Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Erin Routliffe: NZ Tennis Olympian ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics

Transcript

Erin Routliffe: NZ Tennis Olympian ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Excitement is building. Speaking of Paris, in the City of Lights,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: our Kiwi contingent is preparing to join the nearly one
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: hundred boats that are taking to the River Send for
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the outdoor opening ceremony, which kicks off in just under
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: twenty four hours. One hundred and ninety five New Zealand
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: athletes are in France for the Games, competing across twenty
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: two sports. One of them is world number one doubles
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: player Aaron Rautliff and she's with me now live from
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Paris Erin. Thank you so much for being with me.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: First of all, what's it like over there? How are
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  Speaker 1: you enjoying yourself?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been amazing, you know, first Olympics for me,
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  Speaker 2: such an amazing experience. And I'm looking I'm so looking
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  Speaker 2: forward to playing and representing New Zealand and it's just
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: been it's been really upper here so far.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: It's a bit of a sort of speed dating. I
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: suppose you could say when it comes to the doubles
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: you're playing with lu Lusun. Have you guys played together before?
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  Speaker 1: How familiar are you with each other? Yeah?
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  Speaker 2: So we played together at Billy Jean King Cup in
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: April and it went well, you know, we lost, but
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: we've lost to two players that were ranked in the
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: top I think twenty five at the time, so you
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: could definitely see the potential in our partnership. And yeah,
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: she's an amazing player obviously, as you guys know, you
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: saw her play at Wimbledon, and yeah, we've been getting
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: good practices in together. We've gotten like five or we'll
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: get five days in before we play our first round,
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  Speaker 2: and so yeah, we're just getting to know each other.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: I mean, we're rooming together, so we get to know
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: each other quite quickly, and then we're just trying to
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: figure out our identity as a team. But you know,
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: we're both good players and so we'll pretty adaptable like
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: to be able to play together. So we're excited.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: That's great. You both left New Zealand. You're born in
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: New Zealand, but then left relatively young, you know, four
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: or five? Is that the secret? Do you think? Just
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: to get out? That's funny.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: It is funny though, how our stories are slightly similar
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: in that sense, So I thought it was quite cool.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: It's soon. Being a left handed does that impacts where
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: you play on the court a little bit?
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's only a positive because being lefty,
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: that's a ball that a lot of our opponents don't
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  Speaker 2: see that often. You know, it's it's just a it's
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: such a good thing to be a left hand or
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: in tennis, it kind of affects like where we return,
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: what side we play. But yeah, nothing other than that really.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: How is it generally at the Olympic village you mentioned
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: you were rooming with with Lulu. What is it like there?
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: You know, have you been given specific security advice there
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: has been concerned about some security breaches in the last
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: couple of days.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, lots of advice and it feels, honestly so safe.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: There's a whole team for the New Zealand team to
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: help us stay safe and feel secure and you know,
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: kind of stay in our little bubble that we have
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: and that that's where we all feel I think the safest.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: You know, being tennis players, we travel to a different
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: place every single week, so I think we're pretty used
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: to being in places that are a little uncomfortable. But
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: we're feeling really good, really comfortable, and they're doing a
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: great job by making us feel really secure and really safe.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: But the security team, it's awesome.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Brilliant, well, we're all rooting for you back here in
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  Speaker 1: New Zealand. Aaron, for you and Lulu, best of luck.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: It kicks off tomorrow at ten pm our time. Thank
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: you so much for being with us and best of luck.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Thanks so much, appreciate it.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: It's Aaron Ratlerft, the New Zealand tennis Olympian. As I said,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: ten o'clock tomorrow night, the Doubles will kick off. For
• 3:29
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• 3:32
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• 3:35
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