The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 1: Greg Gives Chris an Ultimatum (feat. John Isner)

Episode Date: August 26, 2025

"You have 3 minutes to give me back my computer or I will not host that Draft Party." Greg Cote gets madder than he has ever been in the history of the show and John Isner tells us why he loves the pickles chat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Apply now and get up to 60,000 points Which is a lot of points For more info, visit bemo.com slash eclips That's our website Terms and conditions apply This is the Dan Levator show with the Stucats podcast. I've been asking, go ahead and keep typing, don't let us pop.

I didn't know you were starting. You ended the last segment so well. The countdown usually is where, oh, you didn't have your headphones on. Okay. Okay. His team rankings are due today, guys. He has a deadline. You could clue me in that we're starting.

How high do you have the dolphins? I'm not telling you. They're going to be topped, like, oh, my God. I happen to have my rankings open in front of them. me but it's top secret information i bet you i'm at 14 that's too high like 17 no he's it'll be in the top 15 he would never go against his team that way 17 dead like throw people off like there's just no way he's going under the midway point i guess it would be 16 there's no way okay first of all the the rankings that i have now which christopher probably purloined and and illegally looked at

or not the official final rankings so i'm going to come in there and help you with something I'm not going to look at your screen. No, this is not happening. I assure tone, I assure you, I promise you that there's no way that he puts the dolphins in the bottom half of the league. 17 is just enough to throw the people off the scent, right? Oh, no. They're going to be elbows grabbed. They're going to be elbows grabbed.

He's furious. Okay. I'm going to tell Christopher right now, if he, if you reveal on the air where the dolphins rank, I am going to be genuinely pissed at you. You do not do that. You're getting into my business now. Seriously, he better not do that. Okay, he steals my computer, breaks the whole screen.

There it is. There it is. He's left you with Justin Keyboard. It's embarrassing. Christopher. He took your dignity. I'm just looking. Don't say anything about it.

I'm serious. Okay, I'm going to tell you this right now. Are you hearing me? If you say that on the air, I am not hosting the draft party Thursday night. Wow. Period. Do you understand me? Do you understand me?

The draft party will not be at my house Thursday night. We got an Avery Johnson situation. If anybody on this show reveals where I have the dolphins ranked or anything else about my rankings, I am not hosting the draft party Thursday night. Take that to the bank. I'm saying it all my life. You have so many tabs open. I'm saying it all my life. I will not host the draft party. draft party Thursday night. If anybody

says anything about my rankings on the air. Craig's standing on business right now. It's the clocking to you? And now I want to push this because among other things, I want Chris to actually take that to a bank. I want him to go to a bank and say, listen, my father, see what the teller's reaction is when you say

my father has threatened that if I take that back, give me back my computer. Jack. Jack. Avery Johnson's father thinks this is aggressive. I may have exited it out I hope you have it saved Oh no 1440 is the password

Oh no All right I'm gonna bring it back in I'm scared No no just hold on to it for a second I'll stay here Dan you can't see our vats No no I look

This is not This is a bad idea I have seen him yell at Christopher this way Since Christopher was four When he starts throwing around the Christophers. I don't need to see the front of his face to know that he's serious. And the greatest of all the threats, when he threatens not to host a draft party, when it's

the center of his life, he doesn't want to take away that draft party. That's what he wants to be doing. But he will. If you reveal that the Dolphins are 14 instead of 17, if you reveal that and take away his paywall thunder, really? You're going to- He just spoke to me sign language. No, it wasn't even sign language. He did not waste words. He just did Keanu Reeves the Matrix and summoned you over with a finger because he didn't want to waste the breath of having you test his rage anymore.

He's just sitting here with nothing but a keyboard. And I got to tell you, it looks pathetic. I want my laptop back. I'm not the least bit amused by this. I'm not kidding and how angry I am. I know you're not. Okay. And this is what I'm going to do.

Give it back, please. And Dan, stop stopping us from giving it back, please. I am going to, no, I'm going to send them both to the penalty box. I'm not going to the penalty box. Go together. I'll bring this. I want my computer right here before I do anything. It'll be in the penalty box.

No, I'm not going to the penalty box until I get my computer right here. You can bring it to me. This is fine. This is good. No, you can bring it to me. Greg, you're going to stop that now. No, I'm not. You're going to stop that now.

No, no, I'm not. I'll leave. I'll go home if you want me to with my laptop, but I am not going in the penalty box until my laptop is connected to my computer. This is not your fault. My son has gone over the line here. I am genuinely upset.

We know. Okay, so how about make it right? Instead of continuing the joke. It's partly Dan's fault. It's ridiculous. It's partly my fault. Yes. that we're not able to have fun with Greg Cody's rankings of 14 or 17 for the Dolphins.

That's right, because they're serious to me. Yeah. Okay. Christopher, if I don't have that computer here in three minutes, I am not hosting the draft party Thursday night. Put the clock up on the screen. Please do it. Lewis, put up a clock on the screen that gives us our three minutes here. And please do that.

And Christopher, you send out a notice to the rest of the league saying that the draft is going to be at your house because of what you did to me today. to gather ourselves here for the nature of this threat, okay? Where's my three minute? Hold on a second. I'm going to start. All right. You're going to start it. Don't wait until 30 seconds.

Just go in there. No, no, no. I need the dramatic tension of the three minutes, please. Of course you do. Yeah, I'm good on tension. No, I want it a little more. I guess who Mike Flentes is? Okay.

Again, listen to what's happening, Greg. Let's play now. Billy, that's a good idea. No, no. Let's play the game right now. Does Greg know the name of everyone in this office? let's uh let's this is how you make things uh chris hand hand his computer okay it's on the screen 245 oh boy i don't i don't i do you guys understand what this threat is i don't totally

it's a big draft party that's happening thursday gregg has been gracious enough to open his home to the league if christopher thinks i'm kidding i am not he doesn't think you're kidding no i think he does no he does not uh we are in a a tent situation though and we're stuck in it like The discomfort is real. It is awkward, and we are now on the clock, and it's very dramatic. It's down to almost two minutes. I know. It's 2.15, which means he's still got a little bit of time.

Now, I... Okay. I cannot express you how serious I am about Thursday night. Don't hold your heart, all right? Yeah, I'm scared me. No. On my life, I am not hosting this draft party Thursday night if I don't have that laptop. Have we revealed anything?

I don't care. giving you an ultimatum. You now have a minute and 50 seconds. It's yeah, it's a minute 49 now. This has been... I've never been more angry connected with this show ever.

A minute and 38. We put up the LSU photo, please? I don't care. That doesn't make me nearly as mad as what's happening right now. Anybody who thinks that's me is an idiot a minute 20 minute 15 it has to be in my hand before it goes to all zeros in my hand a minute eight see Christopher thinks I'm kidding about not hosting this draft party

okay on my life on my granddaughter's life on my granddaughter's life on my granddaughter's life I am not hosting this draft party unless I have that computer. Why does this keep escalating? Who else's life is he going to take before the end of this? Again, I remind people as a discomfort sweeps over the room dramatically that this is the difference between the dolphins being ranked 17th and 14th. And I'm guaranteeing you, it's not going to be in the bottom half of the league. And the only way it's going to be in the bottom half of the league is if he changes. The way that he just alphaed this room is the single most impressive thing I have seen Greg Cody do since he had a schoonerle for his 30-year-old deck shoes. Look at the tension in the other room there, Greg.

Good. There's tension in this room, too, emanating entirely from me. I'm fanning it a bit. I'm participating. You would never. Well, wait a minute, though. First of all, you will not tell me that this is not good. You will not tell me that.

And I'm watching. Mike's hiding behind a plant. And the rest of you, I can see your faces, but what he has just done is old man's strength. What you just saw was him telling you, as he's told you for a little while, I got stamina. And what you could do is you can go to an old-fashioned bank

and you can tell them that he's not hosting that draft party if you, I still want you to do that. I want you to go to a bank and find a teller and see what they're, I just want to see an assortment of tellers what their reaction is, and I wonder if there's some sort of crime that you could be committing

that they will make you like a bank robber or something because you're just weirding out people and you're going to be escorted out by security. Do you care at all that you, look at what that room looks like right now? All of them have been reduced to nine-year-olds fearing a father and a grandfather's wrath. You have reopened the scars here on, oh, come on, we were just playing with somebody that we respect and like.

Why are we arguing this way about the fact that he was waving keyboard at us? I didn't hear a lot of respect and like and what just happened. I certainly didn't feel any respect for my son. The respect that you did not feel that is accurate for you not to feel is a Respect for a top 20 list of rankings. It's a top 32. It's the entire league. Any hack can do 20.

Who does a top 20 rankings? It's insane. Before the season starts. Ridiculous. The Dan Libitart show with Sto Gats is sponsored by Liquid Ivy. All right. So I'm trying to soak up the last little bits of summer while raising a six-month-old baby. Let me tell you.

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Visit flyporter.com and actually, enjoy economy. Don Lebertard. I'm not going to apologize. I wouldn't expect you to apologize. You're a giant infant. You have no control over your emotions. You have no control over your emotions When you're calling someone you know an idiot I don't deserve it I don't deserve it And you're a fool for saying it

Okay Stugats You're a fool I was kind of following you're calling somebody else Or you're locking in right now You're locking in on eyes All right Let's drop the gloves pal

Let's rock the You should be thanking me For what? Every day For what? For what? For what I've done around this character And the second shit gets real for you

You want to come at me can call me a fool? Huh? No, no, no. Seriously. Jeremy just, pal. I've added 10 years to your career. This is the Dan Levitar show with the Stugats.

So, in football, we've gott. So in football, we've got Kenny Pickett going to the Raiders. We have Amari Cooper going. To the Raiders. Can't do that shit. My parents divorced. What? Do your show?

Well, you put something in the middle of it here that is a bit hostile. Oh, I put it in the middle of it. That started with me? You're acting like we revealed it. When someone stole my laptop, that's me doing that? You're acting like it was revealed. We did it like we were messing with it. What was revealed?

You said a number that is much too close to the number. Well, that's just us guessing. I don't remember what it was. anything. You won $12,000 yesterday! Oh, damn it. You revealed the number. I didn't hear it, and he's pointing it out. I didn't hear the number.

What's the number he said? Now he's mad again. I'm not going to say. Did any of you hear the number that Chris said? It's 17, Dan. I told you already. Whatever number he said will not be where the $1 million. Oh, wait. Now the number's changing? Maybe.

Oh, no. Depending on how accurate he was. You know, it's ridiculous. You're messing with my livelihood when you do stuff like that. Yes. Yes. Okay. And, you know, you're thinking of the show first, which in that seat, I get it.

But I almost wish you hadn't brought it back. So you would have seen how serious I am about not hosting the draft. You should cancel it anyway. Oh, my God. You want to take it again? Seriously. You want to take it again? Do something else to piss me off.

And you'll be setting out a group text, and you'll be hosting that draft. Put up the hospital photo. No, I'm kidding. Don't do it. I like the Kenny Pickett topic. Let's do that. It was a good transition. The Mori Cooper thing.

I mean, that's how, like, Jacoby Myers, you do. What now? We're going to get a market one. The hospital photo is as mad as I've ever seen him before this. But the hospital photo is something that we showed only because he had already shown it on social media. Right. He provided it for us. No, no, no, no. I provided it to my social media followers.

Yeah. You made it public, though. That's putting it out public. Okay. What does a picket trade mean for should be? If you tweet out a photo, you can't be upset. It's out. That's fair.

Who's QB2? But this is an anger that I don't know that I've seen from him before. He says you're messing with his livelihood. I don't believe that that's true. I don't believe that his livelihood would be impacted in any way whatsoever. if you revealed that number. I don't believe that there will be more subscriptions to the Miami Herald to get to that paywall,

but okay, he's entitled to feel that. It escalating from he was willing to give his life, and then he just gave up your daughter's life as well? That's where the game ended for me. I mean, yeah, because I needed to inform you how serious I was. I was aware. No, you weren't. I don't think you were.

I feel like we all were, Greg. No? Mike was hiding behind a plant. I don't think Christopher honestly thought that I would stand firm and not host that draft Thursday night. You don't think I can tell when you're really upset. You didn't come back very soon with the laptop, did you? That was my fault. I just want to examine for a second before we move off of this.

Please. Well, I don't want to move off this part, though. It's such a funny threat to get to the height of rage and say, you're going to have to host your own party. I'm going to pull the party. I don't think Chris particularly cares. I don't know. I know you care about it. You would have made it work.

I know you care about that as a threat. That threat was something meaningful to you, but it clearly wasn't working as a threat. It's like one text. Hey, we're having it at John's house now. Well, I don't like this. Okay. What does that draft party mean to you, Greg,

just so we have an understanding? Because it seems as though they're not taking this seriously. Like, it would just be a text to change things. I mean, I enjoy this. the league. It's a keeper league, which is itself a pain in the ass, but I enjoy the league. I feel like you're punishing yourself with that threat, though, that you want to host that party, and if you don't get to host that party, the punishment is greatest for you. No, no, that's not true. Christopher asks me to host the party every year.

You have a bigger house than I. Okay. And I'm happy to do it, but in the buildup to me hosting the draft, you don't want to piss me off. You know what? I feel bad for what's happened. here. Let me set you up for to talk about this more. It is time now for a weekly update on our favorite team, Rex Lobos. Oh, look at that. They're trying to cheer you up. I don't have a Lobos

up there. What? This is makeup sex right here. Just did your draft on Saturday. You had a good draft. I haven't memorized my lineup yet. He's not ready for a Lobos up. I'm not ready for a Lobos up. You stick ready, Scott. You sprang it on me. All right. So hold on a second.

There, will you now honor minor penalty, two minutes, murdering the show with their bare hands and a dismemberment kid in cold blood. Murdering the show with a dismemberment kit with your bare hands in cold blood. That's a two-minute penalty for you. Yeah. For Greg? Well, because he was a victim of a crime. Thank you, Billy. That's okay.

We're victim blaming. And now that he's shown everybody who's boss, because he, look, it's only happened one other time where Dominique just refused the. penalty. You have to respect the system here, even though we've disrespected you. Your rage has subsided and perhaps you can respect the delayed penalty. You can leave the laptop. Just leave the laptop. But the way to make up for what just happened is to send me to your ridiculous penalty box. That's a good way to make me happy. Well, I'm sorry we're not making you happy, but he's going to go to the kitchen. What are we talking about here? Rage fueled, rage fueled 20 minutes where I can see everybody scorched eyebrows in the other room because I felt like he was yelling at you the way that he

yelled at you when you were five. Like it was just a completely unreasonable escalation of things. That's right. I've seen that yell many a time. Summer's here and you can now get almost anything you need for your sunny days delivered with Uber Eats. What do we mean by almost? Well, you can't get a well-groom lawn delivered, but you can get a chicken parmesan

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Goldfish have short memories. Be like goldfish. Don Libetard. You owe me everything. You want me everything. You have added 10 years. Yes, I have. This man has.

You haven't. That man! Who the hell are you? Stugats. I am. Who the hell are you? Bullshit. Me!

You're a rude young man. You're a fool. You're a fool. I already called you a fool. You can't call me. You're an idiot again. It's a fool of. You're an idiot twice.

You're an idiot for dismissing how much I've helped you. This is the Dan Levitar show with the Stugats. Dan, we have John Isner here. This is very exciting. This segment is brought to you by Comcast Business, powering the engine of modern business with advanced networking and security solutions. What kind of introduction is that for John Isner? We've been wanting to talk to John Isner forever. John Isner's a hero of ours. Usually he's the guy taking part in something that's dragging on too long. Big High Life fan. That is correct. John Isner, this

is very exciting. We have not gotten to speak to you before, but we have spoken of you for a long time because your serve is the most majestic thing that any of us have ever seen in tennis. So thank you for joining us. We appreciate it. It feels like I don't know if we've talked to you about this or if I've read about this because I thank you for joining us, as I say. Yeah. Thanks for having me. How long is this question? Longer than your matches? Yeah, this is a long one. Spit it out. Your physical advantages, is there a way that physics allows you to serve better than anyone else in the sport?

Well, yeah, absolutely. I'm able to create angles when I was playing that most of my opponents aren't able to pull off. You saw that a little bit last night with Riley O'Pelka, although he lost, of course, to Carlos Alcraz last night. He's about my height, and he can create some serious angles when he's serving. So when you're almost seven feet tall playing tennis, the serve is 100% going to be your best weapon. And if it's not, you shouldn't be playing tennis at all.

I should mention that he's won 16 ATP Tour singles titles. He's the tallest top 10 player in history. Your history, when did you know you were going to do this as a career? Oh, that wasn't until my junior year of college. I didn't have pro aspirations. And typically in tennis, like bigger players take much longer. to develop. It just takes a lot longer time to grow into your body. So that was definitely the case for me. And my junior year in college, I got pretty good and decided that, you know, I didn't

want to work a regular job. So I pursued professional tennis after my senior year. I mean, I still, I went to all four years of school at the University of Georgia and had a long pro career after that. So going to college was was critical for me. But it actually, like some players, when they leave high school, they face a tough decision, whether to turn pro or go to college. For me, it wasn't tough at all. I had to go to college, but I just wasn't good enough. Do players or fans get mad at how you play tennis because you're so singularly excellent at aces? Yeah, players do, and that's a good thing. That's what I wanted. I wanted them to get mad and get frustrated because that's basically when I knew I was doing my absolute best out there, is when frustrating my opponents when they can't

get a racket on my serve and they don't have much rhythm. That's typically when I was playing my best ball. Sometimes I would even feel uncomfortable out on the court, but at the same time, I needed to realize that my opponents were feeling more uncomfortable than I was. Fans alike. Big servers, we're affectionately known as servebots, as Mike Ryan definitely knows about that term. And yeah, like fans like to poke fun of us, like being served bots, but like what do you want us to do, right? Like kick a serve in and rally 30 balls with Carlos Alcraz. It's not going to happen. So, yeah, but really, I mean, most of that rage comes from, you know, the Twitter spaces and stuff like that. So it's really not.

In real life, I think at tournaments, fans are much nicer. I should tell the folks that we're in the middle of the U.S. Open here, the first round, and it's been interesting so far. Isner's joining us from the U.S. Open. And have you seen what happened with Medvedev? I know we have hotheads throughout the sport, but where you've got a match point and the photographer seemed to feel really bad about what happened there. Your thoughts on what happened there where Medvedev is just going crazy? Yes. So I have a bit of a different take. First of all, I don't think that photographer's credential should have been revoked. He clearly made a mistake. He clearly felt

awful about it. kicking him out of the tournament, I think that's a bit harsh. If I was the umpire, I think the letter of the law, he made the right call. But in that situation, when Medvedev was already losing his mind. That's much easier said than done when you're watching this match from TV. He should not have awarded Bonzi a first serve, just knowing that Medvedev would lose his SHIT if, you know, had he got a, had he got a first serve. So I think you should just let it be, you know, it's just a four or five second delay. No one would have complained if they just, if you just let it go and just said second serve. John, Medvedev since blowing it against sinner at the Aussie is a totally different player. This is a guy that was thought to at once

be challenging the kings of the sport. And I believe this is his third first round exit in a major in his last four attempts. It's manifesting. I mean, he's always been a hot head, but he's breaking rackets. He's doing BJ signs to opposing players. Is this, is he long for this sport? It feels like that was, that might have been it. Yeah, he's losing his mind. I mean, three first round losses. in a row for a guy like DeNiel Medvedev who's made lots of slam finals has won a grand slam this one the u.s open it's been number one in the world he's just losing his marvels i think truthfully he's just mentally exhausted trying to chase perhaps at the front end of his career jokovic and rafa and maybe even fed a little bit and now towards a mid to late part of his career center and alcoraz

come along and just the prospect of him winning a big tournament has just become a lot more challenging and I think that chase has just worn him down. But also, you know, he's a big guy, and he plays, as you all know, he plays 13, 14 feet behind the base line. He's big and he's skinny. And maybe his body's just wearing out on him a little bit because he plays such a physical game out there. Moves so well for his size, but he's very wiry.

And maybe his body's taking a little bit of toll. It definitely does seem like he should take a break, put the rackets away, mentally refresh, and, you know, try to come back strong next. year. Boris Becker said Medvedev needs professional help. If you're a friend of Medvedev or a family member, would you tend to agree? I don't know about professional help. I think he would need to, in my mind, he would need to just sit down and talk with those

closest to him, his wife, his coach, his trainer. I think just putting the rackets away and not focusing on the next tournament and having to practice. and he's got two kids, I believe. Just spend time with your family. And don't focus on tennis and realize, in my mind, like, that dude's made a crap ton of money. He's been very successful.

Life is all good. Take a break from it and then come back and he should be all right. You played 17 years. So can you explain to us physically what it is that Djokovic is doing, having had a career longer than 17 years? What is this? Do people even understand what this sport does to the body? Yeah, it's brutal.

I mean, especially when you, for the most part, we're playing on hard courts, which is very, very tough on your body. So what Novak is still doing is otherworldly. I mean, he's 38 years old right now. Of course, he's playing a limited schedule. But, like, for his ridiculous standards, he's been like the fourth, the fifth or sixth best player in the world, like to date, having not played many tournaments this year. It's just crazy. But for him, as you get older, you certainly have to pick and choose your spots. And obviously, he's just focused on the grand slams.

He wants to get the number 25. But he's, in my mind, the most dedicated and professional player, I think, are sports ever seen. Like, everyone works hard on the court and off the court. You know, Raffa is a great example. I think what Novak does off the court with his diet and his sleep and his habits. And he's a bit like Tom Brady in that regard. And that's why he's the greatest of all times, just like someone like Thomas, I hate to, you know, compare two goats like that. But they take care of themselves so well.

He's so strict on his diet, his hydration. he sleeps in a hyperbaric chamber. I mean, he's sort of obsessive about his recovery. And that's a big reason why he's still doing what he's doing at 38 right now. Having played all these matches in his career, it's very remarkable. In my mind, he's one of the greatest athletes of all time, not just tennis players. We know that. But I think greatest athletes of all time, he's remarkable.

How is he different from you in terms of being obsessive, compulsive about taking care of himself? Because I would assume that you were similar. you're all you're you're all looking for edges wherever it is that you can get them and you spent 10 years in the top 20 yeah i was i was very dedicated to my body i mean i i just did a lot of things i took care of myself being so big i have to spend a lot of time in in the gym to keep myself healthy and keep myself feeling strong i i don't know i mean he knows his body like better than anyone knows their body he knows exactly what to put into it early on in his career he figured out that gluten was not for him. He's a vegan. He has his own supplement company that he promotes and drinks and just like everything he does. He just knows exactly what fuels him perfectly. I was very good in that regard. I'd like to think I was one of the best, but Novak just takes it to another level. What do you love being able to do now, John, that you couldn't do while you were an active player? Well, I like being on the other side of tennis. I'm doing some work for ESPN during the

first week of this. So it's certainly less stressful, but truthfully, like, I miss it a lot. I would prefer the stress of waking up and having a match and having those butterflies and having to warm up and stretch and get your body ready. The feeling of winning a match at a grand slam and then knowing you have the next day off to just totally chill and try to recharge is something like I seriously miss because these are the these tournaments are obviously the pinnacle of our sport and you know you don't get that anymore when um when you're retired i get my my fun out of sports with um a hockey chat that i'm in with with mike ryan and uh i'm even in a tennis chat as well that he's the uh commissioner of so i like chat i was don't forget about highlight i like

chat that's an unbelievable chat there's a chat about pickles yeah that's a good one yo my movie to yourself pickles yeah so anyway that i think the pickle chat's my favorite one Anyway, so, you know, I'm always going to stay tethered to the sport of tennis and just tethered to just sports in general. I'm a sports nut. I like to talk about it. But it's very fortunate. I mean, I had a good career and I was an American. I've got a lot of, you know, cool opportunities because of that.

And one of those is this week at the U.S. Open being able to talk about this tournament. But just to be clear, when you say that you miss it a lot, the chats about pickles and High Lie, they have not replaced what it is to play the longest match in Wimbledon history. Like, you haven't been able to recreate it with the text chats? Williams. Not quite. The highlight chat is closing that gap, though. Okay. That's a special chat.

I'm a cyclones guy for life now. Okay, yes. The owner is Chris Cody. This is his father, Greg. You walked in on him. Yeah. Is that Greg? Yes.

Is that Greg of the Mick overrated take? There we will. Thank you. Yeah. Got to be famous for something. Venus Williams is playing at 45. Greg Cody has had some opinions. on that. She was, she's playing in the U.S. opener. She was. Yeah, I mean, and she apparently

looked, I didn't see the match, but she drew raves for her match, even though she lost. I give her all the credit in the world. You know, one of the hardest things to do, and maybe you can relate to this, John, when you age as an athlete, it's tough to know when to retire and how to retire, because it's so much of who you are. And for her to still be doing it at 45, Mad respect and love for what she's done. Mad respect. Mad respect. You were mad before because of the disrespect.

Well, it's too easy to say, ah, has been, you know, know when to retire, get out and let the younger people do it. If she still wants to play at 45 and can be competitive, I give her all the credit in the world. No, I'm with you there. I think for me with Venus, it's easy to gear up for Washington, D.C., where she played a few weeks ago, in Cincinnati, which she played two weeks ago in the U.S. Open. But her rankings, nothing right now. She's like, I don't know what she's ranked. It's super, super low, 7, 800 in the world.

So what is she going to do from this point forward? Does she want to go down and play challengers? Or she want to go to Asia and play the Asian swing? So that's tough to do at 45, especially when you've been so accomplished like she has been. Obviously, when you get to play on Arthur Ashe Stadium in a night match, like I'll come back for one match for that for sure because you can't replicate that feeling of playing in that court under the light. it's not all glitz and glamour on the tour. It certainly is at the U.S. Open. So it's a lot more

difficult once this tournament ends and you look at what the rest of your tournament schedule looks like. I would think that tennis though might be something. And I don't know whether you're missing the routine here as well, just the form of what your life used to be. But tennis is so lonely and eats up so many of your childhoods that I would imagine that after 17 years there would be some relief on finally. Like I get to rest a little bit. This has been a really lonely pursued. Yeah, no, like for me for sure. Like that, that rest period has been nice, but like I still miss it. I get to recreate my childhood, a sense, like through my children now, which is, which is very special. And maybe they'll go on the tennis journey that I went on as well,

which I would love for them to do. But definitely, like, rest is nice. My body isn't beat up as much anymore. And, you know, life's all good after tennis. But when you play for 17 years, as you mentioned, Dan, it's like you've become so routine and just so, ingrained, you wake up and you ask yourself the question, like, how am I going to get better today? Even if you're not practicing on that day, you're still trying to get better, get your body better. And that's what you don't have when you retire. So it becomes difficult. It was a difficult adjustment for me.

I think a lot of athletes, not just in tennis, face that, of course, when they retire. John, you have one of the healthier relationships with tennis out of all the former pros. You're hosting the nothing major, co-hosting the nothing major podcast. You're constantly covering the sport. Is that because you were a sort of late bloomer in the sport? You kind of got really good at it later because there are other tennis players, Marty, that hate tennis now. And that seems to be the norm. Yeah, you know what?

I always said, like, midway through my career and towards end of my career that you wouldn't really see me on the tennis tour after I retired. Clearly, I didn't hold myself to that. I just quickly realized that, I mean, this sport, for me, it gave so much to me. And there's still a lot of opportunities I can gain from. In the sport of tennis after I retired, and our podcast has been a great way for us to stay relevant. Unless you're an all-time great, very quickly forgotten on the tennis scene. So our podcast has been great to keep us relevant in that regard. And again, like be able to talk tennis in New York City for ESPN.

Like, that's really cool. So these great opportunities that have come my way, I've jumped at the opportunity to do them. And hopefully I can continue to do this for quite some time. I really do enjoy it. you work with some great people and it's a lot of fun you get treated great and so i think a lot of people would would trade positions with me right now to be able to i guess wear a suit and talk about a sport which i should know a lot about again the podcast is called nothing major the u.s open continues today first round men's and women singles on ESPN do you agree with mike ryan's assessment

if i said to you i'm i'm polling all former players now what's the percentage that hate tennis I don't think it's as severe as Mike maybe said. I would say I'd give it 40% that like don't have the healthiest relationship with this game because it just, this game can torment you. I mean, you have, you know, so many tough losses and so many horrible nights of sleep after a tough loss. But I think, you know, overall the good definitely outweighs the bad. So, yeah, there's there's some good friends of mine. That's a high number, though, John.

I mean, that's a high number. That is a very high number. I mean, this game can be, this game can be tough. And Mike and I have some friends in the tennis world that don't love the sport. I like it. And I still very happy to be a part of it. John, how much of that is this generation, both on the women's side and in the men's side, they went up against generational talents that hung on to the sport at unprecedented ages.

And how much of that was not just the sport and the loneliness of the sport breaking them, but the fact that they're trying to conquer the unconquerable. Yeah, I think for the top of my head, like you name some European players, like you guys would know, like a Thomas Burditch, is an unbelievable check player who's never able to win a Grand Slam because of those three. I mean, like, for me, like, I can start myself lucky to play in the same era of those guys, but it's not like I was getting like thwarted by one of those three guys at every single Grand Slam in the quarters of the semifinal. So I don't have like, I don't have that feeling, but certainly a lot of players do. There are a lot of incredible players. David Ferrer of Spain, without. Rafa probably has a Grand Slam on his resume.

It might be in the Hall of Fame, but he doesn't now. There's a heck of a player, ridiculous career. But those players were very selfish in the top two players in our game right now. Of course, in Center and Alcraz are also selfish. They're going for eight straight Grand Slam wins between the two of them here at the U.S. Open. We've got less than 30 seconds left here, but I just want you to entertain a hypothetical with me. If I put you in your prime serving to John McEnroe beyond Borg, Boris,

Becker, all of these people, what would happen? I mean, I can hold my own with my serve. I actually saw some highlights of Rod Laver playing on grass years and years ago. He was an absurd athlete. So I think even a guy like Laver would do well in today's modern game. But yeah, you got a favor, of course, the greats like Johnny Mack and Bjorn Borg or someone like myself. Although, I haven't said that, I could definitely hold serve against those two and make them sweat a lot.

uh isner you would embed uh tennis balls in their forehead uh thank you for being on with us we appreciate the time the name of the podcast is nothing major u.s open all week ESPN men's and women singles first round on ESPN thank you sir all right thank you guys see you go clones go clones go clones let's go uh Greg Cody is still rabidly enraged now is a good time to remember where tequila's story truly began in 1795 quervo invented tequila what are you doing here quervo anytime someone Someone says quervo, I show up. Well, I do know that to be true, but even during an ad reads, like...

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