Season 24 Episode #73 Bobby Schindler and Shaun J Boyce
This episode with Eddie Gonzalez delves into his career and experiences as the director and chief business officer of the Atlanta Open, reflecting on his love for tennis and the tournament’s growth. A few key points include his leadership journey, his passion for building the event over 10 years, and the challenges involved in running a high-level ATP Tour event.
Summary:
– **Eddie’s Background**: Eddie grew up in Rome, Georgia, played high-level junior tennis, and competed for NC State University. His career in sports started at Athlon Sports before he returned to tennis, leading the Atlanta Open for a decade.
– **Career Highlights**: Eddie discussed how he elevated the Atlanta Open, making it an annual sports and entertainment event, bringing in crowds and enhancing the experience for fans. One of his proudest achievements was building the event from a temporary parking lot to a “party where a tennis match breaks out.”
– **Challenges**: Eddie highlighted the difficulties of hosting an outdoor event in the summer heat and dealing with unpredictable weather. For instance, the 2023 finals didn’t conclude until 3 a.m. due to rain delays. Despite these challenges, the event maintained strong attendance.
– **Impact on American Tennis**: Eddie is proud of the Atlanta Open’s role in giving rising American players like Taylor Fritz, Francis Tiafoe, and Christopher Eubanks their first big opportunities. He also emphasized the importance of fostering local tennis talent and creating future champions.
– **Legacy**: As the ATP’s calendar restructuring led to the discontinuation of the Atlanta Open, Eddie expressed pride in leaving behind a successful, well-loved event, even though it was a casualty of the tour’s evolution.
– **Personal Life**: Eddie shared personal insights, such as his daughter’s career as a social media influencer and his son being drafted into professional baseball. He enjoys supporting their careers and traveling with them.
Notable Quotes from Eddie Gonzalez:
1. **On building the Atlanta Open**:
– “You want to leave things better than you found them, and I’m very proud of the 10 years of building it every year to be bigger and better.”
2. **On the tournament experience**:
– “Our philosophy was to create a party where a tennis match breaks out. We knew we weren’t going to get Federer, Nadal, or Djokovic, so we had to make it about the experience.”
3. **On aging and tennis**:
– “You don’t stop playing tennis because you get old, you get old because you stop playing tennis.”
4. **On fostering young American talent**:
– “It’s rewarding to see young Americans like Taylor Fritz and Chris Eubanks who got their first shots in Atlanta. That’s the future of American tennis.”
5. **On maintaining composure**:
– “We ran the tournament like ducks on a pond: calm on the surface but paddling furiously underneath.”
These highlights and quotes encapsulate Eddie’s passion for tennis, leadership, and making a lasting impact on the sport in America.
YouTube Replay: https://youtu.be/XVLUhdrlE8w
Shaun Boyce USPTA: [email protected]
https://tennisforchildren.com/ 🎾
Bobby Schindler USPTA: [email protected]
https://windermerecommunity.net/ 🎾
Geovanna Boyce: [email protected]
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Transcript
(upbeat music)
Speaker:Welcome to the Atlanta Tennis Podcast.
Speaker:Every episode is titled,
Speaker:It Starts with Tennis and Goes From There.
Speaker:We talk with coaches, club managers,
Speaker:industry business professionals,
Speaker:technology experts, and anyone else we find interesting.
Speaker:We wanna have a conversation as long as it starts with tennis.
Speaker:(upbeat music)
Speaker:Hey, hey, this is Shaun with the Atlanta Tennis Podcast,
Speaker:powered by GoTennis.
Speaker:Check out our calendar of Metro Atlanta Tennis events
Speaker:at LetsGoTennis.com
Speaker:and be sure to register for the GoTennis Fall Festival
Speaker:on November 9th at James Creek Tennis Center.
Speaker:It's gonna be awesome.
Speaker:And now let's get into our recent conversation
Speaker:with Eddie Gonzales.
Speaker:Eddie was the tournament director
Speaker:and chief business officer of the Atlanta Open.
Speaker:And we talk about his leadership journey,
Speaker:his passion for building the event over 10 years,
Speaker:and the challenges involved in running an ATP tour level event.
Speaker:Have a listen and let us know what you think.
Speaker:(upbeat music)
Speaker:Who are you and why do we care?
Speaker:Good, that's a great question.
Speaker:10 year tournament director,
Speaker:chief business officer of the Atlanta Open.
Speaker:So, ATP tour event that just ended its run here
Speaker:in Atlanta this past week.
Speaker:Okay, well that's what you do, but who are you?
Speaker:You're a father, you got a couple of kids.
Speaker:What's, what are, what are you?
Speaker:- Yeah, grew up in Rome, Georgia, high level junior player,
Speaker:and I've gone to NC State University
Speaker:on a tennis scholarship.
Speaker:So, played for the Wolfpack in the ACC.
Speaker:Was fortunate enough to make a career.
Speaker:Then in tennis worked for the USDA Southern section
Speaker:for about eight years out of college
Speaker:and then got hired by sports media company
Speaker:called Athlon Sports.
Speaker:Did that for about 15 years
Speaker:before the opportunity presented itself
Speaker:to get back in tennis and lead the team
Speaker:running the Atlanta Open ATP event here in Atlanta?
Speaker:- And Athlon Sports, I've seen that before.
Speaker:Is that, is that Darren Potke?
Speaker:Is that name sound familiar?
Speaker:I think, well, Darren's had a USDA Georgia.
Speaker:So, he's the executive director for the USDA.
Speaker:But Athlon Sports, it was always that preseason
Speaker:preview magazines.
Speaker:So, baseball, baseball, basketball, and basketball,
Speaker:and no tennis.
Speaker:But it's kind of that first look that you,
Speaker:kind of pre-internet, you know,
Speaker:you can only get at the news stand.
Speaker:And, you know, you wanted to get that magazine
Speaker:and then we expanded into social.
Speaker:But I was VP of sales for Athlon
Speaker:and loved every minute of that.
Speaker:But, okay, at the end of the day,
Speaker:my heart and my passion is tennis
Speaker:and only 10 ATP events in the US.
Speaker:So, a chance to lead that team for 10 years
Speaker:from 2013 to 23.
Speaker:- And that's something you say yes to.
Speaker:Hey, would you like to do this?
Speaker:And I think the answer is yes.
Speaker:There's not a lot of hesitation there.
Speaker:And you just want, I say, just won this year being 2024
Speaker:as a tennis player, you're still playing.
Speaker:So, you won the senior invitational, is that, is that right?
Speaker:- Yeah, I'm actually had a good run now
Speaker:that I stepped away from the tournament last year.
Speaker:I've actually had more time to play than watching,
Speaker:you know, promote tennis.
Speaker:But, won the Atlanta Senior Invitational and the 50 doubles.
Speaker:Also gotten invited to represent Georgia in the Calend Cup
Speaker:in which each of the nine Southern states
Speaker:puts their best adult male and female players together.
Speaker:And, it's on a 55 team with Steven Anix and Ryan Blake
Speaker:and John Hanon me and we came home with the trophy there.
Speaker:And then, there's another event called the Donop Cup
Speaker:in which each of the 17 sections and puts their best teams together.
Speaker:And so, I represented Team Southern
Speaker:and we actually won the Donop Cup.
Speaker:So, it's been a good run so far.
Speaker:The body keeps holding up and still loved to compete.
Speaker:- I'm excited.
Speaker:I haven't seen Ryan Blake in forever.
Speaker:So, Ryan was always one of my favorite people.
Speaker:And he is a first class character.
Speaker:And another perfect example, he plays tennis
Speaker:and makes all his money in basketball.
Speaker:- Exactly.
Speaker:- Yeah, and he and I, I've known him since I was probably 12 years old.
Speaker:He's probably one of the first guys ever played in junior tennis.
Speaker:And it's fun to see where we all end up in life.
Speaker:And now he's just a great guy and been a lifelong great friend.
Speaker:- Yeah.
Speaker:And that's good when we see those times.
Speaker:We say, "Hey, oh my gosh, we met back when we were kids
Speaker:and we get a chance to then whether we grew up together
Speaker:or whether we'd get apart and come back
Speaker:and we'd run into each other again as professionals,
Speaker:as we're older.
Speaker:I know with my wife, we ran into a couple of kids, I would say,
Speaker:two that I coached 20 years ago
Speaker:and got him into college tennis.
Speaker:And we see him again and say, "Hey, how you doing?"
Speaker:And it's great, we've got kids now
Speaker:and it's all kind of an exciting scenario to be able to say
Speaker:we knew each other back then.
Speaker:But even more so with you Eddie, with somebody,
Speaker:with those guys like Blake and Hannah to be able to say,
Speaker:"We've been doing this together for maybe more than 20 years."
Speaker:- Definitely in Ryan's case for sure,
Speaker:John's right there in Stephen A.N.X as well.
Speaker:So we're all aging gracefully together.
Speaker:- One thing is, it's still being able to play at a high level
Speaker:is uncommon.
Speaker:Bobby, what was the statement you made recently
Speaker:and something that was about most people, 70%,
Speaker:whatever the number is of Division 1, tennis players
Speaker:never play again, is that right?
Speaker:- You'd never pick up a racket again, yeah.
Speaker:- Wow, I did not know that and that's disappointing.
Speaker:That's really disappointing.
Speaker:- I mean, I play tennis, yeah, look,
Speaker:I still love to go play tournament here and there,
Speaker:but it's really for the health and wellness.
Speaker:I mean, you can get such a great singles workout
Speaker:and an hour that's both such a great cardio
Speaker:and aerobic and anaerobic.
Speaker:So I just, I'd love to still get a great workout.
Speaker:- Yeah, and I think those of us that know the health benefits
Speaker:and we had go tennis, we promote that kind of thing
Speaker:'cause we want more people in the sport.
Speaker:And it's one thing from your point of view,
Speaker:and I wanna ask about some of your experiences
Speaker:at the ATP tournament level to be able to see
Speaker:as much as you have, because we promote the health benefits
Speaker:and we want people to get into it.
Speaker:Let's age well, let's, you know,
Speaker:tennis players live what, seven to 10 years longer
Speaker:on average than other players.
Speaker:And I don't know if that's actual causal
Speaker:or just relational, but still it says something
Speaker:and it means a lot.
Speaker:And what do you see when we've got the players
Speaker:that are in our 50s, in our 60s,
Speaker:and as we get older and we can still play,
Speaker:those seem to be the healthier people in our world here.
Speaker:Now, is that just because we're biased toward tennis, Eddie?
Speaker:- You know, I think so.
Speaker:I mean, I think I heard somebody say,
Speaker:you don't stop playing tennis 'cause you get old.
Speaker:You get old 'cause you stop playing tennis.
Speaker:So there you go.
Speaker:So I choose to play tennis not to get old.
Speaker:- That's a great statement.
Speaker:I like that a lot.
Speaker:And that's encouraging to get people to keep playing.
Speaker:And even if many as we get older,
Speaker:maybe transitioning into pickleball
Speaker:or finding something a little less difficult on the body,
Speaker:fighting through injuries, whatever that is,
Speaker:the health benefits are still important
Speaker:because maybe we take some of these younger people
Speaker:that are coming into pickleball and then say,
Speaker:hey, maybe tennis is even an even better workout
Speaker:and that can be a good entry level.
Speaker:But I do want to ask about your time,
Speaker:specifically at the ATP event here in Atlanta
Speaker:because there's good response, there's negative,
Speaker:it's in town, it's hot, it's rainy.
Speaker:I mean, recently the most recent Atlanta open,
Speaker:they didn't finish their finals matches
Speaker:till three o'clock in the morning, the next day,
Speaker:whether it happens, right?
Speaker:It's an outdoor event.
Speaker:But for you, Eddie, could I ask, could I presume to ask
Speaker:the rewarding, what's the most rewarding thing
Speaker:that you could consider?
Speaker:Or anything rewarding that says,
Speaker:you spent 10 years experiencing this,
Speaker:what did you get out of it?
Speaker:What did you learn rather than just spending your time
Speaker:working to make sure the players and the sponsors
Speaker:are taking care of?
Speaker:- You know, I think the most rewarding thing
Speaker:for anybody that has a leadership opportunity,
Speaker:whatever that is, any sort of company,
Speaker:you want to leave things better than you find it.
Speaker:And so I'm very proud of the 10 years of building it
Speaker:every year to be bigger and better.
Speaker:And of course, you guys know that was an empty parking lot.
Speaker:And so we bring a world class tennis tournament every year
Speaker:and we build it and everything there is temporary.
Speaker:And it was very satisfying to get bigger and better
Speaker:every year, but also when you would have fans there
Speaker:that wouldn't know that it was temporary.
Speaker:And the other thing that we really tried to abide by
Speaker:is we kind of had a team motto that we wanted
Speaker:to be a party in a tennis match, Roque House.
Speaker:So that was kind of our philosophy
Speaker:'cause we didn't want people to have to,
Speaker:we weren't gonna get fed in the Dull joke of it.
Speaker:So I mean, we were never gonna get those guys.
Speaker:And so we had to make sure it was that sports event
Speaker:on an annual basis of people who wanted to be a part of
Speaker:whether you're a sports fan or not.
Speaker:We knew we were gonna get the passion of fans
Speaker:like the three of us.
Speaker:We're gonna go.
Speaker:But how do you get those casual fans to go?
Speaker:And it's the easy parking.
Speaker:It's the restaurants, it's the shops.
Speaker:And I also will tell people part of my motivation
Speaker:when I started was that I was fortunate in my career
Speaker:at 10 Super Bowls and Pondle Boards and Masters and Pro Bowls.
Speaker:And but the greatest annual sports event is the US Open
Speaker:tennis.
Speaker:And it's because there's New York City,
Speaker:it's night matches, it's people watching, it's restaurants,
Speaker:it's shops, it's great world class tennis.
Speaker:So we really want to be that many US Open there
Speaker:at Atlantic Station with unbelievable Midtown Skyline views
Speaker:and easy parking and restaurants and shops
Speaker:and great world class tennis.
Speaker:And you don't care who's playing.
Speaker:I mean, yes, you want your marquee players to win,
Speaker:but that's a bonus.
Speaker:You can control the weather.
Speaker:So you control what you can control.
Speaker:What's Atlanta is July, it's hot.
Speaker:So we would strategically play all of our marquee matches
Speaker:at night.
Speaker:So that way it's the evenings down there very pleasant.
Speaker:I mean, even with humidity, if you're from the south,
Speaker:you know, it's very pleasant down there.
Speaker:And we found with our research that people that had come
Speaker:to the tournament, the survey showed that it was never
Speaker:an issue about getting there or parking.
Speaker:Because there's 7,000 covered parking spaces at Atlantic
Speaker:Station, I think it was $12 or $14 a day, which is--
Speaker:you go to any other sporting event,
Speaker:that parking is going to cost you $40, $50.
Speaker:So the parking was not an issue.
Speaker:And there's seven different ways
Speaker:to get into that parking at Atlantic Station.
Speaker:So it was really our goal to try to get the people that had never
Speaker:been there before.
Speaker:Because once they came, we felt like that we had a really good shot
Speaker:of them coming back.
Speaker:I like that ending, where if we can get them here once.
Speaker:And I think that's a-- that's kind of a tennis coach expectation.
Speaker:If I come from my point of view with Bobby,
Speaker:is if I could just get you on court,
Speaker:then I know you're going to come back,
Speaker:because you're going to like the product.
Speaker:And I think a lot of the people that
Speaker:might complain about the Atlanta open
Speaker:or the Atlanta people that aren't going unless it's Roger,
Speaker:which is not going to show up.
Speaker:And they're potentially-- they don't like the drive.
Speaker:It's not about parking.
Speaker:I mean, Bobby lives over an hour away,
Speaker:and that's just getting to the city, getting down there.
Speaker:So you can get Bobby all the parking you want.
Speaker:He's still got a drive power, and that's a commitment.
Speaker:And there's a lot more of those complaints,
Speaker:where once I go down for the first time,
Speaker:and I see that party where the tennis match broke out.
Speaker:And I see-- sometimes there empty seats up there.
Speaker:But that doesn't mean the place is empty.
Speaker:The rest of that facility is packed.
Speaker:And people are--
Speaker:the tents, and they got drinks, and the fans,
Speaker:and not the fans, the people, but the fans,
Speaker:to keep themselves cool.
Speaker:And it really is a great place to hang out.
Speaker:And we went down there three times just this past--
Speaker:in the last episode of it.
Speaker:And we watched very little tennis.
Speaker:Very little tennis.
Speaker:And we were meeting people and talking,
Speaker:and really enjoying the atmosphere.
Speaker:So I think that's probably it.
Speaker:It's if we can get you down here the first time,
Speaker:is that the hardest part, though?
Speaker:Because if you're going to say, come down to our event.
Speaker:We've got great parking.
Speaker:It's kind of a strange offer, right?
Speaker:Yeah, but it's more than just the parking.
Speaker:When you come through those front gates,
Speaker:and you get that music stage going,
Speaker:and partnering with the Giving Kitchen,
Speaker:it was one of our charity partners
Speaker:that helped bring some of Atlanta's top restaurants
Speaker:and chefs.
Speaker:I mean, Atlanta's a foodie community.
Speaker:So being able to have Ford Fry and some of his restaurants
Speaker:over the years featured there.
Speaker:I mean, all of those were kind of the secret sauce for us.
Speaker:And then I mentioned the mini-US Open earlier.
Speaker:So the US Open is men and women.
Speaker:We're a men's only event.
Speaker:So I'm also very proud of some of the entrepreneurial things
Speaker:we did, such as kicking off the only men's term in the world
Speaker:that kicked off with a women's exhibition.
Speaker:And that sold out every year.
Speaker:And Atlanta has a very affluent African-American community
Speaker:and bringing Venus Williams that first year
Speaker:to play Jeannie Bouchard, sell out, bringing Sloan Stevens
Speaker:and the play Madison Keys, sell out, bringing Coco Gawd,
Speaker:right as her breakout year, and actually
Speaker:play two different sessions, sell out, sell out.
Speaker:So then getting folks to come that it had never come before,
Speaker:that then wanted to come back and see the men play later
Speaker:on in the week was just another piece
Speaker:to the whole equation that we were trying to create.
Speaker:Yeah, I think we've been trying for years
Speaker:to make sure we help push that idea of,
Speaker:you don't come down for whatever you want,
Speaker:stay for the tennis to where it isn't necessarily--
Speaker:we weren't worried about who was playing.
Speaker:Now, it's nice to see the big guys play.
Speaker:And it's nice to see those big names.
Speaker:But it really has been a fantastic event,
Speaker:despite some of the complaints.
Speaker:And again, like you said, Atlanta is hot.
Speaker:It's-- you can't control the weather.
Speaker:There's only so much you can do.
Speaker:And the one thing I learned going to ATP meetings
Speaker:over the 10 years is that every event has a complaint
Speaker:about its date on the calendar.
Speaker:I mean, you can talk about Miami and Indian Wells.
Speaker:And even this past year, we talked about the weather at Lannagot,
Speaker:while Rome, the Italian opening and Madrid both were just downpours.
Speaker:And then even the French and Wembleden
Speaker:had to deal with weather issues.
Speaker:So every event has issues with their date.
Speaker:July, the end of July for Atlanta,
Speaker:the way the calendar is to help have the guys start
Speaker:their US Open Preparation on the Hard Corts,
Speaker:who is really the best date for us.
Speaker:Because then you start getting to August.
Speaker:Well, guess what?
Speaker:A lot of school systems go back to school.
Speaker:I mean, it's starting August.
Speaker:And so then your volunteer basis is good.
Speaker:And that was something our volunteers were second to none.
Speaker:Our ball person team.
Speaker:And again, I watch matches on TV or live.
Speaker:And I'm looking at things that most fans aren't looking at,
Speaker:just because of the operational promoter nature of me.
Speaker:Our ball person team fabulous.
Speaker:Our ushers, our drivers, our ticket takers, just so much passion,
Speaker:so much knowledge.
Speaker:And he talked about the finals, any at 3 AM.
Speaker:They were there to the end.
Speaker:And just kudos to our volunteer team that really helped
Speaker:it get to where it was.
Speaker:And again, people need to understand
Speaker:that Atlanta Open wasn't leaving, isn't going away
Speaker:because of the lack of success.
Speaker:It's simply a casualty of the ATP Tour Calendar
Speaker:with the 1,000s all going from nine days to 12.
Speaker:So when you add three days to Cincinnati
Speaker:and three days to Canada, that's six days in the summer.
Speaker:That's a week.
Speaker:So the summer got squeezed a week.
Speaker:And as a result, unfortunately, even more
Speaker:of a history at Newport Rhode Island,
Speaker:where that international tennis hall of fame
Speaker:losing its event.
Speaker:And so we can bow out gracefully
Speaker:or other heads high knowing that we
Speaker:left creating a very positive event.
Speaker:That's good.
Speaker:I appreciate that explanation because we'll end up
Speaker:getting that question for years to come.
Speaker:What happened?
Speaker:Oh, I bet they ended it because it wasn't
Speaker:well attended.
Speaker:We put an article last year that said,
Speaker:don't let the empty seats fool you about the Atlanta event
Speaker:because that place is a party.
Speaker:And there's also a tennis match going on in the big space.
Speaker:But in this case, it's a good explanation
Speaker:to be able to say the ATP level decisions
Speaker:are why the calendar changes.
Speaker:It's not like some other tournament got chosen instead
Speaker:of this one.
Speaker:And so GF Sports specifically was able to bid on creating
Speaker:new events.
Speaker:Can you describe that for me?
Speaker:Do you know how that played out?
Speaker:Yeah, I mean, very simply, if any tournament owner owned 2,
Speaker:250s, they had the opportunity to retire those 2, 250s.
Speaker:Or in essence, give them back to the tour who
Speaker:would then stun set them.
Speaker:In exchange for that, they would be rewarded with a 500.
Speaker:So that's why GF with Dallas being a 250 in Atlanta being
Speaker:a 250, those two events are now gone.
Speaker:But in exchange for that, GF now has 1,500 that will remain
Speaker:in Dallas in that same kind of February indoor time slot.
Speaker:But there's other events and owners
Speaker:that have 2,5, 2, more than 1,2, 50 that decided to keep them.
Speaker:Buenos Aires and Antorpor, for an example.
Speaker:But there wasn't-- it was just again the way Atlanta fell
Speaker:on the calendar that was really the only scenario that would work.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker:And I appreciate that explanation, because it's
Speaker:difficult for some people to understand those business
Speaker:level decisions if we don't know.
Speaker:And most people aren't paid.
Speaker:We still have on our social media.
Speaker:We've got people saying, oh, I wonder what
Speaker:happened when they're commenting on the explanation
Speaker:of what happened.
Speaker:So clearly, people aren't actually paying attention
Speaker:in trying to learn these want to complain.
Speaker:What you'll notice is next year in 2025,
Speaker:when those summer 1,000s got to 12 days,
Speaker:DC that is now always historically followed Atlanta
Speaker:is moving up a week.
Speaker:So DC will now take the Atlanta week on the calendar
Speaker:moving up, because again, they got squeezed to move forward
Speaker:a week because of the change.
Speaker:And Cincinnati, right?
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:That makes sense.
Speaker:OK, Bobby, I learned what I needed to learn.
Speaker:I really wanted to hear that turn of the explanation again.
Speaker:Do you got anything for Eddie?
Speaker:Well, I think speaking to just to take it one step further,
Speaker:I'd love to see him five years what Atlanta station
Speaker:has to say with the loss of the tournament.
Speaker:Because I'm like, you, I've been in Atlanta 32 years now.
Speaker:And a lot of things we take for granted.
Speaker:And I've said it a thousand times.
Speaker:I grew up in New York, approximately the same 35 miles
Speaker:from New York City as I am now from Atlanta.
Speaker:And I visited Atlanta far more than I ever did New York City.
Speaker:And I went to the tournament last Wednesday.
Speaker:And it rained.
Speaker:But what it really did for me was recreate a lot of memories
Speaker:of just silly things that my daughter and I
Speaker:had done at Atlanta station and said, you know,
Speaker:I'm going to have to make an effort to get to Atlanta station.
Speaker:There's not something yearly that is going to bring me there.
Speaker:So, you know, I'll be curious to see how the storm
Speaker:will make out your five years.
Speaker:So now the long term business legacy of losing something
Speaker:that I just said, I think far too many people
Speaker:took for granted because of a thousand excuses.
Speaker:And you know, once you get there, you sit there and go.
Speaker:And of course, you know, I love the whole idea of making a party.
Speaker:You know, I screened that from the towers
Speaker:when I was involved with the senior tour to a lot of deaf ears.
Speaker:And it was very frustrating because, you know, Atlanta
Speaker:is a tier one city.
Speaker:And as Eddie said, I was disappointed last Wednesday
Speaker:because I couldn't get into the stadium because of the rain.
Speaker:So I had to get to eat the food.
Speaker:You know, I want the food trucks.
Speaker:You know, that's part of the experience.
Speaker:And I didn't get to enjoy that.
Speaker:So, you know, I think that's going to be interesting.
Speaker:Five years from now when we realize, you know,
Speaker:you always miss it more when it's gone, unfortunately.
Speaker:Well, I'll say just to add in echo,
Speaker:which was saying Bobby by Atlantic Station, fabulous partner.
Speaker:Having them as a site partner where Atlanta is a tier one.
Speaker:It's a major DMA, just like Dallas, New York,
Speaker:Houston, LA, Chicago.
Speaker:Atlanta was the only market in the US for an ATP event
Speaker:that took place right in the heart of the major DMA.
Speaker:I mean, even New York is in Queens.
Speaker:You know, it's in the bird.
Speaker:Even with our GF sports, our Dallas event,
Speaker:it's going to be out in Frisco.
Speaker:And so, you know, Indian Wells and Miami, you know,
Speaker:Miami's out at Miami Gardens where the, you know,
Speaker:where the football stadium is.
Speaker:So Atlantic Station was such a great partner.
Speaker:Having a hotel right there on site.
Speaker:Most ATP events around the world, you've got to get in your car
Speaker:and drive 15 minutes as a player to get to the practice courts.
Speaker:Another 15 minutes to get to the venue.
Speaker:We had guys playing their match and walking back to the hotel
Speaker:after their match didn't even, you know,
Speaker:water need a ride and you could go to your house
Speaker:or Atlantic Grill or Publix and you'd see him there.
Speaker:And Atlantic Station told us that outside of the Christmas
Speaker:holiday week and December that our Atlanta Open
Speaker:was their second best week of the year in terms of business
Speaker:for their retailers, the restaurants and all the retailers
Speaker:there.
Speaker:So it was a win-win.
Speaker:They were fabulous partners and that was part of our success.
Speaker:Having that stadium right off the interstate, you know,
Speaker:there's 675,000 cars a day that go by the intersection.
Speaker:So that was basically a billboard for the tennis
Speaker:tournament in Atlantic Station one and the same
Speaker:during our nine day run every year.
Speaker:>> Yeah, the truest did pretty well, right?
Speaker:They built a building there.
Speaker:>> It was supposed to be.
Speaker:>> It was BB&T.
Speaker:Yeah, BB&T is as a newer bank in the Atlanta market really
Speaker:wanted to own something and the ability to own and, you know,
Speaker:title with us with their Georgia headquarters being right
Speaker:back there and every backdrop shot of the stadium had the BB&T
Speaker:building and then when BB&T acquired
Speaker:some trust, then they created the truest brand and
Speaker:then ran for two years before that ran its course.
Speaker:>> And that's, we were driving past the other night and my wife
Speaker:looked at me and we're driving by.
Speaker:>> It's so cool to see because it's in the same place that they would put,
Speaker:they put the Cirque du Soleil there when, you know,
Speaker:when there's time and space and they're in, in town and driving by
Speaker:I'm like, why don't we, why don't they have a big billboard
Speaker:saying, you know, the Atlanta open.
Speaker:I think that pretty much is the billboard.
Speaker:I mean, you drive by and you see a giant tennis stadium.
Speaker:I think you pretty much figure out what's going on there.
Speaker:>> Well, we would, I don't think they did it this year but it probably
Speaker:because this was the last year but in years past, yeah,
Speaker:we had a big billboard on the back of the stadium that had our
Speaker:web address and dates so that way people would know what was going on.
Speaker:Hey, what is that thing over there?
Speaker:So you kind of knew what it was.
Speaker:>> Well, you mentioned, you mentioned about getting there and I remember
Speaker:multiple times trying to get to the US open and it's,
Speaker:it just felt like the whole morning was just getting there.
Speaker:The train and whatever it was, it was just, it wasn't easy and we were
Speaker:driving down recently and you go down and we come from the north.
Speaker:So we go down, we take it right, we take it right, we park,
Speaker:we walk across street, we're in.
Speaker:It's fantastic.
Speaker:>> And you, and that's part of it.
Speaker:You don't, all of us are human nature's.
Speaker:You don't want to be stressed out getting to a location and be stressed out
Speaker:standing in line to get into wherever you're going or it's a movie or a concert or
Speaker:whatever.
Speaker:So again, we just wanted to, we tried to run a tennis tournament the way we'd
Speaker:want to go to it by ourselves.
Speaker:>> That's a good way to look at it.
Speaker:I think Bobby and I have a lot of conversations with people in the tennis world
Speaker:and a lot of those solutions, a lot of those decisions that become good for
Speaker:others are when someone does something that they would want.
Speaker:How would I want to experience this thing?
Speaker:Whether we're creating a magic ball machine or whatever it is that we're doing for
Speaker:tennis, we solve a problem for ourselves which is all right, when I go to a event,
Speaker:I want to be able to get there easily.
Speaker:I want to be able to afford it, I want good food.
Speaker:You just go down the list and say this is what I want.
Speaker:Well, how hard is it to do these things?
Speaker:And as we've said before, even just now, oh yeah, and there's a tennis match going on
Speaker:over there.
Speaker:>> Exactly.
Speaker:>> So I will presume again to ask another question that puts you on the spot a little bit.
Speaker:Do you have, when you think back over 10 years of doing this in Atlanta,
Speaker:do you have a story that would be something kind of, I don't know, it doesn't have to be funny,
Speaker:doesn't even have to be witty.
Speaker:But something interesting that happened that somebody else might not have experienced
Speaker:because we see the tennis and we can see that on TV and when we go, we can experience
Speaker:the food and the bands and the excitement and the court side.
Speaker:But from your point of view, is there anything you've experienced, I'm sure you've got a
Speaker:thousand stories, but is there maybe a favorite that you can share with us?
Speaker:>> Yeah, I do, but I'd also like to go back to your, also just your question about the
Speaker:rewarding, the fulfillment side.
Speaker:And I talked about wanting to leave it better and you found it.
Speaker:It's also very rewarding to see all these young Americans who had their first shot in Atlanta
Speaker:and where they are now.
Speaker:Taylor Fritz needed two different wild cards from us early on in his career.
Speaker:And now he spent part of last year, top 10.
Speaker:Seeing what Chris U-Banks did last year, getting to the quarter finals, a Wimbledon, and
Speaker:our commitment to college and having a college night and giving him that opportunity and
Speaker:seeing where he is now.
Speaker:Francis Chiapo's first win ever as a professional tennis player was in Atlanta in the qualifying,
Speaker:because of a wild card that we gave to him.
Speaker:I'll never forget Riley O'Pelka's father, George, crying in the stands when Riley made
Speaker:the semifinals of his first event on a wild card.
Speaker:Tommy Paul, same thing.
Speaker:And last but not least, Ben Schell.
Speaker:So Ben got his first chance to experience pro tennis in Atlanta my last year in 2022.
Speaker:You know, we had some Atlanta connections with his dad Brian Ben from, you know, having
Speaker:at the living in Atlanta and being the coach at Georgia Tech where we went to Florida.
Speaker:Ben had just won the NCAAs and he was very pleasantly persistent with me, Ben, to his credit
Speaker:on wanting a wild card.
Speaker:And I finally said, Ben, you've earned it.
Speaker:Congratulations.
Speaker:You're going to get to experience playing an ATP tour level.
Speaker:And my only ask is you always think fondly of Atlanta whenever you, you know, and so I think
Speaker:that helped him come back the last two years to play because of that opportunity there.
Speaker:So just, you know, I'm a, I'm a American home or, you know, I love the Americans to do well.
Speaker:It's great to be a small part of the success that they've had and where they are now.
Speaker:But your question about what kind of what's one funny story memory?
Speaker:And it kind of goes right in line with talking about being a party and a tennis match breaks
Speaker:out.
Speaker:Well, one year we had the Commodore play on our music stage and we did it on Saturday night
Speaker:of the qualifying.
Speaker:So we actually played matches and then we actually cramed a stage and over the stadium to put
Speaker:it down onto the court because we didn't have room to fit it through the opening on the temporary
Speaker:stadium.
Speaker:And then we put down a protective surface on the court and the, there was no damage to
Speaker:the stadium where the stage was.
Speaker:But where we screwed up was all the tables that we had kind of champagne tables that we put
Speaker:on the court and they left little indensions on the stadium court.
Speaker:And so when we pulled up our protective turf, we saw all these little, that mean circles
Speaker:on the court at Saturday night at midnight and we're supposed to have qualifying matches
Speaker:in the next morning.
Speaker:And this is where the tennis guys look so favorably upon us as well as having the right partners
Speaker:and Mike Embernone and signature tennis.
Speaker:I told him if I have another child, I was going to name it after him because they came, they
Speaker:drove down probably 45 minutes at night from the barbs to look at the court and Sunday
Speaker:morning there they were.
Speaker:And again, the weather cooperated.
Speaker:They were able to put two coach down on the stadium to have the courts then drive right
Speaker:to go by Monday to start the main draw.
Speaker:So we had to move that.
Speaker:Luckily it's only two matches on stadium for that Sunday qualifying so we could move that.
Speaker:But that's a funny story of us.
Speaker:Wanted to be music promoters and William King is one of the founding members of the Commodore
Speaker:who's a great tennis player, a dear friend.
Speaker:We still laugh about that William and the Commodore is played.
Speaker:But we had to resurface the court quickly the next morning.
Speaker:So there's a little fun inside story.
Speaker:Bobby I can just see Mike's face right now.
Speaker:I have to call him on that one.
Speaker:Yeah, but yeah, I'd love to hear his side on that.
Speaker:I have to call him on that one.
Speaker:Tomorrow we'll call him Mike.
Speaker:The story.
Speaker:The offer still stands if I have another child as you may name after him.
Speaker:First name signature last name tennis.
Speaker:I'm going to Arkansas.
Speaker:That's good.
Speaker:And those are just things that I say we go through but that directors and leaders and
Speaker:somebody like yourself, you're running a tournament like that and every, every time there
Speaker:is something to fix.
Speaker:There is some fire to put out, hopefully not literally.
Speaker:But there is something that's going to happen that you've got to figure it out and just make
Speaker:it work.
Speaker:It's a nine day event.
Speaker:So you have to make decisions quickly and move on.
Speaker:You have to try to process the information that you need to make a decision quickly and
Speaker:move on right or wrong.
Speaker:But yes, it's every day was problem solving quickly, whatever that might be.
Speaker:Some things mine or some things major.
Speaker:I'm giving it a little bit of tidbits of my management style, but we, you know, I just
Speaker:told everybody, hey, look, ducks on a pond.
Speaker:You know, what does that mean?
Speaker:Ducks on a pond.
Speaker:I said, well, when you see a duck on a pond, they look calm, cool and collected.
Speaker:But underneath the water, there's a lot of little paddling going on.
Speaker:And so we're going to be calm on the surface and underneath the surface.
Speaker:If we have to know that we're problem solving, but we're going to just be calm, cool,
Speaker:and collected because we're running a tennis tournament.
Speaker:We're not curing cancer.
Speaker:You know, we're not trying to save a life.
Speaker:People are coming here to get away from the issues that they're having and their normal
Speaker:life to have some good entertainment value here.
Speaker:And so we just wanted to be calm, cool, and collected, make decisions quickly and move
Speaker:on.
Speaker:Bobby, I'm trying to decide if that's like your management style.
Speaker:Oh, I'm a lot more mellow than you would think.
Speaker:And it comes to important decisions.
Speaker:Yes, I can fly off a handle, but no, I'm a firm believer.
Speaker:As I tell everybody, crisis management, you do not go faster.
Speaker:You go slower.
Speaker:You know, bring it down and find its core.
Speaker:I'm excited.
Speaker:I've learned two things today that disco not only killed Kamiski Park and you're too young,
Speaker:Sean, but any might remember that when they had a disco night at Kamiski Park, a baseball
Speaker:field and destroyed the place.
Speaker:And ducks on a pond also has a baseball.
Speaker:That was when there's runners on base.
Speaker:You want you to get it knocked and ducks in the pond.
Speaker:So you know, baseball tennis.
Speaker:Why I'm here.
Speaker:It's true.
Speaker:And we're having to have you from baseball because baseball is some dessert.
Speaker:So Eddie, what's next for you?
Speaker:What do you got coming up?
Speaker:Anything?
Speaker:You just being retired and hanging out with the family?
Speaker:You know, it's been a great year.
Speaker:You know, this, the tennis is so all encompassing.
Speaker:It's like, once the tournament ends, you're already in the midst for the following year.
Speaker:You got to do all your sponsor recaps in the fall.
Speaker:Then you've got your year in ATP meetings, where other is at the US Open or in November at
Speaker:the tour finals.
Speaker:So the next thing you know, it's the holidays.
Speaker:And then you're going on sale right after that.
Speaker:And then you're trying to finalize players.
Speaker:And then you go on sale in March and your media day and then boom, there's the tournament
Speaker:again.
Speaker:And so I always thought responding people asked me, well, Eddie, what do you do the rest
Speaker:of the year?
Speaker:You know, when you're running the tournament, I said, well, it's a year round job.
Speaker:You know, and then oh, by the way, then guess what?
Speaker:You can't have a tournament without sponsors and ticket sales.
Speaker:So in sponsor, you know, corporate development, that is that's what you're doing on a year
Speaker:round basis.
Speaker:Loved every minute of it, but with all that being said, I've just had a lot of time this
Speaker:year to play more tennis as we talked about, travel, get to go to some really cool places
Speaker:that I've been wanting to go to.
Speaker:And you know, I don't say that, you know, no to people and they approach me.
Speaker:I just say maybe not right now.
Speaker:And I'll always listen.
Speaker:But as of right now, look, it's been a great year.
Speaker:It's been fun to be a fan again and not have the responsibilities, but still, you know,
Speaker:it's so gratifying to go back and Peter was gracious to invite me back on Monday night
Speaker:for the Legends exhibition to see what I call my tennis family out there.
Speaker:Volunteers and the sponsors and the ticket holders and the vendors and ATP staff.
Speaker:So it was very, you know, reminiscing.
Speaker:That was fun.
Speaker:Good. And you've got a couple of kids that are athletes.
Speaker:Your daughter plays some tennis, your son's playing some baseball if I can go personal.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Thanks for asking.
Speaker:My daughter played, uh, junior tennis and went to UNC Charlotte and played for two years.
Speaker:And then there was a coaching change.
Speaker:So she actually transferred to Georgia Tech and played there and graduated.
Speaker:Uh, and she's now, yes, if I put in a plug, it would be for her because she's found a way
Speaker:to be a full time content creator, social media influencer with almost 60,000 Instagram followers.
Speaker:Uh, Gabela's Gabs that started her name is Gabriella and she started during COVID making
Speaker:fun of herself learning how to play golf.
Speaker:And it's turned into golf food, fashion and travel.
Speaker:And so I'm very proud of her being entrepreneurial and having an agent and some great clients that
Speaker:are paying her to help promote their brands.
Speaker:But she said recently, dad, why don't we go back and play the father, daughter, grass court
Speaker:championships and Boston at Longwood cricket club and Longwood is one of those.
Speaker:Uh, just unique tennis places on earth at any tennis fan has to go see along with Newport
Speaker:over in Newport, Rhode Island.
Speaker:The other one I'll put up there is La Jolla Beach and tennis club over outside of San Diego.
Speaker:Those are to me or the, but we're going to go do that.
Speaker:And then my son also went to Georgia Tech play baseball and he got drafted by the pirates
Speaker:in the fifth round of the 22 draft.
Speaker:So he's in a second full year.
Speaker:He's now at the double A level playing in Al tuna, Pennsylvania and Western PA for the
Speaker:Al tuna curve.
Speaker:And so it's been fun being there to support him and nothing will make me happier than
Speaker:to have his goals and dreams come true of making it to the major leagues one year.
Speaker:He's a fast lefty center field lead off guy.
Speaker:So he's a high on base guy fast and then let those big boppers behind him, you know, bring
Speaker:him in.
Speaker:So yeah, it's been very fun to travel and then support my kids.
Speaker:I'm sure Bobby's going to want to look for the invitation to just go see some baseball.
Speaker:Because I think Bobby's got more of a baseball niche than I do.
Speaker:More of the merrier.
Speaker:Let's do it.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:And so Bobby got anything else for Eddie because I'll hit him with King of tennis that we
Speaker:think we've got everything covered and because I want to hear this too.
Speaker:So this is I'm very I'm anxious to hear what he has to say about King of tennis.
Speaker:So I don't know about the King of tennis questions.
Speaker:So Eddie, I appreciate your time and it's fun to get you know, get to know you a little
Speaker:bit better and also share with our audience kind of what it looks like to run an event
Speaker:like that.
Speaker:It's like the Atlanta open.
Speaker:It's got to be a unique job and maybe sometimes many of us think we have unique jobs or our job
Speaker:is difficult or interesting.
Speaker:But that's one of those situations that is got to be got to be fulfilling and I appreciate
Speaker:you sharing some of that with us and sharing a little bit about yourself personally.
Speaker:That's great.
Speaker:But I will ask and I'm going to put you on the spot and I'm going to look for something
Speaker:great.
Speaker:But that's that's just our high expectations.
Speaker:And that's just how much we think of you of course.
Speaker:But Eddie, if you were King of tennis, whether it's Atlanta, the world, any scale, whether it's
Speaker:professional or social at any level, is there anything in tennis that you would do or
Speaker:change?
Speaker:Well, let me just say thank you for having me.
Speaker:Really appreciate what you guys are doing.
Speaker:So keep it up and just remembering me when you guys are hanging there with Portanoi and
Speaker:everyone.
Speaker:So keep doing your thing.
Speaker:I really appreciate it.
Speaker:It's part of the ecosystem we need you guys.
Speaker:So but if I'm King of tennis, as I said earlier, I'm such passionate about American tennis.
Speaker:And when you look at Shera Pobo when she came on the scene and what an influx of young Russian
Speaker:female players that were still experiencing, when you see what Venus and Serena did and
Speaker:Alcoco is doing for the female African American community.
Speaker:It's just a shame we haven't had a male Grand Slam champion since 2003 with Andy Rodic.
Speaker:So if I was King of tennis, I would love to have an American male win a Grand Slam event
Speaker:preferably the US Open because I think that just the global appeal of the Grand Slam,
Speaker:I think we'd see another influx of great young male athletes choose tennis.
Speaker:Well right now they may not be choosing.
Speaker:I don't think our best male athletes are playing tennis.
Speaker:I think they're going to soccer, they're going to basketball, baseball and other sports.
Speaker:And I would love to, if I were King of tennis, have one of our male American players win
Speaker:the US Open and I think that would help us see a big boom for years to come.
Speaker:So Bobby evidently he agrees with you more than he agrees with me in fact the famous tennis
Speaker:player is the thing that drives new players into the sport.
Speaker:So it looks like he's leaning toward that but I will ask Eddie as King of tennis, that seems
Speaker:more like grand wizard of tennis that you get to kind of snap your fingers and say
Speaker:America and you are tournament directors you could probably rig it to work out that way
Speaker:but is there a way we accomplish that because in this case how do we get the Americans ready
Speaker:for that.
Speaker:So if we come more from my point of view and saying I think volume and quality of player
Speaker:will create the next American Grand Slam champion.
Speaker:I kind of view it from the other direction.
Speaker:And you have as King what are your what are your words?
Speaker:What are you going to tell us to do to help make that happen?
Speaker:Well, you know, that's the chicken and the egg question.
Speaker:So it's like, all right, do we get more players and one of them is going to end up being a
Speaker:Grand Slam champion or if we were somehow to get a Grand Slam champion do we all of a sudden
Speaker:have this huge swell of new players.
Speaker:So to look at a perfect world would be both.
Speaker:But that's kind of why I said what I said I would love to see in one of our young American
Speaker:men.
Speaker:And I think Ben is capable.
Speaker:I think Francis is capable.
Speaker:I think Taylor's capable because Nadal is, I mean, he's at the finish line now and Roger's
Speaker:done in Jokovic, you know, what does he have maybe 18 months left.
Speaker:Andy Murray just retired.
Speaker:So there's this window of opportunity and we're seeing Alka Rasmussen center now come to
Speaker:the forefront.
Speaker:The Yannick center played in Atlanta in 2021 and lost first round.
Speaker:He lost first round.
Speaker:Now he ended up winning the doubles with Riley O'Pelka and Riley, it's the only title centers
Speaker:ever won in doubles, the only title that Riley's won.
Speaker:But I think our American guys are right there with them.
Speaker:I think they're capable and so if we could just have that happen and then to answer your
Speaker:question to Sean, I think we got to make sure that the USDA has the proper infrastructure
Speaker:with the junior competitive pathway.
Speaker:And I'm not the right person to probably get in the weeds on that.
Speaker:But that is, I mean, we need that infrastructure because I mean, when I was growing up playing
Speaker:junior tennis, I said, what would you TR?
Speaker:What is you T, you know, so now you TR is something that's totally come and now you have this
Speaker:ITF global tennis number.
Speaker:Again, I'm probably getting into some other topics of things for another day for maybe
Speaker:the other guests, but those are the things we just have to make sure we have the right pathway
Speaker:because even with the Atlanta open, even though it's gone, pro tennis at that level is so important
Speaker:in the ecosystem because you want those kids to come to those tournaments and dream to
Speaker:play in it one day and we need pro tennis in the US.
Speaker:You know, I hate to see some of these events go away and I think there's a direct correlation
Speaker:to having pro tennis tournaments, having successful players and having world champions.
Speaker:Well there you have it.
Speaker:We want to thank reGeovinate.com for use to the studio and be sure to hit that follow button.
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Speaker:And with that, we're out.
Speaker:See you next time.
Speaker:Bye.
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