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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the sit down. I'm Viv Christie,

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Speaker 1: Managing editor of Australian Tennis magazine.

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Speaker 2: And I'm Metrolope, a writer and editor for ozopen dot com.

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Speaker 2: And Viv, why are we sitting down this week with Lorenzo?

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Speaker 1: MUSEDI Well, Matt, we had a chance to talk to

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Speaker 1: Lorenzo shortly after he arrived in Melbourne for the Australian Open.

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Speaker 1: He arrived with our new top five ranking courtesy of

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Speaker 1: having reached the final in Hong Kong the week before,

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Speaker 1: and yeah, it showed how much he'd improved overall in

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Speaker 1: his tennis, but especially on a hard.

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Speaker 2: Court, yeah for sure. And then we saw that after

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Speaker 2: our chat with him, Lorenzo went on to make his

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Speaker 2: first Australian Open quarter final and it was there he

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Speaker 2: was leading Novak Djokovic by two sets to love before

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Speaker 2: injury cruelly intervened. And it was extremely sad to see

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Speaker 2: his campaign come to an end in that way, and

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Speaker 2: it was really sporting of Novak to acknowledge just how

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Speaker 2: well Lorenzo had been playing in that quarter final. I

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Speaker 2: think one thing we can also take away from this

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Speaker 2: chat is how dedicated to improvement and hard work Muzetti

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Speaker 2: is and hopefully that stands him in good stead as

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Speaker 2: he tries to rehabilitate from his injury and get back

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Speaker 2: on tour and be a factor again like he's been

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Speaker 2: showing in the last year on tour. All Lorenzo, miss Eddie,

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Speaker 2: thank you very much for joining us today on the

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Speaker 2: sit Down Podcast. It's good to see you.

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Speaker 3: Thank you, thanks for having me, and welcome.

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Speaker 2: To pod labor Arena. This is our podcast studio We

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Speaker 2: catch you today. You're through to the second round of

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Speaker 2: the AO. It must be nice to get your campaign

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Speaker 2: off to a winning start.

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Speaker 3: Well, yes, it was not an easy start, complicated match,

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Speaker 3: but you know, unfortunately, you know, I didn't want to

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Speaker 3: win like that, of course, but I was managing, you know,

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Speaker 3: to find solution and you know, improve my game definitely

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Speaker 3: during the during the match. So not an easy star

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Speaker 3: but at least they got the win, so happy for that.

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Speaker 2: And how does it feel to come into a Grand

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Speaker 2: Slam now as a new top five player.

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Speaker 3: Well, it's kind of you know, I didn't you know,

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Speaker 3: it's not something that I really look at, but it's

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Speaker 3: something that when you say it, it's, uh, you know,

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Speaker 3: I'm proud of it. But I don't want to be

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Speaker 3: you know, kind of attached to those things, you know,

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Speaker 3: to because I think it will give you an extra

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Speaker 3: pressure on on you know, on playing on on going there,

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Speaker 3: and you remember it yourself that you are the fifth seed.

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Speaker 3: So it's something that I've been, you know, dealing with pressure.

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Speaker 3: So have to be to be careful of that.

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Speaker 1: Lorenzo, I've heard you describe your game as a vintage style.

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Speaker 1: How did you develop that?

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Speaker 3: Well, I think, you know, playing the when and the

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Speaker 3: back end, probably that they find more my game than

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Speaker 3: than every other shot in my you know, in my background.

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Speaker 3: But I like to mix a lot, you know, to

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Speaker 3: variate the game with the slides, with the drop shots

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Speaker 3: sometimes you know, coming to the net. And you know,

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Speaker 3: my coach always, especially when I was younger, he tried

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Speaker 3: to simplize my my game, but uh with with not

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Speaker 3: so many heroes ares because I'm I'm inventing every time

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Speaker 3: a lot. So I like to to create, to create

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Speaker 3: on the core. And I think kind of vintage is

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Speaker 3: nice because it's something old, but you know that it's

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Speaker 3: a sort of improvement of the of the old, you know,

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Speaker 3: any style. So I like the word vintage.

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Speaker 2: Yes, and it's obviously was a game that always worked

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Speaker 2: really well on clay, and then you started having success

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Speaker 2: on grass and more recently like US Open quarters, you

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Speaker 2: talked about your journey success on hard courts, and I

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Speaker 2: guess your game is complete on all surfaces. Do you

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Speaker 2: feel as strong now on hard courts and all of

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Speaker 2: the surfaces together? Now you started the season well with

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Speaker 2: Hong Kong Final as well, so it's working well and hard.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's working pretty well, and especially as you mentioned,

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Speaker 3: the quarter finance run last year in US Open was

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Speaker 3: really I think, you know, the step forward that I

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Speaker 3: made in this kind of surface because you know, I

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Speaker 3: always thought that I could play a good game, that

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Speaker 3: my game could adapt well in this kind of condition.

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Speaker 3: Because even here the bull is getting heavier, so you know,

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Speaker 3: there are radies. Is not just serve and return, so

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Speaker 3: I think also, you know, understanding that and try to

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Speaker 3: be a little bit more aggressive with the you know,

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Speaker 3: serve and return and especially the first shot after the

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Speaker 3: serf that made me you know, a step forward on

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Speaker 3: on this on this surface. But of course, now I'm

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Speaker 3: feeling more complete in general, and I you know, I like,

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Speaker 3: of course, but my favorite surface is clay, which you know,

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Speaker 3: I was born on clay. So but I'm I'm trying

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Speaker 3: not to improve and try to you know, become more

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Speaker 3: aggressive with the with my Chinese game, and I think

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Speaker 3: it's really paying off. So really working hard on on that.

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Speaker 1: On that line, you you mentioned your single handed backhand

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Speaker 1: just before. We asked stan Borinka the other day about

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Speaker 1: the future of the single handed backhand, and he singled

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Speaker 1: you out. He said, you know, that's a lovely very

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Speaker 1: Where where did you develop Have you always had a

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Speaker 1: single handed backhand?

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Speaker 3: Well, first of all, it's an honor for me, you know,

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Speaker 3: stand it's uh probably one of the kings of the

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Speaker 3: one and the back end, and I always played the

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Speaker 3: one of the back since I started you not to

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Speaker 3: to play tennis. When I was like four, I in

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Speaker 3: my grandmother's house with my father. He was throwing me

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Speaker 3: bows and I was playing one ended back in like naturally,

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Speaker 3: and I think it's something that really it's kind of going.

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Speaker 3: I mean, it seems like that that is going to

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Speaker 3: disappear or they are literally a few in the in

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Speaker 3: the in the top hundred. So unfortunately, because I you know,

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Speaker 3: I really like but in modern days, mother tennis. I

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Speaker 3: think it's really really hard, you know, to to compete

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Speaker 3: with one ended back in. But you know, hopefully I can,

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Speaker 3: Hasten said, hopefully I can keep the one ended back alive.

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Speaker 1: You you have a very long and special relationship with

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Speaker 1: your coach, So manay, what is the secret of that

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Speaker 1: successful relationship?

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Speaker 3: Well, I think our relationship is kind of unique because

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Speaker 3: we met each other when I was nine, so I'm

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Speaker 3: almost twenty four.

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Speaker 1: So.

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Speaker 3: It's almost fifteen years together. And it's really really nice

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Speaker 3: because I like, you know, the the value that this

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Speaker 3: relationship has between me and Simony, but not just as

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Speaker 3: a coach and player, but between me and him, and

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Speaker 3: I think the secret there are no secrets. I think

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Speaker 3: we're pretty honest to each other. Of course we found

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Speaker 3: really really well also not just on core but also

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Speaker 3: on the normal life on the outside. And of course

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Speaker 3: I consider him as a second father, so I have

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Speaker 3: a huge, huge faith and trust on on what it

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Speaker 3: does and and nothing. You know, we are twenty twenty

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Speaker 3: six and we keep going together.

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Speaker 2: You mentioned before your eyes, so you're still quite young.

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Speaker 2: But already I've my French Open and Wimbledon semifinals. You

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Speaker 2: won an Olympic bronze medal. And now, as we talked

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Speaker 2: about your top five, what is your proudust career achievement

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Speaker 2: so far? Is it thoise ones or is it something else?

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Speaker 3: Well, I think in terms of achievement and you know, satisfaction,

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Speaker 3: I think the bronze, the Olympic bronze. It's something really

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Speaker 3: I don't know. I was playing for my country. It

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Speaker 3: was in a moment that I would never expect, you know,

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Speaker 3: to go till there. But in terms of you know, stats,

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Speaker 3: the top five is some thing that I you know,

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Speaker 3: but as I said encore, it's I don't feel like

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Speaker 3: it's a it's like a finishing point. It's it's a

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Speaker 3: starting point for me. In my head. Maybe I will

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Speaker 3: never you know, go higher, but my mentality is trying,

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Speaker 3: you know, to go to go higher and to make

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Speaker 3: that happen even soon.

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Speaker 2: Okay. One achievement we didn't talk about was when you

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Speaker 2: want the juniors here in twenty nineteen, which is a

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Speaker 2: big deal to win a junior Grand Slam. How what

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Speaker 2: do you remember of that and kind of what does

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Speaker 2: that meant for your relationship with the Australian Open and

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Speaker 2: coming to Melbourne each year.

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Speaker 3: Well, it's super nice because every time that I go

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Speaker 3: to the ANTC that's my my picture, my picture, and yeah,

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Speaker 3: I mean it's it's super nice. I have a really

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Speaker 3: huge memory from when I look at the picture. I

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Speaker 3: was really really young, but in their eyes I could

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Speaker 3: see that there was this kind of hanger, you know,

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Speaker 3: to be to be there, to be here. And if

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Speaker 3: I look back, I see, you know, a really young

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Speaker 3: Lorenzo with a lot of you know, immature feelings and stuff.

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Speaker 3: But now that I have, you know, to so on

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Speaker 3: a family in like five years, it's something that I

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Speaker 3: really really am proud of.

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Speaker 1: Well, Lorenzo, it's been wonderful to have you on the

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Speaker 1: sit down today. Thank you for joining us, and good

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Speaker 1: luck for the season.

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Speaker 3: Thank you so much.

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Speaker 1: Well, Matt. Having talked to Lorenzo ahead of the Australian

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Speaker 1: Open and learn more about his journey and his work

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Speaker 1: ethic and what's taken him this far, it was it

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Speaker 1: was great to see him progress through the tournament.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it certainly was. And we're not sure you know

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Speaker 2: the severity of the injury or how long it might

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Speaker 2: keep him out, but of course coming up in a

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Speaker 2: couple of months is the Clay Court season where he's

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Speaker 2: had such success and where he's been an enormous factor,

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Speaker 2: so there's plenty of positive things lying ahead for him

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Speaker 2: when he does return. We'll be back again with another

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Speaker 2: episode of The sit Down and we're looking forward to

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Speaker 2: bringing you more chats that we had when we were

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Speaker 2: lucky enough to sit down with many of the game's

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Speaker 2: icons during the Australian Open. Please subscribe to The sit

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Speaker 2: Down so you never miss an episode when it lands

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Speaker 2: in your feed, and if you could leave us a

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Speaker 2: rating or a review, we'd be really appreciative. We'll see

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Speaker 2: you next week, Viv, see you then, Matt,