It’s probably safe to say that John McEnroe has never had an opinion he wasn’t willing to share publicly. The former tennis great is still doing so 33 years after winning his last Grand Slam titles (Wimbledon and the US and French Opens in 1984). Although he still occasionally plays in a celebrity event, his real platform for opining and pontificating about the game is as a TV commentator who doesn’t hold back. Now as tennis’s elder statesman, he has even more anecdotal material and insights to unload than he did in his first book, “You Cannot Be Serious,” a bestseller, that he wrote 15 years ago.
Here’s an excerpt from But Seriously:
“Even while I was pursuing other career options and interests at the start of the 2000s, I had no intention of turning my back on my work as a commentator.
“For me, being in the commentary box is an opportunity to have a voice in the game. It won’t surprise you that I’ve got a few things to say – on doubles, on the lack of serve-and-volleyers in today’s game, on wooden racquets, on let-cord serves, on gamesmanship, on … Do you want me to go on? As self-appointed ‘Commissioner of Tennis,’ it is my duty to do that.
“At first I would get upset when people told me I was a better TV commentator than I was a player – it took me years to realize they were paying me a compliment. I started out behind the microphone back in 1992, when the dominant style of commentary was incredibly dry and boring (or at least, I thought it was). My timing was good, because tennis on TV was crying out for a change of style.”