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Speaker 1: Excitement is building. Speaking of Paris, in the City of Lights,

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Speaker 1: our Kiwi contingent is preparing to join the nearly one

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Speaker 1: hundred boats that are taking to the River Send for

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Speaker 1: the outdoor opening ceremony, which kicks off in just under

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Speaker 1: twenty four hours. One hundred and ninety five New Zealand

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Speaker 1: athletes are in France for the Games, competing across twenty

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Speaker 1: two sports. One of them is world number one doubles

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Speaker 1: player Aaron Rautliff and she's with me now live from

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Speaker 1: Paris Erin. Thank you so much for being with me.

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Speaker 1: First of all, what's it like over there? How are

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Speaker 1: you enjoying yourself?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been amazing, you know, first Olympics for me,

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Speaker 2: such an amazing experience. And I'm looking I'm so looking

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Speaker 2: forward to playing and representing New Zealand and it's just

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Speaker 2: been it's been really upper here so far.

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Speaker 1: It's a bit of a sort of speed dating. I

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Speaker 1: suppose you could say when it comes to the doubles

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Speaker 1: you're playing with lu Lusun. Have you guys played together before?

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Speaker 1: How familiar are you with each other? Yeah?

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Speaker 2: So we played together at Billy Jean King Cup in

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Speaker 2: April and it went well, you know, we lost, but

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Speaker 2: we've lost to two players that were ranked in the

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Speaker 2: top I think twenty five at the time, so you

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Speaker 2: could definitely see the potential in our partnership. And yeah,

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Speaker 2: she's an amazing player obviously, as you guys know, you

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Speaker 2: saw her play at Wimbledon, and yeah, we've been getting

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Speaker 2: good practices in together. We've gotten like five or we'll

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Speaker 2: get five days in before we play our first round,

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Speaker 2: and so yeah, we're just getting to know each other.

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Speaker 2: I mean, we're rooming together, so we get to know

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Speaker 2: each other quite quickly, and then we're just trying to

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Speaker 2: figure out our identity as a team. But you know,

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Speaker 2: we're both good players and so we'll pretty adaptable like

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Speaker 2: to be able to play together. So we're excited.

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Speaker 1: That's great. You both left New Zealand. You're born in

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Speaker 1: New Zealand, but then left relatively young, you know, four

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Speaker 1: or five? Is that the secret? Do you think? Just

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Speaker 1: to get out? That's funny.

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Speaker 2: It is funny though, how our stories are slightly similar

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Speaker 2: in that sense, So I thought it was quite cool.

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Speaker 1: It's soon. Being a left handed does that impacts where

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Speaker 1: you play on the court a little bit?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's only a positive because being lefty,

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Speaker 2: that's a ball that a lot of our opponents don't

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Speaker 2: see that often. You know, it's it's just a it's

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Speaker 2: such a good thing to be a left hand or

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Speaker 2: in tennis, it kind of affects like where we return,

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Speaker 2: what side we play. But yeah, nothing other than that really.

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Speaker 1: How is it generally at the Olympic village you mentioned

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Speaker 1: you were rooming with with Lulu. What is it like there?

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Speaker 1: You know, have you been given specific security advice there

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Speaker 1: has been concerned about some security breaches in the last

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Speaker 1: couple of days.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, lots of advice and it feels, honestly so safe.

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Speaker 2: There's a whole team for the New Zealand team to

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Speaker 2: help us stay safe and feel secure and you know,

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Speaker 2: kind of stay in our little bubble that we have

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Speaker 2: and that that's where we all feel I think the safest.

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Speaker 2: You know, being tennis players, we travel to a different

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Speaker 2: place every single week, so I think we're pretty used

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Speaker 2: to being in places that are a little uncomfortable. But

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Speaker 2: we're feeling really good, really comfortable, and they're doing a

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Speaker 2: great job by making us feel really secure and really safe.

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Speaker 2: But the security team, it's awesome.

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Speaker 1: Brilliant, well, we're all rooting for you back here in

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Speaker 1: New Zealand. Aaron, for you and Lulu, best of luck.

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Speaker 1: It kicks off tomorrow at ten pm our time. Thank

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Speaker 1: you so much for being with us and best of luck.

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Speaker 2: Thanks so much, appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: It's Aaron Ratlerft, the New Zealand tennis Olympian. As I said,

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Speaker 1: ten o'clock tomorrow night, the Doubles will kick off. For

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Speaker 1: more from News Talks at b listen live on air

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