Speaker 1: In the game of life, Maintaining a healthy lifestyle and
Speaker 1: nurturing meaningful connections with family can be among the most
Speaker 1: formidable challenges we face.
Speaker 2: We were, in some respects football players playing tennis. We
Speaker 2: brought the Northern Michigan fight to everywhere we played.
Speaker 1: Yet for many professional athletes, fostering both has proven to
Speaker 1: be a triumphant recipe for success.
Speaker 3: You never thought of tennis as this rough and tough thing,
Speaker 3: and so tennis just took our family places that we
Speaker 3: could never do in other sports.
Speaker 1: I'm John Frankor. For the past two decades, I've traveled
Speaker 1: the globe covering some of the most impactful human interest
Speaker 1: stories in sports. On this show, I'm sitting down with
Speaker 1: some of the biggest families in the game, the legends,
Speaker 1: current superstars, and the up and coming playmakers to understand
Speaker 1: what's really making them tick. What can pro athlete families
Speaker 1: teach a new generation about the importance of caring for
Speaker 1: your health and finding success in the face of adversity. Together,
Speaker 1: we'll hear stories of their remarkable comebacks, setbacks, and the
Speaker 1: crucial role their family and self care played in their
Speaker 1: paths to championship glory. This is part of the game.
Speaker 1: The early nineteen nineties were a transformative time for the
Speaker 1: game of tennis. Pete Sampras, Steffi Groff, and Monica Sellis
Speaker 1: dominated the courts, winning multiple Grand Slam titles. Another superstar,
Speaker 1: Andre Agassi, helped to sell the game to an entirely
Speaker 1: new audience with his brash demeanor and flamboyant style emmen
Speaker 1: Is Everything. No One, however, had a bigger and more
Speaker 1: immediate impact on the game than Luke and Murphy Jensen,
Speaker 1: with their wild hair and love of rock music. The
Speaker 1: Jensen brothers hit the hardcourt with a shaggy haired vengeance
Speaker 1: and ushered in the era of grunge tennis, which is
Speaker 1: just another way of saying they stood out from most
Speaker 1: other tennis players. Outsize, charisma and irreverent style of play
Speaker 1: made them folk heres for a new generation of tennis
Speaker 1: fans and made them superstars off the court, daring to
Speaker 1: be different. As Murphy once put, it was their brand.
Speaker 2: We are now flying around in private jets and limousines
Speaker 2: and the commitment. I felt like I was in a
Speaker 2: hurricane in the tornado. For the next eight to ten years.
Speaker 1: The rude dudes of tennis as Rolling Stone called them
Speaker 1: also had serious game. On June fifth, nineteen ninety three,
Speaker 1: they proved it on national television, winning the French Open
Speaker 1: doubles championship. The Jensens were the toast of tennis, even
Speaker 1: getting to play under the lights at the US Open,
Speaker 1: virtually unheard of at the time for doubles matches. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: the good times didn't last long. Instant stardom proved overwhelming
Speaker 1: for Murphy Jensen.
Speaker 2: I was restless and I self medicated, and that eventually
Speaker 2: led to using drugs.
Speaker 1: On top of that, it would take him years to
Speaker 1: rebuild his life, but he did. He found a new
Speaker 1: purpose in helping others fight addiction, and like his big
Speaker 1: brother Luke, he stayed close to the sport that gave
Speaker 1: them both so much. But Murphy Jensen's struggles were not over.
Speaker 1: One afternoon in twenty twenty one, he nearly died on
Speaker 1: the tennis court after going into cardiac arrest.
Speaker 3: So he's there on the ground, I got people all around,
Speaker 3: and as the professionals are trying to bring him back
Speaker 3: to life, get his heart going, they give me the
Speaker 3: assignment to keep talking to him, to keep him with us.
Speaker 3: And the only thing that kept popping in my mind,
Speaker 3: is I may be saying the last words of my
Speaker 3: life to my brother.
Speaker 1: Once again, Murphy Jensen was tested, and what followed is
Speaker 1: another chapter and the remarkable story of two of the
Speaker 1: most unique figures in the history of tennis. I'm really
Speaker 1: pleased Luke Jensen and younger brother Murphy Jensen spending some
Speaker 1: time with us here on heart of the game. And
Speaker 1: therein lies the crux of this story, which we will
Speaker 1: get to because this really is about the heart when
Speaker 1: it comes to Murphy Jensen. But first we want to
Speaker 1: talk about you guys as the rude dudes for those
Speaker 1: who don't know the Jensen brothers. Is it fair to
Speaker 1: say took the world of tennis by storm? You'd been
Speaker 1: out there, you'd been journeyman. You right, that's a fair
Speaker 1: way to put it, journeyman.
Speaker 3: I would say so. I mean we were out there.
Speaker 3: Murphy's two and a half years younger. I turned pro
Speaker 3: after two years at Southern cal and then he showed
Speaker 3: up on the scene at Southern cal for two years
Speaker 3: before going to Georgia for a year. But I had
Speaker 3: been out there for a little bit and making my
Speaker 3: way on the double side of it. And then when
Speaker 3: Murphy kind of showed up, he had to go through
Speaker 3: the minor leagues and then going into ninety three that season,
Speaker 3: we had made a decision to live a lifelong dream
Speaker 3: to play on the tour together. So his ranking was
Speaker 3: in the top one hundred I was in the top ten,
Speaker 3: so we could get into most of those tournaments. And
Speaker 3: we started out in the Middle East in Doah, Qatar,
Speaker 3: and so that was our start as a doubles team
Speaker 3: on the main tour. We played some minor league tournaments together,
Speaker 3: and of course when we're younger, but this was the
Speaker 3: real deal. We were committing to the tour with each other.
Speaker 1: When you decided to play together. Was that willingly or
Speaker 1: was that big brother saying you're going to do this
Speaker 1: because I want you to do it?
Speaker 2: Well, I mean along the way there's blood, sweat and
Speaker 2: tears to get to that decision.
Speaker 1: But you had serious game.
Speaker 2: Well, we had enough of the game to get there,
Speaker 2: be there and win there at the highest level at
Speaker 2: the French Open. It was a journey from a Christmas
Speaker 2: tree farm in northern Michigan, a sacrifice for mom and
Speaker 2: dad to give us an opportunity to live our dreams
Speaker 2: and everywhere we kept going in this game. At tennis,
Speaker 2: Luke was the number one junior tennis player in the
Speaker 2: world at the age of eighteen, on the cover of
Speaker 2: Tennis magazine, alongside, you know, ahead of Becker and Edberg
Speaker 2: and all of them. And so he made the decision
Speaker 2: to go to college, which was, you know, really a
Speaker 2: bad move, Luke.
Speaker 1: I want to go back to your youth for a minute.
Speaker 1: You grow up on this Christmas tree farm in Luddington, Michigan, right,
Speaker 1: which is all the way west. I mean literally on
Speaker 1: the on Lake Michigan. Yep, right, if I have it right.
Speaker 1: Maybe not the tennis hotbed of the world, Luddington, Michigan.
Speaker 1: How do you guys end up on a tennis court.
Speaker 3: The biggest thing was we had parents that were ex athletes.
Speaker 3: My dad ended up playing college football at Minnesota and
Speaker 3: then Memphis State, transferred there and then for a cup
Speaker 3: of coffee for the New York Giants. We got his
Speaker 3: contract and it was you know, all this Sam Huff
Speaker 3: and all these guys back and you know, some amazing times.
Speaker 3: And then my mom was a frustrated athlete six foot two,
Speaker 3: played basketball in high school, but there was no title
Speaker 3: nine for her. So we have two frustrated athletes that
Speaker 3: go get their degrees in physical education and they park
Speaker 3: their place in nineteen sixty six and have four kids
Speaker 3: in this small town in Lennington, Michigan, and when they
Speaker 3: decide to have kids, they want athletics to be their
Speaker 3: kids avenue to see the world. And tennis was the
Speaker 3: one sport. I mean, football was supposed to be our sport,
Speaker 3: but tennis was the one thing that my sisters could
Speaker 3: play and my brother and I could play, and we
Speaker 3: could go to these same tournaments. And to be perfectly honest,
Speaker 3: it was the Arthur Ashes and the Billy Jean Kings,
Speaker 3: the Chris Everts and Jimmy Connors and these people who
Speaker 3: were at the top of the game at the time
Speaker 3: that really inspired my parents. Like tennis is the vehicle
Speaker 3: because not step on a football field. And there were
Speaker 3: kids just as big as I was, if not bigger,
Speaker 3: but in tennis, I was like the dominant alpha physically.
Speaker 3: And then Murphy, I mean Murphy's six foot four. I'm
Speaker 3: six ' to two, And at the time tennis was
Speaker 3: really a whimped sport. You never thought of tennis as
Speaker 3: you know, this rough and tough thing, and so tennis
Speaker 3: just took our family places that we could never do
Speaker 3: in other sports.
Speaker 1: Given that your dad had this background in football, was
Speaker 1: he a drill sergeant on the tennis court? Was he
Speaker 1: a guy? Did he bring that football mentality to teaching
Speaker 1: you the game?
Speaker 2: I mean it started really with the football. We used
Speaker 2: tennis as the vehicle to become great football players. It
Speaker 2: wasn't to become great tennis players. I can say he
Speaker 2: took the old school football mentality of we were showing
Speaker 2: up for practice on time, if you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: But at the same time that discipline, there was nothing
Speaker 2: but love from both sides. If anything, it was about
Speaker 2: behaving properly. That was the real message. That we gave
Speaker 2: this thing everything we had, and so we were taught
Speaker 2: at an early age that you do things right in
Speaker 2: the right way, and you're going to see results.
Speaker 1: I would assume, as you guys progress in tennis that
Speaker 1: your goal was singles. That's where tennis put the spotlight.
Speaker 2: Well, no doubt, we are doing everything. We just wanted
Speaker 2: to play, and whether singles doubles are mixed, we were
Speaker 2: playing tennis. We were spending thousands of hours in those
Speaker 2: tennis courts seven days a week. Three sixty five, I
Speaker 2: turned pro. Luke had had an injury that sidelined them,
Speaker 2: and money was tight at home, and his doubles game
Speaker 2: took off real quick with a win at Monte Carlo
Speaker 2: and he breaks the top ten, maybe even top five
Speaker 2: that year with Lorie Warder. But at the same time
Speaker 2: it was pretty obvious that if we're going to play
Speaker 2: doubles with anybody on the tour, we're going to play
Speaker 2: with each other. And the off season Christmas and New
Speaker 2: Year's of ninety three, before going to the DOA, we were
Speaker 2: on our way. It was grunge tennis, you know, everything,
Speaker 2: grunge Seattle, and you know, we didn't have an image,
Speaker 2: and we didn't set out to do anything but to
Speaker 2: kick some button win, you know. The next twelve months
Speaker 2: and then six months we won a little tournament in Paris.
Speaker 1: Just a small one. It's at this place called Roland
Speaker 1: Garss I think I've heard of.
Speaker 2: There's a huge tower there. Check it out.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the landscape of tennis as you two
Speaker 1: begin to make a name for yourselves. Tennis in the
Speaker 1: late eighties early nineties, it's still largely considered a gentleman's sport,
Speaker 1: but there was also this transformative period. Okay, tennis is
Speaker 1: not just on the back pages of the sports section.
Speaker 1: It's really beginning to take front and center for a
Speaker 1: lot of people. And then you guys come along, And
Speaker 1: would you guys agree that you guys took the tennis
Speaker 1: scene by storm and you were these brash young brothers
Speaker 1: who brought that football mentality of your dad's to the
Speaker 1: tennis court.
Speaker 2: There's no question that's exactly right that we were, in
Speaker 2: some respects football players playing tennis. And if I look
Speaker 2: back at John McEnroe gets to Wimbledon as a seventeen
Speaker 2: year old and he starts throwing his racket, going crazy,
Speaker 2: and they started there was a buzz about it. Well,
Speaker 2: we started high five and in fighting. We brought the
Speaker 2: Northern Michigan fight to everywhere we played.
Speaker 3: People knew they stepped on the court, they're going to
Speaker 3: play a couple of rough lumberjacks.
Speaker 1: Basically, let's go back to nineteen ninety three June, you
Speaker 1: win the French Open doubles, you win a Grand Slam.
Speaker 1: What does that feel like?
Speaker 3: Well, for me, it was the greatest accomplishment. You fight
Speaker 3: so hard in that match in the finals, we were
Speaker 3: down three to zero in the third and I remember
Speaker 3: specifically thinking that if we don't win this, we ever
Speaker 3: get here again. Like their matches that listen, you want
Speaker 3: to win, but it's not going to kill you. If
Speaker 3: you lose, it's a nice, you know, moral victory. But
Speaker 3: you get in those finals. There's a big difference between
Speaker 3: being known as a French Open champion or a French
Speaker 3: Open runner up.
Speaker 1: So you win this match, yep, and not only have
Speaker 1: you survived and advanced, but you've won it all. How
Speaker 1: does life change for you, guys on and off the
Speaker 1: court as a result of that win?
Speaker 3: Once you win those majors, you're a made band like
Speaker 3: no one could ever say you were never good enough.
Speaker 3: You're a French Open champion, you are a made player.
Speaker 3: Everything you thought you could be, you just accomplished it.
Speaker 3: But Murphy, what were you thinking on the other side?
Speaker 3: Two things I felt in that moment, One that there
Speaker 3: were like the tennis gods were accepted into this club
Speaker 3: of those that win something like this. And the second
Speaker 3: thing an overwhelming feeling that I found out later.
Speaker 2: My hands started shaking. Then I had a panic attack
Speaker 2: and my outsides in that moment. We were the best
Speaker 2: in the world in that moment on that day, But
Speaker 2: my insides were in my head was saying, you know,
Speaker 2: you suck, You're not enough.
Speaker 3: You know, just wait?
Speaker 1: Did you feel like an impostor?
Speaker 2: I think I was just scared.
Speaker 1: Scared of the limelight, the expectations.
Speaker 2: Scared of what was to come.
Speaker 1: Everything changed for the brothers after the French Open victory.
Speaker 1: The Gentsens were no longer just the gregarious siblings who
Speaker 1: put on a show on the court. They were Grand
Speaker 1: Slam champions and in high demand. Always willing to promote
Speaker 1: the sport, they kept up a whirlwind schedule of media
Speaker 1: appearances in kids clinics. They even began getting appearance fees
Speaker 1: to show up at tournaments, something that was on heard
Speaker 1: of for doubles. In nineteen ninety five, they played under
Speaker 1: the lights at the US Open on primetime television, a
Speaker 1: spotlight that almost never was available to doubles players. The
Speaker 1: Jensens had officially arrived, but the skyrocketing fame took a
Speaker 1: toll on Murphy. He began missing matches and skipping appearances
Speaker 1: while his career on the court was peaking. By nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety nine, his life off. It was spiraling out of
Speaker 1: control in a haze of substance abuse.
Speaker 2: I don't think I was ready emotionally, definitely not ready mentally.
Speaker 2: I didn't have the tools to embark on what was
Speaker 2: to come. And what was to come was Big Agent
Speaker 2: signs us to a deal. Peter Moore, Bob's Drasser by Zadidas.
Speaker 2: Peter Moore made the Air Jordan's shoe, and now he's
Speaker 2: sketching out what the Jensen Brothers image and brand's going
Speaker 2: to look like. We are now flying around in private
Speaker 2: jets and limousines, and I felt like I was in
Speaker 2: a hurricane, in a tornado for the next eight to
Speaker 2: ten years, absolutely out of control. I was uncomfortable in
Speaker 2: my skin. I was restless. I found myself starting to
Speaker 2: self medicate and isolate with alcohol, and that eventually led
Speaker 2: to using drugs on top of that in pills.
Speaker 1: It was during the nineteen ninety nine US Open that
Speaker 1: Murphy Jensen had reached the end of his rope and
Speaker 1: contemplated the unthinkable.
Speaker 2: We lose whatever around. And it was during the time
Speaker 2: my son Billy was being born twenty four years ago,
Speaker 2: and I was looking at jumping out of a window
Speaker 2: in New York City, and instead of a hotel manager
Speaker 2: calling the police, he called an interventionist. And by the
Speaker 2: time I got to Los Angeles maybe a week or
Speaker 2: two later. You know, I went through a psych word
Speaker 2: in the detox and got help.
Speaker 1: First of all, I'm so sorry you've gone through this,
Speaker 1: Thank you, But it sounds like you're doing okay today. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm doing great, given that you're now how many years sober?
Speaker 2: Twenty four years in recovery. I had a reoccurrence relapse
Speaker 2: after four and a half years, and I have not
Speaker 2: had to look back in seventeen eighteen years.
Speaker 1: Just so the audience can understand here, it wasn't the
Speaker 1: glory of winning a Grand Slam and becoming celebrities that
Speaker 1: led you to this partying life that has occurred with
Speaker 1: so many other athletes. All of a sudden they hit
Speaker 1: it big. There's money flowing in, there's limos, there's private planes.
Speaker 1: Everybody's throwing a party for you. Yeah, that was not
Speaker 1: why you fell into this lifestyle. It was for you
Speaker 1: more of an escape from that very existence.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think the centerpiece what I've learned over twenty four years,
Speaker 2: what I treat on a daily basis even to this day.
Speaker 2: Is my head will tell me I need to be
Speaker 2: somewhere other than where I'm at, or whatever I'm doing
Speaker 2: isn't what I should be doing, as opposed to, you know,
Speaker 2: having the tools and the ability to be still, be calm,
Speaker 2: be present, breathe, relax. You know, it's called the human condition.
Speaker 2: I've been restless, irritable, and discontent for a long time.
Speaker 2: I go back to first time I ever was offered
Speaker 2: an alcoholic beverage and I was twelve thirteen years old,
Speaker 2: and I had no interest in that stuff and no
Speaker 2: exposure to that. But the reason my motive for saying
Speaker 2: yes is I wanted your approval. I wanted your affection,
Speaker 2: you know, I wanted you to like me. And of
Speaker 2: course and then hey, get to high school smoke this.
Speaker 2: What is this? I wanted you your approval, I wanted
Speaker 2: your affection. Now I've got the approval and affection, and
Speaker 2: I found myself in my playing days on the two
Speaker 2: and I'm absolutely empty and in some ways soul this
Speaker 2: and I was so afraid to speak up or ask
Speaker 2: for help because I didn't know what the heck was
Speaker 2: wrong with me.
Speaker 1: Were you playing matches under the influence?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have, Luke.
Speaker 3: Did you know the first time I found out? And
Speaker 3: I forgot what year it was in Rome? And Murphy
Speaker 3: was always kind of a free spirit. Sometimes I had
Speaker 3: to get my own practice partner. If he didn't practice
Speaker 3: for a couple of days, that was understood. But one
Speaker 3: day goes by with no practice, and then the day
Speaker 3: before we play usually we get at least a practice
Speaker 3: in and he didn't practice. So I just had this
Speaker 3: really strange feeling. He's not answering his phone. So I
Speaker 3: go down and get his room number, and I go
Speaker 3: to the floor and I just noticed or here on
Speaker 3: his floor, there's some noise or something at the end
Speaker 3: of the hallway. So I start going towards his room
Speaker 3: and it's the noise is coming from his room and
Speaker 3: the door is open, every light is open, the TV's
Speaker 3: on is just loud and bright, and there he is
Speaker 3: on the bed with his eyes wide open, and he
Speaker 3: had a cigarette in his mouth looking at me. I
Speaker 3: didn't know he smoked. At that moment, I was brought
Speaker 3: into a world that I had no idea even existed,
Speaker 3: much less that we were playing professional tennis and he
Speaker 3: was in that.
Speaker 1: State, Murphy sought help for his addictions. Years later, once
Speaker 1: he had turned things around, Murphy realized his story of
Speaker 1: recovery and redemption could help others who were struggling with
Speaker 1: substance abuse. He co founded the company We Connect. Its
Speaker 1: mission is to help people tackle their mental health and
Speaker 1: drug abuse issues. You took your path and used it
Speaker 1: as an opportunity once you got yourself clean and back
Speaker 1: on your feet, to then try and help others. You
Speaker 1: wanted to pay it forward, and you start this business
Speaker 1: with some other folks called We Connect. Why did you
Speaker 1: choose that path?
Speaker 2: We grew up Catholic, and the difference between religion and
Speaker 2: spirituality is religions for people that are afraid of going
Speaker 2: to hell, and spirituality is for people that have been there.
Speaker 2: And I follow a spiritual path and one of my
Speaker 2: values and principles of service to others and helping others.
Speaker 2: And it was never to start a company. I didn't
Speaker 2: ever see any of this as an opportunity. At the
Speaker 2: truth that be said, those early days, it was the
Speaker 2: worst thing that could have happened to me, absolutely ground
Speaker 2: zero of hell. So you know I've co founded We Connect.
Speaker 2: In speaking of that spiritual. I left tennis nine years
Speaker 2: ago with no We Connect on the other side, and
Speaker 2: there wasn't like I want to work in recovery. My
Speaker 2: heart told me I had more to offer this world
Speaker 2: than coaching superstars and expensive tennis ex experiences, and so
Speaker 2: We Connect is a mobile application that has support and
Speaker 2: services and it's basically a lifeline, anonymous and confidential lifeline.
Speaker 2: Any mom and dad, brother sisters, support group meetings built
Speaker 2: in an app, and it's unbelievable. We've served millions of
Speaker 2: people from thirty countries currently and it's our job and
Speaker 2: our mission and at that at our organization is to
Speaker 2: help others.
Speaker 1: Luke, when you hear Murphy talk about what he's been through,
Speaker 1: how does that feel as an older brother?
Speaker 3: The number one thing is that recovery works. I'm a
Speaker 3: witness to that to see him grow. His weapon in
Speaker 3: tennis was his serve, but his weapon in life, his
Speaker 3: purpose in life is to serve others.
Speaker 1: When we return, Murphy Jentsen on turning his life around
Speaker 1: and just when he almost had it together, everything came
Speaker 1: crashing back down.
Speaker 3: And now Murphy's serving is looking at me and he's
Speaker 3: smiling because we're just having fun. He's setting up the
Speaker 3: serve and all of a sudden, he just crashes to
Speaker 3: the ground. He's gone into a cardiac arrest.
Speaker 1: Part of the game. We'll be right back and now
Speaker 1: back to part of the game. After their playing days ended,
Speaker 1: the Jensens both continued to stay involved in tennis in
Speaker 1: various ways. Luke Jensen went into TV as a tennis
Speaker 1: analyst for ESPN. He then coached the Syracuse University women's
Speaker 1: tennis team for nearly eight years. Murphy Jensen also maintained
Speaker 1: close ties with the sport while continuing his recovery and
Speaker 1: his work helping others with addiction. In twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: the brothers were playing in a celebrity exhibition in Colorado
Speaker 1: for the Good Grand Slam, an event that raises money
Speaker 1: for sudden cardiac arrest awareness. As Murphy was getting ready
Speaker 1: to serve the ball, Luke looked over and realized something
Speaker 1: was terribly wrong with his little brother. He was having
Speaker 1: a heart attack right there on the court. One would
Speaker 1: think that dealing with the addiction that you did and
Speaker 1: sinking to the depths that you did to where you're
Speaker 1: contemplating suicide, but then you come through it on the
Speaker 1: other side, you'd think that's the worst thing I'm going
Speaker 1: to deal with in life, and maybe it was. But
Speaker 1: then you fast forward to October of twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: and you guys are back together again on the tennis court,
Speaker 1: right playing in an exhibition. Take me there and tell
Speaker 1: me how the day unfolds.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So I'd just taken a job as the director
Speaker 3: of tennis at the Garden of the Gods. So Murphy says,
Speaker 3: you know, I'll come out. We'll play an exhibition for
Speaker 3: your first week and celebrate. So we're out there and
Speaker 3: we're playing a little doubles exhibition. Murphy and I are
Speaker 3: always talking little trash and who's going to win and everything.
Speaker 3: And we've got a couple hundred people there, and now
Speaker 3: Murphy's serving is looking at me and he's smiling because
Speaker 3: we're just having fun. He's setting up the serve, and
Speaker 3: all of a sudden, he just crashes to the ground.
Speaker 3: The first responders they know right away through their professionalism
Speaker 3: he's gone into a cardiac arrest. One of the medical
Speaker 3: professionals says, where's the defibrillator. I know, for my training
Speaker 3: being there, my facilities walk through as anything I've got
Speaker 3: an AED thirty feet behind me on that court.
Speaker 1: Just so people understand, an AED an automated external defibrillator
Speaker 1: defibrillator yep.
Speaker 3: So there was blood coming from the back of his head.
Speaker 3: So now we had not only cardiac arrest situation. He
Speaker 3: had flatlined. And as the professionals are trying to bring
Speaker 3: him back to life, get his heart going, they give
Speaker 3: me the assignment to keep talking to him, to keep
Speaker 3: him with us. The only thing that kept popping in
Speaker 3: my mind is I may be saying the last words
Speaker 3: of my life to my brother. What do you say
Speaker 3: to someone who's been your best friend, your brother. You've
Speaker 3: been with him your entire life, and you're saying goodbye
Speaker 3: our whole lives. We have this thing in our family.
Speaker 3: It's a motto basically that Jensen's never quit. You can lose,
Speaker 3: you can be tired, but Jensen's never quit. Your family
Speaker 3: is here, Your family needs you. They'd gotten the heart going,
Speaker 3: and then you would hear the doctors that are checking
Speaker 3: his pulse. No pulse, no pulse. It took seventeen minutes
Speaker 3: for the ambulance that get there, and in that time
Speaker 3: he had flatlined four times. That was the toughest part for.
Speaker 1: Me, Murphy, what do you recall, since obviously you were
Speaker 1: in a situation where where you had flatlined, you had
Speaker 1: died more than once, what do you recall Do you
Speaker 1: even remember tossing the ball to serve?
Speaker 2: First off, I remember nothing, And that's very common for
Speaker 2: a cardiac arrest event. Is some people I've talked to
Speaker 2: have lost a couple of years of memory the lack
Speaker 2: of oxygen for that long. It's a miracle that I
Speaker 2: don't have permanent brain damage today. There were no symptoms,
Speaker 2: you know, it wasn't shortness of breath, numbness in the
Speaker 2: fingers or any nothing like that. I have no memory
Speaker 2: of the day before. I may have for you know,
Speaker 2: lost a month for all I you know, to think
Speaker 2: about it. You know, when I was stabilized in the
Speaker 2: coma for six days, they didn't know which Murphy E
Speaker 2: they're going to get back, how much brain damage have
Speaker 2: been caused, the skull fractures and concussions. And I come too,
Speaker 2: and Luke is there, and my wife Kate says, you
Speaker 2: know you're in the IC. You had you been in
Speaker 2: a coma, you had a cardiac And it was really
Speaker 2: a couple of days of them repeating that murphy.
Speaker 1: Before you have this traumatic and dramatic event in October
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty one and experienced cardiac arrest, you did
Speaker 1: have a history, right of some heart issues before this,
Speaker 1: is that right?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Eleven years ago I was diagnosed, or maybe even longer,
Speaker 2: I had a virus as a result of getting the
Speaker 2: fluid attacked my heart. It was called viral cardiomyopathy. And
Speaker 2: then when they did the MRI or the scans, they
Speaker 2: showed an enlarged heart as a result of a lot
Speaker 2: of athletes have a heart that does a lot of
Speaker 2: work and enlarged heart, and that led to an atrial
Speaker 2: fibrillation a fib issues where I've had two different oblasons
Speaker 2: and a number of cardioverts to reset my heart.
Speaker 1: Did doctors think you were at risk of having a
Speaker 1: severe heart attack?
Speaker 2: Back in the days of my viral cardiomyopathy, my heart
Speaker 2: function was less than eight percent. It was horrible, maybe
Speaker 2: even less than five percent at a terrible heart function,
Speaker 2: and they had me on meds they would prescribe to
Speaker 2: a ninety year old. A normal heart function is actually
Speaker 2: around fifty percent, they had told me, And at the
Speaker 2: time of the cardiac arrest after two oblasions. Over time,
Speaker 2: my heart function was over eighty percent, So I could
Speaker 2: not have been in better physical heart health.
Speaker 1: Is there any hint or suggestion, medical suggestion that what
Speaker 1: you dealt with in substance abuse may have contributed to
Speaker 1: your heart issues.
Speaker 2: That's a great question. I spoke with doctor wu who's
Speaker 2: the president of the American Heart Association and that runs
Speaker 2: the Stanford Heart Institute, and he's doing the work on
Speaker 2: my heart cells, and we talked about my drinking and
Speaker 2: using days said that it would not have shown up
Speaker 2: in that cardiac arrest event. But what they did find
Speaker 2: after ten months of growing my heart cells is that
Speaker 2: my heart cells respond to stress differently than a normal
Speaker 2: heart cell. So if being in high altitude is stressful,
Speaker 2: if physical activity, you know, I'm learning a lot, John
Speaker 2: about heart function and cardiac arrest happens every ninety seconds.
Speaker 2: And it's not just old dudes and men women. The
Speaker 2: leading cause of death for women, I think is heart
Speaker 2: disease in some form. It happens more than you know.
Speaker 1: Tell me if I'm wrong here. When these events unfold,
Speaker 1: when you have this cardiac arrest event on the court,
Speaker 1: were you playing in a celebrity exhibition event that was
Speaker 1: trying to raise money for the awareness of sudden cardiac arrest.
Speaker 2: So for eleven twelve years I've been participating in an
Speaker 2: event called the gud Found and it's about bringing awareness
Speaker 2: around CPR, chess compressions and AEDs. Stephen Couter had died
Speaker 2: of a cardiac arrest while out running in perfect health
Speaker 2: with the family, and so I was aware of AED, CPR,
Speaker 2: chess compression and cardiac arrest. This event was at the
Speaker 2: Garden of the Gods resort, and I had been playing
Speaker 2: a lot of tennis, so it was no problem for
Speaker 2: me to do this. It was a few hundred people
Speaker 2: in the crowd, and by the grace of God, there
Speaker 2: is some off duty medical professionals, an ex fire chief
Speaker 2: and people who knew what to do in a timely
Speaker 2: manner and an AED ten feet from the court.
Speaker 1: That's one of the key parts of this right and
Speaker 1: lends itself to the work that you're doing now, which
Speaker 1: is somebody yells out, we need the AED, and Luke
Speaker 1: knows exactly where it is, and that raises two big points,
Speaker 1: one that there's actually an AED site and to somebody
Speaker 1: knows where it is, and that's not always the case,
Speaker 1: is it.
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 2: I've found out, you know, I've become quite emotional about
Speaker 2: this gift we all have called life. Luke was told
Speaker 2: the day before where that AD was. And luckily, what
Speaker 2: I have found out that there's less than thirty percent
Speaker 2: of the tennis courts in America have an AD that's
Speaker 2: just tennis. And I hear whether it's a mom or
Speaker 2: a dad or a child on a soccer pitch goes
Speaker 2: down and you might have an AED. But is it
Speaker 2: locked in the closet, you know, somewhere in the school.
Speaker 3: Is it?
Speaker 2: Do you know that anybody can use it? You know,
Speaker 2: I'm at a fancy resort or a country club and
Speaker 2: it says for authorized personnel only. Well, if someone's going down,
Speaker 2: I don't think that person that's gone down cares who's
Speaker 2: authorized and who's not. A seven year old can open
Speaker 2: an AD and say dad or Mom's life.
Speaker 3: And John, all of a sudden last year, we're in
Speaker 3: washingt d c. And Murphy is with the mar Hamlin
Speaker 3: and they're putting a bill on the table to put
Speaker 3: AEDs in public facilities throughout the United States. To be
Speaker 3: in that moment where Murphy Jensen has come so far,
Speaker 3: and the power of Washington d C in this country
Speaker 3: when it works is a very powerful moment.
Speaker 1: You speak of the emotional impact that this has had
Speaker 1: on you and the psychological impact that this has had
Speaker 1: on you. What sort of physical changes did you make
Speaker 1: did you introduce into your life in terms of nutrition
Speaker 1: and fitness as a result of this major cardiac event.
Speaker 2: Every day I have boxes I check, and I'll do
Speaker 2: thirty minutes of cardio, and I'm plan as much tennis
Speaker 2: as possible, or oxygen and meditating, anything to slow down.
Speaker 2: You know, it's so easy to get wrapped up. I
Speaker 2: think I need to be mindful of the amount of
Speaker 2: caffeine intake. It's funny, my wife said, on that day
Speaker 2: of the cardiac arrest, I had an abnormal amount of
Speaker 2: caffeine on that the day before and the leading up
Speaker 2: to it in high altitude, possibly dehydrated, and the potassiumility
Speaker 2: to banana every day. So I low it up on
Speaker 2: any and all diets that will help my brain function
Speaker 2: and memory. I can get overwhelmed with loud noises and
Speaker 2: bright lights, so I try to avoid that at all costs.
Speaker 2: If you see me wearing sunglasses inside it because it's
Speaker 2: really bright and it's given me headache or something. I
Speaker 2: do the physical to help my mental and I do
Speaker 2: the mental work to ensure that I'm held accountable to
Speaker 2: what's going on between my ears, because I can't afford
Speaker 2: to get angry. I can't afford to go there. It's
Speaker 2: such a gift to be able to take care of
Speaker 2: ourselves and take care of myself. I know what it's
Speaker 2: like not to be able to walk or possibly talk,
Speaker 2: or to be dead, and I'll be damned if I
Speaker 2: don't live.
Speaker 1: This is called heart of the game. So I'd like
Speaker 1: you each to answer this question. What is the heart
Speaker 1: of the game to you?
Speaker 3: Yeah? To me, it's the ability to commit to something
Speaker 3: and commit to people that believe in you, invest in you.
Speaker 3: And if you can find a community that wants to
Speaker 3: give you an opportunity based on your dreams and your
Speaker 3: potential and what you're willing to commit to it, everything
Speaker 3: is possible. So when I talk to kids today that
Speaker 3: do have dreams that get sidetracked, there's always an opportunity
Speaker 3: to come back to that heart of the game, to
Speaker 3: what you truly believe in, which has to be yourself
Speaker 3: and your superpower, which is I love myself and I
Speaker 3: love what I'm doing every single day. I may not
Speaker 3: win the day, but in the end I will win.
Speaker 1: Murphy.
Speaker 2: You know, tennis, the scoring system says that love means nothing,
Speaker 2: and I have learned that in this thing called life,
Speaker 2: love means everything, you know. So the heart of the
Speaker 2: game for me is to love what you do, be
Speaker 2: around people that love you. Today's the day. The time
Speaker 2: is now. Cherish everything you know. And if nobody's told
Speaker 2: you they love you today, I do. And there's nothing
Speaker 2: you can do about it. And I say that a lot.
Speaker 2: And I got that from John Robinson, who is the
Speaker 2: tech on the on the detox and psych word. When
Speaker 2: I was so hurting, he said that to me, and
Speaker 2: I share that with anybody that I meet, and I
Speaker 2: mean it. Arthur Ash is famously quoted as saying true
Speaker 2: heroism is remarkably sober. True heroism is not the urge
Speaker 2: to surpass others at what I cost, but the urge
Speaker 2: to serve others at whatever cost, you know. And service
Speaker 2: saved my life. People helped me and cared for me
Speaker 2: and carried me. And that's what I'm doing, is I'm
Speaker 2: carrying it forward, and to me, that's the heart of
Speaker 2: the game, is to be of service in every area
Speaker 2: of my life.
Speaker 1: It's really touching. And I've spent the last two and
Speaker 1: a half hours thinking I was interviewing the Jensen brothers,
Speaker 1: and I feel like I was just talking to the
Speaker 1: Dalai Lama. Where's the rip, roaring, high five and chest
Speaker 1: bumping brothers.
Speaker 2: We're there, We're still here.
Speaker 1: You guys are very much here. The Jensen brothers, Luke
Speaker 1: and Murphy were a big haired phenomenon. They gave tennis
Speaker 1: a joelt when the sport was in dire need of
Speaker 1: a reset. Their outsized personalities and big time ability made
Speaker 1: them superstars who inspired a generation of players. The Brian brothers,
Speaker 1: identical twins Bob and Mike, when more Grand Slam than
Speaker 1: any other pair in tennis history. They cite the Jensens
Speaker 1: as a huge influence on their careers. Many years after
Speaker 1: their professional tennis careers ended, Luke and Murphy continue to
Speaker 1: inspire others through their work off the court. Daring to
Speaker 1: be different continues to pay off with the brothers all
Speaker 1: these years later. On the next episode of Heart of
Speaker 1: the Game, meet the first family of Water polo. The
Speaker 1: Fishers Aria and Mackenzie Fisher are two of the greatest
Speaker 1: players in the history of the sport. They'll talk about
Speaker 1: the challenges they faced winning Olympic goal, what they learned
Speaker 1: from their dad, and just how rough it gets in
Speaker 1: the pool during a match.
Speaker 4: We could see the pain that he felt from getting
Speaker 4: fourth in his Olympic games and how much he wanted
Speaker 4: that final game back. What was imparted in me from
Speaker 4: a young age was making sure that you're putting everything
Speaker 4: into the game so that when the game does end,
Speaker 4: at least you can be confident that there's not anything
Speaker 4: you're wishing for back.
Speaker 1: Part of the Game is a production of Ruby Studio
Speaker 1: from iHeartMedia. Our show is hosted by me John Frankel.
Speaker 1: Our executive producer is Matt Romano. Our EP of Post
Speaker 1: production is Matt Stillo. Our supervising producer is Nikkia Swinton.
Speaker 1: This show was edited by Sierra Spreen. Our writer and
Speaker 1: researcher is Mike Avela. Thanks for listening. We'll see you
Speaker 1: next time.