Will Slater Be Back in ‘09?
November 15, 2008 – 1:35 am PT by GregTags: Kelly Slater, Quiksilver —
There’s probably no thing more useless than speculating whether Kelly Slater will be there when the ASP World Tour kicks off its 2009 tour next February at Australia’s Gold Coast. After all, it was a shot in the dark figuring out whether he would show up at this year’s events, even with world title #9 in his sights.
So what about next year?
“I’m not chained and bound to having to do it and sometimes I feel I just want to get on with life and not have to compete,” Slater says in an interview in The Australian. “So I’ll feel it out and see how things are towards the beginning of the new season.
“If I didn’t win, it would be another year gone, when, for lack of a better term, I could have been living my life. The tour is fun, but there are other things I want to do, too… It’s just the idea of the double digit for people, I guess - and that’s even for me.”
One thing Slater does dismiss is the notion that primary sponsor Quiksilver is ready to shell out a $10 million bonus if he does secure a 10th title.
“I don’t know who made that up. Purely out of thin air, somebody did that. But maybe hearsay can create reality and as I’m in a negotiating year with Quiksilver let’s see what happens. If enough people keep saying it and they didn’t pay, then maybe there’d be a backlash.”
If you’re interested in reading more of the interview, check it out. You can find out more about his personal life, his new book and his process of paying taxes (I’d be interested in how much he’s been claiming this year).
