Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to the sit down.
Speaker 2: I'm Viv Christy, managing editor of Australian Tennis magazine, and.
Speaker 3: I'm Brief Stewart.
Speaker 4: I'm from the AO Show.
Speaker 3: So Viv, tell me you're sitting down with Jaslyin Shewitt
Speaker 3: Shahadi this week.
Speaker 4: Tell me why and a little bit about her.
Speaker 2: Jacelin has worn so many hats in tennis, from professional
Speaker 2: playing Korea to a high performance coach, tournament director and
Speaker 2: many roles in between, and now she is the director
Speaker 2: of player Relations at the WTA Tour.
Speaker 3: Amazing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's very passionate about giving back to the sport
Speaker 2: and has some great insights for us.
Speaker 5: Jacelyin Hewitt Shahiti, thank you very much for joining us
Speaker 5: on the sit Down in studio today.
Speaker 2: How are you?
Speaker 4: I'm great. Thanks.
Speaker 6: No, it's been a nice trip down to Melbourne. Got
Speaker 6: some sunshine out here finally, so now it's always nice
Speaker 6: to come down to Melbourne and to the Tennis center here.
Speaker 2: I thought it'd be great if you could start from
Speaker 2: the very beginning, Relly and talk to us about how
Speaker 2: you first got connected into tennis.
Speaker 6: Yes, that was a very long time ago, so mum
Speaker 6: and dad after their sporting careers had finished. I'd played
Speaker 6: s ANFL in South Australia in Adelaide and came over
Speaker 6: here to Victoria and was in the VFL for a
Speaker 6: couple of years with Richmond. They took up playing tennis
Speaker 6: socially back in Adelaide at Seaside Tennis Club. So yeah,
Speaker 6: having an older brother having a court in the backyard,
Speaker 6: Mum and dad played socially, so basically started with a
Speaker 6: racket in the hand from a very young age, was
Speaker 6: always around the courts. Had some really great family memories
Speaker 6: about being at the Seaside Tennis Club every Saturday for
Speaker 6: basically morning camp and then afternoon comp. So that's pretty
Speaker 6: much where it all started. And then yeah, was blessed
Speaker 6: to go as far as I did playing so top
Speaker 6: three hundred, had some really good experiences traveling the world.
Speaker 6: Love that part of it. It's always positive when you
Speaker 6: get to take get some extra time off school and
Speaker 6: get to travel the world as well.
Speaker 4: So, yeah, we had had.
Speaker 6: A good career playing, got to three hundred, but then yeah,
Speaker 6: unfortunately broke my hand and then yeah, life takes different pathways.
Speaker 5: I don't know your dad have played for Richmond. Actually
Speaker 5: I have Varick for Richmond. So love that.
Speaker 2: You obviously do come from a very sporting family, as
Speaker 2: you say, Were there ever any other sports that competed
Speaker 2: for your attention?
Speaker 1: What did you most love about tennis?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 6: Growing up, I still remember there was a night after
Speaker 6: basketball training that was just done to get too much.
Speaker 4: So I used to play basketball. Really enjoyed that.
Speaker 6: We used to do athletics as well on a Friday night.
Speaker 6: But then, yeah, tennis started to take over by the
Speaker 6: age of twelve thirteen, started going on some international trips
Speaker 6: with Tennis Australia back in the day. So yeah, basically
Speaker 6: had to make a choice, and this is where trying
Speaker 6: to get the right amount of hours and training in.
Speaker 6: If you're going to pick one sport to make your
Speaker 6: profession or that's your goal, we kind of got to
Speaker 6: go one hundred percent in. So yeah, it was a
Speaker 6: tough decision back in the day, and I loved playing basketball,
Speaker 6: but yeah, it was probably a little bit better at tennis.
Speaker 6: Had a great coach in Peter Smith back in Adelaide,
Speaker 6: had a really great support team there. Mum and Dad
Speaker 6: were always behind us, Slayton and myself even still now,
Speaker 6: they're so supportive in our careers. So it's yeah, it's
Speaker 6: been a fantastic journey.
Speaker 2: You say it was a tough choice, but it must
Speaker 2: have felt like the right choice in the end. As
Speaker 2: you say you had a pro career, I think that
Speaker 2: went from say nineteen ninety nine to about two thousand
Speaker 2: and five.
Speaker 1: What are your favorite memories from that time.
Speaker 6: I'm not sure that the pro career was probably some
Speaker 6: of the highlights. I think it's the juniors growing up
Speaker 6: and a lot of the world junior teams that we
Speaker 6: went on on the tours that we went on. I
Speaker 6: was in the Australian Institute a sport with Craig Morris
Speaker 6: as a coach and we had a fantastic team. Then
Speaker 6: Melissa Dow, Sam Stoza, Alisha Mullik or all some of
Speaker 6: the players coming through.
Speaker 4: So I think it's the friendships.
Speaker 6: And the journeys that you go on, especially traveling back
Speaker 6: then we went away for eight, nine, ten weeks in
Speaker 6: a row with your mates, so we never came home
Speaker 6: during that block, and I think that built our resilience.
Speaker 6: Up to when I was older, I'd spend six months
Speaker 6: of the year away basically leave as soon as the
Speaker 6: Aussie summer was done, they have a couple of pro
Speaker 6: tours then in going into April, similar schedule to what's
Speaker 6: here in Australia now, and then you're in Europe until
Speaker 6: maybe October November, and then you come back. So I
Speaker 6: think those longer tours when we were juniors actually assisted
Speaker 6: us build our resilience and passion for the game, and
Speaker 6: then yeah, was able to build the career off that.
Speaker 5: In preparing for this interview, I looked at your Instagram
Speaker 5: account and there was this really nice photo of you
Speaker 5: with Elka Cleisters, and I just I have always I
Speaker 5: was wondering what that experience is like because you reference
Speaker 5: late and obviously two time major champion, world number one,
Speaker 5: as a sibling of a very famous tennis player. What
Speaker 5: is that experience like? Because there are so many tennis
Speaker 5: players like that. I've just finished reading Naomi Osaka's biography
Speaker 5: and there's a chapter dedicated to Mari Osaka, and there's
Speaker 5: Marko Jokovic and so many like what was that like
Speaker 5: for you? Because your careers overlapped.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I always find that question interesting because I actually
Speaker 6: don't know anything else. So I've always grown up. Layton
Speaker 6: was always doing well, when he was fourteen fifteen, sixteen
Speaker 6: on international tours, So when I started doing the same tours,
Speaker 6: that was exciting. When he was fifteen, he then qualified
Speaker 6: for the Yusie Open when he was sixteen, he one Adelaide,
Speaker 6: So coming from being thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, when he's doing
Speaker 6: all these things, it's yeah, I really don't know much else,
Speaker 6: but the opportunities that did provide me were fantastic. So yeah,
Speaker 6: traveling with Elka who was in a similar position with me,
Speaker 6: with her sister Kim, understanding the pressures and traveling, and.
Speaker 4: More of the spotlight.
Speaker 6: Probably being on us as we're trying to make our
Speaker 6: way through the pro tour events, so not necessarily being
Speaker 6: on the top tour there, but still working our own
Speaker 6: pathways out. But looking back at it, it is again
Speaker 6: going back to those relationships in tennis, having lateon been
Speaker 6: a strong part of the Davis Cup team, working with
Speaker 6: Nukin Roachi and that.
Speaker 4: Whole family environment.
Speaker 6: When I started working for Tennis Australia, I had one
Speaker 6: of the toughest years as the AIS Pro Tour coach
Speaker 6: on the road for about forty six weeks of the
Speaker 6: year and just yeah, but I had sand and Stolly,
Speaker 6: also Milo Bradley there, but Sandon I was always around
Speaker 6: from Davis Cup days and he was a great mentor
Speaker 6: for me on the road on during that period of time.
Speaker 6: So it's definitely a second family there within the tennis.
Speaker 5: Community, yeah, for sure. And you also alluded as well
Speaker 5: to your playing career ending with a broken hand. That's
Speaker 5: like a pretty horrific injury. And I don't actually think
Speaker 5: I knew that part of your story very well and like, yeah,
Speaker 5: what was that like to conf like how did that happen?
Speaker 5: What was that like to confront and then making that decision, Yeah,
Speaker 5: I can't play pro anymore because this is this is
Speaker 5: really tough to overcome.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 6: So I was middle Sunday of Ozzie Open. Layton was
Speaker 6: still in I was going out with my ex boyfriend
Speaker 6: Jokim Johansson, Peter Luchak, and I had just lost mixed
Speaker 6: doubles to the Black Brother and Sisters there Pimpim lost
Speaker 6: to Agacy after serving a massive amount of aces and
Speaker 6: then yeah, next minute, I've broken my hand and ended
Speaker 6: up in hospital booked for surgery the couple days later.
Speaker 6: So all bands didged up. I still remember being on
Speaker 6: center court watching Layton's matches for a couple of the
Speaker 6: second week of the AO there. But yeah, a Playton
Speaker 6: five screws in. I got told within six weeks I
Speaker 6: should be back out on the court. Unfortunately that didn't happen,
Speaker 6: and just kept playing through pain. It was kind of
Speaker 6: like this vibration sensation when I was making impact with
Speaker 6: the ball. So six months later I had the Playton
Speaker 6: screws taken out and then tried it a little bit
Speaker 6: again after that, but it just was never the same.
Speaker 6: It was affected by heat and cool and just the
Speaker 6: nerves and things were a bit a bit out of whax.
Speaker 6: So but yeah, I believe everything happens for a reason,
Speaker 6: and it was at that point that, yeah, my next
Speaker 6: career pathway in tennis began.
Speaker 1: But you have worn a lot of hats in tennis.
Speaker 2: You've been pro player, high performance coach, personal trainer, massage therapists.
Speaker 1: Tournament.
Speaker 2: Player welfare, broadcasting, You've worked in the women and girls space,
Speaker 2: and now player relations. Is there any one area that
Speaker 2: stands out for you the.
Speaker 4: Mist No, I think it's all.
Speaker 6: It's all played a massive component into where I am today.
Speaker 6: So it's all contributed to probably each area in each
Speaker 6: stage of my own development building myself up to be
Speaker 6: a business woman, was what was the next thing or
Speaker 6: what was the next area that I could then evolve
Speaker 6: or improve my current place of work.
Speaker 4: So within my initial role.
Speaker 6: In Adelaide, I got the role as the high performance
Speaker 6: strength conditioning coach, then having to upskill myself as a
Speaker 6: tennis coach with Rowan Fisher down there, so that then
Speaker 6: built in the and was able to get the manager
Speaker 6: role in Sydney with Sandon.
Speaker 4: Was that two thousand and nine.
Speaker 6: So it's everything seems to evolve and keep building, and
Speaker 6: it was probably my passion to actually give back and continue.
Speaker 4: To improve.
Speaker 6: What services or offerings were out for me then as
Speaker 6: a player and then also as a coach, And that's
Speaker 6: one thing I'm really excited about the role that I'm
Speaker 6: in now with the WTA and also the coach Inclusion
Speaker 6: program that we've launched and partnered with Tennis Australia for.
Speaker 2: Did you ever imagine that tennis would open so many
Speaker 2: doors for you?
Speaker 6: No, to be honest, when I stopped playing, I didn't
Speaker 6: pick up a racket for twelve months, so I didn't
Speaker 6: really want much to do with the sport. I wanted
Speaker 6: to create my own pathway within that. But yeah, after
Speaker 6: twelve months, I felt I had some really good people
Speaker 6: that gave back to me in being really good hitters
Speaker 6: for me, Louise Stacey and Luke Smith, Brett Smith back
Speaker 6: in the day in Adelaide and that's where I just
Speaker 6: walked into tennis to SA and I said, if you
Speaker 6: need a hitter, I'm more than happy to jump on court.
Speaker 4: They go, what have you done?
Speaker 6: And then my strength and conditioning background was able to
Speaker 6: open up a door there and the rest is pretty
Speaker 6: much history.
Speaker 1: So fantastic.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that is fantastic and the progression that you've gone
Speaker 5: into now which I find interesting. So working for the WTA,
Speaker 5: your previous roles have all been with like TA or
Speaker 5: SA in New South Wales. So what's it like shifting
Speaker 5: to more of an international tennis lens than just an
Speaker 5: Aussie tennis lens.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 6: Probably working with the National Academy in New South Wales,
Speaker 6: we did have a strong focus on being an international
Speaker 6: level of player and what we wanted that to look like,
Speaker 6: and we've been able to reap the rewards of that
Speaker 6: with all the New South Wales guys in the top
Speaker 6: of the top one hundred now, which has been fantastic.
Speaker 6: So we always had an international focus or best of
Speaker 6: practice focus for what we wanted to do.
Speaker 2: So.
Speaker 4: It's nice for me.
Speaker 6: It's probably more so the international travel and that level
Speaker 6: of tournament versus necessarily what that focus of the international
Speaker 6: level was.
Speaker 5: And so yeah, speaking of that, you were telling us
Speaker 5: before we started that it's mainly based. You're based in Sydney,
Speaker 5: mainly in Australia, but there is a big travel component,
Speaker 5: so yeah, what is the what will you be doing
Speaker 5: in play relations at the WTA, Yes.
Speaker 6: So traveling about three months of the year to various tournaments.
Speaker 6: Player relations has a large broad scope from making sure
Speaker 6: that the players are well looked after. The WTA was
Speaker 6: actually created by the players for the players, So we
Speaker 6: have a lot of player Council meetings and feedback that
Speaker 6: we receive from the players that we then look to
Speaker 6: execute to continue to improve what the tour looks like
Speaker 6: for them.
Speaker 4: So that varies.
Speaker 6: Every day is different, depends on what the demands is,
Speaker 6: depends on the amount of staff that we can have
Speaker 6: there on site. Kind of got to be a jack
Speaker 6: of all trades.
Speaker 4: You might be.
Speaker 6: Working with marketing and media one day, you might be
Speaker 6: then working with the coaches another day. So part of
Speaker 6: my role is also the working with the coaches program,
Speaker 6: so other than the accredited coaches, Yeah, trying to really
Speaker 6: build on our female coaching network out there on the tour,
Speaker 6: just because there are so many challenges and barriers for
Speaker 6: females to get on the tour in the first place.
Speaker 5: So yeah, well that follows into the next question perfectly.
Speaker 5: So this WTA Coach Inclusion program you referred to before,
Speaker 5: something obviously that is very important to you and you're
Speaker 5: passionate about. So why is this and maybe you could
Speaker 5: talk a little bit about what that program will bring.
Speaker 6: Yeah, so it probably for me I'm passionate about is
Speaker 6: having a good role model, a mentor. When I was
Speaker 6: coming up and having more females coaching and on the
Speaker 6: tour as a high performance coach myself, it has been
Speaker 6: a challenge raising two boys and being a player development coach,
Speaker 6: so that is always a challenge. But this role, we
Speaker 6: are providing great mentorship for the players sorry for the coaches,
Speaker 6: where we will then partner the coaches up with pro
Speaker 6: tour coaches that are already out there it's a great
Speaker 6: opportunity for them to build their network, and that's one thing.
Speaker 6: The main barrier that we find is a lot of
Speaker 6: players will have a hitting partner that will organically grow
Speaker 6: into that relationship and then have that next step. Unfortunately,
Speaker 6: we don't necessarily see enough hitting partners out there being females.
Speaker 6: So it's how do we then create that network and
Speaker 6: environment for our female coaches to be in and around
Speaker 6: and get their knowledge analytical skills. How they then relate
Speaker 6: to the player, which is one thing we're finding is
Speaker 6: very strong with a lot of the female players is
Speaker 6: they're finding that female coaches are actually relating to them
Speaker 6: a lot stronger.
Speaker 2: Do you think that tennis is becoming somewhere that more
Speaker 2: female coaches can thrive.
Speaker 6: Definitely, But I think it also depends on the stage
Speaker 6: of the coach's life and journey, and that was definitely
Speaker 6: one challenge for myself, even staying in working for Tennis
Speaker 6: Australia and being on court until late in the evenings
Speaker 6: and trying to come home and put your family and kids.
Speaker 4: To sleep at nine o'clock at night. So I do
Speaker 4: understand that the role.
Speaker 6: Does have the demands on it, but it is a
Speaker 6: very inclusive place to work. We do have This year,
Speaker 6: we've got five female coaches are coaching top fifty players
Speaker 6: in the world, whereas you look back a couple of
Speaker 6: years we only had five female coaching coaches coaching top
Speaker 6: one hundred and fifty players in the world. So that
Speaker 6: top end and where we're wanting to see it. This
Speaker 6: program has had some really great success. I've had about
Speaker 6: twenty applicants come through the North American program. We've had
Speaker 6: two seasons of that. They're just about to start their
Speaker 6: third third round of the North American Swing. We've got
Speaker 6: the Tennis Australia program that we'll launch in Hong Kong
Speaker 6: at the two fifty, which will be fantastic, so working
Speaker 6: with Nicole Pratt and Belinda Culinari there that will be
Speaker 6: delivering this as part as the Women's and Girls Initiative
Speaker 6: from Tennis Australia. So it's great to have that collaboration
Speaker 6: and support with Tennis Australia and the WTA both coming together.
Speaker 6: We've also got one kicking off early December in London
Speaker 6: with the LTA as well, so looking to try to
Speaker 6: cover the globe with this initiative. And yeah, we've got
Speaker 6: a few coaches that have come through the program and
Speaker 6: our Billy Jinkin Cup captains, so we've got some really
Speaker 6: good success stories out there from it.
Speaker 2: You mentioned earlier that women players respond really well to
Speaker 2: having a women's coach. What are the differences between sort
Speaker 2: of coaching a female player and a male player do
Speaker 2: you think?
Speaker 6: I don't think there's much differences for coaching a female
Speaker 6: or a male. I probably think it's the way that
Speaker 6: the coach handles the situation with the female player. I
Speaker 6: think the emotions of what a female player and how
Speaker 6: they handle their emotions there, and how that coach is
Speaker 6: then reacting to that.
Speaker 4: I think that can probably be.
Speaker 6: Misunderstood in some relationships that it's just always put down, oh,
Speaker 6: she's emotional or she's this, whereas some days the player
Speaker 6: may just prefer to have a training day, may have
Speaker 6: a day off, may have other areas. And I think
Speaker 6: it's that understanding of the whole player themselves that probably
Speaker 6: the female co which is more willing to dive deeper
Speaker 6: into and yeah, emotions are scary and having those deep conversations,
Speaker 6: especially for tennis coaches when you're not necessarily taught a
Speaker 6: psych degree on how to handle those. I think it's
Speaker 6: probably the empathy or the maternal instinct that females and
Speaker 6: female coaches have that they can really connect better. Who
Speaker 6: are some of the coaches that you look back on
Speaker 6: with great fondness or really motivated you or inspired you?
Speaker 6: For me, I was always surrounded by male coaches. So
Speaker 6: the one hitter that I did have and she was fantastic,
Speaker 6: it was Louise Stacy. So she played OSIO Open Juniors,
Speaker 6: tried on the tour for a little bit as well,
Speaker 6: so as a female mentor, I did have her around.
Speaker 6: But for me, probably my main two coaches that I
Speaker 6: really clicked with were Peter Smith from a very young
Speaker 6: age as well as Craig Morris during my years with AIS.
Speaker 6: So I think both the way that those two went
Speaker 6: about their coaching was actually understanding you and giving you
Speaker 6: that full holistic development with how they're handling you and
Speaker 6: how they're how.
Speaker 4: You're learning as a person.
Speaker 6: So yeah, I don't think it's it's black and white
Speaker 6: that males can't can't do a really good job, but
Speaker 6: I think that that connection between the player and the
Speaker 6: coach really has to be strong, of.
Speaker 5: Course, and I think we've seen that. Actually it was
Speaker 5: Costchuk that's been talking about since she moved to working
Speaker 5: with Sandra Zanievska. Yes, exactly what you said about just
Speaker 5: having those conversations and relating. Just Sandra gets her in
Speaker 5: a way that maybe a male coach didn't, and not
Speaker 5: that the male coaches were bad, it's just a different relationship.
Speaker 5: But she's also having her career best year, so you know,
Speaker 5: maybe that works for her so.
Speaker 6: Exactly, And that's that's one thing that Marta. Marta and
Speaker 6: Sandra have been fantastic within this program. So when we've
Speaker 6: had the coaches in the fine stages of the program,
Speaker 6: they will partner up with a touring coach and we've
Speaker 6: had some of our coaches partner with Sandra and then
Speaker 6: been privileged to have some insights from Martyr as well.
Speaker 6: And that's definitely one thing that was spoken very openly about,
Speaker 6: is that relationship and understanding of the athlete.
Speaker 5: Now, if you've asked you about which coaches you enjoyed
Speaker 5: working with, we also know that you worked with players,
Speaker 5: and you alluded to before a lot of the players
Speaker 5: coming through New South Wales have gone on to great things.
Speaker 5: Who were some of your favorite players to guide and
Speaker 5: coach and some of those great relationships you've had.
Speaker 6: Yeah, probably my main strongest relationship would have been with
Speaker 6: Gabby DESILVERFK. So she's around four hundred now in the
Speaker 6: world WTA had some injuries up and down the last
Speaker 6: couple of years, but yeah, the last six months really
Speaker 6: starting to step it up. So working with her day in,
Speaker 6: day out, the commitment from the family, it is that
Speaker 6: whole holistic relationship that you build with the family because
Speaker 6: there's they're trusting so much of you as a coach,
Speaker 6: the amount of our that you're with their son or daughter.
Speaker 6: But yeah, working with Gabby has been very rewarding for
Speaker 6: me and to see where she's still continuing to go.
Speaker 6: Also had some great trips with Olivia Gadeki and Annlie
Speaker 6: Paulus and Tina Smith. So yeah, it's been fantastic to
Speaker 6: see how it lives done in the last.
Speaker 5: Time the woman of the hour, isn't she exactly.
Speaker 6: So no, so proud of her to see where she
Speaker 6: is now, so taking some time off to reset herself
Speaker 6: and now watching her sore is just fantastic to see.
Speaker 5: Now. I guess you stayed so connected with the game
Speaker 5: even since you stopped playing yourself, which was two thousand
Speaker 5: and five, and in that time since then, how do
Speaker 5: you see women's tennis having kind of progressed? I guess
Speaker 5: we're in this we're in an ear and now A
Speaker 5: lot of people we talk to say like, it's never
Speaker 5: been more It's never been more physical and powerful. There
Speaker 5: is an incredible depth in the sp that maybe we've
Speaker 5: never seen before. We've got some players emerging that like
Speaker 5: Eager and Arena, they've won like five slams and three slams. Like,
Speaker 5: what do you when you watch women's centers now and
Speaker 5: you're actually involved with the tool, what do you think
Speaker 5: of the current state of women's tennis.
Speaker 6: It's very impressive where it's at the moment watching as
Speaker 6: you touched on the physicality of the players is Yeah,
Speaker 6: it's just improved in light years over the last a
Speaker 6: decade or so, and I think it continues to the
Speaker 6: amount of data and information that the coaches are getting
Speaker 6: to continue to improve and tweak. I think the sports
Speaker 6: science part of the coach and the whole team within
Speaker 6: that environment, Yeah, it just continues to help getting that
Speaker 6: player fitter, stronger. It's they're impressive athletes out there and
Speaker 6: walking around at the tournaments. I actually in Australia, I
Speaker 6: feel like at the shops I'm decent height. I actually
Speaker 6: feel very short I'm walking around the tour, so these
Speaker 6: women are like, yeah, another foot taller than me.
Speaker 4: It's just ridiculous.
Speaker 6: So no, definitely the physicality, but I think technology also
Speaker 6: plays a massive part in that as well.
Speaker 2: Sure you alluded to it earlier, but the current state
Speaker 2: of Australian tennis, what do you make of it, and
Speaker 2: especially the promising crop of young women.
Speaker 6: Yes, I'm always proud to look at a program when
Speaker 6: we had the National Academy in New South Wales and
Speaker 6: what we were able to achieve there. We had a
Speaker 6: great bunch of coaches there that were dedicated the culture
Speaker 6: blue wool tennis culture that we have installed, that was
Speaker 6: led by Demon back in the day when he was around.
Speaker 6: And yeah, watching all of those guys, I love giving
Speaker 6: Layton a little bit of a nudge that most of
Speaker 6: his Davis Cup team did come from New South Wales
Speaker 6: and also that Cruz is a New South Wales boy
Speaker 6: as well. So no, it's fantastic to see them do
Speaker 6: so well. But it's not just the ones that are
Speaker 6: out on the tour that were able to make that transition.
Speaker 6: We've had so many great athletes and also people that
Speaker 6: have come through the program. So the ones that have
Speaker 6: gone to US College, unfortunately a handful or a lot
Speaker 6: of those have actually stayed over in the college and coaching,
Speaker 6: So we're missing out on that talent that was homegrown
Speaker 6: and they've had a great opportunity. No hex fees go
Speaker 6: to college, and then we've got some that have stayed there.
Speaker 6: We've got others that are lawyers in Sydney. So it's
Speaker 6: really impressive to see where where tennis can take you
Speaker 6: and the opportunities that it can provide. And yes, we
Speaker 6: definitely celebrate the guys that are up there on the top,
Speaker 6: but there's a lot of different pathways and I think
Speaker 6: probably my journey speaks to that.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I just have to throw in one last question.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry listening to you talk. The thing that strikes
Speaker 2: me the mist as much as tennis is an individual sport,
Speaker 2: it's been all about the team for you and everything
Speaker 2: that comes back to So is that one of the
Speaker 2: great fallacies of tennis that it's such an individual sport?
Speaker 2: I think it definitely it is an individual sport. I
Speaker 2: would say until you're about fourteen and under, and then
Speaker 2: you start to really work out who your good mates
Speaker 2: are on the court. You're able to travel the world,
Speaker 2: you're all in the same position together.
Speaker 4: You might be slumming it in hotel rooms.
Speaker 6: I think you have a lot of story about the
Speaker 6: Challenger guys and sleeping in cars and those sorts of things,
Speaker 6: but they're the memories that also make it as well.
Speaker 4: YEA, so it is. Yeah.
Speaker 6: I always refer to it as a tennis family, and
Speaker 6: I do strongly believe that that was probably instilled in
Speaker 6: in myself through Leyton and through the Davis Cup team,
Speaker 6: because the way that Nuke and Roach were always looking
Speaker 6: after those boys, and the way that Layton looks after
Speaker 6: that next generation with the Orange Boys, how he had
Speaker 6: Hayden Jones and Charlie Camu the last few years Ringe
Speaker 6: boys really building what that environment is and what that
Speaker 6: culture is. And I think if that's led from the
Speaker 6: top with the Davis Cup team and that always filtered
Speaker 6: down with us.
Speaker 1: Well, it's been great hearing about your experiences. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much for joining us.
Speaker 5: Worries, good luck with the next part of your career.
Speaker 5: This new move into the WT and the women's coaching space.
Speaker 5: It's awesome and look forward to seeing what happens there.
Speaker 4: Thank you. Yes, it's very exciting.
Speaker 6: I'm looking forward to Hong Kong and kicking it off
Speaker 6: there before we get to wrap it up during the
Speaker 6: Aussie Open.
Speaker 3: So viv Jaslyn just finished on talking about how tennis
Speaker 3: becomes such a family, such a community, and I think
Speaker 3: that's one of the things I get out of the
Speaker 3: most when I talk to tennis players, how much of
Speaker 3: a community feel this sport can be. It's obvious that
Speaker 3: her and Laden grew up in a very very sports
Speaker 3: centric family, so I guess that that family aspect is
Speaker 3: just ingrained in everything they do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting that she said that she has never
Speaker 2: known anything else other than growing up as Leyton's sister,
Speaker 2: which obviously created some pressure for her, but she used
Speaker 2: it in a really positive way. And yeah, I love
Speaker 2: the fact that she talks about how relationships are everything
Speaker 2: to her in tennis.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you'd need it to be. And Jaslyn said
Speaker 3: that some of her main inspirations in terms of females
Speaker 3: in Australia were Alisha Moley Can, Sam Stoza, We obviously
Speaker 3: know that they're amazingly phenomenal athletes and players. So for Jaslyn,
Speaker 3: what do you think the main kind of element of
Speaker 3: their personalities is why she was so inspired by them?
Speaker 2: I think it was what we were actually just talking about,
Speaker 2: that they are real team players and she got to
Speaker 2: spend time with them in a team environment.
Speaker 4: I love it.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: You know, she's passionate about giving opportunity opportunities to women
Speaker 2: in tennis, so yeah, really positive person to have around.
Speaker 3: Is this actually kind of like just the next step
Speaker 3: for her and her career going into the WTA.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, And she talks a lot about how every role
Speaker 2: she's taken something, She's learned something in every role and
Speaker 2: taken it into the next role. One of her past
Speaker 2: roles at Tennis Australia is in the women and girls' space,
Speaker 2: and now she has such a great opportunity to further
Speaker 2: influence that in a really positive way.
Speaker 4: That's really exciting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's definitely exciting. And we'll be back next week
Speaker 2: with another episode of the sit Down. In the meantime,
Speaker 2: you can tune into John and the Team on The
Speaker 2: AO Show weekly on Thursday. Details for how to contact
Speaker 2: us are in the show notes. Remember to subscribe, rate, and.
Speaker 3: Review, and Matt will be back with you next week.
Speaker 2: How exciting is exciting, But thanks for joining us.
Speaker 3: Brice, You're welcome anytime.