Have you analysed who's the better returner, you or Novak?
Let me put it this way, if Novak moved like I moved, which is four levels down, he would have the ability of returning even better because he has to. What you see him do as a returner is even less than what he's capable of. He just does what he has to do because he can do so many other things. Tennis is calculated risk.
Do you see him surpassing Federer's tally of 20 Slams?
I mean I am from Vegas, so I have to make a bet right, if I have to make a bet, what is he at? 15? So two more for three years? Yes. Now, you also have children, you also have priorities in life, but if he wants to, he will.
Speaking of Federer, you are right now involved with somebody nicknamed Baby Fed for the similarity in playing styles with Federer, Grigor Dimitrov, after promising so much, he has not made it count in big events or Slams? Does he get overawed by big names or is it stage fright?
It's a hard thing for anybody to be compared with Federer. There might have been a modelling of his game, but Fed plays with a lot of wrist, you know, Grigor hits through the strike zone a lot straighter. I believe that he has not seen his best tennis. He had some great results, but he's yet to feel what it's like to really build on a foundation that keeps taking him in the same direction and that has to do not just with tennis, but with how you approach every day. He puts a lot of pressure on himself daily to be what he expects from himself. This is a double-edged sword. What he can do with a tennis ball is remarkable. Physically speaking, as impressive as Novak is, this man is also equally as impressive. Novak is incredibly dangerous even defensively, off both wings. This is a little bit different. But the movement, the versatility, I believe that his best is yet to come.
Do you feel players today are more politically correct in the media and otherwise than your time? Do you feel tennis lacks characters?
I think you guys scare the crap out of a lot of them. Blame them, blame you, blame whoever you want, but I think being politically correct is not being politically correct. It's a pretty scary proposition these days. In this day and age of social media, something blows out of proportion so easily. When I played, what you said is what you said in its full context but now you are guilty until proven innocent. So it makes everybody a little on edge, I would imagine, especially those that don't even really know themselves yet as they're growing up in the public eye.
On that note, the Colin Kaepernick issue snowballed into a massive controversy in the US and abroad. What did you make of it?
Yeah, I don't know what his particular stance was. You called it a stance, or called it a kneel I don't know. But in either case, if you want to offend half the people, you know choose one side or the other, but this is not something that I followed greatly. I mean I have a great respect for the American flag, so the connection I could never understand expressed in this way, but those that understand it would need to explain it to me. I don't see a connection.
You mentioned players not being politically correct or the media scaring them. How do you think it would be if you and Pete were playing today, for all that went on between you guys, even if all is fine today? Let's say if that Hit for Haiti moment happened now with social media being what it is today.
I don't know if social media would have changed me and Pete, because we were always good with each other. But I think the scrutiny now is tough. I mean if people lived in my life, they would like me a lot less, you know, at times. There's mistakes you make, the things you say, I mean it wouldn't be hard to find a moment in our lives where we were less than we should have been. So some of it's timing and some of it's luck. But I don't have any commentary on the context of how all this has changed. I just know that you need to be incredibly thoughtful these days, more so than in the past. In the past you got to be thoughtful, now you better be thoughtful.
But are you surprised by how much warmth there is among the great rivals today?
Yeah, I mean, surprised enough to not know if I should believe it (laughs). I mean, you know, I have the luxury of getting to know Novak and he would never be disrespectful to somebody you know, willingly or knowingly.
You know Roger, it's impossible not to like this man. When you talk to him, his consideration to fans, to peers, to media. Same with Rafa, the time that they give, they are professionals all in their own way and I think there's a great deal of respect. You know with me it was different. Everybody knows my story. I was confused, I hated what I did. Sometimes Pete inspired me, sometimes I envied him, sometimes he annoyed me, sometimes I resented it. But I was the one that was (makes up and down gesture). Then when you look back, you see Pete was just Pete. So, as a result, you got three great champions, four when you consider Pete, that didn't seem to have my problems. So I do respect it, assuming it's true, which you never know.
Coming to your Slam wins, which among the eight would you rate your best and most memorable and why?
The last of the four, so the French Open (1999). The first one I could have won, first one I should have won. The last one that I knew I would never have a chance to win again. So after I fell to 150 in the world, after I got a divorce, I was old enough to understand it. It was a microcosm of my life, that tournament. I was down two sets in the finals and, a lot like life.
When you retired, BBC described you as "perhaps the biggest worldwide star in the sport's history." What do you make of that tag?
I was never trying to win a popularity contest (laughs) but, you know, everybody comes to the game at this level bringing something. You don't become, or you don't win multiple slams without doing something different than somebody else did it. My tennis game was the first thing that I brought different at a certain time and, certainly, my rebellion also did. But the transformation of my journey was also unusual. I'm not sure the reason for it but I always felt very keenly connected to people, especially when I played. I was always honest with how I felt, so you knew if I was having a bad day, everybody knew it. If I was having a good day, those are likely more thrilled.
You just said that Federer is a guy who is impossible to dislike. Just a few months back, we did come across a negative view expressed about the Swiss by French player Julien Benneteau who spoke of how Federer gets special treatment at Slams and gets to choose whether he wants to play at day or night.
You know it is hard. It's hard to become Federer and then it's hard for other guys when you are Federer, you know what I mean! Federer didn't wake up overnight privileged. Federer was Benneteau at one point. So you eat what you kill. And then when you're on the top of the food chain, the jungle tends to listen to you. So everybody fights for the best circumstances daily, you know, from scheduling to what court. I mean I would play third round, fourth round in the US Open, Australian Open. I'd play some guy that was thrilled to win three matches on court 19 and then he comes into the stadium and I already know I'm up a set and a break before he figures out that this court is different than that court. So is that fair? No it's not fair. It's very unfair. It makes it easier when you're on top to maintain your advantage, but you have to get on top. So do I begrudge it? No, because, you know, somebody is the best in the world and it's not you, it's that person (points to illustrate).
When I played the Australian Open, I would look at the draw and I would say 'OK, who do I not want to play at night? Because my biggest advantage was the day. So I would take my easiest potential match and I would start requesting that this round, I want to play at night. You know, everybody fights for. and they can't always do it. Sometimes there are so many decisions in scheduling, but one of the decisions is players asking for what they prefer. And that works out more for some than others for sure.
The issue of on court coaching triggered the huge controversy involving Serena Williams against Osaka in the US Open final. You've said you look at tennis as problem solving and you've also described the tennis court as the most lonely place in the world. What are your views now as a coach on on-court coaching?
I don't believe the sport should have coaching. I think it's one thing that separates our sport from so many. It's one thing that brings out the real Gladiator part of it. I think, because coaching happens, the unfortunate part in Serena's case was the crowd didn't understand what had happened. And then when she got the warning for the abuse of the racket, Serena didn't realize that that comes on top of the coaching, so now it was a point penalty. And I can understand even as a player in the emotion that these things are linked together and it costs you a point. Of course, the rules are the rules and one should know it. But I'll tell you what I'd like to see, if I could see anything was that if a coach gets caught coaching, it should be a warning to the coach. Second time it happens, the coach should be kicked out. Why a player should be penalized for a coach attempting to insert themselves?
The revamping of the Davis Cup has also been a major talking point. How do you feel about the new format?
I mean, change is hard. I understand the reasons for it, but there's so many disadvantages to it. They're trying to get top players to play. I don't know if this is going to be the deciding factor for them. So we have to wait and see. I guess generally speaking, I don't like any change in the game that puts an asterisk next to historical accomplishments, if that makes sense. Like I don't like seeing a day off between the semis and the finals of the US Open. I think that changes lot of history. You know, what would have happened if somebody just had the day off? It was always one of the most difficult things to do, go back to back semis to finals of the US Open.
Changing the colour of the ball at Wimbledon, OK big deal, you know, it's yellow or it's white, doesn't really change anything historically. So I think there's buckets of change that people can abide in. But I think the difficult changes are the ones that change an accomplishment for the full appreciation of how difficult an accomplishment is. Travelling the world, playing away on surfaces that your opponent gets to choose, environments that your opponent gets to choose. This makes winning Davis Cup special. So now winning Davis Cup, I don't know what it's going to mean, we have to see, but it does change it drastically.
Some have called for Slams also to be played in the best-of-three set format. For someone who has been part of epic five-setters, do you feel that's the way to go?
I think you can get lucky and win a two or three set match. I don't think you can get lucky when you have to win three out of five. And if you can get lucky for that long, it has to be a really special lucky day. Then you deserve it (laughs). So for me, three out of five is a different animal. That's a change that will be difficult for me to see.
Another topic that's always hot is the one concerning equal prize money for both men and women. It was an important issue in your time and it continues even today. What are your thoughts on it?
Well I don't follow the debate but remember we are not talking about a humans right issue. We are not talking about atrocities, we are talking about a pretty blessed life and we are talking about a business decision made by some guys running a business. So, if you are paying someone based on the gender, there's no place for that. But if you are making a business decision on who you are trying to incentivize to be the content or the product of what you're delivering, then it's your right as a business to decide who you are going to value and what you are going to value. For all I know, more people watch Serena than Nadal, but it's not for me to say that they will or they won't. But if I ran a business, and somebody was going to come and watch Serena more than Nadal, I would pay Serena more than Nadal, because it's my business and vice versa.
What have you learnt about parenting from your father, who was quite strict?
I have learnt what I don't want to be. Sometimes we spend all our time giving our kids what we never had and forget to give them what we do have you know. So this is a delicate balancing act. But I think choice is important mostly. I never had a choice. I give my kids choice but hold them accountable.
Your book Open was a runaway hit because of the refreshing candour you showed while writing it. Is there another one in the pipeline? What advice would you give to people writing autobiographies?
No, there's no book I have lined up. The advice I would like to give people is: choose wisely, because words live longer than you do. You can't get out what you put into it, so if you do it, do care about it.
Since we mentioned the book, one of the things you came clean about was your issues with the recreational drug crystal meth. You wrote how you escaped a ban at that time. The revelations as expected didn't go down well with the ATP and the ITF. There is a lingering fear that if a mega star were to be found guilty of a failed test even today, the world wouldn't get to know about it because of the likely financial hit to the sport...
I understand the paranoia but let me be the first one to say I was the reason why this changed. It used to be internal governance that was legitimate as was mine when I was caught. We were able to leverage it on some level but once we outsourced governance, there's no turning back. What is beyond reproach is the anonymity about how they test anybody or anything. It wouldn't be possible to cheat in tennis and get away with it in my estimation. From 1998 on I probably averaged 20 plus drug test a year. Three out of competition where they knock on your door even on vacation. Every 24 hours they get to know where you are going to be in the forthcoming 24 hours. So everyday, they have an address and they don't care whether you are in the Maldives or at home and so it's not easy. But it's the right thing for the integrity of the sport. But it's not easy on the players to be under such duress and little things have to be taken care of.
How politically inclined a person are you and how do you rate the Donald Trump presidency?
I think we live in an incredibly polarized society and most cultures I absolutely believe that the environment is a result of being polarized and that's a result of many people and many things coming together and a crazy intersection, including everybody having a platform to speak. You know, this does not make it easier when everybody's opinion can be heard. Having said that I think people can be hurtful and self-interested on both sides. To make the record straight, I am a registered independent.