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Open Court

Inside Andy Murray's Luxury Hotel; The Wildest Wild Card of Them All; People's Monday; Baby-Faced Teen Who Conquered Wimbledon

Aired June 20, 2014 - 11:30   ET

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

(MUSIC PLAYING)

PAT CASH, CNN HOST (voice-over): Last year he made history, ending a 77-year drought for British men in the singles (INAUDIBLE) at Wimbledon.

This year, Andy Murray returned with a new coach and a determination to defend his title.

CASH: Welcome to OPEN COURT from Centre Court. Well, I've been back to the club many times since I won my title in 1987. But I have to tell

you, it's still such a thrill to be so close to this famous patch of grass.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASH (voice-over): During the next half hour, I'm going to introduce you to three extraordinary Wimbledon champions, Andy Murray, Maria

Sharapova and the wildest wild card of them all, Goran Ivanisevic.

So let's begin our three stories with this man.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One year on and the local hero finally has the chance to come home and share his success

with the people to whom it means most. The Wimbledon champion is now investing in the Dunblane community, having purchased the Cromlix House,

transforming it into a luxury 15-suite, five-star travel destination.

Complete with some unmistakable finishing touches.

ANDY MURRAY, 2013 WIMBLEDON CHAMPION: I was sitting in this room just over a year ago and there was bats in the roof and, yes, it's changed a bit

since then. I came here for my brother's wedding and about six months, a year later, we're told the hotel was going out of business and the property

was for sale and, I mean, it's five minutes from my house.

And I thought it would be a nice thing to do.

MACFARLANE: Now you don't have a vast experience in hotel business, but you have stayed in thousands of hotels around the world. How has that

helped to shape what you've brought to this hotel?

ANDY MURRAY: There are certain things for me that are important when I go into hotels, the wi-fi access is very important and the TVs as well,

the TV channels, anyway. And then apart from that, I'm fairly easy.

MACFARLANE: And how involved have you been in the revamp and what role have your family played as well?

ANDY MURRAY: I've seen a lot of the interiors. I looked over a lot of them with my girlfriend, who's been back and forth here. My mum's been

up here quite a lot and you know, a lot of my family have been -- they live around here. So they've also been coming up more to sort of look at it and

be nosy.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

MACFARLANE (voice-over): Andy's mother spends much of the year on the road, supporting her sons and their tennis careers. She returns to her

home in Scotland whenever possible.

JUDY MURRAY, ANDY AND JAMIE MURRAY'S MOTHER: The whole family actually had to make a big effort to go and spend time with him because he

had so little opportunity to actually come home to Scotland. But I have a very good relationship with him. I think that whole thing of families

playing together staying together, you know, being very involved with both of the boys as they grew up, and we've been through the highs and the lows.

And that's the thing with sport. You've got to take the good with the bad and the ups and the downs.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

MACFARLANE (voice-over): The Murrays' first court was just a stone's throw from their grandparents' home in Dunblane. Roy and Shirley Erskine

have lived in the small Scottish city for nearly 50 years and were blown away by the support they saw last summer.

MACFARLANE: After winning everything exploded up here in Dunblane, the people from the village, it must have been a crazy time for you.

ROY ERSKINE, ANDY MURRAY'S GRANDFATHER: It was super. It was super. We had said to the tennis club down the road that we'll come down and join

--

SHIRLEY ERSKINE, ANDY MURRAY'S GRANDMOTHER: The party, people shouting out of the houses roundabout, out of the doors and windows. "Well

done, well done, wonderful, wonderful," and I'm there was still dancing in the streets at 4 o'clock in the morning. We were -- by that time, we had

long since given up.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

MACFARLANE (voice-over): Murray's win has helped the tight-knit Scottish community to recover from a school shooting that devastated the

small town nearly 20 years ago.

SHIRLEY ERSKINE: Well, it's put Dunblane on the map for the right reasons. It couldn't have come at a better time for Andy to duck out

attention away from what had happened in Dunblane to what was happening. He just gave them something to focus on and enjoy his success.

MACFARLANE (voice-over): The appreciation of the community was clear to see as Murray was presented with the Freedom of Sterling, the town's

highest award.

ANDY MURRAY: Feels good to be home. I think everyone knows that I'm extremely proud of where I come from.

(APPLAUSE)

MACFARLANE (voice-over): (INAUDIBLE) this morning, playing out on the tennis courts with the local high school kids there, how special is it for

you to bring a little bit of Wimbledon to Dunblane?

ANDY MURRAY: Yes, it's nice because when we -- when we were growing up, you know, the tennis courts around this area never got used. They were

empty all the time. So it's just great to see the courts busy and a lot more kids playing tennis.

MACFARLANE: Well, now to a bit of competition in the present, if you don't mind. I hear you're a bit of a demon on the snooker table. And we

so happen to have an enormous snooker table just to the right of us. Would you care to break with me, Andy?

ANDY MURRAY: Yes, I can do that.

MACFARLANE: Thank you. I'll ask you to break, I think.

ANDY MURRAY: OK. I'll break.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

ANDY MURRAY (voice-over): Not great at the tap-in.

MACFARLANE (voice-over): No pressure. That's a tap-in.

ANDY MURRAY (voice-over): Oh, look at that. Fantastic.

MACFARLANE (voice-over): No.

Oh, no.

ANDY MURRAY (voice-over): Now that the camera's on, the pressure.

(LAUGHTER)

MACFARLANE (voice-over): You'll get to have a game once you're with your family there, that when you're here (INAUDIBLE).

ANDY MURRAY (voice-over): I'll go away to train so I got to see everyone for dinner last night. And I mean, some of my family come to --

come and watch me play sometimes. But, yes, I don't get to see them anywhere near as much as I would like.

MACFARLANE: Andy, it's been a pleasure. I think I won that.

ANDY MURRAY: Yes, you did. Yes, you certainly did, yes.

(CROSSTALK)

ANDY MURRAY: Six points to nil.

MACFARLANE: Excellent. Well, lovely to meet you.

ANDY MURRAY: Yes, you too.

MACFARLANE: Fantastic.

ANDY MURRAY: Thanks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CASH: Well, after the break, we'll have our second of three champions.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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CASH: Our second story is one of the most incredible tales in tennis history. The year was 2001 and the odds of Goran Ivanisevic winning at

Wimbledon were 150:1. His ranking was so low that he couldn't get direct entry and needed a wild card from the tournament. He even told his fans

that he was playing tennis only because, well, he had nothing better to do. But the rest is history.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASH: In 2001, what was going on? There's the most incredible comeback. Where we're sitting here at Queen's Club, now I saw you playing

here, looked down on the balcony and you were terrible.

GORAN IVANISEVIC, WIMBLEDON CHAMPION 2001: I was terrible.

CASH: A couple of the guys were watching, including me and we were, oh, he's no good anymore.

Two weeks later, you're holding Wimbledon trophy.

IVANISEVIC: It's tough to explain. It's like this show in the States, "Unsolved Mysteries," you know. Everything was there. It was

meant to be.

CASH: The final was quite incredible. We had a rain delay, so you had to play on a Monday.

IVANISEVIC: Actually, it was the best atmosphere ever. It was not the best tennis quite final, but atmosphere was never, ever, I think, is

going to be atmosphere because first now ever who else is going to be Sunday final.

Actually I heard them in the -- when I was coming in the Centre Court. All three hours they were like singing. I was proud and happy to be there

on the court and to hold the trophy, you know, the feeling. Sometimes probably the best thing.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CASH (voice-over): I don't know how many people have asked me, what does it feel like to win Wimbledon? Do you get that question asked all the

time?

IVANISEVIC: I guess unbelievable because I had this feeling when you hold this plate, it's a beautiful plate, but you don't want to have this

plate --

(CROSSTALK)

IVANISEVIC: -- yes, three plates at home to serve the tea. But and you look at the guys with their beautiful trophy and when you hold the

trophy, that feeling is really just amazing.

CASH: When you went back home, how many people turned up to see you?

IVANISEVIC: Two hundred thousand people.

CASH: Two hundred thousand people?

IVANISEVIC: Yes.

CASH: Came to see you?

IVANISEVIC: Yes. I made a strip-tease in front of 200,000 people.

CASH (voice-over): If there's one shot that's as big as Goran's personality, it's his serve. During his career, he scored over 10,000

aces, 212 of them on his way to victory at Wimbledon.

So I thought it was about time that I got a master class from the king of aces.

The way you developed your serve is quite interesting. It's an unusual style. How did you get that type of -- ?

IVANISEVIC: Everybody asks me about that. Thing is, my racquet was very heavy.

CASH: Why was your racquet heavy?

IVANISEVIC: Because I could not afford a different racquet. It was a wooden racquet. It was heavy.

CASH: When you were a kid?

IVANISEVIC: Yes. So it was heavy, so my -- I could not lift it up. So it was easier for me just to start down, it was so heavy. So from here.

CASH: So what chance do I have to get your serve back today?

IVANISEVIC: You have a good chance, actually, you against me. You're returning well. But it's a lot of cameras so I make you look good then.

(LAUGHTER)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CASH: That left hand, it should be illegal.

IVANISEVIC: They all want me to change my serve. The coaches -- all the coaches. All the coaches and my father said, listen, you can change

your forehand, backhand, whatever, but do not touch your serve.

Good one!

Oh, it kills me. It's too hard for you, Grandpa.

CASH: I'll move it across this time. I've got this one. I've got this one.

You still hate me. I'm standing here. Come on.

CASH: The more I chase it, the further away it goes. And then when I think I'm going to get there, you go and serve the other way.

IVANISEVIC: Oh, you OK? That's going to leave the mark.

CASH: You OK?

Ah, thanks, Goran. I didn't get you. I didn't get your serve back too often. But thank you.

IVANISEVIC: Thank you for letting me hit all the faces.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CASH: People's Monday is now part of Wimbledon history as a retractable roof was built over Centre Court in 2009. Fans who once had to

sit through long, frustrating rain delays or even stay on for a Monday final like Goran's can now watch matches under the roof.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

ROD SHEARD, ARCHITECT, POPULOUS (voice-over): It was one of those projects that almost until opening day you kind of had your fingers

crossed. The challenges for Wimbledon were huge. Thinking about something like this like the French, you go back to either nature or what else we

have done as a society that solves the problem. In our case, we looked at how do you keep water out of a center court and you think, well, what does

everybody do when it rains now? They put up umbrellas. We just started thinking about what if we had a giant umbrella?

Now of course to try and do it as a radial thing, which umbrellas are made of, was impossible. But we could make it a linear umbrella. And

that's effectively what it was.

When you press the button to start the roof closing, a computer starts to work out the exact positions of all the motors. They all work on

hydraulics. So they start pushing the roof out. And each panel can be pushed out in succession.

It's a funny thing, because I grew up in Australia watching Wimbledon and middle of the night, often, you'd get up and then only to find that

there was no play because rain had stopped it. In a way, changing something that had almost become folklore was a very strange feeling. But

as I say, on that opening day when we realized that we'd changed the history of tennis in a small way, that was wonderful.

STUART MILLER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ITF TECHNICAL CENTRE: What happens when you play (INAUDIBLE) actually very interesting because it's a little

like closing a door and you might not think that that would have a big effect, but actually it does. And if you've ever been in there, you could

feel the difference.

So something's going on. If it's a very warm summer's day, then what you will tend to find is that temperature will go down. When the

temperature goes down, the air becomes denser and that means it's heavier, which means it's harder for the ball to pass through it. And the ball

tends to slow down a little bit. So players might perceive that when the roof is closed, the balls will travel slower.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It becomes very humid inside, so it slows the court down a lot. When you're under the roof, it's a great atmosphere and

I really enjoy it.

MILLER: Introducing innovations such as having a roof closing at Wimbledon or having the electronic line pulling systems are great for the

game. It keeps the interest up and it keeps fans involved.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CASH: The sunshine in Paris is our next guest dazzled fans on the way to winning her French Open title. We'll meet her after the break.

MARIA SHARAPOVA, FIVE-TIME GRAND SLAM CHAMPION: Hi. What took you so long?

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CASH (voice-over): welcome back to OPEN COURT. Maria Sharapova crossed the English Channel from Paris, having triumphed at Roland Garros

for the second time in three years. But it's been a decade since she won at Wimbledon. Back in 2004, the 17-year old Russian demonstrated nerves of

steel to beat Serena Williams on Centre Court.

I had a chance to hear Maria's story recently, when we sat down for a catch-up.

SHARAPOVA: Yes, I remember going up to the box. I didn't even know if that was even allowed back then, because you see all the security

standing there. And I was like, am I allowed to go up the stairs? Do I need to show you my credentials?

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

SHARAPOVA: Yes, I was quite nervous about it. But I found my way, took a few minutes. I found my way to the box and I had a very special

moment with my father. He's been with me through the thick and the thin and it was just -- it was really nice to see him so excited and so

passionate and he never cries. But it was pretty emotional for him.

CASH (voice-over): Following her Wimbledon title, it didn't take long for Sharapova to become a household name.

SHARAPOVA: I remember coming to New York afterwards and a week after I won Wimbledon I was on the cover of "Sports Illustrated." And I had no

idea what a "Sports Illustrated" was. And I remember my manager running up to me and having no idea that I was going to be on the cover and showing

this and being so excited, you know. He grew up in sports and playing college and he knows what that's all about. And I thought, I thought, OK,

cool. That's great. What's the big deal?

And now I look back and I'm like, wow, I was on the cover of "Sports Illustrated" as a 17-year-old girl.

CASH (voice-over): Sharapova backed up her Wimbledon title by winning the U.S. Open in 2006, the Australian Open in 2008 and the French Open in

2012. She now holds two Roland Garros titles, a major accomplishment after struggling on clay for most of her career.

SHARAPOVA: I think at some point I was like I need to do something to get better at it. And a little bit was my body was not quite strong enough

to recover from tough matches on clay. I'd feel like I taught myself through the years of how to become better at it. And I knew that it was

always going to be the most challenging one. And I've never been the one to let a challenge go.

CASH (voice-over): One of the biggest challenges facing Sharapova has been her shoulder troubles. She underwent surgery in 2009. During her

time away from the tour, she focused on her endorsements. According to the Forbes list, she's the world's highest-paid sportswoman.

SHARAPOVA: I think looking back at my thinking process of why I get to do so many things is because I'm actually really scared of doing

nothing, because of all my career, all my life, I've woken up and I've had my cup of tea or coffee and I'm so ready to do something. It's to commit

myself to something, a project and it's been tennis for so many years. And especially when I missed out a year from shoulder surgery, it really gave

me that time to think, well, this can happen on any given day. And you just cannot play the sport anymore, what are you going to do?

CASH: For me, when I won Wimbledon and won Davis Cup and a couple things, I realized having an injury, I just lost the interest, certainly

must have gone through that at some stage with the shoulder.

SHARAPOVA: I think that I had those thoughts when I was injured, because I had many weeks out. I've achieved a lot. I had won three Grand

Slams at the time. I was number one in the world. I had made enough money to live for the rest of my life and my family without having to work. And

what I miss is that challenge of being better, of becoming better. And I knew that as a woman, it's always -- selfishly, it's always a nice feeling

to feel that you're good at what you do and that you can be better. It's a very powerful feeling. And I love when I step on the court and I play in

front of thousands of people. I know that this is what I was meant to do.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CASH (voice-over): It must be one of the thrills of your life, would have been carrying the Russian flag.

SHARAPOVA: Yes, it was a huge honor for me to receive. At first I carried the flag for my country at the London Olympics and that was my

first time being an Olympian. And when actually, many years ago, when we had found out that Sochi was going to be hosting the Winter Olympic Games,

nobody could believe it, especially myself, who spent many years of her childhood there.

And I actually didn't know my involvement until I arrived in Sochi. And when I was told I was going to be the one that was going to carry the

Olympic Flame onto the stadium, it was pretty incredible.

CASH (voice-over): Sharapova frequently finds herself in the spotlight, both on court and off. she's been dating ATP star Grigor

Dimitrov for more than a year.

What's it like have somebody on the circuit? Is it nice having a close friend who can -- you can spend time with?

(CROSSTALK)

CASH (voice-over): Or does he get annoying?

(LAUGHTER)

CASH (voice-over): I lost my match. I lost my serve and.

SHARAPOVA: No. It's always nice to have someone that really relates to what you do and he's such a great talent and I'm really inspired by what

he's able to produce out there.

CASH (voice-over): As the superstar puts the finishing touches on her Wimbledon game plan, she knows a familiar opponent is likely doing the

same.

Well, 10 years later, after your Wimbledon win, you and Serena are still the top players in the world. And you've had some battles with each

other and --

SHARAPOVA: Definitely. I think --

CASH: -- rivalry.

SHARAPOVA: -- it's -- for me, it's fascinating to see how -- you know, I was part of the very young generation as a 17-year-old girl. And

she was in the middle of her career. And to see both of us 10 years later to still be grinding and working and loving what we do, I think is really

inspiring for a lot of people around the world because we've got through a lot during those 10 years. We've battled through injuries, through losses,

through wins. And we're still here.

CASH (voice-over): For more about Maria Sharapova and to keep track of all the latest Grand Slam results, log on to our website at

cnn.com/opencourt and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

There really is nothing like coming through this door at the Centre Court. It's been over 25 years, but I still get butterflies in my stomach.

We hope you enjoy the fortnight and it's goodbye from Wimbledon.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

END