Mark Woodforde has uncovered unhappy new specifics of his frosty romance with former doubles husband or wife Todd Woodbridge.
The iconic “Woodies” pairing are one particular of the best sporting tandems Australia has at any time developed, combining to earn 11 tennis grand slam doubles titles, 61 ATP doubles tournaments, a Davis Cup and an Olympic gold for the duration of a decade of brilliance on courtroom jointly.
Nonetheless, the pair have not been on talking terms for a very long time.
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Woodforde has now spoken out publicly in a sign that all might not be misplaced.
The 57-12 months-old stated lately the connection breakdown “absolutely cuts” him.
“We really do not have a large amount to discuss about these days,” he stated on The Soda Room podcast with Mark Soderstrom.
“I would adore to be equipped to play some additional of the legends functions together, but it is just at a placement … it is the place it is proper now.
“For anyone you could count on for as a lot of many years and have wonderful exciting and good results and joy with, to be at this phase now, it’s seriously hurtful – I’m nevertheless the exact individual.”
Woodforde reported he “without a doubt” needed to patch the partnership back again collectively.
The pair have been both doing work at the Australian Open up very last month with Woodbridge fronting Channel 9’s coverage and Woodforde returning in commentary for SEN.
Woodforde initial went community with their falling out in 2020 when he explained their marriage is “non existent”.
“It’s likely just one of the finest quandaries correct now. I wish Todd and I were being in a far better put. We have not spoken for some time,” Woodforde stated.
The left-hander appears harm at Woodbridge’s decision to engage in with Sweden’s Jonas Bjorkman on the legends tour alternatively of him.
“Todd’s elected to go on and play with Jonas Bjorkman in some of the legends doubles occasions, who he performed with after I retired,” he claimed.
“He made a partnership with Jonas and they experienced good results jointly, but not wherever around on the similar stage as the Woodies.
“I guess the Woodies drifted into the qualifications for him and he’s developing his personal manufacturer.
“So it’s disappointing for me, I nevertheless participate in the legends events so it’s sort of a head scratcher to switch up and we’re not participating in alongside one another.
“There’s bits and items there which I’m positive we both equally share in, but I hope some day that we can be on much better conditions than where we are now.”
His feedback have always contrasted to Woodbridge’s ongoing general public comments about their romantic relationship.
Questioned directly “are you and Woodforde continue to shut?” in an job interview with the Herald Sun previously this yr, Woodbridge mentioned “yes”.
“We are very good friends and what we attained jointly is pretty specific. We don’t perform a large amount jointly or devote a huge amount of time with each other. We are incredibly different characters and we dwell in distinctive countries these days,” he stated.
The Aussies joined forces in 1990 and right after a rocky get started grew to become legends.
“The first match we did not do so nicely. It was abysmal … we dropped initially spherical. We got our butts kicked so badly we have been pondering ‘yeah, there’s absolutely nothing actually here between us’,” Woodforde claimed.
“But the next match, that very 1st match we defeat a seeded group. There was a little something there. We just kind of walked off and we were being like ‘hey, this is fairly good.’
“We actually adjusted back again to our initial sides, me getting the still left-hander on the advert(vantage) court docket, Todd the righty on the first courtroom. It just flowed. It flowed for a number of other matches that week. We finished up getting rid of in the semis, which was not a terrible reduction.
“But our coach and a coach at the time, they saw a thing on the sidelines as very well.”
