For someone who’s uber competitive on court, Roberto Bautista Agut is very quiet off it.
Ranked No53 in the world, the 25-year-old may create less of a buzz than the eight other Spaniards placed higher than him in the ATP rankings, but he has made plenty of noise thanks to a victory over Juan Martin del Potro in the Australian Open second round.
Sport360° caught up with Bautista Agut and his Spanish coach Pedro Rico at the Lacoste Lounge at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships last week.
You started the year with a bang, beating Juan Martin del Potro in the Australian Open. How did that feel and how did you handle the big victory and manage to win again to reach the fourth round?
I had a good start to the season. I played well the week before in Auckland, where I reached semis. I was serving for the match in the semi-finals against John Isner but I couldn’t win in the end.
The week in Auckland helped me to play more relaxed the following week, to play better. I played one of the best matches of my career against del Potro and I managed to beat him.
It was a good tournament. In the next round I was a little bit tired because of a lot of new emotions were going on there, but it was a good start to the season for me.
It wasn’t the first time you’d beaten a top- 10 player, but when you step on the court against someone like del Potro in a grand slam, do you favour your chances to win?
When I step on the court I do everything I can to try and win the match and against del Potro, after the first set, my feeling was ‘I think if I play good, I will be closer to winning’.
What was the reaction like in Spain after your win?
We have a lot of players in Spain, six or seven near the top. [Rafael] Nadal is taking up a big portion of the news, but in my city, my win was big news. It was the same after I played in the Davis Cup.
So I’m just happy and I’m enjoying [the attention].
I believe you were quite the footballer when you were young…
I like football a lot. I played for Villarreal and I liked it more than tennis.
But sometimes you have to choose. And I chose tennis because I had to change from the small field to the big field and they made me play with the older guys, and I wasn’t comfortable at that age to change my friends, to change my team-mates and this was one of the reasons why I stuck to tennis.
Now that you’ve made a second week in a grand slam, have your expectations of yourself gone up?
I feel good. I’ve been doing a lot of work for three years.
My expectations are the same – to keep working, to stay focused on every day and then the results will come.
With Andy Murray winning two slams in the last two years, and now Stanislas Wawrinka winning Australia, do you think the upcoming majors are going to be more open?
Maybe not Roland Garros [laughs], but maybe the other ones are a little bit more open. But I think there’s still a big difference between the top guys and the rest of the players in the slams.
So how long have you been sponsored by Lacoste?
I’ve been playing in Lacoste clothes since I was 14, so it’s already 11 years with them.
What kind of things do you do off court that aren’t related to tennis?
I have two horses and one dog and I like to spend a lot of time with them. One horse is called Bagheera, like from The Jungle Book, and the other one is Janto.
I go riding in the mountains any chance I can. At least once or twice a week when I’m at home in Castellon.
Who were your idols growing up?
One of my idols was Raul Gonzalez and, from tennis, Juan Carlos Ferrer and David Ferrer.
What kind of qualities do you think you have that make you a tough player?
I think I’m a good competitor. I play a lot of weeks in the same level and my game is good for every surface.
I grew up playing only on clay but now I can play on anything.
You must be thrilled that your team, Villarreal, are doing well this season, with you guys fifth in La Liga…
My team is doing well. We were unlucky two years ago, and we got relegated, but they’re a pretty solid team now.
I like the work the president is doing now, as well as the coach. We are hoping that they can play in the Europa League next year. We have a chance.
Who do you think will shine for Spain this summer in Brazil?
I think we have a lot of good players but I like Isco a lot. [Alvaro] Negredo is doing very well and Diego Costa I think will be the star of the World Cup.
Pedro, when did you start working with Roberto?
We started in December, only a few months ago. We’ve known each other for many years but we just started recently and we've started pretty well.
He’s been working great for the last few years, so these results didn’t happen just because I started with him. We’ve been lucky that we had a good start together and hopefully we can keep it up.
Were you surprised that he could back up the win over del Potro with more victories like that?
Since we started the year, he’s been practicing and competing well pretty much every day. And we’re focusing a lot on that, staying solid every day and I think it’s working.
He made it to the semis in Auckland, beat del Potro, went to the fourth round in the Australian Open and he’s still winning matches.
I think because he really knows that he has to keep it up every day, in practice and in competition and it’s working.
What’s the goal for this year?
To stay healthy and to have a long year. Last year Roberto had a couple of injuries and during the clay season he couldn’t play many tournaments.
So our goal for this year is just to stay healthy, have a solid season and play more tournaments than last year. He’s competing well, he’s pretty confident with his philosophy of play.
So there’s no extra pressure now that he’s reached the fourth round of a Slam?
The pressure is on every day and every match is like a war. It’s so tough to win one match.
So our main goal is to stay strong every day, and give our best every day. If we can go to second week in the next slam that would be perfect but it’s tough.
If he gives me his best and loses in the first round, what can we do?
Del Potro lost in the second round in Australia and he’s a top-10 player.
