Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Sitdown.
Speaker 2: I'm Viv Christie, Managing editor of Australian Tennis magazine.
Speaker 3: And I'm Matrolope a ride for ozopen dot Com and Viv.
Speaker 3: This week we're going back into the archives almost exactly
Speaker 3: on this day. Thirty six years ago, Australia's Nicole Bradkey,
Speaker 3: then known as Nicole Probus, made the semifinals at Rolling
Speaker 3: Garossi in nineteen eighty eight.
Speaker 2: It was an amazing time in Australian tennis. Nicole was
Speaker 2: just eighteen years old at the time and really announced
Speaker 2: herself on the world stage with a series of three
Speaker 2: set wins, including over the fast rising Rancho Sanchez for
Speaker 2: Carrio and even held a match point in the semifinal.
Speaker 2: Nicole talked to our colleague Luke Denahee on a life
Speaker 2: changing campaign in Paris.
Speaker 4: Well, thank you for coming in today, Nicole. It was
Speaker 4: an exciting time in nineteen eighty eight for you, at
Speaker 4: only eighteen, you made the French Open semi final and
Speaker 4: I think for Australia it was really groundbreaking. My research
Speaker 4: tells me that I think the last time in Australian
Speaker 4: Dian from Oltz made the French Admanals nineteen seventy nine. Right, yeah,
Speaker 4: So I just want to start off where did the
Speaker 4: love of clay come? Because you know, Australian, especially in
Speaker 4: that era, we're known for grass or maybe hardcourt, but
Speaker 4: not really clay.
Speaker 5: So where did it come for you?
Speaker 6: Well, as a proud Victorian, I grew up on what
Speaker 6: we call anti car courts, which are very similar to clay,
Speaker 6: but anti car court, so probably the grain is a
Speaker 6: bit bigger, whereas the clay is more a powder. And
Speaker 6: so I grew up playing all my junior matches from
Speaker 6: very young, like eleven, all the way through on anti
Speaker 6: car court. Every tournament I very rarely. I never played
Speaker 6: on hard court growing up. It was mainly well, a
Speaker 6: little bit of synthetic grass, but not many and that
Speaker 6: was when I went into state. But ninety nine percent
Speaker 6: of my tournament play was on clay. So therefore I
Speaker 6: knew how to slide and more importantly, knew with my
Speaker 6: coach Ken Richardson, had to construct a point.
Speaker 1: That's what you find on clay.
Speaker 6: You have to be a little bit more patient and
Speaker 6: then you have to pick your moments when you want
Speaker 6: to be aggressive.
Speaker 1: And so.
Speaker 6: I had a great coach, and he taught me a
Speaker 6: lot of ingrained a lot of those messages in me,
Speaker 6: and I guess that's why I had a bit of
Speaker 6: success on the clay courts.
Speaker 4: You did because the year before you were seventeen and
Speaker 4: you made the second round of the French Open. What
Speaker 4: was that experience like that and did that help you
Speaker 4: for nine eighty eight.
Speaker 6: I was fortunate to have direct entries into most of
Speaker 6: the Grand Slams when I was very very young, and
Speaker 6: so I really didn't have to go through the hard
Speaker 6: slog of qualifying. So yeah, playing you first, I mean
Speaker 6: my first for a into Grand Slam was obviously when
Speaker 6: I got a wild card here at the Australian Open
Speaker 6: when it was played at Quyon seven. Yeah, there would
Speaker 6: have been eighty seven, so and that's what kickstarted my ranking.
Speaker 6: I actually won my first round, So when you win
Speaker 6: a first round of a Grand Slam, you generally get
Speaker 6: pretty good bonus points and so then I had to
Speaker 6: pay my team and have all.
Speaker 1: Over second round on senate clo.
Speaker 6: So yeah, the Australian Open, and then the following year
Speaker 6: obviously it moved to Melbourne Park. So it's just a
Speaker 6: really good experience of feeling what it's like to play
Speaker 6: in a Grand Slam, And obviously you always want to
Speaker 6: do well in a Grand Slam because, like I said,
Speaker 6: there's bigger bonus points, there's obviously more money on offer,
Speaker 6: and all those sorts of things.
Speaker 1: So that's why the Grand Slams are pretty important.
Speaker 5: They were. So what was that era like?
Speaker 4: And we'll go more into more detail later on, because
Speaker 4: you had, especially in Naty eight, I think the third
Speaker 4: seed was Chris Evertt and Matt never had al Over
Speaker 4: was the second seed, and then you had of course
Speaker 4: stephie GRAFFI was I think your age, it was the
Speaker 4: number one seed. Really, it wasn't incredible era for tennis,
Speaker 4: wasn't it, because you had those legends and then you
Speaker 4: had the rising stars as well.
Speaker 5: What was that like?
Speaker 6: Yeah, it was just I mean earlier on you get
Speaker 6: a little bit all struck. But my coach Ken Richson,
Speaker 6: who was traveling with me at the time, like he
Speaker 6: would get me to hit with all these different players
Speaker 6: that they be similar age or older, so I would
Speaker 6: get acclimatized. It wasn't sort of overroaring for me to
Speaker 6: go out and play these players, But yeah, I was
Speaker 6: sort of the tail end of coming into play when
Speaker 6: Chris Evertt was sort of retiring and things like that.
Speaker 6: But then, as you said, you know, you had Monica Salis,
Speaker 6: you had Chris Evertt, you had Serbertini Novotna. And also
Speaker 6: they were players that played vastly different where today, other
Speaker 6: than Ash Barty, a lot of the players play the same.
Speaker 6: So there was a few more single handed backhands, they
Speaker 6: sliced a bit like Stephie Graftd or you had Monica
Speaker 6: that hit quite hard off both sides. So there were
Speaker 6: really vast different players, which was terrific.
Speaker 4: And I think what we'll discuss this in your matches
Speaker 4: at the French Ope, and there was a lot of
Speaker 4: different styles there.
Speaker 5: What did you prefer to play against?
Speaker 4: What did you like the slice back end or you know,
Speaker 4: as you said, at Ranches Senta's, Ricario Sabertini, they had
Speaker 4: very different games.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I didn't mind it. I mean I played Stephie
Speaker 6: new of times. It was almost whenever my name was there,
Speaker 6: I was in her type at the draws. You get
Speaker 6: quite used to playing players like that. But I mean Stephanie,
Speaker 6: Stephie was a phenomenal athlete, so she was able to
Speaker 6: run around her backhand a lot of the time and
Speaker 6: obviously hit her foehands. So I think a lot of
Speaker 6: players got spooked by it, and then it becomes a
Speaker 6: mental thing where it didn't sort of really bother me,
Speaker 6: and I learned how to slice as well and counterpart
Speaker 6: that and things like that. So that's where the mental
Speaker 6: side of the game comes into it, where a lot
Speaker 6: of people, a lot of the girls until recently when
Speaker 6: Ash was playing, they were just you could just see
Speaker 6: them thinking what am I going to do with this
Speaker 6: slice backhand? How am I going to play because a
Speaker 6: lot of them had such extreme grips that find it
Speaker 6: very difficult to counterpart the slice backhand.
Speaker 1: So I didn't particularly worry me at all.
Speaker 5: Yeah, very interesting.
Speaker 4: Now going to the French Open, you'd won the one
Speaker 4: round the year before, you're still on the eighteen.
Speaker 5: Can you remember back what hopes you had for the tournament.
Speaker 6: You just hope for a good draw, that's what you hope.
Speaker 6: You hope not to get a seed, that's what you
Speaker 6: hoped for.
Speaker 1: And I have expla.
Speaker 6: You know, you always once you see the drawer and
Speaker 6: I guess you're not playing a top seed as the
Speaker 6: number one seed, or number two seed or three four
Speaker 6: first round, and it was it was a decent draw
Speaker 6: for me and I you know, the first two rounds
Speaker 6: were okay, take.
Speaker 5: Us through if you can remember those first three rounds.
Speaker 6: So the first round I don't remember much, but obviously
Speaker 6: you're quite comfortable playing.
Speaker 1: You know, a wild card.
Speaker 6: You think, okay, I should be okay here, which I was.
Speaker 6: I went quite convincingly. And then I remember, you know,
Speaker 6: the second round match another French girl, which obviously the
Speaker 6: crowd's barracking for the French, and that was a lot tougher,
Speaker 6: you know, losing the first set and then having to
Speaker 6: win the second, but you know that they were tough
Speaker 6: matches and you've often for you to succeed in a
Speaker 6: to go further into a Grand Slam, you've almost got
Speaker 6: to have these tough matches to begin with. And I
Speaker 6: felt like that second round match almost put me in
Speaker 6: good stead for the matches that were to follow.
Speaker 4: Yeah, do you think it at AJD as well? Like
Speaker 4: nothing to lose? Is it different playing that when you
Speaker 4: were say twenty five?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think the older that you get you do yeah,
Speaker 6: I mean not you get nervous, but if you're not
Speaker 6: playing that well, little doubt creeps in and like that's
Speaker 6: what I keept saying, the mental side of things. But
Speaker 6: I always felt comfortable playing on grass. So if I
Speaker 6: knew that, I always kind of backed myself and knew
Speaker 6: that I could I could do pretty well on it.
Speaker 5: I'm great.
Speaker 4: So Laudia Cota kills a different player again, and I
Speaker 4: think from she had a slice back end. Yeah, and
Speaker 4: top ten in the world and seven to six and
Speaker 4: the third that's I.
Speaker 5: Mean, that was Can you remember that?
Speaker 1: I do?
Speaker 6: I remember that the court that I was playing, it
Speaker 6: was a beautiful court. I think it was show caught
Speaker 6: to at the time. It's this beautiful circular court that
Speaker 6: is just really nice to play in because the crowd
Speaker 6: feels really encrunched on you. And sometimes when you play
Speaker 6: on the bigger courts, you can get court so far
Speaker 6: back because there's so much room from the baseline to
Speaker 6: the back of the court, and so you really have
Speaker 6: to be aware of where you are on the court.
Speaker 6: And Claudia was a really great doubles player as well
Speaker 6: as she played with Helena Sikova, so a lot of
Speaker 6: success there. Hit the ball really flash and once again,
Speaker 6: you know I'd played a tough three set match the
Speaker 6: day before, and generally you play one match and then
Speaker 6: you have the day off and then But I was
Speaker 6: saying to you earlier on, I was still playing double
Speaker 6: doubles and mixed as well.
Speaker 5: So can you remember who you're playing with? That's a
Speaker 5: trivia question.
Speaker 1: I can't.
Speaker 5: I can't.
Speaker 1: No, No, that was a bit hard playing with Todd. No, no, no.
Speaker 6: We only did that I think a few times, all right, Wembledon,
Speaker 6: and he just said, I can't.
Speaker 1: Play with you.
Speaker 6: It's just too It was just it was just too
Speaker 6: traumatic for him. So you had a big schedule, Yeah,
Speaker 6: I did, but you know that's what you're there for.
Speaker 6: You're young, you should be able to do that. And
Speaker 6: so I managed to sneak through and win that match
Speaker 6: against seven six in the third set. So yeah, I
Speaker 6: was hitting the ball pretty well, and like I said,
Speaker 6: she hits the ball flat, so I felt I didn't
Speaker 6: mind that.
Speaker 1: Her type of game was nice to play against.
Speaker 4: So you make it to the fourth round, and that's incredible,
Speaker 4: you know, yes, eighteen years old. Yes, And I guess
Speaker 4: back home, I got a lot of press and stuff
Speaker 4: because you were only eighteen, And did you feel any
Speaker 4: pressure or anything or was it just like I'm just
Speaker 4: doing my thing.
Speaker 6: Yeah, no, I hadn't. I didn't feel any pressure. And
Speaker 6: I was saying to you earlier as just fortunate enough
Speaker 6: that my dad had come over and had been I
Speaker 6: was in Strasbourg the week before, playing in the singles
Speaker 6: and doubles there and Dad came there, and then obviously
Speaker 6: came and it was nice to have obviously a fan
Speaker 6: remember there to enjoy the success that I was having,
Speaker 6: So that was really great. So, yeah, it was I
Speaker 6: was up tired at times when I was playing. I mean,
Speaker 6: you know, obviously against Silvia and it was another seven
Speaker 6: six seven six.
Speaker 4: Fourth round, Silvia handacup, fifteenth seed, another German. That's another
Speaker 4: close one. So you've had a lot of you know,
Speaker 4: it's not an easy ride. No, no one's pulled out
Speaker 4: or anything. It's a tough one.
Speaker 6: And you know, the more like tough matches and these
Speaker 6: tiebreakers that I played, you almost get match conditioned to playing,
Speaker 6: so it just comes sort of naturally. You don't sort
Speaker 6: of think about it too much. You know, you've got
Speaker 6: to play the percentages and things like that. So it
Speaker 6: was a good one to get over the line nevertheless, of.
Speaker 4: Course, so you're in the quarters now, yeah, and we'll
Speaker 4: talk about you play in a minute.
Speaker 7: But what was that feeling like as an eighteen year old?
Speaker 7: Like pretty exciting. Yeah, I can't lie. I was looking
Speaker 7: at the money absolutely thinking well, this is a nice
Speaker 7: little paypacker for the day. Oh I can't even better
Speaker 7: even think about it, but yeah, it was. It was exciting.
Speaker 6: And I even remember getting a telegram from the Prime
Speaker 6: minister so gone that we didn't have obviously the Internet
Speaker 6: in those days.
Speaker 5: What was that like?
Speaker 4: I mean, I guess how could your parents and your
Speaker 4: friends at home keep up to date?
Speaker 6: Yeah, well, I mean, you know, i'd reverse charges back
Speaker 6: home to mum and dad, and I remember, I mean
Speaker 6: dad was with me at that time, but obviously when
Speaker 6: I was playing a lot of matches, Dad it would
Speaker 6: have the radio on at night to listen to hear
Speaker 6: the update of results overnight and things like that. So
Speaker 6: in some ways, it's it was a nice way to
Speaker 6: grow up, and you know, you didn't have the scrutiny
Speaker 6: so much, so you yeah, it was just very, very different,
Speaker 6: and it was kind of glad that I actually grew
Speaker 6: up in that era where obviously it's very different now.
Speaker 4: In the quarter you're playing a rancho Sensors of a
Speaker 4: car who I think was sixteen at the time. So
Speaker 4: really two very young players just starting their career, and
Speaker 4: you won that seventy five three sixty sixty four. Another
Speaker 4: huge long match I can imagine be over two hours
Speaker 4: or something.
Speaker 5: So what can you remember of that match?
Speaker 6: I remember it more beforehand, right, So you get to
Speaker 6: the courts and you normally have about a half hour
Speaker 6: warm up for this reason, I do not know why,
Speaker 6: but I was so uptight, so uptight, and I was practicing,
Speaker 6: and rich I was with me and my coach, and
Speaker 6: I just had a complete Meltdown's if you on the court,
Speaker 6: meltdown and just sit and just walked off and said.
Speaker 1: I don't know, I just can't.
Speaker 6: I've got to I've hit enough, I'm out of here,
Speaker 6: I've gone.
Speaker 1: And so I walked off, went into.
Speaker 6: The chain rooms, had my moment, came back out, and
Speaker 6: rich I just sat me down and just said, look,
Speaker 6: just got to enjoy yourself.
Speaker 1: You've got nothing to lose. Obviously she was younger than me, But.
Speaker 5: Did you know much about it, elf?
Speaker 6: Yeah, Well, like we were growing up and we were
Speaker 6: sort of our journeys were happening at the same time.
Speaker 6: But obviously she went on had a very successful career. Yeah,
Speaker 6: and then I calmed down and I think it might
Speaker 6: have been on senate court.
Speaker 5: Well, yeah, Sta Cort come down and.
Speaker 6: Came down, went out there and then ended up winning
Speaker 6: her three sets.
Speaker 5: Again, another long match. And you're talking about the different styles.
Speaker 4: I mean, going from someone like Claudia around he's like
Speaker 4: a brick wall.
Speaker 5: Yes, how did you find that? And how did you
Speaker 5: find playing her?
Speaker 6: Well, she wasn't the sort of play that would hit
Speaker 6: you off the court, so you always felt like you
Speaker 6: had time. Her back end was a lot better than
Speaker 6: her forehand, and I mean she didn't have a huge serve,
Speaker 6: but she was quite a crafty player, dropshot a lot
Speaker 6: and things like that. So yeah, I just had to
Speaker 6: sort of navigate my way through the match, and once again,
Speaker 6: you know when it got tired, I just obviously played
Speaker 6: the bigger points better.
Speaker 4: And you got there. So now you're in the semis.
Speaker 4: So yeah, you talked about what it was like before
Speaker 4: the quarters.
Speaker 5: What were those couple of days and you know, the
Speaker 5: morning of like, oh, it was.
Speaker 1: Just you know, I was exciting. No, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: it was all good after that.
Speaker 6: I'd got over that little hump and you know, you
Speaker 6: stick to a bit of a routine and things like
Speaker 6: that that you do.
Speaker 1: And obviously playing Steffie, oh, I.
Speaker 3: Was a raver.
Speaker 5: Sorry.
Speaker 1: So yeah, so she's a similar age as me as.
Speaker 5: Well, one year younger. I think she was the thirteenth
Speaker 5: Sea but a different game again.
Speaker 6: Yeah, very yeah, very crafty, lots of drop shots and
Speaker 6: I had a match point.
Speaker 4: You did, so I wanted to I wanted to see
Speaker 4: if it's ok to ask you so that the result
Speaker 4: was six three six seven in the tiebreak, yeah, and
Speaker 4: seven to five, so wow, amazingly close after all the
Speaker 4: tennis you've played, So take us through that.
Speaker 6: So yeah, match point played it really well, played it great.
Speaker 6: But she hit a ball like within a millimeter of
Speaker 6: the line. Five four was five four, you know, I
Speaker 6: played the point well, I mean it just hit a
Speaker 6: bit of the line and that was the luck of
Speaker 6: the drawer, I guess. So, and then yeah, obviously she
Speaker 6: went on and won, but it was it was a
Speaker 6: very good, great match because.
Speaker 4: I mean you won the second set, it would have
Speaker 4: been a pressure there. Yes, seven six, so it was
Speaker 4: a real it was a.
Speaker 6: Real tussle between but once again a player that was
Speaker 6: not going to hit me off the court, but very
Speaker 6: crafty and obviously at that stage in the early have
Speaker 6: been a very successful doubles player as well, so she
Speaker 6: was quite crafty with the way that she played.
Speaker 5: So how did you feel?
Speaker 4: I wanted to ask, like, you had the match point
Speaker 4: now and looking back thirty five years later, is it
Speaker 4: different now or.
Speaker 1: Okay? Yeah, I mean I could have hit I hit.
Speaker 6: I think it was a fourhand return that she was serving,
Speaker 6: I think, and I hit maybe an off fourhand, and
Speaker 6: I was thinking, oh, maybe I should have gone down
Speaker 6: to her forehand. Okay, she should of, but you know
Speaker 6: that's you can't. So it's just those little things. But
Speaker 6: it wasn't like I missed a return or I missed
Speaker 6: an easy shot or she played a tough point.
Speaker 5: Yeah she did.
Speaker 4: And incredible feeling though it must be to have made
Speaker 4: the semis. And then I have to ask that the
Speaker 4: next match she lost six Loves Love in thirty two minutes,
Speaker 4: which I think is a record against it. It's a
Speaker 4: bit of you, like, I'm kind of glad it wasn't me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I reckon I would have got a game, but.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean memorable Toiament for a lot of ways.
Speaker 6: That six Clubs club, yeah absolutely, so yeah, I mean
Speaker 6: those sorts of matches you just want to get off
Speaker 6: the court and just walk away. But yeah, I mean
Speaker 6: you'd like to think that you could do better than that,
Speaker 6: but who knows. But I've never lost to her, love
Speaker 6: and love and I played her numerous times.
Speaker 4: You did, you did, and you actually had a win
Speaker 4: in five years later in the Fed Cup six one,
Speaker 4: six six one, so it's very rare for anyone to
Speaker 4: have a win.
Speaker 1: And it was in Germany to Germany.
Speaker 6: Yeah, so yeah, it was a and Wendy Turnbull was
Speaker 6: the captain at the time, so yeah, I played a
Speaker 6: great match that day.
Speaker 4: So yeah, so you had a win against Stephani're not
Speaker 4: many people did so that era of hers, and you've
Speaker 4: done lots of tennis commentating and you've been around the game,
Speaker 4: coached a lot and fed carp and all that. I mean,
Speaker 4: she won the Golden Glad Slam that Earth four Slams
Speaker 4: and she only lost the French the next year to
Speaker 4: Ranch Sanchez Vicario, So an incredible time. What was it
Speaker 4: like in the area of her like were you did
Speaker 4: you did she speak much or no?
Speaker 1: She was I.
Speaker 6: Wouldn't say recluse, but she was a very guarded player,
Speaker 6: not much.
Speaker 1: She would just nod.
Speaker 6: She wouldn't really offer much conversation or things like that.
Speaker 6: So and Monica was quite similar. Yeah, a lot of
Speaker 6: the top girl. I mean, they were probably the main
Speaker 6: two around.
Speaker 1: She was always.
Speaker 6: Bubbling on for a bit of a chash, but Stephie
Speaker 6: and Monica would keep to themselves and yeah, not you
Speaker 6: wouldn't know much about either of them.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's really interesting. I certainly did dominate, didn't they.
Speaker 4: And it was a fascinating time. If you look at
Speaker 4: the today's girls, how do you think, like a Stephie
Speaker 4: would go against the top players?
Speaker 5: Now, I don't think she could probably beat them.
Speaker 6: I think she would do okay, just because she's got
Speaker 6: that game that's very and she was super athletic. She
Speaker 6: had a great fourhand, and once again she had that
Speaker 6: sliced backhand that would give a lot of girls a
Speaker 6: lot of trouble on any surface. And I would say
Speaker 6: even even Monica would do pretty well as well, because
Speaker 6: she was the first of the real big hitters of
Speaker 6: both sides. Stephie, okay, great fourhand, but you know, the
Speaker 6: sliced backhand and things like that.
Speaker 1: But so it wasn't until then.
Speaker 6: Probably Lindsay came along Davenport that was a really big
Speaker 6: hitter of both sides as well, So but I definitely
Speaker 6: feel that Stephie could match it these days.
Speaker 4: Did you see the game change a lot when you
Speaker 4: were playing, because as you said, we had my Tina
Speaker 4: and you had like even Claudia Cota kills you on
Speaker 4: a very different players till ten years later.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's the coaches as well.
Speaker 6: When I was playing, say, a lot of the coaches,
Speaker 6: they encouraged a lot of the players to play doubles
Speaker 6: as well. You weren't just playing singles, and so I
Speaker 6: think when you play doubles as well, you learn to volley,
Speaker 6: you learn to be do all those other aspects of
Speaker 6: being a tennis player. But the coaches at the time
Speaker 6: obviously played like that as well, where I think a
Speaker 6: lot of the coaches these days were just backcourt players
Speaker 6: didn't really come to the net and play, so therefore
Speaker 6: they don't teach it a lot. And for the life
Speaker 6: of me, I can't understand like a lot of these
Speaker 6: girls have got these awesome ground strokes, and then I mean, okay,
Speaker 6: they can hit a dry volley, but to come in
Speaker 6: and hit a volleys, they just don't do it, so
Speaker 6: they don't really capitalize on these great groundstrokes that they have.
Speaker 4: Was it a joy then to see I mean Ashbardi
Speaker 4: win the French Open. She's the only one in Sam
Speaker 4: Stones can run her up. Since you're semi final I
Speaker 4: think Sam made the semis as well. So it was
Speaker 4: a long time after, wasn't it. So when you saw
Speaker 4: Ash win and you've been there. That's center court.
Speaker 6: I actually came in a lot, even though it was
Speaker 6: on clay, because if I did get a player out
Speaker 6: of position, I did work on my drive volleys a lot.
Speaker 6: And like I did say, I was playing doubles as well,
Speaker 6: so I kind of knew where to go on the court.
Speaker 6: If I came in behind a ground stroke, I just
Speaker 6: didn't run to the middle of the court. You kind
Speaker 6: of follow the flight of the ball and all those
Speaker 6: sorts of things. So yeah, I just really encourage I'd
Speaker 6: like to see that the top crop of players just
Speaker 6: you know, playing a bit more doubles, because I definitely
Speaker 6: believe that it does help their singles.
Speaker 4: So looking and talking about Ash as well, I mean
Speaker 4: you're run incredible three sets. You know how tough it
Speaker 4: is on the clay to win. So does that make
Speaker 4: you think her achievements remarkable?
Speaker 6: You've been there, yeah, I mean clay's hard to win,
Speaker 6: just because you're out there spending a lot more time
Speaker 6: out on court. And then the other you know, it's
Speaker 6: the grass is a little bit different, it's a little
Speaker 6: bit more forgiving, it's a bit more softer, you can,
Speaker 6: the points are probably a bit shorter. And then you
Speaker 6: go to the US Open where it's really hot and
Speaker 6: you're playing on the hard courts and very similar to
Speaker 6: hear it at Melbourne Park now it's really hot. So
Speaker 6: it's the Welsh you've got to be a great player.
Speaker 6: It's almost the survival of the fittest as well.
Speaker 5: Yeah, for sure. So just in summary, like what are
Speaker 5: your real main memories of that time?
Speaker 6: Pretty magical, Yeah, it was just I mean it's your
Speaker 6: first real foray into I guess getting getting deals as well,
Speaker 6: like clothing and shoe deals and racket deals and endorsements,
Speaker 6: a sort of put me on the map, which I
Speaker 6: was very fortunate to be able to do, and then
Speaker 6: having Dad with me, and then also with Ken, my coach,
Speaker 6: Ken Richardson's to have, you know, all the hard work
Speaker 6: that he puts in to enjoy the success as well.
Speaker 6: I think it's just not about yourself. You often talk
Speaker 6: about players and their team. Well, obviously when I was playing,
Speaker 6: you didn't have physios and all those sorts of things
Speaker 6: with you. But it's lovely to share in the excitement
Speaker 6: and the thrill of doing really well for others as well.
Speaker 4: And just one last question, you did get that win
Speaker 4: of Steffie as we discussed, Yes.
Speaker 5: That feels good.
Speaker 1: That feels really great.
Speaker 6: It was at a time where my parents, both Mum
Speaker 6: and Dad, were traveling and we were actually at the
Speaker 6: golf in Sandwich watching the British Open, and I was
Speaker 6: with Liz Smiley because she was coming across with me
Speaker 6: as well. And when the drawer came out, I said, Tom,
Speaker 6: at all, we're playing Germany.
Speaker 1: You most will just go home. You most well just
Speaker 1: go home.
Speaker 6: And so they are at the airport and then they
Speaker 6: called me because we'd played that day and I'd won.
Speaker 6: So Mum and Dad were sort of very disappointed that
Speaker 6: they weren't there to see it, but yeah, it was
Speaker 6: a nice one to win it and win in a
Speaker 6: team environment as well. For fed Cup great and we
Speaker 6: got to the final that year, so when we lost
Speaker 6: to Spain, so it was once again it was nice
Speaker 6: to enjoy the success with other people as well.
Speaker 5: Well.
Speaker 2: Those are some magical memories from Nicole as she looks
Speaker 2: back on a really impressive career.
Speaker 3: And also she's another example of an Australian doing well
Speaker 3: in Paris. When we chatted to Paul McNamee a couple
Speaker 3: of weeks ago on the sit down, he did allude
Speaker 3: to the fact that Australia you know, doesn't have the
Speaker 3: same traditional success at Roland Garros or affinity with Clay.
Speaker 3: But since Provos made the semi finals in Roland Garros,
Speaker 3: we've had Sam Stoves who make the final. We've had
Speaker 3: Ash Barty win the title and even now at Roland
Speaker 3: Garross Alex Demonors through to the second week, the first
Speaker 3: Dozzie Man to make it this far in seventeen years.
Speaker 3: So you know, Ozzie's on Clay. There's some good stuff happening.
Speaker 2: And speaking of great stuff, we'll be back next week
Speaker 2: with another episode of the sit down when we turn
Speaker 2: our attention from clay to the grass.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we'll be catching up with Stephen Farrow, a former
Speaker 3: tournament director of the Queen's Club Champion Chips and now
Speaker 3: the tournament director of United Cup. And yeah we'll get
Speaker 3: to pick his brains and all things tennis on grass
Speaker 3: and in the UK.
Speaker 2: In the meantime, you can tune into John and the
Speaker 2: team on the Aoshow Weekly on Thursday. Details for how
Speaker 2: to contact us are in the show notes. Remember to subscribe,
Speaker 2: rate and review. See you next week, Matt, see Viv