[Music]
Speaker:Welcome to the Atlanta Tennis Podcast.
Speaker:Every episode is titled "It starts with tennis" and goes from there.
Speaker:We talk with coaches, club managers, industry business professionals,
Speaker:technology experts, and anyone else we find interesting.
Speaker:We want to have a conversation as long as it starts with tennis.
Speaker:[Music]
Speaker:Hey, hey, this is Shaun with the Atlanta Tennis Podcast, powered by GoTennis!
Speaker:Check out our calendar of Metro Atlanta Tennis events at Let'sGoTennis.com,
Speaker:where you can also find deals on equipment, apparel, and more.
Speaker:In this episode, we talk to Becky Robinson of ChatterHouse Communications,
Speaker:the social media management magic behind two ATP events,
Speaker:one in Dallas and the other right here in Atlanta.
Speaker:Check out AtlantaOpenTennis.com, where single session tickets go on sale Monday, May 15th.
Speaker:And if you've been living under a rock, you might not know that Coco Gauff and
Speaker:Leylah Fernandez are coming to town for the women's exhibition on July 23rd.
Speaker:Have a listen and let us know what you think.
Speaker:[Music]
Speaker:Tennis being the starting point, whether you're a tennis player or in your case,
Speaker:a marketer, you know, somebody actually that's kind of selling the sport.
Speaker:I don't know if that's the right phrase.
Speaker:Would you say you're selling the sport?
Speaker:How would you describe what you do for tennis?
Speaker:Yeah, I would say promoting it.
Speaker:I mean, I am one of those who want to promote tennis as a sport,
Speaker:and get it above some of the sports, some of the sports that do better right now,
Speaker:you know, with the whole Netflix show that's helping right now,
Speaker:and just for Atlanta for the tournament, you know,
Speaker:promoting it obviously locally, but US internationally as well.
Speaker:But yeah, I would use the word just, I mean, personally and professionally,
Speaker:just a big fan of trying to see what more we can do to get tennis out there, you know.
Speaker:Yeah, and you're with Chatterhouse Communications, right?
Speaker:So that's what you call yourself, and that means Chatterhouse Communications is tennis promotion,
Speaker:or it's much more than that, and tennis is just one of the things you do,
Speaker:and I'll do the mention of saying, okay, we're talking with Becky Robinson,
Speaker:of Chatterhouse Communications.
Speaker:So you're tennis promoter, but that isn't all that Chatterhouse Communication does,
Speaker:or is it just tennis all day all the time?
Speaker:Correct, it's a big piece of it, but not just tennis.
Speaker:I mean, I started the company in 2012 to help start up,
Speaker:to like, new to market companies, and got into the tennis world around 2017,
Speaker:because I was like, I was doing a lot of IT promotion,
Speaker:which is not super exciting, and I'm like, why can I start promoting something that I'd love?
Speaker:Love playing, love watching, you know, would love to see it, you know, see what I can do to help.
Speaker:So Shatterhouse does, well, we've done, we've done a stand-up paddleboard company that makes boards,
Speaker:we've done solar farms, we've done state government, we've done makeup apps, kind of all over the board.
Speaker:And a big chunk of my work has come from my tennis colleagues and friends, honestly,
Speaker:is our tennis community, you know, kind of supports each other and kind of says,
Speaker:hey, she does this and blah, blah, that's where I've gotten a lot of my business.
Speaker:And we appreciate that because that's one of our, one of our tenants, so to speak,
Speaker:we should just write that down as a tenant, Bobby.
Speaker:First, tenants, we are not experts at everything.
Speaker:So go find the expert at the thing you need done.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And bring them on board and we say, hey, what would you want from us to say, hey, this is what we're
Speaker:trying to do and this is what we want to get going and what we want to have happen?
Speaker:So if we have somebody like you that is an expert in what you do from a promoting tennis point of
Speaker:you, I like Bobby's quote, and I've probably been quoting it too much recently, which is we often
Speaker:spend too much time promoting a player or players rather than promoting the sport itself.
Speaker:I would guess that's a tennis promoter, as you said, you mentioned the sport, you don't mention
Speaker:a player specifically. It's how do we grow the sport?
Speaker:How do we make it better?
Speaker:And in tennis, how do you know Bobby?
Speaker:Did you meet through the Atlanta open?
Speaker:Because you work with the Dallas open and the Atlanta open if I have that right.
Speaker:And somehow that gets you to knowing Bobby Schindler.
Speaker:So I played tennis out of Windermere.
Speaker:He's been stuck with me in Realston 4 and all my crazy my team,
Speaker:I'm a captain and a team now out of Windermere.
Speaker:So yeah, unfortunately he knows me on the court and off professionally as well.
Speaker:It is part of our Tuesday night experience at Windermere. We block it off.
Speaker:We don't have anybody remotely close to us.
Speaker:They do not listen to our conversations and Tuesday night is
Speaker:everybody that's our fun night.
Speaker:When all our ADD comes rampantly obvious.
Speaker:It does and definitely it's not need to be recorded.
Speaker:So the thing jailed out.
Speaker:But I mean as Windermere is for such a community, we have some people very
Speaker:involved in the tennis community within our community.
Speaker:So it does help because we have some good networking opportunities just to mock
Speaker:ourselves and of course we've expanded it and we try to help everybody to introduce
Speaker:where are we sitting since an ad.
Speaker:Close.
Speaker:Close.
Speaker:Can we get exclusive when you get really close?
Speaker:Yeah, well I'll do my best.
Speaker:Yeah, um, it obviously seems to know everyone as well.
Speaker:I mean Sam just hooked me up in the money open and in the Cadillac box which was great.
Speaker:I enjoyed that.
Speaker:Sam is awesome and a great partner in Atlanta as well with Cadillac.
Speaker:So yeah, it's crazy how you run into people at Girl Maxine's team works for T2 tennis,
Speaker:you know, in the administrative side.
Speaker:So it's, you know, a lot of people in the industry in Atlanta.
Speaker:And hopefully we'll get Joel on here pretty soon, the founder of T2 because in all my years of tennis
Speaker:in Atlanta, I always say that he's probably the only person I could think outside of USTA
Speaker:and outer that have had a lasting impact and been successful.
Speaker:There's been a lot of ideas, but T2 has been the, not even remotely close, the most triumphant
Speaker:of the cottage industries that have grown out of the fun and the numbers of Atlanta tennis players.
Speaker:Right. Absolutely.
Speaker:It's a great organization of the flexibility to play and I was even telling L.A.
Speaker:maybe she should try it out.
Speaker:And you know, our friend who was in Cincinnati is now going to New York.
Speaker:So I don't know how much interest you might have in taking a next step, but so there's,
Speaker:oh, yes, it's nice.
Speaker:Yeah, so he's going, I don't know what level, but that's where his next step is.
Speaker:So, you know, like I said, we're hoping to go to Cincinnati.
Speaker:So we want you there because we'd like to do a little trip.
Speaker:That's, that's close enough and historically every year it gets the best ratings
Speaker:from the players of a tournament that they enjoy being at.
Speaker:So, figured it's, it's a nice, a cool little town.
Speaker:It's easily accessible, not too far.
Speaker:You can fly, you can drive.
Speaker:So, you're hoping about road tripping up there.
Speaker:Yeah, it's great.
Speaker:And just being in Miami just great to see a different tournament and how they do things and,
Speaker:you know, experience it as a fan because and then you put on, your marketing hat as well,
Speaker:while you're enjoying it.
Speaker:Well, it's, I know when I went to grad school, we did something for God was a Hershey, I think.
Speaker:With NASCAR and it was such a, it was such an experience.
Speaker:I was like, well, if I had to do it over again, I'd certainly go product side because the product
Speaker:gets treated like, you know, gold where the, you know, the event organizers are, that's your,
Speaker:your, your stage is that however long the event is.
Speaker:So, there's a lot of pressure while you're there where I had the privilege of going up to Charleston
Speaker:a few years ago with Sam and Cadillac and get treated like a king, be in, you know, be in the box,
Speaker:all the, all the best features of the tournament.
Speaker:So that is a nice side to experience as well.
Speaker:And from your perspective, I'm sure it opens up a different viewpoint of your approach to tournament.
Speaker:Yes, very different experience as a staff member because I can tell you my family in French check
Speaker:on me during the tournament because it is like, maybe I get four hours of sleep some nights.
Speaker:I think one year I lost nine pounds during the tournament because it's just non-stop, so much to do.
Speaker:And in Atlanta, you know, we're outdoors, so we have rain delays.
Speaker:Sometimes we're, we're playing matches until 1am and people stay.
Speaker:It's great.
Speaker:But it's a lot of work.
Speaker:It's not shipping, same pain like a fan, right?
Speaker:It's a lot.
Speaker:Wasn't what we did in Charleston is what we do down here.
Speaker:Yes, it's a little different.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:A lot of interns that just love the sport and want to help and, you know, come work.
Speaker:And I, I get a lot of good work at us in interns every year, so I appreciate that help.
Speaker:So this is the first year you went to Dallas?
Speaker:Yes, second.
Speaker:Yeah, this is the second, yeah.
Speaker:How long do you stay there when you're on site for the tournament?
Speaker:I think this year was 12 days.
Speaker:We had a first women's expo there.
Speaker:We had Sloan and Madison and we had a little bit of John Isner did a pro, his charity event,
Speaker:kind of the night before everything, so I kind of need to get in and then we do like that.
Speaker:Chris in the courts with media before it starts, so I have to get there early.
Speaker:And then obviously our finals are usually kind of late, like one, five o'clock
Speaker:and not go home the next day.
Speaker:So yeah, 12 days, but Dallas is a great city.
Speaker:They love tennis there.
Speaker:It sells out really quickly.
Speaker:It's indoor.
Speaker:They just are a very engaged fan and fan base and just love tennis air.
Speaker:So it's fun tournaments.
Speaker:Easy.
Speaker:Is it a T-bar?
Speaker:T-bar, no, but they're supporters.
Speaker:Is that SMU?
Speaker:Oh, you said it out loud.
Speaker:That's my rival.
Speaker:I mean, he's the ECU and SMU.
Speaker:That's Georgia Florida right there.
Speaker:That's the battle for the Metroplex.
Speaker:You probably know Grant Chan who's like the man who knows everybody.
Speaker:It's a funny part about T-bars.
Speaker:Even though it's in Dallas, it is a very T-C-oriented club.
Speaker:I mean, because Tut Bartson, our old coach, had a big influence on the clubs.
Speaker:So you see Tut all over the place.
Speaker:So even though you're in Dallas, you feel like you're close to four words.
Speaker:So we got an SMU does that sense of good players.
Speaker:Richie Rennerberg did all right.
Speaker:And he was, you know, he was top 10 in the world.
Speaker:He's an SMU guy.
Speaker:And who my, Roddy Harmon was Roddy?
Speaker:Not sure.
Speaker:I'm sure you think there's another in my era that was at SMU that did pretty well as well.
Speaker:So yeah.
Speaker:Bobby doesn't go too far down a road of tennis players.
Speaker:The most people have never heard of.
Speaker:You have to be, you have to be a pay attention for a while for that.
Speaker:But Becky, you mentioned the difference.
Speaker:You didn't mention the difference.
Speaker:You mentioned something that I noticed is very different.
Speaker:You talked about the Dallas fan being engaged at the tournament.
Speaker:We're getting a lot of response here that the Atlanta area isn't engaged
Speaker:as much as we'd like it to be.
Speaker:How do we, is one of the things that go tennis?
Speaker:We want to, we want to help promote that, that idea of not only the professional tournament.
Speaker:We don't talk a lot of professional here.
Speaker:We just talk the business of Atlanta and the social side of how we do tennis here.
Speaker:But is there a big difference between people in Dallas and people in Atlanta
Speaker:as to why the tournaments are engaged with differently?
Speaker:Well, the Atlanta crowd is engaged.
Speaker:They're great in their very knowledgeable tennis.
Speaker:They love doubles.
Speaker:Like we say it land is the double city.
Speaker:What we call it, say the largest recreational city in the world, perhaps, US.
Speaker:We have the challenge of the heat.
Speaker:And the timing of the year, right before school starts back.
Speaker:But we do still have great crowds.
Speaker:But day sessions can be hard.
Speaker:You know Atlanta, Metro is so large and we're down in Atlanta station
Speaker:getting the suburbs down there.
Speaker:But they still come out.
Speaker:But I think the greatest challenge is heat.
Speaker:But we still have great ticket sales every year.
Speaker:It's like record from the year before.
Speaker:But those are the challenges.
Speaker:And so how do we get the state to have a holiday?
Speaker:A national holiday where the bags can take off whenever Monday they want?
Speaker:We partner with UPS and do STEM day, which brings in a lot of kids during the day.
Speaker:So that has helped a lot when we have our tennis camps and tennis groups bringing kids in,
Speaker:which has helped a lot.
Speaker:I've also helped with the Winston-Salem tournament.
Speaker:And it's unfortunate for them because they're back in school.
Speaker:So that limits their ball kids and volunteers.
Speaker:And fan-based during the day sessions and also being the tournament right before the US Open
Speaker:doesn't help.
Speaker:So it could be worse for us because to have the kids in school, a lot worse.
Speaker:That's true.
Speaker:I guess we don't need that national holiday in the summer.
Speaker:It is a national holiday.
Speaker:More excuses to get there, right?
Speaker:Listen, we tried to get Alta to take the weekend off when the senior tour was coming.
Speaker:And we were met with the resounding dose.
Speaker:So I don't think we're going to get real far with schools.
Speaker:As Alta said, "No, we're playing.
Speaker:I don't care what time.
Speaker:We're going to play."
Speaker:I was like, "Oh, great."
Speaker:So yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, Alta won't even give us Easter off.
Speaker:I'm dealing with that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I'm so hard.
Speaker:I'm just kept, I haven't kept it for a while.
Speaker:And I'm back and I'm like, "Why did I agree to do this again?"
Speaker:Because it's during spring break and Easter matches.
Speaker:It is a thankless job.
Speaker:For sure.
Speaker:Especially spring.
Speaker:Like you said, we get it two weeks.
Speaker:And Gwyneth is, if they're not on the same spring break schedule,
Speaker:it could be a three week ordeal that we have to go through your rearrange of matches.
Speaker:A spring season up here is very difficult.
Speaker:It is painful.
Speaker:This hard-and-cats.
Speaker:It's very available.
Speaker:Who can play?
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Can you play one of 16 days?
Speaker:You know, it's going to keep us straight.
Speaker:So how long do you got, what was your time frame when you started concentrate specifically on
Speaker:Atlanta?
Speaker:So I worked for Atlanta a year round, which is kind of unusual for some tournaments because
Speaker:we do how they pack starting in November, promote those in December.
Speaker:We start going on sale around March, April.
Speaker:We're actually going on sale next week for our premium week long.
Speaker:So that's our first ticket sale.
Speaker:So it starts now.
Speaker:We're around, I'm posting on social, following the players,
Speaker:a typically player tournament, how they're doing in Australia, Indian Wells, Miami, you know,
Speaker:trying to keep our social alive and not just during the nine days.
Speaker:So it's a lot of prep, a lot of preparation for that week because I do a lot of sponsor engagement
Speaker:and also do influencer marketing.
Speaker:So I work with, you know, in-signal personalities to promote the tournament to kind of reach
Speaker:that audience outside of tennis.
Speaker:You know, try to get the fans out.
Speaker:They just want to come have a drink and some good food and, you know, some live sports that may not
Speaker:really play.
Speaker:So there's a lot of prep work for that that we start really early, isn't now.
Speaker:Well, that's great.
Speaker:I mean, because I've been a strong proponent of that, even again, going back to our senior
Speaker:tour days. As a guy, you can't come in here a month and a half before the event and think
Speaker:this is going to be successful.
Speaker:It just even back in the day when we had the old AT&T, when it was in, you know, the end of March,
Speaker:or April, we always had weather issues even then.
Speaker:It was a different weather issue, but it was our rainy season.
Speaker:So it's always difficult.
Speaker:And I always felt that we needed to stay more engaged throughout the year to get those people.
Speaker:As you said, the US Open, really, you know, the US Open the first week, it's the party.
Speaker:It's the, the corporate sponsorships.
Speaker:It's everybody coming for the event where the second week translates more to the diehard tennis fans
Speaker:who are there to see the tennis and to see the, you know, who wins.
Speaker:So it's tough to create that environment.
Speaker:And so it's, that's something we're trying to do.
Speaker:We take tennis as the commonality.
Speaker:What are the things can we reach and bring people together to strengthen the commonality
Speaker:and to expand?
Speaker:Because as you said, a lot of the reputation of Atlanta is great participatory city might not
Speaker:necessarily show up in the, in the manner in which you would think.
Speaker:And I think a lot of the events are sold a lot of times.
Speaker:Oh, we got 80,000 tennis players.
Speaker:They're going to show up.
Speaker:But this is a tier one city.
Speaker:There's a lot to do.
Speaker:And you know, Alpharetta is growing, coming is growing,
Speaker:there's more to do.
Speaker:You know, it's just, it's getting more and more stuff to do.
Speaker:So it's just competition and it's tough.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And it's, you know, the player feels always crucial.
Speaker:And, you know, I didn't really understand the levels and still still until I started working,
Speaker:now, 250,000 level grand plan.
Speaker:So we don't, we're not really going to get an, no, doll, unless we get lucky.
Speaker:You have to pay some of them to show up, right?
Speaker:So it's still a great talent.
Speaker:And sometimes someone will show up that you weren't expecting this great,
Speaker:get a wild card, that kind of stuff.
Speaker:So the player field is a big deal.
Speaker:Nick here is.
Speaker:He loves Atlanta.
Speaker:He's great to us.
Speaker:He is really good to Atlanta.
Speaker:And, you know, he can tend to back out of tournaments last minute.
Speaker:And so I tend to watch this guy on a stalk him on social before a tournament.
Speaker:He could be good at the Bahamas and I'm like, "Do you like he's good?"
Speaker:Because he, I mean, it's crazy the level of ticket sales where there's like a handful and then,
Speaker:and then not a lot of draw, right?
Speaker:For some, unfortunately, which spreadsheets make is when I sit there and watch,
Speaker:so I've matched just some like, they're all amazing to watch, right?
Speaker:But there's certain personalities that just really sell well.
Speaker:And, you know, like, I think, like, I'd just want to, I would, I would like to meet.
Speaker:I could, I could hang out, I feel like I could hang out.
Speaker:With that guy, or at least I'd want to.
Speaker:I don't know if he'd like me at all.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:He's one of those guys that would bring me in because it's interesting.
Speaker:There's something, and maybe that's what Atlanta looks for.
Speaker:Something more interesting, rather than even an adult.
Speaker:I guess everybody shows up for an adult either way, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, that sells, obviously, well, Nick sells well.
Speaker:He's, because he's so different, like he say.
Speaker:He's great with children as well, which might surprise some people,
Speaker:you know, if it being single without children yet,
Speaker:but he's great with children and, and he's great with four in Atlanta
Speaker:and good to us by showing up.
Speaker:So we don't know what's going on this year with him and how long he'll be playing,
Speaker:but, and of course, John Isner, which people laugh and say
Speaker:we should rename the tournament, the John Isner Open.
Speaker:But, he's one at six times, and we're always fortunate to have him there.
Speaker:And the local crowd really loves him as well.
Speaker:And you can't beat.
Speaker:We just get the great top American talent like Fritz and Tiafo,
Speaker:and Brooks being Riley Paul.
Speaker:So it's great to see our support your American players.
Speaker:Well, now, and I think that'll help because we are kind of in an uptick right now.
Speaker:With Chris, you've been with Chelsea.
Speaker:So are Chris.
Speaker:Yeah, so I mean, you know, and we have,
Speaker:I mean, I get the kid who did well in Australia.
Speaker:And then she else and I keep talking to my son, my son.
Speaker:I said, all right, you know, little Giovanni is like, you're six months old now.
Speaker:You're going to grow up to be six foot four left handed with a two handed back hand.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Ben, so Atlanta was Ben's first ATP tournament.
Speaker:And he did well.
Speaker:It was great to kind of see him start.
Speaker:And now he's just really doing great.
Speaker:Yeah, but I mean, that I think so that'll help.
Speaker:Obviously, the more it's tangible.
Speaker:And since he's got a backstory,
Speaker:having Ben and Atlanta certainly will help.
Speaker:And what you're talking about too is as far as the players showing up.
Speaker:That's it.
Speaker:Unfortunately, that's in rampant intense
Speaker:in every event outside of the Grand Slam's.
Speaker:Because it's a really schedule.
Speaker:I mean, you know, these guys are, they're less than a month away from Wimbledon,
Speaker:or you know, from Wimbledon and they're less than a month away from the US Open.
Speaker:It's a tough, tough time of the year and then throw in 100 degrees.
Speaker:And yeah, that flight might get diverted.
Speaker:So you literally hold your breath and just make sure everybody shows up.
Speaker:You're, you're hoping.
Speaker:That's where you can get a beat up on social.
Speaker:And they're like, man, we can't force them to show up.
Speaker:So you don't be hating on us.
Speaker:Like we didn't plan for them to back out.
Speaker:Like we sold tickets and they backed out.
Speaker:Like we can't foresee the future.
Speaker:But we want everyone to show up, right?
Speaker:I get 250, they don't have to.
Speaker:You know, that's, that's the, they have more leave-like with the 250,
Speaker:than, you know, higher level tournaments.
Speaker:So it is.
Speaker:It's kind of, and then you try to explain to people,
Speaker:well, we can move and we should do this.
Speaker:We should, you don't understand.
Speaker:All you bought is the date.
Speaker:That's what you want.
Speaker:That there's, there's nothing else.
Speaker:That's what you have.
Speaker:You have this weekend.
Speaker:If you, if you can't do it this week,
Speaker:you're not doing it here.
Speaker:So I mean, the Dallas event originated in New York.
Speaker:And they sold it to that week to Dallas.
Speaker:And you know, it was, did fall better in Dallas.
Speaker:So that's a great for the game.
Speaker:But, you know, it's, there's not always a choice.
Speaker:We can't move it.
Speaker:That's, you know, that's hard.
Speaker:We can't.
Speaker:And people say, why would you do it in Dallas?
Speaker:We would prefer not to be outside.
Speaker:And we don't mind if we don't,
Speaker:can't to say, let's do it.
Speaker:And nobody else wants July either.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But we're part of the US Open series.
Speaker:So we're the first tournament that kicks it off.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:So what would you say your role in the situation?
Speaker:What, what is a social media manager
Speaker:do for a tennis tournament?
Speaker:So, so for 250, you know,
Speaker:it's definitely different with the different level tournaments.
Speaker:We'll have lower teams.
Speaker:But I oversee all of our channels,
Speaker:which for us is, you know,
Speaker:Instagram, Facebook, Twitter.
Speaker:And my obligations are not just, you know,
Speaker:ticket promotion, which we do more on the paid media side
Speaker:and paid ads.
Speaker:But promoting the tournament, I mean,
Speaker:the players special events, because they have STEM day.
Speaker:We'll have like sometimes wind down Wednesday.
Speaker:We can crawl for.
Speaker:Umisushi thinks like that.
Speaker:So promote another event,
Speaker:pushing volunteer registration.
Speaker:When we need people, again, I said earlier,
Speaker:sponsors promotion is a big piece.
Speaker:Would you fun content with more sponsors like Kim Crawford?
Speaker:I worked with influencers to really showcase the wine
Speaker:and leading up to the tournament.
Speaker:So the sponsor piece for Atlanta is a really large piece of what I do.
Speaker:Again, the influencer marketing.
Speaker:Checking practice score schedules, you know,
Speaker:let's make sure we get cocos arriving today.
Speaker:Get her videographer, photographers,
Speaker:graphic designers to cover everything.
Speaker:Sometimes it's very spur of the moment,
Speaker:Isner was in his 500th typewriter, I believe, in Dallas.
Speaker:Or like, oh, like a record.
Speaker:Go make me a graphic really quick.
Speaker:So as much as you prepare, there's a lot of on the spot,
Speaker:sponsored, spontaneous stuff happening.
Speaker:And, you know, really kind of pushed a community piece of it as well,
Speaker:as far as who we have on site.
Speaker:We have tennis, you know, we have A-Tef.
Speaker:We had them on site.
Speaker:We had kids come and interview come for our players,
Speaker:which was adorable.
Speaker:So it's kind of thinking of different ways to do content of the event.
Speaker:So and so one, come back tomorrow, you know, fun ways.
Speaker:My favorite part is I get to sit down with the players at the beginning of the week
Speaker:and try to do some fun recorded video content as you used throughout the week.
Speaker:And you put those on the major platforms?
Speaker:That's the user's tripping?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So we add, because you probably know, I probably go for humor every time.
Speaker:So it's like, what's funny?
Speaker:It hasn't been done by A-T-P tour, which is they've done everything.
Speaker:There's no such thing as done everything.
Speaker:If you haven't, if you haven't sat down with me and Bobby,
Speaker:you say, hey, we need something new.
Speaker:Just give us five minutes to talk and we'll come up with something new.
Speaker:Oh good. Perfect. Let's have a comment.
Speaker:Sweet because I need to go ahead and
Speaker:weaken. We can come up with something new.
Speaker:Or all of a sudden we'll realize we're not as awesome as we thought we were.
Speaker:We came up with 47 different things and they've done all of it.
Speaker:Yeah, yes. It's insane.
Speaker:I start with let Nibbari start wings this long every year.
Speaker:What else can we do?
Speaker:You have a range of personalities with the players, right?
Speaker:We got some that are funny and some that don't really love doing it,
Speaker:but they were forced to go in that room with me and try to do something funny
Speaker:or just to read something for us.
Speaker:Yeah, I think that's the thing that Bobby and I kind of think the same way.
Speaker:Oh, you know what?
Speaker:I could come up with something.
Speaker:But then probably everybody thinks that too, right?
Speaker:Yes. We've had ideas and we start filming it.
Speaker:I'm like, this is terrible cut.
Speaker:We were going to do funny town names in Georgia and have the players read it.
Speaker:But my intention was international players to read it with accents,
Speaker:but I didn't get international.
Speaker:I was getting all Americans said it wasn't funny.
Speaker:So we cut it out.
Speaker:Or died.
Speaker:Like they're just saying, "Ludowiki" and you know, like funny names and
Speaker:Dillanica and it was just like, "Rump."
Speaker:Pushed in. That'd be my favorite.
Speaker:He was on there.
Speaker:Pushes got to be on there.
Speaker:But what was the one?
Speaker:I saw the other day where they were interviewing the players and they had them
Speaker:put on the headphones and they had to guess the grunt of another player or try to
Speaker:fit.
Speaker:Something like that is just is fun, I think, for the fans, for the engagement.
Speaker:So that's kind of the stuff you get to do all the time.
Speaker:Yeah. The week of the chairman I do, unless sometimes we'll have somebody come in early,
Speaker:like John or Riley to promote the chairman a few months out to kind of build some excitement.
Speaker:But yeah, I get to try to work with the guys and ATP to sit down and do funny stuff.
Speaker:Like we did funny laws in Texas and Dallas.
Speaker:There's some insane laws from like 1800s.
Speaker:Like you can't drink a beer standing up on a Sunday after six.
Speaker:It's like really weird stuff.
Speaker:We haven't read out on camera.
Speaker:That's a lot of fun.
Speaker:I think there's some strange laws from the 1980s.
Speaker:So we don't have to go that back that far for that.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:No, no, no.
Speaker:Texas because of the, I had to take one religious class at TCU and I had to take Texas State
Speaker:history because of the uniqueness associated with Texas.
Speaker:Texas is the only state flag that can fly above the American flag.
Speaker:And that was one as a concession to get them to join the union.
Speaker:So Texas had some power in the negotiating and they used it.
Speaker:So it is, it is, if you will have some funky stuff on, I mean, literally back in 1986 when
Speaker:the drinking laws were changed, Texas waited to the absolute last day.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Before they would allow it.
Speaker:So I went nine days, or I'm sorry, 1987.
Speaker:Nine days where I was not allowed to drink in a bar in Texas.
Speaker:But I had been drinking since I was 17.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So Texas is its own country.
Speaker:So yeah, that would probably be a pretty creative place really for you.
Speaker:Yeah, they had some fun.
Speaker:We did funny town names and funny laws and we give them a real one in a fake one in that
Speaker:to guess which was Texas.
Speaker:So that's not-
Speaker:You got a Paris, you got a Libya, you got all sorts of.
Speaker:Do you think you're in international in Texas?
Speaker:You have a ding dong Texas, by the way.
Speaker:You have a Wimberley Texas and I actually would go.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And we did.
Speaker:We did find athletes names in Atlanta which were really funny.
Speaker:There's some funny ones out there as well.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Very cool.
Speaker:So what are the challenges I could say in my back of the day?
Speaker:Traditional media, the AJC looked us and said,
Speaker:"Listen, if you're not going to sell me a newspaper,
Speaker:just really not a lot of things I'm going to help you out with."
Speaker:Radio is so difficult because the demographic is so small.
Speaker:What are the- how do you overcome the challenges of where do you say this is where we're going to concentrate?
Speaker:Outside of Alta but you know that comes with-
Speaker:because it's the Alta magazine isn't a weekly.
Speaker:If you're in the wrong cycle, it could be a month and a half old sitting there on the shelf.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Even if we were on like, you know,
Speaker:Roku TV every three seconds, you still find some ice as I didn't know you were happening
Speaker:because it just happens.
Speaker:But I mean, every year you have to adjust because especially with COVID it changed media,
Speaker:paid media a big time.
Speaker:Or at home more, they weren't in their cars as much.
Speaker:Digital Roku YouTube TV was exploding.
Speaker:So, you know, digital is where it is, but you have to adjust it every year.
Speaker:And so it's like print media obviously, not so much.
Speaker:Social ads do great because you can really, you know, pinpoint and
Speaker:find to the targeting a lot better there as far as most things, but digital really help.
Speaker:So it's kind of, you know, every year seen what works with everybody that does pay is
Speaker:what works and what didn't.
Speaker:And you can adjust it as you're going along as well to put more money behind something working.
Speaker:Like for another fine amount it was Roku or YouTube was doing really well.
Speaker:And something else wasn't.
Speaker:So I just shifted.
Speaker:So, you know, yeah, we're in the USDA Southern and Atlanta and ALTA,
Speaker:but you may not pick up your magazine in the mail.
Speaker:So that is the challenge, you know, and then we do some community work, you know,
Speaker:with clubs and things like that, but you just kind of have to evolve.
Speaker:That's what Bobby always says.
Speaker:You got to get on people's phones, right?
Speaker:Yeah, so, you know, in the ticketing guys, they're constantly calling and
Speaker:doing the packages and reaching out to the organizations and that kind of thing.
Speaker:And for us for me, like around her much time, it's just huge for the players to share and comment,
Speaker:which some are not great with, but back to neck.
Speaker:And it does a great job with that for us.
Speaker:It's huge for my number to like, thank you.
Speaker:And Jack, sox, great about that.
Speaker:And, you know, some of the players really help us out, which makes a big deal because they're like
Speaker:next followers sizes.
Speaker:Hemongus.
Speaker:Well, the good news is you mentioned his name and his dad is involved in something very
Speaker:fun with Riley in swing vision.
Speaker:And, you know, so that I think from a participatory standpoint to have a court where people could see this,
Speaker:I think there'd be great interest in Atlanta.
Speaker:And as we're finding out, there is an explosion of virtual reality tennis going on.
Speaker:We've got, yeah.
Speaker:So I think that's another thing that we've spoken to three different companies so far.
Speaker:And they're all trying to figure out how they're going to unlock the key.
Speaker:And so I think that would be a blast just to have people with their headsets on,
Speaker:just spaced out, of course, so they're not whacking each other,
Speaker:but nonetheless, you know, playing some virtual tennis.
Speaker:And these companies are all dying to get into it.
Speaker:Yeah, you know, I was just like, I don't want to get the players doing that because it's really
Speaker:funny to watch someone on the headset doing things.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And you can't see themselves. So it's funny. You get to laugh at them while they got the goggles.
Speaker:Yeah, that's exactly like, that could be pretty good right there.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Especially if we get this couple of seven footers out there, they're looking weird with a tennis
Speaker:rag going to begin with.
Speaker:So then you put virtual glasses on them.
Speaker:And obviously they're going to play.
Speaker:They're going to get down like they normally do because it's just instinctive at this point.
Speaker:So I think that would be some good television.
Speaker:So the challenge and just, and tell me if I'm wrong here,
Speaker:how, what kind of production, like if you had something incredible happen on a Tuesday night,
Speaker:how long does it take you or do you have the means to turn it around and make that into
Speaker:a YouTube clip, two nights, you know, the next day to get people, because I know the challenges
Speaker:historically has been, we're going to get you here one time, when you're talking about the suburbs.
Speaker:How do we get you to come back?
Speaker:How do we get you to be part of the weekend crowd?
Speaker:Right. So today I have great support there.
Speaker:I didn't have it in 2017, like ATP tennis TV.
Speaker:You know, we're on what's up.
Speaker:I'm like, he just hit a Twitter that's amazing.
Speaker:I want it right now.
Speaker:I can get it within like two minutes and put it out.
Speaker:I didn't have that ability in 2017.
Speaker:I also have this amazing videographer, Drew, who does Wimbledon Indian Wells.
Speaker:And he's always there.
Speaker:He's like my guy.
Speaker:And so he's flipping things.
Speaker:And Dallas, we had President Bush show up in TAP Raleigh on the head.
Speaker:And it was hilarious.
Speaker:I'm like, give me that right now.
Speaker:So now I have the ability to get things pretty quickly before I didn't.
Speaker:And there's a lot more I would be would like to do, but I'm just like,
Speaker:head down constantly in your tournaments.
Speaker:I would ask them and people to help me.
Speaker:If you need someone to be there the whole time and watch all the matches
Speaker:and just have to do with something interesting happens, let me know if you can come up with somebody.
Speaker:I can join the air conditioning suite in the team.
Speaker:Properly.
Speaker:This is I will help.
Speaker:Okay, I'll note that down.
Speaker:I have some friends that I've offered as well.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Now Ashley, you're paying.
Speaker:She's not even an intern anymore, right?
Speaker:Ashley, you're having a pay.
Speaker:Now she's I just hook her up with, you know, the app.
Speaker:And she does work for me.
Speaker:Yeah, she's she's hooked in now.
Speaker:That's costed me money.
Speaker:She's not as flexible with drills that she used to be.
Speaker:I just just two weeks out of year.
Speaker:Well, it's like said, it's fun that we're all in such a small community.
Speaker:We all are bouncing a bunch of things off one another.
Speaker:What are you guys doing to get the crowd younger?
Speaker:Because that's a big challenge for tennis across the board.
Speaker:Yeah, I mean, on my side of things, I've worked with some younger organizations like
Speaker:Atlanta professionals and, you know, groups like that, especially from the social side.
Speaker:We've been some actually paid work with these kind of groups to kind of
Speaker:reach that audience.
Speaker:Again, that's where you can do the you can target the paid media for the younger
Speaker:spectrum like Instagram is younger than Facebook.
Speaker:And my audience there is, well, say younger, I say 25 to 35, you know,
Speaker:every email for us on Instagram.
Speaker:So and then our crowd is, it depends, you know, who it is, right?
Speaker:Our women's exhibition match can draw in a different crowd for us, which is always good.
Speaker:Last year we had Coco and Taylor Townsend.
Speaker:It was awesome.
Speaker:We've had Venus.
Speaker:So the player kind of matters a little bit.
Speaker:But the other crowd is coming out because you got at Atlantic Station with all the
Speaker:restaurants and bars, right there at it.
Speaker:So that definitely helps.
Speaker:Definitely without it to get more of the young crowd out.
Speaker:Like I said, not even just a tennis player, they just want something fun to do.
Speaker:You know, we've worked with that with kind of on the influencer side.
Speaker:We needed influencer.
Speaker:I mean, that's one of our tags is how to make tennis cool again.
Speaker:You know, the classic Mac and Row as James Dean picture, you know, when he was the rebel without a
Speaker:cause, we're 10 and into the Agacy era where tennis was cool.
Speaker:You know, and that's trying to reshape it.
Speaker:Again, we talked about the athleticism involved in playing tennis today is so beyond what it was
Speaker:from the 70s.
Speaker:I mean, these guys are phenomenal tier one athletes.
Speaker:And unfortunately with America being a little behind, it hasn't really grown in this
Speaker:country like you think it would because it's a spectacular sport.
Speaker:I mean, as a skill sport, as I tell my students, guys, this is the most difficult skill sport there is.
Speaker:I mean, yeah, where you have to combine hand-eye and foot.
Speaker:You know, I always, hitting a baseball is probably the hardest single thing to do in sports.
Speaker:But combination-wise, tennis is right there with anything.
Speaker:Yeah, that's why I say, I mean, just even come out to qualifying, the skill level is insane.
Speaker:And I love watching it.
Speaker:And the doubles matches aren't saying.
Speaker:And then you're going to go work down there and get autographed from the winners after every match at our tournament,
Speaker:which is an experience you don't get everywhere.
Speaker:So that's the benefit of being a little bit smaller is that kind of more intimate experience.
Speaker:So how do you, and this is the old ass, as you brought it up again, I think NASCAR was built in a
Speaker:lot of ways with accessibility to the players.
Speaker:It's the drivers.
Speaker:You know, you go to a booth and you'd get the autograph.
Speaker:And like you said, no matter what level, and I was amazed we did, as I said, with Talladega
Speaker:with Hershey's back in the day.
Speaker:And I was amazed because I was not an NASCAR follower at the time.
Speaker:You would ask Terry Labani, and they would, the fan of Terry Labani would literally
Speaker:rattle off every sponsor that was on his car. And you won't, I mean, that's the kind of brand loyalty
Speaker:that any sport would die for.
Speaker:And that's where NASCAR had cornered the market.
Speaker:And you know, there's plenty of theories out there of why tennis hasn't been able to accomplish it.
Speaker:And in a lot of it, like you said, the players, they're not the most social.
Speaker:Hey, you know, a lot of them dropped out of school at a very young age.
Speaker:So, you know, there's, there are challenges to overcome.
Speaker:Yeah, I mean, even if I want to, like do something special for Sam with Cadillac,
Speaker:I have to check, they have to check where their agents at this athlete can get in this car.
Speaker:You know, you have all the challenges as well.
Speaker:But if he first got really fun for the guys like we took JJ Michael Moe to the Dallas Cowboys
Speaker:State and they're like, we're in, so it depends what you're throwing at them, right?
Speaker:The Mercedes Benz is a pretty nice stadium. We should be able to get somebody in there, right?
Speaker:Yeah, we should do that next. So they're, they're easily we want to do that.
Speaker:Some of the things we ask them to do, they're like, hmm,
Speaker:not today. Yeah.
Speaker:Depends what it is.
Speaker:Nothing like Kudzu. Go go to the guerrilla land of Zue. We have a great Zue. I love
Speaker:our Zue. Yeah. So the challenge with these guys is practice schedules and match schedules.
Speaker:And so we try to get a lot in the beginning of the week before the main draw players are going,
Speaker:because some of them don't, they don't start playing until Wednesday, Thursday. So we have to get
Speaker:everything kind of earlier in the week. And then, when do they historically get here for,
Speaker:if you like you said, if they play a Tuesday, Wednesday match, when are they arriving in the city?
Speaker:It's all over the place, but they're coming in the weekend before like Saturday, Sunday,
Speaker:Monday, generally. I try to get them like Monday, Sunday, Monday. This one most of them are
Speaker:for sure there are not too busy yet. I get my 15 minutes with them, not a minute over.
Speaker:That's right. There's somebody's on the clock. Yes. And then you see comments sweating from
Speaker:practice or something, you know? Where do they, where do they practice it now?
Speaker:So, you know, we were, we had three courts right there at the stadium. Right.
Speaker:Probably going to have to practice it in Georgia Tech, because that lot was purchased.
Speaker:And that's my last question then, Sean. She's all yours. When are we going to move it to the
Speaker:North 400 corridor? So I know everyone asked me about them. I'm like, I'm not involved with
Speaker:the location discussions. I don't know. I just like to throw it out there to see if anybody's listening.
Speaker:I'll get Peter on here soon. Please, please, this, I know Peter, but you have this, just curiosity,
Speaker:Peter, why are we not, I mean, the Olympics, the Olympics kill this, we understand that by putting
Speaker:it in Stone Mountain. Can we reverse history and put something up here?
Speaker:That's my, all right, Sean. She's all yours.
Speaker:Okay. Thank you. Well, Becky, first of all, thank you so much. It's been fun for me to get to know
Speaker:you and then hearing you and Bobby go back and forth is fun because I know you guys know each other well
Speaker:and learning and talking with it with an expert in what you do and is connected as you can be
Speaker:in doing what you do. We get to learn a lot and I made a comment through the day that at some point,
Speaker:I looked at my wife and I said, at some point, is this plays out in the right direction?
Speaker:Is this going to make me the Joe Rogan of tennis? And it wasn't, it wasn't me comparing myself to
Speaker:Joe Rogan. It was the concept. It is, if we can talk to all of the experts, at some point,
Speaker:we get all the expert information that no one else has been able to compile. And that's one of
Speaker:the things Joe tennis wants to do as well is that compilation of information, especially at Lana
Speaker:specific, not trying to take over the world, not trying to make it too big, one calendar, one place,
Speaker:everything right there, making it simple and making it in one easily navigated system as opposed
Speaker:to everything else going on out there. And you get that concept with the scheduling that you've got to do
Speaker:in your job, but also finding time to play tennis for yourself and being able to get out there
Speaker:and play and get yourself on the court. And so I always ask at the end and I love this question
Speaker:because it gets not only that expertise and that personal point of view into it, but also everything,
Speaker:everything that you do and everything that we've talked about usually feeds into the answer that
Speaker:we get. But if you were if you were queen of tennis for a day or a month or a year, however long it took,
Speaker:you were queen of tennis and you could change or improve anything about tennis, whether it's at Lana
Speaker:specific, United States globally, is there anything you would change?
Speaker:Good question and I saw that on my cheat sheet and I thought about it. So there's two answers. One is
Speaker:like for me as a player versus me as a marketer. And I already said this, can we not have Easter
Speaker:ultimate actions in spring break? Can we all do that? I'll just get a little bit, but that's just as a
Speaker:captain speaking. I mean, professionally, I couldn't really think of anything kind of two part,
Speaker:like one, I love to see American win a grand slam. I mean, that's just kind of like as a fan, you know,
Speaker:that's coming up happening. We've got like Bobby said, there's so many ones that are just like on the,
Speaker:it's you know, so close to doing that. And just really look for our US fans to really appreciate our
Speaker:American players, you know, I mean, it's fine to be a big fan of an international player or get it.
Speaker:But really appreciating them and supporting our players here in the US, I think could be better,
Speaker:you know, just for me, but I'm a big fan of pushing the American players as an American tournament. So
Speaker:from my perspective, but we also like we love to give love to our international players to come. We
Speaker:get a lot of Australian players and Asian players as well. So just great to see the tennis and meet
Speaker:good people and good players overall. Well, there you have it. We want to thank rejuvenate.com for
Speaker:use of the studio and be sure to hit that follow button for more tennis related content. You can
Speaker:go to Atlanta tennispodcast.com. And while you're there, check out our calendar of tennis events,
Speaker:deals on equipment, apparel and more. And you should feel good knowing that shopping at Let's Go
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Speaker:And with that, we're out. See you next time.
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