Tennis Elbow 2013 Media

Fox Sports Australia interview with World no.8 GOATBARBOZA

15.09.2021


Reporter: Today I welcome World number eight and Marseille winner to the studio, Mr. GOATBARBOZA.

King Barboza: Thank you, as the GOAT of Tennis Elbow, it is truly an honour to give this interview to you bums.

Reporter: We are all grateful. You were first spotted challenging masters at the park, declaring that you would decimate them, and we thought to grace the tour with the self-proclaimed goat of te. You started off well, claiming a title in Marseille, can you tell us about that experience?

King Barboza: I came into the tour with a lot of confidence proclaiming myself as the "GOAT of Tennis Elbow" [laughs]. Marseille was a great start for me beating a great player Andre Goerges in the final which helped me build up a lot of confidence, however since Marseille it has been pretty downhill for me [chuckles].

Reporter: Well I wouldn’t say downhill, you are still number 8 in the world and reached three other finals. But living up to the name GOATBARBOZA is a heavy burden I would say…what’s the story behind the name?

King Barboza: [laughs] I've made four other finals but lost all of them despite having my chances. I made the name GOATBARBOZA because my favorite fighter in the UFC is Edson Barboza, he has awesome kicks and is really cool to watch. And since I am the "GOAT" of Tennis Elbow, I connected the two together, GOATBARBOZA.

Reporter: Oh wow, it has a nice ring to it. I would say a lot of fighting talk comes from you before your matches, but would you say it helps your performances? You are probably one of the biggest trash talkers on the tour.

King Barboza: [laughs intensely] I would say it can help me to a degree, since my motivation levels are so bad that if I don't trash talk sometimes, I don't have any motivation to try and win. The trash talk puts a little bit of pressure on me to try, so that I don't look like a fool when I lose. I also just really enjoy trash talking people [laughs].

Reporter: I see. It can be a good strategy if you’re able to back it up, however you mentioned that you have lost three finals, I must correct you there. What do you think went wrong in your last three and how do you think you could buck the trend?

King Barboza: I think mentally I am just not where I need to be during matches, it's very strange. In important moments, I just seem to make really dumb errors out of nowhere, choking the match away. I honestly believe that at least two of the finals I was in, I should have won for sure. I'm not too sure how I could fix this issue to be honest, I took a small break from Tennis Elbow, thinking that would help but honestly that just made me even more rusty. I might need to see a sports psychologist [laughs heartily].

Reporter: Hm yes, you seem to struggle when matches go the distance. I hope Edson Barboza doesn’t have the same problem. These mental issues seem to have first surfaced in your matches against Bash in the first half of the season. Do you think this had any impact on your mental state or was this a long-standing problem?

King Barboza: To be honest, now that I think about it, Edson is famous for having a great first round and slowing down the longer the fight goes. Similar to me in Tennis Elbow. I think the choking really started when I lost a close Dubai final to Bash, which I could have won. And then it got a lot worse after I played Bash the next time and lost from 6-3 2-0 up. Since then, I think I have only won a single match that has gone three sets.

Reporter: Well maybe you are like Barboza in that respect, but it’s the GOAT tag you’re struggling to live up to so far, but even GOAT Federer has choked big matches away. Do you think it’s still appropriate to call yourself GOAT? And after all those matches with Bash, would you consider him your main rival on the tour?

King Barboza: Well right now I'm CHOKEBARBOZA instead of GOAT [laughs intensely]. I think when I play my best, I have a chance to beat anyone, so when I regain my form the "GOAT" will return. I'm not sure if I would consider Bash my main rival, as I am 0-4 against him [laughs]. To be a rival, you need to trade wins and losses. I would consider Andre Kerber more of a rival, since we have played two or three times, split wins and always have super close three set epics. Maybe Andre Georges as well, since we are 1-1 both beating each other in a final.

Reporter: Oh, is that so? When did you decide to make the switch? And I see. Yeah, it’s hard to call it a rivalry until you register a win, even though you’ve played some close and big matches. How would you compare playing the two Andres?

King Barboza: I decided to switch to "CHOKEBARBOZA" after my last match with Andre Kerber in Toronto. I had seven match points, two on serve and still ended up losing the match [laughs enthusiastically]. That was definitely one of my most annoying losses. I think Kerber has a similar style to me, he is really solid from the baseline, good serve and good volleys. I think that's why our matches are so close. However, playing Andre Goerges was like playing an AI. In my Newport final against him, I was completely shocked at how accurate his guessing and anticipation was. I remember the very first game, I got broken because he guessed three points correctly which really shocked me. It was so crazy, it felt almost like he was hacking [chuckles].

Reporter: Ah, I see, that must have been brutal. And yes, the Andres are both tough players, a good doubles pairing too as we saw at the Olympics. Andre Goerges had championship point on Sebko in Queens and Andre Kerber beat King of Cans from two sets to love down at Rolland Garros, so they’re both very dangerous. Both use Hurkacz but have quite different game styles as you describe [laughs]. So you are one of five players on tour that hail from Down Under, how has it been handling the different challenges of playing on a tour where many players are European?

King Barboza: Honestly, it hasn't been as tricky as I thought it would be. Sometimes the time zone difference can make it difficult to schedule, especially when one of us is working or busy the day we need to play, but overall I've been able to play most of my matches at times that suit myself and my opponent. Delay can sometimes be a bit annoying though as when you play with over 200 it becomes hard to return. I call myself the 217 delay King though [laughs], as I have to play almost every match under those conditions. Playing other Australians like Nastoo and Vtrix is a huge relief when it happens.

Reporter: Yes, playing in higher delay is a tough challenge for some of your European colleagues, but your connection seems to be good and stable with many players. However, apparently you had to play in tornado like conditions, 400ms delay in your only match against Sebko at Wimbledon. What was that like?

King Barboza: That was the craziest conditions I ever played in in my life [laughs]. I think I accidentally left it on auto delay and it changed to 400. I was almost losing my mind because during normal rallies it would be almost exclusively auto-shots, even when we had time to aim and hit the ball. 99% of returns, including a lot of second serve returns became auto-shots and volleying just was impossible. Every single volley went to the middle, there was no aiming being registered by the game. Sebko did well to beat me in that match considering the conditions, however I also had my chances in that match serving for a set and somehow getting broken even when his returns were auto-shots.

Reporter: Wow, that’s tragic. Some of the things you’ve experienced would make for some premium content online [laughs]. Hopefully you don’t have to go through something like that again.

King Barboza: Premium content online [laughs furiously]. I would say the highlights of my season so far has been obviously Marseille, where I won my first title and the grass season. Despite not winning anything during the grass season, I really loved playing on the quicker surface and had some good results with two finals and a quarter-final at Wimbledon. The clay season on the other hand sucked for me [laughs], I really can't stand the slower surfaces that favour pushers and more defensive styles. Playing on clay honestly put me to sleep and I think it amplifies and highlights the flaws within the game. Next year, I'll probably take a page out of Fed's book and play a very limited clay season or even skip it all together.

Reporter: I see. Yes, your game seems tailor made for the quicker surfaces. Well we are now in the last third of the season, hard court and indoor season, do you have any particular goals for the coming months?

King Barboza: To be honest, I don't have any expectations of myself to do really well or to win tournaments. I probably won't be playing too much in the future so my new goal will just be to have fun and enjoy it. I'm playing a lot more Full Ace Tennis lately so Tennis Elbow has been more of an afterthought. I will most likely skip the US Open and just play a couple of the quicker surface indoor tournaments to finish off the season.

Reporter: Ah, okay. Well maybe playing with less pressure might help you rediscover your game. Hopefully you decide to compete at the US Open, you may have a good chance to go far if you get a decent draw. You were recently named part of Team World’s Laver Cup squad. Are you looking forward to that experience?

King Barboza: Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. Laver Cup has been one of my favourite tournaments to watch, especially the Fed vs Kyrgios matches. I think we have a great team for Laver Cup and that we really have a good shot at winning. We have some awesome players like Willito and León who can definitely help us get the W.

Reporter: Yeah, it looks like Team World has a very strong team and are probably the slight favourites. You’re also getting your fellow Aussie back from injury, Vtrix. Neither of you competed in the Olympics for Australia, so are you looking forward to teaming up with him?

King Barboza: Yeah definitely. Vtrix was on quite a long hiatus, so it's great to have him back with us, not only on the tour but joining Team World. Playing doubles with him is something I'm looking forward to, especially as a fellow Aussie.

Reporter: I see, that would be quite a formidable doubles team. Your team captain is Kory, what’s it like having him in the team?

King Barboza: Kory’s been a great captain honestly, even though he's not playing he's been extremely organised and has been making sure that we are all aware of the line ups, characters and rules. He's also pushing us to practise and continuing to talk to us and motivate us as we get closer to the event. I think Kory will lead Team World to an easy win [laughs].

Reporter: Being coached by one of the legends of Tennis Elbow, must be an honour for even the goat of Tennis Elbow. Easy win, huh? You even trash talk in team events [laughs warmly]. So what are your impressions of Team Europe?

King Barboza: [laughs] It’s just some friendly banter. Team Europe are very strong too, you got some great players in great form playing like the Andre Bros, Andre Kerber and Andre Goerges, who I've played quite a few close matches with as well as King of Circle who has been playing awesome lately, and is the favourite to win the US Open, in my opinion. To be honest though, I don't see Team World losing at all [laughs].

Reporter: Well it’s good that you’re confident and Team World is the bookies favourite, so rightly so. But I’m sure Team Europe will try and give you a challenge. Chemistry may play an important part in this tournament. Would you say you’ve got good chemistry in your team?

King Barboza: Yeah for sure, team chemistry will be very important. I'd say I have great chemistry with most of my team, especially with people like León and Mystery, who I speak to often and have experience playing with them. Also playing doubles with someone like Vtrix, a fellow Aussie will be awesome. Overall I think our team dynamic is great and that we have all developed great chemistry with each other.

Reporter: Ah, that’s good, team world in real life tennis always seems to have the better chemistry, but this time they have a slightly better team on paper, and for European players, adapting to higher delay will be another obstacle to overcome. One area Team Europe has an advantage is in character selection, European characters are generally more popular and stronger and most of their players are used to them and also their players have more match experience over the past few months. Do you think this could have an impact?

King Barboza: I think characters could potentially have a huge impact on the outcome, especially in my matches. To be honest, my entire time playing Tennis Elbow, I've only ever really used Fed, and gotten so used to him that everyone else feels weird. It'll be a challenge adapting to another player and winning while the opposition are using who they are used to. I don't think recent match experience will play a big factor, as I think that it's hard to really improve skill wise in such a short time.

Reporter: Well, all of this adds some intrigue to the event, I’m sure it will be one of the highlights of the season. It will be great to have you back there if you end up skipping the US Open, and hopefully Vtrix recovers from his injury in time for the event. So before we go, is there anything you would like to add, a message to your fans or the tour?

King Barboza: Thanks heaps for this interview, this tour’s been great and I'm sure it'll only get bigger and better in the future.

Reporter: It’s truly been an honour sitting down with the undisputed GOAT of Tennis Elbow. And all the best with the rest of your season.