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[Music]
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kiwi's Love at
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First like Finn we're making
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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waves generate switch online
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[Music]
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today lulusan welcome to my podcast
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happy to be here and this is your um
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first ever in-person podcast yes how so
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uh just I never had the opportunity to
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kind of do one so I mean since I was
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traveling everywhere in pre-season so I
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did them mostly on Zoom so this is a
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good opportunity kind of see what it's
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like to be in a podcast Studio well is
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it a good opportunity we'll um we'll
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find out at the end um and we're
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recording this on um Boxing Day 2024 uh
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which is most new zealanders is at the
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beach now um but I'm here working and
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you're you're working as well you're
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back in New Zealand for the ASB classic
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yes so Christmas day yesterday what did
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that look like uh I had a like a morning
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break you know to stay in but uh then I
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was up and training and it was funny cuz
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like uh we went to the club and every
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like the gym was Pitch Black you know
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there was no one there apart from tennis
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players so it was really kind of funny
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to see uh on Christmas day that the only
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people working was like tennis players
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yeah and and this is officially um the
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biggest Entourage of anyone that's
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coming for a podcast so you came in with
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your PA yeah your sister yeah and who
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else and a friend of ours how good
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you've got an Entourage this is badass I
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love it um now let me let me see if I've
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got this the straight the the Lulu Sun
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backstory so um you're 23 years old yes
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you're born in Tiano yes
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um Chinese mom Croatian Dad yes oh
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German stepdad yes and you left New
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Zealand for Shanghai when you were like
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four five ah something like that but I
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didn't stay for long in Shanghai yeah it
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was like a couple years but then I
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started tennis um and that's when I
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moved uh to Florida and then that's
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where I kind of started my tennis
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Journey where did Switzerland I've got
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that you were in Switzerland for a while
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as well yeah so I kind of moved when I
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was like eight or nine um and I've
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stayed there you know until University I
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guess but because of like tournaments I
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don't I don't I'm not there often
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so do you do you feel like in New
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Zealander like you're such um you're
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such a citizen of the world yeah I mean
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I do
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like I think because I was in the south
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a lot or I try to be like I come back
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every so often um I really enjoy it and
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I always feel like oh I'm back home and
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that's the same like if I go back to
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China or if I go back to Switzerland
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like oh I'm home um because like yeah
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because I don't know I've like I grew up
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in it and I like know how everything
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works and you know and it just feels
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comfortable versus like oh if you go to
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let's say I don't know a somewhere in
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Africa or the Middle East you know
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you're not used to that and so you feel
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like uncomfortable in a way but in these
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countes that I grew up in I I always
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whenever I come back I I feel at home
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and and at ease and tianao is a
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beautiful place yeah it's absolutely
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stunning um on this trip back to New
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Zealand you're not going to get to go
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down there but yanana has come up to
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ockland to see you yeah and you told me
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uh just before we started recording that
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um after the Aussie open you're hoping
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to maybe get down there yeah yeah yeah
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I'll get your PA to sort out some
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something hey um well it's wonderful to
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have you playing for New Zealand now so
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you've played tennis for Croatia for for
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Switzerland and now New Zealand yes yeah
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H hell of a story how this all this all
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came about at the beginning of R about
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this time last yeah no the beginning of
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2024 yeah yeah we'll get to that shortly
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but first of all
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um I I found online um five of the best
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what I'll call Sun pun headlines and I'm
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sure you've you've heard of all of these
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or seen all of them um so I want to run
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these past you and see what you think is
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the the best okay name based pun
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headline to do with you Sun outshines
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opponent okay you've by the way do these
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get tiresome or you quite like it I
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don't know because I have I don't really
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most of the time I don't look at them
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like unless my family or my friends
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they're like H look
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you know look at the title and then I
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was like oh okay okay so yeah there's
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Sun outshines opponent um sun's out wets
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out okay um Here Comes the Sun okay sun
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outshines
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ranu and um sun has risen to brighten
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Wimbledon oh wow that's a long one have
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you heard any of these or you see do you
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do you not have Google alerts out on
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your name no no do you do you just find
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it's unhealthy to read stuff about
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yourself or no I just I don't really
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have that interest really um and again
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like usually when I do hear about stuff
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it's usually someone else telling me and
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I'm like oh okay but I don't I don't
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know I'm not very interested like I I
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just like cuz I know what happened right
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I did the interviews so I'm like I know
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what's happening um but uh yeah so
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usually it's like you know my friend or
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my family they would look into it and
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they're like oh look at this what you
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said haha that's so funny I was like
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okay that's um that's such a healthy
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attitude to have um because I suppose if
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you read the good stuff about yourself
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again you know what the result is you
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know if you read the good stuff about
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yourself you also sort of have to read
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the bad stuff as well and exact and I
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don't want to really get into it so I
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just keep myself out of it most of the
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time and it's kind of like you know also
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on social media you know as especially
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like coming up in itfs like the smaller
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tournaments there's a lot of um which is
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like this is also an issue which a lot
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of players have said is like the betters
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they would like whether they bet you to
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lose or win they would comment on your
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social media and like I found that it
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was like kind of like if I kept looking
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at it it would just be worse so I just
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kind of I stopped kind of being too much
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into it and just kind of focusing on
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everything else really yeah you say that
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like it's no big deal but that's that's
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easier said than done I I think if I was
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in your position and there was some
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someone that wrote a negative article
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about me I'd be looking to see who wrote
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the article I'd be Googling them looking
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them on social media scrolling through
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their old photos I'd be consumed by it I
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mean you know you get like positives and
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you get support and obviously there's
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going to be the other side of it so
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people can have their opinions um and
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you know everyone thinks differently or
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views differently um depending on you
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know how you looked at it so to me I
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just I'm not going to fight I'm not
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going to be worried about someone else's
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opinion because you know I have my own
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opinions as well on on different topics
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and different people so I just I just
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let it go kind of because it's not like
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I can do much about it right
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oh good for you have you like a sports
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psychologist or anything or any mentors
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or coaches or is this just something
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that this is just what I think yeah yeah
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that's I suppose you have to be because
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otherwise you'd just be a maniac he
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there so there'd be so much distractions
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off the court that would just not yeah
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good for you did you like any of those
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what was your favorite out of those five
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um
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probably the wimbl one was kind of long
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though sun has risen to brighten
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Wimbledon six words I thought that was
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really good I thought it was really
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clever um okay so yeah let's reflect on
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the year 2020 2024 because it's been
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it's been a crazy year and when we'll go
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through everything bit by bit um but at
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the beginning of the year um you came to
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New Zealand uh to play the ASB classic
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as a relative unknown playing for
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Switzerland then there was the whole
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wimon thing that happened uh the Olympic
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Games you started the year 2024 as the
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210th best tennis player in the world
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and you're sitting here now as um the
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40th best tennis player in the world um
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for me and anyone else that has no clue
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how this works like what is the
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difference between 210 and 40th in terms
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of your game and things to be honest
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like the top 200 players there's not in
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a level of play there's not really much
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of a difference it's just that you know
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the if you're 200 of course you're not
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going to play all like the WTA events
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which has more points and more money
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because you're not going to get in all
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of them and so those smaller tournaments
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per se um they're going to have you know
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you all going to be similar level but
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you're going to fight for points that
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are much less and which going to which
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is going to give you like less of a jump
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right um and obviously there's the other
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part of you know you're not earning as
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much money as top let's say 60 um
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obviously depends where you're from um
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and I'd say so then you wouldn't have
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such a big team like a top 20 player or
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top 30 or top 40 um so it's like kind of
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hard to juggle and so your schedule is
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also very hectic because you don't know
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which tournament you're going to get in
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um so that's probably the only
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difference and obviously like maybe the
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top 20 and top 10 physically they might
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be stronger um but game wise also more
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experience um and probably they see the
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game better but in general it's quite
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I'd say the same it's just maybe someone
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more has a little bit more fight in them
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or maybe they have better tactics or
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something those small things yeah well
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thanks for that explanation so so so so
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when you rank 200 200th in the world on
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a good day you could still beat like
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someone that's number in the top
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10 uh I'd say like 200 versus top 10 the
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the top 10 is a bit different because I
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think that like I said they probably
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have I'd say better physical than
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someone who's 200 because they've been
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on tour for a longer period of time and
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they've also
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played High more high intensity matches
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than someone let's say in 200 with
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play um and so it's kind of a like the
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season for the top 10 player is very
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different from a
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season who a player who's 200
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M okay what's so from where you are now
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top 40th in the world um what's the
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difference between say 40 and top 10
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like can can you get there this year I
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mean I'm going to anything's possible
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right um but uh it's definitely going to
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take a lot of work um I still have a lot
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of areas to improve um and like of
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course this is like probably technically
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my first year on tour because uh at
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least for the WTA it is because for the
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past two years I haven't really played a
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lot of WTA tournaments I have played
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mostly itfs and that's like a whole
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another SST like WTA is mainly apart
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from the grand slams it's all the
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High tournament High Lev tournaments
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that you see on TV and then the rest of
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them below that is the ITF tournaments
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and that's what like outside the top 100
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that's what they play what is so WTA
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women's tennis Association and what's it
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International tennis Federation and and
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this this year 2024 you're' being named
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the WTA newcomer of the year it's
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awesome yeah that's so badass like the
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other play I knew the ones who are not
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at as well I knew what they achieved and
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they've also achieved like really great
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things so I was super you know honored
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and and grateful to to be able to see
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receive the award and it just meant like
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how you know this year what we've
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accomplished but also like it's kind of
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a sign to kind of keep moving forward
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and and keep working hard for for the
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next you know level yeah 100% build on
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that momentum and and speaking of that
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so 2025 if everything um that you dream
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or manifest happens how will the year
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look uh I'm hoping you know I'm trying
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to work hard to to be able to you know
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win a WTA tournament I was close this
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year I went to the finals um in a 500 so
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that's what I'm hoping
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to uh achieve in the next
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season and as well as like obviously
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keep improving my ranking um because
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that helps as well you know if you're
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seated in a tournament versus you're
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unseated it makes a big difference
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sometimes um and you know to to go far
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in the
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slams yeah do you do you allow yourself
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to think really big like real [ __ ]
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big like like like Grand Slam big like
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can you win a grand slam I mean that's
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what I think everyone's working for as a
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tennis player you know you dream to to
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be on those big stages to achieve big
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things um and and you know it's kind of
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a step-by-step process obviously um so
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it's it's not going to come like that um
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but that's where I'm heading towards
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that's where I'm working for yeah
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because as someone um that knows very
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little about tennis like it seems on
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paper like you you could be able to do
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it like you betat m ricano at wimon last
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year and she's won the US Open so it's
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like you're capable of beating someone
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that's you look at it that way yeah it
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not as not as easy as that it's not
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because um you know every year there's
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different um like maybe they resurface
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the courts or the balls are different
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like for example when she won US Open
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the balls were actually different from
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what US Open balls are now and so
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there's very different scenarios and you
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know she might have been playing that
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year like amazing tennis and she might
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have you know felt she was obviously
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injury free so it's like different kind
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of things that happen um and you never
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know what what can happen and obviously
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like the draw matters you can have an
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easy draw you can have a tough draw um
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and it just it depends so if you I think
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you know to if you work hard enough and
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you're able to kind of work through all
00:15:50
these things it doesn't matter what's
00:15:52
going to come your way you're able to
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like kind of move past it so that's
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where I kind of want to be so you don't
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have to it's not I wouldn't say luck per
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se um but you know there's certain
00:16:04
timings that have to happen sometimes
00:16:06
and I I hope that I can work you know
00:16:09
well enough to you know not have to have
00:16:13
those certain timings in place sometimes
00:16:15
and just kind of you know pave my my way
00:16:18
yeah so a lot of variables that go yeah
00:16:20
a lot of variables yeah okay um so let's
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go back to the early years so what are
00:16:25
you what are your memories of Tiano as a
00:16:27
as a as like a tiny do you have many m
00:16:28
memories of them is a like a toddler um
00:16:32
honestly a lot of my memories from Tio
00:16:36
is basically like Farm life because
00:16:39
that's most of the cell and is like
00:16:42
forests and sheep and and all that um
00:16:47
and yeah basically nature most of it
00:16:51
yeah and your older sister who's um just
00:16:54
sitting through the glass now hi um is
00:16:57
that sort of how you got to tenis yeah
00:17:00
so originally my mom wanted her to start
00:17:03
playing and as a younger sibling you
00:17:06
know whatever your older sister does you
00:17:08
do um so I was kind of I I was put into
00:17:12
it and at that time like when I started
00:17:16
playing um my my friends at which were
00:17:20
my age were already kind of doing mini
00:17:22
tennis rallying and she was you know
00:17:25
playing as well and like I I was
00:17:29
struggling to kind of hit a bowl like
00:17:32
just hit it over the net so my mom was
00:17:35
like super concerned and she was like
00:17:39
maybe we should change sport where she
00:17:42
doesn't have to move um so she was like
00:17:45
thinking of changing to golf but then
00:17:48
she's like nah that's too complicated so
00:17:50
then she's just stuck with it and I was
00:17:52
just like I kept going and because I'm
00:17:56
super competitive by Nature I I think
00:17:59
because having growing up with you know
00:18:01
my sister and we're both playing the
00:18:03
same thing I've always wanted to you
00:18:05
know catch up to her and you know beat
00:18:09
her so I think that was kind of a
00:18:11
helpful kind of tool and motivation from
00:18:14
the Geto um and that kind of helped
00:18:18
me gradually pave like my game and my
00:18:22
tennis yeah was was your mom quite quite
00:18:24
pushy or was she just sort of like um
00:18:27
yeah have a go at tennis if you like it
00:18:29
you can play it if you don't like it
00:18:30
we'll find something else um well I at
00:18:33
that point I've already like had to go
00:18:37
at different sports I I was skiing I was
00:18:41
I did ballet I did music so I was kind
00:18:45
of in different
00:18:47
activities um and kind of that point I
00:18:51
was
00:18:52
just a lot of the hours were in tennis
00:18:55
but then again you know I I was in
00:18:58
school so
00:18:59
it wasn't like eight hours a day or
00:19:01
something like that it was just like
00:19:03
maybe two hours or one hour um and
00:19:06
especially like when I started Middle
00:19:09
School I would only have like an hour a
00:19:11
day or an hour and a half in that after
00:19:14
I finished school and before I had to
00:19:15
study
00:19:16
so it I don't know it just kind of
00:19:19
happened that way like I've tennis just
00:19:23
kind of happened and I stuck to it um so
00:19:27
I don't know it wasn't really pushy I
00:19:29
guess but it was just it happened in a
00:19:32
way that's so annoying so you're the
00:19:34
40th best tennis player in the world you
00:19:37
made the top 16 at Wimbledon and the
00:19:39
quote is tennis just kind of happened
00:19:43
WTF that's crazy because I've had um uh
00:19:46
Lydia do you know Lydia Co at all have
00:19:48
you met her I haven't met her
00:19:51
unfortunately but I know I obviously I
00:19:53
know her of her she's I I had her um
00:19:57
early mental skill coach David NE on the
00:19:59
podcast and he started working with her
00:20:02
when she was like seven or eight and and
00:20:04
his job or the instructions that he was
00:20:05
given by her parents was to try and sort
00:20:07
of you know hold her back because she
00:20:10
just wanted to she was
00:20:12
obsessed like she had that and it seems
00:20:15
like you've always been quite balanced
00:20:16
with the tennis like you know you've
00:20:17
just been quite normal and well adjusted
00:20:20
yeah I mean it wasn't like originally
00:20:23
it's not like we my mom was like you're
00:20:25
going to be a professional tennis player
00:20:27
or I didn't look at like a match and I
00:20:29
was like I'm going to be a professional
00:20:31
tennis player when I was like 5 years
00:20:32
old it just kind of I was doing it for
00:20:35
the fun and I was doing it cuz as well
00:20:38
like she put us into sports you know
00:20:40
because it's healthy for you and it's
00:20:41
good to move around so we were never
00:20:44
kind
00:20:45
of go thinking about being a
00:20:48
professional tennis um it just kind of
00:20:51
gradually happened again um and towards
00:20:55
like the end of my juniors I kind of uh
00:20:58
cuz I was playing all the grand slams
00:21:00
obviously and you see like all the
00:21:02
professionals and I thought it was quite
00:21:05
you know cool to experience that and and
00:21:09
kind of the system of how they play and
00:21:11
all and I would see like all their
00:21:13
coaches and the way they warmed up and I
00:21:15
was like wow that's so like professional
00:21:18
which I'm not doing any of that but um
00:21:21
um yeah so but then I also you know had
00:21:25
to focus on my studies as well and
00:21:27
that's why I went to
00:21:29
University um because my mom was very
00:21:31
keen on kind of you know getting first
00:21:35
that degree and you know having some
00:21:37
sort of safety net for you to kind of Go
00:21:40
full on or you know to have no doubts
00:21:44
kind of um something to fall back on
00:21:47
yeah like you never know because
00:21:50
sometimes tennis players like you have
00:21:52
really good tennis players but then they
00:21:54
have injuries and that have they have to
00:21:56
stop um and or sometimes I don't know
00:22:00
something happens like look at Co you
00:22:02
know it's like you never know what could
00:22:04
happen and so to have something as a
00:22:07
safety net is always a good idea it's
00:22:10
not you know nothing bad comes from it
00:22:13
so and you still love it yeah yeah yeah
00:22:16
have you read the um the Andre Agy book
00:22:19
open yeah yeah like he you read that and
00:22:21
like tennis has been very good for good
00:22:23
to him um but he's got a very it's a
00:22:26
heartbreaking book like he's got a very
00:22:27
sort of conflicted relationship with the
00:22:29
sport that's made him famous um yeah
00:22:31
would you recognize that if you were
00:22:32
getting to that
00:22:34
point um I mean probably um and I think
00:22:40
people around me would probably
00:22:42
recognize um but I don't think I that's
00:22:46
why I try to like kind of balance things
00:22:48
out and to try to I mean obviously I
00:22:52
have to think about it outside of the
00:22:54
Court as well a bit but I think I have
00:22:58
kind of balance it out if not then
00:23:00
you're just going to kind of go a bit
00:23:03
crazy yeah I had h of um heaps of like
00:23:07
retired all blacks and other sports
00:23:08
stars on the podcast and that most of
00:23:10
them say the same thing like um in the
00:23:11
end what got to them was not the not the
00:23:14
weekend stuff like playing the game but
00:23:15
it was the in between stuff like the
00:23:18
training during the week the meetings
00:23:19
during the week and the other stuff that
00:23:21
you know you don't see um I'm guessing
00:23:23
to get to your level like there's
00:23:24
there's a lot of other [ __ ] that goes on
00:23:26
behind the scenes yeah I mean it's a lot
00:23:29
of hours of practice it's a lot of hours
00:23:31
of Fitness um and also you know you
00:23:36
review um your matches with your coach
00:23:40
um so there's all sorts of things that
00:23:42
happen in the background that usually um
00:23:45
I think majority of the people don't see
00:23:48
um because even at tournaments when
00:23:50
you're practicing it's kind of you
00:23:52
practice an hour an hour and a half
00:23:54
maybe but it's not the same as you know
00:23:56
let's say preseason or maybe during the
00:23:58
season and you have like two weeks off
00:23:59
before you train no one like is going to
00:24:03
go and watch you like there's not going
00:24:05
to be a crowd of people that is watching
00:24:07
you so it's it's
00:24:09
definitely but it's necessary right it's
00:24:12
you have to do those things to improve
00:24:15
otherwise it's it's tough to kind of do
00:24:18
it in in a tournament um but yeah that's
00:24:21
why I think a lot of tennis players you
00:24:24
know you're constantly traveling you're
00:24:26
constantly with the same people you
00:24:27
constantly see the same people um and
00:24:31
after a while you it it does get
00:24:33
repetitive but that's why I think it's
00:24:37
really important to kind of just go
00:24:40
outside of that system in a way and so
00:24:43
you're not so um I don't know how to
00:24:47
explain like I don't know you get out of
00:24:50
energy or maybe you you find it like
00:24:53
boring or you find it um like you can't
00:24:56
do it anymore so I think that's it's
00:24:58
like a really good way to just kind of
00:25:00
balance it out do do you ever wake up in
00:25:03
the morning and have to pause for a
00:25:05
second and think about where in the
00:25:06
world you are um do any not so much like
00:25:10
where but like what day is it what is
00:25:14
like is it Monday is it Sunday yeah you
00:25:17
don't even you've got a PA now you've
00:25:19
got Dominica sitting out there so you
00:25:20
don't even need to worry about that [ __ ]
00:25:22
she can tell you what day of the week it
00:25:23
is yeah how cool how that must be cool
00:25:27
having a PA
00:25:28
yeah she's a she's a good good very good
00:25:32
PA and bosses me around oh you're the
00:25:37
boss oh yeah but you know it's good like
00:25:40
you have someone telling you oh you have
00:25:43
this on your schedule and that you know
00:25:45
it's it's a good thing yeah that's great
00:25:48
so um Chris Bing from tennis New Zealand
00:25:51
um so it was almost a year ago was that
00:25:53
the beginning of uh 2024 yeah when you
00:25:55
were in New Zealand for the ASB classic
00:25:57
as a Switzerland
00:25:58
player that you connected with him so
00:26:01
how did how did that come about um he's
00:26:04
living to your
00:26:05
DMs SL didn't he on social media slid
00:26:08
into your DMs yeah I think so I don't
00:26:12
like and then I spoke with my team I was
00:26:15
like oh I think like New Zealand like
00:26:19
someone from New Zealand is contacted me
00:26:23
and they're like oh just like see what
00:26:26
like he wants to talk about or something
00:26:29
and yeah so that kind of
00:26:32
happened such aand way to go didn't know
00:26:35
how to reach out to you so a DM slide
00:26:38
it's fine so then then you you guys went
00:26:40
for a walk around um Mount Eden yeah
00:26:43
mount B yeah yeah and then what did you
00:26:45
talk about just like what tennis New
00:26:49
Zealand's at um kind of what the future
00:26:54
would hold and all that General stuff
00:26:57
yeah so what did he try and sort of like
00:27:00
like you know woo you or convince you to
00:27:02
come to not really I mean he was just
00:27:05
like kind of showing what tennis New
00:27:09
Zealand is at and again like what the
00:27:11
future could hold but he's like I'm not
00:27:14
like doing any I'm just informing you
00:27:17
and I was like okay good to know you
00:27:20
know um and I I mean technically I've
00:27:24
also played for New Zealand at one point
00:27:26
during Juniors because they had a
00:27:29
different um system at one point um so I
00:27:33
did play like for a short term uh for
00:27:35
New Zealand before um yeah but um it was
00:27:40
kind of I I at that point I wasn't
00:27:44
really you know there was nothing to
00:27:46
think about it was just kind of oh
00:27:49
here's some information and that was
00:27:51
yeah so do they have to like offer you
00:27:53
offer you something like do they get
00:27:54
like give you some money to like come
00:27:56
and play with us war between Switzerland
00:27:59
and new I'm sorry I'm so curious about
00:28:01
this because New Zealand tennis doesn't
00:28:03
want anything to do with me so and most
00:28:05
people listening to this will never be
00:28:06
in a situation where they have like
00:28:08
countries like fighting fighting over
00:28:10
them yeah it's a strange position to be
00:28:12
in yeah because I I was like it's very
00:28:16
hard to kind of choose which country to
00:28:21
kind of play for because one I've played
00:28:24
for Switzerland practically all my life
00:28:27
but I've als also grew up in New Zealand
00:28:29
and I I you know it's not like I'm not
00:28:35
from there or I wasn't I didn't grow up
00:28:37
there it's not foreign to me
00:28:40
so I I was very conflicted about it um
00:28:46
but then also like I thought about like
00:28:48
you know tennis obviously you know we
00:28:51
have Aaron as uh she's number one
00:28:54
doubles player and she's a great great
00:28:57
doubles player and she's doing really
00:28:59
well as well oh yeah you guys went to
00:29:00
the Olympics together yeah yeah yeah um
00:29:03
and so I was kind of thinking about how
00:29:08
you know tennis Swiss tennis has
00:29:11
obviously great players in the past and
00:29:13
they have great players now um and I was
00:29:17
thinking about how you know if I were to
00:29:20
play for New Zealand I would be able to
00:29:23
kind of bring you know inspiration in a
00:29:26
way and you kind of grow tennis in New
00:29:30
Zealand because obviously you know rugby
00:29:32
is such a prominent sport here or
00:29:34
Cricket you know
00:29:36
so I don't think tennis is one of like
00:29:39
the top sports here but um it's nice to
00:29:42
always see you know people enjoy it and
00:29:46
people who are curious about tennis and
00:29:48
and want to develop in tennis and I just
00:29:50
think you know if we were to be able to
00:29:54
in the future to have more more and more
00:29:57
players represent new well more and more
00:30:00
better tennis players um in New Zealand
00:30:03
it would be you know something really
00:30:05
really cool um cuz I mean Australia has
00:30:08
really good tennis players and we're
00:30:10
we're you know their neighbors so we
00:30:13
gota we got to improve our our um
00:30:17
players here yes yeah CU Switzerland
00:30:20
must have been so pissed off after
00:30:21
Wimbledon uh I mean do you how does that
00:30:24
conversation go or does do do you just
00:30:26
send them a note saying Hey I'm is it a
00:30:28
process changing the country that you're
00:30:30
playing for uh yeah but it's just like
00:30:34
you send an email and that's then they
00:30:37
change it yeah like the flag on it's not
00:30:41
you just sent an email saying yeah but
00:30:44
um yeah I mean I'm still like really
00:30:48
good relations with with like tennis and
00:30:52
we're all good and I mean decisions have
00:30:55
to be made at some point like I had I
00:30:57
had to choose one or the other so and
00:31:01
you know once it was
00:31:03
done I have to move forward
00:31:07
right yeah well in the in the term of a
00:31:09
lifespan the tennis career is a very
00:31:11
small part of it so you have to look
00:31:12
after look after number one don't you
00:31:14
you have to do what's right for you oh
00:31:15
good for you well as a um as a proud New
00:31:17
Zealander I'm very happy with the
00:31:19
decision you made so good for you and
00:31:22
apologies to Switzerland um okay let's
00:31:24
talk about wimam this was like from a
00:31:27
viewing persp persective this was
00:31:28
surreal so I can't imagine what it was
00:31:29
like you know being being you so so you
00:31:34
go to Wimbledon as um as like a
00:31:36
qualifier yeah yeah what does that mean
00:31:39
so in all the grand slams usually the
00:31:43
qualifiers are playing one week before
00:31:46
and they usually play at the vicinity of
00:31:49
the Grand Slam but with wimbl then
00:31:51
because of the grass we have to play at
00:31:54
another site so it's not at
00:31:56
Wimbledon and and you play there for a
00:31:59
week um the guys play at the same time
00:32:05
and depending on the schedule like you
00:32:08
either play three days in a row or you
00:32:10
play one day and then you don't play in
00:32:12
the next day so so on and so forth um
00:32:16
and it's pretty grueling because I think
00:32:19
everyone's trying to fight and to
00:32:21
qualify um cuz how how many people how
00:32:24
many people get through to the
00:32:25
tournament
00:32:26
proper uh I think eight I think so eight
00:32:33
um yeah so and there's like
00:32:37
100 it's
00:32:39
128 draw I think so it's w yeah so you
00:32:43
go through three matches
00:32:46
basically um and yeah you just kind of
00:32:50
fight it out and I almost didn't qualify
00:32:54
again um in the second round but I
00:32:57
managed to pull through and yeah just
00:32:59
kept fighting so so so you qualify for
00:33:02
Wimbledon proper and um what's that like
00:33:06
uh who who do you call first you call
00:33:08
your
00:33:09
mom uh she was actually there so um but
00:33:15
yeah so I mean my mom was there my
00:33:18
coaches were there so I was just kind of
00:33:22
okay we did this it's nice but I also
00:33:26
did it in Australia no
00:33:28
and so I was kind of like now like let's
00:33:31
try to you know kind of keep working you
00:33:35
know it's not over um there's still more
00:33:38
matches to come um because in Australian
00:33:41
Open I did qualify and I was like oh my
00:33:43
God this is so amazing you know um and I
00:33:46
think I kind of was a bit over excited
00:33:50
um and so I didn't really perform that
00:33:52
well on my first round and I was kind of
00:33:55
like you know whatever happens now
00:33:58
you're at you're at Wimbledon you're
00:33:59
playing you know one of the four grand
00:34:02
slams you know just give it your all um
00:34:06
and although I was like oh wouldn't it
00:34:09
be funny if I played a top player and
00:34:11
then I ended up playing on the first
00:34:13
round I was like oh no um and it's tough
00:34:16
because like obviously you've played
00:34:18
matches
00:34:20
beforehand um but you know playing a top
00:34:23
level player is like quite different um
00:34:26
especially for a first round
00:34:28
um but I was just thinking you know
00:34:32
you're you're given this opportunity you
00:34:34
might as well you know put full fight
00:34:37
and full effort um and just see where it
00:34:39
goes yeah so that opening round who was
00:34:42
the top player uh Jung tan she was uh
00:34:45
the CH top one Chinese player she's
00:34:48
number one in China and what's her uh
00:34:49
world ranking right now I think she's
00:34:53
six in the world unreal unreal so you
00:34:55
yeah so you were 200 something in the
00:34:57
world at this so you were you're lucky
00:35:00
first of all you're lucky to be at
00:35:00
Wimbledon in the first place and in this
00:35:02
first round there's a game there's a
00:35:05
match that no one's expecting you to win
00:35:06
yeah did you think you could win did you
00:35:09
believe um I don't I didn't really put
00:35:12
it on a win and lose I was just kind of
00:35:15
in the moment type of thing um and I
00:35:18
didn't really look in the future like oh
00:35:22
my God I don't think I'm I'm going to
00:35:24
win or I I am going to win sort of thing
00:35:27
um so yeah was just kind of in the
00:35:30
moment and then um yeah because so you
00:35:33
lose the game and you're out of the
00:35:34
tournament that's it you one experience
00:35:36
over you win you you go and you keep
00:35:38
going until you lose a game so where was
00:35:40
that game played was that on like the
00:35:42
center quar or one of this a lot of
00:35:44
people may not know this about won
00:35:45
because you see it on TV yeah um but
00:35:47
it's actually Center Court is one court
00:35:49
but then it's a whole big complex
00:35:50
there's courts every yeah so there's
00:35:52
Center Court which is the biggest Court
00:35:55
then there's Court one which is still
00:35:58
big it's big compared to all the rest of
00:36:00
the courts but it's smaller than the
00:36:02
Center Court um then there's Court three
00:36:06
which is kind of it's a stadium as well
00:36:08
but smaller again than Court one uh then
00:36:11
the rest of the courts are kind of
00:36:13
called Ground courts and that's where
00:36:16
like people can walk by um so there's no
00:36:19
like sitting and staying like people are
00:36:22
constantly walking by and you have to
00:36:24
play during you know people can talk
00:36:26
people can walk and anything um there's
00:36:29
also Court 18 which is like kind of
00:36:33
a stadium is court because there's like
00:36:36
a high seats here and then it's Court
00:36:39
here and then you have smaller seating
00:36:41
here so it's like a smaller is Stadium
00:36:45
um but yeah then the rest of the courts
00:36:47
are kind of ground courts um I played I
00:36:49
was supposed to play on 18 but then they
00:36:52
move us because the the court was
00:36:55
finishing faster in court three instead
00:36:58
of Court 18 so we were moved to court 3
00:37:01
um which is a bigger Court I was like oh
00:37:04
okay I guess we're moving also to a
00:37:07
bigger Court um so yeah it was quite a
00:37:10
quite an first round experience how the
00:37:14
hell did you not crumble under the
00:37:15
pressure you know you're playing a top
00:37:16
10 player um it's first time at wooden
00:37:19
you're lucky to be there you're on quart
00:37:21
three like yeah when when you reflect on
00:37:24
that um [ __ ] you must be immensely proud
00:37:26
of yourself
00:37:28
yeah I mean I was as you say I was just
00:37:30
happy to be there and honestly like you
00:37:34
know in the past I have like been nervy
00:37:37
in a way like for example the first
00:37:39
round of Australian Open I was kind of
00:37:42
nervy and I didn't perform and so this
00:37:44
time around I really you know just
00:37:46
wanted to enjoy myself and kind of put
00:37:49
in full effort um and just you know play
00:37:52
my game in a way um so that's kind of
00:37:57
how
00:37:58
I went on about it um and for the like
00:38:01
the crowd I kind of like don't put full
00:38:05
Focus around it I just kind of first
00:38:08
before I look where my coaches are
00:38:12
sometimes they sit like in different
00:38:13
areas but yeah I first look out where
00:38:15
they are and then after that I just spot
00:38:17
them and then I focus on the core and
00:38:20
that's about it then you kind of it's
00:38:22
just outside noise in a way cuz as the
00:38:26
tournament progressed um um here in New
00:38:28
Zealand like it became it became like a
00:38:30
ground swell of support like um yeah
00:38:33
like the name Lulu son was becoming
00:38:35
bigger and the Sun was shining brighter
00:38:37
and the Sun was shining brighter and
00:38:39
brighter with every every win and
00:38:40
everyone was getting really excited and
00:38:42
in tianao at the local tennis club like
00:38:44
you people were getting up early in the
00:38:45
morning to go and watch it um what did
00:38:47
it feel like for you like were were you
00:38:50
were you sort of cocooned from that or
00:38:51
were you aware of the no the external
00:38:53
noise my family told me about it
00:38:58
um and I was just like very very
00:39:00
grateful for all of it um because I mean
00:39:04
any support you get is is really great
00:39:06
um especially coming from my hometown is
00:39:10
was quite crazy um to see people kind of
00:39:13
staying up so late um for to watch my
00:39:17
matches um so it it was really surreal
00:39:22
and then so what you have a game like
00:39:24
every
00:39:30
oh
00:39:32
really okay all right oh I just got the
00:39:36
wrap up we got a wrap up game set match
00:39:39
um wow this is so cool it's it's been
00:39:41
great to talk to you so um all right uh
00:39:45
where are we going to go okay so um yeah
00:39:47
so you make it um how F you get in top
00:39:50
16 quarterfinals yes is that top eight
00:39:54
so uh yeah top eight yeah so because of
00:39:58
that um there's lifetime perks like
00:40:00
you're in I thing called the top eight
00:40:02
Club so you get to go to Wimbledon for
00:40:03
the rest of your life and what happens
00:40:06
some that's so cool right yeah oh my God
00:40:09
and what about some of the people you
00:40:10
met you met um you got to rub shoulders
00:40:12
with Martina never to lovera and Billy
00:40:14
Jean King what do those conversations
00:40:17
look like do they give you some advice
00:40:19
uh yeah they're giving advice about
00:40:22
tennis and off court tennis as well and
00:40:25
it was kind of really crazy to you know
00:40:29
meet those great tennis players great
00:40:32
champions from from the past um and you
00:40:37
know just to meet them in general was
00:40:39
amazing but to have also their
00:40:42
experience and and you know to listen to
00:40:46
their knowledge as well was was great as
00:40:48
well and the the tennis record they got
00:40:51
you that far is where's that is that
00:40:53
like a lucky record that you still play
00:40:54
with or has it been auctioned off for
00:40:56
charity or uh No I
00:40:59
gave couple of my rackets from Bon away
00:41:04
um but yeah I don't use the same racket
00:41:07
because yanx has a new racket now so I'm
00:41:10
using the new version of it um but yeah
00:41:13
it's it's the same model in a way but uh
00:41:16
just new updated version yeah hey this
00:41:20
has been great um my show is sponsored
00:41:22
by the generate kiwi saer scheme who are
00:41:24
massive fans of yours um they've
00:41:26
actually reached out to you on Instagram
00:41:28
they'd love to sponsor you and be
00:41:29
involved with you um but one thing they
00:41:31
allow me to do with all my guests is um
00:41:33
give you $500 to give to a charity of
00:41:35
your choice as long as you answer a
00:41:36
couple of quick questions so what's your
00:41:38
what's your charity of
00:41:40
choice um well I'm currently a new
00:41:45
charity that I've been collaborating
00:41:48
with and I'm now uh an ambassador of is
00:41:52
a sustainable coastlines uh they're from
00:41:55
Oakland um and so they
00:41:59
are um basically doing intelligence
00:42:03
litter litter intelligence um and it's a
00:42:06
great way to kind of see you know what's
00:42:08
happening in our orders and how we can
00:42:12
deal with it and uh just kind of paint a
00:42:15
picture for everyone um to see and and
00:42:18
all of those information is kind of
00:42:20
online and it's a great way to kind of
00:42:23
because it is an important issue I think
00:42:25
um to to know about Plastics and and
00:42:29
just
00:42:30
sustainability um so that's probably
00:42:33
what I would pick with yeah awesome Al
00:42:35
They luy to have you as an ambassador so
00:42:37
$500 for that charity if you just answer
00:42:39
these quick questions uh Lulu son what
00:42:42
is the best piece of advice you've been
00:42:43
given about money money uh invest it
00:42:47
invest when you can um and spend it
00:42:53
thoughtfully
00:42:55
on different types of Assets in a way
00:42:59
but
00:43:00
also um I'd say to spend it sometimes
00:43:05
for yourself yeah that was going to be
00:43:07
my next question are you a spender or a
00:43:09
saver more of a saver what's been your
00:43:13
worst money mistake have you bought
00:43:14
anything
00:43:15
stupid no no because I I I like you know
00:43:20
sometimes stupid things in a way like
00:43:23
cute stickers or stuff like that
00:43:25
stickers what do you mean uh well I like
00:43:28
like to get stickers or stationary and
00:43:31
like little Trinkets and in a way you
00:43:34
can say those are stupid things but I
00:43:36
don't know I like them so well if you if
00:43:39
you're going to go to wimon and win
00:43:40
$700,000 you can buy yourself some
00:43:41
bloody stickers if you want does does um
00:43:44
money buy you
00:43:46
happiness no I don't think so um it's
00:43:50
it's very all materialistic things and I
00:43:54
think you know you can buy certain
00:43:58
things but you can't buy let's say time
00:44:02
you can't buy relationships in life um
00:44:06
and and good quality relationships at
00:44:09
that so I think that's more important
00:44:11
than materialistic things yeah that's a
00:44:13
great answer um this is a long way off
00:44:15
for you um but when you retire not from
00:44:18
tennis but just in you know from work
00:44:21
where would you like to
00:44:22
retire you know I've some a lot of my
00:44:25
friends have been asking me I have no
00:44:28
idea so I've like had couple of
00:44:31
countries in my head but honestly no
00:44:33
idea um I maybe potentially New Zealand
00:44:38
have a farm of my own who knows um but
00:44:42
yeah I don't know and what's the best
00:44:45
thing about being a
00:44:46
kiwi uh best thing about being a kiwi uh
00:44:52
to have this massive
00:44:53
support um you know I'm from from the
00:44:58
same country as all
00:44:59
blacks uh we have pretty good I'd say we
00:45:04
have amazing
00:45:05
nature and also a lot of fun things to
00:45:09
do like
00:45:10
skydiving um rafting those types of
00:45:13
things um and also our animals here l s
00:45:19
$500 from the generate K we sa scheme to
00:45:21
your charity hey thank you so much for
00:45:23
joining me today thank you so much
00:45:25
really appreciate it good luck for 25
00:45:27
let's go thank you
