EP 21 - Breaking Stereotypes: Jonathyn Young (XXL Tennis) & His Journey to Inspire

XXL Tennis (00:00): Sounds good.

Gerard (00:20): yeah, and your brand, is I'm on brand wear? Or is it just brand wear, or?

XXL Tennis (00:24): just, you can just say on brand. Yeah.

Gerard (00:28): on brand and you're out on your like Instagram handle your co CEO is that how you want to be described or.

XXL Tennis (00:33): Yeah, yeah, cause he is.

Gerard (00:39): Awesome. All right.

Spin The Racket (00:50): And I'm Lou.

Gerard (00:52): Today we're joined by Jonathan Young from XXL Tennis. He wears mini hats, working as a marketing leader for the USTA Southern. He's also the co-CEO of OnBrand. And I'm sure he has a whole host of other things that he's doing. But Jonathan, welcome to the pod.

XXL Tennis (01:08): Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for having me.

Gerard (01:11): For sure. No, we're happy to have you here. Every question, every time we have a guest, we always ask them the same question here to start off. Would you rather have no serve or no forehand?

XXL Tennis (01:22): Uhhhh... No sir.

XXL Tennis (01:28): I have a, tell us, okay. Well, I've had a mighty journey with my forehand. From the moment I stepped in front of the camera until now, I have tweaked and tweaked and tweaked my forehand. My serve is a big serve. It is a big serve, but it has let me down more times than my forehand.

Spin The Racket (01:29): Let's go.

Gerard (01:29): Tell us more.

Gerard (01:53): That is fair. That is fair. feel like it's probably like split on these answers now, right, Lou?

Spin The Racket (01:58): Yeah, now I think it's leaning more towards having no serve camp. We still don't have a count on it. But yeah, man, I appreciate the answer. Thanks for joining the no serve camp. Yeah, know, just like, hey, you guys, forehand slingers all the way. Trying to grind the points.

XXL Tennis (02:11): All right, all right. It's good to be a part of the NoServeCamp.

XXL Tennis (02:18): Yes, yes. Exactly. Exactly. Well, on my end, not so much grand. I'm ending the point very fast. But yes.

Gerard (02:26): I feel that. feel that. Well, Jonathan, we love your content. We know you have a deep tennis background. Walk us through that. When did you start playing tennis? How did you get into the sport?

XXL Tennis (02:40): Of course. Well, I started playing tennis when I was five years old through an NJTL, with at that time it was called National Tennis and Leadership, or Leaders, now it's called National Tennis and Learning. But with National Tennis and Learning, we basically take inner city kids and teach them through the sport of tennis or keep them off the streets with tennis. At least that's what it was when I grew up.

Spin The Racket (03:18): .

XXL Tennis (03:34): was called Norwick Grassroots and then now Norwick Grassroots Tennis and Education because they found out we were good enough to play our high school team on our high school team and not just good enough to play but dominate on our high school team but we didn't have the grades or didn't have the just know-how of like what could we do to keep up our grades is to get on the team or be successful so they turned it into tennis Norwick Tennis and Education.

Gerard (03:46): Wow.

Spin The Racket (03:56): and .

XXL Tennis (04:02): So played high school, played number two on my team. And then I was going to go to school for performing arts. But then my aunt decided to say, hey, you know, you can play tennis in school, right? I was like, we can do that. Where is that at? Where I grew up, you didn't know. You didn't know that you could play, you know, that our counselors didn't know. I remember having to get through NCAA Clarence House because I got a scholarship through Division II. And my coach was like, hey, you to get through Clarence House. OK, cool.

Gerard (04:15): Yeah.

XXL Tennis (04:32): About a week or so later trying to get through Clearinghouse, my counselor was just underwater with trying to get us through Clearinghouse. He didn't know. He didn't know. And we didn't need the sciences that they needed or the number of science classes that they needed. So I was retarded in my freshman year. Luckily, I had a coach that worked with me. He was able to take me in. I could practice. I can get aided, but I couldn't play any matches, which was a bummer. But it was fine. It was a good, like, smooth transition into it.

Gerard (05:01): That makes sense. makes sense. Yeah, it's interesting. feel like we have a similar background in the sense of both kind of going through these NJTLs in terms of starting tennis. Like that's kind of how I initially got my start was this organization called DD &J in Columbia, South Carolina. And they taught me how to play tennis, was pretty cool. I'm curious just for you. mean, obviously, tennis is not the cheapest sport. It's not the sport that like every, you know, black kid has access to, like that sort of thing. Like, what was that?

XXL Tennis (05:36): Well, we were very fortunate. Everything for our program was free. So as long as you lived under the property line, everything that you had in the program was free. So all of our rackets were donated, all the balls were donated, pretty much everything was donated. And when you're up right now, that's probably one of the largest NJTLs in the Northeast, only because of where we are. We're right in between Connecticut, or in Connecticut, but close to New York.

Spin The Racket (05:38): You

XXL Tennis (06:04): So we get a lot of private donors. Yeah.

Spin The Racket (06:13): When did you, so walk us through a little bit of that, like what happened with your college career? Like, know you kind of mentioned the freshman year, but like, how, was that? How was it going to school playing tennis? Like, what, what, what, how did that affect like the workload for, for school? that.

XXL Tennis (06:32): It was definitely different, but you had to keep your grades up to stay on the team. The tennis team was a stickler for having good grades and our GPA was high as a tennis team. So if you weren't doing well, your other teammates were like, yeah, you got to do better. We don't want to our GPA overall down. So it was definitely, I'll say, how do you say this? A lot, only because I had a lot of international students on my team.

Spin The Racket (07:05): .

XXL Tennis (07:28): Math classes came easy. I am a CIS major, everything tech came easy. other, like, it's crazy how international students blow us out of the water with even English. It's just their work ethic is a little different.

Spin The Racket (07:46): That's cool though. mean, it's like that saying that says like, you you become like the five people you spend the most time with. It's like, obviously you were surrounded by a group of people that kind of

XXL Tennis (07:59): Yeah.

XXL Tennis (08:06): Exactly, exactly, exactly. And by, I didn't start out as the only American. There was maybe four others, but by the time I got to my junior year, I was the only American on the team.

Spin The Racket (08:18): Wow. Do you think the kind of like the skills that you picked up with the NJTL about like, again, being good in tennis, but also keeping up with the grades? Did that help you at all in college? .

XXL Tennis (08:32): In doubles, in doubles, that's when my NJTL creeped up. We had a lot of numbers, so we always had to almost always play doubles. There's always two people on the court. So when I was in Division II, doubles points counted as three points, versus now they only count as one point. So if you can come up on top in doubles, three-zero, you only gotta win two singles. So it was easy after that.

Spin The Racket (08:50): Hmm.

XXL Tennis (08:59): And then for work ethic, I have a small story about that. I got kicked off the high school team when I was a sophomore. And again, this is where that, that NJTL piece came in, the education piece came in. I was kicked off the high school team and it was, was absolutely devastating for me, but they got me in front of tutors and people that I could see every day. And I never had anything under 3.5 ever again.

Gerard (09:23): Wow, that's huge.

XXL Tennis (09:26): Yes, yes. That is that small comeback story to get kicked off the team. And I think I got kicked off early because it was in between seasons. So I couldn't start. But by the time the next semester, next quarter ended, I was able to jump on the team. So I was able to finish with the team.

Spin The Racket (09:26): It's a comeback story right there.

Gerard (09:32): Yeah.

Gerard (09:35): Mm-hmm.

Spin The Racket (09:43): Give you enough time to where you didn't lose the whole season basically. That's cool.

XXL Tennis (09:46): Exactly, exactly.

Gerard (09:49): That's awesome. Yeah, I feel like in that moment, I'm sure you kind of had a different appreciation for tennis too and not being able to play and compete that level. Like, hey, I want it back, you know?

Spin The Racket (09:52): .

XXL Tennis (10:02): Exactly. You take it for granted when you can't do it. When you can't do it. We choose not to do it every day. But when we can't do it, that's a totally different thing. It's like the rain today. I chose not to... If it didn't rain, probably still chose not to play. But the fact that it's raining now, I'm like, damn, I should go play. I want to go play now.

Gerard (10:05): Mm-hmm, yeah.

Gerard (10:09): Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Gerard (10:17): Mm-hmm.

XXL Tennis (10:35): Yes, yes, yes, yourself out, definitely. Especially as a creator now, I try to psych myself out all the time because I do not wanna take out my camera ever. Half of the time, almost every video that you've seen, I've taken out my camera last, and it's probably the worst tennis in that session. big time.

Spin The Racket (10:37): you you

Gerard (10:42): Yeah.

Gerard (10:54): No way. What's the worst part about it? it setting it all up or just having an idea of what to shoot? What's the struggle?

XXL Tennis (11:01): Yes, it's a little bit of both. It's a little bit of both. Like, have an idea what to shoot, because you don't want to consistently do the same thing over and over again. At least I don't. But sometimes that works. And then I also have a background as a photographer, videographer. So I want to set up everything, but then I have to realize, like, hey, it's not, this is social media. It moves a little faster. I don't want to set up everything.

Gerard (11:22): Right. Yeah.

Spin The Racket (11:23): Mm-hmm.

XXL Tennis (11:32): No, no, some of the best production value I've had has been the worst videos.

Spin The Racket (11:36): That's crazy. Yeah, we keep hearing that a lot. it's like, you know, it's more of like an output game, right? Than like, hey, trying to make every video perfect. What, like, when did you realize you wanted to become a content creator? How did that whole thing start?

XXL Tennis (11:49): Yes.

XXL Tennis (11:58): I still don't want to become a content creator. That was purely by mistake. And I guess this is where the story gets a little crazy. Because I was coaching, and I've been coaching for long time, but I was coaching back home in Connecticut. And I had like one of my kids still needed to go off to college.

Spin The Racket (12:01): that

XXL Tennis (12:19): So I was coaching her and videoing her forehand while the machine was going on. And then while she was taking a break, I didn't want to turn the machine off. So I just started doing forehands for the camera. And I don't know why, but I was like, you know what? I'm kind of bored. Why not post it? Why not? What am I going to name it? Double XL tennis. I've always been a bigger player, always been a bigger player. So I was like, double XL tennis, you know, just to show people that, I did play this sport. Like I may not look it, but there's a tennis player under here. And

Gerard (12:45): Mm-hmm. Right.

XXL Tennis (12:49): It went viral. Like I remember my friend calling me, he's like, yo, your post went viral. Like it's going crazy. And I'm like, it's probably like 3K, 4K. No, no, it's in hundreds already. And I'm just like, I'm just like, wow, this is a fluke. Nah, nah, nah, this is a fluke. I wake up the next day and we're still talking about it. You know I'm gonna post something that I took, you know, that I've been posting on like my story on my regular page. Post that up there, same thing, went viral. And I'm like...

Gerard (13:01): Whoa.

Gerard (13:18): Jeez.

XXL Tennis (13:19): Okay, okay. About seven posts later, Venus commented and I was like, this is not real. This is not real. And my following steadily kept going up. And at that point I had more following than both of my other pages, which was my photography page and my videography page. And I'm just sitting here like, this is crazy. Who would have known that something I've done as, you know.

Gerard (13:26): That's insane. my gosh, I'd be freaking out.

Gerard (13:42): You

XXL Tennis (13:46): forever, know, 20 plus years. Now I can post and people will be like, my God, how does he do this? Or what are you doing to do this? How long have you been playing? Questions like that. You also get the negative comments and whatnot, the funny comments or whatever, but it's very interesting. It didn't really hit me until I came down to Atlanta, not to live, but I came down here for the ATL open, Atlanta open, and somebody recognized me at the Atlanta open.

Gerard (13:49): Yeah.

Gerard (13:57): Wow.

Spin The Racket (14:05): I'm just a dude. Yeah.

Gerard (14:09): Okay. Yep. Wow.

XXL Tennis (14:13): He was like, come out and play with me and my boys. I was like, sure. Came out and play, because we had drove down, so I had my rackets with me. Came down and play, and I jump on the court, and they're like, you have no idea how special it feels to see me on the court with you. And I'm sitting there like, guys, I'm a regular guy.

Gerard (14:26): Yeah.

XXL Tennis (14:30): Like I'm just like, yeah. these, one of the coaches sat there and grew up or played with, know, Chris Eubanks and Taylor Townsend and he had 130 mile per hour serve. I have a big serve, but not 130 miles per hour serve. No, no, no, no, no. The highest I reached was 118. So it's like.

Spin The Racket (14:38): .

Gerard (14:44): Yes.

XXL Tennis (14:52): y'all can play. Like what about me is so appealing, but it is. And that's when it hit me is like, all right, cool. My thing is definitely around inspiration for sure. Inspiration, motivation. And that's where I took it to be like, all right, I'm gonna document my journey. Just document my journey back on the court. Not too long after that, Techno Fiber reached out. They were like, hey, we wanna.

Gerard (15:03): Yeah.

Gerard (15:09): Yeah. Yeah.

XXL Tennis (15:17): give you some technofiber and have you rock our brand. Sure, that's fine with me. And then I started to rock the actual XXL tennis shirt. Cause I also had the clothing background at the time. So was like, you know what, why don't I make myself a shirt? And now we're at 18K. That's kind of how it just goes.

Gerard (15:26): Yep.

Gerard (15:29): Mm. Yep.

Gerard (15:36): That's inspiring to hear just how that happened to. And you weren't necessarily seeking that attention and just kind of fell into your lap. And you're making something out of it.

XXL Tennis (15:49): Mm-hmm and then still not seeking that attention still not just I really just want to go out there and get better It's it's kind of crazy my work now. It takes me all over the tournaments and every tournament I go to Somebody comes up to me. If not a few people come up to me get a picture and it's like

Spin The Racket (15:53): Yeah.

Gerard (15:55): Mm-hmm.

XXL Tennis (16:05): I'm a regular guy, you know. I tell them all the time, if I meet them in person, hey, message me so I know I'm following you back, because I know you, I see you now, like, you know what mean? This is the tennis community, the tennis community is vast, but also small at the same time.

Gerard (16:07): Yeah.

Gerard (16:16): Yep.

Spin The Racket (16:20): It's a big small industry.

Gerard (16:21): Yep, for sure. sure. like what? Yeah, what year was that? So like just gives like a timeline. When did when did that first drop in terms of that that post and like when did it kind of get ramp up for you?

XXL Tennis (16:25): Yes.

XXL Tennis (16:34): April, 2024.

Gerard (16:37): Wow. That's like yesterday, like two weeks ago.

XXL Tennis (16:38): Yes. Yes. Yes.

Spin The Racket (16:42): Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure one of my buddies send you send me one of your videos I just remember a bigger guy just ripping the ball and I was like

XXL Tennis (16:47): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (16:54): I, it's like, it's one of those like, I, could tell by the footwork. I'm like, yeah, man knows how to play. You know what I mean? Like you, you could tell by the split step, the footwork, all that is like, doesn't matter what you look like, what you weigh, nothing. It's like, you got, you got the fundamentals. You can play tennis. It doesn't really matter. So was like, dang, all right. Like that's sick. Men's hitting clean, you know, clean tennis. Do you think like, do you think like,

XXL Tennis (17:03): Yes.

XXL Tennis (17:19): Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it.

Spin The Racket (17:23): tennis has like an image problem and like, like, is there like a misconception around that in tennis?

XXL Tennis (17:29): Um, yes and no, and I'll explain. Tennis itself, yes, does have an image problem. Only because there are bigger players. We've seen it happen. Serena, Taylor Townsend, they can move though. They can move. They can cover the court. But when you don't fit that mold, it is tennis players seem to look at you a little differently. And I've got those looks all through college. Until they see me move and hit, it was that.

Spin The Racket (18:34): You think, yeah, you think like the sport requires you to be like a certain, like you, no matter what the amount of training, the amount of like physicality you need to have your body naturally goes a certain direction, right? Like you just have to be like lean and mean basically in order to last. mean, nowadays, I mean, we know this and not to get like super controversial, but you know, we talk about like the balls being slower, tennis getting more physical points getting longer.

XXL Tennis (18:47): Mm-hmm.

Spin The Racket (19:01): is it better for entertainment? I don't know, but it's like, when you think about it, like it is highly physical. were just talking to somebody, this weekend about that and they were like, yeah, you know, it's, it's not, it's not longer just about technique and all that. It's like, can you outlast the other player and you need a certain body for that? You know I mean? It's a stay healthy too.

XXL Tennis (19:18): Yes.

Gerard (19:53): Mm-hmm. That's right. Yep.

XXL Tennis (20:17): Very, that's a very good question. I feel like we can talk about this for a while. That's a very good question.

Spin The Racket (20:21): Yeah.

Gerard (20:23): I know. know. I mean, the thing you brought up was around like Taylor Townsend and Serena. Like, I remember growing up and watching them play and and like reading about those those controversies and about kind of, you Taylor going up against the USTA and them saying, hey, you can't play because you're not fit. And kind of thinking about like the body image and just how people are built differently, too. And I think it was interesting to see kind of all that take place. And maybe now it's better and people are more understanding and inclusive a different way.

XXL Tennis (21:00): Yeah. And I'm thinking of like the older like, like Sanga. He was a bigger player. He was a bigger player. But even then, you know, he can only go so far against the greats. And it was always in that final set. You know, we talk about, you can talk about Masters 1000s all the time. The Masters 1000s is anybody's game. When you talk about the Grand Slams, it is who can last longer. It is who had an easier time when they got to the quarterfinals.

Spin The Racket (21:11): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (21:28): Yeah. Yeah. Who had the least amount of, like hours on court who could manage the most hours on court. And it's like, it's a, it's a mental mentally demanding endurance battle, you know?

XXL Tennis (21:33): Exactly.

XXL Tennis (21:42): And then you talk about the slower balls and everything. That's why you have Carlos Alcaraz saying he's probably not going to last to 35. The sport is so demanding. He doesn't want to play at 35. The sport is so demanding.

Spin The Racket (21:57): Yeah. You see a Djokovic just like, how have you made it, dude? mean, guy is so Zen, you know, it's like, I mean, that's what it takes, but it's, is everyone willing to put in that work, that amount of sacrifice, life, lifestyle sacrifice to, you know, last in the sport that long? I don't know. I don't think Carlos is that kind of person. You know, he definitely values like that work life balance, you know, so.

XXL Tennis (22:02): Heh.

XXL Tennis (22:13): Exactly.

XXL Tennis (22:22): Yes, yes, and still number one in the world.

Gerard (22:25): Who says you can't do it all?

Spin The Racket (22:26): Yeah. Crazy, right? Like when you can be that, that good, it's like, exactly.

XXL Tennis (22:30): Exactly, exactly. Great talent, great talent.

Spin The Racket (22:35): So you, you mentioned, obviously it sounds like you've already kind of identified, which is awesome to see that you've identified your sort of like your niche, right? It's like, Hey, I'm going to be inspirational to, my audience. Like, what does that, what does that mean? Like what, what's XXL, tennis mean? Like what, as far as like a mission for you. What's your mission here?

XXL Tennis (22:58): A mission? That's a great question. man, this is first time I'm gonna ask that question. What, two interviews later? Okay. A mission. Really, honestly, it's a very close mission to the USTA. Like just promote the sport in general. But promote it as anyone can do it. Anyone, it's for anyone.

Gerard (24:35): Yeah.

XXL Tennis (24:44): I'm not here for the following. I'm not here for, you know, things going viral. I'm here to show people, you know, you can do this, but at the same time, it's my journey. That's it.

Gerard (24:54): Yeah. How have you thought about ways in terms of giving back to the community, whether it's the NJTL that you kind of grew up with or helping with kids? I know you seem pretty active in general. I know we met you through Marcus, Gilliam, through NetGainz Tennis as an example. What are some of the ways that you're plugged in as it relates to the community?

XXL Tennis (25:19): Well, my job through USTA, I hope to visit a lot of NJTLs while I'm down here. And that's because of my background and they also see me on social media. So why not take that and hopefully inspire kids that one, you can do something with the sport past just playing it on your afternoons or whatever. And then two, show them that like, even if you don't make it as far as you want, there are other avenues.

Gerard (26:01): Yeah.

Gerard (26:07): OK.

Spin The Racket (26:10): Which month? Yeah, think that's, yeah, that's where, yeah, depending on the month, it depends on how spicy is going to get, right?

XXL Tennis (26:20): Yes, yes, exactly. There have been times he's like, hey, let's go to, I think our friend, buddy, he's like, hey, let's go to Ohio. He's like, how cold is it up there? Like, if it's too cold, I'm not coming out of the airport. I'm telling you this now. He is not for the cold.

Gerard (26:35): That's funny. Yeah, I didn't realize. Yeah, I he's not built that way.

XXL Tennis (26:39): Bah bah bah.

Spin The Racket (26:41): That's funny. I could have sworn he was for the cult. Cause like when we met him, you know, at the, the ATL kickoff, like it was, mean, let's be honest. It was a little, little chilly, you know? really? All right. Well, he, did a good job of like not showing it to anybody else, but, that's funny. That's funny. Yeah. That's hilarious.

XXL Tennis (26:52): He complained the whole time.

Spin The Racket (27:10): Well, I think also, and I always say this, we were down in Florida for an event and I was just like, why don't we just have more indoor courts in Atlanta? Like, it just feels like you hit Tennessee and then all of a sudden, like, there's absolutely no indoor tennis courts. There's like a couple facilities in Atlanta that have them and then it's like, that's it, you know? Like, people here don't know what playing indoor feels like.

XXL Tennis (27:43): us.

XXL Tennis (27:58): Something. Yes.

Spin The Racket (28:05): It doesn't get as cold as like maybe Tennessee and up. So we don't have the infrastructure, but it's also not South Florida. So it's like, we're just kind of stuck in the middle and that I will, you know, I rest my case on that, but that's definitely a, one of those pieces that, that just gets on my nerves. cause yeah, it's nice playing indoor. I found out a couple of years ago. Yeah.

XXL Tennis (28:12): now.

XXL Tennis (28:25): It is nice playing indoor. It is nice playing indoor, but I will say this, right? When I came down here, I didn't expect it to, I expected it to get cold, but I didn't expect it to get that cold. And then I was very surprised that it like, jumps up and down. I'm sitting here, you know, talking to my girlfriend and just saying, I don't know how no one down here gets sick. Cause the other day it was 80 degrees. Now we're sitting here in hoodies and

Gerard (28:49): Right, Literally. It's snowing outside.

XXL Tennis (28:54): As much as I love to be like 80 degrees on Christmas Eve, let's go play tennis, that has never happened to me. You miss the indoors. You miss the indoors. But when there is indoors, it does get packed, at least back home in Connecticut. Indoor facilities are packed, 7 a.m. to closing. If you don't have the money or the means to get into an indoor place, you're not doing it.

Spin The Racket (29:09): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (29:19): Tell me about it. I joined Lifetime Fitness so I can go here and they went from having eight indoor chords to having four because they turned the other four into 16 pickable chords. So now I'm like, Dan, like I had to play on a Sunday at like 8 p.m.

XXL Tennis (29:29): Mm-hmm.

Spin The Racket (29:35): You know, and I played on a Sunday at like 7 a.m. because it's like the only outlying times that you can book courts like that. So I mean, whatever, you know, nowadays, screw it. I'll pay at 6 a.m. whatever. Like I wake up before anybody else and I'll go hit indoor. I'd rather do that than go play outdoors. And it's like 35 degrees, you know, but. Geez.

XXL Tennis (29:35): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (29:45): took.

XXL Tennis (29:55): Exactly. I definitely understand that. Some of my indoor videos, especially before I came down to Atlanta, those were almost at 12 o'clock at night.

Gerard (30:05): Mm. Mm, mm, mm. I can't do it. I'd be so tired.

XXL Tennis (30:07): I had a couple...

Spin The Racket (30:07): You gotta do what you gotta do.

Spin The Racket (30:12): Yeah, like for the love of the sport. That's why we always say for the love of the sport, we are out here, you know, rain or shine or 2060 degrees or indoor at midnight. Like that's that's it. Whatever. Now, Jonathan, shifting gears a little bit, I know I kind of got us off track with with that conversation, but.

XXL Tennis (30:17): Yes. Yes.

XXL Tennis (30:27): Yes, yes.

Spin The Racket (30:35): I got a question for you. What do you think makes tennis cool in 2026? And who do you think is driving that?

XXL Tennis (30:43): two things, two things. It's the individuality. Individuality is crazy in 2026. I guess it reminds me or makes me think, was it this when you were watching Agassi wearing his jeans? Was it like this? But now everyone's doing it. So you see how like, know, Sokka's coming out on court, Tiafoe's coming out on court.

Spin The Racket (31:00): Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Gerard (31:03): Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yeah.

Gerard (31:10): Yeah.

XXL Tennis (31:10): You know, you see a lot of different things. And then also another thing that makes it cool is the creators around the sport just makes it more interesting, right? I've seen like amazing, amazing small creators talk about the sport. And I was like, I can't wait until you make it big. Cause your voice is just like, you're there. that like, nuance of like social media, so much being in our sport.

Spin The Racket (31:50): What makes, yeah, what makes tennis cool in 2026 and do 2026 and who do you think is driving that?

XXL Tennis (31:57): Yes. What makes tennis cool in 2026 is the access to our sport. The access to our sport, right? When you go online, you can type in tennis into the search box and you get everyone's opinion. Before the match even ends, you saw a clip of the match. Like, how many times I've been online, on social media? It's like, oh wait, I forgot this match is going on. Let me go watch it right now. Like the access and the speed.

Gerard (32:03): Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Gerard (32:21): Yeah.

XXL Tennis (32:25): of the information for our sport is amazing.

Spin The Racket (32:30): Yeah, that's true before you can you can keep up with with the match unless you have like a tennis channel or you know ESPN subscription all that stuff now I I mean I don't always get to watch the the events live I know that do is like kidsycraft for that I guess I'm a highlights guy, but Sometimes I'll be in the gym and I'll just like Google like, know Indian Indian Wells and then you know Google does a really good job of just showing your life scores and you're literally just there like, you know, hey between sets

XXL Tennis (33:18): Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Spin The Racket (33:30): country club sort of sport. now it's like, you know, can go and learn tennis pretty much anywhere. Like you've got folks like NetGames Tennis who, you know, make it accessible for like newbie players to get started. So I think that's sick. And then the fact that we have just a, like a whole ecosystem of racket sports in America now, you know, it's not like somebody could...

XXL Tennis (33:45): Yes.

Spin The Racket (33:56): think like, well, tennis is like, it's always looked like they might have a misconception of what tennis is and they get started with pickleball because it's easier. And then at some point it might bleed into Padel. And then at some point they're like, hey, I want to try tennis too. And so there's like this whole cross pollination of racket sports going on in the U S where, you know, I used to be of the opinion that it was like, pickleball is going to take away from tennis. And I was like, well, it's like, it's one versus the other. And it just feels like it's creating like a

XXL Tennis (34:27): Exactly.

XXL Tennis (34:44): Yeah. The forehand grind, the forehand grind. Exactly. And I do believe that even though it's rival between pickleball and tennis, we have to remember that fundamentals of the game, not so much playing the game, but the clothing, the shoes, for instance, the grips, they're the same. The only thing that's different is a paddle and a ball.

Gerard (34:48): Exactly, exactly. Swin it out.

Spin The Racket (34:49): Bro, 100%.

XXL Tennis (35:14): Right? And the rules of some cases, but a lot of what makes our sport our sport is the same. The access, the thinking that it is, even though it's not anymore, not so much, but thinking that it is a country club sport, that it is a sport that like, hey, I played tennis this Sunday. Right? I played tennis in my nice outfit and hit the ball a couple of times. Like, it's still that. It is still that for the beginners.

Gerard (35:48): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (35:50): Yeah, yeah, it's

Gerard (35:51): Yeah, it is. It is.

XXL Tennis (36:13): Yeah.

Gerard (36:24): like everyone, anyone could play tennis. I love that part.

XXL Tennis (36:28): Yes, exactly, exactly.

Spin The Racket (36:33): Yeah, it's a little bit of everyone. So I'm glad that things are changing. Just off the dome here, if there was something that you could change in tennis in 2026, what would it be?

XXL Tennis (36:54): The timing of when the tournaments are. Everything happens at the beginning of the year. Like, it's crazy, we just came out of Indian Wells and now Miami. I would like to go to every tournament, but like, every tournament in the course of three months would be nuts. Would be nuts. It is a lot. Like, I think our schedule for, I think the only thing that's near the, towards the end of Cincinnati, right? That's the Masters 1000, that's near the end, right before the US Open.

Gerard (38:15): Yes, yes. No, that's a good point. Yeah, I mean, that's the fun part, too, about tennis and being the world's healthiest sport and being able to share that and get people to play more because of that. like my goal is to able to play like, you know, till my 70s, 80s, know, be out there on the court. Obviously, move a little bit differently, I'm sure, at that time. But I do feel like excited by that. Like you can play this sport like your entire life.

XXL Tennis (38:40): Yes, yes.

Spin The Racket (38:43): To a certain degree. To a certain degree. Yeah, to a certain degree. Depends on. Yeah, yeah. I know that, you know, just shifting gears a little bit, you mentioned how sometimes, and I mean, I can relate, right? I think Gia I can relate sometimes when you're making content for tennis, can be like, you feel like you're kind of putting the cart before the horse. think we've shown up to.

XXL Tennis (38:45): Yes, we can spend our racket the entire lives.

Gerard (38:46): you

Spin The Racket (39:10): to like hitting sessions and we leave the gear in the bags. We shoot and it's like, get in the car and it's like, shoot. We didn't shoot anything. You know what I mean? Like it's definitely a muscle that you have to flex as a muscle that you have to build. And sometimes it's not even, I've seen other content creators say that you don't have to always come up with the idea. You can just document what you're doing. And it sounds like you're taking that documentative approach of, Hey, I'm going to document the journey.

XXL Tennis (39:54): I'm getting to more documentary style, but usually I have an idea of when I'm gonna shoot. I feel like hitting some cross-court backhands today, so I'm gonna just shoot that, but as long as I feel comfortable, I'm shooting. Biggest thing about me, which is why I don't post consistently, is if I don't feel up to it, I don't shoot. I don't shoot. The goal of me being out there is not to shoot unless it is.

XXL Tennis (41:27): There are times, sorry, there are times where I go out there and there is a plan. There's definitely a plan. When I'm shooting for something like say the Sabre, there's a plan. I know what I'm doing. I know what I need to get done. When I'm shooting for, he had also just made the FT-99, which is the racket. I knew what I was gonna do. I think I was playing with Kellen that day. I told him Kellen exactly what we're gonna do, just because, you But this all, again, was at the end. I've already...

Gerard (41:56): Mm.

XXL Tennis (41:57): you know, and then summer, sweat it through a shirt and put on a new one to then go take the video. It's already planned at the end and it's just, if we get there, we get there. If not, it comes in the next day, but at least it's planned for those types of things. But let's just say the post I just posted, that wasn't planned. I I know I needed content. I put on the camera and what I got was what I.

Gerard (42:20): Yep, yep, now I feel that. I'm curious as we talk about content and you on court and image and what you're wearing and things like that. Like, I know you have this company on brand. Tell us about that. Like, how did that get started? Like, are you making tennis clothes too?

XXL Tennis (42:38): Great question. How did that get started? well as a bigger guy I hated going into stores and looking for my size and going online Nothing ever fit the same It doesn't matter how can that doesn't matter if I got it from the same place So was like there has to be an easier way to do this I was like, just buy my clothes wholesale and then I see somebody was at work when I was working at indeed.com at the time I see somebody with Thick lettering on his shirt and I'm just like, huh?

Spin The Racket (43:14): That easy, that easy.

Gerard (43:24): Yeah, bye.

XXL Tennis (43:35): over and over and over again, but designing it differently. Easy. And then if I have this problem, and I'm a different built, I'm a big athletic built, I'm taller in some places and wider in other places, but I know if I'm having this problem, other people are also having this problem. So I was like, let's make this into a size inclusive brand, but with every size inclusive brand, it is definitely, definitely hard. It is not an easy thing.

Gerard (43:52): Yep.

XXL Tennis (44:03): Wholesalers are not on your side. The goal is to get to the manufacturers so you can, you know, tell them what you want versus you looking for what you want. trying to make sure you keep up with the trends and things like that. That's not what I'm, that's not necessarily what I'm here for. I'm here to make things a little bit more comfortable and having some meaning to it. That's really it.

Spin The Racket (44:34): Just we have a fun segment that we're gonna take you to. But before that, I wanna get one question out because I felt like, I think you would have a good answer for this, but what content are you tired of seeing on social media? Yeah, as it relates to tennis, but it could be in general. I don't know, maybe you can answer both ways.

XXL Tennis (44:52): What content am I tired of seeing?

XXL Tennis (45:01): All right. This might single somebody out, but bashing other content creators is not for me. It's just not. I can't get behind it. I'm tired of like...

Spin The Racket (46:05): Yeah. It's crazy.

XXL Tennis (46:12): But in the content of tennis, yeah, I can't get behind the whole, you know, beef and bashing thing. I can't do it. I can't do it. It's just not for me. I get it, you know, as a tennis player, as somebody who's been coached since I was 13, yeah, some things are wrong, but let them create. Like, you know, we talk about the infamous tennis god and...

Spin The Racket (46:38): But.

XXL Tennis (46:41): Let them create. Some people like them, some people don't. Let them create.

Spin The Racket (46:44): Well, do you, but do you think there, do you think there is such a thing as like universally bad advice though?

XXL Tennis (46:52): yes, absolutely, absolutely. There's definitely universally bad advice, but do we have to shun somebody for it? I don't think so. And then not everything, and I hate to talk about tennis God at all, but not everything that he's ever said in life has been wrong. There's aspects to it. There's different things to it. But the whole coach, yes.

Spin The Racket (47:18): We like to place people in buckets,

XXL Tennis (47:22): Yeah, it's, I would never ever probably become a coach on social media because of this. Like I would probably keep that so quiet. Unless I had the greatest acolytes in the world, I'll probably keep that so quiet that I'm coaching. That to me is a, it's, know, everyone likes drama. That's all good and great. But as a tennis player, seeing it over and over and over again.

Spin The Racket (47:31): the fact that

Spin The Racket (47:45): Yeah.

Gerard (47:48): Right. Right.

Spin The Racket (47:54): out with it.

XXL Tennis (47:56): Ow.

Gerard (47:57): Love it, love it. Well, we have a segment here we call quick hands. So basically we ask you a question, kind of gives you a quick reaction. You can, you know, qualify it with like, you know, a sentence or two if you want to add some, little description to it. But I think you'll like it.

XXL Tennis (48:17): All right, let's do it. Hopefully I can think quick on my feet here.

Gerard (48:20): All right. All right. First question. Would you rather get bagel? Sorry. Let me ask it again. First question. Would you rather bagel a friend or get bageled by a stranger?

XXL Tennis (48:35): Big old friend. And they'd talk about it in the group chat the whole time. Random group chat texts. Hey, hey, so and so, you want to tell them what happened tonight? You want me to tell them which one?

Gerard (48:37): You

Gerard (48:41): Yes. Just dog them out.

Gerard (48:56): What's your go-to tennis hot take?

XXL Tennis (49:00): Can I get an example?

Gerard (49:03): like mixed doubles is the best format of tennis or something like that.

XXL Tennis (49:06): XXL Tennis (49:16.011) don't know. That's a great question. I do not know. Hold on. Hold on. Yeah. Yeah. I do not know. I have no idea. Hold on. We got to come back to that one. Hot take.

Gerard (49:18): Ha ha.

Spin The Racket (49:21): We hit a winner. We hit a winner on him. That was a straight up banana passing shot right there. Jonathan's like.

Gerard (49:23): You

Gerard (49:27): love it, I love it. All right. Yeah, we'll pass. We'll give you some brain think about it and then you come back to it. All right. What's one habit you stole from someone else's game?

XXL Tennis (49:37): Yes, yes, yes.

XXL Tennis (49:45): I can name like four or five. Not so much somebody else's game. I just sold some of their little quirks. Spending a racket on the finger. Big time, sold that for my coach, my college coach. think he showed, he kept doing it as my first guy there. I learned it in the summer. I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I got it now. And another one was the, you ever flip the racket, you try to keep it flat like a pancake? Stole that from a friend of mine.

Gerard (49:52): Okay, okay.

Gerard (50:12): Yeah. I can't do it though.

XXL Tennis (50:15): I can do it maybe half of the time, half of the time, but like.

Spin The Racket (50:19): Wait, what do mean by that? Like flip the rack and keep it flat?

XXL Tennis (50:22): flat so you take this cell phone and it just stays like this the whole time while you flip it versus when you flip it it's going to do this for some reason it's going to spin

XXL Tennis (50:35): I think we got him. I think we got you.

Gerard (50:36): Yeah, Lou is going to be on YouTube later like flat, flat tennis racket spins.

Spin The Racket (50:37): think I think yeah you got me booting up right now bro like yeah flat like a pancake it's like just get the wrong like the wrong search output

XXL Tennis (50:46): Yes. Well, yeah, those two, yeah, definitely. Stolen. I didn't take it, but yeah, stolen.

Gerard (50:50): I love it. I love it.

XXL Tennis (51:04): love it. We have this thing in our game where it's a speed over everything and it speeds up the game. It speeds up the game. There's not much arguing. Yeah, we have, you know, the, what's it called? The replay, the virtual replays, but it's a VAR. But when that line thing says out, you're like, okay, cool, next, next. It speeds up the game.

Gerard (51:22): Yep.

Gerard (51:29): Yeah. Yeah, it's like final.

XXL Tennis (51:32): Our game has already slowed down regardless, but that speeds it up. Yeah, I hate that there are jobs lost from it, but I think it was needed. I think it was needed.

Spin The Racket (51:36): Yeah.

Gerard (51:47): Yeah. Fair, fair. All right. You hear me? That's funny. So for me, tolerate it. I accept it as like it's like it's a necessary part of the evolution of the game.

XXL Tennis (51:50): What are your thoughts? Wait a second, I want to know your thoughts on that one. Before we move on to the next one, what...

Gerard (52:05): As a fan and someone who enjoys a little controversy, I kind of miss the arguing with the umpires a little bit. Obviously not to the detriment of a player where they're getting cheated on something necessarily, but hey, everything in tennis doesn't always go your way. So they're kind of just seeing how people react to that and because of the drama that comes through it, I enjoyed a little bit of that.

XXL Tennis (52:05): Yes.

XXL Tennis (52:18): Mm-hmm.

XXL Tennis (52:30): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (52:32): okay. Love it.

XXL Tennis (52:36): Not it.

Spin The Racket (53:03): Let's say if you compare a good line judge to a faulty butt, I'd rather have the line judge. But if the flawless technology is out there, then by all means, let's go with what's new, automatic line calling. Love it.

XXL Tennis (53:09): Mm-hmm.

XXL Tennis (53:21): Alright, yeah.

Gerard (53:23): I do like what the Ozzy Open did this year where they, when the ball would be out, like the net would change a different color too. Like the net post, do remember that? Like would go like, you know, red. Like that's super helpful. Cause a lot of times like sometimes you can't even hear it. So I'm looking at the players to try to see or listen to the commentator, what happened there. So as a viewing experience, that's, that was like really cool.

Spin The Racket (53:29): yeah, that was clean. Yeah. Yeah.

XXL Tennis (53:31): yes. Yes. Nah.

XXL Tennis (53:43): And I do think with that evolution brought the VAR. Am I saying that right, VAR? Yeah, I think that's what it brought that. And without that, we probably wouldn't have the controversial things we have now. Like as an example, I forget who was it. FAA got his controversial thing. There was another one that just happened, I think at Indian Wells.

Gerard (53:50): Yeah, I think that's what they call it, yeah.

Spin The Racket (53:52): Yeah.

Gerard (53:57): Right, that's true, that's true.

XXL Tennis (54:11): where I think it was Draper. I think it was Draper. Yes, yes. Yeah, Draper Mavidev. Like, wrong call, but you get that talk. You get that talk, you get that drama. Unfortunately, drama is good for any sport, but that's just how we live. That's just good. You know, you see it online. It's on Tennis Channel.

Gerard (54:11): Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Jayprim, Evadev, Mm-hmm. Yep.

Gerard (54:24): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (54:31): is what it is. Yeah. Yeah bro this is going to make it a tennis TV or whatever. Yeah.

Gerard (54:33): Yes. That's so funny. All right. Next one. If you could change one rule in tennis to make it more entertaining, what would that be?

XXL Tennis (54:38): Yeah, TennisTV.

XXL Tennis (54:53): Two bounces. I know that's a wheelchair rule, but have you ever played a game of two bounces?

Spin The Racket (55:00): bro i just did this weekend it was wild i kept letting it bounce once i kept forgetting

Gerard (55:06): Never.

XXL Tennis (55:11): Yes, if the ball can bounce twice, it's a very interesting game. Very interesting game and it's fun. It would be very long. It wouldn't be TV worthy, but it's just so interesting to play, to watch, to be a part of. Yes, very interesting.

Gerard (55:22): Yep, we'd be there all day.

Gerard (55:32): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (55:35): Yeah, you imagine the amount of retirement. Yeah, my shoulder just fell off. Yeah, my shoulder retired for me.

XXL Tennis (55:38): Yes, I'm done. I'm done. man, I think people would probably move to the net a little faster. Just to cut off the ball, you know.

Gerard (55:50): Yes.

Spin The Racket (55:50): Yeah, that's true.

Gerard (55:53): That's true. That's All right. Last question here. Who's the next men's slam winner? Sinner or Alcaraz?

XXL Tennis (56:08): Alcaraz, I was like, we are going towards the clay season. Like, yeah, yeah, that's it. And we were going the other direction, I may be, but sorry. He's out there practicing his high forehands right now. And the pace he gets on the ball is...

Gerard (56:23): Yep. Yep.

XXL Tennis (56:33): This is a different being that we are seeing right now. Yeah, Sinner is different. Sinner is very different. He's very just different. But when we talk about explosiveness and everything like that.

Gerard (56:39): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (56:43): You notice how his tone changed? Jonathan, the moment you were like, I'm awkward. He was like, hold on, let me roll up my sleeves and tell you about him. That's great. That's great,

Gerard (56:52): Yes.

XXL Tennis (56:52): Yes, yes.

Gerard (57:06): Mm-hmm.

Gerard (57:13): Yeah, that was gonna be interesting. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Gerard (57:21): Like what that was insane. Like he was down for love seven straight points. Like are you kidding me? Like that's that's just you and God mode. That's crazy.

Spin The Racket (57:21): Bruh.

XXL Tennis (57:27): Yes, that's he was he was like, nah, nah, that's not happening.

Spin The Racket (57:30): The men, well people say the men still got another gear. You know what mean? Like he does have that extra gear. It's just like most of the time the regular gear works with most players. Insane, man. It's insane.

XXL Tennis (57:34): Yes, yes.

XXL Tennis (57:43): saying if he can really if he can figure out how to shorten points he is dangerous he is dangerous but he's not he has to figure it out especially against Alcares he has to figure it out because Alcares is going to shorten the point or or he's going to make every point feel so long that you feel like you have to go for more Alcares is just i don't know i don't know where he came from not where he came from i don't know who like what what what he was eating when he was younger i don't know what they did what they fed him but

Spin The Racket (57:49): Yeah.

Spin The Racket (57:55): Yeah.

Gerard (57:59): Hmm.

Gerard (58:09): Alright, yeah. What lab?

Spin The Racket (58:09): Yeah, what they fed him.

XXL Tennis (58:12): My god, there's like I would if I was anyone else on the tour every time I'll see one of them I'm be like, I'm gonna have fun Exactly exactly. my god

Gerard (58:19): Right.

Spin The Racket (58:19): We just gotta go to Spain and train for like a whole summer. You know what mean? Like come out two levels better. It's like, what the hell?

XXL Tennis (58:27): This guy is different. Both of them. Both of them are different, but Algaraz is, he's given us, he's given us a doll and Federer at the same time.

Spin The Racket (58:30): Yeah, no, for sure.

Gerard (58:36): Yeah. I mean, that begs the question of like, what's next? There's always another player that's like in the wings about to be that next one. So like who's the next Alcara's and center, you know, merged together coming up, you know, it's kind of scary.

XXL Tennis (58:49): And it wasn't me or did they feel like they came out of nowhere? I remember blinking in there just, hey, I'm here. I remember thinking that like, know, Sasha, Mevadev, they're gonna be the next, know, nope. Nope, Mevadev had his son.

Gerard (58:53): Yeah, no, really was. Yes.

Gerard (59:02): Mm-hmm. Yep, they're like that.

Spin The Racket (59:03): I've been tracking Akira since like, what was it, like 2020, I think. So I had my eye on the guy. I was like, all right, he's coming up. He's legit, all that stuff. I went to see him at the 2021 US Open and fortunately he had to retire, but.

XXL Tennis (59:37): Exactly.

Gerard (59:49): Medi-work.

Spin The Racket (59:50): There you go. Thank you, Rice. Yeah. That's, you know, I call it a second language. English is my second language, so I get that card every once in a while.

XXL Tennis (59:53): Yes.

XXL Tennis (01:00:00): No worries, no worries.

Spin The Racket (01:00:03): So Jonathan, we're coming into an end. We're going to give you the floor for one minute. Where can people find you? What are you working on right now? What's coming up next? And any message you want to leave the Spin the Racket audience with.

XXL Tennis (01:00:18): Where can I find me? XXL Tennis, all platforms. What am I working on now? I gotta keep that under wraps. You'll see that a later. You'll see that a little later. Just, just, just want to let everybody know I am doing a racket change. I'm doing a racket change. It is not a secret. It's not a secret, but I'm not announcing yet. And what do want to leave with the Spinnin' the Racket audience?

Gerard (01:00:38): Okay,

XXL Tennis (01:00:49): Tennis, though we have a shape to us, it is for everybody. It's for everybody. So it doesn't matter what age you start. It doesn't matter how you start. Grab a racket. Go find your local club or local team or local CTA and go play.

Gerard (01:01:10): Yep. I love that.

XXL Tennis (01:01:13): Yeah. Yeah.

Spin The Racket (01:01:13): Love it. All right. With that, I'm Lou.

Gerard (01:01:18): I'm G. Keep on spinning.