tennis slash - The Unlucky Roger Federer (12)
Title: The Unlucky Roger Federer
Author: Kris S.
Fandom: Tennis RPS
Pairing: Roger Federer/Andy Roddick
Other Characters: Mirka Vavrinec, Novak Djokovic
Disclaimer: This definitely did not happen.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: AU. What if Roger Federer wasn't the great champion? What if his career was plagued by injuries, bad luck and constantly losing to a certain American?
Part 12
When Roger finally cut ties with Mirka, it led to its own problems. She was the one in charge of the details. While she had brought in a replacement to be his manager, the communication was not there. Roger never seemed to know where he was supposed to go next, always frazzled by this guy's methods.
For once, Andy wasn't the only problem going on in his head. Roger would play the last few events trying to keep track of schedules he never had to do before. He'd lost early in those last few tournaments, all the momentum gone.
Still, Roger was sitting at #7 in the world after his loss at the Masters Series event in Paris to David Nalbandian. There was a bit of a log jam behind him in the standings but he figured it would take a lot for two players to pass him. After all, Gasquet knocked out Blake to drop that American out of contention and he'd face Murray in the next round: the winner would automatically qualify. Robredo would soon have a roadblock in Nadal so wouldn't be able to defend last year's points. Roger wasn't a numbers person but he felt safe, especially when Robredo lost the next round. One of the youngsters would jump ahead but #8 was good enough in this case.
If Mirka were there, she would have warned him about getting too far ahead of himself. Roger wasn't scheduled for another tournament so he had time to celebrate. It was a pity that Andy had to withdraw from this tournament or else Roger would have gone to him right now. He needed to celebrate with someone and that person turned out not to be healthy at the worst possible time. Roger had qualified for the Masters Cup before but was never able to actually participate.
Roger had gotten off the plane and was in the airport when he saw the text message. It was from Rafael, simply saying "i'm so sorry. u should have made mc."
He stopped dead in his tracks, the person walking behind colliding into him. Roger quickly apologized, then called his manager, barking out, "What happened?"
The guy was puzzled. "What are you talking about?"
"Shanghai!" Roger practically shouted. "What the hell happened? I left and I was #8. Either Richie or Murray would jump ahead but I was still #8. Was there a miscalculation?"
"I don't know what..."
"You know what? Never mind. You're fired," then shut the phone off, resisting the urge to throw it into the nearby garbage can.
Roger was frantic, unable to stay still as he wandered through the possibilities. The system was complicated so maybe there had been an error. None of the sixteen seeds could have passed as far as Roger had calculated on the cab ride home.
As soon as Roger got home, he started up his computer to get to the tennis news. It was five minutes before he saw the news staring him in the face: David Nalbandian beat Nadal in the final to beat Roger by a mere 10 points. That's why Rafa had specifically apologized to him, even though they rarely communicate otherwise.
He could wait to see if anyone opted to drop out so he'd be in as the alternate. The fact was that Andy's injury was minor and nobody else was hurt. He could hold out hope that someone would pull out. But he didn't believe that would happen. That was the type of thing that never happened to him.
In the weeks before that, Roger went through the process to find a new manager. It's weird to hope for someone to get injured but that was the way he had to sell any potential manager - that the manager could be working in the next few weeks or have a relatively quiet two and a half months.
When Roger finally settled on the right person, it was two days before the Masters Cup. As Roger figured, no injuries to report.
That left a major problem. He needed to get to Shanghai. He needed to see Andy, who may have counted him out at this point. But he could not tell the brand-new manager about the trip nor have anyone find out the reason for the trip beyond still being the alternate.
This was when he found out how much he'd been spoiled by Mirka. She could use the right connections for this trip to happen the way he wanted. Trying to do this alone was nothing but problems. Roger wasn't able to get a flight for the next few days. When the flight he did get would land, the round robin would be over.
Nonetheless, Roger had to do this. He knew what he wanted and it was not worth waiting any longer. Andy had to stay in town for three matches so no way should Roger miss him.
Problem was, once he was actually there in Shanghai, he had to find the guy. Roger tried hanging around the entrances, looking for any of the others in hopes he'd get to the right direction.
Novak was the first one to actually spot him. "Hey, Rogi. You came to root everyone else on?"
Roger did his best not to react to the guy. There was something about his style that got under Roger's skin, more of an irritant. "Yeah, it was so boring sitting at home."
"I don't blame you. It's an itch to get on the court."
"Right." Whatever as long as he could duck out of this. "You wouldn't happen to know where Andy is?"
Novak's jovial mood disappeared and his reply was quite clipped in tone. "No, of course I wouldn't know where Andy is. Why would I know something like that? You don't see him following me."
"Er, no I don't." Roger got this sinking feeling he was going to hate the answer whenever he found it.
It didn't take long for that to happen as Novak's cell phone rang. "Hello?" Short pause. "Hey, I was wondering if you'd..." A smile formed on Novak's face. "I would be glad to do a repeat performance tonight. Oh, guess who is standing right next to me? It's..." Novak told Roger, "I guess I should tell you that Andy and I are... well, together."
Novak held the phone away from his ear as he was hit with a barrage of loud words, all annoyed at a secret being revealed.
Roger shut his eyes. There was no way Andy would do this. How could he succumb to this cocky sonofabitch?
Novak finally got some words in. "Roger... Look, he's not going to say anything. He's already got enough scandal. Why would he want to get involved with us?"
Roger scrunched his face. Okay, Novak tended to be self-centered but even he knew not to say that to Andy... wait, there's no way he's talking to... Roger asked, "Which Andy is it?"
Novak had the grace to blush. "I snuck Murray into my hotel room. He's been a good prisoner. That's what he gets for not qualifying for Shanghai."
Sigh of relief. "Okay. Do you know where Andy Roddick is?"
"Oh. Hanging out with David."
"Nalbandian?" Roger grumbled.
"Ferrer."
"And 'hanging out' meaning?"
"Likely the same as with Murray and I, except that Ferrer is a romantic," punctuating that with a roll of the eyes. "So they're probably at some secluded restaurant now with the promise of fun later."
"Thanks."
Roger glared at Novak's retreating form. Of course. Roger was in the middle of an unfamiliar city, looking to confront Andy based off the idea of a restaurant the press couldn't find. Even if he found the place, it could turn out Andy's having a wonderful time with Ferrer.
There was a simpler solution. Roger didn't remember when he got this but likely something Mirka left behind in the hotel room during the US Open. He called the phone number.
"Hello?"
"Andy? It's Roger."
There's whispering in the background and Roger hoped it was all a misunderstanding.
"This is a surprise. I'm sorry you didn't make it." More chatter in the background.
"Instead of playing games and stepping around the issue, as we have been so prone to do, just answer this. Are you dating Ferrer?"
Andy was silent but Roger could hear the breathing and background noise. After about thirty seconds, he said, "I had to give up eventually."
"Andy, please, don't do this..."
"Enjoy your vacation and I'll see you next year."
Part 13