Until Then. // denis shapovalov - sascha zverev

0.2 - battleship and friends

It's finally Thursday, the day the players arrive. Dom and his team don't get in until tonight, which was totally okay with me. I had a few more things I needed to organize in order for our first round of interviews on Sunday. It's eight in the morning and I'm walking towards the Billie Jean King stadium. This was my fifth time here in the last three days and I'm finally easing up to how large it is.

"Good morning," I smile to the employee as I scan my keycard to get in. Most of the hallways and rooms look the same, but I've only been working in the same rooms, so I feel pretty confident around the interview rooms. Well, that and Mischa printed out a cheat sheet for us.

I walk quickly up the stairs and down a large hallway into the green room. "Hi guys!" I smile when I walk in, "Today's the day!"

"Morning, Willow!" everyone chimes.

Mischa pulls out a binder from his leather briefcase and opens it up to read through. "Alright, we shouldn't have too much to do today." He says while running his finger along list. "Ada, you have the casual interview rooms. The team is in the prop room, just go over plans and ideas you have for them and mark off where you'd like the camera tripods and lighting set for Sunday's interview group. Klaus, you have post-match interview rooms. Chairs and microphones need to be set up, as well as finalizing which news interviewers we want there. You have final decision. Hanna, you have player meet and greets and fan interviews. Your interviewer and cameramen team are with Ada's, so go grab them and just scout the player booths outside and figure out where you want to interview people and how. And, lastly, Willow, you have on-court interviews for day one. So, just go check out the practice courts and all three stadium courts. It'll make things less intimidating, even though you're not an interviewer, we want you to get a feel for the space so you don't seem scared. After this, you guys are free to go."

We all agree and thank him and head out. Since I've been walking to the Stadium every day, I've seen the set of practice courts on the left, and I make my way outside. There are quite a few spectators taking photos outside the Stadium, trying to peak over the fence to see the players practice. I find a path along the fence and look through all four courts. There are two players at the far end of the courts, that I definitely don't know. I've been so busy with work that I haven't had time to do much player investigation. Plus, interviewing was never my thing so names were never important to me. I hated thousands of people watching me have a conversation, so planning and producing, and staying in the background was a much more appealing gig to me. Plus, I've only really been apart of a journalism team for tennis players ranked over 100, never did I ever think I'd share a room with Rodger Federer in a week.

I open the door and walk onto the practice courts. Today was a warm day, and I feel the heat reflect off the ground and onto me. One of the players wave to me and I wave back and call "Hi!" There was a door on the court that lead back into the building and I decide to walk towards it.

When I reach it, I tug on the door, only to realize that it's locked. I get my keycard from my pocket and try to scan it, but the door beeps in decline. My face turns a bit red, as I know I'm right next to two players, watching me. I try scanning my card one more time, but it beeps again. I sigh and turn around to walk back out from where I came from.

"Oh, here! Let me help!" Someone calls from behind me and jogs over. He has light blonde hair, with bright blue eyes, and is very tall. "The door's just really heavy." He laughs.

"Oh, thank you," I say softly, embarrassed for myself. I look over my shoulder and see the guy he was practicing with come over to the net, curious to see what was going on, I think.

He uses all his strength to pry open the door and holds it open for me. "I honestly don't know why they haven't fixed it. It was like this last year too!" He says.

"Well, thank you for helping me," I smile while walking in. "You didn't have to." I look down at my feet and back up to him. For some reason, it felt like I was intruding when making eye contact with him. His eyes were a beautiful, pale shade of blue.

"It's all good!" He laughs it off. "You're new here?"

"Yeah, yes, it's my first time here, actually." I feel my cheeks get red again. I look over his shoulder and see his partner still staring at me. "I'm apart of one of the interview teams this year."

"Oh, no way!" He exclaims. "Which means we'll see each other again! I'm Denis." He reaches out to shake my hand.

"Willow," I smile and shake his hand. "Or Willa, whatever works." Again, I glance over at Denis's practice partner, guilty that I'm intruding on their workout.

"Lovely to meet you, Willow Willa. Holler if you need me to open any more doors for you again," He winks and sarcastically bows.

I let out a smile and say, "Thanks again," before the door closes between us and he walks back onto his court. His partner is still staring at me, but I shake it off and head towards finding the next set of practice courts, prepared to pry open any other heavy door.

-

"Dom!" I yell as soon as I open my room's door and jump into his open arms. It's almost 9pm.

"Willa!" He smiles, embracing me. After a quick second, we let go and he walks into my room. "Pretty nice in here." He says, laughing at the pile of clothes I unpacked, all over the bed.

"Yeah, it's not bad!" I respond. "It's the perfect size for me. How was your flight? Where are your parents?"

"Teammates are a few floors down, so they're over there, resting." He says. "Let's go upstairs, we get a pool table in our lounge, I need to relax."

I nod and walk with him up onto the floor above mine, to his. Every door is open on this floor, and I peer inside, seeing a bunch of large, tall men in each one, either blasting music or playing video games.

"Here's my room," He says, pointing into another room with an open door. His area was twice the size of mine with a bath and a shower. Lucky. I think.

A little further down the hall is the lounge. We walk in, but there's no one else in there. The room is filled with another large TV, ping pong, foosball, and pool table. Along with a piano and stack of board games and books. 

My floor doesn't even have a lounge.

"They have Battleship!" I exclaim and run over to the board games and pull it out. This was always Dom and my go-to board game.

"Yessss!" Dom says and we take a seat at the table and begin setting up the game.

-

We're halfway through our second game of Battleship, and it's about an hour later. Dom yawns through the jetlag, but continues the game with me.

"Damn! You found one of my ships," he groans in disappointment while marking the spot. "Okay, my turn."

Right before he asks me, we hear, "Willa the Willow tree?!"

Startled, I turn around and find the familiar sight of light blue eyes and shaggy blonde hair and smile.

"And what in the world are you doing in my lounge?!" He jokes.

"Wait, you two know each other?!" Dom asks, confused.

"Yeah!" Denis laughs. "She couldn't open the door during Sascha and my warm-up on practice court one, so I helped her out!" He tells Dom. Then he walks over and takes a seat next to me, swinging his arm around my shoulder. "Whaddup, cutie?"

I playfully roll my eyes at his nickname for me. "We're playing battleship, right now, shhhhh."

Denis examines my board and nods approvingly.

"Just give me one hint!" Dom groans in exhaustion. "C'mon Denis! I'll let you win a set when we play!"

Denis pretends to consider his offer before I shove his shoulder, "You better not snitch!"

We joke like we're teenagers and play board games for another hour, and I return back to my hotel room at 11 to fall asleep to my small laughter when I remember the lame conversations from tonight.