Book Review: Cross Court by Vai Denton

Official Synopsis: The daughter of a former world number one, Nicola Vassilakis had two junior majors and a ticket to tennis stardom before she even turned eighteen. But since going pro, Nic has endured only injuries and losses. Seven years later, the spotlight’s moved on to younger talent, her love of the game has dried up, and she has nothing to show for it but an aching need for the adoration and belonging she once had.

When her performance coach takes an unexpected leave, Nic’s left with two choices: go without and chance falling further behind, or trust Aleksandr Morozov, her rival’s brother, to take over. He’s confident, charming, and knows how much he gets under her skin. What’s more, Nic can’t afford to depend on someone who might still be playing for the other side.

After yet another painful loss, Nic warily agrees to a trial run. Between drills, lifts, and Aleks’ push to prioritize rest, it becomes evident he understands the battles she’s been waging more than anyone, and with his steady patience (and, okay, the flash of his abs), her walls threaten to tumble.

Aleks helps shoulder the weight of crushing expectations, but Nic will have to find her own balance or risk letting the love of the public she’s desperate for slip through her fingers for good.

Nic has spent most of her career hoping to win a Grand Slam, especially after winning the junior French Open before she aged out, but nothing seems to help the fact that she loses in the final, usually to Anya Morozov, her biggest rival and one of her least favorite players on the tour. Nic works hard, sometimes too hard, to try to get herself into shape to win, but overworking might not be helping in the ways she hoped. When her performance coach decides to take a leave of absence, there is one option that Nic is not willing to accept, Anya's older brother Aleksandr, a retired pro turned conditioning coach who is already trying to petition for the spot while working with his sister. Nic isn't sure she can trust him, especially being related to her rival, but he's willing to stop coaching his sister and move to working with Nic 100% of the time. When Nic decides to give him a test run, she isn't expecting it to go passed the French Open, or that she'll be able to trust him at all.

It turns out, Nic can trust Aleks as more than just her performance coach and as their relationship starts to blur the lines Nic wonders if this is the right choice at all. It doesn't help that her friends start to invite Aleks along to things, and he always seems to know exactly what she needs (or doesn't need.) As Aleks keeps pushing himself into her orbit she can't help but want to get closer to him, in more way than one, but each time something comes between them, Nic finds herself stepping back. We learn that it takes a lot of Nic to trust people, especially with a superstar mom who only seems to reach out when Nic is being successful, she has made a family out of her group of friends and team, but still find it hard to let Aleks in past being her coach and casual hook up. As they continue to blur the lines, Nic starts to realize that Aleks might be the only person who understands her and doesn't run away.

Nic is a character who has a lot of quirks. She is particular about keeping on schedule, has a routine for everything and needs things to be tidy. Though it is never said blatantly, you can see the hints of her being autistic coded. She seems to know there is something different in the way she acts, especially in public and in large groups, but we never get anything official. We also get to see Aleks, who has his own issues going on outside of tennis, and his own reasons for leaving the tour while he was on the top, but he uses these experiences to shape how he helps Nic move through her own game. He keeps her from 'punishing' herself with cardio after a loss, brings her deserts from Greece and talks her through the big things she feels. Aleks also spends a lot of time helping his siblings, who are suffering with the consequences of him quitting tennis by their overbearing parents. I think we get to see two characters with similar experiences who are handling them different ways and how they come together to work through them.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was a good story overall, with characters who had a lot of emotions built into them. There is a bit of a third act breakup, but its more of third act disagreement. We get to see someone, Aleks, who works his way into Nic's life at Nic's pace, making sure she is comfortable at every move. I liked seeing how Aleks used his own experience to shape how he coaches Nic through her time on tour. I really enjoyed the connection between the characters and their moments together that were just...figuring each other out with out the spice. Though the spicy scenes were well written too, I did enjoy when the plot went from having them to showing the deeper connection in the characters.

Also, this book is an independently published book and the second in an interconnected series! I'm excited to read more of Vai Denton's books in the future!

I rated this book 4.5 out of 5 stars!

Cross Court comes out March 26, 2026!

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