COACH

MCENROETHE FORMER ENFANT TERRIBLE IS OUT TO SAVE U.S. TENNIS, BEAT HIS BROTHER AT HIS OWN GAME (AGAIN), AND MAYBE THIS TIME, COOL IT WITH THE TANTRUMS. BY LARRY PLATT

1 new york | month 0–00, 20 1 0 Photograph by Finlay MacKay 2 program, meaning that the brothers onstage with Sting, both men strumming McEnroe will be competing against one guitars (Eric Clapton gave McEnroe les- another to discover and nurture the next sons years ago). There he is with Nelson great players, a competition that has al- Mandela, who, upon their first meeting, ready sparked some McEnroe family fire- told McEnroe he’d listened on the radio to works. Mark has just pointed out a girl the epic McEnroe-Borg 1980 Wimbledon who can’t be more than 12. John had seen final while imprisoned on Robben Island. her before at the facility; he’d hit with her McEnroe in person is a fidgety pres- and given her some pointers on her serve. ence, a coiled ball of energy. He doesn’t But now Mark has told him her parents sit behind his desk so much as rock back are thinking of homeschooling her so she and forth, gesticulating wildly, eyes dart- can focus more on her tennis. That’s what ing. Then there’s the voice: He spits out touched a nerve in McEnroe, who believes words in italics, a kind of verbal artillery. that complete immersion in the sport from At the height of his fame, he once donned prepubescence on has created a generation a wig and fake beard to avoid being recog- of robotic, burned-out, and one-dimension- nized. The first store clerk who heard him al players. His way, what he aims to make speak said, “You’re John McEnroe?” the way, involves a more balanced approach, His accomplishments on the court in which tennis is part of an elite prodigy’s speak for themselves: seven life, not the definition of it. It’s how he sees championships, five Davis Cup titles, and tennis in his own life. Patrick, on the other 77 singles titles (third all-time). Despite his hand, takes the more conventional, con- outsize success, McEnroe was rarely hap- temporary approach—the sport is so com- py. “There was so much expectation that I petitive now there’s no way to make it to put on myself, it was hard to enjoy the mo- the top without total devotion. He and the ment as much as I would have liked, even USTA seem to view John as something of though I was really doing well. By the time ohn mcenroe a romantic crank, however well-intended, I got to my late twenties, I felt, ‘Why am I a is rolling his eyes. A petulant sigh and blindly bent on restoring the old ways. part of this, if I’m not really enjoying it?’ ” exaggerated shoulder slump come next. McEnroe has spent much of the 26 years As his playing days came to a close in the (4) RESS

Of course, there’s nothing new about the since he last won a Grand Slam singles title early nineties, McEnroe went through an P McEnroe eye-roll. It is, no doubt, what the rebelling against, as he once put it, being ugly tabloid divorce from his first wife, Ta- 1 first-grade teacher at St. Anastasia School “some tennis dude.” But now, happily mar- tum O’Neal, and retreated to planning and

saw, prompting the phone call home to tell ried to former rocker Patty Smyth and a later opening his eponymous Soho art gal- ASSOCIATE John and Kay McEnroe their son was bored doting father to six children, McEnroe has lery. Friends say it was a dark period. But ( 3); Jand probably too bright for the school. Lat- put tennis back at the center of his life. then he met Smyth at an L.A. Christmas 1 McEnroe arguing er, we all saw it on Centre Court and at the He has established himself as the game’s party he attended with his three kids. She with an umpire at U.S. Open, when his epic blow-ups (“You smartest and most respected television was touched by his patience with them. Wimbledon in 1980.

MCMULLAN 2 With Tatum

cannot be serious!”) made him the poster commentator. He plays on the Champions They married in 1997 in Hawaii; McEnroe K O’Neal, in a 1986 boy for anger management—a man the Tour, in World TeamTennis matches, and has said that their blended brood (Smyth Andy Warhol photo. Times once called “the worst advertisement in exhibitions (earlier in the day, he hit balls had a child from a previous marriage, and ATRIC 3 With Patty Smyth for our system of values since Al Capone.” with a group of kids, wearing a T-shirt that she and McEnroe went on to have two 3 this March.

IS ( 2); P 4 With John McEnroe Right now, the 51-year-old tennis legend read “I Feel Pretty Damned Good For My more children) gave him his humanity B is reacting to news his younger brother Age”). And he swears the academy repre- back. Today, McEnroe is often in the stands OR Sr. and Kay C Mark has just whispered into his ear. The sents a genuine commitment, the blue- for sporting events (his kids play tennis, but McEnroe at a 1981 charity event. brothers are on the sideline of one of the print for his next twenty years and beyond. none seriously). At home, there are raucous 5 At Xenon in 1981. twenty courts at their $18 million, state- In middle age, the onetime enfant terrible family Scrabble matches. He often travels of-the-art tennis facility on Randall’s Is- seems to be seeking a larger purpose, a leg- with the close-knit Team McEnroe—Smyth land, a partnership between McEnroe acy even. The question is whether he can and the kids, ages 11 to 24—in tow. For the and Sportime, which owns and operates make something as ambitious as the acad- past fifteen years, McEnroe has dabbled thirteen tennis clubs in the region. Some emy work—and not lose his mind trying. in art and rock music, but neither pursuit 4

100 girls, ages 7 to 18, are competing today He takes a long look at the potentially ever really took. His Johnny Smyth Band NDY WARHOL FOUNDATION/ for a scholarship to join the John McEnroe homeschooled wonder child on the court played area clubs a while back; a couple of A HE Tennis Academy, which opens next month. in front of him. He’s sure her parents’ all- times, wiseass audience members pelted T This isn’t just a case of a celebrity lending tennis-all-the-time leanings destine her him with tennis balls. his name to a building—John McEnroe to become a tennis victim-to-be. “What For a time, McEnroe’s main connection IS (1, 5); ©

wants to rejuvenate the sport in New York, is wrong with people?” McEnroe says. “I to the game was his TV commentary. People B and while he’s at it, save American men’s wouldn’t have made it that way. It’s a joke, tune in because you never know what the tennis, which hasn’t produced a class of that’s what it is. A farce!” idiosyncratic and ever-candid McEnroe will champions since Sampras, Agassi, Courier, say. “Some of these announcers shouldn’t and Chang a generation ago. ’s office, perched take themselves so seriously,” he says. (With “Why would they do that?” McEnroe above kids whacking forehands down on respect to this year’s U.S. Open, he says he HS: BETTMANN/COR asks Mark, referring to the whisper. Mark the courts, is lined with mementos of his has a feeling about Rafael Nadal, but that P is the middle McEnroe boy; the youngest eighties superstardom. There he is back- he’s not counting out Roger Federer, who brother, Patrick, heads the United States stage with a Jack Daniels–swilling Keith is now working with Pete Sampras’s old

Tennis Association’s player-development Richards and Tina Turner. There he is coach, Paul Annacone. “Roger could show PHOTOGRA 2 5

3 new york | month 0–00, 20 1 0 month 0–00, 20 1 0 | new york 4 up with a chimpanzee,” McEnroe says, of every one of the academy’s 25 coaches, rity took hold. “and he’d be a factor.”) and he reviews reports from his staff on The populism that led him to take on But lately, thanks to an obsessive workout each candidate, in search of the right final his sport’s class pretensions was cement- regimen, McEnroe has gotten more serious mix. He wants some coaches who special- ed at Trinity, for example, with its tweed- about playing again. He is leaner than he ize in teaching beginners, some who coach jacketed, pipe-smoking headmaster. It was in his prime. He exercises with Chris girls, and some, like Director of Tennis Gi- was McEnroe’s first taste of the stodgy Chelios, who played in the NHL into his lad Bloom, a former top touring pro, who upper class he’d later wage war against at forties, and 46-year-old surf legend Laird have experience handling elite players. Wimbledon. (Not that he wasn’t a prod- Hamilton. His friend and broadcast part- There’s an acoustic guitar in the corner of uct of the Establishment: His father was ner Ted Robinson says that those workouts his office, which rests near a photo of him a partner in a major white-shoe corpo- have given McEnroe the idea that he can with Jack Nicholson. “Those other things rate law firm.) The John McEnroe Tennis play tennis again at a high level, at least for are still serious hobbies,” he says, gesturing Academy is his attempt to resurrect the a set or two. McEnroe recently squared off to the instrument. “But now I’m sort of fig- ethos of his youth by using Port Washing- against Andy Roddick on Randall’s Island uring out a way to enjoy tennis more. I’m ton as its template, with McEnroe playing as part of a WTT match. For a while any- still hard on myself. Not as hard as I used the role of Hopman. Kids will come to the way, Roddick—the 28-year-old top Ameri- to be. But I get it over it faster.” academy after school for elite coaching can player—had all he could handle, barely McEnroe has talked about opening a and competition, and McEnroe will be, in winning the one-set match in a tiebreak, tennis academy for years. In effect, he’s his words, the “inspirational leader” like with McEnroe hitting sharply angled vol- proposing a new way of developing the Hopman, whose mere presence inspired leys and deft drop shots like it was Morning next generation of players, at a time when McEnroe and the others because they so in America again. It’s likely, of course, that the United States lags well behind Europe. wanted to impress the old man, who had Roddick didn’t exactly approach the event (For the first time since computerized been the Davis Cup captain in his native with the intense zeal of McEnroe, who, rankings began in 1973, there is no Amer- Australia before settling in Long Island. for days afterward, bemoaned not getting ican men’s singles player in the sport’s McEnroe cites Andre Agassi as an ob- enough depth on the backhand-slice ap- top ten). Actually, what he’s proposing is ject lesson in the dangers of the current, proach shot he tried on match point. “I’ve a return to the old ways. McEnroe was a all-consuming way of teaching the game. lost that half-step, which is the thing that product of Long Island’s Port Washington In his 2009 best-seller, Open, Agassi de- separated me,” McEnroe says, running his Tennis Academy in the seventies, under tailed his antipathy for the way he learned hands through his still-wavy, if thinning, legendary coach . It was the sport. “You read Andre’s book—it’s like grayish hair. He’ll hit again this afternoon the golden age of New York tennis; not tennis’s version of Lord of the Flies down and then get a massage, in preparation for only did the club produce McEnroe and there at the Bollettieri Academy and those another WTT match tonight. But first he Vitas Gerulaitis, but also top players like places,” McEnroe says. “Now, if Andre hated sighs, “It’s frustrating. Sometimes I think if I Peter Fleming, Peter Rennert, and Fritz it as much as he said he hated it every ten had that step now, I could show these young Buehning. “We had normal childhoods, pages—he must have said it 100 times—he guys how I could cut balls off and play the if you can call growing up in New York would have stopped playing. So there’s part angles. It would be a different story.” normal,” McEnroe says. He played soccer of him that doesn’t want to admit he actu- In another sense, McEnroe hasn’t lost a for four years at the tony Trinity School on ally liked it. But I think he’s right that these thing. In his prime, he could make his an- the Upper West Side, and basketball for people who think that in order to succeed ger work for him; his infamous blow-ups two (“the coach didn’t realize what a gem you have to give up everything at 10 and were often followed by stunning displays he had,” McEnroe jokes). After school focus exclusively on tennis are crazy.” of “I’ll show you” tennis. That tempera- and on weekends, he’d play tennis a few McEnroe has long had a tempestuous ment, at least, is still there. At a recent L.A. times per week at Port Washington under relationship with the tennis Establishment. exhibition match against Andre Agassi to Hopman’s low-key tutelage. When the sport suspended him in the mid- benefit one of Agassi’s charitable founda- Not devoting himself entirely to tennis eighties for his boorish on-court behavior, tions, McEnroe, refusing to play the nos- enabled him to be a kid, he says. He and none other than Jack Nicholson and Mick talgia card, stalked the court, shattered his buddies jumped subway turnstiles Jagger separately approached him at a rackets when Agassi broke his serve, and while shouting “U.N. delegate!” and he party with the same message: “Johnny snapped at a courtside fan. “Just because drove a ’72 Pinto nicknamed the Death- Mac, don’t you ever change.” McEnroe you pay some money,” he said, “doesn’t mobile. He spent a year at Stanford, and later said, if you’re 26 and the best player mean you get to be an asshole!” it was only after making the semifinals of in the world, who are you going to listen to: Wimbledon at 18 that he started playing “Jack Nicholson and Mick Jagger, or some mcenroe is catching up on some tennis full time. He was also able to form old farts in the United States Tennis Asso- paperwork. He has final say on the hiring a worldview before the trappings of celeb- ciation?” For more than a decade, though,

“I’M DOING THIS TO PROVIDE A SPARK OF ENERGY TO KIDS. I DIDN’T DO IT TO COMPETE WITH MY BROTHER.”

5 McEnroe flirted with the USTA about going to be this scary guy,” Okin told me, in it? Are they saving it? What are they sav- partnering on an academy at the U.S. Open laughing. “Unpredictable, unmanageable, ing it for? Why don’t you check that out?” “SEE, I’M ANNOYED NOW. tennis center. As a boy, McEnroe worked and sort of hard to be around. And there Roughly a week later, both brothers were as a ball boy at the former U.S. Open site, are moments when he’s iconic John—he in Paris for the French Open and they sat I’M FRUSTRATED BECAUSE THINGS and the tournament was the scene of some can be bristly, he’s used to getting his way. outside over dinner at Le Stresa, a trendy AREN’T THE WAY THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO BE!” of his most dazzling professional triumphs. But I got to know the other John—the fam- Italian restaurant John has frequented for McEnroe thought the partnership would ily man and the teammate. He’s a patient, years. John was mad that Patrick hadn’t be a “no-brainer.” But the USTA, perhaps loving guy and a good listener. I became called him. “I said, ‘John, c’mon, I’ve been threatened by the bigness of McEnroe’s convinced he wanted to work with kids at your academy, I’ve toured it with you personality and concerned about how seri- and have an impact on the sport in some personally,’ ” Patrick says. John was also ous a commitment the celebrity was willing way that didn’t feel like he was going to be angry that Patrick was quoted questioning to make, ultimately wasn’t interested. bucking some authority that would hold whether his brother would “show up at 8 and two less Davis Cups? I could have had things honestly.” Patrick says that what to pick up daughter Ava at camp. As they Enter Sportime CEO Claude Okin, whom him down and stifle his creativity.” a.m. and work with the kids until 8 p.m.” more majors and still have three Davis worked for his brother may not work for chat, a tennis official pokes her head in. McEnroe had gotten to know through It sounded like a challenge to John’s com- Cups when most people don’t have one.” all kids. Today, he insists, it’s sometimes “John, they’re ready for you,” she says. World TeamTennis. Okin, a self-made en- the clash with Patrick was on display mitment. Recent history suggests it’s a fair Patrick, for his part, was annoyed by necessary for a young phenom to move, McEnroe points at his parents. “Um, trepreneur, grew up in a middle-class fam- from the first press conference McEnroe question. In 1999, McEnroe lobbied the John’s implication that the USTA was sit- say, to the USTA academy in Florida for priorities,” he says, grabbing his bag. ily on the Upper West Side — “when the held to announce the academy in May. USTA to become the Davis Cup captain. ting on millions of dollars. At dinner in full-time instruction. “Well, I guess I’ve gotta go take care of middle class still lived on the Upper West McEnroe was in a particularly pugnacious There can be no second-guessing McEn- Paris, he tried to explain that elite-player Brothers fight, and John and Patrick this situation.” Side,” he says. He shares McEnroe’s vision mood, and he ripped into the USTA, and roe’s playing commitment to the Davis development was actually a fraction of have gone stretches without speaking to “Keep your eye on the ball, son,” says of a teaching center in New York that would his brother. “I haven’t spoken to [Patrick] Cup, the international team competition. the overall USTA budget, that things like each other—usually, Patrick says, when John Sr. allow elite players to learn the game without about it specifically, but he hasn’t called to He’s arguably the greatest Davis Cup player promoting community tennis, market- John is “pissy about something.” That “I think I’ve heard that before,” Mc- devoting their entire lives to it, revive the congratulate me. I don’t know what that in history—and he played even when other ing, facilities improvements, and fund- said, Patrick gives John credit for his ca- Enroe says, laughing, and then he’s out New York tennis scene, and perhaps open means,” McEnroe said. He went on to blast top players, focused on their singles rank- ing of the Pan-Am and Olympic games reer. When Patrick graduated from Stan- the door. up the country-club sport to a new, more the USTA for not funding his venture, and ings, refused. But he was given a lucrative were also priorities. At the end of dinner, ford and decided to turn pro, their mother, “I couldn’t be happier about John now,” diverse group of athletes. Not that there for never producing a great player. “Call three-year contract as coach, only to resign John and Patrick agreed they’re brothers Kay, from whom John inherited his mania Kay says. “The USTA put him off for obvi- wasn’t some trepidation early on. “When my brother up,” he urged reporters. “Ask after fourteen months. During that time, first—and that they both want what is for competition, was skeptical. She wanted ous reasons—he was never into the Estab- I first met John, I was concerned he was why does their portfolio have $150 million he alienated top stars like Pete Sampras, best for tennis. But they also agreed that, Patrick to go to law school. “She said, ‘You’ll lishment. He’s said it: ‘I’m back to doing who was said to be annoyed by McEnroe’s if one of Patrick’s kids competes in a tour- never be as good as your brother,’ ” Patrick what I do best, tennis.’ And he’s doing it lobbying him to play, for all to hear, dur- nament against one of John’s, it will be recalls. “ ‘You’ll never live up to him.’ And very much as his own man.” ing McEnroe’s on-air tennis commentary. war—not unlike the brothers’ own garage it was John who said, ‘Mom, stay out of it. She sounds relieved. Elite athletes, He reportedly showed up for a captain’s Ping-Pong battles growing up in Queens. Patrick can make it.’ ” raised as prodigies and cheered in their meeting in his bathrobe. His replacement When the check came, Patrick picked it According to Bodo, Kay’s nickname for youths by packed stadiums, face the abyss as coach was none other than Patrick, who up. “See, John,” he quipped. “This is on Patrick growing up was “The Plugger.” in their late twenties and early thirties, has had success, winning the Cup in 2007. the USTA. You can’t say the USTA never John, on the other hand, was always the when the rest of us are still looking ahead. “John’s approach was, ‘I’m John McEnroe did anything for you now.” mercurial genius. “When I got to be num- The ones who adjust to retirement find and Pete Sampras will pick up my phone Patrick says their Paris dinner was a ber 30 in the world, she had trouble that I something to stand for beyond the orbit call and come play for me,’ ” says Tennis good reminder that blood is thicker than was only number 30,” Patrick recalls. “Be- of their still-formidable egos. McEnroe’s magazine’s Peter Bodo, who partnered with tennis, but the drama will doubtless con- ing the 30th-best player in the world is notion of giving back to the game by Patrick on his recently released book, Hard- tinue. Back in his office, McEnroe gath- not that bad. And John helped convince mentoring the next great champion may court Confidential. “Patrick’s approach was ers his team of coaches in a conference her of that.” well turn out to be his calling, and per- to sell guys like Roddick and James Blake on room to settle on the six finalists of girls Kay McEnroe laughs heartily when she haps even lead him further down the path being a team. Patrick’s approach worked.” competing for the Academy scholarship. hears about her long-ago advice to her toward personal peace. But these are Mc- Back in his office, shirtless after his after- When a particularly promising 12-year- youngest son. “Even after he made the Enroes, and John Sr. can’t help but inter- noon hit (“I left my goddamned forehand old is mentioned, McEnroe offers a de- semifinals at Wimbledon at 18, I wanted ject some straight talk. “Let’s be clear,” in Europe” he had grumbled to himself, tailed analysis of her game, praising her John to be a dentist,” she says. “I told him, he says. “He’s mellower now, but he’s not while, across the net, a 13-year-old ner- “racket-head speed.” There’s a pause. ‘You can play tennis in the mornings.’ ” mellow. He still blows up out there.” vously returned his sizzling groundstrokes), “John,” someone says, “she’s in your Last month, when McEnroe played Rod- That’s in keeping with McEnroe’s de- McEnroe bristles when it’s suggested that brother’s program.” Another pause. “Let’s dick in the WTT match, Patrick dropped scription of this middle age as a “process.” his Davis Cup flameout could be seen as get her then!” another coach yells, draw- by to watch. The next week, a concerned A couple of hours earlier, after his after- dilettantism. “That [Davis Cup] wasn’t ing laughs from everyone, McEnroe in- Kay asked Mark, “Was Patrick cheering noon hit, his legs were tightening and he even coaching,” he snaps, toweling himself cluded. Moments later, McEnroe decides for John?” was desperate for a massage. He prowled dry. “It was begging guys to play for you. It that the girl in Patrick’s program will be the facility in search of his massage thera- has nothing to do with my commitment to the scholarship recipient. it’s 7 p.m., and, after stopping in at to- pist. He looked in the men’s locker room— teaching 8-year-olds. Gimme a break.” He Is competing with Patrick difficult? night’s WTT hospitality suite to schmooze to no avail. “Unbelievable,” he muttered.

goes on to describe the Davis Cup as “on SCOM “It depends how Patrick reacts to it, I with corporate sponsors, McEnroe has se- He looked in the training room. Nothing. life support,” and then, somehow, suddenly, W suppose,” McEnroe says. “I’m doing this questered himself in his office to prepare “Ridiculous,” he said, stronger now. in that stream-of-consciousness way of his, because I want to provide a spark of en- for a match against another 18-year-old In the bowels of the building, McEn- EZ/NE he’s settling old scores: “No one cares about P ergy to kids in New York. I didn’t do it to up-and-comer. Prior to heading to the roe stopped. “See, I’m getting annoyed the Davis Cup. How many people know I compete with my brother. You know, he’s court, where he will bask in the enthusi- now,” he said, the decibel level rising. “I’m McEnroe and his won five Davis Cups and seven majors, but done everything I’ve done. He’s my little astic applause of his fellow New Yorkers, getting frustrated because things are not

brother Patrick Y LOUIS LO

that I rarely played the ? B brother. I wouldn’t want what he’s got to McEnroe stops into the conference room the way they’re supposed to be.” His echo

playing doubles in H a 2006 exhibition Then you look at a guy like [Ivan] Lendl, P deal with—it’s not like I want to sit there to see his parents, who have just arrived to bounced off the vestibule’s walls. And then match. who won eight majors, but he won three and be like a politician, which is a lot of catch tonight’s action. He hugs and kisses he caught himself. He took a deep breath. or four Australians. I don’t know. Maybe I what his job requires. Maybe he’s got bet- Kay and John Sr. and tells them about “I guess that’s life,” he said. There was the

should have played two more Australians PHOTOGRA ter political skills than I do, because I say yesterday’s traffic nightmare on his trip smallest hint of a self-aware smile. ■

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