00:00When do you think the American tennis program, the men's tennis program, will be more competitive?
00:06Well, I think the program is actually very good.
00:08And I say that because I was part of it for a while.
00:10I've been part of it for a while at the U.S. Tennis Association.
00:12We still have the most players in the top 100 of any country by a pretty good distance.
00:18You need a freak of nature to be number one in the world, to win majors.
00:21That's what Sinner is. That's what Alcaraz is.
00:23That's what Djokovic is, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, obviously, Serena Williams, you know, was as well as a woman.
00:32But we have a whole host of young female players that are in the top 10 that have won majors,
00:37Coco Gauff being the leader of the pack.
00:40But because the game has become so physical, so athletic, unless you can compete with those top couple guys in
00:47all aspects of the game,
00:48you basically have no chance to win another major.
00:51So it's wrong to say that the program isn't successful, but it's right to say we haven't had that phenom,
00:57that freakish athlete play tennis in this country for a long time as a male.
01:03When you look at the sport of tennis as a business, is it healthy right now?
01:07Oh, my goodness. I mean, the people coming through the gates at the Australian Open was like something I've never
01:14seen before.
01:14It was, I mean, record numbers by far. U.S. Open the same.
01:18All the majors have gotten bigger and bigger and bigger.
01:22It's the smaller tournaments, particularly in this country, that have suffered a little bit,
01:26partly because without the big, big American stars on the men's side.
01:30But it's also kind of the haves and the have-nots, the big events, the four majors, what they call
01:35the Masters Series events.
01:36Those events have all become bigger, better, very fan-friendly.
01:41They don't get the huge numbers, TV numbers, that the other sports get, like football and basketball.
01:47Right.
01:47But as far as the numbers of attendance and sponsorship, I mean, the tennis is as healthy as there's ever
01:54been.
01:54With regards to attracting eyeballs in any sport, obviously there's the athleticism.
01:58People want to see greatness.
01:59But there's also the spectacle of it all, right?
02:01And we talk about Serena, obviously a fantastic athlete.
02:05But, of course, a lot of people tuned in her because they wanted to see, you know, what outfit she
02:08was going to come out to the court with.
02:11Or even back in your day, you know, having loud, brash players, whether it was, you know, John McEnroe or
02:18a few other people.
02:19Jimmy Connors.
02:19Jimmy Connors and things like that.
02:21Do we need more of that?
02:22I guess, I don't know how I put this.
02:24I guess, just do we need more drama?
02:26Personality.
02:26Yeah.
02:27I think it helps, particularly in tennis because it's such an individual sport.
02:30Tennis is really about the individual.
02:32So it's also, of course, about the game.
02:34People like the game.
02:35But you're right.
02:36It's very much about the personalities driving the sport.
02:39So Serena, it was not just about her greatness on the court.
02:43It was kind of about her overall persona.
02:45Same when it was my brother against Boric or Jimmy Connors.
02:49Arguably, you have some of those.
02:50I mean, Alcaraz, the guy just loves tennis.
02:54He's a showman.
02:54And I'm sitting there in the little commentary box right behind the court with my brother doing the match.
02:59And Alcaraz would come to our window a couple of times a match during the match.
03:03He knew it was us sitting there.
03:05And he'd smile and he'd look at us and he'd laugh because he's entertaining not just us but the fans.
03:10So now if he were American, that would move the needle in this country.
03:14And he is moving the needle around the globe.
03:16Yeah.
03:17But if we're an American player doing that, if Francis Tiafoe were winning majors, he's got an amazing personality.
03:22Ben Shelton is another young guy.
03:24Ben Shelton, yeah.
03:24A lot of personality.
03:26And I think he's got a chance to win majors.
03:28But he lost his center again in straight sets down in Australia.
03:31So it really takes a combination of all those things to move the needle from a viewership perspective in this
03:37country.
03:37I am curious just about the dynamics between the men's side and the women's side of the sport.
03:41Obviously, with the big Grand Slam events, you kind of had that combination there.
03:46You mentioned sort of the secondary events, for lack of a better phrase.
03:50Is there an argument to maybe look at the ATP and WTA and say maybe for those events you should
03:56have more overlap between the two?
03:57Well, you do have those in the big Masters events, the level just below the majors.
04:01And all those events are very healthy.
04:03But to your point, the ATP and the WTA has been looking for years now at coming together and being
04:08one tour.
04:09There's a lot of complications business-wise because, for the most part, the men's tour, when it's on its own,
04:15is more successful financially than the women's tour when it's on its own.
04:19But when they're both together, I think it's better for all of tennis and it's certainly better for viewers and
04:25attracting fans.
04:26But they have to come to an agreement financially to make that worthwhile.
04:30So that's been the sticking point.
04:32But definitely for the casual fan or for the fan to go to the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells,
04:38for example.
04:38I'll go there in a month out in the California desert.
04:41That's another type of event where people just want to be there.
04:44They get to see men and women just like going to the U.S. Open.
04:47It's like a mini version of the U.S. Open.
04:49So whether that or not that happens in the long run remains to be seen.
04:53But tennis is really the only big-time sport where men and women, for the most part, in the big
04:58events, play on equal footing.
Comments