Rhys De Deugd recounts golden moments from Australia’s Davis and Billie Jean King Cup Finals campaigns in Malaga as he joins the groups as a content material producer.
Malaga, Spain, 25 November 2024 | Rhys de Deugd
The prospect of getting each Australian males’s and ladies’s tennis groups competing on the similar venue for world championship titles is a singular one.
It introduced a possibility ahead to have me, Tennis Australia’s social media and content material producer, alongside the groups for the primary time.
Welcome to ‘diaries of a content material producer’, recounting my main highlights from a whirlwind fortnight on the Billie Jean King (BJK) and Davis Cup Finals in Malaga.
The Arrival
I arrived in Malaga on Wednesday 13 November when over 4200 residents have been evacuated from the area following torrential rains that brought about widespread injury and disruption.
To say the beginning of my journey was loopy and demanding is a light understatement.
Because the streets of town centre become rivers, the Spanish climate company issued a crimson alert. Rainfall reached as much as 70mm in only one hour, marking a number of the coastal city’s worst flooding in a long time.
So as to add to this, the airline misplaced my baggage, and I struggled to get an Uber out of the airport. Seems, town was fully flooded and locked down.
I don’t know a lot Spanish, however I understood what the Uber driver meant when he stated “Malaga … mucho problemo.”
I managed to get the Uber driver to show round and head the opposite course whereas Lauren Coridas, the Australian BJK Cup crew supervisor, sorted me a room on the crew’s lodging. What a saint.
I used to be drained and emotional, nevertheless it was so good to be across the girls’s crew for dinner and at last be in a mattress after a protracted journey to get there.
Nonetheless in my filthy garments and with out toiletries, I stayed the evening at their resort and shortly walked to an outlet within the morning to get some requirements.
Then I went straight to the courts to see the brand new stadium for the primary time and be across the Australian girls’s crew for his or her first practices.
The Billie Jean King Cup
The camaraderie was infectious, and I used to be already creating connections with the crew.
Within the days main as much as their quarterfinal tie, my job was underneath menace because the gamers, significantly Daria Saville, took nice pleasure within the artistic course of what was to be produced. However their enthusiasm helped create enjoyable items that have been extra genuine and relatable to audiences again in Australia.
Seeing if the Australian @BJKCup crew is on the identical web page 🗒️#GoAussies #BJKCup pic.twitter.com/tF0hU71DLp
— TennisAustralia (@TennisAustralia) November 16, 2024
My baggage ultimately arrived, that means I may now don the inexperienced and gold for the primary time.
Coming into the pop-up Billie Jean King Cup stadium with the crew gave me goosebumps and nerves, regardless of the actual fact I used to be holding a digital camera and never a racquet.
Quickly the stands started to pack with followers, and I took my seat subsequent to the gamers’ bench because the introductions and pre-match gentle present created intense anticipation.
The nationwide anthems performed, and feelings acquired the higher of me as I began to cry. This was a particular feeling.
Though the Australians misplaced their quarterfinal tie to eventual finalists Slovakia, the general expertise and reference to the crew is one thing I’ll treasure without end.
The Rafael Nadal Farewell
It could be remiss to go away out the truth that considered one of Spain’s greatest-ever athletes was calling time on his illustrious profession in Malaga.
Murals and billboards crammed town streets with the lettering ‘Gracias Rafa’, and watching the hundreds of followers wearing crimson and yellow all through the week, you knew that they have been flocking simply to catch a glimpse the good Rafael Nadal one final time earlier than he retired.
The BJK Cup crew was fortunate sufficient to get greater than a glimpse, capturing some golden content material. Ready for Nadal to complete follow and pretending to take a crew picture within the path he was about to stroll previous, we politely requested if he would be a part of the picture. There it was – the video of the occasion.
> WATCH VIDEO HERE: Australian BJK Cup crew get picture with Rafael Nadal
On the eleventh hour, I used to be capable of rating a seat within the stadium for what ended up being his remaining skilled match. One more ‘pinch myself’ second, watching my childhood hero dash from the web to the bassline for the ultimate time.
The world had an environment extra akin to a European soccer sport than a tennis match. And whereas the 22-time Grand Slam champion fought exhausting in opposition to giant-killer Botic Van De Zandschulp, Nadal was unable to drag out a fairytale victory.
The Davis Cup
After the Billie Jean Cup competitors concluded, all eyes turned to the Davis Cup groups, together with final yr’s finalists Australia.
Working alongside the legendary Aussie crew felt in a means like I had lastly made it to the place I dreamed of being as a younger tennis hopeful in low junior sections of my native tennis competitors.
There was an aura round captain Lleyton Hewitt and the crew, in how they went about their enterprise in follow and their routine. It felt just like the crew actually believed they have been in it to go one higher this yr and raise the cup for the primary time since 2003.
The quarterfinals set the stage for an epic showdown: Australia in opposition to the US – the best rivalry in Davis Cup historical past.
I sat courtside for an epic battle within the opening singles rubber, as Thanasi Kokkinakis upset American Ben Shelton in a deciding tiebreak for the historical past books, and for my part the match of the event.
I marvelled courtside at how each athletes persistently fired down serves of over 210 km/h, proper up till the ultimate level of the final-set tiebreak at 15-14, the place a relaxed Kokkinakis sealed it after saving 4 match factors.
The group was crammed with overwhelming pleasure as Jordan Thompson and Matt Ebden secured the tie with a doubles victory.
Standing behind the digital camera, I felt a surge of satisfaction and emotion. Witnessing the pure elation, I felt a part of it.
Two days later when the crew confronted Italy, it was a contrasting feeling of heartbreak because the 2024 Davis Cup journey got here to an finish for the boys in inexperienced and gold.
I hope to stay these experiences on the remaining levels of the ‘world cup of tennis’.
Similar to the crew, I really feel hungry for extra success.
Discover your solution to play: Go to play.tennis.com.au to get out on court docket and have some enjoyable!
