WEBVTT - The Sit-Down with Matt Ebden 0:00:02.360 --> 0:00:05.000 Hello and welcome to the sit Down. I'm viv Christie, 0:00:05.080 --> 0:00:06.880 Managing editor of Australian Tennis. 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:09.520 Magazine, and I'm Matt Trolopa right Afozopen dot Com. 0:00:09.640 --> 0:00:11.600 This week on the sit Down, we catch up with 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:14.920 Matt Ebden at an incredible time in his tennis career. 0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:17.279 He is the world number one in doubles, he's about 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:20.560 to return to Wimwaroden where he's been a champion, and 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:27.160 he's looking ahead to his Olympic deboot. Matt, thank you 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:29.760 for joining us on the sit Down, and you are 0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:32.479 joining us at a pretty amazing time in your career. 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:36.640 Australian Open doubles champion, rolling Garrass semi finalist and world 0:00:36.760 --> 0:00:39.760 number one in doubles. Talk a bit about those miles 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:40.559 stones for us. 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:42.680 Thanks. Yeah. 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:46.600 Most recently, well yesterday, just regaining that number one ranking 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:49.479 after Roland Garros. You know, we had no points to 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:51.760 defend there from last year we lost first for round 0:00:51.800 --> 0:00:54.560 the close match, so obviously we had our sights set 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:58.120 on doing you know, prioritizing the majors and the big tournaments, 0:00:58.160 --> 0:00:59.120 so to. 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:02.040 Go pretty deep was nice. We played well. 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:04.320 I was sort of happy with getting through there, but 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:07.280 then on the flip side to lose the semi and 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:10.240 then feel that you were actually so close and really 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:12.240 could have you know, been one set away from the 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:14.720 final and one match away from winning. 0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:16.920 It was then really bittersweet. 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:20.399 Actually, it was a hard few days to digest that, 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:24.280 as much as I was sort of happy of being 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:27.520 in that position as well. It's sort of the good 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:29.759 and bad thing about tennis. Anytime you get a really 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:31.920 good result, you're sort of happy with it, but then 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:34.640 at the same time you're like, oh, it's a missed opportunity. 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:37.560 So you know, I obviously want to try and capitalize 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:39.360 and win all these slams. 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:42.480 Now, now's the time. You know, we're not getting any younger. 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:44.199 And no time, like the President where at the peak, 0:01:44.240 --> 0:01:47.039 at the top of our game, So it's the time 0:01:47.040 --> 0:01:47.360 for that. 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:51.600 Yeah, of course, and the tour never stops really, So 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:54.520 just a few days ago you were at Roland Garrel's 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:57.040 playing the semi finals, and now you're on the lawns 0:01:57.080 --> 0:02:00.280 in the UK preparing for grass court tournaments. Is that 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:03.760 one of the most extreme adjustments in professional sports? 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:08.760 It can be for me, not so much because growing 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:11.200 up well, playing a lot of my junior tennis in Perth. 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:14.040 I played a lot of club and league tennis on grass. 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:16.840 So I step on the grass court and I feel 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:20.080 like I'm just gone into the lounge room in in 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:22.760 my living room at home. It feels that comfortable. I 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:25.960 feel so natural. For me, it's probably the opposite. It's 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:29.360 probably when you finish Miami the hard courts and then 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:32.240 you go onto the clay. That first week just doing 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:34.880 that training, going onto the clay, you know, all those 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:39.080 specific movement patterns, drill patterns for the body. Adapting that 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:42.600 way is probably the biggest one for me. But yeah, 0:02:42.639 --> 0:02:46.000 going back onto the grass is really natural, and yeah 0:02:46.000 --> 0:02:49.000 it's always a fun, exciting time for me, so I 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:49.919 love it. 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:52.120 So it's fair to say this must be your favorite 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:52.720 time of the year. 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:53.519 It is. 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:56.440 You know, we're try and trick ourselves mentally and not 0:02:57.080 --> 0:02:59.160 be judgmental and on different services. 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:02.200 I've been out of saying now clay is my equal 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:03.560 favorite along with the grass. 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:06.240 But yeah, it's no secret that a lot of the 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:08.680 grass court was the hard coret swim with an Aussie 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:11.800 Open US then. But now you know, having some better 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:15.480 experience old clay and getting that confidence, I would say, 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:17.760 and believe that I could really win the French and 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:20.400 even now Olympics. With Olympics coming up, it's good timing 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:22.800 to start playing well on the clay because it's a 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:26.560 big play here too. So but yeah, you know grass 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:29.600 court season is the next thing. So yeah, I mean 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:32.400 London already going to start hitting on grass today and 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:33.760 Queens this next week. 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:36.720 Matt. We were talking to Stephen Farrett last week on 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:39.240 the podcast and you alluded to it before you played 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:42.200 a lot of junior tennis in Perth on grass, he said, 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:44.320 coming from England to Australia, he couldn't believe how much 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:47.040 grass it was in Perth. We're in Melbourne. There's actually 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:49.560 not a lot of grass here, like it's at some clubs, 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:51.640 but it's mainly in the country. Like, was that the 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:53.240 main surface you played on when you grew up and 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:55.320 is that why you've got the style you have today? 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:58.240 It wasn't the main service. I would say hardcourt generally 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:01.280 my well birth years, let's call it. I was in 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:03.360 South Africa those first ten year of in my life, 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:05.960 ten twelve years and then in Perth since then and 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:09.720 hardcourt was the main surface for sure. And then in 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:13.880 summer in Perth they played. Yeah, we played some Arependance 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:17.719 on grass at that junior club level, at Edmund's club level, 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:19.640 and they still do and then probably at least half 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:23.400 the club's their main surface on in summer it is grass. 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:26.359 They're more of tended to hardcourt now, but yeah, it 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:28.840 was hard and grass, and then in the winter there 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:30.680 was a little bit of clay, but not not too much. 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:33.400 So yeah, I guess I grew up from those years 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:37.920 of sort of fourteen to eighteen playing at least half 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:41.599 my summer tennis on grass. So against men, I was 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:45.200 developing my game. So I was learning to servoli use hands. 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:47.760 I was playing against guys older than me, so I 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:53.320 had to find ways to win strategically and with movement 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:56.800 or with hands or craftinness on the court. So I 0:04:56.839 --> 0:04:59.640 think then all that experience over the years and training 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:02.600 on it with guys older than me, even some guys 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:07.039 who were twenty years older than me, but you know, 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:08.560 they had good craft and. 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:10.320 Skills that I could learn from and pick up. 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:13.040 So along with my modern style of the young up 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:16.279 and coming player, I was able to learn the slice backhut, 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:19.400 even the slice forehead and the servolli out of put 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:22.240 balls in bad places on a grass court where you 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:24.320 might get a bad bounce out of the court, so 0:05:24.360 --> 0:05:27.400 that would favor you passing shots. 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:30.039 You know, all those little things. Now do it in 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:30.520 the doubles. 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:33.400 I wanted to take you back to twenty eighteen. You're 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:35.360 probably at the peak of your powers on grass, certainly 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:39.320 in singles. You made the den Bosch Semis, the Harler Quarters, 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:43.640 pushed Federer very close, scored a top ten win over 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:45.800 Gofan at Wimbledon, and made the third round there. So 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:47.680 that was an excellent grass court season. I wondered what 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:50.520 was clicking for you so well there. I think that 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:53.080 season you also reached your career high ranking in singles, 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:55.800 and maybe you could also tell us what it was 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:58.479 like to face a pretty much peak Roger Federer on 0:05:58.520 --> 0:05:59.080 a grass court. 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:00.360 Yeah, yeah, definitely. 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:04.520 That was definitely one of the best seasons results wise. 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:05.760 The ranking wise, Yeah, I had. 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:07.880 I think I hit the top forty that season, so 0:06:08.279 --> 0:06:10.400 that was my career I for singles thirty nine, I 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:10.920 think it was. 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:12.480 So I think that. 0:06:12.520 --> 0:06:14.520 Came on the back of a year a year and 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:19.800 a half of more development and improving my game, my mentality, 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:23.360 myself as an athlete on and off the court, and 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:26.320 that was just a further progression of playing well that 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:29.520 folve months before that, I think I was coming into 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:32.880 that grass court season. I don't know, already top fifty 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:35.760 or top six, I don't know whatever it was. But 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:38.840 I played well at in New Welles or Miami in 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:42.040 the six to twelve months before that. Obviously to have 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:45.240 that ranking, let's say, and that form and then yeah, 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:47.279 coming into the grass court season, I was always confident. 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:48.120 I think even first. 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:51.120 Round in Denbatch, I beat Jills Muller, who was defending champion. 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:53.560 He'd made semis at Wimbled in the year before it beat. 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:56.120 Rapha, So those are the kind of wins I was 0:06:56.720 --> 0:06:58.800 having and playing really well, and I sort of knew 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:01.640 how on grind at the moment, I was probably playing 0:07:01.640 --> 0:07:04.440 a sort of top ten level. There was probably you know, 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:07.040 eight other guys playing great undrafts, but I was probably 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:09.480 somewhere there and that probably showed that. Wimbled and I 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:12.200 played I think Goffin was seven in the world at 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:14.760 the time and the good grass quarter and I beat 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:16.480 him in straight sets, so that was a you know, 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:19.200 good got through to the third round, unfortunately lost to 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:22.240 Jill Simon seven six in the fourth set, and I 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:23.040 hadn't actually. 0:07:22.760 --> 0:07:23.760 Lost to him ever before. 0:07:23.760 --> 0:07:27.160 I'd beaten him the both the two times before, and 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:30.160 so probably thought I could have maybe should have is 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:31.960 a bad word, but I could have won that one. Then 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:34.200 pushed on maybe to the fourth round or quarters or 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:34.800 something great. 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:36.000 But it wasn't to be. 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:40.440 But yeah, same the week before Halley One, some good 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:43.200 matches there. Beat Corl Schreiber that you know, German favorite. 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:45.240 He had obviously won there in Halley before, so to 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:48.560 beat him and then to play Roger after that was 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:54.320 a dream come true if I had won, But yeah, 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:55.800 it wasn't wasn't quite able to win. 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:58.440 Lost close match he's had seven six, seven five. I 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:01.080 think it was. Was the first one to break serve. 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:03.080 Actually I was up a break in the second set 0:08:03.080 --> 0:08:06.000 twice I served for the second set, So yeah, for me, 0:08:06.080 --> 0:08:09.040 I just really wanted to at least get the second 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:12.240 set there and have a chance at the third. I 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:13.640 don't know if I would have won or not, but 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:15.720 I was playing well enough to I thought, having to 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:17.800 have a chance at a third set and try and 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:18.400 knock him off. 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:20.560 Yeah, he was number one in the world at that time, he'd. 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:24.200 Won a ten times in a row. He was in 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:26.800 his favorite and maybe one Wimbledon that year as well. 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:29.840 But so yeah, yeah, that was a nice period for me. 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:32.560 I'd obviously always wanted to get to the top ten myself, 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:35.480 let's say, never quite hit the actual number, but I 0:08:35.520 --> 0:08:38.840 did feel a certain periods on the right surfaces and 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:41.839 conditions in my career that I played let's call a 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:42.640 top ten level. 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:44.800 So probably some of those months they're all grass. 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:47.439 As a grasscourt player, I was probably playing that sort 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:50.000 of a level, and that's why it gave me those. 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:53.800 Results that I had and the chances I had against Roger. 0:08:53.360 --> 0:08:57.560 And then at Wimbledon then yeah, obviously in Denbosh the 0:08:57.559 --> 0:09:00.640 week before that too, and then yeah, I'm glad it's 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:04.360 obviously kicked on for grass court double success obviously. 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:05.880 You know, to then be able to win Wimbledon in 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:10.120 the doubles a few years later. Yeah, it was. I 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:12.160 said at the time, it was more than I could 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:14.080 ever dreamed of. I didn't I didn't even dream of it. 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:14.800 Being left good. 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:19.280 Where does that achievement sit, Matt in everything that you've 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:21.319 achieved in tennis. 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:22.880 I think it's probably number one. 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:27.200 I mean, yeah, I had at the time, and then 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:30.360 even winning Aussy this year it would maybe equal it 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:31.080 or come close. 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:33.719 But I mean, we all know what Wimbledon is. It's 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:34.880 kind of like folklore. 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:37.839 You know. It's even not even just as tennis players 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:41.480 or people in tennis, as people in South America who 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:43.319 don't watch tennis, who play football, that. 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:45.800 They know what Wimbledon is. You know, they know who 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:48.360 won Wimbledon. It's sort of I don't know it. It 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:51.880 has a special aura about it, and I think even 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:55.200 as Ossie's we kind of identify as Wimbledon as well. 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:57.800 It's not our home Slam, but our second home Slam, 0:09:57.880 --> 0:09:59.760 let's say, is the last one hundred years, we've had 0:09:59.800 --> 0:10:05.800 some many great Ozzie champions win there and singles, doubles, men's, women's, mixed, doubles, whatever. 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:09.680 It has such a great heritage for us, and there 0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:12.000 even as a kid, my parents and my family took 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:12.640 me there when I was I. 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:16.200 Think about seven years old to go watch and uh yeah, 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:18.959 just those special early memories and then you know, to 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:21.440 win women and then even coming back to OZ and 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:23.600 seeing how that was so well received and seeing how 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:26.959 many people did actually stay up all those late nights 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:28.280 and watch the matches. 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:30.959 And follow online and in the media, and yeah. 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:32.880 For that, even though two weeks after I came back, 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:35.760 he was a it was a real big buzz and 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:36.600 just to sort of. 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:40.000 Go be a part of that, and yeah, I don't 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:41.200 know my name part. 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:43.200 Of that was kind of surreal in a lot of ways, 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:47.520 but it was very special and yeah, very very grateful 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:48.720 that that one went away. 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:52.200 And what's it like going back to the All England 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:53.520 Club as a Wimbledon champion. 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:55.640 Yeah, it was a little bit spooky. 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:58.880 It's you kind of walked through there and well, the 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:02.719 year coming back if we'd won it, Yeah, I'm back 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:03.360 through the doors. 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:06.960 You see your name on the wall on the champion board. 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:11.320 And obviously all those great feelings and emotions fill you 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:14.320 up inside from day one and sort of through the 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:17.880 old tournament and you kind of play with definitely an 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:21.840 extra confidence but also maybe an extra freedom because you 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:23.079 feel like this is great. 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:24.760 I know I play well here, I know I'm one 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:26.000 of the favorites, let's say. 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:28.960 But at the same time, you know you have already 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:31.280 done it and achieved it too, so it's you know, 0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:32.280 no one can take that away. 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:33.880 From you, so you kind of. 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:36.880 Able to kind of draw on the best part of 0:11:37.760 --> 0:11:41.880 the confidence and let's say, obviously the pressure of being 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:44.760 a favorite, but maybe pressure is also awful a little 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:48.920 because you've won it before. So it's a super nice feeling. 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:50.560 And to know that for the rest of your life, 0:11:50.559 --> 0:11:54.640 I can come back to Wimbledon, you know, as a member, guest, 0:11:54.800 --> 0:11:57.280 or play the legends or something one day and when 0:11:57.320 --> 0:11:59.480 I'm eighty five years old, come back and watch with 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:04.120 my wife something that it's a nice thought to have. 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:07.520 What is the tournament like generally? Could you maybe explain 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:09.760 it to our listeners who haven't been lucky enough to 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:10.480 experience it. 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:15.319 Yeah, Wimbledon it's a hard one to really explain. 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:18.240 I feel like any other tournament during the fifty two 0:12:18.240 --> 0:12:20.520 weeks I could really explain really well. 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:22.600 But there's something about Wimbledon. 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:28.280 It's tradition, it's history, or it's kind of small, it's 0:12:28.280 --> 0:12:31.920 the intimate. Even cener court that's for another discussion. We'll 0:12:31.920 --> 0:12:35.840 talk about senate court. It's a whole different ballgame of itself. 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:39.600 But the grounds, the tournament in general, Yeah, there's not 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:42.040 too many other things like it. I think in sport 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:44.160 you might have to look at some of the most 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:47.760 famous Hallard cricket pitches or locker rooms around the world, 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:53.400 or for other sports fans to empathize with those feelings 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:56.840 of how it really is. But yeah, as a player, 0:12:56.960 --> 0:13:00.520 it's there isn't anything like it. It's sort of hard 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:02.920 to explain until someone goes there and sees it. But 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:07.360 I think as a fan, I think it's I mean, 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:09.559 it's probably we're stuck in the stories in our own 0:13:09.559 --> 0:13:12.800 head of you know, the tradition, the hundreds of years 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:16.920 of things we've seen on TV, the great champions, we've seen. 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:17.720 It all around the world. 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:20.200 But as a fan, I think if you go there, 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:22.880 I think it's the it's the intimacy. I think it's 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:23.920 that everything is. 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:28.440 Slightly more bunched up, even center court. It's it's it's incredible, 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:31.560 it's it's got an aura about it. But it's not 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:32.760 the biggest court in the world. 0:13:34.400 --> 0:13:38.120 The fans are really into it, obviously, they are extremely 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:42.280 well educated fans. They're being around Wimbledon for fifty years themselves. 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:48.760 Yeah, just it's it's hard to explain. I mean, yeah, if. 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:50.720 If you get the chance, go to Wimbledon and see 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:53.520 what I'm talking about, and you'll sort of hopefully get 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:56.600 some of that mystic kind of a feel and an 0:13:56.679 --> 0:14:00.200 aura of that tradition that we feel and experience going there. 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:04.200 That there is different I suppose also British summer. You know, 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:07.560 everything comes to life a bit. There's still kind of cool, 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:12.920 but Chris, everyone's sort of super happy. If it's funny. Yeah, 0:14:12.920 --> 0:14:16.240 it's there's a lot of special things about it. But yeah, 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:18.360 if you can't get there, take my word for it. 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:21.960 It's it's a special place. It's a hallowed turf. There's 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:26.400 a special aura and the mysticness, let's say about it. 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:29.480 But yeah, really did get the chance. If you get 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:30.360 the chance, go and visit. 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:32.600 I haven't been since twenty nineteen and I just want 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:34.480 to jump on a plane after hearing you say that 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:37.520 Viv is going, Yeah, Viv is about to go. 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:40.760 You've got me excited for the English summer. 0:14:40.840 --> 0:14:42.600 We know you've been very generous with your time, Matt, 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:44.480 thank you so much. We've got one more, if that's 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:47.480 all right. It's about Australian tennis because also there's a 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:49.480 fair bit of strength in those ranks too. We've got 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:51.760 an enormous amount of guys in the top one hundred. 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:54.320 There's what Demon's doing. He's become a top ten player. 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:57.080 You referenced Davis carb Australia is the thing, the finalist 0:14:57.120 --> 0:14:59.680 the last two years. You've been involved in Australian tennis 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:02.400 for a long time. Now, How like encouraged are you 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:04.480 with like the current crop and where the strength of 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:05.600 Assy tennis is right now? 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:08.320 Yeah, it's very exciting and I think it's again it's 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:10.840 a progression of all the work that everyone's done behind 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:14.520 the scenes and then the grassroots the last fifteen years. 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:16.840 I would say when I came up broke in top hundred, 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:20.000 I think only Layton was still top hundred when I 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:22.320 came out, I think I was number two, and then 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:25.120 obviously Tomic came and then Nick and that came later. 0:15:25.240 --> 0:15:27.640 But it was at some point there was only two 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:30.920 of us in top hundred, whereas previously there'd always been 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:33.800 five to ten guys at least. And then since that point, 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:35.840 I'm proud to say that there was then started to 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:38.520 become always five or eight or ten or have a 0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:42.160 many top hundred and it's you know, people take it 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:44.040 a bit for granted too, how odd it is and 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:46.080 we sit here and we throw out numbers of these 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:48.560 guys winning as many Slams and the many people in 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:52.280 the top hundred. But it's incredibly, incredibly art the ranking 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:55.160 system to get that many points at the top level 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:57.880 in a twelve month period, to have a ranking of 0:15:58.040 --> 0:16:01.320 the top hundred, and that's why you see only every 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:05.040 ten years there's only unfortunately only ever, I don't know, 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:07.840 it's six to ten of us or these players making 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:10.440 the top one hundred from Australia or from any country really, 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:13.600 because the level is that hard and it demands so 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:19.320 much physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, and even be from Australia, 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:23.560 what I've seen and everyone's shared this, yeah, even geographically 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:24.800 it's very difficult. 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:25.760 We basically have. 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:30.200 To live away nearly the whole year away from home, friends, family, 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:34.000 since you're sixteen, seventeen, eighteen years of age through it 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:35.520 till into your thirty. 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:38.560 So your whole life almost as an adult. 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:42.360 And you know that's incredibly demanding, and there's thousands of 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:45.360 variables that go into that. I think us I can 0:16:45.480 --> 0:16:47.360 say to a lot of the young kids coming up 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:49.400 or their parents or coaches when they say, oh, the schedule, 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:52.119 they going my yeah, but being a good tennis players 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:56.000 almost irrelevant. That's the easy part. You know, anyone can 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:58.400 be a good tennis player. But and you put together 0:16:58.440 --> 0:17:00.480 a career where you have ten year in the top 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:03.720 hundred overseas, the whole time away from your support system, 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:07.679 your friends, your family, your home, living with travel, you know, 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:12.879 dealing with all those things physically, mentally, emotionally, relationships, coaches, 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:17.200 all those things. So it's a lot. But I'm proud 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:19.639 that there are I think five or six guys in 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:22.159 that top hundred now again and then still and some 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:25.680 more pushing and some more coming back, let's say. And 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:29.360 similarly on the women's side, I think the women they 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:31.760 also had a few stronger years there and a couple 0:17:31.760 --> 0:17:34.240 of that being injured and lost ranking a bit. It 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:36.240 would be nice to see another four or five of 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:38.879 the girls push up into that top hundred and really 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:41.880 solidify us as you know, one of the top three 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:45.200 four tennis nations on the planet. Obviously, Yeah, like you say, 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:48.240 two Davis Cup finals, we've been able to do that 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:50.880 on the men's side, so you know, we're obviously right 0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:53.520 up there and strong, and obviously the girls coming off 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:55.600 the back of Ash being world number one, and hopefully 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:58.560 that can inspire them to push on up as well, 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:00.480 and then some coming back from injury again, I know. 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:04.320 So it's yeah, it's an exciting time for Australian tennis. 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:07.240 But I think, yeah, it's also a result in a 0:18:07.240 --> 0:18:10.359 combination of processes and players that were put in place 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:13.800 a good fifteen years ago. I watched them change and 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:16.000 take place before my eyes and I've benefited from a 0:18:16.000 --> 0:18:19.119 lot of them, just the support, the structures, the networks 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:21.400 that they were sort of trying to build and give 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:25.000 players the self responsibility to and in this tennis life, 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:26.480 that's what it's all about. 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:26.720 You know. 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:29.280 You can give the people help you and whatever, but 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:31.800