THE DAILY Goes One-on-One With Tennis Legend John McEnroe

Almost immediately from the time he turned pro in ’77, JOHN MCENROE has been one of the most outspoken voices in the sport of tennis, on and off the court.  As a player who won seven Grand Slam titles and helped the U.S. capture five Davis Cups, McEnroe was often simultaneously lauded for the skills and passion he showed in playing the game and vilified for outbursts directed at umpires, opponents, cameramen, or anyone else who he felt was interfering with him.  This passion for the game has carried over in McEnroe’s work as a tennis analyst for NBC and USA Network, as well as in his play in the Outback Champions Series, which includes other former top players like JIM COURIER, SERGI BRUGUERA, TODD MARTIN and PAT CASH.  At the Series’ recent stop in Charlotte, McEnroe, who is now 47 and continuing to exhibit both the brilliant shot-making and notorious temperament alike, took a break to speak with SportsBusiness Daily staff writer Jeremy Caslin about the Champions Series and questions facing the sport of tennis today.

Number of songs on iPod: About 3,000.

Favorite groups: Rolling Stones, The Who, and I’m a big grunge guy: Nirvana, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots. There’s a new band that I want to hear called The Raconteurs.

Best place to eat in N.Y.: Rosa Mexicano. Good combination of food and margaritas.

Yankees or Mets: Mets.

Giants or Jets: Grew up Jets. Switched to the Giants when LT was around.

Super Bowl pick: Giants.

Favorite vacation spot: Hawaii.

Favorite movie: “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

Last book read: “The Education of a Coach,” by DAVID HALBERSTAM.

Ultimate doubles foursome: ROGER FEDERER, me, PETE SAMPRAS and ROD LAVER.

John McEnroe At The Premiere For “Everyone’s Hero”

Q: In a recent radio interview you discussed your enthusiasm for art, and you mentioned PICASSO and ANDY WARHOL. Are you familiar with CARAVAGGIO, the 17th century painter who got into an argument over the score of a tennis match and killed his opponent?

McEnroe: Really? I should’ve known that.

Q: What do you think success would look like for the Outback Champions Series?

McEnroe: I think success would be having a greater presence on a cable network, and I think success would be being not only in areas like Charlotte, where we are now, where I think there’s a fan base and an interest and we could add a little flavor to the game, but also be part of the big events like the U.S. Open and Wimbledon. ... We would be part of the regular tour and branch out and come to places like Charlotte, as an example, where they don’t have a big tournament. Obviously, some of the success would have to be intertwined with success on the main tour. I think it goes hand in hand. If you have success on the regular tour, you’re going to have a better chance of success. ... I think it’s conceivable that we could complement and help them.

Q: Do you think you could have much influence on Pete Sampras or ANDRE AGASSI or some of the recently retired players to compete in the Champions Series?

McEnroe: I think Sampras has started to think about it. He would obviously be someone that would add credibility. Agassi just retired, so I can’t see him coming out in the near term. And physically, what he’s done in order to maintain his level on the regular tour, to me, can take its toll. ... I would be somewhat surprised to see him around it very much. But obviously if he did play that would be a big boost, no question about it.

Q: Finish this sentence: The state of professional tennis today compared to a year ago is ...

McEnroe: I think it’s brighter than it was a year ago. There’s recognition within the tennis community that we need to continue to reach out to fans and to make some changes and try different things. I think that progress is starting to be slowly being made.

Q: Your first 100 days as commissioner of tennis would see what changes?

McEnroe: I would try to change the schedule. I don’t know how quickly you can do that or how successful you could be. I think an eight- or nine-month season at the maximum should be what we have. I would try to implement that. ... I would make a determination about Davis Cup because I feel like Davis Cup, incredibly, is something that’s a forgotten part of our sport, where it seems like it should be a no-brainer as far as being a positive. It so happens that you’re talking to me the weekend of the Ryder Cup, and that’s one week every two years, and Davis Cup is different. The Ryder Cup has grown and grown and it seems like Davis Cup has gone the other way, and I hate to see that happen.

Q: Are there any concepts from other sports that you’d like to see tennis learn from or apply?

McEnroe: In my book I suggest ten changes for tennis, and one of them is to follow the lead of NASCAR, the way they not only market their sport but their acceptability of the driver, the players in our case, and their constant tinkering of the rules ... constantly trying to improve what they’re doing. I don’t see enough of that in our sport. As an example, I’ve talked about it, not having a let. There are people who’d say that’s a pretty minor thing, and it is. But I think it could be something that could speed up a match by, say, ten minutes. ... It’s one less thing for the players and umpire to worry about. I think it could add an element of excitement, if [the serve hits the net] on a big point and you have to dive. ... It’s unpredictability. A player may not like this. The best player may not want to level the playing field. But being on the other side, doing commentary on TV, wanting to be entertained, I think it would be interesting. That’s one of the minor things I would try to do.

Q: Instant replay added a whole new dimension to matches at the U.S. Open and the fans seemed to respond to it. What do you think about the future of instant replay in tennis?

McEnroe: I think it’s going to be fine. I know it’s expensive and some might say that money could be better spent on junior programs. But a lot of the money that’s been spent has been misspent. We’re talking about trying to create an interest and create fan involvement and I think it did that. I think it was an obvious success. I do think that we should continue to have it as part of the tour. There’s a lot of money that the U.S. Open makes in a year, and there’s plenty of money that could be spent on junior programs and certainly should be. But I think it’s a win-win for everyone, for the fans, the players, even the umpires.

McEnroe Says Sharapova Has Right Marketing Mix

Q: What do you think about the way MARIA SHARAPOVA is being marketed compared to the way ANNA KOURNIKOVA was?

McEnroe: I’m not quite sure, exactly, what the difference is. Obviously Sharapova has won a couple of majors, which right away gives her credibility. She has been someone that at least from what I’ve seen from the business, though I’m not around her, she seems to train quite hard and keeps herself right there on the edge, and so this is not a big surprise that she’s won another tournament. I think it’s a great marketing angle. It certainly worked for her financially where she’s able to spend time doing these other things. ... She’s got the right mix right now.

Q: Would you say that VENUS and SERENA WILLIAMS, despite all their accomplishments, have failed to live up to their potential?

McEnroe: People are pretty harsh. It’s like when I look at my own career, I didn’t win a major after I was 25. And I think I should have, and I wish I had. ... And then you take a step further if you say at 17 I had won 7 majors, I would’ve taken that in a second. When you’ve succeeded at a high level for an extended period of time, people expect that to keep happening, and at some point, you can’t stay up forever. When they were winning and dominating, people just expected that to keep happening. Other examples: If you get injuries, or you lose interest, or your conditioning goes off, you just can’t keep it up, for a combination of reasons. Plus, they had an unfortunate personal situation with their sister and that, obviously, emotionally took its toll. You can’t be inside their head. And I don’t think their careers are over. If they did commit themselves they could have another couple of great years. Obviously they have to commit themselves, and it’s not going to get easier now because they don’t have that intimidation factor as much as they used to. It’s a little harsh to say they’ve been failures, I wouldn’t say that. I would say they haven’t maximized what they could have. There’s still time to pull out of it.

Q: We may be witnessing the game’s greatest player ever in Roger Federer, yet he’s still not that well known in the U.S., relatively speaking. Do you think enough is being done to promote him, specifically by Nike and the sport?

McEnroe: People are trying. When you’re not an American -- and he lives a pretty quiet lifestyle -- it’s a trickier sell, let’s just say. Because you’ve got a class guy who lets his racket do the talking for the most part. It’s not necessarily up to Nike. Nike pays him money, presumably a lot of money, to wear their clothes, and hopefully people will go out there and buy Nike because he’s wearing them, and wearing their sneakers. But the obligation is more with the tour itself, to promote and market him and work it in a way where people become more aware of him. Nike obviously is going to try to do that, they’re going to try to help their bottom line, but it’s up to the sport more than it is up to [Nike], in my opinion. They need to do more, and I think people are recognizing that and there’s been a shift in a positive direction. When you have a guy as great as he is, you want people to appreciate that. He’s made himself available to the media and he likes to be around the courts, which is great. There’s an opportunity there.

Q: How important is a rivalry, such as the potential RAFAEL NADAL-Federer one, for tennis’ long-term success and popularity?

McEnroe: In a one-on-one sport you need it, let’s face it. TIGER WOODS is out there, and yeah, the ratings are good, but when there’s a couple guys in the mix it makes it better, more interesting. Same in boxing. Same in tennis. Nadal is there, seems to have gotten in his head a little bit. Of course that makes it more interesting and it’s really important.

Q: Is tennis in any way shooting itself in the foot a bit in the U.S., at least in the East and Midwest, when some of its greatest live moments happen when people have gone to bed during those late-night matches at the U.S. Open?

McEnroe: Well, you can make that argument with a lot of other sports. That’s an open argument. Would I prefer it to be a littler earlier? Yeah, I would, too. I’d also prefer it in football and I’d also prefer it baseball and pretty much every sport. In boxing it comes on later and later. So I would like to see it a little bit. There’s no doubt about that. In some of these matches it’s just bad luck, the previous match goes on too long and things happen. It’s a little unpredictable in tennis.

Q: It’s very noticeable on TV that players are constantly looking at their coaches or visitors box, some between every point, it seems. Should coaches be able to sit on court during matches?

McEnroe: I’m not sure if coaches should sit on court. I’d like to see a compromise. That would be a good example of tinkering with the sport. Once a set, or at the end of a set. Something could be worked out. For some it’s like a security blanket, the kids look up to their coach or family. It’s a tick, almost. It’s a habit. Nothing’s happening most of the time. You look at Sharapova’s father saying, “Eat a banana,” ... yeah, it’s against the rules, but no one’s enforcing it, so why bother having the rule? Either enforce them or don’t enforce them.

Q: There don’t seem to be quite as many “wild” personalities in the pro game as there were maybe 15-20 years ago. Do you wish players were more like you on court?

More Personalities Like Nadal Needed In Tennis

McEnroe: The inmates running the asylum, so to speak, which they felt was happening in tennis with myself and [JIMMY] CONNORS and [ILIE] NASTASE, they really tightened that a little too much. I think they discouraged personality, which I think was a big mistake. Now they realize that, in fact, they needed that. ... When I’m commentating, I encourage players to show their emotion. Everyone shows it in different ways, of course. That is something that needs to be addressed, and I think it’s important for people to have feeling, even if they don’t like you. To me, it was always better if [fans] didn’t like you than not having a feeling one way or another. At least they were emotionally involved. That’s what a sport needs. Betting money, such as in fantasy football … people have to bet on tennis to be more interested? I think that’s sad, to be honest. I don’t like that. I see a lot of people are hurt by leaving their kids in the car and spending their last dollar going to Las Vegas, and people look the other way and that’s OK? And then you hear, ‘It’s against the rules to eat a banana.’ The bigger picture is really lost. I don’t think I’d want to advocate [betting]. Instead of doing that, where most people end up losing their shirt, try to do things that really encourage people, which starts with, to me, allowing the players to express themselves. Now, of course, in all sports the increasing money is so great that people take it more seriously, maybe it’s more pressurized than it was, though in a way it should be less because you get so much more. But for some reason it seems like it goes the other way. That’s happening in all sports.