The Rules of Tennis

Author's Note Go read "Bloodlines," instead. In case you were wondering, I'm using this as free advertisement for the favourite of my fics.

FYI, Italics, different language, should be self explanatory, normal, in English; just in terms of conversation.(Excluding texting)

Disclaimer Fabricated filaments of my imagination.

Amanda leaps forward for the ball and prepares herself mid movement, swinging her arm back and pushing forward with her whole body, she creates a large amount of top spin over it. She sends it straight back at Kyle who side steps but misses it.

Last night was a crowd directed interview, where the audience had the opportunity to ask the German and English players about whatever they wanted. It didn't finish until about half past ten, so it was closing in on twelve when the two teams we soundly back in their hotel rooms. The evening was enjoyable nevertheless, with a lavish dinner and a few challenging questions posed by people in the interview alongside some laughs.

Germany are the definite favourite to win, however Kyle and Amanda are still adamant to try their very hardest tonight at the finals. Regardless of how it will play out, they're both very proud of their achievements as they have certainly left their mark in the history of the Hopman Cup, in their debut year no less.

"Good shot!" says Kyle.

"You should have got to that one," she replies, wiping the sweat that is starting leak from her forehead, into her eyebrows.

"I know, I know," says Kyle, "I wasn't fast enough."

"Focus."

"I know, I'm just nervous!"

"That'll only stifle your own ability, we've been through this love," says Amanda, softening. "You played bloody brilliantly against Isner, we just need to rechannel that somehow."

"Hit me another one."

"I'll change it up a little, so you're not expecting it."

"Sure."

"Think about blocking it, you don't have to hit it back with as much intensity."

"Okay!"

Amanda tucks a couple of spare balls underneath her skirt and serves. It's not particularly strong but it bounces within the service box lines. Kyle retrieves it and hits it back and she returns it. It drops a little short from the previous placement and Kyle does exactly what he's told and takes all of the pace off the ball. She returns it but Kyle is onto it, quick off the mark this time and pelts it away from her cross court, close to the base line.

"Perfect!" she says, clapping her hands together. "Alex will try and get you to make unforced errors.  He's very good at rallying the ball. Keep the points short and make him move. I was watching him quite closely against Milos yesterday. The tall players may have the reach but their acceleration and agility around the court lacks due to their size. It's a double edged sword. You're a lot shorter than him, use it to your advantage Kyle."

"Way to make me feel like a man."

"Oh you know what I mean," she replies. "You're not that short, Alex is just a giant."

"Didn't think you'd be giving me advice on how to beat your boyfriend."

"Oh shush," replies Amanda, "and he's not my boyfriend. My intentions haven't changed, I want us to win Kyle, I know we can do it."

"Mmm, perhaps. Let's call it a day, my stomach is rumbling," says Kyle. "Have you talked to him today? When you're apart, you're usually glued to your phone."

"We said we'd give each other some space to give ourselves the opportunity to prepare. When we step out on that court tonight, we're rivals," says Amanda. "And your stomach is always rumbling!"

"What time do you want to start warm up tonight?"

"Well Angelique and I are on first, so I guess I'll start getting ready about five."

"Do you want me there?"

"Of course, we're a team! I'd appreciate the company," she says, easing her racket into her already full bag.

"Yes, I'll be there, whatever you need."

"I'm so lucky to have you as a partner, honestly."

"Give me a hug," he replies, stretching out his arms.

"You're all sweaty. No."

"You are too!" says Kyle. "Come here."

"Kyle! No!" she sequels as she sprints away from him, bag in hand, but he grabs her around the middle and hoists her over his shoulder, spinning her around.

"Kyle! Let go!"

He pretends to drop her, which earns him another yelp from the young Brit. Amanda bangs her fists against his back, his collar between her teeth as she threatens to bite.

"Don't you dare," he says, clumsily snatching the edge of his shirt off her.

"Then let me go!"

"Fine, you win," he says, placing her back down on the concrete. She crosses her arms over her chest. "You're no fun."

"I take back anything nice I said about you," says Amanda, she takes a step forward and wobbles a little.

"Woah, you alright?" he asks. She grabs his arm to reestablish her for support.

"I was, but now I'm dizzy," says Amanda, slapping him.

"Ouch, what was that for?"

"For man handling me!" she responds. "....We should just enjoy tonight.... We've earned it, whatever happens."

"I know, it'd just be so good to win."

"Still we have nothing to lose, Germany have world number four and former world number one on their team. They have plenty of expectations to live up to."

"Yeah I know... By the way, Eugenie and I talked."

"Oh?" asks Amanda. "What about?"

"Erm... stuff..."

"Come on, spill the goss. I know you didn't bring it up with the intention of not telling me!"

"Well, she agreed for a date," says Kyle, smiling sheepishly.

"What?! Actually?!" asks Amanda, "That's great news, maybe she knew it is your birthday today. Speaking of, I know that finals will probably be super long with the post match ceremony, but did you want to grab a few people as a joint celebration kinda thing afterwards?"

"Um, actually, I was going to take out Eugenie," says Kyle, chewing down on his bottom lip. "But I can post--"

"Don't be silly, I thought I'd offer," says Amanda. "I'm still really happy for you, I think you're cute together."

"How about you missy?" he asks. "No proposals on the horizon?"

"Nope, I'm happy with whatever Alex wants to do."

They return to the hotel and have lunch by themselves in their own rooms to have some time to alone, prior to the long haul ahead.

Amanda is on her stomach and resting across her bed, she watches reruns of the matches from the past week, her ankles are crossed over one another and a pillow is folded over to prop her head up. Her phone buzzes a couple of times and there is a new notification banner from Alex.

She runs a brush through her hair and ties it up into a messy bun and slips a pair of sandals on.

They have agreed to keep conversation to a minimum today in order to keep their concentration on the finals, Amanda can't help but wonder what he wants to talk to her about. A shadow of doubt begins to crawl up in the back of her mind, but she doesn't have the time to be paranoid.

Amanda knocks on his door, but is greeted by Angelique.

"Hello!" she says brightly, pulling Amanda into a hug.

"Oh hey!"

"Sascha just want-ed me to stick around to let you in, he's just ducking into the shower. We just finished some training. How's you-r prep going?"

"Great! Nervous, but otherwise good."

"It's pretty stressful, Sascha doesn't want a repeat of last year."

"When you came second to Switzerland?"

"That's the one."

"You can't be too tough on yourselves with Fed on the team. Bencic was also really well ranked at the time. She's not playing too poorly at the moment either."

"Yep, but he has a block in his own head about it," says Angelique. "Anywho, I better get going. Best of luck for tonight!"

"Likewise, not that you'll need it!"

"Rubbish, you have produc-ed some fantastic results this week."

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't proud."

"Good!" says Angelique, "I'll see you soon."

"Bye!"

Amanda sits at the kitchen table and taps her palms against the cool marble, gazing around the room. He is fairly neat-ish, for a boy. There's a collection of half empty water bottles on his bed side table, his tennis bags are piled to one side and his laundry is in a heap in a corner of his room.

"Hello," says Alex, "glad that Angelique let you in like she said she would."

"Everything alright?" asks Amanda. She watches as he picks up a fresh Adidas t - shirt from his cupboard and pulls it over his head.

"Of course, you okay?" he asks, approaching her. Alex spins the stool around so she's face on with him, his hands rest on her shoulders as he kisses her on the forehead.

"Yes, just a little nervous... You finished with practice today?"

"That's just what we came back from, just then. That's why I had to shower," he replies. "If you don't mind, I don't really want to talk about the finals."

"That's understandable."

"I just wanted to give you this," says Alex, reaching behind her and takes out a small black leather box, between his long fingertips. "I can exchange it or return it if you hate it..."

"Wow thank you, but what is it for?"

"Open it."

Amanda carefully unties the white ribbon and pries open the box to unveil a singular silver chain with the letter "a" attached to it, perched on top of a tiny cushion.

"Oh Sascha, it's beautiful! You shouldn't have!" she says, immediately pulling it out of its case.

"I noticed you didn't wea-r a lot of gold, so I thought white gold was the better option," says Alex, "would you like me to put it on?"

"Please," she replies, handing him the necklace. Amanda turns back around to allow Alex to dangle it over her neckline, laying it over her collar bones before securing it with the clasp. "What's the occasion?"

"Well I've been thinking..." he begins, sitting down next to her. "We've talk-ed about this a few times, I know, and I'll understand if you don't---"

"I'm losing my mind here Sascha. Just tell me!"

"But I was wondering whether you wanted to be my girlfriend. I mean we don't have to make things official, unless you want do---" he says, before hes cut off by her lips on his.

"Yes," she mumbles, a hand on either side of his face. "Yes."

Her lips move against his as he leans into the kiss, his arms wrapped around her hips to assist her in climbing into his lap.

"I take is as a yes?"

"Yes... yes, yes, yes," she replies, breaking up each answer with a kiss.

*

"So if I throw up, I don't have to play, right?" asks Amanda, her arms are wrapped around her stomach.

"Well if you don't play, you won't have a chance of winning," says Kyle. "Of us winning."

"I know, I'm just so nervous," says Amanda, tapping her leg on the tiles below her.

"WELCOME TO THE HOPMAN FINAL TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHTEEN. PLEASE PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER FOR THE WOMAN REPRESENTING GERMANY IN THE FIRST MATCH OF TONIGHT, ANGELIQUE KERBER!"

"You'll be fine Amanda, I have faith in you," says Kyle. "We've gone through all your warm ups, there's nothing else you can do. Here, have some water."

"Thanks," she replies, taking the bottle off him. Amanda unscrews the lid and takes a big gulp.

"Feel better?"

"A little," she says standing up, she pulls the zip right under her chin.

"AND NOW, HER OPPONENT, MISS AMANDA CLARKE PLAYING FOR TEAM ENGLAND!"

"Go," says Kyle, placing a reassuring hand on her back.

Amanda steps onto the court, she beelines towards her players bench with her eyes on her feet. She sits her bag down, lines up a few bottles of water and discards her jacket, kicking her legs up on the spot.

It's time for the coin toss.

"Miss Kerber will be calling the toss."

"Heads or tails?" asks the little girl.

"Heads," responds Angelique; the girl runs after the coin once she flips it.

"It's tails!"

"Miss Clarke, what would you like to do?" asks the madam chair.

"Um, I'll serve," says Amanda, knocking her racket on the edge of her shoe.

"Okay, we will just take a quick photo and you can commence warm up," says the madam chair, as the two women pose of the camera, the ball girl in between them.

Angelique and Amanda both collect a couple of balls from the ball children. The German hits the first ball.

They rally for a minute or two until Amanda begins to lob balls into the air, for Angelique to smash them and then they swap, with Angelique returning the favour. When the timer drops down to two minutes, they start serving.

"Time."

Amanda returns to her player bench and drinks a little more water, flicking her braid behind her. She can see Kyle in her players box, a small smile on his pale features as he subtly waves at her, she nods her head in response. Some umpires can be quite pedantic about on court coaching even before a match officially starts.

"Time and play."

The English girl steps up to the base line to serve. She tosses the ball above her and chases it with her racket, dropping it below her shoulder blades, before it makes contact with the ball. She jumps to the center of the court and waits for its return. Angelique swings but it hits the net Amanda feels her free fist clench.

Amanda serves again and Angelique hits it wide. Two more points, and she has the first game on the board.

The third serve is a little softer than the previous two and Angelique retrieves it, returning it quite flatly. Amanda hits it, increasing the pace and shoots it straight down the line. One more point to go.

Amanda focuses on her serve, making sure she is brushing the ball mid strike. It pays off, as it falls right down the T and Angelique doesn't land racket on it.

"Game, Clarke leads, one game to love."

*

Amanda remembers when she and Kyle laughed about how in their very first round against Italy, it was the doubles that determined the overall winner and yet here they are, a set apiece in the mixed doubles. The Germans have just broken Kyle's serve after a lot of to-and-fro, hovering between deuce and advantage.

Angelique won against Amanda in straight sets. It was Amanda's worst result all tournament, although she wasn't fibbing when she said she'd prefer to lose to such a worthy opponent.

Kyle on the other hand managed to win his match against Alex. He dropped the first set, but proceeded to win the next two. Alex was fuming towards the end of it but now Amanda is aware that none of the anger is aimed at her, rather himself and his own mistakes on court.

The score stands at six games to five, the English team have to break Alex's serve to remain in the running for the title.

Alex serves and Kyle receives it, returning it past Angelique who volleys, but Amanda is on it, and sends the ball in Alex's direction. He hits it cross court and Kyle attempts to sneak is past Angelique at the net. This time it doesn't work, as Angelique smashes it well in the doubles alley and out of reach of either players. Amanda curses under her breath.

She refuses to look at Alex's face when he serves at her, her hands are clamped firmly around her racket. Amanda notices that it is not nearly as hard as when it was Kyle's turn but she uses it to her advantage, using her backhand she pelts the ball down the line. Angelique's racket frame hits it and it bounces out of the boundary lines. Kyle high fives Amanda when they return to the back of the court.

The tall German serves again and Kyle hits it a little too hard with not enough top spin. Angelique crouches and Alex watches the ball fly past the base line.

Amanda receives the next ball and sends it back cross court. Alex swings and returns it wide, but still in the margins are the doubles alley.

It is suddenly championship point.

Alex potentially serves one last time and Kyle is quick to hit it back cross court. Alex returns it with just as much finesse. Kyle swings at the ball but it lands short, tapping the white tape of the net. The entire stadium watched the ball fall back on the English side. It bounces a little lower each time and eventually rolls to a stop.

Germany have done it. They have won the Hopman Cup.

Angelique shrieks with joy as Alex hugs her. Amanda and Kyle join in with the audience who have risen to their feet and are applauding.

The English team approach the net to congratulate their opponents. Angelique embraces Amanda first, as the men exchange a few words.

"Congratulations," says Amanda, "I couldn't think of anyone-- or team for that matter, who are more deserving than you. It's been an absolute honor to play you tonight."

"Thank you so mu-ch my darl-ing," says Angelique blinking away tears, her voice hoarse as she kisses Amanda once on each cheek, "it was an excellent match."

When Angelique releases her grasp, Amanda shuffles over to Alex who wears a grin from ear to ear.

"I'm so proud of you Sascha," she beams at her boyfriend as he pulls her close, almost lifting her off the ground.

"Thank you so much Amanda," he responds. "Just, thank you."

"It was so well earned, honestly," says Amanda. "Now I have you, I can't imagine my life without you."

As usual; lots of love, onefrozenheart