June 17, 2025 • 43 mins
This week on the Functional Tennis Podcast, I’m joined by American ATP player Aleks Kovacevic, currently ranked #77 ATP
Aleks takes us through his surprising journey to the pro tour, from not thinking he’d ever go pro to finding belief during college and climbing the ATP rankings, including a big win over world #5 Andrey Rublev. He opens up about learning to lose, building confidence, and handling pressure on tour.
We also dive into his one-handed backhand, how he approaches training and improvement, and why he’s added the Functional Tennis Saber to his warmup to help with timing and focus.
Packed with honest insights and practical takeaways, this is a great listen for aspiring players, coaches, and fans of the grind.
Fabio
This podcast is sponsored by ASICS. ASICS is a Japanese company founded in 1949 to give more people the opportunity to experience how sports and movement can have a positive impact on mental well-being.
To learn more about ASICS visit their website here: https://www.asics.com/nl/en-nl/sports/tennis/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:25):
Welcome to the FunctionalTennis Podcast.
I'm your host, Fabio Molli andI bring you insights and lessons
from players, coaches, parentsand experts who are ingrained in
the world of high level tennis.
This week I'm joined byAmerican pro Alex Kovachevic.
Alex came through the USCollege system and has been steadily
climbing the ATP ranks withstandout performances including a
(00:45):
win over Andrey Rublev on hisway to an ATP 250 final earlier this
year.
What's most interesting isthat Alex never really believed he'd
become a professional tennis player.
We chat about how that mindsetshifted his grown belief in his game.
Learning to handle losses,life on tour, managing nerves and
what he's picked up fromfacing the world's best.
(01:07):
Before we get started, a shoutout to our podcast partners, Asics.
You know that you can sign upto be a one Asics member, which is
free.
And you can avail of their 90day returns policy which allows you
to see if the shoe you chooseis the one for you.
Check it out@asics.com and ifyou need any help, just send me a
message on the FunctionalTennis Instagram account.
Okay, here's Alex, who's alsoknown as Kova by his friends and
(01:32):
colleagues on tour.
Hey Alex, how's it going?
Welcome to Functional Tennis Podcast.
Hey Fabian, thanks for having me.
We just spoke there.
You're Kova, so I'm going torefer to as Kova.
I never knew it.
Obviously your name on yourATP bio is Alexander.
Then I knew it was Alex.
That's your Instagram profilename, but now it's Kova.
So we're shortening here bitby bit.
By the end of this we'll havea three or two letter word name for
(01:54):
you.
Yeah, I've been called manythings my whole life, so anything
really works.
Tell me, you're in London atthe moment getting ready for some
grass court action.
What tournaments are you playing?
What's the lineup looking like?
Yeah, so I just got back fromthe Netherlands last night.
Played in her Togen Bosch there.
I was actually not reallyplanning to play there.
I was pretty far out of the tournament.
(02:15):
Flew to London first just tostart training with my coach, he
lives in North London, so.
But then we looked the listand I was like two out of the tournament
in Netherlands.
Said, okay, you know what,London has some rain coming in, why
not just go play a.
Play a tournament real quickin the Netherlands?
Didn't go so well, but that's okay.
As I looked at it more as apractice week and then, yeah, Kappa
(02:37):
Queens coming up here inLondon this Saturday, playing Mallorca
the next week and then playingthe big show, Wimbledon.
Excited for grass.
It's always a fun surface toplay on.
No matter how the resultsactually go.
It's always just nice to havevariety in this long tennis season
that we have.
(02:58):
Do you see the grass courtesyas a bit of a chill period or am
I completely wrong?
More relaxed.
So I think that the problem isactually, if you think about it that
way, that you're not going togo so well.
I think my first year on grasswas kind of like that.
I was like, oh, you know,grass is not like you're not going
to play 30 ball rallies on it.
It's kind of like shorterpoints, just serving well, it's stuff.
(03:19):
But I think if you, if youadopt that kind of mentality, you're
not going to be prepared aswell as some other guys for it.
I think, you know, you stillwant to have all your fitness stuff
go.
You want to have like, youknow, high stamina, high.
Because all that stuff seepsinto actually, you know, your game.
It's not just about what's,you know, surface you're on, but
you want to be a complete player.
(03:40):
And I think you see that witha lot of the guys that are winning
on grass, you know, in thelast couple of years.
It's not necessarily how itused to be in the, in in the old
days where it was centeredaround a lot of, you know, serving
volleyers, a lot of the guys.
Now I mean, look at Carlitos,he's, he's won Wimbledon last year,
which to me was kind of like awake up call of like, okay, you know,
(04:00):
it's.
The best players are usuallythe best players nowadays, you know.
And what are the best players doing?
As Federer said, they're,they're usually the best movers.
And so if you can have thatbase fitness based movement level
and bring that onto the grassand are able to adjust well on the
grass, then you're actuallygoing to do probably better than
the guys that don't do that.
(04:21):
And the guys are thinking, oh,okay, I'm just going to serve, volley
my way through the draw and that.
And I mean that's been kind oflike, like a, you know, that's come
coming honestly for me becauselast couple of years I, I didn't
do this the best on grass, as,as I kind of, and on clay, you know,
thinking that I have to changemy game and change what I do do well
to accommodate the grass.
Whereas I I think nowadays alot of the surfaces are getting more
(04:42):
and more similar.
I think what you, what you asa player do well is, is what's going
to set you apart on each ofthe surfaces and it's not, and not
as much about, you know,playing like you would think on,
on the grass, you know, so.
Yeah.
And what sort of team do you have?
Obviously Damien's your coach.
I'll get on to later how Iknow him.
(05:05):
But do you travel with atrainer or physio?
As of now, no.
I've been thinking aboutobviously adding a physio, traveling
physio here and there.
But you know, the ATP physiosare, are quite good.
I have a good relationshipwith a lot of them, so I haven't
felt the need to really have afull time physio.
(05:27):
It's quite, you know, anadditional cost as well.
And, and as you go, you know,up to the rankings, you want to start
adding pieces of the puzzle.
So it's, you know, because youobviously get more, more funds the
more you do well on the courtand then you can reinvest that back
into your career and that's,that's important.
Still waiting to make kind oflike a, hopefully bigger, bigger
(05:48):
breakthroughs so then I canexpand my team a little bit.
I have my fitness coach inBoca, Franco, who's also working
with Tommy Paul and, and EthanQuinn and a couple of those guys.
Been working with him forquite a while.
And then, you know, I'm tryingto figure out some things at home
as well.
I might be moving around alittle bit in terms of where I'm
living as well.
My parents have been living inBoca for a while and I've been living
(06:11):
there and for tennis, it'samazing there.
And then I have a girlfriendthat lives in Dallas.
And in Dallas, you know,there's a tennis scene as well.
So it's not like you go in themiddle of nowhere and can't have
anyone to practice with.
So I'm figuring out some stufffor the future kind of at the moment.
But now, yeah, in Europe I'vebeen with my coach, Damian Jackson
and he's been great.
(06:32):
He's been helping me out withsome, you know, specific grass court
movement stuff, clay courtmovement stuff that, you know, he's
learned through being a Britover the years.
And so it's, it.
I'm pretty, pretty happy withwhat I've got going on now.
I just need to just more focuson how I can, you know, improve my
game and what I need to do.
With the pieces I need to put together.
And we've had Frank wan be onhere before.
(06:54):
Really nice guy.
Is probably on about two years ago.
So he was in Paris.
I didn't get to meet him.
So that must have been good.
Yeah, Frank was pretty busywith, with you know, he's got a lot
going on at home and, and he'sgot Tommy to look after as well and
so and Tommy's obviously he's,he hasn't pretty much full part of
(07:14):
his team.
So Tommy's in a littledifferent position than I am and
hoping open to get to whereTommy's at so that I can have a kind
of similar situation.
But it was obviously awesometo see see all those guys.
We're, we're a big you know,in Boco there's quite a bit of the
American guys all living inthe same same spot.
So it's always nice to go backthere and train train with you know,
(07:36):
Ethan Quinn's there now.
He's doing great.
Tommy Paul Tiafo Francis lift there.
So it's a cool little crew wegot going on great.
And you mentioned Carlitos Alcaraz.
Did you watch the final?
Yeah, I think I had practicedduring the start of it.
Me and my coach got to watch alittle bit specifically at the end
of the, the match and it wasobviously yeah, amazing match.
(07:59):
To be honest, I, I, I don'tlove watching tennis too much.
That was an amazing match to watch.
But I played this sport for 21 years.
Whenever I had a chance to, tonot think about it, I tried to take
those opportunities andespecially yeah, I think a couple
other guys have talked about it.
You know, our season is fromJanuary through basically November
(08:21):
and December is basically for preseason.
So it's really, you reallydon't get much time away from the
sport and it's, and it'spretty consuming, you know, especially
when you're on the road,you're alone.
How what you do every day iscurated to trying to be as good as
you can be.
And when things are going notso well, things are going well.
(08:42):
It pretty much dictates yourmood and everything.
And so I try to do a, do agood job of kind of having on other
interests, other things I liketo do outside of the tennis court.
And it's very rare for me towatch a tennis match.
But that was a matchdefinitely I was gonna, I was gonna
at least watch some of.
So I'm not happy I did becauseit was quite the high, quite a high
(09:02):
level.
Sometimes you have these likesuper anticipated matches and they
just don't deliver as much asyou hope.
And that was definitely not,not cases.
And from a professional pointof view, what was your thought on
the level?
Yeah, I mean, makes youquestion why, why you're still doing
it.
Sometimes when you watch theseguys play, play that, you know, ridiculous
(09:22):
level, it's just like, wow,you know, I really thought Sinner
was going to come through atone point.
And I'm just watching MG be aball machine and I'm trying to figure
out what exactly it is that,you know, Carlos does that that bothers
Yannick because no one elsereally does.
I'm still trying to kind ofwatch and figure those kind of things
out because I don't know, Idon't always have the best eye for
(09:45):
seeing those like at the, atthe very, very top level of.
So when I'm watching centerplay, sometimes I'm just like, I
don't know what you do to stop this.
I don't know what it is thatyou counter this with.
But Carlos is able to findthat ability to do it.
And I still am trying, I tryto figure it out and I just can't
really see what it is.
(10:07):
But obviously there'ssomething there.
But it was just.
Yeah.
So you have a Serbian background?
Your parents are Serbian?
Yeah, my dad is Serbian, mymom is from Boston.
Do you have Novak vibes likewhen you're playing grown up saying
you got some energy from howgood Novak was?
Yeah, when I first startedplaying, my dad was like super into
(10:30):
like building my technique tobe super perfect.
And one guy that he modeled mygame around was Federer.
So he kind of like pushed meto watch a lot of Federer and say
like model my game around Federer.
Obviously that's why I have aone handed backhand.
So I can't say I watched thatmuch jokers when I was super young.
But then once I got a littlebit older, maybe from 8 to 12 years
(10:51):
old, I started to like kind ofreally appreciate what Djokovic was
doing out there, especiallystarting to set these records and
playing these amazing matcheswith, with both of those guys.
And as I got even older andstarted playing on the pro tour a
little bit, I got to meetNovak and first thing we spoke with
each other was in Serbian.
That was really cool.
(11:12):
And ever since watching him mylast few years when I was in college
and pro, I really, really gotto understand how difficult what
he's been doing for the last,I don't even know, 25 years has been
with just the mentalconsistency of you don't really understand
it when you're a kid, becausethat's not something you really think
(11:33):
about.
You just watch tennis andyou're just seeing, like, balls being
hit when you really arecompeting and you just realize how
hard it is to just win likeone tournament at any, you know,
level.
And then this guy's won 24 ofthe best tournaments in the world
and it just, it's like mind blowing.
The longevity and the thingsyou see, like when you, you know,
(11:56):
when I got to playing pro,even before pro, even in the junior
tournaments, getting through afirst round of a tournament, things
like that.
Like that for me is somethingI look at as a challenge.
A lot of times even, itdoesn't matter.
I could be playing a weaktournament and it's still something,
you know, mentally challengingplaying someone that, you know, maybe
you feel like you should be.
Things like that.
The, the way that I've seenDjokovic mentally handled those situations
(12:18):
over the years has been one ofthe most impressive things I've ever
seen in tennis where, youknow, every, he's just so consistent
in every tournament.
And that just speaks to, Idon't know, his preparation, everything
he's doing.
So every time, you know, once,once I met him and got to know him,
I'm just like, hey, man,whatever you're doing, I don't know
what it is and I want to do it myself.
(12:39):
And that, that's where thatSerbian connection comes in a little
bit.
And, you know, he's a little,I think, more warm to me a little
bit.
And I, I'm, obviously, I don'tneed to be warm to him.
He's an, he's, you know, alegend that I'm, I'm always going
to be fascinated by what he's done.
So, yeah, I mean, ever since Igot to a certain age, I started to
really idolize the way hehandles, handles his tennis, his
(13:04):
mind.
I think for tennis players,the number one thing is like, many
players will say it's almostlike you see it said every day.
Everyone can hit a ball prettywell, but it's those guys that just
find that mental consistencythat propels them to beat, to be,
to do incredible things.
You're seeing, you know,Sinner and Alcaraz, like, they're
(13:25):
starting to get to that levelof, like there's machines mentally,
physically, just, you know,they're going every tournament, they're
going finals, winning it.
So it's, it's, it's impressiveto find that, find that consistency.
And I think that's it startswith the mental side of it.
I'm still trying to find thatin my game, so.
And that's the number onething I'm focused on mental.
(13:46):
Nice.
And so moving on to collegetennis, you were saying four and
a half years you were in whereyou're in Illinois.
You didn't have a great juniorranking, did you?
No, no.
Which is really importantthing to emphasize because now you're
top 100 player.
You didn't have a great.
Everybody thinks I need tohave a great junior Rankin, you know,
I need to be top 50.
You know, they put a lot ofpressure on that.
(14:07):
And then obviously that helpsyou get a good college.
But how.
I think you're ranked about 500.
ITF was it?
Yeah, I don't know.
I don't even know what the ITFranking was.
I just know it wasn't.
Wasn't great.
Yeah, well, I was roughlyabout that.
I think it was just over 500.
So how did that shape yourdecision making?
Going into college?
Or did you.
Did a bit of.
You want to go pro?
Oh, no.
I mean, it wasn't even a question.
(14:30):
I wasn't even thinking aboutpro tennis when I got to college.
I mean, of course, in the backof my mind.
And so it was always likesomething I'd like to have done,
but for me it was always.
And this is something thatmaybe my.
My, like, I'm somewhat enviousof people that.
Or in some ways I would callit like delusionally confident where
(14:50):
they just think they're justgoing to achieve these amazing things
without even knowing whatthat's like before they do it.
I was never like that.
I was very realistic.
And like I said, that might be something.
That's not the best phrase,but it is what it is.
And I think it's helped me insome moments because I've always
been like, you know, in someways paranoid.
I had doubt about, you know,where I'm at.
(15:10):
I want to always keep improving.
But for me it was like, allright, uh, I'm here.
Can I get to the next step?
And, and for me, that was, youknow, at that point I was a junior.
Wasn't.
Wasn't that great.
A lot of it was also, I wasn'tthe hardest worker when I was, you
know, in the mid teens.
Everyone when I was superyoung was telling me that I was so
talented.
I was going to be, you know,amazing and all that.
(15:32):
And, and I, you know, as akid, I.
It was a bit of a curse.
I was just like, okay, I Don'treally need to work hard and I'm
going to be pro or something.
And then by, you know, 13, 14,it was clear that I was far away
from that and really behindthe curve.
I would say not.
Not doing great at all.
I think eventually that, that,let's say, talent that people were
talking about was one of thereasons I've gotten to where I.
(15:55):
I have now because, you know,there's so many people work hard
and stuff, and there's guysworking harder than me.
I feel like that, you know, it's.
There's still a skill set, Iguess, that you need.
And, and I'm.
I'm not as talented as.
As many people as well, but I think.
I think the hard work mixed with.
With some kind of talent helpsyou to get to wherever you are.
(16:15):
And so I think when I got tocollege, I just.
But.
But I always, like, Like Isaid, I never even thought I was
going to be pro.
I would have liked to be pro, basically.
And so when I got to college,it was more just like, all right,
I'm ranked.
I'm not.
I'm playing four for my, formy school, try to win as many matches
I can for my team.
And then I did pretty well inthat first year, and I got moved
(16:39):
up by my junior year to one ortwo on the team.
And then I was started to beranked, let's say 50, 30 through
50 in college.
And I was like, oh, huh?
I'm 30 to 50.
I'm beating some guys that are 20.
Do I think I can get there?
Let's see.
And then I would start to, youknow, get a little higher.
And then I'm like, okay, I'm20 in college.
(16:59):
Like, can I beat these guysthat are top 10?
I beat a couple of guys.
I'm like, okay, I think sinceI beat them, I think I can do it
too.
Then I got the top 10 incollege, and I was like, okay, look
at these guys that were top 10in college before me.
You know, Cam Norrie, AlexVukic, my teammate.
They're all doing pretty wellin the pros.
Maybe I can try pro tennis outand see how it goes.
(17:20):
Tried it out.
And I got to 300 in the worldquite quickly after college and said,
okay, you know, I'm 300 in the world.
I'm being some guys that are 150.
I think maybe I can do it.
But that's always been it.
That's always been a stepping stone.
I never went from 300 in theworld to thinking, okay, I'M going
to just be top 100 tomorrowfor no reason.
I always, you know, thought,hey, I got to this point, can I push
(17:42):
a little hard?
You know, can I.
Can I see myself getting tothe next level?
And that's always how it'sbeen and still is how it's been.
You know, I'm aiding the worldnow, and I'm like, okay, I've been
some guys that are top 50, butam I consistent enough yet to get
to top 50?
I don't know.
We'll see.
So it's like, it's alwaysabout, what can I do to get, you
know, the next step?
(18:03):
I.
I don't.
I can't say, hey, you know, Iwant to be top 10 in the world, because
I don't even know what that'slike, really.
You know, I.
I played a couple of thoseguys sometimes.
But top 10 in the world meansyou're doing, like, you're consistently
playing, you know, at acertain level, and, and, and you're
doing this and that.
And I don't really.
It's hard to relate and say,I'm going to be there when I don't
(18:24):
know what that's like yet.
So it's like, I've always beensomewhat realistic with my goals,
and like I said, I don't knowif it's a good thing or a bad thing,
but that's.
That's how it's been for me.
But that's kept me kind ofmotivated over the years as well,
to.
To.
I never thought anything wasout of reach either, because I just
never thought about it.
I was just kind of like, allright, like, here I am today playing
against this guy.
Maybe I can beat him, maybe I can't.
(18:46):
We'll see.
And.
And things have gone up forme, but that's obviously, you know,
you know, you don't know whata point.
At what point that, you know,that what's your ceiling or.
Or what it is.
But I would.
I would encourage any youngplayer to just, you know, put one
foot in front of the other andjust keep going.
There's no downside to that.
I would.
I would say, you know, like,that doesn't mean that, you know,
(19:06):
If I was 30 years old and Ican't crack the top 500 in the world,
that I would think it's a goodfinancial decision to keep trying
to do that.
You know, there's.
There's.
There's just, you know, thereality of life.
Some.
Some people make it, somepeople don't.
You try to do Your the bestyou can and that's all you can do.
But you know, if, if doubtsare always normal.
(19:29):
I've had them my whole career.
I have them today.
I just lost a couple matchesand not feeling too good about things,
but just trying to put onefoot in front of the other and not
think about it too much andkeep getting back to work.
And for me specifically that'sbeen the antidote to these kind of
moments.
And I think it will continueto be.
I think that's just the onlyway to go about it is to put one
(19:53):
foot in front of the other.
Think about the next match,next practice that you can get a
little better at.
That's that interesting.
It's great to hear some ofthese realistic, you know, down turret
and you've taken it stage by stage.
It's like, okay, get nextlevel, okay.
Then you worry about problemsthat come with the next level after
that when you get to that level.
But in college tennis, did youjust decide, was it that you decided
(20:15):
to put in the work?
And a bit of belief came inthere as well.
But when was there a day whereyou said, look, I'm actually going
to put in the work here, yeah,I'm talented, I haven't been working
but I'm going to decide to work.
Was there a day like that?
I wouldn't say it was a day,but it was definitely like there
was definitely a year, I thinkwhere I really started to believe
(20:36):
that okay, I can do be pro.
And I think that was my junior year.
I think my first year incollege I was having a little too
much fun maybe and I was justliving college life, you know, it's.
And not like I said, I waspretty far from thinking about truly
being, let's say a pro tennisplayer, let alone a top 100 tennis
(20:57):
player.
But I think in college alsothe system didn't let us be too,
too, too loosey goosey, too lazy.
Our coach was really tough onus in terms of training, in terms
of fitness.
So it's like, you know,naturally just being a part of that.
You're going to get, you know,bent into shape a little bit and
your character gets testedquite a bit.
(21:17):
I think in college, you know,you're, you're no longer under your
parents roof and you know,you're in the real not, I wouldn't
say real world, that's farfrom the real world.
But like you, you're part of ateam, you're part of a bigger vision
as well.
Especially I would, I would,you know, push Anyone that's looking
into playing pro tennis to goto a college that's pretty serious
(21:38):
about tennis and about, aboutbeing good and the teams has some,
you know, camaraderie andtrying and a, how do I say?
A, a common vision of being good.
And that's what, what I had atIllinois, I think I had a bunch of
guys that also, you know, ifyou slacked off, it's not just the
coach that gets mad, it's the team.
The team's like, all right,like we're trying to win and you're,
(21:59):
you're, you know, tanking.
It's not, not a good feelingto let other people down.
I think that's one benefit ofcollege is, you know, you're, you're
put into the system that, youknow, it, it'll get you better at
tennis and it'll get youbetter at, at managing, you know,
life in general.
It's kind of, I'm really happy.
I mean, not, like I said, Iwasn't even considering going pro
(22:22):
before college.
I was actually consideringgoing to like, let's say a super
high level academic school,like a Harvard or something like
that because, you know, tenniscan give you opportunity to go there
and then, you know, maybe yougo on to get quite a good job or
something after that you have,you know, it's, it's quite a privilege
(22:43):
to be like, to be able to usesports to get into some of these
places that otherwise would bequite, quite tough just, just on
academics alone.
So that was something I waslooking at.
But instead of, you know, I, Ichose to go to a school that had
a little more of a balance of both.
I, I, that was my personalopinion on it.
I didn't go to Harvard, so Ican't say how it, how it is there.
(23:05):
But yeah, no, I think, I thinkgoing the college route matures you
as well.
I think if I went pro beforecollege, I would get so burnt out
playing, you know, 15Ks.
I wasn't good, so I was goingto be losing for two years straight.
If I did that, I think I wouldhave quit tennis a long time ago.
So it's like, I think collegeis quite, quite a good path for guys
(23:26):
that aren't fully ready to go pro.
Now you ask me about like,let's say Fonseca or someone like
that don't go to college,like, you know, but that's, you know,
that's, that's, that'ssomething that should be obvious,
you know what I mean?
I think if it's not obvious Ithink going to college is the better
route.
It's kind of funny.
I use Reddit a good bit andevery time I load Reddit, my browser,
(23:49):
for some reason it goes to aReddit post saying, fonseca signed
for uva.
What?
Uv, Virginia was it?
Where did he go?
Yeah, and it's like, it was crazy.
But question.
You probably get this questionall the time, Covid, where I'm sure
parents come up to you, theywant your advice.
Is there.
What's your cut off for a player?
(24:10):
Obviously, Fonseca and Alcresand Sinner, the exceptional.
But do you think there's acutoff that a player to go pro or
to go college?
Obviously, if you're one ofthe best juniors, you're going to
get your Harvard or Stanfordor wherever you want.
You've.
You're picking a bunch.
But is there a certain linewhere you should just go pro?
That's.
It's a tough question for me.
(24:31):
I don't think it's a certainline because of how, how high the
level on college tennis now is.
And I think now, I mean, Idon't really know the details of
all the things they've donefor college tennis, but.
But I'm pretty sure they havequite a bit of incentive now to go
to college because then youget out and you have these like,
junior exam or special exams.
(24:51):
I don't know what it's calledexactly, for I think accelerator
program, something like that.
I think there's so manyforeigners in college tennis now
you have these guys gettingpaid as well.
So financially, it's not a baddecision too, to go to college first.
I think you really, I mean, Idon't know what the line is, but
I know I knew who Fonseca wasbefore he went to uva, and that's
(25:15):
saying something.
And when that article cameout, not just me, but a bunch of
pros were like, what's goingon here?
Like, get this guy to pros.
He's, you know, he's.
Most of us said all right,like, yeah, he's committed to uva,
but we'll see if he actually,like, there's no way, because the
kid was.
I mean, he's absolutely amazing.
I don't know.
I don't know what the, whatthe exact line would be, but it's
(25:37):
hard because it's, it's, it'snot really like a ranking kind of
thing.
It's more like, you know, whenI saw Fonseca play and some of the
guys he's beating, even thoughMaybe he's ranked 400 in the world.
You're like, okay, this kid's,this kid's ready to play tennis now.
Like ready to play pro tennis now.
He's got that much talent.
And so it's hard, let's say,to say, you know, you know, a line
(26:00):
in the sand of like when youshould, what you should do.
But I think 95% of all top,even top 100 prospects should go
first to college, I think, andthen see, maybe just go for a year.
My buddy Ethan Quinn just wentfor a year.
It's not like the average agefor tennis is young.
(26:23):
You need to be physically alsoquite developed to compete at the
highest level.
Doesn't mean you can't make itquite good without the physicality.
But there's no rush basically,is what I'm saying.
There's guys are playing till34, 35 now and Joker's 38.
That's credit to his longevity.
But realistically I would saymore like 35, 36 is, is the cutoff.
(26:45):
And so you know, 18, 18 yearolds don't really, don't really need
to go pro.
They don't need to like, youknow, you, I think, like I said,
I don't know what the line is,but I think you'll know like, and
I think people will tell youas well.
I think a lot of people willcome up to you.
Pros can even tell you likeif, if you should go pro or go, go
to college.
(27:06):
Yeah, well, and plus you, yousee good college guys.
I'm not sure exactly whatranking you landed.
You probably finished.
You're a tree.
Were you about 350 in theworld coming out of college?
Yeah, something like that.
I think maybe a little lower.
400, something like that.
Yeah, that's what a top goodcollege player is going to.
If you're really good collegeplayer, you're going to come out.
(27:27):
Yeah.
So you, you're sort ofskipping the futures, squeezing into
the challengers and you've,you've missed obviously you've had
it a bit cushier and probablygot paid.
Not probably in your case, butnow you get paid in university if
you're good and cushy numberfitness is up, you're strong, you
have, you probably learnedsome life lessons in college, I hope.
Learn to do your own washing.
(27:47):
Yeah.
Ready for the tour but soquickly jumping on to.
You had your.
Sorry before actually, lastquestion on college tennis.
What in your opinion is thedifference between, between a top
college tennis player and younow in the top 100.
So if you look back at the dayyou left college and today, where's
(28:08):
the biggest shift?
I think, for one, you know,you have to be a little more used
to losing.
I think in, in the pros, it's,you know, and if you're a really
good college player, you'reactually winning quite a bit of matches,
(28:28):
I think, and, and you're notlosing that much.
I mean, you're losing maybeagainst, you know, the other top
players, but a lot of times ifyou're playing in the conference
and stuff, you're not playinga lot of the other top players, you
know, every week.
So you're maybe going, let'ssay Colton Smith, I don't know.
Let's say, I think he wentlike 26 and 2.
But on the pro tour andespecially at the ATP Tour, when
(28:50):
you make it the top 100,you're losing.
Oh, you're losing every week.
And, and you have a week between.
Whereas in college, you know,like, you can play a match and then
in a couple days you haveanother match, win or lose, so you're
right back on the horse with.
In the pros, you have to just be.
You have to be okay with.
(29:12):
I wouldn't say be okay withlosing, but learn how to lose.
And that's one thing that Ithink a lot of the college guys can
struggle with coming out ofcollege is, you know, you come to
college, I mean, you come out,you get out of college, you start
going the pro tour, maybe youdo well in a couple tournaments,
but then, you know, you losesix matches in a row.
That's something that happenedto me the first two years out of
college.
Still kind of happens.
(29:32):
I have to learn how to dealwith that.
And it's not easy becauseeveryone's really good.
So, like, you're trying tofind where to give confidence from
while you're trying to winmatches against the best in the world.
And that's super tough.
So like I said, you know, atthe start with the, with how the
top guys are mentally, likethe mentality of being a pro, you
have to learn how to be a protennis player.
And that's.
(29:52):
And that means, you know,handling a long season from January
to November, handling, youknow, being on the road for months
at a time, not seeing anybody,you know, being away from home for
that long, learning how to goout and practice the day after you
lose with, you know, you don'thave a college coach for screaming
(30:13):
at you, making, making you go play.
You have a coach that you nowpay that it's just different.
It's just different in a lotof ways.
And you have to learn how tolive with that and learn how to excel
in that kind of environment.
It's really quite differentfrom college.
But I think college does agood job of setting you up for it.
Even though it is different, Ithink it can build your character
(30:35):
in a different way to stillget you mature and ready to go for
this next challenge.
But yeah, in that sense, it'squite different.
If you haven't noticed.
If you watch a lot of thecollege matches, you see the celebrations,
you see the grunting, you seethe amount of energy in each match,
it's super high.
But if you watch some of theseplayers, I won't name them because
(30:59):
a lot of people can saythey're quite annoying and stuff,
but you watch them in collegedoing all these crazy things and
they get to pro tour and justnaturally, obviously getting older
also helps, but they juststart to get a little more calm,
a little more collected.
Because what my theory is, andI think is quite true, is week, week
to week, you're playing somany weeks, you just can't do it.
(31:20):
It's just too.
You play five, let's say evenyou're doing well, you're playing
four or five matches a week,you're going crazy in every match.
It's going to tire you out.
You just can't do it.
And mentally, it's justreally, really hard.
And so people, you kind oflike, get in this mode that.
And you see the same guysevery week.
So it's just like, it's this.
Everyone starts to kind of getsimilar to each other in a lot of
(31:43):
ways.
And I think that's somethingthat you'll.
You learn as, as you get onthe pro tour is like, you know, you
got so many weeks, you got tolearn how to like, manage yourself,
manage your emotions, man, it.
Manage your tennis.
And, and that's somethingthat's very different from college.
As, as in college, you're kindof just told to give it everything
you've got on every point anddo this, you know, very.
(32:06):
I don't know.
I don't know how to describe it.
But yeah, it's a bit easierwhen you have a big team as well.
But yeah, that's crazy.
It sounds like it's a, youknow, life on the road for you.
It's an office job.
Yeah.
And that's exactly what it is.
What the difference is incollege and pro.
I mean, by definition, that'skind of what it Is, is now you're,
(32:28):
you know, in the real worldand you're working an office job.
That's sometimes things aregreat, sometimes things aren't so
great.
It's a long season.
You could, you could lovetennis one week you can.
After five weeks on the road,you're like I can't wait to go home.
But all those things have tobe handled in a professional way
because you, you're still, youknow, the guy across the net from
(32:48):
you doesn't care.
And what in which, you know,feeling you have that day, you have
to still go out there and, andtry to try to win the match.
And like I said, that'ssomething I'm actually still getting,
getting better at.
You know, there's times inthis year where I've been so excited
to go out and train andthere's times this year where I've
the last thing I want to do issee a tennis court that's not always
tied to results either sometimes.
(33:10):
And you know, I've been doingsuper well and some moments of the
year and I just, I'm sick of this.
You know, it's just, it's,it's not, it's a job.
Do you decide to practice thatday or do you say I'm not, not practicing
today.
Most of the times you know,you got to practice and that's what
it is.
And then there's times whereit's healthy to take, take off.
That's something you and decide.
(33:32):
I played quite a bit oftournaments this, this clay season
and right before clay season.
So I decided to take a weekoff and, and go to Italy on the beach
for a week and I think it'shelped me doesn't mean that, that
now I can come back and startplaying like Federer the day back
but, but mentally it's a, it'sa good kind of refresh reset and
(33:54):
now I have to get you know,the reps in that I didn't do for
the week.
I'm, I'm getting them in nowon the grass hit for four hours today.
So I'm trying to kind of makeup for it but I'm definitely more
excited to be back on thecourt than I was a week ago before
that break.
Nice.
And speaking of Fedra, youhave that one had a backhand.
Normally when I get player onthe podcast I look to what videos
(34:14):
do I have and I have a load ofa chunkier videos with the one handed
backhand.
You get a lot of love for that.
Yeah, absolutely.
And that's I You know, mywhole life people have told me that,
you know, they love mybackhand, they love how it looks.
I've always almost got itdesensitized by it.
I still appreciate it.
Like, like, you know,sometimes I get, I get to really
(34:37):
think about it.
I'm like, wow, it's, it's,it's nice that people love to watch
how I play and stuff but atthe same time sometimes I wish I
had the two handed back and tohelp me out for some shots, you know,
and it's, especially with themodern game, I feel like it's definitely
leaning towards a more, youknow, two hand, two handed backhand
definitely helps you in some,in some areas, specifically on returns
(35:00):
and having the extra strength.
A lot of the guys now are more.
And the way the game is justwith the balls slowed down the game
a little bit, I think it, ithelps to be able to hit the ball
super hard.
I think the two handers are alittle more consistent with that
now.
That doesn't mean that onehander is dead.
I think, you know, Musetti hasbeen doing amazing, so what can you
(35:21):
really say?
It's maybe we just, maybe Ijust suck.
I don't know.
But.
Well, you're keeping the dreamalive for me.
Yeah, I just, it's, it's my,my whole life I've told, I've been
told I have such a beautiful game.
I'm like, I would trade it infor a second for an UG if I could
win more matches, I think.
But yeah, no, but it's nice,it's nice to hear.
And ATP 250 this year.
(35:43):
You got a good run.
You got the final taking downtop 10 player R.
Rublev.
How did that feel?
Yeah, felt great.
I think that was my probablybiggest win I've ever had.
I've watched that guy play,you know, from college, from when
I was still ranked, you know,I can't even imagine when I was ranked
nothing.
(36:04):
And watching that guy playwith the best of all, like, you know,
it's almost, it's almostcomical that I'm able to play against
those kind of guys nowadaysand be, and win a match against them.
So super amazing.
You know, a lot of the friendsI had from home that I used to play
tennis with, you know, beforecollege, would always make jokes
(36:26):
like, you know, who are youhitting with tomorrow?
Like Rublev.
And it was so far away, thatwould be a funny joke.
And now it's like I'm playing,I'm really playing with these guys.
It's like it's cool.
It's really cool.
Nice.
That's great for you to have aweek like that.
You need them, don't you, tokeep the spirits up high and obviously,
(36:49):
bit more cash and a few extrapoints and it's all good.
Helps, helps.
But like I said, it's a longyears, you know, I think I had about
a day to celebrate and noteven celebrate, actually lost a heartbreak
in the final.
So it was kind of.
I was kind of sad and pissedafter that week, even though it should
have been.
Obviously it.
It was a very positive week,but went straight to Rotterdam the
(37:13):
next day and got sick.
And it was, you know, it's.
It's hard this tennis season.
You know, you don't get.
You don't get much time toreally soak anything in.
You're just kind of on to the next.
But that's both the beauty and.
And kind of like the ugly partof it is that you also.
I think actually Rublev wasthe one to say, like, every week's
(37:34):
an opportunity.
You could lose six straightweeks and then win the seventh week.
And hey, look at you, you'reon top of the world.
So.
So that's the one thing withtennis is just ever, you know, ever
going.
You know, I've had weeks whereI did super well, and then the next
three weeks, lose first round,and then you're in the dumps.
Like, we're literally justlike that.
It's.
It's crazy.
But that's what I mean aboutalso managing your emotions, managing
(37:58):
yourself over this long year.
And what is a celebratorynight for you if you win your next
250, 500 or whatever, youdecide to be a big celebration.
How do you treat yourself?
Honestly, if I was still incollege, I would tell you much different
because nowadays I really don't.
(38:20):
I'm really tame.
And I think you have to be.
You hear all these storiesabout Agassi and McEnroe having.
Having their fun during theirdays, saffin, all this stuff.
But I think nowadays a game'sso physical, so different, that,
you know, I think everyone'sjust super professional.
And I've fallen into that as well.
I'm, you know, my celebratorytime would be a nice dinner with
(38:41):
maybe my girlfriend, my coach,something like that.
Not, you know, usually it's onthe road.
Usually it's at some random city.
It's.
Usually there's, you know, Iwouldn't even know what to do.
So it's, it's.
And like I said, Yourcelebratory means you've probably
won the tournament.
Meaning you have anothertournament, like a day or two.
Yeah.
Unless you're Carlos andyou're in a.
You're on a flight to Ibiza.
(39:02):
So I think that guy knows howto have fun.
And, And I would be just likehim if I, if, If I won the French
Open and my next tournamentwasn't for like two weeks.
But you gotta, you gotta actlike, you gotta act where you are.
You can't just, you know, havea good week and then just have fun
(39:23):
for two weeks.
And if you're like, you know,80, 80 to 100 in the world, there's
always, always the next one.
So I don't really know.
Yeah, tough to answer thatquestion nowadays.
It will change depending onthe ranking.
I think so.
And Damien, your coach, reachout to me, I don't know, like five,
six, seven weeks ago, and say,I'm looking to get a saber.
Which should I get?
(39:43):
And he bought, he bought asaber middle.
And he was your coach.
I didn't know at the time.
And then I started seeingpeople sent me a couple of videos
of you hit with the saber,which was exciting for me to see.
We get some pros, it would.
It.
Some we get videos, some we don't.
So it's just to use people normally.
Somebody use that term and wemight see it.
But for you in.
(40:04):
Do you use the saber?
He force you to use the saber?
No, no, I use it.
I actually asked for a logwhen he has two of them in his bag
now.
I don't know how.
When he got the second one.
But yeah, I, you know, a bigthing for that I've.
I don't know for my game is,you know, trying to really feel the
(40:26):
ball.
And I, I'm playing pretty wellwhen I can really feel the ball and
I can catch the ball on my strings.
And so, you know, the saber'sgot that little, basically sweet
spot.
And I.
For warm ups.
I think it's such a good, goodthing for the eyes and, and for the
feel is if you can reallycatch it in that, in that little,
little racket, then you takethe big rack and you feel like it's,
(40:47):
it's.
It's easy.
It's like, it's.
So it's similar to like, youknow, playing with the wood rack.
When I used to, before thesaber, I, I used to play with a wood
racket here and there because,you know, it really gets your eyes
going, your, Your coordination to.
It's.
It's it's not easy, you know,if you play with that thing for the
first time and you're tryingto, I don't know, be.
Be lazy with it, you're.
(41:09):
You're gonna shoot.
You know, I hit the frameevery time, and so when I know I'm
playing pretty well, when Ican hit the ball pretty well with
that thing, and if I'm notfeeling the ball well, I tell Dan,
give me that saber.
I want to do some reps with it.
So it's been a really nicetool for training to start, mostly
to start off the trainings.
I'll hit with it for five to10 minutes and then take my racket
(41:32):
and start playing.
Amazing.
Thank you for that.
And finally, what racket to use?
What's your spec, and whatstring do you use?
I use a blade, 16 by 19 in this.
The Wilson.
I use 4G in the mains and aloerough in the cross for my string.
(41:53):
And, yeah, I've been usingthat since.
Since college.
I've always used Wilson mywhole life.
But I think in my second yearin college, I tried that racket.
The.
Yeah, just the one off the shelf.
The vise at the time was the V6.
And.
And.
And loved it.
Just.
And I think, you know, messingaround too much with rackets, because
(42:15):
it's always kind of like adetrimental thing.
For me specifically, you know, I.
There's always that time whereyou try a new racket, you get to
the honeymoon stage where youlove it for two weeks, and you play
a match, but then you lose,and you're like, oh, wow, this really
wasn't what I thought it was.
And.
And just this, like, loop.
So for me, I found the racketthat I love, and.
And I'm just kind of stickingwith it.
And that's the.
Probably the most important,you know, decision you can make in
(42:38):
terms of your.
It is the most importantdecision you can make in terms of
your equipment.
You know, going with adifferent clothing brand or something.
That doesn't really change theway you play at all.
But.
But.
But rackets are quite important.
So once you find something tolike, I.
I like, you know, juststicking with it.
Is it stock weight or do youhave extra?
Is it.
I've got it customized a bit.
(42:59):
I don't know.
The customization specs havethem saved somewhere, I think.
But guys at Wilson, they justget my rackets, they do them up,
and they send to me already customized.
So they're really good with that.
Nice.
Alex.
Well, great having you on.
Best of luck.
Over the next few weeks on theslippy grass.
Yeah.
Thank you, Fabio.
Thanks for having me, Sam.
Welcome to the FunctionalTennis Podcast.
I'm your host, Fabio Molli andI bring you insights and lessons
from players, coaches, parentsand experts who are ingrained in
the world of high level tennis.
This week I'm joined byAmerican pro Alex Kovachevic.
Alex came through the USCollege system and has been steadily
climbing the ATP ranks withstandout performances including a
(00:45):
win over Andrey Rublev on hisway to an ATP 250 final earlier this
year.
What's most interesting isthat Alex never really believed he'd
become a professional tennis player.
We chat about how that mindsetshifted his grown belief in his game.
Learning to handle losses,life on tour, managing nerves and
what he's picked up fromfacing the world's best.
(01:07):
Before we get started, a shoutout to our podcast partners, Asics.
You know that you can sign upto be a one Asics member, which is
free.
And you can avail of their 90day returns policy which allows you
to see if the shoe you chooseis the one for you.
Check it out@asics.com and ifyou need any help, just send me a
message on the FunctionalTennis Instagram account.
Okay, here's Alex, who's alsoknown as Kova by his friends and
(01:32):
colleagues on tour.
Hey Alex, how's it going?
Welcome to Functional Tennis Podcast.
Hey Fabian, thanks for having me.
We just spoke there.
You're Kova, so I'm going torefer to as Kova.
I never knew it.
Obviously your name on yourATP bio is Alexander.
Then I knew it was Alex.
That's your Instagram profilename, but now it's Kova.
So we're shortening here bitby bit.
By the end of this we'll havea three or two letter word name for
(01:54):
you.
Yeah, I've been called manythings my whole life, so anything
really works.
Tell me, you're in London atthe moment getting ready for some
grass court action.
What tournaments are you playing?
What's the lineup looking like?
Yeah, so I just got back fromthe Netherlands last night.
Played in her Togen Bosch there.
I was actually not reallyplanning to play there.
I was pretty far out of the tournament.
(02:15):
Flew to London first just tostart training with my coach, he
lives in North London, so.
But then we looked the listand I was like two out of the tournament
in Netherlands.
Said, okay, you know what,London has some rain coming in, why
not just go play a.
Play a tournament real quickin the Netherlands?
Didn't go so well, but that's okay.
As I looked at it more as apractice week and then, yeah, Kappa
(02:37):
Queens coming up here inLondon this Saturday, playing Mallorca
the next week and then playingthe big show, Wimbledon.
Excited for grass.
It's always a fun surface toplay on.
No matter how the resultsactually go.
It's always just nice to havevariety in this long tennis season
that we have.
(02:58):
Do you see the grass courtesyas a bit of a chill period or am
I completely wrong?
More relaxed.
So I think that the problem isactually, if you think about it that
way, that you're not going togo so well.
I think my first year on grasswas kind of like that.
I was like, oh, you know,grass is not like you're not going
to play 30 ball rallies on it.
It's kind of like shorterpoints, just serving well, it's stuff.
(03:19):
But I think if you, if youadopt that kind of mentality, you're
not going to be prepared aswell as some other guys for it.
I think, you know, you stillwant to have all your fitness stuff
go.
You want to have like, youknow, high stamina, high.
Because all that stuff seepsinto actually, you know, your game.
It's not just about what's,you know, surface you're on, but
you want to be a complete player.
(03:40):
And I think you see that witha lot of the guys that are winning
on grass, you know, in thelast couple of years.
It's not necessarily how itused to be in the, in in the old
days where it was centeredaround a lot of, you know, serving
volleyers, a lot of the guys.
Now I mean, look at Carlitos,he's, he's won Wimbledon last year,
which to me was kind of like awake up call of like, okay, you know,
(04:00):
it's.
The best players are usuallythe best players nowadays, you know.
And what are the best players doing?
As Federer said, they're,they're usually the best movers.
And so if you can have thatbase fitness based movement level
and bring that onto the grassand are able to adjust well on the
grass, then you're actuallygoing to do probably better than
the guys that don't do that.
(04:21):
And the guys are thinking, oh,okay, I'm just going to serve, volley
my way through the draw and that.
And I mean that's been kind oflike, like a, you know, that's come
coming honestly for me becauselast couple of years I, I didn't
do this the best on grass, as,as I kind of, and on clay, you know,
thinking that I have to changemy game and change what I do do well
to accommodate the grass.
Whereas I I think nowadays alot of the surfaces are getting more
(04:42):
and more similar.
I think what you, what you asa player do well is, is what's going
to set you apart on each ofthe surfaces and it's not, and not
as much about, you know,playing like you would think on,
on the grass, you know, so.
Yeah.
And what sort of team do you have?
Obviously Damien's your coach.
I'll get on to later how Iknow him.
(05:05):
But do you travel with atrainer or physio?
As of now, no.
I've been thinking aboutobviously adding a physio, traveling
physio here and there.
But you know, the ATP physiosare, are quite good.
I have a good relationshipwith a lot of them, so I haven't
felt the need to really have afull time physio.
(05:27):
It's quite, you know, anadditional cost as well.
And, and as you go, you know,up to the rankings, you want to start
adding pieces of the puzzle.
So it's, you know, because youobviously get more, more funds the
more you do well on the courtand then you can reinvest that back
into your career and that's,that's important.
Still waiting to make kind oflike a, hopefully bigger, bigger
(05:48):
breakthroughs so then I canexpand my team a little bit.
I have my fitness coach inBoca, Franco, who's also working
with Tommy Paul and, and EthanQuinn and a couple of those guys.
Been working with him forquite a while.
And then, you know, I'm tryingto figure out some things at home
as well.
I might be moving around alittle bit in terms of where I'm
living as well.
My parents have been living inBoca for a while and I've been living
(06:11):
there and for tennis, it'samazing there.
And then I have a girlfriendthat lives in Dallas.
And in Dallas, you know,there's a tennis scene as well.
So it's not like you go in themiddle of nowhere and can't have
anyone to practice with.
So I'm figuring out some stufffor the future kind of at the moment.
But now, yeah, in Europe I'vebeen with my coach, Damian Jackson
and he's been great.
(06:32):
He's been helping me out withsome, you know, specific grass court
movement stuff, clay courtmovement stuff that, you know, he's
learned through being a Britover the years.
And so it's, it.
I'm pretty, pretty happy withwhat I've got going on now.
I just need to just more focuson how I can, you know, improve my
game and what I need to do.
With the pieces I need to put together.
And we've had Frank wan be onhere before.
(06:54):
Really nice guy.
Is probably on about two years ago.
So he was in Paris.
I didn't get to meet him.
So that must have been good.
Yeah, Frank was pretty busywith, with you know, he's got a lot
going on at home and, and he'sgot Tommy to look after as well and
so and Tommy's obviously he's,he hasn't pretty much full part of
(07:14):
his team.
So Tommy's in a littledifferent position than I am and
hoping open to get to whereTommy's at so that I can have a kind
of similar situation.
But it was obviously awesometo see see all those guys.
We're, we're a big you know,in Boco there's quite a bit of the
American guys all living inthe same same spot.
So it's always nice to go backthere and train train with you know,
(07:36):
Ethan Quinn's there now.
He's doing great.
Tommy Paul Tiafo Francis lift there.
So it's a cool little crew wegot going on great.
And you mentioned Carlitos Alcaraz.
Did you watch the final?
Yeah, I think I had practicedduring the start of it.
Me and my coach got to watch alittle bit specifically at the end
of the, the match and it wasobviously yeah, amazing match.
(07:59):
To be honest, I, I, I don'tlove watching tennis too much.
That was an amazing match to watch.
But I played this sport for 21 years.
Whenever I had a chance to, tonot think about it, I tried to take
those opportunities andespecially yeah, I think a couple
other guys have talked about it.
You know, our season is fromJanuary through basically November
(08:21):
and December is basically for preseason.
So it's really, you reallydon't get much time away from the
sport and it's, and it'spretty consuming, you know, especially
when you're on the road,you're alone.
How what you do every day iscurated to trying to be as good as
you can be.
And when things are going notso well, things are going well.
(08:42):
It pretty much dictates yourmood and everything.
And so I try to do a, do agood job of kind of having on other
interests, other things I liketo do outside of the tennis court.
And it's very rare for me towatch a tennis match.
But that was a matchdefinitely I was gonna, I was gonna
at least watch some of.
So I'm not happy I did becauseit was quite the high, quite a high
(09:02):
level.
Sometimes you have these likesuper anticipated matches and they
just don't deliver as much asyou hope.
And that was definitely not,not cases.
And from a professional pointof view, what was your thought on
the level?
Yeah, I mean, makes youquestion why, why you're still doing
it.
Sometimes when you watch theseguys play, play that, you know, ridiculous
(09:22):
level, it's just like, wow,you know, I really thought Sinner
was going to come through atone point.
And I'm just watching MG be aball machine and I'm trying to figure
out what exactly it is that,you know, Carlos does that that bothers
Yannick because no one elsereally does.
I'm still trying to kind ofwatch and figure those kind of things
out because I don't know, Idon't always have the best eye for
(09:45):
seeing those like at the, atthe very, very top level of.
So when I'm watching centerplay, sometimes I'm just like, I
don't know what you do to stop this.
I don't know what it is thatyou counter this with.
But Carlos is able to findthat ability to do it.
And I still am trying, I tryto figure it out and I just can't
really see what it is.
(10:07):
But obviously there'ssomething there.
But it was just.
Yeah.
So you have a Serbian background?
Your parents are Serbian?
Yeah, my dad is Serbian, mymom is from Boston.
Do you have Novak vibes likewhen you're playing grown up saying
you got some energy from howgood Novak was?
Yeah, when I first startedplaying, my dad was like super into
(10:30):
like building my technique tobe super perfect.
And one guy that he modeled mygame around was Federer.
So he kind of like pushed meto watch a lot of Federer and say
like model my game around Federer.
Obviously that's why I have aone handed backhand.
So I can't say I watched thatmuch jokers when I was super young.
But then once I got a littlebit older, maybe from 8 to 12 years
(10:51):
old, I started to like kind ofreally appreciate what Djokovic was
doing out there, especiallystarting to set these records and
playing these amazing matcheswith, with both of those guys.
And as I got even older andstarted playing on the pro tour a
little bit, I got to meetNovak and first thing we spoke with
each other was in Serbian.
That was really cool.
(11:12):
And ever since watching him mylast few years when I was in college
and pro, I really, really gotto understand how difficult what
he's been doing for the last,I don't even know, 25 years has been
with just the mentalconsistency of you don't really understand
it when you're a kid, becausethat's not something you really think
(11:33):
about.
You just watch tennis andyou're just seeing, like, balls being
hit when you really arecompeting and you just realize how
hard it is to just win likeone tournament at any, you know,
level.
And then this guy's won 24 ofthe best tournaments in the world
and it just, it's like mind blowing.
The longevity and the thingsyou see, like when you, you know,
(11:56):
when I got to playing pro,even before pro, even in the junior
tournaments, getting through afirst round of a tournament, things
like that.
Like that for me is somethingI look at as a challenge.
A lot of times even, itdoesn't matter.
I could be playing a weaktournament and it's still something,
you know, mentally challengingplaying someone that, you know, maybe
you feel like you should be.
Things like that.
The, the way that I've seenDjokovic mentally handled those situations
(12:18):
over the years has been one ofthe most impressive things I've ever
seen in tennis where, youknow, every, he's just so consistent
in every tournament.
And that just speaks to, Idon't know, his preparation, everything
he's doing.
So every time, you know, once,once I met him and got to know him,
I'm just like, hey, man,whatever you're doing, I don't know
what it is and I want to do it myself.
(12:39):
And that, that's where thatSerbian connection comes in a little
bit.
And, you know, he's a little,I think, more warm to me a little
bit.
And I, I'm, obviously, I don'tneed to be warm to him.
He's an, he's, you know, alegend that I'm, I'm always going
to be fascinated by what he's done.
So, yeah, I mean, ever since Igot to a certain age, I started to
really idolize the way hehandles, handles his tennis, his
(13:04):
mind.
I think for tennis players,the number one thing is like, many
players will say it's almostlike you see it said every day.
Everyone can hit a ball prettywell, but it's those guys that just
find that mental consistencythat propels them to beat, to be,
to do incredible things.
You're seeing, you know,Sinner and Alcaraz, like, they're
(13:25):
starting to get to that levelof, like there's machines mentally,
physically, just, you know,they're going every tournament, they're
going finals, winning it.
So it's, it's, it's impressiveto find that, find that consistency.
And I think that's it startswith the mental side of it.
I'm still trying to find thatin my game, so.
And that's the number onething I'm focused on mental.
(13:46):
Nice.
And so moving on to collegetennis, you were saying four and
a half years you were in whereyou're in Illinois.
You didn't have a great juniorranking, did you?
No, no.
Which is really importantthing to emphasize because now you're
top 100 player.
You didn't have a great.
Everybody thinks I need tohave a great junior Rankin, you know,
I need to be top 50.
You know, they put a lot ofpressure on that.
(14:07):
And then obviously that helpsyou get a good college.
But how.
I think you're ranked about 500.
ITF was it?
Yeah, I don't know.
I don't even know what the ITFranking was.
I just know it wasn't.
Wasn't great.
Yeah, well, I was roughlyabout that.
I think it was just over 500.
So how did that shape yourdecision making?
Going into college?
Or did you.
Did a bit of.
You want to go pro?
Oh, no.
I mean, it wasn't even a question.
(14:30):
I wasn't even thinking aboutpro tennis when I got to college.
I mean, of course, in the backof my mind.
And so it was always likesomething I'd like to have done,
but for me it was always.
And this is something thatmaybe my.
My, like, I'm somewhat enviousof people that.
Or in some ways I would callit like delusionally confident where
(14:50):
they just think they're justgoing to achieve these amazing things
without even knowing whatthat's like before they do it.
I was never like that.
I was very realistic.
And like I said, that might be something.
That's not the best phrase,but it is what it is.
And I think it's helped me insome moments because I've always
been like, you know, in someways paranoid.
I had doubt about, you know,where I'm at.
(15:10):
I want to always keep improving.
But for me it was like, allright, uh, I'm here.
Can I get to the next step?
And, and for me, that was, youknow, at that point I was a junior.
Wasn't.
Wasn't that great.
A lot of it was also, I wasn'tthe hardest worker when I was, you
know, in the mid teens.
Everyone when I was superyoung was telling me that I was so
talented.
I was going to be, you know,amazing and all that.
(15:32):
And, and I, you know, as akid, I.
It was a bit of a curse.
I was just like, okay, I Don'treally need to work hard and I'm
going to be pro or something.
And then by, you know, 13, 14,it was clear that I was far away
from that and really behindthe curve.
I would say not.
Not doing great at all.
I think eventually that, that,let's say, talent that people were
talking about was one of thereasons I've gotten to where I.
(15:55):
I have now because, you know,there's so many people work hard
and stuff, and there's guysworking harder than me.
I feel like that, you know, it's.
There's still a skill set, Iguess, that you need.
And, and I'm.
I'm not as talented as.
As many people as well, but I think.
I think the hard work mixed with.
With some kind of talent helpsyou to get to wherever you are.
(16:15):
And so I think when I got tocollege, I just.
But.
But I always, like, Like Isaid, I never even thought I was
going to be pro.
I would have liked to be pro, basically.
And so when I got to college,it was more just like, all right,
I'm ranked.
I'm not.
I'm playing four for my, formy school, try to win as many matches
I can for my team.
And then I did pretty well inthat first year, and I got moved
(16:39):
up by my junior year to one ortwo on the team.
And then I was started to beranked, let's say 50, 30 through
50 in college.
And I was like, oh, huh?
I'm 30 to 50.
I'm beating some guys that are 20.
Do I think I can get there?
Let's see.
And then I would start to, youknow, get a little higher.
And then I'm like, okay, I'm20 in college.
(16:59):
Like, can I beat these guysthat are top 10?
I beat a couple of guys.
I'm like, okay, I think sinceI beat them, I think I can do it
too.
Then I got the top 10 incollege, and I was like, okay, look
at these guys that were top 10in college before me.
You know, Cam Norrie, AlexVukic, my teammate.
They're all doing pretty wellin the pros.
Maybe I can try pro tennis outand see how it goes.
(17:20):
Tried it out.
And I got to 300 in the worldquite quickly after college and said,
okay, you know, I'm 300 in the world.
I'm being some guys that are 150.
I think maybe I can do it.
But that's always been it.
That's always been a stepping stone.
I never went from 300 in theworld to thinking, okay, I'M going
to just be top 100 tomorrowfor no reason.
I always, you know, thought,hey, I got to this point, can I push
(17:42):
a little hard?
You know, can I.
Can I see myself getting tothe next level?
And that's always how it'sbeen and still is how it's been.
You know, I'm aiding the worldnow, and I'm like, okay, I've been
some guys that are top 50, butam I consistent enough yet to get
to top 50?
I don't know.
We'll see.
So it's like, it's alwaysabout, what can I do to get, you
know, the next step?
(18:03):
I.
I don't.
I can't say, hey, you know, Iwant to be top 10 in the world, because
I don't even know what that'slike, really.
You know, I.
I played a couple of thoseguys sometimes.
But top 10 in the world meansyou're doing, like, you're consistently
playing, you know, at acertain level, and, and, and you're
doing this and that.
And I don't really.
It's hard to relate and say,I'm going to be there when I don't
(18:24):
know what that's like yet.
So it's like, I've always beensomewhat realistic with my goals,
and like I said, I don't knowif it's a good thing or a bad thing,
but that's.
That's how it's been for me.
But that's kept me kind ofmotivated over the years as well,
to.
To.
I never thought anything wasout of reach either, because I just
never thought about it.
I was just kind of like, allright, like, here I am today playing
against this guy.
Maybe I can beat him, maybe I can't.
(18:46):
We'll see.
And.
And things have gone up forme, but that's obviously, you know,
you know, you don't know whata point.
At what point that, you know,that what's your ceiling or.
Or what it is.
But I would.
I would encourage any youngplayer to just, you know, put one
foot in front of the other andjust keep going.
There's no downside to that.
I would.
I would say, you know, like,that doesn't mean that, you know,
(19:06):
If I was 30 years old and Ican't crack the top 500 in the world,
that I would think it's a goodfinancial decision to keep trying
to do that.
You know, there's.
There's.
There's just, you know, thereality of life.
Some.
Some people make it, somepeople don't.
You try to do Your the bestyou can and that's all you can do.
But you know, if, if doubtsare always normal.
(19:29):
I've had them my whole career.
I have them today.
I just lost a couple matchesand not feeling too good about things,
but just trying to put onefoot in front of the other and not
think about it too much andkeep getting back to work.
And for me specifically that'sbeen the antidote to these kind of
moments.
And I think it will continueto be.
I think that's just the onlyway to go about it is to put one
(19:53):
foot in front of the other.
Think about the next match,next practice that you can get a
little better at.
That's that interesting.
It's great to hear some ofthese realistic, you know, down turret
and you've taken it stage by stage.
It's like, okay, get nextlevel, okay.
Then you worry about problemsthat come with the next level after
that when you get to that level.
But in college tennis, did youjust decide, was it that you decided
(20:15):
to put in the work?
And a bit of belief came inthere as well.
But when was there a day whereyou said, look, I'm actually going
to put in the work here, yeah,I'm talented, I haven't been working
but I'm going to decide to work.
Was there a day like that?
I wouldn't say it was a day,but it was definitely like there
was definitely a year, I thinkwhere I really started to believe
(20:36):
that okay, I can do be pro.
And I think that was my junior year.
I think my first year incollege I was having a little too
much fun maybe and I was justliving college life, you know, it's.
And not like I said, I waspretty far from thinking about truly
being, let's say a pro tennisplayer, let alone a top 100 tennis
(20:57):
player.
But I think in college alsothe system didn't let us be too,
too, too loosey goosey, too lazy.
Our coach was really tough onus in terms of training, in terms
of fitness.
So it's like, you know,naturally just being a part of that.
You're going to get, you know,bent into shape a little bit and
your character gets testedquite a bit.
(21:17):
I think in college, you know,you're, you're no longer under your
parents roof and you know,you're in the real not, I wouldn't
say real world, that's farfrom the real world.
But like you, you're part of ateam, you're part of a bigger vision
as well.
Especially I would, I would,you know, push Anyone that's looking
into playing pro tennis to goto a college that's pretty serious
(21:38):
about tennis and about, aboutbeing good and the teams has some,
you know, camaraderie andtrying and a, how do I say?
A, a common vision of being good.
And that's what, what I had atIllinois, I think I had a bunch of
guys that also, you know, ifyou slacked off, it's not just the
coach that gets mad, it's the team.
The team's like, all right,like we're trying to win and you're,
(21:59):
you're, you know, tanking.
It's not, not a good feelingto let other people down.
I think that's one benefit ofcollege is, you know, you're, you're
put into the system that, youknow, it, it'll get you better at
tennis and it'll get youbetter at, at managing, you know,
life in general.
It's kind of, I'm really happy.
I mean, not, like I said, Iwasn't even considering going pro
(22:22):
before college.
I was actually consideringgoing to like, let's say a super
high level academic school,like a Harvard or something like
that because, you know, tenniscan give you opportunity to go there
and then, you know, maybe yougo on to get quite a good job or
something after that you have,you know, it's, it's quite a privilege
(22:43):
to be like, to be able to usesports to get into some of these
places that otherwise would bequite, quite tough just, just on
academics alone.
So that was something I waslooking at.
But instead of, you know, I, Ichose to go to a school that had
a little more of a balance of both.
I, I, that was my personalopinion on it.
I didn't go to Harvard, so Ican't say how it, how it is there.
(23:05):
But yeah, no, I think, I thinkgoing the college route matures you
as well.
I think if I went pro beforecollege, I would get so burnt out
playing, you know, 15Ks.
I wasn't good, so I was goingto be losing for two years straight.
If I did that, I think I wouldhave quit tennis a long time ago.
So it's like, I think collegeis quite, quite a good path for guys
(23:26):
that aren't fully ready to go pro.
Now you ask me about like,let's say Fonseca or someone like
that don't go to college,like, you know, but that's, you know,
that's, that's, that'ssomething that should be obvious,
you know what I mean?
I think if it's not obvious Ithink going to college is the better
route.
It's kind of funny.
I use Reddit a good bit andevery time I load Reddit, my browser,
(23:49):
for some reason it goes to aReddit post saying, fonseca signed
for uva.
What?
Uv, Virginia was it?
Where did he go?
Yeah, and it's like, it was crazy.
But question.
You probably get this questionall the time, Covid, where I'm sure
parents come up to you, theywant your advice.
Is there.
What's your cut off for a player?
(24:10):
Obviously, Fonseca and Alcresand Sinner, the exceptional.
But do you think there's acutoff that a player to go pro or
to go college?
Obviously, if you're one ofthe best juniors, you're going to
get your Harvard or Stanfordor wherever you want.
You've.
You're picking a bunch.
But is there a certain linewhere you should just go pro?
That's.
It's a tough question for me.
(24:31):
I don't think it's a certainline because of how, how high the
level on college tennis now is.
And I think now, I mean, Idon't really know the details of
all the things they've donefor college tennis, but.
But I'm pretty sure they havequite a bit of incentive now to go
to college because then youget out and you have these like,
junior exam or special exams.
(24:51):
I don't know what it's calledexactly, for I think accelerator
program, something like that.
I think there's so manyforeigners in college tennis now
you have these guys gettingpaid as well.
So financially, it's not a baddecision too, to go to college first.
I think you really, I mean, Idon't know what the line is, but
I know I knew who Fonseca wasbefore he went to uva, and that's
(25:15):
saying something.
And when that article cameout, not just me, but a bunch of
pros were like, what's goingon here?
Like, get this guy to pros.
He's, you know, he's.
Most of us said all right,like, yeah, he's committed to uva,
but we'll see if he actually,like, there's no way, because the
kid was.
I mean, he's absolutely amazing.
I don't know.
I don't know what the, whatthe exact line would be, but it's
(25:37):
hard because it's, it's, it'snot really like a ranking kind of
thing.
It's more like, you know, whenI saw Fonseca play and some of the
guys he's beating, even thoughMaybe he's ranked 400 in the world.
You're like, okay, this kid's,this kid's ready to play tennis now.
Like ready to play pro tennis now.
He's got that much talent.
And so it's hard, let's say,to say, you know, you know, a line
(26:00):
in the sand of like when youshould, what you should do.
But I think 95% of all top,even top 100 prospects should go
first to college, I think, andthen see, maybe just go for a year.
My buddy Ethan Quinn just wentfor a year.
It's not like the average agefor tennis is young.
(26:23):
You need to be physically alsoquite developed to compete at the
highest level.
Doesn't mean you can't make itquite good without the physicality.
But there's no rush basically,is what I'm saying.
There's guys are playing till34, 35 now and Joker's 38.
That's credit to his longevity.
But realistically I would saymore like 35, 36 is, is the cutoff.
(26:45):
And so you know, 18, 18 yearolds don't really, don't really need
to go pro.
They don't need to like, youknow, you, I think, like I said,
I don't know what the line is,but I think you'll know like, and
I think people will tell youas well.
I think a lot of people willcome up to you.
Pros can even tell you likeif, if you should go pro or go, go
to college.
(27:06):
Yeah, well, and plus you, yousee good college guys.
I'm not sure exactly whatranking you landed.
You probably finished.
You're a tree.
Were you about 350 in theworld coming out of college?
Yeah, something like that.
I think maybe a little lower.
400, something like that.
Yeah, that's what a top goodcollege player is going to.
If you're really good collegeplayer, you're going to come out.
(27:27):
Yeah.
So you, you're sort ofskipping the futures, squeezing into
the challengers and you've,you've missed obviously you've had
it a bit cushier and probablygot paid.
Not probably in your case, butnow you get paid in university if
you're good and cushy numberfitness is up, you're strong, you
have, you probably learnedsome life lessons in college, I hope.
Learn to do your own washing.
(27:47):
Yeah.
Ready for the tour but soquickly jumping on to.
You had your.
Sorry before actually, lastquestion on college tennis.
What in your opinion is thedifference between, between a top
college tennis player and younow in the top 100.
So if you look back at the dayyou left college and today, where's
(28:08):
the biggest shift?
I think, for one, you know,you have to be a little more used
to losing.
I think in, in the pros, it's,you know, and if you're a really
good college player, you'reactually winning quite a bit of matches,
(28:28):
I think, and, and you're notlosing that much.
I mean, you're losing maybeagainst, you know, the other top
players, but a lot of times ifyou're playing in the conference
and stuff, you're not playinga lot of the other top players, you
know, every week.
So you're maybe going, let'ssay Colton Smith, I don't know.
Let's say, I think he wentlike 26 and 2.
But on the pro tour andespecially at the ATP Tour, when
(28:50):
you make it the top 100,you're losing.
Oh, you're losing every week.
And, and you have a week between.
Whereas in college, you know,like, you can play a match and then
in a couple days you haveanother match, win or lose, so you're
right back on the horse with.
In the pros, you have to just be.
You have to be okay with.
(29:12):
I wouldn't say be okay withlosing, but learn how to lose.
And that's one thing that Ithink a lot of the college guys can
struggle with coming out ofcollege is, you know, you come to
college, I mean, you come out,you get out of college, you start
going the pro tour, maybe youdo well in a couple tournaments,
but then, you know, you losesix matches in a row.
That's something that happenedto me the first two years out of
college.
Still kind of happens.
(29:32):
I have to learn how to dealwith that.
And it's not easy becauseeveryone's really good.
So, like, you're trying tofind where to give confidence from
while you're trying to winmatches against the best in the world.
And that's super tough.
So like I said, you know, atthe start with the, with how the
top guys are mentally, likethe mentality of being a pro, you
have to learn how to be a protennis player.
And that's.
(29:52):
And that means, you know,handling a long season from January
to November, handling, youknow, being on the road for months
at a time, not seeing anybody,you know, being away from home for
that long, learning how to goout and practice the day after you
lose with, you know, you don'thave a college coach for screaming
(30:13):
at you, making, making you go play.
You have a coach that you nowpay that it's just different.
It's just different in a lotof ways.
And you have to learn how tolive with that and learn how to excel
in that kind of environment.
It's really quite differentfrom college.
But I think college does agood job of setting you up for it.
Even though it is different, Ithink it can build your character
(30:35):
in a different way to stillget you mature and ready to go for
this next challenge.
But yeah, in that sense, it'squite different.
If you haven't noticed.
If you watch a lot of thecollege matches, you see the celebrations,
you see the grunting, you seethe amount of energy in each match,
it's super high.
But if you watch some of theseplayers, I won't name them because
(30:59):
a lot of people can saythey're quite annoying and stuff,
but you watch them in collegedoing all these crazy things and
they get to pro tour and justnaturally, obviously getting older
also helps, but they juststart to get a little more calm,
a little more collected.
Because what my theory is, andI think is quite true, is week, week
to week, you're playing somany weeks, you just can't do it.
(31:20):
It's just too.
You play five, let's say evenyou're doing well, you're playing
four or five matches a week,you're going crazy in every match.
It's going to tire you out.
You just can't do it.
And mentally, it's justreally, really hard.
And so people, you kind oflike, get in this mode that.
And you see the same guysevery week.
So it's just like, it's this.
Everyone starts to kind of getsimilar to each other in a lot of
(31:43):
ways.
And I think that's somethingthat you'll.
You learn as, as you get onthe pro tour is like, you know, you
got so many weeks, you got tolearn how to like, manage yourself,
manage your emotions, man, it.
Manage your tennis.
And, and that's somethingthat's very different from college.
As, as in college, you're kindof just told to give it everything
you've got on every point anddo this, you know, very.
(32:06):
I don't know.
I don't know how to describe it.
But yeah, it's a bit easierwhen you have a big team as well.
But yeah, that's crazy.
It sounds like it's a, youknow, life on the road for you.
It's an office job.
Yeah.
And that's exactly what it is.
What the difference is incollege and pro.
I mean, by definition, that'skind of what it Is, is now you're,
(32:28):
you know, in the real worldand you're working an office job.
That's sometimes things aregreat, sometimes things aren't so
great.
It's a long season.
You could, you could lovetennis one week you can.
After five weeks on the road,you're like I can't wait to go home.
But all those things have tobe handled in a professional way
because you, you're still, youknow, the guy across the net from
(32:48):
you doesn't care.
And what in which, you know,feeling you have that day, you have
to still go out there and, andtry to try to win the match.
And like I said, that'ssomething I'm actually still getting,
getting better at.
You know, there's times inthis year where I've been so excited
to go out and train andthere's times this year where I've
the last thing I want to do issee a tennis court that's not always
tied to results either sometimes.
(33:10):
And you know, I've been doingsuper well and some moments of the
year and I just, I'm sick of this.
You know, it's just, it's,it's not, it's a job.
Do you decide to practice thatday or do you say I'm not, not practicing
today.
Most of the times you know,you got to practice and that's what
it is.
And then there's times whereit's healthy to take, take off.
That's something you and decide.
(33:32):
I played quite a bit oftournaments this, this clay season
and right before clay season.
So I decided to take a weekoff and, and go to Italy on the beach
for a week and I think it'shelped me doesn't mean that, that
now I can come back and startplaying like Federer the day back
but, but mentally it's a, it'sa good kind of refresh reset and
(33:54):
now I have to get you know,the reps in that I didn't do for
the week.
I'm, I'm getting them in nowon the grass hit for four hours today.
So I'm trying to kind of makeup for it but I'm definitely more
excited to be back on thecourt than I was a week ago before
that break.
Nice.
And speaking of Fedra, youhave that one had a backhand.
Normally when I get player onthe podcast I look to what videos
(34:14):
do I have and I have a load ofa chunkier videos with the one handed
backhand.
You get a lot of love for that.
Yeah, absolutely.
And that's I You know, mywhole life people have told me that,
you know, they love mybackhand, they love how it looks.
I've always almost got itdesensitized by it.
I still appreciate it.
Like, like, you know,sometimes I get, I get to really
(34:37):
think about it.
I'm like, wow, it's, it's,it's nice that people love to watch
how I play and stuff but atthe same time sometimes I wish I
had the two handed back and tohelp me out for some shots, you know,
and it's, especially with themodern game, I feel like it's definitely
leaning towards a more, youknow, two hand, two handed backhand
definitely helps you in some,in some areas, specifically on returns
(35:00):
and having the extra strength.
A lot of the guys now are more.
And the way the game is justwith the balls slowed down the game
a little bit, I think it, ithelps to be able to hit the ball
super hard.
I think the two handers are alittle more consistent with that
now.
That doesn't mean that onehander is dead.
I think, you know, Musetti hasbeen doing amazing, so what can you
(35:21):
really say?
It's maybe we just, maybe Ijust suck.
I don't know.
But.
Well, you're keeping the dreamalive for me.
Yeah, I just, it's, it's my,my whole life I've told, I've been
told I have such a beautiful game.
I'm like, I would trade it infor a second for an UG if I could
win more matches, I think.
But yeah, no, but it's nice,it's nice to hear.
And ATP 250 this year.
(35:43):
You got a good run.
You got the final taking downtop 10 player R.
Rublev.
How did that feel?
Yeah, felt great.
I think that was my probablybiggest win I've ever had.
I've watched that guy play,you know, from college, from when
I was still ranked, you know,I can't even imagine when I was ranked
nothing.
(36:04):
And watching that guy playwith the best of all, like, you know,
it's almost, it's almostcomical that I'm able to play against
those kind of guys nowadaysand be, and win a match against them.
So super amazing.
You know, a lot of the friendsI had from home that I used to play
tennis with, you know, beforecollege, would always make jokes
(36:26):
like, you know, who are youhitting with tomorrow?
Like Rublev.
And it was so far away, thatwould be a funny joke.
And now it's like I'm playing,I'm really playing with these guys.
It's like it's cool.
It's really cool.
Nice.
That's great for you to have aweek like that.
You need them, don't you, tokeep the spirits up high and obviously,
(36:49):
bit more cash and a few extrapoints and it's all good.
Helps, helps.
But like I said, it's a longyears, you know, I think I had about
a day to celebrate and noteven celebrate, actually lost a heartbreak
in the final.
So it was kind of.
I was kind of sad and pissedafter that week, even though it should
have been.
Obviously it.
It was a very positive week,but went straight to Rotterdam the
(37:13):
next day and got sick.
And it was, you know, it's.
It's hard this tennis season.
You know, you don't get.
You don't get much time toreally soak anything in.
You're just kind of on to the next.
But that's both the beauty and.
And kind of like the ugly partof it is that you also.
I think actually Rublev wasthe one to say, like, every week's
(37:34):
an opportunity.
You could lose six straightweeks and then win the seventh week.
And hey, look at you, you'reon top of the world.
So.
So that's the one thing withtennis is just ever, you know, ever
going.
You know, I've had weeks whereI did super well, and then the next
three weeks, lose first round,and then you're in the dumps.
Like, we're literally justlike that.
It's.
It's crazy.
But that's what I mean aboutalso managing your emotions, managing
(37:58):
yourself over this long year.
And what is a celebratorynight for you if you win your next
250, 500 or whatever, youdecide to be a big celebration.
How do you treat yourself?
Honestly, if I was still incollege, I would tell you much different
because nowadays I really don't.
(38:20):
I'm really tame.
And I think you have to be.
You hear all these storiesabout Agassi and McEnroe having.
Having their fun during theirdays, saffin, all this stuff.
But I think nowadays a game'sso physical, so different, that,
you know, I think everyone'sjust super professional.
And I've fallen into that as well.
I'm, you know, my celebratorytime would be a nice dinner with
(38:41):
maybe my girlfriend, my coach,something like that.
Not, you know, usually it's onthe road.
Usually it's at some random city.
It's.
Usually there's, you know, Iwouldn't even know what to do.
So it's, it's.
And like I said, Yourcelebratory means you've probably
won the tournament.
Meaning you have anothertournament, like a day or two.
Yeah.
Unless you're Carlos andyou're in a.
You're on a flight to Ibiza.
(39:02):
So I think that guy knows howto have fun.
And, And I would be just likehim if I, if, If I won the French
Open and my next tournamentwasn't for like two weeks.
But you gotta, you gotta actlike, you gotta act where you are.
You can't just, you know, havea good week and then just have fun
(39:23):
for two weeks.
And if you're like, you know,80, 80 to 100 in the world, there's
always, always the next one.
So I don't really know.
Yeah, tough to answer thatquestion nowadays.
It will change depending onthe ranking.
I think so.
And Damien, your coach, reachout to me, I don't know, like five,
six, seven weeks ago, and say,I'm looking to get a saber.
Which should I get?
(39:43):
And he bought, he bought asaber middle.
And he was your coach.
I didn't know at the time.
And then I started seeingpeople sent me a couple of videos
of you hit with the saber,which was exciting for me to see.
We get some pros, it would.
It.
Some we get videos, some we don't.
So it's just to use people normally.
Somebody use that term and wemight see it.
But for you in.
(40:04):
Do you use the saber?
He force you to use the saber?
No, no, I use it.
I actually asked for a logwhen he has two of them in his bag
now.
I don't know how.
When he got the second one.
But yeah, I, you know, a bigthing for that I've.
I don't know for my game is,you know, trying to really feel the
(40:26):
ball.
And I, I'm playing pretty wellwhen I can really feel the ball and
I can catch the ball on my strings.
And so, you know, the saber'sgot that little, basically sweet
spot.
And I.
For warm ups.
I think it's such a good, goodthing for the eyes and, and for the
feel is if you can reallycatch it in that, in that little,
little racket, then you takethe big rack and you feel like it's,
(40:47):
it's.
It's easy.
It's like, it's.
So it's similar to like, youknow, playing with the wood rack.
When I used to, before thesaber, I, I used to play with a wood
racket here and there because,you know, it really gets your eyes
going, your, Your coordination to.
It's.
It's it's not easy, you know,if you play with that thing for the
first time and you're tryingto, I don't know, be.
Be lazy with it, you're.
(41:09):
You're gonna shoot.
You know, I hit the frameevery time, and so when I know I'm
playing pretty well, when Ican hit the ball pretty well with
that thing, and if I'm notfeeling the ball well, I tell Dan,
give me that saber.
I want to do some reps with it.
So it's been a really nicetool for training to start, mostly
to start off the trainings.
I'll hit with it for five to10 minutes and then take my racket
(41:32):
and start playing.
Amazing.
Thank you for that.
And finally, what racket to use?
What's your spec, and whatstring do you use?
I use a blade, 16 by 19 in this.
The Wilson.
I use 4G in the mains and aloerough in the cross for my string.
(41:53):
And, yeah, I've been usingthat since.
Since college.
I've always used Wilson mywhole life.
But I think in my second yearin college, I tried that racket.
The.
Yeah, just the one off the shelf.
The vise at the time was the V6.
And.
And.
And loved it.
Just.
And I think, you know, messingaround too much with rackets, because
(42:15):
it's always kind of like adetrimental thing.
For me specifically, you know, I.
There's always that time whereyou try a new racket, you get to
the honeymoon stage where youlove it for two weeks, and you play
a match, but then you lose,and you're like, oh, wow, this really
wasn't what I thought it was.
And.
And just this, like, loop.
So for me, I found the racketthat I love, and.
And I'm just kind of stickingwith it.
And that's the.
Probably the most important,you know, decision you can make in
(42:38):
terms of your.
It is the most importantdecision you can make in terms of
your equipment.
You know, going with adifferent clothing brand or something.
That doesn't really change theway you play at all.
But.
But.
But rackets are quite important.
So once you find something tolike, I.
I like, you know, juststicking with it.
Is it stock weight or do youhave extra?
Is it.
I've got it customized a bit.
(42:59):
I don't know.
The customization specs havethem saved somewhere, I think.
But guys at Wilson, they justget my rackets, they do them up,
and they send to me already customized.
So they're really good with that.
Nice.
Alex.
Well, great having you on.
Best of luck.
Over the next few weeks on theslippy grass.
Yeah.
Thank you, Fabio.
Thanks for having me, Sam.
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