Page 110 of Match Point

“I’ll admit, I saw it coming,” I said. “But I wasn’t certain. And I didn’t want to jinx it by asking.”

“And if you lost?” Dominic asked. “Would you have tried again next year?”

“Probably. I don’t know. And thankfully, I never have to think about it.”

“You didn’t let him win, did you?” Dominic asked.

Gabriel’s eyes widened. He put down the wine bottle and sat up a little straighter before giving a curt answer. “I would never let an opponent win.”

“Even a friend?”

“Especially a friend!” Gabriel said fiercely. “It would do Tristan a great dishonor. He earned his victory today.”

“Okay, okay,” Dominic said, patting the air in a placating manner.

Gabriel stared him down a few seconds longer before turning to Tristan. “It is not too late. You do not have to do this.”

“I already made the announcement. It was a whole public thing. You were there.”

“You can change your mind, like Tom Brady.”

Tristan chuckled. “I’m happy with my decision. I have no regrets.”

“Of course you have no regrets. It has only been nine hours.”

“I know myself,” Tristan said, patting Gabriel on the thigh. “I won’t have any regrets in a week, or a month, or a year. Honestly, I’m relieved. I accomplished the one thing I wanted to in my career. For a while, I was terrified that failing to win the Australian Open would haunt me forever. No, I’m definitely retired now. It feels right.”

“I’m proud of you, bud.” Dominic hesitated. “So, does this mean you’re retired from doubles, too?”

Tristan smiled sadly. “Afraid so, mate.”

“Damn.”

I cleared my throat. “I know of another player who may be interested in playing doubles.”

The three of us turned to look at Gabriel.

“I have not played doubles in five years,” Gabriel said.

“That just means you’re fresh!” Tristan replied.

“I’ll do all the work,” Dominic added. “You just have to stand there. Maybe hit a serve every now and then.”

Gabriel bristled at that. “I will do more than simply stand there. If I play doubles, I will be playing to win.”

“Okay, okay, I didn’t want to start an argument.” I pulled out my phone. “I wanted to try something. Check this out.”

I opened an app and placed my phone on the ground. The screen showed an image of a bottle, viewed from above. When I tapped the screen, the bottle began to spin.

“Oh, absolutely fucking not,” Tristan said.

I blinked in surprise. “I thought it might be fun to play spin the bottle. Like we did back…”

Tristan picked up my phone and tossed it to me. Then he guzzled the rest of our wine from the bottle and placed it on the ground by the fire. “I’m not allowing technology to replace this. We’ll use arealbottle.”

“I agree with the current Australian Open champion,” Dominic said. “Technology rules too much of our lives. Let’s use a physical bottle.”

I smiled. “I’m open to that.”

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