D (2:55)

Yeah.

C (2:55)

Does not have that support system and does not have in, by and large, the team that's going to map everything out. Like, I know my first call after a bad result was to Karen Piner, who saved my life for, you know, when I was a kid and would make those things and be like, we need to come home. And she would get on and, you know, if you become good enough and spoiled enough, that is just kind of taken care of. But this is not a everybody chartering situation at all. It is, it is much grittier than that on for most people on the tennis tour.

D (3:27)

Lyndon had a question. How do players travel with their rackets and gear? Carry on checked delivery service. Strung unstrung.

C (3:34)

Yeah. Strong doesn't do anything because when you go in altitude, it loosens the strings, Right. So you're up 50,000ft in the air for 14 hours. You get there, your racket is going to be many pounds looser than it is. So it doesn't matter if you need to, like, land. Let's say you're landing Australia and you want to get in like a lazy hit that afternoon. You're not that worried about the tension on your rackets because you're not high performing, but maybe you would string some 3 or 4 pounds tighter before you fly. So I just went to Brazil recently to, to play and I didn't want to have to land and then string rackets and it's one less step. So I strung them way tighter here so that you land in. It's a, it's a guess as to, you know, if it's going to work. But generally that's what you do. I think we always used to take our bags on flights. Sometimes now they have that little thing out front where if it doesn't fit in it at that point, you take two sticks out just to make sure. You always have two or three rackets. You put them in a backpack and you carry it on. But we, we used to be able to carry on big bags all the time. I think international flights is probably a little bit easier, but it's, it's an imperfect science.

D (4:42)

So then that, that question, we were wondering, that's, that's going to the tournament, you know, and the serve team was wondering, well, say you're lucky enough to win, what, how do you travel home with the trophy? And then one of the crack team members it served found found this video that we wanted to watch first. It looks like this is how you did it.

C (5:01)

This is not how I did it. This is an Amex commercial from a million years ago, if I'm not mistaken. I think the joke was that that would be wildly inconsistent. Sorry about the half goatee guys.

D (5:11)

What is up with the facial hair there?

C (5:13)

Setting early aughts trends for a second. Oh, gosh.

D (5:16)

At first I thought it was a joke that you were trying to be like, you know, incognito in the airport. But then I realized it was real.

C (5:22)

Yeah. So you know what's absolutely accurate about this? This, this commercial that we just watched, which basically, if you're listening and not watching on YouTube, there was a commercial where I was traveling with big trophies and it was inconvenient, they were falling, you couldn't fit, they were on my lap, et cetera, et cetera. You never traveled with a trophy. Yeah, it just got sent.

D (5:44)

Just gets sent for you. The tournament takes care of it.

C (5:46)

It's just sent. There's no, listen, you're going for, you're going for two months on the road. There is not a lot of room in your suitcase for a big metal thing. Now what you will do is like, you'll leave some stuff or give it away. Like if you're going from Wimbledon to you're done at Wimbledon, you no longer need grass court shoes for a year. They're going to have a different style the next year. You're not going to need all whites to play in your next tournament. You would just leave a lot of that stuff or give it to, you know, locker room. If you. You'd still probably have stuff with tags on it also. Yeah, so there's times where you would leave a bunch of your stuff, you'd come back a little bit lighter. But no, there was no concern. Not even for a second on like, I need this trophy with me every step of the way home. You kind of just trust fell that it would make its way to you at some point.

D (6:33)

Yeah. You just brought up the clothing situation. Stefan had asked, who decides which clothes are worn? Is it only the equipment supplier or does the athlete also have say.

C (6:43)

Depends on it. Depends. They normally give you versions now for, for me and like, you know, Reebok, I had my own line, Lacoste. I was, you know, one of the, like the first. So they they would put me in things and I would. It was never a surprise when stuff arrived. Now, if you're a touring pro with Adidas, they basically have a line. If you're 70 in the world or you're an upcoming prospect, you probably don't get a lot of say in what that line looks like. But they normally give you, like, a louder version, right? And they'll kind of know the players that want to do that. And then, you know, like, if it was Pete and Andre back in the day with Nike, like, Pete wasn't going to wear something that was like the color of a parking cone. Like, it was very white, neutral, like it was very kind of classic looking, whereas Andre would wear crazy shit. Right? So I think it's personality. The higher your rank, the more say you get in it. And that's kind of generally the way it is in all things tennis. You know, the higher rank you probably get a little bit more say in your. In your orbit.

D (7:44)

Anna had asked what was the hardest city or tournament to travel to, and did that constant traveling take a toll on your performance?

C (7:53)

Yeah, I mean, it's. Yeah, I mean, I remember, you know, there, there. I always say, like, I always use the lazy reference, like, Dubai on a Friday, you know, sorry, Memphis on a Friday and Dubai on a Monday. Like that really happen where you have to, you know, lose one and then you play on a Tuesday. I remember flying from Charleston, South Carolina, where there's not, like, direct flights anywhere, finishing a semifinal of Davis cup on Sunday, flying to LA that night, staying overnight in LA on Sunday, arriving in Bangkok early Monday morning and having to play, or maybe early Monday or Tuesday morning, whatever day I landed and then had to play the next night. And I remember getting, like, smelling salts on the. On the. The switchover because it's like you're just kind of out of it. So I don't know that it's one. One city that's wildly inconvenient. If it wasn't like a major or master Series, you might just not go. Yeah, but the unforeseen Davis cup tie here, where it's random, and then the commitment that you made in January to take a paycheck and go to Bangkok, all of a sudden those things collide and magoo, right? So, like, there are times and trips that have been impossible. I don't know that there's like, one city that's, like, consistently more of a pain in the ass than the others outside of. And it all depends where you're traveling from. Like, yeah, a hidden City, you know, a small city in Europe. If you're based in London, you're probably going to be able to get there on one flight. Like in the States, you're going to have to get on another flight and connect. And the whole thing so purely depends on the starting point.

D (9:24)

You know, we took. We took your 2024 season and it broke it down on Tennis Abstract and

C (9:30)

it showed basically your 2024.

D (9:31)

I mean, sorry, your 2004 season. Yeah, your 2024 season. It was very, very short season. Yeah.

C (9:36)

Cancun, once.

D (9:40)

Tuscany. Tuscany. Lovely.

C (9:42)

Oh, man, he does it. He does it right.

D (9:44)

2004, you played. I. I think it said that was the Olympic year. So you had 92 matches that year, including Davis cup, including the Olympics. At what point?

C (9:53)

Singles matches.

D (9:54)

Yeah, singles matches, including. You had flown from Cincinnati to Athens and then back to. For the U.S. open.

C (10:01)

Yeah.

D (10:01)

So that was like 5,000 miles. But we, we had it added in. We assumed that you were leaving from Austin at the beginning of the year and we had it map out your entire year, assuming some of the breaks, you would go back to Austin.

C (10:11)

I could probably.

D (10:12)

Maybe not. It was 81,000 miles. It was three and a half times around the globe.

C (10:16)

Yeah.

D (10:17)

If we were to assume the travel,

C (10:19)

what the model says, those were heavy years. Like 03 04. Won 70 something matches each year. Like, that was a lot. I didn't. I didn't have a lot of. No. In my game at that point. I think that year was my Barcelona.

D (10:30)

That was your Barcelona?

C (10:31)

Yeah. That was like, I need to. Something. Something has to give a little bit. But it's funny because I mentioned the Charleston to Bangkok of things. And what I just didn't even register was the US hardcore summer, losing a Wimbledon final, playing a week later in Indy, going to Toronto since. Sorry, Toronto. Then to Athens for the Olympics, back to Cincy. Or was it. No, no, it was.

D (11:02)

It was. It was Canada, Cincy and then Athens

C (11:05)

and then back to New York, then

D (11:06)

back to New York, then New York

C (11:08)

to Charleston, Charleston to la. La, to Bangkok and then home and

D (11:13)

then Houston for the Masters Cup. Yep. And then. And then the final Davis cup in Seville.

C (11:18)

Yeah. So the year didn't fit. That was. That was a rough one.

D (11:20)

Yeah. I mean, you were literally playing from Jan. Like 3rd to December.

C (11:25)

I'll tell you, my travel itinerary as a podcast and YouTube guy is a little easier.

D (11:29)

It's a little bit. Just a quick little Johnson.

C (11:31)

This is relaxed. It's like Johnston. It's like, oh, you're Traveling. It's like a. Sean's like, I put, I put this. I put this computer packaged together and it's so easy that even you can put it together.

D (11:42)

Did you remember your light?

C (11:43)

That's a joke and it's actually true. It's actually 1,000% accurate.

D (11:47)

Well, Sean, we'll find a way to put a link to the spreadsheet that we had. I build. And it's absolutely absurd. And you know that you had.

C (11:54)

And you know what you don't have on that? Exhibitions.

D (11:59)

Oh, wow. You could fit exhibitions in there. There's literally like, I think it's something like 12 total weeks of break that you had.

C (12:06)

No, it wasn't that much. And that doesn't take into account traveling for sponsor opportunities. And like, I remember going from the finals of Wimbledon to LA, because it was like the ESPYs and then it was. Yeah, so it was. That's before we get to anything off court.

D (12:21)

So, I mean, I guess Sarah had a good question and I think this kind of fits into that. Right.

C (12:26)

Think.

D (12:26)

Let's think about the 2004 travel schedule and few breaks and all of that. You know, she asked how to pro players choose hitting partners in practice and during tournaments. And I even think, like, are you traveling a hitting partner with you at that level?

C (12:40)

Or I mean, at tournaments you can find people because it's like, that's like the epicenter of tennis talent.

D (12:44)

So how are you choosing then?

C (12:45)

I guess less to do with like travel, more to do with like, I would schedule home weeks.

D (12:50)

Yeah.

C (12:51)

And I would bring people into practice. Right. And it could be someone who just wanted the experience of training with someone who was a top player for the week. It could be, you know, if you're on clay, you want someone who makes a million balls. You know, I probably wouldn't have practiced with Isner. He probably wouldn't have wanted to practice with me. Right. Because that's not much of a training block for either one of us if we're both just serving nonstop. I used to practice with Mike Russell, a Ton Taylor, Fritz's coach. He lived in Houston, so he would come down for three or four day blocks where we're just making a million balls. I always would bring in like, young players. I remember the young players who have stayed at my house, like Sangren Harrison, Donald Young, Sam Query, like they would all just come and stay at my house for a week and we would do. We would do our work. I'm sure I'm forgetting a million of them. I would use the college Players, you know, if University of Texas had some decent players who got to, you know, 250, 300. So I would go there if I just needed two on one. Work sets was a little bit different. So I always just gravitated towards the guys that would make a million balls and never get tired. Yeah, that's what I needed.

D (13:52)

That's cool. 1, 1 Sidebar query told a story on Tennis Channel this week. I think it was this week, right. It was about when you bet him $1,000 that if he won a match,

C (14:03)

he had to do the bulldance against Rafa and he didn't do it. That's the. To Sam's credit. Yeah. So the thing was basically like, Sam and I had been training almost an entire off season. He was in Hawaii on the way down to Australia. We put in 10 days. And, you know, Sam at that point was like, I don't know if, you know, I can. I'm like, you're good enough to turn pro, dude. Like, you're. You're real. You're better than you think you are. Like, at that point, he was like, oh, Southern Cal. And I like the tournaments. And I like, I'm like, you're. You're going to end up going pro, like, really good. But so fast forward, he gets a wild card or maybe he got in. I don't know. He had to pay Rafa first round of Cincinnati. And he's. Sam is hilarious. Like, I remember him, one of his Davis cup practice partner. So we used to make the practice partners do, like, funny stuff, you know, just as being part of the team. And as we're coming back from the formal dinner, he had to. We had a karaoke machine set up in the lobby, and so you're seeing all these, like, dignitaries from the usta. And so he had to be doing karaoke while everyone was coming back from their formal dinner in the lobby of the hotel. And Sam is really hard with those things because one is great value. Two, he's not capable of being embarrassed by something like that if there's no consequence involved. Like karaoke ing full on, like. And it's to the point where he does so well that he's not even uncomfortable. So it takes some of your joy away with like the, with, with like the heckling.

D (15:26)

But.

C (15:27)

But his line was basically, I think, disrespecting Rafa. It's like he'll do anything to embarrass himself, but there's no. So he wins the first set against Rafa, 7, 6. And I remember being in the locker room. And I'd be like, dude, let's see him. I got. I got a thousand bucks. Sam does the bulldance. If he does the bulldance, he won the set and didn't do it. That's probably the right move.

B (15:46)

I am your host, Stassi Schroeder. Welcome to Tell Me Lies, the official podcast. What's the most unhinged thing of season three? Steven, because he's so evil, I do

C (15:57)

think he is misunderstood.

D (15:58)

You see everyone face consequences.

C (16:01)

It's intoxicating.

B (16:01)

The writers just know how to trick. Yeah, there's always a twist in this show.

C (16:05)

It's nothing you would expect.

B (16:07)

Tell Me Lies, the official podcast now streaming and stream the new season of Telling Me Lies on Hulu and Hulu on Disney. Plus

D (16:16)

now at McDonald's, a McDouble is 250. So you can get your gym gains on or just get lunch for only 2.50. Get more value on the under $3 menu. Limited time only.

C (16:27)

Prices and participation may vary. Prices may be higher for delivery. That was probably the right call.

D (16:33)

Oh, man. So we'll close up with a couple more questions, but we were all kind of wondering, you know, what was your craziest travel day? Like, what. What is the craziest travel? Not, not just distance, anything that was just like. It felt like something after another just kept happening.

C (16:49)

I remember the. Okay, so without delays. I forget where I was flying to. It was, this is dark.

D (16:59)

This is.

C (17:00)

This is darker than where you were probably going, where you just wanted me to lose my luggage, which happened to Brisbane in 2010. And I was wearing schmedium for like three days. Flying my first international flight after 9 11, there were three people on the airplane.

D (17:18)

Wow.

C (17:19)

So you're flying overseas and you have this entire thing. And it was. There was nobody to be seen. And it was the craziest thing I think I've ever seen. Like, that was probably the craziest travel day in like a very sad, eerie kind of retrospective sort of way. Like, I remember getting on the flight and you. I mean, if you've ever been on an international flights, normally full, like it's. And it's chaos and it's family's traveling and it's just, you know, everyone's getting ready for. It was like, empty. There may have been more flight attendants than passengers. That was. That. That felt crazy to me.

D (17:56)

What's your craziest, like, customs experience?

C (18:00)

Oh, when I went to Brazil recently and it was the first time that I went to the desk and presented What I thought was a customs thing and they told me to get out of here. And. Yeah. So I had to. It's the first time I've ever been rejected at the airport where I got full mutumbo here in Charlotte. Here in Charlotte. Yeah.

D (18:19)

They're like, no, sorry, you may not pass go.

C (18:22)

Yeah, I lost my. I lost. I, like, I've lost my passport. I've had to like, oh, three. I made my first Wimbledon semi. Lost my passport. Had to like, spend. Had to wait the entire weekend because they weren't open and then go on a Monday.

D (18:35)

So before you went to the tournament.

C (18:38)

I lost at some point on that trip. But it's fine as long as you're in the country.

D (18:41)

Yeah, yeah, you're in the country.

C (18:42)

But I didn't have time because I won Queens and I was in the semis of Wimbledon. I wasn't going to go on an off day and spend seven hours waiting. And so that wasn't great. Found my passport at the bottom of an elevator shaft in Russia one time.

D (18:56)

Okay.

C (18:57)

It fell out of like, I had it like inside of a book. And I get. I went from like breakfast to like, you know, team room. We were there for Davis cup and it fell. But it fell right through the crease of the elevator shaft. So we're looking for it for like a day. I'm going, this is not great.

D (19:12)

Yeah.

C (19:12)

This is not where I want to be dealing. No, this is not the one for me. And so we found it at the bottom. You know how good it is to think that you've lost your passport in Russia.

D (19:20)

Yeah.

C (19:21)

And to take a pie in the sky, like the only. Like, I'm retracing my steps. I'm like the only possible place it could have completely disappeared without you just assumed. No, I was like, there's no. Like, you. If you drop a passport next, you feel it, you hear it. You. There's. I'm like, where could it slit in the elevator? Security. We. They let us down to the bottom. And I remember our director of security walking up and he had my passport. I go, oh, my gosh. I would literally do terrible things for. For that. And he's like. He goes, bottom of the elevator shaft. So that wasn't great.

D (19:54)

That's.

C (19:55)

So it could have been much worse to moral.

D (19:56)

The story is this summer when we all go to Wimbledon. Don't give you the passports.

C (20:01)

I'm on a. I'm on a. I'm on like a two decade good streak. But. But there's no reason why you should ever give me your. And now it doesn't leave. Like, I have it in a certain compartment. Like, I have so much scar tissue from almost like losing my passport and then misplacing it. And I. It literally, I go through, get it checked. I pull over after security every single time. I don't put it in my pocket. I put it in and zip it up and it doesn't leave until the next time I need it.

D (20:28)

Mine has an airtag on it.

C (20:29)

Yeah, that's smart.

D (20:30)

It's a good way to do it.

C (20:31)

That's smart.

D (20:32)

That said, Sean, play the music. Time for the random question of the day. You love it. Stop. We fried his brain. Tyler wrote to us and said, whenever I burned through shoes as a kid, I went with some Andy Roddick Reeboks. My favorite pair were fig jams. I heard that fig jam stood for quote. I'm good. Just ask me, is that true?

C (21:10)

Correct. We all have regrets.

D (21:14)

Wait, so that is true.

C (21:15)

Yeah.

D (21:16)

Wow. So what? Explain the process of naming these shoes.

C (21:19)

I mean, it was Reebok. It was. It was. Listen, it wasn't an original idea. And also, I didn't say no. Yeah, it's on me. It's my. It's my fault. It's regrettable. I also wore a visor. I had spiky hair.

D (21:30)

Yeah.

C (21:31)

I don't know what to tell you. Yeah, I once ripped my shirt after I won a match. Like, think of a douchier thing to do. Like, think of a worse. Think of a. I saw an 18 year old doing that now beating of 32 year old former Grand Slam champion. I'd be like, that kid's a shithead.

D (21:42)

Yeah.

C (21:43)

We've all made mistakes, but yes, that's true, unfortunately. Do.

D (21:46)

Do you remember. You remember when we found the cologne and then we went down and there was like, there was like a random board about IT and tennis warehouse.com has like old boards from like 2006 still. And yeah, somebody asked this question and. And there were many, many theories about it, but one person wrote, gee, I thought fig jam was constipation resulting from consumption of too many figs.

C (22:05)

That would. That would have been a better defense.

D (22:07)

Yeah.

C (22:07)

Yeah, that'd be something that I could probably wrap my head around now.

D (22:10)

Yeah, that's a good one.

C (22:12)

Didn't really eat them.

D (22:12)

Didn't really eat them.

C (22:13)

It's the first one. I'll take all criticisms. What are we doing next?

D (22:17)

Can I tell you how much they're going for currently on ebay?

C (22:21)

If it's over $4.

D (22:24)

1900 dollars.

C (22:26)

What?

D (22:27)

Yeah. $1,899. You can get them right now on eBay. Size nine and a half.

C (22:31)

My mom. Guys, we just hit the mother load. My mom has, like, a million signed versions of those. Let's go. Oh, vacation fun. You know what?

D (22:41)

You know what? Maybe. Maybe let's make one of them the prize for the bracket challenge for the French Open.

C (22:47)

We could do that. Let's see what we could get for him first.

D (22:51)

That's it.

C (22:51)

That's all we got.

D (22:52)

Thanks for watching.

C (22:53)

Queue it, Andy. Thanks for wasting your time with us. We'll see you next week,

D (23:00)

Sam.