Love Game - Season 2011 (27 page)

              “I mean, do you know if she is into girls,” Gabriella explained. “Lulu said she was hitting on her.”

              “On Lulu? Really?” Elise raised her eyebrow and a thought seemed to cross her mind. But then she just sighed. “I don’t really know Sasha. And I don’t want to, to be honest. Sasha is a player. But not a fair player.”

              She disappeared into the shower and turned the water on.

              Gabriella didn’t know what to make of that rather cryptic answer. She grabbed her towel and headed to the shower herself. Admittedly, she was a bit disappointed that Elise seemed to have a low opinion of Sasha. Gabriella would have liked to talk to her about the Czech’s strange behavior. If Elise had listened Gaga would have even told her about her own mission of imitating Lulu in the locker room before she played Sasha in Paris in order to find out more about Sasha.

              She closed her eyes under the water. Maybe another time. Surely, Elise was just tense because of the upcoming match. Even though the victory in her last tournament had catapulted her to a new ranking and into the Top 70 she still wasn’t high enough to benefit from it in the draw. It was only the third round and Elise had to play against a Top 10 player today.

              Gabriella relaxed in the hot shower. She would only face an unseeded player today, playing for Lulu. And her sister would play for her tomorrow against an unseeded player ranked beyond the Top 100. Life seemed a lot easier once you entered the Top 20. She heard Elise leave the shower and stuck her head out.

              “Good luck against Marieke.”

              Elise turned around and nodded with a smile.

              “Thank you. I will need it.”

***

Taking a look around the Wimbledon Centre Court, Amanda had to acknowledge that it was packed now. There were almost no empty seats left. The battle down on the court had left the spectators breathless at times. It was high quality tennis and the drama continued. After narrowly losing the first set 4-6, Elise had battled to even the match. She had led by four games to one in the second set, but Marieke Bender, the favorite, had fought back rigorously. She was able to level at five games all, suddenly having all the momentum again. Sitting high in the stands with Dan Metic, her coach, Amanda had feared that this would be the end of a very entertaining match.

              But she had underestimated Elise. The more opposition she faced, the better the German girl became. She had pulled herself together and had broken Marieke Bender and then served out the set. The third set also promised to be a very close affair.

              The scoreboard said 3-3. Elise was serving.

              “So, you are feeling good about it?” Dan leaned back and glanced over at his player.

              “Yes, I think so,” Amanda sighed. “Not that it’s helping with my game though.”

              In the singles competition Amanda had disgracefully lost in the second round of the Wimbledon championships a day before. Consequently there was only playing doubles left for her. Of course, she played with Elise.

              “Well, we have talked about it. Let’s move on and work on a few things,” Dan said with a calm voice.

              “It’s all a bit much at the moment,” Amanda shrugged. Sure, she was happy and it was wonderful to spend time with Elise, but some things were bothering her nevertheless. She turned around to Dan, who was concentrating on the match again.
              “She’s so young,” Amanda blurted out. “And her parents are always around. They are nice, but they don’t know about us and so it’s terribly awkward all the time. “

              “Well, give her some time. You know, it’s not easy.”

              “Yeah, I know,” Amanda shook her head. “It’s just difficult the way it is. I’m not used to keeping it a secret from people as close as your own team.” Having been on the tour since she was sixteen and having travelled with her coach and team, Amanda had never been in the situation where she lied about a relationship to her parents, who were at home. She knew Elise didn’t feel good about sneaking out in the evenings, telling her mom and her dad she met friends while she went out with Amanda.

              “I don’t think she will tell them any time soon either and it’s not making it easier for me to settle into this relationship.”

              “You don’t trust that she really means it?” Dan seemed truly surprised but that was in fact a worry that bothered Amanda deep down inside, even though Elise’s behavior gave no cause for concern.

              ”I don’t know. She is still so young,” Amanda mumbled. “And I don’t want to get hurt again.”

              “That’s probably more likely the reason for your worries than her age, isn’t it?”

              Dan was right. Like a faithful dog, Amanda had too often settled down in a relationship in blind loyalty. Her last effort to build a relationship with Felicia had crashed rather unceremoniously and even though all was going well with Elise deep down she feared another humiliation. With a little sigh, Amanda shrugged and promised herself to take it slowly with Elise.

              She looked down at the court again and realized she had missed two whole games. Marieke Bender was leading five games to three. Obviously the Dutch player had broken Elise in her last service game and held for her own. Elise would have to serve to stay in the match. Amanda felt her hands grow sweaty. How she hated serving to stay in a match. It was the worst-case scenario. She clenched her fists and leaned her chin on them. Sending down silent prayers to the court, she watched her girl serve.

              After a couple of shots, Marieke hit a short ball and with the court wide open in front of her Elise rushed to the net, but – to the disbelief of the crowd – dumped her forehand drop-volley into the net. Up in the stands, Amanda could hear her yell of frustration. The next two points were decided on Marieke’s racquet. First she hit a backhand long for 15 all, then she returned a good serve with a ripping forehand winner down the line. Bender was only two points away from winning the match. Elise served a fast-paced shot and Marieke was barely able to return it. It fell down short into the front of the court. Again Elise rushed forward ready to hit it hard into the open court in front of her like she had done many times before in the match. It was a sure point for Elise, but instead she netted the ball. A murmur of disappointment rolled over the Centre Court stands.

              “15 – 40,” Anastasia Stea, the chair umpire announced.

              Elise had made two critical mistakes in this game and had handed the Dutch player two match points. Amanda leaned back, breathed in deeply and tried to relax. Elise had cheered her up after her loss yesterday, so she would do the same for Elise. They still had doubles.

***

It had been an amazing match so far but now Marieke Bender, the experienced Grand Slam champion had two match points on Elise Renard’s serve. Samantha Watts looked out the little window of the commentary box and suppressed a little sigh. Every match had to have a winner in the end and this looked like a sure bet for Marieke now. Elise Renard, as much as she had demonstrated her skills in the last one and a half hours, was still on her way back and who wouldn’t understand that she was faltering in such an important match?

              She watched Elise walking slowly back to the baseline. These moments defined a tennis player, she knew. Staring into the abyss. Ironically, it wasn’t shown on the TV screen. The editor had chosen the camera that showed Marieke Bender.

              “And here is the four-time Grand Slam champion with two match points,” Hugh continued commenting. The camera switched to Elise finally. She had taken three balls from the ball boy. “The German is taking as much time as possible to gather her nerves. It has been a great match, but it might very well be her last moments on Centre Court, at least for this year.”

              Elise exhaled with a little gust to animate herself. It went unnoticed by Hugh, but Sam could sympathize with the young German player. Sometimes she missed the sheer unbelievable tension of these situations every player experienced once in a while when they were only inches away from failure. Stepping to the baseline Elise let the ball bounce a few times. The crowd had turned quiet.

              Up went the ball into the air and as if there were no match points to save the racquet hit the ball ruthlessly and perfectly, sending it deep into Marieke’s service box. The Dutch girl was unable to return the ball and it landed in the net. The crowd cheered with relief. No one wanted this to end.

              “That’s one way to save a match point,” Sam said succinctly.

              “A 122 mile per hour serve.” Hugh was impressed.

              “30 – 40″, Anastasia announced, while Elise walked to the other side of the baseline.

              Elise’s deep first serve went down the middle and again it forced a floater from Marieke’s racquet which landed in the net. The crowd was cheering wildly now, seeing the digits appearing on the radar gun. 120 mph. She had saved both match points with incredibly fast serves. On the other side of the net, Marieke Bender swallowed hard but had to accept the facts.

              “What a formidable display of gutsiness from the German,” Hugh cheered.

              “The serves have been incredible,” Sam admitted with a smile.

              “The truth is, in moments like these the serve is often the first thing to go for lesser players. It’s great to see.”

              What followed sent the crowd rising to their feet. A pin-point lightning-speed ace down the T gave Elise the advantage, and for another time the chalk on the center line flew up. With four remarkable serves Elise had won the game. She clenched her fist while walking to her chair.

              The next games showed that the tide had turned. Twice Marieke Bender tried to serve out the match and twice she was broken by the revived German. The Dutch player’s game had become inaccurate and nervous. At six games all Elise held for her own service game and suddenly it was Bender who had to serve to stay in the match.

              “Bender has clearly lost the range on her forehand,” Sam observed when Marieke hit a forehand wide. The Centre Court crowd once again cheered before falling into respectful silence. Now it was Elise’s turn for a match point.

              “What a moment for the German, who fought so hard to get back from injury,” Hugh whispered excitedly.

              After a lengthy rally Bender finally hit a down-the-line forehand wide and before the linesperson could call the ball out, a thunderous roar of surprise and delight went through the stands. A young German who was only here on a Wild Card had achieved an incredible upset.

              “Renard is dropping to her knees in delight and disbelief,” Hugh said emotionally.

              “You can see how much it means to her,” Sam agreed. She watched Elise sitting down on her chair, and while the magnitude of her achievement seemed to sink in she was smiling up to the box where her parents cheered for her. Sam switched off her microphone.

              “What a match,” she said to Hugh who was nodding. Sam watched the German with sympathy. Elise finally got up and left the stadium waving to the crowd who gave her a standing ovation. Another feeling was creeping into Sam’s chest. Envy. How much would she give to experience a victory on the Wimbledon Centre Court again! There was nothing greater for a tennis player.

***

It had been only three hours since Elise had won her match against Marieke Bender but she felt refreshed and ready to enjoy the night out with Amanda. Well, ‘night’ was maybe a bit of an exaggeration, Elise thought while walking through Wimbledon Village, Amanda by her side. They wouldn’t stay up very long as they had their doubles match tomorrow and needed to get up early for a joint practice. They had first opted for an evening in at Amanda’s place but had been hassled so long by Natsumi and Monica to join them at the Dog & Fox for a Pimm’s until they had said yes.

              “They want to inspect my new girlfriend,” Amanda grinned. “Also, they want to be seen with you.”

              That was an overstatement, as Elise so far had had none of the success of Natsumi Takashima, who had been a Top 20 player for almost five years now or Monica Jordan, who was a former No. 1 player. But it was true. Her fight back from being match points down and her eventual win had been the talk of the village for the last few hours. More pleasing, however, was the fact that apparently Amanda had made the relationship official and had told her friends about Elise. ‘My new girlfriend’ sounded wonderful in Elise’s ear.

              When they entered the High Street they could already see a cheerful crowd in front of the pub. Amanda and Elise stopped at the junction on the other side of the street and waited for the traffic to stop.

              “Do you know what Renard means?” Elise asked Amanda while looking over to the restaurant. Amanda was surprised by the sudden question about Elise’s family name.

              “You know, I love all things French. But the language?” Amanda shook her head and grinned apologetically.

              “It means fox,” Elise revealed the answer. She let a car pass and began crossing the street. Amanda, however, was flabbergasted. Fox? Only this afternoon Amanda had admitted to herself that her own behavior reminded her of a dog’s. A faithful and devoted dog that had been slapped in the face so many times. And here she was in front of the Dog & Fox with Elise Renard, whose name meant fox. She didn’t believe in coincidences.

              “Wait,” Amanda shouted.

              Elise turned around, surprised that Amanda was still standing on the curb. Amanda sprinted to the middle of the street.

              “Let’s take a picture of us with the name.” She took out her cell phone and they stuck their heads together and took the picture with the Dog & Fox label behind them while honking cars were passing by them. Just when the phone made the artificial snap sound of a camera, Elise quickly turned her head and gave Amanda a little peck on the cheek.