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It was good. The ball was good. Just barely, but it was on the line. Rafa couldn’t believe it was really happening. He experienced the scene a little bit as if he wasn’t actually there, as if he was just an viewer, watching the finals of Roland Garros 2022. There was this relief inside him, this incredible happiness, over the fact that he was still the king of clay. That he was, despite his age and his history of injuries, still able to win his favorite Tournament. He would never admit it, but there had been an incredible amount of pressure on him after his loss to Djokovic in last year’s semifinals.
But now it was done, once again. After a moment of realizing what had just happened, he went to the net to have the formal handshake with Casper Ruud. Even if it hadn’t worked out for the young Norwegian today, Rafa was sure that his time would come, especially on clay. It was at this moment that the joy over the win came crushing down on him. He had just won his 22nd Grand Slam win. And he was as happy about it as he was about his first one, 17 years ago. But he couldn’t help but also feel the bittersweet side of it.
As he walked around to the court, he became painfully aware, that even if that was a very happy chapter for him as an athlete, it was a sad one for his health. He had played the entire tournament with a numb foot, and even if he didn’t want to accept it, he knew just as well as everyone else, that every tournament or even every match could be his last one. Maybe even this one.
And of course, as he went to his box, he saw and appreciated everyone that was there and celebrated his victory with him. But he couldn’t help but miss the one that wasn’t. What would he give to have Roger, his fiancé here in his box, to be able to enjoy this moment with him? But the reality was, that the Swiss had to attend to his rehab- and training-program so he could maybe even participate at Wimbledon, if things worked out perfectly. He knew of course that Roger was watching the match from Basel on television but still, he missed him.
Then everything happened so quickly, as if in a blur. The trophy ceremony started, and soon after, he already held his 14th Musketeer´s Cup in his hands and made his way to the end of the stage to hold his winner’s speech. It was a little bit strange how automatic winning the French open had become, a little bit like a habit. The joy and the happiness of it were of course still there, but it had become so regular, that everything he did and everything he said almost happened on autopilot.
It wasn’t until an hour after the actual win that he finally got to the locker room and thereby to his phone. He never took it on court. When he was on court, he was a tennis player, an athlete and nothing else. Then, private affairs and other stuff simply had to wait. When he unlocked his phone, he felt a broad smile creeping onto his face as he saw exactly what he wanted to see: There was a notification saying “1 unseen message from Rogelio”. He quickly opened the message and read it through.
Congratulations Baby!! You cannot possibly imagine how proud I am at you; I have been jumping up and down in celebration for the last ten minutes now. I’m so happy for you! You were incredible! I can’t even begin to describe how much I want to be with you at the moment, but unfortunately, we will have to wait until you get home to celebrate together… Enjoy your press conference and allow yourself to be celebrated for once. Call me when you’re finished with the press and everything else, I can’t wait to hear your voice! Until then, have fun and enjoy your victory!
I love you,
Roger
Rafas heart threatened to burst out of his chest. How was it possible that Roger always found the right words? He was simply the best boyfriend and soon to be husband he could ever have wished for. Still with a big smile on his face he put his phone back into his bag and got his shower gel and changing clothes out. Of course, by now there were a lot of congratulation messages and missed calls from a lot of people, but he couldn’t bring himself to bother about them right now.
After a not so quick shower and getting ready he took all of his stuff and went to the conference room, where his trophy had already been brought to and the press was already waiting for him. As he entered the room and made his way to the table, the whole room erupted in applause and congratulations. As he sat down the first thing he did was, as always, to take one of the provided bottles of water and take a lot of sips of it. By now it had somehow become one of his rituals. To be honest having a press conference was really the last thing he wanted to do at the moment, especially one as long as it usually was after a grand slam final. But as always, he had to get through it, no matter how much he didn’t want to.
The first few questions were actually pretty standard. They asked him the same stuff as always: How did you feel during the match? What were the most difficult aspects of Casper’s style to overcome? How is the foot feeling? What will you do now after you have won your 22nd Grand Slam title? Those questions Rafa hat already heard countless times, so answering them was almost happening on autopilot. That was until it was the turn of a young female Swiss reporter:
“Rafa, first of all congratulations also from me. I was wondering, after yours and Rogers announcement of your relationship and engagement in front of the whole Rod Laver Arena at the Australian Open this year, I guess the most of us had expected to see him in your box. Where is he, and why isn’t he here to cheer for you? Has something happened between the two of you?”
Wow, that was unexpected. After there coming out and engagement, surprisingly the extreme media attention had been pretty short lived. Thankfully, overall, they had managed to keep their private live private and the people and the media generally respected their personal space. But on the other side, Roger had been at the Abierto Mexican and in Indian Wells to support him, so he should have expected that people get curious as to why he wasn’t here now, at Rafas favorite tournament.
He took a few moments to think about what to say and started with a quick chuckle: “Well, don’t worry, everything is fine…”, he held up his hand to show his engagement ring “still engaged, no?”
The entire room let out a small lough before he continued seriously: “No, of course I am very sad that he is not able to be here, of course It would be a dream come true to win my 14th Roland Garros with him in my box. But unfortunately, he has to attend to his rehab and training back home in Basel to prepare for his comeback. After all, he is still also a professional tennis player, and his career is just as important as mine. But I can’t wait to go home and celebrate my victory with him.”
At that the reporter gave him a chaste smile and seemed to be content with his answer. After that the questions got back to the match and the tournament, but Rafa couldn’t really bring himself to focus on them anymore. Even though the young reporter had been really polite and obviously had meant no harm, her question about Rogers absence had left a bitter taste in his mouth. Just when he had actually begun to enjoy his victory, he was being reminded that he wouldn’t be able to be with the love of his live until in a few days.
When the press conference and his other obligations were finally finished after several hours, he was just exhausted. The injection for the foot had started to wear off and the adrenaline of the match had already long been gone, and all he was left with was pain and tremendous fatigue. He didn’t even want to go somewhere to have dinner and celebrate. All he wanted to do now was to get to his suite, order some room-service, and then call Roger while he was already snuggled into bed. Celebrations would have to wait until tomorrow.
Luckily his team and family understood, so he said goodbye to them and went with his driver to get to his hotel. In the first moment, it seemed a little weird to him that none of them had any objections about him wanting to spend the evening of his Grand Slam win alone in his hotel room. But then again, he was to tired to really think about it. They probably could just see the exhaustion in his eyes.
When he was finally at the hotel, he thanked his driver, grabbed his stuff and made his way up to his room in the sixth floor. As he entered his suite, the lights in the entrance area went on. Interestingly enough, the door to the main area of the suite was closed, which was strange, since Rafa never closed it, and he couldn’t remember to have done so earlier. But he shrugged the thought off, I really wasn’t worth thinking about. After he put his shoes off, he picked up his bags and went through the door, only to drop them as soon as it had sprung open.
He couldn’t quite believe what he saw. The light was dimmed, and in the middle of the room, there was a small table, beautifully set up with a white tablecloth, candles and red rose petals for decoration. But the real surprise was standing in front of all that. Roger was standing there, smiling at him as if was the most normal thing for him to be here ever. He was wearing the same outfit as he had worn at his last Grand Slam victory when he had proposed to Rafa in front of the entire crowd. The same dark blue dress pants, the same white dress shirt and even the same belt. Rafa would recognize that outfit anywhere.
Rafa stared at his fiancé, completely stunned about his presence. Within a few seconds, all the pain he had felt in his foot and the sadness about Roger not being there was forgotten and replaced with pure delight and happiness. There were so many things that went through his head, so many things he wanted to say, but the only thing that came out of his mouth was a weak “Roger…”
“Hello, my love”
By those three words he finally got released of his rigidity and he made his way over to Roger to take him into a tight embrace. “Rogelio… You are here… How?!”
Roger tightened the hug and whispered into his ear. “Of course, I’m here. Unfortunately, I couldn’t come earlier to the match because I had an important appointment with the doctor, but as soon as I was finished there I got here. I meant what I said when I asked you to marry me. I want to be there with you at your happiest moments. Even if it means that I have to watch your match during the flight.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Well first of all, I knew that I wouldn’t make it on time for your match, and I also knew that you don’t have your phone with you during match preparations and the match. And let’s be honest: Would you have been even a little bit concentrated during your press conference if you had known that I was waiting here for you?”, he chuckled and Rafa joined him.
“No…probably not…”
Rafa pulled back and looked into Rogers eyes. He took the older mans cheek into his hand and whispered. “Thank you for being here, Rogelio. You have no idea how much this means to me. I missed you so much. I love you, Rogi.” With that he pulled Roger in for a kiss. It wasn’t fierce or even passionate. It was slow and familiar. But nevertheless, it was so loving, that Rafa could literally feel all his sorrows being washed away. When they pulled back Roger answered: “I love you too”, before continuing.
“I am so proud of you, Rafa. What you did tonight, was just simply amazing. There is no word to describe the joy I felt when you hit that last winner on the line. 22 Grand Slam titles, 14 of them at the French Open, that’s just incredible, especially with that rocky path of yours. You’re simply the greatest of all time for me, on and off court.”
“Thank you, Rogi”
“I know you’re tired as hell, so all you want is probably to go to sleep. But as your soon to be husband I have to be careful you don’t starve, so I made us dinner.”
Rafa just looked at his fiancé with a warm smile, to tired and grateful to actually say something, and then took place on one of the two chairs that were placed at the table. A few moments later Roger already came with the food. He had made some pasta with seafood, so nothing too special, but for Rafa it was simply perfect.
They had a nice dinner, talking about what has been going on in their lives since they had last seen each other. It was spectacularly unspectacular how domestic the scene was. Everyone always thought Rafa was a person who preferred huge celebration parties with a lot of people. Of course, it wasn’t entirely wrong, since he had a pretty big family, he was used to many people at one time and yes, occasionally he really liked to party as if there was no tomorrow.
But it were the moments like this that made him complete. With all the stress that had been going on in his life for decades now, it was nice to have someone at his side, who didn’t only see the success and the amount of Grand Slam- or Roland Garros-titles he had won, but also him as a human being, who sometimes just wanted to have a break from all of that and to rest. Ironically it was his biggest rival, as everybody called Roger, with whom he had always had the most non-tennis-related conversations, even before they had started dating.
After they had finished their meals, they put their dishes into the sink and began to prepare for bed. It was just as if they were at home, doing their evening rituals together. When they were finally in bed, Rafa looked at Roger ones more with the most loving smile he could come up with.
“Gracias por estar aquí. Te amo.”
Roger didn’t understand a lot of Spanish, but through the years, he had learned enough to understand what Rafa was saying.
“Nothing to thank me for, my love. There’s nowhere I’d rather be. Not now, not ever. Good night, Rafa.”
“Buenas Noches, Rogelio”
And with that, they cuddled together, until they couldn’t even distinct any more whose breath was whose and which heartbeat belonged to whom. That was all it took for Rafa to finally give in to his exhaustion and to fall into a deep sleep.
The end