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Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.

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Speaker 1: It's Monday, January twelve, twenty twenty six. Anthony Albanezi's hate

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Speaker 1: speech laws, due to be unveiled within days, must be

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Speaker 1: embraced by all sides of politics, says eminent Jewish business

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Speaker 1: leaders Stephen Lowe. Lowie also says the Royal Commission must

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Speaker 1: cover immigration policy as well as the rise of anti Semitism.

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Speaker 1: That's an exclusive live now at the Australian dot com

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Speaker 1: dot au. If you love tennis, the most glorious part

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Speaker 1: of the year is about to start. The long night's,

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Speaker 1: high emotions and stunning athleticism of the Australian Open under

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Speaker 1: baking Melbourne skies. For years, this tournament was dominated by

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Speaker 1: the Big three RUFA Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

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Speaker 1: Age and weariness is claimed Ruffer and Roger, and now

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Speaker 1: there's just one old warrior left, the joker who loves

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Speaker 1: to play the hero and the villain for fight up

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Speaker 1: Australian fans. So will Djokovic make it to Melbourne and

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Speaker 1: will it be his last dance Today? The Australian's Tennis

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Speaker 1: writer Will Swanton joins the fronts Kristin Ainiott.

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Speaker 2: Lenzie. Youngster Novak Djokovic was told by his father that

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Speaker 2: he wanted him to be a soccer player or a skier.

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Speaker 2: Maybe he's about the show Dan and he made the run.

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Speaker 3: Choice lastin Drive say so wonder the title put a

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Speaker 3: Serbian superstar p history.

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Speaker 4: Made no Champion of Australian third.

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Speaker 2: But he is the best player on the planet again.

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Speaker 3: He has done it. Major title, Uperdrupty one Chex is over.

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Speaker 2: He's kine writer, a rapper.

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Speaker 4: Novak Djokovic a Grand Slam champion again twenty four and

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Speaker 4: he still wants more.

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Speaker 2: Novak Djokovic, serial record breaker, achieves a centuries of career titles.

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Speaker 3: It's another landmark moment.

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Speaker 4: The first time I saw him was that the good

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Speaker 4: old Sydney International, which probably gives away Novak's age because

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Speaker 4: that was his first big summer in Australia and it

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Speaker 4: was at a tournament that no longer exists. So he's

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Speaker 4: outlived this in the International.

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Speaker 5: At the endway this is sport reporter Will Swanton. He's

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Speaker 5: reminiscing on the first time he saw a young Novak

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Speaker 5: Dokovic play tennis in person.

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Speaker 4: But anyway, this was before he won majors, and he

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Speaker 4: was just this talented, volatile, entertaining, ambitious, driven young serb

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Speaker 4: who had a bit of hype about him. I still

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Speaker 4: remember going out there, stinking hot ken Rosewall Arena to

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Speaker 4: watch this tall, skinny, lanky, cranky serb, and I still

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Speaker 4: remember we were sitting courtside and he was so cranky,

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Speaker 4: and he threw his racket and the little vibration dampener

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Speaker 4: that you get that you're put in your racket strings

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Speaker 4: flew off his racket and hit me straight on the

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Speaker 4: forehead in the front row of the and he had

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Speaker 4: this smashed racket and he wanted his vibration damp in

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Speaker 4: the back, and we threw it back onto the court

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Speaker 4: for him. But it's fruscating to think of that now,

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Speaker 4: because it didn't walk away thinking there's an all time great,

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Speaker 4: like good player, had a lot going for him, super fit,

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Speaker 4: all that kind of thing. But the first time I

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Speaker 4: saw Roger Federer play was at the same tournament, and

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Speaker 4: I still remember Federer and it was just you had

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Speaker 4: this sense of magic. First time, Novak, it was just

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Speaker 4: like good, methodical, efficient player and you would never have

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Speaker 4: thought what twenty twenty five years later that Novak's won

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Speaker 4: more majors than anyone in history, more than Roger, more

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Speaker 4: than Rafa Novak.

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Speaker 5: Djokovic is of course one of the greats of the

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Speaker 5: men's game, alongside Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and if you're

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Speaker 5: feeling generous, Andy Murray. Between them, they've won almost seventy

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Speaker 5: Grand Slam titles in one of the single greatest eras

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Speaker 5: in sporting history. And although he's pushing forty, Djokovic is

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Speaker 5: the last one standing. He's also lifted two dozen Grand

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Speaker 5: Slam trophies, ten of them at the Australia and Open.

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Speaker 4: I've seen him in all all the majors, and like,

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Speaker 4: I look back on it now and I think you have,

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Speaker 4: like a feeling of admiration and respect for the fight

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Speaker 4: is always put into it. We could talk for hours

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Speaker 4: about that whole greatest debate, because what is the greatest?

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Speaker 4: Is he the greatest because he's won the most or

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Speaker 4: is it also a big part of it the way

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Speaker 4: an athlete makes you feel. So when he came along,

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Speaker 4: there was one hundred percent the sense of Roger and Raffa,

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Speaker 4: we're going to be unbeatable for the next ten to

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Speaker 4: fifteen years, and Novak, to his eternal credit, was the

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Speaker 4: only one of the next group of players who basically

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Speaker 4: thought stuff that I'm going to throw everything I've possibly

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Speaker 4: got into beating them, because why can't someone beat them?

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Speaker 4: And he's done it, he says himself. He doesn't have

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Speaker 4: their natural flair and that kind of thing. So the

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Speaker 4: way he could beat them was to just be insanely

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Speaker 4: super fit. To start with best of five, if it

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Speaker 4: went for three, four, five hours, he wanted to last

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Speaker 4: longer than them, and you know, just a style of

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Speaker 4: play that basically amounted to don't miss, and it's these

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Speaker 4: super athleticism and everything else just allowed him to basically

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Speaker 4: get to every ball and get it back. And what

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Speaker 4: he did have was just a sky high level of

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Speaker 4: self belief, And honestly, it's one of the most incredible

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Speaker 4: things in sport that he had this what seemed like

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Speaker 4: an impossible dream. He was open about it, and twenty

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Speaker 4: years later he actually did what he said he was

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Speaker 4: going to do. And it's a beautiful thing. For all

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Speaker 4: the tennis he's played and everything he's won, he's still playing,

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Speaker 4: I just think it's that true affection for his sport

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Speaker 4: that he's not quite sure how to give it away.

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Speaker 5: What do you think he wants out of the Australian

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Speaker 5: Open in twenty twenty six, which may very well be

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Speaker 5: his last Grand Slam. What do you think he really

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Speaker 5: just wants to keep going until he physically cannot walk

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Speaker 5: onto the court.

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Speaker 4: We might have to drag him out by the ankle.

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Speaker 4: It some stays. And I think what he wants is

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Speaker 4: the same thing that I suspect you wanted last year.

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Speaker 4: Was he wanted a barometer of where he actually stands

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Speaker 4: now against these young guys. Remember last year at the

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Speaker 4: Aussie Open, he beat Alcaraz in the quarter finals and

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Speaker 4: then lost in the semi, So he knew then he

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Speaker 4: could still beat Carlos Alcaraz. Oh, we were lucky enough

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Speaker 4: to be at the Olympics when he beat Alcaraz, and

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Speaker 4: you just thought there's no way on their form through

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Speaker 4: the Olympics, and Alcaraz not long before it had thrashed

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Speaker 4: Novak in the Wimbledon final. Alcaraz was flying and he

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Speaker 4: just never thought I really did not think there was

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Speaker 4: a way Novak could win. And it was just like

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Speaker 4: willpower got in that gold medal. The fight he showed

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Speaker 4: in that match, and there's plenty of times where young

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Speaker 4: Alcas just looked like he was all over him, but

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Speaker 4: Novak just fought and fought, and you've never seen a

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Speaker 4: happy athlete. And Novak after that, and he's wrapped in

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Speaker 4: the Serbian flag and you can hear him all over

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Speaker 4: rolling Garos, shouting and they're celebrating.

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Speaker 3: It's good, big games to finish cats when he wanted.

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Speaker 3: He's a good player to complete the career to God

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Speaker 3: and Slam.

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Speaker 4: It took him a while to come in and do

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Speaker 4: his interviews, and I actually thought he might retire on

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Speaker 4: the spot because that was like that was his holy grail.

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Speaker 4: He'd always he was the huge favorite for the Olympics,

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Speaker 4: and I just meant so much to him that it

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Speaker 4: meant too much, and he kept blowing up at the Olympics.

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Speaker 4: So he finally got one, and I really thought he

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Speaker 4: might come in and say, thanks very much everyone, I'm done.

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Speaker 4: But he did and he's still going. And the funny

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Speaker 4: thing is he's still number four in the world. But

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Speaker 4: I feel like Ossie opened his best tournament, most successful tournament.

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Speaker 4: I think it's always a good chance for him at

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Speaker 4: the start of a year to see if father time

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Speaker 4: has finally slowed him down too much or if he

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Speaker 4: can still match it with the ngblos. Any major from

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Speaker 4: now on he could call it quits. I think probably

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Speaker 4: Wimbledon would be his grand finale, and I think he

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Speaker 4: might even announce before Wimbledon that's where he's going to finish,

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Speaker 4: because the Australian Open has been great for him, but

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Speaker 4: Wimbledon is the one that means the most to him,

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Speaker 4: and I hope he does let everyone know because these

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Speaker 4: great champions of sport, when you know, you're watching them

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Speaker 4: for the last time. So if everyone rocks up at

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Speaker 4: Wimbledon next year knowing it's the last ants for the

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Speaker 4: great Novak Djokovich, what a great tournament would be fantastic.

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Speaker 1: Coming up? What is tennis and the Australian Open without

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Speaker 1: the Joker?

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Speaker 5: Do you think the game will change when Novak Djokovic

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Speaker 5: does eventually retire, when the last of the old guard

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Speaker 5: is gone.

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Speaker 4: I think it's already changed. He's thirty eight years of age, Novak.

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Speaker 4: He's the only guy in the top twenty who's over

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Speaker 4: thirty and he's nearly forty. It's an enormous kind of

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Speaker 4: handicap for the Novak and the older he gets, the

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Speaker 4: more I admire that he he still doesn't want to

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Speaker 4: give it away and he's probably never going to win

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Speaker 4: another major. But I do think well Novak, Roger and

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Speaker 4: Rafa and good old Andy Murray were the benchmark for

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Speaker 4: all those years, but al Karaz and Sinner for a

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Speaker 4: sheer quality of tennis. Alcaraz and Sinner play at a

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Speaker 4: higher level now than Novak and the big three plus

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Speaker 4: Andy Murray ever did. It's incredible. They're even more athletic

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Speaker 4: than those guys were some of those matches al Karaz

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Speaker 4: and Sinner have played. It's a form of tennis that

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Speaker 4: you wouldn't think was possible, four or five hours of

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Speaker 4: non stop, full on power, endurance, great athleticism, entertainment, shop making,

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Speaker 4: all that kind of thing. The way Novak used to

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Speaker 4: play does still play. Alcoraz and Sinner kind of play

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Speaker 4: the same way that they never miss, but they've turned

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Speaker 4: it up to eleven by doing that with even more power.

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Speaker 4: So now it's not just the age handicap that he's got.

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Speaker 4: I just think this standard of alcorazm Sinner, which is

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Speaker 4: such an amazing thing for tennis because for years there

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Speaker 4: was a bit of a thought of how is men's

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Speaker 4: tennis is going to stay so popular when Roger and

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Speaker 4: Rafa and Novac go. But these two young twenty year

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Speaker 4: old guys have rocked up and they're just as watchable. Besides,

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Speaker 4: the way sport goes, every generation is a little bit

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Speaker 4: better than the next.

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Speaker 1: Will Sponton is a sport reporter with The Australian and

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Speaker 1: he was speaking to Kristen Amiet. You can follow all

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Speaker 1: the action from the Australian Open live at the Australian

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Speaker 1: dot com dot au

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Speaker 4: M