WEBVTT - John McEnroe 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:09.600 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to. Here's the thing, 0:00:10.160 --> 0:00:15.160 My chance to talk with artists, policymakers and performers, to 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:19.040 hear their stories, What inspired their creations, what decisions changed 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:27.880 their careers, what relationships influenced their work. The lead guitarist 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:30.960 you're listening to is one of the biggest celebrities of 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:34.639 my generation. This is him again, maybe a little bit 0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:41.640 easier to recognize here. You cannot be serious. John McEnroe's 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:44.519 performances on the tennis court came as a shock to 0:00:44.640 --> 0:00:48.240 professional sports. Here was an athlete with a playing style 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:52.919 as unpredictable and surprising as his volcanic interactions with linesmen 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:59.160 and umpires. Today, his father says, John quote has gotten mellower, 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:03.800 but he's not met unquote. John still competes doubles, mostly 0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:07.279 with his brother Patrick. He is also the father of six, 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:11.319 an avid art collector and a television commentator. In two 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:14.959 thousand ten, he founded the John mcinrow Tennis Academy on 0:01:15.040 --> 0:01:18.640 Randall's Island in New York City. About twenty years ago, 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:22.399 John McEnroe took a serious interest in playing music. I 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:24.800 mean I was a music lover. I didn't play until 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:27.839 I was torn in so I was an air guitarist 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:30.520 in high school. And then when I started traveling on 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:33.440 the tennis tour, I realized that I had a lot 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:36.360 of downtime and I started to see some of these 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:39.920 great musicians, and we're seeing Buddy Guy in Chicago, and 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:42.640 he played and it was so magnificent that I was like, 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:44.240 what on my waist in my time? So I went 0:01:44.240 --> 0:01:48.280 back to my hotel smashed the guitar. Four hundred dollar guitar. 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:50.440 I wasn't too bad at the time. You could have 0:01:50.480 --> 0:01:52.720 donated that guitar to charity, you know, I hadn't. I 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:54.760 hadn't thought of it yet. I wasn't that bad yet. 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:58.240 I did love music, and I mean athletes oftentimes when 0:01:58.240 --> 0:02:02.440 we're practicing we played in music can there's definitely an 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:04.960 energy boost that it gives you when things are going 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:07.320 badly and you don't feel like doing it. But the 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:10.240 playing part of it actually was extremely frustrating because I'm 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:12.280 sort of a natural intennis but I never was in 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:17.160 guitar playing. My wife, Patty Smith says that her quote 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:19.720 from my guitar planes that I wrestle it into submission, 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:24.880 so I'm not exactly relaxed. I don't breathe particularly well. 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:28.480 It looks like I'm forcing it. So even though at 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:31.000 one stage, probably when I stopped playing on the main 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:33.840 tour in Tennis, I started shifting towards playing a lot 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:36.640 of music and actually had an actual band where I 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:40.800 was possibly deluding myself into thinking that maybe i'd actually 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:44.360 do They're gonna make it. It became apparent pretty quickly. 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:47.040 Because I wanted to be the Carlo Syntanna my group. 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:48.600 I didn't want to be the singer, but I couldn't 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:52.000 find a singer, so I ended up singing myself because 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:53.959 I couldn't get anyone else to sing. How would you 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:56.640 rate your singing? I would rate it C minus two 0:02:56.760 --> 0:03:00.400 D plus, but I wouldn't go out of key, but 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:03.680 I would just sing abysmally. And the first tour I 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:05.520 ever did, I went to Italy and we did like 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:09.360 a twelve city two week tour. We played twelve gigs 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:12.400 in fourteen days, and if I remembered the words there 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:15.200 a song and his breathing at the end of the song, 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:17.640 I considered it successful. I mean, forget the booze I 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:20.639 was hearing about how bad my voice was but I did. 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:22.680 I did a movie and they wanted us to sing 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:27.279 Rock of Ages. We did the propay musical Tom Everybody. 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:28.960 And when I get in the room and they said, yeah, 0:03:28.960 --> 0:03:31.080 we're gonna auto tune it. We're gonna auto tune it. 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:33.760 And I'm like, okay, it was terrible. I mean, I'm 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:35.560 not a good singer. Well I have it in my 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:38.080 heart and my soul. I'm a singer, you know. Funnily enough, 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:42.320 because if when I was doing this initially, I was 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:45.280 just started my relations with Patty Smith, who I've now 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:47.000 been with twenty years, but at the time it was 0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:50.520 just starting. So after first saying look, I mean, here 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:52.760 would be the perfect singer, I was like, this is 0:03:52.800 --> 0:03:54.920 perfect and she was like, are you crazy, I'm not 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:58.080 singing when you're banking. But because I knew her, I 0:03:58.160 --> 0:04:00.400 knew like her guitar player started playing with me, and 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:03.280 I was getting some pretty good musicians to play with me. 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:06.880 At one stage, Eddie Kramer, who was the engineer for Hendricks, 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:10.440 came on as a producer. So I'm thinking, all right, 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:13.080 this guy, I mean, he's done all these incredible Hendricks tunes, 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:16.240 and look what they did with the recordings, etcetera. I 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:18.160 was thinking the same thing you just said about the 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:21.039 auto tune. I was like, wait, listen, how come my 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:23.760 voice sounds like this? Okay, this is the best I got, 0:04:23.800 --> 0:04:26.080 So you gotta do something, and they weren't doing it, 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:28.960 which really frustrating me. I actually wanted that. I don't 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:32.720 know why I go is this an engineer, engine therapist? 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:35.560 What he wanted to face something? When I need you 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:38.440 to face it? It was painful. What kind of music 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:41.560 did you crave when you were a kid? Rock and roll? 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:44.680 Zeppelin was my favorite band growing up, Sabbath, you know, 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:47.000 I mean I was in sort of pretty heavy rock 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:52.400 and roll. But my first coach, who yeah, exactly? You 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:56.200 know who was better? The Stones or the Beatles? Uh? 0:04:56.480 --> 0:04:58.800 No comparison. I think I was more of a Stones guy, 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:01.080 though I do love the Beatle. I mean, now I've 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:03.880 going to appreciate just even attempting to write songs. I 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:07.440 realize how amazing both of them were that particular time 0:05:07.480 --> 0:05:10.480 when I'm me growing up. Actually were these incredible bands? 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:12.080 Well then me, the Beatles were like if there was 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:15.159 a girl involved, you know, when with the Stones were 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:18.320 the Stones were the soundtrack of all my party, although 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:20.200 the Beatles are pretty strong in that also. I mean 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:22.599 they had some pretty strong years too. They were pretty 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:25.919 out there that they weren't drinking lemonade. I don't think so. 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:31.200 When I see you on TV and ESPN programs and 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:34.440 the history of tennis, and the first thing I think about, 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:36.880 truly is I think to myself, when did it all 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:39.720 become aware to you? Like you're a kid in Douglaston. 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:43.159 Do you have a sense that you have this gift 0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:45.679 or you see it reflected in the eyes of other people. 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:47.520 Do other people woke up to you and say, John, 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:50.600 come with me. That's what happened, basically, because we had 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:55.200 no idea. My parents hadn't played either, so they didn't know. Um, 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:59.200 neither your parents were players. So when we joined this club, 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:00.560 I was eight and a half off and I just 0:06:00.560 --> 0:06:03.359 sort of loved to play sports. So I happened to 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:05.400 be so close to this club that I just started 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:08.120 hitting against the backboard. And soon afterwards the pro there 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:11.839 said to my parents, you know this guy, he's got something. 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:14.279 You should send him to this Port Washington and Tennis Academy, 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:16.719 which took a little time and jumped forward a little bit, 0:06:16.760 --> 0:06:19.800 but Basically that was a sort of idea, people telling 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:23.360 my parents who didn't know better, that there was something 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:25.360 they saw in me. And how did you feel about 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:28.920 that at the time, Because to go into the intensity 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:32.600 of individual sports mean you've played team sports as well. Correct. Correct, 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:35.880 I played soccer, basketball, In high school, I played football, 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:38.320 and grammar school I played baseball. I played pretty much 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:41.559 every sport. Hockey when the ponds froze over, I didn't 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:45.359 like it that much because everyone's losing all the time. 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:49.839 And tennis, tennis, Yeah, so I actually what I do 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:52.440 at my own tennis academy is sort of how I 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:56.640 was able to deal with the difficulties of being out 0:06:56.640 --> 0:06:58.839 there on your own, sort of feeling naked when you're losing, 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:01.839 and it's great. When you're winning, it's pretty bad, especially 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:04.040 when you're a kid. It's it's really hard to handles. 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:07.240 I think. So the outlet of having sort of teammates 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:10.720 are playing other sports to share with that that was 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:12.400 that was important for me. I think I would have 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:15.320 quit playing had it not been that I was able 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:18.640 to go to these other sports at different times, play 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:22.000 a lot less tennis, sort of rejuven it, getting you 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:24.720 start believing in yourself again, And I mean, you played 0:07:24.680 --> 0:07:27.080 a tournament in the twelve and unders, in the sixty 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:29.640 four guys, sixty three guys lose. You know, there's only 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:31.920 one guy that wins the tournament. So no matter what 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:33.920 level it is, even if you're sick. I was six 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:36.160 and seven in the nation and the twelve and unders. 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:38.640 I mean, that didn't amount to a whole lot to 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:41.200 a lot of people, but that meant that pretty much 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:44.280 every national tournament I played, I lost at that time, 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:46.640 and initially I wasn't even the top player in the East. 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:50.480 The best line ever told my father was when I 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:53.640 was twelve, it felt like he was putting to me, 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:56.559 too much pressure on me to sort of He really 0:07:56.640 --> 0:08:02.360 was probably acknowled it is his t degree, but not totally. 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:05.200 But but what I did, which I thought was pretty 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:08.640 you know, looking back, it saved me was I said, listen, Dad, 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:12.880 don't worry about what my ranking is now, because their 0:08:12.880 --> 0:08:15.120 goal was always to get me a college scholarship and 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:18.200 played Davis complishes when you represent your country. That's our 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:21.760 version of like the Olympics. At the time, don't come 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:23.880 to me until I'm eighteen. You know, that's the year 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:26.840 that the Stanfords or the usc l a S or SCS, 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:29.280 the top tennis schools are gonna come and say, hey, 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:33.079 we're gonna offer you a scholarship. So just like back off, 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:37.480 you felt that pressure, then yeah, I and my brother 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:41.280 who's my middle brother, not Patrick, Mark quit at twelve 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:43.800 thirteen because he couldn't I can't handle this anymore of 0:08:43.800 --> 0:08:46.720 these tournaments. And he's a good tennis player, he's a lawyer, 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:49.160 but he made the Stanford team one year. It's not 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:51.280 like the guy's a slouch, but he just couldn't deal 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:54.280 with And I found that to be. My parents weren't 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:56.200 even as nearly as bad as I see a lot 0:08:56.280 --> 0:08:59.680 of parents now, or even parents in my day. In 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:02.480 a kids are home schooled, which to me is really 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:05.839 unhealthy because you're already isolated on a tennis court. They 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:09.000 further isolate them by having them home school, which I 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:12.880 think is really unhealthy. None of them now play other sports, 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:15.960 which I think is unhealthy. So you're heading these kids 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:18.960 in the direction that's so few succeed and even if 0:09:18.960 --> 0:09:21.600 they do, then they almost they're not equipped to handle it. 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:23.880 And do you advise against that at your tennis I 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:26.640 totally advise against it. You want st I sit with 0:09:26.720 --> 0:09:29.080 parents and I tell them and until I'm blew in 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:31.800 the face and they don't listen to me. They sit 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:33.560 there like, what the hell you talk? You don't even 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:37.520 know what you're talking about. I'm like, you're like they 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:42.200 bruth to them now, like a dinosaur playing a different 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:45.480 style of wood rackets, you know, the way you play that. 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:49.400 No one does that stuff. So generally speaking, they look 0:09:49.440 --> 0:09:51.840 at me like, yeah, that was then, but this is 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:54.680 reality now, like attend They've got to be all in 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:57.000 and you've got to send your kids to bolt Arry's 0:09:57.080 --> 0:09:59.760 or some other kind of want anything, well, I mean 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:02.080 the exclusion of everything else. It's not that you don't 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:03.840 you know. It turned out that I wanted it a 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:05.640 lot more than I realized, or I was able to 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:08.920 do more than I thought I was capable of in 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:12.800 terms of digging deeper and emotionally sort of accepting the 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:16.520 challenges step by step. It took me a long time, 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:18.480 you know. Part of the reason I acted the way 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:20.439 I did. Let's be honest, it's like that fear of 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:25.080 failure and response to pressure. I would rather have people 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:29.080 watching me scream than watching me cry. I don't know 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:31.880 if you were, but me growing up it was guys 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:34.480 don't cry type of thing, and if you show that, 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:36.959 that's a sign of weakness. So it was sort of 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:39.040 to protect myself. So they'd be like, what is this 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:42.240 guy's crazy? Well? My favorite was your brother was quoted 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:44.440 in the in the article in the in the Times 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:46.400 a few years ago. There was there was a long 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:49.240 story on you. It says according to Patrick Mcamnow, who 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:53.160 spent childhood evenings in the garage learning to ignore the paddles, 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:55.960 John smashed against the wall when Patrick beat him at 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:59.920 ping pong. Quote. Part of him enjoys chaos. He liked 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:03.280 things to be a little unsettled. We can havoc unsettled 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:07.040 others he can handle. And but what what I what 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:08.640 I love about that? And I'm not saying that, dude, 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:12.560 I always have these encounters with paparazzi and photographers. I 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:14.360 think all these guys have to be straightened out at 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:16.280 some point, you know. I mean, it's like, that's the chaos. 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:22.120 That's a tall order. It's like making tennis more popular again. 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:24.120 I mean it's gonna I mean, I'm I see tennis 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:26.679 going in this direction. That's sort of sad which is 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:29.760 which is that it's becoming this cult thing almost, it's 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:33.840 becoming a semi afterthought in America. You know, the top players, 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:36.160 we don't have anyone in the top ten. We haven't 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:38.800 had a Grand Slam champion in eleven years. We we 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:42.840 the Americans with Serena, Well, I meant the man. I'm sorry, 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:45.400 I mean Serena. Thank God for Serena and Venus. I 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:47.720 mean it be and and the playing fields much more 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:50.760 level for girls. I mean that's the part that's that's 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:52.760 so different with the girl. That's why you see much 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:55.599 better athletes going into the game of tennis, and the 0:11:55.640 --> 0:11:59.240 women's side, not the men's. Because how many places of 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:02.200 work or sports is it the equal prize money for 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:04.440 the men and women. I mean, look at basketball, the 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:06.760 w n b A. They make what one what the 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:10.200 men make. Golf is I mean huge difference. There's no 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:15.839 American football, hockey, there's not even a barely anything softball, baseball. 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:18.320 I mean it's but if you walk onto a tennis court, 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:20.560 as I have four girls and two boys, if you 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:22.240 had told me in the eighties that I would have 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:24.000 said equal prize money is a good thing, I would 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:26.240 have said you're out of your mind because we looked 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:27.880 at it like you kidding me. Look at where we're 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:30.600 watching number one. We're playing a lot longer, not that 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:33.280 that necessarily means it's better, but we out there playing 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:36.160 best of five and they're playing best of three. And 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:39.880 then the guys felt their product was was far superior. 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:42.600 But for me as a father, you know, that changed 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:44.960 things a lot for me because it's I sort of 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:48.080 looked at it like, look, we're sort of we're ahead 0:12:48.120 --> 0:12:50.760 of our time in a way because even in the 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:54.640 business world, the women aren't getting fair shake, and we're 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:57.840 representing something to young girls we're giving sort of they 0:12:57.840 --> 0:12:59.600 can look and say, wow, we can be sort of 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:02.360 a married there's parody, and that's that more than makes 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:04.520 up for whatever if we if guys think you know 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:07.800 our our product better or we play longer. And so 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:11.320 I've actually taken pride in the idea that I've gotten 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:13.720 behind that over the course of the last ten fifteen year, 0:13:13.800 --> 0:13:17.240 especially to twenty years, maybe because it's been around for 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:18.680 a long time, but it took a while for the 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:22.600 guys to understand any side of this. Now, how would 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:25.960 you characterize where American men are out in tennis now, 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:27.800 and how do we get there? Wise that well, I 0:13:27.880 --> 0:13:30.600 characterized it as a number of problems. You know, the 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:34.520 biggest problem is that we need the best athletes if possible, 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:37.000 like they do in other countries. You know, Raphael Nadal 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:39.800 is one of the best athletes in Spain. I'm not 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:42.240 gonna take anything away from the players, but there are 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:44.760 are A plus athletes are a plus athletes are playing 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:48.040 football or basketball. The cost of it is so prohibitive 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:51.360 that it cuts out the population. Was still considered an 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:55.000 elad game. Well, yeah, I think it is still considered 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:57.760 it because if you you've been in New York. Living 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:00.760 in New York, we've lost a number of tennis clubs 0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:02.760 because they've torn them down and they put up a 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:07.200 parking garage or commercial exactly, you know, an office building, 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:08.800 and it's like, who the hell do do we eat 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:11.439 more of that? And and and you know, kids, when 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:13.520 they grow up, they need to see something and they started, wow, 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:15.800 that's cool, there's sexy in a certain way. We've done 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:19.240 a horrible marketing job, in my opinion, of making a 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:22.280 sport where people would be interested in it. And then 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:25.160 the totem pole of tennis, you know. I mean if 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:27.680 you look at the most popular sports, you look at football, 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:30.160 you look at basketball. Soccer has done a better job 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:32.280 than we have getting but I mean look at the 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:34.640 soccer field. You can put forty kids on this space 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:37.720 where you could put eight kids. To tennis courts, it's 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:42.440 much more cost effective. So describe your facility facilities at 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:45.360 Randall's Island, what was it before you? Before that, it 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:48.560 was well, there was a smaller club. They renovated. They 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:51.480 spend nineteen million dollars of people I work for. I 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:53.640 mean when I played at Randall's Island in the seventies, 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:55.720 I mean you'd be more worried about the glass on 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:58.600 the ground than you would be a defender tackling. I mean, 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:01.960 it was just crazy. Sharenne is on on the field. 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:05.920 Bloomberg started the Randall's Island Sports Foundation and put a 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:08.560 lot of money into it, and now they're they're facilities, 0:15:08.560 --> 0:15:10.200 they're being used a lot more and it's really been 0:15:10.280 --> 0:15:14.720 upgraded in a beautiful way. So courts ten Clay ten 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:17.480 hard to me. It's the best facility in New York. 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:19.200 We're trying to get ten more. I wanted to be 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:21.200 the best facility in the country, if not the world. 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:23.400 They have a scholarship program that we do, but you 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:26.760 know we we we have probably up to forty kids 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:30.080 right now. They're on partial of full scholarship. But I mean, 0:15:30.120 --> 0:15:32.360 I have to go out and drum up more support 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:35.160 because it's very costly to hire coaches and if you 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:39.560 have to have coaches go to events and the training, 0:15:39.600 --> 0:15:42.560 I mean you put them in group sessions, which is okay, 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:45.120 that's better, it's not as costly, but then they need 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:48.480 some private lessons to to sort of hone their game. Uh. 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:50.360 Does the U. S t A have any kind of 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:53.760 funding that they grants you can apply Ford or do 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:56.800 they get involved in cultivating future They try to sort 0:15:56.800 --> 0:16:01.360 of monopolize everything. Uh, there was a lot of other 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:03.760 people said, look, you should allow a facility like ours. 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:05.760 I have a lot of tremendous pros there and I 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:07.880 think we could do a great job cultivating talent in 0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:10.440 New York better than anywhere else. But they're trying to 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:13.600 sort of get everyone and not allow clubs like us 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:15.360 to sort of give us grants. And now they think 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:17.880 they're realizing their error in their ways and they're starting 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:20.520 to sort of at least publicly say yeah, we were 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:22.920 interested in the possibility of doing that, but we've gotten 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:26.440 virtually nothing from them at all. So I'm trying, you know, 0:16:26.520 --> 0:16:29.520 Nike's film Knights. I've been with Nike longer than any 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:31.960 other athletes, so he has been nice enough to give 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:34.480 the most money so far, and I'm looking to try 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:38.280 to get either a a corporation or be some friend 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:41.920 of mine or some wealthy donors to get involved and 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:45.840 hopefully saving the sport of tennis, I guess, and as 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:48.960 in our country. I mean, it's healthy in Europe and 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:51.920 these are fantastic players, probably the best time we've ever 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:54.040 had in tennis in terms of the quality of the game, 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:58.359 but it's sort of our ratings are in the popularity 0:16:58.360 --> 0:16:59.960 of it or to me going in the wrong direct, 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:01.480 and so we have to do a lot of things 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:03.880 that try to change the rules. If you really want 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:05.679 to make the game more Pope, bear to me, no 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:09.920 umpires on the court, no linesman. You don't need linesmen. 0:17:10.760 --> 0:17:13.040 They've already proven they can't see anything over the course 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:15.400 of the last fifty years. So let's move on from 0:17:15.440 --> 0:17:18.280 that and get where they would be like an edge 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:20.119 with the players. Maybe the players would think they were 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:22.480 cheating each other. I mean, they will literally have a 0:17:22.480 --> 0:17:25.120 computer rule. There's a lot of different ways you can 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:27.639 do it, but the point is trying different things. You know, 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:30.800 I'm a proponent of having no warm up. To me, 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:32.800 why the hell do we need to warm up? Are 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:35.439 you a boxing fan? Do they go out on the 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:37.080 you know, the ring and then they start pit our 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:39.480 pattern each other for five minutes before they try to 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:43.760 knock each other onto you into another state? I think 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:46.280 they should add that. Well, you know, but but to me, 0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:49.640 to me, the idea of sort of guys coming out 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:52.840 like boxing and on this side is Roger Federer and 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:54.800 you go through the thing and they're sort of jumping around, 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:57.160 and this side is Raphael and the doll and then 0:17:57.240 --> 0:18:01.159 first ball. I mean, don't find it to be so absurd. 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:03.520 These guys go out and they trained for forty five 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:06.080 minutes before if they have a seven o'clock match, are 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:07.800 out there in another court where they're out there at 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:10.320 whatever two and then they come back out at five 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:12.439 thirty to six, and they stretch and they tape, and 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:14.400 they run and they jump rope and they do all 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:16.359 these things and they walk out in the court and 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:19.120 then they do another five minutes. You know, we could 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:21.480 go on and on. You could play let's on a serve, 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:23.520 which would make things more exciting. Who's that? Who's that 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:27.640 famous boxing ref that guy used to Let's get it one, 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:31.480 Mills Lane, Mills Lane. Yeah, I want to be the 0:18:31.520 --> 0:18:34.040 Mills Lane. I will be like Mount Rod to Federal 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:38.560 Raphael the doll. Let's get it on. Let's bring Mills Lane. 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:47.879 I'm telling you they would help. Next time on Here's 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:52.159 the Thing, I talked with legendary actress Julie Andrews. Do 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:54.320 you have a favorite musical number from South to music? 0:18:55.560 --> 0:18:59.120 That's hard. I do have a song that's my favorite, 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:02.000 but it wasn't my You will have to download my 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:04.480 next episode to find out what her favorite song is. 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:23.120 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the Thing. 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:27.720 In nineteen seventy seven, eighteen year old John McEnroe qualified 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:30.960 for Wimbledon. He found himself face to face with Jimmy 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:35.760 Connors and the most famous rivalry and tennis took off. Well, 0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:37.600 I never met him, and he wouldn't you know, look 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:40.840 at me or acknowledge my existence. And what did that 0:19:40.880 --> 0:19:43.639 make you think. It made me think, like, this guy's 0:19:43.680 --> 0:19:50.119 a total asshole, which I was pretty much again many times. 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:53.360 But do you think I need to be more like them? Detached, cold, 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:56.920 emotionless To some degree, I didn't like that he wouldn't 0:19:56.960 --> 0:19:59.359 even say, look, I'm Jimmy Connors. I mean, I was 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:01.720 already so in timidated as it was. It was Connors 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:03.199 and Borg were one two in the world I was. 0:20:03.520 --> 0:20:07.479 I remember at the hotel they had the odds. It 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:12.040 was like Borg like three to one, Connor's five to one. Garylitas, 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:15.320 who was my late great buddy, Vitus Carolitis twenty to one. 0:20:15.760 --> 0:20:18.840 John McKinnell two hundred and fifty one. You know what 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:20.960 I'm thinking, I can't even believe I'm on the board 0:20:21.000 --> 0:20:23.119