In phase 2, his game is strong

(MARK WILSON/GLOBE STAFF)

Q. What made you start the Outback Champions Series?

A. We saw an opportunity in the tennis space. Tennis has largely gone overseas in the last 15 years, and looking within that space, there's a real opportunity to build something here. There are great name brands, like my peers, who are now entering into that second phase of their tennis career, where they're no longer on the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) circuit but they still want to be active. They're arguably more popular now than they've ever been, and the public no longer gets a chance to see them in the United States.

Q. Why weren't they being seen in the United States?

A. Due to the global scope of the game. The tours outside of the grand slams had chosen to go global. There are places like Boston, for example, that used to have a very popular tennis event that was taken away from them, and disappeared, and sold overseas basically.

Q. You're referring to the Longwood event?

A. Longwood, yes. And there are other markets like that as well. We saw Charlotte, Dallas, places like this that were seen as tennis communities, that were now no longer being serviced with top-flight professional tennis and a competitive tournament.

Q. You went pro in 1988. What other changes have you seen in tennis since then?

A. The one thing that's constant is it's still a one-on-one battle of skill, both physical and mental, and that's the beauty of our sport. You're out there alone. There are no coaches with you, no caddies. It is you dealing with problems and solving them on a second-by-second basis. Fortunately, in recent years, we've seen some technology come into the sport. It's more fan-friendly with instant replay, and the players becoming a bit more accessible, doing interviews more frequently than before, and certainly walking onto the court and showing a little bit more personality.

Q. That's interesting, about showing personality.

A. We had a gap there where personality was discouraged, as a knee-jerk reaction to the Ilie Nastases, the Jimmy Connors, and the John McEnroes, where the authorities really clamped down on bad behavior, which, as it turned out, was very popular with people. So there was a classic overreaction. And now I think they're pulling the lid back off a little bit and allowing for people's personalities to flow and give people a reason to care. The one thing about tennis is, you have to connect to the individuals, because you're not naturally born a Roger Federer fan, like if you're here you're born a Patriots or a Red Sox fan.

Q. Have you considered doing a women's tour?

A. The second that we get enough buy-in from the right women, we will attempt to launch one of these, if someone doesn't beat us to the punch. I'm sure it's not a novel idea. It's name recognition. The most attractive thing that I think tennis brings in comparison to other sports at our biggest and best events is men and women competing at the same event. You don't see that in any other sport. And we'd love to be able to have Steffi Graf and Monica Seles and Martina Navratilova and Gabriela Sabatini and Lyndsey Davenport, when she's finished playing in the WTA (Women's Tennis Association). We'd love to have them come and play, and the fans would love to see them.

Q. What about the sport's future? Are kids playing tennis?

A. Kids are playing more tennis these days. Over the last five years, we've seen a nice uptick in youth participation in the sport. It's a credit to the US Tennis Association, which is really committed to that effort - getting rackets in kids' hands so they can play, and making it available and creating awareness that tennis is not a sport that requires affluence. There are enough public courts out there in schools and in public parks that are free. You can go get a racket at Kmart or Target for not a lot of money, and get one can of balls and you can go to a wall - you can play on your garage door. And there are programs like our charity partners, Champions Cup Boston Tenacity; 5,000 kids this year will get touched by Tenacity's program and they'll get experience on a tennis court.