June 26, 2020 • 29 mins
Amongst his numerous achievements, tennis legend Patrick McEnroe never intended to add being the first No-Sports Report guest to be diagnosed with Coronavirus to the list. The ESPN broadcaster shares his COVID-19 story - from the symptoms he experienced to what it was like to be quarantined in his basement for two weeks - and gets into the challenges ahead for the planned U.S. Open, amidst all the positive tests last week. Patrick and Jensen also talk about diversity in tennis and how the sport can do better in the future. Oh, and their top three favorite Ben Stiller movies because, why not? This episode and series supports FeedingAmerica.org.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to The No Sports Report, a production of I
Heart Radio Entry Fort Media. My name is Jensen Carpet.
I'm a sportsman, and yes I'm excited about the never
ending breaking news about what leagues are coming back soon,
but also so many athletes are testing positive. Malcolm Brogden,
Charlie Blackman, Novak Djokovic. The Phillies disclosed that seven players
(00:26):
have had COVID nineteen and an astounding student athletes at
Clemson University have tested positive. So let's not pretend like
we're out of the woods yet. Every day is going
to be an adventure. And I think we're just touching
the surface. And after you touch a surface, please wash
your hands. And yes, I'm still talking to athletes and
sports industry professionals about what they're doing during this weird time,
hoping to figure out if famous competing as much as
(00:48):
I miss watching it. This is the No Sports Report,
with some sports now over forty episodes in and tennis legend.
Pat McEnroe is my first guest who was actually diagnosed
with coronavirus. The former captain of the U. S. Davis
Cup has had some success in singles, but was a
highly decorated doubles player with sixteen titles, most notably one
(01:08):
at the French Open. His brother John might be more
remembered for his signature temper on the court, but Pat
has went on to work in the development of young
tennis players as an Olympic captain at Athens two thousand
four and the former general manager of U s t
A player development. He's also a prolific tennis announcer and
an analyst for ESPN. Who, yes, back in March, tested
positive for COVID nineteen. He spent two weeks in his basement,
(01:30):
avoiding his wife and teenage daughters like some sort of
tennis racket, holding Bob a duke, and was able to
actually be productive if you can believe it. Now, out
of captivity, we speak about his symptoms, diversity and tennis,
and our favorite Ben Stiller movies. Let's find out more
about this virus that halted sports in the first place
with Pat McEnroe on this episode of the No Sports Report.
(01:50):
With some Sports Now, Patrick back in Rome to except
press one. Patrick, Yes it is Jensen. Yes, Well, I
wanted to start off by just asking, we've been going
through this insane time in American history. Where have you
(02:12):
been quarantining sort of hold up with and who have
you been with? Well, I've been with my family. Luckily,
we lived just outside New York City up in Westchester,
and we moved here a number of years ago, so
we were already sort of in a self quarantine, self
imposed in early to mid March, and about a week
or so into that, and my kid that already started
their online school. I said to my wife one night,
(02:33):
you know, I'm I haven't been feeling well for a
couple of days. And looked at her and I said, yeah,
I think it's time maybe to take my temperature. So
I took my temperature. Sure enough, I was over a hundred.
Wasn't that bad. I was about a hundred point five.
But I've been feeling weak and sort of tired and
a key for a number of days. So then we
put me in the basement. Luckily, we've got a basement
which actually have access to go inside and outside the house.
(02:56):
I was able to see my I was able to
see my family just sort of from a since. But
I stayed in the basement. I could walk outside and
you know, take my dog for a walk, and my
wife would deliver me meals inside in my area to basement,
so she would come down with gloves and mask and
deliver me food. So that's how we survived for about
a month doing that. Wow, I mean, I know you've
(03:16):
been talking about it NonStop for months. You are actually
my first guest who did positively test for COVID nineteen.
We've had athletes who think they have, but we all
know those people. First symptom you're saying was just a
little bit of a fever. That was truly the first
feeling you had. Actually before that, I had a little
more of a I would just say overall fatigue and
body aches, and that was a little unusual. I was
(03:38):
having a little trouble sleeping at night, so I just
just wasn't really feeling myself for a couple of days.
And uh, it was really when I took my temperature
that I realized, Okay, I might, you know, maybe actually
have this. I had a little bit of shortness of breath,
which kind of came and went throughout a month or so.
In fact, I still feel that a little bit now
when I take a deep breath, when I talk a lot,
(03:58):
when I maybe run up a hill something like that.
So it feels like there's a little something maybe left
over from it. But I never felt at the point
where I was in any danger I needed to go
to hospital. You know. I was in communication with my
doctor fairly regularly. Of course, at that time, everything was
hitting the fan here in this area, particularly in New
York City and in Westchester, So my doctors and the
(04:21):
people that were speaking to were dealing with generally much
more serious cases than mine. Yeah, and so you have
three teenage daughters. You also, your wife is a Broadway actress.
Her obviously her industry was pretty much decimated at that
time too. I mean, were there any nerves about you
passing it along? Did anyone else feel sick at the time, Well,
no one felt sick. You know, my wife is pretty healthy. Obviously,
(04:41):
we were. We were nervous about it. Our kids as well,
but you know, they'd have You always go back and think, well,
did someone have a cough at some point? And one
of my twins, my twins are eleven, my oldest is fourteen.
She had a a little bit of cough at one point,
and and funnily enough, he actually went into the antibody
test just last week. And one of my eleven year
olds was the only one to test positive for the
(05:03):
anti bodo. I did not test positive for the antibis,
so it's very strange. You know, the doctor can't make
the heads or tails of it. So I think, like
everything else that's happened with the virus, it's basically the
medical community seems to be playing a guessing game as
they get more information Seymour cases, and that appears to
be basically where we are. Still, does that mean that
(05:24):
the eleven year old did have it? We don't know
for sure. I mean we think it's it's certainly possible,
but you would think so. Actually, our neighbor next door
neighbor is a family of five as well. They have
older kids that are also in a ten ten year
old girl, and she was the only one to test
positive in their family. So who the heck knows. Maybe
I gave it to my daughter, maybe she gave it
(05:45):
to me. You know, most kids luckily knock on wood,
don't um, you know, fight it off pretty quickly. I
was lucky to also fight it off pretty easily as well.
So sense of smell and taste, all that that weird
thing we hear from people. Did you lose that I did?
Not lose that, but I had a quite a few
friends I actually live in my neighborhood that had lost that.
I had a few other friends and men in my
(06:06):
age group forty five to fifty five in that range
that I communicated with. I had much worse symptoms at night,
especially with the sweats and the very high fever. Really,
skies have really struggled with it. So I felt again
that I was pretty lucky that I never had that.
In fact, when I finally went to the test, I
was a little surprised that I still had it, because
(06:26):
I felt pretty good. Had been down to my basement
at that point for about two weeks. It took me
a while to actually get the tests, you know, the
state was just getting the testing system up and running.
So I went to one of those drive through locations.
Finally it took about a week and just booked the
test and they asked you all the questions, you know,
have you been out of the country, how sick have
you been? Have you been in contact with people that
have had it? Of course I had no idea. I've
(06:48):
been to Australia for the Australian Open at the end
of January, so I was a little surprised when it
came back positive. Uh. And then I went back for
a test with my wife a couple of weeks later,
and we both tested negative. I mean, it's so confusing,
Like you said, there's so many conflicting reports about what
we should be looking for. I mean, one of them
that I think I'm I'm most bewildered by is if
(07:09):
we can catch it a second time or not as
someone who's already had it. What do you know about it?
I don't know much about it other than it's possible.
So every time I go out or uh, you know,
I'm wearing my mask, you know, look to me, is
change at least in the last month or so. Is
that doesn't appear where it's concerned about getting it by
touching things. You know, initially we were you know, it's
wearing gloves to go to the store, to go to
(07:30):
the pharmacy. I was sort of the one that would
pick by the family to go out and pick things
up when we needed them. So I would do that,
I would wear the mask, the gloves, et cetera. That
doesn't seem to be what the current you know, medical
uh knowledge says. It's more about the transmission through the air.
So you see a lot of people, at least here
in this part of the country where I go, wearing
(07:50):
masks when when they're out going to the store, etcetera.
You can't even go into a store if you don't
have a mask. So, uh that that to me seems
to be the biggest issue at this point. But the
short answer your question is who the heck nots? Yeah,
who knows you? You're a busy guy all over the place,
so many different jobs over your career. You quarantined yourself
in a basement until you were negative, you said about
(08:11):
a month. There's a part of me that would love
to be completely shut out, not have any responsibilities. What
did you do in the basement? But when you got
this time to yourself, what did you check off the list?
Did you did you finally watch the wire? Did you
did you take up a hobby? Well, I finally cleaned
my office which is downstairs here in the basement, So
I I did that. That took me a couple of days.
(08:32):
And then, uh, you know, I watched some shows that
you know, being a being married and having three young kids,
you don't have we don't have that much time to
get into a particular show. So I watched a lot
of old episodes of Homeland and I started um Ozark,
so I like, I enjoyed that. That that lasted for
a little while, but then I got into this podcast.
I had a podcast portable machine in my basement that
(08:53):
I had been preparing to start my own podcast really
going back to last year, and so it was some
and that I had on my mind for a long time.
Then I had the idea to interview people that were
successful in their own right, in their own world and
had an interest in tennis, but tennis wasn't necessarily their profession.
So I was stared at this machine. I said, you know,
(09:14):
maybe now be a good time to figure this thing
out and learn this. And so I did that, and
then I you know, started looking at people that I've
come across over the years that I know and basically
just did it myself, figured out how to use the machine,
started calling people, and started my own podcast. So that's
been a lot of fun. That's kept me busy. In
the last month. We've been able to get back, you know,
our tennis academy. I work at the John Macino Tennis
(09:36):
Academy that my brothers started here in New York City
about ten years ago, so I joined up with him
there about four years ago. We haven't been able to
yet open our facility in Randall's Island, which is part
of New York City, but we've been able to open
other clubs that the company owns in the New York era.
So I've actually been going out and and working with
the kids and even adults, giving lessons to the club
(09:58):
to try to help the club just back on his feet,
and so that's been a lot of fun. So between
the podcast and obviously managing the home front with my wife,
who's been amazing through this aduce at her career, at
least performing live um in front of people has disappeared,
but she's been able to do a lot of performing
from the house and doing a lot of shows. You've
got another one coming up shortly. So she's really learned
(10:20):
as well how to use a certain mic, use a
certain lighting system. And I've had obviously do some of
that as well with the podcast and also with just
doing interviews here at home. More with Patrick after this
now let's get back to Patrick. So on the tennis front,
the US Open is set to be one of the
largest American sporting events back up in action quickly set
(10:43):
to begin at the end of August. But there's still
some mystery around if players will be comfortable. You're seeing
that in the NBA and Major League Baseball. There's so
many regulations and questions about safety. If you were still playing,
what would you do well, it's a great, great question.
I mean, first of all, let's put this on the
table that tennis is arguably the most global sport there
is as far as players coming from all over the
(11:05):
world and having to travel all over the world. Even
the Gulf Tour, which is very global, it's essentially the
most of the American players play in America and most
of the European players play in Europe. They don't hop
scotch the world as much as tennis players do. So
that's a complication for tennis because you've got to deal
with many different countries and governments and where they at
in this process. But tennis of the sport is a
(11:27):
very easy game to manage, so I think as a professional. Uh,
the other thing, you have to remembers that most tennis
players essentially go paycheck to paycheck. I mean, they make
their money, how well they do in tournament. Of course,
you hear about Nadow and Fetter and Serene Williams and
and they've made tons of money. They don't need, per
se the money that the tennis tour provides uh to
(11:47):
keep them going. But a lot of players, even players
that are pretty highly ranked, I mean, they're not making
any money. You know, they're not like athletes in basketball, uh,
in hockey and baseball. Baseball is having their own issues
at the moment, but you know that they're in team
sports where they're stilletting a paycheck. So tennis players, I
think have the way that against obviously traveling, most of
the players coming from Europe coming to the US being quarantined. Essentially,
(12:10):
you're having to stay in one hotel by JFK Airport
and deal with all the parameters that are being put
in place, which is completely abnormal to what they're used to.
They could usually have their own entourage, they can stay
in New York City, they can go out, they can
basically do whatever they want. But if they're gonna come
and play in the US Open, at least as far
as the way the rules are now, they're gonna have
(12:31):
to bide by a lot of rules and regulations that
they're not used to. Yeah, and that brings up another
question that we we see in every sport also, which is,
you know, Serena Williams saying she will participate in adult
you know, won't Will this be a real US Open,
because I'm nervous that all of these sports that are gonna,
you know, come back in are gonna have these weird
asterisks next to whoever wins these things. Oh well, it's
(12:51):
not the same. It was a different surrounding, different environment.
All the players weren't there. Well, tennis has been through
something like this or nothing like the pandemic obviously, but
there's a strike at Wimbledon, you know, back in the seventies,
and so that affected who wanted. The Australian Open for
many years was sort of an afterthought until it moved
to Melbourne Park. It used to be a tournament over
(13:12):
Christmas time and most of the top players, a lot
of them didn't even go. So of course there will
be an asterisk, I believe, just like there will be
if the NBA plays, you know, if if baseball plays
eight games and the NHL just goes right to the playoffs.
So I think that will happen. But I think you
have to weigh that against Okay, what's the alternative you'll
turn the I mean, assuming it's safe. Okay, that's that's
number one. Have to be safe and healthy for the
(13:33):
players and participants in the people involved with putting on
the on the game, whatever sport it is. If you
assume that's the case, then it's like, well, you know,
as I've said many times, if my choice is to
have a US open with no fans and all these
other issues and potentially not every player playing for the
reasons that you outline, or having um no U S open,
(13:55):
I mean I'll take the former every time. I'll take
a US open with with no fans, and because I
think that's in the best interest of the game and
certainly for the majority of players. At least you give
them the decision. Uh, it's in their hands. If you come,
you can play, and you can make a living. It's
also obviously just important for our entire country, in our society,
right to get back to some semblance of normalcy, whatever
(14:17):
that may be. Restaurants in my town are opening, they're
all outdoor seating. You know, things are starting to open up.
At least here in the New York area. So I
think that this would be a step for tennis to
do the same. And you are a prolific play by
play announcer. What what does broadcasting of tennis look like
at the US Open? Do do we see a change
in that as well? You guys gonna be on the
(14:37):
other side of the court. I think there's gonna be
a huge change. I mean, first of all, with no fans,
it's gonna be a whole different sound that you hear
over over. In fact, that was on a zoom call
with all of our announcers at ESPN and our our
coordinating and producer just the other day when the USC
announced their plans. So it's going to affect our plans,
you know, in a big way, not just obviously the
production side. How many people are allowed on the site,
(15:00):
who's allowed to get into the facility? Well, what if
we have a courtside person that we normally do, the
players will be able to hear them because there'll be
no fans, you know, there's no buzz, even even the commentators.
So the one part of it is it will likely
be the only broadcasting company there because of this, So
all the Europeans and the international television companies will likely
(15:21):
not be there. So that means that all those areas
where they normally rent them out from the US, they
will be open. So I don't think we'll have any trouble,
I meaning an ESPN distancing if you even have two
commentators in a commentary booth, because they're usually pretty big,
and if not, you could just put one here, one
there and spread us out pretty easily. Yeah, I mean,
it is comical to think that they might hear you, guys.
(15:43):
I know because usually Arthur asked, stadium we're about midway
up uh in the stadium, but it's open, you know,
because it gives you a feel, it gives a fresh
air and get a feel for the environment. But if
there's no um people there, the players will definitely be
able to hear, you know, particularly in a broadcasting voice,
where usually up the volume a little bit. So you know, Wimbledon,
for example, we're right next to the court when we
(16:04):
do the Wimbledon finals from what's called the bunker. They're
right by court side, so when the players play, we
close the window. There's otherwise they could hear you very clearly.
So close to the court so depending on what the
tournament is, what the environment is, We're pretty much used
to whatever it is. I used to call tons of
matches when I first started ESPN from the studio in Connecticut,
you know, called the Italian Open, called the French Open.
(16:25):
So and tennis channel still does that, So that's certainly doable.
It's always better to be there and and to feel
the energy. I was going to say the players and
the crowd, but there will be no crowd. So the
other question is do you bring in sound? You know,
you come up with fakes, sound like they're doing that
in Europe and in soccer. They're having one channel where
you can listen to just the sound of what's going
(16:46):
on in the field, and then they have another one
that has sort of simulated crowd noise as well. So
I think they left the viewer decide which one they'd
like to do. It's like an SAP button on your
TV if you want to hear in Spanish, so they
might try to do that in tennis as well. It's
an opportunity for us and broadcasting certainly to try some
different things because obviously we're gonna have to keep the
attention of the viewer um without having you know, the
(17:08):
crowd and all the different shots you can show, because
remember in a tennis match, you're just watching two players.
You know, golf tournaments different you follow a golf tournament,
you could pop around to each different hole and even
in the final round you can see loads of different players. Tennis,
you've got to do a little more sometimes to entertain
the audience than just having two players, particularly the matches,
(17:28):
and that compelling after this more with tennis legend and
host of the podcast, Holding Court Patrick McEnroe. Right now,
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whose jobs are impacted, and low income families continue to
(17:50):
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(18:12):
org backslash covid nineteen. Now here's the rest of my
chat with ESPN tennis commentator Patrick McEnroe. Let's talk about
some other world changes. I have a one year old,
so people have been interviewing who have teenagers. I've asked
them the same question, how you've been dealing with this
(18:34):
time while raising in your case teenage daughters. Luckily, we've
been pretty lucky that they're a little bit older, so
they've been able to manage a lot of the school
side essentially themselves and a little help from us, a
little more help from my wife probably in that department,
but the school system, you know, has been pretty solid.
My twin daughters, who are big into dance, are big
(18:54):
in ballet school and they go they would actually commute
to New York City, so that school started online. Zoom
dance class is pretty much right away. My older daughter
is more of a competitive tennis player, so she's been
trained with mad practice with me. As I said, tennis
is an easy sport to the distance herself, so we
were able to kind of keep up with a lot
of the normal things that they do. Um they're able
(19:16):
to get out we we we moved to the suburbs
out of the city. So I think for the first
time my wife loved you. The real city person loves
the city. So I think for the first time she
looked at me and said, well, maybe we made the
right decision leaving the city because now you know, there's
a girls can get out and about ride their bikes
and things like that. So we've been pretty lucky that
they've been able to manage it. But obviously it's a
lot more hands on from the two of us as
(19:37):
far as you know, managing the household. Overall. You've been
incredibly active to switch gears here a little bit over
the years with youth and tennis developing, young players representing
the game, trying to push it further and further with
what we're seeing around the world as far as the
murder of George Floyd and so much it's going on,
as far as opening the eyes of others towards the
(19:57):
plight of black people. What what has Tennis done correctly
and what has Tennis done wrong when it comes to diversity. Well,
I think you need to hear from from those African
American players a little bit more about what they went
through and you hear a little bit about Venus and
Serena because they are so popular and they're so worldly famous.
But I I immediately thought of a lot of the
players I grew up playing with, Omalavia Washington, Brian Shelton,
(20:20):
Lori McNeil, Katrina Adams, you know, hosts of African Americans
that um to be honest that the kid growing up,
you know, you never thought there are any issues, but
now you you kind of realized, Wow, we're white people
playing a predominantly white sport, and these players likely went
through lots of things that we never knew about. So
I think it's it's about James Blake, obviously, guy who
(20:42):
played Davis Cup who had that Hartle incident with the
police in New York in New York City where he
got attacked and he had done nothing wrong. So he's
been out there, uh talking about a lot of which
I think is great. Uh. The one thing I think
about tennis that is a little bit different in some
sense is that, you know, my kids are my twinter
in ballet school. So they did an online thing for dancers,
(21:04):
and there was some very successful African American dancers. They
talked about how difficult it's been for them in that world,
and that you know, because they didn't look a certain way,
they wouldn't get certain parts, it wouldn't get chosen for
this school. And my oldest daughter we were watching it together,
she said, the New World tend I said's interesting, you know,
thinking about this in tennis because we see, we see
lots of people of color in tennis, junior tennis, especially
(21:27):
these days, which is great, okay, partly because the success
of Venus and Serena, but we we sort of wanted
to all imagine what they had to go through. My
daughter said to me, said, well, yeah, in tennis. So
it's a little different because in tennessee, either win or
your loots, you know, from a performance standpoint, so it's
a little different from being insane actor or you know,
even applying for a job in a company. You know, tennis,
if you're good enough, whatever your background, um, nobody can
(21:50):
stop you. And then that doesn't mean you haven't had
to deal with a lot of issues of racism, et
cetera and prejudice. Obviously, that that I think is the
opportunity to pre tennis to hear those stories a little
bit more from those people that have gone through the
junior system, the college system, the professional system, um and
tell their stories because I mean it's time for us
as uh as white people and people that have had
(22:12):
a lot of the opportunities they have and to listen. Yeah.
I mean you see sixteen year old Coco goauf and
and Taylor Towns and obviously the Williams sisters. I mean
they continue to sort of shift the scene from sort
of what we know is I guess has been sort
of stereotyped as an old fashioned kind of country club
sport and become more of a face associated with the game,
which you see sort of with Francis Typho who recently
(22:33):
said he thinks that may be participating in the US
Open takes away from the social message that we need
out in the world right now, which we see with
some of the players in the NBA. Do do you
expect tennis players to be protesting, taking a knee during
the anthem or anything during the U s Open. I mean,
I'd be all for. I think they have every right
to do what they want. I love what France has
done as a great young kid. Actually knew him as
a kid growing up, and the juniors watched him as
(22:55):
a fifteen year old, saw him developed as a kid,
and he's a great, great what as a young man
Now he's not a kid anymore. But so I think
for those guys to speak up, it's awesome. Uh. There's
no doubt in my mind that Tennis Blare should do that. Uh.
If that's what they want to do, absolutely, that's what
this country is about. So I believe they will, and
we'll just have to see what happens. But it's certainly
(23:15):
they have every every right to be able to be heard,
and Uh, I hope they used it. I think they will. Uh. Well,
I like to end every podcast with something a little
bit positive and then I'll ask you a dumb question.
But first I want to know, you know, with all
these things that we're facing, whether it's the quarantine you
faced it head on, or or with the racial conflicts
that we're seeing in our world right now, what do
(23:37):
you hope comes out of it? What do you hope
even when we're out and about and eating in restaurants
or you know, uh, maybe some of the protests are
to die down, what do you hope that we continue with? Uh?
Maybe a pattern or a behavior that you hope sticks around. Well.
I think, as I said in my last come and listening.
I think listening, whether it's to your spouse, listening to
your kids, listening to your neighbors, or what what people
(23:59):
have different back grounds are saying. I think that's an
opportunity also to slow down because I think the fact
that we've had this pandemic and we've seen some of
the some of the police brutality and some of the abuse. Uh,
it's been because everybody has been in this position. It's
kind of steam role where people are able to get
out in protests and and bring these things out into
(24:20):
the open, into the forefront. So I think that's been
a positive and hopefully bringing all this stuff to the surface,
we can realize that we really are in this together,
you know, whether it's beating the pandemic or you know,
moving forward in the in the race department, or it's
sexism department for that matter, which was a big issue
before you know, this whole thing started. So I think
there's a lot of things that we can all do individually,
(24:41):
you know, And I would say listen number one and
then collectively as well. Well, let's get into your new podcast.
As you talked about earlier. It's called holding court, something
you picked up during quarantine. You've already had guests like
Alec Baldwin and col McLaughlin on a lot of people,
like you said, who have fame outside of tennis but
love the game. Who do you see as your dream best?
You know, I'm inspired by people that that take up
(25:03):
tennis later in their life when tennis is extremely difficult
Um to get good at, even if he started as
a kid. So um chasing down Elton John because he
is a great tennis enthusiast and has played where much
of his adult life. He's very tight with Billy gen King.
He wrote a song for Billy. Jenny used to do
a big event of the year that raised money for
(25:26):
AIDS in his charity and a big tennis event which
a lot of tennis people supported. So he's always been
an amazing person inspiring people. So he would be certainly
at the top of my list, because I'd like, I
watched a movie about him, and you know, I've met
him over the year and just in some of the
pro celebrity events, and I respect him so much for
what you know, who he is, what he's done, his
(25:46):
love of tennis and also trying to help people. Very
good answer. So you had on Ben Stiller. Will round
out with this. You had on the great Ben Stiller
on the podcast recently, a comic legend, in my opinion,
one of my favorite directors as well. I was I
listed out my top three Ben Stellar movies. I I figured,
I'm springing this on you at the last minute. I'll
go first, but you tell me if I'm missing anything
(26:07):
or if your list is any different. Again, okay, you're ready.
So I have I have a movie that has had
a little bit of gotten a little bit of fire
lately because it was made during a different time. But
I have my number three, Tropic Thunder. I think it's
incredibly directed. It all right, Okay, so that's my three.
My number two is I think it's off the beaten path.
(26:29):
I think it's something that more people should see. A
movie called Flirting with Disaster, very good. Ti Leone's in it,
you have u an incredible list of actors and actress
is in it. The play The Parents. I know Lily
Tomlin really really good, uh, sort of untapped. And in
my number one, he's barely in it. He's not in
(26:51):
it a ton but he directed it. Uh I, Cable
Guy is my favorite Ben Steller movie. Yeah, Cable Guy
definitely put in my top three. Absolutely loved that movie. Obviously,
Jim Carrey is amazing. I have to put Meet the
Parents in there because I love, you know, this sort
of deadpan uh and the way he worked with the
nero and that I thought was off the charts phenomenal.
(27:13):
And I think I'm gonna have to throw it just
because for the outrageousness of it and for what what
he was able to pull off in that one was
zoo Land. I love zoo Land, and I thought that
was hilarious. You said, you you you you dig a
little deeper than I do. And Ben in all of
his movies. But he's a great guy. I got to
know him, you know, just fairly recently. He's always been
a big tennis fan, but he started coming. He clearly
(27:36):
texted me because he wanted to start playing where I
moved back to New York, and uh, I set him
up with one of our great pros at our academy
and he was coming like three or four days a
week away and I'd see him out there, and he's
working unbelievably hard. He's got a nice little lefty serves.
He's sort of spunky out there pretty quick. So you
know somebody like that, he's still get so dedicated to
(27:58):
trying something that they've never As I said, you know
he didn't start in his boarding. Um. I admire that
a lot about people that take up something that's really
difficult to learn and commit themselves to it. I like it. Well,
that's that's our picks. I also Escape from Danamorro is
incredible as well, which the TV show he directed in
EP I don't know, did you see that one? You
saw that one? All right? They're all good? That was awesome. Well,
(28:19):
thank you for talking to me, man. I'm so happy
to hear your healthy and I'm excited to see you
back out there for the US Open and happy to
hear your coaching again. I appreciate you talking to me today.
Thank you for having me on. I'm really enjoyed it.
The No Sports Report is produced and distributed by Tree
Fort Media. The show was executive produced by Kelly Garner,
(28:42):
Lisa Ammerman, Matthew Coogler, and me Jensen Carr. Tom Monahan
is our senior audio engineer and sound supervisor with production
and editing by Jasper Leek, additional production help from Tim Shower,
June Rosen, and Haley Mandelberg. Our theme music is composed
by Spilkus. If you've enjoyed what you've heard, please subscribe,
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(29:04):
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learn more about other ways you can help on their website.
For more information on the No Sports Report, links to
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go to tree Fort dot fm. Be Safe and be Well.
(29:27):
The No Sports Report is a production of I Heart
Radio and tree Fort Media. For more podcasts from my
Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to The No Sports Report, a production of I
Heart Radio Entry Fort Media. My name is Jensen Carpet.
I'm a sportsman, and yes I'm excited about the never
ending breaking news about what leagues are coming back soon,
but also so many athletes are testing positive. Malcolm Brogden,
Charlie Blackman, Novak Djokovic. The Phillies disclosed that seven players
(00:26):
have had COVID nineteen and an astounding student athletes at
Clemson University have tested positive. So let's not pretend like
we're out of the woods yet. Every day is going
to be an adventure. And I think we're just touching
the surface. And after you touch a surface, please wash
your hands. And yes, I'm still talking to athletes and
sports industry professionals about what they're doing during this weird time,
hoping to figure out if famous competing as much as
(00:48):
I miss watching it. This is the No Sports Report,
with some sports now over forty episodes in and tennis legend.
Pat McEnroe is my first guest who was actually diagnosed
with coronavirus. The former captain of the U. S. Davis
Cup has had some success in singles, but was a
highly decorated doubles player with sixteen titles, most notably one
(01:08):
at the French Open. His brother John might be more
remembered for his signature temper on the court, but Pat
has went on to work in the development of young
tennis players as an Olympic captain at Athens two thousand
four and the former general manager of U s t
A player development. He's also a prolific tennis announcer and
an analyst for ESPN. Who, yes, back in March, tested
positive for COVID nineteen. He spent two weeks in his basement,
(01:30):
avoiding his wife and teenage daughters like some sort of
tennis racket, holding Bob a duke, and was able to
actually be productive if you can believe it. Now, out
of captivity, we speak about his symptoms, diversity and tennis,
and our favorite Ben Stiller movies. Let's find out more
about this virus that halted sports in the first place
with Pat McEnroe on this episode of the No Sports Report.
(01:50):
With some Sports Now, Patrick back in Rome to except
press one. Patrick, Yes it is Jensen. Yes, Well, I
wanted to start off by just asking, we've been going
through this insane time in American history. Where have you
(02:12):
been quarantining sort of hold up with and who have
you been with? Well, I've been with my family. Luckily,
we lived just outside New York City up in Westchester,
and we moved here a number of years ago, so
we were already sort of in a self quarantine, self
imposed in early to mid March, and about a week
or so into that, and my kid that already started
their online school. I said to my wife one night,
(02:33):
you know, I'm I haven't been feeling well for a
couple of days. And looked at her and I said, yeah,
I think it's time maybe to take my temperature. So
I took my temperature. Sure enough, I was over a hundred.
Wasn't that bad. I was about a hundred point five.
But I've been feeling weak and sort of tired and
a key for a number of days. So then we
put me in the basement. Luckily, we've got a basement
which actually have access to go inside and outside the house.
(02:56):
I was able to see my I was able to
see my family just sort of from a since. But
I stayed in the basement. I could walk outside and
you know, take my dog for a walk, and my
wife would deliver me meals inside in my area to basement,
so she would come down with gloves and mask and
deliver me food. So that's how we survived for about
a month doing that. Wow, I mean, I know you've
(03:16):
been talking about it NonStop for months. You are actually
my first guest who did positively test for COVID nineteen.
We've had athletes who think they have, but we all
know those people. First symptom you're saying was just a
little bit of a fever. That was truly the first
feeling you had. Actually before that, I had a little
more of a I would just say overall fatigue and
body aches, and that was a little unusual. I was
(03:38):
having a little trouble sleeping at night, so I just
just wasn't really feeling myself for a couple of days.
And uh, it was really when I took my temperature
that I realized, Okay, I might, you know, maybe actually
have this. I had a little bit of shortness of breath,
which kind of came and went throughout a month or so.
In fact, I still feel that a little bit now
when I take a deep breath, when I talk a lot,
(03:58):
when I maybe run up a hill something like that.
So it feels like there's a little something maybe left
over from it. But I never felt at the point
where I was in any danger I needed to go
to hospital. You know. I was in communication with my
doctor fairly regularly. Of course, at that time, everything was
hitting the fan here in this area, particularly in New
York City and in Westchester, So my doctors and the
(04:21):
people that were speaking to were dealing with generally much
more serious cases than mine. Yeah, and so you have
three teenage daughters. You also, your wife is a Broadway actress.
Her obviously her industry was pretty much decimated at that
time too. I mean, were there any nerves about you
passing it along? Did anyone else feel sick at the time, Well,
no one felt sick. You know, my wife is pretty healthy. Obviously,
(04:41):
we were. We were nervous about it. Our kids as well,
but you know, they'd have You always go back and think, well,
did someone have a cough at some point? And one
of my twins, my twins are eleven, my oldest is fourteen.
She had a a little bit of cough at one point,
and and funnily enough, he actually went into the antibody
test just last week. And one of my eleven year
olds was the only one to test positive for the
(05:03):
anti bodo. I did not test positive for the antibis,
so it's very strange. You know, the doctor can't make
the heads or tails of it. So I think, like
everything else that's happened with the virus, it's basically the
medical community seems to be playing a guessing game as
they get more information Seymour cases, and that appears to
be basically where we are. Still, does that mean that
(05:24):
the eleven year old did have it? We don't know
for sure. I mean we think it's it's certainly possible,
but you would think so. Actually, our neighbor next door
neighbor is a family of five as well. They have
older kids that are also in a ten ten year
old girl, and she was the only one to test
positive in their family. So who the heck knows. Maybe
I gave it to my daughter, maybe she gave it
(05:45):
to me. You know, most kids luckily knock on wood,
don't um, you know, fight it off pretty quickly. I
was lucky to also fight it off pretty easily as well.
So sense of smell and taste, all that that weird
thing we hear from people. Did you lose that I did?
Not lose that, but I had a quite a few
friends I actually live in my neighborhood that had lost that.
I had a few other friends and men in my
(06:06):
age group forty five to fifty five in that range
that I communicated with. I had much worse symptoms at night,
especially with the sweats and the very high fever. Really,
skies have really struggled with it. So I felt again
that I was pretty lucky that I never had that.
In fact, when I finally went to the test, I
was a little surprised that I still had it, because
(06:26):
I felt pretty good. Had been down to my basement
at that point for about two weeks. It took me
a while to actually get the tests, you know, the
state was just getting the testing system up and running.
So I went to one of those drive through locations.
Finally it took about a week and just booked the
test and they asked you all the questions, you know,
have you been out of the country, how sick have
you been? Have you been in contact with people that
have had it? Of course I had no idea. I've
(06:48):
been to Australia for the Australian Open at the end
of January, so I was a little surprised when it
came back positive. Uh. And then I went back for
a test with my wife a couple of weeks later,
and we both tested negative. I mean, it's so confusing,
Like you said, there's so many conflicting reports about what
we should be looking for. I mean, one of them
that I think I'm I'm most bewildered by is if
(07:09):
we can catch it a second time or not as
someone who's already had it. What do you know about it?
I don't know much about it other than it's possible.
So every time I go out or uh, you know,
I'm wearing my mask, you know, look to me, is
change at least in the last month or so. Is
that doesn't appear where it's concerned about getting it by
touching things. You know, initially we were you know, it's
wearing gloves to go to the store, to go to
(07:30):
the pharmacy. I was sort of the one that would
pick by the family to go out and pick things
up when we needed them. So I would do that,
I would wear the mask, the gloves, et cetera. That
doesn't seem to be what the current you know, medical
uh knowledge says. It's more about the transmission through the air.
So you see a lot of people, at least here
in this part of the country where I go, wearing
(07:50):
masks when when they're out going to the store, etcetera.
You can't even go into a store if you don't
have a mask. So, uh that that to me seems
to be the biggest issue at this point. But the
short answer your question is who the heck nots? Yeah,
who knows you? You're a busy guy all over the place,
so many different jobs over your career. You quarantined yourself
in a basement until you were negative, you said about
(08:11):
a month. There's a part of me that would love
to be completely shut out, not have any responsibilities. What
did you do in the basement? But when you got
this time to yourself, what did you check off the list?
Did you did you finally watch the wire? Did you
did you take up a hobby? Well, I finally cleaned
my office which is downstairs here in the basement, So
I I did that. That took me a couple of days.
(08:32):
And then, uh, you know, I watched some shows that
you know, being a being married and having three young kids,
you don't have we don't have that much time to
get into a particular show. So I watched a lot
of old episodes of Homeland and I started um Ozark,
so I like, I enjoyed that. That that lasted for
a little while, but then I got into this podcast.
I had a podcast portable machine in my basement that
(08:53):
I had been preparing to start my own podcast really
going back to last year, and so it was some
and that I had on my mind for a long time.
Then I had the idea to interview people that were
successful in their own right, in their own world and
had an interest in tennis, but tennis wasn't necessarily their profession.
So I was stared at this machine. I said, you know,
(09:14):
maybe now be a good time to figure this thing
out and learn this. And so I did that, and
then I you know, started looking at people that I've
come across over the years that I know and basically
just did it myself, figured out how to use the machine,
started calling people, and started my own podcast. So that's
been a lot of fun. That's kept me busy. In
the last month. We've been able to get back, you know,
our tennis academy. I work at the John Macino Tennis
(09:36):
Academy that my brothers started here in New York City
about ten years ago, so I joined up with him
there about four years ago. We haven't been able to
yet open our facility in Randall's Island, which is part
of New York City, but we've been able to open
other clubs that the company owns in the New York era.
So I've actually been going out and and working with
the kids and even adults, giving lessons to the club
(09:58):
to try to help the club just back on his feet,
and so that's been a lot of fun. So between
the podcast and obviously managing the home front with my wife,
who's been amazing through this aduce at her career, at
least performing live um in front of people has disappeared,
but she's been able to do a lot of performing
from the house and doing a lot of shows. You've
got another one coming up shortly. So she's really learned
(10:20):
as well how to use a certain mic, use a
certain lighting system. And I've had obviously do some of
that as well with the podcast and also with just
doing interviews here at home. More with Patrick after this
now let's get back to Patrick. So on the tennis front,
the US Open is set to be one of the
largest American sporting events back up in action quickly set
(10:43):
to begin at the end of August. But there's still
some mystery around if players will be comfortable. You're seeing
that in the NBA and Major League Baseball. There's so
many regulations and questions about safety. If you were still playing,
what would you do well, it's a great, great question.
I mean, first of all, let's put this on the
table that tennis is arguably the most global sport there
is as far as players coming from all over the
(11:05):
world and having to travel all over the world. Even
the Gulf Tour, which is very global, it's essentially the
most of the American players play in America and most
of the European players play in Europe. They don't hop
scotch the world as much as tennis players do. So
that's a complication for tennis because you've got to deal
with many different countries and governments and where they at
in this process. But tennis of the sport is a
(11:27):
very easy game to manage, so I think as a professional. Uh,
the other thing, you have to remembers that most tennis
players essentially go paycheck to paycheck. I mean, they make
their money, how well they do in tournament. Of course,
you hear about Nadow and Fetter and Serene Williams and
and they've made tons of money. They don't need, per
se the money that the tennis tour provides uh to
(11:47):
keep them going. But a lot of players, even players
that are pretty highly ranked, I mean, they're not making
any money. You know, they're not like athletes in basketball, uh,
in hockey and baseball. Baseball is having their own issues
at the moment, but you know that they're in team
sports where they're stilletting a paycheck. So tennis players, I
think have the way that against obviously traveling, most of
the players coming from Europe coming to the US being quarantined. Essentially,
(12:10):
you're having to stay in one hotel by JFK Airport
and deal with all the parameters that are being put
in place, which is completely abnormal to what they're used to.
They could usually have their own entourage, they can stay
in New York City, they can go out, they can
basically do whatever they want. But if they're gonna come
and play in the US Open, at least as far
as the way the rules are now, they're gonna have
(12:31):
to bide by a lot of rules and regulations that
they're not used to. Yeah, and that brings up another
question that we we see in every sport also, which is,
you know, Serena Williams saying she will participate in adult
you know, won't Will this be a real US Open,
because I'm nervous that all of these sports that are gonna,
you know, come back in are gonna have these weird
asterisks next to whoever wins these things. Oh well, it's
(12:51):
not the same. It was a different surrounding, different environment.
All the players weren't there. Well, tennis has been through
something like this or nothing like the pandemic obviously, but
there's a strike at Wimbledon, you know, back in the seventies,
and so that affected who wanted. The Australian Open for
many years was sort of an afterthought until it moved
to Melbourne Park. It used to be a tournament over
(13:12):
Christmas time and most of the top players, a lot
of them didn't even go. So of course there will
be an asterisk, I believe, just like there will be
if the NBA plays, you know, if if baseball plays
eight games and the NHL just goes right to the playoffs.
So I think that will happen. But I think you
have to weigh that against Okay, what's the alternative you'll
turn the I mean, assuming it's safe. Okay, that's that's
number one. Have to be safe and healthy for the
(13:33):
players and participants in the people involved with putting on
the on the game, whatever sport it is. If you
assume that's the case, then it's like, well, you know,
as I've said many times, if my choice is to
have a US open with no fans and all these
other issues and potentially not every player playing for the
reasons that you outline, or having um no U S open,
(13:55):
I mean I'll take the former every time. I'll take
a US open with with no fans, and because I
think that's in the best interest of the game and
certainly for the majority of players. At least you give
them the decision. Uh, it's in their hands. If you come,
you can play, and you can make a living. It's
also obviously just important for our entire country, in our society,
right to get back to some semblance of normalcy, whatever
(14:17):
that may be. Restaurants in my town are opening, they're
all outdoor seating. You know, things are starting to open up.
At least here in the New York area. So I
think that this would be a step for tennis to
do the same. And you are a prolific play by
play announcer. What what does broadcasting of tennis look like
at the US Open? Do do we see a change
in that as well? You guys gonna be on the
(14:37):
other side of the court. I think there's gonna be
a huge change. I mean, first of all, with no fans,
it's gonna be a whole different sound that you hear
over over. In fact, that was on a zoom call
with all of our announcers at ESPN and our our
coordinating and producer just the other day when the USC
announced their plans. So it's going to affect our plans,
you know, in a big way, not just obviously the
production side. How many people are allowed on the site,
(15:00):
who's allowed to get into the facility? Well, what if
we have a courtside person that we normally do, the
players will be able to hear them because there'll be
no fans, you know, there's no buzz, even even the commentators.
So the one part of it is it will likely
be the only broadcasting company there because of this, So
all the Europeans and the international television companies will likely
(15:21):
not be there. So that means that all those areas
where they normally rent them out from the US, they
will be open. So I don't think we'll have any trouble,
I meaning an ESPN distancing if you even have two
commentators in a commentary booth, because they're usually pretty big,
and if not, you could just put one here, one
there and spread us out pretty easily. Yeah, I mean,
it is comical to think that they might hear you, guys.
(15:43):
I know because usually Arthur asked, stadium we're about midway
up uh in the stadium, but it's open, you know,
because it gives you a feel, it gives a fresh
air and get a feel for the environment. But if
there's no um people there, the players will definitely be
able to hear, you know, particularly in a broadcasting voice,
where usually up the volume a little bit. So you know, Wimbledon,
for example, we're right next to the court when we
(16:04):
do the Wimbledon finals from what's called the bunker. They're
right by court side, so when the players play, we
close the window. There's otherwise they could hear you very clearly.
So close to the court so depending on what the
tournament is, what the environment is, We're pretty much used
to whatever it is. I used to call tons of
matches when I first started ESPN from the studio in Connecticut,
you know, called the Italian Open, called the French Open.
(16:25):
So and tennis channel still does that, So that's certainly doable.
It's always better to be there and and to feel
the energy. I was going to say the players and
the crowd, but there will be no crowd. So the
other question is do you bring in sound? You know,
you come up with fakes, sound like they're doing that
in Europe and in soccer. They're having one channel where
you can listen to just the sound of what's going
(16:46):
on in the field, and then they have another one
that has sort of simulated crowd noise as well. So
I think they left the viewer decide which one they'd
like to do. It's like an SAP button on your
TV if you want to hear in Spanish, so they
might try to do that in tennis as well. It's
an opportunity for us and broadcasting certainly to try some
different things because obviously we're gonna have to keep the
attention of the viewer um without having you know, the
(17:08):
crowd and all the different shots you can show, because
remember in a tennis match, you're just watching two players.
You know, golf tournaments different you follow a golf tournament,
you could pop around to each different hole and even
in the final round you can see loads of different players. Tennis,
you've got to do a little more sometimes to entertain
the audience than just having two players, particularly the matches,
(17:28):
and that compelling after this more with tennis legend and
host of the podcast, Holding Court Patrick McEnroe. Right now,
Feeding America is working tirelessly to ensure our most vulnerable populations,
like students who are out of school, the elderly individuals
whose jobs are impacted, and low income families continue to
(17:50):
have access to food and other needed resources during the
COVID nineteen pandemic. The Feeding America Food Bank Network is
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we hope that you can join us in this effort
to find out how you can help feeding America dot
(18:12):
org backslash covid nineteen. Now here's the rest of my
chat with ESPN tennis commentator Patrick McEnroe. Let's talk about
some other world changes. I have a one year old,
so people have been interviewing who have teenagers. I've asked
them the same question, how you've been dealing with this
(18:34):
time while raising in your case teenage daughters. Luckily, we've
been pretty lucky that they're a little bit older, so
they've been able to manage a lot of the school
side essentially themselves and a little help from us, a
little more help from my wife probably in that department,
but the school system, you know, has been pretty solid.
My twin daughters, who are big into dance, are big
(18:54):
in ballet school and they go they would actually commute
to New York City, so that school started online. Zoom
dance class is pretty much right away. My older daughter
is more of a competitive tennis player, so she's been
trained with mad practice with me. As I said, tennis
is an easy sport to the distance herself, so we
were able to kind of keep up with a lot
of the normal things that they do. Um they're able
(19:16):
to get out we we we moved to the suburbs
out of the city. So I think for the first
time my wife loved you. The real city person loves
the city. So I think for the first time she
looked at me and said, well, maybe we made the
right decision leaving the city because now you know, there's
a girls can get out and about ride their bikes
and things like that. So we've been pretty lucky that
they've been able to manage it. But obviously it's a
lot more hands on from the two of us as
(19:37):
far as you know, managing the household. Overall. You've been
incredibly active to switch gears here a little bit over
the years with youth and tennis developing, young players representing
the game, trying to push it further and further with
what we're seeing around the world as far as the
murder of George Floyd and so much it's going on,
as far as opening the eyes of others towards the
(19:57):
plight of black people. What what has Tennis done correctly
and what has Tennis done wrong when it comes to diversity. Well,
I think you need to hear from from those African
American players a little bit more about what they went
through and you hear a little bit about Venus and
Serena because they are so popular and they're so worldly famous.
But I I immediately thought of a lot of the
players I grew up playing with, Omalavia Washington, Brian Shelton,
(20:20):
Lori McNeil, Katrina Adams, you know, hosts of African Americans
that um to be honest that the kid growing up,
you know, you never thought there are any issues, but
now you you kind of realized, Wow, we're white people
playing a predominantly white sport, and these players likely went
through lots of things that we never knew about. So
I think it's it's about James Blake, obviously, guy who
(20:42):
played Davis Cup who had that Hartle incident with the
police in New York in New York City where he
got attacked and he had done nothing wrong. So he's
been out there, uh talking about a lot of which
I think is great. Uh. The one thing I think
about tennis that is a little bit different in some
sense is that, you know, my kids are my twinter
in ballet school. So they did an online thing for dancers,
(21:04):
and there was some very successful African American dancers. They
talked about how difficult it's been for them in that world,
and that you know, because they didn't look a certain way,
they wouldn't get certain parts, it wouldn't get chosen for
this school. And my oldest daughter we were watching it together,
she said, the New World tend I said's interesting, you know,
thinking about this in tennis because we see, we see
lots of people of color in tennis, junior tennis, especially
(21:27):
these days, which is great, okay, partly because the success
of Venus and Serena, but we we sort of wanted
to all imagine what they had to go through. My
daughter said to me, said, well, yeah, in tennis. So
it's a little different because in tennessee, either win or
your loots, you know, from a performance standpoint, so it's
a little different from being insane actor or you know,
even applying for a job in a company. You know, tennis,
if you're good enough, whatever your background, um, nobody can
(21:50):
stop you. And then that doesn't mean you haven't had
to deal with a lot of issues of racism, et
cetera and prejudice. Obviously, that that I think is the
opportunity to pre tennis to hear those stories a little
bit more from those people that have gone through the
junior system, the college system, the professional system, um and
tell their stories because I mean it's time for us
as uh as white people and people that have had
(22:12):
a lot of the opportunities they have and to listen. Yeah.
I mean you see sixteen year old Coco goauf and
and Taylor Towns and obviously the Williams sisters. I mean
they continue to sort of shift the scene from sort
of what we know is I guess has been sort
of stereotyped as an old fashioned kind of country club
sport and become more of a face associated with the game,
which you see sort of with Francis Typho who recently
(22:33):
said he thinks that may be participating in the US
Open takes away from the social message that we need
out in the world right now, which we see with
some of the players in the NBA. Do do you
expect tennis players to be protesting, taking a knee during
the anthem or anything during the U s Open. I mean,
I'd be all for. I think they have every right
to do what they want. I love what France has
done as a great young kid. Actually knew him as
a kid growing up, and the juniors watched him as
(22:55):
a fifteen year old, saw him developed as a kid,
and he's a great, great what as a young man
Now he's not a kid anymore. But so I think
for those guys to speak up, it's awesome. Uh. There's
no doubt in my mind that Tennis Blare should do that. Uh.
If that's what they want to do, absolutely, that's what
this country is about. So I believe they will, and
we'll just have to see what happens. But it's certainly
(23:15):
they have every every right to be able to be heard,
and Uh, I hope they used it. I think they will. Uh. Well,
I like to end every podcast with something a little
bit positive and then I'll ask you a dumb question.
But first I want to know, you know, with all
these things that we're facing, whether it's the quarantine you
faced it head on, or or with the racial conflicts
that we're seeing in our world right now, what do
(23:37):
you hope comes out of it? What do you hope
even when we're out and about and eating in restaurants
or you know, uh, maybe some of the protests are
to die down, what do you hope that we continue with? Uh?
Maybe a pattern or a behavior that you hope sticks around. Well.
I think, as I said in my last come and listening.
I think listening, whether it's to your spouse, listening to
your kids, listening to your neighbors, or what what people
(23:59):
have different back grounds are saying. I think that's an
opportunity also to slow down because I think the fact
that we've had this pandemic and we've seen some of
the some of the police brutality and some of the abuse. Uh,
it's been because everybody has been in this position. It's
kind of steam role where people are able to get
out in protests and and bring these things out into
(24:20):
the open, into the forefront. So I think that's been
a positive and hopefully bringing all this stuff to the surface,
we can realize that we really are in this together,
you know, whether it's beating the pandemic or you know,
moving forward in the in the race department, or it's
sexism department for that matter, which was a big issue
before you know, this whole thing started. So I think
there's a lot of things that we can all do individually,
(24:41):
you know, And I would say listen number one and
then collectively as well. Well, let's get into your new podcast.
As you talked about earlier. It's called holding court, something
you picked up during quarantine. You've already had guests like
Alec Baldwin and col McLaughlin on a lot of people,
like you said, who have fame outside of tennis but
love the game. Who do you see as your dream best?
You know, I'm inspired by people that that take up
(25:03):
tennis later in their life when tennis is extremely difficult
Um to get good at, even if he started as
a kid. So um chasing down Elton John because he
is a great tennis enthusiast and has played where much
of his adult life. He's very tight with Billy gen King.
He wrote a song for Billy. Jenny used to do
a big event of the year that raised money for
(25:26):
AIDS in his charity and a big tennis event which
a lot of tennis people supported. So he's always been
an amazing person inspiring people. So he would be certainly
at the top of my list, because I'd like, I
watched a movie about him, and you know, I've met
him over the year and just in some of the
pro celebrity events, and I respect him so much for
what you know, who he is, what he's done, his
(25:46):
love of tennis and also trying to help people. Very
good answer. So you had on Ben Stiller. Will round
out with this. You had on the great Ben Stiller
on the podcast recently, a comic legend, in my opinion,
one of my favorite directors as well. I was I
listed out my top three Ben Stellar movies. I I figured,
I'm springing this on you at the last minute. I'll
go first, but you tell me if I'm missing anything
(26:07):
or if your list is any different. Again, okay, you're ready.
So I have I have a movie that has had
a little bit of gotten a little bit of fire
lately because it was made during a different time. But
I have my number three, Tropic Thunder. I think it's
incredibly directed. It all right, Okay, so that's my three.
My number two is I think it's off the beaten path.
(26:29):
I think it's something that more people should see. A
movie called Flirting with Disaster, very good. Ti Leone's in it,
you have u an incredible list of actors and actress
is in it. The play The Parents. I know Lily
Tomlin really really good, uh, sort of untapped. And in
my number one, he's barely in it. He's not in
(26:51):
it a ton but he directed it. Uh I, Cable
Guy is my favorite Ben Steller movie. Yeah, Cable Guy
definitely put in my top three. Absolutely loved that movie. Obviously,
Jim Carrey is amazing. I have to put Meet the
Parents in there because I love, you know, this sort
of deadpan uh and the way he worked with the
nero and that I thought was off the charts phenomenal.
(27:13):
And I think I'm gonna have to throw it just
because for the outrageousness of it and for what what
he was able to pull off in that one was
zoo Land. I love zoo Land, and I thought that
was hilarious. You said, you you you you dig a
little deeper than I do. And Ben in all of
his movies. But he's a great guy. I got to
know him, you know, just fairly recently. He's always been
a big tennis fan, but he started coming. He clearly
(27:36):
texted me because he wanted to start playing where I
moved back to New York, and uh, I set him
up with one of our great pros at our academy
and he was coming like three or four days a
week away and I'd see him out there, and he's
working unbelievably hard. He's got a nice little lefty serves.
He's sort of spunky out there pretty quick. So you
know somebody like that, he's still get so dedicated to
(27:58):
trying something that they've never As I said, you know
he didn't start in his boarding. Um. I admire that
a lot about people that take up something that's really
difficult to learn and commit themselves to it. I like it. Well,
that's that's our picks. I also Escape from Danamorro is
incredible as well, which the TV show he directed in
EP I don't know, did you see that one? You
saw that one? All right? They're all good? That was awesome. Well,
(28:19):
thank you for talking to me, man. I'm so happy
to hear your healthy and I'm excited to see you
back out there for the US Open and happy to
hear your coaching again. I appreciate you talking to me today.
Thank you for having me on. I'm really enjoyed it.
The No Sports Report is produced and distributed by Tree
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(28:42):
Lisa Ammerman, Matthew Coogler, and me Jensen Carr. Tom Monahan
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(29:27):
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