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.And the tallying of the total points won by each player.Bellezza 124, Spade 124.The fifth set, somehow, eclipses the first four.In a stunning torrent of scorching winners and spectacular shotmaking and hardly any unforced errors and uninterrupted grit and stamina and tactical creativity on both sides of the net, it has developed, even in its unfinished status, into the longest Aussie finals ever, and by far.And it is now 7-6, 6-7, 7-6, 6-7, 37-38 in favor of Jack Spade with Ugo to serve and Jack, spurred on by coach Ira Spade’s insistence, has tried everything in the book up to this point, in addition to his fabulous talent and gritty persistence, to defeat his opponent, including bumping him in the shoulder during that changeover at 19-20 and spending five minutes arguing with the chair umpire over an unsportsmanlike conduct call against him at 30-31 in order to discombobulate Ugo’s rhythm and running over to Ugo’s side of the court to dispute a line call—a tactic not used since Martina Hingis tried it with disastrous consequences in her loss to Steffi Graf in the 1999 French Open women’s finals.And Ugo is serving at 37-38 and the pro-Bellezza crowd is in a frenzy after Ugo wins the first two points with a scorching ace and a perfectly placed surprise forehand drop volley and they’re going berko and Ugo can’t hear them but he sees they’re standing and cheering for him between points and now he uncorks a gorgeous slice serve to Jack’s lefty backhand and Jack stings a perfect backhand at the feet of the hard-charging Ugo and somehow Ugo barely gets to it and half volleys it on a perfect cross-court angle but it nicks the tape and rolls perilously and sideways along the top of the net and dribbles sadly back onto his side of the court.And it is 30-15 and Mr.Hyde has fire in his eyes and isn’t gonna let this game get away from him, noway, nohow, and Ira Spade is pumping his fat little fist in the air and muttering under his breath for Jack to beat this little Italian sonuvabitch and his left eye is twitching like gangbusters and Jack sees him and grits his teeth even harder and Ugo crashes a humongous serve down the middle of the court, again to Jack’s backhand, and Jack cracks the same blistering return, again at the feet of the hard-charging Ugo, and Ugo executes the same gorgeous cross-court half volley and once again, the ball ticks the netcord and rolls sideways along the top and falls on his side of the court and it’s 30-all and the crowd is booing Jack and cheering Ugo now more than ever.Ira Spade is thinking how he is now two points away from barely poking his and Jack’s noses slightly ahead of the Italian kid’s in terms of major titles won, giving them a slim 11-10 lead, and the two players will still admittedly be neck and neck with scarcely a beam of daylight between them but hey it’s a start anyway.Jack Spade is thinking, just for a split second, about how incredible it is for the deaf Ugo even to be playing tennis, much less playing like this, and then inevitably his mind comes back to everything coach Ira has ever taught him about Darwin and survival and the jugular and Woody Hayes and Vince Lombardi and the American Way and win or die and win or tie and how he’s gonna bear down now and somehow beat this sonuvabitch on the other side of the net.Ugo Bellezza is thinking about how blessed he is to be playing in such a beautiful match and is silently thanking his opponent over there for raising the level of his game to such a lofty height.At 30-all, Ugo hits a serve that is not quite dominating enough to allow him to rush the net, so he stays back and 102 times the ball is struck by these two superstars and precisely at the moment of the 103rd strike, a bead of perspiration rolls into the corner of Ugo’s right eye and blurs his vision just enough to distract him and he hits a forehand drive a skosh late and his racquet angles the ball toward the ad-court sideline and it is a centimeter wide and it is now 30-40 and championship point for Jack and Ira is going berserk and Jack’s heart is pumping like a hummingbird’s wings and Giglio has not lost faith in his protégé and flashes him a confident smile and Ugo calmly returns to the baseline and prepares to serve.Sometimes in life, the end comes shockingly suddenly and this is one of those times and Ugo serves a scorcher down the middle and Jack times it perfectly and just rips a perfect cross-court backhand, low and smoking and not even one as quick and reflexively gifted as Ugo Bellezza is able to reach it and it hums past his outstretched racquet and it is all over now and Jack Spade is the 2051 Strine Opn men’s champion by the outrageous score of 7-6, 6-7, 7-6, 6-7, 39-37.Ugo trots to the net to acknowledge Jack’s extraordinary play and extends his hand to the American, and Jack gives him a cold fish shake and the hint of a sneer, his signature greeting inculcated in him by coach Ira.Ugo and Giglio hug and smile and pack up all the gear and walk off the court proudly to thunderous applause while Jack is still fist-pumping to all four corners of the arena before fist-bumping with coach Ira.As the Spades leave the court, the knowledgeable, respectful, fair-minded Strine Opn fans boo the bloody hell out of them, and the razzing—which is even louder and more boisterous than the reception the reviled old N.Y.Giants pitcher Sal Maglie used to get in Ebbetts Field from the venomous Brooklyn Dodgers fans—can be heard all the way to Warrnambool.* * *“No reason to hang your head,” Giglio signs to Ugo in a far corner of the men’s locker room.Ugo looks at his mentor with sad eyes and does not respond.“There’s a saying,” Giglio continues, “that goes, Non c’è rosa senza spine, ‘there is no rose without thorns.’ This is just another bump in the road, and like all the other bumps, you will get over it and be stronger for it, you’ll see.”“No, that’s not it at all, it’s not the fact that I lost that’s making me sad,” Ugo signs, his eyes becoming moist.“It’s that…”Giglio knows his pupil as if he were his own son, so he senses what is coming.“…that I wish just once, just once…Ugo tries to hold back a tear, but it forms anyway, despite his bravest efforts, and rolls down his right cheek.“…I could hear the sound of…a bird chirping and a baby crying and the ball hitting my racquet…”Another tear forms and wends its saline way into the corner of his mouth [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]