This week on the ATP Tennis Podcast…
BORNA CORIC ON WINNING THE CINCINNATI MASTERS TITLE – “I’m still not aware of it, obviously. It was a very tough match, at the beginning I was not playing very well, but I started to serve better. I started to play much, much better and I was fighting very hard, and in the second set I think I played the best set of the whole year.”
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF KEEPING A BALANCE – “It is important sometimes for me to let go and concentrate on other things in life. Tennis has been occupying a lot of space in my mind daily, a lot of tension, a lot of stress with my competitive ego going out every day. I needed to feel human again, to feel balanced, because sometimes competition makes you lose your mind.”
CAMERON NORRIE ON HIS AMBITIONS FOR THE FUTURE – “For me, this year anyway, it’s to push towards No. 1. Obviously, it didn’t help that there weren’t any points at Wimbledon, so it’s tough to do that, but World No. 1 is that ultimate goal for me and I’m trying to take care of everything in my power to give me the best chance to do that.”
BEN SHELTON ON BREAKING THROUGH TO THE PROFESSIONAL LEVEL – “I was lucky this summer to be the young guy still in college and not have any weight on my shoulders. I felt a lot less pressure than I think other players feel on the Challenger tour and I was just out there having fun. So to be able to go out on my first tournament in Arkansas and just swing away and realise that my level was good enough to compete with some of those guys kind of propelled me forward for the rest of the summer and helped my confidence grow.”
GRIGOR DIMITROV ON HIS ABILITY TO STAY CALM – “Being on Tour for so many years, that helped me a lot to understand that the sport itself changes. You know you expect of yourself always to be the best, but you’ve always got to alter your preparation, your fitness, your food. Just so many things that are happening behind the scenes and all I wanted to do was start being kinder to my body. So many small things I changed and that instantly made me calmer.”
MARIN CILIC ON HIS HUNGER TO ACHIEVE MORE – “There are certain times in our careers where you just feel incredible on court and those were the days for me when I felt invincible. This sport is extremely exciting because you can improve every single day and with that energy, I feel that everything is falling nicely into place, but first of all you need to have that hunger inside of you. I feel that these last seven or eight months my progress has been really good and that motivates me to go for more.”
RAFAEL NADAL ON SERENA WILLIAMS IMPENDING RETIREMENT – “She’s a huge star in tennis and in sport in general, and in some way I feel sad because we are losing an amazing ambassador. But at the same time, for everyone it’s an end, nothing is forever, and she deserves to choose whatever works for her at this stage of her life. Super happy to share lots of moments of my career with her on the Tour, she’s an amazing inspiration for a lot of people, so well done for her. Wish her all the best and even if she’s not playing after the US Open, hopefully we can keep enjoying her being around on the Tour because I always believe that the legends make our sport bigger if they stay around the sport.”
-Show Presented by Brian Clark
-Interviews by Mike Cation, Ursin Caderas and Jill Craybas
–Marin Cilic Feature by ATP Uncovered
-Commentary from Lee Goodall
Source Tennis – ATP World Tour
