Love Game - Season 2011 Read Online Free PDF Page B

commentator box only to witness her colleagues Hugh Andrews and Samantha Watts coming out of the little room. They looked exhausted.
    “Oh, no. Did I miss it?”
    “You didn’t miss much,” Samantha sighed. “Gabriella failed miserably. Tried to hit through the court, but missed most of the easy shots. No net play, no wit, no delight from her. It was a really disappointing performance.”
    “Fifty-eight minutes and she was out,” Hugh added.
    Paola was surprised. She had talked to the American earlier this week. Gabriella had a calm, even guarded personality, most people mistook for arrogance, but she used to flourish when she went on the court.
    “Well, one can only hope it’s not a ridiculous attempt by that new coach to make her play more like Luella,” Sam mumbled.
    “If it is, the coach will be fired faster than Renard’s serves go over the net,” Hugh giggled. A day before Elise Renard had managed quite effortlessly to break the speed gun with her booming serves. Several consecutive times she had served over 123 mph. After the fourth time the display went blank and stayed so for the rest of the set. Hugh and Sam had a good laugh as well as the crowd in the arena.
    “It’s great that she got the wild card. It would have been a shame if she couldn’t have played at all because of Franke’s injury,” Sam said.
    “Elise is a sweet kid. The knee injury was very unfortunate. It must have been hard for her to watch her peers rising up the rankings while her career just stopped dead,” Paola wondered. “Suddenly all the attention is on The Knocker. I remember that two years ago we wondered if Carina would ever crack the Top 50. Now she’s Numero Uno. Amazing how time flies.”
    “Tell me about it,” Sam sighed, checking the monitor in the commentator booth. “We need to get back into the sauna.”
    “Antonia Sapore will try to give Mint a new flavor,” Hugh purred. Chuckling, the two commentators walked back into their box while Paola headed back to the media center. There was still work to do and a look at her watch confirmed it – yes, she was late again.
     
     
    ***
     
     
    “It happens. Wasn’t your fault.” Gabriella patted Luella’s back , then grabbed her sister’s bag and pushed her through the gate.
    “She got lucky,” Luella growled.
    “She also played really well. I wonder how she prepared in the off-season? She was hitting the ball extra hard. She was on fire.” In fact it had been exciting to watch. At times Gaga had to deter herself from cheering for the Argentine’s points.
    She glanced over to her younger sister and upon seeing her face Gabriella felt guilty. Perhaps if she had played Rodriguez, she could have handled the high pace of the South American. Also, she might still be in the tournament. Even though Luella played the match today, it was Gabriella’s name on the scoreboard, and it was Gabriella who was out of the tournament now.
    They walked in silence heading for the practice court in the back. To their left was the picnic lawn of the Queensland Tennis Centre but only a few visitors had settled onto the grass. At five in the afternoon it was still incredibly hot. There was only one lonely figure underneath the big tree in the back of the picnic area. The girl was lying on a tournament towel and there was a huge racquet bag next to her.
    “I think that’s Elise!” Gabriella exclaimed. “Let’s go over and say hello.”
    “No, thanks,” Lulu snapped. “Can’t stand her constant smiling. It drives me mad. I could punch her every time I see her.”
    Gabriella sighed, which caused Lulu to turn around with an angry stare. “You go over then. I want to be alone anyways.”
    Luella dashed off leaving her twin sister dumbfounded. But Gaga knew there wasn’t much she could do when Lulu was in a bad mood.
    She stepped onto the grass and walked over to the girl under the tree. Gabriella was still 60 feet away when Elise looked up. The American waved over and Elise