PODCAST - Gaudenzi, Nadal, Tsistipas, Rune, Cilic, Shapovalov & Sammel

-Podcast presented by Seb Lauzier-Interviews by Andrea Gaudenzi, Candy Reid, Ursin Caderas and Richard Connelly-Feature by ATP UncoveredANDREA GAUDENZI ON ONE VISION - ‘I think generally there is a big opportunity for our sport, we have over a billion fans, we are a global sport, we have a very strong women and men product, we have a lot of volume in terms of content which is exactly what we need in the digital world, but we struggle with the monetisation because we are very fragmented, so one of the main principles of the plan is unity’.’The core of what main issues we have is lack of trust between players and tournaments and that comes from the fact that the players never had visibility over the finances of the tournaments for the last 30 years, so now this new plan is providing full transparency to the players on the profits and loss. So the idea is let’s get together, compete against other sports rather than competing internally with each other, that’s the idea’.RAFAEL NADAL ON ONE VISION - ‘Our goal from being the ATP is to try to put our tournaments closer and closer to the slams in terms or promotion, in terms of importance, it’s a great product and we need to encourage the tournaments to keep growing. From my experience I would like to see tournaments the full year because that creates opportunities, possible jobs for more players and on the other hand, you give players the opportunity to rest without having that feeling that you are losing your ranking’. STEFANOS TSITSIPAS ON ONE VISION - ‘It’s a better structure having tournaments being held together, it allows for more fans to be attending and watch their favourite players whether that’s a female or a male, they can get the whole package, one place’.TIM VAN RIJTHOVEN ON THE KEY TO HIS MAIDEN TOUR TITLE IN s-HERTOGENBOSCH - ‘I would like to thank my team for just staying humble the whole week, just doing the normal things and not making this thing any bigger than it was and I’m also that kind of person which is that we’re just hitting a tennis ball, which is not very special if you look at it from afar’.HOLGER RUNE ON THE WAY HE MANAGES HIS MINDSET - ‘I would say my mentality is good on the court, how I call it is to be the Holger 1, not to be so many other Holger types, there are two Holger types, one who is focussed everywhere and one who is focussed in the court and I want to be the one focussed on the court. I feel like all the great tournaments I’ve played this year I have been the Holger 1 and that’s really what I’m aiming for and it is difficult, but it should be difficult because if it wasn’t, everybody would be able to be top 10’.MARIN CILIC ON HOPING TO TRANSFER HIS CLAY COURT FORM TO GRASS - ‘You can have an incredible clay season and then terrible grass season, but I would say in general matches on clay do help you for not only grass season but for rest of the year because the matches are longer, you hit more shots, the trainings are more intensive, so you feel more prepared’.DAVE SAMMEL ON HOW TOP PLAYERS THINK - ‘What Nick Kyrgios and most of the top players are very good at doing is making you think about them and worry about what they are going to do and you have to get to a place where you make your statements and you meet them full on and stay in that place for a full match. Mindset is the most important thing given that everything else is equal’.DENIS SHAPOVALOV ON MENTALITY - ‘Once I spent enough time on the tour, I realised that my level was there, that I’m able to beat a lot of players when I’m playing well and that gives you a lot of confidence and it calmed me down quite a bit. That pressure is something you want to have, you want to be in these situations and you want to be doing well and that’s going to come with a lot of presure so it’s about understanding that’.