Vale - you always have my "approval":-)) I don't post here very often
but I always read the news - thanks so much for your time and trouble
with the translation!


xxxxx

--- In gastongaudioclub@yahoogroups.com, "valemart_1"
<valemart_1@y...> wrote:
> I've taken some time off from posting in the group, (I have
> to be "approved" by the moderator!), although I've kept in
> touch with some friends here... But now, for those of you who
> haven't been able to see it, I want to tell you all about
> the live interview and videoclip that appeared in Clarín
> yesterday, which I've transcribed and translated.
>
> This interview gives us the chance to get to know Gastón a
> bit better, the way he is off-court. When he loosens up he's
> speaking fast, sometimes emphatically, always honest, lucid
> and precise. The interviewer is a girl, and he's taken care
> to watch his language!
>
> He's sitting in the Vilas Racquet cafeteria drinking what
> is perhaps a cappuccino, wearing a striped scarf against
> the bitter cold we've had in BA (or it's a gift from someone
> close!), and they keep switching to footage taken when he's
> training with Franco or in a group outdoors with Mariano,
> Franco, Lobo and (I think) Massa. The training images show
> him relaxed and in a good mood. I imagine that that
> camaraderie must be one of the things he enjoys most of the
> tennis life.
>
> It starts with a printed article, with the typical catchy
> title taken out of context:
>
> http://www.clarin.com/diario/2005/09/07/conexiones/t-1047842.htm
>
> INTERVIEW WITH GASTON GAUDIO
>
> "ONE CAN'T BE FRIENDS WITH EVERYBODY"
>
> Whether it's due to shyness or to safeguard his privacy…
> the truth is that the world's 9th ranked tennis player
> doesn't feel too comfortable giving interviews. And the
> flashes also bother him. "I'm no model to be always
> photographed", he says. Even so, he kindly submits to
> both in the Vilas Racquet cafeteria. - Do you think you
> will have a chance to play in the Davis Cup? "Yes, I
> don't think there are all that many options either. And
> if there are, I think I should be there", he maintains.
>
> GASTON GAUDIO, BIOGRAPHICAL DATA
>
> He was born on December 9th 1978, in a clinic in Adrogué,
> in the province of Buenos Aires. He spent his childhood
> in Temperley. He commenced his secondary education going
> full-day to an English school, but he left after finishing
> third year. His promising career in tennis, with all the
> travelling, tournaments and training, didn't permit him to
> do both. The youngest son of Norberto and Marisa, the
> first thing he held in his hands was not a tennis ball
> but a rugby ball. "But my brother played at the Temperley
> Lawn Tennis Club, so I felt I also had to go and play
> tennis. I liked rugby, but I had no choice", says Gastón.
>
> Thanks to this early choice, our country today has three
> Argentines among the top ten in the world's tennis rankings:
> Gastón is in the ninth place. Last year he was crowned
> champion of Roland Garros, one of the most important
> championships, after defeating Guillermo Coria in the
> final in a hard-fought match which lasted three and a
> half hours. The final score was 0-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 8-6.
> Other titles he brought back to home this year are: Buenos
> Aires, Estoril, Gstaad, Kitzbuhel and Viña del Mar.
>
> He's very attached to his family. He always wants his
> parents (false!), brothers and closest friends -the more,
> the merrier- to travel to see him play in the most important
> tournaments and to provide logistical support. In order
> to try to understand –and combat- his zigzagging states of
> mind, he's been in therapy for the last three years. And,
> according to the "Gato", it does him good. "But my coach
> Franco (Davín) and Fernando (Aguirre), my trainer, are just
> as important as the therapy. Because for me it's fundamental
> to be with good human beings, that my home base be made up
> of decent persons", he states.
>
> A huge fanatic of Independiente, he goes to see his team play
> whenever his tennis schedule allows him to.
>
> Two weeks ago he lost in the US Open. The young local player,
> Brian Baker, 195th in the ATP ranking, beat him 7-6, 6-2, 6-4.
> Next week the Argentine Davis Cup Team captain, Alberto
> Mancini, will give the names of the team that will be
> travelling to Slovakia.
>
>
> LIVE INTERVIEW (TRANSCRIPT OF THE VIDEO):
>
> - Argentine journalists fill pages and more pages talking
> about your changes in mood. What really happens to you, in
> your view?
>
> - "They reflect what's happening to me at that moment.
> There are times when I'm really suffering during a match. S
> ometimes I go crazy and I'm capable of saying all sorts of
> stupid things. There are even times when I don't feel like
> playing, and I don't play… What I mean is that I play badly
> and I can't even make the effort, because I'm just made that
> way. Tennis reflects the way I am. If one's on a bad day one
> can't set all that aside and play tennis better than ever".
>
> - Is it your psychologist who recommends that you
> externalize your anger by throwing your racquet?
>
> - "No, that's just me. But if I feel better by letting off
> steam in that way, and if then during the rest of the match
> I can continue playing better tennis, and it helps me, I can
> go on doing it. It's not the ideal situation, but that's
> how things are".
>
> - And what do your sponsors say?
>
> - "As long as I'm winning, they're all happy! Just as in
> life: while you're winning everybody loves you, when you're
> losing things change. It's much easier to be a friend of
> the champion than of the one who's last.
> But sometimes nobody says anything to you. They have a
> respect for you that you sometimes don't even deserve.
> They don't know what sort of person you are or anything.
> You can be someone great in the tennis world, and yet in
> the outside world be a disaster as a human being.
> Triumphalism exists, even more so in the Argentine".
>
> - Before winning Roland Garros you said you thought you'd
> never get to be number one. Do you still think the same way?
>
> - "Yes, neither did I think I would win Roland Garros! Now
> I've already won Roland Garros, but to be number one? No,
> I don't think so. It's very difficult. To be number one
> in the world is something incredible! It's something UNIQUE,
> as the word says: One!".
>
> - And what does it take to be one?
>
> - "Well, you're just born for it. I think Federer was born
> that way, and Nadal too… He's an incredible player, he's
> won just about everything and he's had the bad luck that
> Federer is playing in the same period of time as he is.
> At this moment there are these two guys who are almost
> invincible. They're playing at a higher level than normal".
>
> - So we must forget about being number one, then? Because
> at one moment you didn't think you would be ninth in the
> ranking, either…
>
> - "No, neither did I think I would be fifth!
> But it's better this way, not to expect anything, because
> when you achieve something maybe you enjoy it much more than
> if you want something desperately and it never happens – the
> disillusion must be very hard to take. I never expected to
> win Roland Garros and I believe nobody can have been as
> thrilled as I was. The surprise factor is also good!"
>
> - Would you be pleased to be called for the Davis team?
>
> - "Yes, I think so. I think it would be the normal thing to
> do: until last week I was the Argentine's number one and,
> setting aside the fact that the court will be very fast,
> I don't think there are all that many options either.
> And if there are, I think I should be there.
> For example, when we played against Australia I wasn't in
> the team, and that was okay by me. I look at things
> objectively, and on grass I don't feel comfortable and
> I don't think I would have had the opportunity or the
> chance to play in that series. There were very good players
> and I think they would have had priority over me to play.
> So I was in agreement".
>
> - And if you go, do you think you and Coria will be able to
> get along and contribute together to the team?
>
> - "I think that if we're in the Davis Cup team it's for just
> one objective, which is to win. Coria-Gaudio, Nalbandian-
> Coria, or whichever, doesn't matter! The only objective is
> to win and to give one's best for the team. I don't see why
> we shouldn't be able to all pull in the same direction…"
>
> - Do you get along better now?
>
> - "Things were never bad between us… or well… But there's
> nothing wrong with that: one can't get along great with the
> whole world. You can't be friends with everybody, right? And
> I have nothing against him, and I don't think he has anything
> against me. We can share the work, and everything's fine.
> And later, each one will go out to dine with his friends, no?"
>
> - How about the travelling – are you becoming more accustomed
> to being so far from home, from your people?
>
> - "No, I don't think anybody can get used to it. I've been
> missing my home since I started travelling at the age of 12
> until now, when I'm 26; more each time… And I think that,
> today, that's the most complicated thing for me about
> playing tennis. I don't like it at all. But tennis is like
> that. If the day comes when I can't take it any longer,
> I'll have to quit".
>
> - And up to what age do you see yourself playing?
>
> - "Well, while I feel comfortable and can enjoy it. Up to
> now I'm fine. Sometimes I have a bad time, like everybody
> in their work. And sometimes I have a good time and I enjoy
> it, and I like it. So, as things are, I'll continue to play
> another couple of years, and carry on until I'm 29 or 30.
> We'll see, not more…"
>
> - What do you plan to do when you quit?
>
> - "I'd like to do anything that's not related to tennis,
> I think. Move on to something else…"
>
> - Are you scared that you'll have time on your hands when
> you stop playing tennis?
>
> - "It does scare me a bit. Because, after having spent a
> lifetime, from the age of 13, working every day… To suddenly
> have nothing to do, and to have no idea of what to do in
> the future… do you see what I mean? To feel: What do I do now?"
>
> - You won't have any financial problems…
>
> - "Yes, but the point is not whether or not I have money.
> The point is to be occupied in something. I mean: it's
> difficult to find something to do! And it worries me.
> That's why, before I quit, I would like to have defined
> more or less what I will do with myself. But as for the
> time being I don't plan to quit, I haven't started worrying
> about it yet".
>
> - Would studying something be among your options?
>
> - "Yes, yes, I would like to take up studying again…"
>
> - If you hadn't been a tennis player, what would you have been?
>
> - "Nothing, I don't think I'd have been good at anything…
> (laughs). No! I don't know, I'd have been just another guy
> here, but a normal guy, going to university, studying,
> deciding what to do… Trying to make a living, hard as it
> is now".
>
> - What are your personal and professional goals for the
> future?
>
> - "I think to have a family. I would like to have children,
> and all that… What people want when they're "grown-up"!
> I love kids…
> And I would like to carry on playing at my present level,
> which is really tough, and to be up there among the top
> ten in the world would be good…"
>
> - And finally, what is your opinion about the Cañas case?
>
> - "Oh, it's terrible. Such a worrying situation… Yes, it
> killed me when I heard about it… Nobody expected it,
> and oh…! I think he must be going through the worst moment
> of his life, and… I, as a player, whatever I can do that
> is within my reach I will do, because I wouldn't wish this
> on anyone and I would like to help him. But it's such a
> difficult situation, I don't know… If he asks me to do
> anything, or whatever I can do, I will try to do it…"
>
> - Have you called him?
>
> - "He isn't even answering his phones…! I mean, it's
> difficult... But now, telling you this, or perhaps saying
> it in some other interview, maybe he'll get my message…"