WEBVTT - Maria Sharapova 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.720 You are listening to Ruthie's Table four in partnership with Montclair. 0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:05.640 It may not. 0:00:05.600 --> 0:00:08.240 Seem obvious at first, but tennis and cooking have a 0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:11.760 lot in common. Chefs and tennis players are both rigorous 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:15.600 preparation in the kitchen, court side rituals. When the match 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:18.520 begins or when the restaurant doors open, both need to 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:23.159 be ready, focused and adaptable. Meeting Maria Sharapova at a 0:00:23.160 --> 0:00:26.239 grand dinner in Milan, I discovered a food lover whose 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:29.320 story off the court is as amazing as her performance 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:32.839 on it. In nineteen eighty six, pregnant with Maria and 0:00:32.920 --> 0:00:36.720 wanting to protect her, her parents fled Belarus, escaping the 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:40.479 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. A few years later, she and her 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:43.839 father moved to Florida with just seven hundred dollars and 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:46.680 not a word of English. Every year must be an 0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:50.440 anniversary for someone like Maria, who hit her first tennis 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:54.960 ball age four, was spotted by Martina Navratlova aged six, 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:58.320 and became one of only ten women in history to 0:00:58.440 --> 0:01:03.600 win a career Grand Slam. But this year is especially special. 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:08.280 Maria is celebrating twenty years since winning against Serena Williams 0:01:08.600 --> 0:01:12.959 becoming at age seventeen a Wimbledon champion. Today, we're here 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:16.440 in the River Cafe to celebrate as a businesswoman. She's 0:01:16.560 --> 0:01:21.000 uniquely creative and inspiring other magical ingredients needed in a 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:24.640 kitchen or a tennis court. We're here together, two women 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:28.760 talking about food and memories, with stories to tell, and 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:32.680 maybe before we finish, we'll have a celebratory chocolate nemesis 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:34.880 with twenty candles. 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:39.160 I genuinely cannot believe that Ruthie Rogers just did an 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:40.120 introduction on me. 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:44.759 It's so specially we just kind of love at first 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:47.800 sight at that dinner because we were in Milan at 0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:48.840 the Montclair Dinner. 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:50.320 Yeah, and we just kind of it. 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:52.920 Was a very charming evening. Was his name is dark 0:01:52.960 --> 0:01:55.120 and moody, a little bit eerie. 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:55.600 Yeah. 0:01:56.280 --> 0:01:58.200 And then it was toward the end of dinner, when 0:01:58.240 --> 0:02:01.960 I think things were wrapping up, I came across even 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:04.800 a hallway, maybe the bathroom line. 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:08.000 I think it was. It was in that corner, and 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:11.840 then they ever know and that's where we go. But 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:17.639 it was it was a lovely it was for Remy Raffiniyes. 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:17.560 Who've gotten to know in the last few years and 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:22.120 you as well, And what a charming, very charming man 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:24.679 and has done incredible things with Montclair. 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:27.560 Yeah, and that was just a very joyous atmosphere in 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:30.920 the room. I thought everybody was there to celebrate him, 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:33.320 to celebrate each other over food. 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:35.920 When we talked last week about. 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:38.959 Doing this, I you know, we always start with a recipe, 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:41.800 and there's something about hearing someone you know, we've done 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:45.520 Nazy Pelosi or al Gore, people who would never think saying, 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:48.760 take it tomato and squash it, you know. And so 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:51.760 when I asked you what you wanted to cook, you 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:55.240 said that you'd like to do a recipe that reminded you. 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:57.960 Reminded me of my grandmother. Yeah, yes, the years that 0:02:58.040 --> 0:02:59.160 I spent in her kitchen. 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:03.560 You chose the recipe with potato potatoes. Said there was 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:04.160 a potato. 0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:06.200 Okay, there's a potato. 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:09.280 My mother makes these delicious potato pancakes as a treat. 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:13.560 And if it's a holiday or you know, every on 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:16.840 my birthday, she usually likes to make potato pancakes. And 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:20.320 then Alexander orders a little jar of caviar and that 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:24.080 is our that's our ultimate and absolutely sour cream. 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:27.800 Yes, well, these are potatoes lu Cheesi because it comes 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:33.720 from well. Luca is a beautiful city in Tuscanes, near Pisa. 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:36.280 Would you like to read the recipe. 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:41.440 Roast potatoes from Luca Potato luchesi. One kilogram of waxy potatoes, 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:46.520 one medium red onion, finely sliced careful with your fingers. 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:51.160 Six scarlet cloves, peeled and kept whole. Four sprigs of 0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:54.920 fresh rosemary and sage, and one glass of dry white 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:59.040 wine extra virgin olive oil. Let's preheat the oven to 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:03.440 two hundred degrees. Peel the potatoes and cut into thick slices. 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:07.040 Put into the cold water to wash off excess starch, 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:11.080 then drain, pat dry and put in a large mixing bowl. 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:15.800 Add the onion. Onions are my favorite, by the way, 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:20.080 Yes show its and onions. Onions with potato is just 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:24.040 the best combination. So add the onion, garlic and herbs 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:26.640 to the potato bowl and the rest of the ingredients 0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:30.359 and toss well. Choose a baking tray large enough for 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:33.320 the potatoes to be spread out in one later, cover 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:36.240 with foil and bake in the oven for twenty five minutes. 0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:40.159 Remove the foil, then using the back of a large 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:43.320 cooking spoon. Break up the potatoes and herbs to make 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:48.080 a rough mash. That's the fun part. Drizzle with olive oil, 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:51.440 return to the oven and roast for thirty minutes or 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:54.160 until the potatoes are brown and crisp on top and 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:58.480 still light and fluffy underneath. Serve cut into slices. 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:01.360 So it's not a take a pancake, but we tried 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:02.640 to find the recipe that way. 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:05.680 It sounds delicious, it is. Can you please sign this 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:06.400 recipe for me? 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:08.920 With love? 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:13.440 We talk about this quite often about how much we 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:17.440 really respect and love women who cook. You know that 0:05:17.440 --> 0:05:19.839 that cooking is a way of sharing, it's a way 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:23.280 of expressing love. But we also have to really respect 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:25.760 and admire the women who don't you know. 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:28.480 And that you know, And that's and I do. 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:31.320 And I think that I have a friend whose father 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:33.960 would never let her in the kitchen because he didn't 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:36.240 want her to cook. And I was sort of slightly 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:39.440 equated to learning how to type, that, you know, growing 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:43.120 up in the sort of seventies and thinking, you know, 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:44.840 we were women who were going to work that if 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:47.679 we learned how to type, we'd be secretaries. Yes, and 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:51.240 Luckily my mother forced me to go to typing school. 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:53.040 Now that we all use laptops, you. 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:56.200 Know, knowing how to type, But there are as women 0:05:56.560 --> 0:05:59.240 sort of categories that were thrust into and we're judged 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:01.799 whether we're a good mother by the way we cook 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:03.680 or a good wife by the way we cook. 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:06.800 Very much, but now I think it's it's also. 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:10.480 I think everything we're looking at and we're also looking 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:13.680 at men and how they cook and how they shop, yes, 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:18.040 and even cooking as a form of seduction, you. 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:20.359 Know, I think if some I think if some of 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:23.120 my relatives, I mean my mother, when you ask her 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:25.560 if she enjoys cooking, I think her answer is no, 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:31.160 but she enjoys cooking knowing that somebody will enjoy it. Yeah, right, 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:35.240 so she and when she cooks every the process is meticulous, 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:38.040 like she does it in advance, She does it off 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:41.479 of a recipe. She makes sure that it's very precise. 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:44.159 And I think that also seeing her go through that 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:47.560 process taught me a lot about discipline, because cooking, I mean, 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:49.960 there's different ways to cook. Right you can just take 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:52.680 ingredients from the refrigerator and just whip it right up. 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:55.960 But her process was very meticulous and in particular and 0:06:56.480 --> 0:06:59.560 the ingredients that she chose based off recipes, and she 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:01.280 wanted to know that if it worked for someone, it 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:03.640 would work for her if she did it well, and 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:06.760 her kitchen is always clean. And I think that's, you know, 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:09.359 that's the energy that she that she taught me to 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:11.840 perform with, is that you have to put everything that 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:13.520 you have. You have to do it with a way 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:16.440 of discipline and time and get it done and know 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:17.960 that you have no regrets in the end. 0:07:18.120 --> 0:07:18.560 I agree. 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:22.000 I would say that very often about Julia Child Cookbooks, 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:25.600 American cookbook writer, that she did it. 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:26.520 It was so precise. 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:28.720 She never said, take a ripe tomato, but she would say, 0:07:29.000 --> 0:07:31.800 take a tomato that's you know, two inches wide and 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:32.920 four inches high. 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:33.520 Put it in a dish. 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:35.800 It but it was it was like science, right, and 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:38.680 therefore you never had a failure because if you followed it, 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:41.480 you know that, and that gave you the confidence to 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:44.040 then be able to not follow the rules well. 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:48.080 And even if you did fail, I think there's you 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:51.840 would carry a sense of knowing that you you performed 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:54.120 it at your very best, because then you don't, you 0:07:54.120 --> 0:07:56.840 don't you're not looking back and regretting, which is one 0:07:56.880 --> 0:08:00.320 of the worst feelings that you may have in that voice. Yes, yeah, 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:02.400 that says, oh I didn't prepare enough or I didn't 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:04.600 do that enough. At least when you prepare the very 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:06.760 best that you could that you know, and in my sport, 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:08.920 that was so important as doing you know, we just 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:12.200 briefly discussed it, but doing your homework and going overboard 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:15.160 with your homework so that you know, no matter what result, 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:17.280 because you know, you show up on the day and 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:19.600 things can go wrong. Yeah, you can be as prepared 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:21.200 as you want to be. You know, you can be 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:24.000 as confident as you want to be and as you are, 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:26.600 and you did everything to your best knowledge and ability 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:29.360 and it just doesn't work out. But at least that's 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:31.480 you know, you know, that's like and that happens, but 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:34.400 you did everything to get to that moment. You did 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:35.160 it one hundred percent. 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:37.640 Gives you resilience as well. I think if you have that. 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:38.720 I love that word. 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:40.320 I love it too. I was saying that. 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:44.199 You know, now, everybody talks about teaching and it's very 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:47.480 very important their children's self esteem and what I sometimes 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:51.480 think self esteem is overrated. But anyway, it's that's another 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:53.640 cop But I do think resilience if I could, and 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:56.840 I've seen it in this restaurant. I've seen the times 0:08:56.840 --> 0:08:59.640 that we've had hard times or different issues, and they're 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:03.600 the one who are just able to not not to 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:06.600 hide it, not to shun it away, but to take 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:09.400 it and then you know, carry on, which is I 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:10.200 think I. 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:13.120 Was so nicely surprised to see how young your stuff is. 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:15.959 They are, they are, I think they, you know, some 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:18.320 of them. It's interesting. It used to be that in 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:19.400 the kitchen you. 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:25.120 Had chefs who started very very young, and sometimes academically 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:27.560 were challenged, and so they found a skill that they 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:30.480 could do, which is great. Now we have that and 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:34.520 they're you know, questioned. Looking at Adriana, I think I 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:37.240 studied history and got a degree and then. 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:38.720 Always knew she wanted to cook. 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:42.320 It's very performance led a restaurant, you know, the curtain 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:47.840 so compared probably comparison very sport, but also to theater. 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:51.960 Let go, and it's already and it's collaborative. I note 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:55.840 that if you don't chop the chilis, the sauce chef 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:58.840 doesn't have it to make use sauce doesn't have the chilies. 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:01.880 If you're late for work, it's very often not the 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:03.800 bosses have crossed, but your colleague. 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:06.000 Yes, another alloticed. 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:10.720 Another similarity with sport and particularly in tennis. And then 0:10:11.120 --> 0:10:13.520 you know, being working at a restaurant is that when 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:15.520 the curtains close and all the you know, all the 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:19.480 people leave, it's just you and in this very quiet 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:23.480 and eerie place, which if you think about leaving the 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:26.800 center court and walking back through a tunnel and going 0:10:26.840 --> 0:10:29.680 into the locker room where you are, I mean, it's 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:33.040 fairly lonely, right, It's just you and your bag, and 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:34.800 you go in the shower and you know you have 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:38.680 some of your rivals and compatriots in there, but it's just, 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:42.120 I don't know, it's very intimate. And just a few 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:44.840 minutes prior to that, you were in a room that 0:10:45.040 --> 0:10:47.320 was you know, in this arena that was full of 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:50.680 thousands of screaming fans, and then it's. 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:54.920 Just you tell me how that relationship was between your 0:10:54.960 --> 0:10:56.840 grandmother and her mother and cooking. 0:10:57.080 --> 0:11:00.320 My mother was a very young mom. She she wasnt 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:03.920 when she was nineteen, so she yes, I'm an only child, 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:08.520 and she was still in university at the time, and 0:11:08.640 --> 0:11:11.760 so you know her mom. Between she she had a 0:11:11.840 --> 0:11:15.080 job in a local market. Oh, I was a local 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:18.200 in Sochi, so She which is aware, which is in 0:11:18.240 --> 0:11:20.720 the south of Russia. It's on the Black Sea. I 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:24.080 was born in Siberia while my mother was pregnant with me. 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:27.239 Actually both of my parents are Belarussian. But during Chernobyl 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:31.320 and the explosion, my parents moved to Siberia. I had 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:34.440 some close relatives there and so they found out that 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:36.840 would be a safer place for my mom to give birth. 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:39.960 That so at twenty she gave birth to me. So 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:43.480 we were very young, a very small family, and we 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:46.640 were very close until this day. We remained that way. 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:49.959 My mother has been a huge influence in my life 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:52.040 because so much of what I did was about sport, 0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:55.000 but so much of her influence was outside of the court. 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:58.839 Like she of course she was very involved in making 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:00.680 sure I did the right thing in my career, but 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:04.360 most of her influence was making sure that I did 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:07.000 my homework, Was that I studied well, Was that I 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:11.040 immersed myself in a different world that wasn't connected to sport, 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:14.160 that I was curious and interested and different. 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:15.280 What did your father do? 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:19.160 My father had a little construction firms and around the country, 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:23.360 and he was traveling quite a bit, so he you know, 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:26.240 we would actually rarely see him because he was working 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:29.840 full time. As my mom was young and was raising. 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:31.560 Me, and so you grew up in Sibery. 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:34.080 Grew up in Siberia for the first two years, and 0:12:34.120 --> 0:12:36.480 then at two years old, we moved to Sochi. 0:12:36.760 --> 0:12:37.720 Why did they choose it? 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:41.200 Sochi was known for a place where a lot of 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:44.560 people from the north of Russia would come to relax 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:46.880 and go on their summer holidays. And they had these 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:50.720 sanatoriums where you'd spend several weeks getting healthy and swimming 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:54.160 in the sea of doing you know, natural therapies because 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:57.800 a lot of people that worked in oil and coal mining, 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:01.840 you know, they would go to just breathe fresh air. 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:04.880 And it was a very warm city in the summer. 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:07.240 It reminded me very much of Florida. 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:17.480 Actually, the River Cafe cafe, steps away from our restaurant, 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:21.640 is now open in the morning an Italian breakfast with cornetti, 0:13:21.760 --> 0:13:26.040 chiambella and cristada from our pastry kitchen. In the afternoon, 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:29.880 ice creamed coops and River Cafe classic desserts come in 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:33.080 the evening for cocktails with our resident pianist in the bar. 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:45.040 No need to book, see you here. The food in 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:48.040 Russia is very regional, but what it had been different 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:51.240 in Belarus to Soshi. 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:53.880 I definitely remember that the tastes of the food being 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:56.360 very different and both you know, my grand no, my 0:13:56.400 --> 0:14:00.000 grandmother's food was very flavorful because it had a very 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:02.480 rich profile. You know, there are a lot of stews 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:04.760 and a lot of soups, and you know, within a 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:07.880 borshe I mean there's more than ten ingredients. You had 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:11.120 the beets and the peppers and the meat, and you know, 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:15.079 a few spices and and then I went to the 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:17.520 United States and it was a grilled piece of chicken. 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:21.160 It was a very different experience. And I missed sour cream. 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:24.520 I grew up eating sour cream on everything, and all 0:14:24.560 --> 0:14:26.000 of a sudden it was ketchup. 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:27.160 Yeah. 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:30.520 I was born in upstate New York in Woodstock, and 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:33.880 my father the real treat wol He would take us, 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:36.000 you know, sort of once a month to New York 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:37.800 and he'd drive and we'd see the ships, and then 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:40.120 we'd see a musical and then. 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:42.160 We would go to the Russian tea room. 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:46.960 Yes, and that was the tradition of a samovar drinking 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:50.600 tea is such a I mean, anytime I would enter 0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:53.160 my grandparents' house, they would have they would cut a 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:57.120 piece of rye, like a big, big rye bread and 0:14:57.160 --> 0:14:59.320 they would cut it in many slices. They would put 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:02.760 a thick of butter and then red caviar because that 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:06.880 was the cheaper than black caviar. And it was welcoming 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:10.880 your family was they were so proud, like to see 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:13.680 their granddaughter walk through the door and and their their 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:17.280 children and that was I just I remember this beautiful 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:20.760 plate and presentation is everything. You know. The china was. 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:24.040 They would take out their most beautiful china. And they 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:26.200 didn't have much. I mean they didn't grow up with 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:28.040 a lot of money. They didn't have a lot of money. 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:30.280 But you know when they would sit at a table, 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:33.480 there's everything had a meaning. The food had a meeting 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:37.040 and a purpose, and it was it was about having 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:41.680 a nice time and sharing memories and laughs and just 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:47.400 being a family over food of having conversations. And I 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:48.560 really missed that. 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:52.160 Yeah, and you create that in your own you try. 0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:56.320 It's it's there's nothing like going to your grandmother's home. 0:15:56.400 --> 0:15:59.760 I know, there's really there's really not I also have 0:15:59.840 --> 0:16:03.440 a more minimal approach to decoration and the way I 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:07.760 set a table, and it's quite a contrast to thinking of, 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:10.680 you know, arriving at my grandmother's house, where everything is 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:15.560 more oriental and detailed, and there's you know, even even 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:19.280 the way that she serves, and there's just there's a lot. 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:22.280 You went to Miami with your father. 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:25.320 I went there with my father because my mom couldn't 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:28.240 get a visa for the first two years, and it 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:31.400 wasn't planned. It was just difficult to obtain the visa, 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:36.160 and so I spent the first two years, you know, 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:42.040 just eating takeout food. The only thing I remember him 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:46.480 cooking was white rice because he was because he would 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:50.040 wake up super early because my training would be early, 0:16:50.120 --> 0:16:52.400 and he would find, you know, random jobs that he 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:54.480 could take, and most of them were on golf courses. 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:57.080 Because he had a construction background. He did a lot 0:16:57.080 --> 0:17:00.760 of jobs on golf courses and his work would start 0:17:00.800 --> 0:17:04.080 super early. So he would make rice for me while 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:06.200 I was still sleeping in the morning, and he would 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:08.320 leave it in the pan and he would put it 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:11.000 under a pillow, and so when I would wake up, 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:13.880 I would eat this rice as my breakfast on my own. 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:15.000 I would put some milk in it. 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:18.480 So you were at seven, though, Yeah, and he was 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:19.240 already trained. 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:20.920 I was already training. 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:22.000 How did that happen? 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:25.679 My father enjoyed the sport. He's not a He's no 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:30.159 brilliant athlete, although he claims to be. I grew up 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:34.200 going to tennis practice with him because he enjoyed the sport. 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:37.159 He played at a leisure level. He played with his friends. 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:41.040 This wasn't so che Yes, yes, we only moved to 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:44.040 the United States because of tennis. It was very specific 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:48.720 to going to this very famous academy in Florida where 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:51.359 a lot of tennis players went and and it was 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:54.400 mostly because there's a huge facility and you have other 0:17:54.480 --> 0:17:56.399 kids your age that you play with, you have some 0:17:56.480 --> 0:17:58.800 of the best coaches in the world going there, and 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:01.359 you just don't need to leave, which for an athlete 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:04.679 is incredibly important, just to have a base where you 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:07.520 feel like, I'm just focused on this one craft. I 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:09.760 do it every day, I have no distractions. And it 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:12.840 just happened to be in the middle of nowhere in Florida. 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:16.560 Did they think about feeding children who are athletes in 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:19.000 a certain way or was it. 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:20.960 I honestly just think they cared about making money. 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:23.080 Yeah, maybe that. 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:25.920 Time food wasn't a priority for athletes. 0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:29.400 I talked to Savannah Leaf. She know Savannah Leaf, I don't. 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:29.880 She's great. 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:33.159 She was an Olympic volleyball player and she's now a 0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:36.640 filmmaker and an artist and wonderful. And we were talking 0:18:36.640 --> 0:18:41.639 about when and how the awareness of food and athletic 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:44.560 ability forty years ago it was. 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:48.000 Not no big deal. Yeah, that people didn't. 0:18:47.880 --> 0:18:50.760 They didn't think they told what they would eat prior 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:53.119 to a match or after a match. It just wasn't. 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:56.040 And now players travel with their own chefs because it's 0:18:56.400 --> 0:18:59.520 it's become a critical component of an athlete's life, right, 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:02.280 because the difference of number ten in the world to 0:19:02.400 --> 0:19:05.280 number one in the world is very small. And so 0:19:06.560 --> 0:19:09.760 you know, having you know, having a perspective that's different 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:12.240 to others, you know, or having a game plan that's 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:16.320 smarter than others, right, or treating your body like it's 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:19.399 it's an incredibly important tool, is vital. 0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:24.400 How did you merge the academic with the athletic when 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:27.440 you were a child of seven and they were and 0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:30.400 they had it must have been regulated, no, to give 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:31.760 you an academic. 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:37.040 Absolutely, it was something once my my mother arrived, besides 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:41.280 giving me a fresh haircut and changing all my clothes 0:19:41.359 --> 0:19:44.560 because she said, what is what is your father buying you? 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:53.240 And cooking home, home cooked meals? She was I remember, 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:56.199 you know, education was was a big part of her contribution. 0:19:56.600 --> 0:20:00.359 And even even when it came to high school, I was, 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:03.320 I was a teenager, and she sourced because I traveled 0:20:03.320 --> 0:20:05.800 so much as a teenager, she knew I couldn't go 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:08.879 to a you know, a school in Bradenton, Florida. That 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:11.800 we'd have to find a school that I could do online, 0:20:12.600 --> 0:20:15.600 and she sourced a place. It wasn't very it wasn't 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:19.520 like a popular school. But I finished high school, you know, 0:20:19.560 --> 0:20:22.080 I finished that that part of my academics while I 0:20:22.119 --> 0:20:26.280 was traveling and competing and playing at Wimbledon. And she 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:29.200 would when when the school would send all the books, 0:20:29.240 --> 0:20:32.320 my mother would cut it in four portions for each 0:20:32.600 --> 0:20:36.560 each semester and she'd put it in a folder and 0:20:36.640 --> 0:20:38.800 she would print all the material that I had to 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:42.840 execute and I would travel, you know with these you know, 0:20:43.080 --> 0:20:45.240 quarter a quarter of books with me. 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:46.280 You have exams. 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:50.199 Did you have had exams online? Yes? I thought school 0:20:50.359 --> 0:20:53.760 was a really healthy distraction for me. Our studying was 0:20:54.520 --> 0:21:00.800