As a film about his life is released, the former bad boy of tennis reflects on how he went from villain to hero. By Tim Lewis
‘Jesus Christ, can we move on?’ John McEnroe.As a film about his life is released, the former bad boy of tennis reflects on how he went from villain to herofaced Michael Chang in an exhibition tennis match at Indian Wells in California. As a contest, it was next to meaningless. It was a chance for a nostalgic crowd to squint and remember these players in their heyday, almost 40 years in the rear view.
It’s not a newsflash that John McEnroe hates losing. But there is much about our conversation today that does surprise me. And this is, well, unexpected. Few sporting lives – maybe only Muhammad Ali’s – have been as chronicled as McEnroe’s.
“My true understanding of whether I love tennis would be: if I love tennis, I would go out there and play tennis, whether I got paid for it or not. At this point in my life, I have not gotten to that point where I haven’t been paid for it. So I don’t know the answer. I’d like to tell you yes, but I hope that there’s never a time where I have to answer that question!”on the Zoom, you’re reminded how well McEnroe looks.
McEnroe has identified that the great, recurring stumbling block of his life, or at least his career, is that the pain of defeat has always stung more than the joy of victory. This is seen most obviously in the 1984 season, where he won 82 matches and lost just three. But what does McEnroe linger on from that year? That he was two sets up againstin the French Open final and threw it away after losing his rag at the crackling headset of a court-side cameraman.
“I remember thinking, ‘I’m going to fly under the radar’ with my ex-wife,” recalls McEnroe now. “Like, who the hell are you kidding? The level of attention exploded! There was way more than I’d ever gotten with any person or any thing. Oh my God! So then you dig in your heels.”
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