Bill Simons
NEW YORK
President Trump’s planned visit to the US Open for Sunday’s final brings to mind my interview with him in 2004.
Outside of his sweeping LA oceanside golf course, he emerged from a limo, greeted me and began with a charm offensive. He told his entourage, “This guy has a great tennis magazine – I read it all the time.”
Four times before, I’d spoken with presidents. At the US Open, Jimmy Carter told me that his wife Rosalynn was the best player in their family. After I interviewed George H.W. Bush, we published a scouting report on his game. He sent us a note, saying the article “was kind and gentle.”
When, in 2000, Bill Clinton became the first sitting president to visit the US Open, we navigated past the Secret Service and spoke to him about Serena and Billie Jean. Then, the next year, at Wimbledon, we caught up with him in the Royal Box, where we spoke about the queen, the British Empire and the parliamentary system.
Speaking of the Clintons, I chatted with their daughter Chelsea in Paris. At the US Open, Hillary described the trophy she’d won in a Tennessee mixed doubles tourney that featured a huge man dwarfing a little lady.
The conversation with Trump was a full-on 90-minute interview and lunch. At the time, he was a bigger-than-life real estate mogul, professional celebrity and media star whose Apprentice show was rocking it. Plus, there were tennis connections.
He dated Gabriella Sabatini and briefly was a tennis agent. But his young client, Monique Viele, lost her first match and that ended Trump’s time as a tennis agent.
Most of all, each year Donald would work the Open. He’d sit in a courtside Friends Box until the player started losing, and then switch sides.
In his suite, he’d hold court, standing tall and being seen. Stockbrokers, aspiring actresses and politicians would drop by. A 24-year-old attendee later claimed Trump came on to her in a greatly inappropriate manner in the suite. He denied the charge.
Each year, Trump’s presence drew fan attention: “Hey, that’s Kevin Bacon.” “Isn’t that the Patriots’ owner, Robert Kraft?” Trump’s young daughter Tiffany played in the suite. Chardonnay flowed, life was good.
Writer Andrew Lawrence suggested, “Trump looked like a poor man’s vision of a rich tennis fan…signing dollar bills for rubberneckers…and otherwise playing the role of Titus at the Colosseum.”
Similarly, Sports Illustrated’s S.L. Price claimed it was impossible “to resist his playboy aura…It looked like he owned the Open.” Then Trump ran for the presidency, was booed, and, until now, hadn’t returned.
In 2004, as Trump and I walked his breathtaking golf course, he proudly and repeatedly referenced the Apprentice’s strong ratings.
After walking his course, we sat down for a clubhouse lunch. He told me that he had the best US Open box, he always hired the best people and he built the best buildings and clubs.
Then our soup came, and he beamed, “This is the best clam chowder!” Thirteen years later he dined with China’s Xi Jinping and noted that they had the “most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you’ve ever seen.”
Then the topic of Maria Sharapova’s shock 2004 upset of Serena in the Wimbledon final came up. Donald said of the young Russian star, “Her gait is magnificent, and those shoulders. You don’t often say ‘Gee, she has beautiful shoulders,’ but her shoulders are…She’s beautiful. But I would say that maybe Sabatini was the most beautiful.”
As for Serena, Donald noted, “She’s used to looking like the star. Now all of a sudden she was facing this girl who’s a supermodel beauty…She looked across the court and said, ‘I’m playing against a supermodel.’ I think it had an impact.
“Aura is the whole thing. Perception is an amazing word…But it doesn’t always work. The perception was that Serena couldn’t be beaten, but she got her ass kicked…But perception and aura are very important.”
Then I referred to a quote by Abraham Lincoln in Trump’s book, “The Art of the Deal.” “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” Donald asked, “What does that mean?”
I commented, “It means that anyone can deal with problems, but when you give someone power, that’s when…”
He interrupted saying, “I’ve seen many people change a lot with power. I’ve seen people get better, but usually people get worse. I’ve seen people go crazy and become power hungry. They were nobody and all of a sudden they develop power. I’ve seen it politically…They become total monsters and usually crash and burn.”
A while back, Billie Jean King said she liked meeting Donald, but he was “a self-absorbed narcissist…just like Bobby Riggs…He’s so completely self-centered and it’s never his fault…‘Ah, I’m such a victim.’”
Now Trump will be coming back to Ashe Stadium for the first time since 2015 as a guest of a US Open client.
Security will be super tight. The media has already been told that some of the public sections of the stadium will be “frozen.” All media will have to leave by Saturday at 11:00 PM.
The fan reaction will be interesting. The final will draw a high-end crowd. Then again this is New York, anything can happen. The theme of the US Open this year is “Breaking Barriers.” That is not exactly Trump’s modus operandi.
The Open is just another of many sports events the President has attended, including the Super Bowl, multiple UFC fights and a recent New Jersey soccer championship at the Meadowlands, where he was booed.
If Sinner wins the Open, one wonders whether he will meet with Trump, and become the only athlete we know of to have met both the Pope and a President in the same year.
Spain’s King Felipe attended Carlos Alcaraz’s Wimbledon final, and the world No. 2 spoke glowingly about him. As for President Trump, Alcaraz said, “It is a privilege for the tournaments having the president from every country to support the tournament, to support tennis, and to support the match.”
