INSIDE TENNIS: What bugs you more — all those injury timeouts, the lack of commitment to the tour, or the craziness of the Davis Cup format?
MARY CARILLO: Injury timeouts are annoying, but they don’t kill me. Davis Cup is a great thing. So I’d have to say the tour. That’s an important product, and the players don’t understand that the non-majors are the lungs of the tour. You have to keep breathing. Does the winner of the U.S. Open really have to win $1.7 million?
IT: How about keeping the prize money at $1.7 million and then allocate $200,000 for the player’s favorite tennis charity.
MC: Exactly. Why should these players only travel to a non-major unless if they’re paid $300,000 just to show? They don’t really care if they’re still there on the weekend. And the scheduling is ridiculous. We’ve been moaning about it forever.
MC: By the way, did you agree with [Sports Illustrated’s] Jon Wertheim saying Serena was the best of all time?
IT: I love Jon to bits, but saying Serena Williams would eat up Steffi Graf‘s forehand, and Martina Navratilova against Serena would…
MC: Martina would’ve loved to play against all that power.
IT: So who’s the toughest woman, mentally, all time?
MC: Monica Seles was the best match player I’ve ever seen. Every single point had high value. Whether she was serving or returning and she would finish a match. Her sense was this is the only moment that counts in my life. She was going to be the greatest match player ever.
IT: Then the stabbing. What a disaster.
MC: I still think about it — especially after that whole discussion after Wimbledon on who is the greatest ever. Now Monica can’t even be part of that conversation. That makes me heartsick. She wasn’t the natural athlete that Steffi or Martina was, but surely she would have found out how to win.
IT: Her mind was ferocious.
MC: She impressed me more than anybody. Martina had her ups and downs. Chrissie, obviously was remarkable, and Graf, anytime I saw her, she was thinking, “Give me the ball, let’s get going here, let’s get this over, just give me the ball.”
IT: How do you think Steffi handled the stabbing?
MC: Steffi was always very private. Way before Monica got stabbed in Steffi’s name, obviously her dad would write the conversation. She always circled the wagon train and said, “I’m not going to tell you anything about my personal life.” I’m sure she was devastated by it. She handled it about the best way she could. It may have looked cold. Monica has said, “No one reached out.” But Steffi came to the hospital and she didn’t say anything.
IT: Her marriage to Andre Agassi is one of the most compelling in entertainment: Steffi, so reserved from the Germanic forest hooks up with Mr. Vegas. And what a job Andre did courting Steffi.
MC: Stalking her. He knew what he was looking at. He’s had fascinating women in his life. I like Brooke [Shields]. He’s all entourage. Gil Reyes is one of the loveliest surprises ever. You look at him and he’s this great physical presence and then he starts speaking.
IT: They say that Karl Rove was President Bush‘s brain? But sometimes, when I’m talking with Andre, it sounds just like…
MC: It’s Gil. He’s channeling Gil the whole time. He’s just got a beautiful soul.
IT: He saved Andre.
MC: You look at Gil and he’s just sort of this meathead, muscle-bound guy and then he opens his mouth and beautiful thoughts come out.
IT: Do you buy the conventional wisdom that Navratilova and Graf were the two greatest of all-time?
MC: It would be between those two for me. I would give it up to Martina, just because she was so great at all three disciplines [singles, women’s doubles and mixed], and she supported them and played over four decades. But, in his article Jon Wertheim was dismissing how effective Martina’s or Steffi’s game would be against Serena. I mean that’s climbing down a really greasy pole. And, the cover says ,”Love her. Hate her. She’s the Best Ever.” And, I am thinking, what are we talking about? What does that have to do with anything about judging the work of her career?
IT: Jon felt Graf’s forehand wasn’t going to punish Serena?
MC: Steffi’s forehand is like what Serena’s serve is. It was the single most-hated shot of her time. Steffi turned pro at 13; she retired at 29. She has played more than half of her life as a pro and didn’t mail it in. She stayed so dedicated for so long. Seles would have had the same attitude. Their excellence stayed high for so long, to say that wouldn’t have been able to keep up with the game, how can you even presume that?
IT: Toward the end, Steffi cared so much. It was poignant. She cried at every Slam. And what about the competition? No offense to Wozniacki, Safina or Jankovic, but, we’re not talking about a really deep field now.
MC: Not at all. I would have to say that Steffi was the best singles player of all time. Martina was the best all-around player of all time.
IT: If you could change tennis, besides giving yourself a raise, what would you do?
MC: I would love to think by October the season would be over. That would help everybody. I understand why that can’t happen, but there must be some way that things that can reconfigured. Again, I would like to see more players support more tournaments and the Davis Cup, which is such a great event, but has become in many ways a non-event. We need to try to get back its prestige.
IT: What’s happened to the American’s women’s tour? So often the action seems to be in Dubai, Doha, Istanbul?
MC: I’m going to try as hard as I can to never go to any of them. I just don’t like to chase that money.
IT: What about the next generous of American guys? Who has more of an upside – John Isner or Sam Querrey?
MC: In the beginning, I thought it was Querrey now I’m thinking maybe Isner. That’s the new reality in men’s tennis — Big Boy Tennis.
