Fantastic write-up on Ernie from the Telegraph with more Air Quotes than I could possibly do justice. But my favorite part, other than the mental image of what "Nights Out With Marat and Ernie" entail, is this:
Money doesn’t motivate or interest him. “Because I come from a wealthy family, it’s more normal for me to have this money as a tennis player. It’s OK if it’s there, it’s OK if it’s not there. It’s not a big issue for me. If you come from a poor family, you want to pull yourself up, you have a goal to earn money. I don’t have that goal.”
And he isn’t playing for celebrity either.
“The fire in me is that I want to prove to myself that I can do it, that I can be at the top. I don’t care about money, I don’t care about fame. I don’t like money and fame, I don’t need them and I’m not living for them. I don’t know if I like or love the game so much.
"I enjoy competing. I don’t like practising. When I’m on court and it’s a competition, I enjoy it. I enjoy having a goal. When you reach a goal, it’s OK, but also an empty feeling. When I won my first ATP tournament this year, I was happy for maybe 10 minutes, and that was it. Then I had an empty feeling,” he said.
“And then we are on to the next week, that’s OK. It’s good in tennis that you always have to push yourself for new achievements.”
Keep playing well, Ernie. The Rebel Alliance needs you.
