Speaker 1: This is the what you're talking about with this podcast,
Speaker 1: and there's no preamble today, there's no mucking around. We
Speaker 1: are straight to the crux of it. King Marcus of Ilkley,
Speaker 1: you came, you saw you conquered. Mate. First of all,
Speaker 1: I want to talk about Ilkley. I want to talk
Speaker 1: about grass courts and teamwork and all of that. What
Speaker 1: your plans are? Where are you now? What are you doing?
Speaker 2: I am in an airbnb by Baron's Court. I'm playing
Speaker 2: Queen's this week, the Queen's Club HSBC Championships.
Speaker 1: Nice of course, the stellar artoire in my mind.
Speaker 2: And yeah the cinch since since you agon of course, yeah,
Speaker 2: fever Tree a tree.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh yeah, of course, yeah, well done, well done. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and other branding sponsorships available. So tell me, so you
Speaker 1: got straight into Queens.
Speaker 2: We've got a wild card. Yeah, no, you don't get
Speaker 2: into I mean there's I think the coup was sixty
Speaker 2: or something like that, so so here's always strong Queens.
Speaker 2: Just before Wimbledon, pairs wanted to get on the grass.
Speaker 2: So yeah, so we got a wild card. Yeah. So
Speaker 2: that was confirmed on Friday of last week, not this
Speaker 2: this coming Friday.
Speaker 1: And as yet we don't know about the wildcard for Wimbledon.
Speaker 2: No, we don't know about any other wild cards Eastport,
Speaker 2: but I think we will find out this week and
Speaker 2: I think, I mean, the best part I've ever been
Speaker 2: for a wild card. But yeah, don't count your chickens.
Speaker 1: Hmm, don't count your wild cards before they hatch. So look,
Speaker 1: let's let's talk about why you're in such a great position.
Speaker 1: You're sixty five in the world. And also, dear listener
Speaker 1: or viewer, however you consume this, isn't it amazing? Like
Speaker 1: we're talking to the sixty fifth best doubles player on
Speaker 1: the planet and actually the biggest Grand Slam of the
Speaker 1: years a couple of weeks away. You don't know if
Speaker 1: you're in it. You don't know if you're going to
Speaker 1: be turning that little uber app on and doing a
Speaker 1: few deliveries or playing in the Grand Slam. Always astonishes
Speaker 1: me and how cool you are under that kind of pressure.
Speaker 1: But let's let's talk about one of the reasons you're
Speaker 1: sixty five in the world is last week you won it, Ilkley,
Speaker 1: We did.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it was a it was a tricky week actually,
Speaker 2: so lots of rain, delace, lots of indoor practice, and yeah,
Speaker 2: so I actually actually felt my achilles go on the Monday.
Speaker 2: We'd hit for an hour indoors. I think some serves
Speaker 2: at the end, and I felt for me, felt something
Speaker 2: bad and achilles. You don't want to mess with, do you.
Speaker 2: So I was in the physios a lot. I was
Speaker 2: in with a doctor a lot, and we were kind
Speaker 2: of debating whether I was going to play at all
Speaker 2: last week. So that was, you know, in hindsight, now
Speaker 2: that's quite an interesting interesting thing. But I got taped up,
Speaker 2: we got a Wednesday start, and you know, I played.
Speaker 2: We played the second match indoor, the fourteen twelve match.
Speaker 2: That was quite topsy turvy. But yeah, so I got
Speaker 2: three matches on the grass.
Speaker 1: Unless someone's following this, they don't know how much I mean,
Speaker 1: you say topsy turvy. Last week in the UK, it
Speaker 1: basically just rained, right and for grass scoots, that's terrible.
Speaker 1: What happened? How do you find out about where you're
Speaker 1: playing and how you get switched to an indoor a critic?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, so so yeah, everything changes through the day,
Speaker 2: so your schedule to first of all, you schedule your
Speaker 2: practice right, and then so you practice for one that
Speaker 2: is still raining, so then you try and push that back,
Speaker 2: and then they got so backlogged and they said, well,
Speaker 2: we're going to put the doubles indoors because we need
Speaker 2: some matches to get done. Now, begg in mind, the
Speaker 2: first round already done. So this is you know, they're
Speaker 2: talking about four matches in the in the whole tournament.
Speaker 2: They did the women's as well, but they threw the
Speaker 2: doubles inside and there's not lot you can do about it. Obviously,
Speaker 2: I didn't want to go in for my for my achilles,
Speaker 2: change the surface, it's more impact on the indoors. But
Speaker 2: you know, once once they made that decision, you've got
Speaker 2: to You've got to go. You've got to play. So
Speaker 2: then I went to the doctor and visio and said, look,
Speaker 2: can I play, did a bit of testing, taped it
Speaker 2: up like a mummy and and they said, well, if
Speaker 2: you feel it, just pull out straight away. And fortunately
Speaker 2: I had no feeling in my left leg at all
Speaker 2: because they wrapped it so tight. So so that was.
Speaker 1: So you go indoors. This is the It's kind of
Speaker 1: like the reawakening of the partnership with David Stephenson and
Speaker 1: I mean watching watching it he looks like a dream
Speaker 1: doubles partner. The serfs are just banging down. There's so
Speaker 1: many put away volley opportunities, aren't there? Off the back
Speaker 1: of that, and then obviously with you serving his reach,
Speaker 1: I mean you you always say the phrase mister tickle arms,
Speaker 1: but it's it's slightly longer than mister tickle arms, isn't it?
Speaker 2: Yeah? And it makes.
Speaker 1: How did you how did you find the partnership kind
Speaker 1: of progress through the week?
Speaker 2: Yeah, there was. There was a lot of problem solving
Speaker 2: each day. So you see first round as my first
Speaker 2: match on the grass, it's it's super windy as well
Speaker 2: there where it was in a couple of matches. So
Speaker 2: we're just trying to look after the basics on our
Speaker 2: serf and find opportunities on their serve. But yeah, we
Speaker 2: got we got better, We got better better. Mentally, I
Speaker 2: was a bit on edge this week actually on court,
Speaker 2: like a bit more not more negative than joyful. And
Speaker 2: so you know, after the after the semi final, and
Speaker 2: you know, my coach said to me, look, it's just
Speaker 2: your main focus for theirs to be positive, enjoy You
Speaker 2: play the best tennis when you've kind of being a
Speaker 2: bit silly or enjoying yourself. So so yeah, we we
Speaker 2: were working on more than just tennis through the week.
Speaker 2: It was, you know, after we won the quarter finals,
Speaker 2: we had you know, you guys don't look like a
Speaker 2: unit enough when you're sort of walking around and stuff
Speaker 2: like that. So we've had to work on more than
Speaker 2: just tennis. But I'd say by the final that was
Speaker 2: that was our best match in terms of maybe not performance.
Speaker 2: I mean, certainly my side. I struggled for you know,
Speaker 2: a good half an hour to find returns, but fortunately
Speaker 2: everyone did because it was difficult. But yeah, we we
Speaker 2: played our best match. I felt in the final.
Speaker 1: Why were you negative? You've just you just played your
Speaker 1: first rolling garross. You're looking forward to the grass. No
Speaker 1: more brick dust in the eyes? What happened?
Speaker 2: Not not negative? Just I can get quite chirpy. I
Speaker 2: can get quite common, you know, if if it's if
Speaker 2: it's windy, or I'm not feeling something, I can you know,
Speaker 2: vocalize that a bit too much, you know, to my
Speaker 2: to my coach at the side, or whatever. Just a
Speaker 2: bit on edge. I don't know, Just just I guess
Speaker 2: normal nerves wanting to play well on the grass, not
Speaker 2: feeling as as as well as I wanted to out there,
Speaker 2: but but I say it now, and obviously I'm not
Speaker 2: going to I'm just jumping on the grass for the
Speaker 2: first time, and I don't know, probably feeling a bit
Speaker 2: on edge about about my leg as well. I don't know,
Speaker 2: but but I'm glad to say I got better as
Speaker 2: the week went on. So yeah, but sometimes you go
Speaker 2: out there and you you don't. I don't put the
Speaker 2: best mental performance in sometimes.
Speaker 1: And so how do you feel today? Like going into Queens?
Speaker 2: But oh yeah, I had had a hit there last night.
Speaker 2: The courts a different. It's a lot quicker because there's
Speaker 2: less wind and the you know, grasses. I don't want
Speaker 2: to say true, it's just different. So so yeah, we'll
Speaker 2: just find our range. I feel a bit more relaxed
Speaker 2: now I've had some matters on the grass. Obviously a
Speaker 2: tournament win helps as well, so so yeah, feeling a
Speaker 2: bit better. Dosed up on vitamin C for a couple
Speaker 2: of days. So yeah, we'll continue to do that. Rock Star, a.
Speaker 1: Little while ago, when you've got into the top sixty,
Speaker 1: you said to me all that I'm sixty and then
Speaker 1: you looked and we were working out what you have
Speaker 1: to do to be sixty to sixty one, and then
Speaker 1: I said what you've got to do to be twenty
Speaker 1: six and so on, you know, and we were working
Speaker 1: it out. You're sneaking up there, aren't you.
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, I mean what into the.
Speaker 1: Sixties now, in the mid sixties.
Speaker 2: I went up three places. Yeah, from sixty eight to
Speaker 2: sixty five. I've I've got a few points coming off,
Speaker 2: you know, Queens Wimbledon and UMAG final and of July.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's always the same for me. It's just
Speaker 2: to try and keep building and making it sound like
Speaker 2: an interview a bit here, but you have to just
Speaker 2: take a week at a time and try and improve
Speaker 2: and the ranking kind of looks after itself. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I have nudged up there. Yeah, there could be a
Speaker 2: phase where I stay around the same ranking for a bit.
Speaker 1: When you're playing Ilkley last week, is it on your
Speaker 1: mind going into the final with Before the final you're thinking,
Speaker 1: if I win this, I get X amount of quired
Speaker 1: and I get to go up to sixty five and
Speaker 1: that's going to put me in great stead for play
Speaker 1: the next few slams. And are you thinking that?
Speaker 2: No, Well, I know that, but it doesn't really I
Speaker 2: don't know if not really certainly not when it's in
Speaker 2: a three or on a tiebreak, I'm not thinking about that.
Speaker 2: It's it's about the next point. I've got quite good
Speaker 2: at that, Whereas before I think probably a couple of
Speaker 2: years ago, i'd have been looking at half I win
Speaker 2: this match and I'll go to this ranking and that
Speaker 2: means I can be seen in it, like, but now
Speaker 2: it's kind of you know, I think I went up
Speaker 2: one spot after that final win, Like, it's not I'm
Speaker 2: not going to ever win one match and it completely
Speaker 2: changed my ranking anymore, which is really good in the
Speaker 2: sense that you know, I'm not going to drop that
Speaker 2: much in one week either. You know, one tournament can
Speaker 2: completely change my ranking, but one match can't. So it's
Speaker 2: a case of, yeah, if I made quarters or semis
Speaker 2: of a slamper, say, that would really help my ranking.
Speaker 2: But first round to second round, second round to third round,
Speaker 2: not much.
Speaker 1: Let's let's take a quick look at Queen. So you
Speaker 1: win ill Clee, which for non UK people is in
Speaker 1: your and what do you do. Do you get the
Speaker 1: rattler down or did you drive? How did you get
Speaker 1: here or fly.
Speaker 2: We got a lift to Ilkley station, got the train
Speaker 2: to Leeds and then got picked up at King's Cross
Speaker 2: from one of the lovely Queen's cars they have here.
Speaker 1: Oh beautiful. So Queen's is an unbelievable tournament London. I
Speaker 1: actually went last Thursday. Not a ball struck because of
Speaker 1: the rain, so hooray for me. Just sat in the
Speaker 1: sat in the kind of promo tent for twelve hours
Speaker 1: or something, so had a lovely day. Nonetheless, the doubles
Speaker 1: draw is the who's who of tennis, isn't it. I mean, Hella,
Speaker 1: Vara and Patton, but like going through it, you've got Harrison, Skupski,
Speaker 1: Demonur is teaming up with cam Norri and a little
Speaker 1: pairing called Ram and Salisbury back together.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think they're playing the remainder of the grass together.
Speaker 1: Just danger everywhere, isn't it? And Cash and Glass is
Speaker 1: at the bottom there like I mean it's it's the
Speaker 1: quality is unreal and you're in there. Tell us about
Speaker 1: I mean, we kind of know about your opponents, but
Speaker 1: tell us what you're expecting.
Speaker 2: I love the way you said that you're in the
Speaker 2: we played them last year. We've got like a hybrid
Speaker 2: draw of last year. We played them first round and
Speaker 2: we beat them last year in the match tirek to
Speaker 2: play heliovar pattern. It was the other side of the draw. Look,
Speaker 2: they're very good. We played an incredibly good match last
Speaker 2: year and it was you know, they weren't quite on
Speaker 2: top of their game and we nip them. It's tough.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be tough out there. But yeah, if we
Speaker 2: if we if we serve well, if we look after
Speaker 2: what we can look after, we're going to be very
Speaker 2: difficult to beat.
Speaker 1: So if if dave yes, lots of ifs, what are
Speaker 1: you expecting from them? And have you trained? Is there
Speaker 1: like a specifics now that you're into around they're going
Speaker 1: to go here if this happens, or they favor eye
Speaker 1: formation and a break left and stuff.
Speaker 2: Not at that level like when you when you're ten
Speaker 2: eleven in the world, you can kind of serve anywhere
Speaker 2: and move anywhere. So yeah, they'll they'll have their tendencies.
Speaker 2: But it's yeah, you actually look at the breakdown of
Speaker 2: these top pairs and where they serve. It's kind of
Speaker 2: thirty three, thirty three, thirty three, fifty twenty five, twenty five.
Speaker 2: It's not there's there's not much you can read into
Speaker 2: it from what I imagine and from playing. Yeah even
Speaker 2: even not even top twenty players, top fifty, top one hundred, like,
Speaker 2: there's not many players for that many limits anymore. So
Speaker 2: it's a case of trying to make ourselves set ourselves
Speaker 2: up to be as difficult to beat as possible, and
Speaker 2: then you know, watch out for certain tendencies that I'm
Speaker 2: sure they'll be doing the same.
Speaker 1: But yeah, what is what does your day look like today?
Speaker 1: Because this is just a quick touch and we're going
Speaker 1: to do like a bit of a more thorough deep
Speaker 1: dive later in a week, So what does your your
Speaker 1: day look like?
Speaker 2: I'm gonna head to the gym in a second, grab
Speaker 2: a coffee, head to the gym, see the physios, get
Speaker 2: taped up, and then we're training three till five. So
Speaker 2: we got some we've got to practice set against I
Speaker 2: think Andreosy and Genard, and then we'll do specifics kind
Speaker 2: of either side of that, and then I'll go and
Speaker 2: get a massage, get some food. Obviously, I can't believe
Speaker 2: I didn't mention food. And then food's amazing here by
Speaker 2: the way, while I was waiting for my chicken yesterday.
Speaker 2: They leave pizza on the side, like there's a pizza
Speaker 2: oven't and then and a lot of people just while
Speaker 2: they're waiting for the food just slide to bits of
Speaker 2: pizza down. It's quite difficult. So yeah, food obviously, and
Speaker 2: trying to avoid the pizza, and yeah, check the schedule
Speaker 2: and move from there again. It's it's you feel like
Speaker 2: practice days are actually probably more bit see the matchdays,
Speaker 2: because there's lots of organize as well, and a lot
Speaker 2: to do in Queens. Yeah, yeah, that Queens.
Speaker 1: Yeah, look, I'm gonna let you go because I know
Speaker 1: that you do have to go, because you're a busy boy.
Speaker 1: Because that's what it is. Sixty five in the world.
Speaker 1: Who you know, it's me lounging around flicking cards in
Speaker 1: the top hat. You're the one making moves. Have a
Speaker 1: lovely day, mate, and we'll do a proper pod later
Speaker 1: in the week.
Speaker 2: Three three moves, three moves.
Speaker 3: Last week, alright, Victor of Baranco on Troumon Sergeant Murder
Speaker 3: of Craig Frederick and I'm the trumpet and the composition
Speaker 3: the Army Blues
Speaker 2: Worked like that