Speaker 1: No, and welcome did sit down. I'm Vic Christie, managing
Speaker 1: editor for Australian Tennis Magazine, and.
Speaker 2: I'm Metro, a writer and editor for oz open dot
Speaker 2: com and viv Why are we sitting down this week
Speaker 2: with Stan Smith?
Speaker 1: Well, Matt, we had the chance to sit down with
Speaker 1: Stan at the Australian Open and most people know Stan
Speaker 1: Smith with the shoe, which is not surprising given there's
Speaker 1: over one hundred million pairs sold. There's been collaborations with
Speaker 1: likes of Pharrell Williams and Stella McCartney. But before he
Speaker 1: was a global brand, he was also a world number one,
Speaker 1: a two time Grand Slam singles champion and a dominant
Speaker 1: doubles player. But Stan also he shaped what it means
Speaker 1: to be a player off the court. Stan was one
Speaker 1: of the original players to use tennis as a platform
Speaker 1: for other great things. Was He spoke out against apartheid,
Speaker 1: He set up his own academy, he developed Stan Smith's
Speaker 1: events and even became an author. So he's also a
Speaker 1: former International Tennis Hall of Fame president.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we were really lucky to be joined by an
Speaker 2: absolute legend of the sport and all of those things
Speaker 2: you outlined show that just how kind of connected he's
Speaker 2: been to the sport at all levels. And even before
Speaker 2: he came up in the professional era, he was a
Speaker 2: college as well, so he's kind of been there's every
Speaker 2: touch point of the sport he's been connected with, so
Speaker 2: that was really cool. And what was fabulous about getting
Speaker 2: to chat to stand was reminiscing about the golden generation
Speaker 2: of Australian stars that we know and love. They kind
Speaker 2: of were his main rivals and opponents on the court
Speaker 2: of the Major's Adding Davis Cup when his professional career
Speaker 2: was starting, so we also got to chat to him
Speaker 2: about that and learned about some amazing memories and rivalries
Speaker 2: and moments in his career.
Speaker 1: Let's see what he has to say. And we want
Speaker 1: to talk to you about many things today, but including
Speaker 1: your tennis career. So you were a winner of the
Speaker 1: US Open in singles and Wimwooden in singles, which one
Speaker 1: of those titles was the most meaningful for you?
Speaker 3: When I was about sixteen, I had four goals. One
Speaker 3: was become a member of the US Davis Cup team,
Speaker 3: second was to be the best player in the US,
Speaker 3: third was win Wimbledon, and the fourth become the best
Speaker 3: player in the world, and so I really don't know
Speaker 3: why the US Open wasn't in that, but I think
Speaker 3: it was just because at that age I realized that
Speaker 3: Wimbledon was sort of the big the big one to win.
Speaker 3: And certainly even later on my twenties, you know, not
Speaker 3: all the players came here to play in Australia because
Speaker 3: it was right not starting on Boxing Day, and people
Speaker 3: didn't want to leave, you know, home for Christmas. Although
Speaker 3: I think players are doing that now because they've got
Speaker 3: to get here in time to be ready for this
Speaker 3: tournament's starting. So I don't know the answer to that.
Speaker 3: I think it was just that Wimbledon was sort of
Speaker 3: the premiere event. You know, it met your one of
Speaker 3: the best or the best if you win it, that
Speaker 3: was almost synonymously would be number one before you won.
Speaker 1: Wimbled in nineteen seventy two, you played the final against
Speaker 1: a John Newcomb and lost in five sets. It was
Speaker 1: an amazing match. But what did you learn from that final?
Speaker 3: Well, thanks for bringing that up. You know, I had
Speaker 3: forgotten about it until well, yeah, twelve months, and you
Speaker 3: know I kind of lost a little concentration. John, you know,
Speaker 3: fell one time and kind of fun, you know, playing
Speaker 3: and that he had to hurt his arm and that
Speaker 3: sort of thing. But it made me realize that you've
Speaker 3: got to focus for you know, the whole match, and
Speaker 3: you can't just I had a big lead in two
Speaker 3: sets to one and it was etly playing well. I
Speaker 3: thought it was. I even was starting to think about
Speaker 3: my speech, you know, for the wind with them ball,
Speaker 3: and by the time I had figured out a pretty
Speaker 3: good speech, I was congratulating for winning the match, right,
Speaker 3: So that that was. You know, it's always helpful to
Speaker 3: go through and I know Labor went through it lost
Speaker 3: the first time in the finals, and other top players
Speaker 3: done at Newcomb as well, and so it helps to
Speaker 3: go through it. You understand what to expect from yourself,
Speaker 3: what you expect from the media, from your friends, family,
Speaker 3: and handling all that situation is certainly when you're in
Speaker 3: the final, it's very special. So if you haven't experienced
Speaker 3: it yet, once experiencing it and the next time a teaser.
Speaker 2: You mentioned of your four goals, one of them was
Speaker 2: to be the best player in the world, and you
Speaker 2: manage that in nineteen seventy one. So slightly differently because
Speaker 2: I think rankings like officially were introduced in seventy three.
Speaker 2: It was a different system. In seventy one. I think
Speaker 2: you were ranked number one by the tennis journalists.
Speaker 3: Is that how Yeah, there was a group. I was
Speaker 3: number one and for seventy one and seventy two, so
Speaker 3: it was a group of ex players. It really made
Speaker 3: that decision.
Speaker 2: Okay, oh right, so, and I mean achieving that, like,
Speaker 2: how did that compare? So Wimbledon was one of your goals.
Speaker 3: You did that.
Speaker 2: Becoming best player in the world that was another goal.
Speaker 2: What did it feel like to get officially recognized as
Speaker 2: the number one player in the world.
Speaker 3: Well, it was again the combination of those goals that
Speaker 3: I had, and you know, you realize that it's a
Speaker 3: special place in the game to be one of the
Speaker 3: number ones. And unfortunately, you know, it wasn't an ATP
Speaker 3: official number one because it started in seventy three. So
Speaker 3: and then I got a little bit of an injury
Speaker 3: in seventy four and that sort of time, and that
Speaker 3: hurt my career to a certain extent. But it was
Speaker 3: special to be able to say, you know, the number
Speaker 3: one player in the world.
Speaker 2: It sounds pretty it sounds pretty amazing. Before your singles
Speaker 2: Grand Slams. You have a connection with our tournament that
Speaker 2: you won the nineteen seventy Australian Open in doubles with
Speaker 2: Bob Blutz. Yes, and we wondered how that. First of all,
Speaker 2: did that mean to be an Australian Open champion? But
Speaker 2: second of all did that double success pave the way
Speaker 2: for your single success in the years that followed?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I did, you know, I started out really doing
Speaker 3: well in doubles with Bob in the late sixties early seventies,
Speaker 3: and we won a few doubles titles and when the
Speaker 3: US Open we won. Here we lost the finals of
Speaker 3: the French a couple of times, and also at Wimbledon
Speaker 3: we've lost in the final four times. But but mainly
Speaker 3: the doubles was sort of the where I first you know,
Speaker 3: got into that that top level, and uh, it helps
Speaker 3: to know you can beat these players, whether singles or doubles.
Speaker 3: And and then and it translated, i'd as soon you know,
Speaker 3: had some good results in the singles and so uh
Speaker 3: and at that time we played both, I mean, we
Speaker 3: played I think we beat Nuthman Roach here at Australia
Speaker 3: in the Semis maybe, but all the players played singles
Speaker 3: and doubles until the Connors and then Borg and then
Speaker 3: and later on other players just played singles and we
Speaker 3: didn't even think about it. I mean, when you think
Speaker 3: about the fact that if you're I remember some players
Speaker 3: were playing singles, doubles and mixed at Wimbledon, and you
Speaker 3: know I was rating half the time he started two
Speaker 3: o'clock every day. I mean, some players were on and
Speaker 3: we're playing best of five sets and doubles, and then
Speaker 3: I didn't play mixed doubles much. But some guys were
Speaker 3: playing singles, doubles and mixed. They're on the court or
Speaker 3: on the massage table or eating dinner or sleeping for
Speaker 3: two weeks. I mean, it was. It was arduous. And
Speaker 3: so you say, well, even then that singles is more
Speaker 3: important than the doubles, So why didn't you think about
Speaker 3: not playing doubles. But players didn't even think about it.
Speaker 3: They just they did it, and it was you'd have
Speaker 3: the luck of the draw. I mean they had a situation.
Speaker 3: Here was Cinner, you know, kind of in a lucky
Speaker 3: situation where you know, he was saved by the roof
Speaker 3: to a certain extent, and so the scheduling could really
Speaker 3: in effect, you might play your doubles match and play
Speaker 3: the five sets, you know, finishing at nine o'clock, You
Speaker 3: get a massage, you get dinner. Then you you haven't
Speaker 3: signed up for the practice score the next day because
Speaker 3: you finished so late. Then you got to play indoors
Speaker 3: at eight o'clock. I'm at the Queen's Club on Wood
Speaker 3: and then go out and ready to play your match
Speaker 3: at Wimbledon. And it was it was tough. So obviously
Speaker 3: if you didn't play doubles or mixed doubles, you had
Speaker 3: a huge advantage. But we were too stupid to figure out.
Speaker 2: But it was better, as he said, it helped, like
Speaker 2: getting that knowing that you could beat those big pies
Speaker 2: on the big stage in doubles helps the singles.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he did. So I remember going in to the Masters.
Speaker 3: I think I want that in seventy or something like that,
Speaker 3: and Rosewald was be an interview. They said, well, who
Speaker 3: do you think is the favorite here? And he said, well,
Speaker 3: he said, Stan's one of the favorites. I said, well, wow,
Speaker 3: if he thought that, maybe I'm peopable of winning, and
Speaker 3: I did. I did actually beat him in the finals.
Speaker 3: The first you know, Masters was held in Tokyo, Okay.
Speaker 3: They played him in the finals in that tournament.
Speaker 1: Don't know that your career it coincided with a time
Speaker 1: of change, really and kind of a turbulent time in tennis.
Speaker 1: You played college in the last years of the amateur era,
Speaker 1: then you played professionally as tennis was turning professional. What
Speaker 1: are your memories and was there any more satisfaction in
Speaker 1: winning in that period?
Speaker 3: It was a very strange period. There were you know,
Speaker 3: contract pros, registered pros, amateurs. I think that I was
Speaker 3: the last player to finish college and win the major tournament,
Speaker 3: although Arthur finished before me and won a major tournament
Speaker 3: after me. Arthur ashe. But so college was again a
Speaker 3: lot of players Americans went to college, almost all of
Speaker 3: them did, and but not you know, not players from
Speaker 3: around the world. And so I was actually in a
Speaker 3: kind of in a registered pro level. I wasn't signed
Speaker 3: a contract. I hadn't signed a contract. Some of those
Speaker 3: contract pros weren't allowed to play in some of the tournaments,
Speaker 3: and so it was really confusing even to you know,
Speaker 3: to somebody really knows the history of the game. It
Speaker 3: was still confusing even explain it to people, to say,
Speaker 3: you know, why did you do that? It didn't make
Speaker 3: any sense at all, But it was a change of
Speaker 3: the whole makeup of the tour. And the thing that's
Speaker 3: it's funny, it's the same today as it was fifty
Speaker 3: years ago, is the schedule is the biggest issue in
Speaker 3: the game. The schedule, and it's affected Davis Cup. You know,
Speaker 3: Davis Cup is now more or less gone from what
Speaker 3: it was before. And it was scheduled right after the Majors.
Speaker 3: I remember Agacy one here and then he went to
Speaker 3: bobod Swan and played on Davis Cup match and drove
Speaker 3: and flew to San Jose, California and got sick because
Speaker 3: he just it was just he played in the finals
Speaker 3: here and had to play the Davis Cup and then
Speaker 3: so you know, those things didn't make sense, so they
Speaker 3: tried to figure out a way to do it. And
Speaker 3: now you've got some other events that have come in,
Speaker 3: like the Labor Cup and the Hopman Cup before and
Speaker 3: this tournament and so it's called the United Cup.
Speaker 2: Now, not a company now.
Speaker 3: So it's the schedule is always a thing that's made
Speaker 3: in fact. So now what's happened. You've got the four Majors,
Speaker 3: which are now most becoming three week events, and then
Speaker 3: you have the nine Master Series, which are becoming twelve
Speaker 3: to ten day events, and so it's eliminating other tournaments.
Speaker 3: And in the United States, we probably had fifteen to
Speaker 3: twenty tournaments throughout the year the pros could play. And
Speaker 3: now there's like a handful, literally a handful of high
Speaker 3: level tournaments in the United States. And you know, of
Speaker 3: course Asia has gotten more and in Europe has gotten more.
Speaker 3: So it's but the schedule is the one is the
Speaker 3: word that really affects the players. And the players say
Speaker 3: they want a shorter season. You've probably heard that a
Speaker 3: million times. So they get a shorter season, and then
Speaker 3: they play these money events exhibitions in December and in
Speaker 3: November December, and they're getting paid quite a bit, but
Speaker 3: they're playing when they could be resting, and so it's
Speaker 3: a bit hypocritical to the players are saying we want
Speaker 3: to short season, they really mean it. They shouldn't be
Speaker 3: playing those events at the end of the year. And
Speaker 3: of course promoters are seeing the opportunity to say, okay,
Speaker 3: we'll pay you four or five hundred thousand dollars to
Speaker 3: come play this event or you know, these three or
Speaker 3: four days and it's pretty hard to turn down. So
Speaker 3: that's it it is.
Speaker 2: Yes, it's the ongoing issue in tennis, the schedule we
Speaker 2: wanted to Obviously, being Australians working in Australian media, we
Speaker 2: love to know. We hear a lot about the golden
Speaker 2: era of Australian tennis, Labor, Rosewell Newcombe all around the
Speaker 2: time you played. What was it like to play some
Speaker 2: of those greats of our Australian game. And I guess
Speaker 2: see it play in parallel to those careers because like
Speaker 2: in sixteen nine, Labour one the Grand Slam, and it
Speaker 2: was all happening around the time you were at the top.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I lost to them. I allowed him to win
Speaker 3: against me Wimbledon and the French second Grand Slammy one.
Speaker 3: That just I just wanted to give him a chance
Speaker 3: to do. You know. When I was growing up, really
Speaker 3: the Australians were the great players. You know, it's almost
Speaker 3: like Noah's Arc. You had two players, you had uh
Speaker 3: Sedgiment McGregor way back before my time. Then you had
Speaker 3: uh Emerson and Stally and Labor and Rosewall and uh
Speaker 3: the Woodies and then uh who were the other? Usually
Speaker 3: two you know, he had Hewitt for a while after
Speaker 3: Hewitt and then of course Cash is sort of on
Speaker 3: his own. But it was always seemed like there was
Speaker 3: two great Australians. They weren't just good players, they were
Speaker 3: to the top in the world at the time. And
Speaker 3: so my goal was really to be able to beat
Speaker 3: his Australians and and the thing I really respected about
Speaker 3: him is they would fight as hard as they possibly
Speaker 3: could and uh and they didn't give you any grief
Speaker 3: on the court generally, and at the end of the
Speaker 3: match they shake hands and say good match, and they'd
Speaker 3: meet it and you could have a beer with them.
Speaker 3: I mean, it was you know, I love that that
Speaker 3: type of competing. And I've tried to encourage kids at
Speaker 3: the academy where I got some kids and just other players,
Speaker 3: young players when I was in charge of the player
Speaker 3: development program. Okay, let's see you compete as hard as
Speaker 3: you possibly can't, train as hard as you can, compete
Speaker 3: as hard as you can, and then after the match
Speaker 3: you can you don't have any regrets. And that's what
Speaker 3: I loved about the Australian players. I looked up to
Speaker 3: them quite a bit. I got a lot of lessons.
Speaker 3: I got to lose to all those guys I've mentioned,
Speaker 3: except for Sedgmonc Gregor who was before my time, but
Speaker 3: I did have some wins against them as well.
Speaker 2: So well. And as part of that era, there was
Speaker 2: the great US Australia robber uche played outing Davis Cup
Speaker 2: and you're part of I think seven winning Davis Cup
Speaker 2: teams for the US. You know how satisfying was it to,
Speaker 2: you know, win those seven Davis Cups and be part
Speaker 2: of that great country rivalry.
Speaker 3: Well, we started in sixty eight and our goal at
Speaker 3: the very beginning of the year. Donald Dell was our captain.
Speaker 3: He said, okay, he's going to travel with us the
Speaker 3: whole year and make it ton of a team thing.
Speaker 3: And we said to our parents, you know, in December
Speaker 3: of nineteen sixty eight, we're going to start at Boxing
Speaker 3: Day and play in Adelaide. We knew that Australia was
Speaker 3: a defending champion, so they were going to be there,
Speaker 3: and so our goal was to get to Adelaide and
Speaker 3: play there. And Australia didn't have their strongest team, but
Speaker 3: we did win it. Then then we won it the
Speaker 3: next four years and then Austin then we wanted a
Speaker 3: couple more like I say, seven times. So then the
Speaker 3: last time we played, I think it was the last
Speaker 3: time in eighteen seventy three. It wasn't the last time,
Speaker 3: but we lost to the Australian team in Cleveland, and
Speaker 3: the team was Labor Newcombe, Rosewald and Roach.
Speaker 2: I mean, maybe we hear about that one.
Speaker 3: I lost maybe the best Davis Cup team ever and
Speaker 3: and poor Rosewald didn't play, and he is, in my opinion,
Speaker 3: really underrated because he was unbelievable. And I had a
Speaker 3: couple of nightmares with him at Wimbledon where I lost
Speaker 3: to him after having match point in the semis. But anyway,
Speaker 3: that was the Davis Cup was really a big thing.
Speaker 3: And and that's why I feel sad about the fact
Speaker 3: that it's it's really lost. It's it's Cliver.
Speaker 1: We spoke a little bit earlier about your college career,
Speaker 1: which was quite distinguished as well. Was was college tennis
Speaker 1: a common path back then?
Speaker 3: It was? And I was fortunate to win the National
Speaker 3: Junior Championships which we call in Kalama Zoo, Michigan, and
Speaker 3: they called the Zoo. Yeah, it still goes down that
Speaker 3: all the players want to go to the Zoo and
Speaker 3: then one he was open and singles and doubles, and
Speaker 3: one was number one player in singles and doubles and
Speaker 3: pros and so that was that was a path that
Speaker 3: like I said, mostly Americans took that path and until
Speaker 3: you know, the Connors and McEnroe actually did it. Connors
Speaker 3: and macro actually played for one year in college, and
Speaker 3: then several of the good players played for two years
Speaker 3: and then moved on to the pro circuit. And it
Speaker 3: was you know, I have four years in college or
Speaker 3: some of the most enjoyable times of me playing tennis.
Speaker 3: As we had a great team at USC and UCLA
Speaker 3: was the other school that was a strong team, Arthur
Speaker 3: ashe went there, Charlie Passrew and some of the other
Speaker 3: top international players. And so that was the path that
Speaker 3: we took and it worked. But then players started, you know,
Speaker 3: either bypassing it totally or just spending a year or
Speaker 3: two and going on. But like I said, my son
Speaker 3: is a coach at Duke now and the college tennis
Speaker 3: level is quite high. And the other day, you know,
Speaker 3: Ben Shelton was playing against Vashera, you know, and he
Speaker 3: spent five years at Texas A and m he just
Speaker 3: won a tournament last November, so he.
Speaker 2: Was just in here the other day with us on
Speaker 2: the sit down.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you know, it's that's a great example of
Speaker 3: the guy who's playing at a very high level now.
Speaker 3: Of course Ben Shelton is still in there now, and
Speaker 3: so it's that path is still out there because there's
Speaker 3: such a good competition. I mean, you're playing tough matches.
Speaker 3: If you're the number one or two player in your team,
Speaker 3: you're playing tough matches every match.
Speaker 2: And there's a nice link that, Yeah, you went to
Speaker 2: USC and now learn a t in also went to
Speaker 2: USC and he's in the quarterfinals here after beating Mevidet,
Speaker 2: which is incredible at just twenty years of age. So
Speaker 2: what's it like seeing, yeah, seeing of how I do
Speaker 2: that come through the same pathway as you and succeed
Speaker 2: in as you said, like it's a really tough era, Sony,
Speaker 2: and that more international flavor of people coming through college. Yeah,
Speaker 2: what's it mean to say him to do so well?
Speaker 3: Speaking of international, A lot of the American parents are
Speaker 3: not too happy for the fact that they're paying taxes,
Speaker 3: and then especially at state schools where the taxes are
Speaker 3: being used for the education that a lot of the
Speaker 3: there's more foreign players really than there are Americans in
Speaker 3: these universities, and the fact that they're taking away the
Speaker 3: scholarship opportunities from the American players is an issue. And
Speaker 3: this is an ongoing thing, just like the schedule. But
Speaker 3: even back in my day, after my day a little
Speaker 3: bit in college, the recommendation was, okay, you can only
Speaker 3: have three foreign players or two foreign players on your team,
Speaker 3: and that would make it a little more equal if
Speaker 3: American players an opportunity, and that's never worked because coaches
Speaker 3: are being encouraged by the athletic directors to win and
Speaker 3: they can't. There are enough good American players to compete
Speaker 3: against some of the other teams, and so the foreign
Speaker 3: players come and they play, they get an education, in
Speaker 3: some cases some don't finish, but then they go home,
Speaker 3: and so we're supporting we as American taxpayers are supporting
Speaker 3: these foreign players that are taking away scholarships from the
Speaker 3: American players and then getting an education in some cases
Speaker 3: going on the pro tour, and those universities are supporting
Speaker 3: those players.
Speaker 2: I guess you do keep your eye on college tennis
Speaker 2: quite closely. Who should we and we're seeing an incredible
Speaker 2: path easy that you mentioned Shelton t and all of
Speaker 2: it is still in these strine up. Who should we
Speaker 2: be keeping at eye that's coming through the college system
Speaker 2: now that we should look at for saying.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, it's hard to say because you know, it's
Speaker 3: not really a good competition level. But a lot of
Speaker 3: the coaches are quite good at developing good players. And
Speaker 3: I must say that Texas A and m has got
Speaker 3: has had. If you look at the history closely, you'll
Speaker 3: see a handful of Texas A and players that are
Speaker 3: that have been successful on the pro tour in singles
Speaker 3: as well as doubles. So you know, you know, hopefully
Speaker 3: the USC has the two top players that are that
Speaker 3: are developing pretty well and they might be playing on
Speaker 3: the tour here eventually, but it's it's it's hard to
Speaker 3: know who's going to actually make that transition. That's fair.
Speaker 1: Reading your book and also looking back on your career,
Speaker 1: it's obvious that you kind of used tennis as a
Speaker 1: platform for good. Tell us about your mentoring of the
Speaker 1: South African player mock much A Bonnie.
Speaker 3: Yes, I was playing in South Africa and was warming
Speaker 3: up for my match and then my wife was watching
Speaker 3: and this young boy was there and she started talking
Speaker 3: to him. And he was actually in the tournament as
Speaker 3: a wild card, not a great player, but I ended
Speaker 3: up my partner was we finished warming up and I
Speaker 3: ended up hitting with him for a little bit. Then
Speaker 3: we went in and got a drink in the in
Speaker 3: the clubhouse, which I guess he wasn't supposed to be in.
Speaker 3: But he talked about his vision of what he wanted
Speaker 3: to do in life was to get an education, and
Speaker 3: and so I talked to my college coach. He sent
Speaker 3: ten letters to other college coaches he knew that might
Speaker 3: have an interest in this. One coach replied, and he
Speaker 3: got into a university happened to be in South Carolina,
Speaker 3: which is our life because I had moved there a
Speaker 3: few years before that and still lived there. But he
Speaker 3: he wasn't a great player. He actually did he did
Speaker 3: some soccer. He went to four different universities. He had
Speaker 3: a bit of a cultural shock for him to be there.
Speaker 3: But he was like a son to us. And he's brilliant,
Speaker 3: and he's written about six or seven books that are
Speaker 3: that are a great and he's became a great writer
Speaker 3: and speaker, and so he's had a very successful admit that.
Speaker 3: The best story I like to tell about him as
Speaker 3: he got married, has three children, and he grew up
Speaker 3: in Alexandria. The township of Alexandria if you know it
Speaker 3: at all, it's a about one square mile of five
Speaker 3: hundred thousand people. But the three kids all went to Princeton.
Speaker 3: Oh wow, one of our best universities in the United States.
Speaker 3: My wife went there too, so she was even happy
Speaker 3: about it. But the moral story is, you know, anybody,
Speaker 3: if they have an education, can be successful in today's world.
Speaker 3: But unfortunately they were just getting that opportunity.
Speaker 2: Yeah, should look that up now. Y Vives an avid reader.
Speaker 1: I am a reader.
Speaker 3: Yeah. He wrote Boy in America after caf for Boy,
Speaker 3: and he's written a couple of butanus it's a word for,
Speaker 3: you know, people working together and trying to be.
Speaker 1: Progressive and speaking of being successful. It has been a
Speaker 1: very busy life for you post your playing career. Why
Speaker 1: has it, you know, through your academy, through Stan Smith
Speaker 1: events that you mentioned earlier, why has it been important
Speaker 1: for you to stay connected to the sport.
Speaker 3: You know that you know it's it's one of those cliches,
Speaker 3: you know, Tennis has been very good in these sort
Speaker 3: of thing. But you know, I uh, I was involved
Speaker 3: in the USTA that player development program for about ten
Speaker 3: years and then did some television work and we started
Speaker 3: this company. Then I always wanted to do an academy,
Speaker 3: but the after tennis partner, you know, the housing and
Speaker 3: all that was difficult. But we've been going now for
Speaker 3: since two thousand and two and it's been really fun
Speaker 3: to work with these young kids. We have about fifty
Speaker 3: kids in the academy. It's been great. And I've been
Speaker 3: involved with our Boys and Girls Club on Hilton Head,
Speaker 3: which is under privileged kids and helping them, and also
Speaker 3: been involved with our tournament. We have a golf tournament
Speaker 3: called the Heritage RBC Heritage Classic. It's always the week
Speaker 3: after the Master's tournament. I was a trustee on that
Speaker 3: board and kind of advising them of what players look
Speaker 3: for at tournaments. You know, it's a golf tournament, but
Speaker 3: the same is that tennis tournaments, and so's been pretty
Speaker 3: involved in that. Now. We have seventeen grandchildren, so it's
Speaker 3: one of my goals to be able to spend time
Speaker 3: with them, and so we do a fair amount of
Speaker 3: traveling with the stand Smith's events, saying we were going
Speaker 3: to all the major tournaments. And then I was a
Speaker 3: president of the International Tests Hall of Fame, so that
Speaker 3: really kept me close to tennis on the high level,
Speaker 3: you know, because I was also chairman of our nominating
Speaker 3: committee and we'd have to nominate people that they'd have
Speaker 3: to be voted on by the press and the Hall
Speaker 3: of famers and past players historians, and that was a
Speaker 3: very difficult job to get that, you know, to make
Speaker 3: sure we it was credible that one't got in that
Speaker 3: you know, in the wrong way. They got in because
Speaker 3: they they have the credentials, whether it be as a
Speaker 3: player or contributor or wheelchair player.
Speaker 2: I think we probably have time for maybe two more questions.
Speaker 2: We have to ask you about your book, but before
Speaker 2: we do that, we have to ask you about Stan
Speaker 2: Smith shows, because you are yes, we have to, because
Speaker 2: you're probably you're it's quite cool that you've had this
Speaker 2: incredible career in tennis, but you've also had this kind
Speaker 2: of incredible crossover career into the fashion space. And maybe
Speaker 2: I'm not sure if you're more known for your shoes,
Speaker 2: you are more known as a Wimbledon champion and number one.
Speaker 2: But yeah, which one is it? And how how did
Speaker 2: that path take place? And there was a fashion collaboration
Speaker 2: that's become so iconic.
Speaker 3: Yes, Well, to answer your question first is that most
Speaker 3: people normally because of the shoe that the tennis but
Speaker 3: it all came about in nineteen sixty five. The first
Speaker 3: leather shoe that was ever created was created by Horace Dossler,
Speaker 3: who was Audi Dosler's son, and he kind of hid
Speaker 3: Audi Dostra had five children, four daughters and his son,
Speaker 3: and he kind of left Germany and started his own
Speaker 3: thing in France, and he and Robert Haye, who was
Speaker 3: a great player in the late fifties and sixties as
Speaker 3: a French player, created the first leather shoe. Before that,
Speaker 3: we wore canvas shoes and of course in Australia was
Speaker 3: the dunlop ball them converse shoe, you know. In the
Speaker 3: United States, canvas shoes. And so these were the first
Speaker 3: leather shoes ever used for tennis. And so it was
Speaker 3: high tech and it was a big deal. It was
Speaker 3: pretty neat to get these leather shoes. And then in
Speaker 3: seventy one or two that they wanted to get a
Speaker 3: stronger presence in the United States, and I was number
Speaker 3: one of the world at the time in Americans, so
Speaker 3: we agreed to They're looking for a good looking guy
Speaker 3: to put on the face of the shoe, they couldn't
Speaker 3: find one, so they got me to do it. And
Speaker 3: so my face and my signatures on the tongue of
Speaker 3: the shoe. And that started in seventy three and it's
Speaker 3: and you could say the rest is history. It was
Speaker 3: until about twenty eleven or twelve, and they took it
Speaker 3: off the market for two years and then came back
Speaker 3: with some pretty brilliant marketing and it took off again.
Speaker 3: And one of the secret sauces for Audidas's is collaborations.
Speaker 3: And so they've had great Pharrell Williams and you know
Speaker 3: Stella McCartney and other you know, celebrity designers have been
Speaker 3: involved with the shoe. Amazing and this two years ago
Speaker 3: they just got to one hundred million pairs, so amazing,
Speaker 3: a milestime, so iconic.
Speaker 2: It's incredible, and we should ask about We were also
Speaker 2: very curious about, Yes, we didn't trust your book, tell
Speaker 2: us about the inspiration behind writing it. And I guess
Speaker 2: what kind of like lessons or values or philosophies you're
Speaker 2: pouring into it that you would like people to take.
Speaker 3: Out of it. Well, just to answer one more question
Speaker 3: is that I wrote a book called Some People Think Stansmans,
Speaker 3: Some People Think I'm a Shoe. Oh yeah, and that
Speaker 3: was that's about five pounds if you might have. I
Speaker 3: don't know if you've read that, but it does talk
Speaker 3: about all the shoes that have been done, and shoe
Speaker 3: designers and really the whole culture of shoes. But this
Speaker 3: has really been done by my partner Gary Knieber and I.
Speaker 3: We've been doing this for thirty years. We came down
Speaker 3: here in ninety eight, I think, so it's almost thirty
Speaker 3: years and we've so we thought we'd write down what
Speaker 3: we know, what we've been doing, and why we've been
Speaker 3: doing it. And we started really to kind of help
Speaker 3: corporations develop a stronger relationship with our partners or clients.
Speaker 3: And then we realized that it was getting to be
Speaker 3: more than that if it was done properly, and so
Speaker 3: we used the acronym serve and S is for strategy.
Speaker 3: We strategized before we go to a client as to
Speaker 3: what would be the best for that client and to
Speaker 3: help them in their business. And then he is to engage.
Speaker 3: We'd get the people together and get to know each
Speaker 3: other on a deeper basis and just a transactional basis.
Speaker 3: And then the RS for recreate. And so we've done
Speaker 3: tennis and the first ones we did here we played
Speaker 3: tennis three days during this weekend and he was a
Speaker 3: tennis fanatic. But we do tennis or golf for corn
Speaker 3: hole or ping pong or whatever, and then or going
Speaker 3: to the matches is kind of seen recreation together. Then
Speaker 3: the VA is to volley, which is the problem solve
Speaker 3: and that's a critical thing that and a great example,
Speaker 3: I mean Greg Tyler who's here just a little while ago,
Speaker 3: is a great example of a guy who's volleyed problem
Speaker 3: solved in the best way. I mean this has been.
Speaker 3: He should have an award for persistence. He's really a
Speaker 3: great example of this principles of this book and the
Speaker 3: last E is to elevate, to take care of the
Speaker 3: details and also make it a little special. So we
Speaker 3: try to do something special. We'll give some of our
Speaker 3: guests my shoes, I'll sign, or a book or that
Speaker 3: other book or the you know, do something that's going
Speaker 3: to be unique. It might be a bringing another player
Speaker 3: like Pat Rafter, Leighton ut or John McEnroe or and
Speaker 3: to make it a memorable experience. And then an extra
Speaker 3: chapter in that was the second serve, which means if
Speaker 3: you do have a strong relationship and it's not just transactional,
Speaker 3: it's a strong relationship, and if you do make a mistake,
Speaker 3: then you might have an opportunity to rectify that situation
Speaker 3: and continue to work with people. That can be done
Speaker 3: in a personal situation. In fact, we have a QR
Speaker 3: code there you can take and then print it out.
Speaker 3: In a personal level, you can go down those five
Speaker 3: letters and where it's in a business level you can
Speaker 3: do it as well. So that's the gist of that book.
Speaker 2: Amazing and it's beautiful. Well looking through it today and
Speaker 2: it's really a lovely book. Yes, yeah, if the attention
Speaker 2: to detail is fantastic.
Speaker 1: Well, this has been a wonderful lesson in both tennis
Speaker 1: and in life. So Stan Smith, thank you for joining
Speaker 1: us today on the sit down.
Speaker 3: Well, thanks for inviting me. Appreciate it well.
Speaker 2: Vi stan Bycu will be celebrating his eightieth birthday, And yeah,
Speaker 2: it's just an example of what we hear always about tennis.
Speaker 2: Being a game for life. He's truly living that and
Speaker 2: so great that he continues to follow the sport so closely,
Speaker 2: come out to Australia to the Australian Open following what's
Speaker 2: going on with College Center. Still, I think we were
Speaker 2: really honored to talk for such a legend of the sport.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a real pleasure to meet him and
Speaker 1: we'll be back next week with another episode of the
Speaker 1: sit Down. Please remember to subscribe so you never miss
Speaker 1: an episode in your feed, and we'd love you to
Speaker 1: leave us a rating and a review. See you next week,
Speaker 1: Matt
Speaker 2: See van vib