00:00How did you prepare for the game?
00:03Well, for sure, I felt, you know, pretty confident and I started the match well,
00:07so I just kept going and it was good to play in such an efficient way
00:12and just finish it quick.
00:14And also, you know, just feel the court and how it is in LA.
00:19If you'd like to get started, we've got here.
00:21Hi, congratulations.
00:23Emma Raducanu next up for you.
00:25You've met her three times before, beat her three times before,
00:28but she's in some real form at the minute.
00:30How much are you looking forward to that tie
00:33and preparing to face a player that you know quite well?
00:37Well, you know more than me because I thought we were played two times,
00:41but it doesn't matter.
00:43Well, for sure, it's going to be a tough one.
00:45You know, Emma can play great tennis and we all know that.
00:49So, yeah, just, you know, prepare us before any other match
00:52and for sure, we will watch these matches that we play
00:56because I don't know if he saw them before
00:59since we weren't working together yet.
01:02But, yeah, like I'll just, I don't know.
01:07I'll prepare tomorrow and I'll be ready.
01:10Okay, over there.
01:12When you play a match like that,
01:14when you're on and off the court in about an hour,
01:17do you have the need where you feel like you need to do extra practice
01:20later in the day or do you do more tomorrow to give yourself a,
01:23I guess, better preparation for longer matches throughout the tournament?
01:27Well, I don't think this will give me preparation to play longer matches.
01:30It's more like the more you practice for me,
01:33it's the more fatigue you're going to get at the end
01:36because, you know, I think like 15 minutes every day,
01:39you know, after two weeks, it's like many hours.
01:44So we try to kind of think long term.
01:48Yesterday I hit a little bit longer.
01:50Even though it rained, I was able to do that.
01:52So today I didn't feel like I need to practice more.
01:57But for sure, I mean, on grandstands,
01:59it's great that you can work on some stuff between matches.
02:02So tomorrow, I don't know how long we'll play,
02:05but because also it's tough to get like court for a longer period of time here
02:09at the beginning of tournaments.
02:11So, yeah, I'll just, I mean, I'm intense anyway.
02:14So even playing one hour practice, it's enough for me
02:17because I use every minute and I'm 100% there.
02:21Next one, yeah.
02:23You're curious about the decision to add a hitting partner this year.
02:27Why did you in the past not have one?
02:29Why did that seem to work for you and why has it changed?
02:32Well, honestly, it was like logistics a bit
02:35because my hitting partner that I always worked with,
02:39he had some injury, he didn't play for some time,
02:42and we were just, oh, okay, we'll go without.
02:45We'll use the tournament hitting partner.
02:47But this year we realized that this might be something to change
02:52because obviously I didn't go well the last two years here.
02:57So we thought we'll do everything to have as much comfort as possible
03:02during the tournament.
03:04And I think already it's paid off because with this rain
03:08and sometimes just having like 20 minutes to hit or something,
03:13having a hitting partner who you can tell like what do I want,
03:17you know, I don't know, more topspin, more flat ball,
03:20it really adds more quality to the practices.
03:23It's not like, you know, because when you play with other players,
03:27you basically just play down the middle, across court,
03:30and serve returns and that's it, you know.
03:32But with the hitting partner, you can work on some specific stuff.
03:35So I should have done that last year as well.
03:40So it's not like it's a big change since I'm having hitting partner
03:45on every tournament basically now.
03:47But last year, yeah, that was a mistake for sure.
03:50Something you suggested or you came to the conclusion yourself?
03:54No, like after last year I knew that I should have taken the hitting partner
03:58so we didn't do this mistake again.
04:01Okay, James, right in the middle there.
04:03Emma's ranked 61 in the world, I think.
04:06I wonder whether you even think about rankings
04:10when you're thinking about preparing for a player,
04:13whether you even look at them or are aware of them
04:15or whether you have in your head maybe an idea,
04:18oh, that's Emma Adekani, she's a sort of top 30 player or whatever.
04:21Yeah, I mean, honestly, there's no point to look at rankings,
04:24especially when you have these great players that already, you know,
04:28have been through like great tournaments and won some tournaments
04:32and you know that they can play well, you know.
04:35Maybe they're not, you know, consistent to have the ranking,
04:38but still like you need to be on your toes and ready
04:41because you don't know what they will show, you know, this week.
04:44So no, I don't look at rankings at all.
04:47And yeah, that's it.
04:51A couple more in English.
04:52Courtney?
04:55I'm curious if you feel at all a difference not being number one right now.
05:01No, I don't look at rankings.
05:04No, I'm kidding.
05:06But I'm saying just in terms of attention, pressure, expectation.
05:09Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean.
05:11You used to have to come into a tournament with, you know.
05:13Well, I remember for the past two years it was, I don't know,
05:16I started as number one,
05:18so I felt like I needed to show from the beginning of the season,
05:21like, you know, my tools and what I can play.
05:25And yeah, there was a lot of pressure starting a year as number one,
05:32but I think overall last year I didn't think about it this much anyway.
05:39And also, you know, I realized, you know,
05:43last year that I don't have like 100% influence
05:46on what happens with my ranking sometimes.
05:49So now I just focus on tennis.
05:52And if I play well, I know I'll be back at number one.
05:55If I don't and Arena plays better, she'll be number one.
05:58So I think it's just smarter to focus on tennis
06:01and the ranking will come after that.
06:03Okay, last one in English.
06:04Charlie, at the back.
06:06You and Emma both won Grand Slams as teenagers.
06:09Obviously, you then established yourself very quickly.
06:12She's had maybe a tougher time of it.
06:15Do you think that's just down to injuries?
06:17Has it surprised you?
06:19And do we maybe underestimate how hard it is after winning a Grand Slam
06:22to kind of kick on and then be consistent?
06:24Oh, yeah, for sure it's hard.
06:27I think, I don't know, even sometimes
06:30when I lose some matches,
06:32I realize that people just expect me to win
06:35because I won so much earlier, you know,
06:37that they got used to it, you know.
06:39But, you know, this is like constant work
06:42and taking care of like many things also off the court
06:45and having good people around you,
06:48managing your whole life basically
06:50so you can play good and consistently.
06:53So everybody's story is different
06:56and everybody struggles with different stuff.
06:58But it doesn't matter, you know.
07:00When we're going to be out there on the court,
07:02like whoever's going to play better will win and that's it, you know.
07:05So I'll just focus on tennis.
07:08For sure, like we have different stories.
07:10But before the match, like, you know,
07:13I'm not going to really think about that.
07:15I'll just prepare based on how she plays now and that's it.
07:18Before we switch to national language,
07:20we've got a question from the Tennis Australia Hotshot Kids.
07:23Do you want to ask a question?
07:26Hi. How many matches have you won?
07:29Oh, in my life?
07:32Yeah, in your whole entire life since you were this late.
07:35That's a super tough question.
07:37Well, being on tour as a pro, I think,
07:46like, I don't know, probably like 50, 60 times.
07:51No, not 60.
07:5360 is a lot.
07:55But last year, I think I won like 70 and previous year as well.
08:00Okay, so let's do like, okay, 70, 70 and the years before,
08:05let's do like 45.
08:08So, oh my God, math.
08:10You're at school, you should count.
08:12I'm done with school, so I'm not going to do that.
08:15I'll just embarrass myself.
08:16Okay, so, yeah, but when I was your age,
08:19I also played some matches, so let's make it 200?
08:26No, 300?
08:27Higher than that.
08:28400?
08:30But you mean WTA or?
08:33Okay, what?
08:34Okay.
08:35Oh my God, that's a lot.
08:37That's a lot of days.
08:38Okay, 346?
08:40Okay, plus like 150 when I was a junior or something.
08:45So let's do 500.
08:49But good question.
08:51What was the most embarrassing thing you did on court?
08:57Well, I cried plenty of times.
09:01So, I mean, I wouldn't say it was a bit embarrassing.
09:06That's why I cried a bit more and a bit more.
09:09But, yeah, I had a match when I cried like for 10 minutes.
09:12I think some people remember from here, from this room.
09:17And I couldn't, I wasn't able to just play tennis, you know.
09:21And also I went out on court once in Indian Wells
09:26with toilet paper sticking to my leg, so, like of my skirt.
09:31So, yeah, that was also embarrassing.
09:34Okay.
09:35Did you have any friends on the tennis court?
09:38On the court?
09:39Yeah, like any friends?
09:40Well, on the court, not really.
09:42Because you want to win against them, you know.
09:45So, but I played with my best friend like a year ago.
09:49And it was tough because I needed to kind of forget
09:53that she's my best friend, you know, to win against her.
09:56But off the court, I have some friends, yeah.
09:59Maybe not 100, but...
10:02Have you won any trophies before?
10:04Any trophies?
10:06Well, I can show you.
10:09I won some nice trophies, yeah.
10:12Okay.
10:13Not here, but other parts of the world.
10:18What was the most funniest thing that happened on court?
10:22Funniest?
10:23Yeah, the funniest.
10:24Probably the toilet paper thing.
10:27But it wasn't funny for me, though.
10:29Okay.
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