Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Sitdown. I'm Viz Christie from
Speaker 1: Australian Tennis magazine and.
Speaker 2: I'm Matt Trolopa, writer for oz open dot com.
Speaker 1: And Matt, why are we sitting down this week with
Speaker 1: John Fitzgerald.
Speaker 2: We're sitting down with John Fitzgerald because first of all,
Speaker 2: he's a legend of Australian tennis. But it's excellent timing
Speaker 2: given it's a Davis Cup week and FITZI had an
Speaker 2: incredible Davis Cup career both as a player and then
Speaker 2: as a captain of the Australian team. And while he
Speaker 2: was here and very generous with his time, we got
Speaker 2: to cover a lot of other subjects. It was a
Speaker 2: really wide ranging chat.
Speaker 1: It was also great to talk to FITZI about the
Speaker 1: success this year in men's doubles in Australia and he
Speaker 1: is a man that's highly qualified to speak on that
Speaker 1: topic having won all four Grand Slam doubles titles and
Speaker 1: a couple of mixed doubles titles as well.
Speaker 2: John Fitzgerald, thank you for joining us on the sit
Speaker 2: down today. Thank you, Matt. It's my pleasure and you're
Speaker 2: talking to us at a very exciting time in tennis doubles.
Speaker 2: Do you feel it's having a bit of a moment
Speaker 2: on tour right now for the Australians.
Speaker 3: Well, certainly there's a number of players that are world
Speaker 3: class that are playing it. I think Max Purcell arguably
Speaker 3: is the best first quarter in the world if he
Speaker 3: puts his mind to it on that first court. And
Speaker 3: part of what made I think the gold medal win
Speaker 3: success of Ebden and Peers so good in the end
Speaker 3: or so great in the end, was the fact that
Speaker 3: one of them had to move to the first court.
Speaker 3: They're both second court players, so John Piers showed a
Speaker 3: lot of versatility to be able to move across from
Speaker 3: the side that he plays on all the time, basically
Speaker 3: move across under pressure on a clay court and play
Speaker 3: in that first court. He deserves a lot of credit
Speaker 3: for that and a lot of kudos. So yeah, they
Speaker 3: can play this game of doubles. It's probably not as
Speaker 3: high profile as we know, it's not as the singles,
Speaker 3: but it plays an important part in our sport and
Speaker 3: was great to see some of the Aussies do well
Speaker 3: traditionally we have in this country.
Speaker 2: That leads into our next question. Actually, there's been this
Speaker 2: camaraderie between that golden era of Australian and US back
Speaker 2: in the sixties and into the seventies Labor Rosewall YUKM
Speaker 2: and I guess that camaraderie in that culture has continued
Speaker 2: to this day. Do you reckon that's contributing to why
Speaker 2: we're so good on the doubles court.
Speaker 3: Well, it's probably a little longer discussion than that. That's
Speaker 3: part of it. I think a big part of it.
Speaker 3: I think court surfaces play a bit of a part.
Speaker 3: You know, we learned a lot of our tennis in
Speaker 3: this country on faster courts. Initially most of them have
Speaker 3: slowed down these days. They're higher bouncing and slower court surfaces,
Speaker 3: even the hard courts and the grass by the way,
Speaker 3: which sounds amazing, but it's true. So I think in
Speaker 3: the old days, when they played with faster courts, that
Speaker 3: style of play was more conducive to playing doubles. So
Speaker 3: the doubles game has changed. It's evolved a little bit,
Speaker 3: not as much probably as the singles, but it's still
Speaker 3: evolved and players have to adapt. But there's certainly a
Speaker 3: history of great doubles players in this country. And you
Speaker 3: know now we've got two more gold medalists that are
Speaker 3: they'll never forget that their name will go down in
Speaker 3: history as Olympic gold medal winners.
Speaker 1: John speaking of the great history in Australian doubles players,
Speaker 1: you were, of course a world number one doubles player
Speaker 1: and you want every Grand Slam men's doubles title. What
Speaker 1: did it mean to complete that career slam in doubles?
Speaker 3: Well, Wymlham was the last one that I was able
Speaker 3: to win, and that was pretty special because as a
Speaker 3: little boy, that was the tournament I always got up
Speaker 3: in the middle of the night for out in country
Speaker 3: South Australia in the bush and watched on I began
Speaker 3: watching on a black and white TV. Actually I don't
Speaker 3: tell any one that, but so that was the last one,
Speaker 3: but it was special and I think, you know, probably
Speaker 3: halfway through my tennis career, I realized that I was
Speaker 3: not likely to win a major singles title. So it
Speaker 3: was a nice second for me to be able to
Speaker 3: do that. And you know a lot of players have
Speaker 3: not been able to do it. There's there's a lot
Speaker 3: more players in the world of men's tennis that have
Speaker 3: won all four doubles titles in the Grand Slams than
Speaker 3: in terms of singles players. There's only eight of those, right,
Speaker 3: it's a very moll number. And then half of those
Speaker 3: have won on all surfaces, and the previous half played
Speaker 3: when there were three grass courts used for Grand Slams
Speaker 3: in those days. The US Open and Australia of course,
Speaker 3: were on grass courts back then. So it's a very
Speaker 3: small club there, a bigger club in the men's doubles,
Speaker 3: but still a nice special place to be, of.
Speaker 1: Course, and you won titles with several different partners, but
Speaker 1: your partnership with Andres Yarrett was particularly fruitful. What made
Speaker 1: that so successful.
Speaker 3: Well, we really did, I think, compliment each other, not
Speaker 3: just in the way our styles of play were, but
Speaker 3: in the way our personalities were. I think. You know,
Speaker 3: Anders was a special tennis player. He was a higher
Speaker 3: ranked singles player than me. He started winning Grand Slams
Speaker 3: with it Stephan Edburgh. He won with a couple of others,
Speaker 3: not just me. He won with hands c initially another Swede,
Speaker 3: and of course Robert Seguso he won one with as well.
Speaker 3: So and a special singles player made the semi finals
Speaker 3: of Wimbledon. Some days I just had to turn up
Speaker 3: at the court and point him in the right direction.
Speaker 3: He'd win for us. I was like a gold mine.
Speaker 3: It was magnificent, you know. But some days if he
Speaker 3: didn't get hot food. And I'm saying this seriously, you
Speaker 3: think I've got my tongue in my cheek, but I don't.
Speaker 3: He loved hot food before he played a match, and
Speaker 3: if he didn't get it, he you know, if he
Speaker 3: was listening to this, he'd be laughing because he'd get
Speaker 3: a bit grumpy. So I had to run around try
Speaker 3: and find some hot food for him, and then of
Speaker 3: course point him in the right direction. But when he
Speaker 3: did that, he was He was a mini genius for me.
Speaker 3: Is a great person, pretty intense on the court. But
Speaker 3: we had a special relationship that remains till today. We
Speaker 3: stay in contact with each other, and he paid for
Speaker 3: half of my house, so I've got to be very hi.
Speaker 3: Maybe in fact, he paid for three quarters of it.
Speaker 3: So a special old friend.
Speaker 1: It's actually really interesting to sort of hear your perspective
Speaker 1: on him as a person as much as a player.
Speaker 1: I mean, we talk about how important it is to have,
Speaker 1: you know, playing styles that compliment each other. But that
Speaker 1: personality has to really gel as well.
Speaker 3: It does it does? You know there's a lot of
Speaker 3: I bet there's a lot of double s ways. I
Speaker 3: know there is a lot that don't necessarily communicate that
Speaker 3: well off the court, and they maybe don't socialize as
Speaker 3: well because they're so different. Maybe sometimes they don't even
Speaker 3: like each other, you know. But in our case, we
Speaker 3: would go to dinner together, even though he was a
Speaker 3: Swede and I was an Australian, and we always used
Speaker 3: to think as a young person that the Swedes and
Speaker 3: the Aussie's got on really well. You know. They brought
Speaker 3: all those crowds out in the early eighties to watch
Speaker 3: David's Cup here and they were a strong the strongest
Speaker 3: men's nation then. But we had a lot in common
Speaker 3: and even though English wasn't his first language, he was
Speaker 3: awfully good at it, and we could communicate easily on
Speaker 3: the court. And I think it's important that you get
Speaker 3: along well and respect the guy you're playing with.
Speaker 1: Of course, and you also won two mixed doubles titles
Speaker 1: in Grand Slams with Liz Smiley. That must have also
Speaker 1: been very special.
Speaker 3: Well, Liz paid for the rest of my house, so.
Speaker 2: I love that mentality, but it's actually kind of true.
Speaker 2: I got money to pay for a house and a
Speaker 2: partner helped me get it. It's a really nice way
Speaker 2: to think about it.
Speaker 3: Well, Lizzie and I went back to junior tennis days.
Speaker 3: She married a good friend of mine, Peter Smiley, and
Speaker 3: they're special people to us, their godparents to as second child,
Speaker 3: where godparents to their eldest and you know, so we've
Speaker 3: remained friends there. We follow their son Elvis now he
Speaker 3: was a bit of an Elvis Presley man. Peter smiling
Speaker 3: and his son qualified for the British Open golf this year,
Speaker 3: so we stay in touch. We're great old friends. And yeah,
Speaker 3: that was they were special days too. We happened to
Speaker 3: we happen to lose a few finals. We lost four
Speaker 3: Grand Slam mixed doubles finals, Liz and I, but we
Speaker 3: managed to win two of them.
Speaker 1: Of course, I'm going to put you on the spot
Speaker 1: a little bit here. You speak so fondly of your
Speaker 1: doubles partners. What would they say about you?
Speaker 3: Well, I'm not sure it might depend on which one
Speaker 3: you ask. They're all good friends. But my special friend
Speaker 3: also is John Alexander, who was ten years older than me,
Speaker 3: was in the back half of his career when he
Speaker 3: said that he'd played with me and we won an
Speaker 3: Australia opened together, and you know, it was incredible that
Speaker 3: part of my life with him. And he took Wally
Speaker 3: Massour and Brad Druid, our great friend who's not with
Speaker 3: us anymore, under his wing and guided us through those
Speaker 3: early years. Not always with great stuff, you know, there
Speaker 3: was a bit of naughty stuff too, but you know,
Speaker 3: we told some good jokes in the locker room. But
Speaker 3: he is a man with a heart of gold. John
Speaker 3: Alexander and you know went on, of course to be
Speaker 3: a politician and an ethical one at that, and I'm
Speaker 3: proud of him and what he's done. And of course
Speaker 3: Thomas Smith, the check player. I won a couple of
Speaker 3: majors with the US and the French. So I'd like
Speaker 3: to think they talked about me as being a friend,
Speaker 3: a reliable friend. I hope. I think they probably will.
Speaker 3: If they don't, then I probably don't want to hear.
Speaker 1: About it, full faith that they would speak very fondly.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 2: We've talked a lot about obviously your double success, but
Speaker 2: in singles as well. You were a top twenty five
Speaker 2: player and you won six titles. So what Miles Stone
Speaker 2: stands out for you most on the singles court.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, we've talked recently about being match points
Speaker 3: down in matches and then coming through and winning. And
Speaker 3: one of my first titles was in Maui in Hawaii
Speaker 3: where I was down match point I had to I
Speaker 3: had to qualify. It was before I'd really established a
Speaker 3: big ranking and came through that match and then won
Speaker 3: the whole tournament. So the match point save was in qualities,
Speaker 3: was in qualified.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 3: So things like that happen, you know, and you gain
Speaker 3: confidence and momentum in sport and two on excuse me,
Speaker 3: one on one competition as a two horse race, and
Speaker 3: anything can happen. But I think I think the first
Speaker 3: one for me. I did well at the old Sydney International,
Speaker 3: which was called the New South Wales Open when it
Speaker 3: was on grass. I won that twice and lost in
Speaker 3: the final. In fact I had a match point. It
Speaker 3: came back to haunt me against my friend John Alexander
Speaker 3: and that kind and he won that damn it John, yea,
Speaker 3: where's that dinner? But I think the first one for
Speaker 3: me in Kitsbill in Austria was a special moment. It was.
Speaker 3: It was on a clay court, my worst surface, but
Speaker 3: it was altitude clay, which gave me a better chance.
Speaker 3: I got through to the semifinals, and we got to
Speaker 3: the semifinals and it rained for three days. Now, I
Speaker 3: normally don't tell people the story, but it's so long ago.
Speaker 3: I tell everyone I want a clay court single title.
Speaker 3: But it rained for three days. We went indoors. We
Speaker 3: played on a fast, low bouncing supreme court that was
Speaker 3: called in those days, and it suited my game perfectly.
Speaker 3: And I'll beat Germo Villas, who was probably you may
Speaker 3: have been number two in the world at that stage.
Speaker 3: So that for me was the I think the event
Speaker 3: that sort of kickstarted my belief.
Speaker 2: Really wow, But you don't tell me when it wasn't
Speaker 2: a you got to the semis on the clay though,
Speaker 2: which is good it Yeah, I did. And that's a
Speaker 2: beautiful tournament, isn't it. Isn't that the one? It's well,
Speaker 2: there's always a good start, or they're both in the mountains.
Speaker 3: Well, I think it's where is it where Franzy Klamor
Speaker 3: the great downhill skier one gold? I think it's and
Speaker 3: he's Wally Mesur's hero, you know, they call him the Kaiser,
Speaker 3: not Wally but Franz Klamor. But that it is a
Speaker 3: beautiful place.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: This went to New Zealand recent I went to Queenstown,
Speaker 3: first time I'd ever been that. You can go. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it is magnificent. It reminded me of Austria and Switzerland.
Speaker 3: What a beautiful place. And yeah, Kitspill was one of those.
Speaker 2: Anything we did, we did touch on the Olympics and
Speaker 2: you played two of them and they were nineteen eighty
Speaker 2: eight Soul and ninety ninety two Barcelona. So Soul was
Speaker 2: significant because that's when tennis came back into the Olympics
Speaker 2: after not being a metal sport for about sixty or
Speaker 2: seventy years. So it was, yeah, what was the decision
Speaker 2: for you? Obviously you wanted to play an Olympics. Not
Speaker 2: every tennis player players and Olympics, but you did and
Speaker 2: played two.
Speaker 3: I did that. I did want to play, and several
Speaker 3: months earlier I'd torn a calf muscle in the Canadian
Speaker 3: Open and was doubtful for a while but got into
Speaker 3: the team. Look, they were funny memories in a way
Speaker 3: because it was the biggest sporting event globally as it
Speaker 3: still is, and tennis as a medal sport for the
Speaker 3: first time in the modern era. I mean, it had
Speaker 3: been a non medal sport in Los Angeles, I think,
Speaker 3: where Stephan Edberg won, and then it went to Seoul,
Speaker 3: and I wondered. I was looking over my shoulder a
Speaker 3: little bit. I wasn't sure how welcome the tennis players
Speaker 3: would be because it was a professional sport in those
Speaker 3: days still is obviously, But I wish that I could
Speaker 3: have my time again, because I felt like I could
Speaker 3: have enjoyed that first moment more. I was a little
Speaker 3: bit sort of. I don't think I was intimidated, just
Speaker 3: wondering how welcome we be, But of course we were,
Speaker 3: of course we were. And I think as the Olympics
Speaker 3: have gone past over the last twenty id years, twenty
Speaker 3: four or thirty two years since then, I think it
Speaker 3: is it has grown in stature our game in the Olympics.
Speaker 3: So now it's obvious how important it is to the
Speaker 3: game of tennis, but I was a bit slow in
Speaker 3: recognizing that and understanding it, I think more than anything else.
Speaker 3: But nevertheless, an unbelievable experience, staying in the village. Neil
Speaker 3: Fraser was our manager. It was a wonderful experience. Darren
Speaker 3: k Hill and I lost in the quarter finals one
Speaker 3: match before a bronze that would have been nice, but
Speaker 3: in retrospect, just to be an Olympian in special and
Speaker 3: going to Barcelona.
Speaker 2: As well, did you feel better about Barcelona?
Speaker 3: I think yeah, I did. I felt better about Barcelona.
Speaker 3: And then of course I went to this straight the
Speaker 3: Sydney Olympics with my family just as a spectator, bought tickets,
Speaker 3: went up there and watched, took my children. Was a
Speaker 3: commentator at the ninety six Olympics for Channel seven in
Speaker 3: those days in Georgia in Atlanta, and then as a manager,
Speaker 3: I was at two Olympics in both Athens and in Beijing.
Speaker 3: So I had a plethora of experiences the great Olympic Games,
Speaker 3: and I'll never forget them.
Speaker 1: You must love it when Olympics roll around, now, I'm.
Speaker 3: Sure, yeah, yeah, it's you know, there's a lot of
Speaker 3: new sports that I'm not necessarily too o fay with,
Speaker 3: but nevertheless I got some real joy I think out
Speaker 3: of watching some of these young VMX riders and skateboarders
Speaker 3: and the joy that brings to them and their families,
Speaker 3: and the experience of playing, so to speak, for Australia
Speaker 3: and cycling for Australia. It's a memorable thing for a
Speaker 3: young person to do. Stays with you for life.
Speaker 1: Speaking of representing Australia, you also had a wonderful Davis
Speaker 1: Cup career. You must have some very special memories from that.
Speaker 2: I do.
Speaker 3: And I think you know all false modesty aside. You know,
Speaker 3: when you're halfway through your career and you realize you
Speaker 3: can't win your dream, which for me was to win
Speaker 3: the Wimbledon singles title. That's what I wanted to do,
Speaker 3: and I realized that, you know, my game probably wasn't
Speaker 3: going to stack up enough to do it. I had
Speaker 3: a very close friend in Pat Cash do it. And
Speaker 3: I want to quote my old friend Brad Druid, who's
Speaker 3: not with us anymore. He died of MMD in twenty thirteen,
Speaker 3: and he and Wally Masur and I were watching in Newport,
Speaker 3: Rhode Island after we'd left Wimbledon in nine to eighty seven,
Speaker 3: watching Pat Cash win on TV, and when he'd won,
Speaker 3: Brad looked at both Wally and I and he said,
Speaker 3: he said, well, he said that that's the greatest moment
Speaker 3: in my tennis career and that's how. That's how. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it made me get quite emotional what Brad said, and
Speaker 3: he was right. It probably was for Wally and I
Speaker 3: to a large degree, where you have someone that you
Speaker 3: know so well that can win the dream and it
Speaker 3: was special for us to see cash you do it.
Speaker 3: So when you realize you can't do it yourself, you
Speaker 3: probably I looked at Davis Cup has been my platform,
Speaker 3: I think, to be able to perform at my best
Speaker 3: in a team situation, which I missed. I missed Australian
Speaker 3: rules football because I made a sliding door moment at
Speaker 3: boarding school not to play that anymore, went on and
Speaker 3: just concentrate on tennis. And it probably was the making
Speaker 3: of my tennis career to say no to AFL at
Speaker 3: that stage. And then I think to playing a Davis
Speaker 3: Cup team and win a couple of times, and then
Speaker 3: the captain was that for me is the most memorable
Speaker 3: thing in my career. I mean, the nerves that you
Speaker 3: experienced playing for your country is unparalleled for me, and
Speaker 3: the pressure that you learn to deal with and sometimes
Speaker 3: not deal so well. With is the best learning curve
Speaker 3: I think that the young tennis player can have.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember I was at that Davis Cup final
Speaker 1: in two thousand and three here at Melbourne Park.
Speaker 3: I thought you're going to say nineteen eighty three, you
Speaker 3: wait too young that to say.
Speaker 1: Well, I remember watching that I was a well in
Speaker 1: the country then watching on TV. But I do remember
Speaker 1: that two thousand and three title. That must be still
Speaker 1: so vivid in your memory as well.
Speaker 3: Well, we had a we had. You've got to mention
Speaker 3: the falls as well as the rises, don't you. But
Speaker 3: two years earlier than that, we were on paper probably
Speaker 3: expected to beat France and a final here and lost
Speaker 3: and no one knew at the time Pat Rafter was
Speaker 3: playing with a stress fracture in his arm above the elbow,
Speaker 3: so we couldn't tell anyone that. And all there are
Speaker 3: all sorts of nuances that go into making I think,
Speaker 3: decisions at those big moments. And we lost that tie
Speaker 3: and it was pretty heartbreaking. Hey, it's only sport, you know,
Speaker 3: but it's important in your life at that stage, and
Speaker 3: it's important for a country and a culture, I think.
Speaker 3: And so we had to bounce back and two years
Speaker 3: later it was like a monkey off the back. Yeah
Speaker 3: one here again we won instead of losing the final
Speaker 3: here at Melbourne Park on a grass court.
Speaker 2: Well, it was returning to exactly the same scene, wasn't it.
Speaker 2: It was a dropped in grass scene of crime. And
Speaker 2: Philippousa's playing with an injury.
Speaker 3: Yes he did, he did. He played with a tear
Speaker 3: and his pectrol muscle and you know, was up two
Speaker 3: sets to love, came back to two sets all, but
Speaker 3: went into the locker room and didn't think he could
Speaker 3: probably finish really, and I thought if he'd lost his
Speaker 3: first service game in the fifth set, he may have
Speaker 3: lost that set to the club. But he held his
Speaker 3: excuse me, he broke first game, Oh wow, okay, and
Speaker 3: then sorry, he held her first game of the fifth
Speaker 3: and once he'd done that, he played a good second game. God,
Speaker 3: he's momentum going and possibly forgot about the petrol a bit.
Speaker 3: But it was a serious injury. So that that was
Speaker 3: a great memory and very very different, all just so
Speaker 3: different to winning a Davis Cup title as a player
Speaker 3: when you're the captain.
Speaker 1: How did you manage the stress?
Speaker 3: Well, good question, and the first time I'm not sure
Speaker 3: I did because I broke out into shingles. So that's
Speaker 3: how stressful it was for me. You know, if you
Speaker 3: have the chicken pox as a young kid, you can
Speaker 3: have that virus. And so after the two thousand and
Speaker 3: one final, which we lost, I went to play golf
Speaker 3: with some iusie tennis friends, some of them you know
Speaker 3: really well. Viv and Matt went up there and played
Speaker 3: in near the Gold Coast. I think we were playing
Speaker 3: and I broke out. I thought I had a spider
Speaker 3: bight on the top of my head and it started
Speaker 3: to come back down around my eye, and I thought
Speaker 3: I'd better get this checked out, and it was shingles.
Speaker 3: So stress related. But there was less stress in O three,
Speaker 3: possibly because we won, Viv.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and in O three there was also that incredible
Speaker 1: semi final as well. How you know that must have
Speaker 1: been the momentum must have been incredible.
Speaker 3: Well, there was, and your memory is very good because
Speaker 3: the great Roger Federer was just coming into his own
Speaker 3: at that stage, not quite there yet, but a Grand
Speaker 3: Slam winner already, and he played well, maybe he wasn't.
Speaker 2: A grand said he had won Wimbledon. Yeah, but you
Speaker 2: guys played on a hard court, wasn't it probably because
Speaker 2: Federer had won Wimbledon.
Speaker 3: Probably, and so it's a long time ago now, and
Speaker 3: he he was about to come into the great player
Speaker 3: that he became, and Layton Hewitt was still down two
Speaker 3: sets to love against him, I remember, but that was
Speaker 3: an interesting story. I don't know how much time we've got,
Speaker 3: but tallis he played three matches that ty Roger. So
Speaker 3: he played singles the first day, doubles the second, and
Speaker 3: singles the third. Layton had a day off with the
Speaker 3: doubles and would have been because of that a little
Speaker 3: bit fresher. But he was down two sets to love
Speaker 3: Laighton and came back, was down a break in the third.
Speaker 3: Federer couldn't serve it. I think he lost his serve
Speaker 3: at about four to two in that set. Layton comes
Speaker 3: back and wins it. So now he's down two sets
Speaker 3: to one, and Roger goes off the court for a
Speaker 3: bathroom break. So I go in to our locker room
Speaker 3: and I see him on the message table and he
Speaker 3: had four guys around him. One was rubbing his legs,
Speaker 3: and so that's like a window of opportunity for us.
Speaker 3: So I came running out as quick as I could,
Speaker 3: said to Layton, you know, you're trying to pump your
Speaker 3: own player up. I said, Roger's in a bit of trouble.
Speaker 3: He's he's tired, he played, he's played three matches. You're fresh.
Speaker 3: I said, if you get up a break here early
Speaker 3: in the fourth, you're going to win this. And I said,
Speaker 3: when he comes back out on the court, get over
Speaker 3: there in front of the stairs where he's walking out
Speaker 3: where he comes down onto rod Laver arena and you
Speaker 3: can see their legs first and then you see their face.
Speaker 3: Said get down on the northern end there and show
Speaker 3: him you've got plenty of energy. So I thought he'd
Speaker 3: just jump around a little bit late, but he took
Speaker 3: it literally and he was doing he was doing star
Speaker 3: jumps and he was doing knees to chest actually as
Speaker 3: Roger came down the stairs. And Roger glanced at it
Speaker 3: and looked away, you know. And and he did get
Speaker 3: up a break early early on in the fourth and
Speaker 3: the rest is history. He won that got us into
Speaker 3: the final and we won from there. Amazing. Yeah, but
Speaker 3: Roger's got a long memory. I think he beat him
Speaker 3: eighteen times after that in a row. So Layton paid
Speaker 3: a heavy price for that one. But two great players
Speaker 3: of the modern era. One transcends generations and Layton was
Speaker 3: also number one in the world for eighteen months. Two
Speaker 3: very special players in that match.
Speaker 1: Wow, it's incredible to hear all that detail these years later. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think you touched on a really good point earlier
Speaker 1: about you know, the home and away and David's Cup.
Speaker 1: For you from the country perspective, it took us, gave
Speaker 1: us the opportunity to see tennis in different I think so, yeah,
Speaker 1: different places.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and great great crowds that get to see our
Speaker 3: national team play against great teams from each and you
Speaker 3: know when as a player, as a captain too. But
Speaker 3: I can speak from both angles. When you go away
Speaker 3: to a South American country or a European country and
Speaker 3: you play in a hostile environment, they are some of
Speaker 3: the greatest memories you can ever treasure. Difficult, so difficult
Speaker 3: that the most difficult environments to play in Davis Cup
Speaker 3: in a foreign country like that against ten thousand or
Speaker 3: more screaming home fans. That is the toughest test as
Speaker 3: a character you can ever face in I think in
Speaker 3: my experience, and.
Speaker 1: We don't get that anymal Well, we do have other
Speaker 1: team events that we're going to we do and yeah,
Speaker 1: you mentioned em earlier. Actually the United Cup and Labor Cup.
Speaker 1: Do you ever know tennis has obviously evolved and team
Speaker 1: tennis has evolved. Are there any events that you think, gosh,
Speaker 1: I wish I could play in that one?
Speaker 3: Well, I haven't been to a Labor Cup. They say
Speaker 3: the experience is really special, so I'd love to go.
Speaker 3: I've commentated at the United Cup and I think that's
Speaker 3: pretty special. They had an amazing final last year. We
Speaker 3: did in in Sydney. I was in Perth initially went
Speaker 3: across to Sydney to the final, a great final. And
Speaker 3: there's something special, you know, the Hopman Cup and Paul
Speaker 3: McNamee all those years ago had something special on the
Speaker 3: agenda and on the calendar and it evolved into a
Speaker 3: fabulous event. And there's something putting the men and the
Speaker 3: women together and finishing it with the mixed doubles. It's
Speaker 3: like a toss of the coin almost at the end.
Speaker 3: But it creates interest and so our events in Australia
Speaker 3: as a lead up to the Austrain Open pretty special.
Speaker 1: I think who do you look forward to watching when
Speaker 1: it comes to an Australian summer of tennis.
Speaker 3: Well, look, I'm a huge fan of Alex demon Or.
Speaker 3: I love the way he competes. He's you know, sometimes
Speaker 3: I think he's he's a little bit of a featherweight
Speaker 3: going against heavyweights. But you know in late when we
Speaker 3: saw a featherweight beating heavyweights quite often and getting the
Speaker 3: number one in the world. And Alex has made himself
Speaker 3: into a wonderful play and I have nothing but admiration
Speaker 3: for him. The way he plays, his athleticism speed is
Speaker 3: about as quick as you could see around a tennis court.
Speaker 3: He had some trouble with Sinner at the end of
Speaker 3: last year, you know, in a Davis Cup final. And
Speaker 3: also you know, Yanik was so good at the end
Speaker 3: of the year in all of his events that he
Speaker 3: played and finished the year incredibly well. But he's a heavyweight.
Speaker 3: He hits the ball with incredible generates his own power
Speaker 3: like Alcrez does, and like Novak and Roger and Nadal
Speaker 3: have all done. They generate their own power. I think
Speaker 3: Alex is more in a comfort zone where he can
Speaker 3: use the speed of the court a little bit, but
Speaker 3: he's the one from a strained point of view, and
Speaker 3: I love Sinner I just love him. I know he's
Speaker 3: a good kid, our great friend Darren Kale, who we
Speaker 3: all know so well, who's high quality person. He speaks
Speaker 3: so highly of him as an individual, and so I
Speaker 3: want him to do well as the years go past.
Speaker 3: I love Alcarez. He's a special talent, and those two
Speaker 3: players are going to be the ones that will drag
Speaker 3: the men's game along, I think over the next few years.
Speaker 3: And yeah, from the men's perspective, I'll be interested to
Speaker 3: see if Siontek can win one down here. I think
Speaker 3: clay is her best surface by a long way. That
Speaker 3: surface suits her technique and her style of game. But
Speaker 3: can she win on the hard court. We'll see. There's
Speaker 3: a lot of things happening in the women's game though,
Speaker 3: girls coming through the Chinese interest now you know you've
Speaker 3: got Naomia Saka coming back. That would be a special
Speaker 3: story after being a mother, They're all special stories, a
Speaker 3: lot to look forward to.
Speaker 1: Absolutely well, that sounds like the perfect place for us
Speaker 1: to finish. And thank you so much for your time today, John, Thank.
Speaker 3: You, viv You bring a smile on my face, and
Speaker 3: thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2: This is great, really good to talk to you.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 2: Viv, you've got quite a fan in FITZI there. He
Speaker 2: was fantastic to check too. I had such a good
Speaker 2: time with this conversation in this episode.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel very fortunate in my tennis career to
Speaker 1: be able to spend time with legends like Fitsie and
Speaker 1: just to hear all of his experiences in the sport.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. We said it on last week's episode,
Speaker 2: but we would love to know from you who you'd
Speaker 2: like us to sit down with, so get in contact
Speaker 2: with us. Our details are in the show notes below,
Speaker 2: and we'll see if we can make it happen. We'll
Speaker 2: be back next week with another episode of the sit
Speaker 2: Down where you vivchat to torben Belts, and on Thursday
Speaker 2: you can hear John and the team on the aoshow Weekly.
Speaker 1: Details for how to contact us are in the show notes,
Speaker 1: and please remember to subscribe, rate and review.
Speaker 2: See you next week, Matt, See you, Viv