He wound up redoing the tile at the spa/sauna at Martina Navratilova's house. Gary was quite the amateur player and had several tournament trophies. Martina was walking from her outdoor practice court into the house. She stopped to say hello and ask him how things were going. They chatted for a minute and he finally decided to go for it. He told her he was a tennis player and asked if she might serve a ball or two so he could tell his friends that he returned a serve from Martina Navratilova. Her response was, "of course".

She loaned him one of her racquets and they went to the indoor court at her house. She served him four balls. He said that he never saw any of them in time to even flinch. After the fourth she lobbed one in about 1/4 speed that he returned. He said that she smiled, winked and said that he could now tell his friends that he returned a serve from Martina.