She's back ~ L. Hamilton

46. | The plan is

My uncle and I are sitting in first class beside eachother on our flight to Paris. Despite the fact that I am fully reclined and trying to watch the in flight movie, my uncle is leaning over the space between us and quizzing me about strategy.

"So the plan for Wade is..." he says after I've answered him about Swift, Jackson and Moretan

"Enough for now" I say "people could be listening"

My uncle lowers his voice into a whisper. "The plan for Wade is" he says again

"The plan for Wade is don't be an asshole like last time and spin out" I whisper "now let me watch the movie"

He turns back to his tray, looking over his notebook. And then he looks back at me "Black needs to work on his toss" he says "you agree with me don't you?"

"Yes" I say, ready to put back on my headphones. I'm watching a new movie with Ryan Gosling in it and I love him. However my uncle ignores this and continues to stare at me, not satisfied with my answer.

"He's hitting the ball too late on the toss" I say

"Yes" he says, snapping his fingers

"Be smart about how you tell him that"

"A player needs to be open to anything that can make them better" he says

"Yeah but each player needs to be coached differently"

My uncle nods, considering "you think I am coaching him?"

"Aren't you?"

My uncle nods again "does he think of me as a coach?"

"I don't know Marco, why don't you ask him"

I move to put my headphones on but he doesn't stop looking at me "are the two of you dating?"

I suddenly have a burning desire to throw myself out of the plane "we're not doing this Marco" I say "we've never don't this, we don't need to start now"

"But are you dating him?"

I close my eyes "of course not. I'm not dating anyone. You can pretty much always assume that for the rest of my life"

"Don't be that way Del. Please keep your heart open. Please don't close it. Please"

"Marco" I say, holding my breath, loosing patience "let me watch my movie now" I really want to watch this movie

The only thing that saves me is the women sitting next to my uncle.

"Excuse me" she says to him. She looks to be in her 60s and she is gorgeous. She has dark skin with big brown eyes and a large curly Afro that's held back from her face by a red hairband "are you Marco Ricciardo?"

I turn away from them, but I'm too nosy not to eavesdrop.

"I am" my uncle says, putting on his showstopper smile. He does get recognised a lot on the tennis circuits. But back in the 2000s he was the centre of attention. Other coaches, tennis parents and players would try to corner him and ask him for advice. Everyone wanted to get a little bit of whatever gold dust he had to spread around. It became even more head on when back in 2012 he was inducted into the sports hall of fame, due to his coaching with me and Daniel.

I haven't been inducted into the hall of fame. I'm still holding out a little bit of hope. But I at the same time I don't really expect it due to the fact no Australian or tennis player has ever made it into the hall of fame.

Yet.

"Nice to meet you" he says to the women

"I'm Izabella" she says "I'm a big fan"

"Of my niece's?"

"Well, yes of course. But of you too"

"Of me?"

"Yes, The Panther"

My uncles smile only tripled in size.

"I'm a tennis player" she continues "I have been all my life. I've always loved what you said about tennis. I loved your book"

I finally put my headphones in and watch the movie. A few times I look over to see my uncle and Izabella laughing together

Eventually I doze off to sleep. But when I wake up a few hours later, we're about to land and I see that my uncle and Izabella are still talking.

As we stand up to get off the plane. Izabella nods at my uncle and says "goodbye Marco, it's been a pleasure" and then she walks away

"What's the deal?" I say, once he catches up with me

"What deal?"

"Did you ask Isabella out or what?"

My uncle scoffs "no, I did not ask her out"

"Well, why not? Weren't you just telling me to open my heart?"

"I was talking to you, not me" he says once we get onto the lift "I've had my love Delaney. She was it"

When I get out of the airport I turn back on my mobile data, instantly I get a message from Tasha. She's telling me to call her straight away, no matter the time.

"Hi" I say, once she picks up the phone. I put it on speaker so me and Marco can both hear. 

"So" Tasha says

It's either that Nike are pulling out or Nicki Li is playing the French Open. And I'm not sure which one I'd rather it be.

"Li" Tasha says "she's playing in Roland Garros"

Fuck, that's the one I hate more. I want Nike to pull out, anything other than Nicki. I look at my uncle who looks back at me

"You've got this" Tasha says "Clay is her surface, but you can take her down. I know you can Delaney"

"Yeah" I say "I'll let you go back to sleep, talk soon"

I end the call and turn to my uncle "if she takes the French Open before I've been able to win one..."

My uncle nods "it's not good"

"But she's not going to win the French Open"

"No, she's not. You're going to win the French Open"

"Because I am the greatest player of all times

My uncle walks up to me and puts a hand on each of my shoulders "you are the greatest warrior the world has ever seen"

Transcript

Hadley: And now that Nicki Li has announced that she will be playing in the French open, how does that change everyone's predictions

Rachel: well, we don't know what sort of player we are going to see. A lot of people are saying she's coming back too quickly after injury. There are rumours she's intent on taking another slam title to break the tie between her and Ricciardo and she's rushed her return in order to do it.

Lakins: I have to say Rachel, I'm hearing the opposite. I'm hearing the Beast is playing the best she's ever played. Meanwhile, Ricciardo's only chance at a slam was one where she wouldn't have to face Nicki. That was in Melbourne. I think it's safe to say that for the Destroyer, it's all over

Vote, comment and share!