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Speaker 1: This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to. Here's the thing,

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Speaker 1: My chance to talk with artists, policymakers and performers, to

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Speaker 1: hear their stories, What inspired their creations, what decisions changed

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Speaker 1: their careers, what relationships influenced their work. The lead guitarist

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Speaker 1: you're listening to is one of the biggest celebrities of

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Speaker 1: my generation. This is him again, maybe a little bit

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Speaker 1: easier to recognize here. You cannot be serious. John McEnroe's

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Speaker 1: performances on the tennis court came as a shock to

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Speaker 1: professional sports. Here was an athlete with a playing style

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Speaker 1: as unpredictable and surprising as his volcanic interactions with linesmen

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Speaker 1: and umpires. Today, his father says, John quote has gotten mellower,

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Speaker 1: but he's not met unquote. John still competes doubles, mostly

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Speaker 1: with his brother Patrick. He is also the father of six,

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Speaker 1: an avid art collector and a television commentator. In two

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Speaker 1: thousand ten, he founded the John mcinrow Tennis Academy on

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Speaker 1: Randall's Island in New York City. About twenty years ago,

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Speaker 1: John McEnroe took a serious interest in playing music. I

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Speaker 1: mean I was a music lover. I didn't play until

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Speaker 1: I was torn in so I was an air guitarist

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Speaker 1: in high school. And then when I started traveling on

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Speaker 1: the tennis tour, I realized that I had a lot

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Speaker 1: of downtime and I started to see some of these

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Speaker 1: great musicians, and we're seeing Buddy Guy in Chicago, and

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Speaker 1: he played and it was so magnificent that I was like,

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Speaker 1: what on my waist in my time? So I went

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Speaker 1: back to my hotel smashed the guitar. Four hundred dollar guitar.

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Speaker 1: I wasn't too bad at the time. You could have

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Speaker 1: donated that guitar to charity, you know, I hadn't. I

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Speaker 1: hadn't thought of it yet. I wasn't that bad yet.

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Speaker 1: I did love music, and I mean athletes oftentimes when

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Speaker 1: we're practicing we played in music can there's definitely an

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Speaker 1: energy boost that it gives you when things are going

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Speaker 1: badly and you don't feel like doing it. But the

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Speaker 1: playing part of it actually was extremely frustrating because I'm

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Speaker 1: sort of a natural intennis but I never was in

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Speaker 1: guitar playing. My wife, Patty Smith says that her quote

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Speaker 1: from my guitar planes that I wrestle it into submission,

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Speaker 1: so I'm not exactly relaxed. I don't breathe particularly well.

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Speaker 1: It looks like I'm forcing it. So even though at

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Speaker 1: one stage, probably when I stopped playing on the main

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Speaker 1: tour in Tennis, I started shifting towards playing a lot

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Speaker 1: of music and actually had an actual band where I

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Speaker 1: was possibly deluding myself into thinking that maybe i'd actually

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Speaker 1: do They're gonna make it. It became apparent pretty quickly.

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Speaker 1: Because I wanted to be the Carlo Syntanna my group.

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Speaker 1: I didn't want to be the singer, but I couldn't

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Speaker 1: find a singer, so I ended up singing myself because

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Speaker 1: I couldn't get anyone else to sing. How would you

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Speaker 1: rate your singing? I would rate it C minus two

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Speaker 1: D plus, but I wouldn't go out of key, but

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Speaker 1: I would just sing abysmally. And the first tour I

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Speaker 1: ever did, I went to Italy and we did like

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Speaker 1: a twelve city two week tour. We played twelve gigs

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Speaker 1: in fourteen days, and if I remembered the words there

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Speaker 1: a song and his breathing at the end of the song,

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Speaker 1: I considered it successful. I mean, forget the booze I

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Speaker 1: was hearing about how bad my voice was but I did.

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Speaker 1: I did a movie and they wanted us to sing

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Speaker 1: Rock of Ages. We did the propay musical Tom Everybody.

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Speaker 1: And when I get in the room and they said, yeah,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna auto tune it. We're gonna auto tune it.

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Speaker 1: And I'm like, okay, it was terrible. I mean, I'm

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Speaker 1: not a good singer. Well I have it in my

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Speaker 1: heart and my soul. I'm a singer, you know. Funnily enough,

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Speaker 1: because if when I was doing this initially, I was

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Speaker 1: just started my relations with Patty Smith, who I've now

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Speaker 1: been with twenty years, but at the time it was

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Speaker 1: just starting. So after first saying look, I mean, here

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Speaker 1: would be the perfect singer, I was like, this is

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Speaker 1: perfect and she was like, are you crazy, I'm not

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Speaker 1: singing when you're banking. But because I knew her, I

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Speaker 1: knew like her guitar player started playing with me, and

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Speaker 1: I was getting some pretty good musicians to play with me.

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Speaker 1: At one stage, Eddie Kramer, who was the engineer for Hendricks,

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Speaker 1: came on as a producer. So I'm thinking, all right,

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Speaker 1: this guy, I mean, he's done all these incredible Hendricks tunes,

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Speaker 1: and look what they did with the recordings, etcetera. I

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Speaker 1: was thinking the same thing you just said about the

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Speaker 1: auto tune. I was like, wait, listen, how come my

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Speaker 1: voice sounds like this? Okay, this is the best I got,

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Speaker 1: So you gotta do something, and they weren't doing it,

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Speaker 1: which really frustrating me. I actually wanted that. I don't

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Speaker 1: know why I go is this an engineer, engine therapist?

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Speaker 1: What he wanted to face something? When I need you

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Speaker 1: to face it? It was painful. What kind of music

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Speaker 1: did you crave when you were a kid? Rock and roll?

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Speaker 1: Zeppelin was my favorite band growing up, Sabbath, you know,

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Speaker 1: I mean I was in sort of pretty heavy rock

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Speaker 1: and roll. But my first coach, who yeah, exactly? You

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Speaker 1: know who was better? The Stones or the Beatles? Uh?

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Speaker 1: No comparison. I think I was more of a Stones guy,

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Speaker 1: though I do love the Beatle. I mean, now I've

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Speaker 1: going to appreciate just even attempting to write songs. I

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Speaker 1: realize how amazing both of them were that particular time

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Speaker 1: when I'm me growing up. Actually were these incredible bands?

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Speaker 1: Well then me, the Beatles were like if there was

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Speaker 1: a girl involved, you know, when with the Stones were

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Speaker 1: the Stones were the soundtrack of all my party, although

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Speaker 1: the Beatles are pretty strong in that also. I mean

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Speaker 1: they had some pretty strong years too. They were pretty

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Speaker 1: out there that they weren't drinking lemonade. I don't think so.

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Speaker 1: When I see you on TV and ESPN programs and

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Speaker 1: the history of tennis, and the first thing I think about,

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Speaker 1: truly is I think to myself, when did it all

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Speaker 1: become aware to you? Like you're a kid in Douglaston.

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Speaker 1: Do you have a sense that you have this gift

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Speaker 1: or you see it reflected in the eyes of other people.

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Speaker 1: Do other people woke up to you and say, John,

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Speaker 1: come with me. That's what happened, basically, because we had

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Speaker 1: no idea. My parents hadn't played either, so they didn't know. Um,

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Speaker 1: neither your parents were players. So when we joined this club,

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Speaker 1: I was eight and a half off and I just

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Speaker 1: sort of loved to play sports. So I happened to

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Speaker 1: be so close to this club that I just started

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Speaker 1: hitting against the backboard. And soon afterwards the pro there

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Speaker 1: said to my parents, you know this guy, he's got something.

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Speaker 1: You should send him to this Port Washington and Tennis Academy,

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Speaker 1: which took a little time and jumped forward a little bit,

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Speaker 1: but Basically that was a sort of idea, people telling

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Speaker 1: my parents who didn't know better, that there was something

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Speaker 1: they saw in me. And how did you feel about

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Speaker 1: that at the time, Because to go into the intensity

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Speaker 1: of individual sports mean you've played team sports as well. Correct. Correct,

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Speaker 1: I played soccer, basketball, In high school, I played football,

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Speaker 1: and grammar school I played baseball. I played pretty much

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Speaker 1: every sport. Hockey when the ponds froze over, I didn't

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Speaker 1: like it that much because everyone's losing all the time.

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Speaker 1: And tennis, tennis, Yeah, so I actually what I do

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Speaker 1: at my own tennis academy is sort of how I

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Speaker 1: was able to deal with the difficulties of being out

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Speaker 1: there on your own, sort of feeling naked when you're losing,

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Speaker 1: and it's great. When you're winning, it's pretty bad, especially

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Speaker 1: when you're a kid. It's it's really hard to handles.

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Speaker 1: I think. So the outlet of having sort of teammates

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Speaker 1: are playing other sports to share with that that was

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Speaker 1: that was important for me. I think I would have

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Speaker 1: quit playing had it not been that I was able

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Speaker 1: to go to these other sports at different times, play

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Speaker 1: a lot less tennis, sort of rejuven it, getting you

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Speaker 1: start believing in yourself again, And I mean, you played

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Speaker 1: a tournament in the twelve and unders, in the sixty

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Speaker 1: four guys, sixty three guys lose. You know, there's only

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Speaker 1: one guy that wins the tournament. So no matter what

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Speaker 1: level it is, even if you're sick. I was six

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Speaker 1: and seven in the nation and the twelve and unders.

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Speaker 1: I mean, that didn't amount to a whole lot to

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Speaker 1: a lot of people, but that meant that pretty much

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Speaker 1: every national tournament I played, I lost at that time,

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Speaker 1: and initially I wasn't even the top player in the East.

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Speaker 1: The best line ever told my father was when I

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Speaker 1: was twelve, it felt like he was putting to me,

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Speaker 1: too much pressure on me to sort of He really

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Speaker 1: was probably acknowled it is his t degree, but not totally.

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Speaker 1: But but what I did, which I thought was pretty

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Speaker 1: you know, looking back, it saved me was I said, listen, Dad,

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Speaker 1: don't worry about what my ranking is now, because their

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Speaker 1: goal was always to get me a college scholarship and

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Speaker 1: played Davis complishes when you represent your country. That's our

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Speaker 1: version of like the Olympics. At the time, don't come

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Speaker 1: to me until I'm eighteen. You know, that's the year

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Speaker 1: that the Stanfords or the usc l a S or SCS,

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Speaker 1: the top tennis schools are gonna come and say, hey,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna offer you a scholarship. So just like back off,

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Speaker 1: you felt that pressure, then yeah, I and my brother

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Speaker 1: who's my middle brother, not Patrick, Mark quit at twelve

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Speaker 1: thirteen because he couldn't I can't handle this anymore of

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Speaker 1: these tournaments. And he's a good tennis player, he's a lawyer,

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Speaker 1: but he made the Stanford team one year. It's not

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Speaker 1: like the guy's a slouch, but he just couldn't deal

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Speaker 1: with And I found that to be. My parents weren't

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Speaker 1: even as nearly as bad as I see a lot

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Speaker 1: of parents now, or even parents in my day. In

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Speaker 1: a kids are home schooled, which to me is really

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Speaker 1: unhealthy because you're already isolated on a tennis court. They

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Speaker 1: further isolate them by having them home school, which I

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Speaker 1: think is really unhealthy. None of them now play other sports,

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Speaker 1: which I think is unhealthy. So you're heading these kids

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Speaker 1: in the direction that's so few succeed and even if

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Speaker 1: they do, then they almost they're not equipped to handle it.

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Speaker 1: And do you advise against that at your tennis I

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Speaker 1: totally advise against it. You want st I sit with

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Speaker 1: parents and I tell them and until I'm blew in

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Speaker 1: the face and they don't listen to me. They sit

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Speaker 1: there like, what the hell you talk? You don't even

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Speaker 1: know what you're talking about. I'm like, you're like they

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Speaker 1: bruth to them now, like a dinosaur playing a different

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Speaker 1: style of wood rackets, you know, the way you play that.

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Speaker 1: No one does that stuff. So generally speaking, they look

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Speaker 1: at me like, yeah, that was then, but this is

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Speaker 1: reality now, like attend They've got to be all in

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Speaker 1: and you've got to send your kids to bolt Arry's

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Speaker 1: or some other kind of want anything, well, I mean

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Speaker 1: the exclusion of everything else. It's not that you don't

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Speaker 1: you know. It turned out that I wanted it a

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Speaker 1: lot more than I realized, or I was able to

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Speaker 1: do more than I thought I was capable of in

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Speaker 1: terms of digging deeper and emotionally sort of accepting the

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Speaker 1: challenges step by step. It took me a long time,

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Speaker 1: you know. Part of the reason I acted the way

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Speaker 1: I did. Let's be honest, it's like that fear of

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Speaker 1: failure and response to pressure. I would rather have people

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Speaker 1: watching me scream than watching me cry. I don't know

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Speaker 1: if you were, but me growing up it was guys

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Speaker 1: don't cry type of thing, and if you show that,

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Speaker 1: that's a sign of weakness. So it was sort of

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Speaker 1: to protect myself. So they'd be like, what is this

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Speaker 1: guy's crazy? Well? My favorite was your brother was quoted

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Speaker 1: in the in the article in the in the Times

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Speaker 1: a few years ago. There was there was a long

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Speaker 1: story on you. It says according to Patrick Mcamnow, who

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Speaker 1: spent childhood evenings in the garage learning to ignore the paddles,

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Speaker 1: John smashed against the wall when Patrick beat him at

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Speaker 1: ping pong. Quote. Part of him enjoys chaos. He liked

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Speaker 1: things to be a little unsettled. We can havoc unsettled

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Speaker 1: others he can handle. And but what what I what

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Speaker 1: I love about that? And I'm not saying that, dude,

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Speaker 1: I always have these encounters with paparazzi and photographers. I

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Speaker 1: think all these guys have to be straightened out at

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Speaker 1: some point, you know. I mean, it's like, that's the chaos.

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Speaker 1: That's a tall order. It's like making tennis more popular again.

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Speaker 1: I mean it's gonna I mean, I'm I see tennis

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Speaker 1: going in this direction. That's sort of sad which is

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Speaker 1: which is that it's becoming this cult thing almost, it's

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Speaker 1: becoming a semi afterthought in America. You know, the top players,

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Speaker 1: we don't have anyone in the top ten. We haven't

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Speaker 1: had a Grand Slam champion in eleven years. We we

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Speaker 1: the Americans with Serena, Well, I meant the man. I'm sorry,

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Speaker 1: I mean Serena. Thank God for Serena and Venus. I

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Speaker 1: mean it be and and the playing fields much more

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Speaker 1: level for girls. I mean that's the part that's that's

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Speaker 1: so different with the girl. That's why you see much

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Speaker 1: better athletes going into the game of tennis, and the

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Speaker 1: women's side, not the men's. Because how many places of

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Speaker 1: work or sports is it the equal prize money for

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Speaker 1: the men and women. I mean, look at basketball, the

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Speaker 1: w n b A. They make what one what the

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Speaker 1: men make. Golf is I mean huge difference. There's no

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Speaker 1: American football, hockey, there's not even a barely anything softball, baseball.

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Speaker 1: I mean it's but if you walk onto a tennis court,

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Speaker 1: as I have four girls and two boys, if you

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Speaker 1: had told me in the eighties that I would have

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Speaker 1: said equal prize money is a good thing, I would

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Speaker 1: have said you're out of your mind because we looked

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Speaker 1: at it like you kidding me. Look at where we're

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Speaker 1: watching number one. We're playing a lot longer, not that

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Speaker 1: that necessarily means it's better, but we out there playing

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Speaker 1: best of five and they're playing best of three. And

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Speaker 1: then the guys felt their product was was far superior.

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Speaker 1: But for me as a father, you know, that changed

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Speaker 1: things a lot for me because it's I sort of

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Speaker 1: looked at it like, look, we're sort of we're ahead

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Speaker 1: of our time in a way because even in the

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Speaker 1: business world, the women aren't getting fair shake, and we're

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Speaker 1: representing something to young girls we're giving sort of they

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Speaker 1: can look and say, wow, we can be sort of

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Speaker 1: a married there's parody, and that's that more than makes

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Speaker 1: up for whatever if we if guys think you know

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Speaker 1: our our product better or we play longer. And so

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Speaker 1: I've actually taken pride in the idea that I've gotten

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Speaker 1: behind that over the course of the last ten fifteen year,

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Speaker 1: especially to twenty years, maybe because it's been around for

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Speaker 1: a long time, but it took a while for the

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Speaker 1: guys to understand any side of this. Now, how would

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Speaker 1: you characterize where American men are out in tennis now,

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Speaker 1: and how do we get there? Wise that well, I

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Speaker 1: characterized it as a number of problems. You know, the

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Speaker 1: biggest problem is that we need the best athletes if possible,

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Speaker 1: like they do in other countries. You know, Raphael Nadal

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Speaker 1: is one of the best athletes in Spain. I'm not

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Speaker 1: gonna take anything away from the players, but there are

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Speaker 1: are A plus athletes are a plus athletes are playing

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Speaker 1: football or basketball. The cost of it is so prohibitive

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Speaker 1: that it cuts out the population. Was still considered an

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Speaker 1: elad game. Well, yeah, I think it is still considered

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Speaker 1: it because if you you've been in New York. Living

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Speaker 1: in New York, we've lost a number of tennis clubs

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Speaker 1: because they've torn them down and they put up a

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Speaker 1: parking garage or commercial exactly, you know, an office building,

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Speaker 1: and it's like, who the hell do do we eat

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Speaker 1: more of that? And and and you know, kids, when

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Speaker 1: they grow up, they need to see something and they started, wow,

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Speaker 1: that's cool, there's sexy in a certain way. We've done

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Speaker 1: a horrible marketing job, in my opinion, of making a

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Speaker 1: sport where people would be interested in it. And then

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Speaker 1: the totem pole of tennis, you know. I mean if

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Speaker 1: you look at the most popular sports, you look at football,

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Speaker 1: you look at basketball. Soccer has done a better job

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Speaker 1: than we have getting but I mean look at the

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Speaker 1: soccer field. You can put forty kids on this space

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Speaker 1: where you could put eight kids. To tennis courts, it's

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Speaker 1: much more cost effective. So describe your facility facilities at

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Speaker 1: Randall's Island, what was it before you? Before that, it

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Speaker 1: was well, there was a smaller club. They renovated. They

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Speaker 1: spend nineteen million dollars of people I work for. I

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Speaker 1: mean when I played at Randall's Island in the seventies,

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Speaker 1: I mean you'd be more worried about the glass on

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Speaker 1: the ground than you would be a defender tackling. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it was just crazy. Sharenne is on on the field.

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg started the Randall's Island Sports Foundation and put a

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Speaker 1: lot of money into it, and now they're they're facilities,

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Speaker 1: they're being used a lot more and it's really been

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Speaker 1: upgraded in a beautiful way. So courts ten Clay ten

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Speaker 1: hard to me. It's the best facility in New York.

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Speaker 1: We're trying to get ten more. I wanted to be

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Speaker 1: the best facility in the country, if not the world.

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Speaker 1: They have a scholarship program that we do, but you

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Speaker 1: know we we we have probably up to forty kids

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Speaker 1: right now. They're on partial of full scholarship. But I mean,

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Speaker 1: I have to go out and drum up more support

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Speaker 1: because it's very costly to hire coaches and if you

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Speaker 1: have to have coaches go to events and the training,

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Speaker 1: I mean you put them in group sessions, which is okay,

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Speaker 1: that's better, it's not as costly, but then they need

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Speaker 1: some private lessons to to sort of hone their game. Uh.

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Speaker 1: Does the U. S t A have any kind of

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Speaker 1: funding that they grants you can apply Ford or do

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Speaker 1: they get involved in cultivating future They try to sort

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Speaker 1: of monopolize everything. Uh, there was a lot of other

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Speaker 1: people said, look, you should allow a facility like ours.

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Speaker 1: I have a lot of tremendous pros there and I

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Speaker 1: think we could do a great job cultivating talent in

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Speaker 1: New York better than anywhere else. But they're trying to

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Speaker 1: sort of get everyone and not allow clubs like us

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Speaker 1: to sort of give us grants. And now they think

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Speaker 1: they're realizing their error in their ways and they're starting

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Speaker 1: to sort of at least publicly say yeah, we were

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Speaker 1: interested in the possibility of doing that, but we've gotten

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Speaker 1: virtually nothing from them at all. So I'm trying, you know,

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Speaker 1: Nike's film Knights. I've been with Nike longer than any

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Speaker 1: other athletes, so he has been nice enough to give

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Speaker 1: the most money so far, and I'm looking to try

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Speaker 1: to get either a a corporation or be some friend

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Speaker 1: of mine or some wealthy donors to get involved and

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Speaker 1: hopefully saving the sport of tennis, I guess, and as

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Speaker 1: in our country. I mean, it's healthy in Europe and

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Speaker 1: these are fantastic players, probably the best time we've ever

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Speaker 1: had in tennis in terms of the quality of the game,

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Speaker 1: but it's sort of our ratings are in the popularity

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Speaker 1: of it or to me going in the wrong direct,

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Speaker 1: and so we have to do a lot of things

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Speaker 1: that try to change the rules. If you really want

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Speaker 1: to make the game more Pope, bear to me, no

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Speaker 1: umpires on the court, no linesman. You don't need linesmen.

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Speaker 1: They've already proven they can't see anything over the course

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Speaker 1: of the last fifty years. So let's move on from

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Speaker 1: that and get where they would be like an edge

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Speaker 1: with the players. Maybe the players would think they were

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Speaker 1: cheating each other. I mean, they will literally have a

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Speaker 1: computer rule. There's a lot of different ways you can

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Speaker 1: do it, but the point is trying different things. You know,

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Speaker 1: I'm a proponent of having no warm up. To me,

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Speaker 1: why the hell do we need to warm up? Are

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Speaker 1: you a boxing fan? Do they go out on the

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Speaker 1: you know, the ring and then they start pit our

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Speaker 1: pattern each other for five minutes before they try to

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Speaker 1: knock each other onto you into another state? I think

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Speaker 1: they should add that. Well, you know, but but to me,

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Speaker 1: to me, the idea of sort of guys coming out

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Speaker 1: like boxing and on this side is Roger Federer and

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Speaker 1: you go through the thing and they're sort of jumping around,

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Speaker 1: and this side is Raphael and the doll and then

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Speaker 1: first ball. I mean, don't find it to be so absurd.

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Speaker 1: These guys go out and they trained for forty five

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Speaker 1: minutes before if they have a seven o'clock match, are

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Speaker 1: out there in another court where they're out there at

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Speaker 1: whatever two and then they come back out at five

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Speaker 1: thirty to six, and they stretch and they tape, and

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Speaker 1: they run and they jump rope and they do all

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Speaker 1: these things and they walk out in the court and

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Speaker 1: then they do another five minutes. You know, we could

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Speaker 1: go on and on. You could play let's on a serve,

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Speaker 1: which would make things more exciting. Who's that? Who's that

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Speaker 1: famous boxing ref that guy used to Let's get it one,

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Speaker 1: Mills Lane, Mills Lane. Yeah, I want to be the

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Speaker 1: Mills Lane. I will be like Mount Rod to Federal

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Speaker 1: Raphael the doll. Let's get it on. Let's bring Mills Lane.

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Speaker 1: I'm telling you they would help. Next time on Here's

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Speaker 1: the Thing, I talked with legendary actress Julie Andrews. Do

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Speaker 1: you have a favorite musical number from South to music?

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Speaker 1: That's hard. I do have a song that's my favorite,

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Speaker 1: but it wasn't my You will have to download my

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Speaker 1: next episode to find out what her favorite song is.

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Speaker 1: This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the Thing.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy seven, eighteen year old John McEnroe qualified

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Speaker 1: for Wimbledon. He found himself face to face with Jimmy

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Speaker 1: Connors and the most famous rivalry and tennis took off. Well,

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Speaker 1: I never met him, and he wouldn't you know, look

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Speaker 1: at me or acknowledge my existence. And what did that

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Speaker 1: make you think. It made me think, like, this guy's

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Speaker 1: a total asshole, which I was pretty much again many times.

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Speaker 1: But do you think I need to be more like them? Detached, cold,

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Speaker 1: emotionless To some degree, I didn't like that he wouldn't

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Speaker 1: even say, look, I'm Jimmy Connors. I mean, I was

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Speaker 1: already so in timidated as it was. It was Connors

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Speaker 1: and Borg were one two in the world I was.

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Speaker 1: I remember at the hotel they had the odds. It

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Speaker 1: was like Borg like three to one, Connor's five to one. Garylitas,

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Speaker 1: who was my late great buddy, Vitus Carolitis twenty to one.

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Speaker 1: John McKinnell two hundred and fifty one. You know what

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Speaker 1: I'm thinking, I can't even believe I'm on the board

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Speaker 1: with these guys. This is unbelievable. Did you have to

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Speaker 1: put that up there? Two? Because I would have put

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Speaker 1: it like a million to one, you know. So to me,

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Speaker 1: the fact that I was even there was like But

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Speaker 1: then the way he sort of treated me like I

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Speaker 1: was just it didn't belong. I said, Okay, this this

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Speaker 1: is like a I gotta learn from this. But was

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Speaker 1: it was that unusual for him? Was that actually pro

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Speaker 1: former for a lot of those guys not Some of

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Speaker 1: them were more gentlemen, some of them more and more generally.

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Speaker 1: But Arthur would be one biorn org Vitas was much friendlier.

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Speaker 1: There was only one locker room. I understand where he's

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Speaker 1: coming from. I mean, that's what he needed to do.

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Speaker 1: Almost prefer there be separate locker rooms. If you don't,

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Speaker 1: you see that more often. Now everyone's got there on

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Speaker 1: try and they just want to focus on getting ready.

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Speaker 1: It's awkward sometimes if you're in the same room. It's

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Speaker 1: like if the Jets played the Giants in football and

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Speaker 1: they're all in the same locker room. It could be weird.

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Speaker 1: And I don't know why. It's like that. In tennis,

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Speaker 1: I think, yeah, right, exactly. So didn't you play ash

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Speaker 1: seventy nine well so so so after losing the Connors,

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Speaker 1: I realized, okay, I could do this. But I actually

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Speaker 1: went to Stanford. Then I did not turn pro one.

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Speaker 1: I played as an amateur all through the summer. I

426
00:21:30,280 --> 00:21:33,119
Speaker 1: entered Stanford at twenty one in the world. I wanted

427
00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:35,960
Speaker 1: to go their experience as as which I think was

428
00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:39,800
Speaker 1: a great decision. Just experienced college be a kid. As

429
00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:41,280
Speaker 1: soon as I got there, I thought I was gonna

430
00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:44,280
Speaker 1: be hot stuff. No one gave a rats ass about me,

431
00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:47,560
Speaker 1: paid any attention, and everyone's doing their own thing. So

432
00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:50,159
Speaker 1: that made me hungrier because I was like, no women

433
00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:53,040
Speaker 1: girls seem to be interested in me, even so I

434
00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:55,960
Speaker 1: better be higher, well out of there, and I gotta

435
00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:58,720
Speaker 1: get better because maybe if I was five in the world,

436
00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:00,680
Speaker 1: they might look at that a little bet or a one.

437
00:22:01,359 --> 00:22:03,240
Speaker 1: So I leave. I turned pro. I win the n

438
00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:05,480
Speaker 1: c A S and may have seventy eight term pro,

439
00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:08,359
Speaker 1: and I started going through some growing pains and the

440
00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:10,760
Speaker 1: pros for the better part of six months. I lost

441
00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:13,239
Speaker 1: first round the next year at Wimbledon, even though I

442
00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:15,760
Speaker 1: liked it the traveling, I just was having trouble getting

443
00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:18,879
Speaker 1: my game together. But finally I started to get it

444
00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:21,040
Speaker 1: together towards the end of seventy eight and I made

445
00:22:21,359 --> 00:22:23,159
Speaker 1: finished the year at four in the world, where I

446
00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:24,879
Speaker 1: then went to which is like a dream play at

447
00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:27,760
Speaker 1: Madison Square Garden and I played Arthur in the final,

448
00:22:28,320 --> 00:22:30,800
Speaker 1: who sort of tried to trick me the same way

449
00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:33,160
Speaker 1: trick Connors and seventy five with sort of these off

450
00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:36,879
Speaker 1: speed pitchers, our speed shots, and he almost beat me.

451
00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:39,560
Speaker 1: I beat him easily, in the round robin portion. Then

452
00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:41,160
Speaker 1: he had two match points on me and he said,

453
00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:43,119
Speaker 1: he got screwed on a call. So that's like the

454
00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:46,560
Speaker 1: one time I actually got a good call that saved me.

455
00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:49,120
Speaker 1: If God rest his soul, he was here. He tell

456
00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:51,159
Speaker 1: you right now that he was screwed. Of course, he

457
00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:53,919
Speaker 1: took it a lot better than Ida with the one

458
00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:56,280
Speaker 1: time of rep with your friends. And then yeah, exactly

459
00:22:56,840 --> 00:23:01,320
Speaker 1: two months after Arthur's match, I was playing Borg in

460
00:23:01,359 --> 00:23:05,720
Speaker 1: this match and I was going crazy. Was five on

461
00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:08,520
Speaker 1: in the third set and Biorn pointed his finger. He

462
00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:11,199
Speaker 1: said come here, and I thought, oh my god, this

463
00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:13,000
Speaker 1: guy is gonna tell me I'm the biggest house all

464
00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:15,520
Speaker 1: that ever lived, because I was just losing it. And

465
00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:17,040
Speaker 1: he put his arm around me when we got to

466
00:23:17,119 --> 00:23:21,639
Speaker 1: NY goes, look it's okay, this is good, okay, and

467
00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:25,040
Speaker 1: he sort of just I had this like goose bumps,

468
00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:27,120
Speaker 1: and I was like, wow, this guy can't And then

469
00:23:27,119 --> 00:23:29,240
Speaker 1: I for a second, I sorry, he's trying to play

470
00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:31,080
Speaker 1: head games with me like I thought he was. You know,

471
00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:32,959
Speaker 1: he doesn't mean it, he doesn't mean it. What does

472
00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:37,040
Speaker 1: he mean? And so I got I was I started analyzing,

473
00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:39,560
Speaker 1: but then I thought, God, this guy sort of accepted me,

474
00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:41,960
Speaker 1: like I'm sort of part of this elite group and

475
00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:44,000
Speaker 1: it's like, look, let's let's roll with this. This is

476
00:23:44,040 --> 00:23:46,359
Speaker 1: gonna be amazing. And that was one of the greatest

477
00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:50,639
Speaker 1: moments in my life. Born borg accepting you Borgs like

478
00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:53,280
Speaker 1: the guy, I'm here for Connors and I are gonna

479
00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:57,199
Speaker 1: be battling. That's a given. And there's Gary Litas was

480
00:23:57,240 --> 00:23:59,600
Speaker 1: like Joe Namath in the tennis world. He was like

481
00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:01,919
Speaker 1: broad Way vit Us. He was like the greatest. I mean,

482
00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:03,560
Speaker 1: I just follow him around so I could get in

483
00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:06,520
Speaker 1: Studio fifty four. I go to Studio fifty four just

484
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:09,000
Speaker 1: and I was five in the world. Then right, this

485
00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:11,840
Speaker 1: is right around when I beat Arthur and Mark I

486
00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:15,520
Speaker 1: forgot his last time dormant fifty four. Get out of here.

487
00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:19,199
Speaker 1: You get little Pip Squeak. And then when Vitas would come,

488
00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:21,280
Speaker 1: they'd be like to roll out the red carpet. He'd

489
00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:23,280
Speaker 1: come with these you know, the Cheryl ties and these

490
00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:26,520
Speaker 1: beautiful women for oh my god. So I just call

491
00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:28,440
Speaker 1: you gotta get a fir when you know I got

492
00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:30,480
Speaker 1: one of those. But when do you go into the

493
00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:35,160
Speaker 1: studio time you're drive and people are like, hey, that's

494
00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:37,760
Speaker 1: John McEnroe. You know, I'd be like the three people

495
00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:39,520
Speaker 1: they couldn't get in. I'm like, oh my god, I

496
00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:42,760
Speaker 1: can't see we're on the same boat. Now. When you

497
00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:47,280
Speaker 1: when you have a rivalry with someone like Connors, what

498
00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:48,760
Speaker 1: was the match you had with him that was the

499
00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:51,320
Speaker 1: most satisfying. Probably when I beat him at Wimbledon. I

500
00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:53,360
Speaker 1: destroyed him at Wimbledon, But I mean in a way

501
00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:56,160
Speaker 1: you want to win the close ones, uh, the five setters.

502
00:24:56,640 --> 00:25:01,119
Speaker 1: But when I beat him at Wimbledon four in like minutes,

503
00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:03,679
Speaker 1: that was probably the most ass Because we weren't speaking

504
00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:05,879
Speaker 1: to each other at all. He he he chose at

505
00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:08,159
Speaker 1: certain times not to speak to me. I never chose

506
00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:10,480
Speaker 1: not to speak to him. He would make the consciant

507
00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:14,199
Speaker 1: decision to sort of make it even more problematic than

508
00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:16,200
Speaker 1: it was. And we were actually on the Davis Cup

509
00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:20,000
Speaker 1: team together. We were teammates, and he he would not

510
00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:23,280
Speaker 1: speak to me. But during the whole week on a

511
00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:25,879
Speaker 1: team with you and I had played seven straight straight

512
00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:28,320
Speaker 1: years of Davis Cup and Arthur ashe was the captain

513
00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:30,720
Speaker 1: at this stage. He started eighty one and eighty four

514
00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:33,560
Speaker 1: O'Connors wanted a notch in his belt, like he had

515
00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:36,560
Speaker 1: a Davis Cup championship team. He could see I'm part

516
00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:38,440
Speaker 1: of the because he he will always be like, screw

517
00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:40,800
Speaker 1: you to Davis Cup. He's like a total individual. He

518
00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:43,360
Speaker 1: didn't want to be part of a team. So Connors

519
00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:46,320
Speaker 1: was that we were playing Argentina in Atlanta and Arthur

520
00:25:46,359 --> 00:25:49,440
Speaker 1: calls me up and he says, listen, John, Jimmy doesn't

521
00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:51,000
Speaker 1: want you to come to the team dinner. And it's

522
00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:53,200
Speaker 1: like the team dinner went, so would you mind um

523
00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:56,160
Speaker 1: not coming? So I go, Arthur, I'm the guy that's

524
00:25:56,160 --> 00:25:58,400
Speaker 1: played every goddamn match the last seven years, and now

525
00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:01,320
Speaker 1: you're telling me. This guy he's like so pathetically doing

526
00:26:01,359 --> 00:26:04,400
Speaker 1: this for political purposes. He looks good, you're gonna tell

527
00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:08,080
Speaker 1: me not to go? Are you kidding? So he said.

528
00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:11,240
Speaker 1: Then he thought about it, realized that that was that

529
00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:15,320
Speaker 1: was wrong, and that you know, Jimmy didn't come. Jimmy

530
00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:19,879
Speaker 1: stayed in another hotel. We didn't speak to the entire

531
00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:23,600
Speaker 1: yearn till we got to the finals in December of

532
00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:26,679
Speaker 1: eighty four and we had lost our first two matches,

533
00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:29,560
Speaker 1: still not speaking. Peter Fleming and my old doubles partner

534
00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:31,840
Speaker 1: were playing the doubles, a close match against ed Berg

535
00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:33,800
Speaker 1: and Yard, a great team. We're losing it to the

536
00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:37,560
Speaker 1: fourth set, two sets to one down, four set tiebreaker.

537
00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:41,359
Speaker 1: I look up and all of a sudden connors of guys.

538
00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:43,680
Speaker 1: First time I had seen this the entire year because

539
00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:47,960
Speaker 1: spirit where we were. We lose this tiebreaker. We've lost

540
00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:51,560
Speaker 1: to David's Cup too, to Sweden, and I remember that,

541
00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:54,199
Speaker 1: which is sad. I feel bad about this because I'm

542
00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:57,639
Speaker 1: representing my country. But I'm sitting there and I'm just going,

543
00:26:58,520 --> 00:27:02,760
Speaker 1: this guy's doing this now, that so lame. I'll show him,

544
00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:05,480
Speaker 1: you know. Showing him was like losing. We could have

545
00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:07,760
Speaker 1: lost anyway, and Peter Fleming end up double fault in

546
00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:11,119
Speaker 1: a match point we lost and it was and then

547
00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:14,720
Speaker 1: the next day he's like, hey man, let's practice or whatever.

548
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:18,480
Speaker 1: He's like totally changed back to like, let's hang out.

549
00:27:19,359 --> 00:27:22,600
Speaker 1: You're talking about a mask with him? Yeah, we at

550
00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:25,080
Speaker 1: times and we can talk now, but he's like the

551
00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:27,720
Speaker 1: master manipulator. Now, when you come up in the game

552
00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:30,520
Speaker 1: and you're seventeen years old, I mean there's people I'm

553
00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:33,600
Speaker 1: assuming you worship an admire So when you get up

554
00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:37,760
Speaker 1: there and you knock off ash was it bitter sweet? No,

555
00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:41,560
Speaker 1: I mean it was bitter sweet when I beat Vitas Garrolitis.

556
00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:43,560
Speaker 1: If when I'm in the US Open for the first time,

557
00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:46,520
Speaker 1: that was bitter sweet, especially since he never wanted I

558
00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:48,840
Speaker 1: didn't know at the time that i'd win forward, he'd

559
00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:51,760
Speaker 1: win none. And I was four years younger, and we're

560
00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:54,040
Speaker 1: both from Queens, which I don't think is ever gonna happen,

561
00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:55,919
Speaker 1: two kids from Queens playing the finals of the U

562
00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:57,720
Speaker 1: s Open. I hope it does. I hope my tennis

563
00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:00,920
Speaker 1: economy produces a couple of kids, but likely it isn't

564
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:04,920
Speaker 1: very high. And they're booing us because they wanted board Connors,

565
00:28:05,359 --> 00:28:08,840
Speaker 1: because those are the bigger names. Who coached you? I

566
00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:11,600
Speaker 1: had this guy in the name of Tony Palafox, who

567
00:28:12,359 --> 00:28:15,320
Speaker 1: oh yeah, he taught me how to play. Important is coaching.

568
00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:19,000
Speaker 1: While coaching is can be overrated and and at times

569
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:21,240
Speaker 1: it's critical. But you know, I didn't have a coach.

570
00:28:21,280 --> 00:28:22,879
Speaker 1: He traveled with me. I didn't like that. Who's a

571
00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:24,880
Speaker 1: player that coaching made a difference. You thought a good

572
00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:27,320
Speaker 1: coach helped that player. Uh, there's a lot of guys

573
00:28:27,359 --> 00:28:30,040
Speaker 1: like that. You know, Nadal's uncle is incredible. I mean

574
00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:32,320
Speaker 1: I know who that. I don't know who Tony Nadal is,

575
00:28:32,359 --> 00:28:36,800
Speaker 1: but whatever he's done is amazing. Uh. Bjorn Bork had

576
00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:39,560
Speaker 1: this guy Leonard Bergland, who was a father figure played

577
00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:42,520
Speaker 1: you know, not a known well known player, sweetish player,

578
00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:44,200
Speaker 1: but he also was like his mssusse and he was

579
00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:46,720
Speaker 1: also a psychologist and he was also took care of

580
00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:49,400
Speaker 1: him as like a bodyguard almost and he he did

581
00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:52,200
Speaker 1: everything for him. He was incredible for him. And Sigura

582
00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:55,200
Speaker 1: was with Connors. He used to criticize me and the

583
00:28:55,240 --> 00:28:58,200
Speaker 1: guy's a bum. You know, he's nobody's nothing. You know,

584
00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:00,960
Speaker 1: Cigura would saying and be like it made me want

585
00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:03,360
Speaker 1: to beat him even more. But I mean, Sigura for

586
00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:05,880
Speaker 1: a period of time did great things. And when I

587
00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:09,160
Speaker 1: lost to lende Um, I believe at that time he

588
00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:11,440
Speaker 1: was being coached by he had started being coached by

589
00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:14,240
Speaker 1: Tony Roach, who did some great work with some people.

590
00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:17,000
Speaker 1: And you look at Ky Hill has done some good

591
00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:19,920
Speaker 1: work with Agazine hewittt. Those are mainly the top pronow

592
00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:23,160
Speaker 1: that has the woman coach that is Murray. He's being

593
00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:26,160
Speaker 1: coached by Miresumo, which you know is obviously like a

594
00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:28,840
Speaker 1: left field move. The very few of any people have.

595
00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:31,200
Speaker 1: I mean a few people have had their mothers involved.

596
00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:36,520
Speaker 1: Safin's mother was around, and there's some sometimes that's happened.

597
00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:38,640
Speaker 1: I know there's been a few occasions. I don't recall

598
00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:40,040
Speaker 1: at the top of my head who it was, but

599
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:42,800
Speaker 1: for the most part, you rarely, if ever see a

600
00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:45,959
Speaker 1: woman coaching a man. Lendall did a great joy. I

601
00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:48,360
Speaker 1: hate to say it, you know, because we went at

602
00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:50,800
Speaker 1: it also, but he did a tremendous job in Murray.

603
00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:53,640
Speaker 1: Does Lindall play in the seniors. He played a little bit,

604
00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:55,680
Speaker 1: But I mean I never thought that I would see

605
00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:58,480
Speaker 1: the day where I'd be in better shaped than he was. Wow,

606
00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:00,719
Speaker 1: this is amazing. What do you do notice in shape? Well,

607
00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:02,760
Speaker 1: I go to the gym three three four days and

608
00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:06,160
Speaker 1: do what I do A combination of cardio. I mean,

609
00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:09,200
Speaker 1: you have to do recovery, stretching, score work. I do

610
00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:12,240
Speaker 1: pilates once a week, some weights. You wouldn't know it

611
00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:13,880
Speaker 1: because I mean I left and then I come out

612
00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:16,640
Speaker 1: and looks the same as but I feel like I'm fit,

613
00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:18,760
Speaker 1: and then I hit the courts, like after we do this,

614
00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:22,120
Speaker 1: I'll hit the tennis courts. Yeah, I played probably three

615
00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:24,760
Speaker 1: days a week and you never sit there and look

616
00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:26,600
Speaker 1: at it and go, I can't just I just don't

617
00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:28,400
Speaker 1: want to do this. Yeah, sometimes I do that because

618
00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:31,400
Speaker 1: the body just at times it's depressing. You know, you

619
00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:34,280
Speaker 1: there's a lot of chronic pain, and you know I've

620
00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:37,000
Speaker 1: had hip chronic hip problems for thirty years. What do

621
00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:39,240
Speaker 1: you do for it? Are a lot of things, you know.

622
00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:41,920
Speaker 1: I do pilates, I go to physical therapy. I'll do

623
00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:46,040
Speaker 1: a massage, I'll do certain stretches, I'll do weights. But

624
00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:49,360
Speaker 1: I mean this is tennis. Beats you up. You're stopping

625
00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:52,080
Speaker 1: and starting and sims. I mean, go try doing that,

626
00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:54,080
Speaker 1: like when it's done at the championship level. It's kind

627
00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:56,760
Speaker 1: of stunning. When you watch people do those and those spins,

628
00:30:56,920 --> 00:30:59,880
Speaker 1: I think it's it's it's diazing. And also think about

629
00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:02,720
Speaker 1: like the US Open this year, you see the heat

630
00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:05,480
Speaker 1: was I mean, sometimes that's a serious problem. That's to

631
00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:08,480
Speaker 1: me why Djokovic loss wasn't anything to do with anything

632
00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:10,920
Speaker 1: else but other than that freaked him out and the

633
00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:13,360
Speaker 1: other guy had did an amazing job of sort of

634
00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:16,479
Speaker 1: dealing with it. But he had no business. You know,

635
00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:18,760
Speaker 1: to me, he wouldn't have There's no way that Djokovic

636
00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:20,320
Speaker 1: would have lost had it not been a hundred and

637
00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:23,880
Speaker 1: twenty on the court. But that happened. Sometimes when when

638
00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:26,719
Speaker 1: you play tennis at the level you play tennis, do

639
00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:29,240
Speaker 1: people do they look at film? Do they study the

640
00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:31,280
Speaker 1: other guy? He said, then go oh, I I have

641
00:31:31,320 --> 00:31:34,120
Speaker 1: a certain technique to play this guy. I tried to

642
00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:37,000
Speaker 1: sort of, you know, get as close as possible to

643
00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:41,360
Speaker 1: reaching my my peak as far as like what I

644
00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:44,320
Speaker 1: could do, and sort of adding to that ideally. But

645
00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:46,920
Speaker 1: what I thought when I was playing the way I

646
00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:50,240
Speaker 1: could play, I would force them to sort of get

647
00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:53,240
Speaker 1: out of their comfort zone, not me alter my game.

648
00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:55,760
Speaker 1: I thought that my game was good enough to deal

649
00:31:55,840 --> 00:31:59,920
Speaker 1: with whatever they had to offer. I was taught, which

650
00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:04,400
Speaker 1: is totally unlike now shorter back swings. Take the ball

651
00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:07,800
Speaker 1: early and be aggressive and you know, move forward and

652
00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:10,040
Speaker 1: go to the net because I have a much better

653
00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:11,560
Speaker 1: chance of winning the point in net than I do

654
00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:14,280
Speaker 1: from the baseline. On the old grass courts, there's a

655
00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:16,720
Speaker 1: lot of bad bounces, so if you let the ball bounce,

656
00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:19,320
Speaker 1: the ball would often not be where you thought it

657
00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:22,000
Speaker 1: was gonna be. I would have loved to play like not.

658
00:32:22,520 --> 00:32:25,080
Speaker 1: I certainly would have loved to playing the doll on clay,

659
00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:29,400
Speaker 1: that would have been everyone's worst nightmare. But on grass,

660
00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:31,520
Speaker 1: the old grass, I mean, he would have been missitting

661
00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:34,760
Speaker 1: like the shots. If I saw a guy swinging like

662
00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:37,640
Speaker 1: they swing now, I would have thought, I got this this,

663
00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:40,440
Speaker 1: this guy can't do this. So would rackets were still

664
00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:42,880
Speaker 1: in vogue back when you started, when I started, and

665
00:32:43,320 --> 00:32:46,640
Speaker 1: they're very quickly. They were gone metal probably before I

666
00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:50,240
Speaker 1: lasted to about eighty two eighty three with with wood.

667
00:32:50,480 --> 00:32:52,600
Speaker 1: Where do you think it can go from here though? Equipment? Why,

668
00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:54,240
Speaker 1: I don't know, but I think they should try to

669
00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:56,600
Speaker 1: figure something out where they should make it more of

670
00:32:56,640 --> 00:33:00,800
Speaker 1: a level playing field for players attacking the net because

671
00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:03,920
Speaker 1: the way it is now, it's these strings are sort

672
00:33:03,960 --> 00:33:08,240
Speaker 1: of benefit swinging harder with less feel for the ball,

673
00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:11,240
Speaker 1: but you get more action like spin if you swing harder.

674
00:33:11,280 --> 00:33:13,920
Speaker 1: So the rackets have gotten a lot lighter, and they're

675
00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:16,400
Speaker 1: just taking tremendous swings at the ball, but they're they're

676
00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:18,800
Speaker 1: stiffer strings, so you don't feel the ball at net

677
00:33:18,840 --> 00:33:20,920
Speaker 1: the way that you see, so they're more reticent the

678
00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:22,640
Speaker 1: players of coming to net because the ball is being

679
00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:24,920
Speaker 1: hit harder. So I'm not sure where they can go

680
00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:26,640
Speaker 1: from here in ten years, they could change. They could

681
00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:28,800
Speaker 1: do a lot of things, though. I mean you could

682
00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:31,400
Speaker 1: change the dimension of the cord or slightly moving the

683
00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:34,160
Speaker 1: service line. You could change how big a racket could be.

684
00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:37,240
Speaker 1: Because my would racket may have been seventy eight square inches,

685
00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:40,160
Speaker 1: Serena's is like a hundred and five. You know that's

686
00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:43,840
Speaker 1: a huge difference. And her racket is I would say

687
00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:48,000
Speaker 1: at least sixty grams lighter than mine. Now you have

688
00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:51,520
Speaker 1: six kids, six kids. You have a step daughter, one

689
00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:57,280
Speaker 1: step your wife from her Richard held the guy from

690
00:33:57,320 --> 00:33:59,680
Speaker 1: a television the band, one of the first punk bands,

691
00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:02,200
Speaker 1: is Ruby's father, and you have three kids from your

692
00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:06,240
Speaker 1: first mar and Patty have to correct. Are any of

693
00:34:06,240 --> 00:34:09,960
Speaker 1: them worth a damn on the tennis court? Don't make

694
00:34:09,960 --> 00:34:13,080
Speaker 1: me answer that four of them have now played high

695
00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:17,240
Speaker 1: school tennis. Ruby, my stepdaughter, was the only one who didn't.

696
00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:20,160
Speaker 1: And and Emily, who's the third of the three ad

697
00:34:20,200 --> 00:34:24,440
Speaker 1: with Tatum, didn't ever really tried to do it. Who's

698
00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:27,120
Speaker 1: the one you think likes it the most? Maybe he

699
00:34:27,200 --> 00:34:30,960
Speaker 1: just enjoys playing I don't think any of them deep

700
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:33,399
Speaker 1: down seemed to really enjoy it. I want to give

701
00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:34,800
Speaker 1: one of any of your kids who are listening, I

702
00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:36,319
Speaker 1: want to give him a piece of advice because to me,

703
00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:38,400
Speaker 1: this is how I operate. And then his life is

704
00:34:38,480 --> 00:34:40,719
Speaker 1: just a series of moments. And if I had six

705
00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:42,640
Speaker 1: kids and there was one of them was smart enough

706
00:34:42,680 --> 00:34:45,000
Speaker 1: to sit there and it's just dead silence in the room,

707
00:34:45,040 --> 00:34:48,359
Speaker 1: and one even daughter or son says, I'll go hit

708
00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:49,680
Speaker 1: with you, dad, because knew what means the world to

709
00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:51,560
Speaker 1: then you kind of had like twenty five years and

710
00:34:51,600 --> 00:34:53,920
Speaker 1: we read the Last Will and Testament of John mcrew.

711
00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:57,200
Speaker 1: I bequeathed my entire fortune to my daughter Emily, who

712
00:34:57,200 --> 00:34:58,600
Speaker 1: always hit the ball with me when I want hit

713
00:34:58,600 --> 00:35:01,239
Speaker 1: the ball. I they don't get it. Well, some of

714
00:35:01,239 --> 00:35:03,440
Speaker 1: them did try to do that. I never felt like

715
00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:05,120
Speaker 1: they could listen to me. But I guess it was

716
00:35:05,120 --> 00:35:06,960
Speaker 1: the way I approached it. You know. I'd be like,

717
00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:10,719
Speaker 1: watch the ball. Then then Patty would be just take

718
00:35:10,760 --> 00:35:14,240
Speaker 1: it easy, will you? I go, I am taking it easy. Okay,

719
00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:18,040
Speaker 1: that's the problem. This is taking it easy. Passionate. That's

720
00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:22,880
Speaker 1: the word. I like. Passionate. Both question, what's been the

721
00:35:22,880 --> 00:35:27,440
Speaker 1: biggest challenge of fatherhood for you? I the biggest challenge

722
00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:31,640
Speaker 1: of fatherhood is just how to make these kids happy.

723
00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:35,000
Speaker 1: I love being a father. Um, I don't know how

724
00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:36,600
Speaker 1: good I am with it, but I did love it.

725
00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:39,000
Speaker 1: I loved a lot of kids around. I love it.

726
00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:43,239
Speaker 1: But you realize that in retrospect now when kids are

727
00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:45,120
Speaker 1: in their twenties four and my six kids are in

728
00:35:45,120 --> 00:35:49,160
Speaker 1: their twenties, that it's difficult to sort of get that

729
00:35:49,280 --> 00:35:51,920
Speaker 1: individual time with each one. You know, I'd sort of

730
00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:53,799
Speaker 1: like to do things. Let's all go to the nick game,

731
00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:55,799
Speaker 1: or let's let's all go do this, and then it

732
00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:58,319
Speaker 1: was sort of I guess in retrospect, I would have

733
00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:00,239
Speaker 1: liked to pick my spots a little better with each

734
00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:03,399
Speaker 1: individual one of them. But I mean it's it's by

735
00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:06,800
Speaker 1: far the hardest thing that I've ever done. And you

736
00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:09,120
Speaker 1: raise them in New York. Yeah, why do you used

737
00:36:09,120 --> 00:36:11,040
Speaker 1: to live in New York? I think New York is

738
00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:12,600
Speaker 1: the greatest city in the world that have been. You

739
00:36:12,600 --> 00:36:14,959
Speaker 1: have a home in California. You could live in any

740
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:17,560
Speaker 1: lifestyle you want to live, but you stay here. Well,

741
00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:20,359
Speaker 1: it keeps me somewhat grounded, if that makes any sense

742
00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:23,400
Speaker 1: at all, Because to most people that would seem like counterintuitive,

743
00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:25,719
Speaker 1: but to me just the mere fact that you see

744
00:36:25,719 --> 00:36:27,840
Speaker 1: all different types of people. I mean, I suppose I

745
00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:30,880
Speaker 1: just read in the Times today that Manhattan's got the

746
00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:34,399
Speaker 1: greatest the wealth difference is higher here than any place

747
00:36:34,440 --> 00:36:36,719
Speaker 1: in the country. So that's sort of set might bump

748
00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:38,920
Speaker 1: me out because it is getting more like that one percent.

749
00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:42,399
Speaker 1: But I also felt like, uh, to me, just going

750
00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:46,160
Speaker 1: in the subway and seeing wealthy people, not wealthy people,

751
00:36:46,400 --> 00:36:49,560
Speaker 1: white people, black people, all different kinds of people, that's

752
00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:52,239
Speaker 1: the best thing for a child. Like in Malibu, where

753
00:36:52,280 --> 00:36:55,640
Speaker 1: I have a home, it's a great place to hang out,

754
00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:57,640
Speaker 1: but it just seems like you're sort of it's like

755
00:36:57,719 --> 00:37:01,520
Speaker 1: living behind gated community rarefy. I mean in a way.

756
00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:04,920
Speaker 1: I mean, and I just think it's the best chance

757
00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:07,919
Speaker 1: of sort of being well rounded. Again, that makes sound

758
00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:09,799
Speaker 1: crazy to a lot of people that don't live here.

759
00:37:09,880 --> 00:37:12,080
Speaker 1: Would be for me to live here. I always dreamed of,

760
00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:14,560
Speaker 1: you know, as a queen's boy, wanting to move to Manhattan.

761
00:37:15,200 --> 00:37:19,000
Speaker 1: And I agree. There's times as I've gotten older where

762
00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:22,160
Speaker 1: I feel a little bit like, um, how much longer

763
00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:24,880
Speaker 1: do I need this or take this? Because sometimes just

764
00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:26,600
Speaker 1: like take a step back and you don't have to

765
00:37:26,600 --> 00:37:28,720
Speaker 1: go out and do everything, and I don't do everything,

766
00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:32,000
Speaker 1: but you can pick your spots and you have options

767
00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:34,440
Speaker 1: that you don't have in most places. I agree with

768
00:37:34,480 --> 00:37:36,719
Speaker 1: you that it's democratizing. I mean, as my uncle used

769
00:37:36,719 --> 00:37:39,400
Speaker 1: to say, millionaires and whorrors sitting on the same taxi

770
00:37:39,480 --> 00:37:41,560
Speaker 1: cab seat all day long. But at the same time,

771
00:37:41,600 --> 00:37:43,319
Speaker 1: I feel like if you're famous, it's become a little

772
00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:45,560
Speaker 1: bit tedious because it's a it's a different kind of well.

773
00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:48,160
Speaker 1: I feel like i've sort of, first of all, I'm

774
00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:51,520
Speaker 1: not arguably and I'm not as famous as I was,

775
00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:53,600
Speaker 1: and I'm sort of boring because I've been with the

776
00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:56,719
Speaker 1: same person for twenty years, and I try to sort

777
00:37:56,719 --> 00:37:59,520
Speaker 1: of fly under the radar if in a way, I'm

778
00:37:59,560 --> 00:38:02,440
Speaker 1: proud of what what I've accomplished, and I like to

779
00:38:02,520 --> 00:38:04,920
Speaker 1: be doing the commentary and I like to have a laugh.

780
00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:06,919
Speaker 1: And you go on your show once in a while

781
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:10,280
Speaker 1: or year old show, and most people are extremely positive.

782
00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:15,640
Speaker 1: The people are like, hey, Mac was that's an incredible thing.

783
00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:18,279
Speaker 1: Before it be people would say to me, John, I

784
00:38:18,360 --> 00:38:20,440
Speaker 1: gotta tell you something. You're a better commentator than you're

785
00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:23,280
Speaker 1: a tennis player. I go, what the hell's wrong with you?

786
00:38:23,719 --> 00:38:26,640
Speaker 1: I get pisted the first five to ten would possibly

787
00:38:26,680 --> 00:38:28,960
Speaker 1: say that a lot of people okay, and I've actually

788
00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:31,400
Speaker 1: sort of accepted that. I said, wait a second, if

789
00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:33,960
Speaker 1: I'm a better commentator than I am a tennis player,

790
00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:36,439
Speaker 1: I must be pretty good, damn good coming here because

791
00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:38,760
Speaker 1: I was pretty good at tennis. It's taken me about

792
00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:42,920
Speaker 1: ten years to finally go, wow, that's embrace it. I

793
00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:45,120
Speaker 1: try to view myself at the end of each year,

794
00:38:46,080 --> 00:38:48,719
Speaker 1: am I a better person than I was than I

795
00:38:48,760 --> 00:38:51,759
Speaker 1: was last year? Like when I was twenty five, when

796
00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:53,359
Speaker 1: I had this sort of the world by the tail

797
00:38:53,400 --> 00:38:55,880
Speaker 1: and I was thought, I'm the best player that ever lived.

798
00:38:55,920 --> 00:38:59,160
Speaker 1: I looked at that no one could beat me, and

799
00:38:59,200 --> 00:39:03,960
Speaker 1: then I had a having because I felt like this

800
00:39:04,120 --> 00:39:06,239
Speaker 1: wasn't giving me everything I wanted. I was like, why

801
00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:08,600
Speaker 1: is it that I'm like the greatest player that ever lived?

802
00:39:08,600 --> 00:39:10,520
Speaker 1: In a way or what people are saying? This so

803
00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:14,359
Speaker 1: certainly one of them, and it just doesn't feel that satisfying.

804
00:39:14,480 --> 00:39:16,840
Speaker 1: You know, I need something else. I want to be

805
00:39:16,880 --> 00:39:20,959
Speaker 1: more well rounded. So while arguably I had a tough

806
00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:24,879
Speaker 1: time juggling marriage, you know, I three kids in five

807
00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:27,040
Speaker 1: years or Tatum, there was the last five years of

808
00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:30,080
Speaker 1: my career and how to do that properly. I found

809
00:39:30,080 --> 00:39:33,680
Speaker 1: that extremely difficult. I did feel like it was forcing

810
00:39:33,680 --> 00:39:35,760
Speaker 1: me to sort of own up as a as a person.

811
00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:37,640
Speaker 1: You know, you've got to step up and you know,

812
00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:40,640
Speaker 1: quit being so damn spoiled or whatever the hell you

813
00:39:40,680 --> 00:39:43,200
Speaker 1: were thought you were, and you know, it's sort of forced.

814
00:39:43,239 --> 00:39:45,640
Speaker 1: It forced me down to earth, and it ended up

815
00:39:45,640 --> 00:39:47,640
Speaker 1: making me a better person in the long run, even

816
00:39:47,640 --> 00:39:49,400
Speaker 1: though my results were never the same, you know, and

817
00:39:49,840 --> 00:39:52,120
Speaker 1: it's not just because there's a lot of other things,

818
00:39:52,160 --> 00:39:55,000
Speaker 1: you know that went into it too, But it sort

819
00:39:55,000 --> 00:39:56,759
Speaker 1: of felt like it was worth it in a way

820
00:39:56,800 --> 00:39:59,600
Speaker 1: because where I am now as a person is in

821
00:39:59,719 --> 00:40:04,239
Speaker 1: part because I feel like I've dealt reasonably well with

822
00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:07,320
Speaker 1: certain curveballs that were throwing my way. You play doubles

823
00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:10,120
Speaker 1: now with your brother the occasionally, not all the time,

824
00:40:10,160 --> 00:40:13,600
Speaker 1: not all the time, and you enjoy that. I enjoy

825
00:40:13,600 --> 00:40:15,799
Speaker 1: it now. We're seven and a half year gap, so

826
00:40:15,840 --> 00:40:17,800
Speaker 1: it was sort of when we did do it, we're

827
00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:20,719
Speaker 1: the oldest on the old marks, three years younger than

828
00:40:20,760 --> 00:40:22,600
Speaker 1: me and than four and a half younger than Patrick,

829
00:40:22,719 --> 00:40:25,560
Speaker 1: but it was we play a similar style, so you

830
00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:27,720
Speaker 1: sort of need like the big guy that hits serves

831
00:40:27,760 --> 00:40:30,080
Speaker 1: Big and Tim and in net and then we're like

832
00:40:30,120 --> 00:40:33,040
Speaker 1: the field guys that put the ball at the feet return,

833
00:40:33,520 --> 00:40:36,640
Speaker 1: you know, get things done, have good anticipation. But we

834
00:40:37,120 --> 00:40:40,920
Speaker 1: neither one of us a particularly overwhelming serve. So we

835
00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:43,280
Speaker 1: it felt like we were sort of the same guys,

836
00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:46,120
Speaker 1: so we were better off plane probably against other people,

837
00:40:46,160 --> 00:40:48,600
Speaker 1: but at this point it doesn't matter. So you know,

838
00:40:48,640 --> 00:40:49,719
Speaker 1: we just want to go out there and have a

839
00:40:49,719 --> 00:40:52,279
Speaker 1: little fun and we can do enough where we can

840
00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:55,839
Speaker 1: win anyway. You know, you watch these shows. I mean,

841
00:40:55,840 --> 00:40:57,800
Speaker 1: I'm a sports nut. I watched thirty for thirty and

842
00:40:57,840 --> 00:41:01,440
Speaker 1: you see these like sorry moments people have and I'm wondering,

843
00:41:01,560 --> 00:41:03,440
Speaker 1: is there We're not saying it's the greatest moment, but

844
00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:05,440
Speaker 1: is there some moment e when you when you turn

845
00:41:05,520 --> 00:41:07,880
Speaker 1: on the TV and you're on the TV and they

846
00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:10,040
Speaker 1: show some highlight of viewers, there's some moment even you

847
00:41:10,040 --> 00:41:12,799
Speaker 1: sit there and go, yeah, man, that was really unfortunately. Yeah,

848
00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:14,960
Speaker 1: I'd like to tell you yes, because but too many

849
00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:17,400
Speaker 1: of them are me yelling in like an umpire. You know,

850
00:41:17,440 --> 00:41:20,200
Speaker 1: it's like YouTube, No, I know what you're saying. I mean,

851
00:41:20,520 --> 00:41:22,520
Speaker 1: I don't want to pick one of those. My proudest

852
00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:26,240
Speaker 1: moment of four days would be the U s Open.

853
00:41:26,640 --> 00:41:29,480
Speaker 1: I played my three greatest rivals in four days. I

854
00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:32,000
Speaker 1: played Lando in the quarters the Thursday night, I beat

855
00:41:32,080 --> 00:41:34,319
Speaker 1: him like seven, five and the fourth. I had to

856
00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:36,279
Speaker 1: come back in the next morning at eleven and play

857
00:41:36,320 --> 00:41:39,520
Speaker 1: the finals of the doubles, which Peter Fleming and I lost,

858
00:41:39,560 --> 00:41:42,360
Speaker 1: I believe the Smith and Let's in five sets. And

859
00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:44,760
Speaker 1: then I had to come back Saturday to play Connors

860
00:41:45,400 --> 00:41:47,480
Speaker 1: and I was two sets to one down in a

861
00:41:47,600 --> 00:41:50,359
Speaker 1: break in the fourth set, uh and ended up beating

862
00:41:50,440 --> 00:41:53,280
Speaker 1: him seven six and the fifth. And then the next

863
00:41:53,320 --> 00:41:55,759
Speaker 1: day the finals on Sunday because we had to play

864
00:41:55,800 --> 00:41:57,920
Speaker 1: these back to back, which is crazy. Saturday said, I

865
00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:00,880
Speaker 1: played born Bord, who I had lost the eight famous

866
00:42:00,960 --> 00:42:04,920
Speaker 1: night Wimbledon Final two, which is probably like my proudest moment.

867
00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:07,400
Speaker 1: That's the one where like the tiebreaker and that's the

868
00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:09,319
Speaker 1: one that people talk to Hi about a hundred times.

869
00:42:09,320 --> 00:42:12,200
Speaker 1: But for me coming back and then beating him six,

870
00:42:12,280 --> 00:42:15,960
Speaker 1: four and five to win the US Open, that was

871
00:42:16,040 --> 00:42:19,440
Speaker 1: my proudest few days as a tennis player. Uh. I

872
00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:21,120
Speaker 1: just want to say that in that way that sports

873
00:42:21,160 --> 00:42:23,840
Speaker 1: highlights are packaged so beautifully now you know, ESPN and

874
00:42:23,880 --> 00:42:26,640
Speaker 1: so forth. I think what's great about your career is

875
00:42:26,680 --> 00:42:30,600
Speaker 1: even years later, someone like me who has admired you forever,

876
00:42:30,840 --> 00:42:34,360
Speaker 1: you had the greatest highest coordination of any athlete in

877
00:42:34,400 --> 00:42:37,759
Speaker 1: pro sports. You to watch you with the just lacerating

878
00:42:37,760 --> 00:42:39,800
Speaker 1: these people was really thrilling. And what's great is you

879
00:42:39,840 --> 00:42:43,319
Speaker 1: watch it even now and it's still thrilling. Tell me more, no, no, no, no,

880
00:42:43,400 --> 00:42:45,800
Speaker 1: thank you. I appreciate, and which kills me now because

881
00:42:45,840 --> 00:42:48,720
Speaker 1: I've recently, last like eight years, I have used reading

882
00:42:48,760 --> 00:42:51,520
Speaker 1: glasses and the very thing like people say you could

883
00:42:51,560 --> 00:42:53,400
Speaker 1: play doubles now, and like, yeah, I could play doubles

884
00:42:53,400 --> 00:42:56,560
Speaker 1: now against people I can name other than the Brian Brothers,

885
00:42:56,800 --> 00:42:59,080
Speaker 1: But I can't see two feet away from me, you know.

886
00:42:59,160 --> 00:43:01,080
Speaker 1: So the thing that I it best is sort of

887
00:43:01,120 --> 00:43:03,600
Speaker 1: like I I sort of go instead of like right there,

888
00:43:03,640 --> 00:43:05,719
Speaker 1: I sort of go, you know, look back, like you

889
00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:08,120
Speaker 1: do when you can't see a newspaper headline anymore. So

890
00:43:08,160 --> 00:43:11,200
Speaker 1: it's sort of sad, but I appreciate. I try to

891
00:43:11,200 --> 00:43:13,440
Speaker 1: bring that something different to the game. But I think

892
00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:15,520
Speaker 1: the thing you did best as you entertain people. You

893
00:43:15,719 --> 00:43:18,920
Speaker 1: entertain people. I think you put people. Yeah, they you

894
00:43:18,960 --> 00:43:22,520
Speaker 1: want us. You definitely gave them their where they came

895
00:43:22,560 --> 00:43:31,839
Speaker 1: to see you. Thanks. John McEnroe admits he hasn't quite

896
00:43:31,880 --> 00:43:35,120
Speaker 1: figured out how to enjoy losing as you get older.

897
00:43:35,120 --> 00:43:37,719
Speaker 1: He says, the pain of losing is greater and the

898
00:43:37,840 --> 00:43:41,439
Speaker 1: joy of winning is diminished. Even if that's true, John,

899
00:43:41,480 --> 00:43:45,799
Speaker 1: you've always made both so much fun to watch. This

900
00:43:45,880 --> 00:43:48,560
Speaker 1: is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to here's the thing.