Speaker 1: Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of The Sitdown.
Speaker 1: I'm Mattrolope, a writer an editor for ozopen dot com.
Speaker 2: And I'm viv Christine, managing editor for Australian Tennis magazine.
Speaker 1: And Viv why are we sitting down this week with
Speaker 1: Joanna Garland?
Speaker 2: Well, Matt, Joe is born in the UK, where I
Speaker 2: guess all the eyes of the tennis world are at
Speaker 2: the moment. With Wimbledon qualifying about to begin, we're deep
Speaker 2: into the grass court season. Joe was born in the UK,
Speaker 2: represents Chinese Taipei, based in the Netherlands, a real citizen
Speaker 2: of the world.
Speaker 3: But yeah, we.
Speaker 2: Wanted to tap into her to see how she's feeling
Speaker 2: about the grass court season. And of course we got
Speaker 2: to know her through the one point Slam here in Australia,
Speaker 2: so we can kind of claim her a little bit
Speaker 2: as well. But yeah, it was a great chat. She
Speaker 2: was really candid and yeah, I think our listeners will
Speaker 2: learn a lot in this interview.
Speaker 1: They will. What we loved about this chat we were
Speaker 1: talking off air was just about how we even got
Speaker 1: like the story behind the story. Because she was so
Speaker 1: candid and so open, we learned things we know a
Speaker 1: lot about j a story, but yeah, she gave us
Speaker 1: some really amazing insights into life on the tour and
Speaker 1: what was going on behind the scenes. And we really
Speaker 1: hope you enjoy this chat. Joanna galand thank you very
Speaker 1: much for joining us today on the sit Down Podcast.
Speaker 1: It's good to see you.
Speaker 4: It's good to see you too.
Speaker 1: Where in the world do we find you right now?
Speaker 4: I am at home in Stevenage in the UK. I
Speaker 4: just arrived last night.
Speaker 1: Ah, okay, because we were actually wondering we heard that
Speaker 1: you were based in the Netherlands and saw that you
Speaker 1: just played a tournament there. Is that your base or
Speaker 1: is the UK?
Speaker 4: That's right, and the Netherlands is my base and I'm
Speaker 4: there in between tournaments as we travel so much. But
Speaker 4: because we've got a season coming up, I'm doing a
Speaker 4: training week in London this week, so I'm staying at home.
Speaker 1: Okay, nice, that's good. Your last result was playing at
Speaker 1: the den Bosch tournament and you fell to Robin Montgomery,
Speaker 1: who went on to win the tournament. So I know
Speaker 1: a loss is disappointing, but when you see what the
Speaker 1: person you lost to went on to do, does that
Speaker 1: kind of make it a bit easier or make you
Speaker 1: feel better about your game knowing you lost to the
Speaker 1: eventual champ.
Speaker 4: It does. I feel like it shouldn't, but it does.
Speaker 4: And I don't think it necessarily means so much, because
Speaker 4: there are a lot of factors that are involved with
Speaker 4: winning and losing in tennis matches. But I think it
Speaker 4: actually emphasizes the importance of being ready to take an
Speaker 4: opportunity when it presents itself.
Speaker 1: And I guess playing in a tournament that is where
Speaker 1: you're based, how we are interested to know how long
Speaker 1: have you been based in the Netherlands and what's the
Speaker 1: connection that saw you settle there?
Speaker 4: So I've moved there full time for two years now.
Speaker 4: I first went there when I was thirteen or fourteen
Speaker 4: to play an IF junior event, and my dad saw
Speaker 4: how great the facilities were and ask someone if they
Speaker 4: knew a good coach and connected me with this coach
Speaker 4: who is my co today. And I used to go
Speaker 4: there during the summer and winter holidays to train with him,
Speaker 4: and yeah, a couple of years ago, decided to move
Speaker 4: there full time.
Speaker 1: Cool, there's a very long running association then that must
Speaker 1: be like ten years now it is.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Wow, amazing.
Speaker 2: As you mentioned, you are in Britain now and you
Speaker 2: are a player with British heritage, So tell us about
Speaker 2: your relationship with grass.
Speaker 4: Oh well, I've somehow British and i grew up in
Speaker 4: the UK, so I've grown up watching Winwooden on Telly
Speaker 4: and I've been a couple of times lucky enough to
Speaker 4: go as a kid. So grass pot season is a
Speaker 4: massive thing for me, as it is for all of
Speaker 4: the Brits. To be honest, I've played on grass in Australia.
Speaker 4: There are a couple of itfs in Australia in March
Speaker 4: every year on grass, and I've been to play those
Speaker 4: a few times and i absolutely loved it. Yeah, it's
Speaker 4: a very short part of the year, but it's exciting
Speaker 4: and I mean my dream is to qualify or play
Speaker 4: wimbled in one day. So yeah, grass season is important.
Speaker 2: We have to ask how does the grass compare in
Speaker 2: Australia to the UK.
Speaker 4: Honestly, sometimes it's well, the courts I played on we
Speaker 4: were great like and because you have so much space,
Speaker 4: you're able to have so many courts so like practice
Speaker 4: is very evenly spread out, so the main courts don't
Speaker 4: get ruined. The grass was good, and actually, because it's
Speaker 4: so hot over there in March, the courts actually play
Speaker 4: play like a hard court, so they bounce a bit
Speaker 4: better than they would here when you get like a cold,
Speaker 4: rainy day.
Speaker 3: That's interesting.
Speaker 2: You mentioned Wimbledon qualifying last year. You came within around
Speaker 2: I think of qualifying for Wimbledon. How special would it
Speaker 2: be to take that next step at Rahampton next week?
Speaker 4: It would mean the old to me, like I've I've
Speaker 4: qualified for I qualified for running gowns last year and
Speaker 4: that was just the best moment of my life so far.
Speaker 4: But I think this would top it, especially falling short
Speaker 4: last year. I had set points in both sets and
Speaker 4: lost a really tight match. So this, this would be
Speaker 4: This would be the moment of my life if I
Speaker 4: did it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, speaking of moments of your life, you were, of
Speaker 2: course a star of the one point Slam here in Australia.
Speaker 2: You described that in a BBC interview as a once
Speaker 2: in a lifetime experience and the most fun day in
Speaker 2: your life. What what was it that made it so special?
Speaker 4: Everything? I just I think, yeah, playing getting to share
Speaker 4: the court with all of you know, all of the
Speaker 4: breaks that were there, those those players and just playing
Speaker 4: in that kind of atmosphere in front of so many people,
Speaker 4: and just the whole event itself. I mean it was
Speaker 4: from what I've heard, it was a fantastic event to
Speaker 4: watch live, whether you were there or whether you're watching
Speaker 4: it on Telly. So for me just to be on
Speaker 4: that court and be in that whole situation, that was incredible.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we can attest to that. We were watching and
Speaker 2: we all loved it. Everyone really got caught up in
Speaker 2: the story. But you know, you have an interesting story
Speaker 2: about even participating in the event. As I understand it,
Speaker 2: you didn't sign up until the very last minute. You
Speaker 2: had I think, one minute to spare us. Tell us
Speaker 2: about that.
Speaker 4: No, that's right. So I lost in my actual A
Speaker 4: qualifying match that morning and happened to walk past Lawrence,
Speaker 4: who was organizing the event, I think, and he asked
Speaker 4: me if I wanted to sign up because I lost,
Speaker 4: and initially I said no, But I went to have
Speaker 4: lunch with my best friend who was there to watch
Speaker 4: me in Melbourne, and she said that she was thinking
Speaker 4: of going to watch the one point Slam later and
Speaker 4: I thought, well, if she's going to watch, then I
Speaker 4: may as well, sign up. He's probably only going to
Speaker 4: be a couple of points and then we can go
Speaker 4: and have dinner or something. And so I went, I
Speaker 4: ran down, I ran back down to the tournament office
Speaker 4: and said, please, can I sign up with kind of
Speaker 4: like one one minute to spare before the deadline?
Speaker 2: So you ended up very Yeah, you ended up on
Speaker 2: Redever Arena before thousands of spectators and so many more
Speaker 2: watching at home.
Speaker 3: Who would have thought?
Speaker 4: I didn't tell anyone I was playing last minute?
Speaker 1: Did your friends know that you were doing it though?
Speaker 1: The ones that were starting to watch, the ones.
Speaker 4: That were staying to watch, Yes, but anyone at home,
Speaker 4: any friends that they didn't know? And I think someone
Speaker 4: messaged my mom saying, hey have you tuned into this?
Speaker 4: She had no idea.
Speaker 1: That's incredible, so good. What was so amazing about your
Speaker 1: one point slam experience was the people that you beat.
Speaker 1: So you beat very curios Sachary donovikch, which is absolutely
Speaker 1: more wild now because very have just one Roland Garros
Speaker 1: and Donnovicch just one Queens. So does that make it
Speaker 1: even more significant when you think about who they were
Speaker 1: and what they've gone on to do.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's really cool. I mean I can say that
Speaker 4: I've well I haven't beaten him, but technically beaten the
Speaker 4: Grand Slam champion. No, I mean, I know, I know,
Speaker 4: like you know, if I plays her in a real match,
Speaker 4: I'm I'm probably not even winning one point of him.
Speaker 4: But like the one. That's what makes the one point
Speaker 4: Slam so great because there's there's so much pressure to
Speaker 4: play that one point. Yeah, Like there's those names of
Speaker 4: the players that I came up against. It's crazy. I
Speaker 4: actually I was pretty sad when Sachary lost her Sakary
Speaker 4: won her point against Carlos, so I be curios. And
Speaker 4: then I was like, oh, if Carlos wins his next point,
Speaker 4: I get to play him, And I was kind of gutted.
Speaker 1: To be honest, I've forgotten that's how the draw work.
Speaker 2: Yeah, have you looked back on any of your like
Speaker 2: few but knowing your individual points, and do you have
Speaker 2: a favorite point?
Speaker 4: It's got to be the one against though.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would have said that one as well with
Speaker 2: the backhand.
Speaker 3: It was really incredible.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it also did. The experience did amazing things for
Speaker 1: your profile because in the in the weeks after that,
Speaker 1: I heard you on the tennis podcast. You've gone on
Speaker 1: the BBC and talked about your experience. We're talking to
Speaker 1: you now. I'm sure there's been other opportunities as well.
Speaker 1: What was it like to adjust to that new profile
Speaker 1: that you had.
Speaker 4: I mean, I've never had that kind of publicity before.
Speaker 4: It was it was honestly felt very, very weird. But
Speaker 4: I I'm very happy and grateful that I got the
Speaker 4: publicity I did through this event. Like, I'm so thankful
Speaker 4: for the opportunity. I mean, it would be nice for
Speaker 4: one day for me to be recognized for my own
Speaker 4: tennis and not just the one point slam. But yeah,
Speaker 4: it was. It was crazy. It was a bit it
Speaker 4: was a bit strange. I mean there are still messages
Speaker 4: that I haven't replied to because I got so many. Yeah,
Speaker 4: it was. It was unreal. It's just like I think, Yeah,
Speaker 4: the amount of messages and like support that I received
Speaker 4: was was crazy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we will ask you about other tennis results, not
Speaker 1: just the one point slime. But before we move on
Speaker 1: to that there, it was really interesting to listen to
Speaker 1: your tennis podcast interview, specifically because you've got quite emotional
Speaker 1: in that interview talking about the realization of being one
Speaker 1: point within winning a million dollars and what that could
Speaker 1: have done for your family, But that was quite soon
Speaker 1: after what had happened, And with I guess now six
Speaker 1: months on, how does it kind of feel now that
Speaker 1: you've had a bit of space to reflect on it
Speaker 1: and it's maybe a bit more distant in the memory.
Speaker 4: If I have to be honest, like completely honest, it
Speaker 4: definitely messed with me a bit for the weeks and
Speaker 4: maybe a month or two afterwards, and not at all
Speaker 4: like ungrateful for the experience, Like I wouldn't change a thing.
Speaker 2: Really.
Speaker 4: I mean, okay, maybe I would have made the ball
Speaker 4: that I missed and chose to and chose to receive,
Speaker 4: but you know, I wouldn't change a thing. And I'm
Speaker 4: I'm so grateful for the experience and loved every single
Speaker 4: second of it. But it definitely messed with me afterwards,
Speaker 4: and I had to say that I did struggle a
Speaker 4: bit mentally to cope with it. Plus I don't think
Speaker 4: it it helped because because it was such a such
Speaker 4: a big thing, So everyone that I saw or everyone
Speaker 4: that I knew, like was like, oh, why did you
Speaker 4: miss that back hand of the line, And I'm like, great,
Speaker 4: but no, I'm I'm over it now. And I think,
Speaker 4: like I said that, I mean, my parents have always
Speaker 4: been struggling financially, and it would have been I mean,
Speaker 4: I could have you know, they could have retired or
Speaker 4: could have bought their first house. But they don't mind
Speaker 4: at all. Like they were just so happy that I
Speaker 4: got to experience it. And yeah, I mean I was.
Speaker 4: I was a bit sad for a while, and I
Speaker 4: kind of felt like I had to make up for
Speaker 4: losing through my own tennis results. So I kind of
Speaker 4: pushed quite hard on an injury that I had when
Speaker 4: I maybe should have stopped playing. But it's all part
Speaker 4: of tennis and all part of life, isn't it. So
Speaker 4: but now I'm okay with it.
Speaker 1: Good. I'm going to hear.
Speaker 2: Just backtracking a little. I love a tennis origin story,
Speaker 2: So could you tell us about your start in the sport.
Speaker 4: I started the sport. I started quite young. I think
Speaker 4: my dad is my dad still is a tennis coach
Speaker 4: and he was the one that got me into tennis. Yeah.
Speaker 4: So I picked up a racket at quite a young age,
Speaker 4: maybe five, five or six years old, and I was
Speaker 4: just playing a lot with with the kids at the
Speaker 4: tennis club, like on the mini courts waiting for him
Speaker 4: to finish work. Probably spent hours hitting against the wall
Speaker 4: by myself.
Speaker 1: The wall was in everybody story.
Speaker 4: I think I used to. What I used to do
Speaker 4: was like the wall wouldn't be the wall, but it
Speaker 4: would be like an opponent and yeah, and if I
Speaker 4: hit it hard enough so the ball would like rebound
Speaker 4: and then go long, I would have won the point.
Speaker 4: And then eventually, like I remember, like doing this and
Speaker 4: like picking up the trophy or like winning a Grand
Speaker 4: Slam like with just imagine like my imagination.
Speaker 2: So yeah, did you ever imagine when I was kid
Speaker 2: a specific opponent for the wall, maybe like Zerov for example.
Speaker 4: I don't know, maybe I think I think I did,
Speaker 4: like imagine myself playing like sharp Over and Williams and
Speaker 4: that were they?
Speaker 2: Were they your favorite players growing up?
Speaker 4: Favorite players growing up? I mean, for sure here was
Speaker 4: such a massive influence being British, But I think just
Speaker 4: like just all of them, all the great like love
Speaker 4: watching them play and how lucky are we that we've
Speaker 4: got to got to witness that? Right?
Speaker 2: Did you did you ever attend Wimbledon as a fan
Speaker 2: when you were growing up.
Speaker 4: I think I went a couple of times. I can't
Speaker 4: remember exactly how many. So you watch sharp over Djokovic.
Speaker 4: I think we've got to see Roger as well. I mean,
Speaker 4: just just talking about it now brings back great memories. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I went a few times and my dad would always
Speaker 4: be like, oh, like, don't just watch the ball, like
Speaker 4: watch their footwork, look at how they move, look at
Speaker 4: what they're doing in between the points, their body language,
Speaker 4: and it's it's such a nice day out Wimbledon, Like
Speaker 4: I would recommend it to anyone.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, it's an absolute privilege, isn't it.
Speaker 2: Your tennis journey and also your life journey took you
Speaker 2: to Taiwan for quite a few years.
Speaker 3: Tell me what were those years like for you.
Speaker 4: I think those years in Taiwan really shaped who I
Speaker 4: am and now, and they were not the foundation of
Speaker 4: me playing tennis because I picked up a racket in
Speaker 4: the UK, but it's really the reason that I did
Speaker 4: keep playing and eventually turned professional. Tennis is such an
Speaker 4: affordable sport over there, and I was lucky enough to
Speaker 4: be in a school that had ten clay courts across
Speaker 4: the road, so played loads of tennis and I mean,
Speaker 4: we didn't go. We didn't go for the tennis. We
Speaker 4: went well. So I have two little brothers and my
Speaker 4: parents were like, we think it's a good time for
Speaker 4: you to understand your mother's culture and try and learn
Speaker 4: the language. So they decided to move us over there
Speaker 4: and I ended up staying for eight years to finish
Speaker 4: high school.
Speaker 3: What was behind that?
Speaker 2: Was it sort of the staying on which I understand
Speaker 2: your family went back to the UK.
Speaker 3: So I was at the school Factor.
Speaker 4: School Factor, Yeah, so I would also started receiving financial
Speaker 4: support from the federation and from my school as well.
Speaker 4: But part of that, so part of that was I
Speaker 4: had to play in the national league for the school,
Speaker 4: and I was just having a really good time, like
Speaker 4: all my friends were there and I really wanted to stay.
Speaker 4: So I persuaded my parents to let me stay and
Speaker 4: they did so I left Taiwan when I was around eighteen.
Speaker 2: I think, yeah, wow, that's a that's a big decision
Speaker 2: to make when you're when you're so young. You know,
Speaker 2: tennis and life, I guess is full of sliding door moments.
Speaker 2: Do you ever sort of stop and think about, you know,
Speaker 2: it had different or would it be different if you'd
Speaker 2: gone back to the UK.
Speaker 4: At the same time, I feel like I wouldn't have
Speaker 4: carried on playing. I maybe would have played tennis for fun.
Speaker 4: I probably would have gone to UNI and just played
Speaker 4: once or twice a week. So so yeah, I have
Speaker 4: thought about it before, and so I'm very happy that
Speaker 4: I stayed.
Speaker 1: You've talked a bit about how your dad said that
Speaker 1: the like how great tennis was all the facilities were
Speaker 1: in the Netherlands. But then you've also talked about how
Speaker 1: in Taiwan you've got like free access to courts, but
Speaker 1: then in the UK you've got that access to grass
Speaker 1: and that's the hope of Wimbledon. So what has it
Speaker 1: been like? I guess your tennis story has been shaped
Speaker 1: by those three different countries in a way, Like what
Speaker 1: is are they more similar than we think? Or are
Speaker 1: there distinct things about each of them? And you know
Speaker 1: that I don't know whether you prefer one or the
Speaker 1: other or that have helped shape you as a player.
Speaker 4: I think all three have the pros and cons, and
Speaker 4: I've been lucky enough to kind of like take the
Speaker 4: benefits from all three three places. Like the coaching culture
Speaker 4: in Taiwan is completely different to to what it is
Speaker 4: in the UK, especially when I was a kid, coaches
Speaker 4: were very strict and very tough on us, but tennis
Speaker 4: was so affordable, But it was the mindset was a
Speaker 4: bit fixed, and I'd say like in the UK and
Speaker 4: in the Netherlands, it's sorry. In the UK it's it's
Speaker 4: more kind of open, like you have coaches telling kids, yeah,
Speaker 4: you're you're capable, you can do this, and I think
Speaker 4: the the emphasis is more on like fun and player development,
Speaker 4: whereas over in Taiwan it was all about getting good
Speaker 4: and working hard and training hard. So I think that's
Speaker 4: kind of like what I struggled with in Taiwan was
Speaker 4: how tough the coaches were on us because we've got
Speaker 4: like loads of physical punishments and and that kind of stuff.
Speaker 4: But tennis was so accessible over there. It's it's it's
Speaker 4: basically free and the weather is good all year round
Speaker 4: so you don't have to play indoors. And in the
Speaker 4: UK it's and I think in the Netherlands as well,
Speaker 4: it's just it's more like based around fun. So yeah,
Speaker 4: I've been lucky enough to have both of those, both
Speaker 4: of those elements.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you also said something quite profound in your BBC
Speaker 1: interview about about your dad, you said he was your coach,
Speaker 1: but that your relationship got a bit broken as a
Speaker 1: result of that. And so what what was that like
Speaker 1: to kind of shift away into a different coaching setup
Speaker 1: and what what is your coaching setup and the people
Speaker 1: around you?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 1: Who's in who's in your team?
Speaker 4: It was difficult. I remember the conversation that we had
Speaker 4: when I told him, like, I don't think this is
Speaker 4: going to work anymore, and I could see he was
Speaker 4: so upset. It was difficult. Yeah, we just every session
Speaker 4: would end up like with with with us having an argument.
Speaker 1: And like that sounds kind of common though.
Speaker 4: It's rather common. But yeah, we couldn't get any work
Speaker 4: done on court, like you know, like the like the
Speaker 4: ballhopper would be thrown and like the balls would go
Speaker 4: all over the court and I'd had to walk home.
Speaker 4: We just we just but we wouldn't talk, and then
Speaker 4: that would upset my mom as well. So I think
Speaker 4: it was good we stopped. And so my setup now
Speaker 4: is I just I work with my Dutch coach privately.
Speaker 4: We in winter, we train in this little barn. There's
Speaker 4: like a farm with a little barn that has two
Speaker 4: indoor courts we trained there. Yeah, it's really cute. The
Speaker 4: club level in the Netherlands is great, so like basic
Speaker 4: club players like they can give me a good game,
Speaker 4: so there are plenty of people to hit with and
Speaker 4: I have my physio who's also my SNC coach. So
Speaker 4: it's quite a cute little setup.
Speaker 2: That farm sounds divine any animals.
Speaker 4: I think it's flower farm.
Speaker 3: Was so really lovely.
Speaker 2: You had an amazing start to this year you won
Speaker 2: the Canberra Challenger, which also followed a great end to
Speaker 2: last year when you reached the Chennai semi finals and
Speaker 2: had that fantastic match against Kim Birell. What was clicking
Speaker 2: for you so well at that.
Speaker 4: Point it seems like quite a while ago now think
Speaker 4: I was just I was just focusing on the stuff
Speaker 4: that my coach has set me out to do and
Speaker 4: not really worrying about the result. I was more focused
Speaker 4: on my own attitude on the court and trying to
Speaker 4: play good tennis. So Chennai was the last tournament of
Speaker 4: the year, and I'm sure all of us were feeling
Speaker 4: burnt out. I certainly was. I'd been on the road
Speaker 4: for ten weeks and was by myself more than half
Speaker 4: of those weeks, so I really wanted to go home,
Speaker 4: but that kind of took the pressure off the result
Speaker 4: because I was like, well, if I win, great, If
Speaker 4: I lose, I can go home. But my so and
Speaker 4: I think that that kind of brought out some really
Speaker 4: good tennis as well. Like I was hitting the ball
Speaker 4: quite freely, and I have i'd say I have a
Speaker 4: kind of a big game, like I play aggressively. So
Speaker 4: I was hitting a big serve, hitting some big groundstrokes
Speaker 4: and then managed to shring a few wins together. And
Speaker 4: I think that even though there was a big gap
Speaker 4: between that tournament and camera, that momentum kind of stayed
Speaker 4: with me. And but I think one thing, one thing
Speaker 4: I've found, and I'm not sure if it's just coincidence
Speaker 4: or it really is a factor that I play well
Speaker 4: when I make connections with people from this tournament. So
Speaker 4: in Chennai, like I did like this Kid's clinic, and
Speaker 4: some of the girls from the clinic actually warmed me
Speaker 4: up for my my matches in my later rounds and
Speaker 4: I kind of got to know them and so ended
Speaker 4: up having a good time. And the same goes for Canberra,
Speaker 4: like I got to meet some really cool people there
Speaker 4: and really enjoyed it. And I think when you enjoy
Speaker 4: the tournament, it just makes you play better.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. And speaking of connections, we
Speaker 1: actually had Kim Burrell on our podcast quite recently, just
Speaker 1: a month or two ago, and we talked about that
Speaker 1: Chennai match because she went on to make the final
Speaker 1: and that was a great result for her. But she
Speaker 1: specifically said about you that you were a very lovely
Speaker 1: person and that was like a great moment and match
Speaker 1: that you shared. So how nice is it to kind of,
Speaker 1: I guess have those connections with other players And who
Speaker 1: were some of the other players that you have connections
Speaker 1: with on tour?
Speaker 4: Yeah? That was that match was that was an insane
Speaker 4: match and it was wild as wild and Kim is
Speaker 4: so lovely and she was was she was the best,
Speaker 4: Like she won the I think she won the Sportsmanship
Speaker 4: awards for the tournament and like there was no one
Speaker 4: else that could be her for that that award. She
Speaker 4: was lovely like I Yeah, for anyone that doesn't know
Speaker 4: what happened, like, yeah, I was, I was cramping and
Speaker 4: had heat exhaustion and and she she kind of like
Speaker 4: ran down to my end of the court and like
Speaker 4: helped me out and stayed like just she was just
Speaker 4: so just so nice, like like in the match, like
Speaker 4: and after the match as well, like and also one
Speaker 4: thing that I don't know she mentioned, like I was
Speaker 4: so I was down the same end as her brother
Speaker 4: who was coaching her, and I was like really struggling physically,
Speaker 4: and like he was encouraging me. He was like like,
Speaker 4: come on, like you've got there. She's okay, You're doing fine,
Speaker 4: Like just breathe. And when have you ever like when
Speaker 4: would you ever hear something like that happen?
Speaker 1: No, I've never heard of didn't. I did not know,
Speaker 1: And that's that's unbelievable.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's yeah, she's lovely and yeah, very I mean,
Speaker 4: I would have loved to won the match, but I'm
Speaker 4: still I'm happy for her to have to have, yeah,
Speaker 4: to have won it as well. And speaking of connections,
Speaker 4: I think it's a bit difficult to kind of make
Speaker 4: like I certainly don't have that many like best friends
Speaker 4: on tour. There are a few girls that that I'm
Speaker 4: that I'm quite well, i'd say close with, but there
Speaker 4: are there are loads of girls that you just get
Speaker 4: on with. And I think in the end of the day,
Speaker 4: like we're all we all know that we're doing the
Speaker 4: same thing, and we're the only people that can like
Speaker 4: kind of relate to each other with what we do.
Speaker 4: So hopefully by the end of all of our careers
Speaker 4: we can we can stay connected and kind of appreciate
Speaker 4: what what we did.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. You also alluded to it
Speaker 1: earlier in the chat that you had probably pushed on
Speaker 1: through an injury that you shouldn't have after leaving Australia,
Speaker 1: And I mean, yeah, you you've only played I think
Speaker 1: eight or nine tournaments this year, and there was a
Speaker 1: two month period where you didn't have any activity after
Speaker 1: Indian World. So what what have what have the last
Speaker 1: couple of weeks and months been like for you? On
Speaker 1: two What have you been I guess managing.
Speaker 4: I've been managing the seap injury that just didn't I
Speaker 4: didn't go away because I was playing on it and
Speaker 4: then I made it worse, which is I'm sure a
Speaker 4: lot of players are guilty of doing that. So yeah,
Speaker 4: it was. It was. It was frustrating because I a
Speaker 4: couple of times I felt things were going really well
Speaker 4: and that I could be playing again soon and then
Speaker 4: I had a set back again. I was a bit
Speaker 4: upset and kind of it was sort of shortly after
Speaker 4: the one point slam where I mentioned earlier. I was
Speaker 4: feeling a bit well down about that like as well.
Speaker 4: So it kind of hit me a bit harder than
Speaker 4: most injuries would, I think. But but I'm managing it
Speaker 4: now and I've been okay for the past month, so
Speaker 4: hopefully it stays this way. And I know if I
Speaker 4: keep if I keep putting in the work off the
Speaker 4: court physically, it'll get better.
Speaker 2: Yeah, is there sort of anything that you did to
Speaker 2: get yourself out of that kind of I don't know,
Speaker 2: difficult period, Like did you take a break.
Speaker 3: Or what do you do in that situation?
Speaker 4: I wasn't really able to take a break, I think
Speaker 4: because I I was still training. I was still capable
Speaker 4: of doing some stuff on court with the injury. So
Speaker 4: we're still training every single day. I think just getting
Speaker 4: out and playing matches again help the most. So from
Speaker 4: playing my first tournament back to roll in Gowers, and
Speaker 4: then once you get into that that momentum of playing
Speaker 4: every single week and playing matches and you know the
Speaker 4: next week there's another tournament to play, So what happens
Speaker 4: this week doesn't really matter so much anymore that that
Speaker 4: really helps, whereas if you have such a long period
Speaker 4: where you don't play well. I personally was sort of
Speaker 4: thinking about the last matches that I played, which I lost,
Speaker 4: and so it definitely helps, and it helped me to
Speaker 4: have those tournaments in my mind.
Speaker 1: You also said in the BBC interview that your goal
Speaker 1: is top one hundred. You made a really interesting observation
Speaker 1: that at the time of the interview you or about
Speaker 1: one twenty in the world, and that it was a
Speaker 1: bigger gap from one twenty to one hundred than it
Speaker 1: is from say two hundred to one twenty. I thought
Speaker 1: that was really interesting, and I wondered, why is that
Speaker 1: gap harder to close and what do you need to do?
Speaker 1: What would you see as that bridging that gap from
Speaker 1: one twenty to one hundred.
Speaker 4: Just to get to that top hundred from where I was,
Speaker 4: I really needed to something in my gain needed to
Speaker 4: get better, like I really, you really need to have
Speaker 4: the skill set and the ability to win those matches.
Speaker 4: You can't just go and pick a couple of tournaments
Speaker 4: that might be smarter points wise, because the gap is bigger.
Speaker 4: I think like to kind of break it down, I
Speaker 4: would have needed to win a two fifty event and
Speaker 4: a one two five event. Those are so you.
Speaker 1: Actually made like mathematically it's a bigger gap. Like there's
Speaker 1: just like in terms of number literal number of points
Speaker 1: right right right, Well, yeah, that makes sense, and then
Speaker 1: you would have to win a bigger category of tournament
Speaker 1: to get there.
Speaker 4: Yes, that's right. So to win that bigger category of tournament,
Speaker 4: your game, your game just has to be good. So
Speaker 4: I think you know, the key thing was, well I
Speaker 4: was staying healthy is one thing, but just playing playing
Speaker 4: that game that I want to develop in the game
Speaker 4: that I think will get me to top hundred in
Speaker 4: my matches.
Speaker 1: So that's yeah, yeah, no, that makes sense, that makes sense.
Speaker 2: So many things to think about it is there? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: when you think of this year as a whole, what
Speaker 2: what does success look like for you?
Speaker 4: That the answer to that question has changed over the
Speaker 4: last few months, given what happened with my injury, And
Speaker 4: I mean the of last year, I really thought I
Speaker 4: was going to smash this year. I really thought that
Speaker 4: I would qualify it for the Slams and break into
Speaker 4: that top hundred already. But now I think, just yes,
Speaker 4: I still want to make top hundred, and I still
Speaker 4: want to qualify for Slams, which I believe I can do.
Speaker 4: Right now, I think I just want to be healthy.
Speaker 4: I want to be able to play a full year
Speaker 4: because I love playing tennis so much, and the last
Speaker 4: few months have really emphasized how much how much I
Speaker 4: do love it and how much I miss it when
Speaker 4: I can't play it. So I just I want to
Speaker 4: stay healthy and I want to stay happy, and I
Speaker 4: think if I prioritize those two things, then the results
Speaker 4: will come themselves, for sure.
Speaker 1: I like that.
Speaker 2: Attitude, and you know, it's it's so good to hear
Speaker 2: that you've sort of got your love for tennis back
Speaker 2: again with that. Does there are there any bigger dreams that.
Speaker 1: You think about or an opponent you'd like to face
Speaker 1: that you haven't before?
Speaker 4: Is another thing I think all the so well, I
Speaker 4: can't play Serena or shore Over anymore.
Speaker 1: That serenus back.
Speaker 4: Okay if I if I yeah, yeah, hopefully she stays back.
Speaker 4: That wouldn't be nice. I think, just now, just it's
Speaker 4: just and like even bigger picture point of view, like
Speaker 4: just being where I am today and being able to
Speaker 4: play Slam qualies and have a sniff of playing Grand
Speaker 4: Slam main drawers, like that's that's incredible, Like this is
Speaker 4: what I would have droomed for as a kid. And
Speaker 4: you know, I don't think I'm someone that's going to
Speaker 4: go and win a Slam, but I would. I would
Speaker 4: love to, you know, play the Slams and maybe make
Speaker 4: some deep runs there. But I just I would love
Speaker 4: to be involved with tennis and maybe do something with
Speaker 4: tennis at the end of my career. I haven't really
Speaker 4: thought about it so much, like I just, I'm just
Speaker 4: I would love to play the Slams and be able
Speaker 4: to stay there and keep playing them because they're they're
Speaker 4: amazing tournaments to play.
Speaker 2: Yeah, You've still got lots of time to do that
Speaker 2: in your career, and I'm sure you'll have many supporters
Speaker 2: along the way, including us here in Australia. So thank
Speaker 2: you so much for joining us today on the sit
Speaker 2: down and good luck.
Speaker 4: Thank you, thank you for having me, Thank you well, Matt.
Speaker 2: I really enjoy getting to know Joina Garmand a lot
Speaker 2: more and I also enjoyed, just I guess that greater
Speaker 2: understanding of both the Highs and the.
Speaker 3: Challenges of life on tours.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure, and we're really looking forward to seeing
Speaker 1: how she goes this week at Roehampton in Wimbledon qualifying.
Speaker 1: It starts today on Monday, and yeah, let's see she
Speaker 1: can achieve that dream of making the Wimbledon main.
Speaker 2: Drop and we'll be back next week with another episode
Speaker 2: of The sit Down when we bring you a special
Speaker 2: which is our best of Wimbledon. Please remember to subscribe
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Speaker 2: a rating and review.
Speaker 3: See you next week, Matt, See then, vib