Going Pro - A Tennis Story

[Spoobir]

Chapter 1: Lowly Beginnings​

My plane got in late to the airport at Stockholm and I was exhausted. The flight itself hadn't been that long but it was delayed by 4 hours due to poor winter weather and sitting next to an overweight man with body odour in economy class hadn't made the journey seem any quicker, the worst thing was this was my coach. John had been provided for me by the British Lawn Tennis Association but I had no idea how he had aquired the job, his own tennis career had reached a high point when he got into the top 300 in doubles back in the 80s, I had had better coaches at my local club as a 5 year old. Nevertheless I was greatful for the funding the LTA gave me if I kept him as my coach around so I put up with him.

There was a taxi waiting to take us to our hotel and it was actually an enjoyable drive through the cold winter streets of the city. Our hotel was situated in a small square about 15 minutes from the tennis centre I would be playing at tomorrow, there were market stalls, a fountain and a large christmas tree all decorated with yellow lights. As we pulled up at the hotel I had to jab John to wake him from where he had been sleepig with his face pressed against the window. I was glad to find when we checked in that I would not have to share a room with him and when I got up to my room I barely had the energy to undress before crashing onto the bed.

I was up very early the next morning as we had to be at the centre in time to register for the tournament at the Stavgaard Tennis Hall. This was just a tiny tournament but for me the prize was priceless, a wildcard into the Hong Kong Open in January, an official ATP event. I knew the competition would be fierce, with young players from all over Europe coming to try and get their shot at playing on the main tour and I would have to be at my best if I wanted to take down the prize. Before we left I made sure to take a photograph of the square from my hotel room window, I hoped in the future it would remind me of when I had earned my shot at the big time.

We reached the courts in time to register and I was able to size up some of the competition. The majority were young Scandinavian teenagers hungry for their chance to get on the main tour but there were also a couple of older journeymen who probably earned their living doing club coaching and were hoping for something more. The structure of the tournament would be elimination with each match being 1 best of 5 set. With such short matches I knew that any loss of concentration would be disasterous as there was almost no time to come back if you went down a break. I would have to win 4 matches in a row to take the prize.

I had a hit on the practice court with a local Swedish teenager while my coach watched on offerering some useless bits of advice here and there, the other kid's groundstrokes were pretty good but when he came to the net it was obvious he didn't have much feel at all. After a short while one of the organisers appeared and called my name, it was time for the tournament to begin.

My first match was against a young Swedish player. I had noticed him before as his parents had been hovering around him and demanding things such as towels and bottles of water from the organisers, tennis parents have a bad reputation for things like this and I could see these two fit the bill, their son was going to be a star and nothing was going to get in their way. Unfortunately as I played him I knew their dream was in vain, he sucked and I beat him 3-0. Afterwards I watched as he trudged gloomily over to his parents and was berated thoroughly for his pathetic performance. I felt sorry for him, for about five seconds.

My second match was against a freakishly tall Croation player with a booming first serve. Luckily for me the rest of his game wasn't up to much and I was able to hold easily until I was 2-1 up. Under pressure to hold his serve to stay in the match he started missing a lot of first serves and his second serve was nowhere near as good and I was able to get the break to take the match.

In the semi-final I came up against my first real challenge of the day. A Finnish player who was rock solid from the back of the court and ran every ball down. I found myself down break points a couple of times but managed to work out of them by switching things up and coming into the net. Our set went to a tiebreak and I began charging the net pretty much every point, unused to this style of play my opponent was unable to consistently make his passing shots and lobs and I took the match to reach the final.

My opponent would be Jonas Larsen, an older pro from Denmark who hadn't struggled at all on his way to the final although watching him I knew he had a weak serve that I could capitalise on. Throughout the day a crowd had slowly formed so that by the time our match was ready to begin there were about 300 plus people watching from the seats courtside. I had never really played in front of a crowd before but tried to put it out of my mind and focus on the task at hand.

The match started well with me playing a couple of good points in my opening service game but after that a couple of sloppy errors caused me to get frustrated and I found myself down a break point, things got even worse as I immediately sent a regulation backhand wide to go down an early break. However my earlier assessment about his serve proved to be correct and I was able to get on top early in a lot of the ralleys and start maneuvering him around the court. This resulted in me getting 2 break back points and another big forehand return down the line led to a longish ralley where I was able to pull him wide of the court and put away a crosscourt winner. Full of confidence now for my own service game I played so really good points including a couple of put-away volleys and a nice backhand winner down the line, he hit back with a huge forehand on one of my balls that dropped short but I was able to hold serve pretty comfortably. I was now reading his serve like a book and in the first point of his service game I redirected one down the line with a brilliant backhand return for a winner. From then on he started putting everything he had into his groundstrokes but I was able to soak them up until they got shorter and shorter and I was able to put away the winners. When I put away a crosscourt forehand on match point I barely heard the cheering croud through the elation I felt as I realised I had done it, I was going to Hong Kong...

Final Highlights

 

[Gaurav_7]

Good luck for Hong Kong man. Very well fought there in that comp. Loved the starting bit about your 'longer than usual' journey and the part where 'a child's parents were all over the organizers.' Very well written, I'm hoping this to stay for long. I never really felt boring reading all that.

 

[6ry4nj]

John had been provided for me by the British Lawn Tennis Association but I had no idea how he had aquired the job, his own tennis career had reached a high point when he got into the top 300 in doubles back in the 80s, I had had better coaches at my local club as a 5 year old.

I think you're aiming to write a sympathetic character, but this kind of arrogance in such a character is a complete turnoff for me personally. It's a shame because if he/she wasn't the 'hero' of the story, such an egomaniac drama queen would be very entertaining.

 

[Spoobir]

I think you're aiming to write a sympathetic character, but this kind of arrogance in such a character is a complete turnoff for me personally. It's a shame because if he/she wasn't the 'hero' of the story, such an egomaniac drama queen would be very entertaining.

I did actually feel that was quite arrogant as I wrote the line, but then I figured this is a young guy with a lot of talent who believes he can make it as a top tennis pro so he would probably have a little bit of arrogance. And can you honestly say you've never secretly thought that your boss/coworker/teacher was an incompetent moron?

Who knows what will happen, maybe he will mature as he get older and has some time on the tour, or maybe early success will go to his head and he'll become a raquet-smashing, umpire abusing John McEnroe character.

Thank you very much for the feedback btw!

PS: Some some people have sent messages asking what game this is, it's Top Spin 4 for PS3 on Very Hard mode.

 

[Spoobir]

Chapter 2: First Pro Match​

It took 12 hours to fly from London to Hong Kong although we had splashed out on business-class seats so the journey was much more comfortable than when we travelled to Sweden. I spent the time watching a bad comedy film and sleeping mostly, it was early evening by the time we landed. Just like Sweden I enjoyed the taxi ride through the immensely crowded streets, every shop had a brightly lit sign outside and although I didn't have a clue what they said I still liked them a lot.

The hotel we were staying in was a huge skyscraper on one side of the bay and the view from of the Hong Kong skyline from my room window was spectacular, however I was far too tired to appreciate it properly at that point and was soon passed out on my bed.

I spent most of the next couple of days sleeping off the jet-lag although I did head down to the tennis centre for a practice and to check out the draw. I would be playing the number 2 seed in the first round, Australian Dave Halse. I didn't know much about him other than that he had been on the tour for a while and had been around the top 100 for most of that time, it would be an extremely tough first match.

I arrived a few hours before my match was scheduled on the main show court, giving me enough time for a light hitting session. When it was time for my match to begin and I made my way from the locker room to the court I felt a mixture of nerves and excitement in my stomach. I met my opponent in the tunnel and we were told to wait until we were announced before walking out, Halse was completely ignoring me but that was just fine with me. After a short wait I heard our names being announced and we made our way onto the court I was shocked by the number of people in the stadium. Despite being the biggest competition I had ever played in it was still a fairly minor event on the tour, yet there must have been almost 2000 people in the stands applauding us. We met the umpire in the middle for the toss and Halse had the call, he chose heads and the coin came up tails. I thought that was a good start and chose to serve first. We then had a short time to warm up before the biggest match of my life would begin.

I made a great start by dumping my first serve into the net, possibly due to tightness although I no longer felt any nerves. Luckily my second serve was decent and our first rally began. I immediately knew this was going to be tougher than anything I had ever experienced on a tennis court before, his groundstrokes were deep and consistent and I found myself being worked from side to side. I was managed to stay on the defensive until eventually he pushed one wide, winning the first point of my service game was a big lift for me. Unfortunately he continued to dictate the points off the ground and after a couple of good winners I was down break point. I was lucky, he tried to chip his return back in and left it well short allowing me to slam the ball down the line for a winner, still one break point to save. We ended up in a fairly even rally until I left a forehand short in the middle of the court, he used this mistake to pull me way out of position and I could only chip one back for him to put away easily, I was down a break already.

As I was getting punished in the baseline exchanges I decided to switch tactics for his service game and come to the net more, it seemed he wasn't expecting me to rush the net and I quickly found myself with a couple of break points of my own and at the first opportunity came forward on a short ball, he attempted a lob which was well long and we were back level. Unfortunately I was unable to get any rhythm going on my own serve and he was pouncing on my weaker second serves to get ahead in the rally, he broke me again to go 2-1 up. From then on I was not given many more look-ins during his games for most of the first set, I began serve and volleying a lot during my own games and this allowed me to hold my own games until eventually at 3-5 down I found myself in deep trouble at 15-40 facing set points. Using the tactic that had faired me well for much of the set I rushed the net very early in the point, driving my backhand deep crosscourt to his own backhand which he jammed back with a very short swing. The ball dipped very low after it passed the net forcing me to hit the volley at my ankles but I just got enough on it to send it into the open court and out of his reach. The next set point I saved as well, making a good half-volley this time for a winner, then a couple of points later his slapped a forehand wide and I was out of the game. However I still had a lot of work to do as he was now serving for the set.

I fought my way to 30-30 in this pivotal game and was half way to pulling a great escape job when he sent a forehand wide to give me break point. He immediately took control of the rally with some massive forehands forcing me to make a shot full on the run which I somehow managed to guide right down the line and into the corner, I thought there was no way he could get it back but I was wrong and he made a fantastic backhand to get it back into play but was now miles out of position. I could have put the ball pretty much anywhere I pleased and won the point but decided to play possibly the stupidest shot of my life, a drop shot. The crowd's groan said it all as it clipped the top of the net and fell back into my own side of the court, I couldn't believe what I had done! I could easily have lost confidence and fallen away at that point but I fought back with a good long rally the next point and found myself with another break point, this time it was Halse who made the mistake, missing a routine forehand which brought me back level. The set could go either way now.

After all that drama we both held serve relatively comfortably to send the set into a tiebreak. The first few points went with serve until at 1-2 down I attempted to come to the net off a poor approach and he passed me with a lob forehand, a hard backhand winner from him on the next point meant I was down 2 mini-breaks and in real trouble... again. He went 5-1 up when I managed to get on top of one of his serves, blasting it past him up the line for a winner which gave me some confidence. I managed to win the next 2 points on my own serve to bring it back to 5-4 and then amazingly he gave me a big gift in the form of a double-fault. I couldn't believe it and it seemed he couldn't either as his heart seemed not to be in the next point, his groundstrokes getting shorter and shorter until I put away a flashy forehand down the line. I now finally had a set point of my own. Halse's return of my second serve was decent but flying high with confidence I took a huge cut at the ball and blast it past him for a winner to seal the set. The crowd roared and so did I.

I could tell Halse was dejected as he sat down at the change of ends, he had had plenty of chances to put away the set against this "nobody" and hadn't taken any of them. I knew if I could get on top of him early in the second I would be in great shape to take the match. So that's exactly what I did. He didn't serve well at all in his opening game and I took some big swings at his serves which paid off and brought me a couple of early break points. A longish rally and a backhand winner later and I was a break up early on in the second. With my confidence skyrocketing I was now playing better than I had ever played in my life, Halse found some fight to hold serve and even managed to manufacture some break points but I saved them with ease. Eventually at 5-4 I was serving for a win in my first ever pro match, I made a couple of errors to bring it to 30-30 for a bit of late drama but eventually at match point I put away an easy volley for the victory. I had won it 7-6 6-4! As I approached the net to shake hands with Halse he said "Well played mate!" and walked off to collect his gear, I could tell he was stunned by the loss but, to be honest, I didn't care one bit. I was into the second round.

Round 1 Highlights

 

[Fenil]

Good luck with the story, mate.

 

[Spoobir]

Chapter 3: Bitter Defeat​

There was no time to celebrate my first ever pro win, my next match was in less than 24 hours time. I already knew my opponent would be Filip Dusek, a powerful Czech lefty with a massive serve and huge forehand. After my victory as I was heading from the locker room to a waiting taxi I was stopped by 2 Chinese girls waving tennis balls and pens at me, at first I was shocked that anyone would want my autograph and stood there stupidly for about 5 seconds before eventually recovering to sign my name for them. As I turned to leave there was now a man standing holding out an event programme so I signed it for him but then another group of people appeared and another until there were about 20 people surrounding me all holding out balls, programmes and scraps of paper. I felt extremely awkward and embarrassed as I was convinced the majority of them had no idea who I actually was. 10 minutes later the crowd wasn't going down at all so eventually I just had to hold my hands up and push my way through saying "Sorry but I have to go" over and over. As I made finally made it into the back of the taxi John was already there waiting for me;
"Where did you get to I've been here ages!"
"Oh, I just got held up." I replied.

The next day my match with Dusek did not start well, in the first game he immediately began dictating the play with his big groundstrokes and hit a few huge winners off both wings. My own first service game was even worse, I barely made any first serves and Dusek was absolutely crushing my second to the point where I found my self down 0-40. I once again missed my first serve and, under pressure to put in a good second, sent it flying well wide of the line for a double fault. The rest of the set didn't go much better, I managed to hold my next service game but I was almost constantly on the defensive in the rallies trying to withstand a barrage of enormous groundstrokes. His serve was a good as I had been told and as him being a lefty made it even harder to return so as such I rarely made it deep into any of his service games, the one time I somehow manufactured a break point he saved it with an ace. In the sixth game of the set Dusek again pounced on my weak second serve to break to love when I slice a backhand volley wide and he sealed it 6-1 in the next game with an ace on set point.

As I sat down during the change of ends they put the match stats up on the big screen so I had a look, I was shocked to see I was only making 16% of my first serves! I knew I hadn't been getting too many in but I had no idea the percentage was that low, no wonder I was getting absolutely smoked in my service games! I realised that this would have to change if I was to stand any chance of coming back in the match.

The second set started infinitely better than the first with a hold to love, I even won a good long rally after recovering from a very bad position caused by a massive forehand from Dusek. However I was still unable to get near to breaking his serve as any time I got close he was able to fire down a huge bomb to get himself out of trouble, a luxury I did not own myself and so eventually at 2-2 he pulled out a few great passing shots to break me once again and take the lead in the second. I kept fighting, trying to mix my game up with serve and volleys and drop shots so he didn't have as much rhythm to hit his big groundstrokes but still I was no able to find a way to break his monster serve and he hit his way to 2 match points. On the first one I took a chance by taking a big swing at his serve and firing a backhand down the line, the pace added to the pace of his own serve meant he could only return it at full stretch and sent it wide, I was still in the match. The next point I retreated back behind the baseline early in the rally and hit a high topspin forehand out wide to his backhand which pulled him out of position and forced a weak return for me to put away into the open court, that was now 2 match points saved. At deuce I managed to reach the net but sent down a couple of casual volleys which allowed him back into the point and he eventually lobbed me. I was furious with myself for the poor play and on top of that it was another match point. I recovered well after an early barrage of groundstrokes and forced him to return a ball very short in the middle of the court, sensing my chance to approach the net I came in but pushed the backhand approach shot too wide. I had lost.

I was bitterly dissapointed and angry with myself for playing so poorly in the first set. I had recovered somewhat in the second but knew there were still too many weaknesses in my game to compete at the highest levels of the sport. After I shook Dusek's hand and wished him luck in the next round I headed off the court, pledging to myself that I would do everything I could to improve my game and make it big on the tour...

Round 2 Highlights​

 

[Gaurav_7]

Those autographs would have been a nice nice feeling. Anyways, that loss seems a good one for you to improve as you have pledged you're going to. Good luck for the next thing.

 

[ARay]

I should say, I love your stories. I like how you really go into the depths of the story and make it more real!
Good work!

 

[Bevab]

As pointed by ARay, you're one of the best story writers right now. And maybe in the future too.