WEBVTT - John McEnroe 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.840 Welcome to Ruthie's Table four, a production of iHeartRadio and 0:00:03.920 --> 0:00:05.360 Adami's Studios. 0:00:08.440 --> 0:00:11.320 Summer in London has ripe strawberries, green grass in the 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:15.000 parks and skies that are at last blue. The city 0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:18.920 fills up with visitors, many here for Wimbledon. Last July, 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:21.119 I went to a dinner with people well known in 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:26.160 the world of theater, politics, movies, art and television. At 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:30.000 around ten thirty the doorbell rang and John McEnroe entered 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:35.120 the room. Everyone stopped talking. Over the years, I've witnessed 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:38.400 in the River Cafe the spell binding effect an athlete 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:40.920 can have. None of us can do what they do, 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:44.120 and we all know it. There are many many images 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:46.480 of John McEnroe on the tennis court, but the one 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:50.600 that I recall is not athletic, but artistic. It's a 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:54.120 photograph of John carry in fact, almost cradling a painting 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:56.400 by Philip Guston, who was a close friend of my 0:00:56.520 --> 0:00:59.400 father and mother. It was moving to see a strong, 0:00:59.560 --> 0:01:05.360 powerful athlete I admired carrying something so fragile. Today, in 0:01:05.440 --> 0:01:08.160 New York City, John has walked across Central Park from 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:11.160 his home, and in the fading autumn light, we will 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:13.800 talk about the food we eat, the art we love, 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:17.639 and the friendship we a tennis player and a cook 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:18.520 have begun. 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:21.120 Really very nice intro. 0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:25.280 Thank you, thank you for coming. It'd be nice if 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:28.000 you begin to read a recipe. 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:31.319 I do love Italian food, so I'm gonna try it. Yeah, 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:33.640 that's my favorite food. 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:39.440 Pantala amatrianae is the dish that I'm going to read 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:44.120 to tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, two hundred and 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:48.920 fifty grams nine ounces of pancetta, two dried red chilies, 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:53.680 Get a little spice, one red onion, two tablespoons eight 0:01:53.760 --> 0:02:00.760 hundred grams of tin tomatoes, tin plum tomatoes, three hundred 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:09.040 grams of penney, one hundred grams of freshly grated pecorino pecorino. Okay, 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:12.680 heat the olive oil in a large frying pan, Add 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:18.880 the pancetta and fry until it becomes crisp. Add the chilies, onion, 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:21.840 and rosemary to the pan and sweat. 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:25.280 It's as sweat. Okay, sweat, I know what that means. 0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:28.359 It is, yes, sweat well. It means that you don't 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:30.320 want it to brown, you want it to soften. 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:34.240 Add the tomato, stir well. Simmer for thirty minutes until 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:38.040 the sauce is very thick. Bring a large saucepan of 0:02:38.120 --> 0:02:42.640 salted water to the boil. Cook the penne until cook 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:46.600 but still firm, which is known in Italian as aldente. 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:52.120 Drain the penney and add to the sauce. Mix well, 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:59.920 and serve with the pecorino. You know, I don't remember 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:04.680 that much about my childhood, mainly because what's happened to 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:07.720 me from eighteen to now I'm sixty three years old 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:11.280 has been so incredible in a lot of ways that 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:14.040 I'm sort of like, you know, I had a nice, 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:19.960 okay upbringing. I had a commuter now each way from Queens, 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:22.280 New York into the city to go to high school. 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:27.480 Sports kept me, helped me get friendships because I was 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:30.200 a bit of an introvert, shy kid. 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:32.640 I know I'm not really now, but I was then. 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:36.680 I don't have a lot of great memories in my childhood, 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:40.320 but that doesn't mean it was bad. It means that 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:43.920 there was a loving family, a mom who took care 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:46.480 of me. God wrest her soul. My dad as well, 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:48.920 that always believed in me. 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:50.120 Did your mother cook? 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:51.560 My mother did cook. 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:54.840 Here's the thing, She wouldn't allow us to leave the 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:59.560 table till everything was eaten. She grew up during the Depression, 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:02.960 so didn't have a whole lot, but she wasn't super poor, 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:06.080 but she felt that we needed to finish what was 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:09.280 on our plate. We had to have liver once a 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:11.640 week our month because we were Catholic, and we had 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:14.440 to have fish, which I hated, and liver, which was 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:16.479 even worse. I felt like I was going to throw 0:04:16.560 --> 0:04:20.000 up two younger brothers. But the good news was is 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:22.680 that I didn't know that dessert was an option until 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:25.520 I went to college because my mom would always have 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:27.400 a you know, chocolate cake with you. 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:31.559 You have to finish this. You're a kid, You're like, really, 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:32.400 I have to finish this. 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:38.240 Do you think maybe it's because maybe she's you have 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:41.120 to finish your to finish the dessert, you have to finish. 0:04:41.160 --> 0:04:43.560 So, you know, I was a bit. They used to 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:47.520 have four sizes when I grew up. There was small, medium, husky, 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:50.720 and large. I was husky. I was a bit husky. 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:51.880 I remember husky. 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:56.400 So it dawned on me when I went to college that, oh, 0:04:57.400 --> 0:04:59.640 I could sort of eat whenever I want and I 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:01.200 don't have have to eat what I don't want. 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:04.080 So were they miserable meals around the table? Did you've 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:04.760 always dread? 0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:06.680 No, I didn't have miserable meals. 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:10.840 Great meal, but the experience because just. 0:05:10.839 --> 0:05:13.560 Once once a month, you know, or once a week, 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:16.360 it was it was tough. We didn't get the type 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:19.760 of fish and chips that you got in England. Say 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:23.080 that would have been more bearable, heavily fried with a 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:23.839 lot of ketchup. 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:26.040 Yeah. So did she work during the day? 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:28.559 You know, she was a nurse, an operating room nurse 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:32.560 when I became probably around twelve. I think she retired 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:36.520 from that because she had she I had two younger brothers, 0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:39.880 we had three kids. My dad was a lawyer, so 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:42.680 she sort of took care of us at home and 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:45.000 we didn't have anyone cooking for us except her. 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:45.919 It's hard work. 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:47.839 It is hard work, you know. 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:50.560 I wish I had been more appreciative at the times 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:52.000 get fit food. 0:05:53.120 --> 0:05:55.120 Did you all do the dishes afterwards? Do you think 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:56.240 did you all have to do? 0:05:56.920 --> 0:05:57.040 Well? 0:05:57.080 --> 0:06:02.400 See, my mom was like the very clean house, so 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:05.240 we didn't really have to do the dishes. I mean 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:07.719 we probably just stuck him in the sink and we 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:11.160 didn't have to make our bed, which is sort of 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:15.400 maybe that's why I got spoiled so young. 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:18.039 One of the reasons. 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:22.039 Yeah, so Bill times at the macrone House. They were fun. 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:24.920 Generally it was a loud dinner table. You know, my 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:27.599 parents are very loud, so, you know, it was definitely 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:29.840 a shock going to London when I was eighteen because 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:32.440 people were very polite and you know, we had to 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:35.320 be a certain way, and beer was very hot and 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:37.760 it was in a you know, a wood barrel or 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:39.440 something like what the hell is wrong. 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:41.719 With this is that when you were playing when you when. 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:44.400 You first time I went to London was I was eighteen, 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:48.000 so it was sort of these in seventy seven, so 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:50.599 that was like the punk sort of revolution, you know. 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:52.720 So I was walking down the King's Road for the fro, 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:56.120 I'm like, oh my god, these people are crazy. But 0:06:56.200 --> 0:06:58.640 then I started realizing that they were sort of like 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:01.960 we were both. They started calling me a punk for tennis. 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:03.760 I'm like, wait a minute, I'm you know, have you 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:07.520 seen the ex Pistols? So I guess in tennis terms, 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:09.400 I was sort of a punk, but compared to the 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:11.160 real ones, I had a lot of. 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:14.640 Work to do. But you know, some of what they 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:16.520 were espousing was. 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:18.640 Not all that different than what I was thinking, you know, 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:23.640 sort of rebelling against that felt unfair. 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:26.400 I thought, you know, can I raise my hand and say, 0:07:26.400 --> 0:07:28.640 you rebuild against what was unfair? 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:33.320 That's what I believe, That's what I'll tell them. Yeah, but. 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:37.239 I'll admit I went over the line on a couple 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:39.920 of occasions, maybe a couple of hundred. 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:42.360 But at the same time, it was. 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:46.600 Because I believed that our sport should be viewed differently 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:48.800 than it was and even is now. You know in 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:52.880 this you know, upper class have to behave a certain way. 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:55.520 I think that's a bunch of bologney. I never believed 0:07:55.520 --> 0:07:56.960 that I wanted to be thought of. It was the 0:07:57.000 --> 0:08:00.400 same way that they look at what you call football. 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:03.560 Well you're American also, but you've been there since seventy 0:08:03.560 --> 0:08:04.800 in the seventies, I believe. 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:08.640 But we call soccer, they call football. 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:10.960 I thought, you know, in the rugby field, they're not 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:14.080 saying hello, how are you out there? And our football 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:17.560 field or whatever sport it is. So that's always been 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:20.080 an uphill battle. So I take pride in trying to 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:23.040 change the sport. What I believe was for the better, 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:25.360 but some people may differ with that. 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:28.760 And you refused to play in South Africa? Didn't you? 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:31.200 Thank you for saying? That was my probably the proudest 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:32.560 decision I ever made, you know. 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:35.640 And I think I just remember being with our friends 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:39.439 and saying, this kid, you know in Wimbledon is talking 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:43.760 about what's not right, but his political values, his social 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:47.920 values are so correct, and there weren't many players who 0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:50.400 were doing that. Did you ever play? Did you ever 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:51.160 go to Soethwies you? 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:55.120 No? I did, only when they ended on apartheid. And 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:59.360 I believe that the reason that I ended up meeting 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:04.520 Nelson Manll on my first trip, where he rudely he said, 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:07.160 I wish I would have given a million dollars if 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:08.000 we had a tape of this. 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:09.079 But he said to. 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:12.199 Me when I walked into his house that he lived in, 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:14.080 it's an honor to meet you. 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:17.160 And I'm like, he's not. 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:19.480 Talking to me, because that's about what I was going 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:22.320 to say to him. Yeah, and he was the most 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:26.760 beautiful man I ever met. Well, just his hand it 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:30.400 felt like I was shaking hands with an angel. There 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:36.319 was this feeling that I can't explain and I brought 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:38.400 a racket. I gave him the racket that I used 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:40.679 it wimbled in the old wooden racket. I said, this 0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:43.720 is for you, and he held it and he said 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:49.040 to me, I listened to your match when you played 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:53.560 Born in nineteen eighty. And I realized that he was 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:57.920 saying that he was listening to me while he was 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:01.160 at Robin's Island, where he spent twenty seven years of 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:03.959 his life. And I'm sitting there complaining about a goddamn 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:06.480 line call like this is the world's coming and went 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:10.360 in and this guy didn't have a bone of bitterness. 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:13.439 It felt like in his body. How in God's name 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:16.440 could anyone ever have that this? So, you know, I 0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:18.319 really felt like he was one of the most beautiful 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:19.240 people in history. 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:20.840 He said it was an honor to meet you, and 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:23.120 then he said that he'd listened to you at Wimbledon. 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:25.960 Maybe that that was the connection, you know that he 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:27.480 was also saying, yeah. 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:30.040 Well it was fair, yeah like that. I just you 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:34.480 just could picture that and then me going. 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:36.439 Homely you think he ever played tennis. 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:39.160 From the way he was swinging the racket, I believe 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:40.400 he did play. He did. 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:41.959 He did. 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:44.199 I thought he played. I can't swear to that. I 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:45.640 look like he knew how to play. 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:48.959 Yeah, my brother told me that he was once in Hollywood. 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:51.320 My father was in the movie, said that he was 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:53.600 in Hollywood and Mandela was there, and there was this 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:57.080 huge audience, and Spielberg was there, and Geffen was there, 0:10:57.080 --> 0:11:00.640 and Tom Hanks, every every movie starred, Harrison for there 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:04.240 and then Nelson Dell was talking and he just looked 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:06.880 out and he just stopped and he came down to 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:10.080 the audience. He walked through to the one important person 0:11:10.280 --> 0:11:13.120 in the room, and it was Muhammad al A, you know. 0:11:13.800 --> 0:11:16.760 And that's going back again to the athlete, to the 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:20.680 person who had dignity, the person who Yeah, and that's 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:22.640 that's what we you know. 0:11:22.679 --> 0:11:25.080 Well, I met Ali a few times and he had 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:28.560 a pretty profound effect too, but he was already suffering 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:32.280 from from the effects of Parkinson's and it was tough 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:35.400 to see this, you know, incredible human being. 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:38.200 And you know how many athletes do you know? 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:42.800 Or they would give up three years of their prime, Yeah, 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:48.000 and refused to fight because they're on principal. 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:52.520 So I think pretty much nobody, honestly. 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:05.120 When did you start playing tennis. 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:06.120 I was eight years old. 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:09.160 Did your tennis coach think about what you should be eating? 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:11.000 You know? 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:15.360 I ate cereal that had tons of sugar. I'd have 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:20.320 a bacon sandwich for breakfast, cinnamon toast with butter and 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:24.360 cinnamon on it. My mother never said a word. Yeah, 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:29.480 it didn't matter. Just eat when you're a kid. I mean, 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:31.840 I just totally disagree. I see these kids at my 0:12:31.920 --> 0:12:33.920 academy and they've got these portions. 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:36.720 I'm like, you're twelve, go burn it, run around a little. 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:39.080 What about when they when they're sitting there there drinking 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:42.080 the water and sweat, you know, sweating and so would 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:45.320 you ever think of having anything at all to eat? No, 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:46.160 you wouldn't. 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:47.800 You mean during the match, Yeah. 0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:49.240 You'd have some nuts or anything like that. 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:51.440 Nothing, I mean bananas. 0:12:51.920 --> 0:12:53.680 That board match went on for how long? 0:12:54.520 --> 0:12:55.120 Four hours? 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:57.520 Were you hungry at all? Yeah, you were hungry, but. 0:12:57.440 --> 0:12:59.439 I mean also yourself jacked up. 0:12:59.640 --> 0:13:02.040 I think if people ever saw me play, they could 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:06.240 probably agree that they saw some a lot of energy 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:10.920 being thrown out. You're actually running a lot, so it's 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:12.840 not a good thing to have a big steak an 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:14.160 hour or two before you play. 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:15.560 I mean, I remember beorn Borg. 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:18.240 My buddy would have a steak two hours before every 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:20.920 match and it didn't affect him at all. 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:21.480 He was fine. 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:23.200 He was probably one of the greatest and not the 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:26.840 greatest athletes they saw in a court. Murray, for example, 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:30.320 Andy Murray, I saw him eating a turkey sandwich about 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:31.520 a half hour before he played. 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:32.800 He goes, that doesn't affect me at all. 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:35.960 Yeah, before he played, like you know, Wimbledon or something 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:38.720 or usa U because you can eat that right. Oh no, 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:42.679 it doesn't bother you know. So some people have different metabolisms. 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:47.280 I couldn't do that. Some people are even worse. You know, 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:50.760 they'll go the whole day and not eat at all. 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:53.160 But you know then that's why it could be why 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:57.440 they're a little more irritable. I felt like I didn't 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:00.000 digest as quickly. Needed a little bit more time. 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:01.400 So you wake up in the morning. 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:04.480 It wasn't a big brad, not a big break. Depending 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:05.040 to mending. 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:08.440 When I played, I would have a bigger meal, probably 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:13.200 three hours before I played. That would be something like chicken, 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:17.320 some type of pasta, some type of blandish potato, some 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:18.359 type of vegetable. 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:24.000 Maybe it's possibly a soup. Not really too long. 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:26.560 I eat three hours before they have a two hour 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:28.720 break before you actually run the court. 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:29.880 Two to three hours. 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:37.360 Yeah, later matches was preferable because I don't really like 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:40.560 breakfast that much and I don't like to have to 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:43.120 eat early, but sometimes you have to do it, you know. 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:48.000 So it's in my day there was more emphasis on carbs. 0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:50.600 I was going to ask you, if it's changed changed 0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:52.360 quite a bit, what year did you start? 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:55.160 I started in seventy seven, and so what. 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:57.960 Was nutrition light? I asked this to Becam the other 0:14:58.040 --> 0:15:01.520 day about when did that feeling of you know, what 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:03.640 we ate affect our health? 0:15:04.360 --> 0:15:06.720 I'd say the early to mid eighties there was more 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:07.960 talk about what. 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:11.080 Would be most beneficial. 0:15:11.240 --> 0:15:13.280 You know, when you're eighteen, I think you can pretty 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:16.400 much run through anything, and the first couple of years 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:20.640 after that you can burn. You're burning so many calories 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:24.360 it almost doesn't matter, or so you thought, because it's 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:27.480 sort of mind over matter, But it because I think 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:29.720 it's people are more aware of it than ever. 0:15:29.760 --> 0:15:31.360 I think they've gone a little bit too far. 0:15:31.320 --> 0:15:34.160 The other way do you in my opinion, But I 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:36.560 think they just you know, every little you know, they 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:39.400 regulate everything and they've got to do what it's such 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:41.920 a time and eat such an amount and I think 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:44.760 it's such a bunch of bs personally. 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:48.200 And now you're going to come back to onelon the summer, 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:48.800 you will be that. 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:54.280 You know, I've been there probably forty seventy seven I'd 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:58.360 say forty three of the last forty five years. Yeah, 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:02.200 when my first child was born, I miss one. The 0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:07.880 pandemic was canceled, but pretty much everyone I've been there, 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:09.880 either as a player as a commentator. 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:12.800 Yeah, So it sort of come full circle because. 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:14.080 When they wanted to get rid of me for a 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:15.920 while and throw me out, and now all of a sudden, 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:19.400 you know, I'm working for BBC of all places, and 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:22.200 they're telling me to do exactly what I want, you know. 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:26.040 So I find that to be very commendable, I must say, 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:29.800 because you know, there's sort of we thought like, hey, 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:33.040 they're a bunch of stuff shirts the way they talk 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:36.360 and the way they deal with the event. But when 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:39.440 they hired me, they were like, look, we want something different, 0:16:39.800 --> 0:16:41.520 you know, we want you to be you. And I 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:45.600 think that's the key to hopefully my success, if you 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:48.560 know people want to call it that is because I'd 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:51.560 recognize that you need to be yourself. 0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:53.880 Obviously for you. And I can't imagine what it's like 0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:56.800 being booed out of court. I can't imagine who would do. 0:16:56.760 --> 0:16:59.920 That, well, you know, but people did. 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:02.280 I know, and I think that. 0:17:03.120 --> 0:17:04.480 How did you feel when you got booed? 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:07.119 When you walked on the court for the nineteen eighty 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:09.520 and eighty one Wimbledon final against. 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:11.359 Pork didn't feel that great? 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:16.280 But I could always do what Trump did, which was, 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:19.920 you know, I sat next to him once and we 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:22.359 were at a hockey game. Coincidence that we were sitting 0:17:22.400 --> 0:17:26.600 next to each other, and they would introduce quote unquote 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:30.359 celebrities and they you know, I'm hoping like they don't boom. 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:34.960 You know, Ladies and gentlemen, John McEnroe, three time Wimbledon 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:37.719 Jim you know, luckily I'm in New Yorker. I've been 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:44.320 in New York in my whole nice applause. A half 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:49.080 hour later, ladies and gentlemen, you know, entrepreneur, real estate 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:51.000 icon and apprentice. 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:53.960 This is two years before he ran ars, two years 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:54.840 before he. 0:17:54.760 --> 0:17:59.760 Ran fifteen thousand of the seventeen thousand people boot him. 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:03.560 He sat down and he looked at me, and he says, John, 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:04.480 they still love me. 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:08.960 And I thought, for the first time, I thought maybe 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:12.840 he could be a politician. He is of all things. 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:15.520 The guy became the president of the United. 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:20.480 States, you know, and you would have thought he would 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:23.960 have actually like said, oh my god, how in God's 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:27.200 name did I do this. We've been around him about 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:29.320 two hundred and fifty years. I would say that was 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:32.640 probably the craziest thing that ever happened. And we've had 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:36.960 civil wars. This guy, you know, never ran for anything 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:37.560 in his life. 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:38.840 Now. 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:42.840 See, you can't do something with Trump though, because he 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:43.840 doesn't know. 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:46.920 He eats terrible food, right, he. 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:52.080 Doesn't sleep, and he never works out, and he's you 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:54.240 know something, that guy's got more energy than I've ever 0:18:54.240 --> 0:18:55.880 seen anywhere in my entire life. 0:18:56.600 --> 0:18:58.760 It is crazy. I mean it's weird. 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:01.240 Are you an emotional when you would lose a game? 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:02.680 Would you not want? 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:03.320 Really? 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:04.520 Nothing like that or. 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:08.879 That would be alcohol, would or other things? 0:19:09.880 --> 0:19:10.639 But not food? 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:13.320 I mean food might It's not like I, you know, 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:15.480 go in and eat a bag of you know, potato 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:16.400 chips because I. 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:16.920 Was pasted it. 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:20.600 What's your plan? You don't go out, you don't party, 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:22.000 you don't go out in the evening. 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:25.199 You I was not able to do much in the 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:28.359 way of partying during Wimbledon, of all things. 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:30.720 You'd hate to sort of blame it on that anybody, 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:32.439 not that I'm aware of. 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:35.240 No, I mean I think that in the older days 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:37.640 a few of us tried to do it a little bit, 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:41.280 but not you know, you'd be a fool to do 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:45.320 it at Wimbledon. You could do it at a period 0:19:45.320 --> 0:19:48.240 of time where you're not you know, it's an exhibition 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:51.399 or a smaller event, or it's not much on the line, 0:19:51.920 --> 0:19:54.480 but if you willing to do it Van and then 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:56.679 to me is sort of like you're not taking it 0:19:56.760 --> 0:20:00.439 seriously enough. Sometimes, you know, you may not want to 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:05.200 be particularly social if you're more wound up, maybe before 0:20:05.520 --> 0:20:07.720 close to a match, especially me. 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:12.919 I'm sad I missed you in London because it was 0:20:12.960 --> 0:20:16.760 crazy the last time you were there and I was here. 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:18.440 Do you remember you were just arriving. 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:19.240