U.S. OPEN

September 4, 1994

Luke Jensen

Murphy Jensen

LUKE JENSEN: Are you guys doing better than we are?

MURPHY JENSEN: Last time I was in one of these, I won the French.

LUKE JENSEN: I feel like an olympic athlete with this jacket.

MURPHY JENSEN: Yeah.

MURPHY JENSEN: Yeah.

MURPHY JENSEN: Well, it already has. We are in the quarterfinals now. We got a walkover.

LUKE JENSEN: Murphy's final 8 now. Congrats, Murphy.

MURPHY JENSEN: We are just good mates, and we have a good working relationship. We won a match today. Are you serious with that question? Now, I know what it is like. No, I mean, we are just, you know, good friends.

MURPHY JENSEN: I think I can help her. She loosens up when she is playing with Luke or I. I saw her play with -- like at the French -- and it helps her game. She goes out; has some fun in some mixed. She tried to win a title in that as well as the singles; then when she goes to play her singles match she sees how we play some of our points to relieve some of the pressure that she is dealing with, you know, we believe that our pressure is by instead of saying, oh, there is a big crowd; I am tight; say, hey, you know, you guys are my family; let's go out and have some fun. Let us party.

MURPHY JENSEN: It is just a dream come true, you know, my grandstand court in the backyard of my home in Michigan was always filled up when I played there - as far as I knew. I was just, you know, always make believe that I was playing here. I mean, last week when I was training for this, when the sun goes down, it is just like a spot you see on TV when you are sitting at home growing up, and we were practicing around that time; I was just trying to imagine winning here, so --

LUKE JENSEN: Like it is truly awesome. I mean, it is a lot of fun. I mean, it is like last year after we won the French Open we played on court 22 and 17. It is more of just like we are not doing anything different on the court. We play with a lot of enthusiasm. It is not like we are in a closet and we created anything. Bud Collins, most of you know that we have been playing since the juniors. I was here in '83 playing Boris Becker. All these guys I was diving and scrapping and Murphy was playing out here. Now we have our twin sisters playing. It is always just a great fun attitude. It goes way back when we started with our parents saying just go out there; give it your best, that is all you can do.

MURPHY JENSEN: And have fun doing it.

LUKE JENSEN: Goes back to the old textbook.

MURPHY JENSEN: Why couldn't everyone have fun doing it? How can it not be fun? You can still keep your composure and your seriousness, integrity, whatever. But you know, for God sakes, it has got to be a good time. I know it is.

LUKE JENSEN: It still comes down to how you play the game. And I hope that when people look at us they want their kids to play the game like we play the game. That is hard; going for it; and with a good spirit.

LUKE JENSEN: We are getting beat bad 1 and 2. Yeah, I mean, there is nothing you can do. You are getting beat by two very good players and it happens.

MURPHY JENSEN: They played better today. They went out and smoked us. We worked really hard for this. We have had a year of injuries a lot of ups and downs.

LUKE JENSEN: There'S a high note.

MURPHY JENSEN: We feel like we are right on track. 95 is going to be amazing. I am healthy. I fight real fresh. I am enjoying playing. After the French Open last year, there was a part this year, we never had a break, and I was really tired of the game and stuff like that and then the injury made me realize how much I would miss it if I didn't play. So that was a positive note by getting the injury and then right now we are just really ready to go. We have got a whole fall left, and the Grand Slam season is over for us, but you know, I am 25. I got 10 years as far as, 15, I will play until the wheels fall off. I am bound to win something here - the lotto. New York State lottery can get a pretty big purse.

LUKE JENSEN: Of course they have won 2 and 2, yeah. Or 2 and 1.

LUKE JENSEN: When we win. When we win they get annoyed. Did that make sense?

MURPHY JENSEN: We went out and got smoked. We lost.

LUKE JENSEN: We lose every week. We have won one tournament.

MURPHY JENSEN: Sampras played 28 events last year and won 8. So 20 weeks he is losing. It is really hard to be undefeated. It is really hard to win titles. Wally Masur, a lot of guys who haven't won too much but who have had great careers. It is about winning matches.

LUKE JENSEN: We are doing this before-- for instance before the TV caught on or the general public, I mean the tennis community knew; the players knew how we played.

MURPHY JENSEN: Patrick McEnroe--

LUKE JENSEN: (cont'g for Luke)-- played us forever. He knows.

MURPHY JENSEN: We have been playing with these guys. Sampras thought I used to cheat in the 12s.

LUKE JENSEN: You did.

MURPHY JENSEN: Probably. My dad made me serve underhand.

LUKE JENSEN: It is just -- everyone has been so positive in the locker room and all over. It has been great and it is just. . .

MURPHY JENSEN: Most of us are really good mates and if there is any that is tabooed. . .

LUKE JENSEN: Then we go to Bogota; after that -- it is not U.S. Open every week. We have to eat with these guys, sleep -- I didn't say that. Every single week you are with these guys. You know, it is like barn storm in the old days with Jack Kramer and these guys carrying their court around, that is kind of like what the doubles feeling is. We play 35 to 40 weeks a year. Our goal is to play 52 weeks. We are going to have our own tournament the week of Chrismas so that we can set a record, 52 straight weeks.

LUKE JENSEN: Ice tennis, we are going to win because we are not going to melt the ice on the court.

MURPHY JENSEN: That is our best surface.

LUKE JENSEN: We are great on ice.

MURPHY JENSEN: No it, is--

LUKE JENSEN: It is tough for them to get the balls out of the snow banks.

LUKE JENSEN: That is fine, I mean. . .

MURPHY JENSEN: That is great.

LUKE JENSEN: We played world team tennis. We'd go to the opposing places. They were going nuts against us. It was a great atmosphere. We were in Charlotte, Johan Kriek was telling his own crowd to be quiet because he couldn't concentrate. They were yelling at us; throwing stuff at us. It was awesome.

MURPHY JENSEN: If there is any jealousy out there, that is a bad feeling it is too bad. As far as on your side, I think we are doing some good for the sport. We are maybe saving some jobs. A year ago they wanted to get rid of all of doubles completely. If you are just a doubles specialist, you should be fired having your doubles team on TV; maybe you get to play us and get some exposure yourself and go out and beat us. Everyone is trying to knock us off.

MURPHY JENSEN: My sister wants to beat us.

LUKE JENSEN: I'd say 8 or 10 figures. We own the company. That is classified information.

MURPHY JENSEN: We have got two more years on the contract. It started last year.

MURPHY JENSEN: We are not supposed to talk about that. I mean, if you can find out. . .

LUKE JENSEN: We are very lucky because we have a very good relationship with Peter Moore (Phonetic), the CEO of adidas who actually really changed tennis a lot back when he was with Nike. He asked John McEnroe what he would wear; if he could wear anything he wanted on a tennis court; he said, well, Mac, a pair of jeans, so he comes up with a denim pair of shorts; Mac says, no way I am wearing it and then gives it to a guy named Andre Agassi; look what happens. So now we are very fortunate to be able to go to him personally and say, well, what do you want to wear? It is World Cup year. I want to wear Alexi Lawlas (Phonetic) jersey and name and number, the whole thing and of course the restrictions, you know, wouldn't allow us to wear the names and numbers on the back, but it was cool, it is the U.S. Open it's awesome.

MURPHY JENSEN: Change maybe the fashion industry or fashion of tennis.

LUKE JENSEN: We have been wearing those. We are going to change it out after the U.S. Open and spend one full calendar year with it, and who knows where it is going to go from now, but we -- we are excited. It is a lot of fun.

MURPHY JENSEN: Not as many as Elton John, but --

LUKE JENSEN: No, but a lot of, you know, the history of the game Jack Kramer used to wear just a plain white t-shirt at Wimbledon or Bill Tilden used to wear a button down Oxford shirt. It was all white, but it was always changing; always moving like fashion changes with the seasons. Now why can't tennis be on the forefront and instead of having restrictions, you only have to have three buttons and the tail, all this stuff, why can't one season we have one, you know, type of rules for a clothing that manufacturers can be creative and go for it.

MURPHY JENSEN: They are mechanic shirts.

When is the last bowling tournament you have been to? They sell huge in those places.

LUKE JENSEN: We are big in bowling.

MURPHY JENSEN: I mean, ever taken your car to get fixed, looks just like us.

LUKE JENSEN: Most gas stations are self-serve; can't get the attendent to come out.

MURPHY JENSEN: The Knicks love us, Doc and all those guys. . .

LUKE JENSEN: We gave it to them for free, that is why.

MURPHY JENSEN: Twice as competitive.

LUKE JENSEN: We want to win so bad to be on TV some more.

MURPHY JENSEN: You see little kids crying.

LUKE JENSEN: We are very disappointed. Like I said, we have only won one tournament, so it is just -- I don't want to say you learn how to lose, but you learn how to learn from it. We learn-- like next time we go out and play we have to play a lot better if we are going to beat that team. Just keep working. We are going to be on the practice courts tomorrow and keep going for it.

MURPHY JENSEN: God willing, we will win again. I know we will. We have always won. We have made it this far. We won as juniors. We won in Ludington. We won college. We won in pros. We can win, you know, if we don't win again then I have a problem.

LUKE JENSEN: We are going to keep striving to be the best we can be. If that is number one or on the Davis Cup team, that is great. We had a great opportunity to be on the U.S. Davis Cup team. Like Murphy said, we are going to keep playing for a lot of years; we are now here seven o'clock in the morning this year, out seven o'clock in the morning in '83, 11 years ago, practicing because it is the only time you can get good court time out here for two hours. You take the bus out; take a cab out; the 7 train, that is awesome.

MURPHY JENSEN: Took us ten years. How does it feel to get the crowd come to mix doubles matches, took us ten years to get that coming here since '83, '84, playing here in New York, I got a packed house; it is awesome.

LUKE JENSEN: I had a problem at Wimbledon. I called Doug Flach "stick boy" and I got fined $1,500.

LUKE JENSEN: Stick boy.

MURPHY JENSEN: Doug Flach, we played him in the first round at Wimbledon, and I was disputing a call. Actually I was telling the umpire to move the baseline judge because they kept on swinging Murphy wide to the backhand and Murphy was about to hit because on court 7, in the boondocks, the courts are pretty small, so Murphy was about to hit the baseline judge. I said, is it possible to move him to my side because he won't get hit and we can play freely. Doug thought I was stalling and so he was complaining to the umpire. I yelled at him. I said, "shut up, stick boy." I got fined. Again, it is not NHL or WWF, should never be that way and so I was fined and I have learned from it. I haven't done it this tournament or haven't done it since.

LUKE JENSEN: Yeah, it is. The whole thing is trash talking and all this thing.

MURPHY JENSEN: What is wrong with that?

LUKE JENSEN: I mean, as long as we. . .

MURPHY JENSEN: If you can't take it as professional athletes, you are going to get upset.

LUKE JENSEN: I just want to get fined. You can say "stick boy" to him in the locker room I guess, but not on the court.

MURPHY JENSEN: As a nickname.

LUKE JENSEN: Whatever is working. I was trying everything today. Someone told me to serve underhand and I was thinking about it.

LUKE JENSEN: Sure, I have doublefaulted, whiffed, shanked, done it all.

MURPHY JENSEN: Today?

LUKE JENSEN: Today. Do it every day.

LUKE JENSEN: Actually, I learned a lot out of World Team Tennis this year as far as it is -- so World Team Tennis really brought out a lot out of us as far as really -- and in situations where I mean, it is -- for the crowd, you have got -- Andre was worried about the music. They have music between points, if you go argue a call, they play the Jeopardy theme "da, da, da, da" -- what are you doing; you hit an ace; they play broken glass and we have like they have honorary coaches on the bench, you know, sponsors sit with us and get to hear the action and stuff like that. When you are up 40-Love or 40-15, you know, it is an important point, but it is not like matchpoint or breakpoint down or 30-All, you know, you just go up to a little kid who is all fired up and say "which hand do you want to see, lefty, forehand, backhand?" Oh, backhand, so you hit it. So it is just fun.

LUKE we could be here all night.

MURPHY JENSEN: Keep putting us on TV. I love it, my daddy gets to see us play.

LUKE JENSEN: I think just. . .

MURPHY JENSEN: That is conceited.

LUKE JENSEN: It is not really change. Change is too much of a drastic word and the establishment gets really frightened when Luke Jensen says "change" and I don't want -- I want to modernize it because we have an unbelievable game right now and if you look on stadium court or many of the courts, we have modernized it to a point; you have got the speed gun out there for the fans.

MURPHY JENSEN: The big scoreboard.

LUKE JENSEN: Cyclops machine; microphones; so the TV and the people at home can hear the players going about things. I wish the technology like was around that you could actually wear a wirless mic that you could play in it, so you could hear doubles teams talk; have coaches on the court. I think more better introductions -- I am on the stadium court; they run down this biosheet without this great introduction, make it a package that is fan friendly. Hey guys, you know we are going to have fans out here; you are going to have a good atmosphere; going to be fun; an announcer says, now introducing, you know, the Jensen brothers, 1993, instead of the (in monotone voice) Jensen Brothers. . .

MURPHY JENSEN: A lot of times what people don't understand like in golf if someone came up with a PGA card, said yeah, I am on the Tour; he is considered great, but if you know, so and so played Sampras in the so and so, no one HAS seen HIM before because he is not on TV every week; he is-- someone says, are you a teaching pro; are you this or that and the player says, no, I am on the Tour, well, how can you make a living doing that? It just -- they should -- just by the fact that someone is in the U.S. Open should be a great thing. He has won something to be here. He has had some great wins; therefore, should say he has had wins over Lendl or so and so, you know, just to --

LUKE JENSEN: Add enthusiasm.

MURPHY JENSEN: When Agassi met Muster at the French, people didn't know Muster. He is a great claycourter; won 20, 30 titles on clay.

LUKE JENSEN: I spoke with Andre about the music thing in New Haven; he was kind of-- Luke, what is going on. I read that you want music and all this stuff, you know, I just don't agree with what you are saying and I told him I said, it is just to get everyone in a good happy mood. If you have got a minute and 30, people announcing "buy Volvo cars" or buy so and so watches, I mean, what is wrong with a little background music while people are in and out and he said it really -- he wasn't bothered by it. He just thought people coming to see tennis didn't want to hear, you know, rock and roll music; all this stuff. Well, it doesn't have to be rock and roll. It is just something to, you know, during that minute 30 that people get in a good mood. It is fun, and I told him, he doesn't understand wherever he goes, every step is entertainment. Everyone is, hey, it's Andre, everyone is freaking out; he doesn't say Marc Rosset or somebody else who really isn't that exciting to watch, besides his huge serve, wherever one is just sitting there ". . . . Ace. . . Ace... Winner." Well, then he sits down and he is looking around and can you imagine if there was a coach on the court. You know, you would prevent tanking, you could hook him up wireless and you could hear what he is saying, and so many things you can do to modernize the game, and Andre doesn't see that. I said, Andre, let's go watch a match and look how real boring-- not boring, it is just the people don't -- they are not into it. You can't really give the player a high-five; let's have the off-court interviews with the fans. Can you imagine from the nose bleed section asking them if they have a question for Marc Rosset or Andre Agassi.

MURPHY JENSEN: Have monitors up there so they can see the match. You can't see the court up there.

LUKE JENSEN: Yeah, I think names on the back would be unbelievable. You will know who is who. Those shirts are going to be the real thing. If you had an Andre shirt right now or Jensen shirt, what is the difference between the one we gave you or the one you bought in the store or at a bowling alley or mechanic shop -- full serve. . .

LUKE JENSEN: Both did. We both been turned down.

KEVIN: Thanks, guys. You can answer if you want.

LUKE JENSEN: No. No. No.

MURPHY JENSEN: Thanks.

LUKE JENSEN: Thank you.

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