By Luke Jensen & Peter Dopkin

How did you get started playing tennis?

My entire family and I were very fortunate to get sparked into the game of tennis by Arthur Ashe. The Co-founder of the NJTL, 1975 and ’68 Grand Slam champion, he won the Australian, his credentials are amazing. He spoke to us at a clinic, very similar to the block parties that we are doing now, and all the outreach programs we do at the USTA.

He spoke of how the tennis racquet was his vehicle to see the world, and how the tennis racquet gave him a way to get an education, go to California and UCLA. He talked about all the great people that he met, the cultures that he has seen, and being able to experience so many things through a tennis racquet.

He talked about the benefits of the game and how his entire family played tennis, and it was so neat because I really enjoy traveling even as a young kid. This was the mid to late 70’s, and my parents were athletes in their own arena but tennis was something new to them and tennis brought the family together where they could compete and play and the kids could compete and play.

How has tennis impacted each stage of your life?

I owe everything that I have and that I have experieced, where I’ve gone to the game of tennis—to sports really. Tennis was really something that I could do with my family, and I could compete on a global scale. The harder I worked the better I got, and the better I got the higher my ranking got. And instead of playing in my local area, I was playing in my local region, district, and section. I was this kid who was able to go to the Detroit’s and Chicago’s from a small town in Lovington Michigan; it was a five hour drive, but it was so cool to see these big buildings and traffic, and people. Then, as I got to fly to Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, and than internationally representing the United States on national teams and junior Davis Cup teams, it just fed a fire that I really wanted to see the world. And through the game of tennis I got an education paid for at southern cal.

Post pro life it was really simple for me to transition into the broadcast booth at ESPN. Because of the footsteps of what Billie Jean King and Arthur Ashe were doing—enhancing peoples’ lives.

What was your greatest experience as a junior?

My number one junior moment was going to the French Open, my very first slam, and watching my heroes who I used to watch on TV and have a chance to play on those tennis courts. At that time I was a member of the U.S. National Team, and you put on your warm up and you walk as a team. It was neat walking through the grounds and you would see players like Jimmy Connors, Chris Evert and John McEnroe, stop and say hey and have some words of encouragement—all these guys that you read about and watched and followed in their footsteps. The junior experience was unbelievable to sense the big time was great.

What was your greatest experience as a pro?

Wining the French Championships with my brother was the highlight of my life. Imagine dreaming as a kid you’re sitting with your brother looking up at the stars and ‘I want to win a Grand Slam, and wouldn’t it be cool if we could do it together?’ How’d we celebrate, and who we’d beat. You’re dreaming like that, much like the Bryan brothers do now. They’re living that that fantasy, that dream. That was back in ’93, and years after I still get chills thinking about it.

What is the one court you played on where your knees felt weak you were not only awestruck by the moment, but the court itself?

It’s funny because you’d think it would be the Grand Slams, the biggest stage, but I really felt comfortable out there. I was lucky as a junior player, because when Patrick McEnroe and I won Kalamazoo, which was played on Louis Armstrong before Arthur Ashe was built. We played on center court and we did a lot of thing as junior players and pros.

To be perfectly honest, being a Michigan kid the one tournament you really had to prove yourself was the nationals at Kalamazoo; the one for any boy growing up in Michigan –you played all your state tournament and high school championships there. Laver played there, Sampras, McEnroe, Ashe—anybody who’s anybody played at the Nationals at Kalamazoo, and Court No. 1 was the court.

I remember being in the doubles finals and I was playing with Patrick McEnroe. It was the only time in my life in competition where I felt I froze. I couldn’t walk and I couldn’t hold onto the racquet, and I remember telling him that I couldn’t play. It was overwhelming to me and he said no problem ‘I’ll win it for us’. I’ll never forget that, and we did. We ended up winning the match, winning the Nationals and going to the US Open getting the wildcard into the main draw. It was the only time in the moment, the court, everything that I had thought about in the game of tennis, it was that moment right there I couldn’t react, I couldn’t play.

What should kids work on?

The number one thing that goes from generation to generation is practicing and practicing with purpose. Billie Jean King and Arthur Ashe and all the greats that I have listened to, talk to and played with it always came down to one simple fact. They practiced longer and harder than their opponents.
You have to not only have physical talent, but mental talent—that toughness. If you talk to any champion they will tell you, that there were guys that better than me, stronger, that were faster and taller, but the bottom line is I out worked them. If you look at every single champion, they have one common thread, they have the work ethic.
I want to see Americans practicing again. Where every practice is tougher than any match they’ll ever play, and once that happens they’ll be prepared to win 7-5 in the third, or a five hour match against some moon-baller.

**What is the best part about playing tennis? **

For me it is the competition.

There is no doubt in my mind, when you’re playing and it is four-all in the third and it’s hot and your grip is slippery, and you’re serving a second serve and the guy across just start hit some passing shots and he is on to your game. You’ve thrown the heat, the slider, the kicker, everything at him and now he is starting to get onto your game. And now you have to find something extra, something deep inside. You’re serving a second serve and you know he is going to crush it. You know he is going to wail on it. You could serve and stay back and play the conservative play, but something inside says ‘I’ve got to go for it’. You’ve got to put in something extra special and live with the consequences. You basically hit that serve as best you can, and all that hard work you’ve put in for that one moment either pays off or it doesn’t.

If you win you’re exuberant, it’s fantastic. But if you lose, you sit there left alone on this court with that kicked in the stomach feeling, there isn’t another teammate and you have to deal with it and pick yourself up.

I tell kids all the time, I’ve seen Sharapova a number of times after a loss go straight to the practice court, on the same day, in the same clothes she just played on stadium court. But she is out on a back court practicing. That is the best thing to me. I just love the fact that you had to deal with competition. It was just you and your opponent and you have to lay it on the line.

What does it take to be the best?

Number one, you have got to believe that you are the best player in the world. You have to have that inner confidence. It doesn’t matter if you’re male or female.

Number two, you better be prepared. Are you prepared to do whatever it takes?

I remember when Jim Courier was a kid he would walk on the court with and Igloo Cooler filled with energy bars and bananas and drinks. The man brought his lunch bucket to the court. If that is not intimidating saying, ‘hey guys I’ve got nowhere else to go, I’m ready for a 5-6 hour match’. Be prepared to do whatever it takes to win.
Finally, respect everybody, and fear nobody.

You open up the can of tennis balls and game on!