Some Of You Weren't Here For Dominic Thiem's Prime And I Need You To Understand That Man Had Everyone

Some of you weren't here for Dominic Thiem's prime and I need you to understand that man had everyone in awe. He was being hailed as Rafa's son and his nickname was literally "prince of clay" for a good while. That backhand alone had players shaking in fear and jelousy. Like, he was insanely good, and I miss him, and he didn't deserve so many injuries and I really really hate tennis sometimes.

I am nothing but a goner for a good back 😵‍💫

and what if i was still thinking about this

lta: @jackdraper back out there at National Tennis Centre 🔋

New sleep paralysis demon unlocked

Pieces of Me

A Jack Draper Story - Part 2

Part 1 can be found here:

https://www.tumblr.com/creative99writer/761870544806232064/pieces-of-me?source=share

Note: I hope you liked the first part, here is part 2. Again, I'm still new to this whole thing of posting here, and writing things in general, so please bear with me :)

London, Wimbledon -  the year before

POV Jack.

A little fluffy dog ran through the player's lounge, making its way right to a tall blonde girl who immediately crouched down, petting it. "Oh you are so beautiful! Who are you?" she cooed, and was so preoccupied with the dog, she didn't notice the tall, handsome man stopping right in front of her, a slight smile on his lips as he watched the girl interact with the dog.

"His name's Cooper." he said.

The girl looked up, surprised. Her green eyes met his hazel ones. 

And neither of them believed in love at first sight but this very moment must have come very close to it. 

He was thunderstruck. She was - in his mind - the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. And he knew who she was. 

Eleonora 'Elle' Kemp. The women's world number one. 

He knew what she looked like, of course. He had seen her a few times from afar, always surrounded by journalists, fans, or both. He also knew that she was beautiful - tall, like it was quite usual for a tennis player, but even taller than the average tall female tennis player. She was basically a part-time model at this point, but that came with the territory of being such a popular tennis player. She was a superstar, even if she was only 22. She was a multiple grand slam winner, having won her first in Wimbledon at 17. Of course he knew who she was.

But this was the first time he was standing right in front of her and could take in all her features from up close. She was breathtaking. Piercing eyes in a shade he had never seen before. A dazzling smile that came with those eyes, making him try to catch his breath. She had charisma and an aura he couldn't really describe. Finally he understood when people said that a sport needs someone like that - to catch people's attention and draw them in, because Eleonora Kemp certainly did just that. She was mesmerizing.

He had never felt like this before. 

She stood up and he could see how tall she really was. And how that long hair flowed down her shoulders and back like silk. He wondered how it would feel between his fingers... 

"I'm guessing he's yours?" she smiled at him. "He's adorable." 

It took Jack a few moments to gather his thoughts - turn them away from those eyes, hair and smile - and try to form something that sounded remotely like a proper English sentence. It was supposed to be his first language after all.

"Yeah. That little rascal belongs to me." he smiled too, and seemed to have found his charm. He needed it, to be frank if he wanted to keep her attention, he thought. "And he always goes for the beautiful girls." 

Her eyes rested on him and he thought he always wanted to be looked at by those eyes. Her smile widened for a moment before she bit it back, trying to look unimpressed. "Well, I always go for the beautiful boys." she said and crouched down again to pet Cooper, making Jack chuckle. 

'So, she's funny too.' he thought.

"I can see that." he chuckled, and she looked up at him, cheekily. "I'm Jack, by the way." he said, extending his hand to hers, and she took it as she stood up again. 

What he felt the moment his hand touched hers must have been very close to electricity. There was really no other way to describe it, even though it was ridiculous, and physically and scientifically impossible. He nearly flinched from their contact. And it rattled her too, but she tried to not letting it show. She was always good at keeping her emotions at bay or even hide them. It was her trademark on court.

"I'm Elle." she said, giving him her nickname instead of her real name. He had to bite back an 'I know.' because of course he knew that everyone usually called her Elle. And of course he knew who she was.

Cooper put his front paws on her legs, making her look down at him. She picked that fluffy ball that identified as a dog up and cooed at him. 

"I think he's in love with you." Jack chuckled at his dog. Elle gazed at him with a light smile on her lips. 

"Well, I don't have any objections to that, he is so sweet." Eleonora said, petting Cooper who seemingly enjoyed the attention. Jack understood that. He would be same way, had he been his dog.

"Elle!" a voice shouted through the lounge, which could be identified as the voice of her older brother Theodor, or Theo, who was also a tennis player.

A tall guy, who looked incredibly similar to Elle, walked up to them. They both could have introduced themselves as Barbie and Ken and no one would have questioned it. That family was hit with good-looking-genes. And probably fantastic-tennis-player-genes as well. "Well, who is this handsome fella?" Theo was clearly talking about the dog.

"That is Cooper. He belongs to Jack. And for some reason, I am apparently the chosen one." Elle laughed and it was a sound that Jack loved. 

"Oh, Jack?" Theo asked and now turned to Jack. "Oh hey! Jack Draper, right? I'm Theodor, but please call me Theo. God knows everyone does." Theo chuckled, extending his hand to Jack. Apparently, it ran in the family to be super friendly, too - not just good looking.

Jack had never played Theo before. Theo was consistently to be found in the top ten, and he had won three grand slams, had been world number one and was currently ranked number two. Jack, who was in top 10 for the first time in his life didn't know Theo very well, except that he was the heir apparent for Rafa at the French Open and a super funny and nice guy. Just like his sister, he had only seen him from afar. And for some weird reason, they had never played each other before. Jack was surprised Theo knew who he was.

"Yeah. Hi, nice to meet you." They shook hands, and exchanged pleasant smiles while Eleonora was busy with Cooper, petting him still. That dog seemed to be head over heels in love with her, truly.

Theo laughed at his little sister. "Why do the dogs always go for you?" 

Elle snorted. "I don't know. Maybe they can instinctively feel when someone's nice." She stuck her tongue out at her brother, and Jack thought their little exchange was sweet and endearing, even, like typical family who loved each other. Despite their respective successes, they both seemed extremely nice and down to earth. It made him miss his own brother. It was probably nice always having family around, and it was probably less lonely. "Which is why they never come to you." she roasted Theo who rolled his eyes and looked at Jack. 

"Now you see what I have to deal with on a daily basis." he pointed over at his sister, who smirked. 

Jack laughed at them, still watching Elle with Cooper. 

After a moment, Theo interrupted his train of thoughts. "Anyway, Elle, I don't want to interrupt your little romance with Cooper, but we have to get going. Practice. And social media duties." 

Jack expected Eleonora to be annoyed at the prospect of once again having to devote her time to promotional duties. It couldn't be easy to be so in demand. And he knew for a fact that she was highly in demand, always. There were so many videos of her on the ATP's channel and other channel, all over TikTok and Instagram. She really had to be doing this all the damn time. There were also a lot of videos with her brother, which were - granted - funny as hell. But it must have been getting exhausting. At the same time, he was a little disappointed. He would have loved to talk to her properly, get to know her. Not only was she beautiful, but she was interesting. He knew, though, that she was busy, and her demanding life as world number one was probably exhausting enough as it is. She didn't need someone like him taking up the little time she had. So really, he wouldn't have been surprised if she would have rolled her eyes or sighed at having to give up her time to do promotional things, even as the face of female tennis.

To his surprise, though, she just smiled. "Yeah, of course. I nearly forgot about that. This little fella got me all distracted." Elle put Cooper down and stood up again, smiling at Jack. 

And for some reason, Jack wished she had been talking about him. Which was weird and he reprimanded himself for that.

"Thanks for letting me keep him company until duty called once again." she laughed and turned to Theo. "Let's go."

Elle and her brother both turned and made their way out of the players' lounge, with Jack - and Cooper - watching their figures leave, but then Elle turned around one last time. "Bye! It was nice to meet you!" she smiled at him one last time before they both disappeared. 

Jack sighed and looked down at Cooper. "Well. I can definitely see why you chose to run directly to her." He picked Cooper up and walked back to his seat, where he had been before Cooper had decided to run loose. "Maybe you can do it again, so I can speak to her a little longer. Preferably alone." Jack murmured, with a slight smile, not really believing in what he said.

But fate clearly had something different in mind.