Aussie Open Champ Spotted at Night Club

Thanks to FTL paparazzi, we've learned that our Australian Open champion, Jeremy Freese, has been out celebrating his victory at Freeze Ultralounge in Menlo Park for the last 72 hours. I caught up with Jeremy earlier today and asked him to share his thoughts about his remarkable fortnight.



(1) You are off and running in 2017! Having jumped out to an early lead, everyone will be gunning for you the rest of the way. How will you keep from getting rattled?
I have had a target on my back before. Literally for an unfortunate few months in seventh grade. You learn how to use a staple remover in the school bathroom mirror and you move on. For FTL, I just need to focus on trust my training, although those sessions at the computer typing names of tennis players, again and again, so that when the draw comes out I can just empty my mind and let the finger-muscle memory take over.

(2) Take us inside the Federer pick. This was the difference maker. Not only picking him, but weighting him as high as you did. What was your feeling there?

It's all about trusting the process. Same thing, every tournament, whether it works or whether it doesn't. Just keep everything the same: night before the picks are due, same meal, live chicken stolen under the cover of darkness from the same farm. Next morning the entrails I had placed on the patio had congealed into an RF. That was a sign. Still, I did only put him as my second pick. I'm not crazy.

(3) You've said many times before that the Australian Open is your "home" major. Was it extra special to win this title versus others on the FTL Calendar?
Every major is special. When I won the French Open in 2015, it was a wonderful experience but maybe I was too young to really and fully understand what it meant. Plus everyone had these thick French accents so you could hardly understand what they were saying, and way too many people smoke in Paris. Australians are a cheerful, hearty people, who doesn't love their Bloomin' Onions?