Speaker 1: You're listening to Comedy Central.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Michael Costa, Daily Show correspondent, an intrepid journalist.
Speaker 1: But this story is not about me. It's about him.
Speaker 1: Michael Costa, former professional tennis player once ranked eight one
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty four in the world, because right now
Speaker 1: there's a serious threat to tennis enthusiasts like him slash me.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about pickleball and it needs to be stopped.
Speaker 2: Hi, and welcome to the Daily Show Ears edition. This
Speaker 2: is Stacy Angeles, segment director for The Daily Show.
Speaker 3: Today.
Speaker 2: I'm joined by Daily Show correspondent and the former eight
Speaker 2: hundred and sixty fourth ranked tennis player in the world,
Speaker 2: Michael Costa.
Speaker 1: Welcome, good job, good energy from you. How we doing, Stace, I'm.
Speaker 3: What I'm doing great? How are you doing?
Speaker 1: Let me read to you the first YouTube comment on
Speaker 1: our pickleball piece.
Speaker 3: I never read those.
Speaker 1: I know, I know, but here you'll see why I'm
Speaker 1: reading this.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 1: In all fairness, being ranked eight hundred and sixty four
Speaker 1: in the world is extremely impressive. Your mom, I don't
Speaker 1: know who wrote that, but mom, that is funny. That
Speaker 1: of the whole six and a half seven minute piece,
Speaker 1: that that's the thing that they're commenting.
Speaker 3: I just like that We've been trying to actually squeeze that.
Speaker 3: You have been ranked eight hundred and sixty four.
Speaker 2: In the world in every piece, every piece, and it
Speaker 2: always gets cut.
Speaker 3: Nobody cares. I care.
Speaker 1: Well, let me tell you this. I was expecting there
Speaker 1: to be a lot of internet back and forth about
Speaker 1: our pickleball piece.
Speaker 4: And guess what, I was right, Yeah, because when this
Speaker 4: this was like two years in the making, and when
Speaker 4: you first pitched it, it was super like hot off,
Speaker 4: like all these hot off the present.
Speaker 2: It was hot off, all these fresh fights. Especially the
Speaker 2: big one that drew me to the story was in
Speaker 2: the West Village, which is like such it's already such
Speaker 2: like one of the most expensive, snooty neighborhoods in New York.
Speaker 2: But the fact was there were there were picklers, keen cars.
Speaker 2: They were wearing and this is the one where it's
Speaker 2: like coverer that they were wearing anti tennis shirts.
Speaker 4: Oh my god, and you had it.
Speaker 1: Hold on, I'm throwing up.
Speaker 3: So then, so you can.
Speaker 2: Tell your your pitch, because obviously this was something you
Speaker 2: were passionate about from the beginning. And I could even
Speaker 2: I can even imagine your face when you're reading the
Speaker 2: first article about this invasive pickleball sport taking home.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure I completely remember the pitch of my
Speaker 1: first pitch, but I do remember that it was about
Speaker 1: this country has never been as divided, right, that whole.
Speaker 3: Thing during during the war, the part when wars are
Speaker 3: breaking out.
Speaker 1: Yes, it was like Russia, Ukraine, Trump, Biden, and it
Speaker 1: was like I wanted multiple news clips of like, the
Speaker 1: country has never been this divided, the tensions are rising,
Speaker 1: you know, civil war, blah blah, and then it was
Speaker 1: going to be about pickleball tennis, which I still think
Speaker 1: would be better than what we did. Fuck well, I.
Speaker 2: Think my original pitch would have been better, but I did,
Speaker 2: like I saw your your personal story just oozing out
Speaker 2: of your pitch and your your passion, and it clears
Speaker 2: like this was this was a pitch that was probably
Speaker 2: most intimate pursue. Yeah, it's personal. But then when I
Speaker 2: saw your pitch and then I heard that it was
Speaker 2: in the West Village and that it was very divided,
Speaker 2: my brain instantly goes to a due West Side Story
Speaker 2: parody where snaps tennis, and then I remember I went
Speaker 2: to your office, Go Costa, how are you at?
Speaker 3: And I did like a balletic leap, like can you
Speaker 3: do this? Just like because I was.
Speaker 2: Envisioning this, you know, you doing Man on the Street
Speaker 2: and then leading a couple of people on your side
Speaker 2: of tennis players and then you breaking out into a dance,
Speaker 2: and then when.
Speaker 1: You're at you're a net.
Speaker 3: But I mean, maybe it's convening.
Speaker 1: But I do want to tell our listeners, all seven
Speaker 1: of them, right now, that this is what is unique
Speaker 1: and great about the Daily Show in that I can
Speaker 1: pitch and then segment director comes in and she brings
Speaker 1: her spice to it. Now doesn't always mean you want
Speaker 1: that spice. I didn't want West Side Story, even though
Speaker 1: I think it's funny.
Speaker 2: I think that you don't always know the spice you want,
Speaker 2: and then when you try it, you're like, give me
Speaker 2: some more. And I've been pitching musical ideas since I started,
Speaker 2: and they've all been rejected.
Speaker 1: Except for the opening in Chicago, where we did a
Speaker 1: fair spy apparently.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it wasn't a musical parody. I'm talking like
Speaker 2: tap dancing. Yeah, it's this, I felt like was the
Speaker 2: closest I was ever going to get but rejected.
Speaker 3: It's fine.
Speaker 1: Well let's talk about this in all seriousness because this piece,
Speaker 1: unlike a Southern Border piece, a voter suppression piece, there
Speaker 1: was there was more room for us to play because
Speaker 1: the stakes really aren't that high, right, Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: I I peeling back the curtain too much.
Speaker 3: No, No, there's this.
Speaker 2: This is a This is a field piece where the
Speaker 2: stakes are higher than any other field piece that the
Speaker 2: show has ever done, where people you know, it's.
Speaker 1: It was really fun to do a piece and you're
Speaker 1: the perfect segment director for this. I mean, this is
Speaker 1: a compliment where we were free to be creative and
Speaker 1: weird and go get some twins who play pickleball and
Speaker 1: then throw a temper tantrum and you know, do some
Speaker 1: really weird stuff. The piece you know that I'm thinking
Speaker 1: of recently I did down on the Southern Border in
Speaker 1: Eagle Pass, Texas. You know, there's there's a lot, there's
Speaker 1: a lot less room. Yeah, you just have to kind
Speaker 1: of find you a little.
Speaker 2: I gravitate towards these pieces where you don't have to
Speaker 2: do much homework, you don't have to be as smart.
Speaker 2: You know, you can like you and I have done
Speaker 2: some pieces where I'm like, oh, I got to know
Speaker 2: the statistics. I gotta know the facts if we interview
Speaker 2: smart people, because if they say some singers, I'm.
Speaker 3: Gonna be like, but pickleball, It's like you don't.
Speaker 2: That's why I always try to And I mean, yes,
Speaker 2: those piece are important those times you have to do
Speaker 2: homework for. But when everything's so tense and serious, it's
Speaker 2: so nice to have like just a fun one that
Speaker 2: you can go like nuts with.
Speaker 1: And is actually culturally relevant. It is because everywhere you
Speaker 1: go you see pickleball and pickleball courts and someone tells
Speaker 1: you about pickleball and blah blah blah. It reminds me
Speaker 1: of like a diet fad pickleball, like everywhere you go
Speaker 1: it's like I'm doing the paleo or I don't need
Speaker 1: sugar anymore. It's like everywhere I go they got it
Speaker 1: some I was just in Blooded, Indiana. Someone had to
Speaker 1: talk to me about pickleball. You know, it's just like
Speaker 1: it comes out of nowhere and yeah.
Speaker 3: Well we were you.
Speaker 2: You had some jokes in there where it came with COVID.
Speaker 2: That's when it just blossomed and blew up and then
Speaker 2: it was contagious like COVID. Right, you had some really
Speaker 2: good analogies there that got cut.
Speaker 1: They got cut. Let's talk about our guests.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there was a lot of names getting pasted in
Speaker 2: the beginning. Mm hmm. And uh, first we were saying
Speaker 2: mark Tina Navachlova because she had that tweet about get
Speaker 2: your own courts pickleball players.
Speaker 1: Yep, and you've you've interviewed Billy jen King before you've
Speaker 1: had her.
Speaker 2: I love Billy jan King so much, but you threw
Speaker 2: out a lot of names, and I think I probably
Speaker 2: did pitch Billy Jing King and it was it wasn't
Speaker 2: really like a tie to pick a ball. I just
Speaker 2: picture for every single thing I do. But you you
Speaker 2: threw out some names, and I was like, oh, I'll
Speaker 2: go to Shauna and Beth, you know who booked talent,
Speaker 2: the bigger talent. And then they they're like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: we'll reach out to you suggested Patrick McEnroe. And then
Speaker 2: when I went to you to tell him I was
Speaker 2: gonna talk to him about booking, You're like, oh, he's
Speaker 2: on my phone, right, I can.
Speaker 3: Just send him a text. And I was like, Wow,
Speaker 3: your rolodex is so much better.
Speaker 1: Than my phone. Sometimes you can help when like me,
Speaker 1: sometimes I can help. Sometimes I can't help, and that
Speaker 1: in this case I could help. And you know what
Speaker 1: we we know what we really wanted and what I
Speaker 1: really wanted and what we got with Patrick McEnroe was
Speaker 1: someone who wasn't gonna wasn't gonna tiptoe. I love that
Speaker 1: he came with it. Again, it's not real stakes here,
Speaker 1: so he can say, get get your own courts. And
Speaker 1: my fear with Billy jing King, who I love, who's
Speaker 1: changed sport for the better.
Speaker 3: Don't don't you dare worried she's she's.
Speaker 1: She can be diplomatic, So I was worried she wasn't
Speaker 1: going to really bring the heat against pickleball, which you're not.
Speaker 2: Some of your athlete brings the heat. She I was kidding.
Speaker 2: I just I literally just picture for everything, even if
Speaker 2: it's a beat spout guns, and I knew he has opinions.
Speaker 1: Billy jing King about this semi automatic high capacity magazine.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like she has an opinion on everything.
Speaker 3: I would ask.
Speaker 1: Yes, she's an excellent, excellent personality. No, we got Patrick
Speaker 1: and he was excellent professional. I read his book twenty
Speaker 1: years ago he signed the book for me, so that's cool.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: He was great because he also knew how to play
Speaker 2: like games with us. He was fun and down to
Speaker 2: like ship on a sport that he's also played in.
Speaker 1: But he's also you know, he's also one of an activity.
Speaker 3: But he's also like one of the best tennis players.
Speaker 3: Do I keep calling this sport?
Speaker 1: Sorry?
Speaker 3: It's like I can you just edit it?
Speaker 1: Also doesn't know, I'm just being a tennis purist.
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 3: A tennis purist.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, talk to me about the other guests we had.
Speaker 2: So we were looking into other people who were at
Speaker 2: the root of some of these turf wars, and we
Speaker 2: researched and stumbled upon this guy, Albert the Pickleball Doctor.
Speaker 5: One person who needs to take that note is this guy.
Speaker 5: He may look like a yodler on a bike, but
Speaker 5: don't be fooled. Every morning he electronically pedals his little
Speaker 5: pickleball bike to set up his little pickleball nets on
Speaker 5: our turf.
Speaker 1: And he's known as Albert the Pickleball Doctor. Why do
Speaker 1: you think that pickleball deserves to overtake a tennis court.
Speaker 3: I think you guys have too many tennis courts.
Speaker 2: He was causing a lot of problems because he was
Speaker 2: obviously drawing the pickleball courts on the tennis courts, and
Speaker 2: then people would be lining up wanting to play, and
Speaker 2: he was having he was taking precedents, but it's like,
Speaker 2: you don't know in those courts, right, you can't just
Speaker 2: calm Just because you get up at five am, right
Speaker 2: and paint your pickleball lines doesn't mean you can. So
Speaker 2: we thought he would be a good interview.
Speaker 1: There is something really strange about the pick a ball
Speaker 1: community that has this kind of entitlement to it.
Speaker 3: It's like when.
Speaker 1: We're trying to get that's what we're trying to get
Speaker 1: at a little bit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like this is a dumb example, but like
Speaker 2: when you're little and I'm one of five kids, you're
Speaker 2: one of four kids, when you like fight to get
Speaker 2: the front seat and you're like, shotgun, it's mine now
Speaker 2: for the rest of our childhood.
Speaker 1: Right, That's a great example, and it's always annoying. Someone's
Speaker 1: always going like shotgun, like you haven't even decided you're
Speaker 1: going to go anywhere yet, And it's like that's what
Speaker 1: pickleball feels like to me. Yeah, yeah, just relax and
Speaker 1: you'll get you. We're gonna get there.
Speaker 3: You don't.
Speaker 2: You don't get awarded because you're a nerd that wakes
Speaker 2: up at three am and just you know.
Speaker 6: No.
Speaker 3: So we got him.
Speaker 2: And then the icing on the cake was he happened
Speaker 2: to have identical twin brother.
Speaker 1: I mean, this piece, it kept hitting you over the head.
Speaker 1: It kept hitting you over the head like an overhead,
Speaker 1: like an Aaron overhead. I did.
Speaker 2: I did love You had a lot of jabs at
Speaker 2: his expense that got cut. Yeah, where you were calling
Speaker 2: him like yeah, And it was funny because like you
Speaker 2: and what I loved about it was like you and
Speaker 2: Patrick were taking shots at each other. You had a
Speaker 2: good shot at him, but it didn't make it. But
Speaker 2: you guys were hurling into all.
Speaker 1: You know, it is true, a lot of my good
Speaker 1: shots don't ever make it. I think it's because the
Speaker 1: people don't want me to seem like an asshole. But
Speaker 1: it's like, and that's.
Speaker 2: Why you weren't eight hundred and sixty three in the world. Yeah, Well,
Speaker 2: he was like going a little bit heavy. And then
Speaker 2: you said, how does it feel to be the second
Speaker 2: best tennis player in your family or something? Like that,
Speaker 2: And then with pickleball, he could not, like Patrick can
Speaker 2: keep up with you, but the pickleball guy, doctor Pioball whatever,
Speaker 2: he couldn't keep up with you and I One of
Speaker 2: my favorite parts, which was so funny that got cut
Speaker 2: was he would say the lamest insults there weren't They
Speaker 2: weren't burns at all, and you would act like they
Speaker 2: were the biggest insults, where you're like, can we bleep that?
Speaker 1: But you just try it? You want me to try
Speaker 1: pickle ball? You know what that means to be eight
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty four in the world in tennis. It
Speaker 1: means I'm the number one pick a ball player right now.
Speaker 1: Why don't we do a little head to head how
Speaker 1: about that?
Speaker 3: Okay, I'm gonna whoop your butt.
Speaker 1: Can you beep that? I'll see your geriatric ass in
Speaker 1: the kitchen? Okay, it's dink time, baby. You know, it
Speaker 1: is a little unfair when a daily show personality comedian
Speaker 1: is talking to like a doctor who plays pickle ball,
Speaker 1: and you get into a verbal comedic jab that's not
Speaker 1: his world. Yeah, but you could tell. With Patrick, the
Speaker 1: highly competitive athlete who has made the semi finals of
Speaker 1: the Australian Open and as wins over Boris Becker, you
Speaker 1: could tell he knew how to dish it out too,
Speaker 1: which was fun.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean I remember a couple of notes they were like, oh,
Speaker 2: we feel like this my be too mean, and I'm like,
Speaker 2: they're athletes. That's part of the game, you shit talk, yeah,
Speaker 2: and so I go, it's not mean. These are like
Speaker 2: nice actually, and it's all it's all in fun. It's like, again,
Speaker 2: this isn't like a a it's a piece about pickleball.
Speaker 1: Yes, exactly exactly. It's how you say I love you.
Speaker 2: You can give them a little, but I'll dig I
Speaker 2: will say I'm going to give a shout out to
Speaker 2: one of the stylists that helped on the shoot, Jacqueline,
Speaker 2: when the twins came. When they arrived, I don't even
Speaker 2: know if I knew they were identical until I saw them,
Speaker 2: like matching glasses, same hairstyle, everything. And at the last
Speaker 2: minute I was like, hey, can you go out and
Speaker 2: get matching outfits? Matching up and she left right away,
Speaker 2: came back with like three options, and I think that
Speaker 2: made it more creepy with the reveal.
Speaker 1: You know what, thanks for bringing up wardrobe because my
Speaker 1: eight sixty four headband was sick. Yeah, my eight sixty
Speaker 1: four shirt. Yeah, my I should also be noted. And
Speaker 1: you'll see in the opening segment of this piece and
Speaker 1: in the pickleball playing piece, I had a freshly double
Speaker 1: herniated disc during this piece, that's right, and my left
Speaker 1: leg is limping while I do my open which apparently
Speaker 1: no one else knows that. I noticed.
Speaker 2: You were like Carrie Strug in the Olympics when she
Speaker 2: injured her ankle and then still managed to win the
Speaker 2: team gold medal.
Speaker 3: You had.
Speaker 1: I was about to use that exact example.
Speaker 3: I know.
Speaker 2: That's I felt like I was witnessing rateness.
Speaker 1: When Carrie Strug ran and did the vault. That's how
Speaker 1: I felt in my opening segment, Yeah, the long walk
Speaker 1: for that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and unlike Carrie Strug, you didn't cry. Yeah, where's
Speaker 2: your eight hundred and sixty four uniform?
Speaker 6: Is that?
Speaker 3: Did you try to do it?
Speaker 2: I know?
Speaker 3: Where was the Hall of Fame? As sports Hall Fame.
Speaker 1: There's probably some homeless guy in the sea train right
Speaker 1: now wearing an eight hundred and sixty.
Speaker 2: Four a three D shadow box frame that you put
Speaker 2: it and hang it in your apartment.
Speaker 1: I'm proud of my world ranking. I'm never going, never,
Speaker 1: not going to be proud of it.
Speaker 3: I know we make fun of it, but that is impressive.
Speaker 1: That's what the guys YouTube. Was it your YouTube comment?
Speaker 1: I don't know, No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 2: So when we found out that Doctor Pickle, Doctor of
Speaker 2: Pickleball had a twin brother, you obviously.
Speaker 3: Needed a partner.
Speaker 2: Yeah, who was your first choice? You know what?
Speaker 1: I got my own sacred weapon. Ronnie Ronnie Ronnie? Why
Speaker 1: what's going eh? Where the pickles? We're playing pickleball? You said?
Speaker 6: And for his double's partner, Costa has Ronnie Chang, who
Speaker 6: seems to have been tricked into being here.
Speaker 1: That makes two of us. Certainly wasn't anybody on this staff.
Speaker 1: It was probably just a friend of mine or something.
Speaker 1: You know. Yeah, I don't remember who my first choice.
Speaker 1: You know what? I remember when it was revealed to
Speaker 1: me that Ronnie Chang would be my partner. I was happy,
Speaker 1: but I was hesitant because the last time I did
Speaker 1: a piece with Ronnie Chang was thank me later about
Speaker 1: the guy who got nun chucks unillegalized?
Speaker 3: Did you say numb?
Speaker 1: I said numb? Chucks, but they're nun chucks.
Speaker 3: Come on.
Speaker 1: That was part of the joke and the piece, and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, it was like Ronnie's going to
Speaker 1: join you on your piece, and all of a sudden
Speaker 1: he's like this kung Fu master and I'm a big dumb,
Speaker 1: fucking idiot, and Ronnie's like kicking my ass, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't want Ronnie coming to here stealing the pick
Speaker 1: a Ball show. But it was a good addition. He
Speaker 1: was generous with his time.
Speaker 2: I'm going to steal the show. He's not ranked in tennis.
Speaker 1: No, exactly. No, I wasn't worried he was going to
Speaker 1: steal the show. I wanted to make sure all parties
Speaker 1: had read the pitch and were aware of what we
Speaker 1: were doing.
Speaker 2: Well, Ronnie never reads the pitch. Yes, he asked me
Speaker 2: questions while shooting.
Speaker 1: Correct, That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: But I knew he I suggested him because I knew
Speaker 2: he had gotten into pick a ball and he does.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Him and his lovely wife Hannah, they like are I
Speaker 2: think they're like they're involved in tournaments. They're like a
Speaker 2: power pick a ball couple. But all he was working
Speaker 2: on his form and taking it seriously.
Speaker 1: But also, and please keep this in. I'm serious what
Speaker 1: I'm about to say. Don't edit this out. This is
Speaker 1: what drives me fucking crazy about pickleball. Ronnie talks to
Speaker 1: me about pick a ball as if he's like a
Speaker 1: racket skilled player, and then when you play with him,
Speaker 1: he's terrible. His grip on the backhand is so bad.
Speaker 1: His forehand is so bad. He doesn't know his pancake. Dude.
Speaker 1: You see him on the serve. He's doing like this
Speaker 1: pancake thing.
Speaker 3: That's literally like, oh, we need to have a pickleball.
Speaker 1: This is my whole problem is with pickleball is that
Speaker 1: people who play this little checkers game, they enter what
Speaker 1: they believe is a highly competitive field and they don't
Speaker 1: know what the fuck they're talking about. So boom, it
Speaker 1: feels the podcast is over. Well, mic drop, but it's
Speaker 1: not a swing arm.
Speaker 3: So sorry, Roddie. I did rally with him in between takes,
Speaker 3: and I beat him. I'm just saying, that's what I'm
Speaker 3: saying to That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Playing tournaments with my spouse, that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: I played with old people during COVID, but it.
Speaker 1: Is a good social sport, much more social than tennis.
Speaker 1: Tennis gets way too up its own ends.
Speaker 2: Well, this is the thing that's funny to me about
Speaker 2: the war between pickleball and tennis. They're both pompous sports
Speaker 2: that are dominantly white people. And it's not like badass
Speaker 2: Like I get why fights break out in physical contact.
Speaker 3: It's not even physical like your injuries are what did
Speaker 3: you have? Psiatica? And that's not a pickle but no.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean, a contact sport.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the fact that they're keen cars and smack
Speaker 2: talking and doing all this like this.
Speaker 1: Those are pickball players, by the way, Yeah, yeah, No,
Speaker 1: Tennis has.
Speaker 3: A little bit of elitism into it.
Speaker 1: Tennis has a long aristocratic elitist attitude about it. Country club,
Speaker 1: I strongly agree. I strongly agree with you. I believe
Speaker 1: Arthur Ash and Serena Williams. I mean, it's Williams and
Speaker 1: might disagree with your white people comment.
Speaker 2: Okay, dominant dominantly are you gonna are you gonna say
Speaker 2: it's not dominantly white athletes?
Speaker 1: No, I'm in support of you because also part of
Speaker 1: the reason that this Williams sisters and Arthur Ash were
Speaker 1: so groundbreaking is they had to fight through all that
Speaker 1: elitist white.
Speaker 2: Also, they made the sport more popular, of course less
Speaker 2: white athletes. That's the point of this podcast. I can
Speaker 2: say that because I'm half so that.
Speaker 1: You can really wear that with a badge of oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I have to are you kidding? I am thankful the
Speaker 1: Daily Show did the pick a ball piece. It was
Speaker 1: a long slog to get here, and I'm glad that
Speaker 1: you were the segment director on it. Oh thanks, and
Speaker 1: it was fun to do.
Speaker 2: That was that sounds like he was wrapping this up.
Speaker 2: Try one thing that got cut. That really supports your
Speaker 2: point in that it's not a sport. You can't get
Speaker 2: a scholarship for it, it's not in the Olympics, and
Speaker 2: they act like this is the most important sorry hobby,
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna I was about to say sport.
Speaker 3: So I think the fact that they.
Speaker 2: Don't have any of that level of you know, acknowledgment
Speaker 2: or recognition, I think that wins the argument.
Speaker 1: Well, but in defense of pickaball, they would say that's
Speaker 1: all coming, that's all coming. I mean, I mean, you
Speaker 1: can get you can get a bowling scholarship Division one
Speaker 1: NCAA Bowling Scholarship.
Speaker 3: You know, well, actually I did hear that.
Speaker 2: There's it's actually it's actually going to be. There's going
Speaker 2: to be a pickleball tournament in the Billy Jing King Center,
Speaker 2: who I love.
Speaker 1: Tram pulling her name. Sorry, no, I mean here, it's
Speaker 1: going to be.
Speaker 3: It's gonna be. Wait. This is kind of crazy because
Speaker 3: it just shows how.
Speaker 2: It is blowing up bigger and bigger, even though we
Speaker 2: thought when it aired, We're like, this should have aired
Speaker 2: two years ago, but it does keep popping up in
Speaker 2: the news. This very week, the Billaging King Center is
Speaker 2: going to hold a televised, over six days pick aball
Speaker 2: tournament where the grand prize is one hundred and fifty
Speaker 2: thousand dollars.
Speaker 3: That's great, Is it great?
Speaker 1: I mean it's not at tennis money yet, but but
Speaker 1: it is. It is a very quick growing sport. There
Speaker 1: is a lot of money in pickleball. My prediction is
Speaker 1: it's going to taper off very soon, but I could
Speaker 1: be wrong. You know, it could be the racquetball. Handball,
Speaker 1: I mean, handball is a thing.
Speaker 2: You know, say it's going to taper off, but it's
Speaker 2: the championship is going to be played in Arthur ash Stadium.
Speaker 3: How does that sit with you?
Speaker 1: I think it's an atrocity to the sport. I think
Speaker 1: Arthur Ash as a diplomat, as an athlete, as someone
Speaker 1: who broke racial barriers. If I was in charge of
Speaker 1: Arthur Ash's estate, I would try to burn this tournament
Speaker 1: to the ground. Do you understand what I'm saying? Can
Speaker 1: I be more clear?
Speaker 3: You? You would? Yeah, you want to burn Arthur ash
Speaker 3: Stadium down in.
Speaker 1: The name of Now my big issue with pickle ball
Speaker 1: is the participants twoed You know what it reminds me of.
Speaker 1: You know how all these stupid fucking American breweries have
Speaker 1: to make like such a hazy ipa yes, And it's like, hey, dude,
Speaker 1: we know you don't really know how to brew beer,
Speaker 1: and you're just throwing a bunch of hops in this
Speaker 1: shit to hide the fact that you can't make a
Speaker 1: six hundred year old German lagger recipe because it's hard
Speaker 1: to do that. That's what I equate to pick up.
Speaker 3: Oh, I thought you were talking about something else. Now, okay,
Speaker 3: but I have one question. Yes, would you do a
Speaker 3: commentary on pickle ball if they asked you.
Speaker 1: I've been asked. I've been asked and I said no.
Speaker 1: I also wasn't available. I don't. I don't hate the sport.
Speaker 1: I don't who sport?
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't hate the activity. I just wanted to remain
Speaker 1: separate from the sport I love the most, which is tennis.
Speaker 3: Yes, And did you play tennis?
Speaker 1: I did?
Speaker 4: I was.
Speaker 1: Let's tie it back. He had a career high of
Speaker 1: eight hundred and sixty four in the world in singles.
Speaker 2: Also, nobody wants to end this more than I do.
Speaker 2: But I will say one piece that got cut was
Speaker 2: you promoting your you're you're an author?
Speaker 3: What was your book?
Speaker 1: One hundred and one Ways to Win More Tennis Matches?
Speaker 3: And then Patrick McEnroe that wrote a book.
Speaker 1: That's right called Hardcore Confidential.
Speaker 2: And between the two, I feel like, what was what
Speaker 2: was his top ranking twenty?
Speaker 1: I think he was twenty two in the world.
Speaker 3: At one point, I know there was a two. I
Speaker 3: thought it was like twelve or so.
Speaker 1: No, he was fucking high.
Speaker 3: So between eight hundred and sixty four in twenty two.
Speaker 1: He's eight hundred and twenty two places higher than me
Speaker 1: forty two forty two places two. Sure, all right, great job. Everybody,
Speaker 1: thank you, but that was stop.
Speaker 2: I know I'm giving it because they're going to cut
Speaker 2: to the scene. I'm trying to give a little something
Speaker 2: to cut to. Ith God, this guy Jesus. No, there
Speaker 2: was a scene where you present your probably present your
Speaker 2: book and turns out he wrote a book as well.
Speaker 2: And I actually enjoyed that scene because you are both
Speaker 2: top tennis athletes. Yep, you both wrote books, and I
Speaker 2: thought that was a lot of fun.
Speaker 3: And it got cut.
Speaker 1: It got cut, so we're all that clip. I really
Speaker 1: appreciate you sitting down and answering some of these hard
Speaker 1: hitting journalistic questions. And as an appreciation, I got you
Speaker 1: a copy of my book one hundred and one Tips
Speaker 1: for Winning More Tennis Matches, autographed to my friend. Hopefully
Speaker 1: there was some good tips in there for you. Thanks again, man, wellppretiate.
Speaker 1: Oh God, I'm really glad you brought this for me.
Speaker 1: I had no absolutely no idea.
Speaker 6: But this is a book that I wrote about my
Speaker 6: years on tour.
Speaker 1: All right, I've got some of those in it too.
Speaker 6: Yeah, at the highest level, highest level. So that's for you, Michael.
Speaker 6: Maybe you'll learn a couple of things. I hope you
Speaker 6: like my hardcover book. Michael, you probably have one this
Speaker 6: and hardcover. Right.
Speaker 1: There was a tree shortage or something. Sure, Michael, how
Speaker 1: many tips does your book have?
Speaker 6: Considerably more than one hundred and one? Okay, yeah, you
Speaker 6: want to keep your momentum moving through the volley.
Speaker 1: Huh, that's right. I wants something you can't do. That's
Speaker 1: death genius. Let's go play some pickle.
Speaker 2: Thank you for joining us, and thank you for listening
Speaker 2: to The Daily Show air's edition. This has been Stacey
Speaker 2: Angele's and Michael Costa.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Stacy.
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