Latest / Bleacher Report / Odell Beckham Jr. on Becoming a Tennis Fan & 'What Ifs' of His NFL Career | 2025 Roland-Garros

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Odell Beckham Jr. on Becoming a Tennis Fan & 'What Ifs' of His NFL Career | 2025 Roland-Garros · Bleacher Report

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: We appreciate you joining us. Hold up that it's probably
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: it's probably.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: It's probably the only one that I can't play, the
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: only sport you can't play.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: It's difficult.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: One of my best friends growing up he played tennis.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: I don't know did he try or I don't.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Think I ever tried. There you go, somebody would have
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: to teach me.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Well, that's that's true of all we're available. Yeah, yeah,
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: let's get you Covied. What do you think about just
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: your first time out? Is this your first time ever
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: watching tennis? Protendant?
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: So I started. I mean I think it was the
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: US Open, and it was.
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: When you were playing for the Giants, when I was.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: With the Giants, Jogo Vish and my feet, and.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: It was just just the competitor that I am actually
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: understanding what was going on and understanding the tennis match
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: and breaks and this and that and the mental fatigue.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: I just know how my mind operates.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: And I was like, I actually really enjoy it now
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: because I'm I'm thinking about them from a different perspective.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: I'm thinking about them from how is their mind trying
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: to outplay their opponent?
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: What is it? What tactics are you using?
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: It's like like you're on a corner back for sure,
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: or even you know, I love playing chords. You know,
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: when you play rummy or something like that and you're
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: playing against somebody and you're seeing how their brain operates.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: I feel like you can learn a lot about somebody
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: from how they play cards.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: You play for a lot of money.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: You can't gamble, uh, you know in the NFL, So
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: I definitely don't gamble.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: But you can't gamble at all. No, I can't gimble,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: but I know that. I thought you.
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: Can't gamble on your own sport. Jesus, we want you
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: to have fun here. We were happy here.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: We have a highlight, the greatest catch you ever made.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: I'm see this cat.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: We just trying to find time. Hopefully we have it.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: But what what what? What? What's the mind? Yourself? First? To
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: be honest, I am in the best place in my
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: entire life. That's great. I have some big plans going on.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: I like to keep everything under wraps, but I'd like.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: To break it on the I won't break it here yet,
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: but I'm just saying, all right, I'm feeling good. God
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: has blessed me with There's there's just a spiritual journey
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: that's going on with me as a man, as a father,
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: as a just as a human being that in the
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: last seven eight months, I've really became like truly who
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: I am.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: I've found my joy, I found my bounce, i found my.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: You know, happiness, just dancing again. Just I feel like
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: a kid again. And I'm sure having a son who's
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: three years old, he's going to keep me lively and
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: I'm looking at him. Uh, and I'm seeing myself a lot.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: But just say I'm feeling good.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: I'm looking at your hat. Let me Yeah, since whose
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: your surgeon? Yeah that made me think of because you've
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: had some just bummer injuries. Yeah, big time, then the
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: other even before that.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: If we could keep it real, listen, we need if
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: the ko should have whatever, maybe that wasn't God's playing
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: for me, but.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Take away all of these.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: Knee injuries or ankle or whatever happened to me. I
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: already know what I would have done status wise and
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: had a career and all those things. But I'm grateful
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: for every single scar that I have because it may
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: be the man that I am today truly, and I
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: feel like I wouldn't be able to have the life
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: that I've had, if I didn't go through some of
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: these things and really have to sit down and get
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: right with myself, it's deep as hard, it's tough. I
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: wish that I wouldn't have had any injuries and I
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: could have played healthy and been myself all this time. Whatever,
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: But I'm blessed.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: I'm still that. I feel the best I ever.
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna calling some tennis with us, yah, because right
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: now we go Petry perik Or. He's a young Frenchman
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: six foot six.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: He's a big boy. He's a big boy.
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  Speaker 3: He's got he's two sets to love down and now
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: he's got a chance to break back in the third.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: So he's the favorite too.
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  Speaker 3: He's twenty years old in France, and I love him.
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: The way I see it is just like he's never
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: a break. You just gotta dig deep right there.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: And that's why I like this, this sport that really
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: started to get to me and I was like feeling
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: I was feeling that, like it's something about me, like
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: you have to you have to dig deep within yourself.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: It's a person is a man.
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: Like a little different, I mean different obviously with the
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: ultimate team game.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: It's your game though, how is it the same? And
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: I mean in a sense of like you gotta dig deep, Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I gotta.
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  Speaker 2: It's a team game. That's cool, But at the end
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: of the day, if ten people do the job right
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: and the one person doesn't.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: It's not now. Earlier.
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: This is a tweet that came in Odell you watching Alcharacs.
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: This is some of your reactions, and you're like, sound
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: looks like you were pretty impressed.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: I love it. Yeah, I love the showmanship.
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  Speaker 2: I love the I love I love the confidence in oneself,
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: you know what I mean.
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  Speaker 1: Like it's just truly like we've played and practiced for
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: so long, you go out there and you get it's
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: your time of shine.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: So I just loved what he was doing today. I
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: seen the new haircut. I seen him in Miami.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: He didn't have the same haircut today. He had his haircut.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: He's got his juice back.
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: It's kind of like the wide receiver of mentality, right,
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: Yes here, I am well, I remember, tell correct me
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: if I'm wrong. But you were serve you know.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: I'm the outside of looking at obviously you were the
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: individual on a team game.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: But with everything I heard from people on the teams
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: you played for that you were a great team.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: God, but then how frustrating was it for you to
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: sort of have to deal with that. I guess it's so.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: Absolutely I really appreciate that because it's been beyond frustrating.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: People don't even understand.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: In fact, the start of my whole injuries and me
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: breaking my ankle, my doctor told me, don't come back
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: four weeks. I came back four weeks too early. He
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: told me, don't do it, and this is what's gonna happen.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: And it happened.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: I came back. We lost the first game that I
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: set out.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: The next week, I was trying to play for my
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: team because I'm like, I don't want the season to
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: slip away if people don't even understand, like I've always
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: been a team player, is a receiver, Yeah, we want
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: the ball whatever it is. But like I'm the ultimate competitor.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: I want to win, no question. I hate losing. And
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: that's just the core of me, you know what I'm saying, Like,
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: I just really hate losing that bad where I went
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: to college. If we lost one game, we're not making
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: a national championship. Like you know, I'm crying on that Saturday,
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: like it is what it is. People are always gonna
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: have me misconstrued. They're gonna have their opinion on me.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: Best for them to have.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: I know who I am. I know my good, my bad.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: You know, I really know who I am as a man,
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  Speaker 2: so I can stand firm in that. And whoever has
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: something to say about it, that's for you.
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: Were you healthy when you were playing the period of
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: time you were playing with Miami?
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: So I had to two part questions two part questions.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: It started like I was contemplating what I was gonna do,
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: and we were waiting around and the free agency and
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: I kind of needed to get like a minor scope
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: and then ended up signing got signed late.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: You know, was convinced that things.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: Were gonna be one way, and then when I got
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: there they weren't. But I'm still grateful for the experience, honestly.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: But I really was like a healthy scratch, you know.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: What I mean. Like I didn't I didn't play, didn't
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: do anything. I felt good. I feel even better now.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: So honestly, I really have no like hate my heart
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: for nobody. I have no regrets, I have nothing. I'm
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: like full of love.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: It is what it is did you see someone like
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: a psychologists or psychiagy, myself, God, just yourself?
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, just me and him the big Man.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: Like it's honest like that that soul searching is honestly
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: my latest tattoos of me just metamorphosizing it to this
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: new man that I'm becoming. Honestly, I've been on a
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: spiritual journey to find like true happiness. I feel like,
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: at the end of the day, what else are we
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: searching for in life?
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean? It's like we do all
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: of these things for what it's to be happy.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: It's to find love and those things that you're like
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: finding within yourself, the things that you love and just
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: I just want to spread that around. I have a
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: son now, I just want to be the best father
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: I could be, for him to be the best man
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: I could be, for.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: Myself to be the best brother son, whatever it is.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: I just we right on here. Let me finish the
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: second I gotta get.
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: The second part is to fly.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: I forget hard dead. Now.
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: I grew up in New York, so I've always been
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: a jets, jets and giants. I'm a little fair weather
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: because I'm sure it would go both of them. This
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: is about because I'm lefty, I always like too.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I love the way he plays.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: Do you think he should still be playing in the NFL?
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Absolutely?
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: The thing is every man has a choice, and you know,
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: you know we obviously we go through these protocols and
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: we go through those things, and you know they it's
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: a dangerous sport.
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we know that.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: Whatever helmet you want to put on and tell you
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: this helmet isn't good enough or whatever.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: It's just like not every man is the same. Somebody
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: is more susceptible to this.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: And now one Tua is one of the best humans
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: I've ever met in my entire life, one of the
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: greatest dues. I put that on everything I love. Uh,
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: obviously has all the talent and just been unfortunate, you
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: know what I mean. And that's like it's a decision
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: for him.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: To make right.
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: You know, you got the talent and you got the drive,
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: So we want to just show this picture. Oh due, okay,
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: can take a look.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: At area that. What is that? What do you what
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: do you think? How the hell did you do that?
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: And now, like everybody doesn't want but then you were
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: like the first there was a lot of people who've
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: done it. You know you got in practice a lot.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: So I'll tell you this, hands down, Jarfits Landry was
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: the man who changed my life.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: He was the reason why I went to LSU.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: He was the reason who taught me and understood how
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: to be great, like wanting to be great, not just like, okay,
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: I have all the time and be good.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: He taught me all the one hand catches and all
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: that like. He drove me to be the best. He
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: drove me to be who I am.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: And honestly, he's got some of the best hands I've
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: ever seen in my entire life he has. He's got
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: the hands, you know what I mean. And me and
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: him used to throw the ball to each other all day,
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: throw it as.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: Hard as we could.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: We used to be like, all right, it's left hand
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: or it's right, throw it at each other as hard.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: As we could. We always push each other to be better.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: That's my brother forever, another one of those like those
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: pillars in my life.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: He changed my life forever. And the catchers came from
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: a lot of practice. It came from a lot of practice.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: I remember the s he championship, Me Jarvis Tyr Matthew,
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: we were catching punts off the drug machine and I'm
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: watching I'm watching the ball spiral and it comes out
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: as a writer, it comes down this way.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: So you know.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: Exactly when we were just doing this, We were just
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: trying to do this, do this. And I actually remember
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: there was a game my junior year against Auburn. There
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: was a pass on the sideline.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: It was raining.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: I went to do the same catch and I dropped it,
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: and I remember posting I said, next time.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: It's mine. There you go, and then it happened.
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: Last question, the one lucky catch that they say is
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: only my only career, that I'm only one catch and
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: all the other things.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: That's what they say, you know, I don't know. Yeah,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: that was because it was that was like the ninth
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: touchdown of the year or something like that.
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: But anyways, who's your favorite tennis plan? The last question,
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: you already have one favorite.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: I can't give you a favorite. He's in too good
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: a place, you know. I can't do that right now.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: But I'm here to support Carlos. I love my feast,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: I love the I love the people who bring joy
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: to the game.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: Like it's just like with this side of you, like
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: forget about the rules, siety and all these things.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: And judgment like I'm gonna just be myself always.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: I can value a man who's gonna stand in being
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: himself always, just like you.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: Were, like just you know it is. I value that.
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: Thanks a lot for We appreciate you coming to you
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: your outfit, by the way you're looking.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: I'm looking, I'm looking up. You're looking good a little bit.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: It's great to see it, sir.
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: Appreciate you, Appreciate you coming from Thank you all the
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: back of all the beast. Yeah, and and just while
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: Odell was here chat