Introducing Luke Osborne. I was lucky enough to grow up in a family that played and loved tennis so I started playing when I was quite young. From a young age my cousin started giving me lessons and then I moved onto a proper coach when I went into my teenage years. I was always super competitive and being able to play in many local tournaments all over Tasmania as well as Victoria was a highlight for me. I could be described as a “high passion” type of player, which can be confirmed by the collection of broken rackets I accumulated during my time playing.
1 – Who is your favourite current ATP/WTA player? Dominic Thiem – It was great to see him finally be successful in a Grand Slam final!
2 – Who would you say is the most talented player of all time? You could argue it’s hard to go past the perfectionist himself Fed, however when you look at pure talent it’s hard to go past Rafa after learning to play with his non-preferred left hand from an early age to gain a technical advantage.
3 – Favourite Grand Slam? Wimbledon hands down.
4 – Favourite Tennis Brand ? I was always a Prince fan while growing up.
5 – What is your favorite Tennis shot? Down the line double handed backhand.
6 – What do you think is Tennis best rivalry? As this doesn’t specify current, I am going to go back to Sampras vs. Agassi. Used to love watching Agassi fight his way back into points after surviving the Sampras serve.
7 – Do you think woman and men should received equal prize money in Grand Slams despite player best of 3 and best of 5? I think prize money should be consistent across men’s and women’s assuming they both play best of 5 sets.
8 – If you had a dinner party and could invite three past or present players who would you choose? The Joker – because he seems like a top bloke and a good laugh. The other 2 would be Lleyton Hewitt and David Nalbandian. After a few “spitting” allegations while changing ends and what seemed to be a fair bit of tension between them in general when they played… should make for some great banter over dinner!