* Team Cebuana Lhuillier-Davis Cupper Treat Huey and Ruben Gonzales are featured in the June issue of Juice.Ph.

Read the transcript of their interview below, where they tell about their lives on the road, how they got started playing tennis, and their dreams in the future.

For more photos, visit the Juice.PH website: http://www.juice.ph/buhaypinoy/features/double-aces

Double Aces

By: Therese Reyes, Anna Limon, Nikki Natividad | Photography by Everywhere We Shoot

Last month, news broke that top tennis players will be coming to the Philippines for the International Premier Tennis League and although Filipino tennis fans are still in awe that Manila is finally going to see such greats like Rafael Nadal, Andre Agassi, and Pete Sampras, the news still didn't trend as much as Basketball or Football would. Most Filipinos might prefer jereseys over collared shirts, but that's soon going to change which is why there is no better time to introduce you to two of the Philippines' tennis aces. If things go as planned, Treat Huey and Ruben Gonzales are names you're soon going to hear about on the news and see plastered on huge EDSA billboards. This month, read about their hopes, dreams, and favorite superheroes, in an interview that will put your childhood slumbooks to shame. So. Tennis, anyone?

Juice:Okay, answer it in any way you think the question is. First question is: What do you love most?

Ruben Gonzales:I love my family. I think family is very important. I have a very close-knit family. I love each and every one of them. Even though sometimes, I may argue with a member or two, I still love them. It is probably the most important thing to me outside of tennis.

Treat Huey: For sure, I love my family and friends, and what happened during the last five, six years, travelling around the world has been so much fun, and I feel lucky that I've been able to do it.

Juice:What was your happiest moment in the past month? Or, the last three days?

R:It has to be the last month?

Juice:Or in the last three days – not the past week – the last three days.

R:Mine's kinda lame, I would say. I hurt my knee really bad in the last Davis Cup, and being able to run the first day I have to run, it was a very happy moment. I wasn't in pain anymore, and I got to do that, I was very happy about that.

T:The simplest thing. Being able to sleep in the first time. I had jet-lag in the first two days. When you sleep in, you realize you slept until nine, ten A.M., and you're like "Oh, wow, that's awesome!".

R:Also, one more, I ate Chick-fil-A the first day I got back to the U.S. After eight weeks [of being gone and], having Chick-fil-A, I was pretty happy. I was sitting by myself and laughing.

Juice:What is your happiest moment ever?

T:Happiest moment, I think, is the first tournament that I won. Two years ago, the tournament where my parents watched in DC. It was a tournament I've been watching since I was probably seven or eight years old. I always watched it as a fan every summer, and two years ago, I was able to win the tournament. It's something really cool. There's a wall with the names of everybody who has won the tournament. I've only walked by once but I'd go there probably to be able see my name in it.

R:I'd say, my happiest moment, was when we beat Thailand last year. That was one of them, just because that's probably the biggest tournament I played thus far, and I felt like the team trusted me that moment, and winning that, clinching that match was big for me. And, also, against New Zealand, winning the fourth match in five sets, winning that, keeping us in the match. That was big for me, because the first day, I lost in all five sets, so I was pretty down, and to be able to come back the next day and keep us in the match was a pretty big relief to me.

Juice:What does your future look like?

T:Very bright.

Juice:Is it a light at the end of the tunnel?

R:I hope it's bright. I mean, I'd love to play with Treat, maybe, in a big tournament, a Grand Slam or something. And hopefully, in 2016, represent the Philippines in the Olympics. That would be a dream come true for me, and that's one why reason I play. I wake up everyday thinking of things like that, and trying to work hard to make that someday a reality.

T:Yeah, for sure, it's something that would be unbelievable. Playing the Olympics is something everybody wants to do. If we could do that, it would be amazing. It's always been one of our goals. I'd just play tennis, and enjoy life. I'm having so much fun doing what I'm doing. Keep playing tennis and travelling.

Juice:How are you contributing to the world?

R:I would say, I'm a pretty positive person. Every person I come into contact with, I try to have a positive impact on them, try to be as nice and as polite as I possibly can, and hopefully leave a good impression, and hope that they do the same to the people they come in contact with. I try.

T:Yeah, I always say "Hello, kamusta ka?", and I always put a smile on everybody's face every time I speak in Filipino.

Juice:What are your favorite books?

R:he Power of Now. I like that book a lot. Bruce Lee's The Warrior Within. [To Treat] You got one? You got a favorite book?

T:I dunno. I finished all the Harry Potter books pretty easily.

R:Finished fifth grade pretty easily, too.

T:I read every now and then when travelling, flying on planes a lot, but nothing sticks out as my favorite. When I'm just bored, I pass time and keep my mind on something.

R:I liked Andre Agassi's autobiography Open. I think that's a really good book. He's, like, my all-time idol in tennis, so seeing his perspective on things is pretty cool.

R:Maybe, when I'm done playing tennis, I'd write a book about travelling or something like that. I think that would be really cool. I used to write in a journal. A page or so everyday, and I haven't done that in a while, so, maybe, I'll try to do that more and more often.

Juice:Which fictional character do you relate to the most?

T:Batman

R:I was going to say Iron Man.

Juice:Why?

R:He's a billionaire and he's a superhero, he gets all the girls. He's really smart. That, too.

Juice:Why Batman?

T:I was always Batman for Halloween, so I was really like Batman.

Juice:Until you outgrew the costume?

T:No, no I still have it. Ruben knows. When I was fourteen, I was probably an inch shorter than now and, like, twenty pounds more than right now, so yeah, the Batman costume still fits. I like Batman.

Juice:What's your favorite quote?

R:"I can do all things through Him, for He gives me strength."

Juice:What is that verse?

R:It's Philippians 4:13.

Juice:Why that particular verse?

R:It's something I really believe in. It's something that since I was young, I've read and seen and related to it.

Juice:Treat?

T:Wala.

Juice: What do you wish your friends will do with you?

R: In the Philippines?

Juice:Wherever.

R:I wish my friends in the Philippines would go out more. I'm always ready to go and stuff, and they're not. It's probably because they're able to go out regularly and I'm not. When I'm here, there are things I want to do. Too many things to do and not enough time.

T:For my friends to be in the same place at one time. With all the travelling, you only see your friends once every two, three months, and when you do, it feels like you barely saw them, because, three, four days later, you're gone. Juice:What's your favorite thing about yourself?

R: You saw that in the one-piece I was wearing. It was all that I could offer to the world. [Referring to the Man Romper we made him wear during the photo shoot.]

T:Being relaxed all the time is probably something that I'm good at, and it helps me a lot.

R:I think I'm fun to be around. That's what people always say. I'm always down for whatever and have a good time when it's appropriate, obviously. That's what they say.

Juice:What motivates you in life?

R:That's deep. I would say achieving my goals. I've always dreamed of playing big tournament just like what Treat has, and to go deep in the Grand Slam is something that I've always dreamed of, and hopefully, I really believe that I could do it, and being able to do that would be a dream come true, and it's something that I think about all the time. I wake up thinking about it. I go to sleep thinking about it. You know, one day, I hope it will all come true, but yeah, until it happens, it's one of those things I'll continue to pursue.

T:I feel like I'm living my dream right now. I've played some of the biggest tennis rounds in the world. I'm just trying to enjoy it. I can't really imagine doing something else right now. It's something I've always wanted to do. I'm just trying to live in the moment and see how it goes.

Juice:What's the best compliment you've ever received?

R:I got one the other day. Or a couple of weeks ago, a girl thought I was in high school, and I thought that was pretty cool. I answered like "Yeah, senior."

T:The other day, I got the biggest compliment. Someone asked me, "Are you Ruben Gonzales?", and now, I think that's the biggest compliment I got.

Source: http://www.juice.ph/buhaypinoy/features/double-aces