Recent McEnroe interview

[gzhpcu]

[don_budge]

It's interesting how John McEnroe can oscillate from being sage-like to being the "pits of the world". He barely brushed what is wrong with the game today and obviously he knows exactly what is wrong. But he is a shill now and he cannot possibly bite the hand that feeds him. As I watched him coaching a club full of clueless children. But what takes the cake is his blanket statement putting Federer, Nadal and Djokovic at the top of the heap and he of anyone in the room should understand what nonsense that is.

It's the equipment stupid. Federer added just seven square to his "Excaliber" and he was a different being. These guys are just illusions to what it once was. Obviously they are so one dimensional and cookie cutter robots. The courts are all the same. One of the true tests to a player was the ability to "adapt" to the conditions. Now the conditions are all tailer made for the one dimensional robots. Just endless baseline monotony. Droning on and on and on....you get the idea.

But McEnroe is like a breath of fresh air in a lot of respects. His ability to put his foot in his mouth and then his face lights up into this huge smile and he knows he is milking his personna and putting on the witless viewing public. Even the shill doing the interview played heavily on the controversy surrounding "Johnny Bad Boy". But I believe McEnroe when he said that it was 80/20 with regards to the positive/negative energy surrounding him and his tennis. The mistakes and tantrums were hugely exaggerated but it was his racquet that was doing the talking.

As he offered in his assessment with nitwit Nick Kyrgios. McEnroe says that the difference was that he never gave up. Kyrgios goes in the tank at the first hint of trouble. Even before. Kyrgios is not the answer.

Most of all what you have to admit...even you gzhpcu...McEnroe is highly entertaining. He's no dummy. Just like you know who...he made a big impression when he lost his mind (which was calculated half of the time) but he didn't lose sight of the prize. He was about winning. I love the shots of him playing the wooden Jack Kramer Pro Staff and Dunlop Maxply. Even though I am not a betting man I would be tempted to bet a bit on him against any of the modern players playing the conditions he used to play. Slick grass courts, fast hard surfaces and wooden racquets. Only Federer would stand a chance and he would be even Stephen...as they say.

[gzhpcu]

Agree don_budge. Would love to see McEnroe play Serena....

[stroke]

I also think Mac would beat Serena for what that is worth. I like Mac, I still find him very sage. When I do think of Mac and his shenanigans on court, what I remember was how it appeared to get to him that Connors was a bigger dick than him and seemed to get by with it way better.

[stotty]

McEnroe and Connors were equally disliked over here back in their day. To the Brits, they epitomised Americans: confident, rude, brash, hamburgers and chips...cultureless. Of course there is way more to Americans than that but this is the way you can come across across the world if you're not careful.

But McEnroe's evolvement as a person has been remarkable. Either he acquired these personable skills over time through constant feedback and then adapting himself, or maybe tennis just brought out the worst in him at the time...quite possibly. Some people evolve some don't. Borg's still comes across the same, as does Connors. No personality evolvement there; Borg is still nice, Connors is still horrible.

Personally I am all for evolvement. It makes a person more interesting and suggests a good IQ. The worrying thing for me is people say I haven't changed one iota in 30 years...oh well.

[stroke]

Agassi evolved very nicely also

[bottle]

this is the way you can come across across the world if you're not careful.

Love it.

[don_budge]

McEnroe and Connors were equally disliked over here back in their day. To the Brits, they epitomised Americans: confident, rude, brash, hamburgers and chips...cultureless. Of course there is way more to Americans than that but this is the way you can come across across the world if you're not careful.

Well...hoity-toity.

[don_budge]

Agree don_budge. Would love to see McEnroe play Serena....

I wonder if in today's PC environment if we could call this one "The Battle of the "Sexes"". Sexes in quotation marks as in the recent GQ magazine headline when Serena was awarded ""Woman" of the Year". What was up with that?

After watching the video a second time...the Serena comments from McEnroe were pretty lame. He's a shill though...no biting the hand that feeds you.