Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Sitdown. I'm Viv Christie, managing
Speaker 1: editor of Australian Tennis magazine, and.
Speaker 2: I'm Mattrolope, a writer for oz open dot com now
Speaker 2: Viv for this week's episode. Unfortunately, I was a little
Speaker 2: unwell and couldn't join you in the studio. I was
Speaker 2: on screen though for this interview. Tell us what it
Speaker 2: was like to actually be in studio with Daria and
Speaker 2: Luke Savill.
Speaker 1: Well, it was fabulous, Matt. There was so much fun
Speaker 1: and energy spending time with Dasha and Luke, who were
Speaker 1: actually doing their first official interview as a couple, and
Speaker 1: I think we got a really strong sense of how
Speaker 1: they click as a couple, but particularly how they've supported
Speaker 1: each other throughout their tennis careers.
Speaker 2: For sure, And speaking of how they click for the
Speaker 2: listeners who won't have seen them, they rocked up in
Speaker 2: almost matching outfits. They we're both in a shade of
Speaker 2: pink or purple, so we loved their coordinated approach to
Speaker 2: the interview and you started it off by asking them
Speaker 2: the most important question about their dog, who's almost as
Speaker 2: famous as them.
Speaker 1: Luke and Dasher, thank you for joining us today on
Speaker 1: the sit down at great to have you here in
Speaker 1: the studio.
Speaker 3: Thank you. This is a very nice studio by the way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we call it pot labor Arena.
Speaker 3: Oh, I love it. This is so smart.
Speaker 1: What's of great interviews happening here, including this one? I'm sure,
Speaker 1: But let's start with the most important question. Where is
Speaker 1: Tofu right now? Who is looking after Tofu?
Speaker 4: Dash's mum back in back in the house. But I'm
Speaker 4: sure he's probably pretty sad and disappointed that he's not here.
Speaker 4: He's he always waves goodbye to us when we go
Speaker 4: to work, and it's it's quite a funny, quite a
Speaker 4: funny sight.
Speaker 1: You must you must love catching up with Tofu when
Speaker 1: you're home.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, definitely. I probably prioritize him over anyone. So
Speaker 5: if any of my friends are listening to this, and
Speaker 5: I may be sometimes canceled some of my some of
Speaker 5: our okchaps, that's probably because I wanted to just sit
Speaker 5: on the couch with him.
Speaker 1: In all seriousness, it does seem like it's kind of
Speaker 1: a rare break for both of you being home together.
Speaker 1: What do you most laugh about being back in Melbourne?
Speaker 4: For me, it's probably just living kind of normal for
Speaker 4: a little bit. It's staying in their own bed, in
Speaker 4: the in the house, waking up, making a coffee on
Speaker 4: our coffee machine, and just sort of hanging out with
Speaker 4: Tofu as well. I'm usually up before Dasha, so he
Speaker 4: gets up with me as well, and I usually bring
Speaker 4: him down and he just falls asleep on the couch.
Speaker 4: So I think he just likes knowing that we're home
Speaker 4: and he can sort of see.
Speaker 6: His mum and dad.
Speaker 4: But also just the training side of it, and I
Speaker 4: mean obviously spending time with one another when we're traveling
Speaker 4: a lot of the time we're on different schedules, so's
Speaker 4: it's nice to sort of live normal and yeah, just
Speaker 4: just be in the house and not do a whole
Speaker 4: lot for a couple of weeks.
Speaker 5: Right, Oh, what about golf all the golf golfing that
Speaker 5: you're doing that as well, But.
Speaker 6: That's that's a touchy subject.
Speaker 1: I can actually really to that. We have that in
Speaker 1: our house too. How many how many weeks would that
Speaker 1: happen when you're of a year? Would that happen when
Speaker 1: you're home together?
Speaker 5: Honestly, we can probably count them on one hand, right, like,
Speaker 5: not that much. Mostly, you know, at the end of
Speaker 5: the season, like pre season and then you know, au
Speaker 5: this summer, we're still we're at home in the country,
Speaker 5: but still like you know, playing tournaments, but still feels
Speaker 5: like we're at home.
Speaker 3: But yeah, not not that often.
Speaker 2: To be fair, speaking of this, like, I'm not sure
Speaker 2: how often it is that you've done joint interviews before.
Speaker 2: Is this Is this something that's regular for you to
Speaker 2: in your media careers.
Speaker 6: Definitely not.
Speaker 4: It's probably maybe a first yeah, but then I'll be interesting.
Speaker 4: I hope you guys don't stitch us up with any
Speaker 4: hard hitting questions or anything like that. But no, it's
Speaker 4: I mean, it's good to even spend time together, even
Speaker 4: if it's an interview.
Speaker 2: How often do you get asked about each other in
Speaker 2: interviews if you don't do them together? Is that something
Speaker 2: that comes up a lot?
Speaker 3: Maybe a little bit.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I definitely get asked a lot about Tofu.
Speaker 3: And then and then Loup probably second.
Speaker 2: What about you Luke to come up in yours?
Speaker 6: Yeah, quite a bit.
Speaker 4: It's quite a common question how much we see each other,
Speaker 4: And it's a very difficult question to answer because from
Speaker 4: every year, you know, it really varies on how much
Speaker 4: we see each other in the different tournaments we play,
Speaker 4: but it probably, yeah, it varies from probably fifteen to
Speaker 4: twenty five weeks something like that. So but to be honest,
Speaker 4: we've been dating for so many years, and especially early
Speaker 4: days in juniors, we weren't seeing much of each other
Speaker 4: at all, So it's just sort of it just comes
Speaker 4: with the business. And I think that we both know
Speaker 4: what it takes to play professional tennis and a lot
Speaker 4: of that is travel, so we both get it and
Speaker 4: I think it actually really works well when we can
Speaker 4: bounce ideas off each other and when we have to
Speaker 4: do long stints away.
Speaker 6: It's just part of the business.
Speaker 2: When was the first meeting between the two of you?
Speaker 2: Was Was it in Australia?
Speaker 6: I think it was Junior Davis Cup in.
Speaker 5: Mexico, Mexico, okay, and then a lot of just Facebook
Speaker 5: messaging to be fair okay.
Speaker 2: And what year was that Junior Davis Cup Fair Cup.
Speaker 3: I think we were sixteen, so two thousand and nine
Speaker 3: O ten.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So yeah, Dasha was obviously playing for Russia at
Speaker 4: the time, and I think we both won, both won
Speaker 4: the events, and yeah, there might have been a player's
Speaker 4: party and slash disco there and that's where I showed
Speaker 4: my great moves to Dasha clearly. Clearly I'm joking, but yeah,
Speaker 4: from there it was a little bit of messaging and
Speaker 4: obviously quite early days we were young, but yeah, sort
Speaker 4: of loossom from there.
Speaker 1: How often did you get to meet up at sort
Speaker 1: of that early in those junior.
Speaker 3: Days, Not much at all. I think we've.
Speaker 5: There was a time where we didn't see each other
Speaker 5: for a year, like literally standing open juniors, and then
Speaker 5: the following year something like that. But we just kept
Speaker 5: in touch. And but yeah, I think when I turned eighteen,
Speaker 5: that's when I moved to Australia, so that made things
Speaker 5: a lot easier. And then, you know, to be fair,
Speaker 5: when I came to Australia, I've just done my ACL
Speaker 5: so then that meant that I was kind of staying
Speaker 5: in Melbourne and that's when we probably spent the most
Speaker 5: of our time together. And then until Luke started, you know,
Speaker 5: traveling and playing tournaments. But then that's when you know,
Speaker 5: this whole us trying to schedule our tournaments together started
Speaker 5: and we're still going.
Speaker 2: It's a fantastic story. And I guess because the two
Speaker 2: countries where you're from are so far apart, like they're
Speaker 2: on opposite parts of the world. Dashing you said, yeah,
Speaker 2: you came here when you were eighteen. How grateful were
Speaker 2: you that tennis, you know, allowed you to meet Luke
Speaker 2: and then it's kind of created it maybe a different
Speaker 2: path to you that you might not have known, Like
Speaker 2: did you know you would end up in Australia and
Speaker 2: be a citizen here when you were younger?
Speaker 5: Probably not when I started tennis, but when I started traveling,
Speaker 5: I really liked Australia and I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 5: this is like I could live here.
Speaker 3: And yeah.
Speaker 5: Then I came back a few years later to play
Speaker 5: like challenges ATFS twenty fives and I told my dad.
Speaker 5: I was like, I'm going to Australia because you know
Speaker 5: it's the cuts were weaker, so I would definitely be
Speaker 5: in main draw of those tournaments. And he's like, oh,
Speaker 5: aren't you dating like a boy there? And I'm like, well, yeah,
Speaker 5: that too.
Speaker 1: How old were you when you first came to Australia.
Speaker 1: Can you remember your first trip?
Speaker 3: I think either fifteen or sixteen. I was still playing juniors.
Speaker 2: And on the flip side, Luke, have you been, because
Speaker 2: obviously Dasha licks you have you been to Russia much.
Speaker 2: Can you speak any of the language.
Speaker 6: I definitely can't.
Speaker 4: We've tried, but I just can't pick it up for
Speaker 4: the life of me.
Speaker 6: It's it's very difficult.
Speaker 4: And I've been once to Russia and Dasha wasn't there, actually,
Speaker 4: But I went to Moscow and Saint Petersburg and was
Speaker 4: absolutely blown away with just the cities themselves and the
Speaker 4: architecture and the food.
Speaker 6: And Dasha's dad was there, and I met a dog, and.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I s met my grandama as well.
Speaker 4: I met Dasha's grandma and he walked me around the
Speaker 4: park that USh sort of grew up around, and we
Speaker 4: went and had some cinnamon doughnuts that Dasha loves as well.
Speaker 6: So, but where were you, Dasha?
Speaker 3: I was injured.
Speaker 5: So it was also during like COVID year, so I
Speaker 5: was recovering from achilles.
Speaker 3: Injury.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so these days, do you train together often or
Speaker 1: hit together often?
Speaker 5: We actually do a little bit. Luke helps me out.
Speaker 5: It's probably more beneficial to me than it is to Luke.
Speaker 5: But then again, I think I make enough balls and
Speaker 5: pretty consistent. Sometimes looks like, wow, you really don't miss
Speaker 5: that much, And I think we make it work. But
Speaker 5: definitely wouldn't play too many points. I don't think it'll
Speaker 5: be very interesting for Luke to be fair.
Speaker 1: Does it feel like work or does it feel like
Speaker 1: fun when you're hitting together.
Speaker 5: Yeah, we tried to make it work like otherwise it's
Speaker 5: a bit of yeah, a bit of waste of time.
Speaker 3: And then.
Speaker 5: Actually during COVID in lockdown, we kind of had to
Speaker 5: hit together because the you know, of their restrictions, that
Speaker 5: was getting a bit difficult.
Speaker 6: I think, Yeah, there was.
Speaker 4: A little bit of tension on court, it's fair to say,
Speaker 4: but that was probably just the times as well. We
Speaker 4: were staying the house twenty four to seven together and
Speaker 4: then going out with our one little bit of freedom
Speaker 4: for the day, and then we'd practice with each other.
Speaker 4: So it's it's probably a little bit like the mixed doubles.
Speaker 4: We go out there and we aim to really enjoy
Speaker 4: it and not take it too seriously, but ultimately it
Speaker 4: always gets competitive and possibly a little argumentative. But I'd
Speaker 4: say in the last last six months, maybe years, the
Speaker 4: hitting has been a lot better.
Speaker 6: We tend to enjoy it a lot more and make
Speaker 6: it work.
Speaker 4: And yeah, I mean, obviously I'm a little bit biased,
Speaker 4: but I think is one of the best out of
Speaker 4: the hand there is. She barely misses the ball and
Speaker 4: just like a ball machine. So it's very impressive.
Speaker 1: Who is the better coach among you.
Speaker 5: Probably Luke, I would say. I think Luke is a
Speaker 5: lot more patient. I can be a little bit too direct,
Speaker 5: but some I guess it depends who you ask. Maybe
Speaker 5: some people like it avoid direct, But I think I
Speaker 5: listened to you if you you know, like even on
Speaker 5: court when we're practiced together, we'll have our coaches there,
Speaker 5: but you know, we would still chat, and I think
Speaker 5: we do listen.
Speaker 3: To each other.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think you don't speak a lot about tennis,
Speaker 4: but when you do, it's really spot on.
Speaker 6: It's really good.
Speaker 4: And obviously your tennis mind is great, your tennis ps
Speaker 4: IQ out on the court and all that.
Speaker 6: But yeah, you obviously don't.
Speaker 4: I think you try and you almost escape from tennis
Speaker 4: a little bit, but when you actually do it, it's
Speaker 4: great information. So one day, if you decide to coach,
Speaker 4: you probably have to work on the delivery and being
Speaker 4: a little bit softer. Maybe it depends on how your coach,
Speaker 4: but if they can take that and you can work
Speaker 4: on that part, I think you could be a great coach.
Speaker 5: I do think sometimes, you know, I would like to
Speaker 5: be someone's mentor mentor like a young.
Speaker 3: Junior.
Speaker 5: Yeah, especially a female. Yeah, that'd be something I would
Speaker 5: want to do, even like while still playing.
Speaker 1: Do you think that's kind of part of the Australian
Speaker 1: tennis culture as well. It seems like there's a really
Speaker 1: great environment of everyone supporting each other.
Speaker 6: Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 4: I mean I can speak for myself with a lot
Speaker 4: of the boys that I travel with, a lot of
Speaker 4: my great mates, and I think it's a really tight
Speaker 4: knit group of us. And you know, even when we're
Speaker 4: over in Asia or in the States or Europe, wherever
Speaker 4: it might be, and we don't have a coach, you'll
Speaker 4: see probably one or two ossies out there supporting, And
Speaker 4: even if they're playing the same day, they just want
Speaker 4: to get out there and they know you don't have
Speaker 4: a coach there or anyone in your team, but they'll
Speaker 4: be out there supporting. I think that's just I think
Speaker 4: from a young age we've had to do that because
Speaker 4: you know, we're so remote and yeah, we sort of
Speaker 4: feel like it's almost us against the world a little bit. So, Yeah,
Speaker 4: it's always been a great group and for that it
Speaker 4: makes you really proud to be Australian when you're over
Speaker 4: there and you see how tight we are and then
Speaker 4: some other countries is not so tight.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. Back to your relationship, it seems like
Speaker 1: tennis obviously comes up a lot. Do you ever have
Speaker 1: days where you sort of don't talk about tennis or
Speaker 1: make an effort to not make it about tennis?
Speaker 5: Probably not, let's face it to be fair, It's not
Speaker 5: like we talk about it all the time, but there
Speaker 5: will be something every day that we will say.
Speaker 3: Oh did you see did you see this result? Or
Speaker 3: did you.
Speaker 5: See this drama or blah blah blah, So something comes up.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Probably the only time we wouldn't talk about it at
Speaker 5: all in the off season where there's no tournament.
Speaker 1: Yeap.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I think it's just such a big part of our
Speaker 4: life that if we actively try and avoid it, we're
Speaker 4: probably thinking about it more.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So yeah, we try and switch off, but ultimately, yeah,
Speaker 4: like Dasha said, we speak about it in the end.
Speaker 1: What's it like when you're watching each other, Oh, I'm
Speaker 1: a nervous wreck or really yeah, I can sympathize for
Speaker 1: all the coaches and love ones out there because it
Speaker 1: is much harder.
Speaker 4: I don't know about much harder, but it's definitely harder
Speaker 4: than playing. You just you care so much. Obviously, you're
Speaker 4: so invested and can't control the outcome. And I've gotten
Speaker 4: better of late of just sitting back and just telling myself, well,
Speaker 4: whatever happens, happens. Like she's doing her best, that she's
Speaker 4: doing her best. I know that for a fact, And yeah,
Speaker 4: that's all you can really ask for at the end
Speaker 4: of the day, because I know when I'm out there playing,
Speaker 4: she's feeling the same. I'm doing my best, and sort
Speaker 4: of what can you do? You can support and whatnot.
Speaker 4: But it's it's brutal.
Speaker 5: It's brutal because you feel like so helpless and you
Speaker 5: feel like we know each other so much, like we
Speaker 5: feel like, oh, we should say something, but you really shouldn't.
Speaker 3: Like sometimes it's really hard.
Speaker 5: Not to like be a coach, but you're actually there
Speaker 5: just to support each other, not coach each other. Unless
Speaker 5: we specifically asked each other, hey, like can you can
Speaker 5: you have that role and be the coach? Because Luke,
Speaker 5: you've probably been my on like traveling coach twice maybe
Speaker 5: actually both times in Canada one time during Toronto and
Speaker 5: one time in Granby, and that's when they actually made finals.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was just about to say, wasn't that a
Speaker 1: great result for you? Yeah, formulas working. Did you enjoy
Speaker 1: that side of it?
Speaker 6: LP, Yeah, I did.
Speaker 4: Actually, I'm hoping maybe one day it's a route I
Speaker 4: could possibly go down. His coaching and I think it's
Speaker 4: just all I think just the appreciation of how hard
Speaker 4: tennis is for me over the last few years. That
Speaker 4: just shows that probably helps me sort of relax a
Speaker 4: bit more and just know that she's doing her best
Speaker 4: and whatever happens happens.
Speaker 6: But I think, yeah, it worked well.
Speaker 4: I think I did some on court coaching in Toronto
Speaker 4: and some of my mates they took some footage of
Speaker 4: that and kind of, yeah, joked about it a little bit.
Speaker 4: They thought it was pretty funny me going out and
Speaker 4: coaching Dash and I was my up as well, so
Speaker 4: that yeah, that was allowed.
Speaker 6: That was a joke amongst the boys. So but yeah,
Speaker 6: it was.
Speaker 4: It was good fun and having the responsibility of a player,
Speaker 4: I found it very exciting.
Speaker 5: We did say that that's probably not something we would do, like,
Speaker 5: you know, have Luke traveling with me.
Speaker 3: And coaching me that's not happening. We discussed.
Speaker 1: That sounds very.
Speaker 2: Clear, Dasha. It was interesting hearing Luke describe like your
Speaker 2: strength strengths as a player, like your consistency and your
Speaker 2: tennis i Q. And it sounds like that you get
Speaker 2: a lot out of the practice sessions with Luke. What
Speaker 2: are his strengths as a player.
Speaker 5: I think Luke's strength is definitely patience and probably his
Speaker 5: I would say attitude, like I could never Luke's like
Speaker 5: impossible to read. You wouldn't know if he is mad,
Speaker 5: if he is Like he doesn't show much emotion, even
Speaker 5: like since junior is he doesn't show like negative emotions
Speaker 5: at all.
Speaker 3: And I think.
Speaker 5: That's something I should maybe learn a bit late. Now
Speaker 5: I'm like thirty, still still learning. I look at some
Speaker 5: like young players and I'm like, yeah, one day I
Speaker 5: want to be like them.
Speaker 3: And I'm like ten years older than.
Speaker 5: But it's cool, like we're pretty different me and Luke.
Speaker 5: And Luke can also just like push through and like.
Speaker 3: Keep grinding, and.
Speaker 5: You know, even like with schedules like play many back
Speaker 5: to back tournaments where I'm like, okay, I'm out, I
Speaker 5: can't do this anymore.
Speaker 3: So I guess it's like, yeah, that.
Speaker 5: That mentality you know that you know, I've I can
Speaker 5: keep going and what is it like great?
Speaker 3: Would you say persistence?
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, but I mean you've got that as well.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I know what you mean. I probably just
Speaker 4: I'm just probably silent and just go through it and
Speaker 4: probably not for the better, whereas you can sort of
Speaker 4: feel like you're maybe dragging the chain a little bit
Speaker 4: and a little bit down and you just say no,
Speaker 4: I'm done, I'm going home and have a refresh, and
Speaker 4: which I think there's strengths to both sides.
Speaker 5: I think Luke's like also the most consistent, one of
Speaker 5: the most consistent players are probably even like athletes have
Speaker 5: ever come across, and are very diligent, and you know,
Speaker 5: like on weekends I would be like just chilling doing nothing,
Speaker 5: where Luke would still, you know, like do something that
Speaker 5: is not just good for a tennis but like good
Speaker 5: for his body, like do a recovery, where I sometimes
Speaker 5: just yeah, completely like that, I'm done. I just want
Speaker 5: to not do anything that is good for me.
Speaker 1: I love that. It's kind of the balance though, isn't it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, Luke you alluded to mixed doubles before
Speaker 2: and that you know, it can get a bit competitive
Speaker 2: when you guys play together, but you have played five
Speaker 2: Australian Opens together, so there must be something that keeps
Speaker 2: you guys coming back and entering the mixed doubles draw
Speaker 2: and wanting to go on.
Speaker 3: There one one.
Speaker 4: Matt, Yeah, yeah, we don't have the best record to
Speaker 4: be fair, but mad we lost the runner ups start
Speaker 4: of this year, but yeah, I think in the moment, yeah,
Speaker 4: we're competitive, and maybe straight after, but in reflection, I
Speaker 4: think it's still great that, you know, as a couple,
Speaker 4: were able to play the Australian Open. You know, one
Speaker 4: day our career is going to be done and we
Speaker 4: look back on those memories, you know, you know we're
Speaker 4: married as a couple. To go and play out there
Speaker 4: in front of family and friends and play a Grand Slam,
Speaker 4: our home Grand Slam. We live here in Melbourne, it's
Speaker 4: it's amazing. So I think that's why what keeps us
Speaker 4: coming back is those opportunities to go out there and play,
Speaker 4: and obviously we want to win, but we're out there
Speaker 4: and sort of making memories and we can look back
Speaker 4: on those for the rest of our life.
Speaker 6: So I think that's the core part.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, for sure. It's an incredibly unique opportunity. It
Speaker 2: was also really cool listening to the two of you
Speaker 2: describe each other's strengths. What would you say, given your
Speaker 2: careers of any parallel I as pro plays for such
Speaker 2: a long time, what's the biggest thing you've seen in
Speaker 2: each other and learned from each other, maybe even adopting
Speaker 2: in your game or your approach or your mentality.
Speaker 4: Well, with Dasher, I think it's, you know, she's obviously
Speaker 4: had a lot of setbacks, injury setbacks, and you know,
Speaker 4: touch Wood, I haven't had as many, or really any
Speaker 4: at all to the extent of her, And I mean
Speaker 4: just her grit and determination and persistence to come back
Speaker 4: from those I think three or four times and back
Speaker 4: to top one hundred basically from no ranking. I think
Speaker 4: it's I can't even sort of find a word for it.
Speaker 4: It's so admirable, absolutely incredible, and it just shows the
Speaker 4: determination she's got. I mean, obviously the tennis she has
Speaker 4: as well. I mean I think it's she's been top twenty,
Speaker 4: and I think she can get back there again with
Speaker 4: some health, with a good run, and I think just yeah,
Speaker 4: looking it's you know, she's gained so much respect from
Speaker 4: not only her peers, but a lot of the Australians,
Speaker 4: the Australian public as well, and just her fighting, fighting
Speaker 4: spirit as well. I think no matter what the score is,
Speaker 4: you're always given your absolute best and I think that's
Speaker 4: what everyone loves about you.
Speaker 3: Oh thank you.
Speaker 5: I think with Luke, Luke's like one of the best
Speaker 5: team players, even though tennis is not a team sport,
Speaker 5: but I admire, you know, how supportive he is of
Speaker 5: his mates. And you know, I think it goes a
Speaker 5: long way if you you know, reach out to someone
Speaker 5: or come and watch them. And it's something I'm starting
Speaker 5: to do a lot more because especially if like what
Speaker 5: Luke said, you know, when you were growing up and
Speaker 5: traveling with other boys and a few years later you're
Speaker 5: playing like the biggest tournaments and it's pretty cool. So
Speaker 5: it's something I would like encourage up and coming you know,
Speaker 5: players juniors.
Speaker 3: To do is support each other.
Speaker 5: And yeah, I've mentioned before how Luke is very consistent
Speaker 5: with you know, his routines and whatnot. But I also
Speaker 5: learned with Luke that he actually can switch off and
Speaker 5: you know, take the day off to play golf, let's say,
Speaker 5: or you know, any like he has other interests, which
Speaker 5: is also really important because yeah, you definitely need need
Speaker 5: another source where yeah you can with the energy and
Speaker 5: then feel like, okay, this is also fulfilling. It's not
Speaker 5: just always about tennis.
Speaker 1: It's interesting hearing a little bit about your junior career, Luke,
Speaker 1: because I wanted to take you back bear with me
Speaker 1: to a letter that I have in the Australian Tennis
Speaker 1: magazine files from a few years ago, and I just
Speaker 1: wanted to read you a couple of lines. Just when
Speaker 1: I thought it couldn't get any worse, I injured my
Speaker 1: arm and couldn't play the last game. It was a disaster,
Speaker 1: disaster and big letters. So after the tournament I had
Speaker 1: two and a half weeks off and then there was
Speaker 1: a question. What I don't understand is why does the
Speaker 1: number one seed play the number three seed and in
Speaker 1: the semifinals and number two plays number four seeds? Just
Speaker 1: wondering if you remember anything about that letter he wrote
Speaker 1: a letter, Just want to pull it out for you.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, do you remember this? Oh my god?
Speaker 1: Wow? Years old?
Speaker 3: I actually do I need to frame this?
Speaker 6: So was that it was.
Speaker 1: Big letters disaster.
Speaker 3: It's not just big letters, it's late.
Speaker 6: I'm so taken aback right now?
Speaker 1: Is it fun looking back?
Speaker 4: That's hilarious, That's absolutely hilarious. I vaguely remember that. And
Speaker 4: that was Bruce Cup.
Speaker 1: Yes, it was Bruce.
Speaker 3: Cups two thousand and five, by the way, two.
Speaker 1: Thousand and five.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I played three Bruce Cups. It's an under twelves
Speaker 4: state teams competition. And I remember my arm.
Speaker 3: I was.
Speaker 4: They kept me in the lineup, but I couldn't serve,
Speaker 4: so I was serving under arm. And then I went
Speaker 4: home and I had like an our physio treatment on
Speaker 4: my arm and it was just basically a huge not
Speaker 4: in the back of the back of my shoulder that
Speaker 4: he just had to get out. And I was good
Speaker 4: as gold after that. But that was up in. That
Speaker 4: was up in Darwin, and I remember riding. It was
Speaker 4: a disaster in four or four times bigger than than
Speaker 4: the rest.
Speaker 5: Of the So, yeah, it's like a notebook with lines
Speaker 5: and Luke it took one to five lines or six
Speaker 5: lines to put it was a disaster.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't I don't mince my words. So I.
Speaker 2: Will be very, very thrilled that Luke, you were reading
Speaker 2: it and conceiving the magazine from such a young age.
Speaker 2: That's like a real tennis fan.
Speaker 5: You still ride the same, by the way, it's probably
Speaker 5: better back then, but we don't need to know that.
Speaker 5: You know how you brought up a few weeks ago
Speaker 5: that when you have like little injury, like you really struggle.
Speaker 5: I guess it started from two thousand and five.
Speaker 1: You just had a nel like.
Speaker 5: Niggle in your arm and you'd take six lines to write.
Speaker 3: It was a disaster.
Speaker 1: So after looking back, let's look forward a little bit. Dasha,
Speaker 1: You're about to go to Billy jing Kin Cup finals.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so I'm actually leaving tomorrow. I'm playing another tournament
Speaker 5: just before that, an IF seventy five in Luxembourg. And yeah,
Speaker 5: I've been looking after, you know, my body a little bit.
Speaker 5: I've had a foot like kind of fasciatis foot injuries.
Speaker 5: So it's it's it's feeling good. So I'm excited to,
Speaker 5: you know, compete again. And I've actually started working with
Speaker 5: Michael Lagazo, so spend almost a month working with him.
Speaker 5: So if I don't do well, that's because and if
Speaker 5: I do well, that's also because of you. I'm kidding,
Speaker 5: but yeah, I'm actually we've been working on a few things.
Speaker 3: You know. It's not like any sin.
Speaker 5: Dramatic and I don't have a one handed back end,
Speaker 5: but I am excited to confit with what we've worked on.
Speaker 1: Fantastic, Luke. What's next for you?
Speaker 4: I'm sort of done for the year, just chilling out
Speaker 4: a little bit at the moment, spending a little bit
Speaker 4: of time with Dasher and possibly heading up to the
Speaker 4: Gold Coast for the future up there, and Dasha is
Speaker 4: also playing the seventy five a couple of weeks after
Speaker 4: fed Cup, so yeah, just a little bit of downtime
Speaker 4: now and then just looking ahead to January and hopefully yeah,
Speaker 4: playing the playing the Australian Open and maybe enjoying the
Speaker 4: mixed doubles this time around.
Speaker 1: What do you most kind of look forward to when
Speaker 1: you think about an Australian summer coming up.
Speaker 4: Firstly, it's probably just being home, that's the obvious one.
Speaker 4: But there's just there's nothing like playing the Australian Open
Speaker 4: every single year, the anticipation of just playing your home slam,
Speaker 4: and every year it's improving, it really is, and it's
Speaker 4: definitely the best slam I Am and Craig and the
Speaker 4: team just do an amazing job of just you know,
Speaker 4: basically improving the event from year to year and then
Speaker 4: just playing in front of family and friends and looking
Speaker 4: back on letters like this and just seeing how much
Speaker 4: tennis means to me, and then you know, twenty years later,
Speaker 4: I'm playing the Australian Opener. It's probably my fifteenth Australian
Speaker 4: Open and it's still the same feeling every time. So yeah,
Speaker 4: for me, it's just nothing really compares to just playing
Speaker 4: here at home.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and definitely the fans. That's so much fun when everyone,
Speaker 5: almost everyone in the stands is supporting you. And yeah,
Speaker 5: I definitely feel like I connect with everyone and I
Speaker 5: always try and find a group of people that are
Speaker 5: there like supporting me, and I give that energy back.
Speaker 5: So yeah, I definitely, you know, I can't I almost
Speaker 5: can't wait. Like it's like December is when I I
Speaker 5: like have so much fun training because well, first of all,
Speaker 5: it's summer, we're in the sun finally Melbourne, So I think, yeah,
Speaker 5: I love pre season because like I have a goal
Speaker 5: and something to look forward to, and then playing you know,
Speaker 5: in front of home crowd and friends, it's always so
Speaker 5: much fun.
Speaker 2: That was absolutely incredible that you'd kept that letter to
Speaker 2: Australian Tennis magazine from Luke for twenty years. I loved
Speaker 2: his and Dash's reaction to when you actually handed that
Speaker 2: to them, like all those memories coming back that that
Speaker 2: was incredible.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was really fun. I've been waiting for an
Speaker 1: opportunity to share that. But I do think I'm bringing
Speaker 1: letters to the editor back for the magazine. We never
Speaker 1: know what future star is going to be writing to us.
Speaker 1: And yeah, so many nuggets in that interview as well.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, Yeah there were weren't there. There was the revelation
Speaker 2: that Dash is working with a new coach. She wants
Speaker 2: to do some coaching and mentoring. Luke talked about a
Speaker 2: potential coaching career He's interested in doing that. We covered
Speaker 2: a lot of ground with them in that chat.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we could have talked to them forever, but Luke
Speaker 1: had another interview to get to Actually.
Speaker 2: Yes, Luke made his debut on the Aoshow Weekly this
Speaker 2: week and John and Brie and the team will be
Speaker 2: back with another episode next Thursday.
Speaker 1: And we'll be back with another episode of the sit
Speaker 1: Down next week. Please remember to subscribe rate and review.
Speaker 1: See you next week. Matt See of viv