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Speaker 1: And this is the fight you get to walk away

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Speaker 1: from Renette.

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Speaker 2: Hello, Hey, Caitlin, how are you? I'm great?

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Speaker 3: We have so much to talk about.

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Speaker 4: We do okay, So here we are at the Ludlow

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Speaker 4: House on the Lower East Side.

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Speaker 3: You just returned from Chicago.

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Speaker 4: We did a fantastic interview that you did with incredible

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Speaker 4: luminary coach.

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Speaker 3: Come out, Murray Come. We're going to get to that

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Speaker 3: in a second before we do. Should we do?

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Speaker 2: We ever had background music podcast?

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Speaker 3: What do you think is it? It's kind of getting

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Speaker 3: me in the group. Maybe it's the cocktail.

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Speaker 2: Maybe it's the two cocktails you've already had.

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Speaker 3: Kaitlin with CBD, I'm real relaxed. Yeah we could.

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Speaker 4: Should you so choose to get into some topical news

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Speaker 4: and talk a little bit about Justin Gimmelstob Yeah, the

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Speaker 4: former uh he won a Grand Slam, He won a

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Speaker 4: couple with Venus Williams with mixed doubles, mixed doubles Grand

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Speaker 4: Slam champion player, Tennis Channel broadcaster, a TP Player Council representative,

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Speaker 4: board member, board member, and former colleague of yours when

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Speaker 4: you were working at the Tennis Channel. Now has been

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Speaker 4: arrested on Halloween for beating up.

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Speaker 2: An assault an assault and.

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Speaker 4: Is awaiting alleged trial and is now has taken a

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Speaker 4: leave of absence from the Tennis Channel while he sort

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Speaker 4: of sorts out his legal stuff.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's a big deal. Obviously, we have to

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Speaker 2: wait to see what happens. You know, everybody's innocent until

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Speaker 2: proven guilty. But what we've seen over the last couple

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Speaker 2: of days with things that have come out in the

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Speaker 2: press from people that have sort of bringing up past

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Speaker 2: incidences of his and you know, we're hearing about stuff

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Speaker 2: from his wife in their divorce, and you know, it's

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Speaker 2: looking pretty ugly for Justin right now. It's not looking good.

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Speaker 2: But again, you know, he is obviously vehemently denied these allegations.

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Speaker 2: So I believe going to court December well yeah something

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Speaker 2: tenth or twelfth something soon to determine what's going to happen.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean in tennis terms, you know, Justin

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Speaker 2: is a big deal, certainly on the men's side of

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Speaker 2: the of the tour and television, So it's going to

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Speaker 2: be interesting to see what comes out. Certainly, it's a

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Speaker 2: polarizing figure to a lot of people. He's had his

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Speaker 2: history of some issues with you know, the anacorner cover situation,

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Speaker 2: that he said some derogatory things. He's also said some

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Speaker 2: homophobic things in the past, and you know, he's worked

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Speaker 2: through those issues in the past, but maybe his his

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Speaker 2: history of these types of things are coming back to

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Speaker 2: haunt him a little bit now. So, as I said,

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Speaker 2: we're going to see how and what happens. Tennis Channel

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Speaker 2: have a lot of things on their plate when it

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Speaker 2: comes to this, and also obviously the ATP bought so

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Speaker 2: we'll see what happens.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it'll be very interesting.

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Speaker 4: When he was on tape on the Howard Stern Show

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Speaker 4: talking in derogatory ways about on a corner cover and

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Speaker 4: calling Ali's a cornea sexpart, justifiably got a lot of

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Speaker 4: backlash for that, to which he profusely apologized and said

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Speaker 4: that wasn't him and he was going to work on himself.

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Speaker 4: And you know, in no way does any of those statement,

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Speaker 4: you know, represent the.

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Speaker 3: Way he feels.

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Speaker 4: And I think for a lot of people, especially sort

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Speaker 4: of on the tennis twitter chatter that we at Rackam

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Speaker 4: Magazine cannot turn our eyes away from on occasion, there

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Speaker 4: has been obviously a lot especially you know for me too,

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Speaker 4: like a sort of critical positioning, like, well, let's see

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Speaker 4: what pans out in court. But this is not a

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Speaker 4: good look for this dude.

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Speaker 3: This is now his like third or fourth controversial sort

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Speaker 3: of thing that he's tied up in.

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Speaker 4: And you know, just coming from a perspective of the

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Speaker 4: tennis media, there hasn't been a lot of conversation about it.

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Speaker 4: Do you think everyone's kind of taking a wait and

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Speaker 4: see look about it?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, obviously, look, it's like with anything. I mean,

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Speaker 2: you know, some people are taking when you see the

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Speaker 2: me too movements and what we're seeing in media of light,

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Speaker 2: you know a lot of people have sort of lost

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Speaker 2: their jobs quickly. A lot of people haven't waited to

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Speaker 2: see if someone is found guilty or they're just sort

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Speaker 2: of this is enough for us. So at the present moment,

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Speaker 2: as we speak here at the Ludlow House in New York,

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Speaker 2: he is on suspension from the Tennis Channel or has

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Speaker 2: taken a leave of absence the ATP board, I believe,

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Speaker 2: of discussing on what they're going to do. And you know,

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Speaker 2: by the time this airs, things could change as well.

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Speaker 2: So you know, from my standpoint, yeah, obviously, being a colleague,

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Speaker 2: and obviously being in that situation, you would want at

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Speaker 2: least to have your time in the court at least

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Speaker 2: to have your voice be heard. And until that happens,

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Speaker 2: we'll see. As I said, he's quite a polarizing figure

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Speaker 2: to a lot of people, so sometimes people like that,

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Speaker 2: a lot of people want to bring you down and

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Speaker 2: a lot of people want to support you. So when

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Speaker 2: it comes to justin, we'll see what happens.

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Speaker 4: We in fact, that racket did some initial digging into

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Speaker 4: you know, some court people work in the Santa Monica

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Speaker 4: Cleric's office, just kind of trying to sniff around to

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Speaker 4: see what his story was because we heard, you know,

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Speaker 4: through a lot of whisper networks that there was a

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Speaker 4: lot going on behind the scenes with this guy.

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Speaker 2: And you know, hey, that's why you're the journalist in

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Speaker 2: this group and I'm just the mouthp.

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Speaker 4: Well it's also why we haven't come out with anything,

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Speaker 4: because we don't have that much that's substantiated.

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Speaker 2: And then hearing this, you don't want to be fake newsboy.

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Speaker 3: Fake news exactly right. I don't want to go out.

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Speaker 4: We would never want to you know, cast aspersions or

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Speaker 4: make a statement that was not defensible by the facts,

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Speaker 4: but it seems like a lot of people are kind

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Speaker 4: of sitting on some interesting stories and anecdotes.

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Speaker 3: So we'll see what happens.

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Speaker 2: Well, I know you're rubbing your hands together and you're

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Speaker 2: dying to hear what happens in the future because that's

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Speaker 2: your journalistic exampoint coming out. And you me, I'm just

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Speaker 2: a stupid tennis player who does a podcast kind of knows.

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Speaker 2: So we'll see what happens.

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Speaker 3: Let's see what happens.

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Speaker 4: Okay, Now onto sunny air topics. You had a fantastic

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Speaker 4: sit down in Chicago with the current coach of Slan Stevens,

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Speaker 4: a fantastic Grand Slam winning coach now, Kamal Murray, who

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Speaker 4: you have known for a couple of years. Talk a

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Speaker 4: little bit about how you got there, how you guys

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Speaker 4: know each other.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, we became friends because I was sharing

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Speaker 2: an apartment at Wimbledon a number of years ago with

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Speaker 2: Billy jin King and Alana Class and I told Billy

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Speaker 2: and Alana that I was moving to Chicago, and the

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Speaker 2: first thing that they said to me was you. Billy

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Speaker 2: said to Mela, is a little bit more relaxed than

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Speaker 2: Billy but Billy said, you move in to Chicago, you

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Speaker 2: got to meet him out, gotta meet Kamaal Murray. Do

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Speaker 2: you know Kamal Murray's And I said, no, I don't

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Speaker 2: know who Kamaal Murray's. And at the time he was

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Speaker 2: coaching Taylor Towns and so he was out on the

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Speaker 2: tour a little bit. But she said, you got to

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Speaker 2: meet him. Ou you know, he's building his tennis facility

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Speaker 2: on the South Side to go and he's trying to

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Speaker 2: raise all this money. And this is how Billy talks,

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Speaker 2: just so everybody knows it. And I said no. She goes,

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Speaker 2: I'll introduce you. You got to meet come out, and

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Speaker 2: I literally ran into Camal at the transport area at

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Speaker 2: the US Open that same year. So Wimbledon cut to

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Speaker 2: three months later, US Open. I see camel and I

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Speaker 2: walk up to him and say, hey, come out, and

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Speaker 2: I'm Renee Stubs. He goes, yeah, I know who you are.

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Speaker 2: I said, listen, Billy Jean King says, I'm moving to

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Speaker 2: Chicago and I got to know you, and here's the

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Speaker 2: reasons why. And he was like, amazing, great, Can I

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Speaker 2: take you to fundraising lunches? Can I pretty much abuse

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Speaker 2: and to use you as much as possible to raise

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Speaker 2: as much money as possible.

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Speaker 1: And so we did.

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Speaker 2: We went to a lot of lunches together and I

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Speaker 2: tried my best. You know, he had already done so

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Speaker 2: much by that stage, but you know, getting a few

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Speaker 2: more people to sign checks I did. I spent a

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Speaker 2: lot of time going down to the South Side at

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Speaker 2: his old facility, which was a dump. And he will

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Speaker 2: tell you it was a dump. Literally the lights were

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Speaker 2: going out and go come out. I can't see anything

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Speaker 2: when I'm hitting out here. He goes, We're leaving here soon.

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Speaker 2: But you know, he managed to get about seventeen million

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Speaker 2: dollars of philanthropy money from a lot of amazing people

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Speaker 2: in Chicago to build this incredible tennis facility on the

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Speaker 2: South Side, Excess Tennis Village that is an educational and

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Speaker 2: tennis facility. It's you know, it's one of the things

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Speaker 2: that you'll find out it's it's not only tennis, but

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Speaker 2: it's also educational. They use the Tough Program, which is

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Speaker 2: also something that I represent an m an ambassador for,

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Speaker 2: which is a life skills program. You know, and if

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Speaker 2: you've been to the South Side, they need places like

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Speaker 2: this to make these kids feel safe, to give them

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Speaker 2: some kind of place to aspire to be a tennis spier,

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Speaker 2: and also his biggest goal is to get them to

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Speaker 2: go to college.

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Speaker 4: And what impressed me so much about this conversation you

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Speaker 4: guys had and clearly you had so much shared history,

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Speaker 4: And there's something really profound about understanding someone in their

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Speaker 4: vision and their backstory and their own personal sort of

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Speaker 4: motivations and then when they choose to put that into

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Speaker 4: action and create a vision for something larger. And it

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Speaker 4: seems like, based not only on what he's managed to

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Speaker 4: achieve with help from wonderful people in Chicago yourself, from

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Speaker 4: his own experience growing up as a kid playing tennis

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Speaker 4: and having access to other people in his community, that's

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Speaker 4: obviously very meaningful.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, listen, I mean he was very serious. Yeah, I

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Speaker 2: just want to preface that he's very serious in this conversation,

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Speaker 2: and you know, I think he's search and he understands

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Speaker 2: the importance of his voice. Yeah, but you know, away

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Speaker 2: from that, because I had dinner with him that night,

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Speaker 2: he's very different. You know, he's drops the F bomb

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Speaker 2: every now and again, which he managed to not do it.

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Speaker 2: I think through the whole thing but you know, he's

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Speaker 2: a real person. But I think when he talks and

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Speaker 2: he is talking about his foundation and when he's talking

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Speaker 2: about things that are important to him, he's very serious

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Speaker 2: because it means so much to him. And obviously you'll

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Speaker 2: find out Kamal is a great guy and he's changing

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Speaker 2: the dynamic of tennis in Chicago, but he's also changing

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Speaker 2: the dynamic of coaching around the world. He's one of

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Speaker 2: my best friends, and.

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Speaker 3: I love the guy and he's a great, great, thoughtful tiger.

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Speaker 3: All right, enjoy our interview with Camal Murray.

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Speaker 1: All right, So here I.

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Speaker 2: Am in Chicago, and I've been joined by one of

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Speaker 2: the best coaches and actually off the coach of the

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Speaker 2: years here, Camal Murray, and we're at his Southside tennis

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Speaker 2: facility called Excess Tennis Village, which we'll get into and

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Speaker 2: explain a little bit more about that. But come out,

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Speaker 2: hey man, thanks to one of my best friends. So

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Speaker 2: thanks for joining me for this episode of the Racket

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Speaker 2: Magazine podcast.

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Speaker 5: Thanks for having me.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so come out, all right, So let's face it.

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Speaker 2: You're the black kid growing up in the South side

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Speaker 2: of Chicago. How in God's green Earth did you get

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Speaker 2: into tennis.

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Speaker 5: So I was seven years old.

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Speaker 1: My parents took forty young men to Africa. Actually, my

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Speaker 1: my brother's AAU team took them to Senegal for like

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Speaker 1: in exchange, where they played against the Senegalese national team.

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Speaker 5: I was obviously seven years.

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Speaker 1: Old, and it needed that drugged me along because they

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Speaker 1: couldn't leave me here in the States for ten days.

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Speaker 1: So when we came back, it was July twenty seventh,

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Speaker 1: and all the summer came from full except for a

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Speaker 1: tennis camp. Naturally, in my community, no one wanted to

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Speaker 1: play tennis, so that was the only one at the

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Speaker 1: end of the summer that still had some open enrollment.

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Speaker 1: So my mom was at a high school principal, so

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Speaker 1: she used to work in the summer, and my dad

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Speaker 1: was an attorney, so he had to work, you know,

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Speaker 1: three hundred and sixty five days a year.

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Speaker 5: So they needed someplace to stash me until school started.

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Speaker 1: And so the tennis program, we were driving down eighty

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Speaker 1: seventh and Jeffrey and my mom saw the tennis court.

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Speaker 1: So my uncle used to play and he said how

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Speaker 1: much for the rest of the summer, And the guy said,

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Speaker 1: it's twelve bucks for the rest of the summer, and

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Speaker 1: she said, boy, get out, and so she literally kicked

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Speaker 1: me out the car right kicking and screaming. I was

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Speaker 1: crying like, I can't play tennis. I don't want to

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Speaker 1: play tennis. How am I going to get home? You know,

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Speaker 1: I get beat up in my neighborhood if they found

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Speaker 1: out I played tennis. You know, this is you know,

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Speaker 1: not a cool sport. But it was convenient babysitting for

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Speaker 1: my mother. So at the time, it was out of

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Speaker 1: pure convenience. That's it. That's it. No aspirations of being

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Speaker 1: a tennis player, no interest, just convenient baby city. So

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Speaker 1: what happened, So the convenient baby city continued. So I

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Speaker 1: was a basketball player of until that point. You know,

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Speaker 1: I played at the YMCA. My brother's six foot nine

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Speaker 1: played basketball to Paul. My dad six foot five, played

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Speaker 1: basketball in college as well, and Norm Vali where was

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Speaker 1: the best man in his wedding. So basketball was in

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Speaker 1: my jeans. And so obviously if you're in a tennis

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Speaker 1: court with a bunch of kids who probably did not

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Speaker 1: all make the basketball team, you're the best athlete out there.

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Speaker 1: So at the end of the summer, the tennis coach

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Speaker 1: told my mother that this kid has potential, and he

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Speaker 1: informed her about a free program that was a mile

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Speaker 1: away from my grammar school. So once again, my mom

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Speaker 1: gets these great ideas about convenient babysitting. So I had

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Speaker 1: three siblings, and so they all played different sports. My

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Speaker 1: sister played and it was free, and it was free, right.

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Speaker 1: So my sister played, was a swimmer, my brother played basketball,

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Speaker 1: and my older sister played. And so if there was

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Speaker 1: any program a mile away from my grammar school, then

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Speaker 1: my mom didn't have to pick me up and could

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Speaker 1: worry about the other three.

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Speaker 5: I was gonna do it. So it could have been

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Speaker 5: like underwater polo.

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Speaker 1: And but don't you think that.

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Speaker 2: Your mom maybe actually thought tennis was a good sport

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Speaker 2: for you.

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Speaker 1: My mom was an academician, she was she had no

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Speaker 1: interest in sports. To this day, she's never seen me

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Speaker 1: play a tennis match. So it was literally no interest

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Speaker 1: at all, no aspiration of being a crazy tennis parent

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Speaker 1: driving all across the country at the tennis tournament. It

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Speaker 1: just was I've got three other kids who played three

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Speaker 1: different things. My Vovo station wagon is like a route around.

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Speaker 1: This is one kid that I don't have to worry

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Speaker 1: about because he can walk here and it's free five

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Speaker 1: days a week, and so it was a safe place

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Speaker 1: on the South side Chicago, which there aren't that many. Wow.

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Speaker 2: So okay, so you get into tennis, she's stopped being

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Speaker 2: pretty good actually then and then your mom and dad

293
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Speaker 2: are like, hey, maybe we can get a college scholarship

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Speaker 2: out of you too, So you're technically being free your

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Speaker 2: whole life. Yeah. Yeah, so you got it. You got

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Speaker 2: a tennis scholarship at f correct Florida and L Florida,

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Speaker 2: A and L. So how was that experience for you

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Speaker 2: as well?

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Speaker 1: It was great.

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Speaker 4: It was.

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Speaker 1: You know, my my parents when I was fourteen, right

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Speaker 1: and right around fourteen is where all the kids started

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Speaker 1: getting a little squirrely. They started seeing how tennis kind

304
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Speaker 1: of invade your social life. How do you miss homecoming

305
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Speaker 1: because of a tennis tournament or whatever?

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Speaker 6: Uh.

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Speaker 1: And it was about the time where I was like,

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Speaker 1: this is cool. I'm pretty good, but I'm not great.

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Speaker 1: I don't love it.

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Speaker 5: I just kind of am good at it. And it's

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Speaker 5: kind of getting the way of hanging out.

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Speaker 1: After school with the girls, with the girls going to

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Speaker 1: the hair washing library after school and hanging out and

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Speaker 1: pretending to do homework, so you yeah, exactly right. So

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Speaker 1: then my parents said, well, look, we've all blessed you

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Speaker 1: with good jeens. My mom was very smart and my

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Speaker 1: dad was a great athlete.

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Speaker 2: All of you all.

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Speaker 1: And smart and smart. You know what is he a

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Speaker 1: John By? Yeah? Can he's a smart dude too, but

321
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Speaker 1: he's one with the height in the athletics. So he uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, he said, you all better find the ball

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Speaker 1: and hit it, kick it, shoot it, spike it, because

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Speaker 1: we're not paying for college because we shouldn't have to.

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Speaker 1: And so although my parents probably could have paid for college,

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Speaker 1: my older brother at that time was being recruited for basketball,

327
00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:22,280
Speaker 1: my oldest sister was being recruited for volleyball. I was

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Speaker 1: fourteen and sort of indifferent to tennis. And my younger

329
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Speaker 1: sister was a superstar swimmer and track star, so she

330
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Speaker 1: was a stay high jump champion in two years in

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Speaker 1: a row. So you know, my dad said, you can

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Speaker 1: quit if you want to, but I'm not paying for college.

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Speaker 1: I'm like two O two for two right now, you're

334
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Speaker 1: number three. You better keep it going here, right, uh,

335
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Speaker 1: And so I just kept going. And then when I

336
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Speaker 1: was a you know, junior senior in high school. I

337
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Speaker 1: started getting letters from all types of schools, and you know,

338
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Speaker 1: ended up at Florida and m another kid from Chicago

339
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Speaker 1: was the graduate assistant coach there, so there was a

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Speaker 1: relationship there, and that's how I ended up with family.

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Speaker 2: All right, So get to the crux of like why

342
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Speaker 2: we're here today. But you you graduate from school, you

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Speaker 2: go to New York. I believe you do pharmaceutical sales.

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Speaker 1: You enjoying that.

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Speaker 2: You come back to Chicago, and this is kind of

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Speaker 2: where everything changed for you. You came back here and

347
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Speaker 2: did what.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so I came home right about this time, you know,

349
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Speaker 1: Christmas season to visit my parents. I was living in

350
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Speaker 1: New York and the old facility where I learned to

351
00:15:23,920 --> 00:15:25,840
Speaker 1: play have been taken over by another.

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Speaker 5: Club operator, and what used to be a place.

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Speaker 1: That had tons of minority kids with free and affordable

354
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Speaker 1: programming was now sort of underutilized, underpopulated prices through the roof,

355
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Speaker 1: not the pricing structure could not be supported by the neighborhood.

356
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Speaker 1: And so you know, I stayed home for a weekend,

357
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Speaker 1: hung out, went back. I was on my United flight

358
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Speaker 1: drinking a jack and coke, and I had well.

359
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Speaker 2: That's big time for you, because I know you don't

360
00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:58,440
Speaker 2: drink jack and coke anymore more about the fruity drinks.

361
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Speaker 5: So I had this bright idea.

362
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Speaker 1: I said, you know, I'm going to buy out the

363
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Speaker 1: current operator and like, you know, restart the program. And

364
00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:11,160
Speaker 1: you know, went back to work obviously in New York,

365
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Speaker 1: called my parents and said, hey, I want to buy

366
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Speaker 1: out you know, the current operator at the old club.

367
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Speaker 1: I want to make it like it was. I want

368
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Speaker 1: to have free tennis. I want to have affordable private lessons.

369
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Speaker 1: I want to have affordable groups. I want to have

370
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Speaker 1: this melting pot of black, white, Asian, Hispanic all who

371
00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:28,960
Speaker 1: used to come here and just hang out, you know, tutoring, mentoring,

372
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Speaker 1: all these other things that I think helped me sort of,

373
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Speaker 1: you know, get through life and stay out of trouble.

374
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Speaker 1: And you know, I was very much a kid in

375
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Speaker 1: the middle middle child or a middle class family in

376
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Speaker 1: the middle class neighborhood, and without sort of clear direction,

377
00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:49,920
Speaker 1: I didn't know what I wanted to be in life.

378
00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:53,520
Speaker 1: And so that kid could easily go the other way, right,

379
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Speaker 1: And so tennis helped me continue to move forward as

380
00:16:57,560 --> 00:17:00,520
Speaker 1: opposed to going backwards. And so went to create a

381
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Speaker 1: safe haven where people could come and all move forward together.

382
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Speaker 1: And you know, got the courage to do it. Took

383
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Speaker 1: a loan from my parents. Right Wait, wait, hold on

384
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Speaker 1: a second.

385
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Speaker 2: You went to your mom and said that, and she

386
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Speaker 2: said yeah.

387
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Speaker 1: She's like, boy, you out of your mind. She said,

388
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Speaker 1: I'm two years from retirement. I don't have X amount

389
00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:21,280
Speaker 1: of dollars to give you. You know the houses I

390
00:17:21,320 --> 00:17:24,560
Speaker 1: got only on twenty grand on my house. Good luck, right? Uh?

391
00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:26,600
Speaker 1: And then my dad called me a couple of days later, said, hey,

392
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Speaker 1: I talked to your mom. She told me what you

393
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Speaker 1: want to do. I think you're out of your mind,

394
00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:33,880
Speaker 1: but I'll refinance the house and loan you the money,

395
00:17:34,359 --> 00:17:38,000
Speaker 1: but I need it all back, right, And you know,

396
00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:39,760
Speaker 1: my mom again called me and says, yeah, I know

397
00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:40,359
Speaker 1: you and your dad.

398
00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:40,760
Speaker 5: Had a conversation.

399
00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:42,960
Speaker 1: She said, I just want to know I didn't have

400
00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:45,040
Speaker 1: to pay for you to play tennis. Why do I

401
00:17:45,160 --> 00:17:47,040
Speaker 1: have to pay for other peopil's kids to play tennis.

402
00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:50,399
Speaker 1: I was like, well, it's an investment, you get it

403
00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:53,720
Speaker 1: all back, it's something good for the community. You know,

404
00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:56,879
Speaker 1: we should do it, you know whatever, right, And so

405
00:17:58,359 --> 00:18:00,000
Speaker 1: she was like, okay, fine, So the refinance the house

406
00:18:00,119 --> 00:18:03,560
Speaker 1: was loaning to money. Thank God paid them all back

407
00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:10,240
Speaker 1: six months later. And yeah, well they got all their

408
00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:13,359
Speaker 1: money back, so I'm out of debt from them. The

409
00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:17,880
Speaker 1: excess tennis has paid off its startup capital, and we're

410
00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:19,360
Speaker 1: in a good shape now. And now we moved into

411
00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:22,479
Speaker 1: a twenty seventeen million dollar facility twenties at the courts.

412
00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:25,480
Speaker 2: But okay, okay, but what gave you the impotence to

413
00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:27,200
Speaker 2: think that you could do what you've done, which was

414
00:18:27,280 --> 00:18:31,760
Speaker 2: rise seventeen million dollars approximately, right to build one of

415
00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:33,800
Speaker 2: the biggest tennis facilities in the world.

416
00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:35,679
Speaker 5: Yeah, other than big balls.

417
00:18:36,080 --> 00:18:36,399
Speaker 4: You know what.

418
00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:40,920
Speaker 1: It's funny, you know, from where I was in life,

419
00:18:41,359 --> 00:18:42,960
Speaker 1: I didn't really have anything to protect.

420
00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:44,080
Speaker 5: I wasn't wealthy.

421
00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:46,920
Speaker 1: I was making one hundred and ten grand you know,

422
00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:49,440
Speaker 1: my current job, which you know, in the grand scheme

423
00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:51,800
Speaker 1: of things, it's not great.

424
00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:54,040
Speaker 5: In New York, right, in New York, right, it's not great.

425
00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:57,159
Speaker 2: We're married by this time, I was still single.

426
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Speaker 1: Still single, no kids, right, which I also makes you

427
00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:04,800
Speaker 1: very brave. I think that you know, a lot of

428
00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:07,320
Speaker 1: times people, you know, we kind of go through life

429
00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:10,040
Speaker 1: and we try to protect our position. We protect where

430
00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:12,439
Speaker 1: we are, We protect we live this very safe career.

431
00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:13,679
Speaker 2: The unknown it is scary.

432
00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:16,440
Speaker 1: Unknown is scary, and for me it was like, I'm

433
00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:18,520
Speaker 1: kind of at the bottom already. I don't have anything

434
00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:22,560
Speaker 1: to protect. I mean, I'm from nothing right and the

435
00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:25,080
Speaker 1: only thing I can do is go up. So you

436
00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:26,960
Speaker 1: know what I was though, I will say is that

437
00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:30,280
Speaker 1: being from Chicago and doing the right thing my entire life.

438
00:19:30,359 --> 00:19:33,359
Speaker 1: I had a great support system, right, and I grew

439
00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:36,240
Speaker 1: up in a family that was used to things going right.

440
00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:40,200
Speaker 1: I was used to seeing people start things and finish things.

441
00:19:40,760 --> 00:19:43,000
Speaker 1: My mom had the attitude, if I'm going to be involved,

442
00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:45,200
Speaker 1: it is going to work and it's going to be successful.

443
00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:48,560
Speaker 1: So I had that level of courage. I had also

444
00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:54,920
Speaker 1: had great mentors like Les Coney or Mary Emmanuel or

445
00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:59,600
Speaker 1: James Bell or John Rogers or Robbie Robinson, who I said,

446
00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:00,359
Speaker 1: you know what, all.

447
00:20:00,359 --> 00:20:03,040
Speaker 2: Great entrepreneurs and great business minds of Chicago.

448
00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:06,919
Speaker 1: Yes, all very prominent business people in Chicago, African American guys.

449
00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:13,240
Speaker 1: And you know when you have those people around you, A,

450
00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:15,840
Speaker 1: you know they won't let you fail, right, but B

451
00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:20,679
Speaker 1: you know that with them behind you, it's going to succeed. Right,

452
00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:24,720
Speaker 1: because they have the financial wherewithal, they have their relationships,

453
00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:28,160
Speaker 1: they have the mindset to challenge you to keep making

454
00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:29,520
Speaker 1: sure you're making the right idea.

455
00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:30,520
Speaker 5: Of the right moves forward.

456
00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:33,320
Speaker 1: And so I think that, you know, a growing up

457
00:20:33,359 --> 00:20:36,920
Speaker 1: in a household where the expectations success was the expectation

458
00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:39,800
Speaker 1: taught me to say, Hey, I'm gonna do this, and

459
00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:42,560
Speaker 1: when I started something I expected to work right, and

460
00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:45,359
Speaker 1: I'm not going to stop until it does. Be having

461
00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:48,360
Speaker 1: to support of some key individuals, you know, like Peenny Pritzker,

462
00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:51,680
Speaker 1: you know, Don Edwards, and the list goes on and on,

463
00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:53,120
Speaker 1: Billy Jean, yourself.

464
00:20:53,560 --> 00:20:56,200
Speaker 5: So I saw them all the family Melody hops.

465
00:20:56,240 --> 00:20:57,000
Speaker 1: I had a lot of.

466
00:20:57,080 --> 00:21:00,359
Speaker 5: People here who was like, you know, I guess some

467
00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:01,440
Speaker 5: pretty good supporters.

468
00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:04,600
Speaker 1: If this doesn't work with that line up of supporters,

469
00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:07,119
Speaker 1: it won't work anywhere, right, And so that kind of

470
00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:09,520
Speaker 1: gave me the courage and the confidence to kind of

471
00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:10,080
Speaker 1: go forward.

472
00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:14,280
Speaker 2: Okay, So you're literally in the middle of building, as

473
00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:16,360
Speaker 2: I said, one of the great tennis facilities, and if

474
00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:18,639
Speaker 2: people are out there that come to Chicago, you need

475
00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:20,720
Speaker 2: to come to this facility and check it out, if anything,

476
00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:24,280
Speaker 2: and see what it's doing. But you also, as that

477
00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:27,240
Speaker 2: was all happening, you decided to take a full time

478
00:21:27,359 --> 00:21:31,280
Speaker 2: coaching role with Sloan Stevens. So I mean the juggling

479
00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:33,159
Speaker 2: that you were doing that and how difficult was that

480
00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:36,080
Speaker 2: because you just said that when you do it, essentially

481
00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:39,280
Speaker 2: saying when you do something, you want to do it excellently. Right,

482
00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:43,720
Speaker 2: So you're doing this amazing program, You're building this incredible facility,

483
00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:45,760
Speaker 2: so you want to do the excellence behind it, and

484
00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:48,120
Speaker 2: I know you you sleep like two hours of fucking night,

485
00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:51,320
Speaker 2: which is like insane. But then you take on Sloan,

486
00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:54,200
Speaker 2: So what was the juggling act like for you?

487
00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:57,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, so initially and we were already under construction, right,

488
00:21:57,800 --> 00:21:59,880
Speaker 1: we were just walking around and you know, in Chicago,

489
00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:01,680
Speaker 1: construction Chicago's hard.

490
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:08,280
Speaker 5: Whether it is tough, there are always hurdles.

491
00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:12,280
Speaker 1: There are always political issues that need to be constantly monitored,

492
00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:16,600
Speaker 1: the community engagement that needs to happen, you know, on

493
00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:20,639
Speaker 1: a consistent basis. And you know, there was a lot

494
00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:26,440
Speaker 1: of criticism actually for not stepping away but traveling so much,

495
00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:30,320
Speaker 1: committing to a very intense travel schedule. But I think

496
00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:33,720
Speaker 1: that the people didn't understand that this was actually could

497
00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:36,000
Speaker 1: be a great complimentary thing to what we're doing. It

498
00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:40,160
Speaker 1: could be a great example. Working with Sloan would be great.

499
00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:43,920
Speaker 1: It would be great to take the mission here, give

500
00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:48,280
Speaker 1: it a global platform with a very talented player, a

501
00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:54,080
Speaker 1: very charismatic player, one who was also African American, one

502
00:22:54,119 --> 00:22:56,840
Speaker 1: who was very philanthropic and had a great heart for kids,

503
00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:04,680
Speaker 1: could personally, as me, being the figurehead behind excess, could

504
00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:06,440
Speaker 1: get rid of this notion like, oh, he's just a

505
00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:09,399
Speaker 1: good south side coach. Yeah right, Oh he's building a

506
00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:11,639
Speaker 1: community center, because that's not what we were building. We

507
00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:13,440
Speaker 1: were trying to be one of the best places to

508
00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:16,680
Speaker 1: play tennis in the country that just so happened to

509
00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:19,240
Speaker 1: be located on the south side of Chicago, And so

510
00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:22,320
Speaker 1: early on people were reducing what we were doing to oh,

511
00:23:22,359 --> 00:23:23,680
Speaker 1: he's building tennis YMCA.

512
00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:26,760
Speaker 5: I was like, guys, come on, I think I'm.

513
00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:30,200
Speaker 1: A pretty good coach. I think I have great mentors

514
00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:33,480
Speaker 1: and great people. I talked to Xena Garrison, Beijing King Renett,

515
00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:35,080
Speaker 1: I mean a lot of people I talked to. It's like,

516
00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:37,879
Speaker 1: we're not just building YMCA, right. So I think working

517
00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:42,800
Speaker 1: with Sloan helped sort of elevate your status, my status

518
00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:43,800
Speaker 1: which also.

519
00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:45,479
Speaker 5: Helps people believe more in the program.

520
00:23:46,119 --> 00:23:48,840
Speaker 1: Right, And so I always knew it was complimentary because

521
00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:50,359
Speaker 1: I was connecting all the dots where I think the

522
00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:52,720
Speaker 1: people who were criticizing it earlier, like oh my god,

523
00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:54,959
Speaker 1: he's not committed, or he's kind of stepping away, they

524
00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:56,159
Speaker 1: weren't really connecting it.

525
00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:57,440
Speaker 5: I think now they all get it.

526
00:23:58,440 --> 00:23:59,840
Speaker 2: But how stressful was that time for you?

527
00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:02,800
Speaker 5: That's very stressful. But you know, I've learned you just gotta.

528
00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:04,440
Speaker 2: Hey, listen, you gotta work.

529
00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:06,520
Speaker 1: You gotta work. I've learned you got to just keep going,

530
00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:09,680
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So you gotta keep going,

531
00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:13,359
Speaker 1: and you gotta just you know, trust that you know

532
00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:16,680
Speaker 1: all the dots to connect because Tenna is like a

533
00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:19,600
Speaker 1: very small fraternity. There aren't a lot of people who.

534
00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:21,800
Speaker 5: Played tennis on the South Side in the Inner City program.

535
00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:26,280
Speaker 1: Went to college, still has a relationships with went to

536
00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:30,000
Speaker 1: work in Corporate America. Right has a relationship with tennis legends, Scilica.

537
00:24:30,119 --> 00:24:33,080
Speaker 1: Get all the Things at Play, has that context of

538
00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:37,480
Speaker 1: the black history in tennis from you know, my old facility.

539
00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:40,400
Speaker 1: Xena Garrison used to come to Arthur Ash came to Vence,

540
00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:43,240
Speaker 1: and Serena came to Margina as lower came to Pam

541
00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:45,600
Speaker 1: Sriver's been there. So there was a lot of things

542
00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:47,600
Speaker 1: that we're trying to kind of put together in this

543
00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:51,080
Speaker 1: big pot of gumbo, where I think someone who doesn't

544
00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:53,240
Speaker 1: have that perspective really didn't totally get and was hard

545
00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:55,720
Speaker 1: for him to understand. But I think now everyone is

546
00:24:55,760 --> 00:25:00,440
Speaker 1: crystal clear on why taking the job was important. A

547
00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:04,200
Speaker 1: people also forget I'd left a full time job to

548
00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:06,480
Speaker 1: get into the philanthropic world, right, and.

549
00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:07,359
Speaker 5: Also had a family.

550
00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:11,680
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I and when I had Sloan, I was

551
00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:14,120
Speaker 1: my my wife is pregnant, you know, the first kid.

552
00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:17,000
Speaker 1: So there's also like, you know, I also have things

553
00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:19,359
Speaker 1: personally that I want to achieve. I have people I

554
00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:22,359
Speaker 1: have to take care of, and this sort of facility's

555
00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:24,760
Speaker 1: program is my gift to the community, but it doesn't

556
00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:27,840
Speaker 1: necessarily pay my bills, right, And so in that spirit,

557
00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:30,400
Speaker 1: it was also a great, you know, a great opportunity.

558
00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:32,800
Speaker 2: So you go on the rovers line, you start working

559
00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:37,520
Speaker 2: with her, you have a great start to your teamwork together,

560
00:25:38,080 --> 00:25:40,880
Speaker 2: and then she gets injured for a period of time.

561
00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:45,679
Speaker 2: You come back and how give us a little bit

562
00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:48,399
Speaker 2: of background into those couple of months and you know,

563
00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:50,400
Speaker 2: the culmination obviously winning the US Open.

564
00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:51,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, how crazy.

565
00:25:51,520 --> 00:25:52,680
Speaker 5: Well, it was more than a couple of months.

566
00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:55,840
Speaker 1: It was eleven months, right, And I think for the

567
00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:57,680
Speaker 1: first three or four I mean she literally was in

568
00:25:57,760 --> 00:25:59,680
Speaker 1: the boot and couldn't do anything, and so she had,

569
00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:01,680
Speaker 1: you know, a good amount of time for her to

570
00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:04,240
Speaker 1: focus on her foundation, focus on her social life. I mean,

571
00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:07,280
Speaker 1: you know, tennis players give up a lot of their childhood,

572
00:26:07,359 --> 00:26:09,160
Speaker 1: a lot of things they don't experience because.

573
00:26:08,960 --> 00:26:10,160
Speaker 5: Of constant playing tennis.

574
00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:13,159
Speaker 2: From vacations, trust me, I get it.

575
00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:15,960
Speaker 5: Yeah, and Sloan graduated from college during that time.

576
00:26:16,119 --> 00:26:16,320
Speaker 1: Yep.

577
00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:19,120
Speaker 5: So you know, to her credit, she used that time wisely.

578
00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:21,640
Speaker 1: And so it was like probably three or four months

579
00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:24,359
Speaker 1: were we didn't even speak, right, and then you know,

580
00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:26,440
Speaker 1: about the fifth moment, we started getting touched, start watching,

581
00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:28,240
Speaker 1: you know, talking about things that are having on tour,

582
00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:30,760
Speaker 1: cracking jokes, making fun of people, you know, sort of

583
00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:34,479
Speaker 1: re engaging and checking back into the professional tennis world. Right,

584
00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:37,440
Speaker 1: and then starts getting clear to okay, you can do

585
00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:40,440
Speaker 1: non weight bearing. Okay, now you can do weight bearing,

586
00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:42,600
Speaker 1: but no movement, right, and so sort of a process

587
00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:45,080
Speaker 1: and for me as a coach, you know, I'm probably

588
00:26:45,119 --> 00:26:46,800
Speaker 1: one of the few people to coach on tour and

589
00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:50,240
Speaker 1: also coach five year olds. It was a great opportunity

590
00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:56,000
Speaker 1: for me to actually teach right as opposed to just coaching. Okay,

591
00:26:56,080 --> 00:26:58,000
Speaker 1: this is a cross course doing two on one, let's

592
00:26:58,000 --> 00:26:59,919
Speaker 1: do up and back, let's do all the surf plus one.

593
00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:01,280
Speaker 5: You know, that's coaching, right.

594
00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:03,640
Speaker 1: It was a good opportunity when we have someone where

595
00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:06,159
Speaker 1: they can't move and they have to sit there and

596
00:27:06,400 --> 00:27:10,800
Speaker 1: listen to you, especially especially Slune right and especially me right.

597
00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:13,040
Speaker 1: I can be hard to be around on tennis courts sometimes, right,

598
00:27:13,359 --> 00:27:15,600
Speaker 1: So we were sort of trapped together, and I thought

599
00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:17,960
Speaker 1: that was a good time for her to actually slow

600
00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:22,000
Speaker 1: down and improve on some things. And I think that

601
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:26,480
Speaker 1: is why she's a different player now, because the eleven

602
00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:29,560
Speaker 1: months gave her and I an opportunity each other's, you know,

603
00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:31,800
Speaker 1: dissect a game a little bit. Let's dissect and let's

604
00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:35,160
Speaker 1: isolate a few things, work long in a very patient,

605
00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:39,640
Speaker 1: methodical manner, because we're not preparing for Rome in two weeks, right,

606
00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:40,800
Speaker 1: and let's do it.

607
00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:45,040
Speaker 2: And I think were you shocked when she played as

608
00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:48,280
Speaker 2: well as she did in Canada and then Cincinnati. We're like, oh,

609
00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:51,400
Speaker 2: this is great because she had to battle. Okay, back

610
00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:53,320
Speaker 2: up a little bit. What was a part of that

611
00:27:53,520 --> 00:27:55,720
Speaker 2: period of time, because I know for me what I saw,

612
00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:57,560
Speaker 2: But what do you think the period of time was

613
00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:02,960
Speaker 2: in that month period of Cincinnati and in Canada?

614
00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:07,320
Speaker 1: What did you see differently? Well, let's be clear, when

615
00:28:07,359 --> 00:28:13,600
Speaker 1: we started working together in November of fifteen, right, she

616
00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:20,320
Speaker 1: won Okland in January six and she won Charleston, which

617
00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:23,960
Speaker 1: is a premiere, right, and so she had already started

618
00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:27,200
Speaker 1: to kind of learn how to win, right, and learn

619
00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:29,480
Speaker 1: how to finish matches and learn how to put a

620
00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:35,480
Speaker 1: whole week together. Right. And so I think if you

621
00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:37,960
Speaker 1: look at her the past three years for her, you

622
00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:40,320
Speaker 1: can't A lot of people look at it from you know,

623
00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:42,320
Speaker 1: Canada to the US or to now.

624
00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:42,840
Speaker 4: Right.

625
00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:46,400
Speaker 1: I look at it at January to let's say, March.

626
00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:50,520
Speaker 1: Then you get injured, right, and then we restart again

627
00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:51,160
Speaker 1: and we pick up.

628
00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:52,000
Speaker 5: So I think what you.

629
00:28:52,040 --> 00:28:56,800
Speaker 1: See in Canada is sort of sloan learning how to

630
00:28:56,840 --> 00:28:58,960
Speaker 1: win over the past year and a half, but now

631
00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:02,800
Speaker 1: with a few more tools, right now hitting the ball

632
00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:03,320
Speaker 1: lot cleaner.

633
00:29:03,520 --> 00:29:06,280
Speaker 2: Is it learning the tools as you said you talked,

634
00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:11,800
Speaker 2: But is it also having a better appreciation of her

635
00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:14,880
Speaker 2: life a little bit as well, So she she learned

636
00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:17,120
Speaker 2: how to win. She won, you know, particularly Charleston was

637
00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:18,440
Speaker 2: a big tournament for her to win, and then she

638
00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:21,440
Speaker 2: gets injured. So at that moment, she's learned how to

639
00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:23,160
Speaker 2: win big tournaments. She's learned how to win a lot

640
00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:25,440
Speaker 2: of big matches under pressure, and then the game was

641
00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:28,240
Speaker 2: taken away from her a little bit. So do you

642
00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:30,840
Speaker 2: think that they're also for Sligine in particular she learned

643
00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:34,560
Speaker 2: that she loved the game as well, and did that

644
00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:39,640
Speaker 2: was that the extra impotence to win the you know,

645
00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:41,360
Speaker 2: do as well as she did in Canada and sincey

646
00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:43,120
Speaker 2: and then eventually went that you was open, so she

647
00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:45,520
Speaker 2: already had the base that you had worked on her with.

648
00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:51,040
Speaker 2: And then sometimes it's the real total desire, right is

649
00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:53,880
Speaker 2: the next step? Do you think that she learned maybe

650
00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:56,320
Speaker 2: something when she when the game was essentially taken away

651
00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:57,680
Speaker 2: from her and you don't know, Hey, you don't know

652
00:29:57,680 --> 00:29:59,760
Speaker 2: how you're going to recover after a major injury.

653
00:29:59,800 --> 00:29:59,960
Speaker 4: Life.

654
00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:09,520
Speaker 2: Um, it's kind of scary, you know, because really tennis

655
00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:12,440
Speaker 2: is so much about that little bit of passion. Okay,

656
00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:14,720
Speaker 2: when when the shit hits the fan on the court,

657
00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:17,520
Speaker 2: and you have choices, am I gonna fight really hard?

658
00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:20,360
Speaker 2: And am I gonna dig in or not? And it's

659
00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:22,239
Speaker 2: normal to not dig in all the time because it's

660
00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:24,720
Speaker 2: really bloody hard to be really good. Do you think

661
00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:26,120
Speaker 2: that that sort of helped her a little bit to

662
00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:27,880
Speaker 2: appreciate what.

663
00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:29,920
Speaker 1: She actually was doing for a living?

664
00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:30,960
Speaker 5: Okay?

665
00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:35,120
Speaker 1: You know, I think that you're a.

666
00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:37,520
Speaker 2: Tough like you're tough, so you're like, yeah, with the

667
00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:40,360
Speaker 2: emotional bullshit. But but you know, think about it from

668
00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:41,480
Speaker 2: that perspective a little bit.

669
00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:43,240
Speaker 1: You know, I'd think this, you don't play tennis your

670
00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:47,320
Speaker 1: entire life because it's very isolated sport. It's a very

671
00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:49,840
Speaker 1: hard sport to be out there by yourself, you know,

672
00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:52,960
Speaker 1: taking all the all the accountability for of the wins.

673
00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:53,960
Speaker 5: And the losses. It's very tough.

674
00:30:54,200 --> 00:30:56,480
Speaker 1: So I think that you don't really get as good

675
00:30:56,480 --> 00:30:59,760
Speaker 1: as she is without loving the sport. I think there

676
00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:05,800
Speaker 1: are are you know, stretches in the tour right and

677
00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:10,280
Speaker 1: moments in your tennis career where it is tough and

678
00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:14,040
Speaker 1: sort of the look and your demeanor, you know, is

679
00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:17,600
Speaker 1: not that it doesn't match right, It doesn't doesn't doesn't

680
00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:19,120
Speaker 1: matter what you feel it doesn't mean you're out of

681
00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:21,160
Speaker 1: love with the sport. It just means you're in a

682
00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:23,240
Speaker 1: tough time. And I think sometimes we take that we

683
00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:26,120
Speaker 1: ever play it. So I think that she always loved

684
00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:29,680
Speaker 1: the sport. I think that it's like people go on

685
00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:32,360
Speaker 1: vacation sometimes you work in corporate America, you take two

686
00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:34,520
Speaker 1: week vacation, you come back in January, and you renewed.

687
00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:37,520
Speaker 1: I think she had an extra long vacation and she

688
00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:41,680
Speaker 1: came back with a renewed love. I don't think she

689
00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:43,440
Speaker 1: ever I don't think she ever not loved tennis. I

690
00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:45,240
Speaker 1: don't think that she was ever fall.

691
00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:46,560
Speaker 2: Through for the fight.

692
00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:48,720
Speaker 1: But it was like love of the fight, and she

693
00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:51,640
Speaker 1: was fresh. You know, she started back that year in July,

694
00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:54,640
Speaker 1: where everybody had played for six months, right, and so

695
00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:57,480
Speaker 1: she also had a fresher body, right, She had a

696
00:31:57,600 --> 00:32:02,360
Speaker 1: fresher perspective, She had taking some time to enjoy her life.

697
00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:05,200
Speaker 1: So she probably was a bit happier because she has

698
00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:09,400
Speaker 1: some freedom and some time to do some normal, normal

699
00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:13,200
Speaker 1: person things. And so I don't know that it was oh,

700
00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:14,480
Speaker 1: the game is taken away from me.

701
00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:15,360
Speaker 5: Now, I appreciate it.

702
00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:18,520
Speaker 1: I think it was like that was probably the longest

703
00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:20,480
Speaker 1: stretch where I really couldn't play a tournament since I

704
00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:23,200
Speaker 1: was seven years old, right, And it was good to

705
00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:25,720
Speaker 1: take that long with vacation, right. I mean, the tennis

706
00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:28,040
Speaker 1: off season is very short, almost too short, right, So

707
00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:30,080
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's not short.

708
00:32:30,120 --> 00:32:32,680
Speaker 2: Were you out of your mind? The tennis is long.

709
00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:37,200
Speaker 5: I mean, yeah, come on, so it's too short.

710
00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:40,160
Speaker 2: The off season too short, the off season too off season.

711
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:41,080
Speaker 5: Is way too short.

712
00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:44,320
Speaker 1: For his grueling of a tour. Did so, I think

713
00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:46,440
Speaker 1: that that's what it was. She was fresh, at a

714
00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:49,520
Speaker 1: fresh perspective. She had already started to build some confidence.

715
00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:52,160
Speaker 1: We had had some momentum together, and so I think

716
00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:55,080
Speaker 1: there was because we had those three tournament victories together,

717
00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:58,520
Speaker 1: there was some belief in those teaching times. Okay, he

718
00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:00,400
Speaker 1: knows what he's doing. I'll just do it. I do

719
00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:02,440
Speaker 1: what he says. Right Where they can be tough, because

720
00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:04,440
Speaker 1: sometimes it's hard to get a players twenty three years

721
00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:07,600
Speaker 1: old who's already top twenty in world to say, Albill,

722
00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:08,600
Speaker 1: let you tinker with my game.

723
00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:09,400
Speaker 5: Yeah yeah, right, But.

724
00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:11,280
Speaker 1: Because we had, you know, a year and a half

725
00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:13,280
Speaker 1: was some very successful tournament, she says, Okay, I let

726
00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:15,720
Speaker 1: you tinker and I thought that was a good thing.

727
00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:17,840
Speaker 2: So what do you tell her before the final?

728
00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:20,000
Speaker 1: And what did you do the day before?

729
00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:21,840
Speaker 2: I know this story, but it's kind of fun to

730
00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:25,440
Speaker 2: hear you because you're somebody who really is a You

731
00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:28,640
Speaker 2: like to listen to others and to help you be

732
00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:31,240
Speaker 2: better at what you do in whatever it is. Building

733
00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:34,920
Speaker 2: the south Side facility here was listening to great particularly

734
00:33:34,960 --> 00:33:38,520
Speaker 2: African American black entrepreneurs that have done great things, and

735
00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:41,680
Speaker 2: listening to them to make this facility better now with coaching,

736
00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:44,280
Speaker 2: tell me what you did the day before the final?

737
00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:48,000
Speaker 1: So hey, I was you know, Slona just makes fun

738
00:33:48,040 --> 00:33:49,400
Speaker 1: of me because I wear the same thing every day.

739
00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:53,480
Speaker 5: So you know, who knows? Who knew you're going to

740
00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:54,280
Speaker 5: be in New York for two and.

741
00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:57,400
Speaker 1: A half weeks, right, and so I think by that

742
00:33:57,600 --> 00:34:00,920
Speaker 1: time my little white shirt was a little smelly and

743
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:01,920
Speaker 1: it was time to wash it.

744
00:34:02,360 --> 00:34:04,640
Speaker 2: So wait, don't tell me you wear the same fucking

745
00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:06,600
Speaker 2: shit without washing it. Please tell me you're not that

746
00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:09,680
Speaker 2: four days guy, I'm gonna do.

747
00:34:09,880 --> 00:34:10,600
Speaker 1: Come on, I gonna die.

748
00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:14,440
Speaker 5: I go three or four days and wear the same hoodie.

749
00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:16,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, you wear the same hoodie and you

750
00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:17,640
Speaker 2: have the same breakfast every morning.

751
00:34:18,160 --> 00:34:21,080
Speaker 1: What's your breakfast? Downs? Number five, A medium coffee, six

752
00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:23,280
Speaker 1: and six. You know it's very predictable.

753
00:34:23,400 --> 00:34:25,239
Speaker 2: Do not people at home do that?

754
00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:28,399
Speaker 1: Okay? So you know I was it was about time

755
00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:30,920
Speaker 1: to wash, you know, so I've texted I hadn't really

756
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:33,560
Speaker 1: had time because you know, it's busy.

757
00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:34,120
Speaker 5: It's busy.

758
00:34:34,200 --> 00:34:36,760
Speaker 1: You're like got the match days and are like full days.

759
00:34:37,160 --> 00:34:39,000
Speaker 1: Then you have the off days in between where it's

760
00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:44,000
Speaker 1: practice and it's you know, massage, and it's babysitting, babysitting

761
00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:46,600
Speaker 1: dinner and you know, you know you're on call right

762
00:34:46,680 --> 00:34:47,959
Speaker 1: your job is to be there for the player.

763
00:34:48,080 --> 00:34:49,880
Speaker 5: So I hadn't really hung out with Billion in a line.

764
00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:55,360
Speaker 1: Yet, and so I had so I was a needing

765
00:34:55,400 --> 00:35:00,279
Speaker 1: to wash the clothes and they don't be from a

766
00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:03,080
Speaker 1: hotel and I hadn't hung out with him. So I've

767
00:35:03,120 --> 00:35:05,279
Speaker 1: been texting Ability He's like, oh, we got Rosie over here,

768
00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:07,480
Speaker 1: and you know everybody, I said, I'm gonna come over

769
00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:10,760
Speaker 1: and bring my laundry, right and then bring my laundry,

770
00:35:11,040 --> 00:35:13,239
Speaker 1: wash clothes, sit there for a couple of hours, a

771
00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:14,960
Speaker 1: line of folds, my ond thewear, you know, and just

772
00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:16,600
Speaker 1: I was like, you can just throw it back in

773
00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:16,879
Speaker 1: the bag.

774
00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:18,959
Speaker 2: Wait a second, I've stayed thrilling in Alana. They didn't

775
00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:19,720
Speaker 2: do my laundry.

776
00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:23,800
Speaker 5: They must love me a little more, so, you know,

777
00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:25,040
Speaker 5: go there and wash my clothes.

778
00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:28,440
Speaker 2: And sorry for you. Clearly, Yeah, that's incapable of folding

779
00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:29,680
Speaker 2: your own clothes too.

780
00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:31,680
Speaker 1: I'm the baby of the crew, so I give a

781
00:35:31,719 --> 00:35:34,080
Speaker 1: little bit of special treatment. But you know, I sat

782
00:35:34,120 --> 00:35:35,839
Speaker 1: there and I was like, you know, so then tell

783
00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:38,799
Speaker 1: me about your first Grand slaand final because I've never

784
00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:41,520
Speaker 1: played at Grandstand final. Yeah, And so my job was

785
00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:44,000
Speaker 1: to help this player. And I don't know what she's

786
00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:46,640
Speaker 1: gonna feel tomorrow. She doesn't know what she's gonna feel tomorrow.

787
00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:49,080
Speaker 1: I have an idea on what I think she needs

788
00:35:49,160 --> 00:35:51,799
Speaker 1: to feel, right, but let me sit around and learn

789
00:35:51,920 --> 00:35:55,040
Speaker 1: and listen to other people talk about what it's like

790
00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:57,120
Speaker 1: to walk out there and off the air stadium. PSM.

791
00:35:57,200 --> 00:35:59,520
Speaker 2: By the way, to every coach out there, this is

792
00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:03,239
Speaker 2: a great some for you. You don't know everything. Don't

793
00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:04,120
Speaker 2: try and know everything.

794
00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:06,360
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I don't. You know who knows right? So

795
00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:08,480
Speaker 1: go to dinner with Sloan, I go over Line's house

796
00:36:08,520 --> 00:36:11,359
Speaker 1: by line Billy's like nine o'clock, wash my clothes. Sit there,

797
00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:15,080
Speaker 1: have some chicken and some fried chicken.

798
00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:16,120
Speaker 2: I think I had that when.

799
00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:18,920
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's they're famous for ordering in fried chicken. Right,

800
00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:22,839
Speaker 1: So sit there, listen to her and Rosie Alana actually

801
00:36:22,920 --> 00:36:24,759
Speaker 1: was not a part. She was doing the laundry, and

802
00:36:25,320 --> 00:36:29,040
Speaker 1: we just talked about, you know a few moments. You know,

803
00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:31,160
Speaker 1: Billy gets in her story. I remember when I was

804
00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:34,680
Speaker 1: and it was nothing specific to Sloan, right, because they

805
00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:35,680
Speaker 1: don't know her that well.

806
00:36:36,040 --> 00:36:38,120
Speaker 5: So it was not like if I were you, I

807
00:36:38,160 --> 00:36:39,640
Speaker 5: would tell her this, right.

808
00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:42,680
Speaker 1: It was more I remember in nineteen blah blah blah

809
00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:44,920
Speaker 1: when I played blah blah blah, and I was feeling

810
00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:46,640
Speaker 1: this this, this this this, and it was just I'm

811
00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:50,160
Speaker 1: just sitting there and listen sponge, right. And then.

812
00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:53,640
Speaker 5: Happened to have some of Sloan's laundry in my laundry.

813
00:36:54,239 --> 00:36:54,560
Speaker 1: Okay.

814
00:36:55,239 --> 00:36:56,959
Speaker 5: And so got back to the hotel.

815
00:36:58,440 --> 00:37:00,640
Speaker 1: And you know, the entire two week, I had never

816
00:37:00,719 --> 00:37:03,840
Speaker 1: gone to Sloans room. I'd never like bothered her night before.

817
00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:06,839
Speaker 1: No text. Yeah, we text, We do the work over dinner,

818
00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:08,239
Speaker 1: We do the work in the car, do the work

819
00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:09,319
Speaker 1: at the site.

820
00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:10,560
Speaker 5: I had never gone to her.

821
00:37:10,520 --> 00:37:13,080
Speaker 1: Room, but I knew she'd probably be like filling it

822
00:37:13,120 --> 00:37:15,840
Speaker 1: a little bit, and so I'd taken some of her

823
00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:17,200
Speaker 1: laundry down right.

824
00:37:18,239 --> 00:37:20,920
Speaker 5: And you know, actually Sybil sent me a text and

825
00:37:20,960 --> 00:37:21,600
Speaker 5: says her mom.

826
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:23,800
Speaker 1: So her mom sent me a text and says Slans

827
00:37:23,800 --> 00:37:26,560
Speaker 1: a little nervous. She's like in a full body sweat.

828
00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:28,080
Speaker 1: You may want to go talk to her. I'm like,

829
00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:30,319
Speaker 1: maybe she has the flu or somebody can go down

830
00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:32,200
Speaker 1: there and make sure she's okay. Right, this is the

831
00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:37,000
Speaker 1: hell of a night to be sick, So go down there. Hey,

832
00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:39,240
Speaker 1: I got your tank top, you know, and the sports

833
00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:39,560
Speaker 1: brought it.

834
00:37:39,680 --> 00:37:41,360
Speaker 5: You need Like, I don't need that.

835
00:37:41,480 --> 00:37:44,080
Speaker 1: I've got my clothes already and blah blah blah. You

836
00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:45,600
Speaker 1: just want to come check on me, I said, dan R,

837
00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:47,480
Speaker 1: I don't want to come check on you, So come

838
00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:48,239
Speaker 1: on right.

839
00:37:48,320 --> 00:37:51,200
Speaker 5: So it was like, hey, open invitation to sort of.

840
00:37:51,280 --> 00:37:53,560
Speaker 1: Like talk about it, right, And so you sit there

841
00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:55,960
Speaker 1: and you let her talk, right, and then you know

842
00:37:56,560 --> 00:37:59,360
Speaker 1: it's good not to respond right away, all right, And

843
00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:03,600
Speaker 1: so didn't respond like, oh, you'll be fine, no big deal.

844
00:38:04,239 --> 00:38:06,080
Speaker 5: You know, no one will probably come. You know, you

845
00:38:06,160 --> 00:38:07,160
Speaker 5: two are young players.

846
00:38:08,640 --> 00:38:12,799
Speaker 2: One's gonna come. Don't worry out. The rest stadium will

847
00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:15,640
Speaker 2: be empty. Just pretend you're playing Madison on the back

848
00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:16,880
Speaker 2: court somewhere.

849
00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:19,279
Speaker 1: You playing there multiple times, just like playing a little

850
00:38:19,320 --> 00:38:22,759
Speaker 1: practice mat. We actually played Madison our first practice of

851
00:38:22,840 --> 00:38:24,400
Speaker 1: the New York of the tournament.

852
00:38:25,400 --> 00:38:26,439
Speaker 2: How many times does that happen?

853
00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:26,640
Speaker 4: Though?

854
00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:27,600
Speaker 1: Random?

855
00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:30,680
Speaker 2: I always like the first player I see, I'm gonna

856
00:38:30,680 --> 00:38:32,799
Speaker 2: play for sure, And it happens all the time.

857
00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:35,160
Speaker 5: Yeah, So you know, I was like, oh, no big deal.

858
00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:36,719
Speaker 1: You know we'll be all right. You know, you just

859
00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:39,759
Speaker 1: keep the ball on the court. You know you'll be fine.

860
00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:42,120
Speaker 1: Stay will only be half half empty because Serena's not

861
00:38:42,160 --> 00:38:44,560
Speaker 1: playing this year and everybody come to see West Arena.

862
00:38:44,640 --> 00:38:46,719
Speaker 1: You know you'll be fine. No big deal, right, And

863
00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:47,919
Speaker 1: she was like, you know, our.

864
00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:48,960
Speaker 5: Lives could change tomorrow.

865
00:38:48,960 --> 00:38:51,200
Speaker 2: I was like, wow, she said that to you. She's like, oh,

866
00:38:51,280 --> 00:38:52,120
Speaker 2: last tomorrow, I.

867
00:38:52,120 --> 00:38:54,000
Speaker 1: Could be a grands Dame champion, the person that lost it.

868
00:38:54,520 --> 00:38:55,800
Speaker 1: And I was like, yeah, I could be a grandson.

869
00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:58,879
Speaker 1: I was like, my life can be the same regardless. Fine.

870
00:38:59,000 --> 00:38:59,160
Speaker 4: Right.

871
00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:00,840
Speaker 1: So it was like not really right, but you know,

872
00:39:00,920 --> 00:39:03,399
Speaker 1: you try to like kind of like reduce and help

873
00:39:03,480 --> 00:39:07,480
Speaker 1: them manage the moment, manage your stress, and then went

874
00:39:07,520 --> 00:39:09,360
Speaker 1: back to my room and sort of process right. And

875
00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:11,719
Speaker 1: so by that time I had already figured in my

876
00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:13,640
Speaker 1: mind how we should play the match.

877
00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:15,960
Speaker 5: Right, And so we very briefly.

878
00:39:17,040 --> 00:39:19,279
Speaker 1: Give it to her, you know, just so she has

879
00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:22,120
Speaker 1: extra twelve hours to kind of soaka and think about

880
00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:23,520
Speaker 1: it tactically.

881
00:39:23,719 --> 00:39:24,719
Speaker 5: Tactically what to do?

882
00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:26,160
Speaker 1: You know, how to play?

883
00:39:26,400 --> 00:39:27,680
Speaker 5: How do you set yourself up?

884
00:39:27,719 --> 00:39:29,600
Speaker 1: You know Madison is a great player, does they have

885
00:39:29,640 --> 00:39:31,360
Speaker 1: a lot of things that she doesn't do well. So

886
00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:33,000
Speaker 1: it's how do we kind of focus on ourselves for

887
00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:35,080
Speaker 1: tomorrow because it's really hard to be your first Grand

888
00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:38,880
Speaker 1: SEMD final, right and to focus on somebody else, right.

889
00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:40,880
Speaker 1: So it's like, here are the things that you need

890
00:39:40,960 --> 00:39:44,439
Speaker 1: to do right to sort of manage your nerves, manage

891
00:39:44,480 --> 00:39:46,560
Speaker 1: your stress, and manage the moment and so and the

892
00:39:46,640 --> 00:39:49,000
Speaker 1: truth of the matter is five or ten minutes for

893
00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:51,040
Speaker 1: the match, it all goes out the window anyway, because

894
00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:52,840
Speaker 1: in that moment you're just so stressed you're trying to

895
00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:56,319
Speaker 1: make the ball. And so the night before was great,

896
00:39:56,320 --> 00:39:58,080
Speaker 1: and then after that I went out for drinks, you

897
00:39:58,160 --> 00:39:58,759
Speaker 1: know what I mean, so.

898
00:40:00,040 --> 00:40:04,320
Speaker 2: To Billy and I went off a drinking because I

899
00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:07,760
Speaker 2: don't think people realize at home how bloody stressful coaching

900
00:40:07,880 --> 00:40:11,360
Speaker 2: is because you feel you feel so responsible for everything

901
00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:13,120
Speaker 2: that you've just told your player and you know that

902
00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:15,080
Speaker 2: it could be the difference between when you're losing.

903
00:40:15,719 --> 00:40:16,880
Speaker 1: So how tough is that for you?

904
00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:19,640
Speaker 2: Because I know you you're I don't know if people

905
00:40:19,680 --> 00:40:23,799
Speaker 2: realize watching you in the stands, which is a joke,

906
00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:27,040
Speaker 2: okay for everyone at home. Everybody knows how you feel.

907
00:40:26,880 --> 00:40:28,840
Speaker 1: In the stands, But how stressful is that?

908
00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:32,200
Speaker 2: Like moment? Where is There have been times too where

909
00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:33,719
Speaker 2: you're like, oh, Ship, what you told them is not

910
00:40:33,800 --> 00:40:37,799
Speaker 2: working and you're like that wrong, yeah, and they look

911
00:40:37,840 --> 00:40:39,239
Speaker 2: at you like that side I.

912
00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:42,840
Speaker 1: Like, huh, I can name I can name two matches

913
00:40:42,880 --> 00:40:47,200
Speaker 1: where there were one or two things that was like, Ship,

914
00:40:47,239 --> 00:40:49,320
Speaker 1: we should have did something different instead of that, we

915
00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:52,200
Speaker 1: should have did this right. Lucky for us, now we

916
00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:53,920
Speaker 1: have the own core of coaching and when it's tendance,

917
00:40:53,960 --> 00:40:55,880
Speaker 1: so you get to go out there and kind of regroup, right,

918
00:40:55,920 --> 00:40:58,920
Speaker 1: but the grand slams you don't. But you know, A,

919
00:40:59,160 --> 00:41:01,400
Speaker 1: I think you want to make sure you got it

920
00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:03,080
Speaker 1: right right. You want to make sure you did your

921
00:41:03,160 --> 00:41:05,520
Speaker 1: job and help them as much as possible be you

922
00:41:05,560 --> 00:41:07,880
Speaker 1: want to make sure they interpreted what you said correctly.

923
00:41:08,239 --> 00:41:09,919
Speaker 5: Sometimes you can say the right thing and they don't

924
00:41:10,080 --> 00:41:10,760
Speaker 5: hear it correctly.

925
00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:14,600
Speaker 1: They're either too literal or not literal enough, and so

926
00:41:15,600 --> 00:41:19,759
Speaker 1: you know, those things are always you don't really know

927
00:41:19,880 --> 00:41:22,120
Speaker 1: until the first three games. Like the first three games

928
00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:26,600
Speaker 1: you're like, I probably wasn't clear enough, or I don't

929
00:41:26,640 --> 00:41:28,440
Speaker 1: make you understood what I meant right, you know what

930
00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:31,359
Speaker 1: I mean. So but that night you're kind of like, damn,

931
00:41:31,840 --> 00:41:35,200
Speaker 1: did I say too much? Or should I left this unset?

932
00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:39,400
Speaker 1: Like sometimes a good coach leaves certain things unset, like

933
00:41:39,480 --> 00:41:41,360
Speaker 1: don't don't talk it up, like, don't bring it up,

934
00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:44,479
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Don't don't don't like, don't

935
00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:46,279
Speaker 1: bring it up and make them think about it even more,

936
00:41:46,480 --> 00:41:47,040
Speaker 1: you know what I mean.

937
00:41:48,239 --> 00:41:50,640
Speaker 2: So things are going swimming lay in the final. You

938
00:41:50,719 --> 00:41:52,920
Speaker 2: get up pretty comfortably in the second set, and are

939
00:41:52,960 --> 00:41:55,200
Speaker 2: you just thinking, oh my god, this is gonna happen,

940
00:41:55,800 --> 00:41:58,960
Speaker 2: Like this is gonna absolutely happen. I mean, how crazy

941
00:41:59,120 --> 00:42:01,880
Speaker 2: was it when that last was played? I mean, everybody

942
00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:03,879
Speaker 2: knows the herd look of just turning around and looking

943
00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:06,359
Speaker 2: at you guys, like, did this just fucking happen? Yeah,

944
00:42:08,560 --> 00:42:11,560
Speaker 2: I think that other than the birth of your children,

945
00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:13,920
Speaker 2: which we know is you've had couple.

946
00:42:13,719 --> 00:42:18,239
Speaker 1: I had to thank goodness. I think that, you know,

947
00:42:18,280 --> 00:42:20,520
Speaker 1: I was happy for her. I was happy for her mother.

948
00:42:20,800 --> 00:42:22,360
Speaker 1: I mean, her mother has invested more than I have.

949
00:42:22,480 --> 00:42:23,080
Speaker 5: Right, her mother.

950
00:42:23,080 --> 00:42:27,279
Speaker 1: Invested seventeen years into into this whole process, essentially as

951
00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:30,200
Speaker 1: a single parent, right, you know what I mean, and

952
00:42:30,360 --> 00:42:32,440
Speaker 1: a lot of money financially, you know, a lot of

953
00:42:32,520 --> 00:42:36,360
Speaker 1: mental energy and strat Obviously, her mother happy for Sloan

954
00:42:36,719 --> 00:42:39,480
Speaker 1: because I think we all, you know, the entire tennis

955
00:42:39,520 --> 00:42:41,640
Speaker 1: world knew she had the potential to do this, and

956
00:42:41,719 --> 00:42:44,439
Speaker 1: I think had given her some grief about not having

957
00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:45,319
Speaker 1: done it right.

958
00:42:45,400 --> 00:42:47,160
Speaker 5: So that monkey was finally off her back.

959
00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:51,400
Speaker 2: But how much imputence did it? How much satisfaction it

960
00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:54,759
Speaker 2: also give you as a minority coach, because ironically, that

961
00:42:54,920 --> 00:42:58,319
Speaker 2: year there was every I believe every person that wanted

962
00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:02,080
Speaker 2: Grand Slam that year was a female coach, and then

963
00:43:02,120 --> 00:43:04,160
Speaker 2: you were the last one, and it was either.

964
00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:05,800
Speaker 1: Gonna be you or Lindsay Dovenport.

965
00:43:06,640 --> 00:43:12,840
Speaker 2: So essentially, minority coaches, women, Medina Griguez, Kunschita Martinez, I

966
00:43:12,880 --> 00:43:14,799
Speaker 2: can't remember who only strewn up in that year, which

967
00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:18,080
Speaker 2: is terrible, but you potentially it was one of the

968
00:43:18,120 --> 00:43:21,040
Speaker 2: two of you, and then all of a sudden it's you.

969
00:43:21,400 --> 00:43:25,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know. For me, I was I looked at

970
00:43:25,200 --> 00:43:28,000
Speaker 1: it like, wow, okay, when African American coach took coach

971
00:43:28,040 --> 00:43:30,319
Speaker 1: somebody to a Grand Slam, right, And there's only been

972
00:43:30,520 --> 00:43:36,200
Speaker 1: two others Walter Johnson coached Arthur ash and Arthur Gibson,

973
00:43:36,560 --> 00:43:39,719
Speaker 1: and then Richard Williams coach obviously his two children. And

974
00:43:39,800 --> 00:43:41,959
Speaker 1: then it was me, And so I was like, whoa shit.

975
00:43:42,280 --> 00:43:45,520
Speaker 1: You know, now you're in like an elite sort of historic,

976
00:43:46,239 --> 00:43:52,600
Speaker 1: very small group of people, right, And that was very satisfying,

977
00:43:52,719 --> 00:43:54,480
Speaker 1: and you never know what that's gonna do.

978
00:43:54,600 --> 00:43:54,719
Speaker 4: Right.

979
00:43:54,800 --> 00:43:55,640
Speaker 1: But I was also.

980
00:43:57,040 --> 00:43:59,920
Speaker 5: Excited for the people who had supported me, right.

981
00:44:00,040 --> 00:44:02,239
Speaker 1: You know, you get people early supporters of XS and

982
00:44:02,320 --> 00:44:04,480
Speaker 1: early donors and say, all come outs, really good guys,

983
00:44:04,480 --> 00:44:07,120
Speaker 1: a rising star as a great coach, right, and then

984
00:44:07,160 --> 00:44:09,120
Speaker 1: this was like, guy, I told you all he was

985
00:44:09,160 --> 00:44:10,160
Speaker 1: a great coach, right, you know what I mean? So

986
00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:13,200
Speaker 1: I think it was happy for Sloan's entire family and

987
00:44:13,280 --> 00:44:17,600
Speaker 1: everybody had handed it, happy for Sloan, happy for not

988
00:44:17,719 --> 00:44:22,000
Speaker 1: necessarily myself, but happy for the people that had supported

989
00:44:22,160 --> 00:44:25,439
Speaker 1: me because now they had something tangible to say, told

990
00:44:25,480 --> 00:44:27,640
Speaker 1: your guys he was a rock star, right, And then

991
00:44:29,080 --> 00:44:31,560
Speaker 1: you know, I was happy for history. I mean, I

992
00:44:31,680 --> 00:44:35,480
Speaker 1: think that you know, it's it's it's significant that you

993
00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:40,920
Speaker 1: get an African American Grand Slam champion, right who you know,

994
00:44:41,040 --> 00:44:44,640
Speaker 1: since Lindsay, all the US Grandslamp champions have been African American,

995
00:44:45,239 --> 00:44:48,560
Speaker 1: right credible, right, being a Serena and Sloan, And you

996
00:44:48,600 --> 00:44:49,680
Speaker 1: get an African American.

997
00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:51,279
Speaker 6: Coach, right, And so I thought that that that's not

998
00:44:51,400 --> 00:44:54,200
Speaker 6: another American that is won of Grand Slam, correct since Lindsay,

999
00:44:54,560 --> 00:44:57,920
Speaker 6: other than Williams sisters, right incredible, And so you know,

1000
00:44:58,239 --> 00:44:59,600
Speaker 6: it's a lot of it right now, I take a

1001
00:44:59,640 --> 00:45:01,719
Speaker 6: lot of us a lot of pride, but there's also

1002
00:45:01,800 --> 00:45:01,960
Speaker 6: like a.

1003
00:45:01,960 --> 00:45:04,880
Speaker 1: Lot of responsibility because you have someone's career in your hands.

1004
00:45:04,920 --> 00:45:07,920
Speaker 1: And so I was also relieved I got that right,

1005
00:45:08,080 --> 00:45:10,640
Speaker 1: or that top last night helped, or you know, the

1006
00:45:11,200 --> 00:45:11,799
Speaker 1: top five men.

1007
00:45:11,840 --> 00:45:12,879
Speaker 5: We were walking on the court help.

1008
00:45:12,920 --> 00:45:15,560
Speaker 1: You know, you don't really want to be the reason

1009
00:45:15,719 --> 00:45:18,400
Speaker 1: someone doesn't achieve something, and so I was happy that

1010
00:45:18,480 --> 00:45:20,320
Speaker 1: I was able to help her I was happy for

1011
00:45:20,440 --> 00:45:22,600
Speaker 1: her team again and happy for all of my supporters,

1012
00:45:24,080 --> 00:45:27,919
Speaker 1: and you know, it was like, Okay, that was pretty fun,

1013
00:45:28,120 --> 00:45:30,479
Speaker 1: you know. And I think my mom was a history teacher,

1014
00:45:30,480 --> 00:45:33,719
Speaker 1: so I'm a big historian. I was like, Wow, this

1015
00:45:33,920 --> 00:45:36,360
Speaker 1: is like gonna be a big story, Like this is

1016
00:45:36,440 --> 00:45:37,680
Speaker 1: kind of a big deal. Not that you get a

1017
00:45:37,680 --> 00:45:39,239
Speaker 1: big ahead about it, but it was sort of a

1018
00:45:39,320 --> 00:45:40,239
Speaker 1: big deal, right.

1019
00:45:41,080 --> 00:45:45,240
Speaker 2: So you and with the facility here in Chicago at excess,

1020
00:45:45,320 --> 00:45:47,160
Speaker 2: is it important for you to also make sure that

1021
00:45:47,320 --> 00:45:50,520
Speaker 2: you know, you're giving kids that look like you, you know,

1022
00:45:50,640 --> 00:45:53,120
Speaker 2: that belief that they can do whatever it is coaching

1023
00:45:53,840 --> 00:45:57,439
Speaker 2: or playing or going to college. And the biggest what's

1024
00:45:57,480 --> 00:46:00,680
Speaker 2: the most important thing about access to you access tennis

1025
00:46:01,480 --> 00:46:05,120
Speaker 2: village here in Chicago. What's the what's the most important

1026
00:46:05,120 --> 00:46:05,440
Speaker 2: thing for you?

1027
00:46:05,840 --> 00:46:06,000
Speaker 1: Well?

1028
00:46:06,239 --> 00:46:07,320
Speaker 5: I think number one.

1029
00:46:09,440 --> 00:46:12,960
Speaker 1: That the success and the caliber of coaching in this

1030
00:46:13,080 --> 00:46:17,359
Speaker 1: building transcends its location. Right. Normally the south and West

1031
00:46:17,440 --> 00:46:20,600
Speaker 1: side gets the opportunities that can afford right, you know,

1032
00:46:20,680 --> 00:46:23,360
Speaker 1: people take advantage of programs they can afford, not necessarily

1033
00:46:23,440 --> 00:46:26,319
Speaker 1: the best programs that oh wow, they can also afford them, right,

1034
00:46:27,520 --> 00:46:31,080
Speaker 1: And so you know, I was proud that now all

1035
00:46:31,160 --> 00:46:33,960
Speaker 1: the people in the program who may not have really

1036
00:46:34,120 --> 00:46:37,440
Speaker 1: understood the value that we're getting. We're like, oh my goodness,

1037
00:46:38,080 --> 00:46:39,000
Speaker 1: I'm like a part of this.

1038
00:46:39,520 --> 00:46:39,640
Speaker 4: You know.

1039
00:46:39,719 --> 00:46:42,759
Speaker 1: The guy that runs my program is actually you know,

1040
00:46:44,239 --> 00:46:47,759
Speaker 1: one of the class coach, right, And so I think

1041
00:46:47,840 --> 00:46:51,719
Speaker 1: that raised their level of pride, which is what's needed

1042
00:46:51,719 --> 00:46:54,520
Speaker 1: in these communities, right, pride. I think we were able

1043
00:46:54,560 --> 00:46:57,560
Speaker 1: to drop that access to access to that right. I mean,

1044
00:46:57,840 --> 00:46:59,200
Speaker 1: to be able to walk in here any day of

1045
00:46:59,239 --> 00:47:01,440
Speaker 1: the week and I'm just in here, right, or be

1046
00:47:01,480 --> 00:47:02,719
Speaker 1: able to see me on the court with a five

1047
00:47:02,760 --> 00:47:03,560
Speaker 1: year like what are you doing?

1048
00:47:03,800 --> 00:47:05,360
Speaker 5: Or to see me cleaning tis court this week. I

1049
00:47:05,440 --> 00:47:05,800
Speaker 5: was cleaning.

1050
00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:07,680
Speaker 1: I was sweeping the course this week and somebody said

1051
00:47:08,000 --> 00:47:10,080
Speaker 1: I got to get a picture day. They hate to

1052
00:47:10,080 --> 00:47:11,200
Speaker 1: see you sweeping the course. I was like, you know,

1053
00:47:11,239 --> 00:47:12,960
Speaker 1: I'm all right if everybody knows I'm down to earth,

1054
00:47:13,000 --> 00:47:14,959
Speaker 1: and I'll like, you know, pick up the little mouse

1055
00:47:15,040 --> 00:47:19,440
Speaker 1: that runs around here, right. But I was happy for

1056
00:47:19,480 --> 00:47:21,759
Speaker 1: them because I knew it would allow us to drop

1057
00:47:21,840 --> 00:47:24,719
Speaker 1: that whole tennis YMCA tag and it will be able

1058
00:47:24,760 --> 00:47:26,719
Speaker 1: to legitimately say, hey, this is one of the best

1059
00:47:26,800 --> 00:47:29,800
Speaker 1: places to play tennis. That just so happens to be

1060
00:47:29,880 --> 00:47:33,759
Speaker 1: located south of Chicago, not like, oh, it's a great

1061
00:47:33,880 --> 00:47:38,120
Speaker 1: community program. Yes, we serve the community, that's our mission.

1062
00:47:38,560 --> 00:47:42,040
Speaker 1: But and education and education. But I think, you know,

1063
00:47:42,320 --> 00:47:44,920
Speaker 1: sometimes people knew that were community as a way to

1064
00:47:45,040 --> 00:47:49,200
Speaker 1: reduce the impact and the expertise that exists in the building.

1065
00:47:49,560 --> 00:47:52,520
Speaker 1: And I know everybody on my staff I respect. We

1066
00:47:52,600 --> 00:47:56,200
Speaker 1: have great coaches here who are all in fully committed

1067
00:47:56,960 --> 00:47:59,520
Speaker 1: to doing it. And you know, we hope that people

1068
00:48:00,000 --> 00:48:01,800
Speaker 1: from house outage men you continue to come and see it.

1069
00:48:02,000 --> 00:48:03,200
Speaker 2: Well, I got to tell you one of the first

1070
00:48:03,239 --> 00:48:04,680
Speaker 2: things that I said to you when I was living

1071
00:48:04,680 --> 00:48:07,919
Speaker 2: here in Chicago was the thing that was so cool

1072
00:48:08,200 --> 00:48:11,200
Speaker 2: was watching I remember the day when we had a

1073
00:48:11,320 --> 00:48:13,080
Speaker 2: one white girl that was on the court with me

1074
00:48:13,480 --> 00:48:16,400
Speaker 2: and two black girls that was at the Sisters that day,

1075
00:48:17,400 --> 00:48:20,560
Speaker 2: Madison and Mackenzie were on the court with us. Very

1076
00:48:20,600 --> 00:48:24,640
Speaker 2: poor family, if you've given them essentially free ability to

1077
00:48:24,680 --> 00:48:27,120
Speaker 2: come and play tennis, you know, playing with one of

1078
00:48:27,160 --> 00:48:29,360
Speaker 2: the white kids was one of the wealthiest kids in

1079
00:48:29,440 --> 00:48:32,160
Speaker 2: the city of Chicago. Well, coming from a wealthy family,

1080
00:48:32,920 --> 00:48:36,200
Speaker 2: they were playing tennis and their level was the same. Actually,

1081
00:48:36,239 --> 00:48:40,480
Speaker 2: the girls, the twins were better and we were playing

1082
00:48:40,640 --> 00:48:43,160
Speaker 2: the doubles, and I said to you afterwards, I said,

1083
00:48:43,560 --> 00:48:46,680
Speaker 2: and then after the set, they were all talking at

1084
00:48:46,680 --> 00:48:49,240
Speaker 2: the net together and just chit chatting and talking about

1085
00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:52,120
Speaker 2: you know, tennis and golf, and they were talking about

1086
00:48:52,160 --> 00:48:53,840
Speaker 2: all different things at school. And I said, to you,

1087
00:48:54,320 --> 00:48:58,200
Speaker 2: the coolest thing for me is watching these these kids

1088
00:48:58,280 --> 00:49:00,840
Speaker 2: that would probably never talk to one another or know

1089
00:49:00,960 --> 00:49:06,200
Speaker 2: each other's stories talk to each other because they particularly

1090
00:49:06,280 --> 00:49:09,960
Speaker 2: the young what was the white girl, Bella Bella? Oh god,

1091
00:49:10,040 --> 00:49:11,200
Speaker 2: I know that all these guys, you know, they don't

1092
00:49:11,200 --> 00:49:14,640
Speaker 2: have a terrible memory, but Bella is there talking to

1093
00:49:15,160 --> 00:49:20,880
Speaker 2: Madison Mackenzie, and there was no barrier of socioeconomics color.

1094
00:49:21,239 --> 00:49:23,600
Speaker 2: It was like, hey, we played tennis. We're both the

1095
00:49:23,680 --> 00:49:25,520
Speaker 2: same age, We're all the same age. We all have

1096
00:49:25,560 --> 00:49:28,160
Speaker 2: the same struggles about this and that. And they became

1097
00:49:28,600 --> 00:49:32,160
Speaker 2: friends because of tennis and the fact that Mackenzie and

1098
00:49:32,200 --> 00:49:35,279
Speaker 2: Madison were better. You know, may Bella realized, oh man,

1099
00:49:35,360 --> 00:49:37,439
Speaker 2: I want to be better, you know, but she wasn't

1100
00:49:37,480 --> 00:49:40,320
Speaker 2: thinking socioeconomically about where she was. And to me, that

1101
00:49:40,520 --> 00:49:42,000
Speaker 2: was the coolest. And I said to you, that's the

1102
00:49:42,080 --> 00:49:45,360
Speaker 2: freaking coolest thing for me is making a difference in

1103
00:49:45,480 --> 00:49:47,640
Speaker 2: the city of Chicago, not just here on the south Side.

1104
00:49:47,680 --> 00:49:50,840
Speaker 2: You're actually bringing community, the community together.

1105
00:49:51,200 --> 00:49:51,359
Speaker 6: Yeah.

1106
00:49:51,520 --> 00:49:53,759
Speaker 5: I think you know, tennis is a global sport. I

1107
00:49:53,800 --> 00:49:54,960
Speaker 5: mean it's like one of the few.

1108
00:49:55,040 --> 00:49:57,800
Speaker 1: No basketball is trying to become global, h right, American

1109
00:49:57,840 --> 00:50:00,160
Speaker 1: football is trying to become global, having games obviously ease,

1110
00:50:00,160 --> 00:50:00,560
Speaker 1: et cetera.

1111
00:50:00,760 --> 00:50:01,560
Speaker 5: Tennis is global.

1112
00:50:01,800 --> 00:50:03,960
Speaker 1: It's way ahead, right, And I think that when we

1113
00:50:04,080 --> 00:50:07,839
Speaker 1: create programs, we need to think globally. We don't need

1114
00:50:07,880 --> 00:50:09,400
Speaker 1: to say, how do we create a program that serves

1115
00:50:09,440 --> 00:50:11,800
Speaker 1: this immediate community, you know, this one square mile. We

1116
00:50:11,840 --> 00:50:13,960
Speaker 1: need about how do we create a program that is

1117
00:50:14,280 --> 00:50:16,840
Speaker 1: good enough so that people from outside of the community

1118
00:50:17,320 --> 00:50:18,200
Speaker 1: want to come here.

1119
00:50:18,719 --> 00:50:22,640
Speaker 2: The north Side, all the way down suburbs.

1120
00:50:21,960 --> 00:50:23,880
Speaker 1: All the kids you saw here today from the suburbs

1121
00:50:23,920 --> 00:50:26,560
Speaker 1: and out of state and Texas in Wisconsin. How will

1122
00:50:26,640 --> 00:50:30,359
Speaker 1: we create that kind of program where a they come

1123
00:50:30,400 --> 00:50:32,560
Speaker 1: in from the obnestly play tennis, but b to come

1124
00:50:32,600 --> 00:50:35,600
Speaker 1: to get exposure. Because the peer to peer experience in

1125
00:50:35,760 --> 00:50:38,960
Speaker 1: this building is second to none. I mean, you got

1126
00:50:39,480 --> 00:50:42,520
Speaker 1: Jewish kids who have kids come to the bar minceva,

1127
00:50:42,800 --> 00:50:45,080
Speaker 1: yeah right, but black kids come in to our Missvan

1128
00:50:45,160 --> 00:50:47,040
Speaker 1: you got black kids who like, I'm not going to

1129
00:50:47,040 --> 00:50:48,879
Speaker 1: that kids anymore as they eat all day right because

1130
00:50:49,280 --> 00:50:50,960
Speaker 1: celebrating Jewish holiday where you can't eat, right.

1131
00:50:51,000 --> 00:50:53,440
Speaker 5: So I think that that experience is different.

1132
00:50:53,600 --> 00:50:55,880
Speaker 1: You got kids with them in public housing, meaning rich

1133
00:50:56,000 --> 00:50:59,480
Speaker 1: kids and not even knowing about the disparity, right. And

1134
00:50:59,560 --> 00:51:01,919
Speaker 1: I think as they grow up, think about it, they're

1135
00:51:01,960 --> 00:51:04,600
Speaker 1: gonna have ten years of a relationship together. They're here

1136
00:51:04,680 --> 00:51:07,040
Speaker 1: four days a week for the next ten years, they're

1137
00:51:07,040 --> 00:51:09,839
Speaker 1: gonna be best friends. And perhaps that kid who comes

1138
00:51:09,840 --> 00:51:14,279
Speaker 1: from money will pull that kid who doesn't along with them,

1139
00:51:14,480 --> 00:51:16,879
Speaker 1: expose them to their network, help them get a job,

1140
00:51:17,400 --> 00:51:19,279
Speaker 1: et cetera, etc. So I think that that is the

1141
00:51:19,360 --> 00:51:23,120
Speaker 1: potential of tennis is to really unify the globe.

1142
00:51:23,760 --> 00:51:25,440
Speaker 5: Right, even if you look at the.

1143
00:51:25,480 --> 00:51:28,759
Speaker 1: Tour, I always tell people on tour, we are part

1144
00:51:28,840 --> 00:51:32,480
Speaker 1: of a traveling circus and our job is to promote

1145
00:51:32,560 --> 00:51:35,560
Speaker 1: this circus. We're gonna take the circus from They're gonna

1146
00:51:35,560 --> 00:51:38,240
Speaker 1: start in Australia, then we're gonna bring it to America,

1147
00:51:38,600 --> 00:51:41,000
Speaker 1: then we're gonna take it to Europe, then we're gonna

1148
00:51:41,040 --> 00:51:44,600
Speaker 1: take it to England. Right, we are like we are

1149
00:51:44,640 --> 00:51:47,839
Speaker 1: a family that sees each other thirty weeks a year,

1150
00:51:48,440 --> 00:51:51,560
Speaker 1: and our responsibility is to grow the sport. And so

1151
00:51:52,719 --> 00:51:55,680
Speaker 1: when we think about these kids' responsibility, it is to

1152
00:51:55,800 --> 00:51:58,799
Speaker 1: expose each other, to love each other because we're all

1153
00:51:58,840 --> 00:52:01,160
Speaker 1: here fighting for the same thing. Everybody's trying to get better.

1154
00:52:01,440 --> 00:52:03,600
Speaker 1: Some people are fighting for a scholarship because they need it.

1155
00:52:03,920 --> 00:52:05,839
Speaker 1: Some people are fighting with a scholarship because they want

1156
00:52:05,880 --> 00:52:07,719
Speaker 1: to play college tennis. Right, We're all.

1157
00:52:07,680 --> 00:52:08,520
Speaker 5: Fighting for the same thing.

1158
00:52:08,600 --> 00:52:12,160
Speaker 1: And I think that, you know, if we learn to

1159
00:52:13,160 --> 00:52:15,279
Speaker 1: understand that we all kind of want the same thing,

1160
00:52:15,840 --> 00:52:17,080
Speaker 1: then I think we'll be better off.

1161
00:52:17,280 --> 00:52:19,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love that, all right. So a couple of

1162
00:52:19,600 --> 00:52:20,240
Speaker 2: last questions.

1163
00:52:20,480 --> 00:52:22,000
Speaker 1: How many kids have you put through this program?

1164
00:52:22,080 --> 00:52:22,840
Speaker 2: They've gone to college?

1165
00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:26,040
Speaker 1: Forty seven kids have started this program, left this program,

1166
00:52:26,160 --> 00:52:27,960
Speaker 1: gone on to division on colleges. There you go.

1167
00:52:28,120 --> 00:52:30,239
Speaker 2: So that's your goal, really, I mean, yes, you would

1168
00:52:30,239 --> 00:52:33,960
Speaker 2: love to find another Sloan, another Madison Keys, another you

1169
00:52:34,040 --> 00:52:37,240
Speaker 2: know seen Serena and Venus here or you know Taylor

1170
00:52:37,280 --> 00:52:38,839
Speaker 2: Towns and who you worked with for a long time.

1171
00:52:39,520 --> 00:52:42,160
Speaker 2: But you want to really make sure a they're safe,

1172
00:52:42,719 --> 00:52:44,640
Speaker 2: be there playing tennis and see they're doing what you

1173
00:52:44,719 --> 00:52:46,759
Speaker 2: just talked about. Which is bringing community together but also

1174
00:52:47,080 --> 00:52:48,320
Speaker 2: getting college scholarships.

1175
00:52:48,360 --> 00:52:50,000
Speaker 1: So yeah, people always walking in here and they say,

1176
00:52:50,000 --> 00:52:52,320
Speaker 1: all right, so do you have anybody that's got pre potential?

1177
00:52:52,360 --> 00:52:54,080
Speaker 5: And I say no, it was like not one.

1178
00:52:54,360 --> 00:52:55,319
Speaker 1: I was like, not one.

1179
00:52:55,880 --> 00:52:56,719
Speaker 2: They're like, what do you mean.

1180
00:52:56,800 --> 00:52:58,600
Speaker 1: I'm like, I've been on a court with a lot

1181
00:52:58,640 --> 00:53:01,160
Speaker 1: of pros this year. No kid in the building right

1182
00:53:01,200 --> 00:53:03,719
Speaker 1: now looks like that. I said, But they can all

1183
00:53:03,719 --> 00:53:06,600
Speaker 1: go to college, right And I think that, you know,

1184
00:53:07,400 --> 00:53:10,279
Speaker 1: it's just being honest, Like these people you named are

1185
00:53:10,440 --> 00:53:14,719
Speaker 1: like freaks of nature, just gifted people were born to

1186
00:53:14,840 --> 00:53:18,520
Speaker 1: do this. Sloan Madison. You don't get one here, maybe

1187
00:53:18,560 --> 00:53:20,640
Speaker 1: one in the next twenty thirty years, but.

1188
00:53:20,960 --> 00:53:22,520
Speaker 2: You're getting a hell of lt going to college.

1189
00:53:22,640 --> 00:53:24,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, most all of them go to college. There's so

1190
00:53:24,680 --> 00:53:27,799
Speaker 1: many college opportunities, so many opportunities to you know, come

1191
00:53:27,880 --> 00:53:29,440
Speaker 1: here to the tutoring and get your education, get a

1192
00:53:29,480 --> 00:53:32,400
Speaker 1: good acts at score, get good enough to go to college,

1193
00:53:32,680 --> 00:53:34,839
Speaker 1: and then perhaps see what happens, you know what I mean.

1194
00:53:35,160 --> 00:53:39,640
Speaker 1: But the goal is not to produce a tennis pro,

1195
00:53:39,800 --> 00:53:41,600
Speaker 1: because that is I mean, there are there are actually

1196
00:53:41,600 --> 00:53:43,799
Speaker 1: a lot of good pros who are out on tour

1197
00:53:44,960 --> 00:53:47,080
Speaker 1: should have gone to college, who probably could have benefited

1198
00:53:47,080 --> 00:53:48,400
Speaker 1: from a year or two in college, you know what

1199
00:53:48,440 --> 00:53:50,160
Speaker 1: I mean, or or even kids who are great like

1200
00:53:50,200 --> 00:53:53,840
Speaker 1: Nicole Gives is a great tennis player. Yeah. Right, But

1201
00:53:53,920 --> 00:53:56,160
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, living the hard road on tour.

1202
00:53:56,920 --> 00:54:00,840
Speaker 2: Okay, So to finish up, what's of the funniest stories

1203
00:54:00,880 --> 00:54:03,959
Speaker 2: that you can remember on TUA? Talk about the stress? Okay,

1204
00:54:05,280 --> 00:54:08,080
Speaker 2: talk about the stress of the job. And two how

1205
00:54:08,120 --> 00:54:10,600
Speaker 2: bad you're eating habitat and what happened to you on

1206
00:54:10,640 --> 00:54:12,719
Speaker 2: the road with Taylor Townsend wasn't.

1207
00:54:12,640 --> 00:54:13,600
Speaker 1: Funny, but it was like.

1208
00:54:16,040 --> 00:54:18,360
Speaker 5: Life changing events.

1209
00:54:18,760 --> 00:54:25,680
Speaker 1: Was I was in Dulthan, Alabama, playing fifty K with

1210
00:54:25,880 --> 00:54:29,080
Speaker 1: Taylor with Taylor Townlon and I think we were going

1211
00:54:29,160 --> 00:54:31,960
Speaker 1: to play the Semis and it had been raining for

1212
00:54:32,080 --> 00:54:34,800
Speaker 1: like three days now, just so you know, bothan, Alabama

1213
00:54:35,160 --> 00:54:37,920
Speaker 1: is the place in the country where all new police

1214
00:54:37,960 --> 00:54:40,560
Speaker 1: technology is tested, so it's not a place that the

1215
00:54:40,560 --> 00:54:43,360
Speaker 1: black man wants to be like, you know, stuck for

1216
00:54:43,480 --> 00:54:46,640
Speaker 1: like a week, right, So the three day range delight, right.

1217
00:54:46,760 --> 00:54:49,560
Speaker 1: And at the time, you know, Taylor and I were struggling,

1218
00:54:49,920 --> 00:54:51,239
Speaker 1: you know, we were trying to make it. This is

1219
00:54:51,320 --> 00:54:53,160
Speaker 1: before she made the third round in French. It was

1220
00:54:53,200 --> 00:54:55,920
Speaker 1: that season and you know this is when she won

1221
00:54:56,120 --> 00:54:58,880
Speaker 1: like the Wildcat Challenge. You have seen Wildcart Challenge with

1222
00:54:58,880 --> 00:55:02,279
Speaker 1: the play court season. We're standing at the kind of

1223
00:55:02,360 --> 00:55:06,480
Speaker 1: Watch because Shela Townsend booked us in the account of

1224
00:55:06,480 --> 00:55:08,800
Speaker 1: Watch was for twelve bucks a night, which was not

1225
00:55:08,880 --> 00:55:11,239
Speaker 1: the tournament hotel by the way, Yeah okay, and it

1226
00:55:11,440 --> 00:55:17,840
Speaker 1: was roaches and it was working girls and everything in

1227
00:55:18,239 --> 00:55:24,520
Speaker 1: that hotel. Okay. So I would eat dog food every day,

1228
00:55:25,200 --> 00:55:27,160
Speaker 1: which I do. You know I eat bad food every day.

1229
00:55:27,200 --> 00:55:28,439
Speaker 2: Yeah, McDonald's every morning.

1230
00:55:28,560 --> 00:55:30,640
Speaker 1: But when it comes to like a hotel, I need

1231
00:55:30,680 --> 00:55:33,200
Speaker 1: a decent bed, right, I needed a decent sort of

1232
00:55:33,280 --> 00:55:35,360
Speaker 1: place to get lay man, especially when you trapped in

1233
00:55:35,400 --> 00:55:39,400
Speaker 1: the hotel for three days. So after three day rang

1234
00:55:39,520 --> 00:55:41,279
Speaker 1: like we were finally able to get back on the course.

1235
00:55:41,360 --> 00:55:46,000
Speaker 1: We're driving to the next match and I'm like sitting

1236
00:55:46,080 --> 00:55:47,799
Speaker 1: at the stop and now, for my time in pharmaceutical

1237
00:55:47,880 --> 00:55:52,680
Speaker 1: sales helped me become really good with anatomy and medical

1238
00:55:52,719 --> 00:55:55,320
Speaker 1: conditions and all that kind of thing. So we're sitting

1239
00:55:55,320 --> 00:55:59,040
Speaker 1: there a stop like it's Taylor, I'm having a stroke.

1240
00:56:01,040 --> 00:56:03,560
Speaker 1: Yeah right, I'm like, no, I'm serious. Grab the wheel

1241
00:56:03,880 --> 00:56:05,520
Speaker 1: I'm having a strub now at this time the kid

1242
00:56:05,600 --> 00:56:09,040
Speaker 1: that didn't even have a driver's license. Okay, so I'm

1243
00:56:09,120 --> 00:56:10,440
Speaker 1: like grab the wheel, pull over.

1244
00:56:10,560 --> 00:56:11,160
Speaker 2: So we pull over.

1245
00:56:11,520 --> 00:56:14,480
Speaker 1: So I'm like right foot on the gas. Left side

1246
00:56:14,520 --> 00:56:17,600
Speaker 1: of my body is completely numb, and like I'm I'm

1247
00:56:17,719 --> 00:56:22,719
Speaker 1: like peddling until like steers the car into a parking lot.

1248
00:56:23,200 --> 00:56:24,799
Speaker 1: And then this is when the iPhone here a little

1249
00:56:24,840 --> 00:56:28,680
Speaker 1: thumbs on my iPhone, so she takes my thumb unlocks

1250
00:56:28,760 --> 00:56:32,520
Speaker 1: my iPhone to call up jin right. I said yes,

1251
00:56:32,600 --> 00:56:34,640
Speaker 1: My wife says, come outside the stroke, so she calls

1252
00:56:34,719 --> 00:56:38,680
Speaker 1: nine one So then nine one one comes and the

1253
00:56:38,760 --> 00:56:42,160
Speaker 1: ambulance come. Put me in. All right, Taylor, we're actually

1254
00:56:42,280 --> 00:56:44,799
Speaker 1: not that far from the site. You can drive this car.

1255
00:56:45,040 --> 00:56:49,319
Speaker 1: Just drive really slow and go play the match. Come on, right.

1256
00:56:49,520 --> 00:56:51,600
Speaker 1: She's like, I'm not doing that. I'm like, just take

1257
00:56:51,640 --> 00:56:54,520
Speaker 1: the car, play the match, jumps us do this this,

1258
00:56:54,680 --> 00:56:56,439
Speaker 1: and we've been here for five days. You might little

1259
00:56:56,440 --> 00:56:58,480
Speaker 1: finish the jobs. We get to the French open, right.

1260
00:56:59,880 --> 00:57:02,000
Speaker 1: She ends up not doing it right, which I was

1261
00:57:02,160 --> 00:57:03,080
Speaker 1: still pissed at her for that.

1262
00:57:03,120 --> 00:57:04,680
Speaker 2: She should have just took a little renal car well,

1263
00:57:04,719 --> 00:57:06,200
Speaker 2: because she was concerned about you, I.

1264
00:57:06,160 --> 00:57:07,759
Speaker 1: Would have been all right, and I ended up being

1265
00:57:07,800 --> 00:57:11,239
Speaker 1: a right. So anyway, we are a hab an ambulance

1266
00:57:11,360 --> 00:57:14,480
Speaker 1: and turns out I did have a stroke. It takes

1267
00:57:14,520 --> 00:57:17,040
Speaker 1: me to a hospital, which I don't want to be

1268
00:57:17,080 --> 00:57:22,160
Speaker 1: in the hospital and don't tink about. Okay, So they're

1269
00:57:22,200 --> 00:57:26,760
Speaker 1: about to give me a drug called TPA. TPA can

1270
00:57:26,840 --> 00:57:29,400
Speaker 1: cause bleeding in the brain, so if you don't have

1271
00:57:29,520 --> 00:57:32,880
Speaker 1: a full blown stroke, it's not worth the risk of

1272
00:57:33,000 --> 00:57:36,400
Speaker 1: taking this drug. Right. So I'm like Stalin, I'm don't

1273
00:57:36,440 --> 00:57:37,800
Speaker 1: give me that because I knew about it from.

1274
00:57:37,720 --> 00:57:38,520
Speaker 5: A pharmacucle day.

1275
00:57:38,640 --> 00:57:39,160
Speaker 1: Don't give me that.

1276
00:57:39,240 --> 00:57:39,720
Speaker 5: Don't give me that.

1277
00:57:39,920 --> 00:57:41,720
Speaker 1: No, you need it, You need it, You need it

1278
00:57:41,800 --> 00:57:43,480
Speaker 1: right away. You got to take it with you ninety minutes,

1279
00:57:43,680 --> 00:57:47,240
Speaker 1: et cetera, et cetera. So within that ninety minutes, the

1280
00:57:47,360 --> 00:57:51,320
Speaker 1: function on my left side actually started to come back. Right.

1281
00:57:51,480 --> 00:57:53,800
Speaker 1: So it turns out that I had a TA which

1282
00:57:53,880 --> 00:57:57,680
Speaker 1: is a mini stroke, right, and so before taking TPA,

1283
00:57:57,920 --> 00:58:01,840
Speaker 1: which could have like mess me up, the function came

1284
00:58:01,920 --> 00:58:03,320
Speaker 1: back and I didn't have to take the shot, which

1285
00:58:03,320 --> 00:58:04,720
Speaker 1: you think, God, but let me tell you that was

1286
00:58:04,840 --> 00:58:06,280
Speaker 1: like life changing.

1287
00:58:06,480 --> 00:58:08,760
Speaker 2: So so now you just have McDonald's in the morning.

1288
00:58:09,040 --> 00:58:10,920
Speaker 1: Yeah. So now I'm set at McDonald's three times a day.

1289
00:58:10,960 --> 00:58:17,000
Speaker 1: I only have it one today, now, three star better hotel, So.

1290
00:58:17,080 --> 00:58:18,920
Speaker 2: That's what you're a better hotel. I happen to have

1291
00:58:19,000 --> 00:58:19,400
Speaker 2: it struck.

1292
00:58:19,760 --> 00:58:22,360
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I'm not going to play anymore fifty ks

1293
00:58:23,760 --> 00:58:26,440
Speaker 1: in small towns it's big leads or I just stay

1294
00:58:26,480 --> 00:58:29,040
Speaker 1: home and work with my five year old. That just

1295
00:58:29,120 --> 00:58:31,760
Speaker 1: tells you how it is. I mean, it was the

1296
00:58:32,080 --> 00:58:33,560
Speaker 1: entire but at the time I was also going to

1297
00:58:33,600 --> 00:58:35,880
Speaker 1: buy the stress up trying to get this thing done

1298
00:58:35,960 --> 00:58:38,120
Speaker 1: and get this thing built. But you know, now, I

1299
00:58:38,200 --> 00:58:40,960
Speaker 1: actually that actually taught me to just slow down and breathe,

1300
00:58:41,400 --> 00:58:43,160
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, like not to be stressed,

1301
00:58:43,200 --> 00:58:45,680
Speaker 1: to just breathe everything will be okay. Because I do

1302
00:58:45,800 --> 00:58:48,040
Speaker 1: have a tendency to get kind of wound up and

1303
00:58:48,160 --> 00:58:50,680
Speaker 1: be a little intense. And I will say over the

1304
00:58:50,760 --> 00:58:54,400
Speaker 1: past couple of years, even Songe's very kind of cool, calm,

1305
00:58:54,600 --> 00:58:57,880
Speaker 1: kind of collective, I've had to sort of learn to just.

1306
00:58:58,000 --> 00:59:02,040
Speaker 5: Be very calm and a little more quiet and breathe, even.

1307
00:59:01,880 --> 00:59:05,360
Speaker 1: If I'm like, you know, shooting myself inside, to just

1308
00:59:05,560 --> 00:59:07,840
Speaker 1: externally just you know.

1309
00:59:11,000 --> 00:59:14,360
Speaker 5: And so that is probably the scariest moment of my

1310
00:59:14,760 --> 00:59:15,320
Speaker 5: short life.

1311
00:59:15,760 --> 00:59:15,880
Speaker 2: Uh.

1312
00:59:16,040 --> 00:59:19,360
Speaker 5: It definitely changed my eating habits. Uh, it changed where they've.

1313
00:59:19,200 --> 00:59:24,080
Speaker 1: Made and taught me just to breathe. And that's that's

1314
00:59:24,120 --> 00:59:27,240
Speaker 1: the one thing always. You know, even as a coach,

1315
00:59:28,040 --> 00:59:31,000
Speaker 1: you know always tells longa, just breathe, You're.

1316
00:59:30,840 --> 00:59:34,120
Speaker 2: Fine'll be okay, trust me the side the right.

1317
00:59:34,840 --> 00:59:36,520
Speaker 1: You know, if we have a strong car on the

1318
00:59:36,520 --> 00:59:39,720
Speaker 1: other stadium, you'll be all fine. She'll give you another chance, right,

1319
00:59:39,720 --> 00:59:42,040
Speaker 1: Because the great thing about the sport gives you another chance.

1320
00:59:42,520 --> 00:59:46,360
Speaker 1: Your opponent most of the time will give you another chance, right.

1321
00:59:46,440 --> 00:59:48,600
Speaker 1: And so I think that's a great metaphor for life.

1322
00:59:48,800 --> 00:59:51,560
Speaker 1: You know what I mean Where tennis is is just

1323
00:59:52,040 --> 00:59:53,960
Speaker 1: you always get another chance. You always is to fight

1324
00:59:54,120 --> 00:59:56,280
Speaker 1: you get to walk away from sometimes on the street,

1325
00:59:56,720 --> 00:59:58,400
Speaker 1: you know, kids make bad decision if in the wrong

1326
00:59:58,440 --> 01:00:00,000
Speaker 1: place the wrong time, and you don't get to walk away,

1327
01:00:00,200 --> 01:00:02,120
Speaker 1: all right, Tennis is the fight you get to walk

1328
01:00:02,160 --> 01:00:02,600
Speaker 1: away from.

1329
01:00:02,920 --> 01:00:06,160
Speaker 5: And so I've learned to just always just breathe and

1330
01:00:06,240 --> 01:00:08,800
Speaker 5: take it easy and just you man.

1331
01:00:08,840 --> 01:00:10,880
Speaker 2: Okay, we're going to finish on that, because that is awesome.

1332
01:00:11,600 --> 01:00:14,120
Speaker 2: Come ol, thanks for joining me. You are one of

1333
01:00:14,160 --> 01:00:17,320
Speaker 2: my best friends. And I respect you what you've done

1334
01:00:17,400 --> 01:00:19,960
Speaker 2: so much, yeah, as a coach, but more importantly what

1335
01:00:20,000 --> 01:00:22,880
Speaker 2: you're doing for your community here in Chicago. And you're

1336
01:00:23,040 --> 01:00:26,920
Speaker 2: changing tennis the landscape of this country, not only a

1337
01:00:27,040 --> 01:00:27,800
Speaker 2: city of Chicago.

1338
01:00:27,920 --> 01:00:29,440
Speaker 1: But thanks for joining me, and.

1339
01:00:29,960 --> 01:00:30,960
Speaker 2: Hope everybody and join it.

1340
01:00:31,120 --> 01:00:31,800
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me.

1341
01:00:31,960 --> 01:00:34,440
Speaker 2: Hey man, let's go have a drink, Let's go have

1342
01:00:34,520 --> 01:00:34,920
Speaker 2: a burger.

1343
01:00:35,320 --> 01:00:38,440
Speaker 4: Just keeping and that's it for this episode of the

1344
01:00:38,520 --> 01:00:39,760
Speaker 4: Racket Magazine podcast.

1345
01:00:39,840 --> 01:00:43,080
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening. Our host is Renee Stubbs. Our co

1346
01:00:43,280 --> 01:00:46,920
Speaker 3: host and producer is me Caitlin Thompson. Music by internationally

1347
01:00:46,920 --> 01:00:48,440
Speaker 3: renowned DJ Stretch Armstrong.

1348
01:00:48,920 --> 01:00:51,400
Speaker 4: Thanks to Tim Or, Jerry Taylor Dalton and the team

1349
01:00:51,480 --> 01:00:54,800
Speaker 4: at ACAST. Find us at racketmag dot com, slash podcast,

1350
01:00:55,080 --> 01:00:58,160
Speaker 4: and subscribe to us at any of your favorite podcasters