I bet a bunch of you reading this will have had the rare and wondrous experience of learning from, and maybe being active with, a professional in your chosen sport or activity. It’s been a while, but I did some mountain bike clinics with pros, and I learned a TON. Pro mountain bike racer and Olympian Jimena Florit (who also raced for the Luna Chix pro team) gave a clinic at Wompatuck State Park near Boston, and I got to ride in the woods on her wheel. I’ve never felt smoother or faster on a mountain bike! She also taught us how to manage tougher sections of the course (we were racing the next day). Among other things, I learned that if you stall in a rock garden get off the bike and run with it. DON’T try to remount and ride through. Bad idea.
Not sure what I’m talking about here, or just want to see it broken it down? Well, here you go– a video by Anna Glowinski (experienced cyclist and TV presenter).
Another great experience I had (again, a long time ago, but the memory is vivid) was going on a Wednesday shop road bike ride with some guys I didn’t know. Turns out they were way faster than me. I offered to let them go on ahead and ride at my own pace, but instead they did this: They tucked me in between two of them, with another cyclist riding beside me in the wind to shelter me. Well, I went faster that day than ever before or since– 28mph on the flats! I wasn’t even pushing super-hard. It felt magical. After a while I did break off from them and do a nice solo ride, but it was a lovely feeling, spinning with them and feeling like one of the fast crowd.
Lots of us, I’m sure, have taken clinics or lessons from pros or super-experienced sports folks. Doing this has taught me at least two things:
- Learning the proper technique for something that seems impossible at first (and then practicing it a lot) can maybe put it within my reach (e.g. yes to solo rescue in a sea kayak, no as of yet to rolling said sea kayak)
- Being in the same activity space with a pro/veteran sports person shows me the vast differences between them and me–on a bike, in a boat, on a horse, you name it. And it’s awe-inspiring to watch them in motion.
Okay, fair enough. But what about the what NOT to do part?
Professional tennis taught us what not to do last week (and this week). Billionaire Bill Ackman apparently really loves tennis, and so decided that he wanted to play in the Hall of Fame Open, which is the second highest tier of professional tennis tournament. Here’s more on the situation from sports writer Giri Nathan, in this article in the Defector:
The Hall of Fame Open takes place in Newport, R.I., on the grass courts at the International Tennis Hall of Fame. It is perhaps most noteworthy for being the only tour-level grass-court tournament held outside of Europe. It was an ATP 250 event from 2009 until 2025, when it was downgraded to a Challenger 125 event. Even with this diminished status, it is still an event that active touring professionals are seeking to compete at in order to win ATP points and prize money. It’s not an event that random guys can just amble into. Entry is determined by existing ATP ranking points. Ackman, being a 59-year-old hedge fund manager, does not have any ATP ranking points.
Ackman’s partner is not an active ATP player, either. An elite doubles player who also peaked at No. 8 in singles, Jack Sock retired in 2023 and promptly switched over to professional pickleball. At the end of his career, his conditioning was in visible disrepair, and he lost an official ATP match to a part-time tennis player with a day job in real estate. Sock unretired in order to pursue a wildcard at this week’s tournament, and the tournament happily obliged, per Front Office Sports.
Ackman and Sock did, in fact, play some pros (Bernard Tomic and Omar Jasika) and lost 6-1, 7-5. But the score does not reflect the quality of play. You can see for yourself below: basically, they dinked shots straight back to Ackman just to get and keep some rallies going.
As Nathan noted in his article, Ackman can afford to hire just about any professional tennis player on the planet for coaching or just to rally with him. But making his way into a professional tournament when he doesn’t even come close to qualifying (fine, neither do most of us, but we didn’t play there, did we?) is, well, NOT the way to do sports with the pros.
Yes, it is true that Ackman was strafed in the sports press for his inauspicious outing on the grass at Newport. His response was not to apologize for playing in a venue where he was completely out of his depth, but rather to argue that he was in a tournament (not a professional one) recently, and “I played great”.
He also added that the sun was in his eyes. I kid you not.
I was also serving into the 1:30pm sun with a shot clock (a new experience for me) (from X)
Then, he said that he (a long-standing donor to the above-mentioned Hall of Fame Tournament), would, now donate $10 million to establish an endowment that he will manage for free. The purpose of the endowment is to “promote youth interest in tennis and other activities that enhance the game for the players and the fans.”
Well, that’s very nice. But it doesn’t disabuse anyone of the idea that maybe Ackman bought his way into the Hall of Fame tournament match, and is now buying his way out of it.
Except he can’t just leave it. He finished his X post by saying this:
my partner Richey Reneberg and I hereby challenge @Served_Podcast Andy Roddick and the amateur of his choice to doubles on my court. And feel free to bring the cameras as I am now battle ready.
Oh, no.
Here is who Andy Roddick is— he played Roger Federer in the Wimbledon Finals three times and once in the US Open.
Yes, he lost.
To Roger Federer. Who won 20 Grand Slam titles and 11 runners-up.
Oh, Bill. This is NOT the way to do sportsing with the pros. But if you persist and play Andy Roddick plus his choice of amateur, I am here for it.
Hey readers– have you had some fun or interesting or humbling or inspiring interactions with pros or veterans of your sport? Tell us some of your stories in the comments.
Related
Published by
