’s and sat down on her chair with her back to Gemma. She looked over her shoulder and addressed the British player.

              “Are Amanda and Felicia still an item?” she murmured. “Felicia wasn’t around in Wimbledon, was she?”

              “Yes, she was,” Gemma sat up and turned around. “She was with Ted. I saw her in the first week but not at the courts but in London at a dinner with the British players.”

              “What is going on with them? Is this a threesome?” Ivana nodded her head in delight. What better way to head into the US season than by feeding the rumor mill?

              “No, definitely not for Amanda. Just look at her. Losing to you in the second round,” Gemma winked at Ivana sarcastically.

              “What is that supposed to mean? I was really good yesterday.” Ivana grabbed a new bottle of water. From the court next to them, Angela Porovski and Gemma’s fellow British player Robyn Lawrence walked over and sat down under an umbrella with Robyn and Ivana.

              “You never know with these quiet ones. God knows, Amanda could be a total stud,” Robyn threw in. “One of those discreet Casanovas.”

              “True,” Gemma nodded. “In Rome she was seen with Natsumi, so who knows what’s going on there.”

              “Yes, maybe Amanda was just tired of pleasuring her harem,” Robyn said to Ivana poking her in the side. They fell silent again and watched the Galloway twins hitting balls on the next court.

              “I can never tell them apart on the court. Can you?”

              “It doesn’t help that they wear the same clothes,” Angela admitted. “Off the court it’s easier. Lulu’s more open.”

              Robyn snorted. “This will change now that she is a Grand Slam champion. I’m pretty sure we won’t see any imitations of Sasha’s walk to the baseline or her serve anymore.”

              “Oh, why not? I would appreciate a little rivalry at the top.”

              “Yes, Lulu really dislikes Sasha. I wonder why?”

              “I heard a thing or two,” Robyn said cryptically.

              Before Robyn could spill the beans, however, a familiar face opened the gate and entered the practice courts. Looking out for the Galloway twins, Tom dragged heavy camera bags to the court.

              “Why is Tom so awfully pale?” Gemma mused. “He also looks like he hasn’t shaved in four days. He’s making us Brits look like cave people.”

              “Yes, he doesn’t look good,” Angela wondered. “I will ask him tomorrow, if he is alright. Stephanie and I will have an interview with him tomorrow after our doubles match. They want to promote doubles more, it seems.”

              “Speaking of doubles,” Ivana addressed Angela. “What’s up with that new partnership of Amanda and Elise? They totally rocked in Wimbledon, right? I was actually convinced they would take the title.”

              “Yes,” Angela grinned. “They make a good pairing.”

              “It’s a bit unusual that they keep on playing doubles, don’t you think, since they both never get tired of emphasizing that their focus is on singles?” Gemma inquired.

              “Well, I think they only play for fun,” Angela answered with a shrug.

              “Fun? Amanda doesn’t take the tennis too seriously these days,” Robyn gave Ivana a wink.

              “Yes, Elise should be careful,” Gemma snickered. “Amanda, the discreet Casanova, is on the prowl.”

              The Russian and the two Brits laughed but Angela remained silent. She was still watching the Galloway twins hitting forehands.

              “Let’s play doubles,” she finally said, standing up.

Cincinnati, United States

With her racquet bag on her shoulders, Gabriella Galloway left the locker rooms and made her way up the concrete stairway that led to the players’ central lobby.

              Hitting some balls with players other than her sister had turned out to be a good experience and the fear of alienating herself from Lulu too much, too soon was now slowly fading away to her relief. Obviously, the changes she had decided to stick to in Stanford were paying off.
Yes, everything would have been perfect if it hadn’t been for the current draw.
Two days ago the draw had been made and it had resulted in sleepless nights for Gabriella.

              Stopping for the thousandth time in front of the large draw board that had been set up in front of the entrance of the players’ lounge, Gabriella slowly went through all the names.
After quite a few years on the tour, Gabriella had become an expert in analyzing a draw. She didn’t need the help of her coach or a team to figure out whom she would likely meet in the third round or a quarterfinal. Ranking didn’t matter, she knew. Upsets could happen anytime and Gabriella was better at analyzing potential match ups than most of the players which was due to the pact she had had with Luella.

              Her eyes stopped at her sister’s name. Lulu would have to beat two easy opponents in the first two rounds. And if she won, which was very likely she would have to play Sasha in the quarterfinal.

              “Damn,” Gabriella said to herself.

              This was exactly the kind of scenario that Gabriella wanted to avoid at all cost?
I know your little secret.
Sasha’s words, after they had played the Wimbledon final, still rang in her ears. In the sleepless nights during her brief vacation she had figured out that Sasha thought Lulu was gay. It was a hilarious thought. How could anyone in her right mind believe Lulu was into girls and faking a relationship with Rafael? But standing in front of the wicked draw again, Gabriella couldn’t laugh. There had to be a solution, she thought. Of course, she could simply take up the Galloway pact again and play for Lulu. She was sure, when it came to playing Sasha her twin sister would be more than happy if Gaga offered to play in her place. But she didn’t want to give up her new independence. How was she supposed to break free from Luella if she played Sasha in this tournament? She had to stay strong. Out of frustration she gave the wall a little kick.

              “You don’t like the draw,” a voice behind her announced.

              Gabriella whirled around. It was Tom. She gave him a quick smile but shook her head.

              “Well, everyone is looking forward to a potential rematch of the Wimbledon final,” Tom smiled. Gabriella realized that he had mistaken her for Luella.

              “Sure,” she shrugged, then turned around and walked away without another word, knowing that he thought he was talking to Luella for whom such behavior was normal.

              Gabriella stepped out of the players’ area and looked up at the sky. It was a cloudless day, perfect and warm. The sun was blinding. A gorgeous Indian summer announced itself in America. She took a long, deep breath then closed her eyes. She had to calm down! A few seconds flew by. Perhaps Lulu would screw up and lose in the earlier rounds. Perhaps the anticipated match between Lulu and Sasha and a possible meeting in the locker rooms would never happen. Gabriella suppressed the nausea the thought of a meeting between Lulu and Sasha caused, but she couldn’t deny the fact that her twin sister had the perfect draw for the first two rounds. A qualifier and another player ranked beyond the Top 50. She began walking across the grass area to the parking lot, but then straightened her back and cocked her chin into the air before resolutely stepping out onto the pavement.