Ep. 26: Trent Bryde - Growth Through The Game

Trent Bryde (02:09.213)
I appreciate it. want to say something real quick because as you bring up, these names and

Just the coaching, like I've never really gotten to since I finished up my career to think that people that really made a huge impact in my life, Will obviously being number one, obviously my family, and then Will being number one who was there with me from when I was seven years old all the way to the very end. I owe that guy my absolute life. And then there's other, very few people that made super, super profound impacts. One being you, Tori, made a huge impact on my career, my life.

Torrey Hawkins (02:26.361)
Sure. Sure.

Torrey Hawkins (02:35.684)
percent.

Trent Bryde (02:46.546)
Henry Darko cannot think that guy more than any, I mean that guy really changed my life in the time that we worked together, as well as Viv Chetri for the short time that we worked together, you know, and then of course, Manny and Jamie when I was at UGA. like, it's, you know, I don't know if you guys.

Torrey Hawkins (02:48.503)
day.

Torrey Hawkins (02:54.288)
Yeah.

Right.

Torrey Hawkins (03:00.869)
Right.

Trent Bryde (03:06.288)
even realize how much of an impact you really, really make because you don't hear it enough and you do need to hear it more. So I want to, I think it's like pertinent to start off this podcast, just letting you guys know the impact you have truly made on my life, not just my career as a tennis player, who I became as a person because I spent, you know, I pretty much spent my life on a tennis court growing up, right? And that was with you. That was with, that was with Henry. That was with Will, right? So I owe you guys, I you guys a lot and every bit of success I get.

Torrey Hawkins (03:21.264)
Mm.

Trent Bryde (03:36.192)
not just from tennis but even in know even in life moving forward I owe a lot of that to you guys so I want to make that super super clear

Torrey Hawkins (03:45.521)
Man, that is...

Alvin Owusu (03:45.742)
that's the beautiful thing about this sport, right? Like this, we come through it, especially from a junior standpoint, like we were talking about this earlier, Trent, like we, players and coaches, we're in each other's lives for almost like a flash, right? From ages, like sometimes it's 10 to 17 and that's, you know, it feels like an eternity when you're in it, but afterwards you're like, that's just a, that's a part of life, but having the ability to reconnect, you know, as adults and this tennis world is so small, like no one.

Torrey Hawkins (03:57.797)
Yeah.

Torrey Hawkins (04:03.076)
Bye.

Trent Bryde (04:10.716)
Yeah.

Torrey Hawkins (04:10.959)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (04:14.274)
no one gets forgotten and we all run into each other at some point down the road.

Torrey Hawkins (04:16.454)
Yeah. And it makes this, it makes this feel, feel that much more special, right? Is, is, you know, and I appreciate the very kind words, Trent, you were a, you were a joy to coach. were, as I have a very short list of the truly special ones that I had worked with, especially with one of the chiefs in the rare air that you did, but it's, trust me, very much appreciated. It was all, it was all love and it was.

Trent Bryde (04:17.383)
That's right, absolutely.

Alvin Owusu (04:21.966)
Yeah.

Trent Bryde (04:22.238)
That's right.

Torrey Hawkins (04:44.282)
We wanted you to be the best Trent you could be. I tell people all the time, I got into coaching from having had a pretty, I'm going to say it, a pretty suspect coaching experience from in college, especially. My coaches and juniors were awesome. mean, shout out to Britton Kenny Fields. mean, back in Wichita, Kansas, those guys were awesome. And Barry, their older brother. That's how I got to Morehouse was Barry was a

basketball and tennis player at Morehouse and you know, it's one of the ways that I even got down into Atlanta. I felt like if I wanted to coach the way I wanted someone to coach me, I wanted to coach a kid that really wanted to get better. I was going to push him and I actually had and this is kind of a small note and I'll mention this album. Maybe you may even realize this. I had worked my butt off to try to get ready to play college tennis, right? Play college basketball. Didn't have much money. It's my whole the way to get to.

Trent Bryde (05:28.382)
Mm-hmm.

Torrey Hawkins (05:41.872)
Atlanta was to get a scholarship and I had saved my money trying to work on my game and I had saved my money to basically pay my tennis bill. So I'm leaving, I'm walking over to my complex and I tell the guys, hey man, here's some money from what I owe you and for all the drills and this and that and the lessons and they said, TH, you don't owe us anything. You owe us a kid that you coach.

You have to find a Torrey Hawkins and you have to pay back with that kid. That's what you owe us. And Alvin, I was like, well, I guess I got to coach think about I had to, I had this debt now, right? I had this debt and I had to pay it forward. I remember the day Jackie Jenkins showed up at the tennis courts and I had some lessons and kids I was working with. And I said, I found my kid. I didn't realize that he had a brother, Jermaine. I didn't realize.

Trent Bryde (06:17.182)
It's awesome.

Trent Bryde (06:21.598)
Yup.

Alvin Owusu (06:21.998)
You gotta pay it forward.

Torrey Hawkins (06:39.793)
that they have a friend not related named Scoble Jenkins. I didn't realize I would do it for the next 30 years. I had no idea, but it was, you know what I'm saying? But I say it to tell you, I was paying off a debt. And I, and to your point, they made a huge impact on me and I'm honored to have made any kind of an impact with other players. But isn't that what makes this game so special? This is one of the few games where in my opinion,

Trent Bryde (06:43.518)
You

You paid off that debt and some.

Alvin Owusu (06:46.264)
Right.

Torrey Hawkins (07:10.161)
You will spend that much time with your coach and your team. You will spend that much time traveling, going here, going there. I will see a player at their height. I will see a player at their lowest, you know, and everywhere in between. And often, sometimes it's just you and that player that understand, not a time to panic, he's got this, even though the score doesn't say so. And a time to panic is five-two. He's like, I don't know if he's got this. He's a little suspect right now before every turn. I hope this kid goes back in.

Alvin Owusu (07:34.992)
He

Torrey Hawkins (07:40.026)
And in those moments though, and we laugh about it, we cry about it, all of it afterwards, but at the end of the day, no one is a bigger fan, no one is as firm of a critic, right, than your coach and obviously your parents, your coach. And I felt, I always felt like as a coach, this is my chance to help get a kid way better than I could have gotten. And if you added those two together, how far could that kid go? I don't know.

And so I just say that to you to say you were the embodiment of that in a lot of ways. It's just, it was just great to see and it's always great to see and you don't get to see it often. And with that Alvin, I'll let you kick in with some questions, but yeah.

Alvin Owusu (08:18.8)
Yeah, well, let's just, let's just go back a little bit. You know, we briefly touched on the, battles that Trent had with, uh, Mr. Freestone. Um, and, and yeah, I it tech, right? Yeah. Like he, I remember that, that one handed backhand, uh, was, uh, was no joke. Um, but that was in twelves, right? Competing at the, you know, the, fledglings of the Southern level. And, know, we were all very aware of like where your game, you know, progressed to over the next 10 years, but maybe give us a little bit of insight of like, from your perspective, now that you've had some, you know, some time to reflect back on it.

Torrey Hawkins (08:25.903)
Yeah, good player in his own right, by the way. Tech's finest. mean, plays like I no question. yes, sir.

Trent Bryde (08:28.434)
Very good, yep.

Torrey Hawkins (08:37.874)
Yeah.

Trent Bryde (08:38.206)
Mm-hmm.

Alvin Owusu (08:48.592)
What did it take for you, both from a training aspect, whatever else it be, to go from that type, that level of player to top 10 in the world ITF?

Trent Bryde (09:00.018)
Yeah, it's a good question. You know, nothing immediately comes to me as like something specific with my game. But what does come to me was being at Windward and having guys that were always better than me from when I was eight years old, nine years old, 10 years old, 11, 12. Because once I sort of graduated from Brandon Freestone, Patrick Sklicka, it was

Jay Chintham, Alex Heron, right? And once you, like these guys, all of these guys together, I mean, pushed me so hard because I, I mean, you know this about me, Tori, I will do anything to be the best. And that was my group that I was with. And those are the guys that pushed me to be better every single day. I remember, mean, you know.

Alvin Owusu (09:27.791)
Right.

Torrey Hawkins (09:28.091)
Thank

Trent Bryde (09:49.948)
Obviously everyone worked really hard, but I mean, I did some crazy stuff. it was, I remember, you know, when I was working with Henry and hitting with him every day, he asked me, he said, you know, if I'm going to hit with you every single day, I want you to go out and hit a basket of serves after practice every single day and do it for like 10 minutes and then always do like second serves, count how many you can do in a row. It would be no indoor courts at Winterwood. So.

Torrey Hawkins (10:17.672)
Right.

Trent Bryde (10:18.782)
20 degrees, blisters all over my hand. People are like, what are you doing? What are you doing? Even Henry came and he's like, it's fine, you can go home today. And I'm like, no, absolutely not. You asked me to do one thing, I'm gonna do that thing. And it was just relentless, relentless hard work, right? Like, I didn't have...

Torrey Hawkins (10:20.52)
Yep.

Torrey Hawkins (10:31.251)
Yeah, I'm going do it.

Trent Bryde (10:41.404)
the biggest surf. I'm not 6'4". I was a very good athlete and I worked my tail off. Like there was nothing anyone could do to stop me to try and get better every single day. And I think that not only did the guys around me help me get better, but I think I believe that I made an impact on them too, that, you know, they, inspired them to push harder as well. But I really owe it to the people I was around. Again, like the

Torrey Hawkins (11:02.473)
Yep. Yep.

Trent Bryde (11:11.328)
coaches and then just the players I was around. And then, know, when graduating from Alex and Jay, I started working at USTA a little bit more and, you know, traveled basically the world with Patrick Kipson, who was 130 in the world last year, Sam Riffis, who, you know, won the NCAAs in individuals and team, know, Viseal Kirchhoff, who's doing really well in doubles right now on tour, you know, some great names. So like those guys, you know, I started competing with

Torrey Hawkins (11:20.041)
Yep. Yep.

Torrey Hawkins (11:24.533)
Yep, chips in. Yep, yep, Sam.

Torrey Hawkins (11:34.293)
Have a seal. Yeah. Yeah.

Torrey Hawkins (11:39.201)
Yeah.

Trent Bryde (11:41.248)
those guys every single day and they pushed me to get better. That's right. And those guys pushed me so hard, right? Those guys pushed me so hard because I wanted to be better than them, right? And so I think, you know, for me, like the credit that I would give is just the people I was around is what really, really pushed me to be a better tennis player every single day.

Torrey Hawkins (11:42.262)
That became your new group. That became your new pod you were training with and trying to Yeah

Torrey Hawkins (11:52.598)
Right. Right.

Torrey Hawkins (12:05.474)
That's well said and I know those names. Shout out real quick to Patty's Clink, my main man Jay Chintham and here and I mean those are some you brought some names back there just downloaded a bunch of memories. Man that was a you were there coach coaching with us exactly. Yeah.

Trent Bryde (12:10.258)
Of course.

Trent Bryde (12:16.383)
yes.

Alvin Owusu (12:17.092)
And that's when I was at, when we were with you guys as well, I remember Skalinka and all those guys, you guys were all like probably, gosh, like 11 years old at that time. So there were a litany of players, especially on the girls side. We had a lot of tough girls in the program as well, your sister included. So it's nice to hear that the continuing theme, we've asked this question to a lot of players who have been very successful at the junior level, like what did it take? And they all kind of feel the same way. It's like.

Trent Bryde (12:25.693)
Yup.

Torrey Hawkins (12:30.88)
Yep. Yep. Yep.

Trent Bryde (12:32.798)
That's right. Yep.

Torrey Hawkins (12:44.054)
Yeah.

Alvin Owusu (12:46.501)
the people you surround yourself with, that then in turn work together and push each other. It's almost like the secret sauce, the incubation there.

Torrey Hawkins (12:56.519)
100%. And I'm going to add to that Trent, not only were you all competing, you felt like wherever you were, you could have been doing conditioning, you could have been doing a lesson, you could have been in drills. You felt like each court was another leg, a phase of that mountain to climb. If I can go from court 17, right, and I'm working my way up to court 20 where the top court was. If I was on court 13, moving up to 16.

Trent Bryde (13:16.85)
Yep.

Torrey Hawkins (13:26.163)
Up downs were, dude, up downs. I remember you asked me one time, no, no, no, no, no, don't call time yet. Give me, give me one minute. You know what happened all the time. But it was almost like he could, he almost could hear me saying, I was inhaling to say last point and then, no, no, no, no, One more, one more point. And I'm like, and to see that kind of a grind, people can appreciate when you got that level of intensity on a per ball basis.

Alvin Owusu (13:31.824)
that only happened one time? Only one time?

Trent Bryde (13:32.818)
Yeah.

Torrey Hawkins (13:55.223)
It's always those kinds of kids that continue to get better. And I think that's it. And they, again, we as coaches, we push harder because we know that kid gets pushed harder. Everybody around them gets better as a result. I got to tell you, man, mean, seeing you and Metz in that picture last night, I hung out with Patty Squink and hearing that, getting some wings about a couple of years ago when I was around the corner from my house. mean, and we're just talking about.

Trent Bryde (14:17.502)
Great.

Trent Bryde (14:21.182)
That's great.

Torrey Hawkins (14:22.876)
all the stuff, man, all of the times and just so many good times, a smile on our face. mean, we, you know, there were some days that it bordered on inhumane, you know what I mean? It bordered on inhumane as far as the treatment, the running, but you look back on it, you know, the words of urine, you'll survive, you know what I mean? The Russian himself, you'll survive, Harvey, you'll survive.

Trent Bryde (14:35.131)
Yeah.

Trent Bryde (14:42.814)
Mm-hmm.

Alvin Owusu (14:45.88)
So Trent, let me ask you this then. So when you're going in, especially when you're moving from the confines of, know, of, when we're in that, in that competitive group and then moving on to the USCA with, with other players who are coming from other academies, right? And then you guys are starting to travel the world. How did you start to view kind of yourself as a player, the way that you were training versus, you know, the, best of the best coming from other, other countries?

Trent Bryde (14:45.97)
Yeah.

Trent Bryde (15:10.45)
Yeah, sure. Well, first I want to say something real quick that just a memory that just came into my brain from you, Tori. In between court 18 and 19, I remember one day you sat.

Alvin Owusu (15:13.136)
Yeah, please do.

Trent Bryde (15:24.41)
Myself Alex and Jay down in like in like a serious talk and you guys were I don't remember what what sparked the talk I think it was maybe we were doing like the like maybe it was like six ball doing the runs or whatever and Maybe we weren't working our hardest or something and you sat us down and you were like one of you guys is gonna make it one of you guys is You guys are competing against each other and you just like gave this really inspiring Speech to all of us and I remember just leaving that

speech from us three just being like, I have to be better than these guys. I have to. So I just wanted to bring that up. don't know if you remember, but it was like, mm-hmm.

Torrey Hawkins (16:02.494)
It was a pretty good group of kids. mean, each of you, for the record and for those listeners, I gotta think each of you, for a good chunk of time, are all blue chips. mean, so this was not a, and when do you get three of you? You know what I mean? All together, you know what I mean? And you all were crazy fast. You all were, and I knew it. I mean, there were time, I could, and a loader, and a loader.

Trent Bryde (16:18.343)
Yeah.

Trent Bryde (16:26.302)
Also, they were so much better than me. So I don't want to leave that out either. They beat they beat me down for years

Torrey Hawkins (16:33.966)
Yeah, so I think, but that's part of my point is that I wasn't, and we coach some good kids, those kids were some of the best of the best that we had, especially in that. So when I knew, right, when I knew what had in front of me, I'm like, dude, you don't know this. I know this, but I've been coaching a little while. This is not normal. This doesn't happen all the time. So you guys have gotta push each other and get to that next level. And you wanna be quick? You beat these three other quick guys.

Now you know how quick quick is. And so that's one of the things that probably sparked it was that, you and I knew we weren't yet taking home all the hardware at all the nationals yesterday. I'm like, hey, we need to get to work. And so that was one of the things where, again, but you had to have kids that loved it and kids that weren't as bad. I could speak all day, but if I'm not helping you or making an impact on you or then what does it matter? I'm just talking. You know what mean? So it was that I'm glad you, I'm glad those kind of

You always wonder, are you getting through as a coach? And this is probably a moment for all the coaches out there that are listening, hopefully this podcast know that the kids always remember the kids, all the good ones always remember. And they are, you know, here they are now, you know, at are you 25, not 26? 25, here they are at 25 telling you 10 plus years later. You know I mean? That now, oh, now that I remember it.

Trent Bryde (17:52.478)
2025.

Trent Bryde (17:57.886)
Mm-hmm.

Torrey Hawkins (18:00.355)
It had an impact on me. that's man, I'll tell you that's there could be nothing more fulfilling is to hear that is to hear that you made an impact.

Alvin Owusu (18:07.184)
So Trent, it's interesting that your motivational Torrey story was probably, I'm gonna say maybe 15 years like after my motivational Torrey story that I always remember from the practice courts. And I don't know if you knew this, but like I was at UTA when Torrey was there back in the day. And it's a small thing about we were supposed to be picking up balls, right? Four courts, one at a time. And we're supposed to be running, pick up the ball, run, put it in, pick up the ball, run, put it in.

Trent Bryde (18:07.25)
Yeah, well I appreciate that.

Trent Bryde (18:23.71)
Mm-hmm.

Alvin Owusu (18:37.398)
And somebody made the decision to like sneak an extra ball in there and pick up two at a time. And the thing is, Tori didn't say anything about it at the moment. We were almost done. Tori picks up the cart and this is like, this is one of those big boys, right? Big boys, four wheels, picks up the cart, tosses the cart almost a half court length. Do it again. Every ball matters. And it was like, okay.

Torrey Hawkins (18:40.389)
Hehehehehe

Trent Bryde (18:41.736)
Yeah.

Trent Bryde (19:00.56)
I love it. I love it.

Torrey Hawkins (19:01.041)
Hehehehehe

Alvin Owusu (19:05.752)
All right. And it's just one of those things we all take away something, something different, but it's like, you know, the way we do everything or the way we do anything is the way we do everything. Right. And so like, you know, coaches are always coaching, always teaching, regardless of the, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely.

Trent Bryde (19:14.152)
Mm-hmm.

Trent Bryde (19:20.122)
and instilling values, right? Because that is the point that he's making by throwing the cart and saying, it again. And also making you guys pick up every single ball first, then doing it again. It's deeper than tennis, right? It's like, mm-hmm.

Torrey Hawkins (19:30.052)
Ahem.

Alvin Owusu (19:30.35)
Right, absolutely. Tennis is a vehicle. It's just a vehicle for learning lessons in life. It's not really about hitting forehands and backhands.

Torrey Hawkins (19:37.66)
100 % and look at how each of you to a person has achieved and the work ethic it has taken in every aspect. I find that that's the part that we're missing. That's the part that in my opinion is missing is we didn't have enough of that. And I really, and this is a whole nother talk show, some of our current generation may be missing some of that and

Trent Bryde (19:37.95)
three.

Torrey Hawkins (20:07.641)
You know what you end up missing? You end up missing that competition between the other best kids in that group. end up missing that, Alvin, how good with that group that you guys came through it. Because Alvin is right at Genevrey and Bobby's group. there, when I tell you, just to bring it back home, Bobby Reynolds was on the show, came in, was coming in, we were at Lifetime. Remember, Trent, he was recruiting you when you were looking to go up to school. And so just talking about how it, I have very...

Alvin Owusu (20:18.264)
Jeez, yeah, same class, yeah.

Torrey Hawkins (20:36.157)
And from a coaching perspective, you remember those great classes, those great groups of kids. You know what I mean? And so my earliest memories coaching was, you know, was B Ray and Haley. And there was these guys coming through. That was even well before the Jackies. And Jackie was just on the tail end of that. And obviously they're Jermaine and Scope. But I say that to say, you know, you remember those groups. And so I'm comparing, you know, you with Alvin's group back there with, you know, with B Ray and Jackie.

Those are some good times. Chuck Perrin, Albany, we had some group. So those are some great times. And then you have that next group. And so even each big group later, you're like, this is a good group. How do you know? Well, because you coach good groups before, you know how they work. You know how they kind of feed off each other. You know what I mean? And that was just so much fun, man. You would get to the end of practice and you couldn't believe where the time went. You were like,

Alvin Owusu (21:06.616)
Chuckie, yeah, Chuckie Fresh.

Trent Bryde (21:29.896)
That's right.

Torrey Hawkins (21:31.293)
can't till tomorrow, you know what mean? We got these guys here tomorrow. And that's so it's anyway, I appreciate the trip down memory lane there, you know what mean? I have a question Trenton, this is a good one for, I think for our listeners as well.

Trent Bryde (21:32.702)
That's right.

Trent Bryde (21:39.155)
Yep.

Torrey Hawkins (21:43.58)
you're going from a pretty good 12 to a really good 14 to a top in the country 16. Okay?

Torrey Hawkins (21:55.909)
What?

are you thinking about?

between 12 to 14, 14 to 16, and then take it forward into your next couple of years, before the 18s. Take me through the mental space, because I don't think a lot of times we talk about this part enough, in that transition space, when you're going from pretty good to really good, and really good to, let's face it, you're one the top kids in the country then, to top good in that next level. How did you mentally grow?

Trent Bryde (22:21.296)
Mm-hmm.

Torrey Hawkins (22:32.189)
and what were you thinking about during, in those years?

Trent Bryde (22:32.211)
Yep.

Trent Bryde (22:36.038)
Yeah, that's a great question. I'd say it wasn't, you know, although my trajectory, you know, looked sort of like, you know, I graduated, graduated, graduated. It didn't feel like that way internally, at least from, you know, listen, I was traveling the world at 15, 14, 15, 16 years old. And I'm like a teenager, right? I don't even know, you know, right? It's like I'm so mature at that age.

Torrey Hawkins (23:00.561)
Right. Right.

Trent Bryde (23:04.4)
and getting these worldly experiences and trying to figure out who I am as a human being while also competing my tail off in a third world country where you don't have hot water and you're just battling every single day, right? I remember in Peru, I'll bring this.

Torrey Hawkins (23:09.468)
Right.

Torrey Hawkins (23:17.851)
Yeah.

Trent Bryde (23:23.336)
Full circle, but I remember in Peru, myself, Patrick and Sam, we were traveling with USTA and we shared a room together. This was in like the heart of Lima. It was so hot there. There was no AC. There was no hot water. Three beds, tiny, right next to each other. Like basically I could hold Patrick's hand.

Alvin Owusu (23:46.448)
Hahaha

Trent Bryde (23:47.55)
So what we would had what we had to do was we had to open the window right behind us to get like some air in and all night Construction like like one of those machines that's like beaten on the concrete type of construction all night long. and so, know, I always I always use that story because it's just like it's such like a like a great representation of

Torrey Hawkins (23:57.853)
Alvin Owusu (23:58.512)
Hmm.

Torrey Hawkins (24:01.211)
Right, right, Yeah.

Trent Bryde (24:13.426)
You know what it really is like to travel the world on the ITF circuit, the real grind. It's not it wasn't sunshine and rainbows. I didn't get to like, you know, go sightsee and do all that. I wasn't in fancy resorts. It was not like that at all. It was it was a grind. It was tough. that but that is what made me who I am today, especially that that worldly travel from 14 years old. I mean, the fact that I did that at 14, 15 years old with no parent. Right. I mean, that's like

Torrey Hawkins (24:15.452)
Right. The grind. Right. Right.

Trent Bryde (24:43.454)
That really molds you, right? There's not much else that you can't go through when you go through that stuff at such a young age. I really want to just credit how much that played a part in my maturity and becoming a better tennis player. When you go back to the States and you can have Chick-Fledge, Polé, whatever you want, it makes it lot easier to play, right? I think a lot of it was just like...

Torrey Hawkins (25:04.444)
Right.

Alvin Owusu (25:05.103)
Yeah

Trent Bryde (25:13.15)
there's not like a specific thing that I can really target that like this is why I got better and better and kept graduating except for relentless hard work. And then just like the things I went through mentally just as a teenager, right? And there were some times that were tough also where I would have long sit downs with Will when I was 16 years old where...

Not every practice I gave 120 percent, right? Because I'm just like, I'm a teenager, right? I'm trying to figure out myself and I'm trying to figure out... You know, one thing I struggled with a lot, and I'm sure you guys will appreciate this is...

when I was probably like 16 years old, you know, I knew I outworked everyone, but I went through a phase where I didn't understand why people could not work hard at all and be the best player that we can win tournaments. And I struggled so much with that internally. And it took me a while to understand the fact that like tennis doesn't owe you anything ever, right? Doesn't owe you anything. All you can do is work hard and put yourself in the best position to win, right?

Torrey Hawkins (26:05.696)
Yeah.

Torrey Hawkins (26:19.774)
Right. To succeed. Yep. That's all you can do. Yep. Yeah.

Trent Bryde (26:21.608)
you can do and that is the beauty of tennis man like my gosh like the way I can handle losses now because I don't feel like I deserve anything right all I can do is just work my butt off and if I and if I lose I get back up and I do it again because that's what tennis taught me like it's such a beautiful thing about the sport right if you go to the gym

and you work hard, you will get a reward. You will get stronger. You will get more fit. Tennis is not like that. If you work hard, you might go six months and not win a tennis match. That's just how it is. And yeah, that's right. That's right. So I think that's such an important lesson just for everyone.

Torrey Hawkins (26:55.137)
and still improve and still be improving.

Alvin Owusu (26:57.006)
And still be getting better, yeah.

Trent Bryde (27:03.966)
either listening or just people or even younger folks who may be going through something similar. It was something that I just couldn't grasp. I just felt like I worked hard, I worked harder than everyone else, I deserved to win even though that's just, and that's a great life lesson and it's a lesson that everyone really needs to learn. And the fact that I got to learn that at such a young age was such a beautiful thing and it is credit to where I am today.

Torrey Hawkins (27:26.41)
that's

That's deep and not only is that inspiring, but that's real. And I feel like the point about tennis not owing you anything is not only profound, it's honest. And let's be honest, the bigger macro, Life doesn't really owe us anything. We are not always the culmination of all hard work. There's some good things that's happened. There's been some luck. There's been some opportunities that we're taking advantage of, what have you.

Trent Bryde (27:40.157)
Yeah.

Trent Bryde (27:45.266)
That's right.

Trent Bryde (27:50.587)
Mhm.

Torrey Hawkins (27:57.442)
There's been some help here and there, but the hard work certainly didn't hurt. And if it doesn't hurt, you should probably do a little more of it. And I think that you add all that with more work. You're a freight train that can't be stopped. And I think that's one of the things that, it's funny you mentioned that. Will made a good point one time, you mentioned Patrick Skleka, and he went through a period there where, I wanna say he had like this streak in the juniors where he had lost like, you

Trent Bryde (28:01.896)
Yeah.

Torrey Hawkins (28:24.609)
His dad told me he lost three out of the last, I don't know, 11 tiebreak matches, right? He had the stats on it. And Will made this point, I it was classic point. Have you been the hardest worker 11 days in a row? There's your 11 tiebreaks right there. He said, I'm sure you've been the hardest worker once, maybe twice. He said, so if you look at it that way, you actually got an extra one. You got an extra one you probably didn't deserve on that one tiebreak.

Trent Bryde (28:52.231)
Yeah.

Torrey Hawkins (28:52.995)
Patrick was salty. He was like no way. No, I work harder than everybody. He says go ask TH after every practice go ask TH if you were the hardest worker First day he comes over. I was hardest worker I said Patrick you didn't even get to the top court today. There was at least four guys that outworked you today. I'll come back tomorrow. Okay next day comes back. I know I was the hardest worker today. I ended up on top court. I said Patrick I started you on the second court

You just had to stay up. I said, who was on the top court with you? The guy that started on the last court. Third day. He doesn't even come by. He says, I go, Patrick, I know what you're going to say. I didn't work the hardest today. I'm like, am I going to say that or is that what happened? It's what happened. I'll see you tomorrow. Day five. When I tell you this kid comes in like, tell me.

I don't work the hardest today. said, Patrick, you were the hardest worker today. And finally, finally, and then I was like, don't you see? This is what Will was asking you to get to. Can you be that hardest worker every day? I said, that's, that was the point. And he, at that point, Patrick got it. He thought he was working hard for Patrick. And he was. He wasn't working hard for, in relationship to everyone else.

Alvin Owusu (29:54.948)
There you go.

Trent Bryde (30:05.0)
Mm-hmm.

Trent Bryde (30:14.578)
Yeah.

Torrey Hawkins (30:21.124)
for Patrick's working hard, but maybe that wasn't quite good enough. And to your point, and I feel like that's one of the things that some of the best are working on, that's the mindset, you and then you add that, the Peru experience, right, and the situations that you guys went through. Those are the moments that forge you. You know, I can remember being at some crazy shady futures where there wasn't orange juice, there was some tang, you know, there was some orange.

Trent Bryde (30:46.622)
That's right. That's right.

Torrey Hawkins (30:49.247)
orange drink, you know what I mean? And a loaf of bread and some PBJs out there. Hey, that was breakfast. That was continental bread and some cereal and some milk. That was it, buddy. We're not all Ritz Carlton out here. This is Harlingen, Texas, buddy. And just across the border and just see how lucky you had to have this tang and that cereal right there. You know what I mean? So go ahead, Alvin.

Trent Bryde (30:53.502)
That's right.

Trent Bryde (30:57.949)
Yep.

Trent Bryde (31:01.821)
Yup.

Trent Bryde (31:06.728)
That's right.

Alvin Owusu (31:07.948)
I wanna bring those together though, like kind of that experience you had in Lima and the thoughts that you were thinking about, like I'm outworking everyone here, why am I not getting, at the time what you thought you were, was due to you. Even from a, maybe bringing this down to like a tennis standpoint, like those that were in your cohort that you feel like, okay, I'm outworking these people, but maybe they're seeing more success on the court than I am.

I don't know for the listeners who don't know, the guy's kinda in your range, your year, plus or minus a year. You've got Felix Ojealassime, you've got Sitsipass, you've got, I mean, Jason Sang, he's just now starting to kinda see his success, but Higo Gaston, Sebi Korda, Alex Popper, and me and Mark S. Malinovich, no joke players on the ATP tour, but you're right there.

Trent Bryde (31:40.734)
Sure.

Trent Bryde (31:50.76)
Yeah.

Trent Bryde (31:56.54)
Yep.

Alvin Owusu (32:00.59)
trading W's and losses with these guys, what would you say was the thing? Yeah, yes. So what would you say is the thing that outside of the hard work that kind of at that age separates those kind of players?

Torrey Hawkins (32:01.901)
Sure. Seven five on the third with tizzy pops back in the day. If I remember correctly. Yeah. Set in the break right there.

Trent Bryde (32:03.582)
Yep.

I'll be setting a break,

Trent Bryde (32:16.062)
Yeah, it's a great question. you know, this is when you get to sort of the hard reality of, you know, my dream when I was very young was I want to be the number one tennis player in the world. ATP. That was it. Nothing less. That was my goal.

Obviously I had a very awesome career that I'm super proud of. When it came down to the dis... Obviously I continued playing pro tournaments through the end of my junior career as well as college career. And when it got to sort of the end of my college career, I had a really good job offer and I had to make the decision to play pro or work.

And it was one of the harder decisions I've made in my life. But when I look at tennis objectively and I look at myself objectively and I look at Stefano Citsipas, Sebi Korda, Ben Shelton, and these guys, I knew that for me specifically,

I was a great tennis player. was very athletic. Had a good serve for my height. Had great returns. Phenomenal backhand. Decent forehand. But I didn't have that one thing that was better than everyone else's. Ethan Quinn, one of my best friends, was my doubles partner at UGA in my last year. He's obviously having a lot of success right now. 130 in the world.

Torrey Hawkins (33:42.468)
Yeah.

Trent Bryde (33:54.27)
He's got that one thing. He's got a forehand that, I mean, it is probably top five, top 10, maybe top five on tour, the way it comes off. It's different. It is different. It's something you can't teach. It's an intangible. And so when I looked at my game objectively,

I'd make deep runs in futures, but I wasn't winning challengers. I wasn't Francis Tiefo, wasn't Tommy Paul, I wasn't Opelka, I wasn't Taylor Fritz, where right out of juniors, boom, I'm winning challengers, like those guys. That was not me. And so when I looked at my game objectively, I thought that...

If it were in my cards to make top 100, I'm not going to say that it was impossible. If it were in my cards to do that, I think it was going to take three, four, five years. And so was I willing to, because I don't think, I think I would have been, so because just looking at my game objectively, I felt like I was going to be more of like a for Tangelo, Mitch Krueger, Tennis Sangren, right? Like those guys that like,

Alvin Owusu (34:49.936)
Why do you say that? How did you predict it out like that?

Alvin Owusu (35:04.036)
Yeah, okay.

Trent Bryde (35:06.098)
that were journeymen, right? They were proper journeymen. Because I didn't have J.J. Wolfe's power off the wings, right? That intangible thing. I wasn't 6'5 lefty with a wicked arm like Ben Sheldon, right? And again, I'm not saying, maybe a miracle could have happened. I could have figured something out in two years top 100. But looking objectively, did I want to spend three, four, five years...

Torrey Hawkins (35:19.779)
Yep.

Trent Bryde (35:32.86)
you know, giving up a lot of my life to potentially make it. so when that's the hard reality that you have to face is that hard work can take you very far. took it took me very far, but it can only take you so far. And it is the hard reality that there are intangibles that you must have when it comes to becoming a top 100 tennis player. Seve Korda has the best feel like these ball striking skills are out of this world.

Torrey Hawkins (35:38.907)
Right.

Torrey Hawkins (35:46.406)
Mm-hmm.

Torrey Hawkins (35:57.926)
Mm.

Trent Bryde (36:02.034)
doesn't matter how hard I work, I will never have his ball striking skills. Just what it is. And so I think like, and I hope that's, know, maybe it's a bit of a pessimistic view, but you know, I don't think it's impossible. You know, there are guys that are grinders that, know, Katchamanovich is a good example. I mean, obviously he's one of the best counter-bunters, but like, but right, but he, yeah, okay, so maybe a bad example, but like, I mean, there are some guys in there that, you know, are proper grinders.

Torrey Hawkins (36:25.19)
ball time.

Trent Bryde (36:31.968)
Maybe it's Sebastian Baez, right? Like, know, guy's small and he just freaking grinds so hard, right? So it's not impossible, but...

if you really want to look at your game objectively and think, okay, what kind of tool do I have that no one else has or no one else can replicate that can't be replicated by hard work. And I think the only thing that I really had was just like, I had some pretty superior athleticism. I just, I had great speed.

Torrey Hawkins (37:01.507)
Yeah, speed was off the charts. Your speed was absolutely off the charts. Your backhand flying in the wing and your backhand return, would put, for juniors, would put top five in the world for sure. And I would put, for tour-wise, easy, easy top hundred to your point. Is every part of your game top hundred? And at that point, and that's really where it comes down to, you're also looking at staring down the barrel of a great job opportunity.

Trent Bryde (37:10.493)
Yeah.

Trent Bryde (37:20.744)
Mm-hmm.

Torrey Hawkins (37:27.111)
And let's face it, the top hundred and below don't make much jingle. So you gotta look at that for the next three to five years. If that's what you want, is that what's in the car to you and the family? And orphan you may wanna start. tennis makes you make decisions like that. And as we say, tennis doesn't owe you anything. And what you put into it, that you're rolling the dice, you could have easily made it in three to five years, you could have easily rolled an ankle going out wide and then pissed off you didn't take the job. So I always say, your time,

You know, and your choices, you know, kind of always make you, your decisions end up getting you where you are. And so the decisions take you where you were always meant to be. And I feel like that's just some, that's a huge part of it. You made the right decisions. You've maximized every bit that you could. You worked the hardest you could. And I don't look back at any of it with any pessimism. Maybe at that level in the world, maybe a healthy dose of realism, right? To realize that what you did or didn't have.

and maybe what others had, but I think that if I'd heard that from a guy who didn't try from a guy that didn't make it as far as you've got, I'd say, yeah, I don't know if you can say all that. If I hear that from a guy that tried, that did, played, and let's be honest, COVID, which you haven't spoken to, COVID killed some momentum you had going into those pro ranks. You were killing it in that time, playing some great tennis, COVID and that tour, you had a bunch of little smaller tournaments. That was a great run.

Trent Bryde (38:50.707)
Yeah.

Torrey Hawkins (38:53.254)
had those tournaments stayed open during that timeframe when you were hitting, when you were just hitting stride, you know, and unfortunately, right, everything kind of started over, things started back over again, you know, and that to me was one the that really caught you. But I feel that, you know, some of the names, man, let's be honest, looking back and 10 years from now as well, Trent, you'll be looking back to say, man, I was in that conversation. You know, those guys was a real tennis players, but man, I was right there. And you know that those guys felt the same way about you.

Trent Bryde (38:55.227)
Absolutely.

Trent Bryde (39:15.389)
Yeah.

Torrey Hawkins (39:21.194)
That's the respect, man. That's the respect that you had for them, that you earned for yourself. And they were able to continue going good for them. You know what I mean? And you're going to, you you and B and G, you know, Cap, are going to continue to some great things. And those guys may be clients of yours one day as a result of all this too. So I think that's also the part that we have to look at. I'm 52, I'll be 53 soon. I look at it always from different perspective now. Like that was just one chapter in this book. You know, I've got so many more to write and you know, I'll be a...

Trent Bryde (39:21.822)
sure.

Torrey Hawkins (39:50.425)
I got a great picture on Instagram, Amir Delik, who was one of my all time favorite college players. He and Bobby were good. They were in that pod like you and Riffus and the seal were. And so it was Rajiv Ram, right? It was Amir Delik, Brian Baker and Bobby, right? And Amir was, man, had a oney that I just wished I had. mean, Delik's backhand was just beautiful. mean, Gaston Gaudio was the only person I know with a cleaner, prettier one-hander. Just awesome.

Alvin Owusu (40:09.818)
Jeez, yeah.

Trent Bryde (40:17.17)
Mm-hmm.

Torrey Hawkins (40:19.239)
Rajiv, we used to call him nickname Rajiv Rampers because he looked like the Indian Pete Sampras, right? Old Rampers, he had the serve, the oney. So this is a pretty good group. And Banks was money. Banks might have been the most complete player out all of them, right? Bobby got top 50, know, played out there for a while. I think Deli broke top 100 here and there. think he kind of, he went a different direction after a little while. Had a great five setter. I want to say with somebody like really good back in, it was either.

Alvin Owusu (40:22.672)
That's serve, that's serve man.

Trent Bryde (40:23.026)
Yo

Torrey Hawkins (40:49.259)
It was either Moya or Fed, he had a strong five-set, played great first round of the open, played a good match. Baker could never really get healthy long enough to just stay where he was, but Bates was money and a great tennis brain. Rajiv has won a couple of slams, man, a medal silver with Venus, I the guy's done incredible, and he's been out there ever since. And so if you had to tell me then who would have the most slams and the most titles?

Alvin Owusu (40:58.284)
healthy yeah

Torrey Hawkins (41:17.002)
And when I say Rajiv Ram, I'm oh God, no, I'm like Deli for sure, number one. Bobby May, maybe not. He has a great chance to be out there for 15 years. And it's, you know, it's that old expression, those you think will, won't, those you think won't will. But it's to my point, and each of them, each of them are successful with what they're doing now. And they look back on the tennis, hopefully all of them with a smile on their face. You, that whole group you mentioned, you guys are all successful now. You were successful then.

Sometimes we let that number system, you know, kind of dictate to what we are, you know what I mean? And at the end of the day, everything you're taking from it, you're gonna, in fact, you're probably reflecting on some times in tennis at some key moments in life and key moments in what you're doing, even with your business now. And isn't that really what tennis will always pay you back with? It's that learning of yourself and understanding what you did under pressure and what you did, what you were able to achieve through some work and taking some chances.

Trent Bryde (41:49.65)
Yeah.

Torrey Hawkins (42:12.254)
That to me is really tennis was your, it was your pressure cooker and to see what you could do as man, there's not a better pressure cooker of life to really distill and hone who you are as a person than inside those gates and inside those lines, man. It's a wonderful, wonderful situation.

Trent Bryde (42:17.65)
It was.

Trent Bryde (42:32.444)
Yeah. I mean, listen, when I, there are times in my career where I just.

I felt like I couldn't even handle it enough, right? Because I put so much pressure on myself. Hated losing more than any human on the planet. Hyper competitive. And sometimes mixing those things together can bring you a pretty stressful life when you're playing tennis. But I look at it today and all the things that tennis has blessed me with. And so just for the people listening, I worked in wealth management for two years and myself and a long time friend of mine, Joseph Gandolfo.

Torrey Hawkins (42:53.525)
Sure. Sure.

Trent Bryde (43:09.408)
He was also a great tennis player We developed a trading strategy and decided to start our own hedge fund and the reason I bring that up is because Half if not more than half of our investors are all connections. I made through tennis all through tennis like and and it pays it forward and what's so amazing is I look up to all these people so so much because They were all tennis players that went through the same thing that are now super successful in their

Alvin Owusu (43:23.738)
There it is, yep.

Torrey Hawkins (43:26.805)
Pays it it forward, doesn't it? Yeah.

Trent Bryde (43:39.328)
lives as fathers, as businessmen, businesswoman, right? In all aspects of life, they credit it all to tennis. That's one thing that they all have in common, It's just what they learned in tennis, take away. I'm seeing it starting to happen in fruition as I'm starting to have some success in my young career and I owe every bit of it to the sport of tennis, for sure.

Alvin Owusu (44:07.308)
Are you still playing now? what's going on? Where's Trent Bryant's tennis right now? How's that backhand looking? Backhand does it. hey, hey. The backhand, backhands, you get a little older, you know, you don't rotate as much anymore. That backhand might fool you, but yeah, go ahead.

Torrey Hawkins (44:07.359)
That's a...

Trent Bryde (44:11.908)
Yeah, yeah, so, hey, the backhand doesn't leave. The backhand doesn't leave, you know, the forehand's little shaky, but...

Torrey Hawkins (44:13.703)
Alpha's looking for a doubles partner by the way.

Trent Bryde (44:23.122)
Hey.

Trent Bryde (44:27.314)
Yeah, yeah. Well, no, so, yes.

Torrey Hawkins (44:28.686)
Trent's backhand, I think he'll wake up in flip flops and his backhand down the line. just I'm worried about his flip flops, not his backhand. You know what I mean? That's just how I see it.

Alvin Owusu (44:36.122)
Hehe.

Trent Bryde (44:36.286)
Yeah, well, yeah, so there's a startup called Intense Tennis. Charles Allen is the leader of it.

He's locally here in Atlanta, think in Cummins specifically. Great guy and they've gotten, I mean they have a full operation. Like they really do. It's not just this small league that they're putting together and doing it for fun. I mean they raised money and it is professional. It is incredible the thing that they're putting together and I'm so happy to be a part of, I'm so blessed to be a part of like what they, their mission and their journey and what they're trying to achieve which is to entice viewership into

a format that is just more engaging, right? Like, know, tennis there's obviously watching the top guys is, you know, getting to watch Novak play Alcara's is special regardless of how long it is in between points. But, you know, when you have guys at the lower level, people don't want to spend time watching it because only there's probably only 25, 30 minutes of a three hour match that's actual tennis. And so what Intense is trying to do and what they are doing is

Torrey Hawkins (45:44.237)
100%.

Trent Bryde (45:49.504)
They have a format.

that basically there's, it's constant tennis. It's, you know, you have these 10 minute bolts where you just play continuous points. It's one serve, no lets, right? And so you're just going back and forth and each point is one point. So it's one, two, three, four instead of 15, 30, 40. And so it's a great format and I'm happy, very lucky to be a part of the, I'm the captain for the Atlanta team alongside Michaela Gordon, who is also a phenomenal tennis player.

I played at Stanford, played one there, and I believe won a national championship. yeah, so we're getting a couple cities together and making it like a sort of like a world team tennis, but with a different format that's gonna be more engaging for fans. So I'm really excited for it. It's really nice to get out there and train a little bit more. I actually have a tennis court here at my condo, so me and Joseph get out there and practice a good amount, which has been great. And so, yeah, so I'm excited to compete again.

Torrey Hawkins (46:36.386)
different format. Love it. Love it.

Torrey Hawkins (46:48.27)
Yeah.

Trent Bryde (46:52.412)
that and I really think, mean for anyone watching like you guys have to tune in they'll broadcast them on YouTube, JY, JY Bone is doing the commentating he's phenomenal and so it's just a great it's just a it's just a great idea and just really really happy to be part of what they're trying to achieve.

Alvin Owusu (47:03.888)
Yeah, yeah.

Torrey Hawkins (47:13.858)
I'm looking forward to tuning in. I love that it's happening like that. feel like tennis is having yet another renaissance, especially with the newer viewers and there's so much talk of pickleball, this and that. And, I'm, pickleball is great in its own right, but I feel like, I feel like tennis is still for the purest of us out there that still appreciate tennis. Tennis is still the best. And I take nothing against pickleball. I think it's appeal to the masses and it's entry level. It's.

Trent Bryde (47:23.25)
Mm-hmm.

Trent Bryde (47:35.667)
Of course.

Torrey Hawkins (47:43.956)
small barrier of entry to get in. It's awesome for the masses and if anything, it helps. If anything, it's stolen more tennis players than it's brought to the tennis courts. You know what mean? That's another talk show.

Trent Bryde (47:46.248)
Sure.

Trent Bryde (47:53.169)
Sure.

Alvin Owusu (47:53.262)
You know that it is pickleball pickleball is the tennis that people think they're going to be playing when they start playing tennis. That's how I feel about pickleball.

Torrey Hawkins (47:58.575)
Right. And those that don't understand how hard tennis is, you know, I still feel it's one of the hardest sports in the world. I was talking with couple of former top top athletes and we were talking. Me and Jeff Frankour got into it about what's harder, hitting a baseball thrown at, you know, at 98 miles an hour, you know what I mean? Or hitting a, returning a, from 90 feet.

Trent Bryde (48:00.219)
Yeah.

Torrey Hawkins (48:27.147)
or returning a tennis ball at 155, you know what I mean, from 80 feet, you know what I mean, in less time, in less space. And he was like, you got a point there, but I'll never say baseball's not as good. I'm like, you know what I'm saying? I said, you don't have to say it. We just, just let it linger. I said, just appreciate, just appreciate what I'm talking about. I said, I have, and I am not taking any those World Series rings off you today, but let's be honest.

Trent Bryde (48:31.128)
Yeah.

Trent Bryde (48:42.866)
Yep.

That's right.

Torrey Hawkins (48:55.491)
when you talk about difficulty, right? I told him, said, you do three out of 10 for the lifetime of your career, your Hall of Fame. Four out of 10, you are super special. I said, you make four out of 10 on a tennis court? You're terrible. I mean, you miss four out of 10. You're trash, you know what I mean? So I was like, it's just a different mindset. And so I just say that to say the level of difficulty at any high level of game, high level of game of 12, high level of game of.

Trent Bryde (49:06.108)
Yeah.

Trent Bryde (49:12.228)
Yeah, terrible.

Torrey Hawkins (49:23.949)
ITFs, high level game, NCAAs. I mean, let alone the pros. mean, come on. It's only those that have played enough can appreciate how hard it is. You know, that's, and that's, you know, that's, it's ridiculous. It's when you really see it live, you know, so that's why I'm interested in seeing this format because anything that keeps getting viewership, I wish there was a way to show how hard it is to move track and hit that ball at that speed. Then people would be like,

Trent Bryde (49:34.91)
That's right.

Torrey Hawkins (49:53.232)
Whoa, mean, remember years ago, Alvin, how dip the dunk contest, because I know you're in terms of sports. There was years ago where the dunks weren't as special because the technology could not show slow-mo a good enough. And it was only when you could see that dunk slow down that you realized Jordan brought the ball back, cocked it, brought both knees up, and took off from the free throw line.

Alvin Owusu (50:08.1)
Yeah.

Torrey Hawkins (50:22.872)
Right? You didn't realize all that was happening. Dominique had the double windmill and you didn't realize how hard the dunk was. And then they slowed it down. You were like, he did. Wait, he did what? Then you understood what he did. It all happened within two seconds. Your eye couldn't track it all. But then you started appreciating it. Now you see it. Now we almost have problems. Everything's about the slow mo, right? Because the slow mo helps you see what actually happened. I think the same thing with tennis. I mean, if they literally put a

a true inaction Hawkeye, you know, representation of the ball moving at that speed and they start you from where you are and you're like, you see this spot in space that you have to get to in .93 seconds. Here's a split step and make it and recover the next ball. People were like, my God, are you for like if they did a.

Trent Bryde (51:05.117)
Yeah.

and measure it in your head to test.

Alvin Owusu (51:15.162)
Well, mean, I've told this story before, but I've taken like, Tories, you remember like the one, two, threes, the counting of cadence and all that stuff, like, obviously we've done it on the tennis court, but I did it once watching Rafa practice, and I was like, I know I can't keep up with that. Like, that's fast. I haven't even gotten out of my and, and then the ball's already coming back. It's like, those guys, I can't count that fast. I'm out of breath counting that fast.

Trent Bryde (51:23.038)
Of course.

Trent Bryde (51:33.374)
Yeah.

Can't even count that fast. One, two, three, one, two, Yeah, that's right.

Torrey Hawkins (51:41.083)
Can't count that fast.

Alvin Owusu (51:44.032)
And they're just hitting up the middle. So it's like, if people could understand, to your point, Tori, like if there was some way to kind of show and actually, you know, that since you mentioned my employer, are, this is the first year of our 10 year contract with the French Open to cover the French Open for the United States. It'll be on TNT and Max and so on and so forth. So, but like having that in the broadcast, like, you know, even with those like integration with like the blaze pod or something, like, yeah, put the blaze pod on the floor, pods on the floor.

Torrey Hawkins (51:58.577)
Nice.

Alvin Owusu (52:11.694)
Like, let's see how fast this thing lights up and see if you can keep up. Yeah, that's a.

Torrey Hawkins (52:12.015)
Yeah, yeah. See if you can keep up. that's, and that's and that's Rafa, you know what I mean? Who was phenomenal. What about you add that to Yannick Center and you know, some of the guys that are banging now, they're like, buddy, it's, it's, it's something that the, it's only getting faster. You know what I mean? So no doubt.

Trent Bryde (52:26.622)
It's only getting faster.

Alvin Owusu (52:28.218)
Yep. And the chords not getting any bigger either. It's still tight. It's still tight. Yeah, go ahead.

Trent Bryde (52:32.498)
Yeah.

Torrey Hawkins (52:35.181)
It is what it is. Tripp, my last question for y'all and we'll let you go.

Trent Bryde (52:35.559)
That's right.

Torrey Hawkins (52:42.073)
Little Trent's coming along down the road. You're out hitting balls with him.

five years old, what do you do with him on the tennis court? And this is going to be simple, to make sure he always loves the game.

Trent Bryde (53:03.507)
Wow.

What a deep question.

Torrey Hawkins (53:09.788)
could be a daughter as well. Make no mistake. I have one of each.

Trent Bryde (53:15.122)
Well, listen, I...

Alvin Owusu (53:19.408)
You know, sure, while you think about it, I'll give you, I'll give you a little minute here to burn on that one. Like I have a five year old son. He's my, he's my youngest. have a seven year old daughter and I have yet to, you for the commas for that same reason, like I love the game. I'm 42 years old and I have a lot of guys that I grew up playing with. don't play anymore because they don't, they don't love it. And I love this game dearly and I love it so much that I almost want to protect my kids from falling out of love with it. So like I don't, I don't push too hard to like, like, you want to go outside and send us balls? I'm like, no, I'm like, okay, that's fine.

That's fine. Because if you do it, want you to enjoy it. I want it to be a place that is fun and safe, not a thing you have to go do. So I'm interested to see your... That's a very poignant question because it's

Torrey Hawkins (53:59.612)
Right? Yeah. And let me qualify it because here's where I was going with it. What did Bruce do with you? And I think that's where I, and that's really where I'm coming from. What made him, right? What made you love it? You know, with the dad that was a coach, dad that was, you that was a player that kept you in it because at some point you had to get addicted to it, but you had to love it first, right? So that was where I was going with it.

Trent Bryde (54:02.365)
What?

Trent Bryde (54:09.086)
That's what...

Yeah.

Trent Bryde (54:19.581)
Yeah.

Trent Bryde (54:26.482)
Well, yeah, that's immediately where my mind went to was, and this is perfect because I mean, I had the best tennis parents I could have ever asked for. And you guys know better than anyone else.

not all parents are good tennis parents and probably a majority of them are not good tennis parents and they drive their child away from the sport rather than to the sport. And what my dad did with me specifically,

He obviously introduced me to the game. He taught me the game and as an immature little kid I was, I did not like listening to my dad and when it got to that stage he passed me along to Will and he let Will take full control and he did not pressure me. If I didn't want to play, cool, you don't have to play. And he, I mean like...

Like it almost makes me emotional like how much support like my parents gave me. mean my dad and my mom as well just relentlessly financially supporting me and if I wanted to quit the next day they would say no problem. You know they I mean they would they would of course you know want to talk to me about it but

I mean, and I can't imagine my dad inside. Yeah, it's actually funny. I was talking to a friend the other day, like, you know what, do you want your kid to play one day or whatever?

Trent Bryde (55:55.676)
I was thinking to myself, like, how hard would it be for my child to play tennis? Because I know so much about tennis, which is almost like it almost hurts you a little bit. Right. And I'm sure my dad was in the same position because he knew so much. And I can't imagine when you know so much about tennis and that your child who you love so much is doing the wrong thing over and over. And when you tell him he won't listen. Right. And so you have to have the humility. You have to have

Torrey Hawkins (56:01.65)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yep. Yep.

Trent Bryde (56:25.6)
you know that personality to be able to let go and trust in a coach that you know, which was ultimately will who who I mean who was absolutely I mean who couldn't be be more perfect for me and what I what I needed so

Torrey Hawkins (56:40.117)
100%.

Trent Bryde (56:44.242)
That's just, I mean, my parents were absolutely perfect. I my dad was phenomenal and I will never, I'll be forever indebted to everything that both my parents have done for me. And hopefully I can do the same for my children someday because I would love to introduce them to the sport of tennis and.

Torrey Hawkins (56:52.657)
Yeah.

Trent Bryde (57:04.314)
hopefully they can have the difficult experiences that I had as well as the beautiful experiences I had. And that's all I would ask for my child is just to enjoy those moments and embrace those experiences because they're really hard. They're really hard, man. mean, but gosh, does it make you a better human being tenfold? But that's a great question, Tori. That was a great question.

Torrey Hawkins (57:09.321)
Right. Right.

Yeah.

Torrey Hawkins (57:21.725)
Yeah, yeah.

Torrey Hawkins (57:27.979)
Yeah. Dude, that's, that's awesome. I've had the, I've known your dad for many, many years now and knew that he was a coach. No, he was the director for many, many years as well before he went into his other business. And I know, and, and funny, Mike Gandolfo, know, Joseph's dad was also a very good tennis player and a pro player played, played. And I give those dads and a few more like them, you know, Adeline Flack, obviously Doug was her dad and Doug was top 50 ATP. And I tell people all the time.

Trent Bryde (57:40.104)
Mm-hmm.

Trent Bryde (57:43.976)
course, phenomenal player.

Trent Bryde (57:54.396)
Yeah? Yeah.

Torrey Hawkins (57:57.942)
I've had coaches who were dads, coaches that were pro players in tennis. And the best thing they did was they trusted me or whoever the coach was in the process. And you can't say more. There isn't a better level of respect for a guy, you know, for dad who knew, who played, who knows as much, if not more, than the person delivering the mess films on that side of the net.

And they allowed that process to happen, right? Bruce allowed us to coach him. He allowed Will to be in that driver's seat with you. He wasn't hanging around the fence. Hey, you mention this though? Hey, but what about... He was just dad. And I think, and you said humility, I think it also took a great deal of trust, but it also took a great deal of, he also really found the right coach. And so he found the guy that he knew would help you the most.

Trent Bryde (58:30.386)
Yeah.

Trent Bryde (58:42.642)
Yep.

Trent Bryde (58:51.442)
That's so true.

Torrey Hawkins (58:55.784)
Will, you were fiery and hyper and could be up or down. Will was pretty even keel, you know, and he was always very, not bad. He hit a good shot, not too bad. That was bloody good right there. Like he was just in this typical English accident, right? He was never got too up. Could have hit that ball a little better right there. Like he was just, it was probably just what you needed. You know what I'm saying? And Attila, I did a lot of work with Joseph. I mean, same thing. Attila was just, hey, let's get to work. You know, let's hit some more balls.

Trent Bryde (59:07.762)
Yup. Yup.

Trent Bryde (59:13.477)
Ha ha!

Yeah.

Trent Bryde (59:23.486)
That's right.

Torrey Hawkins (59:25.598)
And that mentality was probably just what Joseph needed. So I say that to say the dads were, they knew enough to know their kid. They knew enough. Obviously they know the game better than most, but it was to me, their level of trust was really, really high. And I thank all the parents that have trusted me with their kid, you know, especially I'll say yours and then others. Dixon, Dixon Ousu, you know, trusted us with my main man Alvin and Trav back in the day. So I shout out to the tennis dads and moms.

Trent Bryde (59:51.101)
Mm-hmm.

Trent Bryde (59:55.635)
Yeah.

Torrey Hawkins (59:55.647)
out there, but especially ones that played tennis that knew what they were doing, you know, and were happy to take a step back and watch their kid, you know, from afar. Right? Right.

Alvin Owusu (01:00:04.868)
Well, both are, both are really hard jobs, right? Being a parent is hard. Being coach is hard. And sometimes the best thing you can do is try to do your job well and let someone else take over the other one. Yeah. Yeah.

Torrey Hawkins (01:00:14.581)
Right. Do theirs. Yeah.

Trent Bryde (01:00:15.23)
That's right. That's right. But I think you made a really good point, Tori, which was that my dad also knew how great Will was and you were and Henry was, right? And I think just thinking for myself is like, it's a tough ceiling because if I have a child who wants to play tennis, you know, I hope you guys are still around coaching because I need you guys, you know, because no one, you guys set the bar too high. If it's you guys, then you guys can have full rain.

Torrey Hawkins (01:00:36.979)
Noooo

Alvin Owusu (01:00:37.872)
You

Torrey Hawkins (01:00:42.122)
Well...

Alvin Owusu (01:00:42.35)
Well, Tori keeps moving farther north and north, so it makes it more and more difficult. Well, cool. Well, let's put a pin in it there. And I think that was lot of fun. Cher, thank you so much for taking time out of your day to come kick it with us here.

Torrey Hawkins (01:00:46.103)
Yeah, yeah, I'll be in Chattanooga by then. I'll be in Clemson by the end of this year, you know what mean?

Trent Bryde (01:00:47.282)
Yeah. Yeah.

Trent Bryde (01:00:58.779)
awesome.

Torrey Hawkins (01:01:00.513)
I want to get Trent back Alvin when we are going through the throes of NCAAs. There's nobody better to talk about than the guy that finished playing. We don't talk enough about your college experiences in my opinion. know, in all the years you had at Georgia and all from the team, we don't talk enough about college, about the team aspect of college sports. And so you were one of the best. We want to get you back on the show and kind of speak to some other things. Please tell.

Trent Bryde (01:01:03.134)
Let's do it.

Trent Bryde (01:01:14.75)
True, Yep.

Trent Bryde (01:01:26.428)
Love to.

Torrey Hawkins (01:01:29.878)
The whole family, hello. Please tell Joseph, another very good one in his own right, my main man Gandolfo, that we said hello. And again, we will talk soon. We're not gonna say goodbye. We'll say it till next time on the show. And thank you again, Trent, for not just all the kind words, but it really made me feel good. But thank you for coming on the show with us. We really appreciate it. We know the listeners will as well.

Trent Bryde (01:01:31.23)
course.

Trent Bryde (01:01:37.256)
course.

Trent Bryde (01:01:43.582)
That's right.

Trent Bryde (01:01:55.39)
wouldn't miss it. was ecstatic when your name came up on my phone and offered me to do this. So it's a blessing to be on here and all the successes that I've had and all the people I've been able to be surrounded by growing up. give every bit of the glory to God and none of it was done through my own being. was all through the glory of God. So I'm very appreciative of that. That's right. Amen to that. We can just leave it there.

Torrey Hawkins (01:02:00.504)
That's all.

Torrey Hawkins (01:02:21.29)
Amen to that. Amen to that. Well said. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Alvin Owusu (01:02:22.256)
Well said, well said, well said. All right guys, well that's a fun one. We'll wrap it up there. That's the three, Tori, Trent, thanks so much. We'll catch you guys next one.

Trent Bryde (01:02:32.542)
Awesome.

Torrey Hawkins (01:02:33.282)
Peace.