December 5, 2024 • 40 mins
Celebrate the incredible journey of Erin Routliffe as we chat about her rise to the pinnacle of doubles tennis. From her early days with the Caledon Free Tennis program to clinching the US Open doubles title in 2023, Erin's story is one of resilience, passion, and triumph. She candidly shares how COVID-19 impacted her career and offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the world of professional tennis, including the intricacies of forming successful doubles partnerships and the occasional drama that comes with it.
Balancing the demanding life of a professional athlete with personal commitments is no easy feat, but Erin shares her secrets to managing it all. Whether it's maintaining fitness and nutrition during injury recovery or finding joy in rare social moments, her insights are invaluable. We explore the concept of informal networking in sports and the challenges of connecting with the right partners, offering a candid look at the dynamics that make or break athletic relationships.
Erin's journey isn't just about athletic prowess; it's also about personal growth and embracing one's unique strengths. In our conversation, we touch on the evolution of her mindset, the transition from college athletics to the professional circuit, and the importance of supportive coaches and peers. With a nod to her love for Southern barbecue and a lighthearted chat about wellness routines, Erin's story is an inspiring blend of ambition, humility, and the pursuit of new achievements.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It literally is like dating, though Like.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I didn't want to say that like we're like out here
all trying to like and thenthere's like some shady going on
, like sometimes people are liketrying to find another partner
when they have a partner already.
Like it gets, you know, getsfeisty.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Hey, what's up?
Welcome back to the 248thepisode of the Athletes Podcast.
Today we feature Erin Routlifffor the second time she's coming
on the show and sharing with uswhat's transpired over the past
four years since she last cameon, part of which came in 2023
when she won the US Open doubleschampionship with winning the
largest doubles purse prize everawarded in tennis history.
Again, no big deal.
(00:37):
Aaron's a friend of the show,friend of mine.
I am very grateful to have beenable to spend 45 minutes
chatting with her, learningabout the ups, the downs,
(00:59):
everything between since hertime at Alabama and now
traveling around the world,being able to represent her
nation, that being New Zealand,as well as Canada, in the
brightest lights possible.
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Without further ado, let's getto the 248th episode of the
athletes podcast, featuringAaron Routliff.
Here we go.
You're the most decoratedracquetball player in US history
, world's strongest man, fromchildhood passion to
professional athlete, eight timeIronman champion.
So what was it like making yourdebut in the NHL?
(02:26):
What is your biggest piece ofadvice for the next generation
of athletes, from underdogs tonational champions?
This is the Athletes Podcast,where high-performance
individuals share their triumphs, defeats and life lessons to
educate, entertain and inspirethe next generation of athletes.
Here we go.
This is what happens when youspeak into existence, what
(02:48):
you're going to do, because fouryears ago, do you remember what
you said during the AthletesPodcast on episode 35?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
No, you're going to have to tell me and it's going
to be scary.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
You said in 2020, during COVID quarantine, that in
the next two years, your goalis to be top 40 in doubles.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Oh, wow you began.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
you made it to top 30 during that year no big deal.
Then proceeded to win a WTAchampionship US Open over the
past couple of years no big deal.
Yeah, aaron Routliff, welcomeback to the Athletes Podcast
Second time on the show.
Thanks for coming on, excitedto chat with you a bit about
what you back to the athletespodcast, second time on the show
.
Thanks for coming on.
Uh, excited to chat with you abit about what you've done the
past four years, bringing hometennis pride for canada, new
(03:33):
zealand, everywhere in between.
uh, hey, don't act too excitedthank you so much for having me
hey, at least this time, likewe've talked about the fact that
there's a lot that's happenedover the past four years.
You're kind of a big deal inthe tennis world now, being
ranked number one overall Notthat you weren't when we had you
(03:55):
on four years ago, but it waskind of like you talked about it
.
There's ebbs and flows ineveryone's career and during
COVID that might have been a bitof a or a flow, who knows?
For everybody, myself included.
But hey, we're on the up and up.
Now you're back home inmontreal, you're done your
training, you're starting upyour training again.
(04:16):
Tell me what it's like, freshoff the largest purse victory in
saudi for a doubles women'stennis championship.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, it's kind of crazy, I think.
Um, obviously, you reminded mefour years ago being on the
podcast, and I, I, I mean I'mglad that I had those goals for
myself because that means that Iwas aiming high.
Um, yeah, I'm really happy.
Obviously, the win in SaudiArabia with Gabby was, I guess,
probably top two of our careerstogether and it was really,
really exciting.
(04:51):
We had a great time there,first time in Saudi,
unbelievable experience.
Even if we hadn't won, it wouldhave been a really, really cool
experience.
We did love every minute and,yeah, I've had a crazy whirlwind
like year and a half.
It's completely changed my life.
So I'm excited to keep goingand, you know, start 2025.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Crazy what happens when you join Caledon.
Free Tennis for Kids at sixyears old.
Hey.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, oh my God, you probably asked me like how I
started tennis and that was it.
That's exactly right.
Yeah, my parents were likeprobably sick of having three
kids and we're like you guysneed to go do something to give
us a second to breathe but yeah,it worked out.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
I'd say it worked out all right.
Imagine if they weren't sailingaround the world.
You know, 30 years ago, someodd years, you know I know that
hippie shit that was.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
That's like such a good story, like people love
that story.
I mean I think it's so iconicfrom them like epic.
Not a lot of people can saythat that's why they were like
born somewhere else or have dualcitizenship and all that stuff
it's legendary, yeah, yeah, it'slike.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
This is incredible.
Now you get to represent newzealand.
Uh, who was it?
There was someone on linkedin.
I wrote it down here doing myresearch.
We had James William DeMortimerposted on LinkedIn about how,
in 2024, might have been thegreatest year for women's sport
in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yeah, yeah, because there was like a lot of medals
at the Olympics a lot ofOlympians, new Olympians that
were women, new olympians thatwere women um, yeah, I watched,
did I watch?
Speaker 1 (06:32):
yeah, I did I watched the rugby sevens win the gold
medal.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
That was cool over canada I know sorry, you like
you.
Inside you were hurting, butoutside you were smiling I did
think it was kind of funny likeboth my countries playing each
other for a gold pretty that wasa win-win for you, hey yeah,
and also canada's never been inthe final.
I think right, that was history.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
They made history like that's cool, that's also
cool.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
That was awesome yeah , it was.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Uh.
Honestly, canadian athleticsperformed really well at this
past olympic games.
That was cool to see, andobviously new zealand's on the
up and up.
You want to know why else thatarticle was interesting?
Because James mentioned AshleyHueta.
You know who she is.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
No.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
She's the well, let me educate you, erin.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, thanks.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
She won the Oceania Championship for arm wrestling
at the end of 2023 and she alsobench pressed 317 and a half
kilograms, besting the worldrecord by 22.7 kilograms.
So like bench press, full suit.
It's the equipped it's called,so it's like you know, not
technically free weight benchpressing, but basically like 600
(07:39):
, 700 pounds bench press, whichis like three times what I can
do, probably four, which is notembarrassing at all for me.
But uh, she's also a cook'sdark management athlete, fun
fact.
So I had ashley on the podcast,probably three, four, six,
seven months ago.
Now tough to count.
Um, and she's also a perfectsports athlete, so we're just
(08:01):
adding people to the repertoire.
Uh, obviously she's crushing it.
But what's is it?
The new zealand protein?
Is that what it is?
Are you guys just crushing lambdown there down under?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
I have no idea.
I'm not like a.
I mean I guess I I mean, yeah,I do it because I have to, this
is my job, but I I guess it'slike, yeah, a lot of the protein
does come from new zealand, somaybe that's it right, I think,
uh, it's between that newzealand protein and, uh, you
also enjoy your occasionalmcdonald's meal.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
A post tournament victory, I've heard you have
done your research.
I try to I try to, especiallywhen we have to do these
virtually.
You know it's not the same yeah, I do.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Um, I do dabble in mcdonald's every now and again.
I go in every country that I goto actually podium ranking for
mcdonald's international.
I don't really have onemalaysia was unreal oh thailand
was unreal.
I went in saudi arabia and itwasn't very good, which was
disappointing.
Um damn, I don't know.
(09:05):
I'm trying to think of anotherone.
That's like really goodanywhere in asia they do
mcdonald's really well you're,uh, your pre-game meal.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
I heard you and gabby were talking about sushi as a
pre pre-tourney snack sushi'sjust like a.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
It's like a really popular meal at tennis
tournaments, like they justalways have it, and it's like I
don't know.
It's good like carbs proteinright before you play.
It's not too big, so we're bothkind of into it, yeah yeah,
it's kind of tennis isinteresting.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
It's kind of that like slightly bougier sport
where you gotta be uh oh yeah,that's why I'm wearing the
collared shirt, erin just foryou.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Yeah, I'm, yeah, I really dressed up for you and
the wta.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
I know I was like, uh , you know this, this is filmed
also.
It's all good.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
I'm repping Taylor Swift.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
You're a Swifty.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
You're also a fan of the Kardashians.
You're a reality TV gal hey.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Oh yeah, love, love, love, love.
I'm not even going to sayguilty pleasure, just pleasure.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
You kind of need to be able to have that unplug
release when you're a high levelathlete.
Hey.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Yeah, we have that unplug release when you're a
high level athlete.
Hey, yeah, we like spend somuch time on the road, like on
planes, hotels, like at nighttime, like you kind of have to
have something to like turn yourbrain off completely and like
for me, that's literally it.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
So and you have to be able to turn your brain off
when you're body checking peopleout of exit lanes of airplanes
oh my god, the pet peeve thatone's come to haunt me.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
But it's true, though everyone's like airplane
etiquette, it's terrible it'satrocious you're like so bad
you're, you're all gonna getthere at the same time that's
what I'm like, and there's nolike numbers, like we count from
1 to 20.
For a reason I'm just like what, oh, anyway some people
struggle with that.
Aaron, you gotta remember yeah,yeah I try and send common
(10:48):
sense my legs into the thing andbe like you're not going
anywhere.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
So yeah, hey, listen, I am a professional tennis
player and I'm waiting no, ithas nothing to do with that no,
I do get that.
That's a, that is also a petpeeve of mine.
I also think that people insociety nowadays just aren't
necessarily as nice as theyshould be to one another, and
maybe we can enact some changeoverall in society in that
(11:15):
fashion by just having peoplelook at one another and say hey,
you know, go ahead Right.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
That would be like an ideal situation.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Yeah.
Why are we living in such a?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
hypothetical world.
Hey, yeah, it's like you can'tcontrol these people.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
It's tough do you, uh , when you're heading back down
to florida tomorrow auckland ina couple weeks how do you
prepare for this season?
Are you changing up yournutrition?
You have some fun times afteryou win.
You take your family out to anice dinner, treat them with
that big purse winnings but,like during this downtime as an
(11:52):
athlete, you've got to also staysomewhat healthy, present with
the fact that, hey, I just won atournament.
I want to continue on seeingsuccess next year, in 2025.
How do you balance this nextcouple of weeks?
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Yeah, I think I try to enjoy the off time, because
we don't really have that muchoff time, but obviously at the
same time balancing it withtrying to prepare for 2025.
Right now I'm dealing with alittle injury so I can't go as
hard as I would like to, um, sothat's kind of made me like take
a step back and like startslower, but I don't change too
(12:27):
much.
I mean going to Floridatomorrow.
I have a friend down there, um,I'll hit with her a little bit
and then I'm going there becauseshe has her baby shower.
So that's exciting to dosomething social and I haven't
seen her in like over a year.
So that's exciting to dosomething social and I haven't
seen her in like over a year.
So that's really fun.
And then I'll probably trainwith my coach and he's the head
coach at Penn State now.
(12:48):
So I'll go there again to trainand, you know, go a little more
intensely right before leaving.
But I try to do I don't know, Itry to enjoy it, but also, you
know, work hard.
It's it's cause we're on theroad so much Like it's like a 10
month sport, but it's likethese two months you really want
to not not do too much and likeburn yourself out before the
(13:11):
before it starts, but also, atthe same time, it's the only
time you can like really getlike a good, like fitness block
or like a good block of tennis,like really improve.
So finding that balance,balance, I think every year I
get a little bit better at it,but right now I have to take it
pretty slow.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
So yeah, like you bring up the social aspect and
it's like you don't really havetime for a social life when
you're traveling for 10 monthson the year and like I struggle
with that as a nomad and I am inmore places more frequently
than you are, so I canunderstand and relate to that,
and even like we were talkingbefore we started recording
about how I'm going to bechatting with Monica Examit
(13:46):
about this dating episode andall the fun that athletes have
to deal with in that realm andjust in general now, with
post-COVID, people don't knowhow to communicate as well, I
think, in general.
But one of the things that wecan hopefully enjoy is the fact
that sport brings peopletogether and you are playing
(14:09):
with Gabby.
Obviously you've played withCoco.
You've played with a millionother partners I shouldn't say a
million A couple other partners, while Gabby was injured.
Obviously, you're dealing withinjury.
How do you manage thatrelationship between partners in
the doubles world, becausethat's an interesting one that
you don't really get thebackstory on?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
yeah, it's.
It depends on your ranking.
It depends where you are at inyour career.
I'm lucky enough now that youknow, gabby and I we commit well
, or we got together, I guess,last summer and then played the
rest of the year and thencommitted for this year and then
did well this year.
So now we're committed for nextyear as well.
So by the time 2025, the end of2025 rolls around, we'll have
played together for like almosttwo and a half years.
(14:51):
So I'm at the position whereit's kind of like a more stable
partnership, where you're likeplaying for, you know, three
months, six months, 12 months,which is really nice, because
before, you know, when I was onthe grind like hustling, I was
playing with like a differentpartner every week almost.
So it's like just completelydifferent than it's just
completely different now than itwas before.
(15:11):
It's just different stages.
I think, of the sport thathappens and it's it's not what
you think.
It's literally you just textpeople, you get to know people
on tour.
You really, you just textpeople, you get to know people
on tour.
You're just like hey, do youwant to play here?
Like what do you think aboutplaying next year?
Or like for the beginning ofthe year in australia and blah,
blah, blah.
And we just sometimes there'scoaches that like come together,
like when gabby was injuredthis year.
Um, I just like looked down thelist at singles players and
(15:35):
coco, you know, we were we've,we're friendly.
So I was like, do you want toplay?
And she's like, yeah, let's doit.
So stuff like that where it'sjust like one off, so that
happens a lot as well.
So yeah, it just depends that'sso cool.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
It's uh, that's super similar to the volleyball than
like atps.
And you know, when we were downin la, she was saying it is
super informal.
You just shoot someone a text.
You're like, hey, you want toplay, like I imagine some super
formal process that required aton of back and forth, but hey,
whatever works, that's awesome.
I love it.
I'm I'm kind of jealous thatworking with the government
(16:08):
doesn't operate like that aswell in my day they used to come
up with, like some sort of likeapp.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
That's what everyone's always talking about
the app to show like who'slooking, who's not like blah
blah.
It's like dating for yourprofessional, literally it's
like dating though like I didn'twant to say that, like we're
like out here all trying to likeand then there's like some
shady shit going on.
Like sometimes people are liketrying to find another partner
when they have a partner already.
Like it gets, you know, getsfeisty talk about tea, hey no,
(16:38):
yeah, there's tea for suredidn't you watch breakpoint?
no they missed breakpoint,missed every single good thing
about tennis.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
So yeah, so how did?
I was curious because sprintjust came out.
Uh, aaron kingsley brown, who'sbeen on the show, posted about
uh, he's like watching it as acanadian fan wearing his gold
medal and he's like they didn'ttalk at all about canadians.
It was like a pretty funny andreal.
I don't know if you've seen itum, but yeah, like you know,
they won gold four by 100.
No mention of it, it's.
(17:05):
So I was curious from yourpoint breaking point, you know,
give me, give me more dirt.
There's, there's more there.
Let's peel back the onion.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
You feel strongly oh no, I don't think there's that
much, but I I do think I meanbreak point was did you watch it
?
Speaker 1 (17:20):
parts.
I'm gonna be honest yeah, it'stough, they just yeah, I don't
know I heard there was a lot ofcut scenes that led to it
actually like someone hitting abackhand and then them cutting
to another scene where it wasn'tthe same point and really so it
was like people part of it waslike the tennis, part of it was
like not even like real tennislike it wasn't yeah, and they
(17:44):
only obviously they only filmlike the big um single stars.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
There's a, and obviously some people could say
no, like some people could sayyes and no, and so yeah, it was
just interesting.
I don't know, I like the otherones better and I watched the
golf ball and that one's goodthere you go cool you're.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
You're a fan of athletes.
That's why you're on theathletes podcast yeah, I love
sports, you kidding they, uh,they did do a good job.
I think netflix embracing sportis good.
You're gonna be on that onewhen they do the next break
point for sure they're gonnaincorporate doubtable.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
I think it was canceled oh, no I don't know.
I honestly don't know, but Ithink it was canceled oh, that
didn't age well uh that'sunlucky, the uh.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
But one of the things that you talked about when you
were like on that last episodewas also the fact that you
probably would have burned outfrom that quote unquote grind
that you mentioned a coupleminutes ago, when you're living
a professional life but you'renot ranked as high and it's not
as easy to get a partner.
And you attributed, you know,your years at alabama with the
(18:47):
role tied to the fact that, hey,it gave you some time to
continue playing tennis, getbetter, develop your skills and
then move into a pro role.
I have so many athletes talking, reaching out on this show,
that are like, oh, I want tobecome pro right away, when in
reality, there's a lot ofbenefit to spending a couple
years at an ncaa institution,winning a couple sec
(19:07):
championships for yourinstitution for the first time
no big deal sending me pictureswith four rings flashing, while,
like you know, there's there'sbenefit to stuff like that and
I'd love for you to kind of likeelaborate on that more now,
having a couple more yearsexperience as a pro, now seeing
success.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Maybe it took a little longer than you
originally anticipated yeah, Ithink um, I think it depends on
the person, I think it dependson where you're gonna go
obviously I'm very grateful formy time alabama and I loved, you
know, I loved most of my timethere and wouldn't um, wouldn't
change it for the world.
(19:43):
I think in tennis it's hardbecause sometimes your coaches
are, like, so important in yourdevelopment and so if you're,
you know, not meshing with acoach that you have at college,
which sometimes, I think womenand men, sometimes you know they
don't feel like they're theright fit for them, but I think
that sometimes maybe yourdevelopment goes downhill a
little bit.
So I think it just depends onyou know your situation.
(20:06):
But I definitely think most,most athletes should probably go
to college, I mean, with thescholarships and, you know,
being able to leave early andall that stuff, then it's it's,
it does make it beneficial, forsure.
But yeah, no, I wouldn't changefor the world.
I love, obviously, I lovealabama.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
I'm having we're having a tough football season I
wasn't gonna bring it up okay,we can cut that part just a
mid-break here during theathletes podcast to remind you.
If you need to stay calm, usecan I wellness fresh supplement.
A couple squirts whether you'reabout to head out on the court,
(20:46):
ice or field, and it can makesure that you are staying
refreshed and performing yourbest under any circumstances.
Back to the show.
I am still honestly trying tofind some of that white Alabama
barbecue sauce that youmentioned.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
You haven't had it still.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
No, I haven't.
No, I haven't, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
You know, actually in Canada it's hard to find.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
I've been looking.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
I was in state college this past weekend and
they had it at a barbecue place,like in Pennsylvania.
So it's not only in the South,it's literally just, I think,
america and like, yeah, youshould just look up a recipe and
make it.
It's really easy.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
I feel like we need to save it for whenever we get
the third episode in person.
Maybe we'll crush some whiteelephant barbecue sauce, and but
we also should probably includethe the Routless sisters, eh.
Because, I mean kind of threeall-around athletes.
What were your parents givingyou guys growing up?
(21:50):
Were they athletes as well?
Speaker 2 (21:52):
My dad was a sailor.
And my mom played like everysport imaginable.
So yeah, they were both veryinto sports.
I don't know what happened.
I think when we were kids wedid every single sport just to
keep busy and stay out oftrouble.
And then, you know, a couple ofthem kind of stuck.
But yeah, tess, tess is, uh,obviously winning two medals in
(22:13):
paris pretty iconic that's.
That was her second and thirdmedal, which is so epic.
And then tara, obviously,volleyball in the states.
Like it's nice to have sistersthat you can like talk to about,
you know your job and sportsand just relate to, because
they're like two of my bestfriends.
So it's really easy how uh wereyou guys always close growing up
(22:33):
yeah, I mean we foughtobviously like classic sisters,
but like, yeah, always veryclose forever.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Do you guys, do you attribute what you've learned
curling up family sisters to howyou can work with doubles now,
cause I think that's aninteresting dynamic.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
That is, it's an individual sport.
You're playing it with someoneyou've talked about Like you
played better when you had sevenpartners on your team at
alabama than you didindividually I always, I think,
did better in doubles because itwas with somebody else.
Um, even when I was good at,like very good at, singles, I
think I was always just a littlebetter at doubles.
Maybe it is because there wassomeone beside me.
(23:17):
But also, at the same time,it's really hard because tennis
is so individual that we grow upour entire lives just worrying
about ourselves and then all ofa sudden you have to worry about
other people.
So, like in doubles, I'velearned so much like I don't
think I think like four yearsago, the partner that I was was
nowhere near the partner that Iam today.
I think that's one of thedefinitely one of the main
(23:38):
things that I've learned is tobe a good partner.
Depending on you know who I'mplaying with, and that's a
massive dynamic because you'retrying to always say you're
trying to get the best out ofyour partner while
simultaneously getting the bestout of you which is so hard
because, like something thatwould get me going maybe would,
like you know, not be good forGabby for, for example.
(24:00):
So you kind of have to likenavigate that.
But I've learned to be a goodcommunicator and we have very
good communication together andI think that probably yeah, I
mean communicating with twosisters growing up that for sure
helped, um, just having thoselike difficult conversations.
I think I mean Gabby and Iwould be nowhere without like
the tough conversations that wehave to have with each other,
(24:22):
just about everything.
So, yeah, it's definitely ahuge part of it and I would
definitely think that and it'sweird too, because I'm have two
sisters and Gabby's an onlychild, so that's also very
different, like we're verydifferent in the way that we
communicate, so that's alsosomething that we've talked
about quite often.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
But, yeah, definitely helps, I think thing that we've
talked about quite often, but,yeah, definitely helps, I think
why, uh, what's changed over thepast four years then?
Speaker 2 (24:47):
from the partner you were then to now.
Oh god, everything.
I think it's just like life,like you just learn like I don't
know, I don't know.
It's just.
As you get older, you learnstuff and you just realize like
I sound like, uh, kylie jenner.
You just realize like I soundlike a Kylie Jenner.
You just realize things Um, no,but um yeah, no, so much I
(25:09):
don't know.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
I feel you.
That's what I like.
I hear where you're coming from.
I only ask because I'm curiousif there's specific things that
stand out to you.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Um, hmm, I think it doubles specifically like I've
played.
So I played, you know I hadlike a full time partner,
resulska, for almost two years.
I think we played together.
So just like navigating thatpartnership and then, like when
we ended that partnership,starting another one and then
ending that one.
It's just like, as you keeplearning about these people and
(25:43):
about yourself and then, likehaving those conversations, you
just learn every single timeyou're going to learn more.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
So what's worse a tennis breakup or a relationship
breakup?
Speaker 2 (25:59):
but I think relationship if I said, tennis,
there'd be something seriouslywrong I don't know.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
I feel like within, like your professional setting.
Yeah, it's like a businesspartnership.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Yeah, no, I get that.
No, that sucks totally.
But also, at the end of the day, it's like not personal where
the other one is yeah fairenough.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Fair enough, I had to ask yeah, fair enough, are you
a?
Coffee or a tea, gal erincoffee.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
I don't drink tea.
Well, I mean, I do like, notreally.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Really, you've never tried athlete's apothecary tea.
That's why no.
I've never she's like what areyou talking about?
Phoenix Copley, goaltender forthe LA Kings, he makes a
hydrating tea, nourishingbedtime tea.
I love it.
It's one of my faves.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Oh, nice yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
I'll get you some of that.
I'll get you some of that.
I'll get you some PerfectSports.
I got homework, perfect Sports,protein and some Athletes.
Apothecary tea, aaron.
We'll hook you up.
You know, what else Do you everget?
Speaker 2 (26:57):
nervous when you're on the court.
Oh my God, yeah, every day,literally every single time I
have a match Before, during allof it.
What do you do to stop that?
I don't stop it, I embrace it.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
You just smile.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
You're just like, oh, I'm nervous.
No, I just like I don't know,it's all a process.
I don't really think aboutwinning or anything like that,
because it doesn't really help.
I just, gabby and I, are alwaysjust reminding ourselves that
we got to do like what to do inorder to like be the best
versions of ourselves in thecourt.
And, yeah, definitely, keep thekeep it light, like laugh and
(27:36):
smile, because that helps somuch.
It helps both of us play.
So that's probably my role, umyeah, I honestly appreciated
that.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Like there was clips watching you guys playing.
It's like you gabby likelaughing before she serves, or
you guys like laughing inbetween, like that's cool.
A lot of athletes don't do that, especially, you know, when you
get into the semi-finals.
Finals like that's yeah, highpressure situation.
I uh, I struggle with stayingcalm.
Uh, I started using this.
(28:06):
Can I wellness fresh?
it's like I don't know if youcan hear that yeah, I can it's
like they, so they do some spraysupplements, so it's also for
some sleep.
I have a crazy nighttimeroutine now, erin, it's wild.
Since last time we chatted Imouth tape, and so I know.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Are you a bad sleeper ?
Speaker 1 (28:25):
No, but I love to optimize my sleep, oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Yeah, do you have an aura ring?
Speaker 1 (28:30):
No, I was going to ask.
I have a whoop strap though.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Oh, okay, I used to have a whoop.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Is it?
Oh, yeah, it's just moreaccurate.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
I think it's more accurate.
I like seeing my resting hurry.
When I'm sleeping, I know whenI'm going to get sick.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
What whoop doesn't tell you that?
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
I had the whoop and it just like oh, I don't know
like I had the whoop in it, justlike because I wore when I was
practicing, got so sweaty.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
It was like it does kind of end up smelling.
Yeah, it doesn't matter howmany times you wash it you can't
like not get it to smell?
Speaker 2 (29:01):
this thing's easy.
You just don't even need to doanything see, but I'm not a
jewelry guy.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Aaron, what do I do?
Embrace it yeah, you just gottabuck up but does it not impact
you when you're lifting at alllike?
Speaker 2 (29:15):
so you can get the plastic things.
You know, those like cover,things that like help when
you're lifting no first of all,I don't lift that heavy no like
have you seen me?
I literally have chicken armsbut you're toned thank you, but
I'm not like math.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
I'm not like a you're not a bodybuilder we've
established that.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
No but um, you can get like the cover things it
doesn't really affect it, I meanit doesn't for me any, but I'm
like I have so much jewelry somaybe it's just me fair what?
Speaker 1 (29:45):
what does your training look like?
Speaker 2 (29:48):
uh, it depends.
There's like a lot of rehab,rehab, like little little band
stuff okay you know, not goingheavy with the weights, though
no, the no, the only time likeI'd really do, that is like this
next month yeah um theoff-season build yeah, and then
if I have like a like coupleweeks in between tournaments,
(30:12):
but like during the season, it'sjust like maintaining.
So it's like just a lot of likereally long warm-ups and cool
downs basically did that changegoing?
because I asked you this whenyou're at alabama and I think
your workouts were a little bitcrazier, just as a team does
that change now when you get tothe professional level 10 month
(30:33):
season traveling like yeah, atalabama there was like a lot of
we had like tuesday it was likerunning day on the soccer field
where, like you'd be likethrowing up doing these sprints
or whatever, like I'm gonna tellyou what I have not run in
about three years.
Like don't, that is notsomething.
(30:53):
If I'm doing cardio, I'm notrunning, I'm doing it on the
bike.
I'm doing it like doing somelike I don't know hit intervals.
Like running is not my thing.
Also, I'm tall.
I got to take care of my knees.
Also, I'm almost 30.
Like there's no time to be likemessing around with these, like
in hillside quests.
You know, you know time to belike messing around with these
like fucking Side quests.
(31:14):
You know, like running intervals, like it's not happening.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Who goes and runs for fun.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Lots of people.
I salute them, but that is notme.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
I recently started running.
Yeah, a lot of people do.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Have you got that runner's high yet?
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Oh yeah for sure, uh, I, I did the toronto lake shore
marathon.
Oh wow, so you're like reallyrunning okay yeah, you hit that
high.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
I like tried, I thought it would be really cool
and cute to do.
Never happened, couldn't do it.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
No.
How long did you run for?
Speaker 2 (31:49):
no, I mean, I guess not long enough.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
I don't really know it's I feel like you could do it
and, uh, I have the same tallissue you want to save the right
it's not quite, you know I'mnearing 30 as well, but, um, you
know it's good for you withinreason you don't have to go run
a marathon.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
But like no, maybe I'm done with tennis, though,
but like I really do think liketennis players, especially
doubles players, like for us,like we have to have like a
different type of no, maybe whenI'm done with tennis though,
but like I really do think liketennis players, especially
doubles players, like for us,like we have to have like a
different type of cardio andlike it's there.
There's been like lots ofphysios that are just like just
don't run, like there's reallyno reason.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Well, that's why I asked Cause it is like for
tennis players, you don't needto have crazy endurance, you
need a crazy endurance.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
But you don't need to have crazy endurance, you need
a crazy endurance, but you don'tneed it in one direction for
four hours right, without anyagility, especially doubles yeah
like it's even different, evenmore different.
So, yeah, no you, I will go onthe book today.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
I'm not not a runner but as soon as she retires new
balance, she'll be wearing yourshoes, don't you worry, she'll
be flying out there maybe when Iretire I'll like find the joy
of running that people talkabout.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Who knows?
Speaker 1 (32:58):
that's what miriam, uh abdul rashid, uh canadian
olympian csm athlete, she's, uh,she's a hurdler right now, so
she runs for like 10 seconds butuh, she's like I'm gonna pick
up running long distanceafterwards.
It's great and, honestly, therunning community is really cool
.
That's the other thing I dohave to say coming from
individual-ish sports, therunning community, really cool.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
I think it's like a thing actually now People try to
date in the running community.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
It's like a dating thing.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
I've heard about this in New York.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Yeah, run clubs can definitely get what would be the
correct way to describeflirtatious, maybe Frisky,
frisky.
Oh, there you go.
Aaron's a tenant.
No, yeah, I think it's alsojust physical exercise.
People are looking forlike-minded individuals who are
health-oriented.
(33:48):
That's tough to do nowadays.
10, 20 years ago people wouldgo to the bar and, you know,
have a good time, but a lot ofpeople aren't boozing frequently
.
I'd be curious how do you, doyou partake in boozing
frequently?
Probably not as a professionalathlete, right like no, I don't.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Um, sometimes, like at the end of like after a slam,
we'll have like a night out.
Like right now would be a timewhere, like the last couple
weeks, I've definitely been likeoff and like drinking a little
bit, but like no, not really butit's not like uni days where,
you know, from wednesday tosaturday is like you know.
So you're like on a bender andyou're like, yeah, no, it's not
(34:31):
like that.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Yeah, and that's part of you know.
As we age and go through thislife thing that we talked about,
you know you need to findthings where people have other
common interests, and sometimesthat's running, sometimes that's
tennis, sometimes that'ssailing, which leads to having
kids who are dual citizens, andthen you produce world number
(34:54):
ones.
What's changed since that?
You've got that title becauseyou know well, now I'm number
two.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Actually I did get to number one, yes, I know, but
like let's not get it twisted.
But nothing really changed.
I don't really pay attention tothe rankings, honestly, but I
do.
You know, it's a goal that Iwould have never really thought.
I mean, yeah, I don't know, Idon't think I could have ever
achieved, so it was like prettycool.
I I mean very proud of myself,obviously.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
So yeah, I think you're super humble and uh, you
deserve a bit more of a pat onthe back.
Uh, it's, honestly it was.
It was uh emotional for me tolook back, watch that episode,
because you know it's four plusyears episode 35 and I have
mentioned the fact that I lookedlike a baby during it, but it
(35:45):
was like there's a lot that'schanged over those years and you
can see the determination inyour eyes, but it's also like
you just said it there, younever thought it would be
achievable.
But a lot of the things that yousaid during that was like hey,
I can do amazing things.
It's just maybe not at thismoment, and it was also covered,
right.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
So yeah, that is weird, I might have to go watch
that you should, you should.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
Honestly, it's crazy, it'll uh, it's a trip.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
It's a good trip though.
Yeah, that is.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
And I think that's the other cool part is having
these kind of conversations isbeing able to look back and say,
hey, fuck, four years ago therewas no way I ran a marathon,
let alone a half marathon, letalone a 5K.
Now here we are, doing thesethings.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
That is cool.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
I am not world number one in anything, but maybe one
day, four years from now, I'llbe playing pickleball or doing
some other random thing, butthat's I think.
Anyways, it means a lot to beable to chat with you again,
bring you on the show, shareyour story.
I know you had aprocess-oriented answer to this
(36:51):
question when we had you on lasttime, which is why I say you've
believed in yourself for a longtime.
Maybe you've just been humbleabout it, but since then, is
there something that you wouldprovide that next generation of
athletes with, whether it's apiece of information, motivation
, insight, experience from whatyou've experienced, we'll say,
(37:15):
over this past year and a half,that's been so instrumental for
you, anything you want to leaveour audience with today?
Speaker 2 (37:21):
um process.
That's funny that my last onewas so prost, because that's
like that's my entire thing,it's our whole thing that's your
stick yeah, um, oh.
I think I think the thing that Ihave said once was like I mean,
in tennis at least, or in anysport really, I think that
(37:44):
there's like a lot ofpersonality traits that people
have and it could be looked atas like a negative for the sport
or for their potential or fortheir ability to succeed.
And I think that it's reallyimportant for people to embrace,
like who they are, and becauseanything can be used as a
strength and to like, use thosestrengths in order to push you
(38:07):
to be able to, you know, dowhatever it is you set your mind
to.
I think that you know coachesand athletes.
It's like this dynamic whereyou know, if it is you set your
mind to, I think that you knowcoaches and athletes.
It's like this dynamic whereyou know, if you find the people
that believe in you, then youcan really achieve anything you
want, and so you should use, youknow, embrace yourself and use
everything you can, like your, Idon't know just use every, use
your personality in order tothrive.
(38:29):
I think that that's somethingthat, um, yeah, I'd say probably
four years ago I wasn't likesuper confident in myself and my
ability to you know, use thethings that I have as strengths,
and now I am, so yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
Heck yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
You like that.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
I love that answer.
That was awesome yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
That was, that was great, I uh.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
I think of of like nick curios here, as I throw my
hat on backwards, and it's likeI was talking with jordan
shallow who trained him for abit, um, and he was traveling
around with him and he's likedude, I have some crazy stories
from that guy and it's likethere's a reason why he was able
to flourish.
He gained a ton of attention.
It's because he was real.
He was who he wanted to be,maybe a little brash, maybe a
(39:13):
little uh, yeah, out there onsome things, but like you got to
do that and if you're not beingreal to who you are, then what
do you heck?
What the heck are you doing?
Speaker 2 (39:21):
yeah, yeah, you're never gonna like be able to to
achieve what you can withoutdoing that, which I think that I
was like did really didn't knowfor a long time.
So yeah, just uncovering ityeah, of course, just learning
and growing yeah, yeah, that'swhat we're all doing, hey, uh.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Thank you so much again, aaron, I appreciate your
time.
And uh, hey, third time's thecharm, we'll do it in person.
We'll get some white southernbarbecue sauce.
We'll slab it on some.
I don't what, do you even eatit on ribs?
Do you just eat it on normalmeat?
Speaker 2 (39:51):
yeah, on on anything like pulled pork barbecue.
You know what I mean Fries.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Fries, fries, okay, okay, we'll have it, we'll make
it happen.
We'll have Southern barbecue,white barbecue sauce, perfect
sports and athletes, apothecarytea.
It sounds like balanced meal,balance that's the way we'll
leave it.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
Aaron routliff, uh 247 248.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
That's a wrap.
Wow, thanks for having me.
Thanks for coming on the show.
Hey, thank you folks for tuningin.
That was the 248th episode.
Big shout out goes to aaron forcoming on the pod again, for
erica for making the originalintroduction and to all of you
for listening this far in.
A major shout out also goes toour producer, ryan, for putting
out the best productionspossible on a weekly basis.
Thank you, thank you.
Thank you for tuning in.
(40:38):
It means the world to me.
I hope you folks enjoyed.
Let me know your favorite partif you have other athletes that
you want to see on the show, andI can't wait to see you again
next week for another newepisode.
Hope you have a great rest ofyour day.
Bye.
It literally is like dating, though Like.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I didn't want to say that like we're like out here
all trying to like and thenthere's like some shady going on
, like sometimes people are liketrying to find another partner
when they have a partner already.
Like it gets, you know, getsfeisty.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Hey, what's up?
Welcome back to the 248thepisode of the Athletes Podcast.
Today we feature Erin Routlifffor the second time she's coming
on the show and sharing with uswhat's transpired over the past
four years since she last cameon, part of which came in 2023
when she won the US Open doubleschampionship with winning the
largest doubles purse prize everawarded in tennis history.
Again, no big deal.
(00:37):
Aaron's a friend of the show,friend of mine.
I am very grateful to have beenable to spend 45 minutes
chatting with her, learningabout the ups, the downs,
(00:59):
everything between since hertime at Alabama and now
traveling around the world,being able to represent her
nation, that being New Zealand,as well as Canada, in the
brightest lights possible.
I hope you folks also aregetting the required protein in
that you get throughout your day, because it's an important,
essential nutrient actually tomake sure that you're performing
(01:20):
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That's why we partnered withPerfect Sports Supplements.
They produce the best qualityprotein on the market 27 grams
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Let's continue to power theAthletes Podcast listeners with
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perfect sports diesel protein.
Without further ado, let's getto the 248th episode of the
athletes podcast, featuringAaron Routliff.
Here we go.
You're the most decoratedracquetball player in US history
, world's strongest man, fromchildhood passion to
professional athlete, eight timeIronman champion.
So what was it like making yourdebut in the NHL?
(02:26):
What is your biggest piece ofadvice for the next generation
of athletes, from underdogs tonational champions?
This is the Athletes Podcast,where high-performance
individuals share their triumphs, defeats and life lessons to
educate, entertain and inspirethe next generation of athletes.
Here we go.
This is what happens when youspeak into existence, what
(02:48):
you're going to do, because fouryears ago, do you remember what
you said during the AthletesPodcast on episode 35?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
No, you're going to have to tell me and it's going
to be scary.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
You said in 2020, during COVID quarantine, that in
the next two years, your goalis to be top 40 in doubles.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Oh, wow you began.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
you made it to top 30 during that year no big deal.
Then proceeded to win a WTAchampionship US Open over the
past couple of years no big deal.
Yeah, aaron Routliff, welcomeback to the Athletes Podcast
Second time on the show.
Thanks for coming on, excitedto chat with you a bit about
what you back to the athletespodcast, second time on the show
.
Thanks for coming on.
Uh, excited to chat with you abit about what you've done the
past four years, bringing hometennis pride for canada, new
(03:33):
zealand, everywhere in between.
uh, hey, don't act too excitedthank you so much for having me
hey, at least this time, likewe've talked about the fact that
there's a lot that's happenedover the past four years.
You're kind of a big deal inthe tennis world now, being
ranked number one overall Notthat you weren't when we had you
(03:55):
on four years ago, but it waskind of like you talked about it
.
There's ebbs and flows ineveryone's career and during
COVID that might have been a bitof a or a flow, who knows?
For everybody, myself included.
But hey, we're on the up and up.
Now you're back home inmontreal, you're done your
training, you're starting upyour training again.
(04:16):
Tell me what it's like, freshoff the largest purse victory in
saudi for a doubles women'stennis championship.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, it's kind of crazy, I think.
Um, obviously, you reminded mefour years ago being on the
podcast, and I, I, I mean I'mglad that I had those goals for
myself because that means that Iwas aiming high.
Um, yeah, I'm really happy.
Obviously, the win in SaudiArabia with Gabby was, I guess,
probably top two of our careerstogether and it was really,
really exciting.
(04:51):
We had a great time there,first time in Saudi,
unbelievable experience.
Even if we hadn't won, it wouldhave been a really, really cool
experience.
We did love every minute and,yeah, I've had a crazy whirlwind
like year and a half.
It's completely changed my life.
So I'm excited to keep goingand, you know, start 2025.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Crazy what happens when you join Caledon.
Free Tennis for Kids at sixyears old.
Hey.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, oh my God, you probably asked me like how I
started tennis and that was it.
That's exactly right.
Yeah, my parents were likeprobably sick of having three
kids and we're like you guysneed to go do something to give
us a second to breathe but yeah,it worked out.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
I'd say it worked out all right.
Imagine if they weren't sailingaround the world.
You know, 30 years ago, someodd years, you know I know that
hippie shit that was.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
That's like such a good story, like people love
that story.
I mean I think it's so iconicfrom them like epic.
Not a lot of people can saythat that's why they were like
born somewhere else or have dualcitizenship and all that stuff
it's legendary, yeah, yeah, it'slike.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
This is incredible.
Now you get to represent newzealand.
Uh, who was it?
There was someone on linkedin.
I wrote it down here doing myresearch.
We had James William DeMortimerposted on LinkedIn about how,
in 2024, might have been thegreatest year for women's sport
in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yeah, yeah, because there was like a lot of medals
at the Olympics a lot ofOlympians, new Olympians that
were women, new olympians thatwere women um, yeah, I watched,
did I watch?
Speaker 1 (06:32):
yeah, I did I watched the rugby sevens win the gold
medal.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
That was cool over canada I know sorry, you like
you.
Inside you were hurting, butoutside you were smiling I did
think it was kind of funny likeboth my countries playing each
other for a gold pretty that wasa win-win for you, hey yeah,
and also canada's never been inthe final.
I think right, that was history.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
They made history like that's cool, that's also
cool.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
That was awesome yeah , it was.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Uh.
Honestly, canadian athleticsperformed really well at this
past olympic games.
That was cool to see, andobviously new zealand's on the
up and up.
You want to know why else thatarticle was interesting?
Because James mentioned AshleyHueta.
You know who she is.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
No.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
She's the well, let me educate you, erin.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, thanks.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
She won the Oceania Championship for arm wrestling
at the end of 2023 and she alsobench pressed 317 and a half
kilograms, besting the worldrecord by 22.7 kilograms.
So like bench press, full suit.
It's the equipped it's called,so it's like you know, not
technically free weight benchpressing, but basically like 600
(07:39):
, 700 pounds bench press, whichis like three times what I can
do, probably four, which is notembarrassing at all for me.
But uh, she's also a cook'sdark management athlete, fun
fact.
So I had ashley on the podcast,probably three, four, six,
seven months ago.
Now tough to count.
Um, and she's also a perfectsports athlete, so we're just
(08:01):
adding people to the repertoire.
Uh, obviously she's crushing it.
But what's is it?
The new zealand protein?
Is that what it is?
Are you guys just crushing lambdown there down under?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
I have no idea.
I'm not like a.
I mean I guess I I mean, yeah,I do it because I have to, this
is my job, but I I guess it'slike, yeah, a lot of the protein
does come from new zealand, somaybe that's it right, I think,
uh, it's between that newzealand protein and, uh, you
also enjoy your occasionalmcdonald's meal.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
A post tournament victory, I've heard you have
done your research.
I try to I try to, especiallywhen we have to do these
virtually.
You know it's not the same yeah, I do.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Um, I do dabble in mcdonald's every now and again.
I go in every country that I goto actually podium ranking for
mcdonald's international.
I don't really have onemalaysia was unreal oh thailand
was unreal.
I went in saudi arabia and itwasn't very good, which was
disappointing.
Um damn, I don't know.
(09:05):
I'm trying to think of anotherone.
That's like really goodanywhere in asia they do
mcdonald's really well you're,uh, your pre-game meal.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
I heard you and gabby were talking about sushi as a
pre pre-tourney snack sushi'sjust like a.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
It's like a really popular meal at tennis
tournaments, like they justalways have it, and it's like I
don't know.
It's good like carbs proteinright before you play.
It's not too big, so we're bothkind of into it, yeah yeah,
it's kind of tennis isinteresting.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
It's kind of that like slightly bougier sport
where you gotta be uh oh yeah,that's why I'm wearing the
collared shirt, erin just foryou.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Yeah, I'm, yeah, I really dressed up for you and
the wta.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
I know I was like, uh , you know this, this is filmed
also.
It's all good.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
I'm repping Taylor Swift.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
You're a Swifty.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
You're also a fan of the Kardashians.
You're a reality TV gal hey.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Oh yeah, love, love, love, love.
I'm not even going to sayguilty pleasure, just pleasure.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
You kind of need to be able to have that unplug
release when you're a high levelathlete.
Hey.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Yeah, we have that unplug release when you're a
high level athlete.
Hey, yeah, we like spend somuch time on the road, like on
planes, hotels, like at nighttime, like you kind of have to
have something to like turn yourbrain off completely and like
for me, that's literally it.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
So and you have to be able to turn your brain off
when you're body checking peopleout of exit lanes of airplanes
oh my god, the pet peeve thatone's come to haunt me.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
But it's true, though everyone's like airplane
etiquette, it's terrible it'satrocious you're like so bad
you're, you're all gonna getthere at the same time that's
what I'm like, and there's nolike numbers, like we count from
1 to 20.
For a reason I'm just like what, oh, anyway some people
struggle with that.
Aaron, you gotta remember yeah,yeah I try and send common
(10:48):
sense my legs into the thing andbe like you're not going
anywhere.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
So yeah, hey, listen, I am a professional tennis
player and I'm waiting no, ithas nothing to do with that no,
I do get that.
That's a, that is also a petpeeve of mine.
I also think that people insociety nowadays just aren't
necessarily as nice as theyshould be to one another, and
maybe we can enact some changeoverall in society in that
(11:15):
fashion by just having peoplelook at one another and say hey,
you know, go ahead Right.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
That would be like an ideal situation.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Yeah.
Why are we living in such a?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
hypothetical world.
Hey, yeah, it's like you can'tcontrol these people.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
It's tough do you, uh , when you're heading back down
to florida tomorrow auckland ina couple weeks how do you
prepare for this season?
Are you changing up yournutrition?
You have some fun times afteryou win.
You take your family out to anice dinner, treat them with
that big purse winnings but,like during this downtime as an
(11:52):
athlete, you've got to also staysomewhat healthy, present with
the fact that, hey, I just won atournament.
I want to continue on seeingsuccess next year, in 2025.
How do you balance this nextcouple of weeks?
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Yeah, I think I try to enjoy the off time, because
we don't really have that muchoff time, but obviously at the
same time balancing it withtrying to prepare for 2025.
Right now I'm dealing with alittle injury so I can't go as
hard as I would like to, um, sothat's kind of made me like take
a step back and like startslower, but I don't change too
(12:27):
much.
I mean going to Floridatomorrow.
I have a friend down there, um,I'll hit with her a little bit
and then I'm going there becauseshe has her baby shower.
So that's exciting to dosomething social and I haven't
seen her in like over a year.
So that's exciting to dosomething social and I haven't
seen her in like over a year.
So that's really fun.
And then I'll probably trainwith my coach and he's the head
coach at Penn State now.
(12:48):
So I'll go there again to trainand, you know, go a little more
intensely right before leaving.
But I try to do I don't know, Itry to enjoy it, but also, you
know, work hard.
It's it's cause we're on theroad so much Like it's like a 10
month sport, but it's likethese two months you really want
to not not do too much and likeburn yourself out before the
(13:11):
before it starts, but also, atthe same time, it's the only
time you can like really getlike a good, like fitness block
or like a good block of tennis,like really improve.
So finding that balance,balance, I think every year I
get a little bit better at it,but right now I have to take it
pretty slow.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
So yeah, like you bring up the social aspect and
it's like you don't really havetime for a social life when
you're traveling for 10 monthson the year and like I struggle
with that as a nomad and I am inmore places more frequently
than you are, so I canunderstand and relate to that,
and even like we were talkingbefore we started recording
about how I'm going to bechatting with Monica Examit
(13:46):
about this dating episode andall the fun that athletes have
to deal with in that realm andjust in general now, with
post-COVID, people don't knowhow to communicate as well, I
think, in general.
But one of the things that wecan hopefully enjoy is the fact
that sport brings peopletogether and you are playing
(14:09):
with Gabby.
Obviously you've played withCoco.
You've played with a millionother partners I shouldn't say a
million A couple other partners, while Gabby was injured.
Obviously, you're dealing withinjury.
How do you manage thatrelationship between partners in
the doubles world, becausethat's an interesting one that
you don't really get thebackstory on?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
yeah, it's.
It depends on your ranking.
It depends where you are at inyour career.
I'm lucky enough now that youknow, gabby and I we commit well
, or we got together, I guess,last summer and then played the
rest of the year and thencommitted for this year and then
did well this year.
So now we're committed for nextyear as well.
So by the time 2025, the end of2025 rolls around, we'll have
played together for like almosttwo and a half years.
(14:51):
So I'm at the position whereit's kind of like a more stable
partnership, where you're likeplaying for, you know, three
months, six months, 12 months,which is really nice, because
before, you know, when I was onthe grind like hustling, I was
playing with like a differentpartner every week almost.
So it's like just completelydifferent than it's just
completely different now than itwas before.
(15:11):
It's just different stages.
I think, of the sport thathappens and it's it's not what
you think.
It's literally you just textpeople, you get to know people
on tour.
You really, you just textpeople, you get to know people
on tour.
You're just like hey, do youwant to play here?
Like what do you think aboutplaying next year?
Or like for the beginning ofthe year in australia and blah,
blah, blah.
And we just sometimes there'scoaches that like come together,
like when gabby was injuredthis year.
Um, I just like looked down thelist at singles players and
(15:35):
coco, you know, we were we've,we're friendly.
So I was like, do you want toplay?
And she's like, yeah, let's doit.
So stuff like that where it'sjust like one off, so that
happens a lot as well.
So yeah, it just depends that'sso cool.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
It's uh, that's super similar to the volleyball than
like atps.
And you know, when we were downin la, she was saying it is
super informal.
You just shoot someone a text.
You're like, hey, you want toplay, like I imagine some super
formal process that required aton of back and forth, but hey,
whatever works, that's awesome.
I love it.
I'm I'm kind of jealous thatworking with the government
(16:08):
doesn't operate like that aswell in my day they used to come
up with, like some sort of likeapp.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
That's what everyone's always talking about
the app to show like who'slooking, who's not like blah
blah.
It's like dating for yourprofessional, literally it's
like dating though like I didn'twant to say that, like we're
like out here all trying to likeand then there's like some
shady shit going on.
Like sometimes people are liketrying to find another partner
when they have a partner already.
Like it gets, you know, getsfeisty talk about tea, hey no,
(16:38):
yeah, there's tea for suredidn't you watch breakpoint?
no they missed breakpoint,missed every single good thing
about tennis.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
So yeah, so how did?
I was curious because sprintjust came out.
Uh, aaron kingsley brown, who'sbeen on the show, posted about
uh, he's like watching it as acanadian fan wearing his gold
medal and he's like they didn'ttalk at all about canadians.
It was like a pretty funny andreal.
I don't know if you've seen itum, but yeah, like you know,
they won gold four by 100.
No mention of it, it's.
(17:05):
So I was curious from yourpoint breaking point, you know,
give me, give me more dirt.
There's, there's more there.
Let's peel back the onion.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
You feel strongly oh no, I don't think there's that
much, but I I do think I meanbreak point was did you watch it
?
Speaker 1 (17:20):
parts.
I'm gonna be honest yeah, it'stough, they just yeah, I don't
know I heard there was a lot ofcut scenes that led to it
actually like someone hitting abackhand and then them cutting
to another scene where it wasn'tthe same point and really so it
was like people part of it waslike the tennis, part of it was
like not even like real tennislike it wasn't yeah, and they
(17:44):
only obviously they only filmlike the big um single stars.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
There's a, and obviously some people could say
no, like some people could sayyes and no, and so yeah, it was
just interesting.
I don't know, I like the otherones better and I watched the
golf ball and that one's goodthere you go cool you're.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
You're a fan of athletes.
That's why you're on theathletes podcast yeah, I love
sports, you kidding they, uh,they did do a good job.
I think netflix embracing sportis good.
You're gonna be on that onewhen they do the next break
point for sure they're gonnaincorporate doubtable.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
I think it was canceled oh, no I don't know.
I honestly don't know, but Ithink it was canceled oh, that
didn't age well uh that'sunlucky, the uh.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
But one of the things that you talked about when you
were like on that last episodewas also the fact that you
probably would have burned outfrom that quote unquote grind
that you mentioned a coupleminutes ago, when you're living
a professional life but you'renot ranked as high and it's not
as easy to get a partner.
And you attributed, you know,your years at alabama with the
(18:47):
role tied to the fact that, hey,it gave you some time to
continue playing tennis, getbetter, develop your skills and
then move into a pro role.
I have so many athletes talking, reaching out on this show,
that are like, oh, I want tobecome pro right away, when in
reality, there's a lot ofbenefit to spending a couple
years at an ncaa institution,winning a couple sec
(19:07):
championships for yourinstitution for the first time
no big deal sending me pictureswith four rings flashing, while,
like you know, there's there'sbenefit to stuff like that and
I'd love for you to kind of likeelaborate on that more now,
having a couple more yearsexperience as a pro, now seeing
success.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Maybe it took a little longer than you
originally anticipated yeah, Ithink um, I think it depends on
the person, I think it dependson where you're gonna go
obviously I'm very grateful formy time alabama and I loved, you
know, I loved most of my timethere and wouldn't um, wouldn't
change it for the world.
(19:43):
I think in tennis it's hardbecause sometimes your coaches
are, like, so important in yourdevelopment and so if you're,
you know, not meshing with acoach that you have at college,
which sometimes, I think womenand men, sometimes you know they
don't feel like they're theright fit for them, but I think
that sometimes maybe yourdevelopment goes downhill a
little bit.
So I think it just depends onyou know your situation.
(20:06):
But I definitely think most,most athletes should probably go
to college, I mean, with thescholarships and, you know,
being able to leave early andall that stuff, then it's it's,
it does make it beneficial, forsure.
But yeah, no, I wouldn't changefor the world.
I love, obviously, I lovealabama.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
I'm having we're having a tough football season I
wasn't gonna bring it up okay,we can cut that part just a
mid-break here during theathletes podcast to remind you.
If you need to stay calm, usecan I wellness fresh supplement.
A couple squirts whether you'reabout to head out on the court,
(20:46):
ice or field, and it can makesure that you are staying
refreshed and performing yourbest under any circumstances.
Back to the show.
I am still honestly trying tofind some of that white Alabama
barbecue sauce that youmentioned.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
You haven't had it still.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
No, I haven't.
No, I haven't, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
You know, actually in Canada it's hard to find.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
I've been looking.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
I was in state college this past weekend and
they had it at a barbecue place,like in Pennsylvania.
So it's not only in the South,it's literally just, I think,
america and like, yeah, youshould just look up a recipe and
make it.
It's really easy.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
I feel like we need to save it for whenever we get
the third episode in person.
Maybe we'll crush some whiteelephant barbecue sauce, and but
we also should probably includethe the Routless sisters, eh.
Because, I mean kind of threeall-around athletes.
What were your parents givingyou guys growing up?
(21:50):
Were they athletes as well?
Speaker 2 (21:52):
My dad was a sailor.
And my mom played like everysport imaginable.
So yeah, they were both veryinto sports.
I don't know what happened.
I think when we were kids wedid every single sport just to
keep busy and stay out oftrouble.
And then, you know, a couple ofthem kind of stuck.
But yeah, tess, tess is, uh,obviously winning two medals in
(22:13):
paris pretty iconic that's.
That was her second and thirdmedal, which is so epic.
And then tara, obviously,volleyball in the states.
Like it's nice to have sistersthat you can like talk to about,
you know your job and sportsand just relate to, because
they're like two of my bestfriends.
So it's really easy how uh wereyou guys always close growing up
(22:33):
yeah, I mean we foughtobviously like classic sisters,
but like, yeah, always veryclose forever.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Do you guys, do you attribute what you've learned
curling up family sisters to howyou can work with doubles now,
cause I think that's aninteresting dynamic.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
That is, it's an individual sport.
You're playing it with someoneyou've talked about Like you
played better when you had sevenpartners on your team at
alabama than you didindividually I always, I think,
did better in doubles because itwas with somebody else.
Um, even when I was good at,like very good at, singles, I
think I was always just a littlebetter at doubles.
Maybe it is because there wassomeone beside me.
(23:17):
But also, at the same time,it's really hard because tennis
is so individual that we grow upour entire lives just worrying
about ourselves and then all ofa sudden you have to worry about
other people.
So, like in doubles, I'velearned so much like I don't
think I think like four yearsago, the partner that I was was
nowhere near the partner that Iam today.
I think that's one of thedefinitely one of the main
(23:38):
things that I've learned is tobe a good partner.
Depending on you know who I'mplaying with, and that's a
massive dynamic because you'retrying to always say you're
trying to get the best out ofyour partner while
simultaneously getting the bestout of you which is so hard
because, like something thatwould get me going maybe would,
like you know, not be good forGabby for, for example.
(24:00):
So you kind of have to likenavigate that.
But I've learned to be a goodcommunicator and we have very
good communication together andI think that probably yeah, I
mean communicating with twosisters growing up that for sure
helped, um, just having thoselike difficult conversations.
I think I mean Gabby and Iwould be nowhere without like
the tough conversations that wehave to have with each other,
(24:22):
just about everything.
So, yeah, it's definitely ahuge part of it and I would
definitely think that and it'sweird too, because I'm have two
sisters and Gabby's an onlychild, so that's also very
different, like we're verydifferent in the way that we
communicate, so that's alsosomething that we've talked
about quite often.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
But, yeah, definitely helps, I think thing that we've
talked about quite often, but,yeah, definitely helps, I think
why, uh, what's changed over thepast four years then?
Speaker 2 (24:47):
from the partner you were then to now.
Oh god, everything.
I think it's just like life,like you just learn like I don't
know, I don't know.
It's just.
As you get older, you learnstuff and you just realize like
I sound like, uh, kylie jenner.
You just realize like I soundlike a Kylie Jenner.
You just realize things Um, no,but um yeah, no, so much I
(25:09):
don't know.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
I feel you.
That's what I like.
I hear where you're coming from.
I only ask because I'm curiousif there's specific things that
stand out to you.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Um, hmm, I think it doubles specifically like I've
played.
So I played, you know I hadlike a full time partner,
resulska, for almost two years.
I think we played together.
So just like navigating thatpartnership and then, like when
we ended that partnership,starting another one and then
ending that one.
It's just like, as you keeplearning about these people and
(25:43):
about yourself and then, likehaving those conversations, you
just learn every single timeyou're going to learn more.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
So what's worse a tennis breakup or a relationship
breakup?
Speaker 2 (25:59):
but I think relationship if I said, tennis,
there'd be something seriouslywrong I don't know.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
I feel like within, like your professional setting.
Yeah, it's like a businesspartnership.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Yeah, no, I get that.
No, that sucks totally.
But also, at the end of the day, it's like not personal where
the other one is yeah fairenough.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Fair enough, I had to ask yeah, fair enough, are you
a?
Coffee or a tea, gal erincoffee.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
I don't drink tea.
Well, I mean, I do like, notreally.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Really, you've never tried athlete's apothecary tea.
That's why no.
I've never she's like what areyou talking about?
Phoenix Copley, goaltender forthe LA Kings, he makes a
hydrating tea, nourishingbedtime tea.
I love it.
It's one of my faves.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Oh, nice yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
I'll get you some of that.
I'll get you some of that.
I'll get you some PerfectSports.
I got homework, perfect Sports,protein and some Athletes.
Apothecary tea, aaron.
We'll hook you up.
You know, what else Do you everget?
Speaker 2 (26:57):
nervous when you're on the court.
Oh my God, yeah, every day,literally every single time I
have a match Before, during allof it.
What do you do to stop that?
I don't stop it, I embrace it.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
You just smile.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
You're just like, oh, I'm nervous.
No, I just like I don't know,it's all a process.
I don't really think aboutwinning or anything like that,
because it doesn't really help.
I just, gabby and I, are alwaysjust reminding ourselves that
we got to do like what to do inorder to like be the best
versions of ourselves in thecourt.
And, yeah, definitely, keep thekeep it light, like laugh and
(27:36):
smile, because that helps somuch.
It helps both of us play.
So that's probably my role, umyeah, I honestly appreciated
that.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Like there was clips watching you guys playing.
It's like you gabby likelaughing before she serves, or
you guys like laughing inbetween, like that's cool.
A lot of athletes don't do that, especially, you know, when you
get into the semi-finals.
Finals like that's yeah, highpressure situation.
I uh, I struggle with stayingcalm.
Uh, I started using this.
(28:06):
Can I wellness fresh?
it's like I don't know if youcan hear that yeah, I can it's
like they, so they do some spraysupplements, so it's also for
some sleep.
I have a crazy nighttimeroutine now, erin, it's wild.
Since last time we chatted Imouth tape, and so I know.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Are you a bad sleeper ?
Speaker 1 (28:25):
No, but I love to optimize my sleep, oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Yeah, do you have an aura ring?
Speaker 1 (28:30):
No, I was going to ask.
I have a whoop strap though.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Oh, okay, I used to have a whoop.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Is it?
Oh, yeah, it's just moreaccurate.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
I think it's more accurate.
I like seeing my resting hurry.
When I'm sleeping, I know whenI'm going to get sick.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
What whoop doesn't tell you that?
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
I had the whoop and it just like oh, I don't know
like I had the whoop in it, justlike because I wore when I was
practicing, got so sweaty.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
It was like it does kind of end up smelling.
Yeah, it doesn't matter howmany times you wash it you can't
like not get it to smell?
Speaker 2 (29:01):
this thing's easy.
You just don't even need to doanything see, but I'm not a
jewelry guy.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Aaron, what do I do?
Embrace it yeah, you just gottabuck up but does it not impact
you when you're lifting at alllike?
Speaker 2 (29:15):
so you can get the plastic things.
You know, those like cover,things that like help when
you're lifting no first of all,I don't lift that heavy no like
have you seen me?
I literally have chicken armsbut you're toned thank you, but
I'm not like math.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
I'm not like a you're not a bodybuilder we've
established that.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
No but um, you can get like the cover things it
doesn't really affect it, I meanit doesn't for me any, but I'm
like I have so much jewelry somaybe it's just me fair what?
Speaker 1 (29:45):
what does your training look like?
Speaker 2 (29:48):
uh, it depends.
There's like a lot of rehab,rehab, like little little band
stuff okay you know, not goingheavy with the weights, though
no, the no, the only time likeI'd really do, that is like this
next month yeah um theoff-season build yeah, and then
if I have like a like coupleweeks in between tournaments,
(30:12):
but like during the season, it'sjust like maintaining.
So it's like just a lot of likereally long warm-ups and cool
downs basically did that changegoing?
because I asked you this whenyou're at alabama and I think
your workouts were a little bitcrazier, just as a team does
that change now when you get tothe professional level 10 month
(30:33):
season traveling like yeah, atalabama there was like a lot of
we had like tuesday it was likerunning day on the soccer field
where, like you'd be likethrowing up doing these sprints
or whatever, like I'm gonna tellyou what I have not run in
about three years.
Like don't, that is notsomething.
(30:53):
If I'm doing cardio, I'm notrunning, I'm doing it on the
bike.
I'm doing it like doing somelike I don't know hit intervals.
Like running is not my thing.
Also, I'm tall.
I got to take care of my knees.
Also, I'm almost 30.
Like there's no time to be likemessing around with these, like
in hillside quests.
You know, you know time to belike messing around with these
like fucking Side quests.
(31:14):
You know, like running intervals, like it's not happening.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Who goes and runs for fun.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Lots of people.
I salute them, but that is notme.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
I recently started running.
Yeah, a lot of people do.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Have you got that runner's high yet?
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Oh yeah for sure, uh, I, I did the toronto lake shore
marathon.
Oh wow, so you're like reallyrunning okay yeah, you hit that
high.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
I like tried, I thought it would be really cool
and cute to do.
Never happened, couldn't do it.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
No.
How long did you run for?
Speaker 2 (31:49):
no, I mean, I guess not long enough.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
I don't really know it's I feel like you could do it
and, uh, I have the same tallissue you want to save the right
it's not quite, you know I'mnearing 30 as well, but, um, you
know it's good for you withinreason you don't have to go run
a marathon.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
But like no, maybe I'm done with tennis, though,
but like I really do think liketennis players, especially
doubles players, like for us,like we have to have like a
different type of no, maybe whenI'm done with tennis though,
but like I really do think liketennis players, especially
doubles players, like for us,like we have to have like a
different type of cardio andlike it's there.
There's been like lots ofphysios that are just like just
don't run, like there's reallyno reason.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Well, that's why I asked Cause it is like for
tennis players, you don't needto have crazy endurance, you
need a crazy endurance.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
But you don't need to have crazy endurance, you need
a crazy endurance, but you don'tneed it in one direction for
four hours right, without anyagility, especially doubles yeah
like it's even different, evenmore different.
So, yeah, no you, I will go onthe book today.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
I'm not not a runner but as soon as she retires new
balance, she'll be wearing yourshoes, don't you worry, she'll
be flying out there maybe when Iretire I'll like find the joy
of running that people talkabout.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Who knows?
Speaker 1 (32:58):
that's what miriam, uh abdul rashid, uh canadian
olympian csm athlete, she's, uh,she's a hurdler right now, so
she runs for like 10 seconds butuh, she's like I'm gonna pick
up running long distanceafterwards.
It's great and, honestly, therunning community is really cool
.
That's the other thing I dohave to say coming from
individual-ish sports, therunning community, really cool.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
I think it's like a thing actually now People try to
date in the running community.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
It's like a dating thing.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
I've heard about this in New York.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Yeah, run clubs can definitely get what would be the
correct way to describeflirtatious, maybe Frisky,
frisky.
Oh, there you go.
Aaron's a tenant.
No, yeah, I think it's alsojust physical exercise.
People are looking forlike-minded individuals who are
health-oriented.
(33:48):
That's tough to do nowadays.
10, 20 years ago people wouldgo to the bar and, you know,
have a good time, but a lot ofpeople aren't boozing frequently
.
I'd be curious how do you, doyou partake in boozing
frequently?
Probably not as a professionalathlete, right like no, I don't.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Um, sometimes, like at the end of like after a slam,
we'll have like a night out.
Like right now would be a timewhere, like the last couple
weeks, I've definitely been likeoff and like drinking a little
bit, but like no, not really butit's not like uni days where,
you know, from wednesday tosaturday is like you know.
So you're like on a bender andyou're like, yeah, no, it's not
(34:31):
like that.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Yeah, and that's part of you know.
As we age and go through thislife thing that we talked about,
you know you need to findthings where people have other
common interests, and sometimesthat's running, sometimes that's
tennis, sometimes that'ssailing, which leads to having
kids who are dual citizens, andthen you produce world number
(34:54):
ones.
What's changed since that?
You've got that title becauseyou know well, now I'm number
two.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Actually I did get to number one, yes, I know, but
like let's not get it twisted.
But nothing really changed.
I don't really pay attention tothe rankings, honestly, but I
do.
You know, it's a goal that Iwould have never really thought.
I mean, yeah, I don't know, Idon't think I could have ever
achieved, so it was like prettycool.
I I mean very proud of myself,obviously.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
So yeah, I think you're super humble and uh, you
deserve a bit more of a pat onthe back.
Uh, it's, honestly it was.
It was uh emotional for me tolook back, watch that episode,
because you know it's four plusyears episode 35 and I have
mentioned the fact that I lookedlike a baby during it, but it
(35:45):
was like there's a lot that'schanged over those years and you
can see the determination inyour eyes, but it's also like
you just said it there, younever thought it would be
achievable.
But a lot of the things that yousaid during that was like hey,
I can do amazing things.
It's just maybe not at thismoment, and it was also covered,
right.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
So yeah, that is weird, I might have to go watch
that you should, you should.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
Honestly, it's crazy, it'll uh, it's a trip.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
It's a good trip though.
Yeah, that is.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
And I think that's the other cool part is having
these kind of conversations isbeing able to look back and say,
hey, fuck, four years ago therewas no way I ran a marathon,
let alone a half marathon, letalone a 5K.
Now here we are, doing thesethings.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
That is cool.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
I am not world number one in anything, but maybe one
day, four years from now, I'llbe playing pickleball or doing
some other random thing, butthat's I think.
Anyways, it means a lot to beable to chat with you again,
bring you on the show, shareyour story.
I know you had aprocess-oriented answer to this
(36:51):
question when we had you on lasttime, which is why I say you've
believed in yourself for a longtime.
Maybe you've just been humbleabout it, but since then, is
there something that you wouldprovide that next generation of
athletes with, whether it's apiece of information, motivation
, insight, experience from whatyou've experienced, we'll say,
(37:15):
over this past year and a half,that's been so instrumental for
you, anything you want to leaveour audience with today?
Speaker 2 (37:21):
um process.
That's funny that my last onewas so prost, because that's
like that's my entire thing,it's our whole thing that's your
stick yeah, um, oh.
I think I think the thing that Ihave said once was like I mean,
in tennis at least, or in anysport really, I think that
(37:44):
there's like a lot ofpersonality traits that people
have and it could be looked atas like a negative for the sport
or for their potential or fortheir ability to succeed.
And I think that it's reallyimportant for people to embrace,
like who they are, and becauseanything can be used as a
strength and to like, use thosestrengths in order to push you
(38:07):
to be able to, you know, dowhatever it is you set your mind
to.
I think that you know coachesand athletes.
It's like this dynamic whereyou know, if it is you set your
mind to, I think that you knowcoaches and athletes.
It's like this dynamic whereyou know, if you find the people
that believe in you, then youcan really achieve anything you
want, and so you should use, youknow, embrace yourself and use
everything you can, like your, Idon't know just use every, use
your personality in order tothrive.
(38:29):
I think that that's somethingthat, um, yeah, I'd say probably
four years ago I wasn't likesuper confident in myself and my
ability to you know, use thethings that I have as strengths,
and now I am, so yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
Heck yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
You like that.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
I love that answer.
That was awesome yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
That was, that was great, I uh.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
I think of of like nick curios here, as I throw my
hat on backwards, and it's likeI was talking with jordan
shallow who trained him for abit, um, and he was traveling
around with him and he's likedude, I have some crazy stories
from that guy and it's likethere's a reason why he was able
to flourish.
He gained a ton of attention.
It's because he was real.
He was who he wanted to be,maybe a little brash, maybe a
(39:13):
little uh, yeah, out there onsome things, but like you got to
do that and if you're not beingreal to who you are, then what
do you heck?
What the heck are you doing?
Speaker 2 (39:21):
yeah, yeah, you're never gonna like be able to to
achieve what you can withoutdoing that, which I think that I
was like did really didn't knowfor a long time.
So yeah, just uncovering ityeah, of course, just learning
and growing yeah, yeah, that'swhat we're all doing, hey, uh.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Thank you so much again, aaron, I appreciate your
time.
And uh, hey, third time's thecharm, we'll do it in person.
We'll get some white southernbarbecue sauce.
We'll slab it on some.
I don't what, do you even eatit on ribs?
Do you just eat it on normalmeat?
Speaker 2 (39:51):
yeah, on on anything like pulled pork barbecue.
You know what I mean Fries.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Fries, fries, okay, okay, we'll have it, we'll make
it happen.
We'll have Southern barbecue,white barbecue sauce, perfect
sports and athletes, apothecarytea.
It sounds like balanced meal,balance that's the way we'll
leave it.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
Aaron routliff, uh 247 248.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
That's a wrap.
Wow, thanks for having me.
Thanks for coming on the show.
Hey, thank you folks for tuningin.
That was the 248th episode.
Big shout out goes to aaron forcoming on the pod again, for
erica for making the originalintroduction and to all of you
for listening this far in.
A major shout out also goes toour producer, ryan, for putting
out the best productionspossible on a weekly basis.
Thank you, thank you.
Thank you for tuning in.
(40:38):
It means the world to me.
I hope you folks enjoyed.
Let me know your favorite partif you have other athletes that
you want to see on the show, andI can't wait to see you again
next week for another newepisode.
Hope you have a great rest ofyour day.
Bye.
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