Tennis Ace (7 page)

But he didn’t want to lose. He wanted to
win
. Steve enjoyed playing tennis and always played to beat his opponent. If he lost, well, that was too bad, but it wouldn’t
ruin his life. Still, he liked winning
better, and even though he didn’t want tennis to become the only thing in his life — not now, not yet, and maybe never — he
wanted to win this match and get that trophy.

And in order to get that trophy, he had to beat Tony Zaras. He turned his full attention back to his opponent.

Steve bounced the ball a few times. Then he tossed it up in the air and unleashed a beautiful topspin serve that bounced crazily.

Tony’s reflexes were sharp and he reached the ball but couldn’t get much on it. Steve rocketed a backhand return across court
to Tony’s backhand. Tony netted it.

Steve went on to take the first game without Tony winning a point.

But Tony held his own serve. He won with his serve-and-volley game, coming to the net and punching the ball out of Steve’s
reach.

The next game was hard fought. Steve began his service with a powerful ace down the middle of the court that handcuffed Tony.
But Tony’s dazzling passing shot blew by Steve to make it fifteen-all.

Steve thought hard about what to do next … and
got so distracted he committed a foot fault, allowing part of his foot to go over the baseline before he hit his serve! Tony
blasted Steve’s second serve so hard that the ball hit the frame of Steve’s racket. Tony was up, fifteen—thirty.

Steve lost his concentration and, two points later, the game. Tony had broken his serve.

But Steve bore down in the next game and came back to break Tony. The game winner came on a spectacular desperation dive,
where Steve just got his racket on the ball and the ball just hit the baseline at the corner for an unreturnable winner. Two
games each.

The two players moved to the side of the court before resuming play. Steve drank a little of the sports drink provided and
wiped his hands, arms, and face with a towel. He took some slow, deep breaths, which his father had told him was a good way
to stay calm and under control. He tried to block out the noise of the crowd.

But there was one thing he couldn’t block out: the question of what he would say to his dad. He tried not to think of it,
but it wouldn’t go away. He sighed and got up to serve the fifth game. He looked up
once more at his family. His dad gave him a big thumbs-up sign. Ginny waved and shouted something he couldn’t hear.

Steve checked to see where Tony had positioned himself. Tony was edging away from the side of the court so he wouldn’t have
to cover as much area with his backhand. Steve decided to test that backhand anyway. He aimed toward the middle and hit the
centerline with a nice, strong serve.

Tony’s return kept Steve on the baseline. Steve sent the ball back to Tony’s backhand side, moving in toward the net as he
did so. But Tony hit a high lob that forced him to retreat.

He got to the ball in plenty of time. Once again, he aimed for Tony’s backhand. He noted that when Tony hit his return, he
stayed on the left side of the court instead of moving to the middle. Steve hit a hard smash to the right corner of the court.
Tony just barely got to it with a lunge that left him off balance. Steve put his next shot out of reach.

Steve then served straight at Tony, who jerked to his left and hit an out-of-control forehand slice. The ball landed wide
of the court. Steve led, thirty—love.

Tony took the next point, returning Steve’s sloppy
serve with a beautiful passing shot straight down the line. Now Tony’s rooters had their turn to cheer and shout encouragement.

Steve quieted them quickly. He served to Tony’s backhand again, then moved to the net and hit a passing volley out of Tony’s
reach. It was forty—fifteen, and Steve decided to try to wear Tony down a little more.

Accordingly, he stayed back on the baseline and ran Tony back and forth from corner to corner. It was all Tony could do to
make returns at all. He couldn’t use any of his tricks, and he looked more and more tired.

Finally, when Tony started across court too soon in anticipation of a shot, Steve hit one behind him and won the game. He
had the lead, three games to two.

Tony was able to hold his own serve, although each point was long and the game went to deuce five times before he put it away,
evening up the final set at three games each. As soon as he won the game point, Tony bent over, hands on knees, breathing
hard.

Steve thought to himself, I have to keep forcing him to run. He doesn’t have as much energy in reserve as I do … I
hope
.

I
n the next game, Steve kept Tony on the defensive by forcing him to use his two-handed backhand a lot and making him run constantly.
Steve knew that, at this point in the match, he
had
to hold his own serve.

Steve had the game at forty—love when he hit a ball too deep, giving Tony a point. Angry with himself for the unforced error,
he lost concentration on the next point. Tony tipped a drop shot over the net for a winner, and suddenly it was forty—thirty.

Hoping to catch Tony by surprise for an ace, Steve hit his next serve to Tony’s forehand side. But Tony managed to catch up
to it and send the ball rocketing straight back. With a grunt of exertion, Steve stretched far to his right and made a clean
return.

Tony hit cross-court, coming to the net as he did
so. Steve attempted a lob, but it wasn’t high enough. Tony reached high and hit an overhand smash to Steve’s left.

Steve dove and just got his racket on the ball. He skidded along the hard surface but made a decent return. He quickly rolled
to his feet and sprinted across the baseline to return Tony’s next volley. This time his lob was better and Tony had to back
up to reach the ball. Steve tried a drop shot of his own. It ticked the top of the net and fell for game point. Steve led,
four to three.

He set himself to receive Tony’s serve, but the umpire called out, “Just a minute, please.” Steve stared at him, puzzled.

The umpire leaned down from his chair and asked, “Are you all right, son?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Look at your leg,” suggested the umpire. “How do you feel?”

Steve looked down and saw blood running from a scrape on his left leg. He realized it must have happened on that last diving
shot. He hadn’t felt a thing, hadn’t been aware of the scrape at all. Even now, he didn’t feel much of anything.

“Are you all right?” the umpire repeated. “Can you go on?”

“Go on?
Sure!
” Steve replied. “Absolutely! I mean, I’m fine, it’s nothing, just a little scrape.”

The umpire nodded and studied Steve for a moment. “All right, then, but I think we should take a moment and clean it up.”

Play was stopped and a tournament official appeared with a first aid kit. He cleaned the scrape and applied a disinfectant.
Steve winced;
that
stung a little. The official then put a bandage on and patted Steve’s shoulder.

“You sure you want to keep playing?” the umpire asked.

Steve was surprised. Who, he wondered, would default from a championship match on account of a little scratch?
He
definitely wouldn’t, that’s for sure.

But since the umpire seemed genuinely concerned, Steve flexed his knee to prove it was all right. And it was. The bandage
restricted his movement a bit, but otherwise he felt normal.

“Definitely ready to play,” Steve announced.

The umpire nodded. “Then let’s go. The score is three games to four in the third set, Zaras to serve.”

There was polite applause from the crowd in the stands.

Steve felt a slight twinge in the leg as he bounced in place, waiting for the serve. It came whizzing to his left. He sidestepped
to reach it and felt the twinge again. His return was wide of the sideline.

“
Out!
” called the line judge. As he moved to the right side of the baseline, Steve blamed the break in play for messing up his
concentration, not the scratch on his leg.

Tony missed on his first serve, hitting it into the net, and then hit a cautious second serve. Steve moved in and returned
the ball straight down the line to Tony’s backhand. Tony had to lunge for it. He put the ball right where Steve could smash
a hard forehand down the line. Tony had to race to get the ball again, but he did manage to reach it.

Tony’s return touched the tape on top of the net but bounced over. Steve had been running to make a backhand return, but the
bounce off the tape gave the ball a crazy spin that sent it right to his knees. He put on the brakes and felt a stab of pain
in the injured leg. Distracted, he failed to return the ball. Now he trailed, love—thirty.

Tony hit a beautiful topspin serve that Steve couldn’t return. The ace brought the score to forty—love in Tony’s favor. Steve
managed to get one point, but Tony won the game, tying the set at four—four.

The crowd was now really into the match, yelling and cheering on every point, shouting encouragement to whichever boy they
favored.

Steve found that his leg made a difference in his serve; he couldn’t extend himself upward the way he usually did. On the
first serve in the new game, he hit one into the net. On second service, he got it over but without much power, and Tony hit
a slicing backhand return for a winner. Steve could imagine concern on his father’s face in the stands.

He raised himself up on his toes a couple of times before the next serve. This time he hit it better — a hard shot to Tony’s
backhand. He was able to take control again. He moved Tony around, preventing the other player from setting himself and hitting
his favorite shots. He won the next two points to lead, thirty—fifteen. Two more points and the game would be his.

With Tony edging over toward his backhand side,
Steve crossed him up by hitting it to his forehand. While Tony returned the ball, the shot didn’t have much steam on it. Steve
charged the net, hitting a volley past the diving Tony for a winner. Tony didn’t get up for a moment. He was winded.

Steve wanted to end this game quickly and tried to freeze Tony by hitting the serve straight at him. But this time, Tony slid
to his left and hit a hot cross-court forehand return. Steve went for it and hit it down the line. Tony got set for his two-handed
backhand and sent it back to Steve’s backhand side, running toward the net as he did.

Steve tried to pass Tony on Tony’s left, but the other boy’s reflexes were still sharp. He blocked the ball, sending it almost
straight down on Steve’s side of the net. Luckily, the ball took a high enough bounce for Steve to get to it. He tried once
again to pass Tony. For a moment the boys faced each other from only a few yards away, both taking advantage of their quickness
to make returns.

Then Steve hit a lob over Tony’s head that Tony couldn’t reach. Steve had won the game and led, five games to four. If Steve
could break Tony’s serve now, the match was his.

Tony was as much aware of this fact as Steve. He found some reserve energy somewhere, enough for him to take the game with
the help of a couple of nice topspins.

That was probably Tony’s best weapon, thought Steve, trying to loosen his leg a little. The scrape was becoming more and more
of a problem to deal with.

The two players split the next two games, making the score six games apiece and setting up a tiebreaker to determine who would
win the final match. Steve would serve the first point.

There was a brief break and the boys went to the side of the court. Steve decided to stay standing and flex his leg to make
sure it didn’t tighten up on him. Tony sat, breathing deeply and looking straight ahead. Then they took their places, to enthusiastic
applause.

Steve served, down the middle, and stayed at the baseline. He didn’t want to risk putting too much pressure on his leg. Tony
hit a slicing return that forced Steve to lunge hard to his left to make a backhand return. It was out of reach. His leg was
stiffening and sore enough to keep him from moving
quickly from side to side. Could it cost him the match?

They switched sides for Tony’s first tiebreaker serve. Steve continued to flex the leg, knowing that if it got any worse,
he’d lose the match for sure.

Tony’s serve came straight at him and he quickly sidestepped, slashing a forehand return to Tony’s backhand side. Tony got
to it and hit a return that ticked the net, forcing Steve to charge forward to make his shot. He gritted his teeth, resolving
not to let the pain in his leg slow him down. He hit a passing shot down the right sideline. Tony started to dive for it but
then let it go, undoubtedly hoping it would be wide. It wasn’t, and the point was Steve’s.

Tony’s next serve was a perfect ace into the far corner of the service box, and he led, two—one.

Steve served to Tony’s backhand and hit Tony’s return to the opposite corner. Tony dashed to get it but mis-hit his shot.
The ball dribbled off the edge of his racket. Two points each.

Steve took a deep breath and hit his best serve of the day, a rocket with plenty of spin that skidded away from Tony after
just hitting the edge of the service box. He led, three—two.

Tony’s next serve forced Steve to run to his left. Although he made the return, Steve felt pain in his leg as he reversed
direction and headed back toward the middle of the baseline.

Tony clearly knew that Steve’s leg was bothering him. He hit a drop shot that Steve had to charge to reach. He got there and
stayed at the net. But Tony ripped a shot past him to tie the tiebreaker at three—three.

On the next point, the players got into a long baseline exchange. Neither wanted to come to the net: Tony looked to take advantage
of Steve’s leg problem, and Steve hoped to wear Tony down more by making him run. Finally, Tony came in and put away the point
with a wicked, sliced volley that Steve couldn’t reach. It was now four—three, with Tony in the lead.

Steve served next. He put some slice on the ball, which bounced away from Tony’s racket. Tony stumbled a little and hit the
ball into the net, and they were tied once again, at four—four.