Donald Trump’s return as the POTUS is widely considered one of the greatest political comebacks in world history. Trump’s interesting connection with sports means that many in the fraternity would have their own stories with him. Serena Williams’ ex-coach Rick Macci narrated one such story in an interview with PBD Podcast.
Macci was full of praise for the American president, calling him a ‘winner’ and someone who has a great mentality. The 7-time USTA Coach of the Year awardee said that keeping all his business acumen and gregarious personality aside, his achievement is due to the character and the drive he has, despite being someone who “doesn’t need all this”.
In fact, Macci considers Trump’s victory the ‘greatest upset in the history of life’. In his eyes, it is greater than his former protege Venus Williams from Compton, defeating the World’s No.1 tennis player at one point despite being a player of color.
The Florida-based coach also brought in Rocky Balboa and the Mets winning the 1969 World Series, defeating a much stronger Orioles outfit, to compare the magnitude of what has happened. Macci clarified that he isn’t a ‘political guy’, but, at the same time, he ‘loves winners’.
Macci recalled the time he struck a business deal with Trump, which was around the year 2000. The then business tycoon invited him to his Mar-A-Lago house before the US Open.
Trump was a crucial part of Macci trying to get a deal for a 14-year-old student of his, with Nike and Fila being in contention. Fila won the contract for $1.8 million, with $600,000 being a guaranteed sum. It was a bigger amount back then and the next day, Macci was invited to complete the deal at Trump Tower in New York City.
Macci got the opportunity to interact with Trump, who called him the ‘best’. Serena’s former coach exclaimed in excitement that of course he was to him, since Trump earned a cool $180,000, 10% of that amount, from the deal.
In response, Trump was delighted in saying that Macci was all the more the best for pulling that off, having known at Mar-A-Lago itself that his decision to do business with the legendary tennis coach was the right one.
That episode made Macci call Trump a ‘down to earth guy’ as well, contrary to the image he has across the world.
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Interestingly, Macci was at the time the tennis consultant for Donald Trump and T. Management. Like Trump, Macci too is an author of a best-selling book that talks about the mentality winners should have in life, called the ‘Billion Dollar Mind’. Both of them are media-savvy and have also become famous due to their appearances on TV, YouTube, and OTT platforms.
Monique Viele was the girl in question who Macci and Trump signed a deal for
Viele became famous overnight around the 1999-2000 season when Macci bagged her a massive deal and she was represented by Trump’s management company. Macci was so confident in her abilities that he even considered her a bigger prospect than his other pupils, like Serena, Venus and Jennifer Capriati. He had reportedly told the media that she was the ‘next best thing after a slice of bread’.
Viele made her professional WTA Tour debut two weeks before turning 14, but not before being entangled in a case where she went against the association’s one wildcard entry policy. A lot was riding on her shoulders, and she could not keep up with the pressure, as she was forgotten soon after her early exit from the Toyota Princess Cup.
However, this did not seem to affect Trump and Macci’s equation, as the famed tennis coach worked with the now-POTUS for four years. In one of Macci’s books, Extracting Greatness From Yourself and Others, he mentioned how Trump checked with him about going ahead with one of their deals by telling him that he ‘better be right as the Trumpster never loses!’
With Trump back at the helm, Macci would only hope to elevate the level of junior tennis in Florida and the United States in general via his academy. And that would be a big contribution to the sport from Trump in a country where tennis needs to get back its popularity big time.
