Chapter 43
Chapter Forty-Three
NAOMI
Melbourne, Australia – January
Australian Open
The thing about doubling up is that inevitably one, or both, of us was going to have to play twice in one day.
In Melbourne, it turned out I was likely to get no days off if we went deep in both draws, and Sam was going to have to double up.
Or at least that would be the case if he hadn’t been on court for three hours in the middle of the day.
On paper, his opponent, Evan Harrison, should’ve been easy. Sam was the much higher-ranked player, riding high after the end of last season, and had done well in Brisbane. Momentum was on his side.
But this was tennis.
By the time I made it on site, Sam was in the middle of a fight. Evan was about to serve for the third set, and Sam looked like he was at the end of his rope.
“What’s been happening?” I asked Wyatt as I slipped into the seat next to him, with Alisha on his other side, because I knew there was no reason for me to sit and twiddle my thumbs anywhere else.
“He slipped early in this set and rolled onto his shoulder. He was shaky on his first service game after the fall, and it cost him the break. Evan’s been impenetrable on his serve. So, looks like a fourth set.”
I watched Sam as he ran around the court. He was definitely trying to take balls on his forehand and not put anything through his left side, but there was no shortage of power on his right side, which was something.
“Did he call the trainer?”
Wyatt nodded. “He took some ibuprofen, but didn’t need a full medical timeout.”
I hummed to acknowledge I’d heard him, then we watched the match in silence.
We had discussed what we’d do if Sam had to play a long match. Anything approaching five hours, and we had to withdraw.
This match had now reached the five-hour mark.
“You’ve gotta call it, you know,” Wyatt muttered at a changeover where both men sat looking sweat-drenched and tired. This was the best time for me to slip out and make it official that, despite our best intentions, Australia was not going to be somewhere Sam and I took to the court together.
I couldn’t help but feel sad about it because we wouldn’t get another chance until May.
Even though we’d still find pockets of time to train together, that was nothing compared to being on the same side with him.
I’d been excited to see if we could replicate some of the magic that we’d found in pockets in New York on a wider scale in Melbourne, because since then, we’d found a different kind of magic that just had to translate to the court.
But we both knew going in, there was a chance it wouldn’t happen because it was singles over everything else, and we respected that.
“I know. I’m going.”
By the time I’d got back, Sam was stepping up to the baseline to serve for the match.
He looked like a husk of a man, but he also looked ready to serve it out.
Since I’d been watching him, he was still favouring his forehand, but he didn’t look to be in any discomfort, so I tried to stop worrying about it.
As the game went on, I found myself getting more nervous. Wyatt reached a hand out, taking one of mine in his, and I realised I’d been picking at the callous on my hand, which would’ve been a nightmare for my racquet grip.
I held my breath and squeezed Wyatt’s hand on match point. Thankfully, I didn’t have to hold it for long as he won it on an ace.
As I arrived in the gym, I could see Sam on his bike, trying to stretch out his left shoulder. That lick of worry that had been troubling me came back. When he caught sight of me in the mirror, his face lit up.
“That seemed brutal,” I said, and he smiled even wider.
“Wasn’t quite the game plan, but the win is the win.”
He pressed his thumb into the top of his shoulder and grimaced. It could mean nothing. If I put pressure in the same place, I’d probably grimace. We put a lot of pressure through our shoulders; it was a hazard of the job. But it could mean something.
“You feeling okay?”
His shoulders lifted. “At the moment, yeah. We’ll see what happens when the adrenaline dies down, and my body decides to make its ailments known.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. Like he knew something was wrong, but wasn’t ready to say it out loud, because then what he’d done on that court would have been for nothing.
I could relate. I’d had matches like that in my time.
I refrained from offering my two cents because managing Sam’s body and recovery wasn’t my job.
No matter how much my mind was pinging with ideas and potential solutions.
“Well, you’ll be pleased and unsurprised to hear that I withdrew us from the mixed doubles.”
“Unsurprised, but gutted. I was looking forward to playing with you again.”
I smiled. “Yeah, I was too. But that’s tennis. I’m gonna head out with Leesh. She wants to pick up some bits for dinner.”
He leaned in like he was going to kiss me before thinking better of it. We weren’t keeping our relationship a secret, but we also weren’t making it obvious.
“See you later?”
“I should hope so. We live together,” I said with a wink and headed out.