The Child of Tennis - Yukimura

You know what's embarrassing? Losing a game to an unseeded player because of hiccups. Hiccups.

I was at 6-0, 6-0, 5-0, then I get a sudden case of hiccups then spasm my entire body and I miss all the shots. Luckily I was able to get my act back together for the last game, but 6-1. Against an unseeded player. And then I hiccuped all the way through the interviews as well.

OTL

Hah, it was nice to get a break before I got into the final leg of the tournament season this year. Shanghai Masters is my current tournament (that I'm on the plane towards), and then I'll be heading to Switzerland for Basel, then Paris Masters, so it's a busy month in October. I was thinking of doing a smaller tournament as well, inbetween the larger ones so I could accumulate a few more points in time for the Barclays World Tour Final, but I'm not sure whether to stick with Vienna or Stockholm.

Thanks again, Saeki-kun, for your advice on the plants to get for my garden, after my previous gardener ruined it. I'm very grateful for your help :)

Don't overwork yourself Genichirou! And have fun on your hiking trip, Yukari-chan!

-Seiichi

Wimbledon's champion and world number 2, Yukimura Seiichi delivered an amazing performance in the third round of the US Open against Rafael Nadal, taking the match with a score of 6-1, 6-3, 6-2. There were doubts over Yukimura's performance against the frenchman, especially since Yukimura played two long five set matches in the previous rounds, yet Yukimura disproved them all with a positively electric game! With sharp serves that seemed to disappear as he swung and quick, angled returns that were almost brutal in their ferocity, Yukimura completely steamrollered over Nadal.

Nadal later said, "Yukimura played with a passion today, that I have rarely see him unleash so early in the tournament. It was a great match, and I am not displeased by my loss, though perhaps by the score."

As it was, the usually personable Yukimura was quick to leave the court and did not remain long enough for questions. It raises queries about the state of Yukimura's heath and whether this game was entirely natural. One might almost say that he played like a man possessed today. Whatever reasons for his victory, this reporter is eager to see his next performance!

Reporters never fail to make me laugh. Played like a man possessed indeed...

[Screened to Shiraishi]

I have never played a better game in my life, even the ones against Echizen, Genichirou and Tezuka. I both hate you and love you. My coach noticed though. He asked me whether I had a tryst with my girlfriend before the match. I think I was crying with laughter. I almost said something, but I decided to stay quiet. I'm not releasing anything to reporters unless I absolutely have to :/

Have...have you seen the thing with Yukari? Kite-san and Genichirou are trying to find her so I know they'll get to her before that sick fucker tries to marry her, but I wondered if you were going after her as well.

Hmmm... I have a dilemma about which tournament to pick for the September run. I can't decide between Shanghai, which has a bigger prize money amount, or Tokyo, which has the advantage of not having to spend money on unnecessary travel. Any ideas?

Mou, being an adult is annoying. So many things about finances to look over....

-Seiichi

Montreal tournament's over. I won (surprise, surprise). But...I might be late to Cincinatti. My plane has delays. It's almost 11pm. The tournament starts tomorrow. I can't miss Cincinatti, it's an ATP 1000. I have no idea what to do :/ Usually, my tournaments are a little more spread apart....so I can afford to lose some time....but not this one.

~Quietly stressing out in the corner, Yukimura

Okay, so August's going to be a busy month~! Four major ATP tournaments, five publicity events, three photoshoots and a recording session with Echizen. Phew. I wonder if I'll get the time to sleep through all of this ^^;

I'll be in America from today onwards basically. I'll be coming back to Japan during the 19th and 24th, so I can sign a couple papers and do another photoshoot. If anyone needs me, contact me through this journal or come and find me during my short break from America ^^;

( Screened to Kuranosuke )

~Seiichi!

So having my medical history leaked is really pissing me off. One of the reporters caught me today and I couldn't shrug them off without being unduly rude, and he asked about my Guillain-Barre syndrome from when I was a child and whether I was really fit to be playing amongst the pros. I gave up trying to be polite and I told him quite curtly that I've been playing among the pros since I was eighteen and that it was a feat that was better than his own disastrous reporting career.

I'm becoming so rude lately because of this. I hope it blows over soon. But he has no right to try and discredit my performance because of an illness from over 10 years ago. Actually, this isn't the first incident since my medical history was leaked where people have asked about Guillain-Barre but it's certainly the first one where they've been so rude about it.

I'm just so tired. Mentally and physically.

-Yukimura

So. The press conference today was a laugh. I'm really concerned for the medical health of the reporters. That much imagination and blatant twisting of facts can only be due to some serious drug addiction. I found out a lot of facts about me today that I didn't know myself!

Firstly, the rivalry between Echizen and I is obviously repressed sexual tension. The fact that we had dinner last night must mean that we're dating. Of course. For goodness sakes, no one ever said that about Rafa and Federer, so why the hell would they do that for me and Echizen?

Two, in a complete reversal of events, I have been voted the most eligible bachelor of the year. And I have also been voted most likely to be gay. Why? Because I look girly. Thanks a bunch, tabloids. You really know how to boost my self-esteem. Of course, that doesn't change the fact that I am gay, but calling me girly was low. LOW. And let's not even go there with how they treated being gay like it was a funny joke.

And finally, retirement plans already. Wow. I'm 24, for goodness sakes. I have no plans of retiring from tennis until I'm at least 30. And I think I may need to fire my medical team, because, you know, private medical details are supposed to stay that way! Whatever happened to patient confidentiality? Just because I'm having trouble sleeping, doesn't mean that I'm going to retire.

Now that's all out, I'm just going to go enjoy a play at the Globe Theatre and pretend that this never happened. I'm still waiting on a legitimate press conference.

So it seems that endless pestering does work. Sanada, welcome to the wonderful world of socialising on the internet. I congratulate you on actually listening to my reasons and I also applaud you for lasting this long.

In other words, Wimbledon is going well. I beat Del Potro today in the quarterfinals but his growth from last year is quite extraordinary. In any case, it looks like we will be facing each other after all, Echizen. I'll see you there.

-Yukimura

Ahh, that was fun. It's been a while since I was last in New York, so it was nice to be back. The Nike photoshoot was definitely interesting, though sitting through two hours of make-up and hair was not. Last time I recalled, I wasn't a supermodel.

Another thing that perplexes me is the sheer difference between male and female representation in photos. The photoshoot was with me, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Williams-san was constantly told to smile more and flash her teeth at the camera, while Federer-san and I were constantly told to stop smiling and look serious.
The male tennis players were told to look serious while the female tennis players were told to smile and look pretty. It made me think and wonder at how our media portrays gender stereotypes, if it must extend to even sports. It made me feel really angry for quite a while. I still feel a little resentful.

The photoshoot was fun despite that and the photos should be postered up everywhere on the Nike website and the internet. They aren't anything special. We barely posed with our rackets, it was mostly just wearing Nike clothing. Now, what was special, was what we received after the shoot was over. My clothes for Wimbledon.

Its my first year with Nike and I was asked if I had any requests about clothing. I jokingly asked for the Rikkai colours, but I wasn't expecting much. When I opened my package I was greeted with this:



(Ignore the bad quality, I asked Nadal-san to take it on my phone, and it's not got the best camera in the world). Traditionally, Nike tends to stick with plain, one-colour ensembles so that their logo stands out but I was really impressed by the design. I have no idea who made it or designed it, but thank you~! I love it! Oh, and you can't see it here, but Atobe's logo is on the back as well :)

So, now I'm waiting on my flight to take me to London. It's delayed, which is annoying. Since I'll be busy training up for Wimbledon, I won't be making any new posts till it's over, but I'll be replying to comments as best as I can ^_^

[ooc: The picture was drawn and painted by me hurriedly for this purpose. I was hit by my muse when I saw all of the tennis stars showing off their Nike uniforms on Facebook and I didn't manage to capture the muse perfectly, but here's Yukimura along with a crappy background :)]