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And now let's get into our recent conversation

with Matt Sallerson.

Matt is the territory manager for Wilson Sporting Goods,

for Georgia and South Carolina.

Have a listen and let us know what you think.

(upbeat music)

Who are you and why do we care?

- Yes, my name is Matt Sallerson

and I am the territory manager for Wilson Sporting Goods.

- The territory manager for Wilson Sporting Goods.

All right, so I guess I gotta follow up.

- Yes.

- You need to go any further than that.

- Yeah.

- But what do you do?

- So I am responsible for growing Wilson brand

in tennis, pickable and mouth, paddle or pedale.

So if for Georgia and for South Carolina.

- Georgia and South Carolina, okay.

Is this a hierarchical structure?

Like you got somebody that is your manager

for the southeast and then it goes bigger?

Like that kind of thing?

- Yes, yeah.

Absolutely.

So we have 24 reps scattered all over the country

and we all have our own territories that we represent

and then we have managers and then go up there

and higher than that as well.

- Got it.

All right, well, I want one more question.

I want to let Bobby play here because he's got more experience

dealing with guys like you, but in this case,

so I have it clear, when I walk into your serve,

or I walk into my local pro shop at my club,

if there are Wilson rackets hanging on the wall,

this is in Georgia, there are Wilson rackets hanging

on the wall, that's your fault.

- That is my fault, yes.

- That is your fault.

- Absolutely.

- And you make money, you've already made your money.

Like when that happens, like you've done your job,

you've checked your box, your boss says, good job.

It doesn't matter if Bobby sells it out of his pro shop

after that.

- Oh, it does.

It definitely does.

My job is not just to push it on you

and then leave you alone.

My job is to help sell through and promote the Wilson as well.

So I never want to be that person that just sells it.

I, my job is to help you sell through and get it out there.

- Is that in your job description or that's just

'cause you're awesome?

- It is in our job, but that is also in my job,

that's with me personally.

Like I've been on the other side,

I used to be a pro shop manager myself.

And so it is not the easiest job in the world.

So having the support of the territory manager

and pros and all that, it just makes that process so much easier.

- Got it, Bobby, you know what he's talking about?

- I do know, I'm sorry, but in first of all,

let's yell at Wilson, Matt already said, "They have 24 different reps."

This is the biggest tennis playing state in the,

I know geographically they're a bigger

and probably Texas needs more than one in Cal,

but let's be serious to give Georgia another state

that Matt, he's already overworked.

I mean, he's--

- I take it work, I got it.

- Traveling outside of Atlanta is difficult enough.

I mean, he's got to go to Macon for God's sake.

He's got to go to Savannah.

Val Dosta, they play tennis.

To go to South Carolina too?

Oh my God, that's ridiculous.

So--

- I, you know what, it's worth it.

I enjoy what I do.

It's a lot of fun.

Wilson is an amazing company.

And it does not hurt to go visit Hilton Head Charleston

and all those cities from time to time right now.

(laughing)

- They're not twisting your arm, I understand.

- No, no, really.

- And like you said, Sean, good part about Matt too.

First of all, always easy to reach.

And we know from personal experience,

whether it be the pro league or our industry day.

And the fun part about seeing these guys is,

when they get back on the court, they're Jonesin'.

You can't get them off the court.

I mean, Matt was running clinics for us at the Fall Festival.

It's the same thing at the pro league.

I'm whizzing down on a obscure court,

trying to recruit people,

because we just wanted to hit the ball around a little bit more.

So this is definitely an individual

who's passionate about his work.

- Yeah, I used to be a T-aching press.

I still have the bug every now and then.

Not on a day like today, but I definitely have the bug.

And anytime I can go out there and do a drill

or a clinic, I'm totally at for it, for sure.

- So when you walk, I mean, obviously,

different clubs have different likes.

And this is one gripe I have with all-ranking

bracket manufacturers.

And I used to get in fights with various pro shop owners.

I'd be like, the reality is, I sell three rackets.

You know, I sell a blade,

preferably the heaviest one.

I sell a clash and I sell if you have,

you know, you've got some decent size

and you have some promise,

I'll consider selling you an RF.

After that, I feel like I could fit somebody

into those other rackets and tell me,

'cause I know that you guys all, you say that,

yeah, we shrunk, you know, here's the 10-6 play,

that's the prototype.

But we knocked down to 10-1, but it feels the same.

I'm no genius, but it can't.

So there is gonna be a subtle difference, you know.

- Yes.

- I know you're not making those decisions,

but how do I get Wilson to make my life easier

and just say, here you three rackets, Bobbi,

just do what you do.

- Yes.

To make your life easier is, I gotta do a better job

of making your life easier.

Not necessarily those making brackets.

It's my job to help you explain those other ones

that we have because, yes, we have six in our franchise,

seven if you include the RF in our franchise,

and there is a demographic, a market for every single one,

and you may just experience a certain demographic,

and that's why you only need to have three,

but it doesn't necessarily mean

that the other three or four are irrelevant and not necessary.

It just really is based on location, you know,

and who you're servicing.

Now some are academies, some are, you know,

more country clubs, some are recreational

and at public facilities.

So there's so many different skill levels

and demographics out there.

So yeah, it just depends on where you are.

- And I certainly don't play this on you

'cause I used to have the difference between the pro shop,

who is trying to get rid of their inventory.

I get it, they're trying to move their product.

But if I, you know, I always laughed at say,

yes, it's a beginner.

It's an adult.

If I had a beginner child, we wouldn't be giving them

the 110 inch head size that was eight ounces

because they'd be hitting it into the fence.

Why is that okay to do with an adult?

When they're essentially still a beginner,

we want them to learn how to hit with topspin.

We want, and again, I know there's some fall on you,

but this is the stuff that we go up against

because they're trying to move product and they take,

oh, well, they're 30, they probably have a short story.

No, I'm trying to teach them how to hit a ball with spin.

- Yeah, no, even when I was a pro,

I never, I never fitted anybody who was an adult beginner

with anything over 100.

Maybe a 104, that would be the,

'cause I know the blade 104,

that was probably the biggest head size I ever pushed.

The anything over 104 is really more for someone

more on the tail end of their tennis career

and maybe just need that added power to get the ball over.

Or just likes the easy power.

It doesn't, even a teaching pro.

I mean, we, you know, you guys feed and I used to feed

100 balls every lesson and that arm gets tired after a while.

So having a 110-inch racquet, easy feed

can definitely alleviate a lot of elbow and arm issues.

- So when you walk into a place and you say,

oh, and I know, it's established a lot of times,

but what do you feel like in the things about Wilson

that sets Wilson apart from other brands?

- I mean, so much.

I mean, it's not just tennis.

It's just Wilson in general.

I mean, how we reach so many other sports as well,

we're just more widely known in the sporting goods industry.

I mean, you look at some of the names we've got

and other, I mean, we're the official ball of the NFL.

There's not been a single touchdown thrown

without Wilson being a part of that in the entire NFL.

We're in, we're the official ball of the NBA,

we're the official ball of two of the Grand Slams.

And we've got Caitlin Clark on our staff now.

And so Wilson in general, it's just,

I mean, it's just a great company to be with,

we're known all over.

And they do, I mean, they do care about the athlete

and fitting him with the right equipment.

- And let's talk shoes for a second

because you've had a couple of rivals, Adidas and A6.

- Yep.

- You know, try to leverage,

you guys make a darn good shoe.

And not just comfortable, but I mean,

people, man, what shoe is that?

What is that?

I'm like, it's Wilson.

What?

I don't think enough people,

because it's not big box, it's not Dicks.

But you make a great shoe.

And like I said, especially the ones I wear,

they're bored of lying Nike.

And there's no difference in it.

So many times when the brand gets

into outside their comfort zone, it doesn't do well.

But you guys have crossed over fabulously.

- Yeah, we've actually made some improvements

in our shoes in the last five to six years, for sure.

We've brought in the right people to run that department.

And actually, I think we're,

again, we're starting to really hit our stride.

We've actually got a new shoe.

It's good timing.

We said that we actually have a new shoe coming out

for the ladies called the Intrigue,

coming out in early February, February 11th,

which is a women's fitted shoe.

And so it is not a unisex shoe,

which some companies still have,

is a unisex shoe that's supposed to fit a man and a woman.

This is a shoe that's supposed to fit just a woman's foot.

So we're very excited about it.

Marta Costiac and Peyton Sterns,

who are some of our 360 pros on tour,

didn't want to wait till February 11th to try them on

and debut them.

We've actually been playing with them since the US Open.

And Peyton Sterns was wearing new balance

before that tournament.

So for her to have the confidence to put on a brand new shoe

that she's never worn before in a different company

and playing the US Open was a big deal.

So yeah, I think we're starting to hit our stride.

And it's just getting the word out

and more people are wearing them, for sure.

- Well, speak to this.

And I do, this is years ago and you're young.

So I don't even, if you, Wilson was like the first shoe,

woman's shoe in particular,

that instead of just shrinking the men's size,

actually made a tennis shoe from the mold of a woman's foot,

which was huge back in the day.

And they gave a percentage of the proceeds

went to breast cancer awareness.

I don't know if they went away from that,

but the great news is it sounds like you're going back to that.

- Yes, yes.

Yep, and we're making changes.

The Rushbrill will be our men's franchise

and then our intrigue will be our women's franchise

and will make upgrades throughout the years

to make it better and fit the athlete.

But yeah, we're very excited about this one.

The colors look great.

So yeah, I'm just super excited and ready for it to come out already.

- Ready to come out and ready to be,

the weather to get good enough to show it to people.

- Yeah, seriously, very useful.

Yeah.

- So as the rep, what is an average day for Matt Sallerson?

- Yeah, average day is in the morning,

just try to catch up on some emails from the night before.

And then the rest of the day, it's hitting the road

and then coming home in the evening

and trying to pose out anything I need to do.

But I mean, I'm on the road three to four times a week,

just visiting accounts.

If I'm in my office too much, that means I'm not doing my job.

So while I do need to be in the office

to answer emails, phone calls and stuff like that,

I wanna be out there meeting with the accounts,

seeing the accounts, supporting the accounts,

doing whatever I need to do.

So that's pretty much the day of my life as a Wilson rep.

- Now what do you expect from your pros who are out there?

I mean, pros get contracts to represent.

What should they be doing to fulfill those contracts

and make your life a little easier?

- Yeah, I mean, definitely promoting the brand,

promoting Wilson, helping and supporting the shops

that they are assigned to.

Most of them that have contracts

have a pro shop there assigned to.

So it's helping promote that,

being a great representative of the brand,

stenciling rackets, which is a joke kind of,

but not a joke at the same time.

But yeah, I mean, I think those are the key things

is just being an advocate of Wilson

and wanting to be an advocate of Wilson.

- And question for you, Matt, as you've done some teaching,

you've done some work in a pro shop

and now as the brand expert,

what do you think about a coach and the racket

that they're representing on court?

So as a teaching pro, we got a lot of teaching pros

that listen to this.

As a teaching pro, and I remember back in the day,

you'd start off and you'd have an A team of ladies

and a B team of ladies, a C team of ladies,

and then in the afternoon, you work with the little kids,

and then you get the high school kids,

and then you get the evening man and women.

I always didn't feel comfortable with my racket

because although my racket was,

if I remember right, the end blade,

which we figured out recently,

as a Wilson guy at the time,

I wasn't gonna sell the end blade to all of those people.

- Correct.

- It's good enough that I was using Wilson

and then they can come to me and ask,

I could say, well, you would be better in this.

Should I switch from racket to racket within lessons?

Do you have any advice on a tennis pro?

Does anybody ask that question directly?

- They don't ask that question.

No, I just, I wouldn't say they necessarily ask that question,

but I do guide them in those.

For those that maybe are struggling to promote Wilson.

If you feel comfortable teaching with your racket

and only wanna teach with your racket,

then you should have a demo bag out there with you

with other rackets in our families ready to go

based on what you have that day.

Me personally, I used to, I played with the blade

and for some lessons I would teach with the blade,

but other ones I would teach with the clutch.

I would teach with the old drill.

I would teach, well, the shift wasn't around when I was there,

but I would have taught with the shift if needed,

but depending on what level I'm playing with,

our teaching, that's the racket I would be feeding with.

So, yeah.

- So I'm not crazy thinking I might teach with a different racket,

but I like the idea of bringing it out of bag.

It's like, you know what, I used this one,

but go grab the purple one in there

go grab the black one and try that in that case,

'cause we've got a lot of young bros

that are gonna use the only their racket,

but we don't want them selling only their racket

to every player.

What's the point of having seven or eight different

franchises in a brand?

- Exactly, exactly.

And I can probably say this thing out for any company too.

It's, you know, if one racket fit everybody,

then it may be a pretty easy job.

But there's, there doesn't do that.

So, yes, in an ideal world and a perfect world,

every pro should have at least four or five different models

in their bag just to have ready to go.

- You can help.

So, I had the fancy country club job.

So, I could walk in on the demo rack and grab three or four

rackets and bring them out there with me.

But Bobby doesn't necessarily have access to that

at his club.

Some other coaches don't have a club at all.

Are you able to help some of them?

If they say, "Hey, how do we get demos?

How do we help the coaches to start?"

We'll talk about the players in a minute.

- Yeah, we support our ad staff with,

and a lot of the points or, you know, equipment.

And, you know, we definitely want them to take care of themselves

and get what they need.

But then, you know, we only need to, like,

I can play with a blade for two to three years

and keep the same blade.

So, if I've received a blade and got my personal ones,

in these next couple of years,

that's where I start building my demo bag

and start getting different ones throughout

so that I can keep trying out.

So, we can, we definitely support those pros

and make sure that they have what they need.

And if they need more, they can just reach out to me.

But, I mean, it's all about communication.

I, if I don't hear you or see you,

then it's hard for me to help you.

- So, Mori, coming call.

So, Bobby, you think that works because the players

at Bobby's Club, if we use him for an example here,

the players at Bobby's Club aren't calling Matt.

Like, I'm not putting Matt's phone number in the show notes.

It's like, call Matt for your next racket.

Bobby needs to call Matt.

So, Bobby, how do your players know how to go through you?

How does that all work?

- Well, Bobby has a fad.

- Bobby has a fad.

Well, not everybody has a fad.

- But, I think what Matt just said,

and I wanted to bring up one particular racket

'cause I don't think it gets enough love,

but yeah, we build off of fads,

got a huge demo bag that we use at Windomir.

And, you know, but I think what Matt said is a great idea.

If you're playing the blade,

I haven't gotten my new rackets,

I think in the last three years.

I'm gonna get a new blade this year

because the color is two different

than what I, you know, the first one I have.

So, I'm gonna upgrade there.

But, I like the Wilson shift a little bit.

Matt, I'd love to give you give me a little bit,

'cause I never get the different spin quality rights

that the Wilson shift produces.

And, I think it's a great story in that, you know,

Wilson is now being endorsed by Andy Roddick,

who played with a pure drive,

which, you know, I say begrudgingly made the pure drive,

the number one rack in this country.

And, he left Babelot is now playing with a Wilson shift.

That's huge.

- And, it is huge, absolutely.

Yeah, we were super excited.

And, someone who grew up watching Andy,

that's great to have him on our side, for sure.

- Totally, that's an interesting story, Bobby.

- So, yeah.

- Because Andy, what, he's on television,

playing tennis a lot now.

Like, why is that,

we talk about endorsements all the time, right?

Is it because Andy's podcast,

that you can't see him play tennis with his new Wilson,

I didn't know he was playing with a Wilson shift.

How does that help Wilson?

- I mean, he does have a very popular podcast,

not as popular as GoTennis, but it is pretty popular.

- I didn't even pay him to say that.

- Yeah, I was gonna say, "Call me, Andy."

(laughing)

- But, it's a pretty popular podcast.

He still does a lot of,

what's the thing?

- Exhibitions.

- Yeah, he does exhibitions and stuff like that.

And, you know, it was kind of funny.

I think it was about a year ago,

he sent out a video saying like,

"Hey, I wanna get back into playing tennis,

"but I haven't tried out a racket since I was 16 years old.

"Which racket should I try?"

And we reached out to him and said, "Here, try."

And he did an extensive trial of all of our rackets

and he chose the shift, which is--

- Any video tape, did that's right?

- Yeah, I want to get the video tape.

- It's out there, yep, absolutely.

So, that's the one he chose.

What's not a surprise?

I'm not surprised.

- But does he have a fad?

- He has a fad, I don't think he has a fad.

No, I'm not, only one person has a fad.

- I'm the one who has a fad.

But no, I mean, I think,

you know, you said the significant shot,

like you said, that racket that he endorsed,

you know, that was Babelot's philosophy

from a business standpoint years ago,

they hit the junior market really hard

and he was one of that group of five that came out

and really transformed and changed tennis 20 years ago

with the pure drive.

And for him to leave a brand that, you know,

he was strongly responsible for,

let's not say making, but at least taking it to the next level.

Obviously, Rafa helps.

And you know, the rest is history type thing.

But you know, to me, it is significant in the industry

when somebody leaves something that is so closely associated

with them.

I mean, Roger left Nike, he didn't leave Wilson.

- Right, yep, yeah, for sure.

- Not yet.

(laughs)

- No, he's not making Wilson, he's not lately.

(laughs)

- No, definitely.

- Well, maybe that's the part,

'cause we take care of each other with the sponsorships.

And in this case, it's more of an endorsement

to where sometimes there's money exchanged,

sometimes there's not.

But what's cool is you've got guys like Andy and like Roger

that haven't left the industry,

they haven't left the tennis world.

Some guys just disappear.

Like, I'm out, I'll be on a beach, don't call me.

- Yeah.

- And that's fine.

Or, you know, Mariah Saffney's gonna go

be the next president of Russia or something.

- Right.

- So you got things that you're gonna go do

after your tennis career, but I like that some of these guys

and girls do the same thing, hang around.

And where Wilson has a reason to want

Andy Roddick to care about which racket he plays with,

'cause he's still relevant at whatever level.

- Correct, yep, absolutely.

- And if you see the video, he was not dogoted.

I mean, he took those demo sessions seriously.

He was sweating, he was working.

I was like, all right, this is not just some,

if he was doing just an endorsement,

he could have mailed it in a lot easier than when he did it.

He was out there and, you know,

he made fun of his own game.

Oh, maybe this will help that flat backhand I have.

So he really walked into it as if he was still playing

and this is what he wanted out of a racket.

- Yeah.

- Yep.

- Well, he was playing, that wouldn't have been,

would have he have been playing with that at the Atlanta open

in the summer because you were standing in court side.

My wife and I were standing court side

during that exhibition with the Bryan Brothers

and watching Andy on that ad side,

just go out there and hit that two handed backhand

cross court return was just, it's fun.

You see these guys on television,

they're pretty good, these guys are pretty good.

You stand next to one of them.

I gotta do the same thing with Taylor Fritz,

playing a few points court side at Atlanta open.

It's like he's five in the world now or four in the world.

Then you look at him go, this is amazing.

What these guys are capable of doing, it is not the same.

And most people I think watch their coach play

and they're like, oh, why aren't you playing

against the greatest, if you only knew,

I don't know if it really is.

- It's not good.

- I'm just not good.

- Well, it's just a different thing.

It's a different level, it's a different world.

And maybe Babelat got lucky.

He picked Andy Roddick at 16.

Andy didn't even know where he was going in his career

at 16 here at MTell his story.

So you gotta pick some people out there.

So who's next for Wilson?

What happens, like do you, are you privy to any of that?

Where Wilson finds their Kalamazoo winner

or somebody who just won the division one and see devil

something, like what, how do you find those people?

- Yeah, I mean, we do have a staff that goes

to all of these level one tournaments

and future tournaments to find the next, you know,

what Andy Roddick or Roger Federer,

rock in the doll and sometimes it works out.

Sometimes it doesn't work out, but yeah, we're always,

I mean, shoot, I remember the story when we first started,

you know, following tennis when I was 16,

as Drew Breeze was actually a better tennis player

than Andy Roddick was.

Drew Breeze is to beat Andy Roddick.

And so it's kind of, you know, they might be good

at one age level, but then just everyone either catches up

or they just take a dip for whatever reason.

And you know, that's it.

So a lot of it is lovely.

You gotta put yourself in front and Wilson does a really good job

of having a staff out there to put themselves out there

and try to recruit the best players.

So when we do have a lot of future player,

Darwin Blanche, who made a little bit of a splash in Miami,

having his debut, pro debut, Mira and Dreeva,

who's only think, what, 17 or 18?

Made it to the quarters of a Grand Slam.

So we've got some great future players in our pipeline.

So very excited about that.

- Let me ask Matt, do you know, 'cause this is the point,

I know she has the sister as well, Andrea,

which was her, her sister who played,

they was gonna do an ex-host, she ended up playing a man.

- I didn't know.

- It was, I just picked up on YouTube

and what really impressed me about the Gow,

it was funny 'cause the, you know,

Gow was like, say, 1100 in the world.

And Andrea was supposed to play somebody,

I think whoever, whichever Andrea if it was,

it was 47 at the time, it was in the fall.

And her opponent, they were doing an ex-host,

it was gonna be 67.

67 pulled out, like the day of.

So they were stuck, we have the tickets.

So they literally found this gentleman who lived,

he was 1100 in the world, so they hooked them up.

The guy comes out, gets blitzed the first three games.

She beats them.

And he's like, okay, I'm trying to be nice,

trying to find that spacing to say, okay, I'm gonna beat her.

So he, he've ratchet it up and yes, you know,

he went on to beat her, but what impressed me about this,

this girl is she didn't quit.

And you had to beat her with a star, you know, so that to me,

and again, the interesting part to me,

that would be a big selling point to me.

Just the fact that this is a competitor

that really wants to go.

And it really impressed me to watch this galf,

even though she knew she would, there were points,

she's like, I just can't do that.

She was fighting, she never quit to the end of the match.

- Yeah, absolutely.

She made a funny quote the other day

when she lost the Savo Linka, she was like,

'cause she seems to always, during Grand Slam,

she'll have this big success and then hits that real pop

for the Savo Linka.

And she says, like, I'm tired of seeing Savo Linka,

like I'm just tired of it.

Like, so she's, she's got, I mean,

she's doing a great job right now and just that bus up.

But look, Savo Linka's made it to another final.

So she's not the only one having trouble beating Savo Linka.

- And she seems to do all right, no, Australia.

So yeah, that seems to be her surface.

- Exactly, the hard courts are definitely her surface.

- Yeah.

I would have liked to see, but Madison Keys,

that was a great, great win and, you know, be a speed tack.

And I was, 'cause speed tack was rolling people.

I mean, it wasn't just beating them.

She was killing people.

So Madison Keys to get, you know, that was,

that's a good win.

So I still think Savo Linka, on that surface, if she's right,

it's, there's really not too many people

that can compete with her.

So it'll, it probably will be ugly,

but still props to Madison to get that far.

- Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

- Well, and how much does that affect?

'Cause we assume, we always wanna help the player.

And so the player, meaning the social player,

the coach's clients, that are just playing tennis

on the weekends that pays Bobby's bills,

so he can buy more rackets from Matt,

so Matt keeps his jobs, all right.

But the way Wilson gets those players

to see the new fancy racket is to have someone

on television use them.

So it's this circle of life that tennis rackets have,

'cause you need to have Wilson as the official ball

of whatever, right.

That's just how you guys do it.

And the assumption then becomes,

how does that help me as a player?

If I'm just a tennis player, does that raise the price for me?

Roger Federer is gonna play with the Wilson right?

Oh, now I gotta have a more expensive racket,

'cause Wilson's all fancy now, they got Roger.

Or does that allow more people to buy it?

Therefore, we find some economic structure here

that says, hey, we're gonna do some discounts.

Or no, sorry, we just had to pay Roger an infinite amount

of money, so we're raising prices.

Like how does all that work to benefit the end user, the player?

Yeah, I think.

And I've been in this tennis industry for a while,

and prices have gone up, but I don't think it's gone up

because the cost of sponsoring a player has gone up.

I think that's just unfortunately economics,

but no, I think having someone on our staff

or playing with Wilson definitely expands our reach

and letting people see the brand Wilson,

not necessarily that particular racket,

because as much as we all think we play like Roger Federer

and Rafa and Adol, and we buy the racket thinking

that's gonna happen, more times than not, it doesn't happen.

So it's still finding what we want to get out of it

is at least it's a great quality racket,

and it's a good racket to have,

and it's a good brand to be a part of.

So, and then that's when you and me and the pro,

rest of the pros helped fit that player, that social player

with the correct racket that is their game.

And that's leaning on the coach.

That's leaning on the Bobby Schindler's

and the day-to-day coaches that are out there,

and you've got to trust Bobby to know what he's doing.

I know Bobby complains and says,

"Well, the player that walks into the pro shop,

not knowing anybody in the pro shop person,

the sales person in there is just selling them a racket,

not knowing anything.

"I'm a B level, I play B-2 and I play one day a week."

And that person instead of going to their coach

and maybe this is the thing, can you convince me?

I asked the question of the stringer the other day.

I'm like, seriously, is it as many times

as a day-to-week or a week I play,

that's how many times I need to string my,

like, those things that we say,

but I don't really know if it's true.

I want to ask you, how do we convince the player

that you need your coach's advice?

And I do this all the time with the inter parents

and I say, don't send your kid in with grandma's tennis racket.

Let them meet me first, let me take a look,

I will give you some advice, please take my advice,

I do this for a living.

Like, this is what I do.

Can you help me with that sales pitch?

Yeah, I mean, I can't stress enough.

Getting the right racket will elevate your game

by, it could easily elevate your game by a level or two,

just by having the right racket.

And never choose a racket based on price or based on looks.

It needs to be based on how it feels

and how it helps your game.

So, yes, going to your coach, going to an expert

is definitely the way to go.

You can bring grandma's racket, if you want,

or some other racket to the first one.

Don't go out and buy a racket, both how to talk

into anyone first.

Definitely demo.

I mean, I can't stress demoing, you have to demo.

So--

Well, I don't want to take away the Walmart sales

of $20 Wilson Rackets, but please stop doing that, people.

I have to send them home all the time,

be like, oh, no.

There is a place for this racket,

but come talk to me first, right?

Yeah, no.

It's that, hey, look, I'm not knocking the weed.

That's actually our hyperhammers, actually, one of our more

popular restaurants selling racket.

So, I don't want to say don't go out and get that one.

But just, I would say, if let the coach decide,

if you should go get that one or not.

All right, I'm cl-- I'm clippin' that one too, Bobby.

What else you got for him before I hit King of Tennis?

No, what I would say, we're very fortunate in Atlanta.

And I had this conversation.

First of all, I wish we have good relationships.

We've spoken with Brad and Babel, our turrets.

We just left active fiber.

Lisa English at Head is my neighbor.

And I've known Lisa since she's almost come to this country.

So we're very fortunate that we have high quality people

to help us in Atlanta.

So we're in such an advantage in most places

that this is at our fingertips.

And we have folks that will go out of their way,

show up at the Friday mixer that you're doing pre-alta

to bring your racquet bag.

And I always say, unfortunately, a lot of times the pros

just get lazy.

But if you're an end user or you're a player and go to your pro,

hey, I heard you could get Wilson out here.

Why don't you do that?

That's always a good motivating stick to the pro.

They might not think of it just because it's out of their normal

routine, but usually, once it's brought to their attention,

they'll do it.

And in this city, they're accessible.

They're more than happy.

And you're going to get-- like you said,

everybody likes to walk home with a chotchky.

So you're going to get something to make you feel like,

oh, look what I got.

And again, we're just very lucky for where we live.

And because of that, I think you

got to bring quality people to this market.

And we have quality people in these jobs.

Take advantage of it.

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, if any pro who's stuck in a little bit of a ride,

maybe running out of ideas to spice up their events

or drills or whatever, absolutely reach out to me.

And I would love to come out and do a demo event.

Like you said, I bring swag with me.

I bring my jumbo rackets for a photo op.

We'll have music out there.

So it is a lot of fun.

It's not as very sterile as some people may think it is.

It's actually a lot of fun.

So it's more just, again, promoting Wilson than anything else.

Well, in that case, call GoTenis, because we go even further.

And we can get Matt.

There's Bobby you were saying about the player coming to say,

why don't you get Wilson here?

Just saying to the player, great, bring 19 year friends.

And we'll call the Wilson guy.

Because--

Do it for you, absolutely.

I mean, those are things that again,

because we take it for granted that everybody lives in a--

but there are a lot of two court and four court facilities

that have guys that come in.

And the independent pro, the time that I get to stay on the phone

because I'm a director cultivating these relationships,

the guy who's an independent driving to different facilities

is eating up time.

Going to a drive-through.

So their life is a little different.

So absolutely, that's one of the things

that we're trying to help folks with.

If you don't have the time, let us do it for you.

We'll make you star.

We want to promote the game.

We want everybody to succeed.

So you know, and we know these guys.

So let us--

Let us have my sales pitch, Bobby.

I perfected it.

If you're in your car and you're listening to this right now,

pick up your phone, call me.

Stop listening.

I need to get--

No.

I have a half hour--

Half hour?

Easy.

There.

Half hour commute back.

I do it twice.

I spent two hours in the car.

I'm sure Matt takes a few phone calls in his car as well.

Exactly.

We know.

That's our life.

We've chosen this life.

And that's OK.

We love it.

Yeah.

Take advantage of it.

Hands free.

Of course.

Hands free.

Hands free.

Of course.

Hands free.

Of course.

All right.

So last hands free question, Matt, is--

You know what's coming?

It's my favorite question at the end that I always ask.

If you were King of Tennis, you were magically

put in charge of everything or whatever

aspect you wanted to be.

If you were King of Tennis, is there

anything you would do or change?

Yeah.

I've been thinking about this a lot.

I've listened to the podcast a lot.

And so when this opportunity came,

I've been thinking about it.

And what would I say?

What would I do?

If I was the King of Tennis, I would help those trying

to get into the industry find all the branches or atmosphere

or whatever they want to do.

There's so much in Tennis, not just teaching tennis,

not just directing tennis, but there's so much involved

with being involved in tennis.

And I don't know if that information's out there.

And someone for me, I've been very fortunate where I started

in the industry as just a stringing rack.

It's at the time, serious tennis, being a teaching pro,

running a pro shop.

So I've just luckily been able to meet the right people

to get to where I am.

But not everyone has that luxury.

And I think this industry could use some fresh blood.

And I would really love to have somewhere or something

so that these young bros and young business professionals

have a place to go to find out what's

involved-- what's available out there for tennis?

So I've got the question for Bobby then, along those lines,

what does that mean?

Meaning how do we get people into the industry?

You don't have to be a professional tennis player

to be in tennis.

You don't have to be a tennis coach to be in tennis.

But Bobby, what are the other options?

Because we've talked about this before, correct?

And we have.

And again, to me, it almost starts kind of like what

we're speaking with the GPTAe about is of rebranding

and making people and using it

to land to because of our clout within the tennis world

if we can create a model here that

does the things that Matt's talking about.

And it's great.

I mean, there's so many things out there already.

I spoke to a make contact with a gal who's just graduating

from Mercer in Bacon.

And she's played on the tennis team

that she's looking for a job in tennis.

She's been involved in like, you're a graduate.

What are you doing now?

What is the next step for that LinkedIn girl?

She's tried to do all the things.

But tennis doesn't have that place.

You can sit there.

You've got to go to Wilson.

And again, and I agree with you.

I wish I would love for us to try to fill that role

to sit there and say, again, Matt, you have something.

What is Wilson have to offer so we can put it out there?

So make people aware.

Then it's just this.

If you can't make it or you don't want to start at this level

and a lot of the kids there are a little impatient, I get it.

But at least it's there.

And it's tangible.

And you can see it and realize, I mean, I'm the same way.

I mean, I was very fortunate.

I roomed with Billy Payne, who's now the head coach at Princeton.

And Billy, and I just, we were going to class,

going to grad school, and I would go back and I'd hit.

And I was always a player.

But I was never-- I'm better now than ever was as a junior.

Just because I have the reps now.

And through Billy, I had a little bit of a personality.

I got my first job at Chastain.

And things just continued.

And I got an interest in the business side.

So I got exposure to net court.

I got exposure to the Atlanta Open, when Jeff Benton

and the senior tour was coming in.

Just fortunate enough to meet people and always would

speak to them and find out those things.

It's daunting, though.

I mean, I was very fortunate.

I have a great role of decks to this day

that I still speak to people.

But I was very lucky.

My brother did an internship with the Atlanta Thunder

that was playing it.

What was then, Wendy Hill?

That Jeff Benton was the general manager of all.

Jeff Benton's dad is Ray Benton, who was Jimmy Connor's agent

who started the senior tour.

And it seems daunting, but it's still a small world.

And they're people.

And everybody's always willing to help.

And it's been 30 years and it's been a blast.

It's gone by.

Like to do it all over again.

It's been a lot of fun.

There you go.

And Matt, so in that case, if I put some pressure on--

I like Bobby's almost question--

how can Wilson help with your King of Tennis Answer?

How do we-- do we have high tennis industry jobs

that aren't coaches or professional players?

Like, how does Wilson help?

Well, I mean, I get emailed at least once or twice a month

from directors, facilities looking for pros.

So if anyone is looking to grow and maybe a change of scenery,

please reach out to me, because I probably

know some other facilities looking to not

that I want them to go away from where they're--

but I want to help them grow, too, because Bobby's

going like, I do not have the prototypical maybe entry

to resume to be a teaching grad in playing college.

I didn't play on the pro level.

So I was out there working 60 hours a week, grinding,

giving away free lessons just to let people know

that I know how to play the game of tennis,

and I know how to improve your game of tennis.

And just by being that dedicated and being out there,

I was very fortunate enough to see different opportunities.

And when I reach my plateau at some clubs,

I mean, it's not a bad thing.

But if you just reach your certain clientele and you're like,

hey, I can't punch up and be their head pro or director.

I mean, they could be set.

And you want that other--

there's other pathways to go there.

And not just on the court, like I said,

it's maybe working for USDA, maybe working for Aota,

well, maybe working for GoTennis.

It could be really anything, but you're

staying in the tennis world.

I mean, that's the thing is where do you go to see that?

And I know that from Wilson's standpoint, or from at least

for me and my territory, is I can at least help

if you are looking to grow in the industry, then just

reach out to me.

But I like to show on real quick, because I've

mentioned it in the beginning.

And I hope Wilson takes advantage of it,

saying that they're getting into pedal,

they're getting into pickleball.

And this is what I would encourage, tennis.

These are-- they're in the S curve early.

So you get a lot of excitement.

So take the extra money you're making,

not having to really promote a sport,

because it's in its infancy.

And you're going to get the big rise and put that into tennis

to do a little bit more education.

I mean, tennis warehouse had some great plans when they got here.

And they kind of pulled up.

They were going to build courts.

They were going to make it easier to demo rackets.

You're going to be able to do it.

Well, if the industry itself produced more

and showed even more interest, that opens up more opportunities

for everybody as well.

And I think by taking in and embracing,

I know it's a very torn--

I don't want tennis to lose the integrity,

because I think it's a great game right now

playing by ungodly athletes.

The best-- we have tier one athletes at the highest level.

And what's being done on a professional level is amazing.

And it should be just enjoyed.

It doesn't need to be replicated at Windomir.

That's tough to do.

These guys are on a whole different level.

But use that to promote the game,

because from nothing else from the health standpoint,

tennis players live 9.7 years longer.

Their life expect that's a good reason to pick up a racket.

That's my sermon on the Mount Show.

The show?

Clearly, Bobby for the win.

We lost Sean.

For the win, I like it.

Well, Matt, I appreciate it.

We will figure out-- I'm going to go check GoDaddy

for tennis industry jobs that aren't just tenniscoachingjobs.com.

And we will see what we can figure out.

Maybe there's a network, but we can create.

Maybe there's something we can do.

And I will admit that I'm already working on it, by the way.

So yeah, I love the fact that you're in.

I love the fact that you want to see that,

because you're right.

There's a lot more out there than just coaching or playing.

But Matt, we appreciate your time.

Bobby, as always, thank you, sir.

And we will be in touch.

And we'll make sure all the Wilson links

and we'll promote a few things in the show notes

and make sure people have something to click on.

But not kidding.

If you're in the car and you're a coach

and you want to do more with your lessons,

with your program, whatever it is,

call us, we have access to Matt.

And if we can't help you, we'll find out if he can.

But Matt Sowers and Wilson, thank you so much.

Appreciate your time.

Yeah, thank you guys.

I really appreciate it.

Thank you, Matt.

Well, there you have it.

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