The Strange Saga of Monique
and the Donald: Part 1
Rick Macci
I've been fortunate to be around a lot of great athletes in every sport and know why they become very marketable. People have to understand a lot of times companies and manufacturers do things on your ability or your potential.
They try to project and they want to get that relationship with you early on. You've either got to be very successful in the juniors or do something way out of the box so that they see a lot of potential.
Some of these kids who have played up in their age groups and had success give you a little bit of a snapshot. It's a feeling of, okay, I think they have a chance to do well in the pros or be one of the best juniors in the United States or the world, and that can give other people an idea. But when it's all said and done there's no crystal ball and there's no guarantee.
Yet a player like Venus Williams gets a $12 million deal, $2.5 million a year from Reebok at age 15 and she only has to play three tournaments a year. People hear that and they think there's all this money in tennis. Unfortunately, it's all at the top or it's all on your ability to be able to bring awareness to someone's brand or to push product. And hopefully you can play!
In Venus's situation, because she was African American and no one could move like her, Reebok saw an opportunity to really form something to take their brand to another level. The same with Serena initially with Puma and then with Nike. The same thing with Maria Sharapova and Nike, and with Andy Roddick when he was with Reebok and later with Lacoste.
Monique
There are sometimes situations where even if you haven't really proven yourself, if companies think you're marketable or you have crossover capabilities where you can go from the sports page to the front page, or if you can go from the tennis part to Madison Avenue. If they see that capability, even if you're not one of the best players in the world like an Anna Kournikova, the endorsements are there.
A very unique situation that I was involved in during the late 1990s and early 2000s was with a young lady named Monique Viele. (Pronounced "Vee Lee"). She was a pretty good athlete who had good groundstrokes and a 113 mile an hour serve to boot.
It was really interesting because at age 13 she won the Florida Open junior tournament and she beat the girl who ended up winning the U.S. Open junior title. For Monique, that was really her calling card as a 13-year-old -- she beat one of the best juniors in the world. Other than that, she just played junior tournaments.
So she never did a lot but I think people were looking for something in the U.S. because after the Williams sisters, no one really was coming up. Now, you had this girl who had a lot of ability and hit the ball decently.
Her potential was echoed by all the companies that came to the academy to see her play. Bud Collins even quipped that she was the eighth wonder of the world. Nick Bollettieri said she can't miss.
So there were a lot of other people who saw her potential. I questioned her mental toughness because I didn't know how she was wired, but everything else looked as though she could go on to have at least at top 20 career.
Unique
What was unique about Monique was she modeled, she sang and she danced. So she had more star crossover capabilities to maybe play in a tournament, win it and sing the National Anthem. There was something she could bring to the table that was different than anybody else, and that was echoed in the media.
Fortunately or unfortunately when people feel when you have this ability, it kind of takes a life on its own. The story of her ability spread like wildfire, not just in this country but globally as well.
At the end of the day, writers make their own choice if they're going to write the article or not, because she hadn't proven herself yet. Just like Venus hadn't proven herself when the hype started about her.
Some of these kids who are very good still have a lot of questions that have yet to be answered. It happens to many, many kids who never end up doing anything in the pros in any sport.
So this isn't uncommon. But Monique had layer after layer. When she left IMG her father, Rick, wanted me to not only coach her, he wanted me to represent her and negotiate the deals. Maybe he thought I could put more helium in the balloon to market her, but he also wanted her to do something different.
Enter the Donald
I knew that Donald Trump had a management company called T Management and they represented models and singers and I wondered if they'd be interested in representing someone who could model and sing, and by the way she hits a good tennis ball.
I knew Donald had a box at the U.S. Open and he always was involved in tennis. So I contacted the head pro there at his club Mar-A-Lago up at Palm Beach and he said, "What you want to do Rick is this: You come down Saturday, Donald will come from the house. He'll come to the tennis complex and walk through the complex and he goes out and plays 18 holes of golf. And this will be about 9:30."
So, this is exactly what I do. We're there practicing on Court One by the clubhouse and Monique is hitting balls with the hitting partner from the academy. The Trumpster knows nothing about it. He walks up and he's used to seeing his members who aren't really that good.
Now, he's seeing this girl out there, 5-8 and 110 pounds, just blistering groundstrokes off both sides. He walks up and asks the pro, Anthony, "Who's that?" And Anthony says, "There's Rick Macci, her coach. Let me introduce you. They come and make the introduction and I'm having this conversation with Donald and I kind of filled him in and told him a little bit about the background and where we're at.
I said, "I think there's some endorsement opportunities and she just left IMG, maybe there's a possibility. I know you guys do some modeling and singing and acting with T Management, maybe there could be this synergy that we could do something together."·
And Donald said, "Well, I know she's a heck of a lot better than the other people who play here, and she looks a hell of a lot better too!"
I said, "You're right about that." He said, "If you need my help, give me a call." And off he went to play 18 holes or to fire someone.
So the seed was planted. Later he told me, "Rick, she hits the ball just as well as anybody I see at the Open."
I said, "You're right, she does hit the ball that well, but hitting the ball and playing are two different things. There's a difference between a hitter and a player and she's 14 and it's going to take time, but there are some endorsement opportunities here. The singing and the modeling are very important to her and her family, too."
He said, "Like I said earlier, if there's anything I can do, let me know." A week passed, her dad and I talked about it. I got a hold of the head pro again and he gave me the name of Donald's attorney.
So Rick Viele and I flew to New York to meet with Bernie Diamond, who was general counsel for the Trump organization. We go to Trump Towers and negotiate the arrangement that I'm going to be a consultant for T Management and they do all the contractual part of the deals.
And they're going to get her opportunities to get in teen magazines and sing National Anthems and start doing some modeling and get some stories other than tennis. I'll handle the tennis and they'll handle the other.
We do the deal and everything is full steam ahead. After it's all done we go into Donald's office and Bernie says, "Everything's done. We're going to represent Monique and Rick's going to run the tennis." Donald says, "Great. You're the best!"
I come to find out he says that a lot. It's Friday and he says, "When are you going back to Florida?" I said, "We've got a flight at 6."
He said, "My plane leaves at 4. Why don't you back with me?" We decided, alright, since we're done early we'll go back with the Trumpster!
We went on Donald's private plane and it's a full of a cast of characters, to say the least. Donald and his new wife, Melina, and his ex-wife, Ivana, are on the plane. There are some CEOs who are coming from New York down to Mar-A-Lago to vacation.
And Donald is just one of the guys, just talking, and nicest guy that you'd ever want to meet and I thought pretty much down to earth. A lot of people probably see him on TV as some guy who's super wealthy or whatever, but he's one of the guys who was in real estate and knew how to market. That's how I look at it.
Plus he is smarter than smart. Talking to him, I realize he's a real sports nut. He owned the New Jersey Generals of the former U.S Football League.
I've been fortunate to be around a lot of people and to me he's just one of the guys, even though he is looked at much differently. I feel he is brilliant and he knows how to play the game of life.
On the plane, there was the CEO of Shape magazine. He was a good player, ranked in the east and about 45 years old. Donald said, "Rick, who do you think would win, 14-year-old Monique or this guy who's the best 45-year-old in the east?"
I said, "I've never seen him play but I'll bet $1,000 Monique would kick his butt." And Donald said, "You've got it. We're betting on Monique. The match is on. Let's tee it up."
It turned out it was the next day, and we go there at 9am to Mar-A-Lago and Donald comes at the same time. He always has these five or six people following him, they call them his tail, I guess, and they follow him everywhere.
People are really anticipating this match and there is betting going on all over the place. One hundred dollar bills are flying everywhere.
Donald comes up to me and says; "Are you sure that she's going to win?" I said, "There's no doubt in my mind. Like you in real estate I'm seldom wrong."
He says, "There's no doubt in Rick's mind and I'm giving you three to one." Everybody's taking the guy and nobody is betting on Monique.
Donald said with an authoritative tone that I never heard before, "Hey, pal, you better be right. The Trumpster doesn't lose." I hoped so too because I just went from "the best" to "hey pal."
They actually have a pretty close match but Monique wins. It was never really in doubt. So Donald is going around collecting and saying, "Never bet against the Trumpster. The Trumpster knows tennis."
A lot of bravado. He was very proud. It was small potatoes in the world he deals in, but it showed how competitive he was. He's saying, "I'm right about this too" to his billionaire friends who were watching.
So that's Part 1 of the story. Stay tuned to hear the unexpected and tragic twists that followed.
