And That’s What You Missed
And That’s What You Missed
ALISHA SULLIVAN
Let’s talk about Lois Fields.
She’s always a hot topic of conversation in our house because nobody knows Naomi better on the court than Lois.
They grew up together. Both on and off the court.
For an alarming amount of their lives, there have been people desperate to pit them against each other, but they won’t allow it.
A rivalry, the way those people want to spin it, isn’t something that has ever served them.
What has served them for the past decade or so is knowing that the other one is succeeding in the exact way they deserve. For a lot of that decade, it’s been those two dominating the game.
Which, yes, is exactly what they both deserve.
Remember all that boring stuff I talked about a few weeks ago that makes Naomi a great player? Yeah, Lois is the same. Thankfully, I’m not around for when all four of them (both players and their brother coaches) get nerdy because I simply would not be able to cope.
They spend ages on the practice courts together because who better to practise with (and dissect data or whatever) than the woman who knows you best? Sometimes I think no one can deal with left-handers quite like Lois.
The problem with that level of familiarity is that when they play each other, we all have to brace for a battle.
And there have been a lot of battles already in the short time since Naomi has been back. And each time, we’ve never known which way it would go.
Until we did.
The finest margins are what give the other the edge when these two play. In Montreal, it was the first set tiebreak, and Lois broke first. In Ohio, it took nearly three hours and three tiebreaks.
All three of us watched from that box, wondering which way it would go because for all three of those hours, it looked like neither of them was going to crumble.
But this is tennis, and eventually, a point isn’t going to go your way at the exact wrong moment.
In Cincinnati, it was Naomi who lost out.
A loss to Lois is always tough. When you fight as hard as they do against each other, losing is always hard.
But Lois is usually the one to buy the chips to help her get over it.
And as a belated birthday present, I’m taking her on a much-needed spa day (it’s for me just as much as it’s for her) so she can really put it to bed.
Normally, we get a week in New York to be less intense before the US Open, but there’s a shiny new partnership to finally take to the court, so it’s still all systems go.
Until next time, from Central Park.