She's back ~ L. Hamilton

2.| The Start

A/N- First of all thank you for picking this book to read! Second, you do not need to know anything about tennis or formula 1 to read this story, everything will be kept basic and explained. Also the next few chapters will focus on Delaneys career before this story takes place, I think it's very good but it's also not crucial to read, since it doesn't include Lewis. So I would encourage you to read them but if you don't want to, just go to the chapters titled 'three months'

1982

My father, Joe, moved the Australian from Italy when he was 7 years old, and he just happened to move in right next door to my mum.

My mum, Grace, has lived in Australia all her life. My parents have been friends since they can remember, they say that they were destined for each other, how cheesy.

I was born first, and for eleven months I was the star of the household. But then when I was three years old, my parents brought home Daniel. The legendary Daniel Ricciardo, the two time formula 1 world champion.

But it was just the four of us, and of course my uncle Marco.

My uncle obviously moved from Italy with my dad and their parents. But he is ten years older than my dad. So by the time Marco left Italy, he had become extremely good at tennis.

He had won several junior championships in Italy. His style of tennis was smooth and elegant, so elegant that he was called 'The Panther'

But his jumps were too high and by the time he realised it, it was too late and his career was over before it even began.

When he moved to Australia his first job was as a hitter in a fancy club. He sat around all day and waited if one of the members wanted someone to play against. Within a few weeks members started asking him for private lessons.

He was known for nailing the details of everything and having high expectations, but it was also known that if you were trained by 'the panther' you would win your matches.

We didn't have a lot of money growing up, at all. We lived in a small bungalow on the outskirts of town, some people liked to call the area 'the ghetto' because of how rundown it is.

When my mum and dad told my uncle they were expecting me, he smiled and celebrated with them all day. That night he told my parents that I was going to be twice the tennis player he'd ever been.

That night my uncle and dad sat down at the kitchen table with a notebook and a pen. Together they wrote a seventy page essay about my entire sports career, education, foreign languages, etc. They planned it maliciously, every little detail, everything I would do in my career and when I'd do it.

The next day they wrote the same thing for someone else. My mum and dad would have another kid and they would follow this seventy page essay for their entire career.

My mum didn't want any part of it, she laughed when they told her. But she didn't stop them, she just smiled and continued to make dinner.

But she made them promise one thing. That neither me or my sibling would ever see this essay, they could tell us about it, but we're never allowed to read it or be told what it says.

She thought it would put less pressure on us, if anything I think it put more.

My uncle decided to move into the house next door to my parents. My parents worked all the time to provide for us, so my uncle moved in next door so he could baby sit us, which worked because his schedule as a coach was a lot more flexible so he could easily look after us.

When I was a baby, my uncle would bring a high chair to the courts so I could watch him play. He says I would dart my head back and forth, tracking the ball. When my mother came to take me out of the high chair to get a snack or to bring inside out of the Australian heat, but I would cry none stop until she brought me back to the court.