She's back ~ L. Hamilton

5.| The Start

In December of 1994 we received a phone call. The four of us and Marco were sitting around having dinner so we decided to ignore it and continue with dinner. The call rang out and then it went to a message. There was a beep and then a women started to speak through the messenger. It was as loud as the phone call and sounded throughout the room

"Hello, I'm calling looking for Delaney and Marco Ricciardo, I received this number from a colleague of mine. I'm sorry to call so late but I am calling as a representative from the Virginia Slims tour" the entire table froze, me and my uncle shared a look.

Both of us dropped our cutlery and shot towards the phone. My uncle got to it first, picking it up and raising it towards his ear, I stood next to him so I could hear the other end.

"Hello, yes sorry, I just got home so I must have missed the phone ringing" macro said

"That's perfect, who am I speaking with?"

"This is Marco Ricciardo"

"And if I'm not mistaken you are the current coach of Delaney Ricciardo"

"Your right, coach and uncle"

"My name is Sasha and I'm a representative from the Virgina Slims female tennis tour. Now I know your niece is fifteen but from what I hear she's beating girls that are eighteen years old"

"She is" my uncle nodded

"Well I think because of this it would be a tragedy if she didn't join the main women's draw this season" The women spoke. Me and my uncle looked at each other.

My moment was here.

****

1995 - 1996

The morning of my first match on the Virginia Slims tour my uncle gave me a pep talk before I went into the locker rooms. "You can talk and joke around with the other players if you have to" he spoke "but remember they are not your friends, they are you......"

"Enemies"

"Opponents" he said

"Same thing" I said

"And like we talked about, everyone will be looking at you, looking to see if you're as good as they've heard. Ignore it all. Just be good, don't try to prove it"

I turned to go into the locker room, the door swung open and hit my shoulder. Out walked Shay Holmes

Eighteen years old, six feet tall, white blonde hair and arms like cannons. She had just joined the tour two months prior and had already gotten to the final of the Australian open.

As Shay walked by, she barley glanced at me "izinite menya, I did not see you there. You are so short"

It was true, I'd always been insecure about my height. And it made playing tennis even harder because I couldn't jump as high as I needed to hit the high balls so it meant I needed to run around more to get to them before they bounced high.

Almost every female tennis player was tall, it was a given that in order to play tennis you would be tall. It gave you a bigger advantage, you could take bigger steps, move quicker, jump higher and save your energy.

I was not tall. But it just meant I need to work harder than everyone else.

I gave Shay a tight smile and then turned to my uncle "I want to beat her to the ground"

****

My first year on the tour, I won some big titles and quickly turned pro, bringing in some money. Like I said before, female tennis got next to no recognition. So I was bringing in some money, but it was still just enough to cover the costs to travel to the tournaments.