Eleven-time world surfing champion Kelly Slater has opened up about the "elephant in the room" — the prospect he is cut from the professional tour and potentially forced into retirement at the Margaret River Pro in Western Australia.
Slater, who has dominated his sport like few athletes ever have, is determined to win after a solid first round performance, but is also candid about his future, revealing he wants to have more children, four or five dogs and build a house after he comes off the World Surf League (WSL) tour and a life of travelling the globe.
The 51-year-old went into the event below the WSL's mid-season cut, where lower-ranked surfers are relegated from the Championship Tour to the second-tier Challenger Series.
Now if he misses the cut at Margaret River, it will almost certainly spell the end of his more than 30-year career.
Slater comes out firing
He may be given wildcards into future events, but would be highly unlikely to want to battle his way back through Challenger Series into the top-tier tour.
"It sucks," he said after being bundled out of the Bells Beach event in Victoria and the looming mid-season cut.
But Slater came out of the blocks firing on the first day of the men's competition, finally finding form after more than a year of what even he says has been a "slump", and easily winning his heat with razor sharp, critical surfing, like the Slater of old.
Emerging from the water after his heat, he was mobbed by fans young and old marvelling at the surfing superstar. There was still more of a frenzy for him than any of the other competitors, and he stayed to sign autographs and pose for selfies.
'Treat everyone like John John'
After making his way back up the stairs, he said his still precarious position made his options easier — he just has to go out and win.
And in his eyes the number one, unrivalled competitor to match and beat is two-time world champion John John Florence, who put in a blistering, dominant performance in his first heat.
"If you've got John John out at Main Break you know what you have to do, you have to put in your best performance and be on the right waves," Slater said.
"So I'm going to treat everyone like John John.
"It's just one heat at a time at this point. You can sit there and think about it all you want. But that's not what you've got to go out there and do. You've got to surf each heat, each wave."
'I feel like anything's a win'
But Slater needs to almost make the semifinals and for other results to go his way to be safe from the mid-season cut.
There's still a long way to go, and he was relaxed about it.
"Look, everything that's happened to me I'm thankful for and I appreciate all the support I've had," he told the ABC.
"Even coming this week, I feel everyone knows, it's like the elephant in the room. They don't want to talk about the cut and I'm behind the bubble there. I feel like anything's a win. My life's been good. I've been really blessed in a lot of ways. I'm not too worried about it.
"I'm excited about the conditions we have and that gets me more sort of present and focused on the task at hand."
The Florida-born surfer has been thinking about what he will do if things don't go his way and his days as a professional surfer come to an end at Margaret River.
"I'd love to own four or five dogs. I'd love to build a house, you know, probably have some kids," he said.
"I've already got a daughter, who got married. So I've already sort of gone through the whole generational thing. But being on tour and surfing full time and being an athlete your whole life you do miss a few things here and there for sure.
"But I'm living the life I wanted to live as a kid.
"Life after tour just means I won't be in as many contests, I'll just be surfing probably better waves."
