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Speaker 1: Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Sitdown.

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Speaker 1: I'm Mattrolope, a rata an editor for oz open dot

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Speaker 1: Com and.

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Speaker 2: I'm viv Christian, managing editor for Australian Tennis Magazine. And Matt,

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Speaker 2: why are we sitting down this week with Bellenton Vashero.

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Speaker 1: Well, he was a player obviously that came onto our

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Speaker 1: radar late last year at the Shanghai Masters in probably

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Speaker 1: what was one of the craziest tennis stories that either

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Speaker 1: of us can remember, probably in the sports history. He

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Speaker 1: was a qualifier ranked outside the top two hundred, who

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Speaker 1: made the main draw and then beat a slew of

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Speaker 1: top players, including Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, to arrive

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Speaker 1: in a Masters final. And it got even crazier because

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Speaker 1: there in the final he met his cousin Arthur Rinderkanesh

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Speaker 1: and beat him to become a Masters champion and then

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Speaker 1: suddenly was a top forty star. And when we met

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Speaker 1: him in Melbourne at the Australian Open, he was a

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Speaker 1: seated player at a Grand Slam for a first time.

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Speaker 1: So it was we had to find out his story.

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Speaker 2: And what an incredible tennis fairytale that was. And there's

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Speaker 2: so many unlike likely parts to his tennis story. He

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Speaker 2: comes from a very connected tennis family. He's one of

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Speaker 2: the few players that we know from Monico. And speaking

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Speaker 2: of Monico, the Monte Carlo Masters starts this week and

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Speaker 2: Valentine revealed something very interesting about that tournament and what

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Speaker 2: it means to him. Valentine Measurer, thank you for joining

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Speaker 2: us on the sit down here at pod laver Arena.

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Speaker 2: Is this your first podcast?

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Speaker 3: No, no, no, no, We wanted it to be good trovers,

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Speaker 3: not a few.

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Speaker 2: You arrive at Australian Open twenty twenty six in a

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Speaker 2: very different position than you were at the same time

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Speaker 2: last year you were you lost in the second round

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Speaker 2: of qualifying and now you're a seated player.

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Speaker 3: Must feel very different for you, of course, none of

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Speaker 3: those for sure. This was my first time here, less.

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Speaker 4: Year in the quarters and the I mean, even if

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Speaker 4: though he was in a qualities, I had a lot

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Speaker 4: of fun because it's already really good to be in a qualities.

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Speaker 4: And yeah, I mean if someone had told me a

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Speaker 4: year later I would be back seeded, probably wouldn't have

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Speaker 4: believed it. But now I'm here and fully focus on

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Speaker 4: my new my new challenges, and everything.

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Speaker 2: We know that your tennis career changed a lot last

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Speaker 2: year after you won a election shanhaig Masters, but what

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Speaker 2: changed for you personally after that?

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Speaker 3: Well, personally not much for me. I mean training the

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Speaker 3: same and everything.

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Speaker 4: So of course I had over preseason a little bit

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Speaker 4: more stuff to do around the around tennis, but focuses

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Speaker 4: tennis is Tennis is number one. It's if I have

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Speaker 4: time around tennis, then I can put some some just

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Speaker 4: the little things of outside that. Now it's I have

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Speaker 4: a bit more stuff to do, especially in Monaco. It's

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Speaker 4: as countries, so everyone knew that I was going to

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Speaker 4: be here for six seven weeks training, so.

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Speaker 3: I had a lot of places to go. But it

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Speaker 3: was fun. It's part of the Journey's part of the

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Speaker 3: new life.

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Speaker 1: We often ask I guess kind of what their goals are,

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Speaker 1: and I just wonder, in your case, maybe prior to

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Speaker 1: Shanghai or in twenty twenty five, maybe your goals were

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Speaker 1: different to what they might be now when you're starting

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Speaker 1: the twenty twenty six season. So is that true? Have

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Speaker 1: your goals changed at all? And what are they at

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Speaker 1: this point in your career?

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Speaker 4: I mean, of course, I mean when I was ranked

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Speaker 4: in Changay two hundred. My goal wasn't I was not

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Speaker 4: saying to myself to be top ten or something. It

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Speaker 4: was more to be top hundred first, And I mean

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Speaker 4: to be honest. When I started chang Gay two four,

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Speaker 4: it was already the end of September. Still my goal

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Speaker 4: was still to try to be top hundred, and I

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Speaker 4: knew I had to win three or four challengers for that.

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Speaker 4: Well did it, did it another way, but I don't

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Speaker 4: mind it. It's more than okay, And now, of course

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Speaker 4: it's way different goals that I put myself. It's not

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Speaker 4: about the ranking or anything. It's more yeah, like a

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Speaker 4: goal for Grand Slam, go go get a second week

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Speaker 4: this year. If I can do it here already, then

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Speaker 4: that will allow me to put new goals after.

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Speaker 3: Goals, like.

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Speaker 4: Just give even though before it was the same give

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Speaker 4: one hundred percent, but I feel like even more now.

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Speaker 4: Just try to give like one hundred and ten percent.

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Speaker 4: Every match is to get as many win as possible

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Speaker 4: throughout the season, because sometimes you might play good and

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Speaker 4: lose because everyone is even better.

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Speaker 3: Now at the level I'm at.

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Speaker 4: So it was more about like the mental part, like

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Speaker 4: to be one hundred percent, focus mentally on every single

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Speaker 4: of the matches, and then the ranking will follow or not,

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Speaker 4: and this will see and then of course try to go. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: another big one is to try to go get another title. Whatever,

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Speaker 4: if it's an AHP to fifty five hundred, I don't care,

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Speaker 4: just get another one.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, yeah, how on that. You are playing a

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Speaker 1: different kind of caliber or category of opponent now, and

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Speaker 1: just everything about your career trajectory has changed. The tournament

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Speaker 1: you can enter has changed. Your direct entry here in

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Speaker 1: your seed, your schedule probably changes now because your ranking

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Speaker 1: puts you in a different place. So adjusting to that

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Speaker 1: change in these opportunities for you. And yeah, this high

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Speaker 1: level of opponent you play week in week, how has

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Speaker 1: that been to adjust to since October?

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Speaker 4: Well, I think, I mean after Shanghai, I just did

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Speaker 4: pretty well. Also, in which is good is that I

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Speaker 4: had the chances to play in Basil in Paris they

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Speaker 4: allowed me to play, giving me wild cards because the

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Speaker 4: least were already out after Shanghai, but they allowed me

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Speaker 4: to play. I gave a good fight in Shanghai. In

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Speaker 4: Basil against Fritz, lost three dy clause and then won

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Speaker 4: three more matches in Paris made it to a quarterfinal,

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Speaker 4: and I think that helped, just putting the let's say

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Speaker 4: the base in my head because of course, hi, yeah

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Speaker 4: I did it. I won the Tournament's it's amazing, but

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Speaker 4: some can say, okay, it was like a fairy tale week.

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Speaker 4: It was just everything was going my way. But just

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Speaker 4: to do it again, play good matches also in two

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Speaker 4: other places afterward helped me can be like, Okay, now

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Speaker 4: this is my level. I've done it for a few

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Speaker 4: tournaments and gave me even more confidence going to this

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Speaker 4: year because you can show some people are like, okay,

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Speaker 4: is it going to hold up? Is he going to

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Speaker 4: hold up this year as well? And everything? And me

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Speaker 4: I think, I mean, I gave myself the answer is

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Speaker 4: already and now it's just yeah about playing all those

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Speaker 4: matches one hundred and in person and then we'll do

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Speaker 4: the count at the at the end of the season.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm switching gears a little bit. Tell us about

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Speaker 2: your start in tennis.

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Speaker 4: Uh, well, my star was really easy. My whole family

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Speaker 4: plays tennis, so basically born basically born with a racket.

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Speaker 4: So now, yeah, I was just you know, I think

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Speaker 4: whenever I was what four or five years old, or

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Speaker 4: just playing with my.

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Speaker 3: With my parents and everything.

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Speaker 4: And then lealilu by a little playing my first tournament

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Speaker 4: at like what maybe nineteen years old, having a bit

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Speaker 4: like more of like a setup practices at eleven twelve

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Speaker 4: years old, because I was starting to I was playing

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Speaker 4: a little bit decent, and yeah, just then after just

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Speaker 4: started to grow a bit and blia and.

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Speaker 2: As I understand that that start was in Monte Carlo,

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Speaker 2: which also has the Monte Carlo Masters, which is one

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Speaker 2: of the most beautiful tournaments in the world. Did that

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Speaker 2: inspire you as well?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, one hundred percent. It was my favorite week of

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Speaker 4: the year. That's all I was waiting for, was for

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Speaker 4: the tournament. My coach who's my brother, was playing. Back

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Speaker 4: in the day, I was mostly ranked all of his

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Speaker 4: carrier around the two hundred, but since Hiss from an

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Speaker 4: Aqua as well was getting a world card every year,

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Speaker 4: so I was allowing me to watch him play there

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Speaker 4: or so, and uh, yeah, that was generally my.

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Speaker 3: Favorite week of the year. I was waiting for that.

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Speaker 4: I was praying that it was going to be during

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Speaker 4: vacation so I didn't have any problem to go from

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Speaker 4: nine am to to seven pm on site. And watch

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Speaker 4: every single match as possible, catch every autograph possible, and

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Speaker 4: and yeah, of course that's why it's weird. But I

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Speaker 4: rather win Motecalo than a Grand Slam if I could,

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Speaker 4: to be honest, like it's maybe number one Motekaalo and

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Speaker 4: then rather let's say one person under all the Grand Slams.

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Speaker 4: But of course I wouldn't mind winning her Grand Slam.

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Speaker 4: But yeah, yeah, that just really special is the club

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Speaker 4: that I've always been playing tennising.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, were there.

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Speaker 2: Any particular years or players that you remember saying that?

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Speaker 3: Uh, well, I remember two thousand and six really well.

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Speaker 4: My my my brother made from qualified to Run of

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Speaker 4: sixteen and played the played Roger Federer in the Run

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Speaker 4: of sixteen in two thousand and six. That's when Roger

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Speaker 4: was basically owning tennis at that moment. And that's why

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Speaker 4: that was the age I was seven eight years old.

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Speaker 4: So I grew up when like those those years when Roger,

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Speaker 4: as I said, was owning tennis.

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Speaker 3: So that's why he is my adult for me.

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Speaker 4: And Roger gave his headband and raisband to my brother

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Speaker 4: and gave it to me. Unfortunately, now, I mean Roger

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Speaker 4: asked me in Shanghai. If I knew I was the

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Speaker 4: because you remember that story, if I knew it was

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Speaker 4: the risband and the headband, and I said, okay, it

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Speaker 4: was a few years. A fewears has passed and my

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Speaker 4: room has changed a lot, so I don't know where

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Speaker 4: it is anymore. Somewhere, Yeah, if I give it a

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Speaker 4: good look, I could find it. But well, yeah, so

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Speaker 4: there was there was that year of course, then I

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Speaker 4: think maybe I think it's maybe the first year tw

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Speaker 4: six where I watched Djokovic played when you arrived and

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Speaker 4: played you. I think you played for the air first

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Speaker 4: round or something like that. That's when you arrived. And

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Speaker 4: then all those years watching Rafa, when back to back

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Speaker 4: to Baka, starting to oh on the bid the world

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Speaker 4: of Tennis on clay, and then no, just not one

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Speaker 4: specific here. I mean then of course twenty twenty two,

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Speaker 4: sorry to the first time that I got to play,

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Speaker 4: I go to work card into the qualifying those very special,

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Speaker 4: but then just every time it was just really really

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Speaker 4: cool to watch and.

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Speaker 1: It looks very beautiful on screening. I think it's on.

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Speaker 3: The most beautiful one. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yes, before you went in Shanghai, you had many years

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Speaker 1: obviously on the Challenger circuit and there are inevitable challenges

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Speaker 1: in your inner place career and it. Players talk a

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Speaker 1: lot about the grind of being on the Challenger circuit.

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Speaker 1: How was that experience for you and what did you

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Speaker 1: kind of learn about yourself in that time.

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Speaker 4: The thing is that, yeah, you can, you can call

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Speaker 4: it a grind in Challengers if you But I think

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Speaker 4: it's a grind because.

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Speaker 3: Everyone is just so good.

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Speaker 4: Everyone is really good, and there's not one easy matches

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Speaker 4: and Challengers that's why it's so hard and it's so

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Speaker 4: hard to just get through. I think the biggest grind

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Speaker 4: is before that. It's in it's in futures. If if

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Speaker 4: you can just for first of all, get out, get

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Speaker 4: out of the ifs as quick as possible, that's that's

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Speaker 4: the best. Because this is the real jungle and grind.

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Speaker 4: When you get to Challengers, you start to play in

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Speaker 4: actually like really nice clubs, really nice tournaments, you get

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Speaker 4: the hotel paid for, it's usually in decent cities, and

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Speaker 4: so Challengers is tough to call it a grind. I

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Speaker 4: think it's more of a grind on the on the

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Speaker 4: court because it's really the level is almost as.

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Speaker 3: Hard as in the top hundred and so yeah.

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Speaker 4: Always good is that I got all of the futures

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Speaker 4: is pretty pretty quickly and probably less than a year

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Speaker 4: when I started on tour. And yeah, then I played

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Speaker 4: Challengers all the time until Shanghai, except when I sticked

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Speaker 4: in and a few qualities of ATP to fifties before

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Speaker 4: getting hurt, I started to get in qualities of one

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Speaker 4: master of one thousand. But yeah, I think Challengers is

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Speaker 4: just another level just for the players you play, and

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Speaker 4: everyone is just so hungry to get past the challengers

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Speaker 4: who go on the big tour that that's what makes

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Speaker 4: it really hard.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, that makes sense.

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Speaker 1: Another part of your story is that you come through

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Speaker 1: the US college system and that's becoming, i think increasingly

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Speaker 1: a part why a lot of players have success with

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Speaker 1: and the careers are longer now so you don't have

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Speaker 1: to go pro as fast. How is the college experience

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Speaker 1: for you and do you think it's helped you to

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Speaker 1: get where you are now?

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Speaker 4: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: It was amazing.

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Speaker 4: I mean I had a very different path from like

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Speaker 4: twelve th twenteen years old. I never were I never

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Speaker 4: was homeschooled. I went to normal school all the time.

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Speaker 4: I wasn't in a. I had a decent level, but

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Speaker 4: more around like sixteen, seventeen and eighteen towards the end

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Speaker 4: before it was harder for me. But I think going

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Speaker 4: at eighteen was never really an option for me, even

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Speaker 4: though I think I had that the descent ranking at eighteen,

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Speaker 4: I was already maybe seven hundred and fifty or something.

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Speaker 4: I had a few points. But going to college was normal.

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Speaker 4: I joined the I joined my cousin that was there,

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Speaker 4: Arthur Rendergnink. It was just really easy to make the

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Speaker 4: decision because he's already been there for three years. He

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Speaker 4: was already getting better. He told me, like how good

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Speaker 4: Steve then turned and Kevin Oche the coaches in Texas anymore. So, Yeah,

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Speaker 4: it was easy choice for me.

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Speaker 2: Okay, As you mentioned earlier, your idol growing up was

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Speaker 2: Roger Federer. What was it like meeting him last year.

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Speaker 3: In Schinha, Yeah, No, it was. It was super nice.

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Speaker 4: It's pretty funny because he was there for like the

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Speaker 4: whole second week, I think, And it took me maybe

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Speaker 4: it took me four days to cross him, Like you know,

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Speaker 4: it took me four days to cross him. I just

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Speaker 4: maybe my girlfriends i've seen him crossed him maybe ten

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Speaker 4: times before me. I actually crossed him once. That's pretty fun. Know,

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Speaker 4: I was getting mad at that, so went finally I

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Speaker 4: saw him. It was great, and then we had the

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Speaker 4: He stayed for the I think he watched me maybe

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Speaker 4: semi final and final, and then stayed for the for

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Speaker 4: the celebrations after so and then I got to speak

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Speaker 4: a little while with him, and yeah, it was very special,

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Speaker 4: of course he was really he was really cooler.

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Speaker 2: Now that a little time has passed since you had

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Speaker 2: that incredible run in Shanghai, and you know it's called

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Speaker 2: a fairy tale, how how do you look back on

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Speaker 2: it now?

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Speaker 4: I mean sometimes I still pinch myself to see if

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Speaker 4: it was a bit real, you know.

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Speaker 3: I mean I try to just not.

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Speaker 4: Forget all the just all the images that in my

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Speaker 4: head that happened over there. It was a little bit,

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Speaker 4: let's say, like a little apparentheses in my life.

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Speaker 3: I mean, it was just start to even believe sometimes

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Speaker 3: that it was real. Uh.

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Speaker 4: But I tried to just not also think about it

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Speaker 4: all the time and stuff, because it's I'm not saying

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Speaker 4: like for my tennis, yes, it was an amazing example

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Speaker 4: for how I played, how balald and and everything, but

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Speaker 4: also just getting back on earth and just now this

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Speaker 4: is my place, this is why I belong and try

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Speaker 4: to like gradually keep keep climbing and see where I

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Speaker 4: can end up by the end. And but of course

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Speaker 4: this probably took the It is probably the Besos two

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Speaker 4: weeks are the base of hopefully a second huge part

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Speaker 4: of my of.

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Speaker 3: My care area.

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Speaker 2: You you have achieved so many firsts for Monaco tennis.

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Speaker 2: Does does that come with I mean, of course it's

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Speaker 2: very proud, it must be very proud. But any pressure

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Speaker 2: as well.

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Speaker 4: Now zero because uh, pride, yes, of course, Because I

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Speaker 4: mean probably people see Monaco as just this little area

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Speaker 4: where there's money and everything and it's just about going

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Speaker 4: there to go to the beach and play casino. But

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Speaker 4: it's such a small country and what they do, what

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Speaker 4: we do for sport is amazing. And now we have

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Speaker 4: a few athletes at really high level of their sport

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Speaker 4: with La Cleric in f one, myself in tennis, and

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Speaker 4: we have also others pushing in different sports and that's

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Speaker 4: amazing because it's so small. There's only nine ten thousand

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Speaker 4: people actually from Monaco, and yeah, there's just full on,

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Speaker 4: full on pride and I'm so happy to let's say,

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Speaker 4: put Monaco with also romainu Go or to doubles players

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Speaker 4: that are also in the top fifty to them. So

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Speaker 4: now even three like up there in the rankings and

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Speaker 4: we're able to be all here together in tournaments. Now

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Speaker 4: it was more about me joining them since they were

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Speaker 4: already playing like better tournaments than me in doubles. And yeah,

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Speaker 4: and now it's cool because he is really really the

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Speaker 4: first woman where our Taviska coach is also here and

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Speaker 4: it's generally the whole the whole team here, so it's

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Speaker 4: it's it's really cool. And uhid, just more like I

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Speaker 4: said this way.

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Speaker 1: You alluded to your brother before your tennis family. That

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Speaker 1: story was massive playing in the final of Shanghai and

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Speaker 1: being your cousin. We also found out that Chloe Pake

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Speaker 1: is your cousin, and Benjamin Balaray your coach. Is he

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Speaker 1: uncle a cousin?

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Speaker 3: What is my brother? And is Arthur's cousin? Yeah, it's

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Speaker 3: just Arthur's Arthur's mom and my mom my sisters.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 3: Chloe kloy Is is the daughter of my mom's cousin.

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Speaker 1: So she's like a second But this is like a

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Speaker 1: tennis dynasty this family is amazing, but not that's not

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Speaker 1: common in professional tennis. Certainly, lots of families player, but

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Speaker 1: this is amazing.

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Speaker 2: Is that?

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Speaker 1: What's that been like? To have so many tennis connections

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Speaker 1: in your own family?

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Speaker 3: It's unique?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's unique, and it's good because there's also there's

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Speaker 4: always going to be someone in your family that's around

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Speaker 4: your level, so there's nothing to just be too proud about.

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Speaker 5: The leading partners all the time. I guess, yeah, I

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Speaker 5: mean to be just too bit too proud. But when

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Speaker 5: I was two hundred, my only goal was to just

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Speaker 5: try to catch up Arthur, to be with him more

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Speaker 5: first of all, and uh, to be just where it

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Speaker 5: was because it's been in the top hundred for for

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Speaker 5: so long now and now I finally finally did it

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Speaker 5: and we're together, so it's really cool. And then all

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Speaker 5: of the family to just come and watch us play

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Speaker 5: the same place.

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Speaker 3: Now, so this you're easy.

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Speaker 1: And you're playing doubles together.

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Speaker 3: Yes we lost yesterday, but no described but that's still

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Speaker 3: cool that you complain, so again, no, no, no, yeah, that's

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Speaker 3: the goal.

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Speaker 4: And now we're here and we play for fun doubles

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Speaker 4: and the only one we want to have fun, and

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Speaker 4: we're going to play in a few in a few

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Speaker 4: tournaments over the year, but really just to just not

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Speaker 4: bother mentally or what we've doubles, just really just to

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Speaker 4: have fun and and keep on the competition.

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Speaker 3: Let's say, in between singles.

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Speaker 2: Must be be really nice for you to be able

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Speaker 2: to spend time together at tournaments.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, finally, I mean I've been trying to catch him,

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Speaker 4: trying to get up with him for so many years.

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Speaker 4: He's been putting the bar pretty high for me. But

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Speaker 4: finally I'm with him.

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Speaker 3: You.

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Speaker 1: So, I guess you've been very generous with the time, Valentine.

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Speaker 1: We appreciate it. Just to kind of tie it up

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Speaker 1: and look ahead to twenty twenty six for you, where

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Speaker 1: is your schedule going? Where is your schedule taking you?

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Speaker 1: And are there any players now that you're at this

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Speaker 1: level in the game you've never faced before that you

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Speaker 1: would you'd like to challenge yourself against.

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Speaker 4: I think Dan's really easy, Yeah, Nick Ciner Karaz, any

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Speaker 4: guys in the top top ten of five, you want

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Speaker 4: to play them just to see how it is and

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Speaker 4: to see how you are where your game is at

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Speaker 4: that moment, just to compare yourself a bit to them

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Speaker 4: and see what you can do better, what you're doing good,

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Speaker 4: what's working, what's not working against the best of the sport.

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Speaker 4: I had a chance to play or Kovich in Shanghai,

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Speaker 4: Tito Fritz in Basel, Felix in Paris. I already played

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Speaker 4: a few, but I mean, we can say that Yannick

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Speaker 4: and Carlos are a little bit in a different league

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Speaker 4: right now, or it will be really cool anytime soon

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Speaker 4: if I can play one of them amazing.

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Speaker 2: Well, we hope to see that as well. Thank you

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Speaker 2: so much for joining us on the sitdown and good luck.

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Speaker 3: Thank you very much. Thank you.

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Speaker 1: Great to catch up with Valentine during the Australian Open,

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Speaker 1: where he went on to make the third round, and

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Speaker 1: ever since leaving Melbourne he's continued his upward trajectory. Recently

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Speaker 1: he made the second week of the Miami Masters and

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Speaker 1: he's risen to a career high ranking of twenty three.

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Speaker 1: So now he's knocking on the door of the top twenty,

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Speaker 1: which is just amazing considering where he was just a

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Speaker 1: few months ago before that Shanghai breakthrough.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, the fairy tale continues for Valentine and just goes

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Speaker 2: to show what one big result can do for a

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Speaker 2: tennis players.

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Speaker 1: Career, absolutely and will be very interested to see what

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Speaker 1: he manages to do in Monte Carlo this week.

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Speaker 2: We'll be back next week with another episode of The

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Speaker 2: sit Down. Please remember to subscribe so you never miss

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Speaker 2: an episode, and we'd love you to leave us a

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Speaker 2: rating and review.

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Speaker 1: See you next week, Matt, See you then vis