Until Then. // denis shapovalov - sascha zverev

0.6 - hot coco

Alex's POV

"The interview should take only thirty minutes," my coach says to me when we arrive to the room. "After, grab some food and we'll meet you on the practice court at 1."

"Sure, sounds good," I shrug, emotionlessly.

The door opens a few seconds later and I walk into the room. Everything looks the same as last year.

"Follow me," someone tells me and leads me into the room towards, what I assume to be, my chair.

"Thanks," I nod and sit down next to the interviewer and nod to him as well.

"Thank you so much for being here with ATP," I hear someone say, and I immediately look over at the unfamiliar face.

She's sitting down next to the camera. Her hair's tied up in a low bun, with a few pieces falling in front of her face and tucked behind her hair. She smiles to me, and for some reason, my stomach fills with butterflies. I've never seen her around; and, even though she's wearing an ATP hoodie and loose jeans, she looks so dressed up.

"Lovely to meet you. I'm Willow, the producer for today's interview, and this should just go really quickly! We're just asking a few rapid-fire questions, should take no more than 30 minutes."

"O-Oh, that sounds good. I have all day, so don't worry about it," I respond, stumbling over my words. There's something mature and confident about her, like she knows exactly what she wants in life. But, her voice is so calm, and soft at the same time. I can't take my eyes off her and I try to examine her large eyes and rosy cheeks. She's beautiful.

"Thanks so much for being here with us, Sascha," the interviewer says,

"I'm happy to be here with ATP," I get out and fake a smile after a long pause, but I can barely focus on him, and only glace at him for a few seconds before returning my gaze back onto this girl. I forgot to even listen to her name because I'm in awe. I wonder what her name is... She's staring back at me, but she seems... confused.

"So Sasch, how did you match go yesterday? Walk us through those last few games," the interviewer asks.

I force myself to look at him and respond, "Um, yeah, I think Popsil is a really though competitor. I just tried to keep my head in every point and try my hardest to get every ball. Luckily, my serves pulled through during the last set, so everything kinda worked out. Popsil's been such a great sport, I'm very happy I got to share the court with him," I nod but my eyes go to naturally find this girl again. We make eye contact again, but she looks away abruptly. For that half second we looked at each other, though, it made everything around me disappear.

The interview goes on, but I feel like all the questions I'm asked and all the responses I give, go in one ear and out the other. I can barely focus. I have to talk to this girl.

"It was super awesome to meet you, Sascha! Thanks so much for taking the time to come over!"

I snap out of my thoughts and respond, "Yeah, my pleasure." I slowly get up from my seat, taking one last look at her, before walking out the door.

The door closes behind me and I stand outside the room, unable to comprehend my surroundings. Who was she? I think to myself. Someone opens the door from behind me and I flinch, "Oh, shoot, sorry," I say.

The person mutters a response and I slowly walk away from the room, trying to find a good place to wait. I'm willing to wait all day for her to walk out... even if I miss practice. I'm about a hundred feet away from the door, but I have a clear line of sight to it, and just like that, she walks out. I know immediately it's her.