Page 15 of Breakpoint
They had been training together for over a week now, and the tension between them had only grown. Their practice sessions were a carefully choreographed dance of forced politeness and barely suppressed resentment. Off the court, they barely spoke, even though Daniela was staying in her home, they avoided each other as much aspossible.
“Let's all take a break and grab some water,” Mike suggested, attempting to break the tension. “Jaz, I wanna run something by you real quick.”
“Thank God,” Daniela lamented as she walked over to the bench and threw her racket down on the ground. Jaz could see the anger coming off Daniela in waves as she sipped on a protein drink.
Jaz turned to Mike. “Should we do more forehands? I think it's where it let both of us down.”
Mike turned his back, shielding his words from Daniela, and whispered, “I think you should lay off a bit on Dani. Bring down the temperature.”
Jaz looked at him in shock. “What? This is how hard you push me. I’m not doing anything that we don’t do all the time.”
“But it’s what works for you, and I know how to get the best out of you. Maybe this is not what works best for Dani. I’ve been letting you take the lead on this since it was your idea. But you need to learn what motivates Dani. Maybe it’s not the drill sergeant and nose to the grind like you. Maybe you can try being friendly.”
Jaz looked at him aghast, not believing the words coming out of his mouth. Mike took the racket out of her hand and started to realign the strings. “We want the best out of her, not to beat her down where she has no confidence. Because you need her to win, and you two need to learn to playtogether.”
Jaz thought back over the last week, and it did seem like Daniela's game had gotten worse the longer she had been here. She respected Mike and his opinion. He was a great coach, but more than that, he had really helped Jaz on the mental part of her tennis game. Ifthey were now going to play doubles together at Wimbledon in a few weeks, then they needed to get it together.
Yes now they were playing doubles at Wimbledon too!
It was actually Chris, the agent, who had the idea for them to enter the doubles draw at Wimbledon. Jaz quickly realized it was for the publicity Daniela would get leading up to the Olympics. But Tom and Mike actually thought it was a good idea for them to be battle-tested in a match setting before the pressure of the Olympics. Plus, Jaz wasn’t playing Eastborne, the tune-up grass tournament before Wimbledon, so it would be a way to get a few extra matches in on the grass courts.
Even though she knew this pairing with Daniela was for publicity for the Olympics, she could admit their strengths complemented each other. Their games were opposite but a near-perfect match on the court. If they got it together, they could be an unstoppable force. But their first doubles match against Marcos and some dude from the tennis club was a cacophony of missed cues, awkward positioning, and thinly veiled frustration between them.
She turned to Mike and nodded. “I hear ya.”
“Just try, Jaz. I bet you, our usual wager, that if you changed tactics, you might get more out of her than you hoped for.” Mike knew how competitive Jaz was and could never turn down a bet. Mike gave her a pat on the shoulder. “Grab a new racket. This one needs to be restrung.”
Jaz walked over to the bench where Daniela was slumped over. Still breathing heavily from their last drill. She took a seat besideDaniela and grabbed her electrolyte water.
“How you doing?” Jaz asked. She wondered if she had even asked Daniela that entire week she had been here.
“Just tired,” Daniela mumbled, avoiding her gaze.
“Tiredness is a luxury we cannot afford,” Jaz stated, her tone flat and unforgiving. “We have Wimbledon and then the Olympics.”
Daniela blew out a raspberry and Jaz could see her frustration level rising again. But remembering what Mike just told her, went for another tactic.
“Your backhand is gold.” Daniela’s left eyebrow raised skeptically, almost like she couldn’t believe Jaz was giving her a compliment. But Jaz continued, “It’s a great shot, and once you’ve backed someone into a corner with that backhand, they’re in jail and not getting out of the pickle.”
“Thanks, I never thought about it that way.” Daniela turned to her. “I usually use my forehand across the court to find a backhand winner.”
“A piece of advice. Don’t go looking for a winner. It will come on its own. In our match, that’s what you went away from. You were trying to find a winner on every shot versus letting the point come to you. And that got you away from your best shot, your backhand.”
Daniela looked contemplative, like she was replaying the match back in her head. Jaz continued, “Just focus on what you’re doing instead of on anyone else is the most important thing. Tennis is more of a mental game than anything. The test of consistency and excellence is being able to compartmentalize all the emotions, allowing the mental and physical to stay locked in.Be as present as possible and let the game come to you. There’s a saying, and it’s completely true, that tennis players don’t just lose to opponents, they lose to themselves.” Daniela turned to Jaz and nodded with a smile.
Fuck, maybe Mike was right. She was going to owe himanotherdollar. The sun beat down on them as they returned to the court, the heat relentless. But something had shifted. They were still miles away from a cohesive unit, still two fiercely independent women learning to navigate a shared space. But maybe they could find some common ground.
Chapter 7
What a difference a week made. Jaz didn’t seem nicer to Dani per se, but over the last week, she was more open to sharing advice, walking her through technique, and giving pointers instead of barking orders at Dani. She even offered the occasional “Nice shot.” Jaz hadn’t warmed to her so much as resigned herself to this business relationship for a few months.
Dani could admit that she was learning a lot. But most of it was just by watching Jaz. She picked up on so many small details. It was like she was getting all these clues to success by just being in her presence. Over the last two weeks, Dani saw how regimented Jaz was. Out on the practice court, Jaz would work on every single shot to make it as perfect as she could. Sometimes she would do the same shot a hundred times in a row. That was wild to Dani.
But also eating healthy, drinking lots of water, with the proper recovery of stretching and massages by Scott, kept her body in peak form. How Jaz got stronger through weight training, but most importantly, she saw her go to bed at a certain time each nightto get optimal sleep.
Dani hadn’t been out to a bar or club the entire time she was at Jaz’s compound. And she missed it so much. The release of letting go on the dance floor, having fun, and drinking away the stress of trying to perform on the tennis court. Every night, she was envious when she looked at her social media feed and saw how Sascha was living it up in London.
But she was learning firsthand the routines and all the effort she had to put in if she wanted to get to the top of the sport. That there was no secret sauce to greatness, just hard work and sacrifice. But why couldn’t she have both?
