Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome to another December episode of our
Speaker 1: DNA podcast. It's been fun times having Sir Andy married
Speaker 1: just a couple of days ago, and today is no
Speaker 1: exception having another amazing guest. I was super excited to
Speaker 1: talk to this incredibly smart and funny person at the
Speaker 1: same time, someone I still actually consider player for some reason,
Speaker 1: I guess because we were on the tour around the
Speaker 1: same time. We were neighbors and practicing in the same
Speaker 1: club in Monte Carlo for years, and we have actually
Speaker 1: retired at the same age as well. So here he
Speaker 1: is for you, the one only Eva Lubich, who obviously
Speaker 1: is working with the one and only Roger Federer. All right, well, Eva,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for your time and we have
Speaker 1: not seen you for a very long time. Do you
Speaker 1: miss the tour? Do you miss the traveling? Have you
Speaker 1: been I've been hiding in the suburbs. I mean I
Speaker 1: do miss the real tour. Let's call it that. It's
Speaker 1: I miss. I means that. But you know, we I
Speaker 1: didn't have a chance really to to even experience this,
Speaker 1: this current tour, you know, the COVID tour, because Roger
Speaker 1: was out obviously, and you know, even if I wanted
Speaker 1: to visit the tournaments, it was impossible. And I wanted
Speaker 1: to go to Rome, I wanted to go to Paris,
Speaker 1: but it was just not possible because the players they
Speaker 1: had there and to rush you know, quite close, so
Speaker 1: it was not possible. So yeah, I haven't seen this
Speaker 1: these kind of tournaments live. I watched it on TV.
Speaker 1: You know, it feels it felt like kind of you know,
Speaker 1: not not the real thing, you know, in terms of emotions,
Speaker 1: but you know, the guys and girls played played, you know,
Speaker 1: and it's good. We had some kind of tour which
Speaker 1: was at some point it really didn't look good at all. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right, Um, you did not miss too much as
Speaker 1: far as some kind of atmosphere goals. But it was
Speaker 1: good to have tennis back. Life on. So where am
Speaker 1: I catching you these days? And what you've been up to? Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, Monte Carlo. I'm home. You know, I've been
Speaker 1: here since uh well more than twenty years now, so
Speaker 1: uh yeah, I'm home. You know, I have I have
Speaker 1: quite quite a bit of things going on, and I
Speaker 1: have this new new management group that I started in
Speaker 1: in the you know, the year the timing was was
Speaker 1: was rough. You know, but we we had a good success.
Speaker 1: We hired two people, were trying to grow. So it's
Speaker 1: been busy, you know. And I spent a few weeks
Speaker 1: with Roger as well. He's on his way back. So kids,
Speaker 1: you know, always take take time and you know a
Speaker 1: lot of spending time with them. So yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: although I'm not traveling as much as I used to,
Speaker 1: it's busy. So it's I like it busy. I think
Speaker 1: we are very similar that as soon as we retired,
Speaker 1: we'd like to keep busy with other things. Just like
Speaker 1: you mentioned, from everything that you do and you've done
Speaker 1: after your tennis, what has been the most challenging? Is
Speaker 1: it the coaching, the TV now your management company challenging?
Speaker 1: I mean it's it's a tough it's a tough way
Speaker 1: to call it, or you know, challenging. Everything is challenging.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, to to improve Roger, it's a challenge,
Speaker 1: you know, to to uh, to you know, start a
Speaker 1: new business that you you you know, I didn't go
Speaker 1: to school, you know, in order for the management. But uh,
Speaker 1: you know, with the with the years and with the
Speaker 1: people that you surround yourself, you you you're able to
Speaker 1: do it. The TV. I I definitely go to school
Speaker 1: to do that. But I I enjoyed, let's say, I
Speaker 1: enjoyed every single part of it, you know, everything that
Speaker 1: it has to do with tennis, with sports, I enjoy it,
Speaker 1: you know. And also back in the days when I
Speaker 1: was playing, you know, I was a player council president,
Speaker 1: I was a board member. I always wanted to to
Speaker 1: know more about about our sport. That's the base, the
Speaker 1: tennis and then in the sports in general. How did
Speaker 1: you find the balance when you retire and I think
Speaker 1: maybe this could be useful for someone that's following us,
Speaker 1: you know, just about to finish their first career in
Speaker 1: the next couple of years. How do you find the
Speaker 1: balance between yes, we have done amazing things on the
Speaker 1: court that opened up the door, but at the same
Speaker 1: time to have that humbleness that whatever we start, we
Speaker 1: are starting from the scratch, even though in the same sport. Yes, no,
Speaker 1: but I mean I I never I never, how to say,
Speaker 1: I never felt like I was retiring when I when
Speaker 1: I stopped playing, you know, I felt like, Okay, this
Speaker 1: is done. I'm gonna do something else now. You know.
Speaker 1: It's it was not for me, It was not you know,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm I'm off, I'm gonna just enjoy my time.
Speaker 1: And for me, it was just another step to do
Speaker 1: something else and and to be honest, three years before
Speaker 1: retiring already I worked with a company that prepares athletes
Speaker 1: for the retirements, and this was one one of my
Speaker 1: motivations of to start this this sports group. I call
Speaker 1: it sports group because really not just management. The management
Speaker 1: is one of the things that we do, but it's
Speaker 1: a sports group. We have a lot of different people
Speaker 1: in the group that help athletes for whatever they need.
Speaker 1: And my one of my motivations was this with this
Speaker 1: company that I I used and I worked with the
Speaker 1: last three years of my career that prepares Actually it's
Speaker 1: for the next career, you know, because it is the
Speaker 1: tennis I mean, you know, you know what I will
Speaker 1: talk about. But for for tennis player, you're going, you practice,
Speaker 1: you're gone court, you work, you go on the match,
Speaker 1: you win, and you make money. Right, so you have
Speaker 1: instant um result of your work in the financial kind
Speaker 1: of sense, you know, then everything else is just slower.
Speaker 1: Whatever you do after, it's just a lot slower. You
Speaker 1: you build things much slower than those things are also
Speaker 1: much more solid and they last for longer, but it
Speaker 1: was it was a big adjustment, probably the biggest adjustment
Speaker 1: for for the tennis player. I think it's general in
Speaker 1: your sport that you open hunt the doors and two
Speaker 1: of those doors actually give you something you know in
Speaker 1: tennis or in the sport you don't have that. You
Speaker 1: open the doors of the tennis court, you go any
Speaker 1: whin or you don't there. There are no other doors,
Speaker 1: and this is where the business is. It's it's just
Speaker 1: way different than it took me a time to adjust
Speaker 1: to it. I'm so glad you are bringing this up
Speaker 1: because I feel like it's so important, like you said,
Speaker 1: to start preparing for that while you're playing, while you're
Speaker 1: doing the sports, because to me sometimes and it happened
Speaker 1: to my case too looking back that I feel like
Speaker 1: I played almost for a year two years too long,
Speaker 1: because I was a little bit scared to let go,
Speaker 1: not knowing what was coming. But like you did yourself
Speaker 1: as well, there was the preparation that Okay, you know,
Speaker 1: we've got the brain, we've got the work ethics, so
Speaker 1: pretty much whatever you do about okay. But I mean
Speaker 1: as long as as long as you don't have honestly,
Speaker 1: I mean economical need right away. You know, if you
Speaker 1: have if you can't afford to invest time into you know,
Speaker 1: learning and building up something, it's it's much better. And
Speaker 1: this obviously then it depends on how successful your tennis
Speaker 1: career was, you know, if you have some some backup,
Speaker 1: you know, but you're you're right, you know, if you
Speaker 1: put the work in and you you try to understand
Speaker 1: and your humble because this is also very important to
Speaker 1: understand that you're not starting from where your text career stopped.
Speaker 1: You're starting from from the beginning. And I was lucky
Speaker 1: really because I really really think I stopped in the
Speaker 1: perfect moment, you know. And I never looked back like
Speaker 1: it was it too soon or was it too late
Speaker 1: hours It was just perfect, you know. And I took
Speaker 1: a month off, you know, I had a good summer
Speaker 1: that summer two thou twelve, but I was ready to go,
Speaker 1: Like I retired in Dubai. You actually, I decided to
Speaker 1: not to play anymore. I played one last event in
Speaker 1: Monte Carlo in April, and then I went to roll
Speaker 1: and gar Us as a tourist and and you know,
Speaker 1: and and everybody was like, what are you doing here, said,
Speaker 1: what do you mean, what am I doing here? Uh? Like,
Speaker 1: I just love this place and I know that I
Speaker 1: will be doing something in the sport. It's just that
Speaker 1: I'm you know, I'm figuring it out, you know, so
Speaker 1: I'm not running away, and I can't wait to run
Speaker 1: away from this madness. You know. It was something that
Speaker 1: I enjoyed immensely. It's so true. I said that in
Speaker 1: my actually retirement statements that I'm not I'm retiring from
Speaker 1: the professional part. But we cannot say bye to something
Speaker 1: we love. It's our DNA, it's in our heart and
Speaker 1: it's going to be always part of our life one
Speaker 1: way or the other. Yeah. But I think I think
Speaker 1: when when one part is that the young players, you know,
Speaker 1: they will listen to us and they said, what they're
Speaker 1: talking about because you do get you start loving the sport. Later,
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of kids start playing because they
Speaker 1: like it, and then there is a period where it
Speaker 1: becomes the work and maybe for some maybe too soon
Speaker 1: as well. Um, but it becomes a you know, a
Speaker 1: lot you know, it's it's there's a lot of pressure,
Speaker 1: there is a lot of negative also part of what
Speaker 1: you do. But then by the end of your career,
Speaker 1: you you go back to loving it. So this is
Speaker 1: where where maybe a lot of players, especially younger ones,
Speaker 1: they don't they will struggle to understand that part why
Speaker 1: everybody who retires from playing and do something else. They
Speaker 1: talk about the law for the sport because you with
Speaker 1: the time you get understand what it actually really means,
Speaker 1: the support to you and for your to your family
Speaker 1: and everybody around you. Yeah. Absolutely, I think the appreciation
Speaker 1: is at the beginning. Then, like you said, there is
Speaker 1: the work part, and then there is a even bigger
Speaker 1: appreciation afterwards. And I think one of the biggest adjustments
Speaker 1: as well is to understand that you know, in tennis
Speaker 1: you have constant results. You do well, you win, you lose,
Speaker 1: you do bed, you lose. Where whatever we do now
Speaker 1: there is no such feedback right away like in tea,
Speaker 1: like with with your business. It's like, okay, am I
Speaker 1: doing right or wrong? Like it's more about self just
Speaker 1: but I guess yes, we'll trust the process also with
Speaker 1: we then you know, again we learned from our tennis
Speaker 1: or to our sports. You know, where you you don't know.
Speaker 1: You hire a new coach, you don't know if he's
Speaker 1: good or bad. You know, on the paper, to city
Speaker 1: looks good, you know, for whatever reason, it sounds like
Speaker 1: a good idea, but you actually don't know, and you
Speaker 1: have to you have to invest time, you know, and
Speaker 1: trust the process that we will actually pay off in
Speaker 1: the business is the same. It's just as I said,
Speaker 1: it's just to take so much longer to actually see
Speaker 1: the results. Yeah, it's so true. Um, since you know,
Speaker 1: the podcast is called The Real DNA, want to talk
Speaker 1: to you about that little bit what as a person
Speaker 1: you appreciate the most about yourself and the others as
Speaker 1: far as the real values of like whoah, my god,
Speaker 1: that's that's a tough one. That's I really don't like
Speaker 1: to to to talk about my what I can tell
Speaker 1: about what I love about others. Know, it's really to
Speaker 1: be open and and and honest and really like I
Speaker 1: hate games, you know, I hate backstabbing and these things.
Speaker 1: It's it's of course that you know, you can say,
Speaker 1: so what are you doing in the management world? You know? So,
Speaker 1: but that that's exactly what I what I wanted to bring,
Speaker 1: you know, just the straight open how how to say
Speaker 1: collaboration or or or or within the place, you know,
Speaker 1: just honestly, yes, open conversations, open connection, right, and then
Speaker 1: you know that the results can be there cannot be there.
Speaker 1: This this part sometimes you just can't control. But for me,
Speaker 1: it's this this uh, this being being open. It's it's
Speaker 1: really really important, and it's it's not easy. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's almost easier as a player to be open. In
Speaker 1: the business world, you have to sometimes hide your cards,
Speaker 1: but that doesn't mean that you need to lie or
Speaker 1: or be dishonest, you know, not at all. So this
Speaker 1: is something that I have seen around sports, well not
Speaker 1: so much in tennis. Honestly, I really I'm really proud
Speaker 1: and happy about in the environment around tennis, there really
Speaker 1: not many no bad people, you know. It's it's there
Speaker 1: are those businessmens who are harder and and they're they're
Speaker 1: gonna do maybe that extra step, maybe more than others.
Speaker 1: But I think, I mean you I'm not sure if
Speaker 1: you will agree, but I think our it is a
Speaker 1: somewhat smaller world. You know, it's quite it's quite pleasant.
Speaker 1: You know that there are no I'm happy that I
Speaker 1: can walk into the player lounge and look everybody in
Speaker 1: the face and say hi and have a coffee with
Speaker 1: you know, no matter. You know what what you know
Speaker 1: is it there's another player or another coach of another player,
Speaker 1: or or agent or another player or whatever that is.
Speaker 1: You know, and this for me, it's very very important. Well,
Speaker 1: you've been very mild there with yourself because I think,
Speaker 1: like you said towards the end, that's the biggest quality
Speaker 1: that you've ever had, that you could pretty much go anywhere.
Speaker 1: And I think all the players will want to hug
Speaker 1: you and and appreciate the goodness that you brought everywhere
Speaker 1: you want. And that's just my own personal experience. So
Speaker 1: no thanks, thanks, but you know, I was. I was.
Speaker 1: Maybe it comes also from the days when I were
Speaker 1: representing all the players, you know, in the council and
Speaker 1: the board, and I've really tried to help U. And
Speaker 1: I see now we have political battles and we will
Speaker 1: always have them. You know, it's not something new, you know,
Speaker 1: NOA now, we tried to kind of make a step further,
Speaker 1: and you know, we all tried it. We all been there,
Speaker 1: you know. So it's it's uh. I think the players
Speaker 1: and the people in Tennis that they kind of saw
Speaker 1: that and one of the one of the nicest, maybe
Speaker 1: the nicest moment in my career. Actually happened after I
Speaker 1: retired that day in Montsory actually was I think was
Speaker 1: the day after in Monte Calo. You know that in
Speaker 1: Monte calog there is this player party where it's kind
Speaker 1: of closed, where only the players can. I only heard
Speaker 1: about it, but I've never been. But I amazing things. Well,
Speaker 1: it's it's a it's a special place and a special
Speaker 1: moment for for players only and they're very close teams.
Speaker 1: But now it's honestly, it's now it's different with the
Speaker 1: mobile phones and things. Back in the days it was,
Speaker 1: it was even wilder. But anyways, so it was when
Speaker 1: when when I retired the day after, we had this
Speaker 1: this dinner at this party, and and I went on
Speaker 1: stage to to do a part in this acting and
Speaker 1: and and and then then I got the standing ovation
Speaker 1: from from everybody basically for my career. That was. I
Speaker 1: still have chills when I think about it. It was
Speaker 1: something that I was probably the most proud of of
Speaker 1: all my tennis career, you know, just to see that
Speaker 1: the players because for so many years I did so
Speaker 1: much and I tried to do as much as I
Speaker 1: could to to to help, you know, the players getting
Speaker 1: a bigger stake in the game and being you know,
Speaker 1: being heard, but you don't actually know if it's appreciated.
Speaker 1: You don't know if if it's heard, if it's team
Speaker 1: you know, and that that moment gave me a lot
Speaker 1: really and it helped me, you know, also gain confidence
Speaker 1: two other things after my career. Well, talking about proud
Speaker 1: moments in your career, there is one that actually happened
Speaker 1: right here where I am at the moment in Barislava,
Speaker 1: and we need to David, how special was it? And
Speaker 1: also what is it in the air or the water
Speaker 1: you guys drink that you have so many incredible players
Speaker 1: coming literally from you know, this little place in the world,
Speaker 1: just like it is for us. Yeah, well, it's uh,
Speaker 1: this persial place. I mean, it was a couple of
Speaker 1: couple of days ago, a few days ago. It was
Speaker 1: fifteen years anniversary actually, and I couldn't believe it's fifteen years.
Speaker 1: It's it's so much that it was. It was incredible.
Speaker 1: I mean all that year, the entire though, those two
Speaker 1: couple of I mean two thousands, thousand six and part
Speaker 1: of two thousand seven was like one big blur for
Speaker 1: me because all of a sudden I started to win everything.
Speaker 1: I mean that I could obviously, other than Rough and
Speaker 1: Roger that it was, you know, the doors were shot
Speaker 1: over there. But our I reasoned, I'm between in the world.
Speaker 1: I wanted Davis cuple I want so many events. I
Speaker 1: played the finals, you know, like things just started to happen.
Speaker 1: And it happened when I was seven, you know, so
Speaker 1: it didn't happen at the beginning of my career where
Speaker 1: you think like, okay, this is somewhat normal. I'm good.
Speaker 1: It happened kind of later, so I got to appreciate it,
Speaker 1: maybe even more. But Davis Cup was the first round
Speaker 1: we played in US against I guess the Erodic and
Speaker 1: Bryan brothers, which you know, we we thought, okay, that's done,
Speaker 1: but we managed to win that one, and then all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, we started believing that we can actually
Speaker 1: go all the way in Slovakia, be Argentina and also
Speaker 1: other big teams. So it was the first ever and
Speaker 1: I think probably by by now the only finals to
Speaker 1: unseeded teams. And I was crazy and and uh yeah
Speaker 1: we wont the last match at to all Anti bit
Speaker 1: Martin jac and I again, I don't remember much after
Speaker 1: the match. I just remember us going back the day after,
Speaker 1: we went back to Croatia and there was I don't
Speaker 1: know now how much, but about like fifty people waiting
Speaker 1: for us at the main square. That was That was crazy.
Speaker 1: And this is one of the regrets I have, is
Speaker 1: that we did not celebrate that title enough or properly actually,
Speaker 1: because we came back to Grazia, we had this welcoming
Speaker 1: and then then everybody just kind of went home, you know,
Speaker 1: So this is this is a small regret I have.
Speaker 1: What is it about David's cover fed Cab Because I
Speaker 1: don't know how it is for you, but for me,
Speaker 1: winning fed Cup was definitely the highlight of my career
Speaker 1: because it was for everyone at home. What is it
Speaker 1: that we feel like this about? But I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean it is you feel like you're you're playing
Speaker 1: for for the country. You know, you play for the people.
Speaker 1: You feel you don't play it for yourself because you
Speaker 1: cannot win it by yourself, so you you just feel
Speaker 1: like also the the media and everybody it's more behind you.
Speaker 1: You know that it feels like people almost care, not almost,
Speaker 1: but they do care more if you win. When you're
Speaker 1: representing the country. Then when you win, just representing yourself.
Speaker 1: So this is something that I struggled at the beginning
Speaker 1: of my career, you know, with this pressure. It was
Speaker 1: just different that I couldn't I didn't understand it was different,
Speaker 1: you know. But later I figured it out and I
Speaker 1: used this pressure called pressure but the crowd, but also
Speaker 1: in my advantage. But it took time. It was not automatic.
Speaker 1: I feel like we could just talk about your career
Speaker 1: for another three hours, but I know you don't have
Speaker 1: as much time. So I want to go to a
Speaker 1: question that I'm dying to actually ask myself, what did
Speaker 1: you think when Roger called you up to ask you
Speaker 1: to coach him? Um? I would I would literally I
Speaker 1: think freakouts, start to run, drop my phone. I don't know.
Speaker 1: How did you feel? And how long did it take
Speaker 1: you to actually commit to it? Oh? No, it took
Speaker 1: me two seconds. I mean, it's not but you know,
Speaker 1: for me it was was of course. I mean, you
Speaker 1: say yes, it's not. It's not a question of yes
Speaker 1: or not. But for me it was important to understand
Speaker 1: also what his goals war and what was his restaurant,
Speaker 1: what he's thinking because we were friends and we asked
Speaker 1: the friends, of course, but we were close friends, you know,
Speaker 1: even before, so you know, and but we never really
Speaker 1: talked about tennis as much. You know, so I knew
Speaker 1: everything about him, but I didn't know specifically the tennis part,
Speaker 1: you know, what what his expectations are, what his beliefs are,
Speaker 1: and and for me, you know, I just wanted to
Speaker 1: make sure that we we have the same um how
Speaker 1: to say, same goals, you know. And I always felt
Speaker 1: like he was he underperformed, you know, those those few
Speaker 1: years between two thousand and ten, and uh not underperformed,
Speaker 1: but the results he doeserves more, he doeserves better, you know.
Speaker 1: And I wanted to try to help to to bring
Speaker 1: bring bring those ground slams back. And you know, we
Speaker 1: were lucky enough to be able to, I mean, win
Speaker 1: three actually, which was amazing at the time. You know,
Speaker 1: when you when you don't win, you you feel like
Speaker 1: it's almost impossible. But then you know, then they kept
Speaker 1: coming one after another. Was was crazy? Was it? I
Speaker 1: wouldn't use the word intimidating, because, like you said, you
Speaker 1: guys known in the each other for so long. But
Speaker 1: having that first practice session, you know, we are talking
Speaker 1: about the grades in the game, like what do you
Speaker 1: go and say, okay, well and your knees a little
Speaker 1: bit more use the worst I mean, where do It
Speaker 1: was one of the it was one of the no
Speaker 1: But I have to I have to say, I have
Speaker 1: to say that Roger helped me a lot. I mean,
Speaker 1: he he knows that, you know he, I mean you
Speaker 1: know him also quite well. You know he's he's very
Speaker 1: humble and very easy going, so he knows that it
Speaker 1: would it would be for sure a little bit awkward
Speaker 1: first practice or first two practices, but he made sure
Speaker 1: that it wasn't. So it was not a problem at all.
Speaker 1: We were in Dubai and you know, the weather was nice,
Speaker 1: everything was nice, and we just kind of we had
Speaker 1: the time, you know, because you have we had a
Speaker 1: month basically of preparation for the new season. So it
Speaker 1: was it was quite quite quite easy. You know that
Speaker 1: the bigger the bigger, the bigger problem is that how
Speaker 1: do you improve that machine? You know, that's that's that's
Speaker 1: a bigger problem, you know. But yeah, it's just take
Speaker 1: the day by day and you know, you just um, yeah,
Speaker 1: say what you think as as as open as you can. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's that honestly that you mentioned earlier. Um, is that
Speaker 1: something that surprised you that obviously, like you said, we
Speaker 1: know each other for so long, but you know when
Speaker 1: you started to work with him, it's like, wow, Okay,
Speaker 1: I didn't expect that in a good or bad way. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: because we we used to spend a lot of time together.
Speaker 1: Families you know, are very close even more so, you know,
Speaker 1: so it would be shocking that there was something surprising there,
Speaker 1: you know. So no, no, not really, I mean it
Speaker 1: was it was quite quite smooth, you know, and and
Speaker 1: of course that there is no first of show and
Speaker 1: open um. It was you know, the first tournament he played,
Speaker 1: he lost in the final two to Roundage in in Brisbane,
Speaker 1: which was awkward because I coached Roundage before him, of course. Um.
Speaker 1: And then after Shan Open he got injured that first
Speaker 1: surgery he had, so it was rocky starts, you know,
Speaker 1: but we picked it up later. It was you know,
Speaker 1: it was it just took took time to to to
Speaker 1: get going. And maybe also that injury gave us also
Speaker 1: time to spend more time on the court together and
Speaker 1: and get get get to know each other a bit more.
Speaker 1: You know. We have to also take some of the
Speaker 1: questions from the fence. This is actually the first question.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna follow what I wrote down because I just
Speaker 1: kept jetting to um and I thought it was very
Speaker 1: interesting question. This is more on a coaching in general.
Speaker 1: How how much do you think coach should be involved
Speaker 1: with the player? Of course in a in a normal life,
Speaker 1: you know how, because it's important to know, you know,
Speaker 1: what the player goes through, but at the same time
Speaker 1: to let him her keep that space. Um well, I
Speaker 1: think it has to depend on the player, you know. Also,
Speaker 1: I think female and male it's also a bit different.
Speaker 1: I mean I never coached a girl. Uh, I would
Speaker 1: think that maybe, I mean, you you can help us
Speaker 1: a bit more here. But I feel like it's a
Speaker 1: bit more difficult not to know anything on the on
Speaker 1: the female side because but I may be wrong. I'm
Speaker 1: just guessing on the men's side. You know, the more
Speaker 1: mature the player is, the less you need to be involved,
Speaker 1: you know. But again, I think the coaching, it's not
Speaker 1: just the time spent on court, it's it's also the dinners,
Speaker 1: that the car trips, the flights together, and you know,
Speaker 1: there's so many topics that you can touch because it's
Speaker 1: not you know, hit the back end like this and
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden you make a player. You know,
Speaker 1: it's it's a mindset. Is is the way of thinking,
Speaker 1: way of living, the way of you know, making decisions,
Speaker 1: all of that. So coaching is it's not just you know,
Speaker 1: shots and things like this. So I feel like it's
Speaker 1: almost inevitable that there is some some way of some
Speaker 1: some sort of interaction between you know, what was happening
Speaker 1: outside and on the court. Yeah, I think just to
Speaker 1: follow that on the woman's story, were totally right. I
Speaker 1: think actually most of the work gets done of the
Speaker 1: court because with the girls it's always about the emotions
Speaker 1: and it's mental And when I had that good connection
Speaker 1: outside of the court and I was happy with my life,
Speaker 1: I think in a way guys are able to maybe
Speaker 1: cut that out when they get on the court where
Speaker 1: the girls seems like, at least in my case, it
Speaker 1: was like I couldn't really divide my personal life and
Speaker 1: then my tennis life were bringing the whole package on
Speaker 1: the court pretty much. You know, sometimes stuff to run
Speaker 1: with a heavy bag. So I think that's where the
Speaker 1: coach has to make sure that at least most of
Speaker 1: the bag space outside of the court. And I think
Speaker 1: that's why in a way, the woman's coaching it's more
Speaker 1: I guess psychology than anything else. No, no, but you know,
Speaker 1: I also especially on with with with the with the
Speaker 1: more experienced players. You know, I really don't like when
Speaker 1: I hear commentators, you know, I don't know, somebody starts
Speaker 1: working with a guy and the last laught like three
Speaker 1: weeks is are you can see because of this back
Speaker 1: and you can see the work of the coach. It's
Speaker 1: not really like that, you know. And most of the times,
Speaker 1: or if ever, you can't really know you know, the
Speaker 1: work because the guys a female or male, it doesn't
Speaker 1: really matter. You don't really change, like visibly the way
Speaker 1: you hit the ball, or sometimes not not even the
Speaker 1: way you you play. You know, it's it's a lot
Speaker 1: deeper inside. It's it's a lot more than that. It's
Speaker 1: it's a conviction, it's a confidence, it's there's so many
Speaker 1: other things that the coach can bring to the players
Speaker 1: that are really not you know, maybe visible to the
Speaker 1: to the audience. And this is very difficult to understand
Speaker 1: sometimes and rightly so. Coaches are you know, all the
Speaker 1: players are not crazy to talk about it openly because
Speaker 1: this is something that happens, you know, and between the
Speaker 1: players and the coach. Yeah, it's always such a I
Speaker 1: don't know, I found it very difficult, like you said,
Speaker 1: when we got those questions, Uh you know about it's
Speaker 1: it's almost what did you bring made relationship that you
Speaker 1: don't want to be sharing with you know, with the public,
Speaker 1: with the other players, because it's what makes you strong
Speaker 1: at the end of the day. So um, yeah, what
Speaker 1: have you what what is helping you now as a
Speaker 1: coach that as a player you realize like, Okay, if
Speaker 1: I ever coach, I'm never ever gonna do that. Or
Speaker 1: what was annoying you when you had a coach and
Speaker 1: I'm sure you had a great relationship that you tried
Speaker 1: to avoid. For example, me, it was like, well when
Speaker 1: someone told me during the match, like fight, I'm like, well,
Speaker 1: I'm fighting, Like that's why I'm here. Well there are
Speaker 1: two things, yeah, when I was playing, and there were
Speaker 1: two things that that kind of got to my nerves. Uh.
Speaker 1: One it's regarding my wife, mostly because she would cheer
Speaker 1: me up when I lose a point and I don't
Speaker 1: need that, you know, I need I need the like
Speaker 1: support when things are going well, and I know it
Speaker 1: sounds weird, but nothing sounds player. Yeah, I know exactly.
Speaker 1: So like I things are bad, I know I have
Speaker 1: to fight, and it's it's it's like I have that,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm gonna try to dig out of this,
Speaker 1: you know, by myself. I'm fine, you know, I don't
Speaker 1: need your mercy or I have to say you're you're yes,
Speaker 1: I know what you mean, doing story for me, you know,
Speaker 1: like some something like this. Uh, that's one thing. And
Speaker 1: the second thing, I like, when I would finish the match,
Speaker 1: doesn't matter if I winn lose. I needed time for myself,
Speaker 1: like I needed ten fifteen minutes, just not talk to anybody,
Speaker 1: not to hear anybody. And you know, my coach, Ricardo Piatti,
Speaker 1: he struggles with not talking, you know, so he would
Speaker 1: storm in and you know, and he gets excited, especially
Speaker 1: when when I when I would play good matches, you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: and then you know this WASNA said, just please just
Speaker 1: you know that we're working together for fifteen years, Just
Speaker 1: give me five minutes, just five minutes, you know, and
Speaker 1: he would be so excited that he just couldn't control himself.
Speaker 1: So I tried. I tried to you know, when when
Speaker 1: when I would you know, I coached to Mills and
Speaker 1: and and and Roger, and you know what, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know what the player wants. You know that
Speaker 1: you want to talk right after or or you don't
Speaker 1: want to sleep over. And because there are two different conversations.
Speaker 1: If you speak right after the match, you analyze all
Speaker 1: the emotions because you're very emotional after the match. But
Speaker 1: if you spick the day after, you talk about tactical,
Speaker 1: technical or whatever it's strategy. You know, it's more cold
Speaker 1: kind of conversation, you know. So I I I always
Speaker 1: preferred as a player, I preferred colder conversations, you know,
Speaker 1: But some players just you know, prefer to know right
Speaker 1: away because this is my feeling that I'm bringing up
Speaker 1: from the board, So um, yeah, I want to talk now.
Speaker 1: So it depends. But as a coach, I would not accept,
Speaker 1: you know, the players talking bad to me and I
Speaker 1: would just get you know, I would just literally walk
Speaker 1: off the right. For me, this is something that I
Speaker 1: am most discussed from this younger generation because for me,
Speaker 1: it's such a lack of respect and and such a
Speaker 1: bad behavior that you know, with the older guys, you do.
Speaker 1: You talk about it, and it was like, how how
Speaker 1: did you even get here? How this became normal? Because
Speaker 1: you know, like back in the days you respect the coach.
Speaker 1: You can't you can't do this, like it's not possible,
Speaker 1: you know. So so this is something that I'm just like,
Speaker 1: this is a no gol, this is not gonna happen,
Speaker 1: you know. So Luckily, you know, with with about Millers,
Speaker 1: you know, he was able, he had you know that
Speaker 1: this rough matention moment, but he never talked bad to me,
Speaker 1: and then and Rogers not you know, but this is
Speaker 1: something that I would not I would just not be
Speaker 1: able to to happen. Yeah, you're so right about the
Speaker 1: time went to talk to the player after the match.
Speaker 1: And I was the same at the beginning where I
Speaker 1: wanted to know everything right away, and then I when
Speaker 1: I worked with Carlos Rodriguez, he always wanted to the
Speaker 1: earliest to discuss was in the evening, in the hotel
Speaker 1: or the next morning, and then I always found such
Speaker 1: a more mature conversation. So I think a little bit
Speaker 1: more time definitely help you. You you have there is
Speaker 1: a danger that you will forget a few things that
Speaker 1: you maybe you would have said, by the way, so
Speaker 1: there is pros and cons on votes. Again, even I
Speaker 1: know you're super busy. So just last two questions. First
Speaker 1: of all, um, you retired after fourteen years on the tour.
Speaker 1: If I'm correct, I retired after nineteen, and I think
Speaker 1: for both of us there was a very long time
Speaker 1: in that time. What that Roger Raphae Novak and the
Speaker 1: why are they able to play so much longer? What
Speaker 1: is it that they know we didn't know? Is it
Speaker 1: a recovery the physios or why do you think in
Speaker 1: sports in general, because it's not just tennis at the
Speaker 1: age just gets shifted, shifts a little bit more. Well, well,
Speaker 1: first of all, I would I would return The question
Speaker 1: is that why not? Like I feel like maybe we
Speaker 1: could have played longer if we thought that it was possible,
Speaker 1: you know, like it was almost normal to retire at
Speaker 1: three thre four When I retired, you know, it was
Speaker 1: just not. I think it's just that guys just kind
Speaker 1: of tried to push and then to realize they actually can,
Speaker 1: you know, because I cannot say I'm forty one now
Speaker 1: and I'm you know, obviously out of shape. But I
Speaker 1: feel like if I would go back to practice, I
Speaker 1: would be competitive somewhat. So um. Definitely, of course we
Speaker 1: have UM nutrition we have when you have we know
Speaker 1: more about, you know, what we eat, what we drink,
Speaker 1: we know more about. On the fitness side, definitely there's
Speaker 1: more information as what what not to do. You know,
Speaker 1: this is very important. UM. Tennis wise, we never really
Speaker 1: stopped because we didn't like to play tennis, you know,
Speaker 1: so um And obviously, I mean there's also financial part
Speaker 1: where the prize money and the earnings now are so
Speaker 1: high that you know, you just keep It's just kind
Speaker 1: of more logical to play longer, you know. When I retired,
Speaker 1: I mean honestly, I can say that I was not
Speaker 1: making any money, you know, so for me playing not playing,
Speaker 1: it didn't make any any financial difference, you know, traveling
Speaker 1: two kids, uh any because you have to you have
Speaker 1: to have one if you have two kids, and the
Speaker 1: coach and the physio and myself, it was just so
Speaker 1: much money and and so it was it was not there.
Speaker 1: There was not even even that there. You know. Now
Speaker 1: it's a bit different because people maybe don't realize what
Speaker 1: happened in tennis last uh ten years, you know. Um.
Speaker 1: On on the financial side, you know, there was really
Speaker 1: a huge shift, and and and and I'm all for that.
Speaker 1: The players are keep pushing and they want more because
Speaker 1: they deserve a lot more than they're getting. But also
Speaker 1: there was a massive change, you know. And then the
Speaker 1: guys if you look at the prize money rankings, you know,
Speaker 1: in two thousand ten, maybe and now I'm shooting I
Speaker 1: don't know this information, but maybe number twelve in the
Speaker 1: world was making a millionaire. Number fifty mikes a million,
Speaker 1: you know. So there's a lot more people who make
Speaker 1: more money. It is better tour than two tours, are healthier.
Speaker 1: So the players, the players just keep playing. And and again,
Speaker 1: I'll come back to the first point, which I think
Speaker 1: is the most important one. Why not you know, I
Speaker 1: think that the guys are showing garagers and raffles of
Speaker 1: the world are showing everybody it can be done, so
Speaker 1: so they just just go for it. It's such a
Speaker 1: good point that so I think doing the math. We
Speaker 1: retired around the same time thirty four, and that felt like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is the right time, Like I should not be
Speaker 1: playing any longer because it's embarrassing. Where now it's like right,
Speaker 1: It was like no that this is like I cannot
Speaker 1: look at my age and like you said, like I'm
Speaker 1: sure if it's right now, you know, physically we were fine.
Speaker 1: We love the sport, but it's like it's not supposed
Speaker 1: to be any longer than this is like now our
Speaker 1: time is done. And talking about time the very last question,
Speaker 1: please please please, can you confirm my theory they're doing
Speaker 1: TV is harder than playing because no one wants to
Speaker 1: believe me that how long the hours can be and
Speaker 1: how tough it is is. There are some I mean,
Speaker 1: I had I had fun. I have to say I
Speaker 1: was I was doing. I have to say that I
Speaker 1: was doing more the studios pre and post matches, you know,
Speaker 1: than than actually commentating. Commentating matches can be can be long,
Speaker 1: you know, because best of five sometimes you know, there
Speaker 1: are some matches that you're really trying to squeeze last
Speaker 1: drop out of that lemon. It's not simple. Um yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I know what you're talking about, and you
Speaker 1: you know, and if you say something wrong, you know
Speaker 1: it's gonna be on Twitter, Facebook, in the papers and
Speaker 1: you have four hours you're talking and you have to
Speaker 1: be really careful. So it's not simple at all. Well,
Speaker 1: if even let's finish on this great No, I feel
Speaker 1: like we could talk for another two hours, but we're
Speaker 1: doing great things. We can do. We can do the
Speaker 1: second second part in the future. Okay, well, I really
Speaker 1: appreciate it and I would love to take on that
Speaker 1: um sometime in the fields. And yeah, well, um, good
Speaker 1: luck with first of all, now the young players that
Speaker 1: you are working with at the moment, and let's hope
Speaker 1: we can see you on the tour very soon with
Speaker 1: Roger as well. And uh, obviously very merry Christmas. Thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you for having me all the best guys. Thanks.
Speaker 1: I hope you have enjoyed today's episode and getting to
Speaker 1: know my guests a bit better. If you feel like it,
Speaker 1: to subscribe to us so you don't miss any of
Speaker 1: the action. Also, let me know your comments or suggestions
Speaker 1: on my social media channels, and have a lovely rest
Speaker 1: of your day. By