Interview with Christopher Kas: "Lowering the stress level - now is the opportunity"
Christopher Kas has been hosting "Kasi Live" daily on the tennisnet-Instagram-Channel ( tennisnetnews ) for almost three weeks. In a talk with tennisnet he talks about the previous guests, his admiration for Papa Karlheinz Kas and about opportunities for tennis players during the Corona break .
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Apr 10, 2020, 04:06 pm
Kasi, almost three weeks of “Kasi Live” are behind you, you had guests from Dominic Thiem to Stefanos Tsitsipas to Boris Becker . Are you surprised yourself how this developed?
Yes, I actually am. Also how they like to do it, how positive the feedback from the community is. People write so much, have questions, thank you for lightening up this boring time. The target group is young players, parents, club coaches - we try to serve them. Also with experts like our fitness coach, our personality trainer or with information about tuning tennis rackets for the professionals. We just want to try to examine all facets of tennis and show the different backgrounds.
That a Dominic Thiem joins in and announces Stefanos Tsitsipas is still not common ...
Of course I know Dominic well. But he is number 3 in the world and then he moderates Stefanos Tsitsipas! For him it was an icebreaker. And of course it's a lot of fun for me to be able to talk to a Tsitsipas for 20 minutes about the mental aspects of tennis.
You now have the feeling that many players get along well, that they are friends. It used to be different, you had the feeling that most of them were hostile. When did that turn?
I don't know that at all, but I think it's totally fine. They fight each other on the pitch, everyone wants to win. Dominic and Stefanos are also incredibly ambitious. But they are able to say something about each other, to accept each other's performance. I think that's fantastic. The supreme discipline is of course Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. How respectfully they treat each other, even though they're such great rivals. This is exemplary for all young people. This separation can be between sporty and private. That is a great quality.
You moderate your show incredibly relaxed and relaxed. And always positive. Did you hear that from your dad (Karlheinz Kas works as head of sports editorial at the Trostberger Tagblatt and as a radio radio reporter for Bayerischer Rundfunk, editor's note )?
Yes, I saw that with my dad from an early age. I grew up in press rooms and have always admired my father for his positive, emotional way of reporting. With how much enthusiasm he does that! I copied that. A few years ago, Alex Antonitsch had the idea that I would make short videos behind the scenes of the tour. Then I came to ServusTV through Andrea Schlager. My main job is tennis coaching, but I really enjoy the media industry and of course I am happy when there is positive feedback.
# IMG2 #
If your guests have been heard like this for the past few weeks, FIFA gaming seems very popular. When should you start serious training again?
My impression was that at the beginning everyone played a lot of FIFA and other things for which they otherwise had no time. Or would have had a massive bad conscience. But: It took a maximum of ten days, then the fun was over. Now almost no one is playing FIFA anymore (laughs). Now almost everyone is starting to go to the forest to train. Because they realize that the body needs sport. You are still training without a goal, but you are all active again.
Can it be an advantage for some players to gain distance, to miss tennis again? And a disadvantage for others because they need a certain rhythm?
It will be extremely interesting to watch! It is a great opportunity for some players to find distance. We are in tennis in a hamster wheel, month after month, year after year. You can never switch off completely. And if you do it for two weeks, you feel guilty. Because you think: The others are definitely training now! Finding the right mix between relaxation and other interests at the moment ... That's what Tsitsipas explained: that he is currently trying to rediscover himself and realize it with video blogs or podcasts. It's a great opportunity for the boys to develop if they do it right.
# IMG3 #
How are you with your protégé, Peter Gojowczyk?
I also said about the "Gojo": The six or nine months that you are not currently playing - for which you hang two to three years behind if you do the right things now. He does a lot of flexibility exercises and yoga. Lowering the stress level completely - now is a great opportunity. Because this guilty conscience is deep inside. We all feel guilty if we don't train 100 percent. But at the moment there is no reason for that.
Finally, of course we have to ask: Which guests are still at the top of your wish list for "Kasi Live"?
Marat Safin and Carlos Moya are coming next week, so I'm pretty far off with my wish list. But Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer ... One of the three, that would of course be a dream.
Thank you very much, Kasi - and have fun!
You can find the previous talks from "Kasi Live" here !
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