The Child of Tennis - Yukimura

Mother's finally left. She and Min-Min went down to Kanagawa for two weeks, leaving me free for a while. I left strict instructions with Mother and Min-Min so they should be okay together....I hope. But Minoru was pretty insistent about leaving for a couple of days.

Alas, the tournaments don't align with me, so I can't just fly over to Indian Wells and play. Or even to Miami, because it starts March 26 and ends after Min-Min returns home. This is driving me insane. So I think I might just go play pick-up tennis back at Rikkai High School. Coach for a couple of days or something. It'll be fun to be back in that environment again, And they'll be gearing up for Districts, so I can help out a little.


I'm in some deep shit. Why do crazy stalker fans exist? How did she manage to get that picture of Kura and I kissing, anyway? And my address too! If she releases those, I'll never have a moment of peace again. I've already admitted I'm openly gay and dating someone, but if they find out who....

But I can't just stop dating Kura and start dating her. Life doesn't work like that. I'm still gay and I'm still head over heels for him. And I can't tell my bodyguard or my agent either, because they'll take serious action and she'll release the picture and my address anyway. Keeping in contact with her to try and negotiate is driving me up the bend. Thank god Minoru wanted to leave with Mother. I can stress out by myself. I just want some privacy. Is that too much to ask?

And here I am, talking to myself to sort this out. Wonderful....I really am going insane.


[ooc: Strikes not deleted]

My garden is looking better. Three days of non-stop work pays off, it seems. I also managed to paint a few new pictures, though they weren't as good as my usual paintings. Also had a photoshoot with a perfume company and a contract signed for a guest appearance in some popular sitcom. Looks like my schedule during the off season's going to be as busy as ever ^^; Whoop-de-fucking-doo

I'm getting rather fed up of reporters asking me how I feel about losing the US Open. Losing isn't fun and it motivates me to do better. What else do they want me to say? I cry in bed at night? I drown my sorrows in alcohol? I'm swearing revenge or something? Honestly....Like I'd say anything like that to them.

Niou, are we still on for coding and general computer handling lessons? I think we should probably start once the off-season really begins in November. I'll be free in Japan for that time period.

-Yours tiredly, Seiichi

[ooc: Strikes deleted]

Fuck. That was such a bad decision. I’m never visiting childrens’ wards again in public.

I shouldn’t have accepted that publicity event, but I didn’t want to refuse, especially when they said that all the children would really appreciate a celebrity visit. When I walked in, they’d made all made little posters or things for me and it was so touching. I spent a lot of the time talking with them about my experiences with Guillain Barre and how I dealt with it and how I got better and asking them about how they felt and what they wanted for birthdays and what they enjoyed in their lives.

A lot of the children were asking whether they’d get better like I did….and though the doctor had told me beforehand that a few of them might not survive, I lied and told them yes, because medicine and hope would always win against death. But there was this one little girl who called me out on it, because she said that there was no cure for muscle atrophy and she was going to die anyway.

I had to take a break then. Shit, I started crying. Still am. It’s...it’s just like how I felt back in middle school. It’s...it’s still raw. I genuinely thought I was going to die. I was writing wills and confessions before my operation for everybody. I had a list of things to see before I die....

I don’t know if I can go back into the room and pretend like everybody in the room is going to be okay and is going to survive, because that's unrealistic. I’m still crying now. This was a horrible idea...

Kura...is your phone on?

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 :)]