John McEnroe was easily the most fun player to watch in tennis. You never knew when the outburst would come but he was a great tennis player. To me he was the best.
I know ur comment was 3 years ago .. so i hope u get this.. i agree 100%... not only was he PROBABLY the most iconic player EVER!!! If u go back and actually watch his outburst.. 9/10 the commentators AGREED!!!!! with him.. there werent a lot of times i could find that he was actually OUT OF ORDER as they said he was.. a very smart , funny and charismatic man.. i would love to meet him!!! Great comment btw!
Tennis was so much more amusing to watch back in the day, a whole other game and with all these characters. Borg, McEnroe, Connors, Lendl, Gerulaitis, Nastase and so on...
I remember watching tennis at grandma's, sitting on grandma's carpet watching Björn and John. I was the only one in the room rooting for McEnroe, but grandma still loved me.
THE greatest tennis rivalry (yes, even better than Federer-Nadal) not only because of the obvious top quality of tennis, but the personality and intensity that Federer-Nadal lacked. I remember as a little boy HOW much it had even non-tennis people talking about which one was better, who they liked, McEnroe's fiery personality vs. Borg's stoic nature, etc., days BEFORE their upcoming match. McEnroe's fiery personality vs. Borg's stoic nature. I'm sure a huge part of why Borg-McEnroe captivated SO many people was due to the lack of a multi-media presence at the time, so when there was a Borg-McEnroe Wimbledon final, there weren't many other sports options on TV like there are today, and that meant the spotlight was on those 2 players, which only increasingly hyped the curiosity from people.
@ Sharon Jensen. It was exceedingly rare when McEnroe had an on-court outburst during a match against Borg. There was one match in a regular tournament (I don't know which one) in which McEnroe got angry at either a line call or at a linesperson or at the chair umpire and Borg walked up to the net and moved his hands in an up-and-down gesture and asked McEnroe to calm down which McEnroe apparently did.
He's great to listen to is John, you could sit down & talk with him for hours . love to hear his rivalry with Borg , one of my heroes , and the respect he had for him. legend !
Most gifted and artistic player ever. His 77 singles and 78 doubles trophies altogether are still unsurpassed. Considering he was kind of an underachiever, for instance he screwed up the French Open final from 2 sets to 0 or lost to Connors in 82 in Wimbledon, his career record is amazing. I dare to say he could have been the greatest of all time. He is the best doubles and Davis Cup player ever. Like him or not, he is a character. Going on about the greatness of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic is understandable, but McEnroe had to face Connors, Borg, Vilas, then Lendl, Wilander, Becker and Edberg, then Courier, Sampras and Agassi. Not to mention "lesser" players such as Gerulaitis, Panatta, Tanner, Noah, Cash, Mecir, Chang. The strongest era in tennis.
He always talks about Bjorn you know. He doesnt have to. He knows they helped make each other better. I was sad as was Mac when Borg retired so young. To me 26 wasn't young but ppl thought he was sick or something. MAC defended him & became a good friend. Borg is sweet. ( I think he was played out psychologically perhaps. It did seem sudden )And really grateful you can tell. Love seeing the doubles they played! On the same side! I love the way John jist spills out an answer not any question bugs him. Still has some vinegar in there!! Funny too.
McEnroe was needed by the game, more than he needed the game. I really mean that....this is a very bright dude. Raised by two parents who are very bright as well. Which is to say, John could've left tennis and gone on to be very successful doing something else...he's always loved art, and when he does match analysis on tv, him and Mary Carillo, are the very best in the business. Talent-wise?...you're talking about a guy who will always be in that top 10 greatest players who ever lived-list. And I think the biggest compliment you can give this guy is what I call him "The Michael Jordan of Professional Tennis". He could do it all...and is without a doubt, the greatest doubles player who ever lived (for those of you who care about that kind of thing)
Fascinating and very entertaining interview. But what especially caught my eye was the DÉCOR in the studio. Shag pile carpet, for example. Everything about the entire décor was so retro. Fascinating. It felt like this interview had taken place in the 70's.
McEnroe... God Bless him. He tells a good story... I still wonder how he works as a tennis commentary ... b/c he's just as articulate (polished as a speaker)... but he brings so much knowledge, history and experience to commentating... so I get it. Seems all the sports are letting guys from the past do commentary. Barkley, Shaq, McEnroe, Shannon Sharp, etc.. Don't get me wrong... what I love about McEnroe is how he has stayed true to himself throughout his career. People say he argued all the time b/c he's dick or an asshole... but it truly just stems from how much cared about tennis. Tennis was his life, his passion.... and it just came out that way when he'd see a missed or poor call by a linesman.... i never thought he did any of it for the purpose of drama or b/c he was losing a match, etc... Man, he had such great hands at the net. Hard to appreciate how good he was unless you played tennis competitively. Made it look so easy... They don't talk about it much... But a lot of young kids picked up tennis in the 80's b/c of McEnroe... me included.
I hate todays rude guys I mean Mac's funniest defense was "I was talking to MYSELF!" Hahahahahaha that word he used was "you're the PITTs of the world you know that?!" he sounded like a teen angry, which he was....and it was a bad call. so NOT as bad as Nick this Us Open.. SMASHING RACKETS IS LAME
Bit of a cultural difference in sense of humour! I roared laughing at his "how bad the umpires were" joke! I love John Mac, tennis legend, such a personality, only thing grey about him in his hair :)
Someone said to me that the players of today are clones of some tennis player.then I started to think that, Roger is Borg, Nadal is john Mac,Novak is lendl and Murray is Connors.,
They do. They simply do not spend millions of dollars for plastical surgeons and artificial tooth whitening like guys in the US. They rather stay natural
Brushing your teeth every day and regular cleanings will keep them white. These people are straight yellow and gray. I'm just a guy living in the country but I have nice white teeth but I also floss and brush daily haha
Whiteness has zero to do with healthy teeth. Just a myth sold to gullible people so that they'll buy products & get their teeth bleached like idiots. The healthiest teeth are normally a slightly grey or light yellow. You should read more ;)
This isn't just a Swedish show, It's Swedish/Norwegian and the host is Norwegian. And English is obviously not their first language which makes it harder for them to get the jokes.
It's not just a question of language, as some people here point out. It's more subtle than that: Scandinavians have a very distinct sense of humour which is quite far removed from British and American humour. The Swedes are quite different, the Norwegians very different and the Finns extremely different. It's probably got something to do with degrees of latitude.
Now days players just don’t have the charisma of the players from the 70s and 80s It seems to be the same in all sports. I guess the science and win at all costs mentally has destroyed personalities and individuality. There are a few exceptions like Valentino Rossi or even Novak but they are the exception
You must learn to speak The English Language. It is the most used language in the World for social and business activities. It is the Universal language and you should follow Dominic Theme's example when he spoke to Nadal in English in Paris :) Un jour, la langue anglaise regnera sur le monde !!!!!!!!!!!! Alleluia :)
I am trying to figure out why the other people are there. Typical McEnro situation; let me talk all the time and tell you how things should be. The person running this conversation is not very good.
It seems like you misinterpret the format. Every guest gets interviewed one by one. Fredrik Skavlan starts with one interviewee and after that segment another guest joins and is interviewed, and so on. It was simply John McEnroe’s turn to join and be interviewed.☺️
Roger seems like a good person, my concern is not about him personally: There is no depth in tennis, when 2 or 3 men and 2 sisters control the game for 15+ years, it's become boring. It's very predictable, lacks personality, McEnroe's personality was unique for the game in the 80's, add in Lendl, Conner's, Borg, Wilander, Edberg, all the great players from South America, then Sampras, Agassi, Martina, Chrissy, Graf, Seles, todays its unwatchable, same shots, same strategy, same baseline to baseline boring rally's, I have not witnessed a one full game of serve and volley in 20 years. Remember someone by the name Edberg and McEnroe, they served and charged the net, caught the ball as it was flying by and dropped it for a volley winner. This game is so predictable now, where is the charisma on the court, where is the Eastern European playing against a wild Westerner, where are the fights, the battles, everyone is too friendly, there is no spark, there is no element of a Trump in the game. McEnroe is trying to keep some semblance of a personality in the game. There is always new players coming on, but where do they land, normally out of the tourney before the finals, but even if there is a new face, where is the Charisma, the personality, just standing there at the baseline and trading the same baseline rally after rally, until someone hits it an inch long, then the camera confirms or denies it, the video reply is actually hurting the game as it eliminates arguments, the game needs a personality that is going to lose it and throw their racket, stare down the line judge, argue with the fans, intimidate the opponent. The players today are too friendly, afraid to offend in the insane wimpy PC culture. Thank goodness we have a winner and someone with a personality back in the WH, tennis needs a Trump, so rare to find this, but it needs some bump. Let's see who's going to be in the finals of Wimbledon and the US Open this year? Umm, I'll make a prediction, how about Roger? Most likely this will be case. Roger is a nice guy, but where is the wild man that can come onto the court and capture the imagination of those who really knew and enjoyed the unpredictability and intrigue of tennis in the 80's, there are a lot of great baseline players now, but the real magic, the real personality that it had is not there. Tennis needs the Trumps and McEnroe's now, not quiet mannered ken dolls who stand at the baseline while a computer and video tells them exactly what to do next and some judge who really has no impact except to repeat the box score...Liberal universities are part to blame for this 'blah' PC tennis culture. Someone please discover the Connor McGregor for tennis! For 12 years now, it's been 2 or 3 men and 2 sisters who dominate 90% of the game, not acceptable!!! The main message is a baseline game is too predictable. Can you imagine the Patriots winning the last 10 out of 12 Super Bowls and Yankees winning the last 10 World Series? It's boring. Tennis needs new blood, not just new faces that were taught the same baseline play in a college program. Also the racket technology has hurt the game, if they were going to change rackets to increase velocity by 25 mph, then the courts should have been lengthened and widened as well. There is no ability to serve and volley anymore due to the racket technology.
M CAT You seem to mean well, but you are a little out of touch in more ways than one. I will only point out one: you don't right essays in the comments section of a yt clip. I for one didn't finish your first paragraph as soon as as i realized how long it was.
What in the world was wrong with the sticks sitting there w John? They are so humorless. They sat on stage with poker faces and acted like it would kill them to laugh or show some kind of interest in the fantastic stories and humor John was giving them. John tried drawing them in, mentioning their interests and careers etc but they barely budged. Good grief, what was their collective problem? Apparently David Bowie was the only person they’d ever heard of and even that story got only a faint cackle. I don’t think they even knew who McEnroe or anybody is....that’s on them. Why were they even there? They contributed nothing, not even a tiny amount of interest. Great interview though otherwise. Loved learning new bits about McEnroe and Borg. I grew up watching them.
