Speaker 1: Welcome to The No Sports Report, a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio Entry Fort Media. My name is Jensen Carpet.
Speaker 1: I'm a sportsman, and yes I'm excited about the never
Speaker 1: ending breaking news about what leagues are coming back soon,
Speaker 1: but also so many athletes are testing positive. Malcolm Brogden,
Speaker 1: Charlie Blackman, Novak Djokovic. The Phillies disclosed that seven players
Speaker 1: have had COVID nineteen and an astounding student athletes at
Speaker 1: Clemson University have tested positive. So let's not pretend like
Speaker 1: we're out of the woods yet. Every day is going
Speaker 1: to be an adventure. And I think we're just touching
Speaker 1: the surface. And after you touch a surface, please wash
Speaker 1: your hands. And yes, I'm still talking to athletes and
Speaker 1: sports industry professionals about what they're doing during this weird time,
Speaker 1: hoping to figure out if famous competing as much as
Speaker 1: I miss watching it. This is the No Sports Report,
Speaker 1: with some sports now over forty episodes in and tennis legend.
Speaker 1: Pat McEnroe is my first guest who was actually diagnosed
Speaker 1: with coronavirus. The former captain of the U. S. Davis
Speaker 1: Cup has had some success in singles, but was a
Speaker 1: highly decorated doubles player with sixteen titles, most notably one
Speaker 1: at the French Open. His brother John might be more
Speaker 1: remembered for his signature temper on the court, but Pat
Speaker 1: has went on to work in the development of young
Speaker 1: tennis players as an Olympic captain at Athens two thousand
Speaker 1: four and the former general manager of U s t
Speaker 1: A player development. He's also a prolific tennis announcer and
Speaker 1: an analyst for ESPN. Who, yes, back in March, tested
Speaker 1: positive for COVID nineteen. He spent two weeks in his basement,
Speaker 1: avoiding his wife and teenage daughters like some sort of
Speaker 1: tennis racket, holding Bob a duke, and was able to
Speaker 1: actually be productive if you can believe it. Now, out
Speaker 1: of captivity, we speak about his symptoms, diversity and tennis,
Speaker 1: and our favorite Ben Stiller movies. Let's find out more
Speaker 1: about this virus that halted sports in the first place
Speaker 1: with Pat McEnroe on this episode of the No Sports Report.
Speaker 1: With some Sports Now, Patrick back in Rome to except
Speaker 1: press one. Patrick, Yes it is Jensen. Yes, Well, I
Speaker 1: wanted to start off by just asking, we've been going
Speaker 1: through this insane time in American history. Where have you
Speaker 1: been quarantining sort of hold up with and who have
Speaker 1: you been with? Well, I've been with my family. Luckily,
Speaker 1: we lived just outside New York City up in Westchester,
Speaker 1: and we moved here a number of years ago, so
Speaker 1: we were already sort of in a self quarantine, self
Speaker 1: imposed in early to mid March, and about a week
Speaker 1: or so into that, and my kid that already started
Speaker 1: their online school. I said to my wife one night,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm I haven't been feeling well for a
Speaker 1: couple of days. And looked at her and I said, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's time maybe to take my temperature. So
Speaker 1: I took my temperature. Sure enough, I was over a hundred.
Speaker 1: Wasn't that bad. I was about a hundred point five.
Speaker 1: But I've been feeling weak and sort of tired and
Speaker 1: a key for a number of days. So then we
Speaker 1: put me in the basement. Luckily, we've got a basement
Speaker 1: which actually have access to go inside and outside the house.
Speaker 1: I was able to see my I was able to
Speaker 1: see my family just sort of from a since. But
Speaker 1: I stayed in the basement. I could walk outside and
Speaker 1: you know, take my dog for a walk, and my
Speaker 1: wife would deliver me meals inside in my area to basement,
Speaker 1: so she would come down with gloves and mask and
Speaker 1: deliver me food. So that's how we survived for about
Speaker 1: a month doing that. Wow, I mean, I know you've
Speaker 1: been talking about it NonStop for months. You are actually
Speaker 1: my first guest who did positively test for COVID nineteen.
Speaker 1: We've had athletes who think they have, but we all
Speaker 1: know those people. First symptom you're saying was just a
Speaker 1: little bit of a fever. That was truly the first
Speaker 1: feeling you had. Actually before that, I had a little
Speaker 1: more of a I would just say overall fatigue and
Speaker 1: body aches, and that was a little unusual. I was
Speaker 1: having a little trouble sleeping at night, so I just
Speaker 1: just wasn't really feeling myself for a couple of days.
Speaker 1: And uh, it was really when I took my temperature
Speaker 1: that I realized, Okay, I might, you know, maybe actually
Speaker 1: have this. I had a little bit of shortness of breath,
Speaker 1: which kind of came and went throughout a month or so.
Speaker 1: In fact, I still feel that a little bit now
Speaker 1: when I take a deep breath, when I talk a lot,
Speaker 1: when I maybe run up a hill something like that.
Speaker 1: So it feels like there's a little something maybe left
Speaker 1: over from it. But I never felt at the point
Speaker 1: where I was in any danger I needed to go
Speaker 1: to hospital. You know. I was in communication with my
Speaker 1: doctor fairly regularly. Of course, at that time, everything was
Speaker 1: hitting the fan here in this area, particularly in New
Speaker 1: York City and in Westchester, So my doctors and the
Speaker 1: people that were speaking to were dealing with generally much
Speaker 1: more serious cases than mine. Yeah, and so you have
Speaker 1: three teenage daughters. You also, your wife is a Broadway actress.
Speaker 1: Her obviously her industry was pretty much decimated at that
Speaker 1: time too. I mean, were there any nerves about you
Speaker 1: passing it along? Did anyone else feel sick at the time, Well,
Speaker 1: no one felt sick. You know, my wife is pretty healthy. Obviously,
Speaker 1: we were. We were nervous about it. Our kids as well,
Speaker 1: but you know, they'd have You always go back and think, well,
Speaker 1: did someone have a cough at some point? And one
Speaker 1: of my twins, my twins are eleven, my oldest is fourteen.
Speaker 1: She had a a little bit of cough at one point,
Speaker 1: and and funnily enough, he actually went into the antibody
Speaker 1: test just last week. And one of my eleven year
Speaker 1: olds was the only one to test positive for the
Speaker 1: anti bodo. I did not test positive for the antibis,
Speaker 1: so it's very strange. You know, the doctor can't make
Speaker 1: the heads or tails of it. So I think, like
Speaker 1: everything else that's happened with the virus, it's basically the
Speaker 1: medical community seems to be playing a guessing game as
Speaker 1: they get more information Seymour cases, and that appears to
Speaker 1: be basically where we are. Still, does that mean that
Speaker 1: the eleven year old did have it? We don't know
Speaker 1: for sure. I mean we think it's it's certainly possible,
Speaker 1: but you would think so. Actually, our neighbor next door
Speaker 1: neighbor is a family of five as well. They have
Speaker 1: older kids that are also in a ten ten year
Speaker 1: old girl, and she was the only one to test
Speaker 1: positive in their family. So who the heck knows. Maybe
Speaker 1: I gave it to my daughter, maybe she gave it
Speaker 1: to me. You know, most kids luckily knock on wood,
Speaker 1: don't um, you know, fight it off pretty quickly. I
Speaker 1: was lucky to also fight it off pretty easily as well.
Speaker 1: So sense of smell and taste, all that that weird
Speaker 1: thing we hear from people. Did you lose that I did?
Speaker 1: Not lose that, but I had a quite a few
Speaker 1: friends I actually live in my neighborhood that had lost that.
Speaker 1: I had a few other friends and men in my
Speaker 1: age group forty five to fifty five in that range
Speaker 1: that I communicated with. I had much worse symptoms at night,
Speaker 1: especially with the sweats and the very high fever. Really,
Speaker 1: skies have really struggled with it. So I felt again
Speaker 1: that I was pretty lucky that I never had that.
Speaker 1: In fact, when I finally went to the test, I
Speaker 1: was a little surprised that I still had it, because
Speaker 1: I felt pretty good. Had been down to my basement
Speaker 1: at that point for about two weeks. It took me
Speaker 1: a while to actually get the tests, you know, the
Speaker 1: state was just getting the testing system up and running.
Speaker 1: So I went to one of those drive through locations.
Speaker 1: Finally it took about a week and just booked the
Speaker 1: test and they asked you all the questions, you know,
Speaker 1: have you been out of the country, how sick have
Speaker 1: you been? Have you been in contact with people that
Speaker 1: have had it? Of course I had no idea. I've
Speaker 1: been to Australia for the Australian Open at the end
Speaker 1: of January, so I was a little surprised when it
Speaker 1: came back positive. Uh. And then I went back for
Speaker 1: a test with my wife a couple of weeks later,
Speaker 1: and we both tested negative. I mean, it's so confusing,
Speaker 1: Like you said, there's so many conflicting reports about what
Speaker 1: we should be looking for. I mean, one of them
Speaker 1: that I think I'm I'm most bewildered by is if
Speaker 1: we can catch it a second time or not as
Speaker 1: someone who's already had it. What do you know about it?
Speaker 1: I don't know much about it other than it's possible.
Speaker 1: So every time I go out or uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm wearing my mask, you know, look to me, is
Speaker 1: change at least in the last month or so. Is
Speaker 1: that doesn't appear where it's concerned about getting it by
Speaker 1: touching things. You know, initially we were you know, it's
Speaker 1: wearing gloves to go to the store, to go to
Speaker 1: the pharmacy. I was sort of the one that would
Speaker 1: pick by the family to go out and pick things
Speaker 1: up when we needed them. So I would do that,
Speaker 1: I would wear the mask, the gloves, et cetera. That
Speaker 1: doesn't seem to be what the current you know, medical
Speaker 1: uh knowledge says. It's more about the transmission through the air.
Speaker 1: So you see a lot of people, at least here
Speaker 1: in this part of the country where I go, wearing
Speaker 1: masks when when they're out going to the store, etcetera.
Speaker 1: You can't even go into a store if you don't
Speaker 1: have a mask. So, uh that that to me seems
Speaker 1: to be the biggest issue at this point. But the
Speaker 1: short answer your question is who the heck nots? Yeah,
Speaker 1: who knows you? You're a busy guy all over the place,
Speaker 1: so many different jobs over your career. You quarantined yourself
Speaker 1: in a basement until you were negative, you said about
Speaker 1: a month. There's a part of me that would love
Speaker 1: to be completely shut out, not have any responsibilities. What
Speaker 1: did you do in the basement? But when you got
Speaker 1: this time to yourself, what did you check off the list?
Speaker 1: Did you did you finally watch the wire? Did you
Speaker 1: did you take up a hobby? Well, I finally cleaned
Speaker 1: my office which is downstairs here in the basement, So
Speaker 1: I I did that. That took me a couple of days.
Speaker 1: And then, uh, you know, I watched some shows that
Speaker 1: you know, being a being married and having three young kids,
Speaker 1: you don't have we don't have that much time to
Speaker 1: get into a particular show. So I watched a lot
Speaker 1: of old episodes of Homeland and I started um Ozark,
Speaker 1: so I like, I enjoyed that. That that lasted for
Speaker 1: a little while, but then I got into this podcast.
Speaker 1: I had a podcast portable machine in my basement that
Speaker 1: I had been preparing to start my own podcast really
Speaker 1: going back to last year, and so it was some
Speaker 1: and that I had on my mind for a long time.
Speaker 1: Then I had the idea to interview people that were
Speaker 1: successful in their own right, in their own world and
Speaker 1: had an interest in tennis, but tennis wasn't necessarily their profession.
Speaker 1: So I was stared at this machine. I said, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe now be a good time to figure this thing
Speaker 1: out and learn this. And so I did that, and
Speaker 1: then I you know, started looking at people that I've
Speaker 1: come across over the years that I know and basically
Speaker 1: just did it myself, figured out how to use the machine,
Speaker 1: started calling people, and started my own podcast. So that's
Speaker 1: been a lot of fun. That's kept me busy. In
Speaker 1: the last month. We've been able to get back, you know,
Speaker 1: our tennis academy. I work at the John Macino Tennis
Speaker 1: Academy that my brothers started here in New York City
Speaker 1: about ten years ago, so I joined up with him
Speaker 1: there about four years ago. We haven't been able to
Speaker 1: yet open our facility in Randall's Island, which is part
Speaker 1: of New York City, but we've been able to open
Speaker 1: other clubs that the company owns in the New York era.
Speaker 1: So I've actually been going out and and working with
Speaker 1: the kids and even adults, giving lessons to the club
Speaker 1: to try to help the club just back on his feet,
Speaker 1: and so that's been a lot of fun. So between
Speaker 1: the podcast and obviously managing the home front with my wife,
Speaker 1: who's been amazing through this aduce at her career, at
Speaker 1: least performing live um in front of people has disappeared,
Speaker 1: but she's been able to do a lot of performing
Speaker 1: from the house and doing a lot of shows. You've
Speaker 1: got another one coming up shortly. So she's really learned
Speaker 1: as well how to use a certain mic, use a
Speaker 1: certain lighting system. And I've had obviously do some of
Speaker 1: that as well with the podcast and also with just
Speaker 1: doing interviews here at home. More with Patrick after this
Speaker 1: now let's get back to Patrick. So on the tennis front,
Speaker 1: the US Open is set to be one of the
Speaker 1: largest American sporting events back up in action quickly set
Speaker 1: to begin at the end of August. But there's still
Speaker 1: some mystery around if players will be comfortable. You're seeing
Speaker 1: that in the NBA and Major League Baseball. There's so
Speaker 1: many regulations and questions about safety. If you were still playing,
Speaker 1: what would you do well, it's a great, great question.
Speaker 1: I mean, first of all, let's put this on the
Speaker 1: table that tennis is arguably the most global sport there
Speaker 1: is as far as players coming from all over the
Speaker 1: world and having to travel all over the world. Even
Speaker 1: the Gulf Tour, which is very global, it's essentially the
Speaker 1: most of the American players play in America and most
Speaker 1: of the European players play in Europe. They don't hop
Speaker 1: scotch the world as much as tennis players do. So
Speaker 1: that's a complication for tennis because you've got to deal
Speaker 1: with many different countries and governments and where they at
Speaker 1: in this process. But tennis of the sport is a
Speaker 1: very easy game to manage, so I think as a professional. Uh,
Speaker 1: the other thing, you have to remembers that most tennis
Speaker 1: players essentially go paycheck to paycheck. I mean, they make
Speaker 1: their money, how well they do in tournament. Of course,
Speaker 1: you hear about Nadow and Fetter and Serene Williams and
Speaker 1: and they've made tons of money. They don't need, per
Speaker 1: se the money that the tennis tour provides uh to
Speaker 1: keep them going. But a lot of players, even players
Speaker 1: that are pretty highly ranked, I mean, they're not making
Speaker 1: any money. You know, they're not like athletes in basketball, uh,
Speaker 1: in hockey and baseball. Baseball is having their own issues
Speaker 1: at the moment, but you know that they're in team
Speaker 1: sports where they're stilletting a paycheck. So tennis players, I
Speaker 1: think have the way that against obviously traveling, most of
Speaker 1: the players coming from Europe coming to the US being quarantined. Essentially,
Speaker 1: you're having to stay in one hotel by JFK Airport
Speaker 1: and deal with all the parameters that are being put
Speaker 1: in place, which is completely abnormal to what they're used to.
Speaker 1: They could usually have their own entourage, they can stay
Speaker 1: in New York City, they can go out, they can
Speaker 1: basically do whatever they want. But if they're gonna come
Speaker 1: and play in the US Open, at least as far
Speaker 1: as the way the rules are now, they're gonna have
Speaker 1: to bide by a lot of rules and regulations that
Speaker 1: they're not used to. Yeah, and that brings up another
Speaker 1: question that we we see in every sport also, which is,
Speaker 1: you know, Serena Williams saying she will participate in adult
Speaker 1: you know, won't Will this be a real US Open,
Speaker 1: because I'm nervous that all of these sports that are gonna,
Speaker 1: you know, come back in are gonna have these weird
Speaker 1: asterisks next to whoever wins these things. Oh well, it's
Speaker 1: not the same. It was a different surrounding, different environment.
Speaker 1: All the players weren't there. Well, tennis has been through
Speaker 1: something like this or nothing like the pandemic obviously, but
Speaker 1: there's a strike at Wimbledon, you know, back in the seventies,
Speaker 1: and so that affected who wanted. The Australian Open for
Speaker 1: many years was sort of an afterthought until it moved
Speaker 1: to Melbourne Park. It used to be a tournament over
Speaker 1: Christmas time and most of the top players, a lot
Speaker 1: of them didn't even go. So of course there will
Speaker 1: be an asterisk, I believe, just like there will be
Speaker 1: if the NBA plays, you know, if if baseball plays
Speaker 1: eight games and the NHL just goes right to the playoffs.
Speaker 1: So I think that will happen. But I think you
Speaker 1: have to weigh that against Okay, what's the alternative you'll
Speaker 1: turn the I mean, assuming it's safe. Okay, that's that's
Speaker 1: number one. Have to be safe and healthy for the
Speaker 1: players and participants in the people involved with putting on
Speaker 1: the on the game, whatever sport it is. If you
Speaker 1: assume that's the case, then it's like, well, you know,
Speaker 1: as I've said many times, if my choice is to
Speaker 1: have a US open with no fans and all these
Speaker 1: other issues and potentially not every player playing for the
Speaker 1: reasons that you outline, or having um no U S open,
Speaker 1: I mean I'll take the former every time. I'll take
Speaker 1: a US open with with no fans, and because I
Speaker 1: think that's in the best interest of the game and
Speaker 1: certainly for the majority of players. At least you give
Speaker 1: them the decision. Uh, it's in their hands. If you come,
Speaker 1: you can play, and you can make a living. It's
Speaker 1: also obviously just important for our entire country, in our society,
Speaker 1: right to get back to some semblance of normalcy, whatever
Speaker 1: that may be. Restaurants in my town are opening, they're
Speaker 1: all outdoor seating. You know, things are starting to open up.
Speaker 1: At least here in the New York area. So I
Speaker 1: think that this would be a step for tennis to
Speaker 1: do the same. And you are a prolific play by
Speaker 1: play announcer. What what does broadcasting of tennis look like
Speaker 1: at the US Open? Do do we see a change
Speaker 1: in that as well? You guys gonna be on the
Speaker 1: other side of the court. I think there's gonna be
Speaker 1: a huge change. I mean, first of all, with no fans,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a whole different sound that you hear
Speaker 1: over over. In fact, that was on a zoom call
Speaker 1: with all of our announcers at ESPN and our our
Speaker 1: coordinating and producer just the other day when the USC
Speaker 1: announced their plans. So it's going to affect our plans,
Speaker 1: you know, in a big way, not just obviously the
Speaker 1: production side. How many people are allowed on the site,
Speaker 1: who's allowed to get into the facility? Well, what if
Speaker 1: we have a courtside person that we normally do, the
Speaker 1: players will be able to hear them because there'll be
Speaker 1: no fans, you know, there's no buzz, even even the commentators.
Speaker 1: So the one part of it is it will likely
Speaker 1: be the only broadcasting company there because of this, So
Speaker 1: all the Europeans and the international television companies will likely
Speaker 1: not be there. So that means that all those areas
Speaker 1: where they normally rent them out from the US, they
Speaker 1: will be open. So I don't think we'll have any trouble,
Speaker 1: I meaning an ESPN distancing if you even have two
Speaker 1: commentators in a commentary booth, because they're usually pretty big,
Speaker 1: and if not, you could just put one here, one
Speaker 1: there and spread us out pretty easily. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: it is comical to think that they might hear you, guys.
Speaker 1: I know because usually Arthur asked, stadium we're about midway
Speaker 1: up uh in the stadium, but it's open, you know,
Speaker 1: because it gives you a feel, it gives a fresh
Speaker 1: air and get a feel for the environment. But if
Speaker 1: there's no um people there, the players will definitely be
Speaker 1: able to hear, you know, particularly in a broadcasting voice,
Speaker 1: where usually up the volume a little bit. So you know, Wimbledon,
Speaker 1: for example, we're right next to the court when we
Speaker 1: do the Wimbledon finals from what's called the bunker. They're
Speaker 1: right by court side, so when the players play, we
Speaker 1: close the window. There's otherwise they could hear you very clearly.
Speaker 1: So close to the court so depending on what the
Speaker 1: tournament is, what the environment is, We're pretty much used
Speaker 1: to whatever it is. I used to call tons of
Speaker 1: matches when I first started ESPN from the studio in Connecticut,
Speaker 1: you know, called the Italian Open, called the French Open.
Speaker 1: So and tennis channel still does that, So that's certainly doable.
Speaker 1: It's always better to be there and and to feel
Speaker 1: the energy. I was going to say the players and
Speaker 1: the crowd, but there will be no crowd. So the
Speaker 1: other question is do you bring in sound? You know,
Speaker 1: you come up with fakes, sound like they're doing that
Speaker 1: in Europe and in soccer. They're having one channel where
Speaker 1: you can listen to just the sound of what's going
Speaker 1: on in the field, and then they have another one
Speaker 1: that has sort of simulated crowd noise as well. So
Speaker 1: I think they left the viewer decide which one they'd
Speaker 1: like to do. It's like an SAP button on your
Speaker 1: TV if you want to hear in Spanish, so they
Speaker 1: might try to do that in tennis as well. It's
Speaker 1: an opportunity for us and broadcasting certainly to try some
Speaker 1: different things because obviously we're gonna have to keep the
Speaker 1: attention of the viewer um without having you know, the
Speaker 1: crowd and all the different shots you can show, because
Speaker 1: remember in a tennis match, you're just watching two players.
Speaker 1: You know, golf tournaments different you follow a golf tournament,
Speaker 1: you could pop around to each different hole and even
Speaker 1: in the final round you can see loads of different players. Tennis,
Speaker 1: you've got to do a little more sometimes to entertain
Speaker 1: the audience than just having two players, particularly the matches,
Speaker 1: and that compelling after this more with tennis legend and
Speaker 1: host of the podcast, Holding Court Patrick McEnroe. Right now,
Speaker 1: Feeding America is working tirelessly to ensure our most vulnerable populations,
Speaker 1: like students who are out of school, the elderly individuals
Speaker 1: whose jobs are impacted, and low income families continue to
Speaker 1: have access to food and other needed resources during the
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen pandemic. The Feeding America Food Bank Network is
Speaker 1: committed to serving communities and people facing hunger in America,
Speaker 1: and they're gratest need is donations and support of local
Speaker 1: food banks. This podcast is committed to donating a portion
Speaker 1: of the proceeds from the show to Feeding America, and
Speaker 1: we hope that you can join us in this effort
Speaker 1: to find out how you can help feeding America dot
Speaker 1: org backslash covid nineteen. Now here's the rest of my
Speaker 1: chat with ESPN tennis commentator Patrick McEnroe. Let's talk about
Speaker 1: some other world changes. I have a one year old,
Speaker 1: so people have been interviewing who have teenagers. I've asked
Speaker 1: them the same question, how you've been dealing with this
Speaker 1: time while raising in your case teenage daughters. Luckily, we've
Speaker 1: been pretty lucky that they're a little bit older, so
Speaker 1: they've been able to manage a lot of the school
Speaker 1: side essentially themselves and a little help from us, a
Speaker 1: little more help from my wife probably in that department,
Speaker 1: but the school system, you know, has been pretty solid.
Speaker 1: My twin daughters, who are big into dance, are big
Speaker 1: in ballet school and they go they would actually commute
Speaker 1: to New York City, so that school started online. Zoom
Speaker 1: dance class is pretty much right away. My older daughter
Speaker 1: is more of a competitive tennis player, so she's been
Speaker 1: trained with mad practice with me. As I said, tennis
Speaker 1: is an easy sport to the distance herself, so we
Speaker 1: were able to kind of keep up with a lot
Speaker 1: of the normal things that they do. Um they're able
Speaker 1: to get out we we we moved to the suburbs
Speaker 1: out of the city. So I think for the first
Speaker 1: time my wife loved you. The real city person loves
Speaker 1: the city. So I think for the first time she
Speaker 1: looked at me and said, well, maybe we made the
Speaker 1: right decision leaving the city because now you know, there's
Speaker 1: a girls can get out and about ride their bikes
Speaker 1: and things like that. So we've been pretty lucky that
Speaker 1: they've been able to manage it. But obviously it's a
Speaker 1: lot more hands on from the two of us as
Speaker 1: far as you know, managing the household. Overall. You've been
Speaker 1: incredibly active to switch gears here a little bit over
Speaker 1: the years with youth and tennis developing, young players representing
Speaker 1: the game, trying to push it further and further with
Speaker 1: what we're seeing around the world as far as the
Speaker 1: murder of George Floyd and so much it's going on,
Speaker 1: as far as opening the eyes of others towards the
Speaker 1: plight of black people. What what has Tennis done correctly
Speaker 1: and what has Tennis done wrong when it comes to diversity. Well,
Speaker 1: I think you need to hear from from those African
Speaker 1: American players a little bit more about what they went
Speaker 1: through and you hear a little bit about Venus and
Speaker 1: Serena because they are so popular and they're so worldly famous.
Speaker 1: But I I immediately thought of a lot of the
Speaker 1: players I grew up playing with, Omalavia Washington, Brian Shelton,
Speaker 1: Lori McNeil, Katrina Adams, you know, hosts of African Americans
Speaker 1: that um to be honest that the kid growing up,
Speaker 1: you know, you never thought there are any issues, but
Speaker 1: now you you kind of realized, Wow, we're white people
Speaker 1: playing a predominantly white sport, and these players likely went
Speaker 1: through lots of things that we never knew about. So
Speaker 1: I think it's it's about James Blake, obviously, guy who
Speaker 1: played Davis Cup who had that Hartle incident with the
Speaker 1: police in New York in New York City where he
Speaker 1: got attacked and he had done nothing wrong. So he's
Speaker 1: been out there, uh talking about a lot of which
Speaker 1: I think is great. Uh. The one thing I think
Speaker 1: about tennis that is a little bit different in some
Speaker 1: sense is that, you know, my kids are my twinter
Speaker 1: in ballet school. So they did an online thing for dancers,
Speaker 1: and there was some very successful African American dancers. They
Speaker 1: talked about how difficult it's been for them in that world,
Speaker 1: and that you know, because they didn't look a certain way,
Speaker 1: they wouldn't get certain parts, it wouldn't get chosen for
Speaker 1: this school. And my oldest daughter we were watching it together,
Speaker 1: she said, the New World tend I said's interesting, you know,
Speaker 1: thinking about this in tennis because we see, we see
Speaker 1: lots of people of color in tennis, junior tennis, especially
Speaker 1: these days, which is great, okay, partly because the success
Speaker 1: of Venus and Serena, but we we sort of wanted
Speaker 1: to all imagine what they had to go through. My
Speaker 1: daughter said to me, said, well, yeah, in tennis. So
Speaker 1: it's a little different because in tennessee, either win or
Speaker 1: your loots, you know, from a performance standpoint, so it's
Speaker 1: a little different from being insane actor or you know,
Speaker 1: even applying for a job in a company. You know, tennis,
Speaker 1: if you're good enough, whatever your background, um, nobody can
Speaker 1: stop you. And then that doesn't mean you haven't had
Speaker 1: to deal with a lot of issues of racism, et
Speaker 1: cetera and prejudice. Obviously, that that I think is the
Speaker 1: opportunity to pre tennis to hear those stories a little
Speaker 1: bit more from those people that have gone through the
Speaker 1: junior system, the college system, the professional system, um and
Speaker 1: tell their stories because I mean it's time for us
Speaker 1: as uh as white people and people that have had
Speaker 1: a lot of the opportunities they have and to listen. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean you see sixteen year old Coco goauf and
Speaker 1: and Taylor Towns and obviously the Williams sisters. I mean
Speaker 1: they continue to sort of shift the scene from sort
Speaker 1: of what we know is I guess has been sort
Speaker 1: of stereotyped as an old fashioned kind of country club
Speaker 1: sport and become more of a face associated with the game,
Speaker 1: which you see sort of with Francis Typho who recently
Speaker 1: said he thinks that may be participating in the US
Speaker 1: Open takes away from the social message that we need
Speaker 1: out in the world right now, which we see with
Speaker 1: some of the players in the NBA. Do do you
Speaker 1: expect tennis players to be protesting, taking a knee during
Speaker 1: the anthem or anything during the U s Open. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'd be all for. I think they have every right
Speaker 1: to do what they want. I love what France has
Speaker 1: done as a great young kid. Actually knew him as
Speaker 1: a kid growing up, and the juniors watched him as
Speaker 1: a fifteen year old, saw him developed as a kid,
Speaker 1: and he's a great, great what as a young man
Speaker 1: Now he's not a kid anymore. But so I think
Speaker 1: for those guys to speak up, it's awesome. Uh. There's
Speaker 1: no doubt in my mind that Tennis Blare should do that. Uh.
Speaker 1: If that's what they want to do, absolutely, that's what
Speaker 1: this country is about. So I believe they will, and
Speaker 1: we'll just have to see what happens. But it's certainly
Speaker 1: they have every every right to be able to be heard,
Speaker 1: and Uh, I hope they used it. I think they will. Uh. Well,
Speaker 1: I like to end every podcast with something a little
Speaker 1: bit positive and then I'll ask you a dumb question.
Speaker 1: But first I want to know, you know, with all
Speaker 1: these things that we're facing, whether it's the quarantine you
Speaker 1: faced it head on, or or with the racial conflicts
Speaker 1: that we're seeing in our world right now, what do
Speaker 1: you hope comes out of it? What do you hope
Speaker 1: even when we're out and about and eating in restaurants
Speaker 1: or you know, uh, maybe some of the protests are
Speaker 1: to die down, what do you hope that we continue with? Uh?
Speaker 1: Maybe a pattern or a behavior that you hope sticks around. Well.
Speaker 1: I think, as I said in my last come and listening.
Speaker 1: I think listening, whether it's to your spouse, listening to
Speaker 1: your kids, listening to your neighbors, or what what people
Speaker 1: have different back grounds are saying. I think that's an
Speaker 1: opportunity also to slow down because I think the fact
Speaker 1: that we've had this pandemic and we've seen some of
Speaker 1: the some of the police brutality and some of the abuse. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's been because everybody has been in this position. It's
Speaker 1: kind of steam role where people are able to get
Speaker 1: out in protests and and bring these things out into
Speaker 1: the open, into the forefront. So I think that's been
Speaker 1: a positive and hopefully bringing all this stuff to the surface,
Speaker 1: we can realize that we really are in this together,
Speaker 1: you know, whether it's beating the pandemic or you know,
Speaker 1: moving forward in the in the race department, or it's
Speaker 1: sexism department for that matter, which was a big issue
Speaker 1: before you know, this whole thing started. So I think
Speaker 1: there's a lot of things that we can all do individually,
Speaker 1: you know, And I would say listen number one and
Speaker 1: then collectively as well. Well, let's get into your new podcast.
Speaker 1: As you talked about earlier. It's called holding court, something
Speaker 1: you picked up during quarantine. You've already had guests like
Speaker 1: Alec Baldwin and col McLaughlin on a lot of people,
Speaker 1: like you said, who have fame outside of tennis but
Speaker 1: love the game. Who do you see as your dream best?
Speaker 1: You know, I'm inspired by people that that take up
Speaker 1: tennis later in their life when tennis is extremely difficult
Speaker 1: Um to get good at, even if he started as
Speaker 1: a kid. So um chasing down Elton John because he
Speaker 1: is a great tennis enthusiast and has played where much
Speaker 1: of his adult life. He's very tight with Billy gen King.
Speaker 1: He wrote a song for Billy. Jenny used to do
Speaker 1: a big event of the year that raised money for
Speaker 1: AIDS in his charity and a big tennis event which
Speaker 1: a lot of tennis people supported. So he's always been
Speaker 1: an amazing person inspiring people. So he would be certainly
Speaker 1: at the top of my list, because I'd like, I
Speaker 1: watched a movie about him, and you know, I've met
Speaker 1: him over the year and just in some of the
Speaker 1: pro celebrity events, and I respect him so much for
Speaker 1: what you know, who he is, what he's done, his
Speaker 1: love of tennis and also trying to help people. Very
Speaker 1: good answer. So you had on Ben Stiller. Will round
Speaker 1: out with this. You had on the great Ben Stiller
Speaker 1: on the podcast recently, a comic legend, in my opinion,
Speaker 1: one of my favorite directors as well. I was I
Speaker 1: listed out my top three Ben Stellar movies. I I figured,
Speaker 1: I'm springing this on you at the last minute. I'll
Speaker 1: go first, but you tell me if I'm missing anything
Speaker 1: or if your list is any different. Again, okay, you're ready.
Speaker 1: So I have I have a movie that has had
Speaker 1: a little bit of gotten a little bit of fire
Speaker 1: lately because it was made during a different time. But
Speaker 1: I have my number three, Tropic Thunder. I think it's
Speaker 1: incredibly directed. It all right, Okay, so that's my three.
Speaker 1: My number two is I think it's off the beaten path.
Speaker 1: I think it's something that more people should see. A
Speaker 1: movie called Flirting with Disaster, very good. Ti Leone's in it,
Speaker 1: you have u an incredible list of actors and actress
Speaker 1: is in it. The play The Parents. I know Lily
Speaker 1: Tomlin really really good, uh, sort of untapped. And in
Speaker 1: my number one, he's barely in it. He's not in
Speaker 1: it a ton but he directed it. Uh I, Cable
Speaker 1: Guy is my favorite Ben Steller movie. Yeah, Cable Guy
Speaker 1: definitely put in my top three. Absolutely loved that movie. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Jim Carrey is amazing. I have to put Meet the
Speaker 1: Parents in there because I love, you know, this sort
Speaker 1: of deadpan uh and the way he worked with the
Speaker 1: nero and that I thought was off the charts phenomenal.
Speaker 1: And I think I'm gonna have to throw it just
Speaker 1: because for the outrageousness of it and for what what
Speaker 1: he was able to pull off in that one was
Speaker 1: zoo Land. I love zoo Land, and I thought that
Speaker 1: was hilarious. You said, you you you you dig a
Speaker 1: little deeper than I do. And Ben in all of
Speaker 1: his movies. But he's a great guy. I got to
Speaker 1: know him, you know, just fairly recently. He's always been
Speaker 1: a big tennis fan, but he started coming. He clearly
Speaker 1: texted me because he wanted to start playing where I
Speaker 1: moved back to New York, and uh, I set him
Speaker 1: up with one of our great pros at our academy
Speaker 1: and he was coming like three or four days a
Speaker 1: week away and I'd see him out there, and he's
Speaker 1: working unbelievably hard. He's got a nice little lefty serves.
Speaker 1: He's sort of spunky out there pretty quick. So you
Speaker 1: know somebody like that, he's still get so dedicated to
Speaker 1: trying something that they've never As I said, you know
Speaker 1: he didn't start in his boarding. Um. I admire that
Speaker 1: a lot about people that take up something that's really
Speaker 1: difficult to learn and commit themselves to it. I like it. Well,
Speaker 1: that's that's our picks. I also Escape from Danamorro is
Speaker 1: incredible as well, which the TV show he directed in
Speaker 1: EP I don't know, did you see that one? You
Speaker 1: saw that one? All right? They're all good? That was awesome. Well,
Speaker 1: thank you for talking to me, man. I'm so happy
Speaker 1: to hear your healthy and I'm excited to see you
Speaker 1: back out there for the US Open and happy to
Speaker 1: hear your coaching again. I appreciate you talking to me today.
Speaker 1: Thank you for having me on. I'm really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: The No Sports Report is produced and distributed by Tree
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Speaker 1: Lisa Ammerman, Matthew Coogler, and me Jensen Carr. Tom Monahan
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