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Speaker 1: I guess that's interesting. I didn't really think about that,

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Speaker 1: you got men.

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Speaker 2: Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Sitdown.

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Speaker 2: I'm Matrolope, a writer and editor for ozopen dot com, and.

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Speaker 3: I'm Vi of Christie, managing editor for Australian Tennis Magazine

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Speaker 3: and Matt. Why are we sitting down this week with

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Speaker 3: Patrick Gibson.

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Speaker 2: Well, we were lucky enough to get connected with Patrick

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Speaker 2: after he secured the reciprocal Australian Open USTA wildcard. We

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Speaker 2: caught him in a really cool, reflective kind of headspace

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Speaker 2: as he celebrates what he achieved in twenty twenty five

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Speaker 2: and then the opportunities that that opens up for twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty six.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, we also caught him at a time when he

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Speaker 3: was sort of on a high. He finished the season

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Speaker 3: so strongly by winning the Helsinki Challenger event, which was

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Speaker 3: sort of keaps a career best period, I would say

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Speaker 3: for him. And yeah, he talked a lot about his

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Speaker 3: I guess, his inspiration and you know, thriving alongside a

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Speaker 3: lot of American players, including some of his close friends,

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Speaker 3: and he mentions Francis Tilfo, Tommy Paul and yeah, it's

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Speaker 3: a really interesting chat so let's see what he has

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Speaker 3: to say.

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Speaker 2: Patrick Kipson, thank you very much for joining us today

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Speaker 2: on the sit Down Podcast.

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Speaker 4: It's good to see you.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, thanks, thanks for having me.

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Speaker 4: Where do we find you in the world right now?

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Speaker 1: I'm at home right now in Raleigh, North Carolina, Eastern

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Speaker 1: United States. Just finished up last week in Helsinki, Finland,

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Speaker 1: my last tournament of the year, and yeah, be back

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Speaker 1: home for the next three or four weeks before I

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Speaker 1: guess heading your way to Australia.

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Speaker 2: So with his time, you finished your last tournament, is

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Speaker 2: this a rest period or have you already started you

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Speaker 2: off season.

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Speaker 1: I'm still kind of in my rest period right now,

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Speaker 1: if you will, where I'm not actively training, not doing

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Speaker 1: a whole lot in the gym, just kind of taking

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Speaker 1: ten to twelve days to kind of just recover, let

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Speaker 1: the body settle and rest a little bit, let the

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Speaker 1: mind rest, and next Monday I start back in the

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Speaker 1: gym two weeks of pretty good physical conditioning and then

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Speaker 1: I'll do two weeks of pretty hard tennis and hopefully

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Speaker 1: that'll be enough to get me squared away and ready

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Speaker 1: for next year.

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Speaker 2: So in this period, this rare period of like letting

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Speaker 2: the body in the mind rest, which must feel nice.

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Speaker 2: You also know that you're sitting at a career high

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Speaker 2: ranking of one hundred and seventeen, So I mean, yeah,

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Speaker 2: how are you feeling kind of game and confidence wise

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Speaker 2: as you finished a career best season and you're looking

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Speaker 2: to start twenty six.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, interesting season for me. Obviously, I've finished quite well,

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Speaker 1: very happy with how I finished in terms of ranking

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Speaker 1: and more than anything, just the level that I was

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Speaker 1: able to produce there towards the end of the year,

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Speaker 1: and I really felt like I made some good improvements

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Speaker 1: and things that I'm trying to work on. So first

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Speaker 1: and foremost, please with that and the ranking being at

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Speaker 1: a career high is a huge bonus, And getting to

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Speaker 1: come to Melbourne and earning a wild card is a

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Speaker 1: pretty good bonus and a good chance for me to

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Speaker 1: just continue to try and improve on the things I'm

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Speaker 1: working on.

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Speaker 3: Yet, just on that you did earn the Usta main

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Speaker 3: draw wild card for the Australian Open. How much does

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Speaker 3: that mean to you?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, we have a huge opportunity as Americans to earn

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Speaker 1: that reciprocal wildcard, so it's you know, anytime you can

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Speaker 1: you can gain direct access into main draw a Grand Slam.

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Speaker 1: It's a huge help to not have to go through qualifying,

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Speaker 1: and I feel like for this particular challenge, and I

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Speaker 1: think I well earned it with two titles during the

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Speaker 1: challenge windows. So like I said, I'm happy with the

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Speaker 1: result of it and the way that I was able to.

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Speaker 5: Earn it with my play.

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Speaker 3: As you said, like it was a really strong end

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Speaker 3: to the season for you. Was the wild card motivation

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Speaker 3: or was your tennis just coming really well together regardless

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Speaker 3: of them?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think more so the latter. I think my

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Speaker 1: tennis was just kind of coming together. I think all

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Speaker 1: the things I've been working on here recently the last

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Speaker 1: three or four months, things seem to kind of just

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Speaker 1: come together. And also too, I think to win multiple

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Speaker 1: tournaments there's a there's an element of luck for sure.

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Speaker 1: Things have to kind of fall in your favor with

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Speaker 1: how how small the margins are in professional tennis these days.

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Speaker 1: So just proud of the way that I competed and

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Speaker 1: proud of the level that I showed, and I think

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Speaker 1: I got a little bit of fortunate as well to

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Speaker 1: just string together that many match wins.

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Speaker 3: What have you been most working on in your game?

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Speaker 5: For me?

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Speaker 1: Just trying to add a layer of aggression, finding, trying

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Speaker 1: to find new skills, develop my skill set, for ways

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Speaker 1: to make my opponents uncomfortable, primarily in an attacking, transitioning style.

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Speaker 1: When I look at the men's game right now, I

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Speaker 1: see a lot a lot of power, a lot of strength,

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Speaker 1: a lot of If you leave any balls short or

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Speaker 1: balls that can be attacked, I think for the most part,

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Speaker 1: they're really that's what's you know, that's what's happening. You're

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Speaker 1: getting put on the defense. So for me, just trying

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Speaker 1: to find ways to do that to my opponent and.

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Speaker 5: Dictate the game with my terms.

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Speaker 3: You've played this strain open once before, back in twenty

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Speaker 3: twenty four. How different do you feel in your tennis

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Speaker 3: right now?

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Speaker 1: Quite different, honestly. I think it's a different stage of

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Speaker 1: my on court tennis, and I think just a different

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Speaker 1: stage of my career. I think, obviously I'm two years older,

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Speaker 1: so I should be two years smarter and wiser. Maybe

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Speaker 1: at least that's what I'm hoping for. But I feel,

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Speaker 1: like I said, I feel like I've had some good

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Speaker 1: development with my game here as of late, and I

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Speaker 1: think I really started to figure out what kind of

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Speaker 1: works for me and for my style and my game,

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Speaker 1: so I'll just be looking to try and improve upon that,

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Speaker 1: you know, day by day going into next year.

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Speaker 2: What's amazing about your kind of position where you are

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Speaker 2: now is that if we reflect back to the early

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Speaker 2: parts of twenty twenty five, you miss three months with

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Speaker 2: what we understand was a stress fracture in your foot.

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Speaker 2: So I was wondering, how did that happen and how

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Speaker 2: was the experience of coming back from that when it

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Speaker 2: sidelined you for so long.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it actually happened in Melbourne this year. Earlier in

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Speaker 1: the year. It was when I initially felt at it.

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Speaker 1: Then I didn't know the extent of the foot injury

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Speaker 1: until I was competing the following week in Portugal, which

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Speaker 1: I was not able to really finish that match, and

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Speaker 1: then I had the scans and saw that I had

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Speaker 1: a Jones fracture at my left foot. So I had

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Speaker 1: an operation shortly after and was sidelined about threeish months.

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Speaker 1: So definitely, and you know, I lost a lot of

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Speaker 1: points during that time frame because I had a lot

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Speaker 1: to defend from the previous year, So it was a tough,

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Speaker 1: really tough moment for me. Yeah, but I was able

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Speaker 1: to kind of work on the things mentally that I

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Speaker 1: needed to while I was sidelined, and I think that

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Speaker 1: paid huge dividends for me when I started competing again.

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Speaker 2: Oh, I was going to ask you that because you're

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Speaker 2: r Yeah, so I think in around this time last year,

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Speaker 2: you were one hundred and thirty and your ranking drop

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Speaker 2: to four hundred and fifty five, so a big drop.

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Speaker 2: Were you panicking at all when you were seeing how

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Speaker 2: far far you'd fallen or I know it's out of

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Speaker 2: your control when because you're not competing, but I mean

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Speaker 2: rankings really do determine your schedule and what you can

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Speaker 2: enter and all of that kind of thing.

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Speaker 4: So how were you feeling?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know if I don't know if it

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Speaker 1: was paniced, but definitely just I mean just kind of bummed, honestly,

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Speaker 1: because it's it sucks to see your your kind of

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Speaker 1: work from the previous year. You know, you have to

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Speaker 1: always tell us the way it works fifty two week

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Speaker 1: ranking system, you have to defend your points. So yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean I was bummed, and at the same time,

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Speaker 1: I couldn't do anything about it because I wasn't playing,

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Speaker 1: So it's kind of like watching yourself slip down on

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Speaker 1: the s slip very slow back down. But I've always

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Speaker 1: been confident and if I can I can play or

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Speaker 1: bring out my best best level on the court that

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Speaker 1: I could, I can play with most anyone. And I

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Speaker 1: really tried to work on that shifting that mindset when

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Speaker 1: I was sidelined with my injury and something I continue

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Speaker 1: to work on, but something that I think is very

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Speaker 1: important for me and has been the key to my.

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Speaker 5: Success for sure.

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Speaker 2: Well, when you came back, obviously it was extremely successful

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Speaker 2: because you went on to win four Challenger titles I

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Speaker 2: think in the space of like six months, and that's

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Speaker 2: the most Challenger titles you've ever won in a single

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Speaker 2: season before. So would you say it was the result

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Speaker 2: of like the mental work you did in that time

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Speaker 2: off or the more things you're talking about the aggression

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Speaker 2: and the transition game that you were implementing, like technically,

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Speaker 2: was that the key for what clicked or was it

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Speaker 2: a combination of everything.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it was a combination of everything. I

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Speaker 1: think I'm more of a believer that you see the

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Speaker 1: results from the work that you put in a little bit,

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Speaker 1: you know, down the road. So I think the results

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Speaker 1: I had last week probably come from the work that

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Speaker 1: I did three four months ago, and of course you

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Speaker 1: know days leading into matches, etc. But I really think

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Speaker 1: that you don't always see the results of your hard

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Speaker 1: work or your adjustments right away. So I think you

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Speaker 1: have to answer your question. I think it's a combination

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Speaker 1: of both. I think the mental or the mentality and

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Speaker 1: the fortitude that I try to develop along with the

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Speaker 1: game style that I'm trying to play and feel i've

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Speaker 1: improved upon. Those two things were definitely the two key factors.

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Speaker 1: And of course being healthy being able to play.

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Speaker 3: American tennis in general is in great shape. There's I

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Speaker 3: think there's ten men in the top one hundred and

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Speaker 3: a group of players including yourself not far behind. Does

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Speaker 3: that sort of strength in numbers situation? Does that push

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Speaker 3: you forward as well?

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Speaker 1: For sure? I think it's good to have that. It

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Speaker 1: seems like Americans right now we have a really healthy

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Speaker 1: competition going where I think, you know, I can't speak

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Speaker 1: for the top guys as much because I don't interact

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Speaker 1: with them as often, but I know the guy around

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Speaker 1: my ranking and guys that broke into the top one

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Speaker 1: hundred at some point during this year I know that

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Speaker 1: myself and everyone you know around my ranking has been

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Speaker 1: super pumped to see those guys break in. I know

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Speaker 1: those guys are or will be super pumped to see

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Speaker 1: us break in as well. So I think we have

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Speaker 1: a really healthy competition going on, and we were root

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Speaker 1: hard for each other, And yeah, I think it's it's

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Speaker 1: it's good to see American tennis with so many guys

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Speaker 1: at such a high level.

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Speaker 5: For sure.

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Speaker 3: I couldn't help noticing that Francis Tafo comments on quite

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Speaker 3: a few of your social media posts. Is it kind

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Speaker 3: of makes me curious? Is A Is it a tight

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Speaker 3: knw knit group? Do you have friendships among that group?

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Speaker 5: I do.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, me and Francis have been friends for a very

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Speaker 1: long time. I've trained with him occasionally since I was

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Speaker 1: since we were both quite young, very friendly with tell

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Speaker 1: me Paul Riley Opelka, Taylor Fritz as well. So those

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Speaker 1: guys are, you know, obviously at the higher end of

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Speaker 1: the of the ranking system, and guys like Ethan Quinn,

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Speaker 1: Elliott Spasiri, Alex Kovacevich, you know, guys that have more

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Speaker 1: recently broke into the top one hundred have a great

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Speaker 1: relationship with those guys as well. I think it's a

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Speaker 1: pretty pretty tight neit group in general for the Americans

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Speaker 1: right now. I think everyone gets along really well and

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Speaker 1: supports each other.

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Speaker 3: And I think you have a connection with Tommy Paul

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Speaker 3: as well in terms of your club or your early

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Speaker 3: junior years.

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Speaker 5: Yep, that's right.

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Speaker 1: His stepdad at the time was my first tennis coach

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Speaker 1: in Greenville, North Carolina, a pretty rural city in eastern

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Speaker 1: North Carolina. So me and Tommy grew up together and

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Speaker 1: we both went down to Boca Ratan to train at

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Speaker 1: the USTA National Federation when we were both young as well.

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Speaker 1: So I've known Tommy for many, many years.

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Speaker 2: Just talking, like thinking back to your early days, we'd

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Speaker 2: love to know. Yeah, it's like your tennis origin story.

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Speaker 2: How did you discover it all? Like who introduced you

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Speaker 2: to the sport.

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Speaker 5: It's a good question. I kind of remember it.

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Speaker 1: My neighbor at the time was another kid my age,

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Speaker 1: and we just started to take tennis lessons together at

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Speaker 1: the club there in Greenville, and I played ice hockey

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Speaker 1: as well and kind of did both sports up until

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Speaker 1: the point where I had to choose one or the

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Speaker 1: other because I was starting to travel for both. Ultimately

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Speaker 1: I chose tennis, of course.

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Speaker 3: And.

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Speaker 1: Just kind of felt like the individuality of it suited

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Speaker 1: my personality well at the time.

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Speaker 5: And yeah, so that's kind.

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Speaker 1: Of developed like that, loved it, practiced hard, and parents

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Speaker 1: made a lot of sacrifices for me, and you know,

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Speaker 1: happy with how it worked out, of course.

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Speaker 2: And always that success story, it's always linked to like

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Speaker 2: being close to a club or a tennis court across

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Speaker 2: the street or something like that. The access is so

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Speaker 2: it's so crucial in people's origin stories. We also read

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Speaker 2: about you that you because I guess we would associate

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Speaker 2: most American tennis with like hard courts, hard court success.

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Speaker 2: Most of the Americans play their best on hard courts,

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Speaker 2: I'd say, but your tennis developed on clay, so just yeah,

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Speaker 2: kind of wanted Is that purely because of like where

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Speaker 2: you grew up. I know there's a lot of like

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Speaker 2: green clay in that part of America. Was that the

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Speaker 2: surface you grew up on? And is that common for

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Speaker 2: people like in North Carolina?

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Speaker 1: Correct, Yeah, so that's I did grow up on green clay.

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Speaker 1: That was the only surface we had at the time

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Speaker 1: in Greenville at that club. But I would say it's

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Speaker 1: relatively uncommon for most Americans, who I think there's a

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Speaker 1: decent amount of clay courts green clay courts along the

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Speaker 1: kind of the southeastern coast Florida. But for me, that

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Speaker 1: was the only thing that I had For probably a

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Speaker 1: year and a half two years, I was just training

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Speaker 1: at that club, no hard court, It's only place I

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Speaker 1: would practice, So I was definitely I definitely learned how

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Speaker 1: to play tennis on a clay court, and I think

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Speaker 1: that's been helpful in some ways and kind of unhelpful

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Speaker 1: in other ways. I think I'm trying to kind of

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Speaker 1: unwire some of that defensive mentality that I might have

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Speaker 1: grown up with by being on a clay court, but

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Speaker 1: definitely has its pros and cons and for sure unique.

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Speaker 3: Who would you say has had the biggest influence on

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Speaker 3: your career.

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Speaker 1: I would say my strength coach for many years, Brent Salazar.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's tough to name one person, but he's

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Speaker 1: definitely at the top of that list. Was my strength

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Speaker 1: coach when I had recently turned professional and left my

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Speaker 1: university back in twenty eighteen, and just kind of helped

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Speaker 1: shape me into what I'd like to think is a

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Speaker 1: professional you know, professional athlete mentality and taught me the

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Speaker 1: right way to work and to think about things in

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Speaker 1: my opinion. And of course I've had been good coaches

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Speaker 1: along the way, several from the Federation and now my

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Speaker 1: longtime coach, my private coach, Alejandro Gonzalez, who's been working

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Speaker 1: with me over three years now. So I've always had

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Speaker 1: a very good, good team along with my physio as well,

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Speaker 1: five years together. So that's one thing very important to

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Speaker 1: me is my team and how close we are, and

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Speaker 1: it feels more like a like a family than a

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Speaker 1: business to me, which I do like.

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Speaker 3: Actually, speaking of family, you mentioned just before that your

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Speaker 3: family made a lot of sacrifices when you were younger.

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Speaker 3: What sort of did you have that family connection? I

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Speaker 3: guess to tennis from the.

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Speaker 1: Stuff, honestly, not really. Neither of my parents really played.

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Speaker 1: My father played a little bit in high school, but

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Speaker 1: nothing like serious or competitive. But they always allowed me

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Speaker 1: to kind of follow my dreams. And you know, I

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Speaker 1: was eleven years old I think when I moved down,

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Speaker 1: not fully moved, but we're spending most of my time

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Speaker 1: in Florida at the USTA doing online school, living in

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Speaker 1: a dorm. So they were always very willing to allow

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Speaker 1: me to kind of pursue my dream and did everything

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Speaker 1: they could to make it possible.

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Speaker 3: I'm always amazed at the dedication that that must take,

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Speaker 3: you know, when you hear about moving out a home,

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Speaker 3: when you see eleven, it's crazy.

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Speaker 1: It's so crazy to look back and think about.

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Speaker 5: For sure.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, there's a really curious line in your ATP bio.

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Speaker 3: Your favorite surface is listed as clay and your favorite

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Speaker 3: tournament is Wimbledon.

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Speaker 5: How do you.

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Speaker 3: Explain that one?

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Speaker 1: Yes, that's interesting. I didn't really think about that.

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Speaker 5: You got me.

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Speaker 1: I just I probably just thought at the time, and

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Speaker 1: I still do. I just think the prestige of Wimbledon

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Speaker 1: is just ultra cool. I think obviously the grass court

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Speaker 1: season is, you know, so short, it would be tough

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Speaker 1: to put your favorite surface as grass unless you're a

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Speaker 1: true grass court specialist, which I'm not at least yet.

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Speaker 1: But I think, yeah, just Wimbledon has that prestige to it,

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Speaker 1: and Center Corp Wimbledon's got that aura around it, and

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Speaker 1: that's probably why I put that down. How is your

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Speaker 1: grasscourt game? I think it's okay. I think, especially based

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Speaker 1: on some adjustments I'm trying to make in my game

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Speaker 1: in general. I'm hoping it would be, you know, super

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Speaker 1: beneficial on grass as well. I think it would be.

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Speaker 1: I don't have a lot of experience on grass. I

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Speaker 1: played junior Wimbledon and I made the semi finals, so

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Speaker 1: I was pretty successful as a junior, but as a

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Speaker 1: PROB only had one season on it, so you need

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Speaker 1: some more reps on it.

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Speaker 3: Your Grand Slam debut came at age seventeen. You were

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Speaker 3: very young at the US Open, having earned a wildcard

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Speaker 3: by winning the US Under eighteen Championships. What do you

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Speaker 3: remember of that period.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I just remember how young I was, honestly, and

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Speaker 1: just kind of how unprepared I was, but excited I

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Speaker 1: was to play in a Grand Slam at that age.

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Speaker 1: I think I was probably a thousand in the world,

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Speaker 1: eight nine hundred thousand probably, But just remember kind of

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Speaker 1: walking out there for the first time to play a

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Speaker 1: Grand slammash mean, we're just kind of soaking it all in.

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Speaker 1: I think I ended up losing in straight sets, but

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Speaker 1: it was a huge learning experience for me for sure,

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Speaker 1: and definitely it showed me a way to show me

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Speaker 1: the way I needed to train and play an act

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Speaker 1: to be a professional and get back to that level

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Speaker 1: for sure. So it was very instrumental in my kind

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Speaker 1: of mental maturity.

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Speaker 4: And it wouldn't have been long after that.

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Speaker 2: I think that you went to college at Texas A

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Speaker 2: and M.

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Speaker 4: So why did you?

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Speaker 2: And there's multiple ways you can go as a pro player,

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Speaker 2: So why did you choose to take that route?

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Speaker 4: What do you think the college experience offered you?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought, ultimately I wasn't quite ready to turn professional.

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Speaker 1: I think from a physical standpoint, I was, I was okay,

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Speaker 1: but I wasn't, you know, some super strong fit. I

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Speaker 1: don't think I had fully gone through puberty yet at

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Speaker 1: that stage either. I was just still more of a

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Speaker 1: boy than a man. I think mentally I needed work.

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Speaker 1: I think everything kind of needed a little bit of

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Speaker 1: fine tuning maturing. So I looked at college as where

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Speaker 1: can I go to further develop as a tennis player

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Speaker 1: more than anything, And so I was when I was

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Speaker 1: looking at coaches, I was That's the question I was

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Speaker 1: kind of asking myself, and Steve didn't at Texas A

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Speaker 1: and M. Was the primary reason that I decided to

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Speaker 1: go there. I just felt like you could continue to

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Speaker 1: develop my game, and I think he did a good

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Speaker 1: job and I enjoyed my time there very much.

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Speaker 2: You've predicted an question we were going to ask you

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Speaker 2: about Steve Denton because there's a fun Australian Open link

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Speaker 2: that he is a two time Australian Open finalist. He

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Speaker 2: made back to back finals in nineteen eighty one and

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Speaker 2: eighty two, and I just wondered, how much do you

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Speaker 2: know about his career.

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Speaker 1: I don't know as much as I should know, probably,

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Speaker 1: but I do know that he was damn good, and

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Speaker 1: I think he was in seven or eight slam finals

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Speaker 1: between singles and doubles. And I know that he held

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Speaker 1: the record for the fastest served for quite some time.

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Speaker 4: Oh, I didn't know that.

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Speaker 5: That's cool you did.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, at some point he was a big strong, big

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Speaker 1: strong dude, and I think he thumped it back whenever

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Speaker 1: he was planned.

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Speaker 2: And Texas has had its kind of moment in the

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Speaker 2: sun really recently because of the Shanghai final between Valentin

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Speaker 2: Vasho and Arthur innder Kannesh, who I think were teammates

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Speaker 2: of yours at Texas. So I mean that was such

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Speaker 2: a big wasn't it. Viv This year like such an

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Speaker 2: such a huge story for so many reasons their cousins,

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Speaker 2: so that was wild. But also where vashero kind of

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Speaker 2: came from to outside the top two hundred to make

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Speaker 2: it to win the Masters and is now a top

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Speaker 2: forty player, which is incredible, and he'll be joining you

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Speaker 2: in the AO maindraw. So what was it like to

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Speaker 2: watch the two of them competing in a final?

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Speaker 4: Like, does that mean anything for you?

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Speaker 5: It was cool to.

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Speaker 1: See, I mean from a couple of different angles, there

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Speaker 1: was cool to see a guy two hundred play and

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Speaker 1: in a final of a Master optibly win a Master's

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Speaker 1: I don't think we're going to see that anytime soon again,

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Speaker 1: but you know, that was totally out of the blue, really,

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Speaker 1: And then obviously to know both guys in the final

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Speaker 1: of an event that they probably thought they had no

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Speaker 1: chance of being in the finals in was very cool,

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Speaker 1: and I remember kind of I watched the highlights. I

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Speaker 1: didn't see the match, but I saw the post match

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Speaker 1: trophy ceremony. There was speaking and I actually got get

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Speaker 1: a little bit emotional watching that because I know those

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Speaker 1: two guys so well, and I used to live with

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Speaker 1: Arthur in college, and obviously it was very close with

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Speaker 1: the vow, so it was just you couldn't have drawn

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Speaker 1: a cooler story up in my opinion, like, it just

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Speaker 1: doesn't it'd be tough to beat that you.

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Speaker 4: Played with them.

444
00:22:19,840 --> 00:22:21,919
Speaker 2: You're kind of similar, I guess would you would say

445
00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:24,320
Speaker 2: a similar level to val if you're competing predominantly on

446
00:22:24,359 --> 00:22:26,520
Speaker 2: the challenger circuit. I mean, is there any belief that

447
00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:29,399
Speaker 2: comes with that or was it like too much of

448
00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:31,040
Speaker 2: a fairy tale? I'm not sure, Like did it have

449
00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:34,440
Speaker 2: any impact on your own thoughts on where you could

450
00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:35,160
Speaker 2: go in your career?

451
00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:36,840
Speaker 5: Honestly, not a whole lot.

452
00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:39,800
Speaker 1: I think I've always I've always known that guys that

453
00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:43,920
Speaker 1: are two hundred, guys that are one fifty, I think

454
00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:47,760
Speaker 1: they have the level to beat top players. Maybe not

455
00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:51,520
Speaker 1: as consistently yet, because that's why there are one fifty,

456
00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:55,720
Speaker 1: but I think the level is so so high now

457
00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:59,119
Speaker 1: and so the margins are so thin. So it was

458
00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:02,560
Speaker 1: so Danser question. Yes, I mean, it is reassuring to

459
00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:05,439
Speaker 1: see that if you do take your opportunities, if you

460
00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:07,040
Speaker 1: are a guy who's one hundred and eighty in the

461
00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:09,080
Speaker 1: world or two hundred in the world or one hundred

462
00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:11,200
Speaker 1: and twenty in the world, that you can you can

463
00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:13,680
Speaker 1: go on these magical runs. It might not be as

464
00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:18,400
Speaker 1: magical as that, but you know, it's definitely reassuring to see.

465
00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:21,000
Speaker 1: And the Martins are so slim.

466
00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:24,359
Speaker 3: You have played so much on the Challenger Tour and

467
00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:28,280
Speaker 3: had incredible success there as well. How does that set

468
00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:30,719
Speaker 3: you up for a bigger stage like the one that

469
00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:33,240
Speaker 3: you'll experience or these stowing open Yeah.

470
00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:35,760
Speaker 1: I think playing on the Challenger Tour obviously, you know,

471
00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:39,359
Speaker 1: you kind of earn your stripes there and kind of

472
00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:41,240
Speaker 1: makes you gritty and tough, and you play in some

473
00:23:41,359 --> 00:23:46,159
Speaker 1: environments that are not always the nicest and the you

474
00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:47,879
Speaker 1: go to some places that you don't always want to

475
00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:51,720
Speaker 1: go to, So I think it kind of toughens your skin.

476
00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:56,760
Speaker 1: And like I said, I think the level is so

477
00:23:56,760 --> 00:24:00,680
Speaker 1: so similar that it just it can make you tough,

478
00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:04,359
Speaker 1: make you competitive, makes you gritty, and then hopefully I

479
00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:07,280
Speaker 1: can transition that and players that come through the Challenger

480
00:24:07,320 --> 00:24:10,880
Speaker 1: Tour can can transition onto the main tour and kind

481
00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:13,240
Speaker 1: of take what they've learned in the Challenger Tour, that grit,

482
00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:18,760
Speaker 1: that competitiveness into the main tour and thrive there as well.

483
00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:22,919
Speaker 3: Just looking through your you know, your playing record for

484
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:25,439
Speaker 3: most of this season, you have traveled a lot. What

485
00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:27,880
Speaker 3: are some of the more interesting places that you've been.

486
00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:29,840
Speaker 5: It's a good question.

487
00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:33,639
Speaker 1: I feel like the last part of the year I

488
00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:36,399
Speaker 1: was going like this back and forth. I was in Europe,

489
00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:37,840
Speaker 1: and I was in the middle of the United States,

490
00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:40,680
Speaker 1: and I was back in northern northeastern Europe and Finland.

491
00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:46,800
Speaker 1: I've always liked Italy a lot. I love the food there,

492
00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:50,960
Speaker 1: like the culture there. So if I had to pick

493
00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:54,399
Speaker 1: one place, I'd say the Realm Masters was probably my

494
00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:58,719
Speaker 1: tide for first or second. Indian Walls is up there

495
00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:00,480
Speaker 1: as well. I think those are two of my favorite

496
00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:02,960
Speaker 1: to my favorite events.

497
00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:06,320
Speaker 3: And what's life like for you off the too, Like

498
00:25:06,359 --> 00:25:08,640
Speaker 3: what do you like to do outside tennis?

499
00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:11,720
Speaker 1: I like to do a lot of barbecuing, honestly. I

500
00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:17,320
Speaker 1: like smoke meat, briscuits, ribs, get on the grill, on

501
00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:20,400
Speaker 1: the on the barbecue. I like to do a little

502
00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:23,160
Speaker 1: bit of hunting as well. In the off season. Here

503
00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:27,120
Speaker 1: in North Carolina, we have a white tailed deer season

504
00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:29,760
Speaker 1: from kind of mid October until the first of the

505
00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:33,080
Speaker 1: new year, so it kind of lines up nicely with

506
00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:35,240
Speaker 1: a couple couple of days off to go out into

507
00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:37,800
Speaker 1: the woods and do a little bit of hunting and

508
00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:44,280
Speaker 1: just sit in some peaceful, peaceful nature. I quite enjoy that.

509
00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:46,520
Speaker 1: So those are kind of my two hobbies at home.

510
00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:49,280
Speaker 3: And what about coming here to Australia. I know that

511
00:25:49,359 --> 00:25:52,520
Speaker 3: you've had an injury here this year, but what are

512
00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:53,680
Speaker 3: your thoughts coming back?

513
00:25:54,440 --> 00:26:00,320
Speaker 1: I'm driving the flight there, Yeah, so long? No, I mean, honestly,

514
00:26:00,359 --> 00:26:04,440
Speaker 1: I this will be my third time in Australia, and

515
00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:09,760
Speaker 1: I mean, I think Assie open ish. I mean, I

516
00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:14,760
Speaker 1: don't know what else. It's incredible. It's playing there is amazing.

517
00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:20,320
Speaker 1: I think the hospitality is great, the venues ridiculous.

518
00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:21,359
Speaker 5: You know, it's so nice.

519
00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:25,240
Speaker 1: So I'm, you know, really looking forward to coming back.

520
00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:28,399
Speaker 1: Hopefully I can acclimate fast to the weather that the

521
00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:32,640
Speaker 1: heat over down in Australia is here in the Eastern States,

522
00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:36,320
Speaker 1: at least where I'm from, it's quite cold, so apart

523
00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:40,400
Speaker 1: from the twenty four hour plane playing trip over there,

524
00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:41,880
Speaker 1: I'm really looking forward to it.

525
00:26:42,119 --> 00:26:45,200
Speaker 2: And what would you what would you say your goals

526
00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:46,879
Speaker 2: or ambitions are for January. I know a lot of

527
00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:48,560
Speaker 2: this stuff like I'm not sure what you're planning in

528
00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:50,680
Speaker 2: terms of like lead up tournaments to the IO and

529
00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:52,720
Speaker 2: a lot of it's you know, draw dependent when you

530
00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:54,960
Speaker 2: get to the AO. But yeah, how what are you

531
00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:58,560
Speaker 2: kind of aiming for when this Australian summer season starts.

532
00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:02,080
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've always tried to not set too many like

533
00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:07,080
Speaker 1: result oriented goals and just try and keep setting more

534
00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:10,080
Speaker 1: process goals and execute them better. So for me, I'll

535
00:27:10,119 --> 00:27:13,760
Speaker 1: just be looking to kind of continue and improve upon

536
00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:16,159
Speaker 1: what I was doing to finish the season and the

537
00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:21,480
Speaker 1: way that I was trying to play my style of game.

538
00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:24,959
Speaker 1: Really just trying to kind of judge success and failure

539
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:27,800
Speaker 1: off of my execution on how well I'm able to

540
00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:30,840
Speaker 1: do what I'm looking to do in pressure moments. I

541
00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:32,840
Speaker 1: think I'll keep that. I'll do my best to try

542
00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:35,040
Speaker 1: and keep that as my first focus.

543
00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:37,360
Speaker 5: And I do believe that if I'm able to.

544
00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:41,040
Speaker 1: Execute pretty well on that and be consistent with it,

545
00:27:41,119 --> 00:27:44,399
Speaker 1: that I'll have the chances to you know, hit the

546
00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:47,880
Speaker 1: hit the goal rankings and the ranking goals and get

547
00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:51,720
Speaker 1: some good wins along the way and continue to kind

548
00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:52,679
Speaker 1: of rise in the ranks.

549
00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:57,000
Speaker 2: And I guess to finish off, we'd love to know. Yeah,

550
00:27:57,240 --> 00:27:59,800
Speaker 2: it might be rankings, I'm not sure, But what would

551
00:27:59,840 --> 00:28:03,119
Speaker 2: my season twenty six a successful one for you.

552
00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:08,760
Speaker 1: Well, first, if I could play the season scheduling wise

553
00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:13,240
Speaker 1: without any hiccups or or significant injuries, I think that

554
00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:15,479
Speaker 1: would have to be my first at this stage of

555
00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:19,879
Speaker 1: my career, given how much time sidelined I've had to

556
00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:22,720
Speaker 1: kind of deal with already, So I think that would

557
00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:26,399
Speaker 1: be number one. And yeah, I'd love to finish the

558
00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:29,280
Speaker 1: year next year in a position where I'm in the

559
00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:32,120
Speaker 1: main draw of all the Slams for the following years,

560
00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:36,480
Speaker 1: So you know, whether that's being fifty in the world,

561
00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:39,360
Speaker 1: seventy in the world, higher somewhere in between.

562
00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:41,240
Speaker 5: You know, that would be great.

563
00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:43,680
Speaker 1: But like I said, I think I kind of have

564
00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:47,160
Speaker 1: to do my best and just focusing on those process

565
00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:49,720
Speaker 1: goals and I said, I think if I if I

566
00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:53,640
Speaker 1: hit those and execute well on a consistent basis, that

567
00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:54,200
Speaker 1: I will be.

568
00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:57,840
Speaker 5: Happy with with whatever comes from that.

569
00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:02,600
Speaker 3: Well, I love that chat with Patrick and I'm really

570
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:05,239
Speaker 3: looking forward to seeing how he maintains the momentum here

571
00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:06,080
Speaker 3: at the Australian Open.

572
00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:08,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, which is actually coming around really quick, which is

573
00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:11,400
Speaker 2: so exciting. We'll be back again next Monday with another

574
00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:13,640
Speaker 2: episode of the sit Down, but in the meantime you

575
00:29:13,680 --> 00:29:16,040
Speaker 2: can listen to the team this Thursday on the tennis.

576
00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:19,200
Speaker 3: Please subscribe to the sit Down so all of our

577
00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:21,880
Speaker 3: interviews land in your podcast feed, and we'd love it

578
00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:23,840
Speaker 3: if you could leave us a rating and a review.

579
00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:25,960
Speaker 3: See you next week, Matt, See then, Viv