Now we all know what the likes of Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic, Maria Sharapova and Andy Murray are good at. They are among the best, if not the best, tennis players in the world. On a tennis court they produce power, they have movement and they can probably place their returns on a pinhead.
But we don’t often, if at all, hear what they are not good at.
I thought it would be curious to ask them what they are not good at or can’t do that they would really love to be able to do well.
SERENA WILLIAMS: I would love to sing really well. I think if I could sing, I would just be a star. But I don't sing great. I don't sing bad, but I don't sing great. I'm a karaoke singer. That's as far as I go.
ME: Any chance for a demonstration?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No way!
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Where do we start? (Laughter.) One thing I would love to do well is to draw. I doodle. I don't draw. The other thing is I would like to learn more languages.
I would like to know more languages. That's one of the regrets I have, is when you're younger it's just such a great opportunity to learn languages. I mean, French and Spanish, I know French a little bit but not as good as I want to know it. Cooking. I'd love to be a better cook. And a baker. Yeah. I can think of a few others.
ME: And what about singing?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I can always be … everyone can be a better singer except Adele. She's got her thing down.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Hmm. Well, your best change is day to day, right? You can't always expect yourself to play on the 100% of your abilities, you know, and you try to adjust to the feeling that you have that day, you know, kind of general feeling, and you try to maximize your possibilities.
There are things that are always open in my game for improvement. There is room for improvement. I feel that I still can improve a lot of shots in my game, you know. I still feel that I can serve maybe better in some moments. I still feel that maybe I can come to the net a bit more often.
So it's actually very encouraging for me, because I like to work, you know. I like to practice and try to improve my game and get my game to best possible level. So that's a positive, you know.
ME: Err Novak, I was meaning not in tennis.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Sorry. You should have jumped into my answer before. (Smiling.)
ME: Well, I didn't want to interrupt you, it was a good answer.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Not in tennis? But in what way?
ME: Let's say you're a bad singer and that's what you would really like to excel at, that sort of thing. Like Serena said, she can't sing and she'd love to sing. So something you can't do you don't do well but you'd like to really do well.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Mmm, okay. That's a good question. I love all the sports, so I would love to play golf and basketball a little bit better.
Even though I love cooking, I think I'm not so good at it. So I think I have to improve there. That's enough.
ANDY MURRAY: Sport or just anything?
ME: Anything, whether it's cooking to sport to singing
ANDY MURRAY: Singing is not good. (Laughter.) Singing is not good. Yeah, cooking is not good. I mean, most sports I'm okay at. Basketball is a sport I really like. I'm terrible at. I never played it when I was growing up, but I like it. I watch it a lot, but I'm terrible at basketball.
ME: Okay so out of anything; what would you really like to do well?
ANDY MURRAY: What would I really like to do well? I think it would be good to be a really good dancer, like (Gael) Monfils is a great dancer. He dances really well. Yeah, I think dancing would be good.
So what do you think of this then … Serena and Maria doing a duet while Andy dances to it and then they have dinner at Novak’s place in Monte Carlo? My hand is up for an invitation.
