The Twin Ivory Shards, Rafa, and Roger

A long hush has been heard up in the Ivory Tower, where the Little Boy lives and glances at the on-goings of the world. For a long time, he has witnessed the effects of some ivory shards that has landed on the unfortunate hands of people and creatures on earth. This time, he is paying attention to an epic battle in the world of tennis as a special ivory shard encountered a rising tennis star.

This ivory shard is different because in its descent to earth, it underwent a change that no other shard has undergone. This ivory shard fell down whole; however, because of the intense shock it received upon hitting Heaven’s window, it cracked. While plummeting down to earth, it split into two; it split so perfectly that an observer would dare say that the two shards are practically twins. Thus, these two shards played a unique role in the life of Rafa and Roger.

As the announcer of the tennis match introduced the players, the twin ivory shards fell onto Rafa and Roger. One ivory shard hit Rafa just behind his ears. The other ivory shard hit Roger’s forehead. Because of their magical nature, the ivory shards embedded themselves into the minds of the two players. Although twins, the ivory shards landed on different body parts, so they acquired different capabilities.

Roger felt a sharp headache as he was picking tennis balls to use as he was to serve first. He thinking that it is only a pregame jitter, he just let it go, shook his head and smashed the ball to Rafa’s side of the court.  Nice and easy. That was Roger’s thoughts as he watched the ball fly. Rafa also felt the same sharp pain, but he rubbed his ears to remedy the situation.  Nice and easy. That was what Rafa heard as he was squatting down to catch the perfect serve from Roger.

The rally went well. Both players were playing on top of their game. The players were awed by the long rallies before a point was awarded. Coincidentally, their scores matched. Near the end of the first set, both players were tied.

As the service is still in the hands of Roger, he was carefully thinking of the best way to score an ace. Go long, just above the net, and put a side spin on it. That will put the ball just behind the line. He’ll never catch that! Roger was thinking all these out in a desperate attempt to end the first set so that he can sit down and rest his feet.

Go towards the back end of the court. He’ll hit the ball to look like it’s going to go outside of the court, but it won’t. Just go to the left side and back up five steps. Although bewildered, Rafa felt a compulsion to follow the instructions that he heard in his head. Sure enough, the ball went long, barely missed the white line of the tennis court, and he was still able to perform a solid return using with the ball doing a high-frequency backspin.

Surprised with the powerful return, Roger rushed to do a save but he was not in the right position to catch it in time to return it to the other side of the court. Unfortunately, the backspin caused the tennis ball to just bounce off his racket, and fall a foot short from the net. With this shocking point awarded to Rafa, Roger froze up and lost the first match.