0:05

Hello and welcome to the Served

0:08

Podcast with me , andy

0:11

Roddick . Thank you for liking

0:13

, subscribing , listening wherever

0:16

you get your podcasts , as promised

0:18

my friend

0:21

I hope we're still friends she was pissed off at me a couple weeks

0:23

ago , so we're going to have a therapy . Pissed off at me a couple weeks

0:25

ago , so we're going to have a therapy session right in front of all

0:27

of you coming up . And

0:29

one of my favorite parts this might be three

0:32

months in . This might be one of my favorite parts . Watch

0:34

Lindsay's face as I read off her credentials . This

0:36

is the best .

0:39

I'm getting an end call in the beginning .

0:42

Then we have no show , then it's T2 . We have no show , then it's

0:44

t2 . We have no show . So you're kind of stuck for a second uh

0:46

55 singles titles , 38

0:48

doubles , three majors uh eighth

0:51

woman to ever win , 700 matches

0:53

. She ended up with 753 just showed off in the last

0:55

53 , four times . This is for

0:57

me this is the most impressive uh , four times

1:00

year-end number one uh

1:02

and through an olympic gold for

1:05

good measure . And she hates talking

1:07

about her accomplishments , maybe more

1:10

than any other human alive

1:12

, so I won't make her awkwardly say

1:14

something after I read off her credentials . Uh

1:17

, lindsey , uh , you know I love you .

1:19

Thank you , uh for coming on and joining uh

1:21

served well , I had to come on

1:23

like you're taking over , like

1:25

my son's listening I . He won't like read a

1:27

book or do a school , but he like dies

1:30

every week to see when your episode is like coming

1:32

out or like listening to it and then telling

1:34

us all about it . So I share a lot about

1:36

it so wait he's .

1:37

He's becoming like john , he's just not reading any books

1:39

zero

1:42

studying , zero education going

1:45

on .

1:45

So really the pressure falls on you because

1:47

you're about all he listens to .

1:49

Oh gosh , that's a , that's a low bar . Um

1:51

, so I I do want to get straight to it

1:53

. Um , cause I did talk about how I

1:56

fear a couple of things on on this

1:58

podcast . I don't fear much feedback

2:00

, like I'm okay with most speed bumps

2:02

On this podcast . I don't fear much feedback , like I'm

2:05

okay with most speed bumps . Two things I fear

2:07

is I know anytime I say anything

2:09

nice or bad about

2:11

Novak I'm going to get slaughtered one

2:13

way or the other , like that's a given . And

2:16

I said I fear you

2:18

being mad at me . It really

2:20

hit me more than I thought it would . So

2:23

I'm going to give you my

2:26

take from my side and then I want you to tell

2:29

me what I'm getting wrong and

2:31

provide me the appropriate context . So

2:33

Lindsey just finished her

2:35

first successful weekend as

2:38

captain for Billy Gene King Cup did a great

2:40

job down there in Orlando

2:42

. Great

2:48

job , uh , down there in orlando . And so in the lead-in , uh I'm doing , uh , what's ? Uh , what do we

2:50

call it ? Uh , internet thing on on tc live , the segment we do where we don't see the

2:52

internet clips and also I will say I

2:54

can't hear them , so I'm reacting

2:56

to like a video oh , because

2:58

is that really ?

3:00

that's true , can't hear them .

3:02

I can't okay , I

3:04

can't , okay , I can't . I can only hear Prakash's

3:07

thing . I can't hear his things

3:09

when he's interviewing internationally . I get world feed and

3:11

I'm watching the studio , but

3:13

it doesn't change my opinion because I have watched it since

3:15

. So I said

3:17

something that was horrible . I

3:20

actually pissed Lindsay off . We have the clip

3:23

. We can play it .

3:24

Thank you , we can play it right now . Great

3:26

, okay , yeah , go ahead . No problem , this

3:34

is Eminem Navarro . Not

3:38

that many of us have degrees

3:41

, but I am quite sure we can all agree .

3:43

We'll look back on this time with smiley faces .

3:44

There's more , not mass , not mass . There's more no más , no más

3:47

.

3:47

There's more . So , y'all this is Rookie Rap

3:49

, I'll tell you . I , oh Crowd

3:55

goes wild , apparently . That's

4:01

just . I mean , even to make that

4:03

effort is To make . The effort is an , a plus

4:05

, just to make the effort

4:08

. Well , you have to , it's part of being on the team

4:10

. What I will say is , like , the best thing about her rap

4:12

ability is that she's playing great tennis this year . Yeah

4:15

, that's all that matters . That's all the matter . She

4:17

did it in the right style okay , so

4:19

like I , so lindsey

4:22

texts me and it's like , basically

4:24

it goes full . Mama bear right is is

4:26

like it's the night before or you know , her

4:29

first day of captaincy . So I'm

4:31

hoping she was just nervous and needed

4:33

to like I took John's place and she just needed to like

4:35

annihilate someone for the day . So

4:38

I got in trouble for basically saying

4:40

that Emma Navarro is a better

4:42

tennis player than a rapper , which

4:44

I would have . I didn't hear the rap

4:46

during the first reaction during the segment

4:48

we're talking about . I just looked and

4:51

all of the enthused fans faces

4:53

and it was . It was like someone

4:56

like kicked a puppy or something . That was their reaction

4:58

, and so I just need you to

5:00

say like why you were so pissed at me , because

5:02

it what I said , like do

5:11

you think Emma Navarro is a better rapper than tennis player ?

5:12

no , but you were such a dick about it like okay . So here

5:14

is this black , amazing young lady honestly

5:17

like amazing sport

5:19

, super shy

5:21

lady and gets like thrown into

5:24

this situation .

5:25

We didn't even tell her she had to do this

5:28

, who threw her into this , this shy person , into

5:30

this situation ?

5:31

okay , okay , so it's my very

5:33

first captain's meeting . I'm like

5:35

you know me . I'm like stressed about everything . I'm

5:37

like , okay , how many feet can I walk from

5:39

the bench ? Who can I talk to ? What are the

5:41

rules ? Like trying to learn everything . And

5:44

the Belgian captain Wim just

5:46

said great coach , who's obviously done it

5:48

before was like , oh , by the way

5:50

, I have a rookie , I'm gonna have her

5:52

give a speech at the reception . I was like , yeah

5:55

, yeah , that's fine , like no problem . And

5:57

I'm like , okay , wait . So what happens when

5:59

you know ? So I'm going back to like the captain's meeting

6:01

. So I forgot about it , my

6:04

bad . So we're in literally

6:06

in the bus on the way to the official reception

6:09

. You know all the dignitaries from the countries

6:11

and ITF are there and

6:13

very nice woman from

6:16

the USTA , jessica , is going over with me

6:18

exactly how the rundown of it's

6:20

going to go for the team and

6:23

she mentions like the rookie speech . I was like , oh shit , I forgot to tell

6:25

her . So I'm like

6:27

was like , oh , emma , there's like an , a rookie

6:30

thing . And I think like

6:32

they had him speak or like do a rap

6:34

. Someone had like I remember

6:36

hearing that before and Taylor

6:39

Townsend goes oh yeah , you got to give a rap and

6:41

she's like in 15 minutes and

6:44

we're like , yeah , and I didn't think anything of it

6:46

. She kind of gets quiet and gets on her phone .

6:47

It sounds like you literally wrote

6:50

it on the way there . Yeah

6:52

, I don't know . I mean preparation might've solved

6:55

for all of my , my

6:57

comments . I mean I don't so

6:59

okay .

6:59

Wait , you're not , you have to . Let me finish here . So

7:01

the belgian ricky goes and

7:03

gives a very nice speech , just thanking

7:06

the belgian federation and her coaches

7:08

, and really simple . So I'm like , oh

7:10

, emma's gonna get up there and do that . And no , she

7:13

rapped for like six verses

7:16

and kept going and

7:18

, uh , I thought she was great for a shy

7:21

person to get up there and do that . Um

7:23

was awesome . And then you on

7:26

our on the show , just kind of shit all over

7:28

her . And then I went like

7:30

I shown the team . I was

7:32

like can you believe ? He said this oh

7:35

good , thank you . Yeah , let's make it a bigger deal .

7:37

Yeah , let's let's let's , let's , let's make it even

7:39

bigger deal that . That should help her embarrassment

7:41

. Our guest list is gonna show .

7:43

This is actually the best part . Then you

7:45

I I'm sure I still have it here

7:47

you then sent me like nine texts . Like really

7:50

, are you really mad , I'm so sorry . Like oh

7:52

, like so then I

7:54

was like reading it to maiden taylor

7:56

or somebody she's like , oh , leave them on red , just

7:59

leave them on red . So I was like okay , I'm not

8:01

gonna answer them . That was like my big thing for like 24

8:03

hours .

8:05

Two things can be true , right , so

8:07

the two things can be true . I

8:10

like having her like what

8:13

do you want ? Should I applaud effort and

8:15

also I need you to . I need you to also

8:17

. The goal of

8:19

having her do something embarrassing

8:22

is what .

8:25

To . It was like the history of it , Didn't

8:27

you guys used to do that ?

8:29

Yeah , and then we all ripped on each other afterwards .

8:31

Well , but I don't know , I was . I was

8:33

impressed that she did it . She could have kind of weaseled

8:35

out of it and just gave like a little speech . The

8:38

other thing I just also think that she

8:40

is your type of player . I mean , this player

8:43

is all about competing and

8:45

like fiery and will figure

8:47

it out , doesn't walk away , doesn't look for the exit

8:50

and like here

8:52

, here , here's the thing , okay .

8:53

So even on air , any opinion

8:56

I've ever had of her and I we , we

8:58

go back and forth and , believe

9:00

it or not , lindsey and I actually have a very

9:02

good relationship .

9:03

I would say , or at least I hope so I think so .

9:05

Maybe I'm going nine and 90 and she's going 10

9:07

. But you know

9:09

, we trade texts about players and

9:11

talk about you know things . I love Emma

9:13

Navarro , like I think she is awesome . Like

9:17

for the life of me , out of everything that's

9:19

ever come out of my mouth around

9:22

Lindsay Davenport , I would have

9:24

lost our house thinking

9:27

that the thing that was offensive was saying

9:29

that she the best thing about her rapping

9:31

ability is that she's great at tennis it was

9:34

your .

9:34

You gave like a moan and a grunt , like

9:37

like all of that . The whole vibe

9:39

was a little negative . I felt like I

9:41

thought Paul was trying to be very positive and

9:44

I'm just um you know what it is

9:46

a little more supportive of

9:49

of of people doing

9:51

embarrassing shit .

9:52

I could not be more supportive of that . I

9:55

couldn't be more supportive of people doing embarrassing

9:58

stuff also like I , I

10:00

just , I just like I you're , you're

10:02

the coach , you're . But like , if

10:05

you sit here and tell me that was the greatest

10:07

thing ever , we're losing credibility as a captain

10:09

the way I see it , like okay , can we move

10:11

on ?

10:11

what's the next topic go ?

10:12

I just you know I

10:15

listen I . But I will

10:17

say , having lindsey mad

10:19

at me and when she sent it I didn't know if she was just

10:22

giving me shit back , which is like what she's prone

10:24

to do , like she troll , if I ever

10:26

have like a , you know , a late night and she

10:28

gets off , she'll try and I love it and it's

10:30

the best right . You , you know , if you're gonna give

10:32

it , you got to be able to take it . I felt it hurt

10:34

my soul to think that

10:36

, and it was like the day that she was like

10:38

the her first day of captaining . I

10:41

wake up the next morning because she sent it at like 11 30

10:43

, like you send stuff at 11 30 because

10:45

it's been pissing you off all day , like

10:47

absolutely . And so

10:49

I wake up the next morning . I'm like my heart .

10:51

Actually not true . That wasn't true . You can't

10:53

tell me what . I didn't see the clip until

10:56

, like , I was in bed like searching like

10:58

social media , so but I

11:00

wrote you right away when I saw it . I didn't like it

11:02

, okay .

11:03

I it . I didn't get it until the next morning . And then

11:05

I was trying to ask the question of

11:07

like , without digging my hole

11:09

further of I can't tell if you're

11:11

really mad at me or not Because

11:16

I didn't want to discount the way that she was feeling , but also I couldn't believe that in the history

11:18

of our relationship , this was the thing that was too far

11:20

.

11:21

No , but I will say he was pretty

11:23

banged up about it . I . That was

11:25

too far . No , but I will say he was pretty , he was pretty banged up about it . I was

11:28

taping that day I was like , before I was like I'm asking the like our team

11:30

you got you got him deep , so I you know what it worked

11:32

I don't like it .

11:33

I don't like it when lindsey's mad at me . Like I , I

11:36

stand by what I said , like I'm not we're just gonna

11:38

disagree . I would have never guessed that

11:40

oh my god , we're gonna disagree on it

11:42

. I you know , two things can be true I

11:44

, I don't think what I said was that bad , and also

11:46

, I never want emma to like be

11:48

with your tone .

11:49

Your tone was shitty , oh shit .

11:51

You know you sound like brooke , it's

11:54

not . It's not the facts and it's not the

11:56

output , it's the tone which

11:59

I can't well , I mean it was , but

12:01

it was more like the tone , like all I do

12:03

is I see her and I can't hear it , and

12:06

then it pans to the crowd . It's

12:08

literally no less than 150

12:11

old white people that was my video too . I think

12:13

that was me taking that video okay

12:16

so another thing that like okay , it's , then you

12:18

put it on the internet . Like I don't know , I didn't put it on the internet

12:21

it's not .

12:21

That wasn't the clip . The clip on the internet

12:24

was from , like , the official people . They made it look much

12:26

nicer and they put like a beat behind it .

12:28

Listen to that one we'll think , oh good

12:30

, so sorry , so we just so . It's actually

12:32

I now . Okay , let's , let's just come to a

12:35

let's . We're going to close the loop on this I

12:37

forgave you . We moved on where

12:39

I think our common ground is is that , mike , you

12:42

didn't get me the one that lindsey had applied

12:44

mad beats to so we need to give it up . We

12:46

need to give it you

12:48

know what to settle this conversation so we

12:50

can move on . It's my fault , yeah

12:53

okay well , let's , let's make a transition

12:56

away . I hope we're fine . I just needed to get

12:58

, we need to clear the air before we could , you know

13:00

, have have a normal conversation . Uh

13:02

, beyond the rap

13:04

, um , your

13:07

girls did an unbelievable job Day

13:09

one . I thought you kind

13:12

of got thrown into the fire right away because

13:14

, even though you all were the overwhelming

13:16

favorites , a couple of tight ones Describe

13:20

that day

13:22

. Going in , I can tell you were

13:24

nervous because you were berating me . But

13:28

walk us through that day what your expectations

13:30

were , how proud you were of your team for maybe not even playing their best , but just us through that day what your expectations

13:32

were . Uh , how proud you were of your team for maybe not even playing their best , but

13:34

just figuring it out Like those are actually

13:36

better wins , I think because of that

13:38

.

13:39

I couldn't agree more . It was early in the

13:41

week , um , when it was just

13:43

Kugula who said like , oh

13:45

, I don't even care what they ranked . Everybody knows that

13:47

people play their best in these situations

13:49

, in this format , in this event . So

13:55

the team was kind of prepared for that . We played in 2000

13:57

, and I told the ladies about this

13:59

, I think it was Celis

14:02

and Capriotti , myself and Lisa Raymond

14:04

we played a young Belgian team that was Kleisters

14:06

and Enner , and we knew that they were these great

14:08

juniors and I think

14:10

we all went three sets . It was like

14:12

crazy and it was like , oh wow , that

14:14

was maybe tougher than we thought it was going to

14:16

be . These young Belgians

14:18

played great . It was actually super fun

14:20

to see they were ready for the moment

14:23

, and you kind of love that also when

14:25

you're watching , because you see some players go out there

14:27

and they're maybe like deer in the headlights . These two

14:29

young ladies were not and

14:36

the there and they're maybe like deer in the headlights . These two young ladies were not um , and the

14:38

first match just did not play her best . She's been trying to change a few things , as you know , and we

14:40

were um kind of working on a couple things that she would brought into the week and she

14:42

didn't play her best , but you know what she

14:44

like fought really hard and that

14:46

was great . She was able to get the win um

14:49

, which really helped the team . Emma then goes

14:51

out there . This was actually for me

14:53

the craziest moment of like the whole week

14:55

. So all week in practice

14:57

, um , all everyone was

14:59

playing really well . Um Madison

15:02

came up just like a little bit with a foot

15:04

that was bugging her . Um Taylor

15:06

was a little bit sick all week . So we were kind of dealing

15:08

with a little like every week there's always a

15:10

little things that kind of come up . But Emma

15:12

was playing amazing and all the practices winning

15:15

and feeling good . She gets down

15:17

a break early in the first and I was like

15:19

Emma , you're not using your forehand . Like

15:22

you , that's been your most improved shot

15:24

. It's like your biggest weapon now with your fitness , like

15:26

you got to start using your forehand . She just

15:28

looks at me with these like calm eyes . She's like

15:30

well , you know , every time I hit my

15:32

forehand I have this like shooting pain

15:34

going down my elbow into

15:37

my hand and like my hand is tingling

15:39

. It feels like a little numb . I was

15:41

like wait what ?

15:44

Wait , how many games into your captaincy is

15:46

this Seven ?

15:47

Said three , four in the first and

15:49

I was like really

15:52

, and she's like , yeah , and

15:54

she's kind of like shaking her arm out and I'm like , well , we

15:56

should call the trainer . So this was the second best part

15:58

. She's like I've never

16:00

called a trainer , I don't really want to do that

16:02

. I'm like , oh , okay , so he

16:05

gets up , I go and talk

16:07

, like turn around and talk to the team physio

16:09

, and

16:13

she's like nope , nope , hadn't heard that . So she comes back over , it's four or five

16:15

. We talk a little bit again . Anyway she loses the set

16:17

and I said I think you should probably call

16:20

the physio out . Um , even if

16:22

she helps you like five percent , it might really help

16:24

. Maybe she gives you even more relief . And that

16:26

seemed like a huge thing for her . She was like quiet

16:28

for a few seconds and then she was like okay

16:31

, let's do it . So that was , I think

16:33

, like whatever phobia she had

16:35

about that , she got over that . Um

16:38

, she then gets down a break in the second and she's trying to

16:40

figure out exactly how can I hit my

16:42

shot without it like resonating pain

16:44

, like down my whole arm ? Um

16:46

, gets down a break and get two , three , and she

16:48

just kind of looks at me and goes like , don't

16:51

worry , I'm going to figure this out . Time to

16:53

get Brady and she just kind of gets up and

16:56

, sure enough , figures out a way to win

16:58

um , gets through the match . Um

17:01

at four , three in the third I don't know if

17:03

you saw that she had break point to get up five , three

17:05

. I've actually never seen this either . Emma's

17:08

, 10 feet behind the baseline , throws

17:10

up a defensive lob and um

17:12

Belgian shanks her overhead going

17:14

into the back fence and it hits Emma on

17:16

the fly . So so

17:19

we're at 4-3 deuce and we're dying . Everyone

17:22

is like , oh my god . And she just laughs

17:24

it off , no problem , wins the next two points

17:26

, wins the match 6-3 and , like any other

17:28

player , kind of be freaking out and she's just

17:30

like so cool out there , um

17:33

, nothing faced her and uh

17:35

, that match was like the craziest , probably

17:38

introduction I could have gotten to . Maybe , uh

17:40

, this new job that's

17:42

an .

17:43

those are things like as nervous

17:45

as you get when you're playing , like I never

17:47

got more nervous than home ties in

17:50

Davis cup . I don't know how you feel about

17:52

it , but talk through the nerves that

17:55

you feel , as you

17:57

know , when you used to have to play and now , as

18:00

as a captain , I I I

18:02

would guess they're worse now , but is that

18:04

? Is that a leap ?

18:07

Um , I think probably the same . Um

18:09

, you know , it was so funny in leading up to doing

18:11

this I talked to everyone . I knew

18:14

that had kind of done this role . Before I talked to Jim

18:16

, talked to Mary Jo , but I spent

18:18

like an hour on the phone with Billie Jean and

18:20

she was so funny , like I had no idea . She

18:22

was like oh , do you remember when

18:25

you were yelling at me on a changeover , like I wasn't

18:27

helping and I wasn't paying attention

18:29

?

18:29

Oh good , so like I wasn't helping and I wasn't paying attention

18:31

, oh good , so I'm not the only one , I'm in good company .

18:33

I was like we didn't do that . She's like , yes , you did

18:35

, that was against Spain . And she was like

18:38

he's like you don't even care , You're not

18:40

even watching . I'm like I didn't say that

18:42

. And she's like , oh

18:56

, yeah , you did . So she kept like going over all these things , which obviously is like craziest nerves going through your system

18:58

, right . Like why would I ever yell that at Billie Jean ? Like sitting there , obviously she's like on the bench trying to help me . Um , I felt bad that first

19:00

day that I felt like I wasn't helping them play better tennis . Um , so I was kind of taking the blame

19:02

there . I was happy on day two just played amazing

19:05

match and under an hour one . Um , but

19:08

I was nervous . I was nervous for them . I was

19:10

was nervous for the team . It was an amazing

19:12

group that kind of banded together and wanted

19:14

them to do well . Um , but

19:17

yeah , playing is tough . I mean

19:19

you want to almost like throw up before you go out

19:21

there .

19:21

Yeah , we , we kind

19:23

of I think lindsey and I like talking tennis

19:25

because I think we both felt like we were going to vomit

19:27

before we went on the court , like every single time , and

19:30

I'll tell you , I want to get get back to Billie Jean King

19:32

Cup . I want to talk about , kind of the five months leading

19:34

in . What made you say yes to the job and then

19:36

, as we march to the finals , but

19:39

Lindsay and I end

19:41

up doing a lot of you know , corporate

19:43

appearances during the US Open and we have a you

19:46

know kind of we've heard the same stories

19:48

from each other numerous times

19:50

. And Lindsay , I didn't believe her at

19:52

first . I thought she was exaggerating , and now I do

19:54

. Someone will ask her a question

19:56

of like how did you feel ? Like something

19:58

kind of you know straightforward that you would expect

20:00

. How did you feel before

20:03

a Grand Slam final ? And Lindsay

20:05

will say something absurd , because if

20:07

you've ever watched Lindsay , she's never like

20:10

she's going to square up the ball every time

20:12

and the ball is going to leave her racket faster

20:14

than it came . And she'll

20:16

say something like I just wanted to win a

20:18

game . I was so scared about losing

20:20

0-0 . And it's the most insane

20:23

shit that I've ever heard . But

20:26

I actually , you actually like

20:29

felt that way .

20:30

Totally insecure . I played in

20:32

I think it's seven singles

20:34

finals and felt

20:36

like that way every single time . I think

20:39

I always had this fear of like being embarrassed

20:41

. And so I remember saying it to John

20:43

like early on in our relationship , like before

20:45

I went out on some big match , like oh , not everybody

20:47

always know , and he was like wait , what

20:49

it's like , your rank one

20:51

or two or whatever . I

20:54

always was like fearing

20:56

the worst out there it's like , and

20:58

playing in front of a lot of people did

21:00

not give me joy and I was always

21:02

super envious of people that went out there and to

21:05

like be relaxed and make it look like a show

21:07

I would love to go play Like

21:09

. My favorite US opening was actually I think it was 93

21:11

. Favorite US Open was actually I think it was 93 . I just

21:13

turned 17 , I think it

21:15

was that year . They only

21:17

seeded 16 back then but I was unseeded . It's the

21:19

only US Open I played in singles matches on

21:21

the field courts like the greatest

21:24

, my best

21:26

win in the third round I beat Amanda Koetzer , seeded

21:28

, I don't know , somewhere 13 through 16 and

21:31

it was like the hardcore US tennis fans

21:33

there . And that is honestly some

21:35

of my right favorite memories because from

21:37

then on out I was like on one of the two

21:39

short show courts and it just caused

21:41

more stress for me than joy so

21:44

they wouldn't .

21:45

Did you petition them in the 98

21:47

final to maybe just like ? Did you request

21:49

to play on grandstand

21:52

?

21:52

I tried to mature and tried to accept it . But

21:55

I don't know , I think , if you're not that comfortable in

21:57

the limelight or with the focus on you

21:59

, I don't know if you ever become fully

22:01

comfortable with that . And

22:03

players talk a little bit more about it

22:05

now with , like , their mental health

22:07

and all that , but back then , like you couldn't say a word

22:10

, you were like viewed as incredibly

22:12

weak or like

22:14

whenever . I remember Jim Currier telling me a story how

22:16

players used to like basically like hide

22:19

to go see at the time the one

22:21

sports psychologist some players were using Dr

22:23

Jim Laird . He's like they literally go

22:25

hide . They didn't want anyone to know they were doing that

22:27

. Now it's a lot more open . Players

22:35

are getting a lot more help and willing to talk about it , which I think probably has to help the

22:37

other players . I felt like I was the only one who was like wanting to throw up in the

22:39

locker room before most matches .

22:40

It's weird . I felt like I was going to throw up , but

22:42

like I wasn't , like it wouldn't I , I

22:45

would have hated it because I would have felt like I'm not good

22:47

, like mine wasn't . Like it sounds like you

22:49

knew the tennis was there . You just didn't like the other stuff surrounding

22:52

. I could have cared less if there were 12

22:54

people in the stands or 40,000 people

22:56

in the stands . Mine was like I was insecure

22:58

about like ability , like I wanted to vomit

23:01

, cause I'm like I felt like I had to execute

23:03

so perfectly just

23:06

to lose closely , but it wasn't

23:08

, you know . But it's just so strange

23:10

that you kind of share emotions but like

23:12

the reasoning behind

23:14

it is is just different . Like I wasn't , like

23:17

I was good at being embarrassed , like I do

23:19

it to myself all the time , like that wasn't an issue

23:21

, but also like so you

23:24

, you go out there , you feel all of these things

23:26

, but you were pretty stoic , like you didn't

23:28

react , you weren't like someone who got up and like

23:30

, basically , we would just see like the most violent

23:33

eye roll of all time sometimes . But

23:36

so that's just like it's

23:38

weird , cause we associate people who were , uh

23:41

, more quiet , stoic , uh

23:43

, I guess maybe like emotionally disciplined

23:46

on court , with not being nervous , and

23:49

that that that wasn't really the case for you .

23:51

No , it wasn't . And I think like just I

23:53

would come out the other way where I was just like mean

23:56

to myself or , um , well

23:58

, just not I . It's tough

24:01

the bigger the occasion . It's not like I enjoyed

24:03

it more . It wasn't like , oh , this is what we're playing

24:05

for . It's five on the third . Here we go , here's

24:14

my chance . It it was like I was always kind of fighting myself . Obviously there's opponents

24:16

where you're like you better be all in or you're it's going to be a tough day

24:18

. Steffi , serena obviously

24:21

the great players , but more often

24:23

than not I felt like I was like battling myself

24:25

like even more on most

24:27

occasions um

24:30

, how open are you with

24:32

your team ?

24:32

So let's kind of backtrack . You get offered the

24:36

job . You're very good at like sourcing

24:39

information . Like you go and kind of find

24:41

the smartest people who have been there before you mentioned talking

24:43

to Billie Jean , jim , mary Jo You're

24:45

always really really , really good at that what

24:49

kind of made you lean in and

24:51

say yes and then , once you

24:53

accepted the job , what was the process like ? Obviously

24:55

like outreach to different players , because

24:58

you kind of have a . It's weird , you have a great

25:00

team , but also it's like it's

25:03

like you're going to be spoiled for choice sometimes

25:05

, like you have so many good players that that has

25:07

to be kind of its own little little

25:09

caveat that's not easy to navigate

25:11

. So

25:14

kind of , how did you handle kind of the buildup and , like maybe , the initial ?

25:16

outreach . Well , it's funny , I also talked to Bob quite a bit

25:18

. He helped . A ton grew up with

25:20

Bob in Southern California . I also talked to you

25:23

and you told me never take it . You

25:26

remember saying that to me at the US .

25:27

Open . No , I don't think I said that you did too

25:29

. You

25:33

to meet the us ? No , I don't think I said that you're like . No , you did um , I don't think that's

25:35

true . It is true . I'll go back and look at those messages and read them in

25:37

the post .

25:38

Um , you know , a great example is daniel collins

25:40

. I had to pick the team by I'm gonna

25:42

get it wrong . Like march 6th or something . Daniel

25:45

collins was like 59 . There

25:47

was six or seven players ranked

25:49

in front of her at that time . She is amazing

25:51

, of amazing , at representing her country . But

25:54

I had to talk to her and just say , for

25:56

this tie , no . And then look what happens

25:58

. By the time the tie was actually played she was

26:00

like 15 in the world Could not

26:02

have been sweeter , more supportive

26:05

. But

26:07

Mary Jo also told me you know , there was one

26:09

year I don't want to get the number

26:11

wrong , but I think there was only like four players

26:14

in the top 60 or 80

26:16

or whatever she said Like . So I

26:18

realized that it's amazing to have

26:20

all these players . At one point there was 17 in

26:22

the top hundred . I think we're at 16 now . Um

26:25

, a lot of players at the top

26:27

, obviously led by Coco . Um

26:29

, so I'm going to try and put together the best team

26:31

that I can every time . But the other thing that

26:33

is big for me is also the

26:36

camaraderie between everybody . Like

26:38

we want to have a great week . You want to have everybody

26:41

cheering each other

26:43

on building each other up . You

26:45

know we all have played under different rules . Every

26:47

captain kind of brings in their own kind

26:49

of unique twist on it

26:51

. You know Billy was like adamant , there's no

26:53

personal coaches around . This is a team

26:55

week . We're getting we're 49

26:58

, 50 weeks a year . You guys can go do whatever you

27:00

want for these two or three weeks . You're with me

27:02

. It's going to be about the team . You

27:05

guys are going to learn to help each other and I remember one time doing two-on-ones

27:08

with Celis and maybe

27:10

one of the hitting partners , and you know Monica and

27:12

I weren't really good at that . We're like hitting winners on the

27:14

two side . What the hell are

27:16

you guys doing ?

27:17

you're on the two side yeah , we have

27:19

to keep the ball in play and not hit it hard . That's such

27:21

a problem for them not to hit it hard .

27:23

Monica the sweetest person . She was like

27:26

oh , I've never really done this before

27:28

, but I'll do whatever know . So you

27:30

kind of like have this learning curve there . Um

27:32

, I think Bob told me and Patrick was

27:35

Matt McEnroe was saying like no

27:37

spouses or girlfriends until like Thursday

27:39

or Friday or something of your Davis cup weeks

27:41

. So I don't know . I was trying to get back

27:43

to that where it was like the players

27:45

working together , You've got to be

27:47

able to practice with each other . You've got to be able to give

27:49

your um teammate what

27:51

they need to practice sometimes as well , and

27:54

these five ladies were great at it . So that part

27:56

made it easy . We'll see when we get to Spain it's

27:59

in November they changed the format

28:01

again . One problem with this event

28:03

and I think you probably see it

28:05

and have the same frustration with Davis

28:07

Cup it's like you can't keep changing the format

28:09

every year , so

28:13

we're going different dates and different formats and we just found out about it in the last few days

28:15

. So that's a challenge we have to get

28:17

back to kind of the history of the event

28:19

and some stability .

28:21

So wait , so you guys qualify for

28:24

the finals under a

28:26

certain format and then you just

28:28

found out post-qualification that

28:30

it's different . Can you explain what

28:32

the changes are and where it's landed ?

28:35

they used to be home and away ties

28:37

. We just played the one country . The last few years they've

28:39

been in spain and it's been around robin a

28:42

three different groups and then the winners , or maybe

28:44

it's four different groups , and then the winners went through the semis

28:47

. Now and they've gone back to

28:49

. This is like crazy to me . It's 12 teams

28:52

. Four teams have

28:54

a buy into the second draw

28:56

. Eight teams are playing knockout

28:58

format to get four teams to the

29:00

second draw to join those four . I

29:02

was like wait , what ? It's

29:05

not round robin anymore , it's knockout

29:07

, and so I guess we can go all

29:09

the way to Spain and hopefully we don't lose

29:11

our first match . It's a long way to go , but , um

29:14

, yeah , they're gonna . They we found out

29:16

in the last few days . So I

29:19

know they're trying to build the event and Billy is

29:21

a huge part of it , so obviously we give

29:23

it a go . But I just think that at

29:25

certain point we got some stability to the event

29:27

again . I

29:29

mean .

29:31

I I just don't fully

29:33

understand when , like the , the kind

29:35

of consistent critique of

29:37

whether it's billy jean cup , formerly

29:39

fed cup , uh , davis cup , is

29:42

like it's hard to follow throughout

29:44

the year . Like there's , it does well in a local market

29:47

because we're basically advertising these great players

29:49

. They're coming in for three days , so you know

29:51

, we used to play in winston-salem a bunch , so they got it like we're

29:53

gonna see threes and we're gonna , we're gonna like america

29:55

. Then once you leave , I don't know where the event goes from

29:57

there . Right , like it's . It's just hard to follow and

30:00

literally I felt like I needed to go back

30:02

and take a math course when you were explaining

30:05

it . It's like how , how is how is making it

30:07

more difficult ? I

30:20

don't know . Uh , it's , it's easy to to come up with solutions . Um , taking this job

30:22

, how important was it ?

30:22

that you had coached before with with Maddie . Oh , that's interesting , I think

30:24

a lot . I think there was some comfort there also

30:26

with having her um , you

30:29

know , obviously in the top 20

30:31

or so . Um , but

30:33

helpful . I think a bigger thing is just following

30:36

tennis in a consistent basis

30:38

where I feel like I know the players

30:40

pretty well . Even though personally I might not

30:42

know all of them that well , I feel like because

30:45

of my work on tennis channel I know almost

30:47

all of their games . I have

30:49

a pretty good handle on the

30:51

other players from other countries did

30:53

not have quite as good a handle on the Belgian

30:55

juniors that are coming through , but

31:02

for the other countries . So I felt like I knew exactly kind of

31:04

the tennis that I was signing up for . Um I I felt pretty good

31:06

about it and I'm also kind of I'm

31:08

involved a lot with the usta and player

31:10

development because of my son jagger . He's part of that

31:12

program , so I'm around like the system

31:14

a lot . So it felt like if there was any

31:17

time I was going to do it , it was going to be now and

31:19

um being in Orlando quite a bit , we

31:21

live in Florida now so I spend a lot of time there

31:23

um , the timing felt right

31:25

. The players right now are doing amazing

31:28

. It kind of felt like cheating that I could walk in

31:30

and there's , you know , two players in the top 10 , with

31:32

Goff and Fugula . There's another four and

31:34

know right between 11 and 25 or

31:36

whatever it is . So and

31:39

I like them all . They all have a great vibe

31:41

. I think in American tennis right now the

31:43

divide between everyone is at

31:45

an all-time high . I certainly know

31:48

when I played it was called

31:50

Fed Cup , like there was no chance

31:52

we were going to have some of the Davis Cuppers there watching

31:54

us . And here we had in Orlando , we

31:56

had Ben Shelton , we had Chris Eubanks , we had Mackie

31:58

McDonald . I just think

32:00

like everyone's getting a long rate between

32:02

the pros are practicing with the juniors , are helping

32:05

the collegiate players . It just felt like a really

32:07

good time to be kind of involved in this

32:09

.

32:10

Well , that's cool . I think I think they're lucky to have you

32:12

. I think I said I would never

32:14

do it , I don't know . I think I said I would never do it . I don't

32:16

know . I think you're .

32:17

That could be true actually . I mean , you could be right . You

32:19

said , yeah , that could be right .

32:22

I think I said I would never do it for many , many , many

32:24

reasons , but I think I was generally

32:26

. I

32:28

think you were overthinking it and I think you're the person

32:30

for the job .

32:32

I think you're actually right . I take that back . So you

32:34

actually right , I I take that back . So you can maybe accept part out , but I do

32:36

know I'm gonna find it and I'm gonna play it in post

32:38

and that's that .

32:39

Um , uh

32:41

, I I think and I won't make you comment

32:44

on the back of a compliment , because I know that's your worst fear

32:46

but I think it they're lucky to have you

32:48

. I think you're gonna do a great job . I think the

32:50

amount that you care , even

32:52

when no one's actually watching

32:54

you care is is is huge

32:56

, and I know the players can feel that as well . You

32:59

mentioned Jagger and

33:01

there's it's so fascinating

33:04

to me because I

33:06

know your children . We've spent time around each other's

33:08

children . I don't say

33:10

this , you know , kind of

33:12

trying to grandstand , cause you're on , you and

33:14

John are amazing parents like

33:16

really , really , really involved

33:19

, fantastic . You guys have

33:21

completely opposite ways to go

33:23

about it and I think that is like it's like this perfect

33:25

, uh , mix of harmony . But

33:27

Jagger is a really , really

33:30

, really good player . Right , he's a , he's a really

33:32

good junior . He has been , um

33:34

, you know , I've hit with him . I

33:36

remember when I'm hitting with him , you have like zero . You

33:38

didn't say a word . And John talked

33:41

a lot , which is kind of standard for dinner but

33:43

also translates to talk

33:47

through the challenges

33:49

of having done what you've

33:51

done . And John played , you know doubles

33:53

on tour as well , and he was a really good

33:55

college player . You know doubles on tour as well and

33:57

, as he was , was a really good college player . Talk through the kind of the challenges

33:59

on what's the cadence between input

34:02

, because you know it , versus stepping

34:04

back because maybe that's what's

34:06

what's called for at the time . Kind of talk

34:08

about that delicate balance of having

34:10

been a former player , knowing this , you know

34:12

you're the captain of our nation's team , but

34:15

also you have a child who's kind of going through

34:17

maybe some paces that you've been through before .

34:19

Yeah , first I

34:22

have to say , like my parents never got involved

34:25

in my tennis . It's a tough sport . I

34:27

mean in juniors you see a lot of different things

34:29

. And my parents were smart enough to know they knew sports , but they didn't

34:31

know tennis . John came from a tennis family and his dad was his coach , but they

34:33

didn't know tennis . John

34:35

came from a tennis family and his

34:37

dad was his coach and they had

34:39

an amazing experience with it . That's not always

34:42

the case . So he kind of came

34:44

into it when we were having kids . Like oh no , it's

34:46

going to be the greatest we're going to have . All these kids

34:48

, they're all going to play tennis . And I say that

34:50

, and you know every kid is different . So we have four

34:52

children . They all learned how to play . Three

34:55

of them quit . So like

34:57

I blame John , I like didn't

35:00

make it more fun enough . That's his

35:02

fault yeah , but , um , you

35:04

know , with similar

35:07

to the Billie Jean King Cup , like the

35:09

very first week and you know my personality , I'm not

35:11

gonna say too much , I'm not gonna kind

35:14

of go crazy and change

35:16

. So I tried to be like a little bit

35:18

more careful with Billie Jean King Cup and try and

35:20

keep it a little bit more general . I'm just getting

35:22

to know a lot of these players . The very first week I'm

35:24

not going to be like so why do you hold that grip ? Why

35:26

are you doing that ? So with

35:29

our son I don't know why

35:31

it is Jagger is incredibly

35:34

coachable and I think you would hear

35:36

that from kind of anybody who's like been on court

35:38

with him . He takes it pretty

35:40

well . He doesn't

35:42

give it back to us and

35:44

like , oh , be quiet , or your parent , or

35:47

whatever , so that part is pretty easy

35:49

. Of course , we get like frustrated with him for

35:51

other things and I have to like try and separate

35:53

that , like , okay , you're a month behind

35:55

in school , didn't

35:58

make one forehand up , separate the issues here

36:00

, but um , I , we enjoy it . Like

36:02

it's actually really fun to get out there with him

36:05

. Um , on the court , it wasn't so

36:07

much fun with our daughters . Um , they

36:09

didn't enjoy it so you can kind of see that they've

36:11

gone on to other things , um . But

36:13

also just navigating it in terms

36:16

of like the biggest thing is we

36:18

try and push is like the big picture , like

36:20

this one match in this one city

36:22

and wherever it is Midwest

36:25

, you know it's not going to matter , did you

36:27

learn something this week from it , or whatever

36:29

. The big picture kind of helps . Obviously

36:31

the kids are so wrapped up in winter wins

36:33

and losses and that equates to either good

36:35

or bad and trying to get it a little bit bigger

36:37

picture . But for most part

36:40

I think the journey with him has been like 90

36:42

to like 95% positive

36:44

. Of course we've had some like tough moments

36:46

, had a lot of injuries and had to overcome

36:49

a lot , but for

36:51

the most part we've always felt like as

36:53

a unit .

36:53

We all like work really well together , which is nice

36:56

you you know , it's a weird thing

36:58

to say about , uh

37:00

, a kid , or he's becoming like

37:02

, I don't know if he's , I guess he's . Hello

37:04

, you know , friends , kids , you always think they're kids , but they're

37:06

, he's like an adult . Now is it's

37:09

weird to look at a kid when he's like 14 years old

37:11

, um , and he's obviously older

37:13

now , but like and be like that kid's a gentleman , like

37:15

he's , he's actually , he like actually understands

37:18

, like , like conversation , like

37:20

he's a gentleman .

37:20

Anyways , I , I'm , I think he's just the nicest

37:22

one of the funniest stories like this

37:24

is in junior tennis . Like you see it all and

37:27

I think it was when he was 14 and maybe

37:29

he was 15 , 16 , now I

37:31

think 14 he was like changing sides

37:33

and his like opponent started

37:35

like saying shit about me , was like

37:37

crazy , and he kind of

37:40

was like I know , I know better than that exactly

37:44

. He was like hey , what

37:46

? And this kid is like saying my

37:48

name and calling me like you know , like

37:50

swear words . I I have no idea who the kid was

37:53

like I didn't know his name , I wasn't there . So

37:55

john was there . So john's like texting

37:57

me . He's like I don't know what's going on . Jacker , I think

37:59

, is hurt because he's like I don't know if

38:01

he's crying . He's like all rattled out there . So

38:04

like one of the times jagger gets a ball and he's

38:06

like telling john . He's like the guy

38:08

just called mom , you know like bb

38:11

, and john was like wait , what ? So

38:13

it's like it's pretty funny , you go through

38:15

these things . Like he was like so rattled from

38:17

it . He was after the match . John

38:19

was like you know , next time , bud , you just go over

38:21

there . You know john , my husband's super feisty

38:23

jaggers .

38:25

John's like dude , next time that happens , just

38:27

go over there and like

38:30

punch the guy , and if you

38:32

need any advice about that , just just listen

38:34

to brian's episode again actually

38:36

take someone out but you see some

38:38

wild shit out there in the juniors . My goodness

38:41

so two things I want to get

38:43

, uh , your take on and then , and then we'll let you

38:45

get out of here . So , uh , I

38:47

think jagger and and and I

38:49

remember hearing this name twice

38:51

last year and it was from you and it was from jim

38:54

courier , and there's like a

38:56

little bit of you . You know people have opinions

38:58

about it . This week , with a young

39:00

player , darwin Blanche , got

39:03

. I mean , I don't know what our expectation set is . He goes out and

39:05

he plays . Rafa loses one at all . Now

39:07

he's 16 years old . My opinion is

39:09

that , like there are steps that

39:12

you can't skip right . You need to go

39:14

junior , which

39:17

he's been successful in juniors , then challengers , then futures , and I kind of

39:19

tend to blame a

39:22

team that's guiding him . You put

39:24

him in a situation where it's it's

39:26

a little untenable . He's not ready to go on a run in madrid

39:28

. He's not physically , he's six foot four , but

39:30

kind of has that like giraffe thing where you know he's going

39:32

to be a monster but he's still a little

39:34

gangly like you . You have to be able to move . So

39:37

it goes out there . Is that experience

39:39

good ? Should we be ? And

39:41

I understand they probably negotiated these wild cards

39:43

way back when . When he turns pro . So

39:46

it's tough to like say you can't have one now . The

39:48

agent's kind of stuck because they promised it . But

39:50

how did you feel watching it Going in

39:52

? I'm excited . Then , when it's happening , I'm like I don't actually

39:54

know that this is productive .

39:56

Yeah , so Darwin is the same

39:58

age as Jagger . I think he's about three months younger

40:00

, so

40:07

we've obviously known him for a while . Amazing kid , talk about

40:09

a gentleman . He as well is super , kind , soul , great kid . Every single kid in the juniors

40:12

is cheering for him . That kind of tells you

40:14

how much how well liked he is . You

40:16

know know , it was really funny . Last year he

40:18

played kal wazoo . He played up in the 18s . He

40:20

was still 15 at the time . He lost in the

40:22

quarters . Um , obviously , the

40:25

winner got a main draw wild card . But the usta

40:27

they , they know he's something special

40:29

. They offered him the us open

40:31

quali wild card and it was actually announced

40:34

that he was taking it . And it was his team and

40:36

and I I would assume one , carlos ferreira

40:38

that said no , you're not accepting a quali

40:40

wild card at the us open , you're not ready . Is what

40:43

the message that I got , whether that

40:45

was from ron carlos or someone else on his team

40:47

. They deemed , uh , darwin not

40:49

ready to play the us open qualies . So

40:51

he went back and he actually played the 16

40:53

and under junior davis cup for US . He went

40:56

back and played like 15,000

40:58

. I was surprised that in

41:00

Miami he rolled up and took a main draw wildcard

41:02

, because I , like you , I was like isn't there

41:04

like a little bit of progression there from saying 15Ks

41:07

to maybe playing qualis , like take a quali

41:09

wildcard ? But he played

41:11

pretty well . In Miami he lost I think it was

41:13

four and two , it

41:18

seemed like against R Rafa . It was like just the perfect storm of being on a court like that

41:20

. That big throw in a little bit of altitude

41:22

, throw in like the greatest player of all

41:24

time or obviously one of them , one of the three

41:27

, and he just couldn't

41:29

play the way we're used to seeing , so kind of

41:31

threw him out into the fire . I think on

41:33

a side court against someone else it would have been a lot

41:35

better . You obviously can't control the draws , but

41:38

it'll be interesting to see what they do now . Like , does

41:40

he go ? Where does he go from here

41:42

? Obviously , getting a challenger win just

41:45

a main tour level match win and a challenger

41:47

win is the next goal . But there

41:49

is a long view and insight for Darwin

41:51

and I think that he's

41:54

got good people around him . They'll kind of figure it

41:56

out . But that just seemed like a perfect

41:58

shitstorm against Rafa

42:00

.

42:01

Yeah , it's a shitstorm when you're four

42:04

in the world playing Rafa on clay , when he's feeling

42:06

it much less 16 . So

42:09

, the one thing , the cautionary tale

42:11

that whoever

42:13

is thinking through these things and I'm sure there's a renegotiation

42:16

of strategy with what tournaments

42:19

he's playing and when we dip our toe in and when

42:21

we do a cannonball , uh , but

42:23

like the donald young of things , where he got

42:25

, like he went oh and 15 in his first

42:27

main draw matches , and like

42:30

I think it had a significant effect on his

42:32

confidence for like years , like I think

42:34

he was a phenom when he was 15 and I don't think he

42:36

actually was tour ready because of all these

42:38

, I mean beatings that he took

42:40

. You know , for if all you do is lose for

42:42

two years , even if you want to qualify

42:44

it with , you know , experience this , that

42:46

and the other , like , as you're progressing

42:49

, you have to feel like you're winning something

42:51

. Sometimes , like I just feel like you have to

42:53

feel like you're doing it and so so listen

42:55

, ferrero's on board . It sounds like his

42:57

setup is way more advanced

42:59

than Donald's was , frankly

43:02

, at that time . So

43:04

listen , because he goes out and lays

43:06

an egg against Rafa . In that scenario , I

43:09

don't think anything different than I

43:11

thought of him a week ago . Like this kid's

43:13

a stud , he's going to be mad . I mean , you can't teach 6 foot four

43:15

lefty who can create speed . You

43:17

, just , you just can't . And also it's like

43:20

you know , let's , let's incentivize

43:22

it , let's quarter semis of a challenger and

43:24

let's kind of take baby steps , because

43:26

we're always so thirsty , especially on the male side

43:28

, for you know , whoever that next person is , let's

43:31

just take a beat . He has plenty of time . He needs to

43:33

develop , uh , physically . Um

43:35

, one of the things I wanted to ask you out and

43:37

then , uh , we'll let you run

43:39

out of here , um , cause I know you didn't even want to

43:41

come on um is

43:44

is talk

43:46

about , uh , your gold medal

43:48

. Um , obviously you had family history

43:50

of , of , of , of being in the Olympics

43:52

, and when I hear you talk about

43:54

that , it's as full throated as

43:57

Olympics . And when I hear

43:59

you talk about that , it's as full throated as as I hear you

44:01

, um , when

44:03

you talk about , like kind of the pride felt going in , uh , you know , your , your , your family , being

44:05

in the Olympics , just talk through kind of winning that gold and what it meant to you when

44:08

kind of the I guess the either pressure

44:10

systems or opportunity systems based

44:12

on on your family's history .

44:14

Yeah , I mean first my dad was like a

44:16

huge patriot , like it was always

44:18

, you know , red , white and blue and

44:20

everything in our in our house , so

44:23

grew up like that way . When I was eight

44:25

, the Olympics were in Los Angeles , where I grew up

44:27

and so went around to like all

44:29

these events , which I think actually

44:31

had a profound impact on me , where my

44:34

parents both worked those Olympic games

44:36

in the volleyball part , and

44:38

I have a sister who's 16 years older and so

44:40

she was like taking care of me for those two weeks

44:42

where my parents were working and took me to like all

44:44

these events . We went to like cycling

44:47

and swimming , the opening ceremonies

44:49

, like all of these great experiences

44:52

. So I had

44:54

like a little bit of a sense of what it was . Then

44:57

in 96 , back then there was only three

44:59

singles players for each country . Um

45:02

, there was four of us in the top 10 . So

45:04

it was incredibly like

45:06

competitive and every so no one

45:08

really knew who was going to make it

45:10

. It was . It kind of came down literally to

45:13

the last week . I think at that point

45:15

I was the third singles

45:17

player . I think I at the time I beat out Mary

45:19

Jo by by just a little bit , who

45:21

was my best friend , so that was like really hard

45:23

. Um , she ended up getting on the

45:25

team when , uh , chanda couldn't play because she

45:27

had wrist surgery , um , but it

45:30

was so just to make the Olympics was

45:32

like like such a huge

45:34

honor I was going to be , by the time the

45:36

Olympics came , just 20 . My

45:38

family couldn't believe it . That was like everything

45:40

to them . The open I would

45:42

say the opening ceremonies in Atlanta were

45:45

was possibly like the greatest moment

45:47

for me in like my whole professional career

45:49

. A lot of people go to a win , but like

45:51

it was so overwhelming A hundred

45:53

, I think it was 110,000 people . Obviously

45:55

we waited for , like you know how often ceremonies

45:58

go , it's like a flip and grind

46:00

, like you wait like six or seven hours

46:02

to get on the field , um

46:04

, and then all of a sudden USA is the last

46:06

team coming down . As we

46:08

were about to walk down onto the field , for

46:10

some reason , there was like a really steep ramp for

46:13

everyone to get down and Billy was like

46:15

, oh my goodness , like I , I don't think I can

46:17

do this . So we all kind of locked arms . It

46:19

was um , monica and Gigi , mary

46:21

Jo and myself to like help

46:23

Billy kind of get on the field and

46:26

um , everybody like going

46:28

crazy , obviously . And then nobody

46:30

knew Muhammad Ali was going to light the torch and it

46:32

was like a night . That was just like insane

46:35

. You know , we're sitting there with all the other athletes

46:38

. It was awesome . As the tournament

46:40

went by , it was like the most fun I'd ever had and

46:42

that's probably why I played so well . I

46:44

think I was seated like 11 or

46:46

12 , somewhere like that , and

46:48

it was crazy . Just

46:51

kept playing and having fun and not really

46:53

thinking about anything . No

46:56

big deal . There was no ranking points . It was like , oh

46:58

, let's just go out and play and then we'll see what events we

47:00

can go to . Um and

47:02

all just kind of fell in place . Um

47:04

, by the time I got to the final , my family

47:06

who rarely ever came anywhere , they

47:08

all kind of flew in Um my dad

47:10

had was working the volleyball event , so he was

47:13

there . But then my sisters came in and um

47:16

, it still . It's like my

47:18

the most proud

47:20

I've ever been on a tennis court to be able

47:22

to win the , the gold medal for our country

47:24

. Um , in especially

47:26

in our in the United States as well it was

47:28

. It was an amazing moment uh

47:32

, yep , that delivered .

47:33

That's how I remember you talking about it ? Um

47:35

, I love it . Uh , Lindsay , I

47:37

know you have to go . You're traveling today . Um

47:40

, I just one more question , Are we okay ?

47:43

We're good .

47:44

Are we good Are ?

47:45

we okay , we're good , we'll be up in North Carolina

47:47

soon .

47:48

Okay , uh , you know , I think the world of you . Uh

47:50

, say hi to the family . Um , you're

47:52

the best . Thanks for coming on Anytime . Cheers

47:55

. Thanks , lindsay , you're

47:58

the best . Thanks for coming on anytime . Cheers , thanks , lindsey . That's all we got

48:00

for you . I'm andy roddick . Thanks for listening . Uh subscribe , uh apple

48:02

spotify all the places you get your podcast

48:04

watch on t2 and uh check out our

48:06

, uh , our youtube channel as well . We'll see you next week .