RACE GLOBALLY

“In my family, nobody's playing tennis. Not a single one person. And since a very young age, I'm a big fan of video games. And I was spending way too much time on the Wii when I was young. And one day my mom just came back from work and she was a bit upset that I was playing that much. So she literally bought the first racket that she found in a store. And I went straight to the tennis court next to my house and that's how I start tennis.”

“Then after COVID came when I was 18, and at that time, for like a year and a half, I couldn't really play some tennis. And I actually thought about switching into like a professional e-sport career compared to tennis. I was very good at two video games. I was very good at Fortnite and Call of Duty. So basically in Fortnite, I was ranked in the top 1000 in Europe. And Call of Duty, I was also like close to that ranking.”

“It's worth around, I would say, between five to $600,000 today. And so basically, I started that collection when I was little. So let's say, from my pocket, I put, let's say, $200,000, and now it's worth, I would say, $600,000 now. And so basically, I was always collecting when I was a kid, and Pokemon always followed me when I was a kid, when I was young, and especially during that period when I was by myself in the south of France.”

“I don't think so. I know these are our American universities. I don't mind kids coming from abroad to get a great education in the United States. If you want to play college tennis and top college tennis, look, if you're good, you're going to play. Right? And I think college, the product, Stevie talked about on Monday, how many players are in the top 50 that played college tennis. And a lot of them are foreigners. I think the college tennis product right now is as strong as it's ever been.”

“So basically, we take the entire universe and the size of it is around 90 billion light years. Each galaxy has between 100 to 200 billion stars. There is most likely between 1 to 2.5% chances to have a planet or exoplanet that can be as same as Earth in a way that life can appear on that planet. When you put it like that, it's actually scary because we all know that our galaxy is pretty young. Statistically, it's impossible that we're alone.”

“Then after COVID came when I was 18, and at that time, for like a year and a half, I couldn't really play some tennis. And I actually thought about switching into like a professional e-sport career compared to tennis. I was very good at two video games. I was very good at Fortnite and Call of Duty. So basically in Fortnite, I was ranked in the top 1000 in Europe. And Call of Duty, I was also like close to that ranking.”

“I don't think so. I know these are our American universities. I don't mind kids coming from abroad to get a great education in the United States. If you want to play college tennis and top college tennis, look, if you're good, you're going to play. Right? And I think college, the product, Stevie talked about on Monday, how many players are in the top 50 that played college tennis. And a lot of them are foreigners. I think the college tennis product right now is as strong as it's ever been.”

“I had a season in 2024 that I had the 35 racket broken basically. And I got over like, I don't know, over like 25 to 30 point penalty, like in a single season. So it was very tough for me to find a way to truly control my emotions, I guess. And it was like a very hard work. And it took me a lot of time to be able to control that thoughts and just saying to myself that sometimes I don't have to think sometimes I just have to go for it.”

“I had a season in 2024 that I had the 35 racket broken basically. And I got over like, I don't know, over like 25 to 30 point penalty, like in a single season. So it was very tough for me to find a way to truly control my emotions, I guess. And it was like a very hard work. And it took me a lot of time to be able to control that thoughts and just saying to myself that sometimes I don't have to think sometimes I just have to go for it.”

“If you don't do doubles, if all you do is solo and you're winning and you win every single thing you go to, so four majors into regional and you win all of them, that's $75,000.15000 for each. Alright? That's 75,000 USD. If you win worlds, here's the payout for elite 15 singles at worlds. 50,000 for first place is a $125,000. So doing nothing but solos, if you win all of them, you win a $125,000 in prize money that year. That's pretty good. If you're last place if you're last place and you do all of them, right, you get 900 times five. So $4,500 plus the world championships last place is 3,000. So you'd win $7,500 for taking last place at every single major, your regionals, and elite 15 singles.”

“It's worth around, I would say, between five to $600,000 today. And so basically, I started that collection when I was little. So let's say, from my pocket, I put, let's say, $200,000, and now it's worth, I would say, $600,000 now. And so basically, I was always collecting when I was a kid, and Pokemon always followed me when I was a kid, when I was young, and especially during that period when I was by myself in the south of France.”

“I'm actually doing cards, cards trick, mostly. And when I played, when I played juniors, everyone called me the Magician because I was literally showing off all of my magic tricks in every single day. And since then, everyone kept that nickname, especially the players like my age, they all call me the Magician. So I just kept the nickname. I still have the cards in my bag just in case someone wants to see a magic trick.”

“So I just pulled up his splits of his, Sebastian Sawe, by the way. He hit his first five k in 1414. He hit his second five k in 1421. His third five k is fourteen thirty five, and that's his slowest one. His third five k was the slowest one, fourteen thirty five. At 20 k, so the fourth five k, he passed it at fourteen eleven. He went through the halfway mark at sixty twenty nine. And then went through the the 25 k at fourteen twenty, 30 k, fourteen twenty two. So these are every the five k paces for each one. And then the last e negative split cut down the last two five k's, the last 10 k below fourteen minutes each, thirteen fifty four and thirteen forty two.”

“I think, like, I just wanna if you are one of these athletes or or a Horrocks individual who wants to think about, okay. Like, I really wanna have a crack at making the elite or or, becoming a little bit more professional with my racing. The one thing I've said to a lot of athletes of my own, people that I've spoken to is there's the influencer athlete. And let's be frank, those influencer athletes are making money as well because companies and brands can actually see how much they are influencing the the world as well. However, if you are a true athlete and you understand, the only thing that truly matters when it comes to, the world we live in of Horrocks is is your performance. And and your performance outweighs everything in my in in my perspective.”

“I'm I'm glad that we went, that you guys decided to go five races. Hey. I I've got a very, like, kinda blunt perspective on on this because, I don't wanna go into it too too much in detail, but I started with Fireworks with flying around the world chasing races. And I did that from my own accord, and to be blunt, I spent a lot of my own money to do so, and here I am now. If I didn't do that in 2022, 2023, I would not be here right now. So even myself, like, and I fully understand, like, the whole the the question behind is it fair and stuff. It's a great valid question, but it's also like, well, if you wanna be in the elite, put your hand in your pocket and go travel to race it.”

“In my family, nobody's playing tennis. Not a single one person. And since a very young age, I'm a big fan of video games. And I was spending way too much time on the Wii when I was young. And one day my mom just came back from work and she was a bit upset that I was playing that much. So she literally bought the first racket that she found in a store. And I went straight to the tennis court next to my house and that's how I start tennis.”

“So basically, we take the entire universe and the size of it is around 90 billion light years. Each galaxy has between 100 to 200 billion stars. There is most likely between 1 to 2.5% chances to have a planet or exoplanet that can be as same as Earth in a way that life can appear on that planet. When you put it like that, it's actually scary because we all know that our galaxy is pretty young. Statistically, it's impossible that we're alone.”

“Well, that's a really cool thing too that, like and and this happens in sports, you know, when somebody realizes that somebody can do it. That's why, like, I always say you are your best data point, and we talked about this last week. If you're able to do it, right, all of a sudden you gain that belief that, hey. I can, you know, I can run for you, JK. I can run a 53. Look. I've done it. Doesn't matter what course it was on. Like, I can run a 53. Okay. I'm aiming for that 53. You believe you can hit the 53. And then you beat it and you're like, all of a sudden a 52, you're like, I can run a 52.”

“My coach always like told me that when you play against these big guys, I think the first thing that I have to think in my case is just like thinking that I'm better than them, even if it's completely delusional to say that. But basically, when you step on court and you say to yourself that I'm better than them and I'm the one who's, let's say, the favorite on that match. In my case, mentally, it worked in a way that I was just trying to say to myself that if I lose against that guy, it's not normal because I'm the one who's the favorite.”

“I'm actually doing cards, cards trick, mostly. And when I played, when I played juniors, everyone called me the Magician because I was literally showing off all of my magic tricks in every single day. And since then, everyone kept that nickname, especially the players like my age, they all call me the Magician. So I just kept the nickname. I still have the cards in my bag just in case someone wants to see a magic trick.”

“My coach always like told me that when you play against these big guys, I think the first thing that I have to think in my case is just like thinking that I'm better than them, even if it's completely delusional to say that. But basically, when you step on court and you say to yourself that I'm better than them and I'm the one who's, let's say, the favorite on that match. In my case, mentally, it worked in a way that I was just trying to say to myself that if I lose against that guy, it's not normal because I'm the one who's the favorite.”