In relation to sports stars, either human or equine, the one cautionary tale you often hear is “They never come back”. Usually, the assessment is meant after coming through a serious injury.
To look at that in a human context first, personally, I have to begin with the case of former Meath footballer Colm Brady. By the time my old friend eventually reluctantly hoisted the white flag on his playing ambitions, I think it was 13 surgeries he had put himself through on the knee he wounded at just 19 and which plagued his career and would eventually end it. Thank God he got a brief interlude of fitness to allow him play his part in our All Ireland win of 1996. Nobody deserved it more.
If looking at an equivalent, the first stop would also be a Meath one. Or a Meade one, to be more exact. In the guise of the great Go Native.
Which I think was Noel Meade’s third Cheltenham Festival winner at the time. When the gelding absolutely cruised to victory in the Supreme Novice Hurdle, under a classic balls of steel Carberry ride.
From memory, the Cheltenham winner won either the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle or the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton or possibly both. More noteworthy still, he appeared to have none other than Hurricane Fly cooked when crashing out at the final obstacle in the Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown weeks later.
Mind you, as rueful as contemplating what might have been in the aftermath of that spill was, it was but a candy wrapper caught in the wind comparative to the emotional earthquake exactly five days later when ‘Native’ collapsed and died on Noel’s gallops.
Moral of the story? The more talented they are, the more at risk their reputation and legacy are. Especially in a case where the competitor in question decides to make a comeback having been away from the coalface of whatever area of expertise was theirs.
As these things go, such comebacks don’t come much bigger than yesterday’s revelation that the great Serena Williams was not only making a comeback to top level tennis but doing so at the height of the grass court season, with her actual return to the baseline slated for what is the traditional warm up for The Championships at the All England Club in Wimbledon.
I’m actually not sure whether the 44-year-old – one half of sport’s greatest ever sister act – will be togging out in SW19 in a couple of weeks time. If she does, it will be a development which will eclipse Cliff Richard and/or any amount of strawberries and cream!
You’d just hope the gamble will pay off for the most decorated star Ladies tennis has seen. It would be a great shame to see one of the truly iconic sporting careers conclude on a negative bullet point.
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