April 4, 2023
*LEVEL ONE ALERT*
*SPOILERS INCOMING*
*WALL OF TEXT AHEAD*
*EYEBLEH WARNING*
*POLITICS IS ITS OWN WARNING*
This is supposed to be the summary of the story that I mentioned in the earlier entires, the one that I will give to FanficGPT for it to read so that it can get a hang of what the story should be about.
Right now it's just a stinky puddle of word vomit.
The ideas in here are very obviously far from finished, and the formatting is total crap. I need to finish the incomplete thoughts I have now, write a lot more things, and polish them (if only to the extent that FanficGPT can understand them). (Gosh, it's so much easier to come up with good ideas in the shower than to translate them from thoughts to written words!) Then, I will organize this wall of text into sections and post them one by one as individual chapters.
But in the mean time, I thought I might just as well put out whatever I've got now, so that you can join me in having a laugh at this dumpster fire I built. And if one day we do get the actual chapters (will such a day come?) and they turn out to be any good, it'd be fun to come back to this and have a grand old time laughing at how bad it was in the beginning.
Some people might find the politics in here offensive. If that's you, then you should thank me. By posting this dumpster fire of a summary, I just potentially saved you a lot of time and unnecessary emotional investment – now you won't have to wait for the actual chapters to come out (if they ever do) and read through them only to find out you hate this story.
If you find anything in here dumb, you’d be correct. :p
Chapter Text
Here’s my idea for the setting and direction of our story:
Our story takes place in the professional tennis world, primarily focusing on the WTA Tour, with various tournaments and events serving as the backdrop. The setting will also include the behind-the-scenes dynamics between players, coaches, and other individuals involved in the sport. The ongoing political climate, particularly the Russian-Belarusian invasion of Ukraine, the outcome for Russia (losing the war and its own dissolution), and China’s road to its demise, plays a significant role in shaping the characters' perspectives and interactions.
The story will follow the lives, struggles, and triumphs of the main characters, along with other tennis players, coaches, and individuals involved in the sport. Their personal stories and relationships will be intertwined with the larger political context and the ongoing Ukraine war, the situation with Russia, and China, providing a multifaceted narrative that explores both the athletic and personal aspects of their lives.
The development of Iga Swiatek and Emma Raducanu’s relationship will be a central theme of the story. As they navigate the challenges and tensions in the world of professional tennis and the larger political context, their bond will grow stronger. They will gradually get to know each other, first through their shared experiences as competitors, and later through their common values and beliefs.
As their friendship deepens, so too will their understanding of each other's struggles and vulnerabilities. They will find solace and support in each other during difficult times, and their shared experiences will draw them even closer together.
Over time, their relationship will naturally evolve from friendship to love. As they navigate the complexities of the tennis world, their personal lives, and the ongoing war, their love for each other will become a beacon of hope and happiness amidst the challenges they face. Through their journey, they will eventually find their happy ending, both on and off the court.
Some political background for our story:
Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine has been raging for one year now as the conflict continues to record devastating casualties and force the mass displacement of millions of blameless Ukrainians.
Ukrainian cities in the east and south have been battered by Russian missiles in pursuit of gradual gains, while the targeting of residential buildings, hospitals and even nurseries and memorials have led to outraged accusations of civilians being intentionally targeted and of war crimes being committed on a massive scale.
Since the beginning of the war on 24 February 2022, around 180,000 Russian and 100,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed or wounded, and 30,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed.
The international community largely condemned the Russian-Belarusian joint invasion of Ukraine. Eastern European countries like Poland and Romania have been especially vocal in their condemnation. They have also been active leaders in aiding the Ukrainian war effort and providing humanitarian aid. Countries that were part of the Eastern Bloc have not forgotten what it felt like to live under the shadow of the Soviet Union.
Incidentally, both our protagonists Emma and Iga’s heritages inform their perceptions of authoritarian empires with an expansionary impulse, controlling tendencies, and a bloodthirst for invasions.
While Emma is British, her father is Romanian, which was forcibly made part of the Eastern Bloc after World War II. And her mother is Manchurian. Manchuria was once an independent country before it was invaded by China, absorbed into it, and renamed to simply “the Northeast'', erasing its identity. Communist Chinese-occupied Manchuria = so-called “Northeast China''. Manchuria is similar to Ukraine in many ways. Both are breadbasket regions with rich, fertile black soil. Both were annexed by a communist empire, colonized and exploited for their natural, industrial and human resources.
Iga is from Poland, another country that was unwillingly made part of the Eastern Bloc.
Iga regularly joins in on charity efforts to aid Ukrainian civilians impacted by the war. She is outspoken on the issue when she makes speeches after wins or when she takes interviews, condemning the invasion and calling for peace. She is also steadfast in her support for Ukrainian players, often expressing her sympathy for how tough it is for them to continue competing – often against Russian and Belarusian players – while their country is ravaged.
Ever since the start of the war, Iga has worn a blue and yellow ribbon (the colors of the Ukrainian flag) affixed to her white baseball cap as a show of support for Ukrainian people suffering violence and destruction at the hands of invading Russian & Belarusian forces. When asked about it, she said she will continue to wear the ribbon in a show of support until Ukraine has peace. "I know that many players played wearing a ribbon at the beginning of the war, when there was a bigger fuss," she said. "Some of them have since taken their ribbon off, which is pretty strange for me. There still is a war, there still are people suffering. I'm going to wear it until the situation gets better." "It's also how the media works, how it fusses up, then goes a little bit down. Hopefully players are still going to be supportive."
Iga said she's proud of the support her native Poland has shown welcoming Ukrainian refugees to their nation as a safe haven. "The war is affecting Poland a little bit more, for sure," she said. "It's something that I can't experience with my compatriots because I'm traveling all around the world. I was in the States when the war started."
https://firstsportz.com/tennis-news-iga-swiatek-terminates-sponsorship-deal-with-xiaomi/
Iga terminated her Xiaomi (Chinese cell phone brand) sponsorship in March 2023. GOOD. Expand on this. Maybe this can become a topic for Iga and Emma to talk about. They’ve both got quite a bit of sponsorship deals. Whether these deals are appropriate is something public figures need to carefully look at.
The story begins on March 15, 2023, with Emma Raducanu and Iga Swiatek’s head-to-head match at the 2023 Indian Wells Open Round of 16. At this point, they were mere acquaintances who had played each other only once before. Emma was at the time ranked 77. For the past 19 months, she has been through a revolving door of coaches (hired and fired 5 coaches in succession) and a series of injuries. She went into the match with an injury in her right wrist, her playing hand. Iga was in good form and ranked world no. 1. Emma tried her best, but her wrist injury bothered her during the match, and she lost 3-6, 1-6. That’s the end of Emma’s run at the 2023 Indian Wells.
I need to expand on Emma’s thoughts and feelings when I get the time.
Iga advanced into the next round, but her mind was not wholly focused on her matches. She was bothered by two incidents of player dramas that occurred earlier on March 12.
The first incident: The Ukrainian player Lesia Tsurenko withdrew from Indian Wells ahead of her match against Belarusian star and Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka. Explaining her decision, Tsurenko revealed she had a panic attack before the match and that she had already been feeling unwell following a discussion with WTA chief executive Steve Simon a few days ago.
She explained that a conversation with Simon showed her that the organization had planned to offer little help to Ukrainian players amid the ongoing war.
The 33-year-old said: "A few days ago, I had a conversation with our WTA CEO Steve Simon. I was absolutely shocked by what I heard, I just broke down mentally. He told me that he himself does not support the war, but if the players from Russia and Belarus support it, then this is only their own opinion, and the opinion of other people should not upset me. At the same time, he noted that if this had happened to him and he had been in my place, he would have felt terrible.
He also predicted that Russia and Belarusian players would be able to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics under a neutral flag. He expressed confidence that the Russians and Belarusians will return to the Olympics and said that it will happen exactly as it is happening now in tennis. He also said that fair play and Olympic principles were not violated, but on the contrary. When asked if he understood what he was saying to me during the active phase of Russia's military aggression in my country he said yes, and this was his opinion.
"I was completely shocked by this conversation, and already in the last match it was incredibly difficult to play. When it was time to go to the court for this match, I had a panic attack and I simply could not go out there. I just broke down mentally, to be honest."
Tsurenko said she and fellow Ukrainian players are now questioning the position of Simon.
The second incident: The Russian player Anastasia Potapova wore a Spartak Moscow football jersey onto the court before her clash with Jessica Pegula on March 12, which she lost 6-3, 4-6, 5-7.
The moment seemed innocuous enough. However, Ukrainian players (among them Marta Kostyuk and Lesia Tsurenko), a number of tennis fans, and some commentators took exception to Potapova's actions because they believed Potapova wearing the jersey was an act of representing her home nation. Russian and Belarusian players are currently barred from competing under their national flags or representing their country due to the joint Russian-Belarusian invasion of Ukraine, however they are allowed to play as neutral athletes.
At such a tumultuous time, many believed Potapova was wrong to display anything with a connection to Russia, even if it’s only the jersey of her favorite football team.
Iga was among those to hit out over Potapova's actions. Iga addressed the incident two days later, on March 12, in her post-match press conference after beating the Canadian Bianca Andreescu 6-3, 7-6.
Iga called for more support for Ukrainian players, claiming there was “a lot of tension in the locker room that obviously is going to be there because there's a war.”
She said: "I totally understand why Lesia withdrew, because honestly I respect Ukrainian girls so much. If a bomb landed in my country or if my home was destroyed, I don't know if I could handle that and compete. You have to really mentally be there to compete every week. So I get that Lesia wasn't ready to do that. I think more should be done to help Ukrainian players, because everything we discuss in tennis is about Belarusian and Russian players, if they should be allowed to compete, what's going on with them, and so on.
I don't think that's right, because we should focus more on helping Ukrainian players and providing them everything they need. They basically have to take care of all their families, and there's a lot of baggage on their shoulders."
"To be honest, I was surprised by what Potapova did," Iga said. "I thought Potapova knew that she should not show her views in this way at such times, even if she is a fan of the team, "
Iga revealed she had discussed the incident with the WTA, and criticized the governing body for a lack of clarity around the situation. "I've talked to the WTA and I found out that there should be less occurrence of such situations in the future, because they will explain to other players that you can't promote any Russian teams these days, which reassured me a bit."
"On the other hand, I think these situations unfortunately happen because this policy should have been implemented much earlier. There was a lot of chaos in the locker room at the beginning of the war. It was not clear how to approach everything, which causes such unpleasant situations. I think if there had been better leadership from the beginning, maybe we would have avoided such situations."
Potapova received an official reprimand (which was just a warning and nothing more) for wearing the Russian club football shirt onto court.
“There was no political intent with the shirt,” Potapova claimed. Explaining her decision to wear the shirt, the world No 26 continued: I've been a Spartak superfan ever since I was ten years old. My father built part of the team's stadium, so it's part of our family. I get along very well with the team.” And Potapova revealed that she was caught off guard after receiving a warning from the tour, adding: “I was very surprised by everything that happened, because I didn't have any bad intentions doing this.”
She also discussed Wimbledon (at this point, the All England Club had not yet announced the decision on whether Russian and Belarusian athletes can compete), “I dream about playing at Wimbledon because it's one of my favorite parts of the season,” Potapova said of playing at SW19. “I can only pray and hope it happens. If we can compete there, I'll be very happy.”
Iga felt conflicted about what she said following the Potapova football shirt business. On one hand, she felt she was not wrong to support Ukrainian players. On the other hand, she couldn’t help but wonder if she added fuel to the fire when things were blown slightly out of proportion. When she speaks out on an issue, she speaks not as herself, but also as the world no. 1. She felt it is her responsibility to speak out on important issues, but now she questioned if she is doing it right. Some people have criticized her for getting involved in political discussions, saying that as an athlete, it is not her place to speak like that, and that she should mind her own business. Some even questioned her motive, suggesting that Iga only did what she did to garner attention by preaching from the moral high ground.
One such person was the former world no. 1 Victoria Azarenka (Belarusian). Azarenka slammed the claims of locker room tension, even after her fellow Belarusian world No 2 Sabalenka also claimed there were issues backstage with some being “really aggressive against us.” Azarenka took shots at Iga as she sarcastically asked the 21-year-old to “enlighten her” on what had happened. “Personally, I have not seen that tension,” the 33-year-old said. “It is clear that there are certain players who have different feelings and behaviors. In general, I do not share the same vision as Swiatek,” she added.
Azarenka continued: “I would encourage Swiatek to take a look at the things that have happened before she makes any comments. Miss Swiatek, as a member of the WTA Players’ Council, I would be very happy to educate you and teach you how everything has been done previously. And I think it would be a much more appropriate way to have that conversation.” The world No 16’s claims that there are no “tensions” are especially interesting given that her fellow affected Belarusians also believe there are issues in the locker room. Australian Open champion Sabalenka recently said she had “never” experienced anything like it.
“It was really, really tough for me because I’ve never faced that much hate in the locker room,” Sabalenka said.
Iga was confused and wondered whether she went overboard by speaking out. Was she the bully? Was she hypocritical? Was she an attention seeker? Did she do the right thing as a public figure, or did she overstep the delicate boundary of what an athlete should say and should not say?
Iga went on to experience some setbacks at Indian Wells. In the semifinal, she gave a terrible performance, losing 2-6, 2-6 to Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina (then ranked 10). One reason why she played badly is that she went into the match with a rib injury.
(This is how she got the rib injury:
Back in February 13-18, Iga participated in the 2023 Qatar Open in Doha and won the title against Jessica Pegula (then ranked world no. 4). During the tournament, Iga picked up a lung infection which never really went away, and the infection led to frequent coughing episodes.
She didn’t stop playing, though. She went on to play the Dubai Open from February 19 to 25, where she won second place, losing to Barbora Krejcikova (ranked 30) in the final.
Then, from March 8 to March 19, Iga played in the Indian Wells Open. She was determined to play through the infection and the coughs, and she did manage to play well for a while. Among others, she defeated Emma in the Round of 16.
Then, a strong episode of a tough cough led to a rib injury before the semifinal. After Iga’s team assessed her condition, she was allowed to continue playing. But her performance really suffered from the rib injury, and that was how she lost to Elena Rybakina.)
"It's nearly impossible to hit a tennis ball when you have a rib injury, for sure, and especially when someone is hitting the ball really hard to you because there is only so much that you can deflect [on the] slower courts in Indian Wells, she had to feel 100% physically, so she can add some power at times against Rybakina, and she wasn't able to.
After she lost the Indian Wells semifinal, Iga announced her decision to pull out of the upcoming Miami Open and Billie Jean King Cup on account of the injury. She explained that her team is taking this injury seriously, diagnosing her and analyzing the data, but she is still feeling a lot of discomfort and pain, so she cannot compete. Iga suggested the injury wasn't serious enough to keep her sidelined for very long. However she did reveal that she won't play in Poland's Billie Jean King Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan (and therefore Rybakina) in mid-April, and didn't offer a timeline for her return.
"I will keep you updated about where I play next, because it depends on my process of recovering and the recommendation of my medical team," she added.
Despite what she said, the rib injury was not the only reason Iga felt she had to stop playing for a while.
The loss at Indian Wells is the second time she’s lost to Elena Rybakina in 3 months. Rybakina was starting to get into Iga’s head. Rybakina was a great player. She's an aggressive power player who’s also solid as a rock. She's got such great technique that very little can go wrong under pressure. Besides, Iga had complicated feelings about Rybakina on account of all the tension surrounding players from Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, and other players. Rybakina was born Russian but obtained Kazakh nationality to represent Kazakhstan because Kazakhstan provided better financial and professional support for her tennis career. Iga was conscious of her guilt of using her rib injury as an excuse to pull out of the BJK Cup in April, where she would have had to face Rybakina again really soon. To be honest, Iga dreaded having to play Rybakina in a short time again, and she enjoyed the guilty pleasure of not having to do that.
Well, it’s not just Rybakina that’s getting to Iga. All that pressure of being world no. 1 was getting to her. She has played great tennis for the past two years, and has been world number 1 for a year. She has been on fire for much of the last 12 months, winning nine titles and two majors since last February. Now she has so much to defend, while everyone is gunning for her. And as soon as she wobbles a bit, criticism over her inconsistency in her performance this season arises.
Besides Rybakina, there’s Aryna Sabalenka, the world number 2. Iga led in her head-to-head between her and Sabalenka. In their 6 meetings, Iga won four times and lost twice, so she shouldn’t be afraid of Sabalenka. However, Sabalenka has gotten much better in the past year. Sabalenka was playing with the improved serve, with more focus, not getting down on herself, being more consistent, getting more serves in. She's a different player this year. She is as fierce as a tiger and she is not shy about her ambition to be world no. 1. Besides, she is Belarusian, and has been involved in the off-the-court tensions, and that gave Iga complicated feelings.
And then there’s the American Jessica Pegula, the current world no. 3. Iga and Pegula also had a bit of a rivalry going on. Pegula was an opponent she had beaten in all four meetings in 2022. Iga defeated Pegula (then ranked 8) 6-3, 7-6 in the quarterfinal of the 2022 US Open, back in September last year. Then she defeated Pegula again at the Santiago Open semifinal.
But Iga suffered a heavy straight sets defeat to Pegula at the 2023 United Cup in Sydney. Iga produced in that match her worst performance (2-6, 2-6) in terms of games won since losing in Dubai in 2021. Iga won just 38 per cent of points on her first serve and 33 per cent on her second. Pegula broke four of Iga’s serving games and sealed the comfortable win in just 71 minutes. For Pegula, it was her first win over Iga since 2019. Iga was in tears after the loss in Sydney as USA went on to build a 2-0 lead against Poland in the United Cup semi-finals.
Iga did snatch back a victory against Pegula in the Australian Open, but she still felt a chill wherever she thought of Pegula. Pegula was 29, older than her 21, but with age comes experiences and skills, and that makes Pegula dangerous. Plus, nothing ever seems to disturb Pegula, and Iga envies her for that. Maybe that kind of mindset just comes with being a rich American heiress.
Last but not least, Iga also lost to Barbora Krejcikova this year at the Doha Open.
Iga was afraid the reason that she hasn't been winning as much this year as she did last year was that the other players have figured out how to play her. It started with Pegula in the United Cup in Sydney. It was continued by Rybakina in the Australian Open, then by Krejcikova at Doha, and then again continued by Rybakina in Indian Wells.
Iga realized that her rib injury was not the only thing affecting her performance. She was also not in the right headspace to keep playing. She had to take a break. She needed to recover from her injury and to recover her peace of mind.
It would be a great time to step away, start practicing on a clay court, take her time and get back into top form, Iga thought. Because really, right now what's important for her is to do well in Roland-Garros. Of course, winning matches before is important, but Roland-Garros is when she needs to walk on the court, feel like one of the favorites, because if she feels like it, she's going to be one of the favorites.
She needed to solve the problem of losing against the power players. She and her team have to devise a plan, go back to the drawing board and figure it out. But right now? Maybe it's better for herself to take a couple of weeks off.
With her ranking and so many titles to defend, taking a break was not an easy decision for Iga to make. And yet, it was much easier than the decisions Iga now had to make, which were: How she will get ready to play again, and when she will be ready.
Iga did not participate in the Miami Open but went to Miami anyway. She stayed there for a few days. Among the things she did, she went to a Miami Heat game, where she ate some ice cream. I’m thinking maybe Emma and Iga run into each other at some point during these few days? Maybe at the game? Or when Iga was reading a book at a nice spot? Iga loves reading, especially great literature.
When the Miami Open began, Emma was there to play. She faced the 22-year-old Canadian Bianca Andreescu (a former world number 4; currently ranked 31) in the opening round.
Emma wanted to do well, but her right wrist injury again caused her a lot of pain, and she lost 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 to Bianca.
After the match, Bianca was interviewed. She was asked whether she had spoken to Emma about the pressures of winning the US Open at a young age and responded: “No. But I would honestly really, really like to speak to her because of that, because of our similarities.” And Bianca extended her offer to Emma as she added: “I mean, she's also Romanian. She was born in Toronto, which is super, super crazy. Definitely I would love to speak to her, for sure. Maybe we can help each other out.”
Bianca was also full of praise for Emma following Emma’s recent run to the round of 16 in Indian Wells. “I think she's playing great tennis. Honestly, it's super nice to see that because she hasn't been playing that much,” Bianca said.
With Emma now sitting 62 spots down from her career-high of No 10 in the world, Bianca backed her to return to the top. Bianca continued: “Injuries, this and that. I can relate in a way. I mean, not at that scale, but… Yeah, I'm really happy that she's back at it and playing like this. If she continues playing like this, she can definitely get back into the top 10.” Andreescu also addressed a comment that one pundit made claiming that she and Raducanu were born at the same hospital - not just in the same country.
“That's weird. That is weird. No, I've never heard of that. I was born in Mississauga, a hospital in Mississauga. That's crazy if that's the case. That one hospital welcomed two US Open champs into the world. That's pretty big if true,” she laughed.
"I would love to talk to her about, like, just what happened after the US Open. All the success, all the media stuff like that, how she dealt with it, how I dealt with it, how we can maybe help each other in that way.
"Also, I know that we both haven't been having, I guess, the results we wanted. I don't want to speak on behalf of her, but I'm sure she wants to do better than she is doing now. And maybe we could just kind of help each other out in that sense."
Emma accepted Bianca’s offer to talk. I’m thinking it would make sense if they exchanged their contact information and began to text each other. At some point after Emma lost, she returned home to the UK.
On March 23, two more dramatic episode took place at the Miami Open Round of 64:
The first incident: Marta Kostyuk and Anastasia Potapova played. Kostyuk lost 1-6, 3-6. After the final point, Kostyuk refused to shake Potapova's hand and simply packed up her things and left the court.
Kostyuk has been refusing to shake hands with opponents from Russia and Belarus ever since Russia and Belarus invaded her country, the most recent instance before this one being as when she won her maiden WTA title at the ATX Open in Texas earlier in March. On that occasion, the 20-year-old refused to acknowledge her opponent in the final - Varvara Gracheva of Russia.
Kostyuk had a simple answer for her decision to snub Potapova, the 27th seed, telling reporters: “Obviously there is tension. Like, we're not friends.” Kostyuk also made a dig at the WTA as she claimed that warning the world No 26 wasn’t enough following her Moscow shirt controversy.
The world No 38 continued: “We're at war at the moment. I don’t agree with a lot of things that the WTA is doing. You gave her a warning. Whatever. A warning? Do you perhaps want to consider suspending her? I don't know. I can't comment on that really. It's just funny.”
Kostyuk also thought she would cop some heat for her reaction, adding: “I know I'll just get more hate online. Whatever I say, I will get a lot of hate.” Meanwhile, the Kyiv-born player also slammed the tour for refusing a meeting with Ukrainian players to talk about all that has happened recently.
The second incident: Azarenka and Italian player Camilla Giorgi played in the Miami Open second round. Azarenka won 6-3, 6-1. As Azarenka waited at the net for her opponent Giorgi hardly looked at the Belarusian as she briefly locked hands before walking away.
Fans were quick to notice the frosty exchange, with some commenting how the handshake almost looked like Giorgi slapped Azarenka.
(Some background on Giorgi:
Camila Giorgi is thought to be one of tennis' most beautiful stars and boasts over 690,000 followers on Instagram. The 31-year-old has a fiery temper on the court and previously admitted to having 'no real friends on tour' despite her online popularity.
World No. 44 Giorgi has a growing reputation for her on-court behavior and also showed her frustration during a 7-6, 6-7, 7-6 first round victory against Kaia Kanepi.
After losing a crucial point during the match the beautiful model let her racquet go in frustration. Tennis Fan A tweeted: "When Camila Giorgi throws her racquet, you know a match is getting spicy."
Giorgi's Instagram page is full of glamorous pictures and lingerie modeling snaps which keep fans coming back to check her latest offering. She recently posted a cheeky underwear selfie showing off her stunning physique at the Indian Wells Masters.
Despite her outbursts at this week's Miami Open some fans were quick to forgive her. Tennis Fan B tweeted: "One of the hottest tennis players on tour. All she’s good for.")
Despite not being at the very top, Giorgi was a veteran player. She wasn’t just a sore loser; she could tell something was off about the match and that Azarenka had bad vibes. She said nothing about it, though. Giorgi was known for having bad court manners and had no real friends on the tour. She knew if she came out and said she felt that something was off with Azarenka and the match, no one would believe her. Even if she would have been telling the truth, everyone would have laughed her off like she was the boy who cried wolf. But in the end the wolf did descend upon the village, Giorgi thought. (This could be a Chekhov's Gun, since in one version of the fable, the wolf also eats the boy.)
On March 27, Bianca felt like she was doing well at the Miami Open. She was enjoying a resurgence in form as she plotted a path to the last 16 in Miami after high-profile wins against former Grand Slam champions Emma Raducanu and Sofia Kenin, as well as a fine victory against No 7 seed Maria Sakkari. She advanced to the Round of 16 and would play Anastasia Potapova that day. (I am changing Ekaterina Alexandrova to Anastasia Potapova here because Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence. Well, because Potapova makes a better villain narrative-wise.)
The first set took a grueling three hours. It went to a tiebreak and Bianca lost the set 6-7. Bianca battled back at the start of the second to immediately break the Russian's serve, but disaster struck in the third game.
One minute Bianca was fine, and the next she was not. Out of nowhere, she slipped and immediately fell to the ground, screaming in agony and clutching at her left leg. The chair umpire went down to tend to Andreescu to ask what the inconsolable former US Open champion needed. “I’ve never felt this kind of pain before,” screamed Andreescu as she lay on the court, before she was taken off for treatment in a wheelchair. Speaking through tears to the medic, she was heard crying: "It's so bad! It's so bad!" And then she let out an almighty scream, shouting: "Not again!" Andreescu received some treatment and was eventually helped to her feet before being given a long hug and encouraging words from Potapova (Potapova is just pretending to be ignorant and innocent here).
Bianca had to leave the stadium in tears and in the wheelchair. Her mom Maria was spotted crying in her box. Since Bianca retired from the match, Potapova automatically advanced to the next round.
Potapova said after the match: "I’m just really sorry that it happened. Seeing her on the court in so much pain, it’s just painful to watch. It's a terrible feeling when you can only watch and cannot do anything to help her. I think she’s going to be fine soon, and I’m wishing for her speedy recovery. The first set was super tough and great, and it probably could have been a pretty good match for both of us, but unfortunately this happened. (Potapova is just feigning ignorance and innocence here.)
Bianca woke up in a hospital with a brace on her foot. She reflected on what had happened, and even after thinking hard, still could not figure out how one second she was fine, and the next second she just fell and fell so badly. She could not recall any obvious reason.
When she turned on her phone, she saw a text from Emma asking how she is.
Bianca received her scan results and diagnosis. Results showed that she rolled her ankle and tore two ligaments in her ankle. She replied to Emma’s text, telling her how she is. Bianca also described to Emma everything that happened up to her fall, still not finding any reason for her fall and thinking it an accident.
(My idea here is that Bianca was sabotaged. Her “accident” was in fact a premeditated foul play. It was planned by a shadowy group consisting of tennis players and powerful people. This secret organization wanted to see Russian and Belarusian players succeed, by any means necessary. The former world no. 1 Belarusian star Azarenka was one of the leaders of this group. I got this idea because Azarenka is a former world no. 1 and also a current member of the WTA Players’ Council, meaning she wields a lot of influence. Recall that Bianca got injured during a match against the Russian Anastasia Potapova. Potapova was angry after the football jersey incident. She felt like she was wronged and didn’t deserve the warning and all the hate. That was when Azarenka approached her, telling her that if the world treats her unfairly, then it is only her right to treat the world unfairly. Azarenka goaded Potapova to employ unfair methods to get ahead in this world. Potapova let Azarenka convince her. So Azarenka invited Potapova to join the secret organization. This was a group that one cannot get out of once one joins it. It’s like a mafia; it’s all or nothing. Potapova decided to join, and Azarenka and that group fixed the match for Potapova using some novel method that you’d find in a detective story. That's why Bianca had her accident that forced her to retire, gifting Potapova a win. Use your imagination to make this plot plausible.)
Jessica Pegula is a member of the WTA Players’ Council. Maybe she can play an important part in solving the case of Bianca’s freak “accident”. Maybe our protagonists will need to cooperate with her to obtain whatever that is necessary to help them solve the mystery.
Victoria Azarenka called Andreescu's latest injury "heartbreaking" and wished her a speedy recovery.
"We've seen the level of play that she's shown us in the past, what a great player," she said. "You talk about the injury bug, she just hasn't been able to stay healthy and now she's finally getting back on court, consistently playing at the highest levels of the game. These are one of those things that you just don't know why."
Reading Bianca’s text recounting everything up to her fall, Emma noticed something strange. Emma was disturbed by what she noticed but didn’t know what to make of it. She’s sure something about this is strange, but she just couldn’t place it.
Thinking about Bianca’s injury led Emma to think about her own injury. The possibility that her wrist injury might be something serious and might derail her tennis career weighed on Emma.
As the story progresses, Emma needs to figure out the extent of her wrist injury and what to do about it. Beyond that, she has to get out of her injury-prone state in order to play well consistently. She has to find a way to return to top form if she wants to replicate her past achievements like reaching the round of 16 at Wimbledon in 2021, when she was a mere 18-year-old qualifier ranked 338, and winning the US Open in the same year, when she was ranked 150.
Aryna Sabalenka (Written mostly in a third person limited POV) (I imagine Aryna’s personality to be like that of Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion, who is strong, brilliant, spirited and determined on the surface, but is deep down insecure and full of self-doubt, with a need to prove herself to others. She is hard on others because she is even harder on herself. She projects a lot.)
On March 29, 2023: Aryna Sabalenka was in a bad mood. She had just crashed out of the Miami Open quarterfinals, losing in straight sets (6-4, 6-4) to the 32-year-old Romanian Sorana Cirstea. Sorana Cirstea was only ranked 74 and not even seeded. She hadn’t reached even one Masters 1000 final in a decade - her last time at the Canadian Open in 2013 - while Aryna, only 24, had already won four titles. But the world no. 74 knocked out the world No. 2 in straight sets.
Aryna’s serve was broken by Cirstea in the very first game. And then the Romanian held off Aryna’s punishing forehands, the forehands Aryna sweated so much to perfect, her most powerful weapon. She thought she restored parity when she broke back with a forehand to make it 4-4, and rescued a break point in the very next game with another forehand winner.
But from out of nowhere, Cirstea pulled a winner of her own to produce another break point. Cirstea couldn’t even seal the break on her own, no, not really. Aryna had sealed her own fate with a double fault, she knew when she smashed her racquet in frustration.
Cirstea wrapped up the opening set with a comfortable hold of serve - finished off with an ace - in 37 minutes. The second set went equally, if not more (if that’s even possible) frustratingly before it drew to its ignominious end, with two more double faults from Aryna at crucial moments proving decisive.
"I guess people like to talk about the age, the years, the results, but I never do that. I just mind my own business. I just work hard, do my thing, believe in my game, work with my coach Thomas Johansson who I just started working with in December and I think it's going great.
"I'm not defined by numbers, I'm just trying to keep my head down and work hard," Cirstea said in her on-court interview after the match.
What rubbish! Aryna thought. Who would even spare a look at you if you can’t produce the numbers and the results? Hard work is meaningless if you don’t win. Aryna knew this better than anybody. The shallowness of people is plain enough to see; just read all the comments that came out as soon as Aryna lost this quarterfinal, saying “What’s wrong with Sabalenka? Is Sabalenka going to be fine? She improved a lot but maybe she already peaked? Is it downhill from here for Sabalenka?”
Aryna had worked on her game so hard and improved so much in the past year. She was roaring to go, and now she suddenly felt caged.
She has already put out the word that she is hoping to close the gap on Iga Swiatek and that “of course she wants to be world no. 1.” And now she felt toothless. Her forehand, her most powerful weapon, had betrayed her. No, that’s not true, Aryna admonished herself. Her most powerful weapon will always be her hunger for victory. She will never let go of that even if she were to lose hold of everything else.
“Is that really true, though?” Unprompted, a tiny voice inside Aryna’s head murmured. “Do you indeed have a hunger for victory, or a fear of loss? Those two things are not exactly the same, you know?” “Shut up! Go away!” Aryna cupped her head with her hands and shook it.
(Aryna was mad about her loss. She didn’t realize there’s a lesson to be learned right under her eyes if only she’d look. Her personality and her pride prevented her from looking. But her subconscious knew that she was looking away when she should have been looking at Cirstea and seeing something to be learned. Aryna was mad because of the cognitive dissonance, and because she was afraid.)
Cirstea was the very opposite of her, old, unremarkable and soft, while Aryna was young, dazzling and powerful. “But you won’t be those things forever,” that tiny voice sneered. Will she become like Cirstea in a few years? Aryna shuddered to think, feeling a chill to her bone. She would rather die than become someone like that. No, she was Aryna Sabalenka, she would never become a failure like Cirstea. “But you were just defeated by a failure. If you lose to a nobody, doesn’t that mean you are something even less than a nobody?” Aryna groaned, deciding she wasn’t even going to acknowledge the tiny voice anymore.
Something must be really wrong for Aryna to lose to not one but two unremarkable and soft people in 10 days. On March 19, Aryna lost 6-7, 4-6 to Elena Rybakina in the Indian Wells Open final. Compared to Rybakina, Cirstea was nothing. Rybakina was the number one annoying person on tour, always walking around at a speed that’s just a beat too slow for Aryna’s liking with that mild expression of hers, as if nothing is wrong. But things are wrong, oh so wrong.
Things just seem to go wrong these days, ever since the end of February last year.
People stared at her for the wrong reasons, for the conspicuous blank on her player card where her country’s flag should have been, for the invisible but not any less searing scarlet letters spelling out “Belarus” on her chest. Aryna wanted people to look at her, but not like that.
Aryna felt like a part of her was erased, and somehow it’s Rybakina’s fault.
For God’s sake,
After all, wasn’t it Russia’s fault that Belarusian and Russian players alike are now branded outcasts? Nowadays, people love to compare anything and anyone they don’t like to the nazis. Well, if Russia was Nazi Germany, then wouldn’t Belarus just be freaking Italy, with its freaking pizzas and pastas and piazzas? It’s not like Belarus had the choice of not going along with Russia’s damned “special military operation,” why can’t anyone see that? Belarus was just another version of Ukraine if Ukraine had even worse luck. At least Ukraine still had a fighting chance of getting away from Russia, is still fighting.
Aryna has kept telling anyone who’d listen that Belarusian and Russian players have not personally done anything wrong. Maybe she shouldn’t have, because people just counted her saying that as one more thing she has done wrong.
It’s ridiculous that Aryna, who had done nothing wrong, had to face more consequences than Rybakina, who was born Russian and only switched to represent Kazakhstan by chance. No, it’s even worse than that. Rybakina shed her allegiance for Kazakhstan’s financial support, for money.
Gracheva, France. Aryna despised them. Aryna could do better than any of them, if money and the freedom from guilt by association were the object, if she wanted to. She was the world no. 2, any country would welcome her with open arms if she deigned to represent them. But Aryna didn’t want to. Doing that would be beneath Aryna. Only cowards would pick the easy way out like that. Aryna would not run away from who she is. She will not play their stupid charades of slapping a different flag on themselves and acting like they were in any way more innocent or moral than Aryna was.
All the other people are such hypocrites. They would give Aryna the side-eye like she might jump on the Ukrainian players and devour them the second someone isn’t looking. All the while, they have to pretend like
Aryna will not let anyone erase her. She will make the world see her by showing them who she is, instead of who they think she is, who they all secretly want her to turn out to be. A villain, a bloodthirsty warmonger.
She was the girl with the tiger tattoo. She got the tattoo without telling her parents and just went home with it.
https://www.essentiallysports.com/aryna-sabalenka-reveals-story-behind-her-tattoo/
She would not bow her head to anybody, not even herself.
(Maybe there can be a future plot point of Aryna being tempted to join Azarenka’s secret organization. She will struggle with her pride, her ambition, and her conscience. I don’t think she will join, though. And she will get on Azarenka’s bad book for her decision, because the organization will not want anyone outside the organization to know of its existence and still get to live. Aryna’s career and life will be in danger as she becomes the organization’s newest target. She will need the help of other players to survive this.)
Elena Rybakina (Written partly in a third person limited POV)
The Miami Open women’s singles final took place on April 1. Elena Rybakina, the favorite to win, somehow lost to Petra Kvitova, a veteran, who was playing okay, but okay tennis is not great tennis. Petra Kvitova and her team, including her coach (who was also her fiancé), a bearded, lionlike man, were ecstatic.
So was Elena. In truth, Elena intentionally lost the final to Petra, whom she idolized. As the host handed the trophy to Petra, Elena felt like it was she, not the event host, who gave the trophy to Petra, and that thought brought a smile to Elena’s face.
Only Elena knew this (well, unless Petra sensed what was going on, which is a possibility), and she didn’t intend to let anyone else know, ever. Her team was perplexed by her suddenly toothless performance. She had been sharp and aggressive recently, until today. Her team was angry at her throughout the match. She only smiled and told them it’s no big deal with a hand gesture. At one point, even the chair umpire questioned her performance, and Elena simply laughed it off. The TV live commentators also remarked that the speed of Elena’s forehand and backhand today was discernibly slower than her speed in recent months.
Elena was glad that none of them figured out what was happening. If they did, she was glad none of them brought up the possibility of her intentionally losing to Petra.
She wouldn’t want anyone to spoil Petra’s happiness.
Elena was sure that her secret was safe; Most people would idolize someone more glamorous, not someone like Petra. Elena felt that she and Petra were similar in many ways. Besides the obvious similarities in their appearances, both six feet tall and slender, their styles on court were both mild and reserved, yet resilient and powerful. Petra was always so ladylike and respectful on court, and Elena admired her for that. She tries her best to be like Petra.
Well, it would be wrong to say Petra was entirely unglamorous. Petra was also a Wimbledon champion, like Elena.
Elena was entirely happy to let Petra win the Miami Open.
She wanted to give Petra her smile back.
During the match, Elena could not help but curl her lips into a rare smile.
Today she could be the one to give Petra her smile back. The chance to do that fell into her hands and she was not going to let it slip away. Such a chance like this might never come again.
Knife attack
Pull through hardships like her role model.
Use news article “Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina shuns Russia claims with £62k gesture” here
Some background that happened before the start of our story: In 2022, the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) banned Russian and Belarusian players from competing at Wimbledon in response to the invasion of Ukraine. To avoid controversy / avoid being accused of being unfair, the ATP and the WTA stripped Wimbledon 2022 of ranking points. Russian-born Elena Rybakina (immigrated to Kazakhstan for better financial support there), then ranked world 17, won Wimbledon 2022. She would have ranked world number 3 in March 2023 if the Wimbledon 2022 ranking points were not stripped. She is currently ranked number 7.
Nothing could make Elena unhappy today, not even Petra’s latest statement which came right before their match. Petra expressed her concern for Ukrainian players after Wimbledon lifted its ban on Russian and Belarusian players for this summer's tournament.
Elena didn’t mind, really.
Use the news article on Elena’s response to the news that Russian and Belarusian players will be allowed to play at Wimbledon 2023
If Russian and Belarusian players felt strange around other players playing as neutral athletes since February 2022, then Elena felt doubly strange. She felt like an imposter.
She was a fake Kazakhstani, and nobody seemed to know how exactly to treat her.
Elena resented Russia and Belarus a little, just ever so little. Isn’t it also kind of their fault that she didn’t get her Wimbledon points? Elena knew she could never express her feelings to others.
Giving away points is no big deal to Elena.
She had already parted with 2000 Wimbledon points that were supposed to be hers anyway. She’s used to this gig.
Elena can give away her points if she likes, but she will not let anyone take away what is hers.
This year she will take back what is rightfully hers.
Marta Kostyuk revealed that a group of players, herself among them, had been privately pushing to replicate the ban of Russian and Belarusian players from competing in Wimbledon 2023. They failed.
On March 31, 2023, the The All England Club confirmed that the ban imposed last year in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the support of ally Belarus, has now been lifted. The players will be able to compete under a neutral flag in the 2023 tournament, providing that they do not support the Russian and Belarusian regimes or receive funding or sponsorship from their home countries.
Wimbledon had been the only Grand Slam to ban players from the two nations in 2022 and was stripped of its ranking points, while the LTA was slapped with huge fines.
And the move means high-profile names like Daniil Medvedev, Aryna Sabalenka and Andrey Rublev will all make their return to the grass-court major after last year’s exclusion. But two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova, who is into the final at the Miami Open, has raised concerns over the decision and its impact on the people of besieged Ukraine.
"First of all, I've always been against the war. For sure, I'm worried about the Ukrainian people and players," the Czech star said, reacting to the lifting of the ban.
"I appreciate that Wimbledon had a tough time last year being stripped of its ranking points after it barred the Russians and Belarusians from playing. I still think they shouldn't be allowed, neither to Wimbledon nor to the Olympics. So I'm just a little bit on the Ukrainian side of this."
"They should be banned from the Olympics for sure. I feel the Olympic Games exist because we don't want war in the world," she added. "So that's my concern. I really appreciate that Wimbledon wouldn’t take them last year."
Marta Kostyuk and her group were still pushing to ban Russian and Belarusian players from competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The political tension surrounding Wimbledon 2023 and the 2024 Paris Olympics is high.
From this point on, it’s on you to come up with what happens next with our characters.
Either Iga, Elena or Aryna should win Wimbledon 2023, but I’m not sure who would be the best choice storywise. Pick the one that would give us the best story.
Stuttgart Open: 17-23 April. Porsche - the title sponsor of the Stuttgart event - also sponsors Emma, potentially leaving her obligated to compete there even if she’s injured.
Maybe, with Emma’s help, somehow, Iga gets out of her slump, regains her best form, and wins Wimbledon 2023? Nah, wouldn’t it be more fun if Elena won? Nah. maybe let Elena win in 2024, when things in Eurasia get more chaotic. That’d be fun.
Billie Jean King Cup. 2023, 2024. Emma sits out the 2023 BJK Cup. She gets back to top form in time to join TeamGB in their participation in the 2024 BJK Cup. This allows her to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics. I guess Emma wins some things. But what?
The political stuff coming up in the following paragraphs is just mostly in the background. They are just backdrops for our characters. Do not spend too much time writing about them. Only spend the time necessary to establish the backdrop in a coherent, plausible, immersive, and well-written way.
In 2024, Russia is much weakened because 1. it has been bogged down in the Ukraine war (Ukraine fights with the resources of the entire Free World behind it). 2. Developed countries cut off most trading/business relations with Russia in their sanction against Russia since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 3. Left on its own, Russia’s economy, manufacturing, technology and military are unsustainable. It sometimes relies on China’s aid for its needs in those areas, but China has become increasingly unreliable because China is too busy dealing with its own problems. 4. Even Central Asian countries, which used to align closely with Russia, begin to drift away from its influence. 5. The insidious incursions of the Islamic State from Afghanistan through Central Asian countries and the Caucasus cause huge problems for Russia, which has a growing Muslim population. 6. Countries within the Russian Federation who had been historically independent (for example, Chechnya, Ossetia, Circassia, Cossack, Buryatia, Tatarstan and more) began to stir and rebel against the Moscow regime.
Russia deploys nuke-carrying ICBMs to Belarus as a warning against NATO, which has supplied arms to Ukraine since the beginning of the war. It is nothing more than a gesture. Their ICBM tech is from the Soviet Era and the launchers are badly maintained, so their conditions have severely deteriorated over the decades. If the ICBMs are fine, they would be able to hit anywhere in the world without having to be moved closer to NATO countries. Russian leaders knew that full well. They end up not using the nukes.
Eventually, the Ukraine war ends with Russia retreating out of the borders of Ukraine. The Russian Federation dissolves into 41 smaller independent nations, which form the League of Free Nations of Post-Russia. It’s not all happy endings for Ukraine, though. Even though peace has come and developed nations support Ukraine in its rebuilding efforts, developments in domestic politics meant that the Zelensky war government could not unite the country together for long. Ukraine ends up splitting into several smaller countries on the lines of historical regions and social-cultural differences, for example, Crimea, Donbas, Kuban, Galicia, Ruthenia, Zaporizhzhia. Use logic and imagination to make this plot reasonable and coherent.
These developments affect the tennis players from Europe, especially those from Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. Amid the chaos, Iga and Emma are the leaders of a group of players who show kindness and support to Russian and Belarusian players. With this support system behind them, Russian and Belarusian players manage to fight on despite the state of the world. In the end, Russian-born Elena Rybakina who represents Kazakhstan wins Wimbledon, because that would be somewhat symbolic. Elena can be an example of a former-Russian willingly and wholeheartedly taking on a new identity. She can show the way to the other Russian players and the peoples of the Free Nations of Post-Russia.
Chinese political leaders reflect on Russia’s decision not to use its nukes before its dissolution, and decide they need to learn from Russia’s failure and fight to the last breath, meaning they will resort to first-use of nuclear weapons when facing existential threat. They reach the conclusion that “A world in which China does not exist also does not deserve to exist.”
Some of Russia’s unused nukes are stolen by insurgents/militant groups during the chaos. The Afghanistan-Pakistan region and Central Asia has become a warring mess filled with various factions of insurgents. Some of these groups (the Islamic State being the most prominent among them) get their hands on some of the nukes stolen from the Russian arsenal.
China too is in deep trouble. Its population is aged. Due to a lack of young workers and growing wages, it becomes less and less of a destination for low-cost labor-intensive manufacturing. Its economy slumps, and the people are dissatisfied. Its relationship with developed countries, the US most of all, becomes increasingly more antagonistic. Due to worsening relations with developed countries, China’s trade, economy, technology industries and society in a whole suffer.
The self-ruled democratic nation Taiwan becomes more vocal in Taiwanese independence (as opposed to its old policy of calling itself the Republic of China and equivocating the issue of independence), takes the matter of arming itself against a Chinese invasion seriously, and deepens relation with the US and other developed countries.
Some of the Central Asian militant groups begin making incursions into China from the East Turkestan (the so-called Xinjiang province) route. Their goals are to liberate Muslims oppressed by both the Chinese government and the Han people, and to establish an Islamic caliphate in Western China.
There are also secular, democratic forces aiming for the freedom and independence of Turkic minorities (Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Tajiks, etc.) from China. Some factions want to create a single Turkic nation called East Turkestan that would inherit the borders of Xinjiang province; some factions want ethnic nations for their own ethnicity; some factions want to join their land with existing nations where their ethnicity is the majority, e.g. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan. These factions have different visions, but they share their opposition to the Islamist militants. Some of these secular, democratic factions are aligned with developed countries.
Inspired by the Free Nations of Post-Russia, groups with separatist/independence aspirations begin to develop in many regions of China. Among them is Manchuria, where Emma’s mother is from.
In the face of these developments, the Chinese Communist Party Chairman Xi Jinping reorganizes Chinese society on a Leninist-Stalinist war communism model. Large swathes of the population are settled in labor camps/concentration camps to keep up the level of production. So, what the Han Chinese imposed on the Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities is in turn imposed on they themselves. Chinese society gets turned into a dystopian totalitarian society designed for preparation of total war.
Around 2025-2027, in a desperate bid to turn the situation around, the CCP Chairman Xi Jinping declares war on two fronts, on the western front against the Turkic independence forces, and on the southern front against Taiwan.
China invades Taiwan. Nukes or chemical weapons or biological weapons are used against Taiwan and Japan. Half of their populations are wiped out.
In its death throe, China decides to nuke the US. But because their ICBM tech is old and bad, plus the launchers are badly maintained, their conditions have deteriorated so they go off-target,
Xi Jinping grew up during the Mao Zedong era, and his sensibilities were shaped and formed by the zeitgeist of that era.
Mao's quotations regarding nuclear war (all between 1954 and 1958):
“A world war is not scary. The first one created the first socialist country, the second one created an entire socialist coalition. If there is a third one, we will achieve world peace.
The third world war should be fought as early as possible, as big as possible, and nuclear, all on China's territory.
If there is a third world war, I suggest you, the Soviet Union, sit aside and watch as we the Chinese draw the American army onto our territory. Once they are here, I request that the Soviet Union suddenly nuke China and annihilate the Americans on the Chinese battlefield.
In this war China may lose 400 million people, but using two-thirds of China as a sacrifice to achieve a united world is worthwhile. With 400 million dead, there will be 200 million remaining, and in a few years China will be back to 600 million.
The world would be in a terrible state if no one ever died. Death has its benefits, such as becoming fertilizer.”
China nuked the US. But their ICBM tech is old and bad. Plus, they are badly maintained, so their conditions have deteriorated. As a result, spoiler alert, the nukes didn’t work very well.
The nukes were aimed at population centers and strategically important areas. However… Some of the nukes never managed to launch; some launched only to land back on China itself; some fell into the Pacific, killing some poor unsuspecting marine lives; there was only a small number left that did reach the US, and they went wildly off target.
FanficGPT, you decide where the nukes fall. Maybe in San Francisco. Or Alaska. Or some relatively unimportant spots in fly-over states. Maybe let the nukes land in empty and barren landscapes like deserts and valleys in California, Nevada, Utah, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and the like. It would be ironic if Death Valley got nuked. Maybe Indian Wells also got nuked. That would be thematically appropriate because Indian Wells was where our story began and it’s sort of in a desert. It would also make military/strategic sense because Indian Wells is not that far away from Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, which is the United States Navy's largest single landholding. Plus, China nuking China Lake would be sort of funny.
It’s not just the ICBMs that sucked. The nukes themselves also sucked (bad design + maintenance), so they didn’t end up causing as much damage as their tonnage would theoretically suggest.
The US nuked China in retaliation. The US’s nuclear weapons landed on important cities and population centers like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Chongqing, and so on.
Hopefully Manchuria wasn’t nuked or too affected by the nuke that hit Beijing. But either way I wouldn’t want Emma going anywhere near that nuclear wasteland. So she won’t go to Manchuria, period. God knows we’ve already got enough political shenanigans in this story.
As the story progresses, build Emma and Iga’s relationship organically, with them gradually getting to know each other better through shared experiences, both on and off the court. They should gradually get acquainted, become friends, start secretly having feelings for each other while thinking their feelings are not returned, and eventually become secret lovers. Because they are professional athletes, they do not make their relationship public at first. However, will they be able to hide it forever?
Poland is a very conservative and catholic country.
So when choosing a place to settle down, they decide to live their lives in Britain..
I don’t know how the story will end. You decide. All I ask is that Emma and Iga get to live together in the UK happily ever after. In fact, end the series with the phrase “and they lived happily ever after”.
Come up with a coherent high level outline based on my ideas. In the story, the tennis players should have realistic schedules filled with various activities, including and not limited to tournaments, training, rehab, taking breaks, having fun, commercial collaborations, interviews, etc. As for my imaginary scenario of future political developments, fill in the blanks where I made leaps. Use your imagination and knowledge on history, politics, war, social sciences, human psychology, etc. to create a logical, engaging and immersive narrative.
