Speaker 1: Well go on, Thank you so much for your time,
Speaker 1: and well done to eleanor y Bakina to get through
Speaker 1: the first week without dropping a set.
Speaker 2: And also welcome to the Woman's Store.
Speaker 3: How does the film thank you? First? Thank you for
Speaker 3: having me? And how this feel?
Speaker 4: It's a big change, It's a big it's a good change,
Speaker 4: you know, after you coach the best tennis playing the
Speaker 4: history of the game. No I needed first, I needed
Speaker 4: the rest, which I did, and then I needed something
Speaker 4: completely different. And what is completely different? It's a w theater.
Speaker 4: So I'd l like to be called by Elena, which
Speaker 4: I always admire her game and how she Okay, I
Speaker 4: would like her to be a little bit more energetic
Speaker 4: on the court, but I mean nice. Nobody's perfect, so
Speaker 4: so far I can't complain. It's very very nice. She
Speaker 4: plays great tennis and she's around sixteenth.
Speaker 1: So let's see what are some of the differences. You
Speaker 1: already see how you have to approach coaching a female
Speaker 1: player to a guy.
Speaker 3: With the guys is most smoother.
Speaker 4: This is more emotional, a lot of really involved and
Speaker 4: it's I will compare this to one movie groundhog Day.
Speaker 4: If you ever watched the movie It's a movie about
Speaker 4: the guy who wakes up every day and every day
Speaker 4: is the same day. So you talk, you talk, and
Speaker 4: then you wake up. You come next day to the
Speaker 4: practice and you think we did that, but we did
Speaker 4: not do anything. So again, so I go sleep, I
Speaker 4: wake up again, and then I come to the court
Speaker 4: and here we go again.
Speaker 3: And that's going and go.
Speaker 4: But honestly, it's it's okay, it's I have a patient.
Speaker 4: I learned to have a patient. If you want to
Speaker 4: be a coach, I always said, you have to succeed.
Speaker 4: If you're going to be a good coach, you have
Speaker 4: to succeed in about tours.
Speaker 3: So if I want to.
Speaker 4: Consider myself a good coach, I have to be good
Speaker 4: at WTOS.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 1: I think you are already considered as one of the
Speaker 1: greatest coaches we ever had in the game. Obviously one
Speaker 1: of the greatest players we ever had in the game.
Speaker 1: What is it these days that gets you out of
Speaker 1: your home? You have a beautiful family at home, or
Speaker 1: life is great in Croatia. To keep you still motivated,
Speaker 1: I mean results.
Speaker 3: I love tennis. I love tennis.
Speaker 4: You know, I can't say I miss tennis for this
Speaker 4: last past ten months. But actually in the end I
Speaker 4: watched tennis. I was following my son is playing tennis,
Speaker 4: and so it was not easy to stay away from tennis.
Speaker 3: And I knew I will.
Speaker 4: I still have some unfinished business in tennis to do,
Speaker 4: and this is WTA. So I came here and I
Speaker 4: really like it. I like to see my friends. Luckily,
Speaker 4: ninety five percent of the tournaments they are combined and
Speaker 4: atpn W TE together, so with all the guys, so
Speaker 4: many people that I love to see on the tour.
Speaker 3: So I have a good time.
Speaker 1: You love tennis, you love Australia. Australia loves you. You've
Speaker 1: been coming here, well ever since I remember how what
Speaker 1: number of year is it now?
Speaker 2: Do you still come the first time?
Speaker 3: I came here in nineteen eighty eight? Oh wow, a
Speaker 3: long time. I don't know.
Speaker 4: I stopped counting. Yes, it's one of my favorite countries.
Speaker 4: Great people, great atmosphere, great food. Australian Open became one
Speaker 4: of the one of the for sure most favorite Grand
Speaker 4: Slam among the players, and they did a great job
Speaker 4: every year, something new facilities, great, their unbelievable crowds. Everything
Speaker 4: is okay. I have also some bad memories about Australia.
Speaker 4: I don't want to talk about it happened a couple
Speaker 4: of years ago, but overall it's it's it's nice to
Speaker 4: be back.
Speaker 1: You've had incredible success here as a coach, as a player.
Speaker 1: Can you I mean it's probably impossible and we would
Speaker 1: need one week to discuss them all, but if you
Speaker 1: can pick a couple of your favorite moments that you've
Speaker 1: spent in Melbourne over the years.
Speaker 4: Probably my first time when I qualified here and I
Speaker 4: read the quarterfinals a long time ago.
Speaker 2: That was still played in Queyon.
Speaker 4: No, that was the second year played here, and uh,
Speaker 4: that was in my playing days and coaching. Definitely, definitely
Speaker 4: when novakuon Australia and open which one the one that
Speaker 4: after he was kicked out and then he came back
Speaker 4: and that one that was a really really special special.
Speaker 1: Moment when you work with the greatest in the history
Speaker 1: of tennis. Is there something that caught you by surprise
Speaker 1: in a good way that you learned from Novak?
Speaker 3: You can learn every day from you.
Speaker 4: I was lucky, I mean easier for me because we
Speaker 4: speak the same language, You're coming from the same I
Speaker 4: was one country before it was loud, so mentality is
Speaker 4: the same young neighbors. So I understood the better his moves.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's not easy to understand his moves, but
Speaker 4: you know, at least a little bit. But he is
Speaker 4: a genius. He's a perfectionist who wants everything to be
Speaker 4: one hundred percent every day. What was good today is
Speaker 4: not good tomorrow. And you need to you know, you
Speaker 4: need to be ready. You need to always be at
Speaker 4: twenty four hours alert. But it's okay, I learned that
Speaker 4: and with him, you know, it's it's how he approached
Speaker 4: the matches, how he prove the practice, how it takes
Speaker 4: cares of his body, because if you see his career,
Speaker 4: he's probably among rough him Roger and Andy. You know,
Speaker 4: was always most fit and least injury. That's why he
Speaker 4: was carrying off his body with his eating, with his exercise.
Speaker 4: Or he's still here, not that he's here. He's one
Speaker 4: of the favorite to win a tournaments and he's still
Speaker 4: going and going. He can still play for a couple
Speaker 4: of years for sure.
Speaker 2: Do you believe he can win an Islam Yes, I think.
Speaker 4: He can believe in if he can in, I mean, okay,
Speaker 4: Sinner is a favorite. He is the best player in
Speaker 4: the world at the moment. But Novak is Novak, and
Speaker 4: when he's present on the court, then I always put.
Speaker 3: My money on Novak.
Speaker 2: Is there something you don't miss?
Speaker 4: I don't miss honestly, but okay, yelling, screaming, But in
Speaker 4: the end I didn't mind that. You get used to it.
Speaker 2: You know, it's a person.
Speaker 4: Nothing personally, it's a tennis match. You need to get
Speaker 4: your craziness out of system. You cannot kill somebody there
Speaker 4: or hit somebody there. So it's okay. We were We
Speaker 4: were there for.
Speaker 3: That, and.
Speaker 4: Now it's much quice on the court, you know, thanks
Speaker 4: to you. Probably sometimes I don't know what to do
Speaker 4: with myself. You know, everybody is quiet. It's more stress.
Speaker 4: But it was okay. I enjoyed it every minute. I
Speaker 4: enjoyed it, and it was a huge honor for me
Speaker 4: to be his coach.
Speaker 2: So it's almost you would say, to calm these days.
Speaker 4: Honestly, it's very calm. When I said first couple of practices,
Speaker 4: I was like, did I'm on the tennis court if
Speaker 4: somebody is playing needs some action here? You know, right
Speaker 4: now I'm getting used to this, to this quietness.
Speaker 1: Now that you know so much about tennis from the
Speaker 1: coaching side, what would you have told if you were
Speaker 1: still playing? What have you done something different as a
Speaker 1: player Having all these experience as a coach now.
Speaker 4: I actually I would like myself to coach myself because
Speaker 4: maybe approach of the practicing, maybe some things that I
Speaker 4: didn't want to implement as a player, or I tried,
Speaker 4: but I didn't try enough that could make me better
Speaker 4: player and win more tournaments. Stick with it even if
Speaker 4: I lose some matches. I didn't want to do it,
Speaker 4: So maybe play a little different tennis. I was actually
Speaker 4: lucky to ad a great coaches coach me, and I
Speaker 4: learned a lot from them also, But maybe do in
Speaker 4: the different ways. So probably I will do some different
Speaker 4: things on the core, be less crazy in some moments
Speaker 4: because I lost a lot of matches fighting with I
Speaker 4: don't know.
Speaker 3: Who was.
Speaker 4: I don't know, imaginary friends, imaginary friends, and I lost
Speaker 4: a lot of matches, very important matches because of that,
Speaker 4: and that thing I will I will do different.
Speaker 1: Well, it is that we always talk about that stubbornness
Speaker 1: that kind of helps us as tennis players, But at
Speaker 1: the same time, where do you let go and actually
Speaker 1: listen to everyone?
Speaker 2: Around you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but yes, stubbornness. But the stubbornness lost me a
Speaker 4: lot of important matches. And then if I can now choose,
Speaker 4: I will get rid of a lot of stubbornness and
Speaker 4: and and be more wise, if it's now, it's easy
Speaker 4: to say, but.
Speaker 3: Put it that way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel the same.
Speaker 1: If we only knew that back then, yeah, otherwise we
Speaker 1: wouldn't be here gor on this podcast. This season is
Speaker 1: dedicated also to longevity, wellness, taking care of yourself. You
Speaker 1: are in incredible shape. How do you How do you do?
Speaker 1: It's what's your routine these days?
Speaker 3: I like to play tennis.
Speaker 4: Okay, last year my knee surgery, so I did not
Speaker 4: enjoy to play tennis so much before.
Speaker 3: Now I enjoying.
Speaker 4: I go to gym, I run, ride the bike, play
Speaker 4: football and I can do everything. And my knees okay,
Speaker 4: before that was like painful because it was swelling all
Speaker 4: the time. So overall I tried to do something. I
Speaker 4: cannot stay in the home and watch only TV.
Speaker 2: Would you say every day you try.
Speaker 4: To do something, well, let's say five times a week
Speaker 4: definitely when I'm home another tournaments almost every day.
Speaker 2: Well done?
Speaker 1: And since you are always the one having to inspire
Speaker 1: motivate your players. Where do you find your own motivation inspiration?
Speaker 1: You said you had incredible coaches when you were playing.
Speaker 1: Who inspires you these days?
Speaker 4: My family, who really support me a lot. For you know,
Speaker 4: it's not easy to travel. I have three kids, and
Speaker 4: especially the youngest one, and but I'm like that. I
Speaker 4: don't like to be in an environment that everything is boring.
Speaker 4: This is for me too boring. I need to do something.
Speaker 4: I need to make some crazy things. So this is me,
Speaker 4: this is my personality, and there's always going to be
Speaker 4: like this wherever I come. I have to do some
Speaker 4: crazy things. So it's just me.
Speaker 1: So that means being a woman's store, you will never
Speaker 1: get bored. It will always be crazy times.
Speaker 4: At least they start to make jokes on me. They say, okay,
Speaker 4: let's take a picture now and then in five months
Speaker 4: to see how you're going to look. If you're going
Speaker 4: to age, your hair is going to be white completely,
Speaker 4: if you're gonna, I don't know, be on some tablets.
Speaker 4: I say, Okay, don't worry, I'll be fine. I think
Speaker 4: I'll be fine. It's it's it's every job is doesn't
Speaker 4: matter of men, women. I think this young generation, what
Speaker 4: is bothering me? You know, they don't have any respect
Speaker 4: and this is I got a great person. But when
Speaker 4: I see the young generation always blaming a coach, is
Speaker 4: always changing the coaches. They expect from the coaches, miracles,
Speaker 4: the mystery shots, and they're complaining, we are not miracle workers.
Speaker 4: We are not. You know, you don't have a magic
Speaker 4: stick that you're going to change something in in two weeks,
Speaker 4: you know, and the results they are not going to come.
Speaker 4: It's just, you know, it's it's you have to work
Speaker 4: together and you have to believe. If you take a coach,
Speaker 4: you have to believe in it, otherwise you don't take
Speaker 4: a coach.
Speaker 1: But don't you think it comes also from the upbringing
Speaker 1: from our parents. Like if we would behave this way
Speaker 1: to our coaches, my parents or your parents, I'm sure
Speaker 1: would be the same. They would just tell us, like
Speaker 1: you just don't treat people that way.
Speaker 4: Yeah, coming because I could not say to my parents anything. Nowadays,
Speaker 4: they behaving back to the parents, they're behaving back to
Speaker 4: the other people, and I hate this. I hate I
Speaker 4: see a lot of juniors and how they're treating coaches
Speaker 4: and this is not good. This is getting more and
Speaker 4: more in tennis, and that part I don't like. I
Speaker 4: hope it's going to change. I hope somebody is going
Speaker 4: to tell them. But it's a majority that are not
Speaker 4: behaving well.
Speaker 2: So we are telling everyone guys more respect.
Speaker 3: Generation, more respect. Right, definitely.
Speaker 1: Lastly, Goran, where do you see tennis in five years?
Speaker 1: Let's say from now you've seen both women's men's.
Speaker 2: We see how.
Speaker 1: Hard and fast they are hitting the ball. Where do
Speaker 1: you think it's.
Speaker 4: Going I think in man tennis, what is going to
Speaker 4: be biggert change for me that very soon, already now
Speaker 4: but probably next to already ninety percent of the players
Speaker 4: they're going to serve first and second, serve the same speed.
Speaker 4: And I think it's not a bad idea.
Speaker 2: They just you basically what you've done.
Speaker 3: I did this twenty years ago.
Speaker 4: But look at now you have so many guys they
Speaker 4: serve second, serve two hundred and twenty two hundred and
Speaker 4: thirty sou And it's not a bad idea. I think
Speaker 4: if you focus, then if you believe why not, so
Speaker 4: this is going to change. They hitting harder, they're hitting better,
Speaker 4: they hit they more fitter.
Speaker 3: Also, the women.
Speaker 4: They're hitting harder, they're serving bigger, young people are coming.
Speaker 4: We see three unbelievable young guys here. One is still
Speaker 4: going ten with in a Woman's ten Is. It's everything
Speaker 4: is great. They're all young, they're all good. So I
Speaker 4: think tennis is going to be okay in five years
Speaker 4: from now, but it's going to be hitting harder, harder, harder,
Speaker 4: and hopefully they're going to be more respectful for the
Speaker 4: among the coaches and towards. I don't know the people
Speaker 4: who care for them, so we.
Speaker 2: Need more respect in tennis. I'm going to check on
Speaker 2: you in five months. How are you doing?
Speaker 1: And what else? What else we've got? There was something
Speaker 1: else I wanted to ask you, but I think.
Speaker 2: We've covered it all. I hope that.
Speaker 1: You enjoy your time on the Woman's Tour, on behalf
Speaker 1: of Women's Tennis. I am so grateful when I heard
Speaker 1: the news that you know you are joining our tour.
Speaker 1: We need more people like you around and thanks to you,
Speaker 1: the Woman's Tennis will be even better.
Speaker 3: So thank you for having me.
Speaker 4: And hopefully we can talk again in six months and
Speaker 4: I will still be so ecenthusiastic talking about Women's Store.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'll check on you in six months then. Thank
Speaker 1: thanks so much for your time.
Speaker 3: Thank you