She's back ~ L. Hamilton

114.| The US Open 2023

I stand in the locker room, surrounded by other players. Moretti and Carte are laughing in the corner. Zetov and Jackson are ignoring each other. Swift comes in and smiles and greets everyone. When Jackson sees me, she gives me a pat on the shoulder. Flores tells me she's sorry for my loss. I say thank you. I pretend like their sympathy isn't making everything worse.

When Dvokavoa walks in, I watch as she scans the room, her eyes landing on me. She looks like a child. Her outfit stark white against the blue changing rooms, her hair tied back into two braids. She gives me a nod, I do my best to return it before shutting my locker and making my way to the training room.

It's oddly quiet in here, just me and a few trainers. I take in the delicious solitude as I have my knees and elbows taped. But then, when I'm having my calves massaged , Nicki Li walks in.

She's smiling sweetly, greeting the trainers she recognizes with a kindness I find puzzling. It is as if it is any other day to her—and not the first day of a two-week tournament in which she might just break another record or lose her legacy.

When she sits down next to me, I speak up.

"Always so chipper."

"Yes," she says as she sits down on the bench next to mine. "It's rather annoying, isn't it? People tell me that all the time." She laughs as the trainer begins taping her foot.

I make a mental note to run her around the court, on it the first chance I get. Her ankle has to be hurting.

She has to stop going so hard on it.

I'll force her to hard on it.

"Thank you for calling," I say, my voice low. "The other day"

Nicki nods. "Of course."

"It was...kind of you."

"Like I said," she says, waving me off "I want to skin you alive and eat your heart for breakfast." She smiles at me and winks. "But I want to know I did it when you were at your strongest."

I nod "I get it" I speak "you'll get your chance in two weeks, and I'll wipe the floor with you, everyone will be surprised. And then I'll go home as the greatest athlete of all time"

Nicki keeps her eyes focused entirely on watching the trainer wrap her foot. But her next words are aimed squarely at me. "I don't think you've ever understood what I can do. What I am doing."

"I do," I say. "I see it."

"I am better than you," she says.

"Give me a break, Nicki."

"You think that if this was ten years ago, I wouldn't stand a chance against you," Nicki continues.

"I know that if this was ten years ago, you wouldn't stand a chance against me," I say. "Because it's 2023, and you don't stand a chance against me"

Nicki scoffs. "You just can't see it."

"How good you are?" I say. "I see how good you are. It's no coincidence you've won all these slams"

"You don't respect what I've done for tennis the way I respect what you've done."

"What have you done that I haven't done?"

Nicki turns and looks at me. Her gaze is heavy. "I'm the first Asian woman to ever win Wimbledon. The first woman like me to do almost any of the things I've done in tennis-hitting these records. Because we both know tennis doesn't make it easy for those of us who aren't skinny and who have arms bigger than waists"

"Yes," I say, nodding.

"I've increased the fastest serve recorded in tennis. Tennis is a quicker game now, compared to your day. Now almost every player on the WTA is serving faster than we all were even ten years ago. My forehand averages 81 miles per hour. You can't come close to me on that either. So pay me a little respect, Riccardo. I've won the US Open more than any other women or man in tennis history, including you. My forehand and backhand groundstrokes have more spin than any other female player ever—last year I topped two thousand revolutions per minute. I am currently the highest-paid female athlete in the world. For someone like me, do you understand what that means? And I've spent the most weeks at number one—which is currently three hundred and seventeen. You only have three hundred and-"