Erin Routliffe: NZ Tennis Olympian ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics

Excitement is building in Paris as the Olympic Opening Ceremony draws near. 

In less than 24 hours, nearly 100 boats will be floating down the River Seine for the outdoor ceremony. 

195 Kiwi athletes are in France for the Games, competing across 22 sports. 

Erin Routliffe is competing in the tennis doubles alongside Lulu Sun, and told Ryan Bridge that they’re excited to play together. 

She said that they’re trying to figure out their identity as a team, but they’re both good players so they’ll be pretty adaptable when playing together.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Excitement is building. Speaking of Paris, in the City of Lights,
our Kiwi contingent is preparing to join the nearly one
hundred boats that are taking to the River Send for
the outdoor opening ceremony, which kicks off in just under
twenty four hours. One hundred and ninety five New Zealand
athletes are in France for the Games, competing across twenty
two sports. One of them is world number one doubles

(00:21):
player Aaron Rautliff and she's with me now live from
Paris Erin. Thank you so much for being with me.
First of all, what's it like over there? How are
you enjoying yourself?

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, it's been amazing, you know, first Olympics for me,
such an amazing experience. And I'm looking I'm so looking
forward to playing and representing New Zealand and it's just
been it's been really upper here so far.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
It's a bit of a sort of speed dating. I
suppose you could say when it comes to the doubles
you're playing with lu Lusun. Have you guys played together before?
How familiar are you with each other? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (00:58):
So we played together at Billy Jean King Cup in
April and it went well, you know, we lost, but
we've lost to two players that were ranked in the
top I think twenty five at the time, so you
could definitely see the potential in our partnership. And yeah,
she's an amazing player obviously, as you guys know, you
saw her play at Wimbledon, and yeah, we've been getting

(01:18):
good practices in together. We've gotten like five or we'll
get five days in before we play our first round,
and so yeah, we're just getting to know each other.
I mean, we're rooming together, so we get to know
each other quite quickly, and then we're just trying to
figure out our identity as a team. But you know,
we're both good players and so we'll pretty adaptable like
to be able to play together. So we're excited.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
That's great. You both left New Zealand. You're born in
New Zealand, but then left relatively young, you know, four
or five? Is that the secret? Do you think? Just
to get out? That's funny.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
It is funny though, how our stories are slightly similar
in that sense, So I thought it was quite cool.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
It's soon. Being a left handed does that impacts where
you play on the court a little bit?

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah, you know, it's only a positive because being lefty,
that's a ball that a lot of our opponents don't
see that often. You know, it's it's just a it's
such a good thing to be a left hand or
in tennis, it kind of affects like where we return,
what side we play. But yeah, nothing other than that really.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
How is it generally at the Olympic village you mentioned
you were rooming with with Lulu. What is it like there?
You know, have you been given specific security advice there
has been concerned about some security breaches in the last
couple of days.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yeah, lots of advice and it feels, honestly so safe.
There's a whole team for the New Zealand team to
help us stay safe and feel secure and you know,
kind of stay in our little bubble that we have
and that that's where we all feel I think the safest.
You know, being tennis players, we travel to a different
place every single week, so I think we're pretty used

(02:58):
to being in places that are a little uncomfortable. But
we're feeling really good, really comfortable, and they're doing a
great job by making us feel really secure and really safe.
But the security team, it's awesome.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
Brilliant, well, we're all rooting for you back here in
New Zealand. Aaron, for you and Lulu, best of luck.
It kicks off tomorrow at ten pm our time. Thank
you so much for being with us and best of luck.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
Thanks so much, appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
It's Aaron Ratlerft, the New Zealand tennis Olympian. As I said,
ten o'clock tomorrow night, the Doubles will kick off. For
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