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Speaker 1: Hey everyone, So it's time for a new pod. This

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Speaker 1: time on today's episode, I got to sit down with

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Speaker 1: the one and only Tommy Huss. Of course, Tommy was

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Speaker 1: a former great player, top ten player. He had some

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Speaker 1: terrific wins throughout his career and amazing moments. Just one

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Speaker 1: of the sweetest tennis players with the most gifted groundstrokes.

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Speaker 1: He had quite the emotional roller coaster at times on

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Speaker 1: the court with his coaches and himself, but he was

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Speaker 1: so fun to watch. We get into a lot of

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Speaker 1: stories of his playing days and then we start talking

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Speaker 1: about his role now as the tournament director of the

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Speaker 1: BNP Parrybart Open. Tommy is a great listen. He has

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Speaker 1: fantastic stories and we get into all of that today

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Speaker 1: on today's episode. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for

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Speaker 1: joining see you two by all right, okay, we're alreadycording.

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Speaker 1: First of all, Hi Tommy, thanks for joining me on

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Speaker 1: my little podcast here. Yes, first of all inviting us

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Speaker 1: to this amazing place. Before we get to what your

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Speaker 1: role is here at the BNP Perry but Open, I

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Speaker 1: want to talk a little bit about your tennis Go

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Speaker 1: back to that. What was the highlights for you of

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Speaker 1: your career.

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Speaker 2: Well, I feel lucky enough to say that there were

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Speaker 2: a few good highlights in my career. I think, you know,

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Speaker 2: in general, there was a tennis player you always tend

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Speaker 2: to sort of look more at the things that you

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Speaker 2: sort of missed out on. It's an individual sport. I

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Speaker 2: think we're all critics of our of our career, of

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Speaker 2: our matches that would be thought that we probably should

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Speaker 2: have won, could have won right as they should have

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Speaker 2: could have which one like Maratsafi in two thousand and

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Speaker 2: two Australian Open semi finals, you know, up two sets

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Speaker 2: to one, feeling pretty good about my game that year,

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Speaker 2: and you know, probably a good chance to maybe win

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Speaker 2: my first Slam. You know, Toomas Johnsen, no disrespect to

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Speaker 2: him obviously, but you know, at the time of that era,

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Speaker 2: to play him in a Grand Slam final, I'll take

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Speaker 2: that any day. But unfortunately, the rain came, and you know,

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Speaker 2: it was like forty five minutes delay, and I was

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Speaker 2: like the same player, rain, Oh yeah, you play, Oh

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Speaker 2: you labor. The rain came and then they closed the

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Speaker 2: roof and it took a little bit longer back in

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Speaker 2: the day to sort of you know, court got a

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Speaker 2: little bit wet, had to dry it off close the roof,

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Speaker 2: and you know I was still only a what about

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Speaker 2: twenty four I think, and a little bit of inexperience

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Speaker 2: with the rain, and you know, Mava just took advantage

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Speaker 2: of it and came back better as a better player,

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Speaker 2: and I sort of couldn't find my game anymore, and

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Speaker 2: you know, lost it in five and that was that

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Speaker 2: was one that kind of sticks out, that hurt. Obviously,

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Speaker 2: I played Roger a lot of the times in some

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Speaker 2: of the slams.

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Speaker 1: I think you have a winning record against Roger?

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Speaker 2: Is that correct in the early stages, in the early

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Speaker 2: stage before my shoulder surgery. Actually I did. Yeah, I

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Speaker 2: had winning record against you know, Roddick and Federer before

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Speaker 2: my before my first shoulder surgery end of two thousand

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Speaker 2: and two, So at my best year actually starting you know,

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Speaker 2: mid two thousand and one and then all throughout two

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Speaker 2: thousand and two, and you know, I got to a

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Speaker 2: career high of number two, and you know, then the

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Speaker 2: shoulder obviously started bugging me already for quite a long

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Speaker 2: time in that year, and unfortunately I had to go

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Speaker 2: under the knife, and you know, I was gone for

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Speaker 2: about fifteen months before coming back, So that was hard.

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Speaker 2: And then obviously Roger won his first slam and O

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Speaker 2: three so did Andy, So you know, that was that

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Speaker 2: was a tough pill to swallow. At the same time,

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Speaker 2: I was, so you haven't, you haven't, like let it go,

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Speaker 2: He's what you're saying. I never let that go. No,

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Speaker 2: I mean, I think, you know, that's something that will

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Speaker 2: you know, kind of haunt me or you know, be

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Speaker 2: with me for the rest of my life for sure.

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Speaker 2: And the only thing that I can you know, take

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Speaker 2: positively out of that is that I have a winning

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Speaker 2: record against Andy Roddick, which is a good thing. And

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Speaker 2: we have played a lot in the seniors, which I

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Speaker 2: know he doesn't really care, but you know, it's still

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Speaker 2: nice to sort of move him around a little bit.

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Speaker 2: And you know, you know, Andy's got such a great

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Speaker 2: sense of humor and he always makes me laugh on

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Speaker 2: core and you know, he's probably one of the best

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Speaker 2: at it, I think, and so it's always fun, no question.

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Speaker 2: He's the trash, yeah he is, and so he makes

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Speaker 2: it fun. At the same time, you know, he doesn't

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Speaker 2: you know, really want want to compete in the seniors

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Speaker 2: level so much anymore. Definitely not run for a drop shot.

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Speaker 2: So he always gives me that daredevil look when I

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Speaker 2: hit a drop shot, and it's not like I do

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Speaker 2: it on purpose. It's just like one of those automatic

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Speaker 2: shots that I play. Sometimes it's like, okay, he's gotten

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Speaker 2: to these four balls. Let's see if I can you know,

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Speaker 2: change it up a little bit. Not really, I mean, look,

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Speaker 2: I think sideways, he still moves pretty good, but just

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Speaker 2: the sprint. I think the mindset of like I'm not

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Speaker 2: gonna you know, risk it to to sort of you know,

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Speaker 2: have an achilles tendon being torn and no chance.

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Speaker 1: Because he's a big unit.

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Speaker 2: He is, Yeah, I know he is. He's you know,

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Speaker 2: he's a he's a big boy. Obviously still serves as

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Speaker 2: good as you know, as he did before in my eyes.

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Speaker 2: But then you know, the rest if you don't obviously

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Speaker 2: maintain it, which is understandably you know, oh I know

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Speaker 2: it well yeah, but then against you know, and then

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Speaker 2: the same thing. You know, you know, you look back

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Speaker 2: at it and uh, you know, I guess me beating

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Speaker 2: Roger in his life. In my one of my last matches,

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Speaker 2: actually my last match I won on the ATP Tour,

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Speaker 2: was it against Roger Funny enough, I mean I was

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Speaker 2: crazy about it. A great time.

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Speaker 1: That's just a great time to just drop the racket

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Speaker 1: and be like, see you bo right.

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Speaker 2: And you know what's crazy about that story? What is

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Speaker 2: that after that match, I was playing in Stuttgart on grass.

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Speaker 2: My family was there, my daughter, my oldest daughter at

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Speaker 2: the time, and she I think she was six, she

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Speaker 2: was there and I already felt again that my lower

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Speaker 2: back was stiffening up during that match. But you know,

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Speaker 2: when you're doing a match, you kind of somehow always

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Speaker 2: with adrenaline, you find a waking finish. And you know,

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Speaker 2: I was playing Roger and I was soaking in the moment.

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Speaker 2: And as soon as I won that match, I swear

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Speaker 2: to you, I thought to myself, I'm going to take

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Speaker 2: the microphone and say this is it. I'm done.

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Speaker 1: So you won the match and you retired.

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Speaker 2: No, no, I wanted to I won the match, and

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Speaker 2: I said to myself, my lower back's already feeling like

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Speaker 2: it's not great. This is as good as it gets,

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Speaker 2: probably from me. You know, at this stage in my career,

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Speaker 2: my family is here, my daughter is here, everybody is

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Speaker 2: enjoying it. I'm truly enjoying it. I said this is

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Speaker 2: this should be it? And then I said, but you know,

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Speaker 2: maybe there's a chance I can maybe get further in

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Speaker 2: this event. I still want to go to Halle, which

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Speaker 2: is what I mean, I want twice. I still want

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Speaker 2: to go to Hamburg, which is my hometown. That's my first,

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Speaker 2: you know tournament. I remember as an eight year old

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Speaker 2: watching still want to go to Austria kidspill my parents

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Speaker 2: are Austrian. So I said, I can't do that to

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Speaker 2: those events because I still want to play them. But

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Speaker 2: I never won a match after that match again, right,

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Speaker 2: it was like the mindset was like I think I'm done,

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Speaker 2: I'm finished, and I could not win any big points

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Speaker 2: anymore after that.

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Speaker 1: Why do you think that's so?

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Speaker 2: Because it's like that's just s S. I think somehow

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Speaker 2: I switched it off and you know, kind of just

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Speaker 2: said this was the moment for me. And I was

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Speaker 2: so furious inside too, because literally the next day or

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Speaker 2: two even for longer periods, I could not even really

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Speaker 2: train anymore. My lower back was actually a big mess

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Speaker 2: at the time, and so I had so much of

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Speaker 2: a high yeah, but so much hatred towards myself once

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Speaker 2: again that my body is letting me down. That, I

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Speaker 2: was like, I probably just should have said it's over,

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Speaker 2: you know, but I didn't want to do it to

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Speaker 2: the other events because I wanted to say by there. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: But like you said, right, hindsight is twenty you know,

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Speaker 1: when you when you know, and you can look at

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Speaker 1: that in you know, a month or two and say,

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Speaker 1: why didn't I just do that? Well, because you never know, right,

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Speaker 1: you never know what's going to happen.

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Speaker 2: That's okay.

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Speaker 1: So so before we get to what you're doing now,

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Speaker 1: other than be winning that match, certainly one of the

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Speaker 1: highs for you towards the end of your career. So

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Speaker 1: one other match, that one other tournament where you just like,

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Speaker 1: you know, this was all worth it.

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Speaker 2: Well. I always looked up to Boris Becker, so you know,

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Speaker 2: having him on the Davis Cup team at times, I

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Speaker 2: missed the opportunity to play him on tour because I

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Speaker 2: lost the match prior to play him actually in Wimbledon.

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Speaker 2: That was that one hurt. That was my first Wimbledon experience,

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Speaker 2: the first time. The match lasted over three days because

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Speaker 2: of rain and I was staying at the Saint James Court,

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Speaker 2: so driving in back and forth every day. That was

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Speaker 2: a lot of fun. I mean, you know, like the

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Speaker 2: early days, right, it's like incredible.

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Speaker 1: Why didn't you send the village? Anyway, that's for another.

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Speaker 2: Time, because I didn't have the money to rent a house.

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Speaker 2: And you know, you're learning that was like when I

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Speaker 2: was still only eighteen or nineteen. Anyway, fast and fast forward.

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Speaker 2: You know, obviously being at Nick Boys here at Tennis

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Speaker 2: Academy Andrew Agis, being close to him, going to some

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Speaker 2: tournaments with him, he became quickly sort of like a

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Speaker 2: role model, is somebody I admired. And then I got

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Speaker 2: to play him in Wimbledon's second round back in ninety

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Speaker 2: eight when I was twenty years old, so that was

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Speaker 2: like all of a sudden wow, I watched him win.

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Speaker 2: In ninety two, six years later, I'm playing against him

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Speaker 2: on Center courd, so you know, I know. Also, Andrew

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Speaker 2: didn't play his best match during the time. He was

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Speaker 2: struggling with certain things and with his rackets, et cetera.

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Speaker 2: And I know all that because I'm in the game.

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Speaker 1: I was gonna say, you know all that because he

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Speaker 1: probably told it to you afterwards.

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Speaker 2: Pretty much pretty much, and I didn't care because you know,

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Speaker 2: I still you know, as a tennis player. A lot

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Speaker 2: of times you don't really care what's going on as

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Speaker 2: long as you win the match. And that was definitely

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Speaker 2: one of those moments where I was like, I can

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Speaker 2: always say that I beat Andre on Center Courd after

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Speaker 2: watching and wanting him to win it so badly in

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Speaker 2: ninety two because of the connection with the Academy and Nick.

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Speaker 2: So that was a highlight certainly. If in my career, I.

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Speaker 1: Love that, I love it. Yeah, I knew and I

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Speaker 1: didn't care.

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Speaker 2: It's true.

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Speaker 1: So let's get to the transition. How I guess how

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Speaker 1: difficult was it because a lot of people don't realize

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Speaker 1: how tough it is actually to transit out of playing,

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Speaker 1: especially when you're as competitive as you were, as good

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Speaker 1: as you were. But the transition into this role now

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Speaker 1: as a tournament director in Palm Spring in Indian Wells, Like,

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Speaker 1: how did that come about?

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Speaker 2: First of all, you know, there's always certain situations sometimes

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Speaker 2: where you know a certain door opens up, you know

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Speaker 2: there are opportunities, and certainly that was the case here.

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Speaker 2: You know, I'm I've been lucky enough to meet lots

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Speaker 2: of interesting people throughout my career. You know, my fiance,

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Speaker 2: I say fiance you know, Sarah, she still hasn't decided.

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Speaker 2: What about you. Yeah, that's when we got engaged. Now

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Speaker 2: we're not married. We got engaged for the two thousand

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Speaker 2: and nine, I believe. So yeah, we have two kids now,

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Speaker 2: but no, I think the we're not getting married, that's

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Speaker 2: probably probably her dad's fault. But you know, I don't

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Speaker 2: blame him. She does come on exactly. But because of

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Speaker 2: also David Foster, I've gotten to know other incredible human beings,

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Speaker 2: and one of them also being Larry Elson, who is

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Speaker 2: a big, big tennis fan, and so you know, once

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Speaker 2: he took over the tournament here, I believe in two

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Speaker 2: thousand the nine. You know, I've gotten to to stay

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Speaker 2: here with him. It is a private residence here at

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Speaker 2: sense Porcupine Creek, and yeah, I'll take.

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Speaker 1: I'll take a room there anytime.

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Speaker 2: Yeah you should, definitely. It's it's very very special.

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Speaker 1: Put in a good word for my.

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Speaker 2: Way, I will. I will for sure anyway. Always for

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Speaker 2: the tennis community, of course, and so you know things

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Speaker 2: things have happened again, opportunity came and I was always

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Speaker 2: talking to Larry before anyway that you know, I always

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Speaker 2: want to be involved in tennis somehow, And if there

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Speaker 2: ever was a tournament that I would like to sort

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Speaker 2: of help out and give my expertise and my ideas,

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Speaker 2: it definitely would be this one, since you know, the

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Speaker 2: main main time I spend in LA It's not too

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Speaker 2: far away. You know, I do spend most of my

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Speaker 2: summers now in Europe, and I still go back to

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Speaker 2: Florida quite a bit, but basis southern California kids are

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Speaker 2: going to school here, so all of those sort of

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Speaker 2: check the boxes, and yeah, it's sort of like a

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Speaker 2: dream come true in anyways. You know, I loved coming

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Speaker 2: here as a player. I loved loved seeing every every

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Speaker 2: year how the improvements were being made and all being

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Speaker 2: behind the scenes, and uh, you know, seeing some of

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Speaker 2: my ideas sort of you know, come to life. It's amazing,

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Speaker 2: it's great, and so many people loving it.

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Speaker 1: And you know, so, can you tell me a couple

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Speaker 1: of the ideas that you had to push it forward here?

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Speaker 2: Well? I think you know, when it comes to scheduling,

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Speaker 2: you know, you know how it always is sort of

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Speaker 2: like not easy for the players. Knowing that myself over

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Speaker 2: the years, I always had to wait till like sometimes seven,

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Speaker 2: eight nine pm. I don't know what time I'm going

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Speaker 2: on the court the next day. It's a little bit

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Speaker 2: of a struggle, so we're trying to make it a

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Speaker 2: must that we know early afternoon so the players can

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Speaker 2: prepare for the next day.

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Speaker 1: It's very nice for you, though, I have to say,

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Speaker 1: because often there's great weather here, so you don't know.

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Speaker 1: We had a little rain the other day, which must

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Speaker 1: have been a big spanner in the works for you, like, well,

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Speaker 1: what do we do? You know, But that does help

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Speaker 1: you in some respects is that you kind of know

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Speaker 1: the matches are going to finish right, so you can

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Speaker 1: get the schedule out a little bit earlier.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, And then on top of that, it's sometimes like

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Speaker 2: if there is a little drizzle and rain and you

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Speaker 2: know you don't have to postpone or bring the players

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Speaker 2: back the next day. It's actually kind of nice again

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Speaker 2: because now you're looking at from a tournament director point

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Speaker 2: of view. It's nice because you know, the fan get

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Speaker 2: to go and you know, splurge on merchandise. So there's

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Speaker 2: a positive side on that end, you know, so the

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Speaker 2: fans have to actually kind of explore the site little

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Speaker 2: bit more. You get more feedback that way. But the

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Speaker 2: scheduling has always been something that's obviously very dear to

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Speaker 2: my heart because I know that the players appreciate that,

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Speaker 2: and you know, my role also as tournament director is

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Speaker 2: obviously to make sure the players are treated the right

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Speaker 2: way and they feel comfortable et cetera, et cetera at

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Speaker 2: practice courts. But also like as a player, I remember

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Speaker 2: I always felt like tennis after ten fifteen, ten thirty

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Speaker 2: pm in the desert here it's over. Yeah, it seems

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Speaker 2: like they leave. So I've many times I've played, like,

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Speaker 2: you know, gone on court at ten pm, ten to

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Speaker 2: fifteen pm. I played the first set against Nishikori, which

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Speaker 2: you know, I was like, great tennis, and all of

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Speaker 2: a sudden it goes like quarter to eleven and everybody

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Speaker 2: leaves and goes, you know, back to the hotel rooms

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Speaker 2: or whatever it is. And I was like, this is

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Speaker 2: too late. Finish a little bit exactly. So we instead

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Speaker 2: of you know, night session before not before seven, not

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Speaker 2: before nine to not before six and eight, And I

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Speaker 2: think that has worked.

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Speaker 1: I was here last night. The match started on Center

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Speaker 1: Court Stadium one at six pm, and I remember thinking

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Speaker 1: to myself when it ended and the guys came on

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Speaker 1: and it was a three set match, and the guys

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Speaker 1: came on I think just after eight o'clock and I thought,

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Speaker 1: this is fantastic. I just you saying that, thank you,

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Speaker 1: like honestly, because I think a lot of and I

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Speaker 1: will say this. I know this with Grand Slams, for example,

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Speaker 1: that you was open in the austral and open, they

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Speaker 1: don't want to start at six because of the news.

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Speaker 1: So what happens is they push it back. For example,

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Speaker 1: Channel nine in Australia has their news and their news

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Speaker 1: is very important for them at six thirty. Same as

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Speaker 1: in the States, for example, if you're ABC, ESPN, the

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Speaker 1: news is at six thirty, so they want to start

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Speaker 1: the matches at seven, which is crazy to think about,

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Speaker 1: but it is true. But my thought is we have

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Speaker 1: so many different variations of watching the sport. Now you

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Speaker 1: can actually watch two things at once. You can actually

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Speaker 1: have the tennis on if you want and watch the

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Speaker 1: news either be on your phone or whatever. So I'm

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Speaker 1: going to tell you right now, I hope every single

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Speaker 1: tournament takes a little bit of a note from you here.

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Speaker 1: Six o'clock is great to start matches, and.

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Speaker 2: I appreciate that and you know, you've been in the

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Speaker 2: game longer than I have, so you know, that's all

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Speaker 2: a little bit just I think maybe just by maybe

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Speaker 2: a few years.

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Speaker 1: Maybe I'll think a few more.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, anyway, but you know, you know all the ins

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Speaker 2: and outs, so yeah, you know, exactly the same thing.

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Speaker 2: And you know, we always try to, you know, make

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Speaker 2: sure and accommodate the players on top of it as well.

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Speaker 2: And I don't think any one of us enjoys watching

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Speaker 2: tennis at you know, one, two in the morning, you know,

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Speaker 2: and players don't deserve that either, because again in the

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Speaker 2: Grand Slams, they have the opportunity to recover the next day.

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Speaker 2: But you know, by the time they get off the court,

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Speaker 2: let it be two in the morning, they don't go

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Speaker 2: to sleep till five thirty in the morning. So it's

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Speaker 2: you know, even for their rhythm, it's it's very, very tough.

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Speaker 2: And you know, I don't like seeing it because I

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Speaker 2: like to watch the matches too, But even with the

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Speaker 2: US Open, sometimes I can't keep my eyes open that late.

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Speaker 2: You know, if I'm in the East Coast, it's you know,

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Speaker 2: it's two o'clock in the morning, you're still playing. It's

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Speaker 2: it's too late, and it's again I don't think it's

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Speaker 2: it's fair, and it's really one of the only sports

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Speaker 2: I can imagine it has to do that and deal with.

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Speaker 1: That well, I know. I mean often I'm second night

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Speaker 1: match covering the women at the US Open, and I'm

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Speaker 1: there at one thirty in the morning, and it's just

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Speaker 1: you know, but more importantly, it's the fans that are

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Speaker 1: the ones are suffering as well as the players, because

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Speaker 1: you know, you're sitting up to two in the morning.

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Speaker 1: You got to go to work the next day. So

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Speaker 1: I hope most tournaments really take that on board and

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Speaker 1: try and start their matches early.

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Speaker 2: And then having said that again, New York crowd is

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Speaker 2: obviously different because they like to stay up a little

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Speaker 2: bit later and have a good time, you know, so

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Speaker 2: they actually do stay till like twelve thirty one in

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Speaker 2: the morning, but I even think they're after like twelve

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Speaker 2: thirty one their threshold is sort of taken. But here, certainly,

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Speaker 2: I think you know, by by you know, between ten

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Speaker 2: thirty eleven PM, here it's usually it's over and it

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Speaker 2: needs to try to be over that time.

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Speaker 1: Well, it's never good in New York because they say

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Speaker 1: the seven train is going to be stopping and a

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Speaker 1: certain amount of time, so you better get your ass

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Speaker 1: back to the city some other way, right. Can I

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Speaker 1: talk about the partnership with BNP Parryber and how great

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Speaker 1: and incredible sponsorship they have been for tennis, but particularly

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Speaker 1: for you, And what's the thing that you feel like

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Speaker 1: you work best with them? What do you think as

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Speaker 1: a sponsor they're best at I should ask?

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Speaker 2: I mean, first of all, I think you know, they're

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Speaker 2: celebrating fiftieth anniversity with this year, you know, sponsoring tennis

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Speaker 2: as a whole, so you know, for you and I

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Speaker 2: think you know, when we see those kinds of stats

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Speaker 2: and we see that kind of a commitment from anyone,

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Speaker 2: especially being P in this case, that's something special, and

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Speaker 2: you know they become sort of, you know, part of

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Speaker 2: the family in the tennis world. And you've seen them

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Speaker 2: for the longest time, starting at the French Open roll

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Speaker 2: in Gaos and you see all the highlights now and

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Speaker 2: you look back and you kind of, you know, also

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Speaker 2: pay more attention to it since you know, sort of

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Speaker 2: like on the outside role. But for us here in

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Speaker 2: the desert, he had the BNP Piper Open. You know,

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Speaker 2: I think Their partnership has been since two thousand and

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Speaker 2: nine now, so it's a fourteenth year again, showing their

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Speaker 2: dedication to the sport, how much they love it, how

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Speaker 2: great is for their clientele, how engaged they are. You know,

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Speaker 2: I've gotten to know you know, the CEO here in

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Speaker 2: the United States, Jeanie Fillion quite well. Yeah, he's an

403
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Speaker 2: absolute just a charm. It's amazing to be around him.

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Speaker 2: I mean, you know, sometimes you pitch yourself because you

405
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Speaker 2: know he's just so friendly and such a fan of tennis.

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Speaker 2: And you know, we play your tennis during the event

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Speaker 2: every you know, towards the end of the tournament in

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Speaker 2: the morning, and he's just easy and supportive and whatever

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Speaker 2: you need. So it's like, you know, you we wash

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Speaker 2: each other's hands in anyway. He has a favor, we

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Speaker 2: have a favorite, whatever it might be. So those kinds

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Speaker 2: of partnerships, you know, they go a long way. And

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Speaker 2: that's in my opinion, you know, that's what life's all about.

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Speaker 2: You got to be good with people and vice versa.

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Speaker 2: Doesn't matter who you are. Of course, the ushers here,

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Speaker 2: if you volunteer here, you know, they all friendly. You know,

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Speaker 2: everyone goes through a tough day, but that even you

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Speaker 2: have to accommodate. But BNP has done a tremendous job.

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Speaker 2: We're very thankful for it. We hope that we continue

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Speaker 2: a long partnership with him because they've been very good

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Speaker 2: to the sport of tennis. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, Jean John Eve has a great one headed back

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Speaker 1: into very beautiful.

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Speaker 2: You know, we appreciate it because it's very much like us, Right,

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Speaker 2: That's what I hear lately.

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Speaker 1: It's dying supposedly, but I still think it's there. Can

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Speaker 1: you tell me a little bit from the aspect of

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Speaker 1: being a tournament director the hardest day that you've had here?

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Speaker 1: I mean, obviously the pandemic must have been a very

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Speaker 1: difficult year and a half a you we had the

431
00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:04,199
Speaker 1: obviously had the tournament in October of that year. But

432
00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:06,960
Speaker 1: what was the hardest conversation? Because we were here. I

433
00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:09,520
Speaker 1: was here coaching Sam Stoza when we all got the call.

434
00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:13,199
Speaker 1: We were like, wait, what, they're canceling the tournament? Like

435
00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:16,359
Speaker 1: I'll never forget that. I was actually at our racket

436
00:18:16,359 --> 00:18:19,520
Speaker 1: house in Palm Springs and the word was getting around

437
00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:22,520
Speaker 1: that the tournament was and what are you talking about? Like,

438
00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:24,840
Speaker 1: I was just practicing yesterday, right, Well, what was that

439
00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:25,800
Speaker 1: whole period.

440
00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:27,159
Speaker 2: Like for you Yeah, it was.

441
00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:30,080
Speaker 1: It was a very diffic forefront of it big time in.

442
00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:32,240
Speaker 2: Sports, it sure was. And it was a very difficult,

443
00:18:32,280 --> 00:18:36,280
Speaker 2: you know, very strange and uh, you know, unprecedented time.

444
00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:39,879
Speaker 2: I mean I remember probably about a week before you know,

445
00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:42,720
Speaker 2: we even do the qualification draw, you know, we got

446
00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:46,680
Speaker 2: a call from from Harry Allison saying, you know, here's

447
00:18:46,720 --> 00:18:48,360
Speaker 2: the board. I guys, I want you guys to talk

448
00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:51,399
Speaker 2: about this every day with these people in place. Uh,

449
00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:53,359
Speaker 2: this is a situation and we got to be on

450
00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:55,280
Speaker 2: top of it. And this was just when it was

451
00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:57,960
Speaker 2: starting sort of like in Italy with you know, spread

452
00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:00,159
Speaker 2: of the virus et cetera, and so we were all

453
00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:02,159
Speaker 2: sort of like just you know, educated on it, you

454
00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:05,760
Speaker 2: know from you know, from early on. And so you know,

455
00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:07,920
Speaker 2: we had a call every morning basically for an hour

456
00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:10,040
Speaker 2: hour and a half, so, you know, trying to listen

457
00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:12,600
Speaker 2: to what the situation is. We heard, you know, who's

458
00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:15,199
Speaker 2: getting infected by this virus et cetera. It spreads you know,

459
00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:17,840
Speaker 2: crazy fast. We got to be careful, we got to

460
00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:21,480
Speaker 2: be aware of the situation and h and if anyone

461
00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:25,120
Speaker 2: has sort of like the case of you know, COVID

462
00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:28,359
Speaker 2: here nearby in trouble, be careful, you know, it's just

463
00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:32,240
Speaker 2: gonna be mayhem. And sure enough, you know, everything leading

464
00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:34,760
Speaker 2: up to like sort of like qualifying, I was on

465
00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:36,240
Speaker 2: my way. I think I remember like going to the

466
00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:39,960
Speaker 2: qualification draw and we were called all together into the

467
00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:43,040
Speaker 2: boardroom and you know, Eisenhower Hospital call us and said, look,

468
00:19:43,119 --> 00:19:47,239
Speaker 2: we have our first case of COVID. And then we

469
00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:48,879
Speaker 2: were just in the boardroom for about another hour and

470
00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:51,000
Speaker 2: a half, two hours, and we had to we had

471
00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:53,480
Speaker 2: to pull the plug. And it was the most difficult

472
00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:56,680
Speaker 2: thing to do because I think literally every single player

473
00:19:56,720 --> 00:19:59,359
Speaker 2: also from the everybody was here already. Yeah, so you know,

474
00:19:59,480 --> 00:20:01,960
Speaker 2: to give that announcement to let them know and still

475
00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:04,720
Speaker 2: kind of see NBA games were still going on with crowds,

476
00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:06,399
Speaker 2: and then CLA games were still gone with crowds. But

477
00:20:06,440 --> 00:20:08,840
Speaker 2: we were just saying, look, we're two weeks away from

478
00:20:09,119 --> 00:20:11,320
Speaker 2: the final being played here. People are coming from all

479
00:20:11,359 --> 00:20:14,080
Speaker 2: around the world. There's just no way that those people

480
00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:17,040
Speaker 2: will not have the virus. So we had to do it.

481
00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:18,720
Speaker 2: We did the right thing. The first four or five

482
00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:20,919
Speaker 2: days we got a lot of you know, we were criticized,

483
00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:23,000
Speaker 2: and they were like saying, come to Miami to go

484
00:20:23,119 --> 00:20:25,400
Speaker 2: do your thing. Anyway. We know a lot more now

485
00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:27,760
Speaker 2: and you can look at the situation either way, but

486
00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:30,560
Speaker 2: at that time we certainly did the right thing and

487
00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:33,400
Speaker 2: it was a scary time. It was an unprecedented time.

488
00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:37,200
Speaker 2: I'm glad we're over it. I'm glad we're back to normalcy.

489
00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:40,120
Speaker 2: And you know, I think it shows, you know, record

490
00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:43,320
Speaker 2: day yesterday, Yeah, with incredible sixty one thousand people day

491
00:20:43,359 --> 00:20:48,440
Speaker 2: and night session included. Incredible. So really really thankful that. Yeah,

492
00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:50,159
Speaker 2: everything is back to wageappy.

493
00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:54,200
Speaker 1: Okay, just last question, thanks first of all for joining

494
00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:56,560
Speaker 1: me today because that's just great. I love to have

495
00:20:56,760 --> 00:20:59,320
Speaker 1: you know, people like you who have been in the

496
00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:03,200
Speaker 1: game so much played, And I guess what is your

497
00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:05,720
Speaker 1: like future, Like do you want to stick around and

498
00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:08,359
Speaker 1: do this for a while with the tournament directorship or

499
00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:11,560
Speaker 1: have you got goals that you want to still do

500
00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:14,359
Speaker 1: and I mean other than get married. Yes, you know,

501
00:21:14,359 --> 00:21:15,040
Speaker 1: it's about time.

502
00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:17,560
Speaker 2: It's about time. Yeah, you know what they say, right, Like,

503
00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:19,320
Speaker 2: usually when you're like that together that long and then

504
00:21:19,359 --> 00:21:21,679
Speaker 2: you get married, it's like a bad sign. It agurous, it's.

505
00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:23,320
Speaker 1: Probably actually it's good that you don't get married.

506
00:21:23,359 --> 00:21:25,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know again it's you know, we have two kids,

507
00:21:25,520 --> 00:21:30,280
Speaker 2: so it's you know, we're bonded right exactly. But no,

508
00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:33,320
Speaker 2: like I said, I I feel very lucky and privileged

509
00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:35,359
Speaker 2: to be a part of this year. It's a great

510
00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:37,680
Speaker 2: team that's been here for a very very long time.

511
00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:41,719
Speaker 2: Everyone that you know, pays tribute to this event, you know,

512
00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:44,000
Speaker 2: does their very best to make it what it is.

513
00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:47,000
Speaker 2: So it's a it's definitely a team effort, and I

514
00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:48,320
Speaker 2: want to continue to be a part of it. You know,

515
00:21:48,359 --> 00:21:50,600
Speaker 2: there's a lot of a lot of great ideas that

516
00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:52,920
Speaker 2: we have in order to to keep it growing, make

517
00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:55,800
Speaker 2: it bigger. You know, we already have nice renderings that

518
00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:57,480
Speaker 2: when I look at them, I can already sort of

519
00:21:57,480 --> 00:22:00,439
Speaker 2: see the future in it. We have you know, Elson,

520
00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:03,560
Speaker 2: who's a blessing to the game of tennis, who who

521
00:22:03,840 --> 00:22:06,439
Speaker 2: you know, is a visionary as well, and so you know,

522
00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:08,840
Speaker 2: depending really on him a lot of the times. If

523
00:22:08,840 --> 00:22:12,600
Speaker 2: he wants to continue, you know, investing into this property here,

524
00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:15,280
Speaker 2: which would be great, you know, we can.

525
00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:17,720
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I've got ideas too, I mean, and.

526
00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:19,560
Speaker 2: They always welcome. You know. It's like, look, I love

527
00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:22,359
Speaker 2: walking around here in the grounds and you know, getting

528
00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:24,399
Speaker 2: the feedback from the fans. That's also sort of like

529
00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:26,120
Speaker 2: my role in many ways. Right, A lot of times

530
00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:27,800
Speaker 2: you do these q and as or you get like

531
00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:30,800
Speaker 2: the feedback, but sometimes it's nice when you're like right

532
00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:33,159
Speaker 2: there and you can tell right like and you know

533
00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:35,760
Speaker 2: too when you walk around. You know, we already have

534
00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:39,400
Speaker 2: so many great stadium courts. We already have like court

535
00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:42,040
Speaker 2: four and six that hold also you know, a couple

536
00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:44,640
Speaker 2: of thousands of people yet you know the first three

537
00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:46,840
Speaker 2: four days because a lot of the singles players also

538
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:50,920
Speaker 2: really truly enjoy playing doubles here, and people love doubles here.

539
00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:52,840
Speaker 1: You love that though. I mean, I don say one

540
00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:54,560
Speaker 1: of the things that I loved about this tournament as

541
00:22:54,640 --> 00:22:56,720
Speaker 1: much as anything. It was a tournament that obviously I

542
00:22:56,760 --> 00:22:58,680
Speaker 1: was known more from my doubles is that every time

543
00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:00,800
Speaker 1: I played, it was friggin' packs and I loved it.

544
00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:02,679
Speaker 1: I was like, God, these people just they love this.

545
00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:06,560
Speaker 1: Fans love doubles here, and so it's almost like in

546
00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:08,040
Speaker 1: a way, I think a lot of the top players

547
00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:09,720
Speaker 1: play because it's also a ten day event and they

548
00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:11,680
Speaker 1: have a lot of time in between here and Miami,

549
00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:13,479
Speaker 1: so they don't want to have dead days. They'd rather

550
00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:16,400
Speaker 1: play a match. But it also shows me that maybe

551
00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:19,159
Speaker 1: tournaments could do more of that, because for fans to

552
00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:22,200
Speaker 1: watch doubles with great singles players playing, its only benefits

553
00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:24,920
Speaker 1: the game as well, you know, and it makes people understand,

554
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:27,639
Speaker 1: you know, doubles is still a great commodity for the sport.

555
00:23:28,640 --> 00:23:30,400
Speaker 1: So I think that's the best thing about it, one

556
00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:32,520
Speaker 1: of the best things about here. There's many, but the

557
00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:35,520
Speaker 1: fact that the fans love watching the doubles here is awesome.

558
00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:37,800
Speaker 2: Yeah. And as a player again, you know, when you

559
00:23:37,880 --> 00:23:40,160
Speaker 2: go out on court for and it's already a packed

560
00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:42,600
Speaker 2: house and you're playing doubles and you're enjoying yourself and

561
00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:44,560
Speaker 2: it's good for your singles game that you know. Also,

562
00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:46,520
Speaker 2: obviously there's a lot of doubles player that you know,

563
00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:48,840
Speaker 2: when I make a living, it's fun for them too. Yeah,

564
00:23:48,880 --> 00:23:50,399
Speaker 2: you know, I get a lot of feedback and they're like,

565
00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:52,480
Speaker 2: thank you so much for putting us on that court,

566
00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:55,280
Speaker 2: and it's like it's my pleasure, but it's also I

567
00:23:55,359 --> 00:23:57,760
Speaker 2: need to because the fans demanded in any ways, you know,

568
00:23:57,840 --> 00:23:59,600
Speaker 2: And it's like, so when I'm in that sort of

569
00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:01,320
Speaker 2: you know, scheduling room. A lot of times you cannot

570
00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:04,600
Speaker 2: imagine the arguments we have, Like even tonight's stadium too

571
00:24:04,760 --> 00:24:07,200
Speaker 2: night Session is you know John isna Jacksock. They've already

572
00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:08,760
Speaker 2: won here a couple of times. Yeah, it's gonna be

573
00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:11,120
Speaker 2: a full house. Yeah, And so we have to kind

574
00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:13,560
Speaker 2: of take all of those things into consideration and not

575
00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:15,760
Speaker 2: always easy to always you know, make it the way

576
00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:18,120
Speaker 2: you want, but you know, you find compromises. But they

577
00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:22,280
Speaker 2: do love the doubles and they you know, that's sort

578
00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:25,120
Speaker 2: of like I think maybe down the road we can

579
00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:27,480
Speaker 2: you know, create another great stadium court and maybe it

580
00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:31,520
Speaker 2: is becomes it the doubles only court, so they truly

581
00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:34,040
Speaker 2: love it. And you know, there's talks of maybe building

582
00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:36,119
Speaker 2: a hotel very near on the side as well, So

583
00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:38,600
Speaker 2: that would be nice, right because you know, it's it's

584
00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:40,960
Speaker 2: crazy busy here during the time of year. Hotel rooms

585
00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:43,480
Speaker 2: don't come easy. You know, more and more people I

586
00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:45,600
Speaker 2: think want to come out here. Obviously. I think Breakpoint

587
00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:48,280
Speaker 2: Netflix has helped to sort of showcase it. I think

588
00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:51,119
Speaker 2: many people understand more about the game now because it

589
00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:52,920
Speaker 2: is a complicated game, right if you want to explain

590
00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:54,760
Speaker 2: it how does it work and what rankings duty to

591
00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:57,280
Speaker 2: have and scoring and then you're there and what is

592
00:24:57,320 --> 00:24:59,880
Speaker 2: the Master's one thousand, five hundred and fifty, et cetera.

593
00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:02,520
Speaker 2: You know, why are the Grand Slam? So it's complicated,

594
00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:04,359
Speaker 2: but it's fun and it's uh and you can see

595
00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:08,240
Speaker 2: I think the drive of the people and just enjoying

596
00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:11,800
Speaker 2: themselves on top of you know, obviously a spectacular venue

597
00:25:12,119 --> 00:25:14,520
Speaker 2: and all the concession stands and the noble restaurants and

598
00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:17,520
Speaker 2: all those things. Obviously that helps again with the vision

599
00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:19,960
Speaker 2: of mister Ellison and the team here, you know, trying

600
00:25:19,960 --> 00:25:22,760
Speaker 2: to make that happen, and you know it's it's truly incredible.

601
00:25:23,080 --> 00:25:24,960
Speaker 1: Well, I can tell you, first of all, thanks for

602
00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:28,119
Speaker 1: joining me today. Second of all, for everybody that's, you know,

603
00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:30,520
Speaker 1: a tennis fan, if you haven't been out to Indian Wells,

604
00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:34,520
Speaker 1: you're absolutely missing out on the best tournament outside of

605
00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:37,119
Speaker 1: any Grand Slam. And it really is comparable from me

606
00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:39,639
Speaker 1: to any of the Grand Slams. I think the austraiin

607
00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:42,160
Speaker 1: Open has done an unbelievable job as well with growing

608
00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:44,199
Speaker 1: the game as far as kids, parks and all this

609
00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:46,120
Speaker 1: sort of stuff. And I think that that's where we're

610
00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:48,960
Speaker 1: probably heading with this tournament, and I cannot wait. It's

611
00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:51,399
Speaker 1: the one tournament I know that when players retire, they go,

612
00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:53,639
Speaker 1: oh man, Indian wells is on man. I miss it

613
00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:55,360
Speaker 1: out there, so I can tell you that for sure.

614
00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:57,679
Speaker 1: Sam Stows had told me that two days ago. So

615
00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:00,240
Speaker 1: but anyway, Tommy, you've done a great job with your event.

616
00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:03,199
Speaker 1: You're a great guy. Your supportive tennis in general, and

617
00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:05,920
Speaker 1: just your love and passion for it is second to none.

618
00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:08,000
Speaker 2: So thanks for joining me pleasure.

619
00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:20,040
Speaker 1: Thanks mate, m m mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm hmm