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The Long Game by morbidlypicturesque
Fandoms: Rivals (TV 2024), Rutshire Chronicles - Jilly Cooper
21 Jul 2026
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Summary
Jemima Carrington, the bright, rising star of British tennis, was sixteen when Bas Baddingham watched her disarm her opponent in two brutal sets, with a dangerous accuracy of a girl that was ready to eat the world whole.
For nearly a decade after that match in 1976, the two orbit one another through the English Summer - Wimbledon afternoons, and Henley riverbank, polo fields, hunt balls, glittering parties and quiet of country homes. While Jem becomes Britain's golden girl, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Olympians like Rupert Campbell-Black, Bas trades his jodhpurs and polo mallets for his brother Tony's glittering television world, of late night champagne, network politics, and beautiful women.
Then one match changes the trajectory of her life forever.
A year later, as the television wars descend onto the quiet of Ruthshire's hills, and old wounds refuse to stay buried, they might discover that some games take far longer to win than others.