Patrick McEnroe made headlines last month when he announced on Twitter he had tested positive for the coronavirus. His symptoms were mild, but he wasn’t taking any chances. A few days before his announcement, he drove himself to the local testing facility and immediately isolated himself in the basement of his Westchester County, N.Y. home.
“All told I spent about a month living in the basement,” McEnroe told TENNIS.com. “I had plenty of time to clean, and that’s when I noticed this podcast machine (a Rodecaster Pro to be specific) staring me in the face, collecting dust.”
With most of the country stuck inside, now is the perfect time to learn and develop new skills. McEnroe had wanted to host his own podcast for a while, but life, and commentary duties at the 2020 Australian Open, got in the way. Hunkered down with just the family dog Pepper to keep him company, McEnroe finally decided to pull the trigger.
Though the 22-year ESPN veteran is no stranger to high-profile interviews both on the court and in the commentary booth, he welcomes the challenge of a new medium. His podcast, *Holding Court*, focuses on celebrity guests that exist far outside the tennis world, but still have an affinity for the sport.
“One of the things I wanted to do was interview people that excel in their fields and find out why they love tennis and what inspired them to get into tennis,” McEnroe said.
For reasons unknown, celebrities love tennis. Dr. Phil plays religiously every day at 4 p.m. after filming his show, on his multi-million dollar green clay court one has to see to believe. Two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash caught the bug, and within just a few years, already rips strokes at a 4.5 NTRP level. LMFAO’s RedFoo, son of music legend Berry Gordy, is a rock-solid player with a massive forehand. Wedding Crashers' duo Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn often play in the Los Angeles area.
Last week on Tennis Channel Live, Vampire Diaries star Paul Wesley waxed poetic on the artistry of professional tennis. Dirk Nowitzki chose basketball over tennis when he was a teenager, and hosts an annual celebrity tennis tournament benefiting the Dirk Nowitzki Foundation. A-listers Brad Pitt and Ellen DeGeneres played on their high school teams and are both known to still take the court on occasion. Matthew Perry was a top ranked Canadian junior player before pursuing acting full-time. NFL passing leader Drew Brees stole a victory over a young Andy Roddick during his short-lived junior career. McEnroe’s upcoming guest, Grammy Award winner Seal, also loves tennis, and once serenaded Novak and Jelena Djokovic at a 2016 concert in Spain.
Some of McEnroe’s guests are regulars in the crowd at US Open, like Alec Baldwin and Ben Stiller—who McEnroe describes as “an explosive lefty, with some serious pop on his serve.” Others include broadcaster Dick Vitale, who once moved his family from Michigan to Sarasota, Fla, so his daughters could train full-time at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy. Vitale also hosts an intercollegiate clay-court tournament, and invites all the competitors to his home for a welcome barbecue.
