What would you tell people who, you know, couldn't stay up that they missed? John?

They miss a lot of electricity.

You know, I've said this before to anyone who listens to me when I call a match.

Carlos Alcaraz has been my favorite player to watch the last couple years.

He can do anything and everything, and he oozes charisma.

I don't know how he does it.

It looks like he loves being out there.

What would the fix be if you could wave the McEnroe wand and fix it? It's a

And you're, like, so mad for like [laughs] just, like, the little extra things that made you, like, mad.

You know, the [laughs] you're speaking to the person that understands that, uh, a lot better than anyone.

But I mean, to me, I'd like to come out...

I wasn't, you know, the biggest guy, the strongest guy, but I had an energy, I, I think, and I brought intensity to the court.

So I felt like I had to be ready the first point.

You know, I walk out, I'm ready to, you know, go for the jugular, just, you know, get the guy right away.

Break right first game.

Like, I cannot, cannot be real.

I think he's gonna do good for a long time afterwards as well.

You know, he loves… Part of what I love about Roger is that he loves everything surrounding it.

He even loves the travel, and he, he loves the press conferences, and he loves meeting the fans, and he loves practicing, and he loves, you know, competing.

So you combine all those things with that sort of you can see that joie de vivre on the court, that he actually en- was enjoying being out there where people like myself and yourself are ready to tear what little hair we had left.

Um, and, you know, the angst that you'd see with a lot of players, you didn't see that with Roger almost at all.

And so that quality sort of propelled him, in my opinion, on and off the court.

And he's walked away from certain deals where you thought, "Oh my God, why is he…" He walked away from Nike, and the next thing you know, he's, you know, signed this incredible deal with… I can't mention their names because I'm still with Nike.

What, what do you think the rivalries have meant to the tennis, and what do you think today means for tennis him going in the Hall of Fame?

Mm-hmm.

And so I think that that would be a nice way to sort of end the event for Serena, 'cause she looked like super intense as... and wanted it, but had fun.

So this was the perfect pairing.

Her and, [clears throat] excuse me, her and Carlos playing together-

Mm-hmm.

You know, we're always trying to raise money to give kids, uh, from the Bronx.

I mean, the goal is someone from the New York City area to, we find this young kid and do something that I was able to do a couple times: win the US Open.

are so heavy that the game is slower so your rallies are longer whereas before if you were a great server it's over yeah i mean that's it you're a great grass court player now you now everyone has a chance

i grew up better on clay you did yes why i don't know maybe it's my patience But, you know, I wasn't big or strong enough to do what I ended up, you know, being aggressive.

But when I went to college, the courts are a lot faster, and people don't know this, and most people, for three years, the U.S. Open was on clay.

75, 6, and 7 was on clay.

No idea.

So where was it? At Forest Hills.

And they had clay there? They had grass, but they switched.

all-around

Do you watch live sports differently than maybe we would being a former athlete?

You know, I appreciate, uh, the, the s- yes, I, I would think so a little bit.

Um, I appreciate excellence, and I appreciate that will and desire.

I see it in other teams.

You know, I, I respect that.

I respect the Spurs.

I mean, for God's sakes, they won five, um, you know, since, uh, I've been around waiting for another Knick thing.

I know.

Do you watch live sports differently than maybe we would, being a former athlete?

You know, I appreciate, uh, the, the s- yes, I, I would think so, a little bit.

Um, I appreciate excellence and I appreciate that will and desire.

I see it in other teams, you know, I, I respect that.

I respect the Spurs.

I mean, for God sakes, they won five, um, you know, since, uh, I've been around, waiting for another Nick thing.

And, uh, you know, I always loved Tim Duncan.

I know.

Mm.

Okay? But this time, you know, I've blown a couple big leads in my life.

But I've sort of a like, "Here we go again.

We're gonna lose this.

Something bad's gonna happen." I said, "Larry, listen.

Well, let's get positive here."

Mm-hmm.

He's the greatest leader that I've seen s- I, I can't even remember the last time a leader, uh, l- it could go back 40, 50 years.

What, what were your thoughts on the manner of his collapse 'cause it was quite dramatic, wasn't it?

it?Well, it was dramatic.

Uh, uh, as far as I know, um, and I don't know, I'm not, you know, privy to everything that's going on, but this is not a new issue.

He's had trouble with this for a couple years.

I know it is brutal when you have to deal with this type of heat, but it's...

You know, he's had three, four, five different occasions I can think off, off the top of my head where he's cramped up.

So I'm assuming that even in, over the course of the last couple years, they've been doing everything they could possibly do, whether testing, food intake, recovery, this, that, the other thing, to figure out a way to minimize this issue.

Let's see what Johnny Mac had to say.

But you were buying things like Renoir and stuff like that.

The f- the first time that I ever went to Lou Mizell's, he was a photorealist gallery, and I was like, "Photorealism, it's the greatest thing ever." And I went to Paris when I was 18 years old, and I saw, you know, Monet for the first time and the Impressionists, and I was like, "Oh my God, if I could ever have a Renoir," which I'd had.

Wasn't a great Renoir, I admit.

[audience laughs] I had a Picasso.

Obviously one of the, you know, like the Rod Laver of, of art.

Had a little bit of that.

So to me, the most interesting part was being able to meet the artists themselves and see what was happening with these contemporary people that were my age because I related probably to artists more than anyone else.

It's kind of the Gagosian Gallery of, uh, sport.

Does it affect how you feel about the Australian Open when you come back?

It's really, you know, it's really, uh, early to say.

I mean, I was defaulted, like, 10 minutes ago, and, uh, you know, it's ...

I don't feel good about it, but-I hope, you know, a year from now it, it might be different.

Who knows? I mean, uh, I think in general, the people have been, been nice.

There's always those people in the crowd that, uh, egg you on and stuff, and that's the part that's difficult.

But, uh, that's just tennis right now.

The rules bent for him, until they didn't.

Stuff changes.

You don't still go to Blockbuster? No, we always say tennis...

What, what do we say about tennis, apart from it needs to showcase doubles more? It needs to innovate.

It needs to think outside the box.

It's a stagnant sport, and we need to, we need to jazz it up.

And I think the format here, every...

the, the, the court...

Yeah.