WEBVTT
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Welcome to uh Serving the Future Show.
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I'm Steve Adamson joined by my co-host Ryan Redondo.
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We have our producer Jackson Ginn here.
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And today we have a special treat, a true legend of the sport.
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We could go on and on with all our accomplishments.
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39 Grand Slams.
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We've got uh, yes, uh true trailblazer, uh not just for women's tennis, but women's sport.
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Uh, we are honored to have you today on the show, Billie Jean King.
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Thank you, Steve.
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And thanks, Ryan Bailey.
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Good to see you both.
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Yeah, it's good.
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Well, I'm gonna kick us off.
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So we are here, and you're here for the Billie Jean King Girls Nationals, the UCA 16 and under national championships.
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Your name is on this um forever.
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W when you walk around the courts and you see the players, what what does this tournament mean to you personally?
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Well, it obviously brings back a lot of memories when I was their age.
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Um, I never won a gold ball, I never won I never won the junior nationals, I never won anything.
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So um I knew how hard hard it was for me.
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So I'm trying to imagine for their lives and what their ambitions are.
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We did not have professional tennis when I was playing, although I wanted it and my dreamed about help help making tennis professional for both men and women.
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So that would get me going just watching like the juniors.
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Um, but it just brings back, and that was back in you know, the late 50s and early sixties, uh, when I was at the age that I'm watching right now, the 16 and under and the 18 and under.
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And I love this tournament because the winner of the 18 and under uh get a wild card in the U.S.
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Open.
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I mean, that's that's true pressure, but also true gratification if you make it.
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And then the 16 and under, um I think they get a uh wild card in uh to the qualifying.
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And then the finalists, I think, in the 18th, what do they get do they also get to play qualifying?
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Qualifying and the juniors and juniors.
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It's a lot.
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Anyway, there's a lot of pressure, but it's good pressure, and I always think pressure's a privilege anyway, because um it means you're doing something great.
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There's something there with when there's pressure.
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Uh it's important, it's fun.
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I want the ball, so to speak.
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So um no, I think about them and their journey, and some of these kids are gonna want to going to want to play c collegiate tennis.
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Um, one of the girls put down her dream to be, you know, division one at the college level.
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So a lot goes on.
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I think about them, I think about their families, the sacrifices, uh, by the families particularly, because the ch the young people want it.
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So anytime you really want something like that, I don't think of it as a sacrifice, but I know the family sacrifice because wow, my parents did too.
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And then when my brother announced at the dinner table at ten years old that he wanted to be a major league baseball player um player, my parents just I could just see them I was fifteen, I was about five years older, so I always would look at I looked at my parents and knew that was going to be a huge hardship for them if Randy was gonna make it to the majors because you have to get to the baseball fields, you have to get to the tennis courts, you have to you know, and I'm I definitely got I mean I had free everything.
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I mean, Clyde Walker, Long Beach, I'm from Long Beach, California, and they the park and rec paid for him.
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I did not it was free access, which is huge, which we're not having very much of that in sports today.
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And it really bothers me.
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So I'm especially our sport of tennis, which is the healthiest sport in the world.
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Um I I love the fact if I can get somebody in tennis that they'll have it the rest of their lives.
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I'm still playing.
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And I because I know it's the healthiest sport in the world, I make a point to play even more.
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Yeah.
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And uh so it's anyway.
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I just think there's so much great in our sport, but I also know that I look at the families sitting there watching their children and thinking, Wow, I wonder what they've had to go through to get them to this point.
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Yeah.
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That's an amazing thing.
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And this tournament's been played over over a century.
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And if you think about the cumulative masses of of young girls and families that have put themselves forward here, it's just it's an amazing tournament.
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It is well, in the old days, we didn't have this tournament.
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We ha the big deal in the old days was you had to win the Philadelphia uh it was at the Philadelphia Cricket Club, but it was the U.S.
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Nationals.
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And I was twice runner-up, and Karen Hance from this area.
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Yeah.
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Uh Karen Hance Sussman uh won it and I lost to her in one of the finals, and then Karen went on to win Wimbledon in 1962.
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Uh she asked me to play doubles.
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Uh she always played with Kathy Chabot, who's another uh person from San Diego who I always used to lose to.
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Um I did a lot of losing from especially from the kids in San Diego.
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Oh, they killed me.
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But um no, it's just we see Rod and Karen every year when we come to this tournament.
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So, you know, relationships are everything.
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I was gonna uh obviously we were out there watching the sixteens final uh going on there, and you have obviously a famous line, uh pressures of privilege, and you could see the girls out there dealing with the big moment, right?
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What uh, you know, it's really tough to be out there.
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What type of advice would would you give those young girls that you've been through all of it?
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Um, what could you help them with?
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Well, I've coached both men and women, so the one thing you start to learn is that if unless you stay in the process, you're not gonna win.
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And in anything in life, it's not just tennis.
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And also there's a saying which really helps is go slow to go fast.
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Go slow to go fast.
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Like if you're concentrating on something and you're really in a hurry and you notice you can't quite whatever the task is, just slow down.
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If you just slow down, usually you think it's gonna take longer, but it actually takes less time.
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So with tennis, and also one thing they've done some research now that you have to watch the ball all the way to the contact point.
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That's the magic.
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Watch the ball all the way to the contact point.
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What happens about three or four feet before we go to hit it, we start raising our eyes or our head to where we're gonna hit it.
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Uh and they've done all kinds of research.
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And it at the pro level, it's 50% or miss because of that.
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And at the recreational uh level, it's 90% of us miss it because we don't really watch the ball all the way in it the flight of the ball plus all the way to the contact point.
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So that might help somebody out there.
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I don't know.
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Um there was a study by Scott Ford.
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I don't know if you ever um he's a tennis coach and he did some studies with Navy SEALs and fighter pilots about being able to watch his analogy was a snowball hitting a window.
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Right.
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Where you can't necessarily watch that, but you can watch the window, and then that as the contact point, right?
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That's where you can continue to focus.
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And they would say fighter pilots to watch the on their screen.
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Yeah, the contact point.
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Yeah, so that's awesome.
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I know, but it's the same in our sport, and also baseball, I think it would be huge.
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Um, you know, Lana and I are part owner of the Dodgers, so we just went to a Dodgers game the other night, and then we're part owner, we're part owner of so many different sports.
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Um so and then we're on a losing streak, but now they've been winning a few, and I think they I think we lost last night.
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But um You won two World Series back in the world.
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In a row, I know.
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You want to see my what my ring that was in the ring?
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You see this ring?
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This is uh a ring that was in the gaudy, huge ring that they give you.
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It's got so much information on it.
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That's awesome.
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Wow, yeah, it's just on I'll show you to you later.
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But uh it's really great to have that.
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And it was great that they won.
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And then they give every owner a trophy, the real trophy, the big one.
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Wow.
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Oh my god, just to see when people come over to see us.
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Oh my god, we gotta have a photo with it.
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It's so cute.
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Yeah.
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No, but it's um in life and in sports, um, they kind of go hand in hand with everything, really, when you think about it.
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Well, Dodgers and being a part of the World Series, and I saw you were at those games, girls here.
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We went to the Sparks the other night.
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We go to the Liberty in New York, we go to we went to the World Cup in Australia for the women four years ago in Australia.
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We try to hit a lot of different things, men and women.
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Yeah.
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Angel City FC.
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Amazing.
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So it just goes on and on, but it we love it.
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But when I was young, I realized I wanted to change tennis.
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And I obviously women's sports was nothing.
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We had absolutely nothing.
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And so I wanted it uh and I help boys and girls, I don't care.
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You know, or whatever uh gender you are, I don't care.
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Just people.
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Human beings are the most important thing and they're everything really.
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Yeah.
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So uh yeah, but to be really good.
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Also the middle of the court's so important.
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I can't believe how many kids and coaches talk about the corners and and all you know, and I'm like, no, stop.
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I had this young boy sit for one set to watch on TV.
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So I just want you to watch the return of serve, nothing else.
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Just that we're gonna talk after the set.
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So the set's over.
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And I asked this guy, kid, he's so cute.
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I go, Well, what did you notice?
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I said, Billy.
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Every return was up the middle.
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I think, right.
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And what were you thinking before that?
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I didn't realize how much we hit up the middle.
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I said, Well, every sport has to protect the middle.
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I don't care if it's you know, American football, soccer, um, baseball.
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If you hit up the middle, you usually get a base hit.
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Uh I mean, the middle in every sport is so important.
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It's all math.
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If you like math, I I like doubles 80% of the ball goes through the middle of the court.
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Right?
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So why are kids coaching more?
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Singles, you should be singles deep up the middle.
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You can't go wrong.
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Yeah.
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Also, get the ball and play.
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Sometimes kids are trying to make the perfect shot.
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No.
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The Australian guys really helped make made me number one when I went to Australia.
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And the only reason I got to go to Australia is because Bob Mitchell called and said, I want to bring you to Australia.
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Because we had no money.
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We were amateurs in those days,$14 a day.
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And I knew that was my chance.
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But I was going to Cal State, LA, and then my former husband and I uh decided he said you gotta go.
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So we went down there.
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I don't I didn't really want to go by myself, but I went down there and uh that's the reason I became number one, is because the Australian men were so good to me and the Australian people.
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Uh I could not get that from Americans.
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They weren't interested.
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The American men would not hit with us.
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You know, all these guys, everybody thinks Yeah.
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It was really rough.
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They were tough on us.
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Wow.
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I won't t I'm not gonna name names because it's it's it's history.
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So talking about the going down in Australia, you were at a certain level, right?
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You're you probably were very accomplished.
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No, I was very good by then, but I wasn't number I wanted to be number one.
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I didn't I'm one of those kids.
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I it's pretty when I was okay, I played softball baseball, uh we didn't have soccer in the United States yet when I was a child.
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Um but basketball was my first sport.
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I loved basketball.
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My dad was really good in basketball.
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In fact, after World War II, which he was in the Navy, they asked him to come and join the NBA, which was just getting formed, and he didn't go.
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He came home because he hadn't seen me really.
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And he's I've named after him in case he didn't come home from the war.
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Wow.
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Uh his name's Bill, obviously.
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Willis Jefferson.
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And uh so that was always big to me that uh So that so you're I didn't know that about your father.
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Oh my dad was great.
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He was great.
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He can do a hundred baskets in a row.
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I go, Daddy, let's go play.
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I wanted to always have him.
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I come to I love to play basketball with him.
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He says, No, no, I want you to play.
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I go, No, Daddy, I want you to go for a hundred.
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Yeah.
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But he was so uh into rules too, which I liked uh to be honest and have integrity.
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Like if he got to 90 in a row and he missed the next one, he goes, We gotta start over.
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Yeah.
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I go, Dad, just hit nine more or whatever.
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He goes, No, the rules are a hundred in a row.
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Our coach used to make us do the seven draw on the serve.
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So seven flat, seven slice, seven kick.
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There you go.
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You miss that 20, you start again.
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Sounds like it's not to me.
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No, but I think uh those are really important things to learn as a human being first, but as a jock, as an athlete.
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So I have a question for you.
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That mindset, was that something that you were born with?
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Was it helped did somebody help you develop it?
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Sound like the Aussies really helped you.
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But they helped you.
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Or is that is there a hybrid that you think I think it comes from family or whoever raises you, because it could be a caregiver, it can be a grandparent or somebody in your life, a friend.
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It's not always, you know, I w I was very fortunate, my brother and I they have two parents and they did everything they could.
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They worked three jobs at one time.
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I mean, it was too much really.
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They were doing trying to make it so we could get to our uh respective sports.
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And I think my dad was a great life coach.
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If you look at women's sports, you'll hear that the dad has a huge influence usually on the girls.
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Not always, but I've noticed that in the stories uh how important dads can be.
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My dad was great because he believed in me as much as my brother.
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And I can tell you in the 50s, girls were not encouraged to be in sports.
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In fact, the opposite.
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And my dad said, Don't you listen to anyone.
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You know, you but he was worried about me when I was 12.
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He sat me down and said, Are you sure you want to be number one?
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And I said, Yes, daddy.
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He goes, Are you sure?
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And I go, Yes.
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He said, Well, there's a lot of heartbreak if you're trying to be number one in something.
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Are you sure you want to go through all that?
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I said, Yes.
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I was willing to do whatever it took.
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Whatever it took.
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Yeah.
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My dad said, Okay, we'll we'll try to help you as much as possible.
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And my mother was very good.
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My mom is a typical 50s woman.
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It was always about my dad.
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She always deferred to my dad, made him feel good.
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And then she was about 75 years old.
00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:25.759
She'd tell me that she could beat the boys running, that she was a great swimmer.
00:14:25.919 --> 00:14:27.360
I knew she was a great swimmer.
00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:29.519
But it's like, mom, why don't you tell me?
00:14:29.600 --> 00:14:31.840
Because I like your dad to have the attention.
00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:32.399
Wow.
00:14:32.559 --> 00:14:33.759
That's very 50s.
00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:34.480
Yeah.
00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:43.039
Well, but kind of uh piggybacking off that, a lot of the time that for the show, we like to kind of see the support system.
00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:45.039
The support system in tennis is so important.
00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:45.919
You have to have it.
00:14:46.080 --> 00:14:46.320
Right.
00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:48.879
And just is there anybody like a coach?
00:14:49.039 --> 00:14:54.720
Was it your parents who had a huge role in making Billy Jean Billie Jean?
00:14:54.960 --> 00:14:58.000
Clyde Walker, my first coach at the public parks.
00:14:58.159 --> 00:15:02.320
That's who I met when I first went to Hounton Park for my very first uh instruction.
00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:03.600
I hate the word lesson.
00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:05.279
Lessons are bad.
00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:06.240
Bad word.
00:15:06.399 --> 00:15:12.159
I like to say instruction or practice in in football, in football or baseball or all that.
00:15:12.240 --> 00:15:13.679
They don't they don't talk about lessons.
00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:15.519
That's that's golf or somebody.
00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:16.559
It sounds rich.
00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:18.559
It sounds country club, it sounds rich.
00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:22.879
I want kids at rec parks at in the st working, you know, playing in the streets, all that.
00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:24.080
I want them to have fun.
00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:26.000
And so Clyde was great to me.
00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:27.840
First thing he taught me is close the gate.
00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:30.639
And I thought to myself, you don't have to worry about me closing the gate.
00:15:30.720 --> 00:15:31.039
Are you kidding?
00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:33.039
Bill Moffat and Betty my parents?
00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:33.919
Are you kidding?
00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:34.240
Yeah.
00:15:34.559 --> 00:15:35.679
Close the gate.
00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:37.679
Oh my God, it has so much instruction.
00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:44.159
So I would say Clyde Walker, and the thing he taught me was don't play unless you love it, which most coaches never ask you that.
00:15:44.799 --> 00:15:46.159
That's great as I wow.
00:15:46.240 --> 00:15:46.480
Yeah.
00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:48.399
That's really he was unbelievable.
00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:49.200
He's a great coach.
00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:50.080
We need more of that.
00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:51.840
And it was free access.
00:15:52.080 --> 00:16:01.440
And I'm always indebted to Long Beach, the Park and Wreck, and Century Club, who helped me go to Wimbledon, and the Long Beach tennis patrons who just started when I started.
00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:05.519
And they helped the two top girls and two top boys, and I was number two.
00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:08.639
Susan Williams, who asked me to play tennis, was the number one.
00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:11.360
And then Jerry Cromwell that was there.
00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:16.480
And Jerry became, I think he was number one at FC for a minute, and then he was number two or three.
00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:18.720
Stan Smith was there, all these different players.
00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:23.919
So Jerry Cromwell could have been a pro, but he decided he's an intellectual and went to Harvard.
00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:28.240
And you've been such a uh supporter of youth tennis San Diego.
00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:29.679
I mean, that's we're following along those lines.
00:16:30.159 --> 00:16:32.799
I used to lose to you all the time, so I know what it feels like.
00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:39.200
Our team would come up from Orange County in LA and long, you know, Longish and we come down here and lose to Karen, Kathy.
00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:39.600
Yeah.
00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:40.799
Who else do we lose to?
00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:45.440
A lot of anyway, those two are the main ones, but we lost every time.
00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:50.480
We go home very sad every time, except once I beat Karen in three sets or something.
00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:52.720
And everybody was so happy going home.
00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:56.559
But uh then Karen and I obviously played doubles and we won one bullet.
00:16:56.720 --> 00:16:58.080
We're still the youngest team ever to have won.
00:16:58.240 --> 00:16:58.399
Really?
00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:00.480
Yeah, Karen Hans and I in 61.
00:17:00.720 --> 00:17:01.360
No one's come.
00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:02.720
Yeah, we're the youngest together.
00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:04.400
Our combined ages, yes.
00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:06.400
She was 18 and I was 17.
00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:07.039
Wow.
00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:10.000
And so you guys have a great local players.
00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:10.640
Yeah.
00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:14.480
So I hope you've appreciated them because in Marine Conley.
00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:15.200
Yeah.
00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:17.680
And uh everyone should know about Marin Conley.
00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:20.720
She was 18 years old when she won all four majors.
00:17:20.799 --> 00:17:24.559
And of course they call them slams now, which that's a whole other discussion.
00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:29.599
They should not call them slams, they should call them majors, uh, which John Budge created in 1938.
00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:35.599
But Marin Conley, uh, at 18 years old, was the first woman to ever win all four majors in the same year.
00:17:35.759 --> 00:17:38.160
And I don't think people in San Diego even know that.
00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:39.119
And they need to know that.
00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:42.960
That's why one of the reasons uh this tournament is named after her.
00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:43.839
Yeah.
00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:47.200
We host the Little Mo Internationals in the fall of the city.
00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:49.039
And the kids don't know who Little Mo is, though.
00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:51.680
Her daughter came out, but it's one?
00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:52.559
She's got two.
00:17:52.799 --> 00:17:57.200
And was it Cindy or talk about the lessons?
00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:00.559
Yeah, talk about her and the values and why the tournament.
00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:02.400
It's one of the best tournaments in the world.
00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:16.319
So my we only have a couple more questions for you, but my next question is your instruction, uh, your your play when you were a kid, um, was it more social?
00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:18.240
Like were you in groups or did you do a lot of things?
00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:20.720
Oh, it's always grouped because we didn't have it was free access.
00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:26.640
So there's so when Jerry Cromwell and I started and Susan Williams, there's probably about six kids.
00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:36.079
And then because Jerry and I did so well, and of course the press Long Beach Press Telegram put it on the front page, a lot of times how we were doing in junior tournaments.
00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:42.880
Um, like if we won the Pacific Southwest, which is a huge tournament in those days, uh, then we had too many kids.
00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:44.319
We couldn't even we had forty.
00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:45.680
Let's say you had two courts.
00:18:45.759 --> 00:18:49.519
We started with about six kids and then we were up to 40, 60.
00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:53.839
And so Susan, Jerry, and I would help Clyde because he was getting older and he was sick.
00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:57.200
So we put him in a chair and we would do the instruction for him.
00:18:57.359 --> 00:18:57.519
Wow.
00:18:57.680 --> 00:18:58.960
It's the least we could do.
00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:05.839
And so um then at just mushroom, we just didn't know what to do with all the kids that so you were coaching while you were playing, while you were.
00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:11.200
Yeah, but no, no, I think I think if you can coach, it means you know what you're Clyde was big on that too.
00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:14.319
If you coach, it means you understand the game better.
00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:17.119
And you'll learn to be a better player if you can coach.
00:19:17.359 --> 00:19:18.799
And I totally agree with him.
00:19:19.119 --> 00:19:21.440
And do you still what's your thought process now?
00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:25.200
Because we're we're very strong advocates of group play.
00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:28.240
So tennis because it's such an individual sport.
00:19:28.480 --> 00:19:42.559
Getting the kids to I don't sell tennis as an individual sport, I tell I sell it as a t as a team and an individual sport because there's um junior high team or what I middle school uh teams, there's high school teams, junior team tennis.
00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:44.160
Forget about team tennis.
00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:51.359
There's college tennis, yeah, team t whatever, it doesn't matter, but I'm big on putting the kids on teams because relationships are everything.
00:19:51.599 --> 00:19:57.759
And when you call it an individual sport, I think a lot of kids go away from it because they're not with their friends.
00:19:57.839 --> 00:20:00.000
They think they're not with their friends, they are with their friends.
00:20:00.160 --> 00:20:03.119
So just put them on a team, a red team, a black team.
00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:07.920
Doesn't matter when even during the the uh instruction time, just put them on a team.
00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:10.960
Yeah, you guys, okay, you're the red team, you're the or name your own.
00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:13.119
I used to have the kids do their own name, they get in the hodl.
00:20:13.359 --> 00:20:15.039
Woo, what are we gonna call ourselves?
00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:15.440
Yeah.
00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:16.240
Things like that.
00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:22.160
But no, I I really am big on on uh really trying to promote our sport as a team and an individual sport.
00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:23.200
We have both.
00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:26.640
Um, but it is very individual to your point.
00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:32.640
And that's why it's so great though, because uh you're responsible for every single ball that comes to you.
00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:34.480
So you you learn responsibility.
00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:39.279
You can't call in a substitute, you can't So there's that's the good side of some of it.
00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:41.119
But kids like team sports.
00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:46.960
And I would have never played tennis if it hadn't been for um Susan Williams asking me to play in fifth grade.
00:20:47.279 --> 00:20:48.240
I said, What's tennis?
00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:50.160
And she told me, and then I said, Well, what do you do?
00:20:50.319 --> 00:20:52.720
And she gets you get to run, jump, and hit a ball.
00:20:52.960 --> 00:20:56.319
Those are my three favorite things because I love my basketball and everything.
00:20:57.039 --> 00:21:08.799
And then we um we were playing softball on the same team at Houghton Park, and she told Val Halloran, the coach, Well you know, um, I took Billy out to play tennis.
00:21:09.359 --> 00:21:11.359
Well, I didn't think I was gonna play tennis at all.
00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:16.720
Uh because it was at a country club, and I went, I'm not my dad's a firefighter, no chance.
00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:23.119
Um But we're playing softball, and Val Halloran, the coach, said, There's free instruction here every Tuesday.
00:21:24.079 --> 00:21:25.119
Okay, now we're talking.
00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:29.200
And my parents made me earn my first racket by I went I had to figure it out.
00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:31.279
They said, You figure it out how to pay for a racket.
00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:33.839
So I went to all the neighbors and they put in a nickel dime.
00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:35.519
I had eight dollars and twenty-nine cents.
00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:39.279
So your parents said figure out my dad would not, or my mother would not buy me a racket.
00:21:39.519 --> 00:21:41.519
So you figure it out if you want to play so much.
00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:44.160
If you really, really want to play, you figure it out.
00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:46.880
So I went to the neighbors and they felt sorry for me.
00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:57.039
And when I had my eight dollars and twenty nine cents in the jar, in the glass jar, mason jar, uh I went to Brown Sporting Goods and got my first racket, and I stuck with it.
00:21:57.599 --> 00:21:58.000
That's awesome.
00:21:58.160 --> 00:21:58.720
That's awesome.
00:21:58.960 --> 00:21:59.279
So great.
00:21:59.440 --> 00:22:01.279
And I love I loved history.
00:22:01.440 --> 00:22:06.880
And the more you know about history, the more you know about yourself, and the more you can shape the future.
00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:10.079
And that's the only reason I I think I was able to help tennis.
00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:12.880
I knew the I knew the history of it.
00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:14.559
I know how what I wanted for it.
00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:16.559
And we're still not there, obviously.
00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:20.880
But um if I hadn't had the history, I loved every champion.
00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:27.359
I knew the champions from the twenties, thirties, forties, fifties, sixties, men and women, ask them questions, learn from them.
00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:28.799
They taught me everything.
00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:31.279
So they taught me not everything, but a lot of things.
00:22:31.359 --> 00:22:34.000
And I don't think kids know anything about history anymore.
00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:35.279
They don't know anything.
00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:36.880
They don't know the players, they don't know anything.
00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:39.359
They don't ask I never get a question from a player.
00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:40.240
Never.
00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:41.359
Never.
00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:57.519
We have our when you talk to your kids and you're teaching them, teach them that about history, teach them to know, but also to learn about the players, that at least playing now, I like the players that play before now and the future kids.
00:22:57.839 --> 00:22:59.359
We're seeing the future champions here.
00:22:59.680 --> 00:23:01.599
Or the kids at least are going to be in our sport.
00:23:01.759 --> 00:23:02.240
Yeah.
00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:03.680
Definitely.
00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:09.519
Well, well, I think we can all agree that uh tennis is the greatest sport.
00:23:09.599 --> 00:23:17.839
We're all kind of biased here, but in my opinion, it just teaches you so many things about life on and off the court.
00:23:17.920 --> 00:23:20.079
The sport is just fantastic.
00:23:20.319 --> 00:23:24.000
What you've been incredibly successful on and off the court.
00:23:24.079 --> 00:23:32.640
What are some of the the the lessons that tennis has taught you that you've carried with you that have really helped you throughout your whole life?
00:23:32.960 --> 00:23:36.079
Well, I think concentration, staying in the process is really huge.
00:23:36.480 --> 00:23:43.519
But there's three things that uh this guy and I um Ed Willard was president of DuPont and he are good friends.
00:23:43.599 --> 00:23:45.519
He was our mentor for Elana and me.
00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:49.920
And he um he and I talked, I said, I need three bullet points.
00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:57.440
I do a lot of speeches, I do a lot of commencement speeches, I do I need to come up with three bullets that are great.
00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:02.400
So we took three years observing people, and these are the three things we came up with.
00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:03.920
And they do not have to be in this order.
00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:09.680
You everybody who's listening can decide that um relationships are everything, which I mentioned earlier.
00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:17.200
Relationships are a relationship with yourself, your loved ones, your faith, whatever it's counts too in that statement.
00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:21.839
And then um keep learning and keep learning how to learn.
00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:24.160
So keep learning and keep learning how to learn.
00:24:24.799 --> 00:24:27.920
And the third one, and it doesn't have to be the third one, it could be whatever you want.
00:24:28.480 --> 00:24:32.160
Be a problem solver and an innovator.
00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:34.799
Be a problem solver and an innovator.
00:24:35.680 --> 00:24:39.279
And you notice these people who invent things, technology people, what are they doing?
00:24:39.359 --> 00:24:42.400
They're doing innovation or they're solving a problem.
00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:52.799
And the reason they want older people to play tennis is that I'm 82 now, and when I go out to hit, it helps my frontal lobes be a problem solver.
00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:54.799
So there we go.
00:24:54.880 --> 00:24:57.359
I think it really that's why it's important to play at every age.
00:24:58.240 --> 00:24:59.599
You can't go wrong if you play tennis.
00:24:59.759 --> 00:25:00.240
You cannot.
00:25:00.480 --> 00:25:02.880
Use all of you use all of yourself.
00:25:03.039 --> 00:25:03.359
Yeah.
00:25:03.680 --> 00:25:07.279
Like in the reason I didn't end up playing soccer was I only use my feet.
00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:07.599
Yeah.
00:25:07.759 --> 00:25:12.240
And God gave me really great hand-eye coordination, so I'm not gonna waste it.
00:25:12.319 --> 00:25:12.480
Yeah.
00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:15.119
If you have great hand-eye coordination, then they go, well, be a goalie.
00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:16.240
Well, then I can't run.
00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:16.640
Yeah.
00:25:16.880 --> 00:25:18.640
I love to run and hit a ball.
00:25:18.799 --> 00:25:19.759
Run and hit a ball.
00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:27.119
Tennis is all of the sports, minus getting hit, you know, like a martial art or something, but you still have the emotional whim.
00:25:27.279 --> 00:25:29.839
Yeah, but you have the emotional pressures like in the martial art.
00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:32.480
And you do I think that's why it is, it's it's amazing.
00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:33.920
You've got to really be with the ball.
00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:34.160
Yeah.
00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:35.839
Be with the ball.
00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:37.519
But that's fascinating.
00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:38.559
I love it.
00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:43.839
Well, we could ask a million questions and I think be with the ball.
00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:45.279
And we might just end it with that.
00:25:45.359 --> 00:25:55.759
And so, Billy, thank you so much for joining us and being on the show and being here for the girls that are playing the Billy Jean King Girls National to see to everyone who plays.
00:25:55.839 --> 00:25:59.359
Just play it, love it, give me the ball.
00:25:59.839 --> 00:26:02.000
Give me the ball always reminds me of responsibility.
00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:03.519
Give me the responsibility.
00:26:03.599 --> 00:26:04.720
Yeah, that's what I like.
00:26:05.039 --> 00:26:05.759
Powerful.
00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:07.279
So just go for it.
00:26:07.359 --> 00:26:08.240
Believe in yourself.
00:26:08.319 --> 00:26:12.799
Don't let others define you, you define yourself, especially to young people.
00:26:13.119 --> 00:26:15.200
That's a great message to end on right there.
00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:16.000
Well, thank you so much.
00:26:18.160 --> 00:26:19.119
Thank you so much.
00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:20.640
Make it into two shows.
00:26:20.720 --> 00:26:21.440
I'm kidding.
00:26:22.480 --> 00:26:23.759
Anyway, thank you for having me.
00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:24.400
Yeah, thank you.
00:00:09.919 --> 00:00:12.320
Welcome to uh Serving the Future Show.
00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:15.759
I'm Steve Adamson joined by my co-host Ryan Redondo.
00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:18.160
We have our producer Jackson Ginn here.
00:00:18.399 --> 00:00:22.559
And today we have a special treat, a true legend of the sport.
00:00:23.039 --> 00:00:25.679
We could go on and on with all our accomplishments.
00:00:26.239 --> 00:00:27.920
39 Grand Slams.
00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:34.560
We've got uh, yes, uh true trailblazer, uh not just for women's tennis, but women's sport.
00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:38.000
Uh, we are honored to have you today on the show, Billie Jean King.
00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:38.960
Thank you, Steve.
00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:40.320
And thanks, Ryan Bailey.
00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:41.359
Good to see you both.
00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:42.320
Yeah, it's good.
00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:43.840
Well, I'm gonna kick us off.
00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:51.200
So we are here, and you're here for the Billie Jean King Girls Nationals, the UCA 16 and under national championships.
00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:54.240
Your name is on this um forever.
00:00:54.479 --> 00:00:59.280
W when you walk around the courts and you see the players, what what does this tournament mean to you personally?
00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:03.119
Well, it obviously brings back a lot of memories when I was their age.
00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:08.879
Um, I never won a gold ball, I never won I never won the junior nationals, I never won anything.
00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:13.120
So um I knew how hard hard it was for me.
00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:16.560
So I'm trying to imagine for their lives and what their ambitions are.
00:01:16.719 --> 00:01:27.519
We did not have professional tennis when I was playing, although I wanted it and my dreamed about help help making tennis professional for both men and women.
00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:30.480
So that would get me going just watching like the juniors.
00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:41.680
Um, but it just brings back, and that was back in you know, the late 50s and early sixties, uh, when I was at the age that I'm watching right now, the 16 and under and the 18 and under.
00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:48.480
And I love this tournament because the winner of the 18 and under uh get a wild card in the U.S.
00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:48.879
Open.
00:01:48.959 --> 00:01:54.319
I mean, that's that's true pressure, but also true gratification if you make it.
00:01:54.400 --> 00:02:01.519
And then the 16 and under, um I think they get a uh wild card in uh to the qualifying.
00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:05.920
And then the finalists, I think, in the 18th, what do they get do they also get to play qualifying?
00:02:06.400 --> 00:02:07.920
Qualifying and the juniors and juniors.
00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:08.639
It's a lot.
00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:18.080
Anyway, there's a lot of pressure, but it's good pressure, and I always think pressure's a privilege anyway, because um it means you're doing something great.
00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:20.639
There's something there with when there's pressure.
00:02:20.800 --> 00:02:22.719
Uh it's important, it's fun.
00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:24.560
I want the ball, so to speak.
00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:32.000
So um no, I think about them and their journey, and some of these kids are gonna want to going to want to play c collegiate tennis.
00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:37.680
Um, one of the girls put down her dream to be, you know, division one at the college level.
00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:39.280
So a lot goes on.
00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:46.960
I think about them, I think about their families, the sacrifices, uh, by the families particularly, because the ch the young people want it.
00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:54.800
So anytime you really want something like that, I don't think of it as a sacrifice, but I know the family sacrifice because wow, my parents did too.
00:02:55.360 --> 00:03:24.400
And then when my brother announced at the dinner table at ten years old that he wanted to be a major league baseball player um player, my parents just I could just see them I was fifteen, I was about five years older, so I always would look at I looked at my parents and knew that was going to be a huge hardship for them if Randy was gonna make it to the majors because you have to get to the baseball fields, you have to get to the tennis courts, you have to you know, and I'm I definitely got I mean I had free everything.
00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:30.159
I mean, Clyde Walker, Long Beach, I'm from Long Beach, California, and they the park and rec paid for him.
00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:36.639
I did not it was free access, which is huge, which we're not having very much of that in sports today.
00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:38.080
And it really bothers me.
00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:42.639
So I'm especially our sport of tennis, which is the healthiest sport in the world.
00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:47.439
Um I I love the fact if I can get somebody in tennis that they'll have it the rest of their lives.
00:03:47.520 --> 00:03:48.319
I'm still playing.
00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:52.639
And I because I know it's the healthiest sport in the world, I make a point to play even more.
00:03:52.800 --> 00:03:53.120
Yeah.
00:03:53.759 --> 00:03:56.719
And uh so it's anyway.
00:03:56.879 --> 00:04:07.680
I just think there's so much great in our sport, but I also know that I look at the families sitting there watching their children and thinking, Wow, I wonder what they've had to go through to get them to this point.
00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:08.159
Yeah.
00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:09.680
That's an amazing thing.
00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:12.800
And this tournament's been played over over a century.
00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:20.319
And if you think about the cumulative masses of of young girls and families that have put themselves forward here, it's just it's an amazing tournament.
00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:23.199
It is well, in the old days, we didn't have this tournament.
00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:29.839
We ha the big deal in the old days was you had to win the Philadelphia uh it was at the Philadelphia Cricket Club, but it was the U.S.
00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:30.399
Nationals.
00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:33.600
And I was twice runner-up, and Karen Hance from this area.
00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:33.920
Yeah.
00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:42.639
Uh Karen Hance Sussman uh won it and I lost to her in one of the finals, and then Karen went on to win Wimbledon in 1962.
00:04:42.959 --> 00:04:44.800
Uh she asked me to play doubles.
00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:51.360
Uh she always played with Kathy Chabot, who's another uh person from San Diego who I always used to lose to.
00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:55.680
Um I did a lot of losing from especially from the kids in San Diego.
00:04:56.079 --> 00:04:57.040
Oh, they killed me.
00:04:57.360 --> 00:05:04.720
But um no, it's just we see Rod and Karen every year when we come to this tournament.
00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:07.680
So, you know, relationships are everything.
00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:22.959
I was gonna uh obviously we were out there watching the sixteens final uh going on there, and you have obviously a famous line, uh pressures of privilege, and you could see the girls out there dealing with the big moment, right?
00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:26.000
What uh, you know, it's really tough to be out there.
00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:31.199
What type of advice would would you give those young girls that you've been through all of it?
00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:33.839
Um, what could you help them with?
00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:41.600
Well, I've coached both men and women, so the one thing you start to learn is that if unless you stay in the process, you're not gonna win.
00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:44.160
And in anything in life, it's not just tennis.
00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:50.000
And also there's a saying which really helps is go slow to go fast.
00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:52.720
Go slow to go fast.
00:05:53.040 --> 00:06:02.000
Like if you're concentrating on something and you're really in a hurry and you notice you can't quite whatever the task is, just slow down.
00:06:03.040 --> 00:06:08.480
If you just slow down, usually you think it's gonna take longer, but it actually takes less time.
00:06:09.120 --> 00:06:16.720
So with tennis, and also one thing they've done some research now that you have to watch the ball all the way to the contact point.
00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:17.839
That's the magic.
00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:21.439
Watch the ball all the way to the contact point.
00:06:21.680 --> 00:06:28.639
What happens about three or four feet before we go to hit it, we start raising our eyes or our head to where we're gonna hit it.
00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:30.639
Uh and they've done all kinds of research.
00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:34.240
And it at the pro level, it's 50% or miss because of that.
00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:46.000
And at the recreational uh level, it's 90% of us miss it because we don't really watch the ball all the way in it the flight of the ball plus all the way to the contact point.
00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:47.600
So that might help somebody out there.
00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:48.000
I don't know.
00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:51.279
Um there was a study by Scott Ford.
00:06:51.360 --> 00:07:03.680
I don't know if you ever um he's a tennis coach and he did some studies with Navy SEALs and fighter pilots about being able to watch his analogy was a snowball hitting a window.
00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:04.000
Right.
00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:09.360
Where you can't necessarily watch that, but you can watch the window, and then that as the contact point, right?
00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:10.959
That's where you can continue to focus.
00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:14.319
And they would say fighter pilots to watch the on their screen.
00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:15.519
Yeah, the contact point.
00:07:15.920 --> 00:07:16.560
Yeah, so that's awesome.
00:07:16.720 --> 00:07:20.160
I know, but it's the same in our sport, and also baseball, I think it would be huge.
00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:28.639
Um, you know, Lana and I are part owner of the Dodgers, so we just went to a Dodgers game the other night, and then we're part owner, we're part owner of so many different sports.
00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:35.920
Um so and then we're on a losing streak, but now they've been winning a few, and I think they I think we lost last night.
00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:39.040
But um You won two World Series back in the world.
00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:40.000
In a row, I know.
00:07:40.480 --> 00:07:44.079
You want to see my what my ring that was in the ring?
00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:45.040
You see this ring?
00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:50.319
This is uh a ring that was in the gaudy, huge ring that they give you.
00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:52.160
It's got so much information on it.
00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:52.959
That's awesome.
00:07:53.040 --> 00:07:55.439
Wow, yeah, it's just on I'll show you to you later.
00:07:55.519 --> 00:07:57.439
But uh it's really great to have that.
00:07:57.519 --> 00:07:59.360
And it was great that they won.
00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:03.519
And then they give every owner a trophy, the real trophy, the big one.
00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:04.000
Wow.
00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:06.879
Oh my god, just to see when people come over to see us.
00:08:07.199 --> 00:08:09.279
Oh my god, we gotta have a photo with it.
00:08:09.839 --> 00:08:10.560
It's so cute.
00:08:10.639 --> 00:08:10.800
Yeah.
00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:18.399
No, but it's um in life and in sports, um, they kind of go hand in hand with everything, really, when you think about it.
00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:24.079
Well, Dodgers and being a part of the World Series, and I saw you were at those games, girls here.
00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:25.759
We went to the Sparks the other night.
00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:32.320
We go to the Liberty in New York, we go to we went to the World Cup in Australia for the women four years ago in Australia.
00:08:32.399 --> 00:08:34.799
We try to hit a lot of different things, men and women.
00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:35.120
Yeah.
00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:36.559
Angel City FC.
00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:37.279
Amazing.
00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:39.759
So it just goes on and on, but it we love it.
00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:43.519
But when I was young, I realized I wanted to change tennis.
00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:47.919
And I obviously women's sports was nothing.
00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:50.799
We had absolutely nothing.
00:08:51.120 --> 00:08:55.279
And so I wanted it uh and I help boys and girls, I don't care.
00:08:55.840 --> 00:08:58.559
You know, or whatever uh gender you are, I don't care.
00:08:58.720 --> 00:08:59.200
Just people.
00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:02.720
Human beings are the most important thing and they're everything really.
00:09:02.879 --> 00:09:03.120
Yeah.
00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:05.679
So uh yeah, but to be really good.
00:09:06.399 --> 00:09:08.159
Also the middle of the court's so important.
00:09:08.799 --> 00:09:15.440
I can't believe how many kids and coaches talk about the corners and and all you know, and I'm like, no, stop.
00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:19.759
I had this young boy sit for one set to watch on TV.
00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:23.360
So I just want you to watch the return of serve, nothing else.
00:09:23.919 --> 00:09:25.679
Just that we're gonna talk after the set.
00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:26.960
So the set's over.
00:09:27.279 --> 00:09:29.360
And I asked this guy, kid, he's so cute.
00:09:29.679 --> 00:09:31.360
I go, Well, what did you notice?
00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:33.919
I said, Billy.
00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:37.039
Every return was up the middle.
00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:38.639
I think, right.
00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:42.159
And what were you thinking before that?
00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:45.200
I didn't realize how much we hit up the middle.
00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:48.080
I said, Well, every sport has to protect the middle.
00:09:48.159 --> 00:09:55.600
I don't care if it's you know, American football, soccer, um, baseball.
00:09:55.759 --> 00:09:57.759
If you hit up the middle, you usually get a base hit.
00:09:58.080 --> 00:10:01.440
Uh I mean, the middle in every sport is so important.
00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:02.480
It's all math.
00:10:02.879 --> 00:10:07.279
If you like math, I I like doubles 80% of the ball goes through the middle of the court.
00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:08.080
Right?
00:10:08.320 --> 00:10:10.080
So why are kids coaching more?
00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:13.120
Singles, you should be singles deep up the middle.
00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:14.240
You can't go wrong.
00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:14.559
Yeah.
00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:16.960
Also, get the ball and play.
00:10:17.039 --> 00:10:19.039
Sometimes kids are trying to make the perfect shot.
00:10:19.279 --> 00:10:19.600
No.
00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:25.279
The Australian guys really helped make made me number one when I went to Australia.
00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:31.279
And the only reason I got to go to Australia is because Bob Mitchell called and said, I want to bring you to Australia.
00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:32.080
Because we had no money.
00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:34.559
We were amateurs in those days,$14 a day.
00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:36.320
And I knew that was my chance.
00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:42.320
But I was going to Cal State, LA, and then my former husband and I uh decided he said you gotta go.
00:10:42.799 --> 00:10:43.840
So we went down there.
00:10:43.919 --> 00:10:54.159
I don't I didn't really want to go by myself, but I went down there and uh that's the reason I became number one, is because the Australian men were so good to me and the Australian people.
00:10:54.720 --> 00:10:56.480
Uh I could not get that from Americans.
00:10:56.639 --> 00:10:57.519
They weren't interested.
00:10:57.759 --> 00:10:59.759
The American men would not hit with us.
00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:02.399
You know, all these guys, everybody thinks Yeah.
00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:03.519
It was really rough.
00:11:03.600 --> 00:11:04.480
They were tough on us.
00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:04.879
Wow.
00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:08.320
I won't t I'm not gonna name names because it's it's it's history.
00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:13.600
So talking about the going down in Australia, you were at a certain level, right?
00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:15.919
You're you probably were very accomplished.
00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:19.600
No, I was very good by then, but I wasn't number I wanted to be number one.
00:11:19.679 --> 00:11:21.279
I didn't I'm one of those kids.
00:11:21.440 --> 00:11:31.679
I it's pretty when I was okay, I played softball baseball, uh we didn't have soccer in the United States yet when I was a child.
00:11:31.919 --> 00:11:34.080
Um but basketball was my first sport.
00:11:34.159 --> 00:11:34.799
I loved basketball.
00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:36.559
My dad was really good in basketball.
00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:44.720
In fact, after World War II, which he was in the Navy, they asked him to come and join the NBA, which was just getting formed, and he didn't go.
00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:46.799
He came home because he hadn't seen me really.
00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:50.480
And he's I've named after him in case he didn't come home from the war.
00:11:50.639 --> 00:11:50.799
Wow.
00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:52.480
Uh his name's Bill, obviously.
00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:54.000
Willis Jefferson.
00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:59.759
And uh so that was always big to me that uh So that so you're I didn't know that about your father.
00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:00.720
Oh my dad was great.
00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:01.279
He was great.
00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:02.960
He can do a hundred baskets in a row.
00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:04.320
I go, Daddy, let's go play.
00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:05.600
I wanted to always have him.
00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:08.159
I come to I love to play basketball with him.
00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:09.519
He says, No, no, I want you to play.
00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:11.440
I go, No, Daddy, I want you to go for a hundred.
00:12:11.519 --> 00:12:11.759
Yeah.
00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:17.039
But he was so uh into rules too, which I liked uh to be honest and have integrity.
00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:21.039
Like if he got to 90 in a row and he missed the next one, he goes, We gotta start over.
00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:21.279
Yeah.
00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:23.519
I go, Dad, just hit nine more or whatever.
00:12:23.679 --> 00:12:27.120
He goes, No, the rules are a hundred in a row.
00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:30.399
Our coach used to make us do the seven draw on the serve.
00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:32.399
So seven flat, seven slice, seven kick.
00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:32.879
There you go.
00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:34.399
You miss that 20, you start again.
00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:36.879
Sounds like it's not to me.
00:12:37.200 --> 00:12:42.399
No, but I think uh those are really important things to learn as a human being first, but as a jock, as an athlete.
00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:43.919
So I have a question for you.
00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:47.759
That mindset, was that something that you were born with?
00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:50.399
Was it helped did somebody help you develop it?
00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:52.080
Sound like the Aussies really helped you.
00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:52.960
But they helped you.
00:12:53.120 --> 00:13:03.279
Or is that is there a hybrid that you think I think it comes from family or whoever raises you, because it could be a caregiver, it can be a grandparent or somebody in your life, a friend.
00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:10.879
It's not always, you know, I w I was very fortunate, my brother and I they have two parents and they did everything they could.
00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:12.559
They worked three jobs at one time.
00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:14.799
I mean, it was too much really.
00:13:14.960 --> 00:13:19.919
They were doing trying to make it so we could get to our uh respective sports.
00:13:21.039 --> 00:13:24.799
And I think my dad was a great life coach.
00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:29.679
If you look at women's sports, you'll hear that the dad has a huge influence usually on the girls.
00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:35.440
Not always, but I've noticed that in the stories uh how important dads can be.
00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:39.440
My dad was great because he believed in me as much as my brother.
00:13:39.679 --> 00:13:43.759
And I can tell you in the 50s, girls were not encouraged to be in sports.
00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:45.679
In fact, the opposite.
00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:48.080
And my dad said, Don't you listen to anyone.
00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:51.200
You know, you but he was worried about me when I was 12.
00:13:51.360 --> 00:13:54.240
He sat me down and said, Are you sure you want to be number one?
00:13:54.399 --> 00:13:55.519
And I said, Yes, daddy.
00:13:56.080 --> 00:13:57.600
He goes, Are you sure?
00:13:58.000 --> 00:13:58.879
And I go, Yes.
00:13:59.039 --> 00:14:02.159
He said, Well, there's a lot of heartbreak if you're trying to be number one in something.
00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:03.759
Are you sure you want to go through all that?
00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:04.480
I said, Yes.
00:14:04.639 --> 00:14:06.399
I was willing to do whatever it took.
00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:07.840
Whatever it took.
00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:08.080
Yeah.
00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:11.279
My dad said, Okay, we'll we'll try to help you as much as possible.
00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:12.480
And my mother was very good.
00:14:12.639 --> 00:14:14.879
My mom is a typical 50s woman.
00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:16.320
It was always about my dad.
00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:19.360
She always deferred to my dad, made him feel good.
00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:21.840
And then she was about 75 years old.
00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:25.759
She'd tell me that she could beat the boys running, that she was a great swimmer.
00:14:25.919 --> 00:14:27.360
I knew she was a great swimmer.
00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:29.519
But it's like, mom, why don't you tell me?
00:14:29.600 --> 00:14:31.840
Because I like your dad to have the attention.
00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:32.399
Wow.
00:14:32.559 --> 00:14:33.759
That's very 50s.
00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:34.480
Yeah.
00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:43.039
Well, but kind of uh piggybacking off that, a lot of the time that for the show, we like to kind of see the support system.
00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:45.039
The support system in tennis is so important.
00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:45.919
You have to have it.
00:14:46.080 --> 00:14:46.320
Right.
00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:48.879
And just is there anybody like a coach?
00:14:49.039 --> 00:14:54.720
Was it your parents who had a huge role in making Billy Jean Billie Jean?
00:14:54.960 --> 00:14:58.000
Clyde Walker, my first coach at the public parks.
00:14:58.159 --> 00:15:02.320
That's who I met when I first went to Hounton Park for my very first uh instruction.
00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:03.600
I hate the word lesson.
00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:05.279
Lessons are bad.
00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:06.240
Bad word.
00:15:06.399 --> 00:15:12.159
I like to say instruction or practice in in football, in football or baseball or all that.
00:15:12.240 --> 00:15:13.679
They don't they don't talk about lessons.
00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:15.519
That's that's golf or somebody.
00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:16.559
It sounds rich.
00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:18.559
It sounds country club, it sounds rich.
00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:22.879
I want kids at rec parks at in the st working, you know, playing in the streets, all that.
00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:24.080
I want them to have fun.
00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:26.000
And so Clyde was great to me.
00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:27.840
First thing he taught me is close the gate.
00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:30.639
And I thought to myself, you don't have to worry about me closing the gate.
00:15:30.720 --> 00:15:31.039
Are you kidding?
00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:33.039
Bill Moffat and Betty my parents?
00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:33.919
Are you kidding?
00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:34.240
Yeah.
00:15:34.559 --> 00:15:35.679
Close the gate.
00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:37.679
Oh my God, it has so much instruction.
00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:44.159
So I would say Clyde Walker, and the thing he taught me was don't play unless you love it, which most coaches never ask you that.
00:15:44.799 --> 00:15:46.159
That's great as I wow.
00:15:46.240 --> 00:15:46.480
Yeah.
00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:48.399
That's really he was unbelievable.
00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:49.200
He's a great coach.
00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:50.080
We need more of that.
00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:51.840
And it was free access.
00:15:52.080 --> 00:16:01.440
And I'm always indebted to Long Beach, the Park and Wreck, and Century Club, who helped me go to Wimbledon, and the Long Beach tennis patrons who just started when I started.
00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:05.519
And they helped the two top girls and two top boys, and I was number two.
00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:08.639
Susan Williams, who asked me to play tennis, was the number one.
00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:11.360
And then Jerry Cromwell that was there.
00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:16.480
And Jerry became, I think he was number one at FC for a minute, and then he was number two or three.
00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:18.720
Stan Smith was there, all these different players.
00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:23.919
So Jerry Cromwell could have been a pro, but he decided he's an intellectual and went to Harvard.
00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:28.240
And you've been such a uh supporter of youth tennis San Diego.
00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:29.679
I mean, that's we're following along those lines.
00:16:30.159 --> 00:16:32.799
I used to lose to you all the time, so I know what it feels like.
00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:39.200
Our team would come up from Orange County in LA and long, you know, Longish and we come down here and lose to Karen, Kathy.
00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:39.600
Yeah.
00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:40.799
Who else do we lose to?
00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:45.440
A lot of anyway, those two are the main ones, but we lost every time.
00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:50.480
We go home very sad every time, except once I beat Karen in three sets or something.
00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:52.720
And everybody was so happy going home.
00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:56.559
But uh then Karen and I obviously played doubles and we won one bullet.
00:16:56.720 --> 00:16:58.080
We're still the youngest team ever to have won.
00:16:58.240 --> 00:16:58.399
Really?
00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:00.480
Yeah, Karen Hans and I in 61.
00:17:00.720 --> 00:17:01.360
No one's come.
00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:02.720
Yeah, we're the youngest together.
00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:04.400
Our combined ages, yes.
00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:06.400
She was 18 and I was 17.
00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:07.039
Wow.
00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:10.000
And so you guys have a great local players.
00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:10.640
Yeah.
00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:14.480
So I hope you've appreciated them because in Marine Conley.
00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:15.200
Yeah.
00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:17.680
And uh everyone should know about Marin Conley.
00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:20.720
She was 18 years old when she won all four majors.
00:17:20.799 --> 00:17:24.559
And of course they call them slams now, which that's a whole other discussion.
00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:29.599
They should not call them slams, they should call them majors, uh, which John Budge created in 1938.
00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:35.599
But Marin Conley, uh, at 18 years old, was the first woman to ever win all four majors in the same year.
00:17:35.759 --> 00:17:38.160
And I don't think people in San Diego even know that.
00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:39.119
And they need to know that.
00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:42.960
That's why one of the reasons uh this tournament is named after her.
00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:43.839
Yeah.
00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:47.200
We host the Little Mo Internationals in the fall of the city.
00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:49.039
And the kids don't know who Little Mo is, though.
00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:51.680
Her daughter came out, but it's one?
00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:52.559
She's got two.
00:17:52.799 --> 00:17:57.200
And was it Cindy or talk about the lessons?
00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:00.559
Yeah, talk about her and the values and why the tournament.
00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:02.400
It's one of the best tournaments in the world.
00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:16.319
So my we only have a couple more questions for you, but my next question is your instruction, uh, your your play when you were a kid, um, was it more social?
00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:18.240
Like were you in groups or did you do a lot of things?
00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:20.720
Oh, it's always grouped because we didn't have it was free access.
00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:26.640
So there's so when Jerry Cromwell and I started and Susan Williams, there's probably about six kids.
00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:36.079
And then because Jerry and I did so well, and of course the press Long Beach Press Telegram put it on the front page, a lot of times how we were doing in junior tournaments.
00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:42.880
Um, like if we won the Pacific Southwest, which is a huge tournament in those days, uh, then we had too many kids.
00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:44.319
We couldn't even we had forty.
00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:45.680
Let's say you had two courts.
00:18:45.759 --> 00:18:49.519
We started with about six kids and then we were up to 40, 60.
00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:53.839
And so Susan, Jerry, and I would help Clyde because he was getting older and he was sick.
00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:57.200
So we put him in a chair and we would do the instruction for him.
00:18:57.359 --> 00:18:57.519
Wow.
00:18:57.680 --> 00:18:58.960
It's the least we could do.
00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:05.839
And so um then at just mushroom, we just didn't know what to do with all the kids that so you were coaching while you were playing, while you were.
00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:11.200
Yeah, but no, no, I think I think if you can coach, it means you know what you're Clyde was big on that too.
00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:14.319
If you coach, it means you understand the game better.
00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:17.119
And you'll learn to be a better player if you can coach.
00:19:17.359 --> 00:19:18.799
And I totally agree with him.
00:19:19.119 --> 00:19:21.440
And do you still what's your thought process now?
00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:25.200
Because we're we're very strong advocates of group play.
00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:28.240
So tennis because it's such an individual sport.
00:19:28.480 --> 00:19:42.559
Getting the kids to I don't sell tennis as an individual sport, I tell I sell it as a t as a team and an individual sport because there's um junior high team or what I middle school uh teams, there's high school teams, junior team tennis.
00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:44.160
Forget about team tennis.
00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:51.359
There's college tennis, yeah, team t whatever, it doesn't matter, but I'm big on putting the kids on teams because relationships are everything.
00:19:51.599 --> 00:19:57.759
And when you call it an individual sport, I think a lot of kids go away from it because they're not with their friends.
00:19:57.839 --> 00:20:00.000
They think they're not with their friends, they are with their friends.
00:20:00.160 --> 00:20:03.119
So just put them on a team, a red team, a black team.
00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:07.920
Doesn't matter when even during the the uh instruction time, just put them on a team.
00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:10.960
Yeah, you guys, okay, you're the red team, you're the or name your own.
00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:13.119
I used to have the kids do their own name, they get in the hodl.
00:20:13.359 --> 00:20:15.039
Woo, what are we gonna call ourselves?
00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:15.440
Yeah.
00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:16.240
Things like that.
00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:22.160
But no, I I really am big on on uh really trying to promote our sport as a team and an individual sport.
00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:23.200
We have both.
00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:26.640
Um, but it is very individual to your point.
00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:32.640
And that's why it's so great though, because uh you're responsible for every single ball that comes to you.
00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:34.480
So you you learn responsibility.
00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:39.279
You can't call in a substitute, you can't So there's that's the good side of some of it.
00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:41.119
But kids like team sports.
00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:46.960
And I would have never played tennis if it hadn't been for um Susan Williams asking me to play in fifth grade.
00:20:47.279 --> 00:20:48.240
I said, What's tennis?
00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:50.160
And she told me, and then I said, Well, what do you do?
00:20:50.319 --> 00:20:52.720
And she gets you get to run, jump, and hit a ball.
00:20:52.960 --> 00:20:56.319
Those are my three favorite things because I love my basketball and everything.
00:20:57.039 --> 00:21:08.799
And then we um we were playing softball on the same team at Houghton Park, and she told Val Halloran, the coach, Well you know, um, I took Billy out to play tennis.
00:21:09.359 --> 00:21:11.359
Well, I didn't think I was gonna play tennis at all.
00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:16.720
Uh because it was at a country club, and I went, I'm not my dad's a firefighter, no chance.
00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:23.119
Um But we're playing softball, and Val Halloran, the coach, said, There's free instruction here every Tuesday.
00:21:24.079 --> 00:21:25.119
Okay, now we're talking.
00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:29.200
And my parents made me earn my first racket by I went I had to figure it out.
00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:31.279
They said, You figure it out how to pay for a racket.
00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:33.839
So I went to all the neighbors and they put in a nickel dime.
00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:35.519
I had eight dollars and twenty-nine cents.
00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:39.279
So your parents said figure out my dad would not, or my mother would not buy me a racket.
00:21:39.519 --> 00:21:41.519
So you figure it out if you want to play so much.
00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:44.160
If you really, really want to play, you figure it out.
00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:46.880
So I went to the neighbors and they felt sorry for me.
00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:57.039
And when I had my eight dollars and twenty nine cents in the jar, in the glass jar, mason jar, uh I went to Brown Sporting Goods and got my first racket, and I stuck with it.
00:21:57.599 --> 00:21:58.000
That's awesome.
00:21:58.160 --> 00:21:58.720
That's awesome.
00:21:58.960 --> 00:21:59.279
So great.
00:21:59.440 --> 00:22:01.279
And I love I loved history.
00:22:01.440 --> 00:22:06.880
And the more you know about history, the more you know about yourself, and the more you can shape the future.
00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:10.079
And that's the only reason I I think I was able to help tennis.
00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:12.880
I knew the I knew the history of it.
00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:14.559
I know how what I wanted for it.
00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:16.559
And we're still not there, obviously.
00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:20.880
But um if I hadn't had the history, I loved every champion.
00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:27.359
I knew the champions from the twenties, thirties, forties, fifties, sixties, men and women, ask them questions, learn from them.
00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:28.799
They taught me everything.
00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:31.279
So they taught me not everything, but a lot of things.
00:22:31.359 --> 00:22:34.000
And I don't think kids know anything about history anymore.
00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:35.279
They don't know anything.
00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:36.880
They don't know the players, they don't know anything.
00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:39.359
They don't ask I never get a question from a player.
00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:40.240
Never.
00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:41.359
Never.
00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:57.519
We have our when you talk to your kids and you're teaching them, teach them that about history, teach them to know, but also to learn about the players, that at least playing now, I like the players that play before now and the future kids.
00:22:57.839 --> 00:22:59.359
We're seeing the future champions here.
00:22:59.680 --> 00:23:01.599
Or the kids at least are going to be in our sport.
00:23:01.759 --> 00:23:02.240
Yeah.
00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:03.680
Definitely.
00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:09.519
Well, well, I think we can all agree that uh tennis is the greatest sport.
00:23:09.599 --> 00:23:17.839
We're all kind of biased here, but in my opinion, it just teaches you so many things about life on and off the court.
00:23:17.920 --> 00:23:20.079
The sport is just fantastic.
00:23:20.319 --> 00:23:24.000
What you've been incredibly successful on and off the court.
00:23:24.079 --> 00:23:32.640
What are some of the the the lessons that tennis has taught you that you've carried with you that have really helped you throughout your whole life?
00:23:32.960 --> 00:23:36.079
Well, I think concentration, staying in the process is really huge.
00:23:36.480 --> 00:23:43.519
But there's three things that uh this guy and I um Ed Willard was president of DuPont and he are good friends.
00:23:43.599 --> 00:23:45.519
He was our mentor for Elana and me.
00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:49.920
And he um he and I talked, I said, I need three bullet points.
00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:57.440
I do a lot of speeches, I do a lot of commencement speeches, I do I need to come up with three bullets that are great.
00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:02.400
So we took three years observing people, and these are the three things we came up with.
00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:03.920
And they do not have to be in this order.
00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:09.680
You everybody who's listening can decide that um relationships are everything, which I mentioned earlier.
00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:17.200
Relationships are a relationship with yourself, your loved ones, your faith, whatever it's counts too in that statement.
00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:21.839
And then um keep learning and keep learning how to learn.
00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:24.160
So keep learning and keep learning how to learn.
00:24:24.799 --> 00:24:27.920
And the third one, and it doesn't have to be the third one, it could be whatever you want.
00:24:28.480 --> 00:24:32.160
Be a problem solver and an innovator.
00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:34.799
Be a problem solver and an innovator.
00:24:35.680 --> 00:24:39.279
And you notice these people who invent things, technology people, what are they doing?
00:24:39.359 --> 00:24:42.400
They're doing innovation or they're solving a problem.
00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:52.799
And the reason they want older people to play tennis is that I'm 82 now, and when I go out to hit, it helps my frontal lobes be a problem solver.
00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:54.799
So there we go.
00:24:54.880 --> 00:24:57.359
I think it really that's why it's important to play at every age.
00:24:58.240 --> 00:24:59.599
You can't go wrong if you play tennis.
00:24:59.759 --> 00:25:00.240
You cannot.
00:25:00.480 --> 00:25:02.880
Use all of you use all of yourself.
00:25:03.039 --> 00:25:03.359
Yeah.
00:25:03.680 --> 00:25:07.279
Like in the reason I didn't end up playing soccer was I only use my feet.
00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:07.599
Yeah.
00:25:07.759 --> 00:25:12.240
And God gave me really great hand-eye coordination, so I'm not gonna waste it.
00:25:12.319 --> 00:25:12.480
Yeah.
00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:15.119
If you have great hand-eye coordination, then they go, well, be a goalie.
00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:16.240
Well, then I can't run.
00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:16.640
Yeah.
00:25:16.880 --> 00:25:18.640
I love to run and hit a ball.
00:25:18.799 --> 00:25:19.759
Run and hit a ball.
00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:27.119
Tennis is all of the sports, minus getting hit, you know, like a martial art or something, but you still have the emotional whim.
00:25:27.279 --> 00:25:29.839
Yeah, but you have the emotional pressures like in the martial art.
00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:32.480
And you do I think that's why it is, it's it's amazing.
00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:33.920
You've got to really be with the ball.
00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:34.160
Yeah.
00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:35.839
Be with the ball.
00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:37.519
But that's fascinating.
00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:38.559
I love it.
00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:43.839
Well, we could ask a million questions and I think be with the ball.
00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:45.279
And we might just end it with that.
00:25:45.359 --> 00:25:55.759
And so, Billy, thank you so much for joining us and being on the show and being here for the girls that are playing the Billy Jean King Girls National to see to everyone who plays.
00:25:55.839 --> 00:25:59.359
Just play it, love it, give me the ball.
00:25:59.839 --> 00:26:02.000
Give me the ball always reminds me of responsibility.
00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:03.519
Give me the responsibility.
00:26:03.599 --> 00:26:04.720
Yeah, that's what I like.
00:26:05.039 --> 00:26:05.759
Powerful.
00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:07.279
So just go for it.
00:26:07.359 --> 00:26:08.240
Believe in yourself.
00:26:08.319 --> 00:26:12.799
Don't let others define you, you define yourself, especially to young people.
00:26:13.119 --> 00:26:15.200
That's a great message to end on right there.
00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:16.000
Well, thank you so much.
00:26:18.160 --> 00:26:19.119
Thank you so much.
00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:20.640
Make it into two shows.
00:26:20.720 --> 00:26:21.440
I'm kidding.
00:26:22.480 --> 00:26:23.759
Anyway, thank you for having me.
00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:24.400
Yeah, thank you.
