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CNN Live Today

Interview With Peter Bodo

Aired July 07, 2003 - 10:52   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, turning to tennis. Tennis fans may have witnessed the rise of a new star this weekend. Twenty-one- year-old Roger Federer became the first Swiss to win a Wimbledon men's title and he did it with commanding style. Federer dropped only one set in the seven matches on his way to the title.
On the women's side, Serena Williams successfully defended her title, once again, at the hands of her sister, Venus. It' s the fourth-straight year that a Williams has conquered the final there. This year's runner-up, Venus won it all back in 2000 and 2001, you may recall.

And a tennis legend has set one Wimbledon record and has tied another. Martina Navratilova won the mixed doubles championship yesterday. That makes her 20th title at Wimbledon, and that now ties Billie Jean King. And at 46 years of age, Navratilova becomes the oldest Wimbledon champion.

Can't even really use the word "old" when you describe her. She's in incredible shape. Well let's talk about that and some other things now in taking a look at the weekend's winners with an expert join us this morning now. Peter Bodo is the senior editor at "Tennis" magazine, he joins us from New York.

Peter, good to see you this morning. First off, let's talk about the history made by Martina Navratilova. How in the world can you place her right now in the annals of the sport?

PETER BODO, SENIOR EDITOR, "TENNIS" MAGAZINE: You know, she's an incredible -- she's a winning machine, basically. She and was that -- you know, been for three decades.

You know, the thing with Martina is she's also been very faithful to the fitness aspect of tennis. She was an absolute pioneer of cross-training, of dietary -- or taking care of your diet, or those kinds of techniques, all of which keep the physical plant operating. And it's payback time for Martina on all this. Spent a lot of time avoiding desert, you know.

HARRIS: You know what? It looks like she may do it for a while longer, too. Would you bet that she'd quit right now? She can't stop now, can she?

BODO: You know, knowing Martina she will not only not stop now, but somewhere in the back of her mind, something will click and she'll say, You know, won't be it be great for somebody over the age 50 to win a title? So she'll probably stay fit and keep going. HARRIS: All right, let's talk about the young bloods (UNINTELLIGIBLE) out there. Beginning with the men here right not. Roger Federer, this guy comes in here, only 21 years of age. I know it's a bit early. You can't say he's going to be the next Pete Sampras at this particular point, but the man can do it on every single surface. What do you think this means for him and his career?

BODO: I think this really says this is a great sort of coming to fruition of one of the most charming, arresting, seductive games in tennis.

If you watch this guy and don't understand the appeal and beauty of tennis, then probably the sport's not for you. He's a marvelous player, he's got great gifts. He's really got this -- he's got a similar balance to Sampras, a very similar kind of mobility.

He lacks a little bit of power. That's going to be the big issue for him, whether he can really win without that big power and huge weapon like Pete had with the serve and forehand.

HARRIS: Yes, but he handles power quite well. Mark Philippoussis is no pushover, serving at 138 miles an hour.

But, real quickly, if you can, Serena and Venus. Now that we've seen what's happened with them, what happens with these two young ladies?

BODO: Well you know, U.S. Open is going to be interesting. I think what everybody's waiting for is for Venus and Serena to go into competition against each other totally comfortable, totally resolved to playing their best tennis and totally with the moment and not having any kind of a psychological issues that kind of make it a question of, Gee, what's the problem? They're sisters. Is one really going to be emotionally up to beating the other and stuff.

But they're working their way to that. The first time they played a final together, you know, it was really a pretty lousy match. I must say, even though it was a great performance by the winner.

But we're getting to the point, I just would love to see these two girls go all out, drop all the psychological baggage that comes from being sisters, which, of course, isn't easy to doings and go and do it.

HARRIS: Peter Bodo, appreciate the insight. Thank you very much. Squeezed in a lot there in a couple seconds there. We'll talk to you down the road.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com








LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, turning to tennis. Tennis fans may have witnessed the rise of a new star this weekend. Twenty-one- year-old Roger Federer became the first Swiss to win a Wimbledon men's title and he did it with commanding style. Federer dropped only one set in the seven matches on his way to the title.

On the women's side, Serena Williams successfully defended her title, once again, at the hands of her sister, Venus. It' s the fourth-straight year that a Williams has conquered the final there. This year's runner-up, Venus won it all back in 2000 and 2001, you may recall.

And a tennis legend has set one Wimbledon record and has tied another. Martina Navratilova >


Aired July 7, 2003 - 10:52   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, turning to tennis. Tennis fans may have witnessed the rise of a new star this weekend. Twenty-one- year-old Roger Federer became the first Swiss to win a Wimbledon men's title and he did it with commanding style. Federer dropped only one set in the seven matches on his way to the title.
On the women's side, Serena Williams successfully defended her title, once again, at the hands of her sister, Venus. It' s the fourth-straight year that a Williams has conquered the final there. This year's runner-up, Venus won it all back in 2000 and 2001, you may recall.

And a tennis legend has set one Wimbledon record and has tied another. Martina Navratilova won the mixed doubles championship yesterday. That makes her 20th title at Wimbledon, and that now ties Billie Jean King. And at 46 years of age, Navratilova becomes the oldest Wimbledon champion.

Can't even really use the word "old" when you describe her. She's in incredible shape. Well let's talk about that and some other things now in taking a look at the weekend's winners with an expert join us this morning now. Peter Bodo is the senior editor at "Tennis" magazine, he joins us from New York.

Peter, good to see you this morning. First off, let's talk about the history made by Martina Navratilova. How in the world can you place her right now in the annals of the sport?

PETER BODO, SENIOR EDITOR, "TENNIS" MAGAZINE: You know, she's an incredible -- she's a winning machine, basically. She and was that -- you know, been for three decades.

You know, the thing with Martina is she's also been very faithful to the fitness aspect of tennis. She was an absolute pioneer of cross-training, of dietary -- or taking care of your diet, or those kinds of techniques, all of which keep the physical plant operating. And it's payback time for Martina on all this. Spent a lot of time avoiding desert, you know.

HARRIS: You know what? It looks like she may do it for a while longer, too. Would you bet that she'd quit right now? She can't stop now, can she?

BODO: You know, knowing Martina she will not only not stop now, but somewhere in the back of her mind, something will click and she'll say, You know, won't be it be great for somebody over the age 50 to win a title? So she'll probably stay fit and keep going. HARRIS: All right, let's talk about the young bloods (UNINTELLIGIBLE) out there. Beginning with the men here right not. Roger Federer, this guy comes in here, only 21 years of age. I know it's a bit early. You can't say he's going to be the next Pete Sampras at this particular point, but the man can do it on every single surface. What do you think this means for him and his career?

BODO: I think this really says this is a great sort of coming to fruition of one of the most charming, arresting, seductive games in tennis.

If you watch this guy and don't understand the appeal and beauty of tennis, then probably the sport's not for you. He's a marvelous player, he's got great gifts. He's really got this -- he's got a similar balance to Sampras, a very similar kind of mobility.

He lacks a little bit of power. That's going to be the big issue for him, whether he can really win without that big power and huge weapon like Pete had with the serve and forehand.

HARRIS: Yes, but he handles power quite well. Mark Philippoussis is no pushover, serving at 138 miles an hour.

But, real quickly, if you can, Serena and Venus. Now that we've seen what's happened with them, what happens with these two young ladies?

BODO: Well you know, U.S. Open is going to be interesting. I think what everybody's waiting for is for Venus and Serena to go into competition against each other totally comfortable, totally resolved to playing their best tennis and totally with the moment and not having any kind of a psychological issues that kind of make it a question of, Gee, what's the problem? They're sisters. Is one really going to be emotionally up to beating the other and stuff.

But they're working their way to that. The first time they played a final together, you know, it was really a pretty lousy match. I must say, even though it was a great performance by the winner.

But we're getting to the point, I just would love to see these two girls go all out, drop all the psychological baggage that comes from being sisters, which, of course, isn't easy to doings and go and do it.

HARRIS: Peter Bodo, appreciate the insight. Thank you very much. Squeezed in a lot there in a couple seconds there. We'll talk to you down the road.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com








LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, turning to tennis. Tennis fans may have witnessed the rise of a new star this weekend. Twenty-one- year-old Roger Federer became the first Swiss to win a Wimbledon men's title and he did it with commanding style. Federer dropped only one set in the seven matches on his way to the title.

On the women's side, Serena Williams successfully defended her title, once again, at the hands of her sister, Venus. It' s the fourth-straight year that a Williams has conquered the final there. This year's runner-up, Venus won it all back in 2000 and 2001, you may recall.

And a tennis legend has set one Wimbledon record and has tied another. Martina Navratilova >