Speaker 1: Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of The sit Down.
Speaker 1: I'm Matt Trolo, a writer for ozopen dot.
Speaker 2: Com, and I'm viv Christie, Australian tennis magazine managing editor.
Speaker 2: And Matt. Why are we sitting down this week with
Speaker 2: Jolena Dockicch.
Speaker 1: We're sitting down with Jolna because it's almost twenty five
Speaker 1: years to the day when she burst onto the scene
Speaker 1: with her first round win at Wimbledon nineteen ninety nine
Speaker 1: over world number one Martina Hingis, so we've got a
Speaker 1: chance to ask her about all her memories from that
Speaker 1: incredible result and then the career that took off in
Speaker 1: a golden age of women's tennis. Elena Dockitch, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for joining us in the studio today on
Speaker 1: the sit Down. It's great to see you, pleasure, thank
Speaker 1: you for having me. This is a great time of
Speaker 1: year to chat to you. I mean, it's always great
Speaker 1: to pick your brain, given you your tennis experience and
Speaker 1: career and your involvement in the media now, but we're
Speaker 1: in the middle of the grass court season, Wimbledon's just
Speaker 1: about to begin, and certainly when you emerged on tour
Speaker 1: in the late nineties. Your results on grass were so
Speaker 1: good so quickly you won twenty of your first twenty
Speaker 1: four matches at Wimbledon, which is amazing. That's an amazing
Speaker 1: strike rate. Sounds like you kind of hit the ground running.
Speaker 3: I did well. I first played juniors as well, so
Speaker 3: I played the year before in nineteen ninety eight when
Speaker 3: I became junior well number one. I actually played lead
Speaker 3: up tournaments going into Wimbledon, and then I played Winmweden
Speaker 3: juniors as well. I got to the Semis, so yeah,
Speaker 3: I already had a bit of that taste of what
Speaker 3: Wimbledon was like and what kind of the site was like,
Speaker 3: and what it was like to play on grass, even
Speaker 3: though even though I played juniors in Australia quite a
Speaker 3: bit on grass as well. But yeah, I just loved
Speaker 3: winmwed and I liked the tradition of it as well.
Speaker 3: I have to be honest. I like the whole tournament,
Speaker 3: the whole feel, and yeah, for me, it's just a
Speaker 3: very special place. As much as Australian Open for me
Speaker 3: is like the Holy Grail. Nothing beats that, but Wimwedon
Speaker 3: is right there, right after the Australian Open. There's just
Speaker 3: it's unique, it's special. There's not a little thing out
Speaker 3: of water. I loved wearing the white for example, it's
Speaker 3: not something we would wear. We would wear often to
Speaker 3: be honest, that you're in all white. And yeah, I
Speaker 3: liked playing on grass and I liked that kind of
Speaker 3: it had a tradition. It was so respected. Even the
Speaker 3: crowd is different at Wilwood and they are a little
Speaker 3: bit more kind of I would say, subdued and respectful.
Speaker 3: So you kind of have a whole, very different feel
Speaker 3: to any other Grand Slam.
Speaker 2: Can you remember that experience of walking through the gates
Speaker 2: at the All England Club for the first time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I remember it was a few of us with
Speaker 3: going through with the juniors and it was kind of
Speaker 3: like wow for me, that's all we kind of hear
Speaker 3: about when you're growing up, especially in Australia. That was
Speaker 3: our goal to get to Wimbleden and to get to
Speaker 3: Wimwooden Juniors and then hopefully to play there one day.
Speaker 3: Same with the Australian Open for us at home. So
Speaker 3: it was special. And yeah, I found my footing pretty quickly.
Speaker 3: I was still on the fifteen, but did well on
Speaker 3: grass and even one the lead ups going into Wimbledon
Speaker 3: as well. But it was special. But if you told
Speaker 3: me that a year later I would make the quarters
Speaker 3: from qualifying, I wouldn't have believed you. So yeah, I
Speaker 3: always had a special relationship with grass. I think because
Speaker 3: of the way that I played, I could use my
Speaker 3: game to my advantage. Again, lucky that the coaches taught
Speaker 3: me what is kind of the best way to serve
Speaker 3: and how to use your slice serve grass to make
Speaker 3: it kind of skid away as well. And those few
Speaker 3: little things that you learned from the legends of the
Speaker 3: game and the greats of the game really helped me
Speaker 3: early on. And that's why I think I had a
Speaker 3: big love for playing on the grass, because I've got
Speaker 3: some really good tips early on.
Speaker 1: You alluded to ninety nine. Obviously the result we're almost
Speaker 1: twenty five years to the day where you beat Martina
Speaker 1: Hingis in the first round of Wimbledon, and that well,
Speaker 1: certainly in Australia your profile exploded after that. Actually remember
Speaker 1: a story. It would have happened overnight when in Australia
Speaker 1: for us, and I remember my mum calling down the hallway.
Speaker 1: She must have woken up before me and It was
Speaker 1: the lead story on the ABC News that this Australian
Speaker 1: teenage qualifier had stuned Martine Hingkis in the first round.
Speaker 1: Matt get up Elainey Docs. I remember that really vividly,
Speaker 1: and that was that was a huge, a huge result,
Speaker 1: and what do you remember about it twenty five years on?
Speaker 3: Look? It was the match in a way was almost
Speaker 3: a blur because it went by quite quick and you're
Speaker 3: so focused. I already went through a couple of matches
Speaker 3: of qualifying. I got to the third round of Australian
Speaker 3: Open just five months before as a fifteen year old,
Speaker 3: and I actually lost to Martin in the third round.
Speaker 3: And then we had a practice week going into Roland
Speaker 3: Garross and she was always lovely and we used to
Speaker 3: practice together, so I remember I did feel a little
Speaker 3: bit more comfortable going into this match, but still Martina
Speaker 3: can do anything on the court that you just didn't
Speaker 3: know what was coming next. She was so crafty. But
Speaker 3: I went out there and I had I was on
Speaker 3: a mission and I knew exactly how I wanted to
Speaker 3: play and what I needed to do, and I needed
Speaker 3: to take the match out of her hands. On grass,
Speaker 3: she would come in a lot. She would also use
Speaker 3: the drop shot as well, just like I would. But
Speaker 3: I needed to keep her back and that was the
Speaker 3: main goal. Take take that match out of her hands,
Speaker 3: be aggressive, try and dictate those points. And I knew
Speaker 3: I needed to serve well, not have to hit too
Speaker 3: many second serves because she would put pressure on me.
Speaker 3: So I had a very very kind of clear game
Speaker 3: plan and I was very focused. But I remember walking
Speaker 3: out on court was very special, but at the same time,
Speaker 3: you are like a sixteen year old qualified, it's also
Speaker 3: daunting to play a world number one, right, So I
Speaker 3: remember that. But then when I got into the match
Speaker 3: and I started to feel comfortable after about two or
Speaker 3: three games, and after one of the first set, there
Speaker 3: was this kind of like shock around the stand, like
Speaker 3: you can you could literally hear and you know when
Speaker 3: you're a player and you can just hear people and
Speaker 3: that feeling and that noise going. It's like a mermaid
Speaker 3: yeah yeah, yeah, going, oh wow. A qualifier is just
Speaker 3: taking the first set like as you could feel it
Speaker 3: as a player, you could feel it. And then when
Speaker 3: I got on top in the second set, the crowd
Speaker 3: was kind of extra. I felt like on my side,
Speaker 3: which I kind of thought, oh, maybe you would switch
Speaker 3: a bit, which would be absolutely normal. They were very fair,
Speaker 3: but once you kind of got to the more towards
Speaker 3: the end of the match, you could see like they
Speaker 3: were just yeah, I was probably because I looked like
Speaker 3: I was about ten, but yeah, they were really like
Speaker 3: excited for me to actually win this match. And when
Speaker 3: I won, it was just like this raw that. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I could I could sense or I could feel those
Speaker 3: kind of emotions still today if I go back and
Speaker 3: if I go back to court number one of what
Speaker 3: that kind of sounded like. So we didn't used to
Speaker 3: have sit downs that sets. It was always on the uneven,
Speaker 3: so the first set finished on it even so we
Speaker 3: didn't sit down. You stay on your side. But I
Speaker 3: remember people were like, oh, like you could hear like
Speaker 3: you could literally hear people go, wow, what are we
Speaker 3: watching here? So I remember I could distinctly like feel
Speaker 3: that and see it on people's faces.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love all the details that you're remembering that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, so do I. In two thousand at Wimbledon,
Speaker 1: you went one better at Wimbledon and you made the
Speaker 1: semi finals. Yeah, and I just wonder how satisfying that
Speaker 1: was for you to back up what you've done because
Speaker 1: a lot of the you know, the way the rankings work,
Speaker 1: there's pressure to defend points and all that, and you
Speaker 1: actually went better. Did that feel especially satisfying to do that?
Speaker 3: It did. I had a bit of a after that
Speaker 3: when wood On quarterfinal. I had a bit of a
Speaker 3: kind of let's say, growing year where I was now
Speaker 3: ranked inside the top forty thirty, and yeah, I was
Speaker 3: playing on the tour, big tournaments every single week, but
Speaker 3: I was still only sixteen. Just about the next year
Speaker 3: actually turned seventeen, so I was not actually fully physically
Speaker 3: and mentally and emotionally ready to be on top in
Speaker 3: those certain parts of the year and Grand Slams because
Speaker 3: I had still no experience. So for me, it was
Speaker 3: a bit of a growing i would say year and
Speaker 3: an experience year where I had some losses in the
Speaker 3: first round of Grand Slams, including the US Open, but
Speaker 3: then I also had some wins as well, and then
Speaker 3: I had a lot of pressure going into that wind
Speaker 3: Wooden in two thousand because we used to have bonus
Speaker 3: points based on players that you beat by ranking, and
Speaker 3: me alone by beating Martina at a Grand Slam, she
Speaker 3: was number one in the world plus double points at
Speaker 3: Grand Slams. Even if I got I think I had
Speaker 3: to get to the final or something like that to
Speaker 3: be able to defend that.
Speaker 1: So I knew you'd also beaten ps as well, who.
Speaker 3: Was a top ten player exactly. Yeah, so oh wow.
Speaker 3: And when you're young, it's all about kind of defending.
Speaker 3: That's the mindset, and later you learn it's a bit different.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I had a bit of a up and
Speaker 3: down up and down year, had some great things, but
Speaker 3: then had some you know, tough losses as well. So
Speaker 3: I went into that wind wouldn't kind of yeah, under
Speaker 3: a lot of pressure. But I was able to get
Speaker 3: to the semi's pretty much defend all of it. But
Speaker 3: it was more about the fact that I had another
Speaker 3: great result at a Grand Slam. I went one further
Speaker 3: as well, and yeah, it was really satisfying to be
Speaker 3: able to not just go one better at Wimbledon, but
Speaker 3: just another proof that I can play at that level,
Speaker 3: especially on the big stage. I think as tennis players,
Speaker 3: you want to be able to perform on the big
Speaker 3: stage just as much as you have to be able
Speaker 3: to get through those stuff weeks when the tournaments are
Speaker 3: smaller and they're not covered by the media. You don't
Speaker 3: have big crowds, and sometimes you play tournaments when not
Speaker 3: a lot of people were watching, and that's important, but
Speaker 3: it's also important to be able to deal with pressure
Speaker 3: and expectation on the big stage like the Grand Slams.
Speaker 3: So for me that was massive in terms of, well,
Speaker 3: it's not a fluke type of thing, just for myself
Speaker 3: as well, my expectations. And I got to a semi
Speaker 3: final of Wimbeden.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to ask the last bit about Wimbledon.
Speaker 1: So when we talked about you winning twenty of your
Speaker 1: twenty four matches and that took you through to three,
Speaker 1: you played you made the third round in O three
Speaker 1: and you played Maria sharpover Yes, and twelve months later
Speaker 1: she won. Yes, And think everybody knew what a talent
Speaker 1: she was, Like what was she like to face? And yeah,
Speaker 1: what do you remember? I was tough.
Speaker 3: I remember that match and I wasn't in the best
Speaker 3: for myself, not taking anything away from her, nothing at all.
Speaker 3: I still think I played a pretty okay match, decent
Speaker 3: match against her, but I remember, yeah, she actually overpowered
Speaker 3: me already a little bit in that match and yeah,
Speaker 3: I came off the court and I said, this girl's
Speaker 3: winning Wimbeddon in the next two or three years.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: It was just unbelievable, and just the way that she played.
Speaker 3: She was very focused and consistent. Her forehands and back
Speaker 3: hands were like laser sharp, and she had a lot
Speaker 3: of power. She was tall, big reach as well, and
Speaker 3: even though she got better with her servant her movement,
Speaker 3: even at that time, she had incredible accuracy with her
Speaker 3: cross courts and with her down the lines, and she
Speaker 3: was really brave with going for it and taking the
Speaker 3: ball out of the air when she hit good shots.
Speaker 3: But I was more so i'll tell you this one.
Speaker 3: So she comes back and she wins, right, But I
Speaker 3: actually even thought actually in that match that I lost
Speaker 3: to her, I was like, okay, I actually played some
Speaker 3: decent tennis. I just couldn't close. Yeah, I couldn't hold
Speaker 3: my So it was one break of serve in each set,
Speaker 3: and I was like, yeah, she's playing well. But I'll
Speaker 3: tell you what. Years later. This was in two thousand
Speaker 3: and nine, I think after I made that austral Open run,
Speaker 3: I practiced with her at Wimwooeden. So two days before Wimwoeden.
Speaker 3: We organized a practice I know exactly which court it was,
Speaker 3: and we said, okay, we'll practice. We had a hit
Speaker 3: and we'll play two sets. Right, So I was like,
Speaker 3: oh my god, now I see even more so why
Speaker 3: she's so good and why she's won Winmweden and all
Speaker 3: the other Grand Slams, because it's been a while since
Speaker 3: I practiced or played against her. I mean, I don't
Speaker 3: think that there is anyone in the world. And I've
Speaker 3: practiced with some amazing players and champions and greats of
Speaker 3: the game like Sellas and Capriati and stephie Graff and
Speaker 3: Lindid Davenport. I've never faced a ball that comes flatter
Speaker 3: and deeper and harder, especially on grass, that shoots that way.
Speaker 3: And I was like, oh, now I get it, like
Speaker 3: even more so, you know what I mean. But it
Speaker 3: was amazing because she was We had a great practice
Speaker 3: and it was actually once at all I was really
Speaker 3: proud of myself. But it was great because yeah, I
Speaker 3: just saw she was so focused, just like she is
Speaker 3: in her matches. It was interesting to see that. So
Speaker 3: as soon as she stepped on the court, I was
Speaker 3: pretty focused and intense myself. I like that also, So
Speaker 3: there wasn't much talking when we sat down. We had
Speaker 3: a quick drink and it was like a little bit,
Speaker 3: but it was all about busy. Were out there like
Speaker 3: to We had a court for two hours and yeah,
Speaker 3: it was amazing to see exactly what she does in
Speaker 3: matches is exactly what she does in practice. So it
Speaker 3: was great to have that experience.
Speaker 1: That sounds amazing and that actually I'm just going to
Speaker 1: list some of the people that you beat. So we've
Speaker 1: talked about Hingus, you beat Clasters, you beat Capriati, you
Speaker 1: beat Venus, you beat Maresmo, Piers, Hennan and Sellers. All
Speaker 1: of them have won multiple majors. And in that period
Speaker 1: you got to world number four. That's considered, like I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people considered this like the golden
Speaker 1: age of women's tenners. It were so many stars all
Speaker 1: at the top at the same time, all doing such
Speaker 1: great things. How proud are you to have reached the
Speaker 1: top five in the strength of that era? And also
Speaker 1: what was it like to be at the top in
Speaker 1: that era?
Speaker 3: Oh, very proud, because some people might say, oh, unlucky
Speaker 3: or unfortunate, but no, I actually look at it as
Speaker 3: being very fortunate. Because I got to be on the
Speaker 3: tour at the same time with his amazing legends, champions
Speaker 3: of the game. Some of them were my childhood role
Speaker 3: models and heroes like Stephie Graff and Monica Sellis. All
Speaker 3: I wanted to do was meet them and practice with
Speaker 3: them and play against them. That was that was my
Speaker 3: goal from the age of six, and yeah, I got
Speaker 3: the opportunity to do that. But with so many other
Speaker 3: they're amazing players, like you said, from Davenport to Capriati
Speaker 3: to Hingus to Moresmo, They've all everyone's wan Grand Slams.
Speaker 3: I've been well number one, and yeah, it's quite quite
Speaker 3: an error that we kind of went there through. And yeah,
Speaker 3: it was very very Serena and Venus, very very competitive.
Speaker 3: But I'm lucky. I think I'm lucky to have been
Speaker 3: able to experience that, to know those players, to play
Speaker 3: against them, and just to have that experience on tour.
Speaker 3: Some of them are my friends still today. And yeah,
Speaker 3: I still highlight though that I'm very fortunate to have
Speaker 3: been able to practice and play against Stephie and Monica.
Speaker 3: That was my goal as a child, and I got
Speaker 3: to do that, and I've got to talk to them
Speaker 3: and yeah, have some great matches against them, especially in
Speaker 3: Monica because she retired a little bit later than Stephie,
Speaker 3: and we had some great matches and that was amazing.
Speaker 3: As much as I hated to play against them because
Speaker 3: there were a nightmare of play against, but are still
Speaker 3: at the same time loved that. It was always I
Speaker 3: was always very proud to go out there on the
Speaker 3: court and go, oh my god. I used to watch them.
Speaker 3: I used to dream about this. There used to be
Speaker 3: my role models when they were winning Grand slams. I
Speaker 3: was just kind of starting to play tennis. So it
Speaker 3: was amazing to be able to experience that.
Speaker 1: And was of all of those names we discussed, was
Speaker 1: one of them the toughest for you to face. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Look, Davenport was stuff for me to play against. I
Speaker 3: never beat her. There was something about her game. We
Speaker 3: just my game did not match up well with hers.
Speaker 3: For me. It was a nightmare with a serve and
Speaker 3: just with the way that she played. Yeah, I still
Speaker 3: to this day can't tell you why. It just just
Speaker 3: didn't suit me. I had a very hard time reading
Speaker 3: her game and maybe we do play kind of similar,
Speaker 3: but she had a bigger serf, so that was always
Speaker 3: kind of Yeah, a little bit of a tough one
Speaker 3: for me. Tough, well, I would say, I would say Serena,
Speaker 3: and I would say sell Us as well. I had
Speaker 3: some Sellison, Stephie, two very different game styles, all three
Speaker 3: of those. So those three would be the toughest in
Speaker 3: their different ways. Whereas Monica was so intense, didn't let
Speaker 3: you breathe would take the ball so early. She had
Speaker 3: the best angles in the world by far, and the
Speaker 3: most accuracy is Stephie had the bestand off fourhand ever
Speaker 3: a great serve. The slice was a lot tougher than
Speaker 3: people think. That thing stayed this slow off the ground,
Speaker 3: Like you literally had to get your back knee on
Speaker 3: the ground every single time to dig that one up.
Speaker 3: And yeah, extremely smart. And then Serena best serve in
Speaker 3: the world probably ever, that was tough, so you already
Speaker 3: went into it. Yeah, really on the back foot. It
Speaker 3: was really hard to break Serena, especially. I played her
Speaker 3: quite a bit in that really peak era of Serena
Speaker 3: when she was winning a lot of Grand Slams as well,
Speaker 3: and just her sheer power and athleticism and physicality. But yeah,
Speaker 3: I would say those.
Speaker 2: Three, so you had another burst on grass In twenty eleven,
Speaker 2: you reached the Denbosh final and you pushed she've only
Speaker 2: two three sets, just after she'd reached the rolling grass final.
Speaker 2: What was that period like for you?
Speaker 3: That was that bit of a resurgence period from me.
Speaker 3: But yeah, at the same time, I retired not too
Speaker 3: long after that with injuries and yeah, with a resurgery,
Speaker 3: and then yeah, just in general with mental health struggles
Speaker 3: that I was facing and battling already for ten years.
Speaker 3: So it was yeah, I wish, not I wish. I
Speaker 3: think everyone has their own story and there's a reason
Speaker 3: for kind of our paths, but yeah, it would have
Speaker 3: been nice to play and a few more times and
Speaker 3: on the grass, but just in general on the tour,
Speaker 3: because I had no plans of retiring yet. That was
Speaker 3: only twenty nine when I retired, so yeah, that was
Speaker 3: something for me that I had to navigate. But it
Speaker 3: was great. HERTG and Bosh was amazing. I used to
Speaker 3: play that tournament all the time and getting to the
Speaker 3: final was was great. And they still kind of have
Speaker 3: that old school grass courts where they are fast and
Speaker 3: low balancing, so that hasn't changed there and in yeah,
Speaker 3: it's a really lovely tournament, So it was nice. It
Speaker 3: was really nice to Yeah, to get that kind of
Speaker 3: result there when I still when I was going through
Speaker 3: kind of a bit of a tough period and turbulent period,
Speaker 3: and to still be able to get on the grass
Speaker 3: and play well was really lovely. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Can you describe what it's like to play on center court?
Speaker 3: Oh, I don't know what. You're more worried about doing
Speaker 3: something wrong if you have to, because we used to
Speaker 3: have to curtsey, so we don't have that today anymore.
Speaker 3: So I was more worried about that than anything, to
Speaker 3: be honest. So when we were told that, I know
Speaker 3: it's quite simple, but I was like, where do I look?
Speaker 3: We both so where the players are as looking at
Speaker 3: each other? Do we turn now together? Because it was
Speaker 3: like on the service line, between a service line and
Speaker 3: the net, when you're walking on that side. Where do
Speaker 3: we look? Who is there? How do we curtsy? Smile?
Speaker 3: It was like this whole thing. And I did it
Speaker 3: for the first time when I was when I was sixteen,
Speaker 3: so that was kind of very special at the same
Speaker 3: time as well, and you pretty much always when you
Speaker 3: were on center called there's someone from in the Royal watching.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it's special. I really find the walk from
Speaker 3: the locker room to center Court amazing and it's the
Speaker 3: longest walk we have, and it's just it just speaks
Speaker 3: for itself. Where you go through the corridors and the
Speaker 3: big windows are there where you see a big part
Speaker 3: of Wimwood, and then you get to the members area.
Speaker 3: Then there's all of the different stories and trophies in
Speaker 3: the glass what do you call them those glasses, yeah, cabinets. Yeah,
Speaker 3: then you just when you get to that area before
Speaker 3: you walk out, it's just special. It's just yeah, that
Speaker 3: role Swatch will never get out of my head. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And the wood it's all in wood as well, so
Speaker 3: it's very different. And then there's obviously the green that
Speaker 3: goes with Windwood, and but then yeah, it's special to
Speaker 3: walk onto that grass because it's almost like, yeah, it's
Speaker 3: very different to walk onto Center Court at Windward and
Speaker 3: then even caught one or even any other court, you
Speaker 3: kind of walk onto it from a from a bit
Speaker 3: of a cement surface onto it and then you kind
Speaker 3: of go, ah, Windwood and Center Court. I don't know.
Speaker 3: That's how I always felt, and yeah, it's different, it's
Speaker 3: I love the number one court, but center court is
Speaker 3: obviously bigger. I like how the player boxes are. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I don't know. I just it's special every I think
Speaker 3: for everyone. Different tournaments or different Grand Slams are special
Speaker 3: for me. Austraight and open and Rod Label, you know,
Speaker 3: special for different reasons. But this is just unique. And
Speaker 3: the treaty. I can never go past wearing white. That
Speaker 3: that's just we just never do that. We would never
Speaker 3: wear white or pick to wear white, or neither would
Speaker 3: our sponsors. So you just, yeah, everything kind of comes together.
Speaker 3: But I love that walk, and especially in that second week,
Speaker 3: that's where you kind of know, okay, all eyes are
Speaker 3: on us. Now this is a special moment and no
Speaker 3: matter what happens, you know, you've been in a second
Speaker 3: week of Wimbledon and you've been in a quarterfinal, semifinal,
Speaker 3: so it's always special.
Speaker 2: We are in an Olympic. Yeah, and that was another
Speaker 2: great result for you. You reached the metal rounds at Sydney
Speaker 2: in two thousand. What do you remember about that time?
Speaker 3: I loved my experience at the Sydney Olympics. It was great.
Speaker 3: To this day, I always it's the best, best two weeks.
Speaker 3: I had. It was amazing. It's something special we don't have.
Speaker 3: No sport has anything like it. It's so different to
Speaker 3: be a part of such a massive team, not just
Speaker 3: in your own kind of sport, but the whole country.
Speaker 3: And there is no other event that's going where you're
Speaker 3: going to feel and want to play for your country
Speaker 3: more than that. It's not for you, it's all of
Speaker 3: that pride. And for me, I remember getting my tops
Speaker 3: and having Australia written at the back. That was amazing,
Speaker 3: and yeah, it will stay with me forever. I still
Speaker 3: have my backpack from the Sydney Olympics in two thousand
Speaker 3: and Yeah, it was amazing. I just missed out and yeah,
Speaker 3: but still it's the sell Us in the playoff for
Speaker 3: that bronze. But yeah, it stays with you as something
Speaker 3: very special. And I know that we as tennis players,
Speaker 3: we have Grand Slams and that's our focus and we
Speaker 3: are maybe not as much reliant like maybe swimming or
Speaker 3: some other sports on Olympics and events like that. But
Speaker 3: at the same time I know that every single tennis
Speaker 3: player and I know I was, there is so much
Speaker 3: pride with it. There is no ifs or nos. It's
Speaker 3: even if you are on one leg but you somehow
Speaker 3: can get on the court and play, you go and
Speaker 3: you just go and you give two hundred percent for
Speaker 3: your country. I remember I played, and yeah, I was
Speaker 3: looking at the coaches as part of our team. Leslie
Speaker 3: Barry was our coach as well, and the other players
Speaker 3: that would come. I remember Pat Raft came to watch.
Speaker 3: I don't know if I was more nervous or more
Speaker 3: I don't know what, but yeah, it was amazing. Though.
Speaker 3: It's such an amazing experience because we go and we
Speaker 3: all support each other, and you would never have that
Speaker 3: to that extent where we're all together other athletes coming
Speaker 3: from other sports as well, where we bond like that.
Speaker 3: I love going into the cafeteria every day, I have
Speaker 3: to say it. It's like huge and you see all
Speaker 3: of these different athletes, which is exciting, and then the
Speaker 3: pins that you collect as well, so those things stay
Speaker 3: with you forever and nothing, nothing can replace that, even
Speaker 3: though for us as tennis players, we have so many
Speaker 3: goals with Grand Slams and different things we want to accomplish.
Speaker 3: But if I could do if someone asked me, I
Speaker 3: don't know if I could do something or the Olympics.
Speaker 3: I would say the Olympics, yeah wow, for sure, if
Speaker 3: I could, if I could go to one more Olympics,
Speaker 3: yeah wow.
Speaker 2: Elena was so generous with her time there. I just
Speaker 2: love all the details that she can recall. And yeah,
Speaker 2: imagine being a teenager having to curtsey to the Royal
Speaker 2: Box on Center Court at Wimbledon.
Speaker 1: It was I've always wanted to ask Elaana questions like
Speaker 1: that and I could have listened to her talk for
Speaker 1: hours more.
Speaker 2: It was great, It was wonderful. We'll be back next
Speaker 2: week with another episode of the sit Down when we
Speaker 2: catch up with another Australian storm hunter.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and in the meantime, you can listen to John
Speaker 1: on the Team this Thursday on the Aoshow Weekly. Details
Speaker 1: for how to contact us are in the show notes,
Speaker 1: and as always, please subscribe, rate and review. See you
Speaker 1: next week, vib.
Speaker 2: Look forward to it. Mat Hey he