Love Game - Season 2011 Read Free Page B

without flashing a smile in Robyn’s direction.
    Stepping through the player’s exit of the media center into the night air, Robyn gave Ted Curry a huge grin.
    “That was fun,” he said smiling back at her. “May I take the liberty of taking you out tonight. I know where to get you a hot dog.”
    “Thank you, Ted, but I have found a hot dog myself! I don’t think yours will be as hot.”
    “Then you take me out, darling. I think we have the same taste after all!”
     
     
    ***
     
     
     
    It was the first match on the second day of the tournament and the first singles match for the Australian team and the stands were packed with fans.
    Amanda Auster sat down on her chair. She had just broken Tamara Parova with two excellent inside-out forehand winners. Was this the beginning of one of Tamara’s massive chokes? Amanda could not hope for it. She was still one set down and trailing 3-4 in the second set. She needed to stay focused. If she could win this singles match there might be a good chance for the Australian team to get a lead in the group stage of the tournament and perhaps advance to the final of the Hopman Cup, given the fact that she and her male partner Angus Leslie were both known for their doubles skills.
    But there was a distraction she couldn’t get out of her head. A glance to the left into the front row of the stands confirmed what she already knew. There was this blonde beauty smiling at her. Constantly. Who was this girl? Had they met before? Amanda shook her head. Business before pleasure, she told herself while sipping from her water bottle. She knew, it would make her even more nervous to think of the blonde girl. Instead she precautionarily began making a Top 10 list in her head of her favorite restaurants, which were scattered all over the world. It worked – for a minute at least. Now she craved for just one hour in Mr. Mochi’s restaurant in Tokyo which always ended up on the top of the list. But the good times she had in Japan last year were far away now. Moreover, food was considered compensation anyway, as her psychologist had informed her. Amanda sighed.
    In the next game she had to serve with this blonde girl’s eyes on her back. It would be an annoying distraction. Playing in Perth, in front of her home crowd already made her feel tight. Ever since she had started to play on the tour over ten years ago the Australian season had never been successful for her. The crowd’s expectations and cheering had never helped her. Instead it put more pressure on her than she ever felt for the rest of the year. This was the reason why last fall her team had come up with the idea to accept the invitation for the Hopman Cup once more. In the tournament mixed teams from eight different countries were playing against each other and every round consisted of two singles matches and a doubles match. It was team work to go further in the Hopman Cup as it involved playing doubles. Amanda was good in doubles. Really good. Sometimes she even won Grand Slams.
    But even though playing with a partner could take some of the pressure off her shoulders, she knew that doubles didn’t count anymore. Amanda wanted to reach the top of the singles game. But losing the first match of the year wouldn’t help her achieve that goal. She exhaled and got up to walk to the baseline. She just had to get through the Australian tennis summer and then she'd feel better. Usually she tried to avoid looking at the crowd as it made her nervous to see the anxious faces, but this time Amanda turned her head and glanced into the front row. It seemed the blonde had never even looked away from Amanda. It seemed she was following Amanda’s every step and when they locked eyes for a second the blonde girl winked at her. Quickly Amanda looked away and nodded to a ball boy to throw her new balls. She needed to concentrate or she could kiss the match good-bye.
    Tossing the ball up in the air, she went for a heavily sliced serve out wide.