ATP: Global Tennis Influencer and Marketing Architect, Patricia Jensen

Episode#:25 Shaun Boyce and Bobby Schindler

ATP: Global Tennis Influencer and Marketing Architect, Patricia Jensen

In this episode of our tennis podcast Bobby Schindler and Shaun J Boyce talk to Patricia Jensen about her son Murphy’s story, GA Tech’s unique ball runners, The Atlanta Open 250 ATP event, and Team Luke Hope for Minds.

Shaun Boyce USPTA: [email protected]

https://tennisforchildren.com/ 🎾

Bobby Schindler USPTA: [email protected]https://windermerecommunity.net/ 🎾

Geovanna Boyce: [email protected]https://regeovinate.com/ 💪🏼🏋️

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Transcript
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Welcome to the Atlanta Tennis Podcast.

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technology experts, and anyone else we find interesting.

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We want to have a conversation as long as it starts with tennis.

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Hey, hey, this is Shaun with the Atlanta Tennis Podcast, powered by Go Tennis.

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Check out our calendar of Metro Atlanta tennis events at Let's Go Tennis.com,

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where you can also find deals on equipment, apparel, and more.

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In this episode, we talked to Patricia Jensen about her son Murphy's story,

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Georgia Tech's unique ball runners, and team Luke Hope for Minds.

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Have a listen and let us know what you think.

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I'm going to ask you one question, and I'm going to hand the rest of it to Bobby,

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because you guys know each other well, and I want to let you guys talk.

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I know you want to talk about Murphy's testimony, but I want to,

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I want to start it with saying you are Patricia Jensen, and I have not been able to find a job

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description or a job title for you.

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So what I am calling you is a global tennis influencer.

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So I want to know that works for you.

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Tell me about you are.

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The tennis world used to refer to me as a marketing architect.

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Oh, I like it.

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With building brands for players and events, kind of things.

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That's your fancy title.

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I know. I've never heard of anybody else having it, so I'll keep it.

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Yeah, give us a quick bit about who you are, and I know Bobby's got a bunch of questions for you.

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So tell me who Patricia Jensen is really quickly.

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Well, it depends upon when in the tennis world that you knew me.

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There was a point where I was Pat Jensen when I was representing my sons

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and my daughters, and because our family, still to this day, is the only family with four siblings

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on their respective tours at the same time.

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And so at each of my daughters played each of the grand slams with each of their brothers,

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which is I'm sure that too is either a notable record or something interesting.

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I raised my family in a small town 10,000 residents,

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Ludington, Michigan, and every weekend we were either in Chicago or Detroit because there was no

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absolutely, we were lucky to have two tennis courts in the whole town, let alone in indoor facility.

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And the the prenup was all 11 boys were going to play football at Notre Dame.

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But then when and the boys were very successful and heavily involved in the Pudpass Ford Motor Company,

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Pudpass and GIC program. So the plan was working. And until I met a doctor who's

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summer in Ludington whose son was not only an All-American quarterback at Notre Dame,

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but he was also an All-American tennis player. So the doctors said keep their growth plates

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healthy and safe. Don't let them get involved with any contact in football,

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wait until their juniors are seniors in high school to put them on the field.

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Well by that time, of course, Luke and Murphy were already nationally ranked in tennis and

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there was no more football for the Jensen's. So

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and whatever the boys did certainly the girls had to do because they were in the car every weekend.

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Yesterday Murphy, I guess he was yesterday, he testified before Congress.

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Oh no, I mean talking about amazing. There is a the senator, a female senator from Florida,

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has offered to both sides of the aisle a bill that AIDs are to be required on all sports

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field. Now the thing that that I said to Murphy, how about sports fields are fine. Let's get them,

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let's get the defibrillators out there, but how about tennis clubs? And of course it's Murphy's tennis

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tennis objective, our defibrillator objective for tennis is to have a defibrillator on every court.

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And so there were several several congressional senators who spoke yesterday,

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DeMara Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills was there. Senator Schumer was was in a Buffalo Bills

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shirt, which was made a kind of cool. And then DeMara spoke, Murphy spoke, and then a gentleman who

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lost his son on the soccer field because they had defibrillators, but nobody knew how to work them.

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And so it was it was a lot relatively it was like about a three hour day. Of course,

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Murphy's very passionate of our grateful about the fact that a defibrillator saved his life.

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And so he was only supposed to speak for three minutes, but he spoke for 10. And so it's his mission,

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and of course, my adopted mission as well to make certain that everybody in the tennis world

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is well aware of knowing that or in knowing how to engage or administer the defibrillator. And then,

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of course, have it charged. It's my understanding that like maybe about a month ago or a month and a half

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ago here in Atlanta, a gentleman fell on the court with a cardiac arrest situation. They ran out

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with the defibrillator to put it on him, and it hadn't been charged. So as a result, the man died.

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So had it been charged, hopefully he would still be alive today. And so I think that this is a long

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overdue bill that is is going to be be passed both in the Senate and the House. And Murphy was more

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than privileged to be selected to speak. And quick back story Sean, I've spoken to Murphy on a

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couple occasions the first time we spoke. We had never spoken before. We're on the telephone. And two

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and a half hours later, I had to explain to Murphy that I had to leave. We had never spoken on a phone

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before in our lives. You know, I was the wise guy announcer for the Atlanta Thunder on the court. So

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he might have recognized my voice, but he didn't know who I was. Two and a half hours later, we finally

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hung up the phone and said, Hey, we'll do this again. So I can see how Murphy can talk. He got

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out of somebody. But what was I mean, again, not without going into much detail, the incident he was

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playing in an exhibition with Luke in Colorado and had caught one in the cardiac arrest.

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Yeah, he it was so amazing because he he went to execute the serve. He put his arm up for the

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ball toss and then fell backwards hit his skull. Of course, on the hard court,

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practiced skull in five different places. They and the good news is that there was a defibrillator

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in the club. There were three emergency doctors in the audience at the time. They ran out and

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then they put Murphy, of course, and they put him as it called inducing him into a coma. He was

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he was in a coma for like six weeks while they, which I think is so interesting. They froze each of his

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organs and one at a time they would defreeze or whatever or unfreeze and so that they could get the

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blood circulating to that particular organ. And he's now, in fact, now he's working out all the time.

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Luke always says to him, why didn't you work out like this when we were playing? But it's a little too

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late now. But it's all good. I mean, it's just just phenomenal. So not only with his, we connect company,

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but also now he's there said there was Luke and Murphy on several occasions annually would go to

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this gooter foundation of make an appearance at this gooter foundation, which is a heart related

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foundation. And now it's the gooter gentson foundation. But let's talk about Georgia Tech.

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I'm in there. Go, go. So what do you do for Georgia Tech now?

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Okay. For Kenny Thorne or coach Thorne, who is the men's tennis coach, I mean, I've known Kenny

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since I hate to say this since he was probably 10 or 12. But when he took over as the role in the role

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of the men's tennis coach at Georgia Tech, after a couple of years, he called knowing I lived in

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Atlanta. He called me and asked what I would, would I be interested or think it was worthwhile to

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create or to schedule ball kids for the men's tennis program. But he, because of the school colors,

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he wanted to recall them his golden retrievers, not his, you know, his ball kids. And Georgia Tech is the

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only even to this day, the only college program, college tennis program that has ball kids on the court.

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So, and it's interesting even at the NCAA championships, wherever they're scheduled,

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there are no ball kids. And what hour, I mean, so I think I've been directing that element or

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component of his program for at least 12 or 15 years. And the transition into the professionalism

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on their part into the Atlanta opener, the BB and T or whatever the title is at the time,

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has always been amazing. And the officials, whenever they see me, always say, you know, why can't you

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send your ball kids to DC or one time I got, when Davis Cup was in Portland, I got a phone call from

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an official saying, how many ball kids can fly up these, these kids for Davis Cup? Just don't know

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what to do. Send me your ball kids. I said, I've got school. So anyway, so that's been amazing. And

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they, and then of course, I also went at Atlanta or Southern tennis association purchased the,

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the last week of July from Indianapolis, I got a phone call from Bill Oaks and he said,

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what department do you want? Because I want you involved with our, whatever it was called at time.

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And there was, there was no hesitation. It was definitely, I wanted to be involved with the kids

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because the, the tennis world has been so good to my entire family and taught them so many,

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so many things and they've derived so many benefits from being tennis players.

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That I just wanted to open those doors for the, you know, for the young junior tennis players of

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Atlanta and so many of them in that day are in phenomenal positions in the tennis world today.

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And what are we going to be doing in late July? Who's coming? What are we doing? It,

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I always forget what it's called now. It used to be windy hell. What is, oh, it's, oh,

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oh, don't even get me started. I thought we were also going to windom air.

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We are going there too, but I've been the other big one.

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Oh, okay. Well, it depends upon who you talk to, how big it's going to be. But, yes,

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Team Luke Hope for Mines is a foundation based created by a former professional tennis player,

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Tim Siegel, who lost his son or his son, his beautiful nine-year-old athletic son,

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had a golf cart accident that the golf cart flipped and landed on Luke. And he was paralyzed

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from the waist down because of where the golf cart landed. But I'm, to add to that tragedy,

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on the way to the hospital, the EMT puts the oxygen on wrong. So he was 30 minutes without oxygen

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to the brain. So as a result of many physical therapy appointments, Tim Siegel recognized that families

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that didn't have his educational athletic background, his wife is a nurse. They knew what to do with

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their son from a physical therapy perspective. But other families didn't. So he created the foundation

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for any call to, for a legacy for his son, Team Luke Hope for Mines. And it's serving families in 46

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states now. It's the only foundation that services families with brain injury children. So back to

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Wendy Hill on Sunday, the day of the tennis exhibition that last year was our first, first program at

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Wendy Hill because Marcelo, the tennis director, there used to be the assistant coach to Tim Siegel.

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And so it was a very successful fundraising event. And we're going to schedule it again this year. In

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fact, it was so successful that some of the members signed up on Monday, you know, the next day to make

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Isner, who is a good friend, has already committed. And Chris U-Banks, believe it or not, has also told

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his father that whatever I need from any foundation, prospect scheduling that he would be there for us.

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So that's another good name that will be at the at the program.

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Yeah, I was lucky enough to get involved. Let's show Sean. We had a blast. The Golden Retrievers were there

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being the ball kids. Tim was the coach of Texas Tech. He played at Arkansas. So a lot of his

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former players that he played with from Arkansas fly in for the weekend. One of his players was

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in the main draw of Atlanta last year. But another one of his players came in and helped out with the

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exo Luke Jensen was there. And these guys ran around. We I was lucky because they ran around so long.

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I just had to feed balls. So I was out there for three hours, but I was just feeding. They were running

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around like crazy people. I left, but historically because the adults came first and pretty much we had

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six courts working. Most of the six courts were the adults were I think we were down to three after

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that what was considered the warm up that they were like, okay, we're good. We're good. And so,

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you know, it was fun. Tim is an I we're going to have Tim on the podcast as well here shortly.

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And amazing for somebody who speaks so positively, having endured such a tragedy, you know, being

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a parent, I it's unfathomable. What a presentation he makes. And when he speaks just the I mean, we're

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outside on a tennis court. And it was just absolutely silent. And we like to because he was a Texas

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tech. He has a relationship with a certain quarterback that is now one a couple of super balls. And

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we have some good close-up pictures of Patrick Holmes during the Super Bowl wearing the team

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low-loop bracelets during the Super Bowl. So, you know, he's got Patrick. My home's involved drew

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Breezes very involved. And we're trying to get Drew here because Drew is also a very good tennis player.

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Oh, yes. He likes to remind Andy Roddick. I think the last time they played, he beat him, I think.

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Is that true? Or is that he just talked about that? No, no, of course they were both 12 this time.

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But but Drew never says that. Drew just says, remind Andy who got the last who has the last win.

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Hey, it's not win. I beat Sven Saluma who made the semi-finals of the US open, you know, when we were 12.

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I don't tell anybody. He was still a foot taller than me. So it didn't matter even then. So

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That's like me saying I got to win over Robbie Geneffrey, right? Yeah, it's just it's timing.

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Timing is everything. He was 12. It doesn't count. Yeah, that's it. It was still Robbie Geneffrey.

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So that'll be what we got coming up in July. And that that'll be a good time for a great cause.

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And hopefully we're going to get more established here in Atlanta because, you know,

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obviously with Shepherd Spinal Center having such a great presence. It's a great fit

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to build on it. And actually one of my clients' sons had an issue in a car accident and we weren't

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sure how it was going to go. And I gave Tim or gave them their Tim's phone number. And thankfully it broke

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in the right way and the assistance was not needed. But Tim was ready to go on a moment's notice.

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And they really do fantastic work getting people to deal with and give them a direction, which I

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think so often when you get thrown into a situation like that, you don't know where to next turn.

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It certainly helps with what they're doing. So it's a wonderful cause and we will keep you posted

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there. All right, Sean. Ask the question. Patricia, we have a last question and what I want to do

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is actually want to make more time for that question. So I'd like to ask a favor. Can we bring you back

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for a long version of this question? Well, as long as you don't ask me for my credit card number.

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No, no, no, no, no, no, not yet. Not yet. We're we always ask if you were queen of king or queen of

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tennis. Is anything you change or anything you do? And from what I can tell, you might as well be

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queen of tennis because you are just doing all of the things that anyone would want to do.

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Anyone that could do anyone that says, hey, you know what? I want to change something or add something

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you seem to do that anyway. And I have we love here.

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Sean with or without permission. Hey, you know what? That's why it's queen. You don't need permission,

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right? Queen of tennis, you might as well be. But what I'd like to do is schedule a time where we can

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just have a flat out, you know, if you wanted to do even more, let's talk about that. But at this point,

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I want to say thanks and we will schedule some time and definitely talk to you again. And because I

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know you and Bobby can basically just talk forever.

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Well, there you have it. We want to thank rejuvenate.com for use of the studio and be sure to hit that

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follow button for more tennis related content. You can go to Atlanta tennis podcast.com. And while

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you're there, check out our calendar of tennis events deals on equipment, apparel and more.

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And you should feel good knowing that shopping at Let's Go tennis.com helps support this show.

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You can also donate directly using links in the show notes. And with that, we're out. See you next time.

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