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Marathon Tennis Match Over in 3 Days; General Petraeus on His New Job; Home Values Causing Pain
Aired June 24, 2010 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Ines Ferre is following the top stories trending.
INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Tony. And a lot of people are talking about sports online right now. And as you said, the longest tennis match ever on CNN.com.
And also, the World Cup. People are saying, what? YouTube adds a little button that makes the vuvuzela sound.
HARRIS: I need that, yes.
All right. Let's get started with our lead story.
Sixty-six days into the Gulf oil disaster, and the containment dome is back on and capturing oil again. The cap had to be removed yesterday morning after one of the deep-sea robots accidentally bumped a vent, shutting it off.
Oil spilled into the Gulf for 11 hours before they were able to get the cap back on. There was, however, a smaller dome capturing some of the oil.
Tar balls continue to wash ashore on Pensacola Beach. The once- pristine sands are covered with them. Cleanup crews are working hard to dig them up.
CNN iRreporter Gregg Hall has lived in Pensacola his whole life, and has never seen anything like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREGG HALL, CNN I-REPORTER: As you're about to see, the tar balls are horrible. This is the worst I've seen yet.
They're everywhere. You can't walk a step without stepping in tar balls this morning.
This is right across the street from my condo near Peg Leg Pete's. And it's as far as the eye can see. This is the worst I've seen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: All right.
The historic match at Wimbledon is over. Better than 11 hours of play at Wimbledon. On the grass, the match is finally over. And John Isner, the American, moves on.
Sports reporter Justin Armsden is with us out of London.
Justin, if you would, describe the final moments of this battle of attrition for us, please.
JUSTIN ARMSDEN, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Tony, yes, an extraordinary match that's just finished only moments ago. In fact, 11 hours and five minutes, to be precise, between Nicolas Mahut and John Isner, the 23rd seed, an American.
An extraordinary match (ph). It started something like three days ago. Would you believe? It's only a first-round match as well.
So, for Isner, he's got a bit of catching up to do, because most of the field that are playing their matches today are moving into the third round from tomorrow and beyond. But they resumed their match about an hour or so ago at 59 games a piece in the fifth set. And everybody was wondering on court 18 just how long this match would continue.
Even the great John McEnroe was out there courtside, wanting to get a look at this historic match. It's the longest match in tennis history. In fact, obviously, it's the longest match at Wimbledon.
The last time a match went into a few hours was about five and a half hours a few years ago. So, they not only doubled that, but doubled it by some more as well.
Both players not willing to give an inch over three days. An extraordinary affair that has seen Isner come through this one. Now he has to regroup because he'll have to get himself fit and ready for his next round, which is the second round, then catch up to everybody else as well.
But, of course, Tony, there's no overtime paid in tennis. Fortunately, for the Frenchman who goes out, he picks up about $12,000 in prize money, and that's it for all his efforts over the past three days.
HARRIS: Well, he's in the history books as an all-timer at this point.
Justin, let me ask you something. I don't know how much of the match you actually had a chance to see, but I'm wondering, John Isner, for folks who don't know him and his game, has a huge serve. I mean, a huge serve.
I know he set all kinds of records for aces at this year's Wimbledon. All-time records.
My question is, on the grass, that really benefits a big serve, was it an entertaining match to watch beyond its sheer length?
ARMSDEN: Yes, it was, because Isner is a bit over six feet tall as well. So, when you've got a man of that height, you do tend to get those big, booming serves.
He had 98 aces before they resumed at 59 a piece this afternoon. This afternoon, I should say. So everybody was just astonished, I guess, that a match could go for something like 10 hours before they resumed again today.
As I said, John McEnroe was coming away from his normal commentary duties to join everybody courtside that normally only how old about 780 people. Well, there were thousands around there as I was watching the telecast earlier on today as well.
When you get a match of that extraordinary nature -- as we said, it was the longest tennis match in history -- then it's going to get everybody's attention, for whatever reason. Whether you're a big server, a big man, or whether it's France versus America in this match, extraordinary stuff.
HARRIS: Yes. Well, Justin, one more quick one here.
Were there any extra provisions, concessions to these two players? Look, you get I think 90 seconds for changeovers. You get a minute between games. I guess if you split sets or you go -- were there any extra time allowances given to these players, given the extraordinary amount of time on the court?
ARMSDEN: Not at all, Tony. The rules are at Wimbledon a bit like Augusta in golf. The rules are what they are, you get out there and you play tennis like everybody else.
Actually, Tony, there was talk earlier on today, the fact that the queen made her first visit to Wimbledon for the first time in 33 years. So there was debate on whether they would actually take this match to center court, away from court 18. And Wimbledon even said no to that. If you start on court 18, you're going to finish there, and you're going to finish under the same rules as everybody else.
So, I imagine these two men are probably having a very cold drink at the moment.
HARRIS: Yes. Yes. They both made history.
What a couple of days, three days, at Wimbledon.
Justin, appreciate it. Thank you, sir.
ARMSDEN: Thank you.
HARRIS: Let's take a quick break, and we're back in a moment.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARRIS: OK. General David Petraeus is making the rounds right now on Capitol Hill as he prepares for next week's confirmation hearings for his new job as commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Our Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash had a quick opportunity to speak with General Petraeus. She is with us now.
And if you would, Dana, share some of that conversation with us.
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well Tony, first, to start on the policy issue, which everybody has been asking, both Democrats and Republicans alike, which is, is General Petraeus fully committed to beginning troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in July of 2011, as is the president's current policy? I asked him that, and he said -- I asked if he wants to do anything to change that, and he said flatly, no. He said, "I support the president's policy, and I will also provide the best professional military advice as we conduct assessments."
And I just sort of generally asked, Tony, about how he's feeling about his new assignment. He said as a good soldier, "It's a privilege to serve." And without even asking him specifically about General McChrystal, he offered that -- he said, "It's very sad that I have to assume it in this manner." "It" being this role.
He also went on to say, "We obviously all have enormous respect and gratitude to General McChrystal for all that he did. He's played a key role in helping getting the inputs right in Afghanistan."
And so that's the kind that General Petraeus is saying. I spoke with him just as he was walking into the Capitol. I kind of stumbled on his entrance as he was coming in to meet with one of the members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Robert Byrd. And we've actually been following him this morning as he's made his rounds to other members of that committee, and we hope to talk to him a little bit more as he comes out of the current meeting where he is now -- Tony.
HARRIS: Yes. Hey, Dana, very quickly, you probably didn't have an opportunity to ask this question, or maybe you did. But maybe you'll get an opportunity to talk to him again in minutes here.
Were you able to ask him how he's feeling? There are some concerns about his health.
BASH: I actually -- the last time I saw General Petraeus, it's funny you ask that, it was one week ago, after he passed out here on Capitol Hill before the Armed Services Committee. And I noted to him when I first saw him that he looks quite different then the last time. He had a lot of color in his face.
And General Petraeus actually joked to me that, actually, yes, this time he's hydrated. So, he seems to look OK. He said that he was feeling well. So, it was certainly part of the beginning of our discussion since the last time I saw him.
HARRIS: Yes. BASH: He looked anything but OK.
HARRIS: OK.
Our senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash for us.
Good to talk to you, Dana. Thank you.
The country's road to financial recovery has been a bumpy one. Time and again, positive signals are weighed down by negative numbers. That's made it hard for Americans to gain confidence, traction in the comeback, particularly with the value of their homes literally in the dumps.
Let's talk to the CNN Money team. And there's one of the key team members right there, Christine Romans, in New York. And here in Atlanta, we love having him on the program, housing expert John Adams. We'll talk to John in just a second.
But Christine, let me start with you.
If the collapse in housing and all the predatory, greed-driven practices that led to the collapse -- and then you think about the jobs that went away with the collapse -- if the collapse has us in this malaise, can we break out of it if housing doesn't come back, and come back soon?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's a good question, Tony. The mortgage insurance people, the PMI group, they say this last seven sessions haven't ended without a recovery in the housing market, property sales and home sales. And, you know, Hugh Johnson, another key economist, he also tells us, look, whenever you get out -- you really have a solid recovery when consumers start to spend and the housing market improves, one of those things or the other.
And the numbers this week have not been really that great for the housing market. New home sales down 33 percent. We've never seen a home number that low.
Think of that -- people buying new homes down 33 percent, 7.3 million people are delinquent in their loans. I mean, another record -- 7.3 million people are late in their loans.
And look at what's happened to the price of your biggest asset since the peak in 2006. The median price of a home in this country is down $65,000 since the peak. I mean, that's real money that people are definitely feeling.
So, we still, after a spring awakening end of April -- the first- time homebuyer tax credit expired, right, what happened in May? It just kind of flopped in May. And now we're all just wondering, is it going to get itself up, can the housing market walk on its own two legs without government money? And there's some real concerns about that -- Tony. HARRIS: John, a proposition here. All of the stakeholders in the housing sector -- and I'm talking mortgage brokers, I'm talking about loan servicers, I'm talking about banks -- they're not on the same page.
JOHN ADAMS, REAL ESTATE EXPERT: Not at all.
HARRIS: They're not on the same page. They are not working with a single-minded focus to get this sector healthy again. They're not -- mortgage modifications are slow.
There's no motivation for them to do so.
HARRIS: Thank you.
ADAMS: And the key here is Christine is right -- people don't buy houses when they're worried about their jobs. And they're worried about their jobs because the economy is not going well. And one thing feeds another, and you've got all kinds of problems.
I am convinced that the economists are right. Real estate led us into this recession. It's going to have to lead us out. It has the last seven times in a row. And this, the real estate sales we're seeing, are threatening to undermine the recovery that we now have.
HARRIS: How do we get out of this? What has to happen in addition to all of the stakeholders sitting in a room together and saying, you know what, it's in our best interest here, ultimately, to have a healthy sector here?
ADAMS: Well, they're not so concerned about the sector as they are their own pocketbooks. The president needs to step up and exercise leadership and say four things we're going to do straight from the White House.
Number one, no more foreclosures in the United States of America unless there's mandatory mediation, meaningful mediation between the borrower and the lender. A lot of these could be worked out.
Number two, people want to stay in their house. Number two, eliminate the due on sale clause. That is a federal mandate that was passed under Garn-St. Germain in 1982. It could be wiped out with the stroke of a pen.
Number three, I want to eliminate tax on the subsequent resale of bank-owned homes. This would solve this huge shadow inventory of houses that are sitting there decaying in our neighborhoods and dragging down home prices. Investors like me would rush to buy them.
And then number four -- and this is broader than real estate -- a six-month federal tax holiday.
HARRIS: Wow.
Christine, any thoughts before we wrap up this segment? Because I know I've got you coming back in just a couple of minutes. ROMANS: Jobs. Jobs is the most important part of the whole thing.
If you have 9.7 percent unemployment, and 46 percent of the people who are unemployed are unemployed for six months or longer, you can have the most affordable housing market in the world, but you can't buy a house because you can't afford it. You've got to have jobs coming back, and people would feel better about making that big investment again.
HARRIS: You need a new sector. I know we don't want bubbles again, but I sent you a note yesterday, Christine. We've got to get a new sector, and I don't know what it is, to fuel some job growth.
ADAMS: It's called real estate, Tony. You cut taxes and we'll create jobs.
HARRIS: John, good to see you.
Christine, we'll be back in just a couple of minutes here.
And at that time she's going to talk about a fraud that you just can't believe. I'm going to leave it there.
We're back in a moment.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
HARRIS: More than 1,000 prison inmates -- listen to this -- siphoning more than $9 million from the government. People who are paying a debt to society, getting paid by society instead.
Christine Romans is back.
Christine, how did this happen?
ROMANS: You know, Tony, in some cases, believe it or not, prisoners in prison qualified for the first time homebuyer tax credit. We're not talking about those people. We're talking about prisoners who were lifers who got the first-time homebuyer tax credit.
This is your taxpayer money and mine going to a prisoner for a tax credit. This is all part of the stimulus -- 14,132 erroneous credits went out, according to the Treasury Department's Office of Inspector-General, totaling $26 million of free tax money that went to people who did not deserve and did not qualify for that tax credit.
Now, some of these people -- for example, 67 people got the tax credit for the same house. Impossible. You had $9 million for 1,295 prisoners. Some of them were serving life sentences. They obviously did not deserve or qualify for that homebuyer tax credit. And, in fact, in many cases, it was a tax preparer who helped them do it. There was $17 million that went for people who had bought homes before the stimulus program even began. So they didn't qualify for it.
And, oh, Tony, you'll love this one -- 34 people were IRS employees who scammed the system for the first-time homebuyer tax credit.
Basically, tax credits for people who had no business applying for or getting tax credits. A previous inspector-general report -- and I reported this one to you before -- last year found that children as young as the age of 4 had qualified for the first-time homebuyer tax credit.
HARRIS: I remember that.
ROMANS: Obviously, they were being used by tax preparers or someone else. But this is something the Treasury Department -- they're looking into it, they're going to try to get the money back.
But they point out 1.8 million people took advantage of the tax credit. And this is a very small number -- 14,000 is a very small number in the big sea of tax credits. But you don't like it when it's stimulus money meant to stimulate the economy and it's stimulating a lifer in prison somewhere.
HARRIS: All right. Well, at least the federal government is doing something to try to get the money back.
ROMANS: Yes.
HARRIS: Christine, appreciate it. Thank you.
ROMANS: Sure.
HARRIS: "Gary and Tony are Having a Baby." It is a CNN special report, and we're talking to our own Soledad O'Brien about it, live, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
HARRIS: Tonight, CNN's Soledad O'Brien explores the journey of one same-sex couple trying to start a family.
Here's a preview of tonight's special, "Gary and Tony Have a Baby."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tony Brown and Gary Spino -- they can't get much past their front door before they're reminded of what they're missing. Everyone seems to have a child.
GARY SPINO, PROSPECTIVE FATHER: Hi, buddies.
How you doing, buddy?
O'BRIEN: Gary can't even ride his bike to work without a stroller whizzing by.
SPINO: Growing up Italian, this is something I was taught to want -- grow up, get married, have kids.
O'BRIEN: They've been together 20 years. Both men are in their late 40s.
(on camera): There are a zillion kids at this park.
SPINO: And I've got to tell you, since we moved here, I would come here and try to sit there and, like, watch one or two kids interact and run around, and follow them and think, I want to have a child.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): This couple is ready for the next big step in life. Gary and Tony want to have a baby.
(on camera): Why have a baby? Why was that the next logical step?
SPINO: I thought at the end of my life, what am I going to say? Do I wish I would have had a bigger apartment, or do I wish I would have had a family? And it was a no-brainer.
TONY BROWN, PROSPECTIVE FATHER: I've always loved kids. It brings out the kid in me. You know, there's nothing like the love of a child.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): It might seem an unlikely step for two men who spent a lifetime fighting for gay civil rights.
(on camera): Were you activists early on here?
BROWN: Oh, yes. Absolutely.
SPINO: It was with Act Up. And it just felt so good to finally yell out and say, "No!"
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Theirs is a story of how love changed everything.
Tony remembers the moment they met.
BROWN: Gary was across the room, a dance floor, a crowded dance floor. And our eyes met.
O'BRIEN (on camera): That's such a cliche.
BROWN: It is. It's totally true, though. It absolutely happened that way. O'BRIEN (voice-over): They married in Canada. The U.S. doesn't recognize the marriages of same-sex couples, though five states grant gay couples limited marriage rights.
SPINO: We've been talking about having a family for a while.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you remember what she looks like? Remember what she looks like?
O'BRIEN: A family to them meant having their own biological child. That means doctors, lawyers and a whole lot of money. And women. Not one, but two women --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If my grandmother were to know the entire situation, I think she would give up.
O'BRIEN: -- one to donate an egg, another to carry a baby.
SPINO: They are coming out of the gate right now.
BROWN: I'm nervous.
SPINO: I'm nervous, too.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: What we wanted to do in the story of Gary and Tony having a baby was to take a look at the process. And that process, as you've seen, involving an egg donor, a surrogate, relatives who weigh in about their concerns about the safety for the baby to be, and both men walking through very honestly about their difficult childhood experiences.
"Gary and Tony Have a Baby" is really a look at two people who want to create a family, and all the legal challenges and other challenges that brings.
HARRIS: How did they go, Soledad, from being gay rights activists to wanting to be fathers?
O'BRIEN: You know, I think they would say they've always valued being -- the idea of being a parent, and that at some point it seemed like it was unfair that it wasn't in the cards for them because they're gay. And that they really got a windfall.
Someone left them -- a woman that they used to help, an elderly lady, left them tens of thousands of dollars. Their process cost over $150,000. Usually surrogacy is only something that people who have serious money can afford.
And I think that, combined with their feelings that they've been together 20 years, and they were ready for the next step as a couple, like any couple, at some point you say, hey, I think it's time to have a family. They did the same thing.
HARRIS: Yes. I can't wait. Good to see you, Soledad. Thank you.
I can't wait.
O'BRIEN: My pleasure. Thanks.
HARRIS: And you can see Soledad O'Brien's special report "Gary and Tony Have a Baby," tonight, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN.
You know, here's something to ponder -- finding the bright side of the Gulf disaster. One man making the best of a very bad situation. He is "Building Up America." .
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: You know, companies that do business with the oil rigs insist the rigs are safe. Plus, they say the moratorium will severely hurt the local economy.
You've heard that argument, right?
Our Ines Ferre has been looking at just how many jobs may be at stake.
And pretty solid numbers here, huh?
FERRE: Yes. That's right, Tony.
The Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Association, they came up with these estimates. So, they're saying look, if you've got 33 idle rigs, each rig risks up to 1,400 jobs.
Now, those jobs not only include the folks that work directly on the rigs, but also those people who support those jobs, for example, sailors, chefs, caters, construction workers, cleaning. Now, what that translates to is up to 46,200 jobs that could be at risk. And if you calculate that each worker gets an average of $1,800 per week, well, that totals up to $990 million per quarter as a possible in loss in wages, Tony.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, yes, you wonder if big oil would be willing to sort of, for the life of the moratorium, you know, if big oil would be willing to step up to the plate and pay that number. But it's a question. Only a question.
All right, Ines, appreciate it. Thank you.
FERRE: Yes.
HARRIS: Here's another question we haven't heard much in the last 66 days -- could there be a silver lining to the Gulf disaster? In this "Building of America" report, Tom Foreman is on Florida's Gulf Coast with one man who says yes.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Tony. We've focused a lot on the communities and towns that are right in the middle of this oil catastrophe. But what about all of those that are still out at the fringes? Many of them don't know what the future is going to bring, even in the very near future, but they're doing what they can to build up while it's possible.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN (voice-over): Heading out from Port St. Joe to hunt for scallops, Gary Hites has plenty of reasons to worry. His company, Seahorse Water Safaris, depends on tourists.
GARY HITES, CO-OWNER, SEAHORSE WATER SAFARIS: This has impacted everybody on the coast.
FOREMAN: And yet, even as reports of oil creep closer, Gary remains hopeful that this calamity will bring out the best ideas, the best innovations, the best effort the people of the Gulf have to offer.
HITES: If it's a problem, let's clean it up and let's go on.
FOREMAN (on camera): So you actually think some good can come out of all of this?
HITES: Some good will come out of this. I see people working this oil spill that have never worked in their lives. I think the U.S. can benefit from this in the long run. Me personally, I'll figure a way to survive.
Give me about 50 feet more. There, lay it down.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Fueling such optimism for some folks, especially at the edges of the spill, is what they are seeing locally. Sure, the fear of oil has cut charter fishing reservations, but it has filled hotels and restaurants with disaster response workers. Yes, the fishing might be shut down if the oil gets closer, but -
FOREMAN (on camera): The scalloping season was actually opened about a week and a half early this year, specifically to help people replace any lost income and to stay ahead of the threat of advancing oil.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's not a lot and they're not big, but that's what - is what we're finding down here.
FOREMAN (voice-over): And, of course, it is easier to be hopeful when the spill is still miles away. But folks like Gary believe building up these Gulf communities, even as their neighbors struggle, is critical.
FOREMAN (on camera): So all things considered, another good day.
HITES: Another good day.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Because that may help the whole region come back whenever the oil finally goes away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: The truth is, many communities like this one don't know if they'll going to be hit by the oil eventually. What they do know is this -- they better prepare themselves and make all the progress they can now so they'll be better positioned if it does come their way.
Tony.
HARRIS: Yes, Tom, makes sense. Thank you.
Apple stores across the globe are hopping today. Live to New York to talk to an Applehead about the new baby. The iPhone 4. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: OK. Let's get you to the New York Stock Exchange now. Let's see, what time is it? We're better than three hours into the trading day and we've been in negative territory all day. I think we're off of session lows, but it's still triple-digit losses at this point. Down 106 points. Anyone with a number on Nasdaq? We were down 23 earlier. My guess would be we would still be in that same range. We're going to follow these numbers throughout the day for you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
American Gary Faulkner is back in Denver this morning, following his trip to Pakistan to find Osama bin Laden. Pakistani police discovered Faulkner near the border with Afghanistan on June 13th. He says this was his seventh trip to the region to find bin Laden. Faulkner says mock him as Rambo if you want, but listen to him here as he defends his mission.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY FAULKNER, HUNTED FOR OSAMA BIN LADEN: I'm a person that said, you know what, I'm going to get off my (EXPLETIVE DELETED) and do something. And I'll be darned if I'm going do sit back and let anybody out there say, oh, this or that when they weren't there. I'm on dialysis. I put my life on the line. My life was on the line. Not because of them. Not because of Pakis or al Qaeda or anyone else. Because I chose it because of my belief. Now when you're able to stand up and put your life on the line, then we'll sit down and talk. Until then, you shut your mouth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Dude is a reality show. That is - man.
Apple guru and marketing master Steve Jobs is at it again. He got thousands of Apple fans around the globe to line up today to buy the new iPhone 4. One of them joining me now from an Apple store on New York's Fifth Avenue, Noah Gray.
Noah, good to talk to you. NOAH GRAY, IPHONE 4 BUYER: Good afternoon. Thanks for having me today.
HARRIS: Hey, Noah, if you would, first of all, just generally speaking, what do you think of the phone? Did you -- were you able to get it? And are you happy with it?
GRAY: I was able to get it. Just about an hour and a half ago. I got in line last night at 11:00, have been in line since. I've been playing with it so far and, you know, no problems right now. I'm holding it -
HARRIS: No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Noah. Noah. Noah. Noah. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
GRAY: Yes, sir?
HARRIS: Are you kidding me? You were in line -- you've been -- you were in line at 11:00 last night? Tell me why.
GRAY: Why? Well, you know, I'm a big Apple enthusiast. I wanted to get the new phone. I thought it would be a neat experience to be here at the Fifth Avenue Apple store in New York and came by myself. You know, set up camp. Had a cooler, a chair, my iPad, you know, watching some movies. Met some nice people that watched my stuff for a couple bathroom break, but it's just been an experience. And I'm so tired, I'm not even tired right now. I'm so over tired, I'm just excited to have my hands on the phone.
HARRIS: Gotcha. So what's the big deal with the phone?
GRAY: Well, there's a few new futures on iPhone 4. The big thing is, you know, the new retina display, 960 pixels by 640 pixels. HD video. Front-facing video camera. If you can see here, you got the front-facing one and the one on the back.
HARRIS: Yes, I can. That's great.
GRAY: You can do face-time video calling, which is pretty neat. Face-to-face video from iPhone 4 to iPhone 4. You can shoot and edit video right here on the iPhone. Hopefully later on in the day, if I'm not falling asleep, I'll shoot a little i-Report and try and edit it right here using iMovie. And, you know, iPhone - oh, ios4 (ph) has a hundred new features. It's just, you know, it's an incredible new piece of technology and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people are still waiting for it.
HARRIS: Well, Noah, let me ask you - well, let me ask you another quick one here.
GRAY: Go ahead.
HARRIS: Look, we're hearing of some potential problems with the antenna. Have you had a problem with the antenna? And maybe you can describe the problem that others are reporting. GRAY: Yes, absolutely. If you look right here on the phone, the antenna is all the way around this piece of metal, all the way around the phone. And it's been reported that people are having problems with reception from touching two pieces of metal together on the phone.
I played around with the phone. I called some family, some friends. You know, tried to hold it in different ways as people were, you know, saying online. I haven't had any problems with this phone personally. But people are uploading video to Gizmodo. They keep publishing videos of people having the phone. Some people are having a yellowish problem with the display. But I haven't had a problem here. And some of the people I've talked to around here haven't had a problem either. So we'll just have to see what happens with that.
HARRIS: Well, Noah, if you would, we appreciate your time. Go ahead and file about 15 i-Reports, so you're up for a complete 24 hours. You're the John Isner of the Apple world for us today.
Good to see you. Take care of yourself.
GRAY: Good to see you, too. Thanks, you too.
HARRIS: We are tracking your top stories just ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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HARRIS: It has been a year since Michael Jackson died. Tomorrow night, something you will see only on CNN, "Michael Jackson: The Final Days." That's 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
It just kept going and going. The longest tennis match ever. One set alone lasted more than seven hours. Elizabeth Cohen joins us to tell us what kind of stress that can put on a body. That's next.
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HARRIS: A marathon tennis match goes into the record books, right? American John Isner and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut spend more than 11 hours on the court over three days at Wimbledon. Look, if you spend that much time on the tennis court, you deserve a segment in the program.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right.
HARRIS: So senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joining me here.
Elizabeth, wait a minute, what does this do, 11 hours over three days -- over three days. Look, it's not 11 hours straight.
COHEN: No.
HARRIS: Over three days.
COHEN: Right. HARRIS: But that's still a lot of wear and tear.
COHEN: Right. And the big chunk was yesterday, which was about seven hours, OK?
HARRIS: Yes.
COHEN: And tennis players are used to doing anywhere - it's usually three hours, five hours is considered a long match.
HARRIS: Yes.
COHEN: So there is no question but that this is a test of endurance. So we talked to some experts in this area, sports medicine doctors, and they say, look, this is tough, but these guys, well, they did it. So, obviously, they can do it. They said it is a lot of it is psychological. It is pushing and pushing and pushing yourself, even when you think you can't do it.
HARRIS: Yes.
COHEN: But there is no question that that amount of time out there playing tennis with only -- they get a rest every other game.
HARRIS: OK. Well, hang on a second here. We're going to take this apart a couple of different ways here. We've got a -- we just happen to have a scholar athlete with us who's been shadowing me today. Kiera Powell (ph), tennis player extraordinaire out at Georgia State University here in the Atlanta area.
I asked her, what was the longest match you ever competed in. She said three - what was it, Kiera, was it three and a half hours, right?
KIERA POWELL: Right.
HARRIS: Physically she said she felt like she was done.
COHEN: Right.
HARRIS: That it really took it out of her. So what does this do to the body? When do you start to break down here? Is it mental? Is it physical? I mean at some point are you just exhausted, spent, done, barely able to move?
COHEN: Right. Well, but if you looked at the end of the match, I mean, yes, was it difficult? Were they playing like they had at the beginning of the seven hours?
HARRIS: Yes.
COHEN: No.
HARRIS: Yes.
COHEN: They were clearly had used up a lot of their reserves. But the experts we talked to, they were almost sort of - I wouldn't say nonplussed, but they said, yes, these guys can do it. You just have to put your mind to it. You can do it. It's difficult.
HARRIS: That's how I feel about it.
COHEN: OK.
HARRIS: That's how I feel about it. I think they're elite athletes.
COHEN: Exactly.
HARRIS: And this is - this is what they do.
COHEN: Right.
HARRIS: It's not like they're in the Gulf trying to clean up, you know, oil-saturated booms in 100-degree heat and 100 percent humidity.
COHEN: Right.
HARRIS: This is what they're trained to do.
Was weather a factor here at all?
COHEN: It was a factor. And I'm glad you brought that up. It was like in the 70s yesterday while they were playing.
HARRIS: Oh, come one.
COHEN: And, you know, we live here in Atlanta -
HARRIS: That's nothing.
COHEN: Right. I mean kids - I watched my kids play tennis in 105- degree heat.
HARRIS: Yes, come on.
COHEN: I mean it's very difficult. So they had that going for them, that it was in the 70s. That helps enormously because hydration is a huge factor.
HARRIS: Yes.
COHEN: And remember, they get a break every other game. A short break where they can drink, they can eat any little bits of food, you know, that they've brought with them. That helps enormously (INAUDIBLE).
HARRIS: Oh, they get 90 - they get 90 seconds between games. They get - they get a minute between --
COHEN: Every other game. Every other game.
HARRIS: They get -- yes. In the changeovers, you're right. And they get a minute between games. And then there's something after so many sets that you get a bit of a break, too. COHEN: Right.
HARRIS: So here's the thing. How do you train, as I'm ripping it here, how do you train to have that kind of endurance to go 11 hours over three days?
COHEN: Well, you know what's interesting, a colleague of ours at CNN International asked Martina Navratilova that question and she basically said, you don't train for this. We - they said tennis -- she said tennis players train to play maybe a five-hour match at the most. You don't train to play seven hours.
HARRIS: Yes. Yes.
COHEN: And she said it's beyond anything that you ever train for, physically, emotionally or mentally. So it is just one of these occasions where you have to step up to the plate and give it all you've got and finish those seven hours.
HARRIS: Yes. Yes. Whoo. All right. Extraordinary.
COHEN: I'm exhausted just talking about it.
HARRIS: Yes, extraordinary. It really was.
COHEN: It really was.
HARRIS: Elizabeth, good to see you. Thank you.
Kiera, thank you.
World Cup fever breaks out on the Internet. Ines Ferre keeping a close eye on what's hot.
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HARRIS: And, of course, Ines Ferre is tracking what everyone's talking about, what's hot online. And particularly over the last couple of hours. So we've got a little World Cup fever and then the longest tennis match ever wrapping up at Wimbledon in a couple of hours (INAUDIBLE).
FERRE: Yes, it's all sports right now.
HARRIS: Yes.
FERRE: And folks have been checking out on cnn.com. You can check out all this info about the match. You've got some great photos here.
HARRIS: Look at that. Look at that.
FERRE: And people are commenting, Tony. Take a look. People that were commenting as the match was going on.
HARRIS: I love this. You read that one. Go ahead, read that one.
FERRE: Three word solution, rock, paper, scissors.
HARRIS: Nice. Nice.
FERRE: That's from retroman.
HARRIS: That's one way to end an 11 hour match.
FERRE: Exactly.
And this next one, you know, is so interesting because I got an email yesterday right after the U.S. won that match and they were saying, look, people have to sign up for this page for the USA bid page because what they want to do is, you know, they want to make it known that there's interest in the U.S. for soccer.
HARRIS: To try to get a World Cup here?
FERRE: To try and get the World Cup here in 2018 or 2022.
HARRIS: OK. OK.
FERRE: So the deal is, is that -- they've even got a FaceBook page up for folks to sign up and to petition to say, hey, we want the World Cup to come here.
HARRIS: Yes.
FERRE: President Clinton supporting this. Obama supporting this.
HARRIS: So use the momentum of the big win yesterday, the U.S. getting out of group play, going into the knockout stage now, and let's start a movement to bring the World Cup to the United States in 20 -- whatever.
FERRE: Right.
HARRIS: OK.
FERRE: And if you're a soccer fan, let it be known.
HARRIS: Yes, yes, yes. Yes.
FERRE: OK. And this is interesting. OK. Right. Some people talk -
HARRIS: Who's this guy?
FERRE: Right. So pick any video, any video that you want on YouTube. So YouTube has come out with this little ball that people -- some people are saying is annoying.
HARRIS: Yes.
FERRE: Other people are saying, oh, it's funny.
HARRIS: Oh, here he is.
FERRE: Look out. It's the vuvuzela ball. It drowns out any sound.
HARRIS: So you hit the ball and you get the vuvuzela?
FERRE: So you hit the ball and you get the vuvuzela. And you - and you can see our great folks in the control room are going wild at it.
HARRIS: Perfecto. We do OK?
FERRE: Yes.
HARRIS: You're team plays again, Argentina plays?
FERRE: Sunday against Mexico.
HARRIS: Sunday. Against Mexico.
FERRE: It's going to be a great match.
HARRIS: All right. We'll be following it. I'll be texting you.
FERRE: Yes.
HARRIS: Sending you all kinds of notes.
All right, still to come in the NEWSROOM - thank you, Ines, -- condoms. Have you heard this story? Condoms for elementary school students? It is a new policy in one school district. The story coming up on the other side of the break.
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HARRIS: How about this. A Massachusetts school district is allowing first through sixth graders access to free condoms. You heard me right on this. The superintendant who oversees Provincetown's school system says all school-aged students, including elementary students, can ask the school nurse for condoms. Plus there will be no requirement the parents -- that parents be notified. Each condom comes with a talk about the birds and the bees. Here's what some local residents think about it.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's pretty sick.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you think of any reason why it would be a good idea to give this out at elementary school?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: First graders. They would even - they'd probably take them out and fill them with water and throw them at people.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would definitely say some kids would be having sex in elementary school. And it's important for them to be able to protect themselves.
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HARRIS: Oh, my. The new policy also states the school does not approve of sexual activity by students.
Let's take it to the next level now. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with T.J. Holmes in for Ali Velshi.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Tony, what in the world is going on?
HARRIS: What in the world. Hello.
HOLMES: Elementary school?
All right, Tony, appreciate you buddy. Thanks so much.
