Maya Joint on off-court balance and 2026 ambitions (The Sit-Down)

The last time Maya Joint sat down with us, in April, she was the world No.78 preparing to make her Billie Jean King Cup debut for Australia. Seven months on, she's a two-time WTA title winner, ranked 32nd and was the first player selected to lead the Culture Amp Australian Billie Jean King Cup team into action for this week's Play-offs in Hobart. Joint's return to The Sit-Down gave us a chance to chat to the teenager about just how far she's come, and the fact she's put herself in contention for a Grand Slam seeding in 2026. Now living in Melbourne, Joint joined Jackson Mansell in Pod Laver Arena to discuss her most recent career highlights, how she's adjusting to the brighter glare of the spotlight, her thoughts on representing Australia, plus what she's doing off court to celebrate her successes and maintain work-life balance.

Listen to the full episode with Maya Joint here.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
We try not to set too many like ranking goals,
but I think a goal would be to get to
the fourth round of a Master's one thousand, third round
of a Grand Slam, and maybe get to the semis
of a five hundred. So just kind of more of
those kinds of goals. But then we're also just working

(00:24):
on improving fourhands and backhands and mentally and trying to
become more of an old court player.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yeah. I believe as well, you've been you've gone to university,
you're studying criminology. I believe that Indiana University. Firstly, I guess,
how's that going for you? And and secondly, like, how
does it sort of I guess, keep a sustainable like

(00:51):
work life balance, like you know, tennis obviously being the
work in this situation, but like, how does it sort
of I guess, you know, how does to sort of
keep that sustainable.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Yeah, it's a really exciting opportunity that the WTA has
put out. I knew after I left Texas that because
I was wanted to get an education just in case
something happens where I can't play tennis anymore. So when
the WTA came out with the Indiana University program. I
was really excited and I really wanted to jump on

(01:22):
and they had the major that I wanted, criminal justice,
and yeah, I did it last semester. So I did
this US summer semester and now I'm doing the fall semester.
So yeah, I think it's a really good program and
I'm glad that I'm able to do it.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah, And obviously, like you know, tennis sometimes can you know,
it can be taxing in the sense that you know
you're weak in week out you've got tournaments or your
training and you know there might not be as much downtime.
But I guess you know, you you know, you're obviously
doing this degree. How do how does that sort of

(02:00):
like work with that? Like, you know, do you find
it's a good distraction for you distraction lack of a
better word, but like, do you find that it's a
good way for you to wind down at the end
of the day and you know, after you know, you've
had a session or you've played a match, and yeah,
just be able to sort of yeah, do that.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yeah, I think it's really good to just have something
else to do other than tennis. Tennis can be a
lot sometimes, especially if you're kind of in a little
bit of a slump, or you played a bad match
or something. It's good to have something else you can
focus on and just kind of forget about tennis for
a little while. So yeah, and especially if it's something

(02:40):
that you're interested in, like the subject, because I buying
criminal justice really interesting. So being able to just focus
on that for a couple of hours is really nice.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Yeah, And and O caes see more off court stuff
for you. You recently signed a deal with a sponsorship
deal with Red Bull recently. I saw your sport in
the cat in the US summer. How did that sponsorship
sort of come about?

Speaker 1 (03:06):
Yeah, my agent Jed, he set it up. I had
a couple of meetings with them, and yeah, I'm really
excited to be kind of the restless.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
If you would like to hear the rest of Jackson's
conversation with my joint, make sure you head to the
sit down wherever you're listening to this, or you can
find the link in the short Nuts