𝐅𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐒 & 𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐒 | 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐜

[ 004 ] ❝ let the miami open commence ❞

'Today I will do what others won't, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can't.' - Jerry Rice

Tuesday March 22nd. The 1st qualifying round of the women's singles at the Miami Open. Lucía had flown Sunday night to Miami, spending the majority of Monday preparing for today, where she was to face her opponent on the tennis court. The event was to last right up until the 2nd of April, in which the final was to be held. Due to Charles having a race in Saudi Arabia this upcoming weekend, following on from his win at Bahrain, he would not have much time to visit any of her games. He had work to do at the factory despite the Ferrari 1-2 and while she wished she could have him here today, she also knew that his career was just as important. She also knew that'd he still be watching her through the TV screen, cheering her on, mostly likely in French, considering he knew how much she loved it when he spoke in his first language to her. 

Winning two of three sets clouded her exhaustion as she smiled at the crowd, her shoulders sagging in relief. She was through to the next round. She swung her arm around twice, stretching her muscles as she reached for her bottle of water and towel. Her hair had fallen out of the pony-tailed plait slightly and her baby hairs had gone frizzy despite the sweat sticking to her scalp. She was in dire needed of a shower. The white tennis visor shielded her eyes from any sun as she shook hands with her opponent. The adrenaline was pumping around her body, keeping her maintaining her energy despite wanting to throw herself down on her hotel bed. It had been a good match. Enjoyable and she had an excellent opponent too. 

When she got back to the hotel room that late afternoon she finally had time to shower and check any notifications on her phone. Charles had text her earlier telling her to phone him when she would be available. It took everything in Charles to not post something on his Instagram about his girlfriend's first win of the Miami Open event. Although it was qualifying and there was still a long way to go, he couldn't be more proud. He didn't fully understand how tennis worked, both the rules of the game and the schedule each player had, but he was trying his best to come to grips with it all. Lucía herself didn't understand all the F1 rules, like Charles mainly did, however she did understand how the points system worked and what some terms meant. Lucía always tried to talk to him about F1, wanting to show her interest and how much she cared, all Charles wanted to do was return the favour. He was intrigued by the sport and now having a girlfriend in the profession as a pro, he wanted to be able to talk to her about it. 

They spent hours talking on the phone, both wishing to be in each other's presence. Ever since they started officially dating, the long distance had been their hardest obstacle, but due to their love for each other being inevitable they knew they could work around it. Although she wasn't able to celebrate this win with Charles, this milestone in her career, she knew there'd be many more to come. In some way it made her want to work harder and better, it encouraged her to try and win more all because she wanted to experience her wins with Charles in the future. 

Sure they had only been dating for a few months now but she had truly never been this happy in a relationship before. Not even her longest relationship to date, one which lasted two and a half years. It was the same for Charles. He knew his girlfriend would be absent at the second race of the season as she would still be in Miami, perhaps even playing while he was driving, but he too wanted to do his very best, push himself to the limits and beyond, wanting to experience standing on the podium, looking down at her smiling up at him, both sharing a look of love. He imagined shaking the bottle of alcohol before spraying it all over the two other drivers on the podium alongside him, before leaning over the railing and pouring the sticky alcoholic substance over Lucía. She'd laugh it off and let out a small squeal of surprise, holding her hands up to her face as to not get any in her eyes. When he was finally able to reach her and kiss her lips she'd taste of the cherry lip blame she used, whilst smelling of the beverage labelled Ferrari Trentodoc sparkling wine. Phots of them sharing the happy moment, the two of them stuck in a world of their own together, would circulate the F1 tag on social media. 

TENNIS USA MIAMI OPEN

Lucía Martinez favoured to win Round of 64 for Women's Singles 
Published 03/24/2022, 1:45 PM EDT

Lucía Martinez has been having quite an impressive season so far. And with the top-ranked Ashleigh Barty announcing her shock retirement, Martinez, ranked the World No. 2 is slated to take up the top spot. Recently, in a pre-tournament press conference, she received many questions regarding the rankings. 

At the pre-tournament press conferences, a reporter asked a question circulating this possible move up into No. 1 by default, Do you think you would class yourself as the No. 1 ranked for women's tennis? Martinez struggled to answer, seen to be thinking over how to answer such a question regarding her rank. "I think I've worked very hard to be where I am today. I've had a good start to the season, following on from the win in Australia and while I'm behind Ash by a good few thousand points, I'm still ahead of Maria by, I don't know, is it around six hundred? I don't think I don't deserve it, but Ash, Ash is great. However retirement means she can't hold onto that No. 1 ranking." The reporter seemed happy enough with Martinez's response but she was not the only one to question the tennis star about her opinions on possibly being considered the No. 1 female in tennis. Martinez, only 2204 ranking points behind Barty and 691 points ahead of World No.3, Maria Sakkari may just be the new WTA No. 1 ranked. 

Martinez started the 2022 season at Adelaide International in January. Seeded fifth, she reached the finals, beating Ashleigh Barty to win the Australia Open. Starting her 2022 season off on a high she went on to score her second Masters 1000 title at the Qatar Total Open where she defeated Maria Sakkari and Anett Kontabeit en route to her title triumph. 

Lucía Martinez, known for her clean strokes and her court coverage and speed, will surely get ample opportunities to consolidate her ranking at the top if she becomes the World No. 1. But, for now, she will lock horns against Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland in her Round of 64 clash at the Miami Open. 

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So I do not know much about tennis 😂. I have been researching it for hours this week and still don't really understand how the whole schedule works, and so I will be basing Lucía's tennis wins and losses etc on Polish player Iga Świątek. I also have used inspiration from a news article to write the one in this chapter.