February 29, 2024 • 53 mins
Maria Sharapova, the global tennis icon who spent her career defeating the sport’s best, is looking for some losers. On the premiere episode of The Deal with Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly, she tells us exactly what she means.
For many, Sharapova is a figure frozen in time. It was 2004 when she stunned Serena Williams on Centre Court to win her first Wimbledon and first Grand Slam. Sharapova would go on to become (like Williams) one of the most recognized tennis players of her generation. These days, however, she’s turned her laser focus to dealmaking.
Even as she was climbing to the top of the tennis world, the Russian-born star was already building a business resume—these days she’s reportedly worth in excess of $200 million.
Now with her tennis career behind her, all of those off-court projects have become a full-time job. With an attitude forged in the highest-pressure sporting arenas, she approaches a range of partnerships with a sly worldliness. One thing she’s keen to find? People who have seen it all go sideways. Sharapova says that only those who have lost can eventually win.
Listen to The Deal now. You can also watch The Deal on Bloomberg Originals, YouTube, or Bloomberg TV.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
I want to win with people that know how to lose.
I can, you know, sip champagne or buy the glass,
whatever it is when you're winning, Like, I know what
that feeling's like. But when things are not going well,
when you're losing, when you have a losing streak, can
be a year, can be a few years. And who
are those people that are in that process?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Right? What's their mentality?
Speaker 4 (00:38):
I'm Alex Rodriguez and I'm Jason Kelly. I am fired up, Jason.
I mean, this is our first episode and is a
good one, but we've been talking about this for a
while now, almost a.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Couple of years.
Speaker 5 (00:49):
I mean, what I think we're trying to do with
this show is have conversations candidly that aren't being had
anywhere else. I mean, there's a lot of great stuff there,
but I don't think there's the perspective of what is
really in people's minds when they're making big decisions around
their businesses.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Yeah, and Jason, I think you and I have a
lot in common, but one of them is that we're
both having incredible thirst for information and we're both very
inquisitive and I think a lot of people out there
are a lot like us. You have a lot of
questions about my sports career, and I have a lot
of questions to you about your incredible career, And I
think the combination of both of us is what the
(01:32):
deal is all about.
Speaker 5 (01:33):
Well, and also, I think we've seen our world's collide
in a lot of ways, right. And one of the
things that I think is unique is you look around
the owner's table, a lot of guys, men and women
who came out of private equity, who came out of
real estate. You know, they had these huge careers there
and now they've turned their attention to sports. And by
(01:54):
the same token, what was once pretty rare, meaning you
know you, Magic Johnson, Michael Strahan, who's going to be
a guest coming up in this season, Now that's assumed
if you're an athlete, you're a business You're a business man,
you know. And so this notion of athletes knowing from
the beginning that they have aspirations not just on the field,
(02:17):
on the court, but you know, well beyond. I think
one of the things that also makes this show unique,
other than you know, you and I being together, is
this concept that the deal is our north star. You
know that we are talking to people about their business,
we're talking about their lives, We're talking about their careers
on the field, but what happens off the field. These
(02:40):
key decisions they make, the key hires, they make, the
risks that they take. I don't think they've told a
lot of these stories before, and I think there's a
lot to be learned by not just what you know,
but what went into those big decisions.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
I've learned, Jason so much from you in a short time,
and I want to audience to be able to learn
from you and your experiences. And I think one of
the things I think about a lot is, you know,
knowledge helps you prevent a lot of headaches, and knowledge
is power, and there's another form to educate and learn,
quite frankly, from some of my mistakes. Deals are not
(03:18):
just home runs, some are strikeouts, and sometimes the lessons
in those strikeouts are most valuable.
Speaker 6 (03:24):
I see what you did there. It's a baseball.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Metaphork Okay, can't help myself.
Speaker 5 (03:28):
And Alex, our first guest, is a perfect distillation of
everything we've just described. Maria Sharapova, you know someone who
I feel like has been in our lives for a
long time. You guys have intersected as business people. You
also kind of came of age at the same time
(03:49):
in terms of the spotlight.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
What an amazing story and I was so inspired when
we spoke to her, the challenges that she had to overcome,
and what a brilliant woman and the things that she's
doing in business today are incredible. I think one of
the things that you'll find fascinating is her background, her
work ethic and her father and that relationship and really
(04:14):
developing really thick skin at a global level. I think
it's set her up beautifully for business.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Well.
Speaker 5 (04:20):
The other interesting thing, too, is that I think we
sort of discover in this interview a woman who is,
you know, in her mid thirties, you know, very much
discovering herself as a business person in this next phase
of life. And you've encountered her in that regard. What
was your impression coming in.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
I was wildly impressed.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
I mean, she is someone who is fears humble, ask
tons of questions and if you're an investor, you're a
founder of a company, is disarming and you want to
work with Mario because she is nice. She is a champion,
and you have this incredible package of a world class
athlete and potentially a world class partner, which is what
(05:01):
most founders are looking for.
Speaker 6 (05:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
I mean she is so quick, you know, that willingness
to kind of go there, to be in the moment.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
I want to build one more thing on that, Jason,
because I think that's a great point.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
When she started making fun of me.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
You know, she's always very serious as I watched in
these like big Wimbledon and all this, Yeah, and she
was always game faced. And when she started ripping on me,
I'm like, oh my gosh, I really like this person.
Speaker 6 (05:23):
I know.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
It was great.
Speaker 5 (05:24):
It came out of nowhere, and yet it as we
got to know her more and more through the course
of the interview, it's.
Speaker 6 (05:29):
Like, oh, yeah, this is on brand.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
On this episode of The Deal. Maria Sharapova.
Speaker 6 (05:50):
All right, so officially introduce yourself.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Yeah, I'm Maria Sharapova. I am a five time Grand
Slam champion, and I am now a mother and entrepreneur
and just a curious human being.
Speaker 5 (06:05):
We have so many things that we want to talk
to you about. And I read your book and I
have to say, like it really is like lodged in me,
like your story, and I think.
Speaker 7 (06:16):
That's a big compliment.
Speaker 6 (06:17):
Well, I mean, I think.
Speaker 5 (06:18):
It's your willingness to kind of go there, you know,
and I think the sort of rawness and the vulnerability
you show in telling that story. I mean I do wonder,
like going all the way back, like when did you know?
And you've written about this, like did you know that
you had something special?
Speaker 2 (06:38):
I don't think I ever allowed myself to accept or
to realize that I had something special. Because the moment
that you think you have it down or you know
too much, or you know everything and you consider yourself
the best internally, maybe the outside world can, but internally is,
in my opinion, is a time that you have to
be very careful about because as you start believing in
(07:01):
the hype and you start hyping your own self up,
and then you're living up to these unprecedented expectations and
I don't know if they're ever going to be met.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Maria.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
I'm such a big fan of everything you've done off
the court, obviously the five Grand Slams and what you're
doing now. It takes so much courage to do that.
But going back to the early days, building what Jason
just asked you. I come from two parents that are
immigrants from Dominican Republic, very modest beginnings, and there was
always a sense of imposture syndrome, and I think that
(07:31):
was my gift and my curse, right. It led me
to a great career, but it also led me to
a one year suspension that was very hard on me.
Did you ever feel coming up a little bit of
an imposter syndrome or did you feel like you belong
From day one.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
I knew that what I was doing was different to
other families, to other children. I knew that I had
a different path and I was living almost I mean,
it was a dream, but I had a very clear vision,
and so did my mother and my father. My father
particularly because he was my coach for many years and
it was, you know, his big goal. I was too
young to really have those big goals. But as I
(08:08):
followed this road that he, you know, paved for me,
I realized very much that this dream was becoming a
reality that you know, you had a choice to make
every single day when you wake up to be the best.
And I was given an incredible gift of you know,
having a strong mind of persistence of focus. And I
was talented, but I wasn't like as physically strong as
(08:28):
other children. And I loved this idea of being different,
and I accepted that I didn't have a typical upbringing,
that I was an immigrant, that I came to the
United States as a young girl, and I didn't feel
like I always belonged. But I found that as a gift.
I didn't find that as a disadvantage.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
So, just following up on that, I remember the first
time that I traveled to Texas and I was fifteen
years old, and I wore the US uniform representing the
US and the US Olympic teams. And I looked around
the room and I was a rising junior. Everyone was
a rising senior in the summertime, and I said, wait
a minute, I'm as good as everybody here, and I'm
a year younger. I was the only underclassman. That was
(09:06):
the first time that I go I can go big
if I really focus. What was that moment for you
that you said I can be something special?
Speaker 2 (09:13):
So you see, it's funny because you give me that
example in that story, and there's not one that I
particularly look back to because after a victory or after
beating someone that was older than I was, or a
boy that you know, was stronger and you know, perhaps
had a better talent or was just physically better at
the sport, I still knew that I had to wake
up and keep doing it tomorrow and prove myself again
(09:35):
and go to another tournament over the weekend in the
middle of nowhere, in the dumps of Florida, and figure
out a way to win. And so I think it
was just this reality element that kept coming back to me.
Like I came from, you know, as you have, from
very humble beginnings, and I was never afraid to go back.
But I dreamed of the very best. I dreamed of
holding the biggest trophy. But I also, in this other context,
(09:59):
if I went back to what I had before, I
didn't think badly of it, Like the foundation that my
parents had built back home in Russia. They were both
my mother was very young, shustill in university, but my
dad had a decent job. He wasn't making a lot
of money, and the United States considered no money. But overall,
like I had a great environment, I had a healthy environment,
I had food on the table, I had great loving parents,
(10:20):
and so if those were the conditions that I had
to go back to, I was okay with And perhaps
that is what gave me the confidence to just keep
going and just keep striving for better and better, and hey,
if the top didn't happen to what I envisioned, then
it was okay to go back to those humble beginnings.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
So you've mentioned your parents a couple of times, and
when we think about the concept of the deal, the
sort of unifying principle of all that your earliest partnership
is your dad in terms of like you.
Speaker 7 (10:51):
But it wasn't a choice.
Speaker 6 (10:52):
It wasn't a choice, right exactly.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
And I'm okay with it, and I was lucky.
Speaker 5 (10:56):
And so as you come of age, even as you
get to be you know, even ten eleven years old,
eleven years old, you know you sign with Nike. I
believe you are at a very young age in a
business partnership. Yeah, with your dad. How did that feel
and what were sort of the undercurrents of that.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Yeah, Well, I'm an only child and was and still am,
and so I built this very strong bond with my parents.
They're both very young. My father, you know, enjoyed sport,
he loved sport. He played hockey. That was a big
sport in Russia. He thought he was some tremendous athlete.
I kept telling him he wasn't that good, and I
still do till this day. My mother would take me
to the ballet no matter what city I was in,
(11:38):
and just helped me grow everything else but sport. And
so they had these very different gifts that they helped,
you know, instill in me and shape me in many ways.
And I think that grounding element of those partnerships. Like
I would go to the tennis court and I would
be around my dad, and of course i'd negotiate with
him whether I was there. You know, i'd start my
practice with serving for forty five minutes or i'd end
(12:00):
like I had a preference and he had his preference,
and you know, it would be a little bit of
a negotiation no matter how young I was, Like I'd
find my way to you know, give an opinion. And
then I'd come home and you know, my mom had
my schoolwork in front of me, and she made sure
that I ate the right things and that I stretched,
you know, before I went to sleep, because she thought
that would help me grow. She was right, because I'm
much taller than my parents.
Speaker 6 (12:20):
Sure, you're hanging from a bar.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Though, hanging from a bar.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
And then I had to stretch right before going to
sleep because she said, when you go to sleep, that's
when you elongate. That's when your body recovers and it
needs to be nice and loose.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
So here we are, and the biggest business decision your
parents make is for you and your dad to come
to the United States. I mean, we talk a lot
about risk when it comes to business. That's a huge bet,
huge risk on you at age five. You know, you
get a little bit of encouragement from Martina and never
(12:52):
to love it. And you've talked about how you know
there are these key moments that you look back on
that are clearly catalytic in your progression and in your success. Yeah,
but that is a massive risk that you must look
back on and think, Wow.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Yeah, my father and I were breaking roles on the
public tennis courts from the first day we arrived in Miami.
I remember we arrived, someone was supposed to meet us.
Speaker 7 (13:17):
They didn't.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
We happened to stay with a family sharing a hotel room,
and the next morning my dad said, let's wake up.
We got to go find a court, a tennis court,
and we just happened to go around Collins Avenue and
then found some private court that he jumped the fence
on and here we were opened the gate from the back, practicing.
So those are like the recollections of arriving to the
(13:38):
United States of America, finding your way, finding your path,
and there are many times where it could have gone wrong,
but your determination and you know outside voices, and there
are many people along those paths that help shape you
know your future.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
So, Maria, when I hear you talk about your father,
I can't help to think about, you know, my dad
leaving my family, my mother, my brother, my sister, and
kind of left the four of us behind, and my
mother went on to take two jobs. And I always thought,
I think about the gift of your father and the
curse of my father leaving us.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
There's both sides. Right.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
Part of him leaving was I had nobody to kick
me in the butt. I had to do it myself.
And I knew early on that I had to be
the provider for my family. Probably when I was abound
eleven or twelve, I hear all the good, any challenges
of having that first partnership, be with your father.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
You can't just fire your father. He can't fire you.
I mean this blood. Yeah, any challenges along the way.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Tennis wise, I have to give him so much credit.
I mean, there are many in his position. He was
in his early thirties with seven hundred dollars in his
back pocket of his levies. He was trying to find
any kind of job that would help support, you know,
string my next racket for my next tournament. So I
(14:57):
don't you know the greatest gift that he gave me.
He was acknowledging that at some point he will have
to step back and for a father in sport, particularly
in tennis, as a father of a girl that's won
grand slams with him, is a very tough acceptance to have.
I did that after my third Grand Slam at the
Australian Open. I think he knew it was coming because
(15:20):
I wanted to do it with him, and I wanted
to do it on my own. I wanted to have
that independency and it was more for me than anything else.
It was not about money, it was not about victories.
Speaker 7 (15:31):
It's just this little little bird, this little.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Instinct of mine that said, you know, what this is
time I won my third Grand Slam at the Australian Open,
and I.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Drafted and I'm scared for you, Maria.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
Is that conversation happened on text on phone?
Speaker 3 (15:49):
I drafted a really good email.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
I just thought I was gonna do this much better
on email and craft my thoughts better.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
And I did.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
And I couldn't look at him in the face while
saying that. But I also knew that he knew it
was coming. He just didn't think it was going to
happen after I just won my third Grand Slam.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yeah, it's a tough one, but you have to like
rip that band aid. As someone that was in my twenties,
I was ready. It'd been a partnership for you know,
over twenty years, and it was time to do it
on my own.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
And to do it after a third Grand Slam so
much better than after a terrible defeat, right, Yeah, which.
Speaker 7 (16:23):
Is what happens most of the.
Speaker 6 (16:25):
Time, exactly.
Speaker 7 (16:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (16:27):
Well, and it was interesting too because you essentially kind
of turned his own logic on him, right, because he
had been pretty robust in terms of like turning over
your team pretty consistently, you know, firing coaches, along the way,
just to make sure you kept it fresh.
Speaker 6 (16:45):
Is that fair?
Speaker 2 (16:46):
I mean I never really fired him. He was still
very much involved. I guess the only thing that and
when you say fired, like you evolve, right, And that's
one of the hardest the challenges that I find now
is like, what you needed two three years ago, perhaps
is not what you need for the future, And like,
how do you make that change and acknowledge that this
person was right for you at this time, but is
(17:07):
no longer right for you and for your own future
and perhaps not for theirs. And that conversation is one
of the most difficult ones that you have in business
because team is everything and if you don't see and
feel that your team is moving with you toward that
one direction. And the fact that he just was able
to step back and say, hey, you do this, I mean,
he was still very much involved. He'd call all the
(17:28):
coaches and speak to them after matches. He's always the
first person I call. It wasn't like I went to
my coach, I call my dad.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Yeah, right right, you have that partnership and relationship.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
He knows you better than anyone and I respected that
and I always respected his opinion.
Speaker 5 (17:42):
So speaking of building your team, I mean one of
the catalytic moments clearly too is IMG, because that sets
you it feels like on a completely new path, or
it sort of helps set the direction.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Yeah, my father and I arrived to the academy on
a Greyhound bus in the middle of the night. We
didn't know if it was open or not, but it
was the only time that the bus came to Bradenton, Florida,
and we knocked on the door. The receptionist said, you're crazy.
Come back at six am when our front office opens.
So we went to a hotel, came back in the
morning and they put me and my father said, we.
Speaker 7 (18:18):
Don't have a reservation.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
I just brought my daughter from Russia and she's talented
and I'd like for her to practice here. And I'm
sure they looked at him with eyes wide open and said,
this guy's nuts, and so let's let's bring them in
for the day and then try to get rid of
them later. They put me in a group and the
coach that was running the group said, hey, called Nick
BOLETI right away.
Speaker 7 (18:40):
I went to see Nick.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Within hours and Nick called IMG and that's how it spiraled.
Speaker 7 (18:46):
Wow, within twenty.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Four hours and how old we then?
Speaker 7 (18:50):
I was seven six and a half, right.
Speaker 5 (18:53):
And then it I mean it takes a couple twists
and turns though, because you end up at a different Yeah,
because bulletary is this isn't working out, oh military.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
It was a sports factory, right, Like if you want
individual training where you come in and there's one person
looking after you for six hours a day, that's most
likely not going to happen. But it was also a
time where we need an investment. We needed money in
order to go and train. I mean, you know, tennis
is a very expensive sport. You need to invest so
much capital and with absolutely no guarantees. And so IMG
(19:26):
put the first check in. And I think that was
the last time that I felt really awful about owing
money to someone.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
I've never I've never heard that so IMG investing you,
how do they get their return on their capital?
Speaker 2 (19:40):
So once you make a little bit of cash, then
you return with certain interest. I hated that feeling, I
mean the.
Speaker 6 (19:46):
Feeling of yet, why do you think that is?
Speaker 2 (19:49):
I just even now, like anytime I'm in business and
I do deals or even buying a house, like the
idea of borrowing someone's money and then owing it to
the is like, I don't know if it's because of
the past and that I needed that money in order
to survive in the sport. It like left to really like,
I don't know, this feeling of I never want to
(20:10):
be in that position. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (20:16):
When we come back, we discussed Maria's signing with Nike.
Her first grandson went at Wimbledon, and the highs and
lows of what came after. I can't get too far along.
(20:38):
I want to get to sort of your success on
the court in a second. But from a business perspective,
every athlete's dream, or many athletes dream, is to sign
with Nike.
Speaker 6 (20:47):
You do that at eleven? Are you conscious of that?
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Really, it wasn't like a big deal to me because
I didn't recognize what that even means.
Speaker 6 (20:54):
To me.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
That meant that I could have free tennis skirts, right,
and that was fantastic during the time I'm a one
one then I was on a very small, mediocre Nike
contract as a teenager, and after I won, they very
sweetly flew us up to Portland and gave us the
whole you know, shebang experience. That was the moment, yeah,
where I realized that Okay, I had done something special.
Speaker 6 (21:16):
Well, let's talk about that.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
Because winning Wimbledon the first time, I think it's safe
to say, literally changes everything. I mean, it changes your
Nike deal. It also brings Motorola in. Tell us about that.
The business of Maria Sharpovt totally changes.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
When you frame it that way, I'm like, he wow,
that is so big. But like when you're a seventeen
year old girl, you don't look at it that way
because if you think that, wow, everything now has changed,
how do you wake up at six am, put on
your training gear when it's like freezing outside and go
and hit one hundred serbs and with a cold shoulder,
Where's the motivation going to come from? So, if I
(21:57):
can be honest, I never allowed myself to feel that
change or that shift has happened, because you constantly have
to find those moments of inspiration to keep going. An
inspiration to me was not by signing a contract with
Motorola or getting the new Raizor phone, even though that
was an incredible brand. It was the fact that, like now,
(22:17):
when I went to train in Los Angeles, I stayed
in this hotel room in Hermosa Beach, and I got
an upgrade.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Yeah, I had a better room, and that was exciting.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
I'm here like freaked out because it's resonating so much.
At seventeen, I was drafted from Miami to the Seattle Mariners,
Like all the way across the country. I had to
kind of bring out the map and go where exactly right.
But there's a moment when I signed my contract where
I saw my mom work so hard that I made
a promise that I would buy our house. I got
(22:47):
to use Mercedes Benz. I remember one ninety and I
promised our show never working and she's eighty seven to.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
This day, and she's never worked a day in her life.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
After my contract, when I bought my black Cherokee, I
got to tell you, jeep Cherokee. It was black with
a little gold that was my flex And I was seventeen,
and I just felt like the king of the world.
Was there ever a little moment where you either got
a big check that for a minute you said, Okay,
I'm gonna enjoy this quietly and then I'm gonna go
back to my serfs.
Speaker 7 (23:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
I took my mom and two girlfriends to the Caribbean
on my first ever vacation I've never seen to Nevis
and it was the closest resort, decent resort to Sarasota
where I was training, And we took five days off
and I'd never been on a vacation in my life.
And I left there and I thought, Wow, the fact
(23:38):
that I could fly my mom, two of my girlfriends
on a private jet to this place with blue water
and boogie board all day long like that was our thing,
and come home and train the next day is the greatest,
most amazing gift until this day. Like that feeling going
(24:00):
away of disconnecting from the world, of being with my
friends and my family and treating them to this amazing
experience that incorporates travel and wellness.
Speaker 6 (24:10):
And so this is just post Wimbledon, after that season.
Speaker 7 (24:14):
I was not taking vacations before that, right.
Speaker 6 (24:16):
Yeah, why weren't you? You just couldn't.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
I didn't know what that meant. I don't think I
ever took more than a day or two off. But
the grind of the year, the schedule of playing seventeen
to twenty tournaments a year, the travel, the media responsibilities,
the brand responsibilities, you need to disconnect from that.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
So I'm going to bring you back to when you
were seventeen. Call it a month before you win at
your first Wimbledon. What is a day like for Maria
to give us a taste of your work ethic and
your schedule.
Speaker 7 (24:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
So a month before that Wimbledon was the French Open
and it was actually the first Grand Slam quarter final
that I'd been in. It was a big event for me.
It was a big result for me. People expected good
things for me, perhaps not on the clay courts, but
it was where I made my mark, where I felt like, wow, Okay,
I got to the quarterfinal, baby steps and moving in
(25:12):
the right direction. And the following week was the first
warm up tournament in Birmingham in England, and they were
showing the final of the French Open, and at the
time I was sitting in a hotel room with a
Russian colleague that was also playing the same tournament, and
there were two Russians playing that final in Paris, and
(25:33):
I just watching the TV and knowing that there was
going to be a Russian woman like holding that trophy.
I want, honestly, I just I wanted it to be me,
and I was so upset that it was happening to
somebody else, and I remember speaking about it with hers
it was a calling named Maria as well, and just
telling her how this should be us, like we should
(25:55):
be in the final. Why are the other these two
girls are in the final. So I already had that
competitior of spirit in me, and I was training for
that Wimbledon victory without even knowing it.
Speaker 5 (26:06):
Because one of the things that comes through very clearly
and sort of learning about you is you are a
ferocious competitor. I mean you would set your sights on somebody.
I mean Serena is obviously sort of like the alpha
example of this. Do you still have that feeling in
your mind of being so intent on winning?
Speaker 7 (26:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
If I competed in the same tournament, no matter if
it was a woman or a man winning that tournament
and it wasn't me, like I would inside I would
feel upset that it wasn't me on the stage, like
I would envision myself being there, And if it didn't
happen to be that tournament like I would genuinely be
upset and eager to get out on the practice court,
(26:49):
whether it was an hour later or the next morning
or like it.
Speaker 7 (26:52):
It fueled me absolutely.
Speaker 5 (26:56):
So I want to take you back just for a second,
because you mentioned Motorola, or you mentioned sort of that
moment of winning, and that it didn't resonate with you
as much as a competitor. And yet I have to
think you look back on that as a business person, yeah,
and realize that was a massive moment massive.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
I was on Center Court after that that when tried
to call my mom. She was on a Jet Blue
flight on her way to New York to actually meet
me because I had some things to do over that weekend.
I was late because I happened to be in the final.
She watched me when on the television mid flight, I
tried to call her so from Center Court using was
one of those crap phones, can't reach her, And then
(27:37):
I realized she was on the flight. And then next
thing you know, a week later, I have a global
deal with Motorola. And the deal itself wasn't financially heavy.
It was actually I think it was a few hundred
grand a year, perhaps more, but it was such a
great brand alignment. At the time they were coming out
with their razor phone, right, I was one of the
(27:57):
first few people that ever seen it. Was on all
the campaigns with it. And it was a smart move
by by my team and I because it was taking
you know, it was taking a company that was about
to do a lot of many campaigns around a product
that I was involved with, and it got me on
billboards and from Tokyo to Seoul to Paris, and it
(28:18):
opened up so many more doors than perhaps a deal
that was worth a few millionaire.
Speaker 6 (28:23):
And were you and your team conscious of that at
the time?
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Absolutely?
Speaker 5 (28:26):
Okay, So that this had sort of a and this
is something we've talked about before, you know, sort of
this cultural relevance, right, I mean it was just like
a zeitgeist type of deal.
Speaker 7 (28:37):
I don't think.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
I mean, you know better than than anyone. You don't
take deals just for the money. There's you have to
think of the right positioning in your career. Is it
about the team, is it about the founder? Is it
about the product? Is it how are they helping you?
Know your name and your image where they focused on?
Is there a market that you're particularly interested in, Like
I love going to Asia and Japan and China. I
(29:00):
loved playing there. I loved my fans there. I had
a huge fan base. So you know, if there was
a company that was focused on a particular campaign in
that area. Then you know that would be something that
I'd be curious about.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
You know, some are just like you see it, you
hear it, you smell it. You know it's a no brainer.
And sometimes you know, Warren Buffett talks about he knows
if he's an investment, a founder, or CEO in the
first five minutes.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
So motorole isn't.
Speaker 7 (29:25):
Over you do you do that too?
Speaker 1 (29:26):
Well?
Speaker 4 (29:27):
I was going to tell you about this one because
this guy is Siria or mutual friend.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Yes, you know.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
One of my biggest misses of all time was Uber
and I remember I was living in the West Village
and we had just finished playing The Red Sox and
we were having dinner at the Waverley. Now it's past
midnight and we're having a couple of cocktails and he goes,
I have this investment for you I want you to
look at and I only have two fifty for you
to invest in. I said, great, great, So we walked
down the street and he presses a button and he
(29:53):
sees the car and the cars coming and I'm like, okay,
that's a great you're mentalist.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Do it again.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
He goes, okay, I'll erase it, and he does it again.
Two minutes a car pulls up. I goes, okay, and
now I want this investment. And by two fifty I
needed to wire before noon.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
The next day.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
My business manager was out in the West coast, out
in La so timing and I missed it.
Speaker 7 (30:13):
Is he fired?
Speaker 1 (30:15):
No, he's still with me. But that's two fifty.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
You're loyal.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
The two fifty Maria would have been close to fifty
million bucks today.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Oh my, But do you think of that, like do
you think that that was a missed opportunity? Like do
you look back and think that's a regret.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
But my point is, and this is my question.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
Sometimes the team, the business manager, the lawyers, there's a
lot of handlers that we have sometimes around us, and
I feel like paralysis by analysis. There's sometimes you just
got to say kind of screw it.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
A have you had? Missus?
Speaker 4 (30:48):
And two do you sometimes say, you know what, guys, team,
I appreciated there's a Maria's call, I'm going to go
for it.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
I see a lot of deal flow, and I see
many things that could work well and many things that
are not necessarily go well. And sometimes you take chances
and you bet on it. But there was one deal. Actually,
Andy Roddick called me up. Not that I want to
blame Andy, but he did call me up. He says,
there is a It was an app failed app right now.
(31:17):
At the time, it was very similar to what cameo
ended up doing very well. The user face had two
different apps, so one for the user and one for
the hotels that was offering these services. And I said
to the founder, I said, why can't this just be
one app for the people that are providing the service
and for the user, And he said, we just can't
do that. And I said, well, okay, I still believe
(31:41):
in you. But I never I just I thought that
was going to be challenging, and I actually invested quite
a bit into it and it never took off. That
was my first bit of technology. And this must have
been over ten years ago. Yeah, there are many of them,
but you can say that about so many deals, like
you think so many of them will work, and they're
so passionate, found there's great backgrounds. You know, they know
(32:03):
what they're doing. Here's my money. We have so many
people around us that help guide us and help us,
and whether it's assistants or managers, whether it's a business
manager or you know in wme or someone else. But
at the end of the day, you control everything. And
that's a big lesson that I've learned, is like, if
you're passionate about something, if you want to get something done,
(32:26):
you do it. Don't rely on others. If you need
to wire two hundred and fifty grand somewhere, you call
your bank, like and make sure you have your details.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Yeah, but you have to.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
And that's that's a very important lessons because there are
so many middle men in the system and things get lost.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
I agree that was a great lesson.
Speaker 5 (32:44):
Yeah, And I mean you have been pretty expressive about
this idea of trusting your gut, which I would imagine
must come from your just athletic back. I mean, because
as much as is you know, baseball does rely on
obviously individual achievement. Ultimately you're a part of a team.
(33:06):
You're not a part of it. It is you out there,
and so you I wonder if that in part comes from, well,
it's just me out there. Everybody else is sitting in
the stands. I have to, like, I have to be
responsible for whatever happens.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
Next Yeah, there's a lot of responsibility on yourself, and
so much of it is instinctual. And you know, you
can have all the mechanic coaches and the physios and
the fitness trainers, but when you're in the tiebreaker in
the third or fifth set, you're not looking back at stats,
You're not thinking of the YouTube videos that your coach
(33:39):
showed you before the match. You're just you're relying on
your body, on your flow, on your mindset to let
you get to that match point and win it. So
even though I didn't have that team environment, I did
have a team that I relied on till the very
last second until I walked on the court. And one
(33:59):
of the things I missed till this day are those
people you know that helped me win, that helped me
achieve the best things.
Speaker 4 (34:06):
And yeah, I'm going to talk about you to Jason
in front of you. So, Jason, I got to tell
you and our friends at home that we've had a
couple of calls on businesses that we were looking to
invest her family office in mind, and we had mutual
interests and we both passed. But I got to tell
you when you have such huge stars like Maria a
(34:28):
lot of times you expect the zoom call, maybe for
them to come in a little late, or maybe to
have a couple of handlers or team members. She was
the first one in the zoom call. She was there
by herself, she was taking notes, she was asking the
smartest questions.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
I was blown away.
Speaker 3 (34:45):
And you're so blown away. You didn't call me back. Deal?
Where are those other deals?
Speaker 6 (34:53):
But he owes you multiple deals.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
He was giving me a compliment and I shut him down.
Speaker 6 (34:57):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (34:58):
Yeah, but I think that's where I think when superstars
in anything they do, when they're able to pivot, the
one thing to be careful for is because you were
so successful, things can actually go wrong in business.
Speaker 6 (35:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
And I thought she was a perfect balance of optimism,
but yet you know, some reservation and the question that
she asked that was incredibly impressed and that made me
understand a little bit about your greatness over a thirty
minute zoom call.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
I'm a products person, like I love like if someone
says invest in this, like there's no reason this is
going to fail, I'd be like, send me the product,
here's the address, and don't contact me for four weeks.
I want to live with it. I want to breathe it.
I want to try it, I want.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
To wear it.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Whatever it is like, I want it, and I want
to give it to my friends, and I want them
to give me their feedback. I want to give it
to my family who have different tastes, different you know,
appreciations and aesthetics. And until they tell me that they
like it and they're into it, I won't have an
ex call with you.
Speaker 5 (35:58):
One of the things you guys haven't is during your
playing days, you're thinking about your business. You're thinking about
your brand increasingly, especially as you go along, and yet
at some moment, you're not on the baseball field, you're
not on the tennis court anymore. No, what is that
moment like when like, what's the first day, like when
you wake up after retiring and you sort of have
(36:20):
to look at your next life at you know, age
of thirty, what.
Speaker 7 (36:27):
Two something like that.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
I yeah, I remember that day clearly. I went skiing
and it was pretty bad at it. I thought it'd
have more coordination than I did, and then I thought
it'd get better at it. And then we're all stuck
stuck at home during COVID and you know living a
very different life for several months. But look, in all honesty,
it's a big decision when you decide for yourself, for
(36:51):
your team, for your family, that this is the end.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
And I was ready. My body was ready.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
It was challenged for several years, and ultimately I let
a little bit of stubbornness get in the way of
those last few years. I tried so hard to get
my body back, but you can't turn back time, right
Like when something's damaged and something's broken, you have to
like admit it move on. And stubbornness that once propelled
me to greatness eventually I think was getting in the
(37:21):
way of better things.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
So I was ready.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
To say that I was ready for the next chapter
is an understatement. I was ready to have a family.
I was ready to be a mom. I was in
a good place mentally. I had a good outlook on life.
But it's not like you just turn the switch and
move on like everything that you've built. The great thing
about moving to the next chapter is that you've built
a foundation. Now maybe it's a completely different world. And
(37:45):
I know, you know we say sport and business. Yes
there's a lot of alignment, but there are many differences,
and I couldn't forget the fact that over so many
years I built a phenomenal foundation of strength, of resiliency,
a focus of termination, and all these apply to business.
So today, you know, I sit here in this chair,
(38:06):
and yes I'm an investor, I'm on several boards. But
I also can't take away from the fact that it
took me more than twelve years to become great at
one thing, and it takes time to build, you know,
strength in another arena. So while I do have the foundation,
I'm still growing. I'm still learning, you know, I still
(38:27):
want to be better. On my way here, I talked
to my mom and she said, you know, the educator,
and her I told her this morning I was going
on a podcast. She didn't ask too many questions, but
she called me back as I was in the car,
and she said, you know, I just want to make
sure that you're not just talking about your career, that
you have like other things to offer and other things
to say, like are you reading enough?
Speaker 3 (38:45):
She actually asked me, are you reading enough? On my
way here?
Speaker 2 (38:49):
Yeah, so that I would have other things, you know,
to say beyond just support. I was like, Mom, yes,
I'm actually listening to the all in podcasts while I'm
on my way here, like I'm still Garias.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Don't worry so thinking about that.
Speaker 4 (39:03):
There's going to be viewers that have watched this that
are founders that have a business that their dream would
be for Maria to invest in their business. Can you
tell us a little bit about how you think about
businesses which sectors kind of broadly check sizes.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
How do you think about being a value added investor?
Speaker 7 (39:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (39:21):
One of my first investments, actually the first investment was
into a sunscreen brand called Supergoup. I was a user
myself founded a Sephora market. I think that was their
only distribution at the time. This was twelve years ago.
I knocked on the on the door of the founder
and I said, I love your product. It's the only
one I can wear while I play. Doesn't run in
my eyes, it doesn't burn my eyes or sting them.
Speaker 7 (39:43):
Can I please help you out.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
I don't know what stage you're at, I don't know
how young or old you are, but I love what
you're doing and from what I've read, I love your mission.
Speaker 7 (39:51):
And that was it.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
And two years ago they sold seventy five percent of
their steak for close to a billion dollars. So it
was my first It was the first time where I
didn't take that paycheck at the beginning, and I said,
let me invest, let me give you my time, my platform,
my voice, and help share this message about preventing skin cancer.
And that was a successful example, and there's been you know,
(40:15):
several others not so. But the point is is that
it came from loving the product. It came from the
mission that the founder had that I resonated with, and
the fact that I could help it, Like I was
realistic that I had the right platform and that I
had the right usership in order to help them grow.
(40:35):
So I think all that was it was a good
foundation in my investment story. And not to say that
there's something that I may not be familiar with or
that I'm taking a chance on. I still should take
the call, I still should spend time with the founders,
but ultimately I want to have a good feel of
what this is right. I want to spend time. I
want to have dinner with these people, right, and I
(40:56):
want to win with people that know how to lose.
Like if you're I, can you know, sip champagne or
you know, buy the glass, whatever it is. When you're winning,
like I know what that feelings like. But when things
are not going well, when you're losing, when you have
a losing streak, can be a year, can be a
few years. And who are those people that are in
(41:16):
that process right, what's their mentality? How are they helping
bring back you know, the fire and the team and
the product and the branding. So I want to believe
in people that know that know how to lose and
how that will come up and find ways to win.
Speaker 5 (41:31):
I mean one of the things that I feel like
you're spending more and more time thinking about too, is
this notion of and certainly this is something that will
resonate with you, Alex, this notion of high performance, this
notion of like working under pressure. I mean I'm sitting
in between two people who who loves pressure, who love pressure,
(41:51):
I mean, who like you know, like beyond thrive on it.
How do you translate that, though, into a life that
doesn't have such clear winning and losing on a like
minute to minute basis.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
Well, it's it's acceptance that it's not always going to
go well, no matter you might have the best intentions,
you might have the strongest preparation, the strongest mindset, the
best team. I always say, you have to be realistic.
You can be confident, you can be underplaying your results,
but you still have to go out and show up.
And sometimes it's things are out of your control. People
(42:28):
say certain things. You don't like it, Go home, do
your job, keep working. You'll get the results. So acceptance
is one of them. Work Ethic, I mean work ethic
from a young age, understanding that nothing comes easy. You know,
we both come from humble backgrounds, and when you know
what that feels like. I mean, I'm not a big spender.
I take like I know what's in my bank. As
(42:50):
star athletes, we go through these like moments of you know,
fame and spending and you kind of lose track of
what you have. I thankfully go in that direction. I
was very you know, I had a purpose and how
I spent what I spent Like I counted like little
coins when I was young, and I would still count
them if now we have to do those cyber coins.
Speaker 5 (43:14):
Turning it on you, I mean this whole notion of
like pressure to business, I don't I mean you, how
do you get that same you know, it's funny that's
the same charge.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
I think athletes.
Speaker 4 (43:25):
Marie and I and our colleagues get a bad rap
about being bad business people. But I actually think that
we have the greatest preparation to be really good at
business if we can check our ego, if we can
surround ourselves with better people than us that have complementary
set of skills, that have an aligned vision. But the
work ethic, the passion, not punching a clock from nine
(43:47):
to five. We're just going to do it to the
job is done, even if we have to work around
the clock. That is something that I always underscore because
most people really are and it's okay, they're not willing
to pay that price. So we have a tremendous track record.
We're persistent, We're resilient. And here's the biggest thing I
think in business is we understand how to deal with turbulence. Yeah,
(44:09):
in public noise, and that I think Jason is one
thing that a lot of people can give great advice,
but when there's a bad article about them, I mean
they literally melt in the kitchen.
Speaker 2 (44:21):
Yeah yeah, I mean there are some significant stats about Fortune.
Five hundred female CEOs, eighty percent of them have had
high intensity, sport background, whether it's in college, high school,
league level, why is that because of the amazing lessons
that you learn along the way, right, the resiliency, What
(44:44):
do you do under pressure?
Speaker 7 (44:46):
How do you cope with it? How do you take
care of your body?
Speaker 2 (44:49):
I mean like when you have a big event, Like
it's easy for me now to say, oh, I can
go and have dinner and have a big curry, But actually,
if I really want to be prepared and for my
mind to be fresh, I'm going to have a lean
dinner because I want to wake up and I want
my mind to be ready to go. So strong body,
strong mind. And those are so many of the lessons
(45:09):
that you learn as an athlete.
Speaker 4 (45:11):
I want to ask one question because I'm sincerely intrigued
by your answer here. You know, you talked about, you know,
coming with your father, mom had to stay back checking
in IMG in the middle of the night motel, and
then Wimbledon happens at seventeen, and your world starts changing
from a global place. Now you're in your mid thirties, right,
(45:32):
and you have a little one at home. What is
your north star when you're forty five fifty? Your next
this this business career is going to be much longer
than your playing career. You know, God Willing, What does
a Wimbledon north star look like for you?
Speaker 1 (45:47):
In business?
Speaker 2 (45:48):
Yeah, well I don't look so far ahead. I don't
look at forty five. I don't look at fifty. The
biggest difference and the biggest shift in my life is
when you have a child.
Speaker 7 (45:58):
The free time changes.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
Even when I was at the top of my sporting career,
I had free time to recover, right to rest my body,
to be curious about other things. Now as a mother,
if I can be honest when even if you do
have free time, or you're not in the same city,
you're on a trip, you know, a working trip, vacation,
whatever it is, your child is not there. You're thinking
of your child. You're doing everything you can. So that
(46:21):
juggle has definitely been an adjustment for me. Business wise,
There's a platform that I'm working on and developing that
will take time. But as I said, I'm not in
a rush, and I recognize. I realize that everything that
I've built for my tennis career was built upon years
and years of work and ups and downs, and it
(46:43):
will in my business career. But I'm curious. I'm not
afraid to take chances. I'm not afraid to take on
roles that might be intimidating. I mean, I'm on the
board of Montclair and I sit, you know, in an
Italian conference room with a translator in my ear because
it's an officially public trading Italian company, so it has
to be done in Italian. It's intimidating. I mean, some
(47:03):
of the figures, the numbers of decisions that you are
responsible for in that room are you know, are high stakes,
and so I feel like I have a responsibility to
know what the hell's going on in that room. And
so by doing that, by putting myself in that situation,
you know, it gives me. I'm a little scared. It's new,
but I have to prepare for it, and I love
that work.
Speaker 4 (47:23):
I've heard you talk about strategy and vision, and I
think we share that in as athletes. We do always
have to have a strategy and a vision. When I
thought about life after baseball, one of my north stars
that I would be embarrassed to tell people because you're
probably not going to get their way. Your north stars
something it is hard to share. It was team ownership,
right and I'm having so much fun with the Timberwolves,
(47:46):
and now my North starts to bring a world championship
with my partner Mark Glory to Minnesota. Any ambitions, and
I see more women now which are so exciting or
getting involved in team ownership, WNBA, NBA football ideas in
the future that you would like to be involved.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
It's a hot topic, and if I can be completely honest,
I'm not someone that is oriented. My business decisions aren't
oriented on what's hot and what's trendy. There's a lot
of talk about being, you know, a co owner of
a league. I mean, whether it's pickleball or padel or
you know, a female soccer team. I do come from
(48:22):
individual sport background, and so I do believe in the
power of an individual and raising and bringing the stories
out of these impactful individuals. I've loved the conversations around
powerful females, but I do still think they've been in
the context of leagues and media rights and not necessarily
what these athletes are about. So I see my my
(48:45):
involvement more in the individuals as opposed to the leagues.
Speaker 5 (48:48):
Right now, Yeah, I would be remiss if I didn't
talk to you, or if we didn't ask you about tennis,
and I have to say, it was so cool to
see a different side of you in Breakpoint, you know,
as to a luminary of the sport.
Speaker 2 (49:02):
Coming in a few blink you'd miss me. I must
have not blinked during that show.
Speaker 3 (49:06):
I don't think so.
Speaker 5 (49:06):
I feel like you popped up it like very opportune times.
But I did, you know.
Speaker 6 (49:11):
In part because you know, we did get a taste
of it there.
Speaker 5 (49:14):
I mean, I did want to ask you. I mean,
tennis as a business is at this fascinating moment. It
feels like in terms of I mean you've been a
part of and you've witnessed generations of tennis players. We
are at a generational shift on both the women's and
the men's side. You know, there's new investors coming into
the WTA. There's talk of WTA and ATP merging as
(49:36):
a business person who has more than a passing interest
in the game of tennis.
Speaker 6 (49:41):
Like, what do you see happening there?
Speaker 2 (49:42):
Uh, the schedule and the system is still slightly broken.
There's so much going on. This season is ten months
out of the year. There's several different federations involved. They
are the Grand slams that are not connected to the
rest of the tour. There's inequality. I mean, we could
spend a whole another hour on the state of where
the game is. But the bottom line is that the
(50:03):
actual faces and the names and the characters and the
athletes that are coming out from this new generation are
spectacular and they're going to lead the sport. And that's
that's what excites me. And to break Point, it was
actually the first tennis interview that I had done since retirement,
and so it felt, you know, tennis was something I
will always know and I knew for so many years,
(50:25):
but it was nice to have a little bit of
a healthy distance from it. And so when I went
into this recording for Breakpoint, it like it opened up
so many you know, cans from my past and my
present and reflection where I felt like I could commentate
on it, but it wasn't like involved, and it felt
so good not to be part of any of anything
(50:45):
of what was going on, Yeah, and to share my vision,
and I think that's what was reflected and what you saw.
Speaker 4 (50:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (50:51):
I still don't think it was as great of an
impact to what they did with Formula one, but tennis
is a tricky sport to unbox. There's so many layers.
And that's what I mean by you know, the schedule,
the equipment. All of these things are tricky. Their players
are hurt for a lot of the season.
Speaker 7 (51:09):
You're not.
Speaker 2 (51:09):
You're one of the biggest events, but not all the
top talents playing. Like, what are the reasons? So I
like to get in before I look at who's investing
in what?
Speaker 6 (51:18):
Yeah? All right? Last question? Do you have anything? All right?
Do you have anything else you need to tell us? God,
you have any questions for him?
Speaker 3 (51:29):
I mean asked me to introduce myself. I was like,
I was not going to go down. Well, I wasn't prepared.
Speaker 6 (51:35):
For what's your question for him?
Speaker 3 (51:37):
What are you going to call me on your next deal?
Speaker 1 (51:39):
I'm going to call you. I'm gonna definitely what's the.
Speaker 3 (51:42):
D see I want to see the roll of ducks.
Speaker 6 (51:44):
Yeah, I want to see what deal you guys would
do together.
Speaker 4 (51:47):
I'm true the platform building. Yeah, I want to be
part of that.
Speaker 6 (51:51):
Okay, wow, real deals happening right now. You're on the deal.
Speaker 1 (51:55):
We'll come back and announce something.
Speaker 6 (51:56):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (51:57):
Just make sure your business manager wires the check.
Speaker 5 (52:00):
That's a good point, I wire my own checks now
yeah yeah yeah lesson learned, Yeah yeah exactly, Maria, thank you,
Thank you a lot of fun.
Speaker 8 (52:16):
The Deals of production from Bloomberg Podcasts and Bloomberg Originals.
The Deals hosted by Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly. Our
producers are Victor Veees and Lizzie Phillip. Our story editor
is Sirdartha Mahonta. Our assistant producer is Stacey Wong. Blake
Maples is our sound engineer. Rubob Shakir is our creative director.
Our direction is from Jacqueline Kessler. Original music by Blake Maples,
(52:41):
casting by Dave Warren. Our editorial supervisor is David E.
Speaker 3 (52:45):
Rabella.
Speaker 8 (52:46):
Our executive producers are Sage Bauman, Jason Kelly, Adam Kamiski,
Kelly la Ferrier, Ashley Hoenig, Trey Shallowhorn, Kyle Kramer, and
Andrew Bardon. Additional support from Rachel Scarmazino, Elena saus Angelis,
Vanessa Perdomo and Anna Maserakis. Nestor Slia is our director
of photography. Our camera operators are Danny Celia and Jordan Keslo.
(53:10):
Katia Vanoy is our video editor. Our assistant camera is
Stephen Neil and Eric Sanchez is our gaffer. You can
also watch the Deal on Bloomberger Originals YouTube and Bloomberg Television.
Subscribe to the Deal wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks
for listening.
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
I want to win with people that know how to lose.
I can, you know, sip champagne or buy the glass,
whatever it is when you're winning, Like, I know what
that feeling's like. But when things are not going well,
when you're losing, when you have a losing streak, can
be a year, can be a few years. And who
are those people that are in that process?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Right? What's their mentality?
Speaker 4 (00:38):
I'm Alex Rodriguez and I'm Jason Kelly. I am fired up, Jason.
I mean, this is our first episode and is a
good one, but we've been talking about this for a
while now, almost a.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Couple of years.
Speaker 5 (00:49):
I mean, what I think we're trying to do with
this show is have conversations candidly that aren't being had
anywhere else. I mean, there's a lot of great stuff there,
but I don't think there's the perspective of what is
really in people's minds when they're making big decisions around
their businesses.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Yeah, and Jason, I think you and I have a
lot in common, but one of them is that we're
both having incredible thirst for information and we're both very
inquisitive and I think a lot of people out there
are a lot like us. You have a lot of
questions about my sports career, and I have a lot
of questions to you about your incredible career, And I
think the combination of both of us is what the
(01:32):
deal is all about.
Speaker 5 (01:33):
Well, and also, I think we've seen our world's collide
in a lot of ways, right. And one of the
things that I think is unique is you look around
the owner's table, a lot of guys, men and women
who came out of private equity, who came out of
real estate. You know, they had these huge careers there
and now they've turned their attention to sports. And by
(01:54):
the same token, what was once pretty rare, meaning you
know you, Magic Johnson, Michael Strahan, who's going to be
a guest coming up in this season, Now that's assumed
if you're an athlete, you're a business You're a business man,
you know. And so this notion of athletes knowing from
the beginning that they have aspirations not just on the field,
(02:17):
on the court, but you know, well beyond. I think
one of the things that also makes this show unique,
other than you know, you and I being together, is
this concept that the deal is our north star. You
know that we are talking to people about their business,
we're talking about their lives, We're talking about their careers
on the field, but what happens off the field. These
(02:40):
key decisions they make, the key hires, they make, the
risks that they take. I don't think they've told a
lot of these stories before, and I think there's a
lot to be learned by not just what you know,
but what went into those big decisions.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
I've learned, Jason so much from you in a short time,
and I want to audience to be able to learn
from you and your experiences. And I think one of
the things I think about a lot is, you know,
knowledge helps you prevent a lot of headaches, and knowledge
is power, and there's another form to educate and learn,
quite frankly, from some of my mistakes. Deals are not
(03:18):
just home runs, some are strikeouts, and sometimes the lessons
in those strikeouts are most valuable.
Speaker 6 (03:24):
I see what you did there. It's a baseball.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Metaphork Okay, can't help myself.
Speaker 5 (03:28):
And Alex, our first guest, is a perfect distillation of
everything we've just described. Maria Sharapova, you know someone who
I feel like has been in our lives for a
long time. You guys have intersected as business people. You
also kind of came of age at the same time
(03:49):
in terms of the spotlight.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
What an amazing story and I was so inspired when
we spoke to her, the challenges that she had to overcome,
and what a brilliant woman and the things that she's
doing in business today are incredible. I think one of
the things that you'll find fascinating is her background, her
work ethic and her father and that relationship and really
(04:14):
developing really thick skin at a global level. I think
it's set her up beautifully for business.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Well.
Speaker 5 (04:20):
The other interesting thing, too, is that I think we
sort of discover in this interview a woman who is,
you know, in her mid thirties, you know, very much
discovering herself as a business person in this next phase
of life. And you've encountered her in that regard. What
was your impression coming in.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
I was wildly impressed.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
I mean, she is someone who is fears humble, ask
tons of questions and if you're an investor, you're a
founder of a company, is disarming and you want to
work with Mario because she is nice. She is a champion,
and you have this incredible package of a world class
athlete and potentially a world class partner, which is what
(05:01):
most founders are looking for.
Speaker 6 (05:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
I mean she is so quick, you know, that willingness
to kind of go there, to be in the moment.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
I want to build one more thing on that, Jason,
because I think that's a great point.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
When she started making fun of me.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
You know, she's always very serious as I watched in
these like big Wimbledon and all this, Yeah, and she
was always game faced. And when she started ripping on me,
I'm like, oh my gosh, I really like this person.
Speaker 6 (05:23):
I know.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
It was great.
Speaker 5 (05:24):
It came out of nowhere, and yet it as we
got to know her more and more through the course
of the interview, it's.
Speaker 6 (05:29):
Like, oh, yeah, this is on brand.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
On this episode of The Deal. Maria Sharapova.
Speaker 6 (05:50):
All right, so officially introduce yourself.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Yeah, I'm Maria Sharapova. I am a five time Grand
Slam champion, and I am now a mother and entrepreneur
and just a curious human being.
Speaker 5 (06:05):
We have so many things that we want to talk
to you about. And I read your book and I
have to say, like it really is like lodged in me,
like your story, and I think.
Speaker 7 (06:16):
That's a big compliment.
Speaker 6 (06:17):
Well, I mean, I think.
Speaker 5 (06:18):
It's your willingness to kind of go there, you know,
and I think the sort of rawness and the vulnerability
you show in telling that story. I mean I do wonder,
like going all the way back, like when did you know?
And you've written about this, like did you know that
you had something special?
Speaker 2 (06:38):
I don't think I ever allowed myself to accept or
to realize that I had something special. Because the moment
that you think you have it down or you know
too much, or you know everything and you consider yourself
the best internally, maybe the outside world can, but internally is,
in my opinion, is a time that you have to
be very careful about because as you start believing in
(07:01):
the hype and you start hyping your own self up,
and then you're living up to these unprecedented expectations and
I don't know if they're ever going to be met.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Maria.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
I'm such a big fan of everything you've done off
the court, obviously the five Grand Slams and what you're
doing now. It takes so much courage to do that.
But going back to the early days, building what Jason
just asked you. I come from two parents that are
immigrants from Dominican Republic, very modest beginnings, and there was
always a sense of imposture syndrome, and I think that
(07:31):
was my gift and my curse, right. It led me
to a great career, but it also led me to
a one year suspension that was very hard on me.
Did you ever feel coming up a little bit of
an imposter syndrome or did you feel like you belong
From day one.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
I knew that what I was doing was different to
other families, to other children. I knew that I had
a different path and I was living almost I mean,
it was a dream, but I had a very clear vision,
and so did my mother and my father. My father
particularly because he was my coach for many years and
it was, you know, his big goal. I was too
young to really have those big goals. But as I
(08:08):
followed this road that he, you know, paved for me,
I realized very much that this dream was becoming a
reality that you know, you had a choice to make
every single day when you wake up to be the best.
And I was given an incredible gift of you know,
having a strong mind of persistence of focus. And I
was talented, but I wasn't like as physically strong as
(08:28):
other children. And I loved this idea of being different,
and I accepted that I didn't have a typical upbringing,
that I was an immigrant, that I came to the
United States as a young girl, and I didn't feel
like I always belonged. But I found that as a gift.
I didn't find that as a disadvantage.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
So, just following up on that, I remember the first
time that I traveled to Texas and I was fifteen
years old, and I wore the US uniform representing the
US and the US Olympic teams. And I looked around
the room and I was a rising junior. Everyone was
a rising senior in the summertime, and I said, wait
a minute, I'm as good as everybody here, and I'm
a year younger. I was the only underclassman. That was
(09:06):
the first time that I go I can go big
if I really focus. What was that moment for you
that you said I can be something special?
Speaker 2 (09:13):
So you see, it's funny because you give me that
example in that story, and there's not one that I
particularly look back to because after a victory or after
beating someone that was older than I was, or a
boy that you know, was stronger and you know, perhaps
had a better talent or was just physically better at
the sport, I still knew that I had to wake
up and keep doing it tomorrow and prove myself again
(09:35):
and go to another tournament over the weekend in the
middle of nowhere, in the dumps of Florida, and figure
out a way to win. And so I think it
was just this reality element that kept coming back to me.
Like I came from, you know, as you have, from
very humble beginnings, and I was never afraid to go back.
But I dreamed of the very best. I dreamed of
holding the biggest trophy. But I also, in this other context,
(09:59):
if I went back to what I had before, I
didn't think badly of it, Like the foundation that my
parents had built back home in Russia. They were both
my mother was very young, shustill in university, but my
dad had a decent job. He wasn't making a lot
of money, and the United States considered no money. But overall,
like I had a great environment, I had a healthy environment,
I had food on the table, I had great loving parents,
(10:20):
and so if those were the conditions that I had
to go back to, I was okay with And perhaps
that is what gave me the confidence to just keep
going and just keep striving for better and better, and hey,
if the top didn't happen to what I envisioned, then
it was okay to go back to those humble beginnings.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
So you've mentioned your parents a couple of times, and
when we think about the concept of the deal, the
sort of unifying principle of all that your earliest partnership
is your dad in terms of like you.
Speaker 7 (10:51):
But it wasn't a choice.
Speaker 6 (10:52):
It wasn't a choice, right exactly.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
And I'm okay with it, and I was lucky.
Speaker 5 (10:56):
And so as you come of age, even as you
get to be you know, even ten eleven years old,
eleven years old, you know you sign with Nike. I
believe you are at a very young age in a
business partnership. Yeah, with your dad. How did that feel
and what were sort of the undercurrents of that.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Yeah, Well, I'm an only child and was and still am,
and so I built this very strong bond with my parents.
They're both very young. My father, you know, enjoyed sport,
he loved sport. He played hockey. That was a big
sport in Russia. He thought he was some tremendous athlete.
I kept telling him he wasn't that good, and I
still do till this day. My mother would take me
to the ballet no matter what city I was in,
(11:38):
and just helped me grow everything else but sport. And
so they had these very different gifts that they helped,
you know, instill in me and shape me in many ways.
And I think that grounding element of those partnerships. Like
I would go to the tennis court and I would
be around my dad, and of course i'd negotiate with
him whether I was there. You know, i'd start my
practice with serving for forty five minutes or i'd end
(12:00):
like I had a preference and he had his preference,
and you know, it would be a little bit of
a negotiation no matter how young I was, Like I'd
find my way to you know, give an opinion. And
then I'd come home and you know, my mom had
my schoolwork in front of me, and she made sure
that I ate the right things and that I stretched,
you know, before I went to sleep, because she thought
that would help me grow. She was right, because I'm
much taller than my parents.
Speaker 6 (12:20):
Sure, you're hanging from a bar.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Though, hanging from a bar.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
And then I had to stretch right before going to
sleep because she said, when you go to sleep, that's
when you elongate. That's when your body recovers and it
needs to be nice and loose.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
So here we are, and the biggest business decision your
parents make is for you and your dad to come
to the United States. I mean, we talk a lot
about risk when it comes to business. That's a huge bet,
huge risk on you at age five. You know, you
get a little bit of encouragement from Martina and never
(12:52):
to love it. And you've talked about how you know
there are these key moments that you look back on
that are clearly catalytic in your progression and in your success. Yeah,
but that is a massive risk that you must look
back on and think, Wow.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Yeah, my father and I were breaking roles on the
public tennis courts from the first day we arrived in Miami.
I remember we arrived, someone was supposed to meet us.
Speaker 7 (13:17):
They didn't.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
We happened to stay with a family sharing a hotel room,
and the next morning my dad said, let's wake up.
We got to go find a court, a tennis court,
and we just happened to go around Collins Avenue and
then found some private court that he jumped the fence
on and here we were opened the gate from the back, practicing.
So those are like the recollections of arriving to the
(13:38):
United States of America, finding your way, finding your path,
and there are many times where it could have gone wrong,
but your determination and you know outside voices, and there
are many people along those paths that help shape you
know your future.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
So, Maria, when I hear you talk about your father,
I can't help to think about, you know, my dad
leaving my family, my mother, my brother, my sister, and
kind of left the four of us behind, and my
mother went on to take two jobs. And I always thought,
I think about the gift of your father and the
curse of my father leaving us.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
There's both sides. Right.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
Part of him leaving was I had nobody to kick
me in the butt. I had to do it myself.
And I knew early on that I had to be
the provider for my family. Probably when I was abound
eleven or twelve, I hear all the good, any challenges
of having that first partnership, be with your father.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
You can't just fire your father. He can't fire you.
I mean this blood. Yeah, any challenges along the way.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Tennis wise, I have to give him so much credit.
I mean, there are many in his position. He was
in his early thirties with seven hundred dollars in his
back pocket of his levies. He was trying to find
any kind of job that would help support, you know,
string my next racket for my next tournament. So I
(14:57):
don't you know the greatest gift that he gave me.
He was acknowledging that at some point he will have
to step back and for a father in sport, particularly
in tennis, as a father of a girl that's won
grand slams with him, is a very tough acceptance to have.
I did that after my third Grand Slam at the
Australian Open. I think he knew it was coming because
(15:20):
I wanted to do it with him, and I wanted
to do it on my own. I wanted to have
that independency and it was more for me than anything else.
It was not about money, it was not about victories.
Speaker 7 (15:31):
It's just this little little bird, this little.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Instinct of mine that said, you know, what this is
time I won my third Grand Slam at the Australian Open,
and I.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Drafted and I'm scared for you, Maria.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
Is that conversation happened on text on phone?
Speaker 3 (15:49):
I drafted a really good email.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
I just thought I was gonna do this much better
on email and craft my thoughts better.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
And I did.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
And I couldn't look at him in the face while
saying that. But I also knew that he knew it
was coming. He just didn't think it was going to
happen after I just won my third Grand Slam.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yeah, it's a tough one, but you have to like
rip that band aid. As someone that was in my twenties,
I was ready. It'd been a partnership for you know,
over twenty years, and it was time to do it
on my own.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
And to do it after a third Grand Slam so
much better than after a terrible defeat, right, Yeah, which.
Speaker 7 (16:23):
Is what happens most of the.
Speaker 6 (16:25):
Time, exactly.
Speaker 7 (16:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (16:27):
Well, and it was interesting too because you essentially kind
of turned his own logic on him, right, because he
had been pretty robust in terms of like turning over
your team pretty consistently, you know, firing coaches, along the way,
just to make sure you kept it fresh.
Speaker 6 (16:45):
Is that fair?
Speaker 2 (16:46):
I mean I never really fired him. He was still
very much involved. I guess the only thing that and
when you say fired, like you evolve, right, And that's
one of the hardest the challenges that I find now
is like, what you needed two three years ago, perhaps
is not what you need for the future, And like,
how do you make that change and acknowledge that this
person was right for you at this time, but is
(17:07):
no longer right for you and for your own future
and perhaps not for theirs. And that conversation is one
of the most difficult ones that you have in business
because team is everything and if you don't see and
feel that your team is moving with you toward that
one direction. And the fact that he just was able
to step back and say, hey, you do this, I mean,
he was still very much involved. He'd call all the
(17:28):
coaches and speak to them after matches. He's always the
first person I call. It wasn't like I went to
my coach, I call my dad.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Yeah, right right, you have that partnership and relationship.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
He knows you better than anyone and I respected that
and I always respected his opinion.
Speaker 5 (17:42):
So speaking of building your team, I mean one of
the catalytic moments clearly too is IMG, because that sets
you it feels like on a completely new path, or
it sort of helps set the direction.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Yeah, my father and I arrived to the academy on
a Greyhound bus in the middle of the night. We
didn't know if it was open or not, but it
was the only time that the bus came to Bradenton, Florida,
and we knocked on the door. The receptionist said, you're crazy.
Come back at six am when our front office opens.
So we went to a hotel, came back in the
morning and they put me and my father said, we.
Speaker 7 (18:18):
Don't have a reservation.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
I just brought my daughter from Russia and she's talented
and I'd like for her to practice here. And I'm
sure they looked at him with eyes wide open and said,
this guy's nuts, and so let's let's bring them in
for the day and then try to get rid of
them later. They put me in a group and the
coach that was running the group said, hey, called Nick
BOLETI right away.
Speaker 7 (18:40):
I went to see Nick.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Within hours and Nick called IMG and that's how it spiraled.
Speaker 7 (18:46):
Wow, within twenty.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Four hours and how old we then?
Speaker 7 (18:50):
I was seven six and a half, right.
Speaker 5 (18:53):
And then it I mean it takes a couple twists
and turns though, because you end up at a different Yeah,
because bulletary is this isn't working out, oh military.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
It was a sports factory, right, Like if you want
individual training where you come in and there's one person
looking after you for six hours a day, that's most
likely not going to happen. But it was also a
time where we need an investment. We needed money in
order to go and train. I mean, you know, tennis
is a very expensive sport. You need to invest so
much capital and with absolutely no guarantees. And so IMG
(19:26):
put the first check in. And I think that was
the last time that I felt really awful about owing
money to someone.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
I've never I've never heard that so IMG investing you,
how do they get their return on their capital?
Speaker 2 (19:40):
So once you make a little bit of cash, then
you return with certain interest. I hated that feeling, I
mean the.
Speaker 6 (19:46):
Feeling of yet, why do you think that is?
Speaker 2 (19:49):
I just even now, like anytime I'm in business and
I do deals or even buying a house, like the
idea of borrowing someone's money and then owing it to
the is like, I don't know if it's because of
the past and that I needed that money in order
to survive in the sport. It like left to really like,
I don't know, this feeling of I never want to
(20:10):
be in that position. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (20:16):
When we come back, we discussed Maria's signing with Nike.
Her first grandson went at Wimbledon, and the highs and
lows of what came after. I can't get too far along.
(20:38):
I want to get to sort of your success on
the court in a second. But from a business perspective,
every athlete's dream, or many athletes dream, is to sign
with Nike.
Speaker 6 (20:47):
You do that at eleven? Are you conscious of that?
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Really, it wasn't like a big deal to me because
I didn't recognize what that even means.
Speaker 6 (20:54):
To me.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
That meant that I could have free tennis skirts, right,
and that was fantastic during the time I'm a one
one then I was on a very small, mediocre Nike
contract as a teenager, and after I won, they very
sweetly flew us up to Portland and gave us the
whole you know, shebang experience. That was the moment, yeah,
where I realized that Okay, I had done something special.
Speaker 6 (21:16):
Well, let's talk about that.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
Because winning Wimbledon the first time, I think it's safe
to say, literally changes everything. I mean, it changes your
Nike deal. It also brings Motorola in. Tell us about that.
The business of Maria Sharpovt totally changes.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
When you frame it that way, I'm like, he wow,
that is so big. But like when you're a seventeen
year old girl, you don't look at it that way
because if you think that, wow, everything now has changed,
how do you wake up at six am, put on
your training gear when it's like freezing outside and go
and hit one hundred serbs and with a cold shoulder,
Where's the motivation going to come from? So, if I
(21:57):
can be honest, I never allowed myself to feel that
change or that shift has happened, because you constantly have
to find those moments of inspiration to keep going. An
inspiration to me was not by signing a contract with
Motorola or getting the new Raizor phone, even though that
was an incredible brand. It was the fact that, like now,
(22:17):
when I went to train in Los Angeles, I stayed
in this hotel room in Hermosa Beach, and I got
an upgrade.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Yeah, I had a better room, and that was exciting.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
I'm here like freaked out because it's resonating so much.
At seventeen, I was drafted from Miami to the Seattle Mariners,
Like all the way across the country. I had to
kind of bring out the map and go where exactly right.
But there's a moment when I signed my contract where
I saw my mom work so hard that I made
a promise that I would buy our house. I got
(22:47):
to use Mercedes Benz. I remember one ninety and I
promised our show never working and she's eighty seven to.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
This day, and she's never worked a day in her life.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
After my contract, when I bought my black Cherokee, I
got to tell you, jeep Cherokee. It was black with
a little gold that was my flex And I was seventeen,
and I just felt like the king of the world.
Was there ever a little moment where you either got
a big check that for a minute you said, Okay,
I'm gonna enjoy this quietly and then I'm gonna go
back to my serfs.
Speaker 7 (23:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
I took my mom and two girlfriends to the Caribbean
on my first ever vacation I've never seen to Nevis
and it was the closest resort, decent resort to Sarasota
where I was training, And we took five days off
and I'd never been on a vacation in my life.
And I left there and I thought, Wow, the fact
(23:38):
that I could fly my mom, two of my girlfriends
on a private jet to this place with blue water
and boogie board all day long like that was our thing,
and come home and train the next day is the greatest,
most amazing gift until this day. Like that feeling going
(24:00):
away of disconnecting from the world, of being with my
friends and my family and treating them to this amazing
experience that incorporates travel and wellness.
Speaker 6 (24:10):
And so this is just post Wimbledon, after that season.
Speaker 7 (24:14):
I was not taking vacations before that, right.
Speaker 6 (24:16):
Yeah, why weren't you? You just couldn't.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
I didn't know what that meant. I don't think I
ever took more than a day or two off. But
the grind of the year, the schedule of playing seventeen
to twenty tournaments a year, the travel, the media responsibilities,
the brand responsibilities, you need to disconnect from that.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
So I'm going to bring you back to when you
were seventeen. Call it a month before you win at
your first Wimbledon. What is a day like for Maria
to give us a taste of your work ethic and
your schedule.
Speaker 7 (24:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
So a month before that Wimbledon was the French Open
and it was actually the first Grand Slam quarter final
that I'd been in. It was a big event for me.
It was a big result for me. People expected good
things for me, perhaps not on the clay courts, but
it was where I made my mark, where I felt like, wow, Okay,
I got to the quarterfinal, baby steps and moving in
(25:12):
the right direction. And the following week was the first
warm up tournament in Birmingham in England, and they were
showing the final of the French Open, and at the
time I was sitting in a hotel room with a
Russian colleague that was also playing the same tournament, and
there were two Russians playing that final in Paris, and
(25:33):
I just watching the TV and knowing that there was
going to be a Russian woman like holding that trophy.
I want, honestly, I just I wanted it to be me,
and I was so upset that it was happening to
somebody else, and I remember speaking about it with hers
it was a calling named Maria as well, and just
telling her how this should be us, like we should
(25:55):
be in the final. Why are the other these two
girls are in the final. So I already had that
competitior of spirit in me, and I was training for
that Wimbledon victory without even knowing it.
Speaker 5 (26:06):
Because one of the things that comes through very clearly
and sort of learning about you is you are a
ferocious competitor. I mean you would set your sights on somebody.
I mean Serena is obviously sort of like the alpha
example of this. Do you still have that feeling in
your mind of being so intent on winning?
Speaker 7 (26:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
If I competed in the same tournament, no matter if
it was a woman or a man winning that tournament
and it wasn't me, like I would inside I would
feel upset that it wasn't me on the stage, like
I would envision myself being there, And if it didn't
happen to be that tournament like I would genuinely be
upset and eager to get out on the practice court,
(26:49):
whether it was an hour later or the next morning
or like it.
Speaker 7 (26:52):
It fueled me absolutely.
Speaker 5 (26:56):
So I want to take you back just for a second,
because you mentioned Motorola, or you mentioned sort of that
moment of winning, and that it didn't resonate with you
as much as a competitor. And yet I have to
think you look back on that as a business person, yeah,
and realize that was a massive moment massive.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
I was on Center Court after that that when tried
to call my mom. She was on a Jet Blue
flight on her way to New York to actually meet
me because I had some things to do over that weekend.
I was late because I happened to be in the final.
She watched me when on the television mid flight, I
tried to call her so from Center Court using was
one of those crap phones, can't reach her, And then
(27:37):
I realized she was on the flight. And then next
thing you know, a week later, I have a global
deal with Motorola. And the deal itself wasn't financially heavy.
It was actually I think it was a few hundred
grand a year, perhaps more, but it was such a
great brand alignment. At the time they were coming out
with their razor phone, right, I was one of the
(27:57):
first few people that ever seen it. Was on all
the campaigns with it. And it was a smart move
by by my team and I because it was taking
you know, it was taking a company that was about
to do a lot of many campaigns around a product
that I was involved with, and it got me on
billboards and from Tokyo to Seoul to Paris, and it
(28:18):
opened up so many more doors than perhaps a deal
that was worth a few millionaire.
Speaker 6 (28:23):
And were you and your team conscious of that at
the time?
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Absolutely?
Speaker 5 (28:26):
Okay, So that this had sort of a and this
is something we've talked about before, you know, sort of
this cultural relevance, right, I mean it was just like
a zeitgeist type of deal.
Speaker 7 (28:37):
I don't think.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
I mean, you know better than than anyone. You don't
take deals just for the money. There's you have to
think of the right positioning in your career. Is it
about the team, is it about the founder? Is it
about the product? Is it how are they helping you?
Know your name and your image where they focused on?
Is there a market that you're particularly interested in, Like
I love going to Asia and Japan and China. I
(29:00):
loved playing there. I loved my fans there. I had
a huge fan base. So you know, if there was
a company that was focused on a particular campaign in
that area. Then you know that would be something that
I'd be curious about.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
You know, some are just like you see it, you
hear it, you smell it. You know it's a no brainer.
And sometimes you know, Warren Buffett talks about he knows
if he's an investment, a founder, or CEO in the
first five minutes.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
So motorole isn't.
Speaker 7 (29:25):
Over you do you do that too?
Speaker 1 (29:26):
Well?
Speaker 4 (29:27):
I was going to tell you about this one because
this guy is Siria or mutual friend.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Yes, you know.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
One of my biggest misses of all time was Uber
and I remember I was living in the West Village
and we had just finished playing The Red Sox and
we were having dinner at the Waverley. Now it's past
midnight and we're having a couple of cocktails and he goes,
I have this investment for you I want you to
look at and I only have two fifty for you
to invest in. I said, great, great, So we walked
down the street and he presses a button and he
(29:53):
sees the car and the cars coming and I'm like, okay,
that's a great you're mentalist.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Do it again.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
He goes, okay, I'll erase it, and he does it again.
Two minutes a car pulls up. I goes, okay, and
now I want this investment. And by two fifty I
needed to wire before noon.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
The next day.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
My business manager was out in the West coast, out
in La so timing and I missed it.
Speaker 7 (30:13):
Is he fired?
Speaker 1 (30:15):
No, he's still with me. But that's two fifty.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
You're loyal.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
The two fifty Maria would have been close to fifty
million bucks today.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Oh my, But do you think of that, like do
you think that that was a missed opportunity? Like do
you look back and think that's a regret.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
But my point is, and this is my question.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
Sometimes the team, the business manager, the lawyers, there's a
lot of handlers that we have sometimes around us, and
I feel like paralysis by analysis. There's sometimes you just
got to say kind of screw it.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
A have you had? Missus?
Speaker 4 (30:48):
And two do you sometimes say, you know what, guys, team,
I appreciated there's a Maria's call, I'm going to go
for it.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
I see a lot of deal flow, and I see
many things that could work well and many things that
are not necessarily go well. And sometimes you take chances
and you bet on it. But there was one deal. Actually,
Andy Roddick called me up. Not that I want to
blame Andy, but he did call me up. He says,
there is a It was an app failed app right now.
(31:17):
At the time, it was very similar to what cameo
ended up doing very well. The user face had two
different apps, so one for the user and one for
the hotels that was offering these services. And I said
to the founder, I said, why can't this just be
one app for the people that are providing the service
and for the user, And he said, we just can't
do that. And I said, well, okay, I still believe
(31:41):
in you. But I never I just I thought that
was going to be challenging, and I actually invested quite
a bit into it and it never took off. That
was my first bit of technology. And this must have
been over ten years ago. Yeah, there are many of them,
but you can say that about so many deals, like
you think so many of them will work, and they're
so passionate, found there's great backgrounds. You know, they know
(32:03):
what they're doing. Here's my money. We have so many
people around us that help guide us and help us,
and whether it's assistants or managers, whether it's a business
manager or you know in wme or someone else. But
at the end of the day, you control everything. And
that's a big lesson that I've learned, is like, if
you're passionate about something, if you want to get something done,
(32:26):
you do it. Don't rely on others. If you need
to wire two hundred and fifty grand somewhere, you call
your bank, like and make sure you have your details.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Yeah, but you have to.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
And that's that's a very important lessons because there are
so many middle men in the system and things get lost.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
I agree that was a great lesson.
Speaker 5 (32:44):
Yeah, And I mean you have been pretty expressive about
this idea of trusting your gut, which I would imagine
must come from your just athletic back. I mean, because
as much as is you know, baseball does rely on
obviously individual achievement. Ultimately you're a part of a team.
(33:06):
You're not a part of it. It is you out there,
and so you I wonder if that in part comes from, well,
it's just me out there. Everybody else is sitting in
the stands. I have to, like, I have to be
responsible for whatever happens.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
Next Yeah, there's a lot of responsibility on yourself, and
so much of it is instinctual. And you know, you
can have all the mechanic coaches and the physios and
the fitness trainers, but when you're in the tiebreaker in
the third or fifth set, you're not looking back at stats,
You're not thinking of the YouTube videos that your coach
(33:39):
showed you before the match. You're just you're relying on
your body, on your flow, on your mindset to let
you get to that match point and win it. So
even though I didn't have that team environment, I did
have a team that I relied on till the very
last second until I walked on the court. And one
(33:59):
of the things I missed till this day are those
people you know that helped me win, that helped me
achieve the best things.
Speaker 4 (34:06):
And yeah, I'm going to talk about you to Jason
in front of you. So, Jason, I got to tell
you and our friends at home that we've had a
couple of calls on businesses that we were looking to
invest her family office in mind, and we had mutual
interests and we both passed. But I got to tell
you when you have such huge stars like Maria a
(34:28):
lot of times you expect the zoom call, maybe for
them to come in a little late, or maybe to
have a couple of handlers or team members. She was
the first one in the zoom call. She was there
by herself, she was taking notes, she was asking the
smartest questions.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
I was blown away.
Speaker 3 (34:45):
And you're so blown away. You didn't call me back. Deal?
Where are those other deals?
Speaker 6 (34:53):
But he owes you multiple deals.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
He was giving me a compliment and I shut him down.
Speaker 6 (34:57):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (34:58):
Yeah, but I think that's where I think when superstars
in anything they do, when they're able to pivot, the
one thing to be careful for is because you were
so successful, things can actually go wrong in business.
Speaker 6 (35:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
And I thought she was a perfect balance of optimism,
but yet you know, some reservation and the question that
she asked that was incredibly impressed and that made me
understand a little bit about your greatness over a thirty
minute zoom call.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
I'm a products person, like I love like if someone
says invest in this, like there's no reason this is
going to fail, I'd be like, send me the product,
here's the address, and don't contact me for four weeks.
I want to live with it. I want to breathe it.
I want to try it, I want.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
To wear it.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Whatever it is like, I want it, and I want
to give it to my friends, and I want them
to give me their feedback. I want to give it
to my family who have different tastes, different you know,
appreciations and aesthetics. And until they tell me that they
like it and they're into it, I won't have an
ex call with you.
Speaker 5 (35:58):
One of the things you guys haven't is during your
playing days, you're thinking about your business. You're thinking about
your brand increasingly, especially as you go along, and yet
at some moment, you're not on the baseball field, you're
not on the tennis court anymore. No, what is that
moment like when like, what's the first day, like when
you wake up after retiring and you sort of have
(36:20):
to look at your next life at you know, age
of thirty, what.
Speaker 7 (36:27):
Two something like that.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
I yeah, I remember that day clearly. I went skiing
and it was pretty bad at it. I thought it'd
have more coordination than I did, and then I thought
it'd get better at it. And then we're all stuck
stuck at home during COVID and you know living a
very different life for several months. But look, in all honesty,
it's a big decision when you decide for yourself, for
(36:51):
your team, for your family, that this is the end.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
And I was ready. My body was ready.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
It was challenged for several years, and ultimately I let
a little bit of stubbornness get in the way of
those last few years. I tried so hard to get
my body back, but you can't turn back time, right
Like when something's damaged and something's broken, you have to
like admit it move on. And stubbornness that once propelled
me to greatness eventually I think was getting in the
(37:21):
way of better things.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
So I was ready.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
To say that I was ready for the next chapter
is an understatement. I was ready to have a family.
I was ready to be a mom. I was in
a good place mentally. I had a good outlook on life.
But it's not like you just turn the switch and
move on like everything that you've built. The great thing
about moving to the next chapter is that you've built
a foundation. Now maybe it's a completely different world. And
(37:45):
I know, you know we say sport and business. Yes
there's a lot of alignment, but there are many differences,
and I couldn't forget the fact that over so many
years I built a phenomenal foundation of strength, of resiliency,
a focus of termination, and all these apply to business.
So today, you know, I sit here in this chair,
(38:06):
and yes I'm an investor, I'm on several boards. But
I also can't take away from the fact that it
took me more than twelve years to become great at
one thing, and it takes time to build, you know,
strength in another arena. So while I do have the foundation,
I'm still growing. I'm still learning, you know, I still
(38:27):
want to be better. On my way here, I talked
to my mom and she said, you know, the educator,
and her I told her this morning I was going
on a podcast. She didn't ask too many questions, but
she called me back as I was in the car,
and she said, you know, I just want to make
sure that you're not just talking about your career, that
you have like other things to offer and other things
to say, like are you reading enough?
Speaker 3 (38:45):
She actually asked me, are you reading enough? On my
way here?
Speaker 2 (38:49):
Yeah, so that I would have other things, you know,
to say beyond just support. I was like, Mom, yes,
I'm actually listening to the all in podcasts while I'm
on my way here, like I'm still Garias.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Don't worry so thinking about that.
Speaker 4 (39:03):
There's going to be viewers that have watched this that
are founders that have a business that their dream would
be for Maria to invest in their business. Can you
tell us a little bit about how you think about
businesses which sectors kind of broadly check sizes.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
How do you think about being a value added investor?
Speaker 7 (39:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (39:21):
One of my first investments, actually the first investment was
into a sunscreen brand called Supergoup. I was a user
myself founded a Sephora market. I think that was their
only distribution at the time. This was twelve years ago.
I knocked on the on the door of the founder
and I said, I love your product. It's the only
one I can wear while I play. Doesn't run in
my eyes, it doesn't burn my eyes or sting them.
Speaker 7 (39:43):
Can I please help you out.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
I don't know what stage you're at, I don't know
how young or old you are, but I love what
you're doing and from what I've read, I love your mission.
Speaker 7 (39:51):
And that was it.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
And two years ago they sold seventy five percent of
their steak for close to a billion dollars. So it
was my first It was the first time where I
didn't take that paycheck at the beginning, and I said,
let me invest, let me give you my time, my platform,
my voice, and help share this message about preventing skin cancer.
And that was a successful example, and there's been you know,
(40:15):
several others not so. But the point is is that
it came from loving the product. It came from the
mission that the founder had that I resonated with, and
the fact that I could help it, Like I was
realistic that I had the right platform and that I
had the right usership in order to help them grow.
(40:35):
So I think all that was it was a good
foundation in my investment story. And not to say that
there's something that I may not be familiar with or
that I'm taking a chance on. I still should take
the call, I still should spend time with the founders,
but ultimately I want to have a good feel of
what this is right. I want to spend time. I
want to have dinner with these people, right, and I
(40:56):
want to win with people that know how to lose.
Like if you're I, can you know, sip champagne or
you know, buy the glass, whatever it is. When you're winning,
like I know what that feelings like. But when things
are not going well, when you're losing, when you have
a losing streak, can be a year, can be a
few years. And who are those people that are in
(41:16):
that process right, what's their mentality? How are they helping
bring back you know, the fire and the team and
the product and the branding. So I want to believe
in people that know that know how to lose and
how that will come up and find ways to win.
Speaker 5 (41:31):
I mean one of the things that I feel like
you're spending more and more time thinking about too, is
this notion of and certainly this is something that will
resonate with you, Alex, this notion of high performance, this
notion of like working under pressure. I mean I'm sitting
in between two people who who loves pressure, who love pressure,
(41:51):
I mean, who like you know, like beyond thrive on it.
How do you translate that, though, into a life that
doesn't have such clear winning and losing on a like
minute to minute basis.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
Well, it's it's acceptance that it's not always going to
go well, no matter you might have the best intentions,
you might have the strongest preparation, the strongest mindset, the
best team. I always say, you have to be realistic.
You can be confident, you can be underplaying your results,
but you still have to go out and show up.
And sometimes it's things are out of your control. People
(42:28):
say certain things. You don't like it, Go home, do
your job, keep working. You'll get the results. So acceptance
is one of them. Work Ethic, I mean work ethic
from a young age, understanding that nothing comes easy. You know,
we both come from humble backgrounds, and when you know
what that feels like. I mean, I'm not a big spender.
I take like I know what's in my bank. As
(42:50):
star athletes, we go through these like moments of you know,
fame and spending and you kind of lose track of
what you have. I thankfully go in that direction. I
was very you know, I had a purpose and how
I spent what I spent Like I counted like little
coins when I was young, and I would still count
them if now we have to do those cyber coins.
Speaker 5 (43:14):
Turning it on you, I mean this whole notion of
like pressure to business, I don't I mean you, how
do you get that same you know, it's funny that's
the same charge.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
I think athletes.
Speaker 4 (43:25):
Marie and I and our colleagues get a bad rap
about being bad business people. But I actually think that
we have the greatest preparation to be really good at
business if we can check our ego, if we can
surround ourselves with better people than us that have complementary
set of skills, that have an aligned vision. But the
work ethic, the passion, not punching a clock from nine
(43:47):
to five. We're just going to do it to the
job is done, even if we have to work around
the clock. That is something that I always underscore because
most people really are and it's okay, they're not willing
to pay that price. So we have a tremendous track record.
We're persistent, We're resilient. And here's the biggest thing I
think in business is we understand how to deal with turbulence. Yeah,
(44:09):
in public noise, and that I think Jason is one
thing that a lot of people can give great advice,
but when there's a bad article about them, I mean
they literally melt in the kitchen.
Speaker 2 (44:21):
Yeah yeah, I mean there are some significant stats about Fortune.
Five hundred female CEOs, eighty percent of them have had
high intensity, sport background, whether it's in college, high school,
league level, why is that because of the amazing lessons
that you learn along the way, right, the resiliency, What
(44:44):
do you do under pressure?
Speaker 7 (44:46):
How do you cope with it? How do you take
care of your body?
Speaker 2 (44:49):
I mean like when you have a big event, Like
it's easy for me now to say, oh, I can
go and have dinner and have a big curry, But actually,
if I really want to be prepared and for my
mind to be fresh, I'm going to have a lean
dinner because I want to wake up and I want
my mind to be ready to go. So strong body,
strong mind. And those are so many of the lessons
(45:09):
that you learn as an athlete.
Speaker 4 (45:11):
I want to ask one question because I'm sincerely intrigued
by your answer here. You know, you talked about, you know,
coming with your father, mom had to stay back checking
in IMG in the middle of the night motel, and
then Wimbledon happens at seventeen, and your world starts changing
from a global place. Now you're in your mid thirties, right,
(45:32):
and you have a little one at home. What is
your north star when you're forty five fifty? Your next
this this business career is going to be much longer
than your playing career. You know, God Willing, What does
a Wimbledon north star look like for you?
Speaker 1 (45:47):
In business?
Speaker 2 (45:48):
Yeah, well I don't look so far ahead. I don't
look at forty five. I don't look at fifty. The
biggest difference and the biggest shift in my life is
when you have a child.
Speaker 7 (45:58):
The free time changes.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
Even when I was at the top of my sporting career,
I had free time to recover, right to rest my body,
to be curious about other things. Now as a mother,
if I can be honest when even if you do
have free time, or you're not in the same city,
you're on a trip, you know, a working trip, vacation,
whatever it is, your child is not there. You're thinking
of your child. You're doing everything you can. So that
(46:21):
juggle has definitely been an adjustment for me. Business wise,
There's a platform that I'm working on and developing that
will take time. But as I said, I'm not in
a rush, and I recognize. I realize that everything that
I've built for my tennis career was built upon years
and years of work and ups and downs, and it
(46:43):
will in my business career. But I'm curious. I'm not
afraid to take chances. I'm not afraid to take on
roles that might be intimidating. I mean, I'm on the
board of Montclair and I sit, you know, in an
Italian conference room with a translator in my ear because
it's an officially public trading Italian company, so it has
to be done in Italian. It's intimidating. I mean, some
(47:03):
of the figures, the numbers of decisions that you are
responsible for in that room are you know, are high stakes,
and so I feel like I have a responsibility to
know what the hell's going on in that room. And
so by doing that, by putting myself in that situation,
you know, it gives me. I'm a little scared. It's new,
but I have to prepare for it, and I love
that work.
Speaker 4 (47:23):
I've heard you talk about strategy and vision, and I
think we share that in as athletes. We do always
have to have a strategy and a vision. When I
thought about life after baseball, one of my north stars
that I would be embarrassed to tell people because you're
probably not going to get their way. Your north stars
something it is hard to share. It was team ownership,
right and I'm having so much fun with the Timberwolves,
(47:46):
and now my North starts to bring a world championship
with my partner Mark Glory to Minnesota. Any ambitions, and
I see more women now which are so exciting or
getting involved in team ownership, WNBA, NBA football ideas in
the future that you would like to be involved.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
It's a hot topic, and if I can be completely honest,
I'm not someone that is oriented. My business decisions aren't
oriented on what's hot and what's trendy. There's a lot
of talk about being, you know, a co owner of
a league. I mean, whether it's pickleball or padel or
you know, a female soccer team. I do come from
(48:22):
individual sport background, and so I do believe in the
power of an individual and raising and bringing the stories
out of these impactful individuals. I've loved the conversations around
powerful females, but I do still think they've been in
the context of leagues and media rights and not necessarily
what these athletes are about. So I see my my
(48:45):
involvement more in the individuals as opposed to the leagues.
Speaker 5 (48:48):
Right now, Yeah, I would be remiss if I didn't
talk to you, or if we didn't ask you about tennis,
and I have to say, it was so cool to
see a different side of you in Breakpoint, you know,
as to a luminary of the sport.
Speaker 2 (49:02):
Coming in a few blink you'd miss me. I must
have not blinked during that show.
Speaker 3 (49:06):
I don't think so.
Speaker 5 (49:06):
I feel like you popped up it like very opportune times.
But I did, you know.
Speaker 6 (49:11):
In part because you know, we did get a taste
of it there.
Speaker 5 (49:14):
I mean, I did want to ask you. I mean,
tennis as a business is at this fascinating moment. It
feels like in terms of I mean you've been a
part of and you've witnessed generations of tennis players. We
are at a generational shift on both the women's and
the men's side. You know, there's new investors coming into
the WTA. There's talk of WTA and ATP merging as
(49:36):
a business person who has more than a passing interest
in the game of tennis.
Speaker 6 (49:41):
Like, what do you see happening there?
Speaker 2 (49:42):
Uh, the schedule and the system is still slightly broken.
There's so much going on. This season is ten months
out of the year. There's several different federations involved. They
are the Grand slams that are not connected to the
rest of the tour. There's inequality. I mean, we could
spend a whole another hour on the state of where
the game is. But the bottom line is that the
(50:03):
actual faces and the names and the characters and the
athletes that are coming out from this new generation are
spectacular and they're going to lead the sport. And that's
that's what excites me. And to break Point, it was
actually the first tennis interview that I had done since retirement,
and so it felt, you know, tennis was something I
will always know and I knew for so many years,
(50:25):
but it was nice to have a little bit of
a healthy distance from it. And so when I went
into this recording for Breakpoint, it like it opened up
so many you know, cans from my past and my
present and reflection where I felt like I could commentate
on it, but it wasn't like involved, and it felt
so good not to be part of any of anything
(50:45):
of what was going on, Yeah, and to share my vision,
and I think that's what was reflected and what you saw.
Speaker 4 (50:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (50:51):
I still don't think it was as great of an
impact to what they did with Formula one, but tennis
is a tricky sport to unbox. There's so many layers.
And that's what I mean by you know, the schedule,
the equipment. All of these things are tricky. Their players
are hurt for a lot of the season.
Speaker 7 (51:09):
You're not.
Speaker 2 (51:09):
You're one of the biggest events, but not all the
top talents playing. Like, what are the reasons? So I
like to get in before I look at who's investing
in what?
Speaker 6 (51:18):
Yeah? All right? Last question? Do you have anything? All right?
Do you have anything else you need to tell us? God,
you have any questions for him?
Speaker 3 (51:29):
I mean asked me to introduce myself. I was like,
I was not going to go down. Well, I wasn't prepared.
Speaker 6 (51:35):
For what's your question for him?
Speaker 3 (51:37):
What are you going to call me on your next deal?
Speaker 1 (51:39):
I'm going to call you. I'm gonna definitely what's the.
Speaker 3 (51:42):
D see I want to see the roll of ducks.
Speaker 6 (51:44):
Yeah, I want to see what deal you guys would
do together.
Speaker 4 (51:47):
I'm true the platform building. Yeah, I want to be
part of that.
Speaker 6 (51:51):
Okay, wow, real deals happening right now. You're on the deal.
Speaker 1 (51:55):
We'll come back and announce something.
Speaker 6 (51:56):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (51:57):
Just make sure your business manager wires the check.
Speaker 5 (52:00):
That's a good point, I wire my own checks now
yeah yeah yeah lesson learned, Yeah yeah exactly, Maria, thank you,
Thank you a lot of fun.
Speaker 8 (52:16):
The Deals of production from Bloomberg Podcasts and Bloomberg Originals.
The Deals hosted by Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly. Our
producers are Victor Veees and Lizzie Phillip. Our story editor
is Sirdartha Mahonta. Our assistant producer is Stacey Wong. Blake
Maples is our sound engineer. Rubob Shakir is our creative director.
Our direction is from Jacqueline Kessler. Original music by Blake Maples,
(52:41):
casting by Dave Warren. Our editorial supervisor is David E.
Speaker 3 (52:45):
Rabella.
Speaker 8 (52:46):
Our executive producers are Sage Bauman, Jason Kelly, Adam Kamiski,
Kelly la Ferrier, Ashley Hoenig, Trey Shallowhorn, Kyle Kramer, and
Andrew Bardon. Additional support from Rachel Scarmazino, Elena saus Angelis,
Vanessa Perdomo and Anna Maserakis. Nestor Slia is our director
of photography. Our camera operators are Danny Celia and Jordan Keslo.
(53:10):
Katia Vanoy is our video editor. Our assistant camera is
Stephen Neil and Eric Sanchez is our gaffer. You can
also watch the Deal on Bloomberger Originals YouTube and Bloomberg Television.
Subscribe to the Deal wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks
for listening.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.