'Heh… that is kind of cute. The racquet's maybe a little too big for you yet. Come here shōnen, let me fix your grip… yeah, that's called an eastern grip. Ow! Hmm, maybe you should stick with a two handed grip until you're bigger. Don't let mum see you, she'll say I'm pushing you…'

'Oh yeah, got you something kiddo. It's a cap. Fila… can you say Fila?'

'Fee-ba…'

'Not bad, not bad. Looks good on you too. You're going to be handsome like your daddy.

'Wait, wait… jeez, you can't swing a racquet while your pants are falling down, boy. Trust me I've tried. Now… just hold on. I'm sure to figure this out in a moment… what the hell kind on snap is this? Why not just normal buttons… oh no, they have to make it all complicated.

'Looks much better undone, trust me kid…

'Eh, Royma. I think maybe we should talk. Before you get bigger and start hating me.'

'Daa…'

'Okay, okay… I'm throwing the tennis ball. Eh? Swing higher shōnen, we're not mowing the lawn. Oops… guess you overbalanced a touch.

'I want to talk with you now… you know before you can actually talk and we end up saying nothing to each other. Let me just get a few apologies out now, so you can't bring them up later.

'Sorry I haven't been around… and for missing a couple of your birthdays… Wimbledon… and all. But I promise that when you miss my birthdays for a grand slam title I won't hold it against you.

'You look good… How 'bout my racquet… yeah that's a good racquet. Nice grip, good reach, perfect gut tension… you feel that? That's the sweet spot…

'I guess what I'm saying is I'm going to be around more from now on. For birthdays and school and other things too. I just wanted to warn you now that I'm probably going to suck at being your father. I'm not very responsible… or dependable… if your mum went somewhere you'd have to remember to feed me…

'You don't seem surprised. I guess you kind of figured it out on your own… I'm almost a stranger… But there's lots of stuff I want us to do together. I want to teach you tennis, show you how to kick ass on the court, kiss girls, and I've got a couple great serves up my sleeve too. Maybe we could get to the US Open… sit in the VIP seats.

'I want to take you home. To Japan… in spring. To Seigaku… damn woman probably hasn't taught you a word of Japanese.

'Come here shōnen… You know, I thought I had the world conquered. That I had achieved all my goals, won my grand slam title. Then you just showed up and the future is suddenly so big, that it scares me… and the feeling I have for you it's… I can't even describe it, but it's big too.

'Glad we talked, aren't you?'