00:00I had the greatest success of my Grand Slam career in Australian Open, so I love coming
00:14back to Melbourne, but also, of course, other cities in Australia where I won tournaments
00:22in Adelaide, I played in Sydney, in Brisbane, in Perth with ATP Cup, with United Cup, played
00:31many different competitions over the years and always had a really fun time, great support,
00:38also strong Serbian community in this country, which is always nice to see and nice to feel,
00:45so yeah, I look forward to another season, I always am excited to start a season in Australia
00:54as everyone else, because it's a happy slam as they call it, you know, the Australian
00:59Open for a reason, most of the players really feel good and Australians love their sport,
01:05you know, they have a tennis culture, strong sports culture across all Australia and they
01:11know how to appreciate athletes and what we are doing and we are trying to give them
01:17back with strong performances and entertainment so that they can get the value for their ticket
01:23and yeah, I hope that I can kick-start this season in the best possible way in Brisbane.
01:29You know we're going to ask you about Nick Kyrgios, the doubles partnership, how did
01:33it come about, he reckons he's doing you a favour and giving you the pleasure of playing
01:37Absolutely he's doing me a favour, look we talked about playing doubles in Wimbledon
01:47actually, earlier this year when we practised, during Wimbledon we practised several times
01:52as he was doing commentating and we kind of joked around, said you know when you come
01:59back on the tour I said we should play doubles and I didn't expect it to be so early already,
02:05it's going to be his first tournament back after a while but it's great, we were communicating
02:12last couple of weeks about it and decided to play so I really look forward to it, it
02:18should be fun, I saw him yesterday, he came into the gym and he started saying Idemonole
02:24you know in my language, he's like I can't wait to say that after a good point on the
02:28court so yeah it should be fun, Nick is quite a character and we have had quite an interesting
02:35history of relationship, him and I, from not that great at all to getting along really
02:42well now so it should be fun for us on the court but also for everyone watching.
02:47You've led him beautifully, I wanted to ask what would it be like for Yannick Sinner right
02:51now, he's the target for Nick, he's called him the Grinch and all these sorts of things
02:56and he called you a tool in the past on social media, what's it like when you're getting
03:01targeted by Nick on social media, what's that experience like?
03:06I mean it's not pleasant but at the same time we live in a world where everybody has the
03:12right, particularly on social media, to express themselves and Nick has been really vocal
03:19about things and particularly the doping case with Yannick and you know he has some fair
03:29points, I think he has some fair points when it comes to the transparency and inconsistency
03:34with protocols and with case to case comparables, I mean we had plenty of players that we've
03:44seen in the past and also currently that are under suspension for not even being tested
03:52on the banned substances, for missing the doping tests and whereabouts, some players
04:00that are lower ranked waiting for their case to be resolved for over a year, so the issue
04:06is the inconsistency, there's transparency, we've been kept in the dark with Yannick's
04:11case, I mean I'm not questioning whether he took the banned substance intentionally
04:17or not, I believe in a clean sport, I believe that the player will do everything possible
04:22to be playing fair and I know Yannick since he was very young so it doesn't strike me
04:29as somebody that would do such thing but I've been really frustrated as most of the other
04:37players to see that we've been kept in the dark for five months since he was receiving
04:42that news which was I think April this year and then the announcement was August just
04:48before US Open so ATP hasn't really talked in depth about it, why have they kept that
04:55case away from the public, right and then we see Halep's case for example on the WTA
05:03Tour and now Iga Sviatik's case, it's not a good image and not a good look for our sport,
05:11of course you don't want to see that because I believe that in the last 20 plus years that
05:20I've been playing on a professional tour that we've been one of the cleanest sports, at
05:24least I believe that we are, we have been, so I will keep on believing in that clean
05:30sport and yeah I'm just questioning the way the system works really and why certain players
05:39are not treated the same like the other players and we see maybe some ranking reasons behind
05:46it or maybe some players have more financial backing or stronger teams, legal teams to
05:55tackle these cases and to deal with them, it's why PTPA is there, now PTPA is trying
06:01to help, I think with Tara Moore for example, the British doubles player, I think she has
06:06been suspended also for almost 18 months, she was trying to find out where her contamination
06:14came from and then as I understand she was waiting for a very long time to have a hearing
06:21and every month or every week that you don't play tennis and don't compete, it's a huge
06:30burden on your career and it makes it that much harder to come back and yeah so those
06:38are some of the things that we really mind and I personally, again I'm not going to go
06:45into the specific details of the cases of how they evaluate if somebody took it intentionally
06:52or not or contamination, I believe again that players are doing their best to stay clean
06:58but I question the whole process.
07:00What about bringing on Andy Murray as coach, what's that been like, this sort of extended
07:07break that you've had?
07:08Andy has been with me for about 10 days of the preparation period before me coming to
07:16Australia and spent some time on the court, off the court, being on the same side of the
07:23net is actually great for a change you know because he's been one of my greatest rivals
07:30and you know it's, in a way it was strange for me to share all this kind of insights
07:36about how I feel on the court, sharing kind of some of the secrets of what I'm going through,
07:44what I'm thinking about, how I see my game with somebody that has been always one of
07:50the top rivals but I'm so glad and very thankful that he has accepted to work with me here
07:57in Australia, he's going to come to Melbourne, we're going to spend a week before Australian
08:04Open and Australian Open together and then we'll see afterwards whether we'll continue
08:10working and for how long but the 10 days that we spent together were terrific, I enjoyed
08:17every bit of it, he's very meticulous, he's very dedicated, so professional, it doesn't
08:25surprise me because I've known him so many years as a player and obviously it's a new
08:32experience for him as a coach and it came somewhat as a surprise to him and me that
08:38you know we are pairing up as a coach player but I think it's an amazing news I mean for
08:43me because he has a unique perspective on my game as one of the greatest rivals that
08:49I've had, he knows you know the pros and cons of my game and he has also played up to recently
08:58on the tour so he knows all the other best players currently in the world, the youngsters
09:04and their weaknesses and their strengths and their gains so I look forward to it, I really
09:12do, I think he's bringing some new freshness, fresh look to my game and I think I'll be
09:19able to benefit from that no doubt on the tennis court but also that kind of champions
09:27mentality that he has I'm sure that will match very well.
09:30Last year was certainly a bit of a setback for you compared to the heart of 2023, what
09:35do you need to do I guess to get back there?
09:38Well it's been an interesting year in which my main focus and priority was to win a golden
09:47medal in the Olympics and I've achieved that, you know had the surgery of the knee but I
09:55managed to play soon after that the Wimbledon finals which was also a surprise to me to
10:02be honest and it was a great tournament period between Roland-Garros Wimbledon and Olympic
10:10Games but you know overall I've had I guess more losses and ups and downs in this season
10:18than I've had in the previous season so I'm looking for a good start of the season, I'm
10:25looking for a more consistent level of play across all the tournaments that I'm going
10:30to participate in, I'm planning to play a bit more tournaments this year than I played
10:37last year or I mean last season so you know hopefully also the level is going to go up
10:43and as a consequence I'll be able to yeah hopefully win a few tournaments and get my
10:49rankings higher.
10:50You'll be up against an Australian, you think you can go into that match?
10:55I do, I think it's a great test you know he's had a great success also in doubles on a big
11:02stage and he's very talented, very quick player, just loves to play I think on the surfaces
11:08like here in Brisbane where you know ball kind of skids through the court, stays low
11:14and you know I've seen him play you know he's a very very talented player from back of the
11:19court and obviously with the home crowd support I'm sure it's going to be a great atmosphere
11:25and a perfect test for me for the first match of the season.
11:29What's your assessment of the men's game at the moment, does it feel quite fluid in the
11:33top 20, top 50, does it feel like anyone can sort of win a grand slam at the moment?
11:41I think you have the main favourites in Sinner, Alcaraz and probably Zverev at the moment
11:51he's in red hot form, he's ended up the year as number two as well and he's edging closer
11:58and closer to his first grand slam title so I guess those three guys probably be the primary
12:05favourites on the men's side and then of course you always have Medvedev, Fritz, Rublev,
12:17all these guys that are able to, they've shown that they can win big tournaments and Medvedev
12:23is a grand slam winner in the past and former number one so I think if I play on a high
12:31level I'm in contention as well, to some extent it is open but at the same time you
12:37do have clear favourites in Alcaraz, Sinner and Zverev I think, particularly Sinner the
12:43way he has been playing end of last year, the entire season but he ended the season
12:48on a really high note so he's a defending champion as well in Australia so it will be
12:55interesting to see how he starts and I think for me personally I haven't had any official
13:05tournament for quite a while and so that's one of the biggest reasons why I chose to
13:11play the first week of the year and trying to get hopefully more than one match under
13:16my belt coming into Melbourne.
13:19You know you're a few months off turning 38, can you picture yourself still going at 40?
13:27Yeah I can picture myself, honestly the way I'm feeling today and the way I'm playing
13:33I still think that I can go strong for years to come, how long that's going to be or how
13:40long I'm as well going to feel motivated to keep going, that's something that is really
13:47unknown yet to me and unpredictable. I love this sport, I love competing and I love coming
13:55back to Australia, a place where I've had tremendous success in the past so obviously
14:02the crowd, the atmosphere, the competition, that's what gets me going as well along with
14:09of course the opportunity to make more history of this sport and it has been giving me so
14:15much and I feel like the longer I'm playing as well, the more I'm giving back to this
14:21sport as a kind of a favour back to what this sport has allowed me to achieve and see the
14:30world and hopefully I'm still making people happy that I'm playing, that I'm competing
14:36and hopefully I'm contributing in a positive way by still being out here and competing
14:43on the tour.
14:44You mentioned that one of the things you enjoy is seeing the world, is there something about
14:48Australia, something about Brisbane that stands out to you that you enjoy?
14:53Look, I think, and this is not just me, I think most of the players really feel so welcome
15:02in every Australian city, I think the consistency of the support for tennis across Australia
15:09is something that really blows me away every time I come here. As I said at the beginning,
15:15Australia has nurtured over the years a great culture for this sport and all the sports
15:21to be fair and we come in the middle of summer holiday time for Australians so most of the
15:30kids don't go to school so they have free time so they come to tennis, they really show
15:36their support, show their love and as a tennis player to find yourself in that kind of ambience
15:41and atmosphere is the best, it really motivates you, it gets you going, it creates that incredible
15:50drive and a push, a rush of energy to perform your best and to play in such a great atmosphere,
15:57it extracts the best out of you.
16:00Thank you guys, thank you so much.
16:05you
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