Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Tom Tebbutt: Toronto Mike'd #885

Episode Date: July 14, 2021

Mike chats with sports journalist Tom Tebbutt about his career covering tennis and the Canadians climbing the ranks. Tennis fanatic Brian Gerstein visits the TMDS backyard studio to assist.

Welcome to episode 885 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Online for free local home delivery in the GTA. McKay CEO Forums. The highest impact and least time intensive peer group for over 1,200 CEOs, executives, and business owners around the world. StickerU.com. Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals for your home and your business.

Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. And Mike Majeski. He's the real estate agent who's ripping up the Mimico real estate scene. Learn more at realestatelove.ca. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me this week is Tom Tebbitt. Tom, welcome to Toronto Miked.

Mike, you told me I'd be on the 900th edition of this. I'm kind of disappointed. Maybe we should put this off. Well, that could be the sequel when you come back to kick out the jams with me. But Tom, what a pleasure it is. I'm going to interrupt you right now because I know this is supposed to be all about me. But I'm going to ask you, of all these episodes you've done,

what's the strangest, most awkward moment you've ever had? Wow. Who's the interviewer here, Tom? Okay. Happy to answer that. Without a doubt, it was my episode with Molly Johnson. And I think I caught her on a bad day. And it also happened to be the day that Aretha Franklin passed away, who was a great role model for Molly. on the feed you can listen to that today if you like uh it went sideways awfully quick and then i had to kind of make a decision do i bail or do i try to salvage this and without a doubt that was the i guess the most nervous i've been in an episode because i had never had a an episode

turned sideways on me before so that would be my answer molly johnson right so now you have some listening to do later to hear how awkward it could get. One thing I want to point out, Mike, is that Molly, she was amazing for me when I asked my question about ballet and my daughter and all that. So we hit it off splendidly. That was your issue.

Now I need to introduce that strange voice. Who is this? The voice of God almost, I think here. Okay, so joining me here in the backyard studio, we got Tom on Zoom, but joining me is the biggest tennis fan I know, Brian Gerstein. Welcome, Brian. Thank you. Pleasure to be here, Mike. Brian, have you ever met Tom? You ever chatted with Tom Tebbitt before? Yes, I have. I don't know if Tom remembers, but it was when I went to the Davis Cup match

against the Netherlands and I was sitting complimentary of Milosz's dad. He got me tickets and I was sitting with him. And you were right there, right in front of me. We had a chat and Gene Simmons from KISS was actually sitting in the same section as us for a little while, which was really cool. I was more infatuated, I hate to say it, Brian, with Gene Simmons. I don't blame you so that's kind of fun because you must be telling that story all the time that you met Gene Simmons and I have a few pictures

unfortunately just of Gene and some lady who was totally going ballistic next to him I never had a selfie with him that would have been my my one did you get a selfie with Tom Tebbitt? I did not. You're right. Okay, Tom, you've got to set that up over some beer. So, yeah, absolutely. Talk to my agent. The price is going up every day. Okay. And isn't there another time, like, only because I did a pre-interview with Brian,

but isn't there another time you chatted with Tom Tebbitt? Like, maybe a job interview? Oh, yes, yes, yes. Come on Brian, that wasn't in person though, but yeah. Okay, so many years ago, I'm very happy in real estate where I work and all that, but I went through a midlife crisis. I wanted to work in sports and I kind of spread the word around and I had an interview for a marketing position at Tennis Canada. And I thought, who can I reach out to just to do a little research before I go in there?

And I didn't even think I would hear back from him. I said, let me try Tom Tabadie's The Dean of Cane Tennis, and he can give me some insights into Tennis Canada. So I left a message for you, or email, I forget what it was back then, and you called me back. Literally, it was so quick, I couldn't believe it. We chatted for 45 minutes or so. I don't know if you recall that, probably about maybe seven years ago or so. Yeah, I think so. Yeah. But you didn't get the job though.

I did not. No, I did not. But you know what? The funny thing is, if I would have had that job, maybe my love for tennis wouldn't be the same as it is now. It's almost easier when you're outside, not working in it, to follow it more passionately without any, you know, concerns answering to the corporation in a way. I agree with you. And along those lines, I've always thought if I was teaching tennis or going on the court every day and, you know, giving lessons to people, then I would lose my love for tennis. I just like going out there and playing with the guys I play with and having a proper match and that sort of stuff.

So sort of the same thing if you're working in the business all the time, then all of a sudden it's not an application anymore. It's a vocation. So it's a lot different. Amazing. Now, Tom, obviously I'm going to ask you some questions about your illustrious career covering the game of tennis. And then Brian's going to come in with some tennis questions

because he's a fanatic, as I said. But I'm going to ask you a question. I asked Bob Weeks this last summer. I asked Bob Weeks about the Canadian musicians who famously like love golfing. Like there's a long list from like Tom Cochran to you name it. There's a whole bunch of Canadian musicians who love to golf. Are there any equivalents for tennis? Like do you know of any kind of famous Canadians who are just nuts about tennis?

Well, right it comes to mind i should know his last name in proper english but alex jiboyinovich from rush alex what's okay there's alex lifeson alex lifeson yeah i remember he came to a lot of tournaments and and there's a ton of hockey players uh alex burrows you know the the guy who's now assistant to the canadians he's nuts about tennis uh j geez you caught me but there's lots of people who are really crazy about it and uh who like to play um geez i should and there's there there are a bunch of hockey players they actually the best best tennis player ever someone's a hockey players and actually i told this i've only talked to wayne gretzky once and didn't seem that impressed. But at the Rogers Cup a couple of years ago,

it was like before noon, before the matches started, we were in the seats at Ibu Sydney or so on. You know, I got to tell you who the best hockey player, tennis player was, a guy named Václav Nedermansky. Václav Nedermansky was a Czech who was the first foreign player to play in the NHL. And Václav Nedermansky was actually a former Czech junior junior champion so you know what great tennis players have had in the Czech Republic and I played in a little tournament with him once he was a beautiful game and I'm blanking on another

one but actually currently just retired a little bit there was a guy who played for the Bruins from Germany and he had actually beaten a number of 67 player in the world at one point he was a defenseman played for Boston I'm blanking on his name but I did an interview with him once when he was a really good player. When I did the interview with him about any other guys in the NHL who could give you a run for your money at tennis, and he said, are you kidding me? Because that's how good he was.

It's funny you mentioned Alex Lifeson off the top, because I believe I also heard Alex Lifeson when I was talking to Bob Weeks about golf musicians. I think Alex also loves golf, but when I was talking to Bob Weeks about golf musicians. I think Alex also loves golf, but when I think about it, there's a lot of parallels, I would think, between tennis and golf fanatics. They're kind of cut from the same cloth, I would think, possibly.

I like to think that tennis players are a little more athletic. I played golf as a kid before I played tennis, so I played a fair bit of golf in my youth and stuff, but I sort of like the more vigorous work. I always found actually playing golf is that trudging along, trudging along, it's almost a worse fatigue from playing golf than playing tennis, which is a good, you know, good, you know, cardiac workout and you feel kind of refreshed afterwards, but it was golf.

You trudge around, trudge around, up and down, up and down, and you get finished. You sort of have a different kind of type afterwards. But with golf, you trudge around, trudge around, up and down, up and down, and you get finished. You sort of have a different kind of type of being tired sort of thing. I've always preferred the tennis kind. Well put. Now, before we get into your writing career and how you got to the Globe and Mail, this is a strange question, but it came up in my research,

and I need to ask it. Were you a production assistant on a film called Act of the Heart? Well, that's where I started. Right out of college, I could go on forever, but right out of college, I sort of didn't want to have a conventional job. I had a girlfriend, I think, in Toronto. I was in Toronto in the fall of 68, because I'm

a really old guy now. I read a thing about Paul Allman making a movie in Montreal, and I thought, oh, maybe I need a job in that. So I went back to Montreal, which is kind of my home, even though I grew up in Trois-Rivières. And I hustled a job somehow with Paul Allman who was married to an actress named Genevieve Bourgeot at the time. Genevieve

Bourgeot was in Anne of a Thousand Days with Richard Burton. She was nominated for an Academy Award. And the co-star in that movie was Donald Sutherland. So I actually Paul Allman's house was on Redpath Crescent. If you know anything about Montreal, that's the little crescent right on the mountain where Richard was it Richard Cross when the diplomat

was... 70 times before you get a response back. Yeah, we're in the Pierre Leporte and sorry. Yeah, that was my bad. Sorry, continue. We're kidnapped. And so Paul Allman's house is there. I went up there. Anyway, long story short, I got a job.

And that was the beginning of my sort of working in the film business for five or six years, had a lot of interesting things. Just quickly. I worked on a film in the Canadian North. I worked on a film with Glenn Gould, the famous pianist, which was a treat because Glenn Gould at about 25 stopped doing concerts. So I remember there was a magic moment working on the film with Glenn Gould because it was, I speak french and it was french toronto and uh and glenn gould at one point the producer said something and we weren't filming and it was in a studio on scholar street toronto

anyway glenn gould's that played like for 25 minutes just off the cuff and the guy's pushing the cameras and the grips and all that we all listened and like he hadn't given a concert in public for 15 years and never gave one again. And so we were sitting there. It was a magical moment. And he's giving me a concert just for us. So that was that. And then I worked on Little Big Man with Dustin Hoffman because I was part of the Director's Guild of Canada.

And it was shot for a month out in Calgary. So we went out there and Dustin Hoffman was there. Wow. That's a big film. Yeah, it was a big film. I was actually the third assistant director, which means you're nothing. So I would go around and we had a lot of, I guess, indigenous people from the reserve.

And so Billy Two Ears and Joe Big Head. And so I got them to sign the release forms, work as extras sort of thing. So that was how sophisticated my work was as the third assistant director. Oh, this is so wild. I had no idea about this, this history you had there in the, and I just came across this one film credit. And by the way,

excuse any noises in our, if you hear any noise in the background here, you know, Murphy's law is that if I'm going to record in the backyard, there's going to be some construction. So we can still hear you perfectly fine. Even if you have, you can hear that.

But yeah, it's funny that that film credit came up and I'm like, this has got to be the same Tom Tebbitt. You know, he spells his name exactly right. And what, so what prevented you from like a lifetime in film? Like why are you covering tennis instead of making big films here? Well, Paul Allman was a famous Canadian film director. And I met, well, one thing, for example, I remember Paul telling me, because he made a film called Isabel. here well no well paul allman was a famous canadian film director and uh i met well one thing for example i remember paul telling me because he made a film called isabel that was the one i saw when i was in toronto then i went to montreal and got the job in the next film the

act of the heart i remember talking to paul and he was trying to raise his money from universal for i guess act of the heart and he told me how he'd go to like hollywood and you'd see a secretary you wanted to see some producer guy or some money guy so you know he's not here and Paul would just burst right through the secretary and go to the guy's office and I thought you know I couldn't do that like I just not that aggressive a guy or that whatever determined so right but I mean I like working on films uh because it was quite athletic because you you know I shot you'd shoot outdoors in the winter you'd shoot you were always outside you were stuck in an office doing something all day and and actually i can tell you just a quick story about sure you know don shabib is a famous canadian film director made going down the road

and i tried to try to hustle a job with him once and i talked to actually played basketball against him at the ymca once too he was a fun fun guy sort of but anyway um i interviewed for a job with him and i was just like an assistant director and so he's asking me and he said asking me sort of what i do and he said oh yeah traffic cop so that's that's what assistant director does you run the set and you take care of all the people the actresses you know the technicians the hairdressers the makeup guys the you know the props and all that stuff so so i enjoyed that but what happened towards the end was i never really had the ambition to be a director and secondly towards the end i was doing a lot of commercials

because i was in montreal and doing commercial i remember once you did a commercial for taste your choice the coffee sure and we were looking at the beauty shot at the end and you had to get the little beans of coffee and you have it and i thought jesus you know i went to college for four years and here i am doing a commercial taste your choice we were worried about what the beans look like and so then i started actually doing a lot for Tasteless Choice. We were worried about what the beans looked like. So then I started actually doing a lot of radio work and sports sort of stuff for CBC. Well, actually, in 1975, I went to Wimbledon and did a radio documentary, and that started me doing some documentaries for CBC Radio,

and then eventually, obviously, into tennis a few years later. Okay, now back to Shabib for a minute here. By any chance, that movie that you're referring to, that's not the follow-up to Going Down the Road, is it? I don't know what it was. There was another one. It was a very touching movie, I remember, because the kid woke up in the morning

and saw his father going to work at 6 o'clock and never realized his father did that. He was sort of a punk kid. That was sort of the message of the film. The young guy didn't realize his father got up and went to work every day to provide money for the family. Okay. I think it was Ripoff. Yeah, okay.

So here, you ready? This is going to, I think it'll blow your mind as it's blowing my mind right now. So Peter Gross is in that movie. You might know Peter Gross from the local sports media scene. I had Peter Gross in my backyard last summer. We had Donald Shabib, by the way. We had a conversation with him via phone. But we did a deep dive into rip-off.

Like, all the details, everything Peter could remember, Donald Shabib. That happened. So there's a whole rip-off episode of Toronto Mic'd. Oh, is it? Right. No, it was almost more influential

than going down the road, although. And I don't know what ever happened to Donald Shabib, but he doesn't do too much anymore. Oh, he lives around here. He lives in this neighborhood, sort of pretty close to here. He's in Etobicoke. And his son

Noah, massively successful as a producer for Drake. Oh, really? Wow. Like, it's just a wild story there as well. And really quickly, because we are live on Facebook, I'm just going to point out that Mac is watching live, and Mac says that Maradona used to show up at the Rogers Cup all the time,

largely unrecognized. So that goes back to our chat about the famous tennis fans. So he throws Maradona in there. Yeah, well, no, actually, there's a lot of actors and actresses, obviously, who like tennis too. Actually, I'll just tell you one quick story. The film was I told before on the radio in Montreal, so I can tell it to you. And it's not too nice about Donald Sutherland.

But I remember seeing Donald Sutherland at the Roland Garros because I worked with him on that first film, Act of the Heart. Right. And the bad story about Donald Sutherland, I was a 22 year old kid and pretty good looking guy. So my first job in the film is I go pick up Donald Sutherland at the was a 22-year-old kid and a pretty good-looking guy. So my first job in the film business, I go pick up Donald Sutherland at the airport in Montreal, drive him, and he didn't want to stay in a hotel. He wanted to stay in a sort of funky loft kind of place. So we found him a place, or they found him a place in Montreal, Place Royale. He was on the third floor of a building, had a loft. So I

took him there. It was like, we got there at, say, 2 o'clock or something. There was a good-looking young me at 22, and Donald Sutherland, and he was about 12 years older than me. And so Paul Almond and his wife wife jennifer the co-star we're going to come and see him like on a four or five in the afternoon so i was i sort of hung out with him in the loft waiting for them to come and he put on uh i don't know how to put this without sounding a little whatever he put on a gay act with me and he started coming on to me and i'm 22 years old i'm thinking just dying because i got this fantastic job working this because there because there weren't many Canadian features in those days.

I got this great job, you know, as an assistant, production assistant on this great film, and Donald Sutherland's coming on to me, and, you know, I'm not gay, and I'm not coming across for this guy, but, you know, I don't want to lose my job on the film, so I never forgave him for that, because at the post-production meeting, the associate producer told me, yeah, Sutherland

told him the story about how he pulled that on me, so I never forgave him. If I could just interject on that, as a huge Montreal Expos fan that everyone knows out there, and Donald Sutherland is literally the biggest star out there that supported the team through its heyday, you just shattered my

dreams and images of Donald and no longer will I just refer to him as Donald and who he is. You just, you're breaking Brian's heart. You're actually breaking my heart. It happens to be the truth. I remember he used to actually put,

put the phone by the radio in those long days to listen to games. And he was in, I guess in LA or something. He listened to games by putting the phone to it. It cost him tens of thousands of dollars. It was a lot of money back then with, you can imagine technology back in that era. So he, money was no issue for him to do it. Yeah, exactly. It was no lot of money back then with, you can imagine, technology back in that era. So money was no issue for him to do it.

Yeah, exactly. It was no big deal. Wow. Okay, so Tom, Globe and Mail. Basically, give us a little, I mean, you started us on the path. It sounds like you went to Wimbledon for that documentary. How do you end up covering tennis for the Globe and Mail? covering tennis for the Globe and Mail? Well, I guess the very simple story is partly related to how I moved to Toronto in 1983. I guess, no, in 1974, believe it or not, I came to my first Canadian Open in Toronto. And that was at the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club. And the following year was at the Cricket Club. And the following year, that, excuse me, in 1976, it went up to where it is now.

So I actually saw it in the last year in the club. So in 1971, I went to the Canadian Open and met a couple of people who were involved with a magazine called Rackets Canada and started writing a little bit and did a little bit of stuff for a few years and wrote for them. I guess I even wrote maybe the odd article for Globe and Mail when I was in Europe or something. Basically, in 1983,

the guy who was the editor of Rackets Canada magazine decided not to. A guy named Tony Leighton, actually actually was a very good freelance writer, a very talented guy, decided not to develop his editor. I came to Toronto and became the editor of Rackets Canada. That lasted for a year and a half with a lot of bad management. And then the following year, a couple of years later, I started doing a publication called Encore, which I was everything.

I wrote all the articles. I had all kinds of pen names. My favorite pen name was Mel Buckle because I wasn't going to put out this publication with Tom Tepper, Tom Tepper, Tom Tepper, whatever. Anybody's going to think it's really amateurish. So anyway, luckily, the woman had been there before me, had sent out copies of Encore. It came out six to six times a year. I did it eight times a year. Send it out to the editors of the Star, the Globe and Mail and the Sun, I guess, and whatever. And so David Langford, who was the editor of the Sports Center at the Globe and Mail, was getting this thing.

And then all of a sudden in 1990, he called me up and said, you know, they had Lauren Rubenstein, who was writing the golf column. They decided he wanted a tennis column. So I met David and started writing a column for the Globe and Mail in 1990 and sort of being their tennis writer from then on. And how many years did you put in at the Globe and Mail there? Well, roughly 20 years, from 1990 to 2010. And then I was really lucky

actually because, you know, Lauren's long gone, Bob Wheat's long gone, as you know, he was doing curling. And a lot of people are gone. So in 2010, actually, Tennis Canada came to me. And I was around retirement age then. And luckily, I made the choice to leave, to go to Mail, to go to Tennis Canada and become their writer retirement age then. And luckily, I made the choice to leave to go

mail to go to Tennis Canada and become their writer. And then within a year or two, I would have been gone at the Globe and Mail anyway, because they had no budget and they were hiring freelancers. So I extended my career for at least another 10 years by, you know, working for Tennis Canada, going to all the four Grand Slams every year and, you know, covering tennis for another decade. Well, I've been told by friends like David Schultz that the move is to wait for that offer of the package. That's the move. You just wait till they offer you the big package

and then you jump at it. But you didn't wait. Well, first off, how much am I getting for this appearance, Mike? I was a freelancer. I got paper, article, and no pension plan and no bio at the end of anything. Actually, I can give you my bank and you can send me a little thing for my pension fund. Well, as I told you before we pressed record, I wish you were in the backyard right now because I would have a large meat lasagna for you from Palma Pasta.

I'd have fresh craft beer for you from Great Lakes Brewery. I'm not kidding. I'd have hand sanitizer for you from Ridley Funeral Home, and I'd have a Toronto Mike sticker for you from StickerU.com. So you're well compensated for being a guest on Toronto Mike, Terry. StickerU.com. I've been dying for one of those. I have an idea, if I can just interject.

I'd be happy to bring it over to do a meet and greet with Tom after we leave here. If you have that ready, Mike, I can drop it off. I'm happy to compensate the meet and greet, Tom. I might be able to survive without it, but who knows. What do you get for appearing on Bob McAllen's podcast? Not a sticker as good as that one hey on that note and I know I'm talking over

the construction here but that's all part of the fun of these backyard recordings but there was a can you please explain the brown socks reference it's brown socks? it is was it Bob that gave it to you or how did it come about it's a ridiculous reference is yeah who gave you that was it bob that gave it to you how did it come about

well it's a ridiculous reference i think it had to do with red socks i wore red socks one day and for some reason it was always red socks and it became brown socks so you know brown socks don't look too good with shorts i don't think and whatever kind of shoes you're wearing so yeah it became brown socks, but definitely was red socks. Sorry, I could never figure it out. Okay. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Sorry, I got a molar problem at the back there.

Do you think you could send that guy over here? He's doing some drilling on some bricks, it looks like. I'm looking right at it. Yeah, we should just get another microphone set up, pick up even more of that wonderful background sound. But I hope you can still make out our voices. I was going to ask you just... Yeah, I can do fine.

Touch on that, how you got involved at Sportsnet 590, the fan, because that's where many people, I mean, of course, people loved your Tebbit Tuesdays and read you in the Globe forever, but hearing you on the fan 590 was always pretty awesome. Well, yeah, especially with Aces, which I'm sure you're alluding to, with Roger Lajoie, which I was a regular listener on. But yes, go ahead, Tom. Thank you. Yeah, well, I think I actually got into the sports at the 590.

Was it 1410 or 1490? 1430. 1430, the very first year, I think. So I did things for them. Just, you know, they'd call me up with something. And then I guess it was about 10 years ago or 12 years ago, they started Aces. And then they had one year with another host,

a guy who worked for Tennis Canada. And then they asked me to co-host with Roger. So we had a lot of fun. And it was kind of crazy towards the end because they had trouble finding a time slot. So we were doing things after the Blue Jays games. So I'd go down there like 11 o'clock at night, which sort of gave it a cachet.

You know, when you're doing, I don't know if Mike, you've probably done a bit of radio or something, but you know, you're in a studio 11 o'clock at night, you're kind of a little out of it and sort of have just fun loving and it's not as serious. And so it was always enjoyable to do that.

Yeah, all the fun happened. I actually kind of regret the fact we don't get those live overnight shows anymore because that's where the fun was happening. You know, the Storm and Norman rumax of the world would come alive when it was nighttime. It was much looser and much just a different vibe. Mike Richards as well.

Yeah, for sure. So, well, remember, the game launched the careers of both Jeff Merrick and George Strombolopoulos, if you want to go back that far to the early 90s when Mac O. Sr. was the program director. But I digress. So before I pass this baton to Mr. Gerstein, who's patiently waiting to pepper you of some great tennis questions,

I just want to congratulate you because I was reading, Tom, that you won the 2015 George Gross Award for Career Achievement. And I know because I've heard enough stories about george gross this i i hope you're very proud of this this is a well-deserved accomplishment well yeah i was i was a bit surprised i think lauren rubinstein got it about five or six years before that and i had actually been there for the ceremony that day i've been to dinner really think that uh that i would have a chance to win it so there's i, I mean, I'm trying to think, but there was a guy named René Le Cavalier

when I lived in Montreal. René Le Cavalier was the voice of the Canadians. Probably the most, I don't know how to put it, artistic, he was fantastic. You know, I listened to him as a kid and René Le Cavalier's name is on that trophy that I got mine. It was my name on it.

Awesome here. really the cavalier's name is on that trophy that i got mine my name awesome here uh and brian when you see my hand do that that's the i'm muting us so good idea so all your uh wonderful insights will not be heard by anyone but me so uh brian take it away uh you got tom tebbitt here he's like a prisoner here he's unable to log off the zoom you may hit him with all your great questions i could go two three four hours whatever but i know tom's on a tight timeline here okay tom my first question is being on the same street growing up with miloche and friends with the family and representing them in real estate as well and just uh going for walks with duchenne and gotten to really know the insights of the tennis world you know through his dad and actually seeing early in the morning Gallo Blanco his first coach when he was learning early in his career and I used to see them he would sleep over at his house and I'd see them wake up in the morning go out and load loads of tennis balls and their equipment and were you hiding in the bushes Brian just by fluke, but I did always, it's funny, I live in Glen Manor Way

and there's two ways to go into my street. And I always choose the way that passed by Dushan and Milosh's house so I could see any of all the activity going on for tennis. That's how much of a fanatic I was back then. Still am. So my question is about Milosh himself. I know that obviously, you know, the horrible fall that he had at Wimbledon with Gilles Muller

when he was playing him and the subsequent surgery. How different would his career path have been? Do you think that really is the reason all his other subsequent injuries on that one side of his body and all that? Like, where would Miloš have been if you take that slip away? I'm just curious about where you think he would have ended up. He's still the most decorated player in Canadian tennis, but, you know, on the male side. But what are your thoughts on his path, if he would have ended up. He's still the most decorated player in Canadian tennis, but, you know, on the male side.

But what are your thoughts on his path, if he would have been able to stay healthy? Yeah, no, I think I was there. I mean, I was sitting in the three rows up behind the court when he went down, and he went down right in front of us. And, you know, you actually remember he played one more game, limped out and helped serve or something. And and but then obviously he couldn't play. And then he that was, you know, around the 28th of June or something.

And then I think a week or two later, he had surgery in Colorado with a very famous doctor. And I remember in late September, Canada played Davis Cup in Israel. And I was there with him and he was maybe hoping to play, but he couldn't play. And eventually he came back in October. And, you know, obviously he's played well since. But I really think, yeah, it's something. He was 20 years old at the time. You get that much damage to your hip at 20 years old that you need to have surgery.

It just sort of takes, I guess the right word isn't innocence, but it takes away your sort of just sheer joy of playing and feeling sort of bulletproof and everything because, you know, you've just come up and you're doing well. And it was, I think he ended this first big year ended at number 31 or something next year. He was 13. And I mean, it was tremendous ascension and he did really well, but and he once told us, I'll never forget him leaving the interview room in Australia after,

I think losing to Andy Murray in the semifinals. And he'd hurt his adductor muscle or whatever, or ligament. And he said that he did wonder then all the things he's had, whether it was thigh or knee or ankle or whatever, it was all on the right side where he'd hurt his hip. So he'd wondered about that. And just the fact that he had that in his head, I don't think was a good thing. So who knows for sure. But I mean, obviously, it could have been a different story if he hadn't had that injury.

That match against Murray, by the way, he was completely outplaying him. I always watch the Australian Open. I stay up and I never miss a Canadian match. And he would have won that match if he didn't have the injuries that match. So it's unfortunate. And as far as a follow-up in terms of just, he's coming back now and he's scheduled to play in the Hardcourt tour coming up in Washington and obviously the other big U.S. Open, of course.

Where do you think he's going to kind of – does he need a lot of game matches to get back in? Is he going to be able to compete right off the bat? Or how do you think he's going to do when he comes back? I don't know. He's been out, I think, since Miami, which was in March. So that's a long time to be out. And I mean, I think he's, I hate to say, he's a little bit in the same boat as Roger Federer. I mean, you go so long without playing, you have an injury.

I mean, Federer had surgeries, but Milos has gone so long without playing. And when he starts back, is he going to be a little bit paranoid about hurting himself again? I guess it's the calf that's his problem. So it's all up in the air. But obviously, you know, when he's been functioning in all gears, he's a pretty fearsome guy to play against. But I was thinking the other day, if you think of Grigor Dimitrov, you think of Kenny Shikori and even a little bit David Goffin.

They're all his same generation. They're all around 30, 51 now. And they've all had quite a few injuries lately. So you sort of wonder, a lot of people wonder, because they were the generation we expected to follow of Djokovic and Federer and Nadal. And yet they had these injuries. So have they been passed over? Is it going to go back to

Zverev and Thiem and then Shapovalov and Felix and Sitsipas and all these guys. Don't forget Medvedev. Yeah. Who knows? A lot of guys. You can go to Thinner and Muzeti and all these other young guys too. So it's hard to tell. But I mean, I think, you know, through the, who knows, a lot of guys. You can go to Thinner and Musetti and all these other young guys, too. So it's hard to tell.

But, I mean, I think, you know, there can't be too many more injuries for Miloš before. It's just too hard to tackle all these problems. Okay. Now, his era parents, you know, obviously we have Felix and Dennis. And I've had such amazing debates on Twitter about who is the highest ceiling, who's going to be potential number one or top five, who's going to win the first major. That camaraderie they have and the competition,

and they're only 16 months apart. Where do you see the ceiling in that? I still feel that Felix, even though he's lower ranked, he's 15, you know, Dennis is 10. I feel that he is the higher upside because physically he's 6'4", he's got the perfect tennis body. He's like a mini Djokovic in a way, the way he can move around the court. He's just incredible court coverage.

Where do you think it's going to fall? Who's going to have the, by the end of their careers, we'll look back at it and say, okay, Dennis was the flashier player, but Felix, he basically had the more result-oriented career. Where do you see that going? Well, unfortunately, I've been around too long. So, you know, I can't make a prediction on that. But one thing I've said to a lot of people about this is,

would you rather be 6'4 and right-handed or would you rather be 6'0 and left-handed? And Dennis obviously is left-handed and 6'0 and Felix is 6'4. Right. I don't know, seeing Dennis play in the semifinal of Wimbledon against Djokovic, he was fantastic. I mean, he's got more firepower than Felix. Felix is probably

a better athlete or something. Felix, some people think, is a bit too nice a guy, maybe doesn't quite have the killer instinct, and Dennis sort of seems to be having a little more of the killer instinct, but I mean, I wouldn't go against either of them. I think the ceiling is still very high for both of them, and it's

easy for somebody to say, ah, Dennis, he's the man. He's going to do it, but I'm not going to do that just because I think they both have potential. The other thing is, we were talking about Milos a few minutes ago. Who knows when an injury comes up or something like that, and then it sort of mutes the whole argument. True. Now, what's the latest on Uncle Tony?

Do you have anything you can share with us? Cause I know he wasn't a Wimbledon and I was hopeful that he would be there with Felix and he wasn't. Is he still involved in his coaching or is he an ear to listen to or where, where is that at right now? I don't really know. I did hear just something in passing and something I was listening to the other day that it might be over, but I mean,

that would sort of make sense of it. I mean, cause Felix is now over here in North America for the next couple of months or in Japan for the Olympics. And Uncle Tony ain't moving from Mallorca, I don't think. So, you know, maybe it could resume at some point. But I suspect it is over. But, you know, it wouldn't be surprising if they get back. I mean, he's obviously a good reference point

and a very experienced guy. And, you know, Felix would probably like to stay in some sort of contact with him. Now, was he able to fix Felix's serve? Because that was always an issue. I know Dennis still has serve issues with the ball toss, but he still served amazing in Wimbledon. Is that something that Felix has kind of mastered at this point?

Because it looked pretty solid when I was watching him. Again, I'm an old guy who's seen guys play well at one point and then two weeks later not play well. So who knows? Felix was impressive that way and Dennis was as well. So, I mean, they're both young guys. They're coming up. I mean, one thing I've always admired about Federer is if you look at his

stats after a match, one double fault, two double faults, zero doubles, one double fault, you know, it's amazing how consistent his serve is. And he has a very good serve. So it would be fantastic if they could both get to that kind of point. But even, you know, even the other players, the very top players, aren't quite as good as Federer is at that while having an exceptional serve as Federer does. Okay, now that you brought in Federer, I'm going to segue to the big three, if that's okay.

We're at an historic point, you know, 20 majors each, which is really super cool. And I know you're not big on making predictions and all that. And I get that things can change and it's, it's hard to do. In terms of what Djokovic is doing, it looks like right now he's planning on maybe skipping the Olympics because he kind of put it out there. He's not going to go for the golden slam and focus more on the calendar slam. Is that where you think he's headed? And would it be really cool if he did what Steffi Graf did in 88? I mean, that would be pretty awesome achievement if he did, but what are your thoughts on what he'll end up deciding on that? I know it came in another prediction I keep asking you,

but what do you think is going to happen, if you can take a guess? Well, I don't know if I can say what I think is going to happen, but I think I can tell you what I think should happen. And I've said to several people, if you go back, and I don't want to be too long-winded here, but he played in Rome, got to the final, took two weeks off, played the French, took two weeks off and played Wimbledon. Takes two weeks off and plays the Olympics.

Take a week or two off and plays either Toronto or Cincinnati. Takes a week off, played the US Open. That's an awful lot of tennis. And really without a really consistent long break. And he did say the other day when it was 50-50, I also heard him say somebody wanted to have a rest or whether a good rest. I think it makes a lot of sense for him not to play the Olympics

because if you can achieve the Grand S grand slam which hasn't happened for more than 50 years i mean that's a historic historic thing in tennis so why waste i mean obviously be nice to have a gold medal but if you go there and the jet lag and the trip and you can't take a stringer and all these other things you know why not just really save yourself and either play toronto or cincinnati and then take take really 100% prepare the US Open and try to achieve the Grand Slam in one year because you know obviously the wider public see the gold medal the tennis people

really know how exceptional the Grand Slam is and probably maybe this is his only chance to do it so I would stack all the odds in my favor and pass on the Olympics have a good long rest of four or five weeks and then really gear up for the US Open. Right and Bianca of course opting out of the Olympics recently. Dennis is not going. So a lot of them are just, you know, deciding it's just not worth it.

There's too many restrictions. And Paris is only 30 years away, too. So it's not that long away. Yeah, that's a very good point about Paris being so soon. And I think that, you know, the fact that you are going to compromise maybe the rest of your summer a little bit. And even the fact that there are no spectators there and you can't go and see the other Olympic sports, it's not going to be the kind of Olympics you really want to go to if you're an athlete. And we're hoping to have all the benefits and enjoyments you get from being an athlete at the Olympics. Okay, switching, I just want to ask you about the women's side, because I've kind of ignored them so far. I did bring up Bianca's name.

I just want to ask you about the women's side, because I've kind of ignored them so far. I did bring up Bianca's name. She's obviously coming back, has a ton of points to defend between the Indian Wells, the U.S. Open, the Canadian Open, or National Bank Open, as they call it now. Where do you think, in terms of her play, and she seems to recover pretty well when she kind of jumps out there in the court kind of thing, do we as fans have to be patient

and just not have super high expectations, or is she going to surprise us once again uh well i mean obviously i don't know about that i mean i just think that she's really she's a supreme talent there's players like shriyantek now and and her and obviously ashley bardy and you know a bunch of uh uh halibut if she comes back and it's just a lot of really good women player players out there but But her ceiling is very high. She's just a fantastic athlete. She's fun to watch, too, don't you think?

I mean, I just love her game. No, she has the whole gamut of strokes. I mean, she can probably do it better than any woman. I mean, Ashley Barty's fantastic and everything like that. But I think Bianca has a little more power to go with all the artistic things like the drop shots and the loopy balls, the lobs, the volley, everything. She's just a fantastic talent. But again, you never know when a player who,

I used the word bulletproof before, but a player like her was bulletproof, won the Indian Wells, won the Canadian Open, won the US Open, did so well. And then you sort of get, something gets sort of off the track through injury and all that sort of stuff and not playing. You just never know if they ever get it back 100%. But I'm pretty optimistic that as long as she gets healthy again, and she can be a factor, definitely one of the top, you know,

two or three or four players in the world. She's just too talented. I agree with you. Now, again, Jeannie Bouchard has been kind of recovering now from her own surgery. She had a tear in her right shoulder. It's hard for her at her ranking right now to be relevant in terms of that. Is there any chance that she can kind of get into,

you know, some wild cards maybe? Are we going to see some more of her in the coming years? Or is she kind of, you know, playing low-key and playing when she can, you know, get into, you know, challenger tournaments or whatever? I don't know where her ranking's, you know, into the 100s now. Is there a possibility maybe of new balance in that

association that she's more serious about her game now? What do you think is going on there? Well, I think she's very serious about her game. I think she's now 27 years old, I guess. And I think when you get to that age, you realize the years are passing. And the other thing players always forget when they're in their prime

is they think they've got five years of where they are at that moment, but they don't. Because there's always somebody coming up from behind so i think it's going to be hard for her for several years now i've sort of said about her she has too many scars i mean she you know she had she's had injuries she's had the distractions of you know all because she's very good looking she's has other things she's had you know bad losses and at 27 years old you don't have the innocence you have when you're younger. So I think it's going to be really hard for her to come back. She has played some very good tennis since the pandemic last year when she first came back.

I guess about a year ago now. She played in the Czech Republic and she played really well. I think she played Kutumatova. Maybe I'm wrong. She played the Merkens and played her very tough. She played a very good match at a very good level. But it's going to be tough coming back from surgery, also being older. And I think I just saw that she's entered,

I think in world team tennis in November. So I guess she's going to take a few more months and now she's got this new boyfriend, Mason Rudolph was the backup quarterback, the Roethlisberger with the Steelers. So I mean, I guess good for her. It's fun for her. Maybe they're having a good time, but it's not how much of that is a distraction too. So it's going to be very, very hard for i just think it's it's you know you you have that rush of innocence i i'm a big believer in that and then dennis and felix are just coming

out of that as well they're coming out of being sort of young and promising and everything and you know everything's going their way to being actual real pros getting into their 20s getting towards their mid-20s when they have to really become pros. And then they can become very good as well. But it's a loss of innocence now. This is really becoming an adult tennis player, a professional tennis player, and capitalizing on all you have. Brian, if I may just interject here for a moment.

I'm listening to you guys talk. It's amazing. All this Canadian talent, and you talk about, you know, a few Canadian tennis players who are potential, you know, number ones in their respective genders there. But I got to ask Tom, like, you've been covering tennis a long time. Like, what was it like when you had, you didn't have this? Like, you didn't have the Canadians who were, you know, ever in contention to win a major, et cetera. Like, just how far has, you know, tennis Canada come? It's to win a major, etc. Just how far has tennis Canada come?

It's unbelievable. Great question, Mike. If Brian says that's a good question, then I feel like I have contributed to this episode. So thank you, Brian. Go ahead, Tom. Well, it would have been laughable. I actually wrote a blog last week,

and I think Dennis now is number 10, Felix is number 15, Milos is 22. And if you go to the Americans, I think it was Opelka is 32, Isner is 33 and Taylor Fritz is 40. So the top three Canadians are like actually almost miles ahead of the top three Americans. And that would have been totally inconceivable. No way you could ever told me that or told anybody in Canada or told anybody in the whole world. You know, when you, you had the generation generation Sanford, Sagasee, Courier and Chang I mean those guys were unbelievable and there's even a worse example and I think it was 1979 in the top

18 players in the world 11 were Americans wow 18 11 were Americans so so. 18, 11 were Americans. So, well, you asked me how did this happen? One of my favorite explanations, because I don't think there's any real explanation. Well, I have a friend who played at Wimbledon, a former player, a Canadian guy, a real colorful guy. I won't say his name, but he told me the best answer to this. He said the reason we have all these great Canadian players, we thank the Canadian government. Remember we had a multiculturalism ministry in the 90s? Except for Bouchard, every single one of our

top six or seven players, and you know, Pospisil, Brownidge, Felix, Dennis, talking about Leila Fernandez and Bianca, are all... Oh, we lost him. Tom, you still there, buddy? Okay, Tom froze up, so this is the Excel. What do you think he was going to say?

And then we'll get him back and find out what he did say. He was talking about Tennis Canada Development Program. Oh, it's, you know what? Someone from France who came over, and he revitalized the whole program. And it's kind of like on the podium, the way we did it for our Olympic athletes, where they just focused on it.

Yes, and we kicked ass in 2010. That's right, yeah. i'm just checking in on it might have been my wi-fi so i might have to take a hit on this but yeah that's okay because we are recording of course yeah i want to went for one thing that tom didn't talk about shandy bouchard had a concussion at the u.s open getting back to back sorry yeah sorry tom's back now tom we lost you for like 30 seconds uh because i had a wi-fi issue for like 30 seconds there. So I had Brian, are you sure you didn't go over and get the guy with the song? I think he's taking a break now, thankfully. Yeah. I think he might've hit a cave, a very important cable, maybe some of that

five network here. Uh, so you were literally about to tell us, uh, what happened that, you know, the government, you know, you thank the government of Canada for this surge of Canadian talent. And then we lost you for a good 30, 45 seconds. Oh, OK. Well, sorry I didn't mention it. But if you think of Vasek, Prasad, Miloš, Felix and Dennis, and then you think on the women's side of Leila Fernandes and Bianca Andreescu, they're all the children of immigrants. And the only one who isn't is Jeanne Bouchard. So I think the kids, who knows, maybe they came from a culture where their parents came from more appreciation of tennis. Maybe the parents had more drive.

Maybe the kids had more drive. But the fact that we had a ministry of multiculturalism in the 1990s, maybe that encouraged more immigrants. So that was one theory. The other theory is this guy, Louis Borfica, came over from the french federation and he was in montreal the national tennis center and he helped out miloš and bashek a little bit helped out bouchard as well and and so he he was and he got some very good coaches for the players including for bouchard and and and for miloš and for dennis and everything so that was one of the explanations and the other explanation is just

you know they all feed off each other we got some very good players and they feed off each other. So there's no easy explanation. The last thing I'll say, cause I'm a little bit cynical about all this stuff, but I grew up in the seventies when at one point they were four Swedes in the top 11. So four Swedes in the top 11, which is unbelievable. And you think of the States and you think of Czech Republic and all these France, all these great countries, Germany, and the Swedes had four. And about four years ago, you know how many Swedes there were in the top 400? Zero.

Yeah. I don't think that the coaches in Sweden all of a sudden were horrendous. So some of these things just go in cycles and they're hard to explain. But, you know, definitely, you know, some of the reasons I mentioned are probably responsible for all these great Canadian players. Makes sense. And guys my age, we look at what's your highlight from Canadian tennis, and we look back, and speaking of the Swedes, we think, oh yeah, Daniel Nestor beat Stefan Edberg. That was that moment, that one with Davis Cup, right?

Yeah. And now you can ask Mike, I got four kids. They can say Oh yeah, you know, Bianca won the US Open It's like, okay, we've raised the bar Yeah, it's now mainstream, which is amazing It's not a new sport Where you can see at the top of the sports

Cast and tennis is not Playing little Kid brother anymore, which is fantastic For the country What a time, what a time to be a Canadian tennis fan. So I mean, now pick it up again. Yeah, maybe I'll just move off of tennis and Tom's analysis and just focus on your career a bit

because I've always enjoyed your trivia questions. I'm hopeless at, I get maybe a few right. I'm not a big trivia tennis person, but I appreciate your efforts you put into that. There's are amazing, you do them on an annual basis. And how much fun was it doing those video hits? Because whenever I watch them, they're so hilarious. Just the ones when you're at the majors and you're pulling the locals and you're asking them how to pronounce Shapovalov and all various questions about Canada or just in general. Do you enjoy doing those? Like you

seem to have such a natural ability to get people to open up and do those uh those blogs and i know you do a lot more um in this era with photography and videography and everything how much harder has your job been you know just the trends transmitting from the written word you know to everything else oh the video the video world is a piece of cake it's just fun i mean i do it for nothing really the right is hard i mean i sit down and i agonize almost over every word and get a little slower of age and uh you know everybody's going to read the next day but i mean it's just like well just like what conversation we have now we can bs about this and we make jokes about that and and the other thing is doing those videos i

really have to give a lot of credit to a guy named mauricio pais who lives in florida is originally from guatemala he played college tennis in Florida. He's a terrific guy, and he's in his, I guess, early 30s. And he did all the camera work and the sound work and all that stuff. So I just stand there and ham it up. I mean, one of my favorite ones is Wimbledon a couple of years ago. I was trying to do like a man-in-the-street type interview, and I'm sitting there, and I'm looking at the draw,

and I think, Jesus, there's four guys named Dennis in this draw. I remember that one, yeah. One of my only strokes of brilliance is we started asking people and we actually got Feliciano Lopez. Feliciano Lopez, he got Dennis Novak and Dennis Chapovala

and Dennis Isterman. Dennis Kudla? Dennis Kudla, yeah. Pam Shriver, we got her and and she finally got three of them, and she couldn't get Dennis Kudla. And Dennis Kudla lives in Maryland or something, grew up right where she grew up. So anyway, that was really fun.

Those were fun. I ran into Martina, and actually one year at the U.S. Open, we were interviewing people, and we got a guy who sang at the Metropolitan Opera, and he sang a few bars of some opera for us and stuff like that. So it was really fun. I mean, I find it no work at all.

I mean, and I didn't do any of the technical editing or anything. I just did the hamming it up and doing interviews. So that was a piece of cake. Is it true that you don't have a cell phone? Cause I've noticed the Roush alluded to that. Have you gotten one since or? No,

a bit of a story about that. I won't say who it was, but when I started working for Tennis Canada, there was a woman there who said, you know, Rogers is sponsored, we'll get you a cell phone. And I said, fine, great. And she never came across. And so I just said to Helen.

You're a man of principles, Tom. The other thing is, well, the other simple things are, number one, I'm single. So I don't have a wife and kids, not to worry about that. And one of the reasons I've survived, I'm single. I don't have a wife and kids. One of the reasons I've survived all these years is I've never owned a car. I drive and rent cars and borrow cars and all that stuff. I drive a car, it's very important to have a cell phone because if you get in trouble or something like that. There have been not that many reasons to have one, really. Obviously, I have the internet. I have a landline in my home. And so I've been a little bit stubborn about it.

But at this point, it's sort of late in the game. And I don't miss having one too much. And I can go for a walk without pulling out my phone and looking down on my right hip all the time. Tom, you're not the first Toronto Mike guest to go that route because the legend Jerry Howarth famously never had a cell phone and

he seemed to do just fine without one. There's a lot of people I know. I read a friend of mine named Mike Muschia who's an author who loves tennis and he's written seven or eight novels and he writes on longhand and he never uses a computer. I don't know what I do writing longhand.

I mean, I love working the computer. You just erase it if you make a mistake, and you can't get it. Refine it, refine it, refine it. Whereas if you're writing a longhand on a piece of paper, God, it would take you years to finish stuff. Now, is that true in your writing, because I've read up on you a lot just preparing for this, that you hate deadlines, and you kind of let things roll.

That way the Tab of Tuesday with your articles gave you a little bit more time to kind of, you mentioned that the writing, you feel, I guess, a little bit of pressure to meet deadlines, but you don't really have to be that strict. Because I've always clicked refresh, refresh, waiting for you to come up with your Tab of Tuesday. And it finally came on. I said, Eureka, it's here, kind of thing. So why did you pick Tuesday? Is that after a major you give you a day or so in between?

Alliteration, right? TT. Actually, I think it was Michael Downey who was the president of Tennis Canada who was the one that hired me sort of from the Globe and Mail. And he just said, tell me Tuesday or something like that. And I was happy with that because when I wrote for the Globe, my column was on Mondays. So that sort of took out Sunday,

which kind of ruined the weekends a little bit. So this way, having a Tuesday, you had Monday. So it was a normal workday to do it. And as far as deadlines go, I mean, Kevin Tuesday, I could write it anytime. I might even start Saturday, write a little bit of Sunday, and then make it pretty fine and refine it. But I was pretty poor because I never was really a newspaper man until, I don't know, my 40s or something, and you go to Wimbledon.

Actually, being in France and being in England is fine because you've got the time difference and I've written as late as 2.30 in the morning over there because it's 9.30 at night here and they've still got to go up and mail. But when you're in New York or something and you're right on deadline, I hate that because I'm not a real sort of newspaper reporter type guy. There's lots of guys who can sit in a, you know, media workroom with all kinds of noise. And then, cause they're Wimbledon, you know, Djokovic is the interview room in five minutes.

And the people that want to talk to a Serbian player, and this is all coming over the PA system in the, in the workroom. And I'm going to shut the hell up and I'm trying to write. So a lot of guys who would do it all the time, baseball writers and all that stuff, boom, they just, they just blank everything out and write, don't even hear it.

But I heard it all, and I found it very hard to do. Now, I'm curious about the actually traveling, going to the majors. I know when you were in Australia, I saw your farewell video, and there was a lady that was saying that you would stay with her, I guess a reporter that covered the Open, and you were personal friends with them, I guess, as well. You loved Australia, watching late at night and seeing the stars come out and all that, and you kind of mentioned the U.S. Open, which guess, as well. You loved Australia, watching late at night and seeing

the stars come out and all that. And you kind of mentioned US Open, which I've gone to. I've gone to 2018, 2019, amazing experiences. I can't wait to go back. If I would ever go over to see Europe, let's say to Europe and see the French, Wimbledon, go to Australia, hypothetically, which one would you recommend would be given if I only had to choose one out of the other three majors if I want to kick off on my bucket list? Well, first of all, it was Australia. I had a fellow tennis writer, I guess in 1994, and he said to you, when I come and cover the Australian Open, you can say, well, his name was Alan Trengove. He's a fantastic writer, wrote books about Australian

prime ministers, was a London correspondent for a Melbourne paper. Great guy. Anyway anyway i stayed with his family he and his wife and the woman who was in that video was his daughter who's a very good friend as well okay i was really lucky all those years for 25 years to stay with his family and i knew that i knew the children i knew the grandchildren so i really got the whole australian experience so as far as what tournament to go to i mean obviously usl was the simplest for us but the french i've gone to more than any other one. I mean, I guess I shouldn't say it, but I've been there 43 times.

And I speak French. So there were a bunch of years when I was doing those publications where I couldn't go to both Wimbledon and the French Open. So I chose to go to the French Open because I think I enjoyed it more. Plus, it was a bit earlier in the spring. So it hadn't really gotten into the main season here. So Wimbledon was a bit tougher. But I've been to Wimbledon a lot of times too so I would say I guess you got to go to Wimbledon

just because it's the la creme is the oldest I've got all the history and they've done a very good better job probably there at expanding and stuff French Open gets a little bit crowded but still the French Open just the you know the red clay courts and you know it gets all sort of scratched up by people sliding on stuff and then boom they bring up the brooms and they bring up this, they sweep it and their water, the pristine is new and you're in Paris and the food's great and the women dress fantastic. My wife, my wife would definitely support Paris for sure. So I know that would be.

I buy that. But so he got a choice. And Australia is just, and all the players, you talk to most of the players, you hear them, their favorite tournament. They sort of say Australia a lot of the time. One of the main reasons is it comes after a six or seven week break and it's right in the middle of the winter in the Northern Hemisphere. So you get down to Australia and you're on summer vacation and everybody's on vacation there because it's their summer.

The kids are out of school. People are on holiday from work. Everybody's just in a great frame of mind. And, you know, the weather's usually pretty good. It can get very hot there, but maybe, you know, maybe get one or two really hot days 35 or something like that but on the whole and then i guess the most sensual experience if i can put it that way in tennis is sitting in this broad labor arena at like for a night match um and it's never that hot and and you got the birds chirping you got some stars up in the sky and it's just comfortable and you've got the birds chirping, you've got some stars up in the sky, and it's just comfortable.

And you're sitting there on the 20th of January or something, and you're from here, and you're thinking, where would I rather be on January 20th than sitting in Rodney Bermuda watching the best tennis players in the world and everybody's in a great mood. It's just a fantastic place to be. Melbourne's a terrific city as well.

One thing I find as going to these tournaments, going to Rogers Cup, National Cup, Bank Cup, is the smaller courts are so much better than the big courts when you're further back. I'd almost rather watch it on TV, but to get to see that close and see, I'll never forget when I went to the Canadian Open, and I was

watching a match, and it was with Anderson playing against Schwarzman. So you can see up close the size difference between them. On the littlest court, it was court free, but it was just unbelievable experience to see that. And you'll never get that when you sit, you know, at a larger venue with 20,000 seats.

Yeah, no, no, you can get some fantastic seats at the small courts at all the great tournaments in the world. And you never know where you're going to get a fantastic match. You get a blowout with Federer or Nadal or Serena Williams or something. They get two guys from, I don't know, Argentina or Serbia or Estonia or something, and you see an absolute gem of a match. And you actually sort of appreciate it more

because you sort of feel like you've discovered it and you didn't expect it. It's sort of almost more fun that way. It's amazing. I marvel because you watch it on TV and it looks almost like a video game, the way they hit it. But when you go in person, you can see the speed and the way that they can just maneuver the angles and getting it over the net at the right angle i know racket technology you talked

about recently how the stringing is better and you can't really come to the net as much as they do at wimbledon like they used to with the serve and volley game but these athletes i would recommend anyone out there who's watching this podcast now or listening to it, go to the match, even if you're a casual fan, and just experience it, and you'll fall in love with the sport. I can't stop waiting, hopefully, to go into the Canadian Open in Montreal. I'm going to be in early August, and they're letting some fans in, so I'm going to hopefully alter my trip so I can actually go in the 10th. So there's nothing like live tennis.

Do you think so, Tom, in terms of versus watching it on TV, even on the big screen TVs they have today? Yeah, yeah, no, it's fantastic. I mean, I find, because I guess I'm lucky I've seen so much tennis. When I watch it on TV, I can tell about the speed just because, you know, I've seen it so much. And when I watch it, I think, ooh, that guy really whacked that one. So I think, but no, there is nothing like actually being there.

And I love, unfortunately in tennis, most of the best seats are right on the end. It's just, if you think about it, that's where the TV camera is. So that's the angle they use in TV. So if you can sit right on the end, you can see the angle of all the shots. Oh, I always go there.

I always do that. In fact, I saw Shapovalov, he played against Fanini because he was pissed off by Shapovalov because he was bounced from the main court and I was dying because I was literally right above him and I said, oh my god, this is amazing because of rain delays that whole day.

So I got to see Dennis as close as I've ever seen him. I got amazing shots of him serving and being so close and he's the most fun player to watch. He's an entertainer. Tom, I can't believe Brian didn't get that job at Tennis Canada that he applied for. I feel like that was a mistake. Yeah, but they weren't going to pay him to watch tennis.

That was the problem. True. I'm about to share a nugget I learned about Tom Tebbitt from Arash Madani. But very quickly, I just want to say, if anyone out there listening is looking, and Brian, close your ears for this, okay? Take off your headphones for 30 seconds. If you're looking to buy and or sell in the next six months, I talk a lot on this program about Mike Majeski. He's ripping up the Mimico real estate scene. His motto is in the know in Mimico and he certainly is. So go to

realestatelove.ca, learn about Mike Majeski, reach out and tell Mike that Toronto Mike sent you. So please do that. And also hello to McKay CEO forums, the latest sponsor of this program. They helped to fuel the real talk. Their podcast is called the CEO edge podcast, fireside chats with inspiring CEOs and thought leaders. And I highly recommend it again, go to Toronto,

Mike.com and go on TMDS podcast. You'll find CEO edge podcast. Give it a listen. I would appreciate it. Tom, I was reading Arash Madani's quite lovely piece about you when you retired from Tennis Canada. And he said that he has a quote from you

regarding your biggest regret in life. And I absolutely love it. I could read it, but I think it'd be better hearing it in your voice. What's your biggest regret in life that you shared with Arash Medani? That I didn't ever get married and have kids. Oh, that's a curve ball there. That's the real one.

That's the real talk. Yeah. The real one was that I didn't use brand-new tennis balls every time I played tennis. Yes, I heard that. Because if you're a tennis player, it's really nice to use new balls because it means every time you play, it's exactly the same conditions. Because you get some guys, you play, oh, yeah, I've only – Oh, he froze.

Yeah, that time it's him now. And then it's like, well, I didn't like those balls because of this or that. So if you play with new balls every time, and I sort of calculated how much it would cost you over your lifetime, $5,000, $6,000, $7,000 or something like that to use new tennis balls every time. It's just somehow you have enough problem being a good tennis player and keeping the ball on the court and playing consistently without having to worry about the balls.

So I said that, and it's a bit of an exaggeration, I'd say. But I would say that if you can play with new balls every time, it just takes one little variable out of the equation. Actually, I play a lot of basketball, just to interject, Mike. And that's a great point in terms of just athletic shoes and basketball shoes. And I keep them for way too long, and I'm not as comfortable. And if I would replace my basketball shoes every year. So that's my regret, Tom, for not replacing my basketball shoes every year. I'll tell you something about replacing your shoes is plantar fasciitis. I've had that a couple of times. And the last time I had it was because I tried.

Well, I lasted a long time with tennis shoes. I put on new shoes and they were a little bit tricky. And then I went back to the old shoes. So my foot had got used to the new shoes and more cushioning. And I played a really tough two-hour match. And then the next morning I woke up. And if you know anything about plantar fasciitis, you get out of the bed in the morning

and it's tight as hell in the bottom of your foot. So you should always be careful about your footwear, not keeping it too long and using it so that you get to the point where you're going to hurt yourself. Speaking of keeping it too long, I promised you an hour and I plan to deliver on that promise.

So my last question is in my homework. I read a line. Basically, it reads, Tom is a tennis purist. And I'm curious, as a casual fan who tunes in when Canadians are having success in majors, et cetera, not like Brian here who watches every single match a Canadian plays, I think, what exactly does that mean, being a tennis purist? You're catching me a little bit off guard.

I think it means a little bit being a traditionalist. Although like things like bringing in tie breaks and changing the balls from white to yellow and some of the changes they've made. But I guess on the whole, I mean, Federer is very much a tennis purist. He doesn't want to have anything changed the scoring methods I think the new rackets in some ways have been good

but a lot of things like that I don't know this has been silly I was thinking about if I was going to ask you about the things that changed in tennis for years what I would have changed in tennis was adding a week between the French Open and Wimbledon because the guy who won the French Open, you know, wants a week to decompress and then you want a week to prepare for

Wimbledon. It's really not enough. So it went to three weeks. So that's one of my things. So that was my chief pet peeve. And now one of my chief pet peeves is how many times you bounce the ball before they serve. Oh, God, it drives me nuts.

If you play tennis, you know that when you're receiving the other guy's bounce for serving, you start thinking, well, when's he going to bloody well serve? Is it after 12 bounces, after 18 bounces, after three bounces? And that distracts you. And they seem maybe not able to hit as good a shot as you'd like to. So my theory would be, and I know it'll never happen, but five bounces max. I mean, that's it, and then you serve. Or no bounces at all.

We have a Canadian player, Braden Shen, who has no bounces. No, you got to bounce it. I think most people, this is just part of the relaxation before you start your motion. Somewhere up to five is fine, but when you get above that, then I think you're playing mind games with the guy across, or the woman across the net's mind.

And Djokovic is one that his bounce is just one, two, three, four, Shoot the ball! Serve it already! I know what you mean. It's just very frustrating when you see that. Tom, what a pleasure it was having you on Toronto Mic'd. I'm hoping the next time you're on, I can get you in the backyard.

Just to have you here in the flesh would be a great thrill. But thanks so much for carving out an hour of your day for us. I really appreciate this. And I also like to thank Tom as well. This has been one of the frills of my life, Tom. I really appreciate it. Oh, you're welcome. And Mike, I want to know how you got rid of the driller.

I slipped a $20 bill to this gentleman. Hey, that was my $20. Hey, before I do the extra, Brian, this is going to sound funny when I say it, but you have a couple of balls for me? I do. This is from Jays Fest,

and I know how Mike is a huge George Bell fan. Love George Bell. And George Bell is there, his favorite ball player of all time, Blue Jay. So I'm being a Montreal Expos fan, and I've adopted the Blue Jays now, but it means more to Mike and I'm going to give him,

present him this ball. Well, your Vladdy hit a big homer yesterday. Was it 468? It did, 468. I thought it was 461. It was 468, yes. Wow. And I also have another ball for you

that's made out to Toronto Mike by TJ Zoik and some other player who we are trying to figure out. We're going to figure out who that is. We'll ask Wilner who the hell that is. But the George Bell signature, I'm going to figure out who that is. We'll ask Wilner who the hell that is. The George Bell signature, I'm going to value and treasure that.

Brian, I'll treasure that the way you treasured your conversation with Tom Tebbitt here. That means a lot to me. Thanks so much, Brian, and thanks again, Tom. And that brings us to the end of our 885th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at TorontoMike.

Tom, are you at Tom Tebbitt on Twitter? I guess I am, yeah. Follow Tom. He's a good follow. Brian, you're at Raptors Devotee. Yes, I am. Change that to Tennis Devotee. I should, but it's a little bit late in the game now.

Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. McKay CEO Forums are at McKay CEO Forums. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Ridley Funeral Home, they're at Ridley FH. And Mimico Mike, Mike Majeski, he's on Instagram, at Majeski Group Homes.

See you all next week. The wind is cold with the smell of snow. homes. See you all next week. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Rome phone. Rome phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls. Visit RomePhone.ca to get started.