She's back ~ L. Hamilton

16. | Just because Riccardo can, doesn't mean she should

Just because Riccardo can, doesn't mean she should

By John Fowler

Much has been made of  Delaney Ricciardo's comeback. In her interview with SportsPages last week, Ricciardo seems to think she has a great chance of winning in Melbourne at the top of next year. "A lot of people think I'm crazy. But I've done exceptional things in my career. Remember that." As if she would ever let us forget.

Ricciardo is just one more in a string of desperate celebrities who cannot live without a spotlight. One would hope by now she would have moved on to starting a family or running her foundation. But no. She's back on the court.

And who is surprised? This is but the natural consequence of putting athletes on the front of a Wheaties box all those years ago. When they retire, they cannot stand to be like the rest of us, seeing our own faces only in family photos and mirrors. They yearn for yet another billboard.
Soon, Delaney is sure to show us just exactly what five years of retirement does to a tennis player's body.

But I'm more interested in what those five years have done to her brain. It appears she is today even worse than she was back then: even more self-absorbed and wickedly ambitious. If it makes for a good show, then who am I to stand in the way of the spectacle? But I can tell you this: When the players set this kind of example in a gentleman's sport, no one wins.

______________________

Why I'm thankful for Delaney Ricciardo

Letter sent in by fan

When I was eleven years old, my mother sat me down at the table and explained to me that I was now too old to wrestle in the backyard with my younger brothers.

"It's not appropriate anymore," she said. She had softened the reprimand by making me a warm apple cider. "I need you inside with me from now on, helping with dinner." That evening, I sat at the kitchen table watching my three little brothers wrestle as I peeled the potatoes.

My mother has long passed away and my brothers and I are all adults now. But I would be lying if I said that the memory of losing my favorite pastime with my brothers-running around in the crisp fall weather, hearing the crunching of leaves as I tackled one of them-didn't ache. Some men's childhoods are permitted to last forever, but women are so often reminded that there is work to be done.
And yet here is Delaney Ricciardo, daring to play.
I felt a sense of thrill at her announcement last month. And it's not just me; so many of my friends seem to agree.

Delaney is living the dream for all of us, coming back for one last go around the block. As we look ahead to what 2023 may have in store for us, our writers this month have focused on what's new.
But I would like to take the time to also celebrate those of us from the previous generation who are staying in the fight.

We know that Delaney Ricciardo is likely not going to win a single title next year. And it would, perhaps, behoove her to admit it now and spare us all the embarrassment of having to pretend otherwise. One cannot deny the toll age takes on an athlete's body, no matter how unjust. She will be a shadow of the dominant Destroyer we knew in the 2000s. But that is far from the point.
It is her right to have fun, to keep playing. To not help with dinner.

And I, for one, am glad she's exercising it.