Delaney Ricciardo is fierce and her determined to win at any cost has not made her well liked. But by the time she retires from tennis she is a twenty four grand slam winner and regarded as the greatest tennis player the world has ever seen.
But si...
Later that afternoon I'm standing in the living room of my suite, holding my phone to my ear and pacing slowly around.
"No Marco........I just.......Im feeling that hum. I'm feeling like this could be it. This could me mine"
His voice is so small "it will be Del"
I keep pressing my ear harder to the screen of my phone, as if pressing hard enough I could force myself through the line and be right next to him "it will be"
"How are you feeling?"
"Good, good. But do not worry about me. Lewis is coming around later this morning. I'm going to demolish him in another round of chess, and then we'll play uno until he undoubtedly ends up throwing his cards out the window"
"Lewis threw his cards out the window?"
"It got very heated. Uno is not for the weak, let me tell me. I would've thrown them out the window if I could have gotten up. But yeah - We're on our forth new packet from the hospital shop - which by the way is a rip off"
"And what does Dr. Wiffen say?"
"She says everything is great. Stop worrying Del" he says
"Okay" I say "Okay Marco"
****
I got dressed into one of the spare dresses I had brought with me. It may be a little over dressed for a casual drink at my hotel bar, but who cares.
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When I get down to the Bar at the Savoy, Nicki is already there. She's sitting casually with her legs crossed over one another, talking to the bartender, who slides over a cocktail glass over the bar towards her.
There's something so casually confident about Nicki, so unbothered. We're in an elegant bar and she's wearing a pair of black jeans and a fancy-ish T-shirt and a pair of Doc Martens. Her long hair hangs down her back.
Nicki waves to me, and I make my way over to the bar. She's drinking what seems to be gin with a twist.
"Just a mojito, please," I say to the bartender, who nods but then does a double take and looks back up at me "Are you Delaney Ricciardo?" she says
I look at Nicki, who smiles as she takes a sip of her gin.
"Yeah," I say
"Wow, big fan of yours" she says "I mean, I don't know much about tennis, but I love your shoes and the way you stand up for yourself"
I laugh "Well, good, I'm glad to hear it"
She heads down the bar, and Nicki laughs, shaking her head.
