That focus would be Rima, who is preoccupied not by the death of her mother, brother and father — Fowler dispatches them in order in three parentheses: “(Aneurysm.) ... (Car crash.)
No matter what play we call, he reads things and sees other things on the court that might not be there when with the play we called, which he would have seen a couple of years ago.
Otherwise-sane people check their smart phones obsessively, even during pre-dinner drinks, and send emails first thing in the morning and last thing at night.