Until Then. // denis shapovalov - sascha zverev

2.7 - you're the reason

Alex's POV

I grunt while opening my water bottle at my bench. How the hell did I just give Denis the game like that? I glare up at the score blinking "6-4, 2-6" and roll my eyes. I, then, take a quick peak up at the stands where I saw Willow earlier. She's still there, fixated on a conversation with Dom, and I watch someone come over and bring them both two paper cups. I'm betting hers is full of coco.

"One minute left," I hear the umpire announce.

I put my water bottle down, which I didn't realize that I was clenching tightly, and I stand back up, stretching my legs and walking over to the other side of the court. I glance back up at Willow, catching her clap for Denis and throw him a thumbs up. I feel my face turn hot as I reach the baseline and get into position, waiting for Denis to serve.

-

Willow's POV

I stare at the court, my heart racing. Denis had taken the third set with a score of 7-5, and all he needed to do was finish this set. I nervously sip my hot coco, that's already gone warm, and Dom returns to the seat next to me after running to the bathroom.

"Who's up?" Dom asks, sitting down.

"Denis is technically up but they both haven't broke yet," I answer. "6-5."

Changeover finishes and I watch Alex walk back to the baseline. He looks red and bothered. He suddenly looks over to me, the second time I've seen him look over, and I quickly give him a smile and wave. I didn't want to distract him, but it looked like he needed some motivation at least.

He cracks a slight smile back at me before catching two balls from the ball boys and getting ready to serve.

"That was nice," Dom whispers to me, watching him bounce the tennis ball a few times.

I nod silently. Was it? Or did I read his smile wrong?

We hold our breaths and watch Alex serve and run in for a volley, winning the point easily.

"He's not doing his routine serve," Dom observes as the crowd cheers for the point.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"He usually bounces the ball twice casually and then twice uniformly when he's about to serve," Dom analyzes. "But, he's not doing that right now. His set up is rash and uncalculated. Watch."

We then stare forward in silence, observing Alex's body language. I watch him set up, sloppily bouncing the ball twice before throwing it up, barely getting ready with a breath. It sounds like lightning, hearing his racket meet the ball. It goes straight into the net, with a powerful thud that leaves the crowd completely silent as he is already throwing up his second ball to serve, the ball-boy barely getting out of the way in time.

"He just did two first serves," Dom whispers as I make the same observation in my head, noticing the same speed in both the serves. "He's playing sloppy. Something is bothering him."

We watch Denis successfully retrieve the serve, and they rally back and forth for a few shots before Denis hits a shot on the line that's called out.

Denis calls for a challenge and wins that point. The score is tied.

-

"Does this mean... whoever wins this next set... wins?" I ask Dom, realizing that Alex just won the fourth set.