FanHouse John Mcenroe

NEW YORK -- So now John McEnroe has become the judge and jury over the debate about Serena Williams and the line judge who had the nerve to call foot fault.

Think about that. John McEnroe's trademark, equal to his great tennis, is that he spent his career being a jerk to linespeople. Next up, you can go to Michael Vick for advice on proper pet care or Brett Favre on the right time to retire.

This is the absurd, but it isn't funny. McEnroe is fueling a debate that has grown to something much bigger than tennis, tantrums and foot faults. This thing has exploded into a social fight that's lining up in large part, but not entirely, along racial lines.

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Johnny Mac is back.

After Nojak Djokovic took down Radek Stepanek in straight sets (6-1, 6-3, 6-3) on Monday, he tried to take a shot at one of the greats. Djokovic embarked on a rather accurate and extremely amusing impression of John McEnroe, complete with a "You can't be serious!" yelled at an (empty) chair umpire.

McEnroe has had many contributions to the 2009 U.S. Open, but stepping onto the court with a tennis racket instead of a microphone tops the list. He played this point well, and it didn't look like Djokovic was taking it easy on him. McEnroe just caught him off guard and hit a perfect winner.

The No. 15 seed in the world gave him no trouble, but John McEnroe came down from the press box in his tennis shoes and khakis with the same old racket and showed Djokovic and the world that he still has the touch.

Video evidence after the jump.

John McEnroe is one of the more recognizable athletes in the history of tennis, and maybe even sports as a whole. (I judge this based on my non-sports-following girlfriend's reaction to whom I'm interviewing -- Johnny Mac was one of three people I've talked to over the last six months that she's recognized.) However, his fame is generally considered infamy, because he garnered so much attention for his outrageous behavior on the court several decades ago.

Now, though, McEnroe is a twice-honored ambassador of sorts (not a technical one, mind you); he's the unofficial ambassador of United States tennis in his role as broadcaster and general public figure and he's also, as of this past week, an unofficial ambassador for prostate cancer. Inspired by his father's survival from the disease, he's now plastered on billboards across New York City, and reaching out to public to help them improve their health.

NEW YORK (AP) -- World TeamTennis suspended and fined New York Sportimes coach Chuck Adams on Friday after his team - which features John McEnroe - and the Washington Kastles got into heated arguments over players getting hit by shots.

The league barred Adams from leading New York against visiting Kansas City on Friday night for "violating the World TeamTennis Coaches' Code of Conduct.''

Adams went onto Washington's side of the court to confront a Kastles player Thursday.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The owner of a now-closed Manhattan art gallery with a star-studded clientele was painted as a thief who stole $88 million from art owners, a bank and investors, including tennis great John McEnroe.

Lawrence B. Salander used the money to try to corner the Renaissance art market and to support an extravagant lifestyle that included private jet travel, a lavish party for his wife at New York's Frick Collection museum, and the purchase and maintenance of his Manhattan town house and a 66-acre estate, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said.

For those of you who might not have been around in the 1980s, there were few things in professional sports more entertaining than a full-on John McEnroe tirade. Sure, the act didn't sit too well with the folks at Wimbledon, but the people running the ATP tour knew full well that McEnroe, along with fellow bad boy Jimmy Connors, were promotional gold.

When Nike decided it was time to dive whole hog into mega-athlete endorsements, it wasn't any surprise that McEnroe was the only tennis player they could possibly be interested in.

A couple of weeks ago I got to see McEnroe play in person for the first time since I was in the stands at Louis Armstrong Stadium at the 1981 U.S. Open Final. After spending an entire evening watching him play World Team Tennis for the New York Sportstimes against the Washington Kastles, it seemed clear to me that at least for one night, time had mellowed him.

Then again, maybe not.

I wouldn't blame you if you ducked off of NBC immediately following the 4.2 day long Wimbledon Men's Final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal yesterday. But I would urge you never to do that again. You see, Wimbledon is one of those rare sporting events where they require the second place winner (read: loser) to stay on the court and enjoy the champion's celebration. Then, after all that, they interview said loser. Your interviewer is John McEnroe and he is awkwardly asking for hugs.



Sure, Federer just lost to Nadal and was about to cry and could be unseated as the world's number one. And maybe his reign as an absurdly dominant tennis player as come to an end. It was still great tennis and that's what Johnny Mac was thanking him for.

Awkward post tennis match hugs to Mssrs. Irrelevant for Lassoing this puppy.

There are two rules to casually watching tennis: (1) Roger Federer is the best at everything (2) unless he plays on clay, when it becomes Rafael Nadal's world. All of that was thrown into an upheaval today, when Nadal upset Federer in an all-day Wimbledon final (longest in history) that commentator John McEnroe called the "greatest match" he has ever seen.

Following rain delays, five sets of grueling intensity and four championship points, Nadal finally took Federer down 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 9-10, 9-7. For now, the only thing that matter is that Nadal gets to enjoy his first ever Wimbledon championship. For later, the things of importance that will have to be addressed are the statements that Johnny Mac made immediately after the match. First, will this upset of the world's most dominant player generate more worldwide interest in tennis? And secondly, is Nadal the new world's number one?

My money would still be on Federer to retain the crown, but for those that watched this match, you could see how Nadal -- through his clay dominance and finally achieving an upset on the grass -- has a legitimate argument to be the world's top ranked tennis player.

I just got done watching Novak Djokovic defeat Marcos Baghdatis in the Wimbledon quarterfinals. As you can tell by the picture above, the match went nearly five hours, lasted five sets, and it was an utter duel that tested endurance, strength, moxie, and heart. Only a day earlier, I saw Djokovic grind for four hours in a four-set 4th round win over Lleyton Hewitt. That same day, second seed Rafael Nadal, who has since reached the semifinals, rallied from down two sets to beat Mikhail Youzhny in five, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-2. That was an incredible turn of events in which the better player won out in the long run. Putting all this together, plus many other years of watching both men's and women's tennis, and I'm led to conclude that the women are missing something. They are missing the magic that the men put on display at each Grand Slam event. They are missing five-set matches.

When you think of some of the greatest matches of all-time, what do you think of? You're all but guaranteed to see the 1980 Wimbledon final between Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe on everyone's list. Why? Not only did the match give Borg his fifth straight Wimbledon singles title, but it also went five sets, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7, 8-6, with the 4th going 19-17 in a tiebreaker. The 1975 US Open semis between Guillermo Vilas and Manuel Orantes would have to make the list. Orantes rallied from down two sets and 0-5 in the fourth set -- one game away from losing, to win in five sets. The 1989 French Open Final between Michael Chang and Ivan Lendl was another legendary match. Down two sets to none, Change fought back, and eventually won it in five sets -- serving underhand in the fifth because of injury.

I have vague recollections of men's tennis in the mid-80s and early '90s, watching guys like Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, and, of course, John McEnroe rack up major victories, all with very different styles. As an elementary-aged kid, McEnroe was possibly the most fascinating athlete I'd ever seen: charismatic, but in a really crazy way.

Despite the inevitable inappropriate mid-game outburst, I always got the impression McEnroe believed he was right and the chair umpire was wrong. Every time. It wasn't about showmanship so much as wanting judges to work as hard at their job as McEnroe was working at his. Even as a goofy 10- or 11-year-old, I understood -- and admired -- that about him. Plus, it was roughly 20 years before Reality TV ruined everything -- A McEnroe outburst was Reality TV ... with the added benefit of actually being real.

Anyway, here's a great example of why people either loved or hated John McEnroe:

I think most tennis fans loved him, and I'm certain most chair umpires hated his guts.