TMS - CINCINNATI

August 9, 2000

Todd Martin

TODD MARTIN: I feel much better. I've played two pretty good matches now, and, yeah, it's the first time I've had to play three matches in a week in a long time. So I'm just excited about what's happened so far and eager to hopefully sustain it.

TODD MARTIN: The Olympics, well, what do the five rings stand for? That's five reasons. Oh, boy, just first of all, the 1980 hockey team, Jesse Owens, Mark Spitz, Eric Hayden, all those athletes inspire me to be a part of it. But also the understanding that the event goes back for so long, and the importance of -- the importance of the event in general and also the importance that it stresses on friendliness - and competitiveness, but, you know, respect for each other and understanding of we all come from different places.

TODD MARTIN: Let me ask you a question, all right? If you had to write for 52 weeks straight, every day of the year, and then you had a chance to - I don't know - put something on the cover of the New York Times or write a -- I mean there's stuff that you just have to do. And I -- there's no excuse not to play in the Olympics. There's no excuse.

TODD MARTIN: For me. I mean everybody's got a right to their own opinion, but I certainly am not going to agree with anybody's opinion who says, "I don't need to play."

TODD MARTIN: I'm just referring to anybody. Pete's got his reasons. He's played. That's one thing. But, you know, I'm 30 years old. This is my first opportunity to play the Olympics. I'd like to think that I'll be a candidate when I'm 34, but I think odds might be against me.

TODD MARTIN: I think the most important thing is that we are able to put the event in one season and just let it go. And if it's every year, every two years, so be it. It's something that I think can sustain itself every year. If it brings even more spotlight to the event, then we'll have it -- I'm happy to have it every two years. But it's just -- you win in December and play in February. You play in July. You play in September and then again in December. And there's just -- for the fan, there's no rhyme nor reason for what's going on. So if we could just get like three weeks straight and do it and have the proper media focus, the proper player focus. And I just think it's tennis' greatest weapon, and it's not being used to its fullest right now.

TODD MARTIN: I think it's the neatest event. Just plain and simple.

TODD MARTIN: I don't even think you need to do it in one location. I think you could do it like NCAA basketball, have four regional sites and have a Final Four site. And it seems to work okay for them. Granted, it's a different sport and a more -- strictly a national sport.

TODD MARTIN: I'm not on the Player Council anymore. Bad luck. I'm not answering these questions.

TODD MARTIN: You know what? The players have the power. The Player Council in the Davis Cup event doesn't have the power. The players have a lot of power. If we could get 15 or 20 guys to sit down and say -- it would have to be 15 or 20 of the very right guys -- to come in and say there needs to be a change and this is a proposal that's been brought to us and we, you know, don't all feel like it's perfect, but all of us feel like it is better than it is now, some of us feel very strongly that it is perfect. And I think -- I don't know if that would cure everything, but I think it would inspire a little bit more urgency in the ITF's desire to do something about it.

TODD MARTIN: I think it's difficult to get that word anywhere. But it's just a matter of some guys accepting that it's never going to be perfect for them but still you can help for what they -- speaking up against what they think is wrong.

TODD MARTIN: I think the biggest difficulty that Davis Cup has is the fact that 48 weeks a year we are individual professionals responsible for being the best tennis players we can be, going to the tournaments to do the best we can, and also playing a certain number of events to enable us to be ranked a certain spot or earn a certain amount of money. And all of them are spread very, very sporadically throughout the year. Four weeks a year we're expected to be team players. I think that's difficult. That's an abrupt change, and it's not something you can get used to, for those of us who didn't grow up as neighbors in our lives. And, you know, that's the way. If you don't feel -- if you're not like naturally-born patriotic and if you're not thirsting for something more than individual competition, you don't get to experience the thrill of that on a consistent enough basis to be inspired to go out of your way to make it a priority in your schedule.

TODD MARTIN: Or so you say.

TODD MARTIN: Thank you.

TODD MARTIN: Well, I think -- I think there was a lull at least in the States after -- towards the end of Connors' and McEnroe's career. That lull inspired a little bit of concern for the next generation of players. This generation has -- I'm sorry, let me go back. Connors and McEnroe were playing when tennis, nation-wide and world-wide, was a huge sport, participation-wise, viewing-wise. And this generation, the guys of the '90s, especially in the States, rather than the media or TV or fans or tournament directors or anybody, rather than focusing on the sport of tennis, it was, "Those guys." It was, "Those guys." You guys complain about Pete's personality. You guys in general - I'm generalizing, but you said I was old anyway, so... If those guys, those handful of guys - Becker, Edberg, Agassi, Sampras, Courier for a while, Chang for a while, Rafter for a while - if those guys came to a tournament and they weren't around, the tournament panicked. The media panicked. The Tour panicked, and instead of understanding that the sport of tennis is a cyclical thing. The sport of tennis is going to be here in 2001, 2002, 2100, 2200, and it's just -- that's the most important thing to me about the steps that we've made in the last couple of years to make the sport bigger. And what the USTA does with the development of the game in the States, and what other organizations do across the globe. And instead of having so much focus put on a couple guys or 20 guys, for that matter, there's eight or ten guys in that new place. That's good, that's good that the number's growing. We got young faces and none of them are really household names. But it's important that if this week Harel Levy and Max Mirnyi are in the Finals against each other, it's not a loss. It's not a loss. Years ago in Indianapolis Wayne Ferreira played Olivier Delaitre, they were the two best players in the league, and people were just beating their heads against the door. And so as soon as the sport becomes the carrying point in the media and the fans and at home where the people are watching on TV, then you don't have to worry about who's going to save the game.

TODD MARTIN: Absolutely. Absolutely. But you have to understand, if the sport grows and people watch week in and week out and people follow in the paper who's doing well, who's not, they're going to know Harel Levy, they're going to know Max Mirnyi. But for that matter, you look at basketball. For years, we've heard who's the next Jordan? Well, here's the most awesome sport in America. I mean this game is the most widely respected and revered game in our land, and people are asking for the next guy and they were fretting that the NBA is going to take a dive after Jordan was gone. But sport carries it. And people realize that, you know, they might lose a few fringe followers, but that's what it's all about, is getting the sport popular.

TODD MARTIN: Geez, I think first and foremost, the fact that you got two guys out there all alone and they got to figure out how to beat each other. And that's one of the main reasons I was opposed to coaching on the court. It's a battle of wills, it's a battle of smarts, it's a battle of skills, it's a battle of just conditioning, stamina, and all those attributes are what makes the sport as beautiful, to me, as it is.