The Tennis Partner

Abraham begins to look for apartments for himself, but it saddens him. He tells Rajani that he does not want the boys to feel like he is walking out on them, and they tentatively agree to try counseling again. However, they argue again the very next morning, and the truce disappears.

Abraham is relieved to be playing tennis the next day and takes out his frustration on the court, hitting as hard as he can to David. He feels ashamed soon after for retaining the competitiveness that David wants to leave behind. Abraham apologizes after the game, and David brushes it off. He suggests they look at their games as extended practice sessions and just enjoy being out on the court. On their way out, David introduces a woman waiting for him as Gloria, his girlfriend.

Abraham and his team examine Angelina Cortez, a new patient. Angelina is an intravenous drug user and presents with a host of complaints that point to endocarditis. Angelina charms the doctors examining her, and Abraham reflects on how he has seen numerous patients like her before, “whose problems were directly or indirectly related to drugs” (78). After the interns finish their round of questions, with Angelina’s permission, Abraham points out a few things to his interns. He asks Angelina questions about her drug usage, and through the conversation, expounds on the different types of drugs, their routes of consumption, and details specifically associated with intravenous drug usage that a medical practitioner ought to know and recognize.

As the sessions ends, Abraham notices that David seems painfully affected by Angelina’s story. He shakes himself out of his reverie as soon as he sees that Abraham has noticed.

Abraham and David play tennis again a week later. Afterward, they get coffee together at a local coffee shop, Dolce Vita, and discuss tennis. David talks about his idol, Rod Laver, and how he styled his own game around Laver’s. David knows his own game was not exceptional, but he could have gone some distance if he had had enough money to stay on the tour. Abraham talks about his own idol, Ivan Lendl, who was one of the first to train off-court. To Abraham, Lendl was an example of success through sheer hard work. He describes the tense French Open Final of 1984 between Lendl and John McEnroe, and how he rejoiced in the former’s victory.

David marvels at the equal passion Abraham seems to hold for both tennis and medicine, while he is hard-pressed to find enough for just one of those things. Abraham privately notes that, while David is poised and confident on the court, he does not exhibit those same qualities in his life off it.

Abraham arrives at the hospital, and Sergio reports that David was up all night with an ICU patient, Mr. Rocha, who was assigned to him. Abraham goes up to meet Mr. Rocha; on the way, one of the ICU nurses expresses interest in David, and Abraham teasingly encourages it. In the ICU, David details Mr. Rocha’s case: He is a 34-year-old man who presents with increasing shortness of breath and a persistent fever for the last five days. His chest X-ray shows a pattern over his lungs that suggests AIDS, but Mr. Rocha has none of the risk factors for it. Mr. Rocha is to be put on a ventilator to address his chief complaint of breathlessness, as he is on the verge of respiratory failure.

Abraham points out to the rest of the students how Mr. Rocha looked at David for reassurance at this news. He stresses the importance of a doctor being “more than just a dispenser of cures, but also […] a minister of healing” (98). As Abraham watches David help with getting Mr. Rocha onto the ventilator, he notes that David is more skilled than the average fourth-year student.

David begins to give Abraham pointers on his game. Abraham incorporates them and plays harder, trying to throw David off. He observes that he must be patient and make fewer errors when playing David and resolves to note down these insights later. After the game, Abraham gives David an article on Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) which might be relevant to Mr. Rocha. He also gives David early Christmas presents: A copy of Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine and a knee hammer. Abraham has noticed that David does not have his own textbooks, using library reference books for work. David is surprised and grateful and takes Abraham up on his invitation to come home and meet his family.

David joins Abraham and his family for dinner. To his questions, Abraham and Rajani describe how they met at a friend’s wedding a couple of years before they began dating. It was a short and secretive courtship, as Indian families frown on the concept of dating, and they were married within a month. Rajani makes a pointed remark about how it is commitment, rather than chemistry, that makes a marriage last. After David leaves, Rajani claims he seems nice, and suggests inviting him over for Christmas, as he looks “half starved.”

As Mr. Rocha’s breathlessness devolves in ARDS, David spends all his time with him to monitor his condition, even canceling tennis dates. Ten days later, David himself falls sick, and they are still not sure what is causing Mr. Rocha’s illness. Abraham encourages a low-spirited David to go home and rest, assuring him that they just need to be patient and keep Mr. Rocha stable; he will eventually improve. A reluctant David takes a day off, but Sergio seems annoyed by this.

Abraham begins to look for apartments again with the boys under the pretext of exploring the town. He points out different natural rock formations and explains to them how they are a result of underwater volcanic explosions from millions of years ago. They even find fossils. These discoveries quiet the boys, and Abraham wonders if they, like him, are contemplating “the rockiness of their parents’ marriage” (113).

On the last day of their rotation, Abraham and his team go to see Mr. Rocha. His lungs are improving, but he is still in the ICU, which has rendered him indifferent to everything; this upsets David, who believes Mr. Rocha is depressed.

The team has one new patient. An intern named Raju presents the case to Abraham with his diagnosis linking the patient’s one-sided weakness to a mass in her lung. However, Abraham notes that the mass is benign, thus the weakness is possibly the after-effects of a stroke. He cautions the students against over-using Occam’s razor, which directs one to link all abnormalities under one hypothesis. This woman’s case is one of “true, true but unrelated” (116).

After rounds, Abraham takes the team for lunch at an Indian restaurant. David remains subdued throughout. His mood slightly lifts when Abraham tells him he is receiving an honors grade for his performance that month, which even Sergio agrees with.

When Abraham and David meet for tennis on Sunday, David’s mood and game both seem off. Annoyed, Abraham suggests they play an actual set. Abraham only wins one point; David shakes off his passivity and plays an excellent game throughout. Afterward, he apologizes for his mood, suggesting he is having issues with Gloria. Abraham unexpectedly confesses his own marital problems to David, who is shocked. The two men get a beer together, and Abraham details the breakdown of his marriage to David.

David mentions that he has been married twice himself. When he realizes Abraham knows nothing about his past, David reveals that he is recovering from a cocaine addiction. This is his second rotation in medicine, which is why he has performed so well. Sergio is suspicious of him because he worked with him before his last relapse.

For David, despite the toxic competitiveness, professional tennis was like a drug. He enjoyed the fame, excitement, and female attention it brought him, and thinks it filled a childhood void and feelings of inadequacy. David began using cocaine intravenously once he stopped playing tennis to fill that void and feel the same excitement again. He was almost caught and arrested for synthesizing amphetamines when he was a pre-med student. He stopped once he began medical school, but relapsed twice, the last time being particularly bad. Gloria sent him home to Australia for a while, and once he returned, Dr. Binder agreed to take him back if he attended rehab and stayed clean for a year. David was re-admitted to his fourth year a few months before Abraham joined.

David confesses that he is looking for rituals in his life that keep him stable. Besides Gloria, their regular tennis game is one ritual that helps him. He sees Abraham as someone who is stable and offers commiseration for the fact that Abraham, too, has his share of problems. A shaken Abraham takes David’s hand “as if this were the beginning of an examination” (128).