[SOUND]. >> What about injury, disability, force mejeure. Remember when Monica Seles was stabbed. Starting too soon, Andrea Jaeger unable to continue playing. We lived through many of those same things together. How do you counsel an athlete through those tragic events? Or even a Capriati who was so great for so long and then had off court issues. What role should the attorney agent play? >> Well, again, I think the agent should be there, telling the person the right things and I really do believe that for the most part, the agent is there telling the person the right things. I think, again, there are external forces. A lot of these kids are young, specifically, on the girls side. And there is that opportunity to make money, and to play more. And I think the woman's tours actually adopted a rule now, where girls are not allowed to play that many tournaments, as say, let's say, Jennifer and Monica Seles were at a young age. Having said that each athlete is slightly different, so I think some handle it better than others, both physically and mentally for sure. And [COUGH] I think it's the agent's job to point out all the obstacles and all the benefits. And then to say to the athlete, based on what they know of that athlete, look, this is the best course for you to take. I also think it's the coach's job. Because the coach also sees the player on the court much more and understands what the body's going through and what the body can and can't handle. You know what I mean? So, I think it's a little bit of the team, so to speak, the agent and the coach, giving that kind of advice. Now we're going through the stages of a professional tennis player's career, you get near the end. James Blake could still play, now I see him playing on the senior tour, got a lot of opportunities. How do you counsel through that transition? I also want to ask Mario Ancic, who went through some of those same things, now in law school. >> Well, I mean, I think again, what happens with this business is that the agent and the player, once they've gone through that kind of, for lack of a better word, honeymoon period and have got to know each other and got to trust each other which doesn't always happen. But once they've gone through that, you usually find that you fall into a relationship that it's a business relationship but also crosses over into the personal side of things from the point of view of, I know that the most part the agent and the player care about each other. I mean it's still a player agency relationship, it' s still a business relationship. And I think what happens is, if you look at IMG and a lot of the different athletes, the agent will be able to tell what the player actually his personality is like, what the may be best for the player. And along with listening to feedback from the player, as to, this is what I want to do, this is what I don't want to do. I think in the case of James Blake, James, first of all, he went to school which was unusual for a lot of these good tennis players. So he was a little older when he came up. And he played he went through some injuries, which were bad luck and he went through some personal stuff and which wasn't, but he fought through that and he kept playing, but I think he got to a point where he was like you know what? I think I'm done. And I think instead of the agents saying, hey come on, you can go make a few, you know, why don't you. He said to him, that's great. I think part of it was having a family, getting into that part of life. Then I think the agent says to James, hey, you know what, James? What do you want to do? And what's going to make you the happiest? And what do you think you're best at? And he gives him a menu of things, whether it could be broadcasting, television of another sort? I mean, James is a very bright guy. He could've done a lot of different things. Whether he want to stay a little less busy for a while maybe, or having kids, and maybe he wanted to stay playing a little bit, and get on the Senior Tour, which James has been doing a little bit. A lot of time a player finishes and they're like, get tennis away from me, I've been on this tennis court. I hate it and I mean, I can't even think of one that doesn't go after a few years, man, I miss that. I kind of dig the everybody screaming and clapping for me and patting me on the back. So they come back. So that's what happens. And I mean, Chris Evert, we did an academy John McEnroe's done a phenomenal job with broadcasting. So we've taken players in different directions. Some of them move out with coaching. They've made a great career out of that. A few of them just retire. Then you get the Mario Ancic thing, which is a tragedy. And I don't know how many of these guys know Mario. But Mario was a Croatian kid, again, came hard working kid, great family. Started really with nothing fought his way up to top five in the world. Beat Federer at Wimbledon. Everybody felt like Mario, had a chance to win a Grand Slam and make it all the way. Note here, there was no stopping where Mario could go, right? And then the guy gets this mono. Which kind of, nails him. And, he fights through that, fights through that, and hangs tough which is not easy to do, gets back out there starts to climb up again and then has the back injury, which ultimately forces him to stop playing tennis right kind of in the peak of his playing years. And, I like to think that IMG and the agents and I was involved with Mario with a chap called Oliver. We all stuck with him, and he stuck with us. And you know, he ended up going to law school and he's just getting his degree right now. And I know there's going to be something for Mario in the future, that we'll find. And he might be the kind of guy runs the ATP tour one day. So, he's got those kind of brains and and that was a pretty cool journey, despite the sad ending because he remained positive the whole time. >> How about let's start to round up here a little bit. Federer, Agassi, Sampras Nadal, greatest player ever. You know them all, and how have they managed their lives? Maybe take them one at a time. Their off court lives. Start with Agassi, the best player ever. Has he done all the right things off the court such as you managed them a while. While? >> Well yeah we managed him and I actually know Andre well. I didn't manage him but definitely developed a friendship with him over the years and he had a little bit of a love hate relationship with the game of tennis. He was certainly flamboyant and had a god given talent that was extraordinary. Started at a very young age, and he managed to win all four grand slams on different surfaces which was a feat that hadn't been accomplished in a long time. Pete Sampras on the other hand was absolutely focused, ruthless if you will. Gave up a lot of things to become the best tennis player you can. He clearly for a while had the most grand slams. And he basically many people from Pete Sampras's era will say there was the guy with the best serve and forehand ever in the game. You know, the guy, especially second serve. Then you've got Roger Federer who comes along and breaks Pete's record and has got this all around game. People will tell you a better back hand than Pete, a phenomenal forehand, don't get me wrong. Good serve, got it all, right? And hard to say Roger Federer isn't the greatest. Best player ever. But you've got Rafael Nadal and here's a guy who's got a big winning record against Roger Federer who's meant to be the greatest and he's got these slams. And Rafael's kind of creeping up on him. And so, I mean you ask me who's the greatest player ever I've got my own opinion on that. And, I think that it's almost impossible to tell because people forget that Rod Laver, was a guy that won the Grand Slam, in other words, all four of them in one year, in like 1962. He didn't turn pro, and therefore, wasn't allowed to play and came back in 1968 and won all four of them again. So he ended up winning 13 of them. Rogers got 17, if Rod Laver'd had those years between, I mean, he might've been at 25. I mean you don't know because you can never say. So it's impossible to say, and I think that's kind of what makes the sport cool because everybody's got their hero, and I'll hear some people say Rafael is the guy, he's got the head to head with Roger and then others will say Sampras would've beaten Roger on the grass, and then others say, well look at Roger he's got the record and so, don't have an answer for that. >> Good, that's a great look 360 look. But let's go back to the agenting side and the commission stream side and talk about our good friend, still, Tony Godsick breaking away and now representing Federer, starting his own agency. When clients leave, when agents leave. It's tough, I know, from a personal standpoint, but on the money side how do the commissions generally split that's of interest to people, and do you retain at least part of the representation when somebody like Agassi would work with Perry Rogers exclusively for a while, and then come back to IMG. >> Yeah, I mean, look, they're all slightly different, but for the most part, I think Mark McCormack said it, in our business, our biggest risk is, you get a young guy, you give them a great player, they develop a relationship with the player and they take the player. And that's a risk you gotta going to have. What we try and do, from a legal standpoint is, we try and write contracts so that it's People can't just leave and take the players. And that doesn't always stop it from happening. And what we also try and do is we try and write contracts. On the endorsement side that are longer term that have some kind of clause in there that says that extensions and modifications will come back to the sort of we made the introduction to the company. You do the negotiation. You start a deal, the client and the company get on great. Well they just extend it for a couple of years. So for the most part what'll happen is, when somebody takes a client, there will be a stream of commissions that you've earned already. While a client was with you that will flow to the company and as I said, it's not always the case because it's always subject to some kind of legal I guess, determination if it goes that way or settlement or you know what I mean. So, it's always a negotiation at some level. I'd like to think we've kept many more than we've lost. But it is a risk that you take in the business, and it probably happens in financial business and the insurance business and lots of different businesses so. >> This has been a great look at the industry, I just want to ask interest at the grass roots level. We've asked this in the golf industry, ask it in the tennis industry. Is it as strong as it's ever been? If not, what could make it stronger? >> Well again, tennis is I think a little bit obviously like golf a little bit. Different sport but similar from the point of view of it's cyclical, and it's geographical and I mean if you go back here to the 70s in the U.S. tennis was nuts. I mean, everybody had a tennis racket, I mean everybody was at the club they all played, they did their thing right? And then it kind of left the U.S. and it moved over to Europe and now there's a big run in. in Asia. And funny enough in the U.S. the Tennis Industry Association says that actually out of all the sports, and they do studies with everything, tennis is actually on the pickup again. So that's kind of good news. It is definitely cyclical, it is definitely star driven so you'll find Boris Becker comes along in Germany and then you'll see. You can, you'll see six or seven or eight years behind that will come a whole lot of young players. The Swedes with Borg, Vilanda those guys. Same kind of thing. America's had its up and downs. Right now we're going through a real down on the top level side. But there are some good kids coming along and I have no doubt that it will again be cyclical. The good news is, as a sport, I think tennis right now is in a pretty good place. I think, the tournaments have contracted a little bit and gotten bigger and less more of a premiere league whatever you want to call it. But I think the prize money shows that things are going well and it's getting more and getting bigger. And certainly the grand slams are doing phenomenally. >> One last question, I forgot on Sharapova, did you recommend in favor of Sugarpova, the candy? >> You know what, I've gotta give Max Eisenberg credit he did it. Maria actually put all the investment into that and was determined to do it herself and as I said, between her and Max, they've actually done a pretty darn good job. And Sugarpova is doing very well. >> Sugarpova's doing very well. >> Yeah. >> Brand extension. >> Yep. >> All right, we want to thank Gavin so much. I'll just round this out for our remote group. want to thank you so much for taking us through the wonderful world of tennis, Gavin. Like nobody else could. Thank you so much. >> Yeah, no, you're welcome. >> Thank you very much. [MUSIC]
