Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Sitdown. I'm Viv Christie from
Speaker 1: Australian Tennis magazine.
Speaker 2: And I'm Matrolote from oz open dot Com and Viv.
Speaker 2: This week we're bringing you a chat from Italy with
Speaker 2: the great Francesca Ski of only Grand Slam Singles champion
Speaker 2: when she won twenty ten Roland Garross over Australian Sam Stoza. Now,
Speaker 2: as Australia people that work in Australian tennis, Viv, we
Speaker 2: obviously were captivated by this match in Sam making the final.
Speaker 2: What do you remember about that match and what eventually
Speaker 2: unfolded in Paris.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a very exciting time for Australian tennis.
Speaker 1: Sam of course had beaten Justine Hennan on her way
Speaker 1: to the final and I remember watching that with many
Speaker 1: of my friends, my tennis friends on a Saturday night
Speaker 1: at a pub in Richmond, and we were all super excited.
Speaker 1: But in the end it was an incredible performance and
Speaker 1: milestone from Francesca.
Speaker 2: It was For anyone that's listening to this podcast it's
Speaker 2: not from Australia, they might not know just how big
Speaker 2: a deal this was to an Australian in the French
Speaker 2: Open Singles Final. I think that was the first time
Speaker 2: that had happened since the nineteen seventies, and so naturally,
Speaker 2: and you know, the match got brought onto Free Too
Speaker 2: Wear TV when it was when Roland Garross was normally
Speaker 2: on cable TV, and it was all over the front
Speaker 2: page of the newspaper. And Sam had gone on to
Speaker 2: beat Serena as well, So yeah, kind of the signs
Speaker 2: were there that, you know, we were all behind Sam.
Speaker 2: But I just remember thinking, even though the Australian in
Speaker 2: me was supporting Sam, I was so impressed with Francesca
Speaker 2: Skivoni's approach to the match, how tactically well she played,
Speaker 2: and then when it got to that tiebreak, she just
Speaker 2: went for it and just played like the dream tiebreak
Speaker 2: and just looked destined to win, like she arrived at
Speaker 2: her moment. It was her dream. It was incredible to
Speaker 2: see and I think she goes into a little bit
Speaker 2: of detail about those exact moments and her memories, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all these years later, I mean she talks about
Speaker 1: the passion and the focus that it took. She'd always
Speaker 1: had that goal to win Roland Gaross and and she did,
Speaker 1: and yeah, it's wonderful also to hear about the respect
Speaker 1: that she has for Sam and how warmly she speaks
Speaker 1: about her.
Speaker 2: Sir Francesca caught up with our colleague Shannon Davis in
Speaker 2: Milan and begun the interview by recalling her win over
Speaker 2: Serena Williams way back in Rome in two thousand and five.
Speaker 3: Tell me about that moment and how amazing it was
Speaker 3: in your home country, you taking on and beating in
Speaker 3: the second round.
Speaker 4: Serena was been fantastic. Of course, pasted already twenty more years,
Speaker 4: so it's a long long time ago. But I remember
Speaker 4: that there was blonde. I was very on fight this
Speaker 4: mother who could be in front of me. My goal
Speaker 4: was to beat her. I was shaking. I remember well
Speaker 4: I play against Serena. I was very respectful for my opponent. Always.
Speaker 4: I was being like this because my parents teach me
Speaker 4: how much is important to be respectful to yourself, to
Speaker 4: the opponent. But to play against Serena was something special.
Speaker 4: And I say, if I want to catch her and
Speaker 4: bit her, I have to bring her in a long rally.
Speaker 4: I have to bring where. I have to bring her
Speaker 4: where she doesn't like so and is my space? My
Speaker 4: space was to run My word was to suffer and
Speaker 4: to bring my opponent to to go over the limits.
Speaker 4: And I did that. I remember that was a great
Speaker 4: match for me. First set was seven six for me,
Speaker 4: was very tough, tight every point. She was surfing very good,
Speaker 4: and you know, twenty kilos of difference between a body
Speaker 4: to another body was I was feeling dead, but I
Speaker 4: was very determinate. That one is my home. I say,
Speaker 4: this is my surface is Roma and Clay. So I
Speaker 4: put everything together. I play with the courage. She mistakes
Speaker 4: some balls important and when she missed something, I say, oh,
Speaker 4: it's time for me to catch the merchant, try to win.
Speaker 4: And I did it.
Speaker 3: So tell me about you and Clay have a special affinity.
Speaker 4: At the age of seventeen, between seventeen and eighteen, I
Speaker 4: went to my mental coach that then Giovanni, I keep
Speaker 4: it for the rest of my career. And I ask
Speaker 4: him no. He asked me, what do you want to
Speaker 4: do in your life? What's your goal? What do you
Speaker 4: have in your heart? And they say, I want to
Speaker 4: win Rolangeros and I want to become top ten in
Speaker 4: the world. That was the key for me to work
Speaker 4: and to reach the goal that I dreamed, and after
Speaker 4: several times that I played Rolande Ross, I arrived in
Speaker 4: a moment two thousand and seven, eight and nine. I
Speaker 4: was close, not by results, but I felt that that
Speaker 4: one was my tournament. In two thousand and nine, I
Speaker 4: played good, but I was something was missing. Then happened
Speaker 4: that I prefer very well the season. I find a
Speaker 4: good balance. Sometimes maybe someone say, okay, you have thirty
Speaker 4: years old, you had twenty nine, so why did you
Speaker 4: wait so long? But I was like this. I always
Speaker 4: took my time. I always did my I grow was
Speaker 4: a little bit slower than others or now that everybody
Speaker 4: give you the solution and the input before was a
Speaker 4: little bit slower. So when I arrived in twenty ten
Speaker 4: in Rolandaros and I won the first round, six four
Speaker 4: in the third, I said, oh my god, I think
Speaker 4: something is happening to me. Because I played very bad
Speaker 4: and I could win. That's very good step for a champion.
Speaker 4: Then second round I played amazing, so something was changing. Physically,
Speaker 4: I felt very good. My team was in good balance.
Speaker 4: Many things together were attached, and I run the third round.
Speaker 4: I remember against Lena. That match did the click to
Speaker 4: me more because we played. Both of us played very well.
Speaker 4: We fight and at the end I won so more confidence,
Speaker 4: more actitude. I felt that I could do it, and
Speaker 4: that's very important for an ATHLETs. Then, step by step
Speaker 4: to the final, I didn't play good and I could win. Wow,
Speaker 4: semi final very good, respectable, and the final change a
Speaker 4: lot because before the final, I felt very scared. I
Speaker 4: was very scared. I cried. I think from eight in
Speaker 4: the morning until noon. I couldn't stop this scared. When
Speaker 4: someone now is coming to me and say I'm scared
Speaker 4: of this match, I can understand what's happened inside the body,
Speaker 4: inside the heart. I couldn't find the courage to go
Speaker 4: to play the final, so I see. I spoke with
Speaker 4: my mental trainer and he said to me very clear,
Speaker 4: don't do it. If you don't feel good, why do it.
Speaker 4: Tennis is a game. Game is mean to love, to
Speaker 4: go over the limits, to be strong, but also to enjoy,
Speaker 4: to feel, to feel that you are there in the
Speaker 4: right moment, in the right condition. So don't worry, don't play.
Speaker 4: I said, well, how can I don't play? And he
Speaker 4: left and she said, stay alone, don't worry about it.
Speaker 4: If it's the time to cancel. We cancer good after
Speaker 4: I think some hours like this, I think I took
Speaker 4: off everything from my body because I was crying and
Speaker 4: no phone, no mobile phone, no contact with other people,
Speaker 4: just me. I analyzed this moment and I put all
Speaker 4: my past together with my present and the dream that
Speaker 4: I had, this dream, It depends. You can see the
Speaker 4: dream amazing, fantastic, that we are close to reach. You
Speaker 4: can see that it's heavy. This depends how you see this,
Speaker 4: how you feel it. And then in a moment, I say,
Speaker 4: I'm leaving this one that is heavy. What doesn't mean
Speaker 4: if I leave this part? What doesn't mean it takes
Speaker 4: hours to take this one and threw away and to
Speaker 4: leave this moment like a present, like wow, thanks God
Speaker 4: that you give me this opportunity. And I arrived there
Speaker 4: with my potential, with my power. So if I arrived there,
Speaker 4: why not to go to to play and win? So
Speaker 4: I give to myself the chance to do it. And
Speaker 4: I was lucky. I was good. I don't know what happened,
Speaker 4: and I want Roland Ross. How is that? Lucky and good?
Speaker 3: Because your protagonist did not match Sam Stouzer, she was
Speaker 3: often crippled with nerves too, like very constricted.
Speaker 4: Sam was a fantastic add I love some like person
Speaker 4: like Atherlettes, very big example for everybody of us and
Speaker 4: for I think for Australia and all the world. But
Speaker 4: I felt that she was very tight. When I was
Speaker 4: playing in the correct spot, she couldn't she couldn't defense
Speaker 4: very good. And when I was missing and she had
Speaker 4: the opportunity, she was not coming against me very strong
Speaker 4: like usually she was doing, and they say something is happening.
Speaker 4: I was reading very well the emotion and the tactic
Speaker 4: how to manage this, to find a way to attack
Speaker 4: her in the moment that she couldn't understand. So it
Speaker 4: was like the cut and the mouse, a little bit
Speaker 4: like this. When time to go, and because she was
Speaker 4: times speaker than mean and stronger and everybody was waiting
Speaker 4: her win, I found a way, like I said before,
Speaker 4: dreaming that moment, I was totally into the match. There
Speaker 4: was nobody around. I remember that. I remember exactly that
Speaker 4: when I was six ' four for me and four
Speaker 4: three that I did the break. You know, I want herself.
Speaker 4: In that moment, I turned to my team, I look
Speaker 4: everybody that was there, like one hundred people, and I
Speaker 4: felt and I saw them for the first time. I
Speaker 4: saw the stadium for the first time six four four three.
Speaker 4: In that moment, I understand many things that I was there,
Speaker 4: that was a right place. That was my moment. It
Speaker 4: doesn't matter when or lose. You have to give everything
Speaker 4: that you have. And I was playing always better and
Speaker 4: better and better. So the pressure was not was there
Speaker 4: but was not so much important then the game. So
Speaker 4: the game was important in the same way then the
Speaker 4: pressure and then the life. In that moment, I mixed
Speaker 4: up everything. I didn't split so much was aspatch. Everything
Speaker 4: was pressure. The crowd that was with me, crowd against
Speaker 4: me was match point. How did you feel in Russia
Speaker 4: or ancient Yeah, there was anxiety, there was enjoying that
Speaker 4: if I do this point, I can win. Everything was together.
Speaker 4: I was fluid. When you give opportunity to yourself, you
Speaker 4: already win something, and that's very important. And in that
Speaker 4: moment I learned these things and I could win.
Speaker 3: Your fighting spirit was always something that was always on display.
Speaker 3: Come to the Australia and Open in twenty eleven and
Speaker 3: you play the longest and Slam match in history against
Speaker 3: because Netsava, Yeah, tell me about that. That was insane.
Speaker 3: Sixteen fourteen. In that third set, see.
Speaker 4: What the hell that match was was long? We couldn't
Speaker 4: I spoke with her and then some days after because
Speaker 4: she was literally beast but it's okay, And they say,
Speaker 4: how did you manage after the match? What did you do?
Speaker 4: And she said I was there and I say me too.
Speaker 4: I was off finish for our forty four minutes. I
Speaker 4: become four in the world. Incredible. Everything with the four
Speaker 4: was a fantastic match because she expressed everything and I
Speaker 4: did the same in a different way until a moment
Speaker 4: that I could catch two three times more than net
Speaker 4: or two or three pass passing shot more. The level
Speaker 4: was very equal. We finished like if I can say that,
Speaker 4: like Roger and Rafa when when they will finished six
Speaker 4: floor In the fifth set was emotions? Was tennis? Was
Speaker 4: respect because I respect a lot like a lot was
Speaker 4: a game? Was fight over the limits, both of us.
Speaker 4: Because the day after I couldn't work. I went to
Speaker 4: the bicycle. I did two minutes and something and I say,
Speaker 4: I can't go anywhere. I don't know what's going on.
Speaker 4: I can't go with the with the legs, and my
Speaker 4: fizier say, don't worry. We stopped. We could sleep again
Speaker 4: and eat again and do your things so long the
Speaker 4: match for women's are a lot and we could enjoy
Speaker 4: that match that will be historical.
Speaker 3: Now you have the mental forever going forward of being
Speaker 3: the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam title.
Speaker 3: You now have the newest member of the Grand Slam club,
Speaker 3: a young Italian who's flying at the moment, who shows
Speaker 3: some fight. He came back from two sets down in
Speaker 3: that match. Tell me what do you make of his progress?
Speaker 4: Okay, first of all, he's a fantastic person because to
Speaker 4: be a champion, you can't be just an addlet. You
Speaker 4: have to understand what's happened to you, to work on
Speaker 4: yourself to your limit, to listen to the people that
Speaker 4: you have around, to understand that the game, and to
Speaker 4: understand what is outside like business. And I think he
Speaker 4: is very smart on this because he's ordered. There is
Speaker 4: an order of what he does. So when he's in
Speaker 4: the court, he want to improve every day, very verchiso
Speaker 4: in English, very multipuntilioso, you can translate. And this characteristic
Speaker 4: of work hard over the minutes, fight, improve every shots,
Speaker 4: single shots, so small things can make of him a
Speaker 4: very good addlets. Then he is smart. He can find
Speaker 4: the way, the solution with his game. He was ready
Speaker 4: two years ago, three years ago, not because he was
Speaker 4: not completely conscient of his body and where he could go.
Speaker 4: Now he's conscient, and every single moment he leaves consciently
Speaker 4: that he can do something or not. It's like a
Speaker 4: way that he decided what to do. And that's great
Speaker 4: because the champion does this. So when he was sid
Speaker 4: to set to zero down from Medvedev, they change, He
Speaker 4: changed and with the team they change. One thing's very important.
Speaker 4: He couldn't find a way to attack, to use his rhythm,
Speaker 4: so he went back a little bit. That is a
Speaker 4: big step for him. Then to attack the other one.
Speaker 4: This change that looks very simple but it's not could
Speaker 4: give him the opportunity to produce what he has, like
Speaker 4: a power to go into, to go to. And he
Speaker 4: worked very well. He listened, They found together a solution
Speaker 4: and he could do it. Fantastic is a chapeau. Then
Speaker 4: the other one went a little bit down and jan
Speaker 4: Nick went up. Fantastic. I saw the match and they
Speaker 4: said this this boy, because he's a boy, he's a man,
Speaker 4: but he's a boy, can win much more slam for
Speaker 4: this reason.
Speaker 3: Okay, I said, predict for me his year in twenty
Speaker 3: twenty five.
Speaker 4: Numrouna der Mondo number one in the world and some
Speaker 4: slams more and I hope that he will have a
Speaker 4: lot of healthy that's the most important things in tennis,
Speaker 4: in a sport.
Speaker 3: And so tell me what you predict for Francesca's Kavoni
Speaker 3: in this next twelve months.
Speaker 4: To be a good coach for younger or for the
Speaker 4: opportunity that will arrive. To respect always the life of
Speaker 4: the person that I meet, and to enjoy my life
Speaker 4: sometimes saw oh, to relax. That is not easier because
Speaker 4: I run a lot and I work a lot.
Speaker 3: And what are the things that you are passionate about
Speaker 3: in your day to day life?
Speaker 4: Here?
Speaker 3: I can't see why you want to be in Milan.
Speaker 4: It's beautiful. How do you let go to travel? See? No, no, no,
Speaker 4: I like Milano. I'm born here. But I'm building a
Speaker 4: club just for me, for members, to give a line
Speaker 4: Italian style and to give to some guys and girls
Speaker 4: the opportunity to work in my way, to express themselves
Speaker 4: at the best, but always in this way of passion,
Speaker 4: work over the limits and go in this direction. But
Speaker 4: I'm building a club that's an amazing experience because I'm
Speaker 4: learning from zero. Now I am two. We have to
Speaker 4: arrive to ten maybe to invite you to visit it.
Speaker 3: So tell me what's the Skivoni Italian style that you'll
Speaker 3: be having.
Speaker 4: This one is very similar. We are elegant, we are
Speaker 4: very passionate. We have a fantastic architect, We have a talent.
Speaker 4: It's a good food, you can find, always a good
Speaker 4: hotel to spend the week. So I love Australia. I
Speaker 4: love Australia. First time that I came there, I think
Speaker 4: in nineteen ninety nine, I say I want to have
Speaker 4: a house here because I love that place. I don't
Speaker 4: know why. I know why Melbourne is green. There are
Speaker 4: some Italian because there is a stylish There is a
Speaker 4: lot of respect for sports, for the culture, for the art,
Speaker 4: and I love this. When I came there, I found
Speaker 4: people fantastic, a big opportunity to work, to express yourself,
Speaker 4: doesn't matter in which way. And I love that place
Speaker 4: that keep going to grow. People love Tennies. When I
Speaker 4: come to Australia, I want to come soon, I hope
Speaker 4: so to find a good talent to come soon and
Speaker 4: to enjoy Melbourne. When can we get you down there.
Speaker 3: I need to be able to bring someone from the
Speaker 3: tennis Lab.
Speaker 4: It's coming some years. I would be there.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 2: It's always great to hear when a player loves the
Speaker 2: city and the country where you're from. We would welcome
Speaker 2: Francesca back to Australia any time because that was a
Speaker 2: brilliant interview and I could have listened to her talk
Speaker 2: all day.
Speaker 1: Viv Yeah, absolutely, and I loved hearing her recollections of
Speaker 1: her amazing Australian Open match in twenty eleven when she
Speaker 1: beat Spittlana Kuznets of US sixteen fourteen. I think it
Speaker 1: was in the third set, a match that went for
Speaker 1: four hours and forty four minutes.
Speaker 2: An absolute epic. And of course we'll be back again
Speaker 2: next Monday when we sit down with esteemed French photographer
Speaker 2: Carineja Broyle, who we caught up with ahead of her
Speaker 2: working her thirty eighth Roland Garross, her first one dating
Speaker 2: back to nineteen eighty seven, So that was a great chat.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, you can tune into John and the
Speaker 1: team on the AO Show weekly on Thursday. Details for
Speaker 1: how to contact us are in the show notes. Remember
Speaker 1: to subscribe, rate and review.
Speaker 2: See you next week, Matt, look forward to it.
Speaker 3: Viv