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

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Speaker 1: I'm Matt Trolope, a writer and editor for oz open

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Speaker 1: dot com.

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Speaker 2: And I'm Viv Christie, Managing editor for Australian Tennis Magazine.

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Speaker 1: And Viv why are we sitting down this week with

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Speaker 1: Lerner ten.

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Speaker 2: Well, Matt, there was a phrase that we heard often

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Speaker 2: during the Australian summer, which is that everybody loves Learner

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Speaker 2: and there's a reason for that. He's one of the

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Speaker 2: game's most exciting young stars. And yeah, we got to

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Speaker 2: catch up with him and discovered a very grounded young

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Speaker 2: man but who is also not afraid or actually loves

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Speaker 2: a big occasion.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, he actually joined us in Pod Labor Arena early

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Speaker 1: in the Australian Open this year. But it was Australian

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Speaker 1: Open twenty twenty five when he kind of burst onto

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Speaker 1: the scene and we learned about him with that incredible

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Speaker 1: five set late night win against Danil Medvedev. And what

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Speaker 1: was funny in twenty twenty six is they played again

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Speaker 1: and he won again and got through to his first

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Speaker 1: Grand Slam quarterfinal, and I mean, just an incredible upward trend.

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Speaker 1: He's continued it now and he's into the top twenty

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Speaker 1: five and going from strength to strength.

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Speaker 3: Let's see what he has to say.

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Speaker 2: Lena Tienne, thank you for joining us on the sit

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Speaker 2: down here at Podlova Arena.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, thanks for having me.

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Speaker 1: You said, it feels quite official to be in a

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Speaker 1: podcast studio like this. How many podcasts have you done?

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Speaker 4: This is my second. I usually say, now.

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Speaker 1: Why do you say no? And why did you say

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Speaker 1: yes to us?

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Speaker 2: Ah?

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Speaker 4: I just felt this obligation to do it today, just

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Speaker 4: you know, landed in a soft place in my home.

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Speaker 1: Oh that's excellent. Now, I believe you chatted to Viv

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Speaker 1: in Brisbane? Is that right? I did? Do you remember

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Speaker 1: the journalists and the reporters you speak to? You've remembered Viv.

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Speaker 4: I remember we went out on this terrace on the

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Speaker 4: balcony little like high chairityable.

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Speaker 2: It was quite a strange table and I was really

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Speaker 2: busy that day. I was literally running from place to

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Speaker 2: place and I think I almost fell over as I

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Speaker 2: was getting to you. So yeah, I probably made it

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Speaker 2: quite memorable. I'm sure you went home and I've met

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Speaker 2: this strange lady.

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Speaker 1: Well, this is the site of your grand slam breakthrough. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: when you made the fourth round at the Australian Open

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Speaker 1: last year, so what's it like to be back at

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Speaker 1: Melbourne Park?

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Speaker 4: Super special? I mean, I've had a tough one first round,

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Speaker 4: so I'm glad I've kind of been able to work

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Speaker 4: my way into the tournament a little bit. But just

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Speaker 4: in general being backed, I mean, so many great memories.

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Speaker 4: You know, crowd support has always been amazing here. You know,

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Speaker 4: people are just so into the tennis and they just

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Speaker 4: really love it. So I mean, it's super fun to

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Speaker 4: play hair super special for me to come back, for sure.

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Speaker 2: Seated at a Grand Slam for the first time here

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Speaker 2: in Melbourne.

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Speaker 3: What was the feeling.

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Speaker 2: Is it sort of one of confidence or do you

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Speaker 2: feel any added pressure coming in with the seating.

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Speaker 4: I didn't feel any more pressure than usual. I came

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Speaker 4: out for my first round match and I was very

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Speaker 4: nervous actually, once I stepped on court, which I didn't

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Speaker 4: really expect. It was kind of just random. It just

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Speaker 4: hit me during the match before you know, I went

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Speaker 4: on court and really feel like super nervous. But I

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Speaker 4: went on court and I was just kind of feeling

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Speaker 4: very tense. So I think it was nice for me

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Speaker 4: to get that one, you know, my first time being seated,

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Speaker 4: and you know, I was thinking I was overthinking it,

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Speaker 4: maybe a little bit more than I should have. But

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Speaker 4: I'm glad I've kind of been able to get a

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Speaker 4: couple of matches.

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Speaker 1: Well, I guess you've returned to the third round now

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Speaker 1: after you made the fourth rounds, so you've seem to

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Speaker 1: be managing the pressure quite well of that and defending

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Speaker 1: points and all of that. How satisfying is it to

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Speaker 1: kind of back up what you did in twenty twenty five. Well,

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Speaker 1: I guess I haven't fully backed it up yet, not quiet,

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Speaker 1: but I mean you certainly you're well on your way.

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Speaker 2: To doing that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, obviously I'd love to back it up and you know,

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Speaker 4: take it a step further if possible. But I try

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Speaker 4: not to think about how I how I went last year.

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Speaker 4: You know, it's a new year. I don't really think

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Speaker 4: of it as defending points. It's just, you know, everyone

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Speaker 4: basically starts at zero at the beginning of the year,

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Speaker 4: and you know it's a it's a fresh start. So

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Speaker 4: I'm kind of thinking it that way instead of more, Oh,

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Speaker 4: I need to defend all my points from last year.

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Speaker 3: What do you think of this.

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Speaker 2: How does the Australian I've been compared to other Grand

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Speaker 2: Slams that you've played.

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Speaker 4: I mean, the the energy is very lively. I mean,

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Speaker 4: you know, I feel like everyone is very welcoming everyone.

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Speaker 4: You know, the culture are on sports here. Everyone's so

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Speaker 4: into it and you know, there's so much energy at

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Speaker 4: all these matches, whether you're on like a little side

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Speaker 4: court or whether you're on a stadium. So I think

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Speaker 4: it's really cool to come and play here. You know,

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Speaker 4: every time I've been here, you know, no matter what

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Speaker 4: match it's been, you know, even a seemingly irrelevant junior match,

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Speaker 4: I feel like there's people watching and supporting.

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Speaker 1: So it's very cool.

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Speaker 4: You know, at some of the other Slams, obviously the

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Speaker 4: the feel of junior matches can be a little different.

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Speaker 4: That's that's kind of what I remember. But you know,

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Speaker 4: obviously it's it's where I've had a lot of success

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Speaker 4: and you know, big breakthroughs, So it's always very cool

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Speaker 4: to come and play here.

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Speaker 1: How much did the run in twenty twenty four kind

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Speaker 1: of shape your your mindset or your confidence or kind

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Speaker 1: of set that season on the right track with such

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Speaker 1: a great result here to begin the year. So twelve

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Speaker 1: months ago.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, give me a lot of momentum start

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Speaker 4: the year, for sure, give me a lot of confidence,

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Speaker 4: which was great. You know, I broke top one hundred here,

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Speaker 4: so that was a pretty big career milestone in general

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Speaker 4: for me, just to start the year with that. The

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Speaker 4: momentum died a little bit, you know, towards the beginning

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Speaker 4: of the summer. I had a little bit of ups

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Speaker 4: and downs throughout the year, and I was able to

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Speaker 4: finish out the year pretty strong, thankfully. But I think

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Speaker 4: just in general, starting off the year with you know,

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Speaker 4: such a big confidence boost is great, and you know,

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Speaker 4: the next next few months especially, I really felt just

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Speaker 4: that you know, I could go out there and you

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Speaker 4: know I belonged. So that was really big for me.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so we wanted to know about how much you

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Speaker 1: potentially look at a drawl at a Grand Slam drawl,

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Speaker 1: because it's very different. Some players like, yep, I know everything.

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Speaker 1: Others are like, I don't want to know who I'm playing.

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Speaker 1: What kind of camp do you fall into? I definitely

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Speaker 1: look at the whole drawl.

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Speaker 4: It's just interesting to me, even you know, parts of

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Speaker 4: the drawl that are nowhere close to me, I still look,

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Speaker 4: and you know, I look for certain matchups that I

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Speaker 4: think are interesting. Obviously, I go into the tournament fully

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Speaker 4: knowing that everything else besides my match is out of

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Speaker 4: my control and there's there's nothing I can do about that.

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Speaker 4: So curiosity more is the reason I look through the draw.

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Speaker 4: You know, drawers open up, they change. Sometimes half the

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Speaker 4: people that you think you're going to play don't don't

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Speaker 4: even make it. So I take it with a grain

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Speaker 4: of salt, and you know, I check the draw, but

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Speaker 4: I don't really I don't really think about it that much.

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Speaker 4: There was a reason we asked that, which you probably

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Speaker 4: can anticipate that it potentially could be you and mebetive

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Speaker 4: again in the fourth round. I know there's another match

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Speaker 4: to play, but what kind of how cool will it

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Speaker 4: be to kind of relieve that match potentially? I know

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Speaker 4: you actually played quite a few times in twenty twenty five,

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Speaker 4: but it was the one here, the five set match

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Speaker 4: late at night, that kind of announced you, Yeah, there's

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Speaker 4: a potential that could happen again quite soon. What do

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Speaker 4: you think of that? I think it'd be cool, but

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Speaker 4: obviously one more match to get through. We both play

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Speaker 4: pretty tough opponents, so it's hard to look that far ahead.

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Speaker 4: So I mean, I know he's over there, and you know,

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Speaker 4: I think it'd be I mean, it'd be pretty crazy

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Speaker 4: to play him again this year, but I'm trying not

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Speaker 4: to look that far ahead and just trying to focus

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Speaker 4: on my next one.

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Speaker 1: That's fair.

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Speaker 2: You had so many milestones in your season last year,

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Speaker 2: so including your performance here and getting to the fourth round,

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Speaker 2: but you also won a title in METS, the Next

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Speaker 2: Gen Finals, and had lots of wins over big name players,

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Speaker 2: which we'll talk about in a minute.

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Speaker 3: But what was most satisfying for you.

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Speaker 4: I think winning a title was, you know, a big

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Speaker 4: goal I wanted to to achieve. You know, it was

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Speaker 4: a box I wanted to take before I turned twenty,

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Speaker 4: so I wanted to win one as a teenager, and

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Speaker 4: I did it in the last week of the year,

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Speaker 4: which was my last tournament as a nineteen year old.

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Speaker 4: So I was very happy to get that done. I

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Speaker 4: definitely felt a little bit of the pressure that I

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Speaker 4: was kind of putting on myself, I guess to win,

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Speaker 4: but I mean it was very special for me. Obviously,

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Speaker 4: there have been tons of great players that have never

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Speaker 4: been able to get a title, and you know, it

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Speaker 4: doesn't make you any better or worse of a player,

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Speaker 4: but it was very special to me to get my first.

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Speaker 2: And your top ten record is five to three in

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Speaker 2: the last since the last year, I think it is

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Speaker 2: so that includes wins over Medvedev, Zerev, Rublev, Shelton, and Mazetti.

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Speaker 3: What is it? What is that? Are they the most

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Speaker 3: satisfying wins for you?

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Speaker 4: Partially yes, But on the other hand, I think the

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Speaker 4: reason why I'm able to go out and play some

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Speaker 4: of those matches is because I try to treat them like,

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Speaker 4: you know, it's any other match, and that really helps

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Speaker 4: me just to go out there and play, and I

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Speaker 4: don't really think about who's on the other side of

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Speaker 4: the court. Sometimes, you know, in some of those bigger

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Speaker 4: matches it's hard to focus on yourself when you see

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Speaker 4: some of those guys on the other side of the court.

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Speaker 4: For example, I played Novak and I was a bit

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Speaker 4: tough to focus that first. Honestly, it was crazy just

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Speaker 4: to see him on the other side of the net.

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Speaker 4: So I try to treat it like any other match. Obviously,

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Speaker 4: at this level it's i mean, anyone can really beat anyone.

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Speaker 4: So I try to approach every match the same, whether

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Speaker 4: I'm playing someone outside top hundred or someone in the

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Speaker 4: top ten, and I think that's worked really well for me.

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Speaker 1: Another thing that's been really amazing about your right so

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Speaker 1: far has been your recording five set matches, and a

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Speaker 1: lot of people talk about you know, it takes experience.

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Speaker 1: A lot of veterans do well at five set tennis

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Speaker 1: because it's so physical, and because it's unusual that it's

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Speaker 1: only at the Slams. Why do you think even as

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Speaker 1: a teenager you were able to kind of throw I've

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Speaker 1: in the five set format so quickly.

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Speaker 4: I don't know. I've never talked about it or mentioned it,

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Speaker 4: even though I know the stab, because I don't want

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Speaker 4: to jinx myself. But I've played all my five setters

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Speaker 4: here at this tournament. Actually, I don't think I've played

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Speaker 4: a five setter outside of this tournament, so I've been

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Speaker 4: fortunate to get through all of them so far.

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Speaker 1: What's the physical demands of a like like five set

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Speaker 1: ten as I mean, matches like that can go for

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Speaker 1: four or five hours. How is it concentration? How do

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Speaker 1: you pull up? How do you recover? Prepare? Like has

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Speaker 1: that been an eye open a.

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Speaker 4: Few Sometimes the biggest thing for me personally, I try

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Speaker 4: not to think that far ahead in the match. Sometimes

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Speaker 4: I found myself after a really hard first set, thinking,

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Speaker 4: you know, oh, if I play a five set, it's

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Speaker 4: going to be tough if every set's like this, And

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Speaker 4: you know, I try not to think like that, just

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Speaker 4: because there's a long way to go after a first set.

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Speaker 4: You don't know if it's going to be straights or

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Speaker 4: could go five. And you know, I find myself in

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Speaker 4: these matches when I just focus point to point, you know,

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Speaker 4: after a little while, I'll find myself in a fourth

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Speaker 4: or fifth before I even know it, and it kind

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Speaker 4: of takes away that that extra I guess thoughts of

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Speaker 4: you know, how am I gonna last in this match

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Speaker 4: if it's a super physical match, or you know, how

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Speaker 4: am I going to feel after this? So I think

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Speaker 4: just not thinking that far ahead as has been great

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Speaker 4: for me, just to kind of stay focused on what's

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Speaker 4: at hand.

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Speaker 2: Again, though, that is a kind of a remarkably mature

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Speaker 2: approach for someone who is so young. Is that something

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Speaker 2: that you've worked on with a like a mindset coach

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Speaker 2: or anything.

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Speaker 4: Like that, not really I've I think it's more of

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Speaker 4: a personality thing. Honestly, I think I've I've always approached

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Speaker 4: things pretty logically, pretty rationally, so I've been fortunate, you know,

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Speaker 4: having a level head has really helped me a lot,

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Speaker 4: especially kind of starting off playing in these big events

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Speaker 4: and all that. So I think personality wise, it's just

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Speaker 4: worked out for me awesome.

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Speaker 1: You mentioned earlier in the interview about like you're playing

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Speaker 1: with pressure or put pressure on yourself. The next Gen

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Speaker 1: Finals that you won last year, you were I think

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Speaker 1: the only player in the top hundred and you were

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Speaker 1: so you were expected to win going there, and so

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Speaker 1: there's been examples of players that have decided not to

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Speaker 1: play next Gen and others that have What was the

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Speaker 1: thinking there to play that event and how satisfying was

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Speaker 1: it to ultimately win when you were the top seed

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Speaker 1: and the highest ranked player there.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it was on my schedule all year. I never

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Speaker 4: really considered not playing it. It was just kind of

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Speaker 4: I knew you're not at the end of season. I'm

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Speaker 4: just going to go and play. So when the other

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Speaker 4: guys started dropping out, I didn't really think anything of it.

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Speaker 4: I guess I hadn't been a top seed in a

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Speaker 4: tournament for almost a year at that point, so it's

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Speaker 4: a little bit different than what I was used to.

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Speaker 4: I mean, even being seeded and you know, tour events

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Speaker 4: is new to me, so being the top seed and

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Speaker 4: ranking wiser a heavy favorite was a bit different for me.

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Speaker 4: I think it was really good for me to experience,

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Speaker 4: because obviously that's the goal to be favored in these

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Speaker 4: bigger tournaments and to you know, have your ranking to

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Speaker 4: where you're you're seated high. So I think it was great,

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Speaker 4: you know experience for me, and I'm I'm very glad

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Speaker 4: I was able to, you know, win that event. I

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Speaker 4: remember in juniors when I was younger and I would

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Speaker 4: be the top seed, and even playing tournaments that I

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Speaker 4: had won before and coming back the next year having

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Speaker 4: that pressure of trying to defend that. I think all

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Speaker 4: those opportunities have been great for me, and it's it's

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Speaker 4: almost just, you know, a unique experience to to have,

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Speaker 4: I guess, and I see myself as fortunate to be

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Speaker 4: seen as a favorite, and I don't I don't feel

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Speaker 4: like it adds too too much pressure on me.

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Speaker 1: For sure. And also there's such a great history of

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Speaker 1: champions at that tournament, so see to pass al Choraz.

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Speaker 1: Now they've all one that You've added your nine to

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Speaker 1: that list, and it's I guess it's a great boost

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Speaker 1: because it comes at the end of the year. It's

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Speaker 1: a bit of a spring. Von Seca was another one

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Speaker 1: that won it, and yeah, it kind of always seems

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Speaker 1: to put players in the right direction, on the right trajectory.

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Speaker 1: Do you feel that it's been like a confidence boost

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Speaker 1: for you and it's helped you start this year? Yeah.

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Speaker 4: The year before when I played, I came straight from

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Speaker 4: Jetta to Hong Kong and then Hong Kong to here.

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Speaker 4: This year, I think all the tournament started a week later,

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Speaker 4: so I went home for Christmas week before coming to Brisbane,

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Speaker 4: so I had a little bit more of a reset.

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Speaker 4: The year before it felt almost like the start of

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Speaker 4: my next season, just because I went straight and finished

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Speaker 4: the Australian Swing just in one go.

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Speaker 1: So this year, I mean.

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Speaker 4: It felt a little bit different, just because I had

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Speaker 4: a bit of a reset. Obviously I was able to

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Speaker 4: end the year with two titles back to back, so

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Speaker 4: I mean, obviously that's a huge confidence boost for me.

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Speaker 4: But it felt, you know, kind of an in between

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Speaker 4: and in between between the last tournament of the year

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Speaker 4: and the first tournament of the new year. So obviously

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Speaker 4: a big confidence boost, but I haven't really thought of

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Speaker 4: how to categorize it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, kind of in the middle of there time.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you are coached by Michael Chang.

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Speaker 3: What has he brought to your game?

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Speaker 4: I mean, I think we've worked on pretty much everything,

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Speaker 4: and I I would think that, you know, pretty much

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Speaker 4: everything has improved since we started working together. It's been

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Speaker 4: great to have him. He really does does everything for

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Speaker 4: me as that you could possibly imagine. You know, I

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Speaker 4: think you do pretty much anything just to give me

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Speaker 4: a slightly smaller chance to win a match. And you know,

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Speaker 4: I've I'm very grateful to have him by my side.

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Speaker 4: Obviously I've been doing you know, I've taken pretty big

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Speaker 4: stride since we started working together. So I've I've really

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Speaker 4: enjoyed it. And I think he sees my game very well,

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Speaker 4: and he's able to, you know, pick and choose things

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Speaker 4: that I need to improve, and you know, he has

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Speaker 4: a good eye for stuff like that, and so it's

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Speaker 4: really been great, amazing.

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Speaker 1: Have you watched much of him play like YouTube? Gone

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Speaker 1: back and looked at what he's done.

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Speaker 4: Not really, not really. I mean I was saying this

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Speaker 4: the other day but as a joke, but genuinely there.

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Speaker 4: I haven't really been able to find much much film

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Speaker 4: from when he was playing.

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Speaker 1: Okay on our YouTube channel. Maybe he made the final

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Speaker 1: here thirty years ago. I'm not sure he'd want me

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Speaker 1: to watch that. Well, maybe that tot of it, maybe

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Speaker 1: not the final let's sell but okay, Well we'll see

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Speaker 1: what's out there.

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Speaker 2: Well, just to finish, I guess what does success look

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Speaker 2: like for you in season twenty twenty six.

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Speaker 4: I'm just trying to improve. I think the results that

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Speaker 4: I want will come with just putting my head down

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Speaker 4: and you know, trying to improve the things that need work,

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Speaker 4: you know, improving my strengths, improving my weaknesses all around,

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Speaker 4: just just getting better as a player. And I think,

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Speaker 4: you know, with more time and experience, all of it

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Speaker 4: will come together and I think the rankings results will

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Speaker 4: all come amazing, fabulous.

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Speaker 2: Well, good luck with that, and thank you for joining

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Speaker 2: us today on the sitdown.

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Speaker 4: Thank you, thanks for having me.

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Speaker 1: Well, Viv, wasn't that a great chance to meet Learner

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Speaker 1: and get to know him a little bit better? And yeah,

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Speaker 1: in what turned out to be a fantastic Australian open

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Speaker 1: for him.

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Speaker 2: And actually a fantastic summer overall for Lerner, who I

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Speaker 2: was lucky enough to also talk to in Brisbane. And yeah,

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Speaker 2: the result of that is an in depth feature in

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Speaker 2: the current edition of Australian Tennis Magazine.

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Speaker 1: Really looking forward to reading that. Five and we'll be

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Speaker 1: back again next week with another episode of the sit Down.

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Speaker 1: Please subscribe so that all of our interviews land in

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Speaker 1: your podcast feed, and we'd love it if you could

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Speaker 1: leave us a rating and a review. We'll see you

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Speaker 1: next week five.

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Speaker 3: See then, Matt