RR: I was nervous for the whole event, I remember everybody on the card won and I was light heavyweight back then and the second to last fight. They said to me, “Everybody has won, Richard, so no pressure,” and I thought, “How can you even say that?!” I went in the ring and I got the job done, which was good but it was very nerve-wracking, especially him saying that. I’ve never forgotten what he said. [laughs] What’s been the most memorable game for you?
JD: I’ve had a couple of wins or moments that have stood out, it’s quite a long journey and there are so many matches I’ve played. I remember when I played the junior Wimbledon because they have junior events and grand slams. I was in the semi-finals and I played a guy, I think it was 7-6 6-7 and then 19-17 in the third set, it was about four hours and 40 minutes and I won that. I remember that was pretty mad then obviously I was there three years later playing Novak on Centre Court and that was memorable. It’s tough to pinpoint a particular match or moment because it’s like any sport, it’s such a long journey and there are so many ups and downs you go through. What do you do when you’ve trained and you’ve built it all up then you have a fight? For instance, after your next fight if you do take time off to recover, what do you do with your time away from boxing?

RR: After I fight it’s funny because you know you get a lot of fighters who will just go on holiday and disappear from the gym for about a month, spend a bit of their proceeds and just live life. But what I’ve realised is when we come back to training, when we get another fight, it’s so hard to get back into where you were. I was even chatting with AJ when we went to the spa and he was saying the same thing, we have to make sure we’re not going away from the gym for too long, we get back and start working. So for the last three fights I’ve been coming back into the gym within a week and started training again. Nothing intense, just ticking over, getting the blood pumping around the body, being familiar with everything – that’s been helping me a lot.
JD: In tennis it’s funny, sometimes when you’re doing a lot of training you’re thinking, “I’d love a few days off, I just want to do nothing.” But it’s weird because tennis gives me a big purpose and because I’m surrounded by my friends and people who care about me in my team, when I do go home and have that time off to do nothing, I find it tough because I feel like I want to be back.

RR: Me too, it feels weird. One minute we’re training and the next minute they’re like, “You can have a week off now,” and you look around and you just feel like you want to improve. That’s how I feel. I feel like I want to get back and improve, I don’t want to lose too much fitness. I don’t want to have too much fun because it takes away from what you’re trying to achieve. What keeps you motivated?
JD: Just getting to the top is important, I think it’s important to have good influences around you. For you it’s someone like AJ, for me, I’ve been lucky to grow up watching top players like Murray, so I’m definitely starting to see what I can do in tennis if I work hard. What motivates me is doing the best I can in this sport, winning as many titles as I can, and hopefully, doing well in grand slams and big events. The money is great and all the rest of it, but for me, it’s more the pride of enjoying competing and doing well on a global scale. What about yourself?

Ettore Sottsass Vase (2001) $4,500

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