How Good Was John McEnroe Actually? 

John had the most beautiful game I have ever seen. He may not have won as many slams as some other players, but if you want to watch a pure artist at work, he is the one to watch.

My favourite player hands down. Watching him play was always entertaining and at his best he was untouchable.

Mac was/is a tennis genius. It's too bad the the United States can't produce a dominant player like Mac these days. Even in his later years on the Senior circuit, Mac was tearing up younger players. It takes a genius to do this.

Mac was the Jimi Hendrix of tennis, an improvisational artist of the highest order. He bridged the gap from the wood racket era to modern fiber rackets. When people were able to really bash the ball from the baseline, he never changed his game. I am so happy to have grown up in the 70's and 80's. Everything was better, the music, the sports and the drugs.

It's amazing and funny how such a fiery personality can have such a beautiful graceful playing style.

McEnroe was not only a great tennis player, he was a great tennis analyst as a sportscaster. He made sport more interesting than it otherwise was.

My favourite player of all time and probably the best doubles player ever which is even more appreciated I think by club level competition players who play mostly doubles. I think the singles game changed and left him behind frankly but only at the very top. I thought he could have played doubles a lot longer than he did and still won. Even in the seniors tour he had lost nothing. I had the pleasure of watching at the Royal Albert hall.

"Simultaneously" AND "at the same time"...wow!

He was amazing in his prime. I got to see him play Guillermo Vilas in an exhibition in Fresno in 1983. At the time, Vilas was still a top 10 player on the circuit and McEnroe manhandled him. Shocking that the 1984 U.S. Open would be the last Grand Slam singles title he would win. To be #1 in both singles AND doubles at the same time is something that will never be duplicated. In fact, only a handful of men's players since then have been in the top 10 in both disciplines at the same time, most recently Jack Sock in 2017 (#8 in singles, #9 in doubles).

John McEnroe a pesar de los años sigue siendo una de las pocas estrella mundiales del tenis que esta presente y activo, felicitaciones!!

He’s a GD legend! There’s no one like him, and never will be. He’s a true champion and very loved for sure. Shia’s portrayal was spot on! I don’t think they could’ve chose a better actor to play that role. I know Shia has his demons, but is still an amazing actor. I think we can all agree to that.

I was a unconditionnal fan of Borg, but there was and still is only one Big Mac!! Magic touch, unique style, great new yorker behavior!

McEnroe was great when Borg was playing, they pushed each other. Beating Borg at Wimbledon and the US Open was the highlight of his career. Although he won several grand slam titles after Borg's retirement, McEnroe never played at the same high level consistently often losing to Connors, Lendl, Edberg, etc.

NATURAL TALENT, PERSONALITY AND GENIUSITY. Those are the three characteristics that define his game, and that have made him the most brilliant and spectacular player I have ever seen. There are two seasons, just when he changes the wooden racket for the graphite one, specifically years 83 and 84, when we find an absolutely sublime Mcenroe in terms of play and results, however, as we say in my country, "the good perfume is served in a small bottle", and his game based on inspiration has its weak point in consistency, so his results today may seem little, if we compare him with today's players (77 ATP tournaments and 7 Grand Slam Tournaments). However, the spectacle that his game gave is far superior to that of any of the current players, even though they can win 20 or 30 Grand Slams. It is not the quantity but the quality, in other words, it's not the quantity of victories but the "way of producing them" and in this aspect John Mcenroe was and is the reference. There has only been one player who comes close to him, his name is ROGER FEDERER.

He was the best player of all time

He is still a great player with that lefty serve to the add court that pulls the returner off the court. Up to recently, he won senior pro tournaments against players much younger.

A magician by ordinary standards

He was a unique talent. His '84 year was off the charts. But he was never quite the same after the retiring of Borg, and his own sabbatical. Still, it's almost shocking to think the '84 US Open was his last Slam because he still played some great tennis after that. Trivia question: How many Slam titles did he win in Nike clothes? Answer: Zero. While we think of Mac as the first great Nike player, he was still wearing Sergio Tacchini clothes in '84.

Cannot get enough of McEnroe!!!!

if i'm not mistaken his forehand grip was continental, not eastern.

I was there , he was fantastic. I was a division, 1 college player when he was. He was light years ahead of almost everybody else.

My favourite tennis player of all time. Poetry in motion.

McEnroe is the most talented Tennis Player ever

You say that he lost three matches in 84, and then you go on and say that he only lost a Davis Cup match at the end of the year in 1984. Unfortunately, this video also needs quite a bit of work.

Did anyone else spot Shia LaBeouf at 5:34 mins. As regards to fitness, McEnroe was the first to admit he wasn't among the fittest and strongest players in the game. He's quoted as saying that he kept fit by playing doubles. The reason he could keep up with guys like Connors was that he tried to make the opponent do most of the running. He kept baseline rallies as short as possible. Some good footage in the video apart from Shia's sneak appearance !

Most talented ever.

The pure hand-eye coordination was astounding. I suspect it still is pretty good.

"Simultaneously at the same time"... Really?

Very good! Subtle Artisty in every shot, like Hana Mandlikova!

Mac used a continental grip not an eastern forehand

Mac was a great player, no doubt. I emulated his style as much as one could and loved watching his matches. His 1984 season was incredible and I was able to see him live at the USO that year. But for all of his unique talent and relatively short peak, he is largely overrated as a player and even for his talent. His uniqueness of style has something to do with it. He had great feel and touch, but he also went for the impossible a lot and when you do that you make some wow shots. I saw him miss volleys, lots of them, where I felt he could have stuck the thing rather than try and make a deft dropper that wasn’t needed. Yes, he was very talented. I just get sick of hearing people state he was the most talented. It’s ridiculous. I was a big fan, playing in college and copying this guy’s game so not coming from a hater viewpoint here.

Looks like his forehand strike is made using continental grip insted of eastern.

Ironically the graphite racquet that contributed to his great 84 season also ended his dominance as players started to hit with more power and spin and his wooden racquet based ground strokes couldn't cope.

The best!

If you take both his singles and doubles, he's the best... And if you add to that his entertainment value, it's almost unparalleled.

The change in racquet technology has made McEnroe's game irrelevant. He couldn't pay his game today which had lead to the almost total decrease in tennis popularity and the rise of Pickleball. Tennis used to be a chess match where you had to think your way around the court now its all power.....a checkers game. Sad to see the demise of what was the most popular games in America in the '70s and early '80s.

His match record in 1984 of 83 and 3 is still the best calendar match record in the Open era. Not even Fed, Nadal or Djoko have bettered that!

What's going on with the scaling of Peter Fleming and Michael Stich? It looks weird. Also Stich's name is prounced "shteek." Not "stich."

Federer Djokovic nadal sampras borg laver connors ivan Lendl and McEnroe are goats for me in tennis 🎾.

Aced everybody off the Court. Volleys on the rise. Everythingon the rise

You keep incorrectly saying that he won games over and over again. He didn't win games. He won matches.

Come on guys… Mark Woodford??? Mark was a kid when John played… it was Peter Fleming!

Fritz is a great player, but still can't figure out what his strategy is other than trying to win from the base line. Seldom comes to net unless short shot brings him there. Winning from baseline doesn't work with all players.

"... simultaneously at the same time."

He had the ability to seemingly lose his mind on an umpires call, then gather himself and play on. Not quite fair to the other player, but they could have done it also.

I cannot be serious spoil brat and he though the racket. Very intelligent John McEnroe and save the day.

How big is the universe?

murygoat

(1) “simultaneously at the same time” = painful. (2) his 1984 season was as great as any year of any other player. (3) “the best doubles team in history is John McEnroe and his partner,” old joke goes. (4) it’s a myth that his weird service motion “helped him disguise his target.” (5) he was NOT fit and didn’t practice (where did you get your info?!). but he had what you didn’t mention: stunning balance. 6. nice footage, thx.

Should have inviolved how long he stayed on the tour playing the likes of lendl sampras agassi chang becker

second

His volleys were overrated. When you come to the net as often as he did, you're bound to hit a lot of good stop volleys simply by virtue of the sheer number of times you're hitting at the net. It's simply a percentage thing. But he fluffed a hell of a lot of volleys.

mcenroe was nothing special. he has some good highlights but i remember his play. it was 70-30. 70 percent excellent and 30 percent erratic. good enough to win majors and one excellent year, but not even close to the bug three.

first

I could never get past his emotional immaturity. He just seemed like a spoiled baby who never learned any self-disclipline. But I admit he was way ahead of his time. These days we realise that the end justifies the means and win at all cost is the goal and personal bwhavior does not matter a lick.

He didn’t have a coach and trained bare minimum 😂

McEnroe was a great tennis player but he was a wacko.

Need to do some women

Gimbo was better and more entertaining

What a question? Still the best!

Matches, not Games