Years after his retirement announcement and barely being seen by the public, ex-pro tennis player Art Donaldson opens up about what he's been up to with his newfound free time in the first interview he's participated in since 2019.
By Grimson Clover PUBLISHED: MAY 28, 2024
The drive here was almost therapeutic. The new Donaldson residence is far into the green of Ohio's rural landscape, a change from the hustle and bustle and concrete of New York where he last lived. Trees and grass stretch around the house like something from an impressionist painting from the nineteenth century. I can hear birdsong, for crying out loud. I have to pinch myself before I ring the doorbell.
It was shocking when I got an email a few weeks ago inviting me to his home, asking if I'm still interested in an interview. I'd asked him last in 2019, retirement announcement still fresh, and was met with a cordial decline from him and his now ex-wife.
Art is happily co-parenting his daughter Lily with aforementioned ex-wife Tashi Duncan. The walls of his living room are filled with Lily. Her birth and following birthdays, first days of school, picnics at the park, holding a racket in tiny hands for the first time. Like a sweet shrine to her.
He offers me a drink while smiling at a particular frame. "That's from a couple months ago; it was her first concert, Beyonce. She was buzzing like a live wire that night."
Art Donaldson, 36 and now five years into retirement, is lounging on his living room sofa before me. He looks good, like he never quit tennis-- but he also looks at ease. Peaceful. He's in a gray sweatshirt and jeans. He's ditched his shoes by the couch for socks, simple and white as he sits cross-legged on his couch. Arm up on the cushion behind him.
"You wanted to interview me, here I am." He smiles.
Clover Grimson
Sweatshirt from Cassie Mercantile; jeans from Levi's; socks from Loewe; shoes from The Row
I could ask him just about a trillion questions in that moment. Why'd he retire? Why choose Ohio? Is he done with tennis for good? It's almost overwhelming, so I start somewhere simpler. "What's it like now, being retired?"
The sigh he lets out at the question, like years of pressure released from his back, is telling. "God, it's... fantastic. You know, the day after I announced my retirement I went out and ate the first cheeseburger in almost a decade. I have one, like, every week now. People take them for granted, I'm telling you." He shakes his head. "I sleep in," is added like a secret being told at a sleepover, "to, like, ten in the morning. I'm picking up new hobbies, I'm reading. I haven't had time to pick up a book since I went pro, and now I'm always in the corner of the house, hunched over like a grandpa, actually reading. It's the best."
Clearly, it's everything he's wanted. Art tells me about winning the US Open in 2019, the last professional tournament he'd ever play. "I went because I promised I would. Had no real hope I'd win, but it's cool that I did. Went out with a bang, I guess you could say."
You could say that indeed. That win got him a Grand Slam. Nothing small to shrug about, but he seems to. "It was never a real priority of mine-- at least not then. I know twenty-year-old me would've gone crazy if he found out."
I take that as my chance to ask the question we've all been thinking: "Do you plan on going back to tennis?"
He nods almost instantly. "Oh, yeah. Very much so."
Art takes me outside to the back of his house. To no one's surprise but my own, apparently, there's a small tennis court. "I teach Lily. She's been showing a growing interest. My little girl's not so little anymore. I might get into coaching younger kids once she outgrows me."
I make an honest attempt at hitting the ball when he serves it to me, but the first three misses and an almost twisted ankle reaffirm to me that I prefer writing about the pros instead of imitating them.
"What's it like being a dad now that you're retired?"
He smiles, looking off as he thinks about his daughter. "She's getting to the age where boys suddenly exist beyond her peripherals. Now I get to be there to help her, you know? Be a dad. I wake up, and the first thought isn't 'What time is practice?', but instead, 'How long 'till Lily's here?'. She's been my world since the day she was born, and now I can truly focus on that."
There's a small garden near the court, a variety of different flowers and plants blooming in the spring sun. I'm about to ask about his green thumb, but Art clarifies that it's not his doing. "I've got a gardener." He confesses almost sheepishly. "Lily likes working with him, she learns a lot."
"What's Lily's favorite flower?"
"And yours?" I ask, already assuming the answer. He doesn't hesitate to answer. He picks his flower of choice and hands it to me, a small gift that almost has me swooning.
Smooth, Donaldson. Smooth.
It's later on in the interview I decide to approach a more sensitive topic. One filled with rumors and stories from old tennis academy classmates, Stanford alumni, or people who've shared a locker room once or twice with the players. "Have you spoken to Patrick Zweig since your infamous challenger against him in 2019?"
Art's a very private person. Anyone will tell you that. The only detail of his personal life he ever willingly discloses is his love for his daughter. I know it would probably be easier to ask him to strip naked in front of me than to divulge his personal relationships (Which he once did. I know you've seen the Calvin Klein shoot he did a few years ago), but come on-- I have to ask.
He laughs, wags a playful but accusatory finger at me like he caught me trying to get the last cookie from the cookie jar. "Nice try. I saw your interview with him."
His next comment is what's really interesting, though. "But, yes, I have. He's a dear friend of mine, and I'm proud of his career-- Tashi and him make an amazing team. That's all I'll say on that."
I was told before the interview that the T-word was off-limits, so, sorry readers. I let him lead me back to the house, back to the couch, back to tennis. I ask him what first drew him to tennis, and he brings me home-roasted coffee-- a new hobby of his. It's incredible.
"My grandmother, mostly. She loved the sport when she was growing up, especially since back then it was even more prestigious than it is now. Her father, my great-grandfather, was a tennis player. I guess she passed that love on to me."
It's when the sun starts to set that the interview concludes. He thanks me for my time, and I have to remind him he's the one who set aside his day for me. Art's just that kind of guy.
"I bet you'll be back here in a few years," Art Donaldson gives me one of his signature half-smiles, the one that makes men and women alike trip over their feet, helping me pack up my things to go, "Interviewing the Lily Donaldson about her own Grand Slams. Or whatever she chooses to do."
"Whenever that is, I'll be the first to buy the issue."