Alexander Bublik — broken rackets, his take on tennis & big money

Transcript

Tennis is a part of life, yes, mine. The Sasha you know on the court is very different from who I am in life. What's the ambassador? Stones. I’m in such a period now, yes, when I was there for the first time, probably over the last 6-7 years I didn’t win many matches. I guess I play precisely because I still have a name. Charismatic, cheerful and kind. For him, I don’t even know who the authority is, if you ask the question like that. [music] Basically, the mood is always stable. I am always in a good mood. And you only rushed me about lunch. Tennis is a part of life, yes, mine. This is one of the assets that I use to make money there. But for me, this is not some kind of driving force in my life. Yes, I still like spending time at home. I love walking, I love spending time with my family, with friends. And tennis for me is an asset that allows me not to trade my time off the court for money. Wow . Vera is good, I think. No, my life off the court is much more interesting than my tennis life. So no, I can absolutely calmly not play tennis for a month, two, or three, and, well, not play professionally. That's why I play. Well, I still love this sport, and I find it interesting. But competitive tennis is work for me, it’s part of my childhood dream. Sasha, did you have a tennis idol as a child ? No, I never had a tennis idol as a child. I don't know if it's good or bad, but I've never been interested in watching someone with bated breath. Well, of course, of course, I liked it. So, Roger must have liked it. I think everyone liked him. But I've never had the feeling of calling him an idol or dreaming of being next to him . It’s just that at that time he was probably the most famous tennis player on the planet. Well, and now, probably, it remains. So just Roger, go ahead. Yes, of course, go ahead. Well, we're here , if anything happens, of course. He was, in principle, living by the principle of the path of least resistance. I don't get into arguments with people I'm not interested in. I'm not trying to prove anything to anyone. The most important thing for me throughout my life was to prove myself. And I proved it to myself. My life hasn't changed much since the birth of my child . And except that I probably started wanting to play less because I wanted to spend more time at home. Probably nothing else besides that. That is, in the sense that I have always been more or less adequate in life and have not done who knows what. I always tried to stay at home. In principle, I am a very homely person . And therefore, on the contrary, the appearance of a child in our family somehow gave me the desire to stay at home more, to be with my family. That is, in this regard, probably no jokes occurred. Well, yes, I read the comments, of course, as probably any person does, more or less . It's interesting what people say. How can I be offended by a comment on the internet from someone I've never met and who does n't know me? I'm just curious. Sometimes it gets interesting. That is, let's say I read a lot of comments under some of my interviews, so that, well, that is, when I doubted, yes, let's say, well, not in my words, probably, but I doubted the reaction, yes, we were discussing it there, so I said something like: "What do you think?" And it was interesting to read that people are smart and don’t speak very well. So yes, it is quite interesting when a person constructively expresses his point of view, and, let’s say, proves to other commentators why he is right and why I am wrong. It's interesting, yes. And so, whether it’s pleasant or unpleasant, you can be happy about some text from some unknown person who doesn’t even know who it’s from. I don't think so. [music] To become a resident of Anak, you must have 500,000 euros in your account and that this amount does not decrease, because at any moment they can request a bank statement, in which you must confirm that you have these funds in your account. That is, probably the minimum is what is required by law, and then it will be up to you, how [the music] you agree on. I respect money , but I don’t grab onto everything and try to earn money with my last bit of strength . And I part with them in the same way, as easily as I earn them. Do you remember your first emotions from big prizes? From the big prize money that seemed to me at that moment? Yes, of course, it was, it turns out that I completed the qualifying round and the lap in Australia on my first helmet. They paid me there , maybe how much it was then, I don’t know, 100,000 dollars, probably. And yes, it turned out that, in principle, this will last a lifetime. After 3 months I realized that it wasn’t enough and I had to keep working. My very first , probably biggest purchase. I bought an apartment right away, more or less, and bought myself a watch a long time ago . It was almost 10 years ago. I've always loved watches and so I probably went and [applause] bought one. The opportunity not to exchange your time for money. For me it is successful. If you can do what you want and not waste your time on trifles, on things that you currently cannot or do not want to do. That is, not to exchange my time for money - this is the most important thing for me. The biggest fine in my life was, I think, 15 thousand, probably the biggest in my entire life. That is, basically, last year I did n’t have a single fine, for example. If you have done something, you must pay for it. Everything in this life has to be paid for. That's why I reproach myself for taking this philosophically lightly. It's understandable that it's unpleasant, especially if you think it's not relevant. That is, for example, I then thought that 15 was a lot, because I didn’t do anything like that. But that's how it was calculated, okay, next week I won Hali, so everything worked out fine , that yes, I really, well, I argued with the supervisor, because like, well, for no reason, in my opinion, for no reason. And then I won Hali the following week , so everything worked out fine. Paid there, arrived here. Tell me, please, did you see me in the stands? No, when you were at the market match, I didn’t see you in the stands. I guess like any tennis player, I watch and I'll probably see someone. Well, that is to say, it’s my own box. And if there is someone sitting around the box, I will certainly see it. But to look out for someone in the stands, yes, probably not anymore, there is no need anymore. Moreover, I am a married man. Where should I look? I watched his matches and it seemed to me that he didn’t want to play. You know, that's how he drains it. As a tennis player, I don’t like that he loses matches. Yokolomne. Well, where does this come from? Well, you can't just drain it. If you don't want to, you don't have to go to the tournament, sit and practice. Here in Monaco, go and look at the boats , no need. But if you came to the tournament, then be kind enough to [music] [applause] [music] play. Based on the fact that I have been there for a long time, yes, I have been there around the twenty, thirty, I communicate a lot with the guys from the ten, especially. all our guys, and I see how much they sacrifice, how much they train, what psychological state they are in, yes, how important it is for them and I just think that it is simply unattainable. And every person has their limits, and I think that I simply won’t be able to force myself under any circumstances to live the life that these people live, because it simply doesn’t suit me. Now it’s such a period, yes, when I was there for the first time, probably over the last 6-7 years I didn’t win many matches. Of course , there the coach may tell me, and my wife may be somewhere, that it’s as if she sees for the first time that I’m slightly influenced by victories or defeats. It affects my mood. But fortunately it does n’t last long, maybe 30-40 minutes after the match, but this is already some kind of change, yes, because after all, for the first time in my career, yes, I found myself in a situation where I’m not in the top 30, not the top 20, and I need to do something to get back. And in this case, probably yes, I can say that something has changed, but globally no. I'm quick, I'm easy-going, that's why I, yes, got angry, freaked out and forgot. It would be interesting to touch on ten, as for history, but I don’t want to change my life for the sake of some phantom chance to touch on it somewhere sometime and spend 3 years of my life on it and not do it. [music] Family relationships can't exist in professional sports, in my opinion. That is, this will come to an end in any case . Either work relationships or family relationships come to an end. He'll tell you how much time it takes when you start doing everything yourself, building new relationships with the same people with whom you seem to have them , but when it wasn't you who built them, yes, and there's your representative, maybe your father, yes, of course, it's different. I haven't missed a single match of his over the past 5 years . Sasha called me at the end of 2019, said that he would be looking for a new coach and asked me simply as a friend to help while he was searching for a coach. A month or two. And I arrived just at the beginning of 2020. And since then he has not been looking for a coach. We leave our hotel rooms and I look into his eyes for the first second . And I understand what will happen on the court today. It happens, yes, that today is somehow not the day to strain yourself, but it also happens that you are charged up and you already understand that today there will be no stopping it. [applause] Basically, no one controlled me much, so it’s normal. You played on grass once. hit the racket. You have been given a warning. That is, if I was sure that I didn’t throw her. No, no, I was sure. I proved it to the last, because I was confident. I threw so many of these rackets. Why should I? If I wasn't sure I was right, well, as it turned out, I was wrong, I wouldn't try to prove it because of how many rackets I threw and broke. I never, never ran to the judge and whined about it. That is, I believe that if you did something, well, you did it and moved on. Well, what is there to talk about anyway? And here I was sure that I was right. And then, when I watched the video, I said: "Okay, that's it, sorry, guys." [music] San, are your rackets fragile? How hard should I hit? I need an emotional release. And there are several ways, yes, that can work there for this or that sport. In my case, it's hitting with rackets. Well, you can even see some patterns, yes, that I broke and started playing better, returned to the match. I mean, well, that's basically how it works. OK. And when, of course, you need some kind of emotional release in tennis, well, you can’t do anything, so you get rackets. Since last season I started breaking these rackets, and after that I started playing better , that is, I loosened up and played better. I think that it is possible to turn from a disciplined person into a crazy, yes, probably, player. On the contrary, I think it is possible if you put in the effort and really want it. It’s just that in my understanding, it seems to me that breaking yourself for this is not worth it. But to each his own, so there is no connection between self-confidence and whether I believe in myself that I can become a top ten player. Yes. But what needs to be done for this? The question is always that there is a conversation about, well, he could have, if only, well, this is empty, this is empty talk, they do not carry any kind of meaning , you understand? there is not even a special semantic load, because this is all, these are the same dreams of other people. It’s one thing for a person to have potential, another thing for him to want to realize it. And just besides the fact that, let's say, if we're talking about me, as you said: "I have it." I say: “What do I need to do for this? Am I ready to turn my life around?” No, I'm not ready. Maybe my unique playing style comes from the fact that I didn't have any idols. I didn’t look at anyone, I did n’t try to copy anyone, and I just played tennis, just had fun. And so it turned out to be my strengths. This is my serve. Probably shortened strikes, probably so. Of the main ones, probably the one that won me the majority of the match was, probably, [applause] my serve. Sasha, we have prepared a challenge for you . You need to hit the bottles. How many times will your incredible coach say this? And if you don’t complete the task, the coach will come up with a punishment for you . 10 attempts. Let's go. Agreed. Let's. [music] One, two. An insurmountable obstacle. Net. Oh-oh-oh-oh. Close. The presentation is fantastic. Well, that's it, Sasha lost. Bagel Challenge. Nose penalty from the baseline to the net. But I don't want to cheat. Well done, Sanya. Come on a little bit more . Got drunk. Bravo. Close to the survey. We will then compare your answers with what Sasha said. Interesting. Let's test our relationship. Let's go. Favorite coating. Grass. Grass. The most memorable match. The final in Hala with the ruble. The final of Hali. The most difficult opponent. Medvedev. Medvedev. What time does the ideal workout start? 15:00. One o'clock in the afternoon. Who is late more often, the coach or you? Me. Ogopechny, of course. Who is more nervous before the match? Trainer. Same. Favorite tennis player. Roger, Artem Sapranov. Do you have any pre-match ritual? I'm trying to warm up, shake hands and go to the court. Favorite post-game food? You didn't say. Yes, pasta. Let there be sushi. [music] Even the most unpleasant moments in my career gave me a media boost, which we skillfully accumulated into contracts and money in the future. I am not an evil person, that's first of all. And it's clear from the screen that even if I say something, I'm just whining. That is, I just whine and that’s just how I express it. And I didn’t cross the line, I didn’t spit at the judges. I didn't hit there, I didn't get aggressive at the ball boy. That is, I have never crossed that line, when you stop being, when it stops being funny and stupidity, yes, it somehow develops into aggression. I'm probably much softer than I may appear or than people may think. I don't force myself on a daily basis to be a tennis player. And, accordingly, after finishing, I will continue, I think, to play tennis as well . also play with just less enthusiasm, or maybe with more, no one knows. I guess I play precisely because I’m still angry, I still want to win. That is, and when I stop, I can, in principle, hang up my racket tomorrow with a completely calm soul. But I just don't want to do that. I think I'm still interested. I'm interested in going back to where I was. I'm interested in achieving something more. And I'm even interested in simply winning. And as soon as this is gone, I don’t see the point in continuing, because it’s, well, kicking something that no longer exists and trying to restore it, it will simply not be interesting to me [music] . Bra. [music]