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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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Speaker 2: I want to win with people that know how to lose.

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Speaker 2: I can, you know, sip champagne or buy the glass,

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Speaker 2: whatever it is when you're winning, Like, I know what

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Speaker 2: that feeling's like. But when things are not going well,

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Speaker 2: when you're losing, when you have a losing streak, can

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Speaker 2: be a year, can be a few years. And who

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Speaker 2: are those people that are in that process?

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Speaker 3: Right? What's their mentality?

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Speaker 4: I'm Alex Rodriguez and I'm Jason Kelly. I am fired up, Jason.

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Speaker 4: I mean, this is our first episode and is a

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Speaker 4: good one, but we've been talking about this for a

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Speaker 4: while now, almost a.

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Speaker 1: Couple of years.

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Speaker 5: I mean, what I think we're trying to do with

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Speaker 5: this show is have conversations candidly that aren't being had

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Speaker 5: anywhere else. I mean, there's a lot of great stuff there,

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Speaker 5: but I don't think there's the perspective of what is

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Speaker 5: really in people's minds when they're making big decisions around

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Speaker 5: their businesses.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and Jason, I think you and I have a

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Speaker 4: lot in common, but one of them is that we're

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Speaker 4: both having incredible thirst for information and we're both very

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Speaker 4: inquisitive and I think a lot of people out there

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Speaker 4: are a lot like us. You have a lot of

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Speaker 4: questions about my sports career, and I have a lot

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Speaker 4: of questions to you about your incredible career, And I

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Speaker 4: think the combination of both of us is what the

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Speaker 4: deal is all about.

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Speaker 5: Well, and also, I think we've seen our world's collide

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Speaker 5: in a lot of ways, right. And one of the

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Speaker 5: things that I think is unique is you look around

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Speaker 5: the owner's table, a lot of guys, men and women

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Speaker 5: who came out of private equity, who came out of

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Speaker 5: real estate. You know, they had these huge careers there

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Speaker 5: and now they've turned their attention to sports. And by

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Speaker 5: the same token, what was once pretty rare, meaning you

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Speaker 5: know you, Magic Johnson, Michael Strahan, who's going to be

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Speaker 5: a guest coming up in this season, Now that's assumed

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Speaker 5: if you're an athlete, you're a business You're a business man,

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Speaker 5: you know. And so this notion of athletes knowing from

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Speaker 5: the beginning that they have aspirations not just on the field,

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Speaker 5: on the court, but you know, well beyond. I think

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Speaker 5: one of the things that also makes this show unique,

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Speaker 5: other than you know, you and I being together, is

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Speaker 5: this concept that the deal is our north star. You

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Speaker 5: know that we are talking to people about their business,

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Speaker 5: we're talking about their lives, We're talking about their careers

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Speaker 5: on the field, but what happens off the field. These

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Speaker 5: key decisions they make, the key hires, they make, the

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Speaker 5: risks that they take. I don't think they've told a

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Speaker 5: lot of these stories before, and I think there's a

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Speaker 5: lot to be learned by not just what you know,

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Speaker 5: but what went into those big decisions.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: I've learned, Jason so much from you in a short time,

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Speaker 4: and I want to audience to be able to learn

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Speaker 4: from you and your experiences. And I think one of

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Speaker 4: the things I think about a lot is, you know,

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Speaker 4: knowledge helps you prevent a lot of headaches, and knowledge

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Speaker 4: is power, and there's another form to educate and learn,

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Speaker 4: quite frankly, from some of my mistakes. Deals are not

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Speaker 4: just home runs, some are strikeouts, and sometimes the lessons

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Speaker 4: in those strikeouts are most valuable.

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Speaker 6: I see what you did there. It's a baseball.

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Speaker 1: Metaphork Okay, can't help myself.

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Speaker 5: And Alex, our first guest, is a perfect distillation of

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Speaker 5: everything we've just described. Maria Sharapova, you know someone who

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Speaker 5: I feel like has been in our lives for a

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Speaker 5: long time. You guys have intersected as business people. You

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Speaker 5: also kind of came of age at the same time

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Speaker 5: in terms of the spotlight.

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Speaker 4: What an amazing story and I was so inspired when

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Speaker 4: we spoke to her, the challenges that she had to overcome,

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Speaker 4: and what a brilliant woman and the things that she's

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Speaker 4: doing in business today are incredible. I think one of

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Speaker 4: the things that you'll find fascinating is her background, her

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Speaker 4: work ethic and her father and that relationship and really

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Speaker 4: developing really thick skin at a global level. I think

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Speaker 4: it's set her up beautifully for business.

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Speaker 1: Well.

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Speaker 5: The other interesting thing, too, is that I think we

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Speaker 5: sort of discover in this interview a woman who is,

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Speaker 5: you know, in her mid thirties, you know, very much

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Speaker 5: discovering herself as a business person in this next phase

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Speaker 5: of life. And you've encountered her in that regard. What

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Speaker 5: was your impression coming in.

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Speaker 1: I was wildly impressed.

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Speaker 4: I mean, she is someone who is fears humble, ask

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Speaker 4: tons of questions and if you're an investor, you're a

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Speaker 4: founder of a company, is disarming and you want to

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Speaker 4: work with Mario because she is nice. She is a champion,

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Speaker 4: and you have this incredible package of a world class

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Speaker 4: athlete and potentially a world class partner, which is what

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Speaker 4: most founders are looking for.

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Speaker 6: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: I mean she is so quick, you know, that willingness

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Speaker 5: to kind of go there, to be in the moment.

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Speaker 4: I want to build one more thing on that, Jason,

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Speaker 4: because I think that's a great point.

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Speaker 1: When she started making fun of me.

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Speaker 4: You know, she's always very serious as I watched in

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Speaker 4: these like big Wimbledon and all this, Yeah, and she

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Speaker 4: was always game faced. And when she started ripping on me,

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Speaker 4: I'm like, oh my gosh, I really like this person.

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Speaker 6: I know.

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Speaker 1: It was great.

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Speaker 5: It came out of nowhere, and yet it as we

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Speaker 5: got to know her more and more through the course

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Speaker 5: of the interview, it's.

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Speaker 6: Like, oh, yeah, this is on brand.

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Speaker 1: On this episode of The Deal. Maria Sharapova.

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Speaker 6: All right, so officially introduce yourself.

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Speaker 3: Wow.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm Maria Sharapova. I am a five time Grand

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Speaker 2: Slam champion, and I am now a mother and entrepreneur

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Speaker 2: and just a curious human being.

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Speaker 5: We have so many things that we want to talk

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Speaker 5: to you about. And I read your book and I

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Speaker 5: have to say, like it really is like lodged in me,

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Speaker 5: like your story, and I think.

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Speaker 7: That's a big compliment.

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Speaker 6: Well, I mean, I think.

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Speaker 5: It's your willingness to kind of go there, you know,

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Speaker 5: and I think the sort of rawness and the vulnerability

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Speaker 5: you show in telling that story. I mean I do wonder,

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Speaker 5: like going all the way back, like when did you know?

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Speaker 5: And you've written about this, like did you know that

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Speaker 5: you had something special?

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Speaker 2: I don't think I ever allowed myself to accept or

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Speaker 2: to realize that I had something special. Because the moment

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Speaker 2: that you think you have it down or you know

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Speaker 2: too much, or you know everything and you consider yourself

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Speaker 2: the best internally, maybe the outside world can, but internally is,

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Speaker 2: in my opinion, is a time that you have to

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Speaker 2: be very careful about because as you start believing in

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Speaker 2: the hype and you start hyping your own self up,

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Speaker 2: and then you're living up to these unprecedented expectations and

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Speaker 2: I don't know if they're ever going to be met.

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Speaker 1: Maria.

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Speaker 4: I'm such a big fan of everything you've done off

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Speaker 4: the court, obviously the five Grand Slams and what you're

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Speaker 4: doing now. It takes so much courage to do that.

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Speaker 4: But going back to the early days, building what Jason

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Speaker 4: just asked you. I come from two parents that are

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Speaker 4: immigrants from Dominican Republic, very modest beginnings, and there was

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Speaker 4: always a sense of imposture syndrome, and I think that

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Speaker 4: was my gift and my curse, right. It led me

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Speaker 4: to a great career, but it also led me to

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Speaker 4: a one year suspension that was very hard on me.

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Speaker 4: Did you ever feel coming up a little bit of

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Speaker 4: an imposter syndrome or did you feel like you belong

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Speaker 4: From day one.

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Speaker 2: I knew that what I was doing was different to

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Speaker 2: other families, to other children. I knew that I had

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Speaker 2: a different path and I was living almost I mean,

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Speaker 2: it was a dream, but I had a very clear vision,

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Speaker 2: and so did my mother and my father. My father

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Speaker 2: particularly because he was my coach for many years and

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Speaker 2: it was, you know, his big goal. I was too

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Speaker 2: young to really have those big goals. But as I

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Speaker 2: followed this road that he, you know, paved for me,

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Speaker 2: I realized very much that this dream was becoming a

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Speaker 2: reality that you know, you had a choice to make

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Speaker 2: every single day when you wake up to be the best.

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Speaker 2: And I was given an incredible gift of you know,

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Speaker 2: having a strong mind of persistence of focus. And I

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Speaker 2: was talented, but I wasn't like as physically strong as

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Speaker 2: other children. And I loved this idea of being different,

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Speaker 2: and I accepted that I didn't have a typical upbringing,

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Speaker 2: that I was an immigrant, that I came to the

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Speaker 2: United States as a young girl, and I didn't feel

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Speaker 2: like I always belonged. But I found that as a gift.

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Speaker 2: I didn't find that as a disadvantage.

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Speaker 4: So, just following up on that, I remember the first

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Speaker 4: time that I traveled to Texas and I was fifteen

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Speaker 4: years old, and I wore the US uniform representing the

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Speaker 4: US and the US Olympic teams. And I looked around

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Speaker 4: the room and I was a rising junior. Everyone was

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Speaker 4: a rising senior in the summertime, and I said, wait

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Speaker 4: a minute, I'm as good as everybody here, and I'm

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Speaker 4: a year younger. I was the only underclassman. That was

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Speaker 4: the first time that I go I can go big

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Speaker 4: if I really focus. What was that moment for you

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Speaker 4: that you said I can be something special?

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Speaker 2: So you see, it's funny because you give me that

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Speaker 2: example in that story, and there's not one that I

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Speaker 2: particularly look back to because after a victory or after

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Speaker 2: beating someone that was older than I was, or a

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Speaker 2: boy that you know, was stronger and you know, perhaps

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Speaker 2: had a better talent or was just physically better at

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Speaker 2: the sport, I still knew that I had to wake

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Speaker 2: up and keep doing it tomorrow and prove myself again

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Speaker 2: and go to another tournament over the weekend in the

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Speaker 2: middle of nowhere, in the dumps of Florida, and figure

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Speaker 2: out a way to win. And so I think it

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Speaker 2: was just this reality element that kept coming back to me.

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Speaker 2: Like I came from, you know, as you have, from

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Speaker 2: very humble beginnings, and I was never afraid to go back.

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Speaker 2: But I dreamed of the very best. I dreamed of

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Speaker 2: holding the biggest trophy. But I also, in this other context,

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Speaker 2: if I went back to what I had before, I

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Speaker 2: didn't think badly of it, Like the foundation that my

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Speaker 2: parents had built back home in Russia. They were both

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Speaker 2: my mother was very young, shustill in university, but my

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Speaker 2: dad had a decent job. He wasn't making a lot

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Speaker 2: of money, and the United States considered no money. But overall,

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Speaker 2: like I had a great environment, I had a healthy environment,

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Speaker 2: I had food on the table, I had great loving parents,

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Speaker 2: and so if those were the conditions that I had

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Speaker 2: to go back to, I was okay with And perhaps

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Speaker 2: that is what gave me the confidence to just keep

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Speaker 2: going and just keep striving for better and better, and hey,

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Speaker 2: if the top didn't happen to what I envisioned, then

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Speaker 2: it was okay to go back to those humble beginnings.

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Speaker 5: So you've mentioned your parents a couple of times, and

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Speaker 5: when we think about the concept of the deal, the

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Speaker 5: sort of unifying principle of all that your earliest partnership

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Speaker 5: is your dad in terms of like you.

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Speaker 7: But it wasn't a choice.

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Speaker 6: It wasn't a choice, right exactly.

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Speaker 3: And I'm okay with it, and I was lucky.

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Speaker 5: And so as you come of age, even as you

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Speaker 5: get to be you know, even ten eleven years old,

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Speaker 5: eleven years old, you know you sign with Nike. I

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Speaker 5: believe you are at a very young age in a

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Speaker 5: business partnership. Yeah, with your dad. How did that feel

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Speaker 5: and what were sort of the undercurrents of that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, I'm an only child and was and still am,

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Speaker 2: and so I built this very strong bond with my parents.

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Speaker 2: They're both very young. My father, you know, enjoyed sport,

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Speaker 2: he loved sport. He played hockey. That was a big

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Speaker 2: sport in Russia. He thought he was some tremendous athlete.

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Speaker 2: I kept telling him he wasn't that good, and I

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Speaker 2: still do till this day. My mother would take me

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Speaker 2: to the ballet no matter what city I was in,

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Speaker 2: and just helped me grow everything else but sport. And

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Speaker 2: so they had these very different gifts that they helped,

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Speaker 2: you know, instill in me and shape me in many ways.

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Speaker 2: And I think that grounding element of those partnerships. Like

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Speaker 2: I would go to the tennis court and I would

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Speaker 2: be around my dad, and of course i'd negotiate with

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Speaker 2: him whether I was there. You know, i'd start my

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Speaker 2: practice with serving for forty five minutes or i'd end

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Speaker 2: like I had a preference and he had his preference,

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Speaker 2: and you know, it would be a little bit of

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Speaker 2: a negotiation no matter how young I was, Like I'd

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Speaker 2: find my way to you know, give an opinion. And

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Speaker 2: then I'd come home and you know, my mom had

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Speaker 2: my schoolwork in front of me, and she made sure

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Speaker 2: that I ate the right things and that I stretched,

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Speaker 2: you know, before I went to sleep, because she thought

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Speaker 2: that would help me grow. She was right, because I'm

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Speaker 2: much taller than my parents.

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Speaker 6: Sure, you're hanging from a bar.

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Speaker 3: Though, hanging from a bar.

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Speaker 2: And then I had to stretch right before going to

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Speaker 2: sleep because she said, when you go to sleep, that's

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Speaker 2: when you elongate. That's when your body recovers and it

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Speaker 2: needs to be nice and loose.

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Speaker 5: So here we are, and the biggest business decision your

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Speaker 5: parents make is for you and your dad to come

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Speaker 5: to the United States. I mean, we talk a lot

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Speaker 5: about risk when it comes to business. That's a huge bet,

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Speaker 5: huge risk on you at age five. You know, you

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Speaker 5: get a little bit of encouragement from Martina and never

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Speaker 5: to love it. And you've talked about how you know

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Speaker 5: there are these key moments that you look back on

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Speaker 5: that are clearly catalytic in your progression and in your success. Yeah,

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Speaker 5: but that is a massive risk that you must look

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Speaker 5: back on and think, Wow.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, my father and I were breaking roles on the

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Speaker 2: public tennis courts from the first day we arrived in Miami.

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Speaker 2: I remember we arrived, someone was supposed to meet us.

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Speaker 7: They didn't.

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Speaker 2: We happened to stay with a family sharing a hotel room,

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Speaker 2: and the next morning my dad said, let's wake up.

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Speaker 2: We got to go find a court, a tennis court,

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Speaker 2: and we just happened to go around Collins Avenue and

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Speaker 2: then found some private court that he jumped the fence

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Speaker 2: on and here we were opened the gate from the back, practicing.

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Speaker 2: So those are like the recollections of arriving to the

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Speaker 2: United States of America, finding your way, finding your path,

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Speaker 2: and there are many times where it could have gone wrong,

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Speaker 2: but your determination and you know outside voices, and there

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Speaker 2: are many people along those paths that help shape you

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Speaker 2: know your future.

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Speaker 4: So, Maria, when I hear you talk about your father,

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Speaker 4: I can't help to think about, you know, my dad

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Speaker 4: leaving my family, my mother, my brother, my sister, and

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Speaker 4: kind of left the four of us behind, and my

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Speaker 4: mother went on to take two jobs. And I always thought,

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Speaker 4: I think about the gift of your father and the

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Speaker 4: curse of my father leaving us.

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Speaker 1: There's both sides. Right.

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Speaker 4: Part of him leaving was I had nobody to kick

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Speaker 4: me in the butt. I had to do it myself.

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Speaker 4: And I knew early on that I had to be

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Speaker 4: the provider for my family. Probably when I was abound

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Speaker 4: eleven or twelve, I hear all the good, any challenges

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Speaker 4: of having that first partnership, be with your father.

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Speaker 1: You can't just fire your father. He can't fire you.

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Speaker 1: I mean this blood. Yeah, any challenges along the way.

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Speaker 2: Tennis wise, I have to give him so much credit.

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Speaker 2: I mean, there are many in his position. He was

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Speaker 2: in his early thirties with seven hundred dollars in his

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Speaker 2: back pocket of his levies. He was trying to find

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Speaker 2: any kind of job that would help support, you know,

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Speaker 2: string my next racket for my next tournament. So I

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Speaker 2: don't you know the greatest gift that he gave me.

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Speaker 2: He was acknowledging that at some point he will have

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Speaker 2: to step back and for a father in sport, particularly

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Speaker 2: in tennis, as a father of a girl that's won

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Speaker 2: grand slams with him, is a very tough acceptance to have.

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Speaker 2: I did that after my third Grand Slam at the

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Speaker 2: Australian Open. I think he knew it was coming because

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Speaker 2: I wanted to do it with him, and I wanted

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Speaker 2: to do it on my own. I wanted to have

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Speaker 2: that independency and it was more for me than anything else.

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Speaker 2: It was not about money, it was not about victories.

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Speaker 7: It's just this little little bird, this little.

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Speaker 2: Instinct of mine that said, you know, what this is

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Speaker 2: time I won my third Grand Slam at the Australian Open,

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Speaker 2: and I.

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Speaker 1: Drafted and I'm scared for you, Maria.

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Speaker 4: Is that conversation happened on text on phone?

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Speaker 3: I drafted a really good email.

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Speaker 2: I just thought I was gonna do this much better

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Speaker 2: on email and craft my thoughts better.

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Speaker 3: And I did.

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Speaker 2: And I couldn't look at him in the face while

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Speaker 2: saying that. But I also knew that he knew it

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Speaker 2: was coming. He just didn't think it was going to

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Speaker 2: happen after I just won my third Grand Slam.

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Speaker 5: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a tough one, but you have to like

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Speaker 2: rip that band aid. As someone that was in my twenties,

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Speaker 2: I was ready. It'd been a partnership for you know,

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Speaker 2: over twenty years, and it was time to do it

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Speaker 2: on my own.

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Speaker 4: And to do it after a third Grand Slam so

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Speaker 4: much better than after a terrible defeat, right, Yeah, which.

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Speaker 7: Is what happens most of the.

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Speaker 6: Time, exactly.

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Speaker 7: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: Well, and it was interesting too because you essentially kind

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Speaker 5: of turned his own logic on him, right, because he

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Speaker 5: had been pretty robust in terms of like turning over

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Speaker 5: your team pretty consistently, you know, firing coaches, along the way,

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Speaker 5: just to make sure you kept it fresh.

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Speaker 6: Is that fair?

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Speaker 2: I mean I never really fired him. He was still

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Speaker 2: very much involved. I guess the only thing that and

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Speaker 2: when you say fired, like you evolve, right, And that's

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Speaker 2: one of the hardest the challenges that I find now

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Speaker 2: is like, what you needed two three years ago, perhaps

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Speaker 2: is not what you need for the future, And like,

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Speaker 2: how do you make that change and acknowledge that this

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Speaker 2: person was right for you at this time, but is

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Speaker 2: no longer right for you and for your own future

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Speaker 2: and perhaps not for theirs. And that conversation is one

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Speaker 2: of the most difficult ones that you have in business

363
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Speaker 2: because team is everything and if you don't see and

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Speaker 2: feel that your team is moving with you toward that

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Speaker 2: one direction. And the fact that he just was able

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Speaker 2: to step back and say, hey, you do this, I mean,

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Speaker 2: he was still very much involved. He'd call all the

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Speaker 2: coaches and speak to them after matches. He's always the

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Speaker 2: first person I call. It wasn't like I went to

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Speaker 2: my coach, I call my dad.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, right right, you have that partnership and relationship.

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Speaker 2: He knows you better than anyone and I respected that

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Speaker 2: and I always respected his opinion.

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Speaker 5: So speaking of building your team, I mean one of

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Speaker 5: the catalytic moments clearly too is IMG, because that sets

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Speaker 5: you it feels like on a completely new path, or

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Speaker 5: it sort of helps set the direction.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, my father and I arrived to the academy on

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Speaker 2: a Greyhound bus in the middle of the night. We

380
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Speaker 2: didn't know if it was open or not, but it

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Speaker 2: was the only time that the bus came to Bradenton, Florida,

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Speaker 2: and we knocked on the door. The receptionist said, you're crazy.

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Speaker 2: Come back at six am when our front office opens.

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Speaker 2: So we went to a hotel, came back in the

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Speaker 2: morning and they put me and my father said, we.

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Speaker 7: Don't have a reservation.

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Speaker 2: I just brought my daughter from Russia and she's talented

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Speaker 2: and I'd like for her to practice here. And I'm

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Speaker 2: sure they looked at him with eyes wide open and said,

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Speaker 2: this guy's nuts, and so let's let's bring them in

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Speaker 2: for the day and then try to get rid of

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Speaker 2: them later. They put me in a group and the

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Speaker 2: coach that was running the group said, hey, called Nick

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Speaker 2: BOLETI right away.

395
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Speaker 7: I went to see Nick.

396
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Speaker 2: Within hours and Nick called IMG and that's how it spiraled.

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Speaker 7: Wow, within twenty.

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Speaker 1: Four hours and how old we then?

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Speaker 7: I was seven six and a half, right.

400
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Speaker 5: And then it I mean it takes a couple twists

401
00:18:55,359 --> 00:18:58,320
Speaker 5: and turns though, because you end up at a different Yeah,

402
00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:02,200
Speaker 5: because bulletary is this isn't working out, oh military.

403
00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:05,480
Speaker 2: It was a sports factory, right, Like if you want

404
00:19:05,520 --> 00:19:08,119
Speaker 2: individual training where you come in and there's one person

405
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Speaker 2: looking after you for six hours a day, that's most

406
00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:13,480
Speaker 2: likely not going to happen. But it was also a

407
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Speaker 2: time where we need an investment. We needed money in

408
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Speaker 2: order to go and train. I mean, you know, tennis

409
00:19:19,119 --> 00:19:21,480
Speaker 2: is a very expensive sport. You need to invest so

410
00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:26,119
Speaker 2: much capital and with absolutely no guarantees. And so IMG

411
00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:28,399
Speaker 2: put the first check in. And I think that was

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Speaker 2: the last time that I felt really awful about owing

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Speaker 2: money to someone.

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Speaker 4: I've never I've never heard that so IMG investing you,

415
00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:39,960
Speaker 4: how do they get their return on their capital?

416
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Speaker 2: So once you make a little bit of cash, then

417
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Speaker 2: you return with certain interest. I hated that feeling, I

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Speaker 2: mean the.

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Speaker 6: Feeling of yet, why do you think that is?

420
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Speaker 2: I just even now, like anytime I'm in business and

421
00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:56,520
Speaker 2: I do deals or even buying a house, like the

422
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Speaker 2: idea of borrowing someone's money and then owing it to

423
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Speaker 2: the is like, I don't know if it's because of

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Speaker 2: the past and that I needed that money in order

425
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Speaker 2: to survive in the sport. It like left to really like,

426
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Speaker 2: I don't know, this feeling of I never want to

427
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Speaker 2: be in that position. Yeah.

428
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Speaker 5: When we come back, we discussed Maria's signing with Nike.

429
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Speaker 5: Her first grandson went at Wimbledon, and the highs and

430
00:20:22,119 --> 00:20:38,119
Speaker 5: lows of what came after. I can't get too far along.

431
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Speaker 5: I want to get to sort of your success on

432
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Speaker 5: the court in a second. But from a business perspective,

433
00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:46,120
Speaker 5: every athlete's dream, or many athletes dream, is to sign

434
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Speaker 5: with Nike.

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Speaker 6: You do that at eleven? Are you conscious of that?

436
00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:52,920
Speaker 2: Really, it wasn't like a big deal to me because

437
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Speaker 2: I didn't recognize what that even means.

438
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Speaker 6: To me.

439
00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:57,919
Speaker 2: That meant that I could have free tennis skirts, right,

440
00:20:58,119 --> 00:21:00,320
Speaker 2: and that was fantastic during the time I'm a one

441
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Speaker 2: one then I was on a very small, mediocre Nike

442
00:21:03,359 --> 00:21:06,840
Speaker 2: contract as a teenager, and after I won, they very

443
00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:09,560
Speaker 2: sweetly flew us up to Portland and gave us the

444
00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:13,360
Speaker 2: whole you know, shebang experience. That was the moment, yeah,

445
00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:15,960
Speaker 2: where I realized that Okay, I had done something special.

446
00:21:16,359 --> 00:21:17,359
Speaker 6: Well, let's talk about that.

447
00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:21,680
Speaker 5: Because winning Wimbledon the first time, I think it's safe

448
00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:26,919
Speaker 5: to say, literally changes everything. I mean, it changes your

449
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:32,520
Speaker 5: Nike deal. It also brings Motorola in. Tell us about that.

450
00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:35,040
Speaker 5: The business of Maria Sharpovt totally changes.

451
00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:37,240
Speaker 2: When you frame it that way, I'm like, he wow,

452
00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:39,520
Speaker 2: that is so big. But like when you're a seventeen

453
00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:41,960
Speaker 2: year old girl, you don't look at it that way

454
00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:45,560
Speaker 2: because if you think that, wow, everything now has changed,

455
00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:48,040
Speaker 2: how do you wake up at six am, put on

456
00:21:48,119 --> 00:21:51,680
Speaker 2: your training gear when it's like freezing outside and go

457
00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:54,200
Speaker 2: and hit one hundred serbs and with a cold shoulder,

458
00:21:54,320 --> 00:21:57,080
Speaker 2: Where's the motivation going to come from? So, if I

459
00:21:57,119 --> 00:22:00,720
Speaker 2: can be honest, I never allowed myself to feel that

460
00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:04,600
Speaker 2: change or that shift has happened, because you constantly have

461
00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:08,000
Speaker 2: to find those moments of inspiration to keep going. An

462
00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:11,480
Speaker 2: inspiration to me was not by signing a contract with

463
00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:14,480
Speaker 2: Motorola or getting the new Raizor phone, even though that

464
00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:17,840
Speaker 2: was an incredible brand. It was the fact that, like now,

465
00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:20,200
Speaker 2: when I went to train in Los Angeles, I stayed

466
00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:23,160
Speaker 2: in this hotel room in Hermosa Beach, and I got

467
00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:23,760
Speaker 2: an upgrade.

468
00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:26,040
Speaker 3: Yeah, I had a better room, and that was exciting.

469
00:22:26,119 --> 00:22:28,720
Speaker 4: I'm here like freaked out because it's resonating so much.

470
00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:32,560
Speaker 4: At seventeen, I was drafted from Miami to the Seattle Mariners,

471
00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:34,080
Speaker 4: Like all the way across the country. I had to

472
00:22:34,119 --> 00:22:36,960
Speaker 4: kind of bring out the map and go where exactly right.

473
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:40,960
Speaker 4: But there's a moment when I signed my contract where

474
00:22:41,720 --> 00:22:44,800
Speaker 4: I saw my mom work so hard that I made

475
00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:47,560
Speaker 4: a promise that I would buy our house. I got

476
00:22:47,560 --> 00:22:50,080
Speaker 4: to use Mercedes Benz. I remember one ninety and I

477
00:22:50,119 --> 00:22:52,880
Speaker 4: promised our show never working and she's eighty seven to.

478
00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:54,480
Speaker 1: This day, and she's never worked a day in her life.

479
00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:58,760
Speaker 4: After my contract, when I bought my black Cherokee, I

480
00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:00,800
Speaker 4: got to tell you, jeep Cherokee. It was black with

481
00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:03,280
Speaker 4: a little gold that was my flex And I was seventeen,

482
00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:06,879
Speaker 4: and I just felt like the king of the world.

483
00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:09,120
Speaker 4: Was there ever a little moment where you either got

484
00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:12,159
Speaker 4: a big check that for a minute you said, Okay,

485
00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:14,000
Speaker 4: I'm gonna enjoy this quietly and then I'm gonna go

486
00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:14,960
Speaker 4: back to my serfs.

487
00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:15,600
Speaker 7: Yeah.

488
00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:18,560
Speaker 2: I took my mom and two girlfriends to the Caribbean

489
00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:22,600
Speaker 2: on my first ever vacation I've never seen to Nevis

490
00:23:23,480 --> 00:23:28,560
Speaker 2: and it was the closest resort, decent resort to Sarasota

491
00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:31,520
Speaker 2: where I was training, And we took five days off

492
00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:33,680
Speaker 2: and I'd never been on a vacation in my life.

493
00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:38,520
Speaker 2: And I left there and I thought, Wow, the fact

494
00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:43,000
Speaker 2: that I could fly my mom, two of my girlfriends

495
00:23:44,040 --> 00:23:47,280
Speaker 2: on a private jet to this place with blue water

496
00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:51,320
Speaker 2: and boogie board all day long like that was our thing,

497
00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:55,760
Speaker 2: and come home and train the next day is the greatest,

498
00:23:55,840 --> 00:24:00,440
Speaker 2: most amazing gift until this day. Like that feeling going

499
00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:03,520
Speaker 2: away of disconnecting from the world, of being with my

500
00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:07,000
Speaker 2: friends and my family and treating them to this amazing

501
00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:10,560
Speaker 2: experience that incorporates travel and wellness.

502
00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:14,520
Speaker 6: And so this is just post Wimbledon, after that season.

503
00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:16,800
Speaker 7: I was not taking vacations before that, right.

504
00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:19,720
Speaker 6: Yeah, why weren't you? You just couldn't.

505
00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:24,280
Speaker 2: I didn't know what that meant. I don't think I

506
00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:27,040
Speaker 2: ever took more than a day or two off. But

507
00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:30,920
Speaker 2: the grind of the year, the schedule of playing seventeen

508
00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:35,160
Speaker 2: to twenty tournaments a year, the travel, the media responsibilities,

509
00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:39,399
Speaker 2: the brand responsibilities, you need to disconnect from that.

510
00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:41,600
Speaker 4: So I'm going to bring you back to when you

511
00:24:41,600 --> 00:24:44,439
Speaker 4: were seventeen. Call it a month before you win at

512
00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:47,480
Speaker 4: your first Wimbledon. What is a day like for Maria

513
00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:49,919
Speaker 4: to give us a taste of your work ethic and

514
00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:50,840
Speaker 4: your schedule.

515
00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:51,800
Speaker 7: Yeah.

516
00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:54,840
Speaker 2: So a month before that Wimbledon was the French Open

517
00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:59,119
Speaker 2: and it was actually the first Grand Slam quarter final

518
00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:01,119
Speaker 2: that I'd been in. It was a big event for me.

519
00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:04,280
Speaker 2: It was a big result for me. People expected good

520
00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:06,600
Speaker 2: things for me, perhaps not on the clay courts, but

521
00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:09,600
Speaker 2: it was where I made my mark, where I felt like, wow, Okay,

522
00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:12,280
Speaker 2: I got to the quarterfinal, baby steps and moving in

523
00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:15,520
Speaker 2: the right direction. And the following week was the first

524
00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:19,920
Speaker 2: warm up tournament in Birmingham in England, and they were

525
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:22,800
Speaker 2: showing the final of the French Open, and at the

526
00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:25,680
Speaker 2: time I was sitting in a hotel room with a

527
00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:28,640
Speaker 2: Russian colleague that was also playing the same tournament, and

528
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:32,400
Speaker 2: there were two Russians playing that final in Paris, and

529
00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:36,320
Speaker 2: I just watching the TV and knowing that there was

530
00:25:36,359 --> 00:25:39,440
Speaker 2: going to be a Russian woman like holding that trophy.

531
00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:42,320
Speaker 2: I want, honestly, I just I wanted it to be me,

532
00:25:42,760 --> 00:25:44,840
Speaker 2: and I was so upset that it was happening to

533
00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:49,520
Speaker 2: somebody else, and I remember speaking about it with hers

534
00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:52,359
Speaker 2: it was a calling named Maria as well, and just

535
00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:55,119
Speaker 2: telling her how this should be us, like we should

536
00:25:55,119 --> 00:25:57,160
Speaker 2: be in the final. Why are the other these two

537
00:25:57,160 --> 00:25:59,520
Speaker 2: girls are in the final. So I already had that

538
00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:02,480
Speaker 2: competitior of spirit in me, and I was training for

539
00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:05,640
Speaker 2: that Wimbledon victory without even knowing it.

540
00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:08,360
Speaker 5: Because one of the things that comes through very clearly

541
00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:12,000
Speaker 5: and sort of learning about you is you are a

542
00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:16,720
Speaker 5: ferocious competitor. I mean you would set your sights on somebody.

543
00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:19,160
Speaker 5: I mean Serena is obviously sort of like the alpha

544
00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:22,080
Speaker 5: example of this. Do you still have that feeling in

545
00:26:22,119 --> 00:26:26,120
Speaker 5: your mind of being so intent on winning?

546
00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:27,320
Speaker 7: Yeah.

547
00:26:27,359 --> 00:26:30,000
Speaker 2: If I competed in the same tournament, no matter if

548
00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:33,400
Speaker 2: it was a woman or a man winning that tournament

549
00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:37,000
Speaker 2: and it wasn't me, like I would inside I would

550
00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:39,679
Speaker 2: feel upset that it wasn't me on the stage, like

551
00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:43,280
Speaker 2: I would envision myself being there, And if it didn't

552
00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:46,280
Speaker 2: happen to be that tournament like I would genuinely be

553
00:26:46,359 --> 00:26:49,160
Speaker 2: upset and eager to get out on the practice court,

554
00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:51,080
Speaker 2: whether it was an hour later or the next morning

555
00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:52,520
Speaker 2: or like it.

556
00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:55,800
Speaker 7: It fueled me absolutely.

557
00:26:56,400 --> 00:26:59,639
Speaker 5: So I want to take you back just for a second,

558
00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:02,959
Speaker 5: because you mentioned Motorola, or you mentioned sort of that

559
00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:06,199
Speaker 5: moment of winning, and that it didn't resonate with you

560
00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:10,040
Speaker 5: as much as a competitor. And yet I have to

561
00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:13,000
Speaker 5: think you look back on that as a business person, yeah,

562
00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:16,600
Speaker 5: and realize that was a massive moment massive.

563
00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:19,440
Speaker 2: I was on Center Court after that that when tried

564
00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:21,120
Speaker 2: to call my mom. She was on a Jet Blue

565
00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:23,240
Speaker 2: flight on her way to New York to actually meet

566
00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:25,560
Speaker 2: me because I had some things to do over that weekend.

567
00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:27,600
Speaker 2: I was late because I happened to be in the final.

568
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:30,919
Speaker 2: She watched me when on the television mid flight, I

569
00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:34,040
Speaker 2: tried to call her so from Center Court using was

570
00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:37,360
Speaker 2: one of those crap phones, can't reach her, And then

571
00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:40,280
Speaker 2: I realized she was on the flight. And then next

572
00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:42,440
Speaker 2: thing you know, a week later, I have a global

573
00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:47,439
Speaker 2: deal with Motorola. And the deal itself wasn't financially heavy.

574
00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:50,080
Speaker 2: It was actually I think it was a few hundred

575
00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:53,320
Speaker 2: grand a year, perhaps more, but it was such a

576
00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:55,680
Speaker 2: great brand alignment. At the time they were coming out

577
00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:57,840
Speaker 2: with their razor phone, right, I was one of the

578
00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:00,199
Speaker 2: first few people that ever seen it. Was on all

579
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:03,600
Speaker 2: the campaigns with it. And it was a smart move

580
00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:06,240
Speaker 2: by by my team and I because it was taking

581
00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:08,560
Speaker 2: you know, it was taking a company that was about

582
00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:11,920
Speaker 2: to do a lot of many campaigns around a product

583
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:14,000
Speaker 2: that I was involved with, and it got me on

584
00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:18,399
Speaker 2: billboards and from Tokyo to Seoul to Paris, and it

585
00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:20,920
Speaker 2: opened up so many more doors than perhaps a deal

586
00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:23,439
Speaker 2: that was worth a few millionaire.

587
00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:25,760
Speaker 6: And were you and your team conscious of that at

588
00:28:25,760 --> 00:28:26,080
Speaker 6: the time?

589
00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:26,720
Speaker 3: Absolutely?

590
00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:29,880
Speaker 5: Okay, So that this had sort of a and this

591
00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:32,000
Speaker 5: is something we've talked about before, you know, sort of

592
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:34,480
Speaker 5: this cultural relevance, right, I mean it was just like

593
00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:36,920
Speaker 5: a zeitgeist type of deal.

594
00:28:37,359 --> 00:28:37,760
Speaker 7: I don't think.

595
00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:40,120
Speaker 2: I mean, you know better than than anyone. You don't

596
00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:43,080
Speaker 2: take deals just for the money. There's you have to

597
00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:45,920
Speaker 2: think of the right positioning in your career. Is it

598
00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:48,200
Speaker 2: about the team, is it about the founder? Is it

599
00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:51,320
Speaker 2: about the product? Is it how are they helping you?

600
00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:54,400
Speaker 2: Know your name and your image where they focused on?

601
00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:57,239
Speaker 2: Is there a market that you're particularly interested in, Like

602
00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:00,160
Speaker 2: I love going to Asia and Japan and China. I

603
00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:02,239
Speaker 2: loved playing there. I loved my fans there. I had

604
00:29:02,240 --> 00:29:04,480
Speaker 2: a huge fan base. So you know, if there was

605
00:29:04,520 --> 00:29:08,120
Speaker 2: a company that was focused on a particular campaign in

606
00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:10,800
Speaker 2: that area. Then you know that would be something that

607
00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:12,160
Speaker 2: I'd be curious about.

608
00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:14,840
Speaker 4: You know, some are just like you see it, you

609
00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:17,600
Speaker 4: hear it, you smell it. You know it's a no brainer.

610
00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:20,080
Speaker 4: And sometimes you know, Warren Buffett talks about he knows

611
00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:22,520
Speaker 4: if he's an investment, a founder, or CEO in the

612
00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:23,320
Speaker 4: first five minutes.

613
00:29:24,440 --> 00:29:25,440
Speaker 1: So motorole isn't.

614
00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:26,880
Speaker 7: Over you do you do that too?

615
00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:27,120
Speaker 1: Well?

616
00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:28,440
Speaker 4: I was going to tell you about this one because

617
00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:29,960
Speaker 4: this guy is Siria or mutual friend.

618
00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:30,800
Speaker 1: Yes, you know.

619
00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:33,160
Speaker 4: One of my biggest misses of all time was Uber

620
00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:35,520
Speaker 4: and I remember I was living in the West Village

621
00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:37,920
Speaker 4: and we had just finished playing The Red Sox and

622
00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:40,320
Speaker 4: we were having dinner at the Waverley. Now it's past

623
00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:43,200
Speaker 4: midnight and we're having a couple of cocktails and he goes,

624
00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:44,960
Speaker 4: I have this investment for you I want you to

625
00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:47,560
Speaker 4: look at and I only have two fifty for you

626
00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:50,240
Speaker 4: to invest in. I said, great, great, So we walked

627
00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:53,160
Speaker 4: down the street and he presses a button and he

628
00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:55,719
Speaker 4: sees the car and the cars coming and I'm like, okay,

629
00:29:55,720 --> 00:29:57,120
Speaker 4: that's a great you're mentalist.

630
00:29:58,320 --> 00:29:58,800
Speaker 1: Do it again.

631
00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:00,680
Speaker 4: He goes, okay, I'll erase it, and he does it again.

632
00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:03,040
Speaker 4: Two minutes a car pulls up. I goes, okay, and

633
00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:06,239
Speaker 4: now I want this investment. And by two fifty I

634
00:30:06,280 --> 00:30:07,560
Speaker 4: needed to wire before noon.

635
00:30:07,560 --> 00:30:08,040
Speaker 1: The next day.

636
00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:10,080
Speaker 4: My business manager was out in the West coast, out

637
00:30:10,080 --> 00:30:12,960
Speaker 4: in La so timing and I missed it.

638
00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:13,959
Speaker 7: Is he fired?

639
00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:18,240
Speaker 1: No, he's still with me. But that's two fifty.

640
00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:19,479
Speaker 3: You're loyal.

641
00:30:19,760 --> 00:30:22,360
Speaker 4: The two fifty Maria would have been close to fifty

642
00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:23,080
Speaker 4: million bucks today.

643
00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:25,239
Speaker 2: Oh my, But do you think of that, like do

644
00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:27,320
Speaker 2: you think that that was a missed opportunity? Like do

645
00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:28,920
Speaker 2: you look back and think that's a regret.

646
00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:32,400
Speaker 1: But my point is, and this is my question.

647
00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:36,920
Speaker 4: Sometimes the team, the business manager, the lawyers, there's a

648
00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:39,920
Speaker 4: lot of handlers that we have sometimes around us, and

649
00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:43,920
Speaker 4: I feel like paralysis by analysis. There's sometimes you just

650
00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:45,560
Speaker 4: got to say kind of screw it.

651
00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:48,040
Speaker 1: A have you had? Missus?

652
00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:51,680
Speaker 4: And two do you sometimes say, you know what, guys, team,

653
00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:53,600
Speaker 4: I appreciated there's a Maria's call, I'm going to go

654
00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:54,040
Speaker 4: for it.

655
00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:57,360
Speaker 2: I see a lot of deal flow, and I see

656
00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:01,200
Speaker 2: many things that could work well and many things that

657
00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:04,440
Speaker 2: are not necessarily go well. And sometimes you take chances

658
00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:08,240
Speaker 2: and you bet on it. But there was one deal. Actually,

659
00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:11,840
Speaker 2: Andy Roddick called me up. Not that I want to

660
00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:14,160
Speaker 2: blame Andy, but he did call me up. He says,

661
00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:17,680
Speaker 2: there is a It was an app failed app right now.

662
00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:20,560
Speaker 2: At the time, it was very similar to what cameo

663
00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:23,760
Speaker 2: ended up doing very well. The user face had two

664
00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:26,320
Speaker 2: different apps, so one for the user and one for

665
00:31:26,400 --> 00:31:29,720
Speaker 2: the hotels that was offering these services. And I said

666
00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:31,840
Speaker 2: to the founder, I said, why can't this just be

667
00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:35,320
Speaker 2: one app for the people that are providing the service

668
00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:37,320
Speaker 2: and for the user, And he said, we just can't

669
00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:41,160
Speaker 2: do that. And I said, well, okay, I still believe

670
00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:43,280
Speaker 2: in you. But I never I just I thought that

671
00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:46,560
Speaker 2: was going to be challenging, and I actually invested quite

672
00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:48,920
Speaker 2: a bit into it and it never took off. That

673
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:50,960
Speaker 2: was my first bit of technology. And this must have

674
00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:53,920
Speaker 2: been over ten years ago. Yeah, there are many of them,

675
00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:56,640
Speaker 2: but you can say that about so many deals, like

676
00:31:56,720 --> 00:31:58,960
Speaker 2: you think so many of them will work, and they're

677
00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:03,120
Speaker 2: so passionate, found there's great backgrounds. You know, they know

678
00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:06,800
Speaker 2: what they're doing. Here's my money. We have so many

679
00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:09,640
Speaker 2: people around us that help guide us and help us,

680
00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:13,400
Speaker 2: and whether it's assistants or managers, whether it's a business

681
00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:17,160
Speaker 2: manager or you know in wme or someone else. But

682
00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:20,320
Speaker 2: at the end of the day, you control everything. And

683
00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:22,920
Speaker 2: that's a big lesson that I've learned, is like, if

684
00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:26,000
Speaker 2: you're passionate about something, if you want to get something done,

685
00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:28,400
Speaker 2: you do it. Don't rely on others. If you need

686
00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:31,080
Speaker 2: to wire two hundred and fifty grand somewhere, you call

687
00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:33,280
Speaker 2: your bank, like and make sure you have your details.

688
00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:34,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, but you have to.

689
00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:37,840
Speaker 2: And that's that's a very important lessons because there are

690
00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:42,600
Speaker 2: so many middle men in the system and things get lost.

691
00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:44,280
Speaker 1: I agree that was a great lesson.

692
00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:50,520
Speaker 5: Yeah, And I mean you have been pretty expressive about

693
00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:54,560
Speaker 5: this idea of trusting your gut, which I would imagine

694
00:32:55,120 --> 00:32:58,680
Speaker 5: must come from your just athletic back. I mean, because

695
00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:02,360
Speaker 5: as much as is you know, baseball does rely on

696
00:33:02,720 --> 00:33:05,920
Speaker 5: obviously individual achievement. Ultimately you're a part of a team.

697
00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:08,400
Speaker 5: You're not a part of it. It is you out there,

698
00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:12,320
Speaker 5: and so you I wonder if that in part comes from, well,

699
00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:14,480
Speaker 5: it's just me out there. Everybody else is sitting in

700
00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:17,280
Speaker 5: the stands. I have to, like, I have to be

701
00:33:17,320 --> 00:33:19,040
Speaker 5: responsible for whatever happens.

702
00:33:18,720 --> 00:33:22,840
Speaker 2: Next Yeah, there's a lot of responsibility on yourself, and

703
00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:25,720
Speaker 2: so much of it is instinctual. And you know, you

704
00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:29,720
Speaker 2: can have all the mechanic coaches and the physios and

705
00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:33,280
Speaker 2: the fitness trainers, but when you're in the tiebreaker in

706
00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:36,240
Speaker 2: the third or fifth set, you're not looking back at stats,

707
00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:39,160
Speaker 2: You're not thinking of the YouTube videos that your coach

708
00:33:39,200 --> 00:33:42,960
Speaker 2: showed you before the match. You're just you're relying on

709
00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:46,760
Speaker 2: your body, on your flow, on your mindset to let

710
00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:49,680
Speaker 2: you get to that match point and win it. So

711
00:33:50,280 --> 00:33:53,760
Speaker 2: even though I didn't have that team environment, I did

712
00:33:53,760 --> 00:33:56,360
Speaker 2: have a team that I relied on till the very

713
00:33:56,400 --> 00:33:59,400
Speaker 2: last second until I walked on the court. And one

714
00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:02,480
Speaker 2: of the things I missed till this day are those

715
00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:04,720
Speaker 2: people you know that helped me win, that helped me

716
00:34:04,760 --> 00:34:06,120
Speaker 2: achieve the best things.

717
00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:09,480
Speaker 4: And yeah, I'm going to talk about you to Jason

718
00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:13,279
Speaker 4: in front of you. So, Jason, I got to tell

719
00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:16,160
Speaker 4: you and our friends at home that we've had a

720
00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:18,160
Speaker 4: couple of calls on businesses that we were looking to

721
00:34:18,160 --> 00:34:21,000
Speaker 4: invest her family office in mind, and we had mutual

722
00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:23,480
Speaker 4: interests and we both passed. But I got to tell

723
00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:28,160
Speaker 4: you when you have such huge stars like Maria a

724
00:34:28,200 --> 00:34:30,799
Speaker 4: lot of times you expect the zoom call, maybe for

725
00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:32,960
Speaker 4: them to come in a little late, or maybe to

726
00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:35,799
Speaker 4: have a couple of handlers or team members. She was

727
00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:37,919
Speaker 4: the first one in the zoom call. She was there

728
00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:41,279
Speaker 4: by herself, she was taking notes, she was asking the

729
00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:42,560
Speaker 4: smartest questions.

730
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:44,280
Speaker 1: I was blown away.

731
00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:47,919
Speaker 3: And you're so blown away. You didn't call me back. Deal?

732
00:34:49,239 --> 00:34:50,320
Speaker 3: Where are those other deals?

733
00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:54,800
Speaker 6: But he owes you multiple deals.

734
00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:57,600
Speaker 3: He was giving me a compliment and I shut him down.

735
00:34:57,680 --> 00:34:58,240
Speaker 6: I'm sorry.

736
00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:02,920
Speaker 4: Yeah, but I think that's where I think when superstars

737
00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:05,880
Speaker 4: in anything they do, when they're able to pivot, the

738
00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:07,960
Speaker 4: one thing to be careful for is because you were

739
00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:11,160
Speaker 4: so successful, things can actually go wrong in business.

740
00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:11,640
Speaker 6: Yeah.

741
00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:14,399
Speaker 4: And I thought she was a perfect balance of optimism,

742
00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:17,719
Speaker 4: but yet you know, some reservation and the question that

743
00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:20,640
Speaker 4: she asked that was incredibly impressed and that made me

744
00:35:20,719 --> 00:35:23,480
Speaker 4: understand a little bit about your greatness over a thirty

745
00:35:23,520 --> 00:35:24,200
Speaker 4: minute zoom call.

746
00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:25,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you.

747
00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:28,720
Speaker 2: I'm a products person, like I love like if someone

748
00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:32,239
Speaker 2: says invest in this, like there's no reason this is

749
00:35:32,280 --> 00:35:34,680
Speaker 2: going to fail, I'd be like, send me the product,

750
00:35:34,760 --> 00:35:37,880
Speaker 2: here's the address, and don't contact me for four weeks.

751
00:35:38,120 --> 00:35:39,799
Speaker 2: I want to live with it. I want to breathe it.

752
00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:41,160
Speaker 2: I want to try it, I want.

753
00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:41,680
Speaker 3: To wear it.

754
00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:44,359
Speaker 2: Whatever it is like, I want it, and I want

755
00:35:44,360 --> 00:35:46,239
Speaker 2: to give it to my friends, and I want them

756
00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:47,680
Speaker 2: to give me their feedback. I want to give it

757
00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:51,120
Speaker 2: to my family who have different tastes, different you know,

758
00:35:51,440 --> 00:35:55,319
Speaker 2: appreciations and aesthetics. And until they tell me that they

759
00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:57,239
Speaker 2: like it and they're into it, I won't have an

760
00:35:57,239 --> 00:35:57,920
Speaker 2: ex call with you.

761
00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:01,480
Speaker 5: One of the things you guys haven't is during your

762
00:36:01,480 --> 00:36:04,399
Speaker 5: playing days, you're thinking about your business. You're thinking about

763
00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:08,120
Speaker 5: your brand increasingly, especially as you go along, and yet

764
00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:12,080
Speaker 5: at some moment, you're not on the baseball field, you're

765
00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:14,480
Speaker 5: not on the tennis court anymore. No, what is that

766
00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:17,600
Speaker 5: moment like when like, what's the first day, like when

767
00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:20,880
Speaker 5: you wake up after retiring and you sort of have

768
00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:25,200
Speaker 5: to look at your next life at you know, age

769
00:36:25,239 --> 00:36:26,879
Speaker 5: of thirty, what.

770
00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:28,600
Speaker 7: Two something like that.

771
00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:31,720
Speaker 2: I yeah, I remember that day clearly. I went skiing

772
00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:34,440
Speaker 2: and it was pretty bad at it. I thought it'd

773
00:36:34,480 --> 00:36:37,560
Speaker 2: have more coordination than I did, and then I thought

774
00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:39,480
Speaker 2: it'd get better at it. And then we're all stuck

775
00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:42,560
Speaker 2: stuck at home during COVID and you know living a

776
00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:46,640
Speaker 2: very different life for several months. But look, in all honesty,

777
00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:51,360
Speaker 2: it's a big decision when you decide for yourself, for

778
00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:54,640
Speaker 2: your team, for your family, that this is the end.

779
00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:58,080
Speaker 3: And I was ready. My body was ready.

780
00:36:58,120 --> 00:37:02,000
Speaker 2: It was challenged for several years, and ultimately I let

781
00:37:02,280 --> 00:37:04,239
Speaker 2: a little bit of stubbornness get in the way of

782
00:37:04,280 --> 00:37:07,120
Speaker 2: those last few years. I tried so hard to get

783
00:37:07,120 --> 00:37:09,480
Speaker 2: my body back, but you can't turn back time, right

784
00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:13,240
Speaker 2: Like when something's damaged and something's broken, you have to

785
00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:17,520
Speaker 2: like admit it move on. And stubbornness that once propelled

786
00:37:17,560 --> 00:37:21,200
Speaker 2: me to greatness eventually I think was getting in the

787
00:37:21,239 --> 00:37:22,840
Speaker 2: way of better things.

788
00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:23,720
Speaker 3: So I was ready.

789
00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:25,920
Speaker 2: To say that I was ready for the next chapter

790
00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:28,320
Speaker 2: is an understatement. I was ready to have a family.

791
00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:30,799
Speaker 2: I was ready to be a mom. I was in

792
00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:34,240
Speaker 2: a good place mentally. I had a good outlook on life.

793
00:37:34,520 --> 00:37:37,000
Speaker 2: But it's not like you just turn the switch and

794
00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:39,879
Speaker 2: move on like everything that you've built. The great thing

795
00:37:39,920 --> 00:37:42,160
Speaker 2: about moving to the next chapter is that you've built

796
00:37:42,160 --> 00:37:45,680
Speaker 2: a foundation. Now maybe it's a completely different world. And

797
00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:48,479
Speaker 2: I know, you know we say sport and business. Yes

798
00:37:48,520 --> 00:37:51,120
Speaker 2: there's a lot of alignment, but there are many differences,

799
00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:54,080
Speaker 2: and I couldn't forget the fact that over so many

800
00:37:54,160 --> 00:37:58,480
Speaker 2: years I built a phenomenal foundation of strength, of resiliency,

801
00:37:58,960 --> 00:38:02,960
Speaker 2: a focus of termination, and all these apply to business.

802
00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:06,280
Speaker 2: So today, you know, I sit here in this chair,

803
00:38:06,320 --> 00:38:10,000
Speaker 2: and yes I'm an investor, I'm on several boards. But

804
00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:12,279
Speaker 2: I also can't take away from the fact that it

805
00:38:12,320 --> 00:38:16,440
Speaker 2: took me more than twelve years to become great at

806
00:38:16,480 --> 00:38:19,680
Speaker 2: one thing, and it takes time to build, you know,

807
00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:23,440
Speaker 2: strength in another arena. So while I do have the foundation,

808
00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:27,160
Speaker 2: I'm still growing. I'm still learning, you know, I still

809
00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:28,879
Speaker 2: want to be better. On my way here, I talked

810
00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:31,920
Speaker 2: to my mom and she said, you know, the educator,

811
00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:33,560
Speaker 2: and her I told her this morning I was going

812
00:38:33,600 --> 00:38:35,640
Speaker 2: on a podcast. She didn't ask too many questions, but

813
00:38:35,719 --> 00:38:37,360
Speaker 2: she called me back as I was in the car,

814
00:38:37,880 --> 00:38:39,719
Speaker 2: and she said, you know, I just want to make

815
00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:42,080
Speaker 2: sure that you're not just talking about your career, that

816
00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:44,200
Speaker 2: you have like other things to offer and other things

817
00:38:44,239 --> 00:38:45,759
Speaker 2: to say, like are you reading enough?

818
00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:48,799
Speaker 3: She actually asked me, are you reading enough? On my

819
00:38:48,840 --> 00:38:49,399
Speaker 3: way here?

820
00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:52,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that I would have other things, you know,

821
00:38:52,360 --> 00:38:54,480
Speaker 2: to say beyond just support. I was like, Mom, yes,

822
00:38:54,719 --> 00:38:57,160
Speaker 2: I'm actually listening to the all in podcasts while I'm

823
00:38:57,200 --> 00:39:00,520
Speaker 2: on my way here, like I'm still Garias.

824
00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:03,640
Speaker 1: Don't worry so thinking about that.

825
00:39:03,680 --> 00:39:05,719
Speaker 4: There's going to be viewers that have watched this that

826
00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:08,959
Speaker 4: are founders that have a business that their dream would

827
00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:11,880
Speaker 4: be for Maria to invest in their business. Can you

828
00:39:11,920 --> 00:39:14,080
Speaker 4: tell us a little bit about how you think about

829
00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:17,720
Speaker 4: businesses which sectors kind of broadly check sizes.

830
00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:20,360
Speaker 1: How do you think about being a value added investor?

831
00:39:20,480 --> 00:39:20,760
Speaker 7: Yeah?

832
00:39:21,360 --> 00:39:23,960
Speaker 2: One of my first investments, actually the first investment was

833
00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:27,279
Speaker 2: into a sunscreen brand called Supergoup. I was a user

834
00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:30,440
Speaker 2: myself founded a Sephora market. I think that was their

835
00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:33,239
Speaker 2: only distribution at the time. This was twelve years ago.

836
00:39:33,680 --> 00:39:36,160
Speaker 2: I knocked on the on the door of the founder

837
00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:38,439
Speaker 2: and I said, I love your product. It's the only

838
00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:40,799
Speaker 2: one I can wear while I play. Doesn't run in

839
00:39:40,840 --> 00:39:42,799
Speaker 2: my eyes, it doesn't burn my eyes or sting them.

840
00:39:43,239 --> 00:39:44,440
Speaker 7: Can I please help you out.

841
00:39:44,480 --> 00:39:46,200
Speaker 2: I don't know what stage you're at, I don't know

842
00:39:46,239 --> 00:39:48,279
Speaker 2: how young or old you are, but I love what

843
00:39:48,320 --> 00:39:51,240
Speaker 2: you're doing and from what I've read, I love your mission.

844
00:39:51,880 --> 00:39:53,399
Speaker 7: And that was it.

845
00:39:53,560 --> 00:39:56,120
Speaker 2: And two years ago they sold seventy five percent of

846
00:39:56,160 --> 00:39:59,000
Speaker 2: their steak for close to a billion dollars. So it

847
00:39:59,040 --> 00:40:01,279
Speaker 2: was my first It was the first time where I

848
00:40:01,320 --> 00:40:03,960
Speaker 2: didn't take that paycheck at the beginning, and I said,

849
00:40:04,480 --> 00:40:07,840
Speaker 2: let me invest, let me give you my time, my platform,

850
00:40:07,960 --> 00:40:11,760
Speaker 2: my voice, and help share this message about preventing skin cancer.

851
00:40:12,400 --> 00:40:14,759
Speaker 2: And that was a successful example, and there's been you know,

852
00:40:15,120 --> 00:40:18,160
Speaker 2: several others not so. But the point is is that

853
00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:22,560
Speaker 2: it came from loving the product. It came from the

854
00:40:22,600 --> 00:40:26,439
Speaker 2: mission that the founder had that I resonated with, and

855
00:40:26,480 --> 00:40:28,440
Speaker 2: the fact that I could help it, Like I was

856
00:40:28,520 --> 00:40:31,880
Speaker 2: realistic that I had the right platform and that I

857
00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:34,840
Speaker 2: had the right usership in order to help them grow.

858
00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:37,520
Speaker 2: So I think all that was it was a good

859
00:40:37,520 --> 00:40:41,279
Speaker 2: foundation in my investment story. And not to say that

860
00:40:41,360 --> 00:40:43,759
Speaker 2: there's something that I may not be familiar with or

861
00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:46,040
Speaker 2: that I'm taking a chance on. I still should take

862
00:40:46,080 --> 00:40:48,520
Speaker 2: the call, I still should spend time with the founders,

863
00:40:48,560 --> 00:40:51,359
Speaker 2: but ultimately I want to have a good feel of

864
00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:53,520
Speaker 2: what this is right. I want to spend time. I

865
00:40:53,520 --> 00:40:55,960
Speaker 2: want to have dinner with these people, right, and I

866
00:40:56,000 --> 00:40:57,920
Speaker 2: want to win with people that know how to lose.

867
00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:01,520
Speaker 2: Like if you're I, can you know, sip champagne or

868
00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:05,520
Speaker 2: you know, buy the glass, whatever it is. When you're winning,

869
00:41:05,960 --> 00:41:08,439
Speaker 2: like I know what that feelings like. But when things

870
00:41:08,480 --> 00:41:10,719
Speaker 2: are not going well, when you're losing, when you have

871
00:41:10,760 --> 00:41:13,239
Speaker 2: a losing streak, can be a year, can be a

872
00:41:13,239 --> 00:41:16,279
Speaker 2: few years. And who are those people that are in

873
00:41:16,280 --> 00:41:20,280
Speaker 2: that process right, what's their mentality? How are they helping

874
00:41:20,560 --> 00:41:23,319
Speaker 2: bring back you know, the fire and the team and

875
00:41:23,360 --> 00:41:26,400
Speaker 2: the product and the branding. So I want to believe

876
00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:28,640
Speaker 2: in people that know that know how to lose and

877
00:41:28,680 --> 00:41:31,000
Speaker 2: how that will come up and find ways to win.

878
00:41:31,520 --> 00:41:33,600
Speaker 5: I mean one of the things that I feel like

879
00:41:33,680 --> 00:41:37,359
Speaker 5: you're spending more and more time thinking about too, is

880
00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:40,799
Speaker 5: this notion of and certainly this is something that will

881
00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:43,640
Speaker 5: resonate with you, Alex, this notion of high performance, this

882
00:41:43,760 --> 00:41:47,920
Speaker 5: notion of like working under pressure. I mean I'm sitting

883
00:41:47,960 --> 00:41:51,680
Speaker 5: in between two people who who loves pressure, who love pressure,

884
00:41:51,719 --> 00:41:56,080
Speaker 5: I mean, who like you know, like beyond thrive on it.

885
00:41:56,520 --> 00:41:59,440
Speaker 5: How do you translate that, though, into a life that

886
00:41:59,560 --> 00:42:03,200
Speaker 5: doesn't have such clear winning and losing on a like

887
00:42:03,360 --> 00:42:04,440
Speaker 5: minute to minute basis.

888
00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:09,040
Speaker 2: Well, it's it's acceptance that it's not always going to

889
00:42:09,120 --> 00:42:11,960
Speaker 2: go well, no matter you might have the best intentions,

890
00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:15,400
Speaker 2: you might have the strongest preparation, the strongest mindset, the

891
00:42:15,440 --> 00:42:18,400
Speaker 2: best team. I always say, you have to be realistic.

892
00:42:18,719 --> 00:42:22,560
Speaker 2: You can be confident, you can be underplaying your results,

893
00:42:22,600 --> 00:42:24,960
Speaker 2: but you still have to go out and show up.

894
00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:28,160
Speaker 2: And sometimes it's things are out of your control. People

895
00:42:28,239 --> 00:42:31,359
Speaker 2: say certain things. You don't like it, Go home, do

896
00:42:31,440 --> 00:42:34,799
Speaker 2: your job, keep working. You'll get the results. So acceptance

897
00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:37,600
Speaker 2: is one of them. Work Ethic, I mean work ethic

898
00:42:37,640 --> 00:42:41,000
Speaker 2: from a young age, understanding that nothing comes easy. You know,

899
00:42:41,280 --> 00:42:44,480
Speaker 2: we both come from humble backgrounds, and when you know

900
00:42:44,560 --> 00:42:47,800
Speaker 2: what that feels like. I mean, I'm not a big spender.

901
00:42:47,880 --> 00:42:50,080
Speaker 2: I take like I know what's in my bank. As

902
00:42:50,080 --> 00:42:53,600
Speaker 2: star athletes, we go through these like moments of you know,

903
00:42:53,760 --> 00:42:57,320
Speaker 2: fame and spending and you kind of lose track of

904
00:42:57,600 --> 00:43:01,320
Speaker 2: what you have. I thankfully go in that direction. I

905
00:43:01,520 --> 00:43:03,560
Speaker 2: was very you know, I had a purpose and how

906
00:43:03,600 --> 00:43:06,880
Speaker 2: I spent what I spent Like I counted like little

907
00:43:06,920 --> 00:43:09,560
Speaker 2: coins when I was young, and I would still count

908
00:43:09,600 --> 00:43:13,680
Speaker 2: them if now we have to do those cyber coins.

909
00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:16,759
Speaker 5: Turning it on you, I mean this whole notion of

910
00:43:16,840 --> 00:43:20,359
Speaker 5: like pressure to business, I don't I mean you, how

911
00:43:20,360 --> 00:43:23,600
Speaker 5: do you get that same you know, it's funny that's

912
00:43:23,600 --> 00:43:24,240
Speaker 5: the same charge.

913
00:43:24,320 --> 00:43:25,080
Speaker 1: I think athletes.

914
00:43:25,160 --> 00:43:27,600
Speaker 4: Marie and I and our colleagues get a bad rap

915
00:43:27,640 --> 00:43:31,080
Speaker 4: about being bad business people. But I actually think that

916
00:43:31,160 --> 00:43:33,719
Speaker 4: we have the greatest preparation to be really good at

917
00:43:33,719 --> 00:43:36,520
Speaker 4: business if we can check our ego, if we can

918
00:43:36,520 --> 00:43:40,160
Speaker 4: surround ourselves with better people than us that have complementary

919
00:43:40,200 --> 00:43:44,640
Speaker 4: set of skills, that have an aligned vision. But the

920
00:43:44,680 --> 00:43:47,080
Speaker 4: work ethic, the passion, not punching a clock from nine

921
00:43:47,120 --> 00:43:49,279
Speaker 4: to five. We're just going to do it to the

922
00:43:49,360 --> 00:43:51,560
Speaker 4: job is done, even if we have to work around

923
00:43:51,600 --> 00:43:55,200
Speaker 4: the clock. That is something that I always underscore because

924
00:43:55,760 --> 00:43:58,600
Speaker 4: most people really are and it's okay, they're not willing

925
00:43:58,600 --> 00:44:01,880
Speaker 4: to pay that price. So we have a tremendous track record.

926
00:44:02,239 --> 00:44:05,960
Speaker 4: We're persistent, We're resilient. And here's the biggest thing I

927
00:44:05,960 --> 00:44:09,200
Speaker 4: think in business is we understand how to deal with turbulence. Yeah,

928
00:44:09,280 --> 00:44:14,279
Speaker 4: in public noise, and that I think Jason is one

929
00:44:14,280 --> 00:44:17,080
Speaker 4: thing that a lot of people can give great advice,

930
00:44:17,880 --> 00:44:19,759
Speaker 4: but when there's a bad article about them, I mean

931
00:44:19,760 --> 00:44:21,640
Speaker 4: they literally melt in the kitchen.

932
00:44:21,760 --> 00:44:27,080
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, I mean there are some significant stats about Fortune.

933
00:44:27,080 --> 00:44:31,399
Speaker 2: Five hundred female CEOs, eighty percent of them have had

934
00:44:32,200 --> 00:44:36,160
Speaker 2: high intensity, sport background, whether it's in college, high school,

935
00:44:36,520 --> 00:44:40,520
Speaker 2: league level, why is that because of the amazing lessons

936
00:44:40,520 --> 00:44:44,880
Speaker 2: that you learn along the way, right, the resiliency, What

937
00:44:44,920 --> 00:44:46,040
Speaker 2: do you do under pressure?

938
00:44:46,400 --> 00:44:48,279
Speaker 7: How do you cope with it? How do you take

939
00:44:48,320 --> 00:44:49,120
Speaker 7: care of your body?

940
00:44:49,719 --> 00:44:51,400
Speaker 2: I mean like when you have a big event, Like

941
00:44:51,440 --> 00:44:54,080
Speaker 2: it's easy for me now to say, oh, I can

942
00:44:54,080 --> 00:44:56,600
Speaker 2: go and have dinner and have a big curry, But actually,

943
00:44:56,600 --> 00:44:59,360
Speaker 2: if I really want to be prepared and for my

944
00:44:59,440 --> 00:45:01,759
Speaker 2: mind to be fresh, I'm going to have a lean

945
00:45:01,840 --> 00:45:03,799
Speaker 2: dinner because I want to wake up and I want

946
00:45:03,840 --> 00:45:06,160
Speaker 2: my mind to be ready to go. So strong body,

947
00:45:06,280 --> 00:45:09,880
Speaker 2: strong mind. And those are so many of the lessons

948
00:45:09,880 --> 00:45:11,480
Speaker 2: that you learn as an athlete.

949
00:45:11,920 --> 00:45:14,760
Speaker 4: I want to ask one question because I'm sincerely intrigued

950
00:45:15,040 --> 00:45:18,239
Speaker 4: by your answer here. You know, you talked about, you know,

951
00:45:18,280 --> 00:45:21,000
Speaker 4: coming with your father, mom had to stay back checking

952
00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:23,560
Speaker 4: in IMG in the middle of the night motel, and

953
00:45:23,600 --> 00:45:27,640
Speaker 4: then Wimbledon happens at seventeen, and your world starts changing

954
00:45:27,680 --> 00:45:32,240
Speaker 4: from a global place. Now you're in your mid thirties, right,

955
00:45:32,560 --> 00:45:36,160
Speaker 4: and you have a little one at home. What is

956
00:45:36,160 --> 00:45:39,800
Speaker 4: your north star when you're forty five fifty? Your next

957
00:45:39,920 --> 00:45:41,799
Speaker 4: this this business career is going to be much longer

958
00:45:41,800 --> 00:45:44,960
Speaker 4: than your playing career. You know, God Willing, What does

959
00:45:44,960 --> 00:45:47,360
Speaker 4: a Wimbledon north star look like for you?

960
00:45:47,400 --> 00:45:48,239
Speaker 1: In business?

961
00:45:48,360 --> 00:45:51,319
Speaker 2: Yeah, well I don't look so far ahead. I don't

962
00:45:51,320 --> 00:45:53,920
Speaker 2: look at forty five. I don't look at fifty. The

963
00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:56,759
Speaker 2: biggest difference and the biggest shift in my life is

964
00:45:56,800 --> 00:45:57,800
Speaker 2: when you have a child.

965
00:45:58,440 --> 00:45:59,720
Speaker 7: The free time changes.

966
00:46:00,000 --> 00:46:02,560
Speaker 2: Even when I was at the top of my sporting career,

967
00:46:03,280 --> 00:46:06,880
Speaker 2: I had free time to recover, right to rest my body,

968
00:46:06,920 --> 00:46:09,600
Speaker 2: to be curious about other things. Now as a mother,

969
00:46:09,680 --> 00:46:11,600
Speaker 2: if I can be honest when even if you do

970
00:46:11,680 --> 00:46:13,600
Speaker 2: have free time, or you're not in the same city,

971
00:46:13,600 --> 00:46:15,600
Speaker 2: you're on a trip, you know, a working trip, vacation,

972
00:46:15,719 --> 00:46:18,040
Speaker 2: whatever it is, your child is not there. You're thinking

973
00:46:18,080 --> 00:46:21,399
Speaker 2: of your child. You're doing everything you can. So that

974
00:46:21,640 --> 00:46:25,480
Speaker 2: juggle has definitely been an adjustment for me. Business wise,

975
00:46:25,520 --> 00:46:29,319
Speaker 2: There's a platform that I'm working on and developing that

976
00:46:29,360 --> 00:46:31,640
Speaker 2: will take time. But as I said, I'm not in

977
00:46:31,680 --> 00:46:36,040
Speaker 2: a rush, and I recognize. I realize that everything that

978
00:46:36,080 --> 00:46:39,560
Speaker 2: I've built for my tennis career was built upon years

979
00:46:39,560 --> 00:46:43,360
Speaker 2: and years of work and ups and downs, and it

980
00:46:43,400 --> 00:46:46,120
Speaker 2: will in my business career. But I'm curious. I'm not

981
00:46:46,239 --> 00:46:48,759
Speaker 2: afraid to take chances. I'm not afraid to take on

982
00:46:48,960 --> 00:46:52,400
Speaker 2: roles that might be intimidating. I mean, I'm on the

983
00:46:52,400 --> 00:46:54,400
Speaker 2: board of Montclair and I sit, you know, in an

984
00:46:54,440 --> 00:46:57,600
Speaker 2: Italian conference room with a translator in my ear because

985
00:46:57,600 --> 00:47:01,319
Speaker 2: it's an officially public trading Italian company, so it has

986
00:47:01,320 --> 00:47:03,560
Speaker 2: to be done in Italian. It's intimidating. I mean, some

987
00:47:03,600 --> 00:47:06,160
Speaker 2: of the figures, the numbers of decisions that you are

988
00:47:06,239 --> 00:47:10,040
Speaker 2: responsible for in that room are you know, are high stakes,

989
00:47:10,080 --> 00:47:12,719
Speaker 2: and so I feel like I have a responsibility to

990
00:47:12,840 --> 00:47:14,759
Speaker 2: know what the hell's going on in that room. And

991
00:47:14,800 --> 00:47:17,799
Speaker 2: so by doing that, by putting myself in that situation,

992
00:47:18,080 --> 00:47:20,759
Speaker 2: you know, it gives me. I'm a little scared. It's new,

993
00:47:21,040 --> 00:47:22,960
Speaker 2: but I have to prepare for it, and I love

994
00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:23,399
Speaker 2: that work.

995
00:47:23,840 --> 00:47:26,120
Speaker 4: I've heard you talk about strategy and vision, and I

996
00:47:26,120 --> 00:47:28,640
Speaker 4: think we share that in as athletes. We do always

997
00:47:28,680 --> 00:47:31,080
Speaker 4: have to have a strategy and a vision. When I

998
00:47:31,120 --> 00:47:35,480
Speaker 4: thought about life after baseball, one of my north stars

999
00:47:35,520 --> 00:47:38,120
Speaker 4: that I would be embarrassed to tell people because you're

1000
00:47:38,160 --> 00:47:40,000
Speaker 4: probably not going to get their way. Your north stars

1001
00:47:40,000 --> 00:47:42,280
Speaker 4: something it is hard to share. It was team ownership,

1002
00:47:42,560 --> 00:47:46,319
Speaker 4: right and I'm having so much fun with the Timberwolves,

1003
00:47:46,320 --> 00:47:48,440
Speaker 4: and now my North starts to bring a world championship

1004
00:47:48,640 --> 00:47:52,799
Speaker 4: with my partner Mark Glory to Minnesota. Any ambitions, and

1005
00:47:52,840 --> 00:47:54,880
Speaker 4: I see more women now which are so exciting or

1006
00:47:54,880 --> 00:48:00,440
Speaker 4: getting involved in team ownership, WNBA, NBA football ideas in

1007
00:48:00,440 --> 00:48:01,840
Speaker 4: the future that you would like to be involved.

1008
00:48:02,000 --> 00:48:05,200
Speaker 2: It's a hot topic, and if I can be completely honest,

1009
00:48:05,239 --> 00:48:08,839
Speaker 2: I'm not someone that is oriented. My business decisions aren't

1010
00:48:08,880 --> 00:48:12,480
Speaker 2: oriented on what's hot and what's trendy. There's a lot

1011
00:48:12,520 --> 00:48:14,960
Speaker 2: of talk about being, you know, a co owner of

1012
00:48:15,160 --> 00:48:19,480
Speaker 2: a league. I mean, whether it's pickleball or padel or

1013
00:48:19,600 --> 00:48:22,319
Speaker 2: you know, a female soccer team. I do come from

1014
00:48:22,400 --> 00:48:25,920
Speaker 2: individual sport background, and so I do believe in the

1015
00:48:25,960 --> 00:48:30,040
Speaker 2: power of an individual and raising and bringing the stories

1016
00:48:30,040 --> 00:48:33,960
Speaker 2: out of these impactful individuals. I've loved the conversations around

1017
00:48:34,160 --> 00:48:37,000
Speaker 2: powerful females, but I do still think they've been in

1018
00:48:37,000 --> 00:48:41,640
Speaker 2: the context of leagues and media rights and not necessarily

1019
00:48:42,080 --> 00:48:45,520
Speaker 2: what these athletes are about. So I see my my

1020
00:48:45,640 --> 00:48:48,600
Speaker 2: involvement more in the individuals as opposed to the leagues.

1021
00:48:48,760 --> 00:48:51,640
Speaker 5: Right now, Yeah, I would be remiss if I didn't

1022
00:48:51,640 --> 00:48:53,640
Speaker 5: talk to you, or if we didn't ask you about tennis,

1023
00:48:54,000 --> 00:48:56,640
Speaker 5: and I have to say, it was so cool to

1024
00:48:56,680 --> 00:48:59,560
Speaker 5: see a different side of you in Breakpoint, you know,

1025
00:48:59,640 --> 00:49:02,799
Speaker 5: as to a luminary of the sport.

1026
00:49:02,560 --> 00:49:05,000
Speaker 2: Coming in a few blink you'd miss me. I must

1027
00:49:05,000 --> 00:49:06,279
Speaker 2: have not blinked during that show.

1028
00:49:06,280 --> 00:49:06,840
Speaker 3: I don't think so.

1029
00:49:06,920 --> 00:49:10,040
Speaker 5: I feel like you popped up it like very opportune times.

1030
00:49:10,520 --> 00:49:11,759
Speaker 5: But I did, you know.

1031
00:49:11,880 --> 00:49:13,600
Speaker 6: In part because you know, we did get a taste

1032
00:49:13,600 --> 00:49:14,000
Speaker 6: of it there.

1033
00:49:14,080 --> 00:49:16,000
Speaker 5: I mean, I did want to ask you. I mean,

1034
00:49:16,080 --> 00:49:18,880
Speaker 5: tennis as a business is at this fascinating moment. It

1035
00:49:18,920 --> 00:49:21,680
Speaker 5: feels like in terms of I mean you've been a

1036
00:49:21,719 --> 00:49:25,000
Speaker 5: part of and you've witnessed generations of tennis players. We

1037
00:49:25,040 --> 00:49:27,560
Speaker 5: are at a generational shift on both the women's and

1038
00:49:27,600 --> 00:49:31,080
Speaker 5: the men's side. You know, there's new investors coming into

1039
00:49:31,120 --> 00:49:36,000
Speaker 5: the WTA. There's talk of WTA and ATP merging as

1040
00:49:36,040 --> 00:49:39,480
Speaker 5: a business person who has more than a passing interest

1041
00:49:39,920 --> 00:49:41,040
Speaker 5: in the game of tennis.

1042
00:49:41,040 --> 00:49:42,239
Speaker 6: Like, what do you see happening there?

1043
00:49:42,640 --> 00:49:46,560
Speaker 2: Uh, the schedule and the system is still slightly broken.

1044
00:49:47,040 --> 00:49:49,600
Speaker 2: There's so much going on. This season is ten months

1045
00:49:49,600 --> 00:49:53,440
Speaker 2: out of the year. There's several different federations involved. They

1046
00:49:53,440 --> 00:49:55,319
Speaker 2: are the Grand slams that are not connected to the

1047
00:49:55,320 --> 00:49:58,439
Speaker 2: rest of the tour. There's inequality. I mean, we could

1048
00:49:58,520 --> 00:50:01,120
Speaker 2: spend a whole another hour on the state of where

1049
00:50:01,160 --> 00:50:03,799
Speaker 2: the game is. But the bottom line is that the

1050
00:50:03,880 --> 00:50:07,560
Speaker 2: actual faces and the names and the characters and the

1051
00:50:07,600 --> 00:50:10,839
Speaker 2: athletes that are coming out from this new generation are

1052
00:50:10,920 --> 00:50:13,399
Speaker 2: spectacular and they're going to lead the sport. And that's

1053
00:50:13,880 --> 00:50:16,400
Speaker 2: that's what excites me. And to break Point, it was

1054
00:50:16,440 --> 00:50:19,799
Speaker 2: actually the first tennis interview that I had done since retirement,

1055
00:50:19,880 --> 00:50:22,880
Speaker 2: and so it felt, you know, tennis was something I

1056
00:50:22,920 --> 00:50:25,040
Speaker 2: will always know and I knew for so many years,

1057
00:50:25,040 --> 00:50:26,600
Speaker 2: but it was nice to have a little bit of

1058
00:50:26,640 --> 00:50:29,480
Speaker 2: a healthy distance from it. And so when I went

1059
00:50:29,520 --> 00:50:33,719
Speaker 2: into this recording for Breakpoint, it like it opened up

1060
00:50:33,800 --> 00:50:36,400
Speaker 2: so many you know, cans from my past and my

1061
00:50:36,560 --> 00:50:40,080
Speaker 2: present and reflection where I felt like I could commentate

1062
00:50:40,160 --> 00:50:43,040
Speaker 2: on it, but it wasn't like involved, and it felt

1063
00:50:43,040 --> 00:50:45,440
Speaker 2: so good not to be part of any of anything

1064
00:50:45,520 --> 00:50:48,000
Speaker 2: of what was going on, Yeah, and to share my vision,

1065
00:50:48,000 --> 00:50:50,880
Speaker 2: and I think that's what was reflected and what you saw.

1066
00:50:51,120 --> 00:50:51,319
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1067
00:50:51,520 --> 00:50:53,719
Speaker 2: I still don't think it was as great of an

1068
00:50:54,040 --> 00:50:57,280
Speaker 2: impact to what they did with Formula one, but tennis

1069
00:50:57,360 --> 00:51:00,000
Speaker 2: is a tricky sport to unbox. There's so many layers.

1070
00:51:00,080 --> 00:51:02,759
Speaker 2: And that's what I mean by you know, the schedule,

1071
00:51:02,960 --> 00:51:07,080
Speaker 2: the equipment. All of these things are tricky. Their players

1072
00:51:07,120 --> 00:51:08,840
Speaker 2: are hurt for a lot of the season.

1073
00:51:09,400 --> 00:51:09,719
Speaker 7: You're not.

1074
00:51:09,760 --> 00:51:11,920
Speaker 2: You're one of the biggest events, but not all the

1075
00:51:11,960 --> 00:51:15,000
Speaker 2: top talents playing. Like, what are the reasons? So I

1076
00:51:15,120 --> 00:51:18,320
Speaker 2: like to get in before I look at who's investing

1077
00:51:18,320 --> 00:51:18,560
Speaker 2: in what?

1078
00:51:18,960 --> 00:51:22,839
Speaker 6: Yeah? All right? Last question? Do you have anything? All right?

1079
00:51:23,480 --> 00:51:25,799
Speaker 6: Do you have anything else you need to tell us? God,

1080
00:51:25,840 --> 00:51:26,960
Speaker 6: you have any questions for him?

1081
00:51:29,440 --> 00:51:31,680
Speaker 3: I mean asked me to introduce myself. I was like,

1082
00:51:32,000 --> 00:51:35,520
Speaker 3: I was not going to go down. Well, I wasn't prepared.

1083
00:51:35,200 --> 00:51:36,439
Speaker 6: For what's your question for him?

1084
00:51:37,200 --> 00:51:38,839
Speaker 3: What are you going to call me on your next deal?

1085
00:51:39,160 --> 00:51:42,160
Speaker 1: I'm going to call you. I'm gonna definitely what's the.

1086
00:51:42,280 --> 00:51:44,280
Speaker 3: D see I want to see the roll of ducks.

1087
00:51:44,560 --> 00:51:46,560
Speaker 6: Yeah, I want to see what deal you guys would

1088
00:51:46,600 --> 00:51:47,000
Speaker 6: do together.

1089
00:51:47,239 --> 00:51:51,400
Speaker 4: I'm true the platform building. Yeah, I want to be

1090
00:51:51,440 --> 00:51:51,839
Speaker 4: part of that.

1091
00:51:51,880 --> 00:51:54,839
Speaker 6: Okay, wow, real deals happening right now. You're on the deal.

1092
00:51:55,000 --> 00:51:56,040
Speaker 1: We'll come back and announce something.

1093
00:51:56,400 --> 00:51:57,160
Speaker 6: Yeah, exactly.

1094
00:51:57,280 --> 00:51:59,479
Speaker 2: Just make sure your business manager wires the check.

1095
00:52:00,280 --> 00:52:02,040
Speaker 5: That's a good point, I wire my own checks now

1096
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Speaker 5: yeah yeah yeah lesson learned, Yeah yeah exactly, Maria, thank you,

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Speaker 5: Thank you a lot of fun.

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Speaker 8: The Deals of production from Bloomberg Podcasts and Bloomberg Originals.

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Speaker 8: The Deals hosted by Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly. Our

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Speaker 8: producers are Victor Veees and Lizzie Phillip. Our story editor

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Speaker 8: is Sirdartha Mahonta. Our assistant producer is Stacey Wong. Blake

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Speaker 8: Maples is our sound engineer. Rubob Shakir is our creative director.

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Speaker 8: Our direction is from Jacqueline Kessler. Original music by Blake Maples,

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Speaker 8: casting by Dave Warren. Our editorial supervisor is David E.

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Speaker 3: Rabella.

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Speaker 8: Our executive producers are Sage Bauman, Jason Kelly, Adam Kamiski,

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Speaker 8: Kelly la Ferrier, Ashley Hoenig, Trey Shallowhorn, Kyle Kramer, and

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Speaker 8: Andrew Bardon. Additional support from Rachel Scarmazino, Elena saus Angelis,

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Speaker 8: Vanessa Perdomo and Anna Maserakis. Nestor Slia is our director

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Speaker 8: of photography. Our camera operators are Danny Celia and Jordan Keslo.

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Speaker 8: Katia Vanoy is our video editor. Our assistant camera is

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Speaker 8: Stephen Neil and Eric Sanchez is our gaffer. You can

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Speaker 8: also watch the Deal on Bloomberger Originals YouTube and Bloomberg Television.

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Speaker 8: Subscribe to the Deal wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks

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Speaker 8: for listening.