Tennis Ace Read Online Free Page A

work on a few things later,” his father went on. “I’ve been telling Vince that you’d be a great candidate for
     his summer training program. What would you think about going down to Florida this summer?”
    “Whoa,” Mr. Marino said, holding up his hand as if he were directing traffic. “Let’s not rush things. It’s not a done deal
     yet, Steve. I’m going to watch your semifinal tomorrow, and I also need to talk to you and your parents for a while before
     anything is definite. But I will say this: I have a couple of openings, and you’re certainly in the running — probably a front
     runner.”
    Steve blinked. Go to Florida and play tennis all summer? Did he really want that? “Uh … thanks, Mr. Marino, that sounds …”
    “Call me Vince from now on,” said the coach, patting Steve on the shoulder. “After the buildup Ted has given me, I feel like
     I’ve known you for years.The thing you need to consider, very carefully, is this: Do you
want
to commit yourself to my camp?”
    Steve’s father stared at his old friend in disbelief. “Does he
want
to? Are you kidding? Why should that even come up? It’s the chance of a lifetime! Of
course
he wants to!”
    But Vince was now focusing on Steve. “You enjoy tennis, Steve, I know that. But how important is it to you? Is it just a game
     you’re good at and have fun with? Or is it something you want to excel at, no matter what? That’s what I want you to think
     about for the next few days.”
    He looked Steve in the eye.
    “Because if you don’t care enough about tennis to live, eat, drink, and dream about it for a long time, maybe my place isn’t
     for you. You’re a nice young man, and your dad and I go way back. But you’d better be ready to work your tail off if you come
     down to Florida.”
    Vince counted off on his fingers. “At the summer camp, you’ll be expected to work at least six hours a day, six days a week.
     You’ll work at building up your stamina and strength. You’ll practice every partof the game — service, return of service, volleying, ground strokes, half-volley, the works — until you can do it all in your
     sleep. This is not your fun-and-games summer camp; it’s more like boot camp for tennis rookies. See what I mean?”
    “He can do whatever you ask of him,” Mr. Greeley insisted. “Don’t you worry about that. I know my son.”
    But Steve had listened to Vince describe the program with mounting anxiety. Now that school was out, he’d been looking forward
     to kicking back and having fun with Pat and his other friends: going to the beach, catching all the cool summer movies, hanging
     out at the mall with his buddies … and playing some tennis, too, but just for fun. Doing nothing but working on tennis sounded
     more like going to school, but without any variety. How much did tennis matter to him?
    Not as much as it mattered to his dad, for sure. His dad would feel awful if Steve simply turned down this chance. And maybe
     he didn’t want to turn it down. Maybe the camp would turn out to be fantastic.
Ginny
would think it was fantastic. Right now, he didn’t know how to answer Vince.
    There was a long silence, during which his father stared at him, looking upset.
    Finally, Steve managed to stammer a reply. “That’s … it sounds really … amazing, Mr. — Vince. I guess I’ll think about it
     real hard.”
    Vince nodded. “Good. You do that. I think you have the physical skills and talent to be a fine tennis player. But it takes
     more than that. You have to
want
it, bad. And you’re really the only one who knows for sure if you do.”
    Steve and his father joined Vince as he headed outside. As Vince came through the door, he almost ran over Ginny, who was
     waiting just outside.
    Ginny looked awed, as if she had just run into her favorite movie or rock star. “Mr. Marino? My dad didn’t really get a chance
     to introduce us before. I’m Ginny. It’s an honor to meet you. I’ve read all about